another world and look not on Death as an inlet to Eternity the instance of these monsters therefore notwithstanding I say onely the in some degree assured Christian can chearfully look the Prince of Terrors in the face onely he can triumph over this last Enemy Not onely the sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness doth not onely surprize the hypocrite but also the sincere Christian in so far as he doth not know himself to be such With what shiverings must they needs enter into the chambers of darknesse who do not know but that they may lead them into outer darknesse How unwillingly must the Soul needs leave its old companion the Body whilest it is uncertain whether it shall stand or fall when it comes to give an account of all it hath done in the body But now he that is come to a certainty about his estate he can not onely not be afraid of death but also desire it and sweetly please himself in the Fore-thoughts of it yea though it be not a natural but a violent death Read the Book of Martyrs and you will think that our Witnesses to the Truth did even complement with their Torments and lie down in the devouring flames as merrily as if they had been beds of Down Or read the Scriptures and you will find St. Paul 2 Tim. 4. 6 7 8. exulting in the thoughts of his approaching violent dissolution I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give to me and not to me onely but unto all that love his appearing At another time indeed we find him in a strait not knowing what to desire whether to abide in the flesh or to be dissolved Phil. 1.23 but whence did this dispute arise not because death would not be to him more desireable and welcome and gainfull but because his abiding in the flesh would be more profitable and serviceable to the Church When he looked no further then himself then he groaned being burdened desiring to be cloathed upon with his house from Heaven knowing that if the earthly house of his tabernacle were dissolved he had a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 II. Onely the assured Christian can despise the world and joyfully endure the losse of his goods He onely that knows himself to be cloathed with the Sun can trample the Moon under his feet He onely on whom God hath lift up the light of his countenance takes no care for corn and wine hath no anxious thoughts what he shall eat what he shall drink or wherewithal he shall be cloathed True indeed such is the vanity of all things here below such the transcendent excellencies of the glory of the other world that if a man had but a possibility of attaining these he were mad if he did not readily forsake those and doubtless the Soul when it heareth of the Jewel of great price doth adventure all to buy it before it hath any certainty that it shall ever actually have and enjoy it I but yet seeing we do naturally preferr one Bird in the hand before twenty in the bush seeing sublunary things have the advantage though not of splendor and magnitude yet of naturalness and nearness of operation we should be in great danger to take up our portion in this world did not Faith give substance to the things hoped for and evidence to the things not seen did not also the Spirit seal up unto us our interest in and title to the things hoped for and unseen Those who have Faith and know not themselves to have it do make a shift to crucifie the flesh with its lusts and to overcome the world but it is somewhat an hard shift much ado they have to keep themselves from envying the prosperity of the wicked ready they are ever and anon to cry out In vain have we washed our hands in innocence and walked mournfully all the day long ready to have questionings and disputings whether they had not done as wisely to have trucked with the World for such an happiness as it can afford But Faith in its vigour Faith seen and felt easily keeps under all such carnal arguings and so satisfies a man in the choice that he hath made as that he is jealous and suspicious lest the World should gain too much on his heart and in the abundance of all things rejoyceth as if he rejoyced not and in the loss of all things weepeth as of he wept not the assured Christian after he hath bought is as if he possessed not 1 Cor. 7 30. and when he hath nothing as if he possessed all things 2 Cor. 6.10 Heb. 10.34 Ye had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance He doth not say they know barely that there was in Heaven a better and enduring substance but that they themselves had in Heaven a better and more enduring substance that that eternal inheritance was reserved for them and that Christ had entred upon it as their fore-runner a word which it had been presumption for us to use if the Scripture had not used it Heb. 6.20 and if our Saviour himself had not told his Disciples that he went afore-hand to prepare a place for them Joh. 14.2 But how did the Hebrews know that they had this better and enduring substance They knew it within themselves that is to find that they had a title to the more enduring substance they needed not to look any further then themselves 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witnesse in himself the witness of what of eternal life which is in the Son vers 11. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me Hath Everlasting life Joh. 5.24 and Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life The first-fruits of the Spirit do assure him of the whole crop Hath the Spirit made known to me such things as flesh and blood cannot reveal and is the belief of these things so rooted in my heart as that I do make them my portion and my treasure as that I do heartily pursue after them even to the renouncing of carnal pleasures then sure there is in heaven an inheritance incorruptible reserved for me Every man that is Christs hath the Spirit in him and this Spirit is the earnest thrice is he so called 2 Cor. 1.22 2 Cor. 5.5 Ephes 1.13 the Greek word used in all those three places and no where else in all the New Testament is as all acknowledge of an Hebrew extraction and with the Hebrews is a word of promise and engagement in bargains but yet is well translated in the
can give any ground of Faith Would the Papists but as freely censure the errors of their former Writers as we do the errors of ours soon would all the controversies about Assurance come to an end but that being an happiness rather to be wished then hoped for let all less judicious Christians satisfie themselves to know 1. It is the receiving of Christ that gives us a right to be the sons of God 2. That he who receives Christ shall be by God owned as a son whether he know himself to have received Christ or no. The promises run clear Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have eternal life Joh. 3. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are those those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied Matth. 5. The condition of these promises being fulfilled the promises themselves must be fulfilled else God should be unfaithful and deny himself For shall the too hard thoughts the too humble conceit of a man concerning himself wake void the faith of God God forbid scarcely among ingenuous men doth any one fare the worse for an excess of modesty and can the Father of Mercies shut a good man out of Heaven because that conscious to himself of daily weaknesses and manifold passions warting within him and frequently prevailing he cannot be firmly perswaded of his own goodness 3. That it is the office of the Spirit to make us to know the things that are freely given us of God 4. That as he is ready to witness to carnal persons that their ways are ways of sin and wrath and that they are the men who except they become new creatures are marked out for damnation so he is ready to witness to those who are spiritually minded the truth of their graces and by that their interest in the promises of Justification Adoption Glorification 5. That our work lieth in making our selves which yet we cannot do but by the almighty power of the same Spirit fit and meet to receive this testimony of the Spirit which meetness we shall then come to if 1. We well inform our selves about the terms of the Covenant of grace 2. Have frequent serious abiding thoughts about the fulness and freeness of its promises 3. Giving all diligence add to faith vertue and to vertue knowledg and to knowledg temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity 4. By reflex acts often compare the frame of our heart and course of our lives with the rule 5. Watch and pray that we may be free from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pride and prejudice which make us though so sharp-sighted as to see a mote in our brothers eyes yet so blind as not to see a beam in our own eyes That thou mayest Christian Reader have some small help in all these matters was the end aimed at in making the following Treatise thus publick The Authors name could not make it more acceptable and is therefore concealed but his prayers are that it may be effectual to beget in all those into whose hands it shall fall 1. A tender care not to grieve the Spirit of promise by which they who believe are sealed up to the day of Redemption 2. A cordial respect to all those upon whom the Spirit of the Lord is and who are by the Lord anointed to Preach good tidings to the meek and sent to bind up the broken hearted to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Jan. 25. 1664. Farewell The Printer to the Reader THough great care hath been used in publishing these Papers yet by reason of an ill-written Copy and the Authors absence some faults have escaped There is in some Pages a change of Persons which though it might be defended yet was not by the Author intended Those few Errata's that can be thought to disturb the sense thus amend PAg. 26. lin 15. r. Praeposition p. 28. l. 26. r. also that He. p. 30. l. 23. r. loose p. 32. l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 35. l. 21. r. are the enticing p. 36. l. 7. r. more glorious p. 44. l. 28. r. yet is He. p. 86. l. 13. r. speaks but to p. 88. l. 10. r. did not they sometimes p. 152. l. 25. r. till he feel p. 157. l. 9. r. and not heard of Ephes 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption THese words are by some conceived to contain an absolute Independent counsel but the Greek Scholia's suppose them to be brought in as an argument to enforce the immediately preceding dehortation Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth as if the Apostle had said If you think it a small matter to allow your selves in such speeches as have no tendency to edification as are no way fit to minister grace unto the hearers If you have no respect to your own souls nor to the souls of others which must needs be offended by such unprofitable communication yet you will have some regard for the Spirit of God who is himself holy and the author of all holiness and he being as he is grieved by all unprofitable discourse you will account your selves ingaged to abstain therefrom If we receive this connexion as why may we not sith it offers no violence to the context and is backed with so good authority then may we observe in the Text 1. A reason by which the Ephesians are taken off from idle words lest they should grieve the spirit 2. A description of this Spirit from his Nature Office Grieve not the holy spirit of God The form of speech seems to be borrowed from the Old Testament Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them But notwithstanding we have found out a parallel place yet must we still inquire Quest 1. How the Spirit can be said to be grieved for seeing he is God and so infinitely perfect how can we conceive him capable of grief which is not onely a passion but also of all passions the meanest and lowest as arising from the sense of some present evil which we cannot master And this objection is the more considerable because of the emphaticalness of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which saith Aretius complectitur omnis generis dolores and is therefore used to set out that anguish and sadness of mind which our blessed Saviour did feel in the Garden Math. 26.37 But all this notwithstanding we may give a very fair account of the phrase for 1. There are who by the spirit of God do understand the renewed part of man and indeed it is not unusual in Scripture for God to call his own work by his own name now the renewed
loves Christ diligently endeavours to amend his life is ordained to eternal life I love Christ and endeavour diligently to amend my life therefore I am ordained to eternal life Is the Major here true or false if it be true then it is their error to say that love to Christ is not proper to the elect if it be false what becomes of the conclusion inferred from it If it be said which is all they can say that if aman can feel in his heart a sense of Gods love he may thence infer a conditional certainty of his election viz If he shall persevere in his love that is no more then what the non-Elect may have Suppose we one of them to know that he is a believer yet cannot he thence infer that he is elected or shall persevere to eternal life because he neither thinks true faith to be proper to Gods elect nor to have any promise of certain perseverance made to it to say that none of these brethren are true believers is the highest uncharitableness for what Scripture is it saith that it is essential to Christianity to be rightly informed concerning the connexion of faith with election or where is this doctrine so clearly revealed in the word as that all must needs be supposed to be wilfully blind who will not see and acknowledge it 3. This perswasion is in order of Nature after Faith therefore the nature of Faith cannot lie in it The Antecedent is presently proved because I must first be in the favour of God which I cannot be but by Faith ' ere I can know or be perswaded that I am in the favour of God for a proposition is alway in order of nature true before it is known to be true as every mans reason doth tell him And this order as it hath its foundation in reason so also in Scripture 1 John 5.13 These things have I written to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that ye may know ye have eternal life Bellarmine saw this and therefore inferrs that according to the opinion commonly received among Reformed Divines in his time men are justified before they do believe and methinks the learned Chamier doth not like himself when he goes about to untie this knot for he saith that Faith doth if not in order of time yet of nature follow justification a saying contrary to the whole current of Scripture 4. If Faith did consist in this perswasion it would follow that some who do hear the Gospel either were not bound to believe or were bound to believe a lie That any who hear the Gospel should not be bound to believe cannot be for then unbelief would be no sin to them and if no sin then could it not deserve condemnation when as we know from Scripture that it is the condemning sin And that some if obliged to believe that either they are elected or justified would be bound to believe a lie is as plain for certainly among those that hear the Gospel some are not chosen nor pardoned But what is more absurd then that any man should be bound to believe a lie can any thing be the object of faith but what is true or any thing the object of Divine Faith but what is so true that it cannot be false More need not be said against this error But it will be asked whether though the nature of Faith do not consist in this assurance yet it be not that which every believer doth some time or other find or whether any Child of God do so walk in darkness as that the light of Gods countenance is never lifted up on him no not before his death This I shall endeavour to answer by the following conclusions 1. No question as the Sun after it hath for all the day been hid in the clouds doth sometimes shew it self and that gloriously just before it sets so the Faith of a Christian after it hath for the greatest part of his life been clouded with doubts and fears doth near unto his death sometimes so manifest it self by some lively acts as that he can no longer doubt of its sincerity but cries out my Lord my Saviour In that little experience I have had in the world I have known sundry who have all their life been subject to fears and filled every Minister and Christian of their acquaintance with dreadful complaints against themselves who yet when they have been on their death-beds or have apprehended themselves so to be have triumphed over death in the Apostles language O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. They that are in the least conversant in our English Martyrology cannot but know how usual it was with God to seal up his love to his servants just when he called them out to set their own seals to his truth so high was their assurance that you would have thought that they had heard the Musick of the Coelestial Choire when they heard the ratling of the chains with which they were to be tied to the stake When Mr. Robert Glover was condemned to die and was now at a point to be delivered out of the world it so happened that two or three days before his heart being lumpish and destitute of all true consolation he felt in himself no aptness but rather an heaviness I all along use Mr. Fox his own words and dulness of Spirit fall of much discomfort to bear the bitter cross of Martyrdom whereupon fearing in himself lest the Lord had utterly withdrawn his wonted favour from him he made his moan to a Minister complaining how earnestly he had prayed day and night and yet could receive no motion nor sense of comfort from God but so soon as he came to the sight of the stake he was so mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joys that he cryed out clapping his hands Austin that was the name of the Minister to whom he had complained He is come he is come The Apostles that did alway beare about in their bodies the dying of our Lord Jesus that were alway delivered unto death for Jesus sake had also the life of Christ made so manifest in them that though they were troubled on every side yet they were not distressed did so constantly and assuredly know that he which raised up Jesus would raise them up also by Jesus and that their light afflâ—ctions which were but for a moment wrought for them a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory that they did not faint but rather waxed more bold by their bonds The same truth might also be compassed about with a cloud of witnesses of such as did die a natural death But that work is done to our hands by Melchior Adam and others who have delivered to us the story of the life and death of men famous in their generations for piety and learning Yea so usual is it with Christs Disciples to have their inward man renewed day by day
do receive the Holy Ghost therefore they ought to be honoured and had in esteem for their office and work sake Obj. But doth not the anointing teach us all things and so teach us as that we need not that man should teach us at all Answ So indeed it is said and that by some pretending so much to the Spirit as that their usual compellation to others is Flesh but we are not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits whether they be of God and I heartily wish the spirit from whence this Objection ariseth did not too manifestly discover it self not to be of God The Spirit that Christ promised was to be sent from the Father in the name of Christ and was not to speak of himself but whatsoever he had heard he was to receive of Christ and glorifie Christ John 16.13.14 But the men who make this objection do dishonour and decrey Christ setting up Christ within them in opposition to him that suffered at Jerusalem the Spirit inspired Prophets Apostles Evangelists to deliver down unto us a rule of faith and life but these men do vilifie this written word and ministration of the Spirit and call on their proselytes to follow that light within them and make that sufficient for salvation For my part I am so far from desiring that any should envy for our sakes that I could heartily wish that all the Lords people were prophets and that his Spirit were on them Were there a Seculum Spiritus to be expectted I hope I should as sincerely pray for it and as much rejoyce in the approaches of it as another but so farr am I form finding in the Scriptures any time in which the Ministry shall cease and be useless that I rather find the Spirit is to be received by the hearing of faith and that it is one great work of the Spirit to quicken and give life to the publick Ordinances as dispensed by the Ministers of the Gospel 't is the Holy Ghost that maketh them overseers of the flock Acts. 20.28 As for that place 1 John 2.29 it carrieth it's answer in its own bowels You shall not need that any one teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you i. e. not other things nor in another way then the same anointing teacheth you but do any ministers pretend to teach other things or in another way then this anointing teacheth If they do not as it is most certaine they do not why is this Scripture so frequently urged against ministerial teaching For ever let us abhor those who cry up the Spirit so as to justle out that forme of found words which hath been delivered unto us by menguided by the Spirit Be sure you quench not the Spirit but have a care you despise not prophecyings God having put those two counsels together let no man put them asunder The Spirits Office towards Believers Whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption THe old Interpreter reads in the day of Redemption and by it Oecumenius and some others understand the day of Baptisme but because in the Greek t is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we have no reason to think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall by this day understand the day of Judgment as most Interpreters do and as we are led to do by that twin-place Chap. 1 13.14 where the Holy Spirit of promise is said to be the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession The price of a Believers Redemption is already paid and accepted by God and they are redeemed from their vain conversation but their day of redemption cannot be said to be fully come till this corruptible have put on incorruption at least not till this life be ended for till then 1. Their Redemption from the power and dominion of sin hath not its full effect even a Paul as long as he is in the body hath occasion to complain that he is sold under sin and that the law in the members warreth against the law of the mind and leadeth him captive to the commission of Sin and omission of Duty II. Till then our Redemption the forgiveness of sin Ephes 1.7 is not perfect I know that upon our first closing with Christ our transgressions are blotted out as a mist and as a thick cloud and our iniquities thrown into the bottome of the Sea there is no condemnation to us no obligation to Eternal wrath but yet I am also sure that we are bid repent that our sins may be blotted out when the daies of refreshing shall come from the Lord Acts. 3.19 Whence it may be inferred that a Penitents sins are not so blotted out as then they shall be blotted out indeed upon the first conversion a man is put into a state of justification which is inconsistent with obligation to Eternal death yet is he not freed from all punishment nor from all obligation to punishment for where there is no obligation to punishment there is no justice in punishing The want of the Spirit is one of the punishments we have brought on our selves by sin this punishment is not taken away but by restoring of the Spirit now though the Spirit be so restored as to prevent the dominion of Sin and damnation for the time to come yet is it not given in such a measure as to prevent all sin nor the contracting of new guilt nor shall He be so given in this world III. As to the Redemption of the Body that is so far from being compleat before the Great Day that till then it may seem not to begin While it is joyned to an imperfect soul 't is vile and mortal when separated from it then it becomes yet viler is thrown into a grave and preyed upon by worms and maggots at the Resurrection it begins to be spiritual incorruptible powerfull and like to the glorious body of Christ Jesus The Adoption the Redemption of the Body we do not now enjoy but by Faith and Hope we do wait for it Rom. 8.23 On all these accounts there is reason why that Day should be called as it is The manifestation of the sons of God Rom. 8.19 For though we be now the sons of God it appears not what we shall be 1 Joh. 3.1 The best use that can be made of this Appellation is that which is made of it by the whole Creation The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for this manifestation that it may be delivered from that bondage and vanity unto which it is subject and under which it groaneth much more should you who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within your selves waiting for the adoption 'T is utterly a fault among Christians that they groan so much under the burden of a few Taxes and Impositions and so little under the burden and body of Sin which they carry about with them They should much and frequently bless
uncertainties concerning our selves did we not sleight some Ordinance or omit some Duty or give way to some Lust 3. Though one may be a Child of God who doth want this Assurance yet is there no Child of God who sits down satisfied under the want of it who doth not desire to attain to the full assurance of hope Uncertainty of our condition is not so light an evil as that a Christian can carry it as if it were no burden nay but he follows Christ with unutterable sighs and groans he travelleth from Ordinance to Ordinance till his Evidences be cleared up and his Title to the Promises of Pardon be made out If a Child should have some doubt thrown into his mind concerning his Fathers love to him would he be at rest till it were removed How then can any Believer be himself under prevailing doubts concerning the good will of his Heavenly Father Hath God promised us his Spirit to seal us up to the day of redemption hath he besides his Covenant given us his Sacraments that we might have the more abundant consolation and after all this shall we quietly sit in the dark as if nothing ailed us how then dwelleth the love of God in us Especially those who have sometimes had the light of Gods countenance shining on them and have after lost it must needs be restless till they have recovered it Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30. v. 7. Troubled with a witness for it was his daily sorrow of heart yea it was as death to him for this he made his tears day and night he poured out his soul in him and his upbraidings by his enemies with this were as a sword in his bones Psal 42.3 4 10. As for the Spouse in the Canticles we do find Chap. 5. v. 6. that when her beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone her soul failed when she spake she sought but she could not find him she called but he made no answer Hereupon she goes to the Watchmen to the Daughters of Jerusalem charging them if they found her beloved to tell him she was sick of love v. 7.8 He never duly estimated the friendship of Christ who can bear his strangeness without great sorrow and heaviness of heart In answer to the third question How or in what way assurance is wrought by the Spirit I say His way of working is very dark and mysterious and assurance it self is better felt then expressed compared therefore as some conceive Rev. 2.17 to the Manna that is hid and to the white stono and the new name written in the stone which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it The Spirit working in our regeneration is inexpressible compared therefore John 3. to the Wind that bloweth where it listeth the sound whereof we hear but know not whence it cometh nor whether it goeth his working in assuring us that we are regenerate is much more inexpressible There are two kinds of Acts in the soul 1. Direct Acts such as is that by which the soul cleaves to Christ or lays hold on him or believes in him for remission of sins and salvation 2. Reflex Acts such as is that by which a man returns on himself and doth though not believe yet know that he believes believes sincerely Such reflex acts are the most noble royal operations ' the most refined Spiritual workings sufficient if we had no other arguments to prove the souls immortality But such workings of the soul usually are but weak and transient Radius reflexus languet is the rule in Opticks and which leaves us at a greater loss those places of Scripture from which we should borrow our light in this matter are so vexed with variety of descants and interpretations that it is not easie to know what to make of them It would quite tire out the patience of an ordinary Reader if I should but recite the variety of Comments on that place 1 John 5.8 There are three that bear record on earth the Spirit the Water the Blood and these three agree in one That indeed seems to be more plain Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God But first Grotius will have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be no more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he brings for proof a place or two in Scripture in which it seems to be so used because it is applyed to the witness of Conscience well having no other foundation to build his conceit on we may easily rid our hands of him for the witness of conscience is a joint witness it witnesseth together with God and is therefore called as some think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But then granting that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie a joint-witnessing it will not be so easie to find out what the other partner is that is joined with Gods Spirit in this action as we translate it should seem to be our own Spirit But the Rhemists translate not with our Spirit but to our Spirit which translation is put into the Margin of the English Bibles now read and was in the Text of those formerly used and then it will be a question whether our spirit be not the joint-witnesser but onely the recipient of this witness and the joint-witnesser the Son of God or that voice caused in us by the Spirit of God Yet because some do therefore want assurance because they look for it in an undue and unwarrantable manner expecting some vocall testimony to tell them that they are the children of God I shall therefore endeavour to unfold the matter as I am able And this I lay down in the first place That look in what way the Spirit of bondage doth work Fear in the same way the Spirit of Adoption doth work Hope and Assurance now the Spirit bringeth unconverted persons under fears and troubles concerning their estate by convincing them of the demerit of sin and shewing them that they are under the power of sin John 16.8 He will convince the world of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is errorem prâ—…conceptum profligare and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that fallacy in which something onely seemingly and not really contradictory to the question is proved is called ab ignoratione elenebi The secure unconsidering sinner lives in sin as if it were a very harmless innocent thing he makes a mock of it The Spirit therefore to awaken him out of his security and to put him under a necessity of enquiring after a Saviour doth joining with his conscience bring him under a three-fold conviction of Law of fact of state by some such Syllogisms Every liar shall have his portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone I am a Liar Therefore I shall have my portion in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Or He that believeth not is condemned already I believe not Therefore I am condemned already Or He that
hateth his brother is a murderer and hath not eternal life I hate my Brother Therefore I am a Murderer and have not eternal life These are all of them conclusions quite contradictory to the vain principles that did dwell in the secure sinner which being set home by the Spirit must needs make him fear what shal become of him In like manner doth the Spirit bring the heirs of the promise to the assurance of hope by some such practical Syllogisms as these He that loves the Brethren is passed from death to life I love the Brethren Therefore I am passed from death to life Or He that repents and believes shall be saved I repent and believe Therefore I shall be saved Now the Spirit hath revealed and inspired holy men to leave upon record to us the Propositions in these two Syllogisms the same Spirit also works in us that Faith by which we are enabled to believe those Scripture Propositions to be divine infallible truths he also worketh in us every gracious habit and exciteth those gracious acts which be the evidences and marks of our conversion justification and title to glory he also helpeth to feel and discover those acts in our selves and by comparing them with the rule to find their sincerity which is his concurrence with Conscience in making the assumption and lastly he helpeth sanctified reason from the premises to inferr the Conclusion whatever is beyond this is not essential to assurance but something separable from it Sometimes our assent to the premises and conclusion is stronger sometimes weaker hence the different degrees of assurance sometimes upon this assurance peace of Conscience we are marvellously enlarged with consolations called joy in the holy Ghost sometimes nor Obj. Some may say Is there no other way of working assurance but this doth not God sometimes testifie without any such discourse and ratiocination hath he confined himself to Syllogisms doth he not sometimes make some impressions on us by which we are assured that we are the children of God without the help or use of any argumentation Answ I have been alway apt to think that there is no other ordinary way of assuring the soul partly because the Scripture no where encourageth us to look for assurance in any other way and partly because to grant an immediate testimony seemed to me to open such a gap to Euthusiasme as it was impossible well to shut and I am somewhat imboldned in that sentiment by the concurrent judgment of a sober judicious Divine Mr. Tho. Blake who in his Treatise of the Covenant thus expresseth himself They that go about to assert an immediate testimony in any will never secure the soul from delusion Sathan will soon find an artifice to counterfeit this testimony and bear witness in the Spirits stead and when we think that we have the Spirit of truth to assure us we shall have the father of lies to deceive But in regard many of eminent piety and learning do assert an immediate testimony it may not be amiss to enquire a little what they mean by it and how they do bound it and then to shew what may be thought of it By this immediate Testimony they tell us that they do not mean any proper whisper or voice such as young Converts mistaking such Scripture phrases as Say unto my soul thou art my salvation are apt to wait for but they say it is a perswasion impressed upon a man suddenly and he knows not how quieting all his doubts and fears and making him chearfull and comfortable If you ask them How a Child of God who is to try all things dare adventure to take any such comfort how he knows it not to be a delusion of Satan they tell us that as there is in the eye a certain in-bred light to make it discern light and colours without a sound and air within the ear to make it discerne the sounds without So there is in a godly man grace a new nature and habitual instinct of heaven whereby it discernes the consolations of Gods Spirit testifying that he is the Son of God some secret and inexpressible lineaments of the fathers countenance in the child that the renewed soul at the very first blush knows and owns it Moreover they tell us 1. That although the Spirit thus testifie without application of any particular word yet he never testifies contrary to the word he never speaks to those who are regenerate though they do not know themselves to be such 2. That the Spirit doth not ordinarily thus testifie but after or in attendance on some ordinance or performance of some duty or after some very great abasement of a mans Spirit and more then ordinary soul-humiliation or after some very hard adventure for God or after some great combat and conflict with temptation 3. That such of the Testimonies of the Spirit do beget but an actual assurance during the present exigence or in order to some present design that God is working thereby Now to give my sense of this opinion 1. The Authors of it seem so to bound it as that it would be uncharitableness to think that they have any ill or pernicious design in it 2. The things which they say are done by impression are not without ratiocination only the ratiocination is not so distinct and explicite as when a man comes to his assurance by that difficult work of examination Philosophers say that what is done by beasts through instinct and impulse is not done without something analogous to ratiocination they commonly give us the examples of such Syllogisms as they suppose to be made by beasts as namely lambs when they come to their dams and flie away from the wolves So I conceive that in all the impressions made on the soul whether they be by way of comfort or incitation to duty there be some characters either in the matter or manner of them either in their holiness or greatness or vehemence or unusualness by which a Christian knows them to be from God and so accordingly rests in them the which characters did he not find he would either not regard them or reject them with abhorrence 3. I would not have any one lay the stress of his hope of heaven on any such impression nor upon the account of any such impression alter his opinion in reference to any point of Doctrine or adventure upon any practice that is in the least questionable unto him If he should I take it he would give the devil great advantage against him and subject himself to infinite delusions as will soon be manifest to him that will be at the pains to read over the discourses of Dr. Casaubon and Dr. Moore concerning Enthusiasme Mr. John Fox our holy and learned Martyrologist had many impressions some of which are taken notice of by his son in the History of his life but did they not sometimes fail him and discover themselves to be neither Divine nor True Let any one judge