become operative to several ends and Objects Hence those Acts which immediately spring from other graces as their proper stock are attributed to faith that being the principle of their heavenly working in this respect as the success of an Army redounds to the Generals Honor so the victory which is effected by other Christian qualities is here ascribed to Faith which animates them and leads them forth as their chief Captain 6. Faith Amplifies dilates enlargeth the heart to run the wayes of Gods Commandments 1 John 5. 1. and 3. verses compared together whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God c. vers 1. For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments c. verse 3. Faith is the ground of Love and Love the Author of Obedience holy obedience is the daughter of a lively Faith when and where Christ dwels in the heart by faith that soul being rooted and grounded in love comprehends with all Saints secundum quid what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth of the love of Christ Ephes 3. 17 18 19. Which love like a fire in his bones like a flame in his bowels enflames his soul with love to God and Christ opens and enlargeth his heart to duties of obedience to serve the Lord with a most free and Princely spirit The soul of an affectionate Believer runs swiftly chearfully nobly in the wayes of God like the Chariots of Aminnadib Cant. 6. 12. Faith thus argues Amminadib i. e. my voluntary free bounteous or noble people Ainsworth in Cant. 6. 12. Psal 103. 3 4. Ephe. 1. 3. Hath God loved me in his Son from everlasting and will hee love me to everlasting Hath God in Christ forgiven such a wretch as I all mine iniquities redeemed my life from destruction and crowned me even me with loving-kindness and tender mercies yea with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Then what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits Nothing I can do nothing I can suffer too much for him I am and will be his for ever at his Command and for his service Thus the faith of a sanctified Person reasons 7. Faith Corroborates it strengthens the weak it revives the faint it supports the desponding and sinking spirit The Psalmist in great tryals and troubles had great experience of the supports of faith Psalm 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living Love keeps you from dissembling Hope keeps you from desponding Patience keeps you from tyring but 't is Faith that keeps you from fainting When a * 2 Chron. 2. 20. Psal 57. 7. My heart is fixed in some translations 't is suffultum est cormeum my heart is underpropt great multitude from beyond the Sea on this side Syria came up against Judah and the people were in sore distress Jehosaphat their good King encouraged the people saying believe in the Lord your God so shall ye be established believe his Prophets so shall ye prosper 2 Chron. 20. 20. Faith in God is the souls establishment wherefore a Believer shall not be affraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord his heart is established he shall not be affraid until he see his desire upon his enemies Thus the Psalmist sweetly sings Psalm 112. 7 8. The fixation of the soul by faith on God on Christ on his Attributes on his Promises yields the surest strength the speediest and sweetest relief and succour in the Crisis of any Exigence When David for fear of Saul was got into a Wood Jonathan leaves his Father and privately came to David 1 Sam. 23. 16. into the Wood and strengthened his hand in God So when a Believer is in a wood of fears and dangers he strengthens his hand the hand of his faith in God and the more his faith is up the more his fears are down Divines use to compare the base fears of men and the embondaging fears of Death to the Lead that weighs the Net under water and faith to the Cork that keeps up the Net from sinking Hope the eldest daughter of Faith is an Anchor sure and stedfast Heb. 6. 19. but Faith is the Rock which this Anchor rests on according to the Proverb were it not for Hope heart would break and the Scripture tels us Rom. 8. 24. We are saved by hope but Hope receives all its subsistence strength Faith is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 argumentum Heb. 11. 1. from Faith Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. 8. Faith exhilarates comforts cheers the soul fils it with joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. The God of hope fils the soul with joy and peace in believing Faith is as a twinkling star in a dark Night as a shining Sun in a cloudy Day as Rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land The Apostle Peter elegantly expresseth the soul-exulting operation of saving faith 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom that is Christ having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory Faith opens a crevis of light and springs a Mine of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exultatis gaudio ineffabili gloriosa Beza exulting joy in the most insulting danger When once a Believer is justified by faith and hath peace with God hee then rejoiceth in the most glorious Hope viz. in the hope of the glory of God and not only so but he glories also in tribulations hee glories in them and he glories over them because the love of God is shed abroad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 effusa est is poured forth into his heart by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5. 1 2 and 5. verses by faith in Christ and by communion with Christ in his Conquests hee knows he shal be more than a Conqueror over all his Enemies Rom. 8. 37. * Neque enim simpliciter dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idest ut vertit Cyprianus Epist 26. supervincimus Amplius quam victores sumus Beza 't is not only said Conquerours but more than Conquerors as Cyprian and Beza on the place Thus I have endeavoured to present you with some of the precious properties and vital operations of precious Faith which every one that is born of God or sanctified doth enjoy to his inestimable benefit Faith is an inseparable Concomitant with and an infallible evidence of our Sanctification for whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 John 5. 1. This is the third Adjunct and evidence of our Regeneration 4th Effect and evidence of our sanctification is love to God and to the Brethren As Christ dwels in the heart by faith Ephes 3. 17. so the soul
THE CHRISTIANS Crovvn of Glory OR HOLINESS The Way to HAPPINESS Shewing the necessity of Sanctity or a Holy life from a serious consideration of the Life of the holy Jesus who is Christ our Sanctification Also a plain Discovery of the Formalist or Hyppocrite Together with the Doctrine of Justification Opened and Applied London Printed for Tho. Passinger at the Sign of the three Bibles on the middle of London-Bridge 1671. To all that are sanctified in Christ Jesus especially to my Christian Friends and Acquaintance in and near London The Authour wisheth all prosperity and true felicity the progress of Sanctification in this world with the perfection thereof in Glory Worthy and good Friends BY the wonderful over-ruling and sole-disposing hand of Providence which some call the Queen of the World I had the Providentia Dei Regina mundi â—â—nour and the happiness to be cast into your Acâ—uaintance with whom at a leastwise with â—any of you I have had for years through â—â—rcy comfortable and sweet sociey in the things God and from whom I have received so many 〈◊〉 and ample manifestations of cordial respect 〈◊〉 kindnesse for my support and succour in the â—â—â—s of my extremity For all which according â—y bounden duty in all humility and sincerity â—esire to blesse and Magnifie the Possessor of Heaâ—â—â—â— and Earth as also to thank you Begging Father of mercies to reward your labour of love hundred fold And to enrich you with the fulness of the Blessings of the Gospel of Christ 'T is I confess a duty incumbent on me To render Rom. 15. 29. ye a due acknowledgment of hearty thanks for your kindness to me not long since a perfect stranger to all your faces least otherwise I should contract Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris the stain and Odium of that monstrous and multiplied sin Ingratitude debating in my thoughts not how to make Compensation or requital for that as the case stands with me is impossible but how at most to make some small Testification of the unfeigned honour and love I bear you not onely for your Goodnesse to mee but primarily and principally for the spiritual worth and goodnesse the God of all Grace according to the riches of of his Grace hath I trust confer'd upon ye and infused into ye I knew no better expedient than the dedication of this ensuing Treatise which is not presented to ye or any mortals for Patronage or protection but for Acceptance and perusal at your most serious hours I never loved to dawb with untempered mortar nor to sew Pillows under mens elbows since I knew any thing of the mind of God in truth If this small piece doth not cannot speak for it self though in weaknesse I will not speak a word for it neither do I desire that any should 'T is an old and true Veritas non quaerit angulos Veritas stâ—t in aper to Campo Maxim Truth needs no Patronage and Errour I am sure desorves none What by the Word and rule of Truth ye finde consonant and consentaneous to the mind and will of God the prime Truth that call God's and Christ's and therefore prize and practice it But whatsoever you finde if errour obliquity and deflexion from the Rule that call mans and mine and carefully eschew it imputing to it humane frailty and weaknesse for humanum est errare I remember I have read of Artaxerxes a most Plutarth in the life of Artaxerxes noble and munificent King of Persia that such was the Princely condescension and sweetnesse of his disposition as not onely to give great Gifts unto his Friends and Favourites but also kindly to accept of mean Presents from mean persons so hoping with the like candour you will please to receive this small Tract I have presumed to dedicate and commend it to your Christian consideration I modestly confesse I have been sollicited to print some of my former Meditations though I know Apologies of this nature are little credited yet through sense of my own weaknesse I have forborn as judging none of my Grapes worth the Presse Besides the great numbers of profitable and practical Books of many famous men already extant But at length at the friendly desire of some sober Persons willing me to leave some Manifesto of my love or Legacies in their hands as they pleased to tearm it I have Adventured to make these Labours publick which I trust will not seem nauseous or unpleasant to a spirit truly sanctified I have long since thought that every faithfull labourer in the Lords Vineyard had principally a double work to do both tending unto and terminating themselves in holiness viz. 1. To convert Sinners 2. To confirm Saints 1. By the Spirit of Grace and word of Truth to beget holinesse in unholy souls to bring in them that are without who belong to the election of Grace Jam. 1. 18. 2. By the same effectual means the Word and Spirit to nourish and nurse up the new Man begotten to breed up those that are within I hope 1 Pet 2. 2. through grace this holy and blessed work hath been the white the mark I have aimed at in the series of my Employment and particularly in this undertaking of Sanctification here offered to your Judgments which is a Doctrine most Necessary most Excellent most Comfortable 1. 'T is a Doctrine most needfull for the sons of men to learn and practice 't is the one thing needfull 't is the principal thing there is no seeing the face of God without it for without holinesse Luke 10. 42. Pro. 4. 7. Heb. 12. 14. no man shall see the Lord. Consider the Decree of the Father the Mission of the Son the Office of the holy Spirit the publication of the Gospel the Jewels of the Covenant the nature of the great and precious Promises the Tendency of all Gods Dispensations Whether smiles or frownes mercies or afflictions do they not all respectively speak the same thing and mutually conspire yea meet and center in the same end viz. to make ye partakers of his Holiness nay they all tell ye in plain tearms ye must be Heb. 12. 10. holy God will not alter his Decree for you nor send another Saviour nor chalk out another new way to Heaven nor proclaim another Gospel for you nor for any Creatures breathing If Christ be not your sanctification as is held forth in this Treatise sin will be your condemnation you will perish and die eternally if there be a necessity of your salvation there is as absolute a necessity of your sanctification If the Lord hath revealed Christ to ye as the Lord your Righteousnesse he hath also revealed Christ to ye and in ye as the Principle and Prince of your Life as the High Priest your holinesse and ye must look up daily to Jesus Christ for both and receive of his fulnesse You see there is an indispensible John 1. 16. need of Holinesse and
of Christ is God so the Head of the Church is Christ The Father in an ineffable manner communicated as of old the Divine Essence and Nature so at his Incarnation an unmeasurable measure an overflowing fulness of the Spirit and Grace to the Son yea it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even as Mediator Col. 1. 19. And the Son by the Ordination and appointment of the Father communicates derives and by his Spirit imparts unto his Saints all those spiritual Eph. 1. 3. Eph. 3. 8. blessings all those unsearchable riches all those riches of glory or glorious riches Ephes 3. 16. which he hath received of his Father for them Some of which heavenly and choicest treasures we find lying in the field or rather Mine of this Text viz. Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption I shall now Deo juvante consider the Text it self open the sense of the words and draw some practical conclusions from the whole The Apostle having humbled and dejected the Corinthians ver 26 27. of this Chap. in calling upon them to see or consider their calling for ye see your calling Brethren c. where calling is put metonymically for the persons called that is what manner of men they themselves were and generally are which God calls by the Gospel not the wise after the flesh not the Mighty not the Noble but commonly the foolish weak and base for the poor receive the Gospel Now in this verse the Apostle comforts and cheers them and lifts up their heads Quos antea dejecerat nunc supra omnes mortales evehit sed ita ut omnem ipsorum dignitatem doceat non ab ipsis sed à Christo emanare idque à Deo id est Dei unius vi ac beneficio Beza in loc above all other mortals by informing them of their Origination from God their Vnion with Christ their spiritual descent from him in Christ Jesus But of him are ye in Christ Jesus Here the Apostle shews them the true rise of true honour and of divine dignity Corinthiorum animos dejecerat revoâ—ando eos ad intuendam suam ipsorum vocationem quod fuit propemodum acsi dixisset eos insipientes ignobiles infirmos omnes fuisse quasi non essent quum ad Christum vocarentur Quare nunc illos erigit pulchrè consolatur dicens licèt ex vobis ipsis tales fueritis ut modò estis à me descripti Attamen jam ex Deo estis P. Martyr in loc not springing from noble birth or liberal breeding not from any natural moral or secular accomplishments or considerations whatsoever But from the special grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus manifested and put forth in a double act of divine love 1. In Election 2. In Regeneration 1. In Election God the Father did chuse all believers in Christ before the foundation of the world Ephes 1. 4. in that eternal compact or Foederal transactions between the Father and the Son commonly called the Covenant of Redemption Ye are of God in Christ Jesus viz. Emphasis est in verbo estis q. d. à Deo vobis est principium qui ea quae non sunt voâ—at in Christo verò subsistentia c. Calvin by vertue of the Eternal Purpose and Decree of God The gracious purpose of God the Father in Christ is the beginning of the wayes of God the Original and highest Well-head of all our holiness and happiness as appears 2 Tim. 1. 9. where ye shall find that both our Salvation and Calling are no other than the genuine efflux and products of Gods purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began So Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began D. Jacomb in his Sermon upon Isa 55. 10. How was this life promised before the world began but in this everlasting Covenant wherein the Father promised unto Christ eternal life for all his Seed Though the Decrees of God are immanent Decreta Dei nihil ponunt in Actu and not transient acts abiding with reverence in the Mind or Breast of God and not actually passing upon the creature yet Gods eternal purpose in electing us in Christ is the primum mobile the great wheel that sets all the other inferiour wheels at work that animates quickens and actually moves and influenceth and constantly carries on and perfects all other intermediate acts of grace in order to our Salvation Gods blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things and places is said to be in relation unto in correspondence with in pursuance of his electing us in Christ according as he hath chosen us in Christ Ephes 1. 3 4. They are all Emanations from this Fountain Thus in the first place and I think not improperly we may be said to be of God in Christ Neque hoc intelligit quoad creationem sed ait de eo quod per gratiam Regenerationem consequuti erant P. Martyr Jesus viz. of God originally and primarily in Christ Jesus vertually and radically by vertue of Gods electing love to us in Christ before the world began 2. More principally according to the purport of this place we are of God in Christ Jesus by the grace of Regeneration we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2. 10. Believers are of God i. e. born of God in Christ Jesus for the Father of our Lord Jesus as our Spiritual Father is said to have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. Eadem sententia est cum illa qui non ex sanguinibus neque ex voluntate carnis c. Pomeran By vertue of his Will we are elected and by the Power of the same Will we are called and regenerated Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth c. One saith This sentence is the same with that Joh. 1. 13. which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Let it not grieve the Saints in that they are not born of Nobles nor descended of the blood of Princes but rather rejoyce and raise up their spirits in the midst of all reproaches and sufferings in that they are the Sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus a Divine Off-spring of an heavenly Extraction rejoyce in this that your names are written in heaven Ye are wise noble honourable every way glorious creatures in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus that is by Eph 1. 6. In Christo Jesu id est per Christum Jesum propter Christum Jesum nam per Christum propter Christum accepti grati sumus Patri Christ Jesus and for Christ Jesus for indeed we can be no way amiable or acceptable to the Father but in the beloved We are said not only to be Elect
four weighty Reasons Reas 1. Because all grace begins with the Father he is the first in order of Being and the first in order of Working the Fountain of the Trinity as we may conceive 't is the Father that floweth out to us in Christ by the Spirit he is the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. And the Text tells ye we are of God in Christ Jesus 't is true Christ as the second Person is coequal with the Father in power and glory but Christ as Mediatour must be considered as the Fathers Servant as his elect or Isa 42. 1. chosen Instrument Reas 2. Glorifie the Father for whatsoever good Christ hath done for you or in you all is done with respect to the Fathers love and grant God hath saved us according to his own Purpose and Grace given us in Christ Jesus God 2 Tim. 1. 9. Joh. 17. 2. gave Christ power over all Flesh that he should give eternal life to those God had given him Righteousness Holiness Heaven and Happiness is the Fathers free Grant or Donatâ—ve To her it was granted to be covered with fine Linnen the Rev. 19. 18. Rithteousness of the Saints and fear not little Flock 't is your Fathers good pleasure to give you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdome Luke 12. 32. or that Kingdome 'T is very observable that in all Christs expressions of love to us he still expresseth obedience to his Fathers Will there is a double ground of hope as Stella speaks the Son loveth See Stella at large de amore Dei cap. 18. us because the Father requireth it and the Father loveth us because the Son asketh it Reas 3. It is a great support and comfort to a Believer in the act of believing to consider the Love of the Father as well as the Merit of the Son Two are better than one 't is 1 Joh. 2. 23 24. 2 Ep. Joh. 9. often made a great priviledge to have both the Father and the Son The Fathers love the Sons Merit severally and apart considered will not yeild that full joy and peace in believing as both conjoyned There 's no coming to God but by Christ for God out of Christ is consuming fire Again Christ separated from the Father doth not yeild so firm a ground of confidence The Fathers Act with the Sons Merit gives us full security Christ and the Father also are a Believers Guardians John 10. 28 29 30. a double cord is not broken easily this two-fold custody is the best security The Father is represented as the offended Party by mans sin Conscience quakes and trembles now for a soul to know that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and that Christ came from Heaven to do his Fathers Will and that the Father hath made him over to us in all his fulness as wisdome righteousness sanctification and redemption This settles the soul in peace Thou wilt keep him in peace peace so it is in the Hebrew whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26. 3. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell peace in perfect peace Isa 26. 3. Reas 4. Because in the Fathers love there are many engaging Circumstances not to be found in the other Persons 1. In the Fathers Love and Acts of Grace there is an Original fulness Christs fulness as Mediatour is but drawn out of the Fathers plenty Col. 1. 19. 2. The fulness of the Son in the dispensing of it is limited by the Fathers will all that Christ dispensed was according to the charge and commandment of the Father Mat. 20. 23. To sit on my right-hand and left is not mine to give saith Christ save to those for whom it is prepared of my Father Christ as Mediatour was limited by the Fathers Will To what end did God give Christ power over all Flesh but to give eternal life to as many a God had given him to none other Now it is sweet to Joh. 17. 2. think that the Father himself loveth us who is first in Order and whose Will is absolute and that he hath laid up an inexhaustible treasure in his Son for us 3. In the Fathers Acts you have the purest and freest apprehensions of love 'T was the Father that began and as we conceive broke the business of our Redemption and that sent his Son into the world to accomplish it The Son as Mediatour can have an higher motive than his own love viz. the Fathers Will but the Father can have no higher motive than his own Love After the Apostle had treated of Election Predestination to Adoption Remission of sins c. he concludes all under the Will of God The Eph. 1. 11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the good pleasure of the Fathers Will was the Well-head or Fountain Cause of all those acts of Grace that passed out unto the creature by the personal operations of the Son and Spirit The love of the Father was antecedent to the merit of Christ and to the operation of the Spirit therefore in the Fathers Acts of Grace ye have the apprehensions of the first and freest love you have great reason therefore from Spiritual Scriptural Considerations to glorifie and praise the Father as the original Authour of all your holiness and happiness Thus much for the second Use Use 3 If Jesus be given of God for our Sanctification then we may safely infer that Sanctification is neither an easie nor a common work 1. Sanctification is no easie work God takes it to be his prerogative I am the Lord that sanctifies you Levit. 21. 8. Grace is his own proper immediate creature mans Will contributeth nothing to the worke but resistance and rebellion wherefore God makes the Domine errare per me potui redire non potui Aust Meditat. soul willing in the day of his power Psal 110. 3. and outward means work not unless the mighty power of the Spirit works with them or else why should the same Word Preached by the same Minister mollifie some and harden others Christ must come from Heaven and open a Fountain in his own side and heart Zech. 13. 1. for our purification Nothing but the blood of Christ can purge your Consciences from Heb. 9. 14 dead works If any other means had been effectual Christ had never been made of God Sanctification to us 'T is observable Sanctification is not onely expressed by a Creation i. e. a making of things out of nothing but Luke 11. 21 22. 1 Joh. 4. 4 also by a victory or a powerful overcoming of opposition In Creation as there was nothing to help so there was nothing to resist or hinder but when God comes to sanctifie or convert a soul besides a Death in sin God finds a strength of resistance against Grace Therefore Sanctification is wrought by the power of the Almighty We deserve it not it comes from the Fathers Good-will and Christs Merit and we work it
the world to seem and not to be just he converseth more with men than with God Yet the godly can appeal to God for their sincerity though they tremble at their defects and impurity like Peter John 20. 17. He appeals to Christs Omnisciency Lord thou knowest all things and thou knowest that I love thee So holy Job expostulates the case thus Let me be weighed in an even ballance that God may know mine integrity Job 31. 6. He could appeal to God the un-erring Rule of Righteousness in this matter he knew his integrity would hold weight And at another time he hath this self-abasing expression Mine eye seeth thee therefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes Job 42. 5. 6. As he could hold fast his integâ—ity so he could also loath and abhor himself in dust and ashes at the sight of Gods glorious Majesty and purity and in the sense of his own defects and failings Mark 3 3. False grace grows not better and better but rather worse and worse pretences wither rather than thrive an hypocrite goes backward rather than forward every day Jer. 7. 24. The Lord by the Prophet complains there that his people hearkned not nor enclined their ear but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward False grace like bad salt grows worse and worse til it be cast out into the Dunghil but true grace from a grain groweth unto a Tree from a morning glympse to a perfect Noon Prov. 4. 18. The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day from smoaking flaxe it is blown up to fragrant flame Nicodemnus that came to Christ at first by night for fear of the Jews afterwards openly declareth for him and bestowed much cost upon the dead body of our Lord. Grace gets John 19. 39. ground upon the flesh and by degrees advanceth to a Victory Now examine your hearts whether ye encrease or decrease whether ye go forward or backward whether your faith love zeal patience heavenly-mindedness Rev. 2. 4. c. thrive or not If ye have left your first Love if ye have lost your care of Duty sense of sin and hungring and thirsting appetite after Christ and his Righteousness 't is a sad sign Remember therefore from whence ye are fallen and repent and do your first works be also watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye 'T is Christs Blessed Counsel Revel 2. 5. Revel 3. 2. Mark 4 4. False grace is not humble Formalists are commonly proud and self-conceited persons with true Grace there goeth alwayes Notare verò operae pretium est neminem spiritu esse pauperem nisi qui in nihilum apud se redactus in Dei misericordiam recumbit Calv. in Matth. 5. 3. a spiritual poverty or a sense of spiritual wants the poor in spirit are first in order of the Beatitudes Matth. 5. 3. The more knowledge the Saints have the more they discern their ignorance the more faith the more they bewail their unbelief Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Mark 9. 24. The more they love him the more they blame their hearts for loving hâ—m no more they call upon their souls to love him most intensively Grace grows most and thrives best in a low and humble soyl the lowest Valleys are far more fruitful than the highest Mountains 't is a good sign when the soul is kept hungry and humble in the sense of its wants amidst the height of its enjoyments 3. The next is Restraining Grace which What restraining Grace is is nothing else but an awe put by God upon the Conscience constraining a man to forbear sin though he doth not hate it You may discern it by these signs Sign 1 1. Love is of little use and force with such spirits They are under a spirit of bondage chained up by their own fears not moved by the great Gospel Motive viz. Mercy 'T is our Rom. 12. 1. Duty to serve God with Reverence and filial fear but not with a servile and distrustful fear a servile fear hath little of Grace in it Heb. 12. 28. much of Torment We ought to fear God much but to love him more Love is the very life and soul of all Gospel-obedience Sign 2 2. Restraining Grace doth not destroy sin but only prohibit the acts of it Abimelechs lust was not mortified when God with-held him from Sarah Gen. 20. 6. 't was only suspended not subdued the heart was not renewed though the action was curbed as Israel had an adulterous heart towards other Lovers when their way was hedged up with Hos 2. 6. thorns But when the Spirit of holinesse in power comes he comes as a Spirit of Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. He frees the soul from the servitude of base lusts and mortifies them and both strongly and sweetly turns and enclines the heart to hate every false way and to run the wayes of Gods Commandments with an enlarged Psal 119. 32. heart 4. The fourth thing that looks like Sanctification and yet is not is common or temporary grace This is a distinct thing from all the rest 't is higher than all the former it differs from Civility because 't is more Christian and Evangelical it differs from Formality because that is in shew only but this is a real work on the soul 'T is better than restraining grace because that avoids sin and performs Duties out of slavish fear but this seemeth to have some affection for Christ his Word and Kingdom 't is good in it self but not the best not throughly sanctifying and saving this a man may have and yet fall away and depart from God so it was with the stony and thorny ground Matth. 13. This is the nearest to true Grace of all the former of this the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 4 5. which is called an enlightning a taste of Christ and of the powers of the world to come and a partaking of the Holy Ghost i. e. of the common gifts of the Spirit abilities for holy duties great parts c. from whence I shall briefly note these three things 1. That the Light here spoken of is not Quam perniciosum sit inflari notitiâ— sine charitate in sacris legitur Prov. 26. 12. P. M. humbling 2. The taste is not ravishing 3. Their gifts are not renewing 1. Their light is not humbling Knowledge puffeth up love edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. Foundations sink that are not laid deep enough you can never magnifie Christ enough nor abase self enough Christ is most magnified when self is most abased This Dagon Isa 2. 19. must fall down before the Ark sound humiliation brings sure and solid Consolation we must not rashly close with Christ in the pride of our hearts as they did but be sure we have depth of earth broken and contrite spirits 2. Their tast was not ravishing nor