most complete Confirmation that can be given For in these said Sacraments God doth as appears from his Institution of them most sensibly unto our selves and most publickly in the face of the Congregation TESTIFIE his Engagement to fulfill the Promises of the Covenant expecting our fulfilling of the Demands which he had before Testified unto us by his Word and Spirit in our hearts And we in the Sacraments do as appears from our very Celebration of them besides our verbal Declarations most solemnly and openly TESTIFIE our Engagement to fulfill the Demands of the Covenant expecting God's gracious fulfilment of the Promises which we had before testified with our Hearts and with our Lips In a word the good Man learns that though it be an amazing Condescention of which God disposeth his Grace in way of Covenant yet it is a further and vastly greater Condescention of which he addeth Seals and such Confirmations There was on his part no need of them nor did he add them to help his own inviolable Faithfulness but meerly to help our weak Faith and to give us the more strong Consolation Particularly 1. The more to express his sincere and earnest respect unto our Salvation as a King expresseth his Zeal for a poor Subjects Satisfaction when he saith Come I am not satisfied my self to give thee my bare word though it be a royal one I will unto the same add my broad Seal 2. To Apply more particularly and closely unto every individual Soul this foresaid Covenant I say more particularly than in the Scripture it is applied Like a King who being desirous more abundantly to comfort reconciled Rebels though he hath in common declared their Pardon in an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity doth further Sign and Seal particularly every one's Pardon For in the Word God speaks indeed the same things as in the Sacraments but in the Word he speaks unto all generally but in the Sacraments unto every one particularly Therein his Language by his Minister uttered is I Baptize THEE and Take and Eat THOU 3. To invest Believers solemnly and as by formality of Law into a right to the good things of the Covenant As Men use when having consented to a Bargain they have made those that deal with them a right unto a House or Field they do make that right more explicite by the delivery of it to them by some formality of Law that of a House by the delivery of a Key and that of a Field by delivery of a Turf of Earth So Acts 22.14 Arise and be Baptized for the washing away of thy Sins that is Receive Baptism as a livery and Seisin of Pardon and of all other benefits of the Covenant of Grace which are inseparable from it 4. To set Christ and all his benefits before Believers in the way of greatest force to Instruct and Comfort them And that is by Proposal of them unto our Senses in visible Rites and Ceremonies For who knows not that Knowledge comes into our Souls through our Senses And both most powerfully and pleasantly through our Eyes Now the gracious Man dares not receive this overflowing of God's Grace in vain Holily to God exemplarily to Men beneficially unto his Soul he doth by the holy Sacraments of the New Testament 1 Profess his Christian Religion 2 Testifie his Union to Christ and to his Members 3 Distinguish himself from Infidels 4 Encourage and Engage his Soul to the Obedience of the Gospel He thinks it worth his while to contemplate and to praise the wonderful extent of God's grace in this signed sealed Covenant of his For the most part he is one that considers it is extended as to the PERSONS so unto the SEED of Believers And that as God said to Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed so upon us Gentiles is that blessing of Abraham come Gal. 3.13 14. And we are told that our Children are Holy that is with a Covenant-holiness and such as entitles them unto Baptism the entring Seal of the Covenant 1 Cor. 7.14 They are holy by their Parents Dedication and by God's Acceptation for when the Parents dedicated themselves they dedicated their seed also unto God and when God Promised to be their God he Promised to be the God of their seed also No Man hath yet shewn us where God hath said I will no longer be the Covenant-God of my Peoples Infant-seed Or though I do admit them into my Covenant I will not henceforth as of old seal my Covenant unto them Now as before Baptism they are Holy by Spiritual Dedication after Baptism they are farther Holy by Sacramental Consecration And as the Circumcised of old were debtors to the whole Law to do it so are they being Baptized by new Obligation debtors to the whole Gospel to obey it To wit when they come unto years of capacity and cease to be accounted by God as Parts and Pieces of their Parents which in their nonage they are accounted A blessed Privilege And such as if it were but duly improved by Parents and Children we should soon see blessed Effects of it The gracious Man of whom we speak laments much his Parental and his Personal non-improvement And is one that sets himself to make it appear he thinks the past time of neglect to have been too too much One that now having received his sight in the Matter addicts himself to improve it so much the more unto Faith and Obedience He perceives that Baptism is another kind of thing than the generality of People take it for And of all things to be named God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Baptism in vain Take it in vain they do who mind their Covenant with God never the more for it Who believe the Pardon of their Sins never the more who confide in God for the bestowal of all the Promised good things of the Covenant never the more who are bent to die unto sin and live unto righteousness never the more for their Baptism But he conceives of it as a Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins And makes the same use of it as a Servant doth of his Covenant with his Master as a Souldier doth of his Covenant with his Captain as a Wife doth of her solemnized Marriage-Covenant with her Husband He constantly bears it in Mind as his true and greatest Encouragement to expect the recompence of reward without doubting and as his like Engagement to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ to fight under his Banner against Flesh World and Devil and all days of his Life to Honour Love and Obey him As Warriers are not dress'd but are naked till their Swords are girded to their Sides so is it with him in a Morning he thinks not himself up dress'd and ready to stir till his Soul hath put on the Sword of the Spirit which is the Covenant-WORD of GOD as in holy BAPTISM SIGNED and SEALED Ubi VERBUM nominatur SACRAMENTA fere subintelliguntur
own Righteousness was very Sand and by no means to be built on He Convinced me of Righteousness and that of another make than my own yea or than the Angels Being beat off from trust in my own Righteousness and coming to some knowledge of Christ's I was like to stick in the place of the breaking of Children I was very near to Miscarry in the pangs of the new Birth And he the self-same Spirit brought me forth He brought Christ to my heart and my heart unto Christ he was to me a Spirit of Faith of uniting Faith joyning Christ and my Soul as Head and Members be joyned Of Justifying Faith and such as through the Law of Grace makes Christ's Satisfaction for Sin as beneficial to us as if we our selves had payed our Debts unto God Such a Faith as put me into the City of Refuge and secured me from the pursuit of the Avenger I humbly hope so at least When this was done and I was born of Water and of the Spirit then was I all in haste for a heart much more clean and more after God's heart And he the same Spirit was unto me a Spirit of Burning as Fire mollifies Iron he softned my heart more than ever in former times and melted my will into God's Will and united it to fear his Name After this it self still was I a short-sighted Creature and in pain to know more of God and Christ of Sin and Grace of my Hearts deceits and Satans wiles of Heaven and Hell And he it was that in and by his Ordinances anointed my Eyes and made me from that time to this to make some Progress in Knowledge To grow in it both Extensively and Intensively Several times have I been in danger of being deceived by false Teachers by the craft of men lying in wait to deceive And he the only unerring Guide kept my foot his word it was that I heard behind me saying This is the way walk in it Many is the sad time that I have back-slidden and foully fallen And by him hath it been shewn me whence I was fallen he it was that came and said Return thou backslider He it was that let me not to rest till I had gone forth and wept bitterly and laid hold on him that healeth backslidings Full often I have had fightings without and fears within sorrow upon sorrow And he hath been a Comforter indeed he hath taken of Jesus and shewn me that which hath made my state presently tolerable and by and by comfortable It is never very long together but I am at a loss what to do for both Life Motion and Direction And he alone it is who makes me feel any spark of life in me makes me stir and move in Willing and Doing and guideth me in Judgment teaching me his way When I am most afflicted and need most of all to Pray even then oftentimes do I least of all know what to pray for And he it is this holy Spirit himself that maketh Intercessions in me as it is Rom. 8.26 and maketh me to Pray in him as it is Jud. v. 20. More plainly he enlightneth and he fortifieth my puzled and dejected Soul He Directeth my requests so that I ask Bread and not a Stone Fish and not a Serpent He Enflameth my Desires so that by the Fervence I discern God's Acceptance as of old Sacrifices were manifested to be acceptable by the firing of them He emboldens also my Suits unto God so that while I adore him as my Soveraign I trust him as my Father by Adoption While I am prostrate before him as a rebellious Subject with a Rope about my Neck I have the humble confidence of a Child of his in my heart and I do rejoyce fiducially while I tremble most Self-condemningly Briefly until such time as I got acquainted with him never could I heartily call God the Father my Father nor call Jesus Christ my Lord. I am sure I could do neither according to the Will of God Well might my dear Redeemer call this Holy Spirit God's good gift Luk. 11.13 Well might the Man after God's own Heart exclaim Take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51. And well might the great Apostle pray for his Ephesian Children that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory might give unto them the SPIRIT of WISDOM and REVELATION in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 18. And well will it be for me and all my dearest ones if as above all things I Pray we shall holily walk after this good Spirit Not GRIEVING his Divine PERSON dwelling in us not QUENCHING his gracious MOTIONS made in us not RESISTING him in any of his ORDINANCES instituted for us For by his blessed Operation it is that we have our Communion with the FATHER in his Love with the SON in his Grace and with Himself the Coessential SPIRIT in his Consolation Look as the Son of God is Mediator for us unto the Father unto himself as he is God and unto the Holy Spirit unto the whole Trinity in like manner is the Holy Spirit the one common Operator or Worker for us and Comforter of us from the Father from the Son and from Himself from God in Unity He is named the COMFORTER and as I conceive comparatively greater than Christ was in the days of his Flesh on Earth But how doth he comparatively so much more comfort the Children of God This he doth by acquainting them much more with the Love of the Father By giving them to see more fully that the Father himself loveth them as our Lord speaks Joh. 16.27 And by discovering unto them much more the grace of the Son the super-excellency of his Person and of his Purchases By glorifying of him in their hearts so as he never was before Joh. 14.15 that is the very word which Christ useth He shall GLORIFIE me And lastly by setting before their Eyes much more his own like infinite Love Grace and Condescention Admirable condescention to be made less in Office than the Father and Son with whom he is Equal in eternal Essence And this most freely and of choice for our good and so great good as hath been foreshewn And that although he well foreknew what we were and what cross pieces we should prove and how we should GRIEVE him PROVOKE him and QUENOH many Millions of his most holy Motions in our hearts defile his Dwelling-place and provoke him for ever to abhor US so infinitely needing his Wisdom Power and Grace to help us in all Concernments Us who without his infallible Counsel and his invincible Strength are sure by every Sin to be frightned into Despair of Mercy or hardned unto a very disregard of Vindictive Justice Who are sure by Prosperity to be slain and to be made forgetful of God by Adversity to be brought to horrible Distrust of God's goodness or as leud Disdain of his Government and Discipline by our very Duties themselves to be puffed up with
the vile Idolatries committed upon it I have taken this time as the first I could find or make for writing these Marks of true Grace Not knowing whether they shall prosper most as Spoken or Written or whether they shall be alike fruitful For I will acknowledge unto you that I do humbly expect fruit from them Physicians speak of Pills and Divines of Memorands which a Wise Man would not be without And be it confessed these Marks are such in my thoughts Wherefore consider what follows and the Lord give you Understanding and Possession of all He that truly feareth the Lord and of whom God saith that he shall be his in the day wherein he maketh up his Jewels he hath these five Marks Mark 1. GOD is Supream in his Soul both by the highest Authority of a KING and the dearest Authority of a FATHER The One only God who is Father Son and Spirit doth as truly Dwell in his heart as in Heaven And as truly Reign as Dwell therein and that by Consent and Choice VVhatever Cherubins Seraphins and Spirits made perfect be the very same this Man desires to be I mean as to honorable Apprehensions of God and Affections toward him He wisheth that his Esteem and Reverence Love and Trust and Service were of degree equal to theirs And telleth himself a thousand times that if they were so they would still be infinitely disproportionable unto the divine object of them It is against his renewed Mind and VVill that his Life or his very Salvation should be principally valued but for the glorifying and enjoying of God As our Saviour refused not to worship the Devil because he was a Devil but because he was not God So this Man argues and concludeth that the infinite distance of any created Being from Godhead is an infinite reason for denying to prize it for it self The word God signifies a Being that is not a Part but the Whole of Excellence And so well he understands it that his Soul is for a Total not a Partial Preference of Him Heathens would say That the Sun were worthy of Adoration though it were so that no benefit descended from it upon them Much more saith this Man that if it were possible we could Be without God it would be Folly and Injustice to honour any thing like Him God's DOING good is but a lower and lesser reason for his being adored His BEING good is an infinitely higher one For all the good He DOTH is but a Stream from the Fountain of good that He IS So David Thou ART good and DOEST good The impressions of both upon an holy heart are such as none can know but those that have them And of such every one will tell you that they thus far affect him They fill him with Wonder Grief and Shame that his Thoughts of God are not in a sort Almighty and able to work no more powerfully upon him Able to annihilate all the Worlds grandeurs in his Mind able to strike dead the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts able to embitter sweetest Sins and sweeten the most bitter Afflictions able to set and fix his Soul in Heaven even according to his hearts desire However he findeth these thoughts to be truly Powerful and the most Powerful of all the thoughts framed in his heart and all the good in his heart and life he knows to be the issue of these said thoughts And accordingly of desire of more good in both he operously multiplieth thoughts of God Thoughts of his Essential Perfections Eternity Infiniteness Wisdom Power Holiness Justice Goodness Truth Thoughts of his wonderful Manner of Being in the Father Son and Holy Ghost the best and most glorious manner of Being that is Possible Thoughts of his Relations unto the Church and World unto the latter of which He is Maker Owner Ruler and Benefactor to the former He is all four and over and above their reconciled Father Husband and Portion The gracious Man of whom we speak hath his times in which he goes aside and muses of all these most solemnly And efficaciously to the making him exclaim as the Psalmist Whom HAVE I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I DESIRE besides thee O THREE in ONE Be it observed here some sincere Souls may have less Light But more intelligent Christians do take their times to think that if God the Father had been the Father of no more than Men and Angels He would have been nothing so glorious as now He is Now that He begets a Son equal to himself and without change in himself in way inconceivable And that beyond all possible thought of any Creature it is the Father's and the Son's honour to give a subsisting life to the coequal Spirit by alike eternal and inconceivable Spiration And that it is no dishonour to the Son to be thus Begotten by the Father or to the Spirit to proceed thus from the Father and the Son Being that the Son is Equal with the Father and One and to be worshipped with one and the same worship with the Father And the holy Spirit is Equal with the Father and the Son one with them and to be worshipped with one and the same Worship with them By this means these three Father Son and Spirit do infinitely and mutually love and are beloved of each other And unto this their eternal infinite and mutual delight the natural perfection of the Godhead did require this Communication of it self Nor was it therefore arbitrarily but naturally and necessarily though voluntarily that the Father begat the Son and the Father and Son breathed forth the Spirit To conclude The Child of God looks on the Son and admires the Father looks on the Father and admires the Son looks on the Father and Son and admires the holy Spirit looks on all three as subsisting in the Unity of the Godhead as dwelling in one another mutually possessing loving and glorifying one another from everlasting to everlasting He contemplates the Godhead dwelling equally in its fulness in all the three Persons in the Father the Beginner the Son the Promoter the Holy Ghost the Perfecter of all good He Knows Believes Acknowledges Worships Obeys and Trusts and Lives upon Three PERSONS and One GOD. He questions not but Angels and Saints in Heaven do the same Holy Holy Holy being their Song He is satisfied that Adam in his Innocency did the same being that he was Created by the three Divine Persons and in the Image of all three For it was the Father said to the Son and Spirit Come let US create Man in OUR Image and after OUR likeness He is certified by the Scriptures of Truth that it is the Will of the Father that every Tongue should confess the Son to be God and the holy Ghost to be God unto the glory of God the Father He is well informed that the Universal Church under the New Testament hath most expresly made One-God-in-three-Persons the Object of her Faith
Worship and Obedience agreeably to her holy Baptismal Engagement And finally he observes how the Doctrine of the Trinity is connected with all the Parts of Christian Religion and made the very foundation of it without which it cannot stand It is indeed a Mystery most Superlative not to be discovered or proved by bare Reason in whose Territories it dwells not And subtle and audacious Hereticks of old and at this day have used many guilty Arts to expel it out of our Faith But to a Child of God a bare Word of God is as good as a Demonstration and the Evidence of this Truth from thence received is Victorious And unto him the three Persons in one God are so great that he makes no more of any incroaching Creature than he that sees the Sun makes of a Candle Is this his God a jealous one yea and a jealous heart it is that he himself hath one that is exceeding watchful against every Idol Against every Creature that doth fawn and flatter and would become any part of its Portion He is as truly willing to have God for his Master as his Rewarder He would have no Pleasure but in pleasing God His highest Ambition in this World is to have the favour to receive his God's Commands and the grace to Obey them For in his eyes it is a truth most evident that neither Men nor Angels are capable of any higher honour than to be Objects of God's Love and Instruments of his Pleasure And this Faith is his Victory over the World and his governing Principle in the World and that whereby he here walks with God Not indeed without innumerable and unavoidable Infirmities and Faults but these break not off that blessed Walk For it is still renewed on God's part by Pardon and on his part by Repentance Neither is his holy Walk without use of those worldly Comforts that God alloweth us to take For he knows God ever made Thanksgiving Days to be Feast Days the temperate pleasure of bodily senses doth so much promote the spiritual pleasure and gratitude of our Minds And even under the old Law God appointed many Feasts for one Fast. He doth not dream that Enoch did not walk with God because he begat Sons and Daughters His care is that the lean Kine devour not the fat that sensual Delights be not Thieves but Servants unto spiritual Be it also added his said Walk with God is but by Faith not by full Vision in frequently interrupted and never compleatly sensed Peace and Triumphant Joy If he hath temporary Raptures of Third-Heaven-Joys they are but Temporary they be his Sweet-meats and Rarities not his daily Food And he knows to his Comfort that such Raptures be his Privilege only not his Duty Indeed if his weak Bottle could bear so strong Wine he would wish all his days spent in Extasies He would be glad to have every word that he speaks of God to be accented with sighs and every sentence emphased with tears But he knoweth that the Sun of Righteousness doth graciously quicken many Souls that he doth not in this World exuberantly Comfort Yea many that sit in darkness almost all their days and see but little light do nevertheless enjoy his saving Love and his wonderful Support thereby We all know the Sun in the Firmament doth in the Earths dark Bowels make Gold and precious Minerals Though therein he shews not his beautiful beams Nor can it be hard to think how the true Father of Lights should enrich unspeakably those whom He sees not fit to fill with the Joy of it presently In a word The Soul that He doth so enrich that Soul He doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify And as truly that Soul doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify Him Justifies him against all the Cavils raised at his Decrees Laws and Providences Sanctifies i. e. sets him as the sole Object of Fear Trust and Worship And also Glorifies him or Practically expresseth supream Estimation in conforming to his Preceptive Will in Natural Civil and Religious things Thus is the first Commandment written in this Soul Thus is God's Name hallowed thus is his Kingdom come and his Will done in it Mark 2. JESUS Christ is God and sits at God's right hand in his Soul My meaning is Christ as Mediator who is next to God in Heaven and is continually with God in Heaven is next to God in his Heart and continually with God in his Heart Qi Deum cogitat sine Christo dimidiat Deum Calvin Our Saviour must be considered in respect unto his eternal Essence and Person and in respect unto his undertaken Office In the first respect he is God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so he hath been considered in the foregoing Mark. In the second respect he is God and Man by a Personal Union of both Natures and the servant of God by an astonishing Condescention of grace 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of Christ is God It is of Christ thus considered that all following is spoken Thus considered Jesus Christ is the Man that is God's fellow that is who is next unto God in point of honour who hath nearest and most intimate Acquaintance with God and who in all his Works is his Joint-worker Zech. 13.7 He is in the word declared to be King of Saints Head of all Principalities and Powers Exalted above every Name that is named in this World and in the World to come the Delight of God's Soul as Isai 42.1 Nor is it any wonder for in him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Unto him is given all Power in Heaven and Earth And the Keys of Death and Hell are in his hand Without his leave Satan could not enter into very Swine Him the very Angels and all the Church of God are bound to worship Let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 Unto him shall the gathering of the people be That is as the Hebrew word signifyeth the bowing the submission or the worship of the People Gen. 49.10 Upon him depends all the Happiness of Men and of Angels all capable of Happiness For he is the HEAD of all Principalities and Powers Head as to Eminence and as to Government and Influence Again intimately he knoweth God's Ends Decrees Works For the Father sheweth him all things that himself doth Joh. 5.19 20. And finally God doeth nothing but he is his Co-worker in it God Reveals much to Men and Angels but 't is by Christ all of it ever since the Fall He the Essential Image is the Representative Image of God unto us We know not the Father not his Nature Will or way to effect his Will but by the Son Angels as well as Men bless the Lamb for opening of the Book Rev. 5. God upholds all Creatures but 't is by Christ Mediator He is given for a Covenant to the People to establish the Earth Isa 49.8 Heb. 1.3 God governs the world but it is by Christ My Father worketh hitherto
spoke for by the least Child it hath 12. The Twelfth is Valuation of one's self by the Execution Repetition and Propugnation of the Suggestions All Men do glory in somewhat or other There is some one thing or other by which they do rate and value themselves Determining they are more or less blessed in themselves and to be esteemed by others as they have more or less of the same Unregenerate Men's estimate of themselves is by their Executed and Repeated and Propugnated Sin and what that Sin has gained them Even the Profits Pleasures or Honours of this World which they have compassed by those their Sins The Regenerate do try themselves by another Touchstone and weigh themselves in another Scale They count the Idols of this world very Nothings And do believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths that in them dwelleth no other good and they are at no further distance from Misery than the Grace of God in them and the Grace of God toward them doth set them They are Happy and Honourable more or less as they Glorifie and Enjoy God more or less Enjoy him according to the Promises and Glorifie him according to the Demands of the Covenant of Grace Brethren It shall not repent you if seriously and frequently you do Examine your selves in reference unto these twelve Particulars If these Acts are passed in your Souls on the right side Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven whatever be your Scar-crows and Disquietments on Earth Indeed as long as you live you may be one while in tears of grief crying God be merciful unto me a Sinner But you will be otherwhiles in tears of joy exclaiming I know that my Redeemer liveth One while combating with fears asking Will the Lord be favourable unto me But by and by triumphing over your fears saying I am perswaded that nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus One while falling down on your Knees praying I believe Lord help my Unbelief But another time clapping your hands and thankfully proclaiming it Christ hath loved me and gave himself for me One while as Hester If I perish I perish But another as Mary My Soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour He that doth not willingly grieve the Children of Men will not let his own Children have nothing but grief for any long time together if they use the diligence he requireth for his sweet Consolations However I charge that you do not overvalue Comfort that you do not forget that a little Grace is more worth than much Comfort And that Comfort is desirable only for the sake of Holiness I am wholly of his Mind who hath said Happier a great deal is that man's case whose Soul by inward desolation is HUMBLED than he whose heart is through abundance of spiritual delight LIFTED up and exalted ABOVE MEASURE Better is it sometimes to go down into the Pit with him who beholding darkness and bewailing the loss of inward joy and consolation cryeth from the bottom of the lowest Hell My God my God why hast thou forsaken me then continually to walk arm in arm with Angels to sit as it were in Abraham 's bosom and to have no thought no cogitation but I thank God I am not as other men it is not with me as with others Ri. Hooker pag. 546. as quoted by Mr. H. Hickman in his very excellent Discourse on Eph. 4.30 I do remember and still adhere unto what I have written in my Call to Sinners Marks than which I cannot find better But variety and store is no sore It repents me not that I have here proposed these And I will farther commend unto your use Six excellent Questions of blessed Mr. Henry Scudder as they are contracted by our worthy Mr. Samuel Lee who with him well saith these words You are in God's favour and in a state of grace if you can answer yea unto ALL or unto ANY of them Q. 1. How stand you affected to Sin are you afraid to offend God and dare not sin wittingly Is it your Grief and Burden that you cannot abstain from it nor get out of it as soon as you would Q. 2. How are you affected to Holiness and the Power of Godliness to know God's Will and do it to fear and please him Is it your Grief when you fail and your Joy when you do well Q. 3. How to the Church of God are you glad when it goes well and grieved when it goes ill and sit trembling with Eli to hear how it goes with the Ark of God however it be with your own Particular Q. 4. How towards Men Do you dislike wicked Men and love those that fear the Lord because they are good Q. 5. Can you endure your Soul to be ript and your beloved Sin to be smitten by a searching Minister and like him the Rather and can yield an obedient Ear to such a wise Reproof Q. 6. Though you have not Evidence always or can scarce tell whether you ever had it yet resolve and desire and will as you are able to cleave to God in Christ for Salvation by Faith and in no other Person nor by no other means to be saved But that my Epistle is already swollen beyond my purpose I would here have shewn you more largely these Particulars 1. Strongest Grace and weakest do agree in many things e. gr 1 Both have the same Original Giver God the Father Both are from his Electing Love Unto which are owing the smallest sparks as well as the brightest flames of spiritual-spiritual-life 2 Both have the same meritorious Purchaser Jesus Christ Both are from his Redeeming Grace Thereto are we beholden for our very Entrance into the State of Holiness as well as for our Proficience and final Perfection 3 Both have the same Efficient Worker the Holy Ghost Both are from his regenerating Work Thereof it is that the Babe in Christ is what he is as well as that the grown Man in Christ is what he is 4 Both are wrought by the same Instrument also the New Covenant Word of God And in short 5 Both have the self-same Nature They have the same Nature and Being though so different sizes of Strength and Power of working A drop of water is as truly water as the vast Collection of water in the Sea is so And the Soul in whom Christ is formed but this hour is as truly an holy one as any of those who are with him in Paradise 2. Strong Grace and Weak do differ in their Measures their Strength and their Comforts and Troubles As grown Men do differ from Sucklings Having no more Limbs than they but every one larger and stronger and more capacious of Pain and Pleasure Weakest Converts have Knowledge of the Gospel-Covenant but not so Extensive or so Intensive and clear as stronger ones have They have predominant and practical Consent to it's Demands but not so free from Hesitations nor so