changed from glory to glory and be made as like unto him in felicity as far as their nature will bear in order to the rendring them capable of enriching the World with the saving knowledge of the truth where ever they shall become this being one property of felicity and true greatness and nobleness of Spirit where ever it is to dilate and utter it self for the real good benefit and comfort of all that are round about it and within its reach Of these things thou hast a large account in the ensuing Treatise both as to the provision that is made by God in the Gospel for his Saints and those that serve him as likewise the nature of him that is the chief Agent the Holy Ghost to manage and to be their Assistant in all their spiritual Works and Services which by virtue of the abundant grace of God in the Gospel they are called unto and might be partakers of he being none other than him that hath all Power in his hand both in Heaven and in Earth Not a Creature lest any man should despair of ever being strengthened with might in the inner man or should fear of ever being able to arrive unto that blessedness which is prepared for those that love God and wait for the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But this Holy Spirit which thou art advised to be filled withall is no less no other than the increated Spirit God blessed for ever Which in case thou hast but such a sense of thy Salvation as to be found working of it out with fear and trembling thou mayest assure thy self that it is none other than God himself who is both able and willing yea is already at work within thee and will enable thee not only to will but also to do and that according to his good pleasure whose will and good pleasure concerning the manner of his coworking in men is largely opened in this Discourse And likewise his Godhead argued and with clearness proved both by Scriptures and sound Reason As also those Grounds and Arguments that are commonly brought to prove him to be of a created and finite extraction punctually sedately and faithfully answered and the Scriptures that are brought to serve in that Warfare are dismissed and discharged from that Service And we look upon this part of the Discourse as so much the more seasonable and we hope a good hand of Divine Providence in bringing of it forth at this time inasmuch as that Spirit of Error is now stirring more effectually than of latter times to the endangering of the Everlasting Welfare of the precious Souls of Men rendering the Gospel and the Grace of God which hath appeared to all Men by Jesus Christ and that unspeakable Gift of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God which is to remain with the Saints until his coming again as very inconsiderable Thereby making the neglect of this Grace of God and his good Spirit a thousand times more tolerable than indeed it is or is like to be unto those who shall be found to neglect so great a salvation that is brought so near unto them and that by God himself with the gracious offer of himself and his own help and assistance herein Thou hast likewise an account given thee by what means it is that the Spirit of God himself if thou shalt submit unto his most gracious Counsels herein will advance his Presence in thee whereby thou mayest have as much of his assistance as thy heart can desire Together with some Rules laid down whereby to judge whether a mans self or others be filled with the Spirit or with some other Spirit which only pretends to be the Spirit of God but is not but a Spirit of Error and Delusion very useful at all times but more especially now when Sathan that lying Spirit is playing his Last Game upon the World his time being very short he is put upon it more than ever to mingle his spiritual wickednesses with heavenly things which are his most dangerous Weapons and thereby doth greater execution than Men generally are aware of There are many Wiles and subtil Devices by which Men are taken off from attending upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit which are very mischievous and destructive it is to be feared to many and endangering more that are here detected and their nakedness laid open As also the great business of the Saints Communion with God both as to the freeness and fulness or largeness thereof discussed together with the great advantage of a large interest in God by Prayer discovered In all which there are many Scriptures clearly opened We question not but that persons who have the use and exercise of their Spiritual Senses and are to any considerable degree able to discern things that differ will find their precious time well spent in the reading hereof and will find the discourse pleasant to their Spiritual Palate and receive nourishment thereby in their inner man Good Reader We have only two Requests to make unto thee before we leave thee First â—hat if there be not in all and every passage of this Work the same height of Stile and Elegancy of Expression as is in other his Writings thou wilt excuse the Author inasmuch as it seemed good to Divine Providence to finish the daies of his mortal Pilgrimage and to gather him unto his Fathers before this Work could be made fit for Publick View And we nothing doubt but that thy Christian Candor and Ingenuity will take this for a sufficient excuse on the behalf of those things for which we Apologize Our Second Request is if thou expect to receive good by this Discourse That if at any time thou hast been prejudiced against the Author thou wilt lay all things of that nature aside as thou lovest thine own Peace and Eternal Welfare and engage with an honest heart and sincere mind in the reading hereof For although possibly there may have been some difference between him and thee and some others in some Doctrinal Points yet this being mainly Practical he and all other good men more generally agree in matters of this nature Nâ—w that the God of all Grace may fill thee with a rich Presence of his Spirit that so thou mayest be rendered most acceptable to him in all thy waies and be put into the best capacity to serve thy Generation and in the end be made partaker of the highest Glory with the Saints in light is the Desire and shall be the Prayer of The Publishers To all that desire to be filled WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT THere is a great Ambition in the Sons of Men after Fulness and so there is in the Sons of God also but the Fulness which the Sons of the latter and better Denomination do most mind and covet is of another nature and kind than that which the Sons of the other and lower Denomination are ambitious of There is an Earthly
is here plainly and in expressness of words attributed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God So Tit. 3.5 we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost And 1 Cor. 6 11. we are said to be washed sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God The parts likewise of Regeneration the several graces or holy dispositions of which the body of Regeneration is made up is attributed to the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. From the Scripture then propounded with the rest consorting as ye have heard with it I reason thus If the work of Regeneration be the appropriate work of God appropriate I mean so that it cannot be effected by any meer Creature without him then must the Holy Ghost to whom this work is attributed needs be God But such is the work of Regeneration Ergo. This latter Proposition I suppose will not be denied because evident it is both from the Scriptures and from the consideration of the nature of the work it self which we call Regeneration that it is not cannot be effected without the interposure of the hand and power of God True it is God may use Creature instruments about the raising and production of it as he commonly useth men his Ministers and their gifts together with his Word I mean his written Word but yet all these without his interposure will not do the deed will not reach the blessed effect of Regeneration The Scripture is very express and clear in this I have planted saith Paul and Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.6 7. When he saith that neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing he speaks not absolutely as if their agency in the business were simply nothing for he had said of himself and Apollo a little before that they were Ministers by whom they believed but he speaks this comparatively meaning that that which they did in the work of their conversion to the Faith was nothing in comparison of that which God did in it God could have effected it if he had so pleased without them but all that they did or were in a capacity of doing was nothing unless his hand had been with them Elsewhere those that are regenerate or born again are said to be born of God Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And again ver 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World c. to omit many other places So that evident it is from the Scriptures that Regeneration is a work which is appropriate unto God and cannot take place without him The Minor Proposition then in the Argument last propounded is unquestionable But to the Major Proposition it is like it will be replied that though the work of Regeneration be attributed to the Holy Ghost and withal cannot be effected but by God himself yet it doth not necessarily follow from hence that the Holy Ghost should be God because the Holy Ghost may have an agency or efficacie in it in conjunction with and subordination unto God as Ministers of the Gospel and the Persons themselves who are regenerated have To this I reply If the operation or efficacy of the Holy Ghost in and about the work of Regeneration were subordinate or instrumental we could not be said to be begotten or born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirit but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit as we are not said nor can in any tolerable propriety of speech be said to be begotten of men as of the Ministers of God though they be instrumental in our Regeneration but only by men according to the Apostles expression lately mentioned 1 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul who is Apollo but Ministers BY whom ye believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So as the Word of God is instrumental or subordinate to our Regeneration we are said to be begotten by it 1 Pet. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Word of the living God And elsewhere Jam. 1.18 God is said to have begotten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with or through the Word of truth The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still notes either the principle efficient cause or else the material cause of things produced but seldom or never the instrumental efficient cause Thus men are said to be begotten of their Parents You saith Christ to the wicked Jews are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Angel to Joseph concerning Mary Mat. 1.20 That which is begotten in her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to omit instances of this kind without number Therefore there is little question but that in the same sense wherein men are said to be born or born again of God they are said to be regenerate or born again of the Spirit It is true sometimes the Spirit is spoken of as instrumental or subservient in the works of believing mortification c. Peter tells the Saints unto whom he writes 1 Pet. 1.22 that they had purified their souls in obeying the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spirit i.e. by means or by the help of the Spirit So Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live But first it is to be considered that that subserviency which in these or the like passages seems to be attributed to the Holy Ghost is attributed unto him in reference unto men not unto God and the reason of the attribution is not to imply that He the Holy Ghost is not the principal or prime cause both of our believing and so of our mortification but only that with his agency or interposure about these works he never effects them without the consent and compliance of men themselves therewith So that in this respect men are said to purifie their hearts in believing the Truth through the Spirit and so to mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit when they fall in and comport with the preventing motions of the Spirit in order to these great and blessed works which may well and with clearness of apprehension stand with the Spirits being the first Author of yea and the principal Actor in them only it implies that He works none of these spiritual or heavenly things within us irresistibly or whether we will or no. And therefore Secondly Such attributions of subserviency unto men as these do no waies prove or so much
moved to do any thing for the good of this Creature of his may be absolute and in all respects every way free For the object or opportunity for grace to shew it self or for to act is not in strictness of consideration misery or extremity these are the appropriate objects and opportunities of mercy But the proper opportunity for grace to shew it self is either 1. A flat or dead irrelativeness in point of merit in him to whom grace is shewn or to be shewn in reference unto him that is supposed to shew grace so that the person is no waies beholding no waies debtor unto him to whom he is willing to shew himself gracious Or else 2. A relation of demerit injury or provocation in him to whom grace is shewed towards him that sheweth grace or dealeth graciously by him So that he that sheweth grace hath not only no tye or ingagement at all upon him to shew any such thing but on the other hand hath much before him to disswade and take him off from it Now if he shall be pleased to overlook all these injuries and shall these notwithstanding deal graciously and shew kindness this is properly an act of grace 3. Neither was it simply or only the misery wherein men lay plunged that wrought upon the mercy of God so far as to move and prevail with him to open that door of relief and deliverance unto him which now he hath done but it was his misery so and so circumstantiated in one respect or other as is evident from hence because otherwise the misery whereinto those more excellent Creatures of his the lapsed Angels are fallen being every whit as great if not far greater than that of man would have had the same motive or operation upon the mercy of God to do the like for them which the misery of man had and so have prevailed with him to have provided deliverance for them also But this only by the way 4. And lastly for this That which was properly matter of grace in God towards man being fallen was not procured or drawn from him by any thing in man any waies obliging him thereunto or by any consideration whatsoever relating unto man or his condition But was every way free meerly intirely and absolutely from himself And this is one thing and the first thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of acting in the Spirit of God consists viz. That without any moving or obliging cause whatsoever from without or on mans part He is pleased to intreat him sweetly and lovingly and to come unto him as it were from heaven to visit him to converse with the Children of men in the secret of their hearts and souls to instruct and teach them the things of their eternal peace to admonish and excite them to the imbracing and prosecuting of them yea and to follow them with his Promise to look after them and assist them And these things he doth to all men without exception to a certain degree when they first come by the use of their judgments and understanding and by the putting forth of their consciences to be capable of them yea and doth increase and advance these his gracious workings in them untill either by a long continued neglect of his presence with them or by some higher hand of sin and wickedness practiced in opposition to such gracious motions and transactions of his within them they weary him and quench those gracious operations which his presence affordeth unto them and bring it so to pass that he taketh no pleasure or delight in them Secondly Sect. 9 Another thing and that which already in part hath been mentioned wherein the graciousness and freedom of the Spirit of God in his working consists is this viz. That he is pleased sweetly and graciously to intreat men not only without any cause on their part moving or obliging him thereunto But against many provocations that might in reason have perswaded him to the contrary I mean to have absented himself from them and to have abandoned and abhorred them for ever and left them to have perished in their sin eternally Who can number all that variety of sins and provocations which centred and met together in and about that first and great transgression of Adam What strain of sin and wickedness was there wanting There was unthankfulness pride unbelief contempt of God sensuality murther of Posterity and that without end and what not almost of all that the soul of God abhorreth And all this great concourse and assembly of all sorts of Impieties and Provocations from the greatest to the least of them were as so many Orators and Pleaders against man before God and disswaders of him from ever respecting or taking the least care or thought what became of him and yet the grace of God and of the good Spirit as we have both heard and known to our comfort hath through that abundant freeness thereof magnified it self against them all It had been grace yea freeness of grace in the strictest consideration of both words if God or the Spirit of God should have moved in mercy or love towards his creature Man upon a level or plain ground I mean without any worthiness or desert or any inviting consideration in man But that the Spirit of God should be in his visiting of men like a river of water running up a steep hill my meaning is should vouchsafe to make applications of himself unto them in order to their eternal peace against such height and fierceness of demerit injury and provocation is indeed somewhat more than simply and meerly free grace if we had a word of more excellent signification to express it by and the truth is we want words to express it For that grace which God hath vouchsafed unto men in their salvation and in the means thereof and in the great condescension of the Spirit of God unto men is more and somewhat of a higher nature it carries a richer and more glorious notion in it than simply of grace of meer grace or of free grace because this free grace might have been shewed unto men in case they had never sinned It was the grace of God to create man upon those terms that he did to put him in a capacity of continuing in that honour and happiness wherein he was created and to adorn him with such rich and excellent qualifications because the Creature could deserve none of these things it could deserve nothing before it was But having sinned for God to exhibit such terms of love and goodness and bounty as he hath done this is somewhat more if we know what to call it than meer grace or free grace The Apostle Paul makes it more than so and an higher expression of it than his I think could not have been given down from Heaven at least 2 Amat compositiones Paulus cum Prepositione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that should in any degree have been intelligible by men a For he takes
the hard hearts and consciences of sinful and unbelieving men The words of God in the mouths of such men are as Arrows in the hand of a Giant as David speaketh Psal 127.4 they pierce deep and do execution afar off Other men that for matters appertaining unto God are but like the rest of the World and have nothing singular in their lives and conversations though using and uttering the same words with the former are yet but as sounding Brass or tinkling Cymbals in comparison of them Yea when men shall be found or known to be as it were rent and torn or broken in their obedience unto the Gospel alas they know or may know that when they shall preach the Doctrine of Faith Repentance Mortification or the like men will have wherewith to answer all that shall be spoken unto them by such men from their own mouths For who regards words and sayings where actions and works are of a contrary import As he that speaks Contradictions one while affirming one thing and at another time the quite contrary this man edifies no man by such a kind of discourse no man can tell whether he speaketh truth in the former Proposition or whether in the latter and so they go away as if nothing had been spoken they who speak at no better a rare destroying one saying with the other In like manner they whose lives and actions rise up against their teachings or speakings are of kin to those dumb Dogs of which the Scripture speaks Isa 56.10 For what they teach or affirm in words they deny in works and so in effect teach nothing at all The reason why Christ is said to have taught with authority and not as the Scribes and Pharisees is given by some to be this and I conceive it very pertinent viz. because he did what he said and taught and they said and did not So when they that keep the holy Commandment and walk up to the Rule of the Gospel shall teach admonish and instruct they shall do it with power and authority the Conscience and Judgments of men will give them reverence and do homage unto them As it is said of Herod that he feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things Mar. 6.20 And our Saviour taketh notice else-where of his righteousness and holy life as making his Doctrine much more commendable and of force upon the Consciences of men and withal chargeth such persons very high who did not embrace and submit unto his Doctrine John faith he came unto you in a way of righteousness and yet you believed him not Mat. 21.32 as who should say You declared your selves a Generation of Vipers indeed when as having such a man as John come among you a person so innocent and holy that you could lay nothing to his charge yet you reject his Doctrine you believe him not which is contrary to the light of Reason and argues a preposterous and perverse spirit frowardly bent against the Truth So that if men be not of this Generation men of a viperous spirit and desperately set upon their own ruine and destruction it cannot lightly be but the Gospel coming from the mouthes of just and holy men will do great execution upon them and make the powers of sin and darkness to fly before it Thus we have made good that in the Reason given which was supposed being this That every man standeth bound in duty towards God to act the part of a worthy Benefactor unto the World round about him and as far as in him lieth to bless his Generation The other thing which is affirmed in the Reason Sect. 7 was That no man or woman can be in any good or indeed tolerable capacity to discharge this Obligation unless they be filled with the Spirit of God And this we have in part made good already in what was delivered in opening the former Reason There we shewed That men and women will never do any great any singular thing for God and the interest of the Gospel unless they take a regular and due course to be filled with the Spirit There is the same consideration of doing great things for the World Men and women will fall extremely short of their duty herein also and with-hold that from the World which is its due unless they take an effectual course to strengthen their hand and their heart to the work which must be by filling themselves with the Spirit of God For as they who give munificently and like Princes had need be Princes or at least have the the Estate and Revenues of Princes So such men and women who shall cast in any thing considerable into the Treasury of the World to cover the nakedness and feed the hunger and heal the poverty of it had need be full of the Divine Nature and have a special Magazine within them of Faith and Love of Wisdom and Knowledge of Patience and Humility of Mortification and elf-denial and many other heavenly endowments Otherwise they shall never be able to rejoyce over mankind to do it much good nor to sow liberally and plentifully unto it As the Lord Christ had he not been Rich as the Apostle faith 2 Cor. 8.9 the making of himself Poor would not have extended to the making of many Rich so in case that a person hath but a little inward worth in him if he be scanted in true excellency and nobleness of spirit though he should empty and pour out himself to the World the poverty of it is such and the necessity of it so extreme craving and so devouring above measure that such an estate would do little more towards the relief of it than the seven fat Kine in Pharaohs dream did toward the seven that were lean and ill favoured the Text faith when they had devoured them they were not seen upon them but they were as lean and starven and as evil favoured as before the fat had need it seems to have been seven and seven and twenty times seven times fatter than they were to have wrought a Cure upon the leanness and hard-favouredness of the other And as Andrew Simon Peters Brother informed Christ of a Lad that had five barly loaves and two small fishes but viewing the multitude that were to be fed demanded but what are they amongst so many Joh. 6.9 And the truth is without the miraculous interposure of a Divine Power for their multiplication they had been very little indeed amongst the multitude that was to be relieved by them In like manner he that shall diligently consider and compute not so much the numberless multitude of souls or of men and women in the World round about him as the numberless multitude of their spiritual necessities and those very sad and threatning with open mouth eternal ruine and destruction on every side cannot lightly but confess upon the view that he that shall minister unto them with any likelihood
the Faith of the greatest and best resolved Believers amongst the Children of men The second thing was this to display manage and act this Faith before the World that they may see it as it were face to face and that the fruit evidence testimony and account of it may be fully adaequate and Commensurable to the truth and all the degrees of the reality of it The third and last thing whereunto all men stand bound and by the performance whereof they must needs bless the World was the keeping of the Commands of God How and in what respects the performance of all these must needs stand the World in eminent stead was shewed formerly We have now only to shew how they cannot be performed without their being filled with the Spirit of God who shall perform them First Sect. 8 For that notable strain and generous kind of believing we spake of As no Faith no kind or degree of believing can be attained or raised in the soul but by the Holy Ghost so much less can any excellent or worthy strain hereof be raised or exerted in men but by the glorious might of the same Holy Ghost Doubtless there is no man believeth upon any other terms than those did who are said Acts 18.27 to have believed through grace that is through the gracious operation and assistance of the Holy Ghost So likewise 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your hearts or souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit c. implying that neither had they obeyed the truth meaning the Gospel that is believed it the Gospel being there under the notion of truth as elsewhere made the Object of Faith had not the Spirit of God done very graciously by them in awaking and exciting them hereunto They would never in any serious manner have so much as though upon this believing had not the Holy Ghost put them upon it The Gospel and mens hearts are commonly strangers the World and their sensuality and folly make them so They have little knowledge one of another and doubtless would never have been brought together but by the mediation of that most gracious and blessed Spirit Now the Spirit of God bringeth the hearts of men and the Gospel together by causing a kind of enterview to be between them for a while upon which if there be not an extream frowardness and desperateness of folly in the hearts of men the glory and beauty of the things to be believed being presented unto them by the Holy Ghost will overcome them and so there will follow a blessed union and agreement between them Now as the first and lowest greeting between the Souls and consciences of men and the Gospel was procured by the simple interposure of the Spirit of God so must that glorious and more near interview between them which we call face to face viz. such a Faith which giveth presentiality or real subsistence unto the great things of the Gospel in the spirits and souls of men which alone is the Faith that will bless the World by amazing it with its glory breaking forth in semblable actions this say we must be obtained not simply by the Holy Ghost but by him in his more sublime and raised actings Eph. 3.14 16. For this cause faith the Apostle bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward man c. The Apostle travelling in birth with a great matter of grace and spiritual blessing for this people and Church of God he telleth them he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named c. meaning by this Character and Consideration that he is the Root of all that Family that is worthy to be put into account that is of all that are holy and righteous where ever they be and that they take their denomination as well as their spiritual and happy being from him But for what did he bow his knees to the Father of c It was That he would grant them according to the riches of his glory see how he laboureth and toyleth to be delivered of what he had conceived to ask of God for them to be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. But why doth he insert this clause according to the riches of his glory Doubtless his meaning is to inform them that though the request which he was now making unto God for them was exceeding great viz. that they might be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. yet there was good ground of hope that he should obtain it because the grant of it was but according to the riches of his glory that is proportionable or sutable to that glorious abundance of Grace Love Bounty Power c. which reside in him and are his Glory So that he knew that God could very well afford it notwithstanding the greatness of it being so richly furnished with all things necessary for the performance of it So that it is as if he had said I know it were in vain for me to how my knees to God for any such benefit for you as your strengthening with might by his Spirit did not I know he is exceeding rich in Glory in Bounty in Grace in Love c. Therefore in this you may be comforted that I do not beg this heavenly bread for you out of any desolate place or at such a hand where it was not to be had or from any such heart which is shut up against you no but from him who is both able and willing to give unto all that ask Good measure heaped up pressed down and running over Luke 6.8 Yea and this in things of greatest consequence and value well knowing that it is his glory thus to do Now to be strengthened with might in the inner man signifies more than simply to believe Yea more than simply to be strengthened in or by believing it imports a powerful strengthening or an excellent and high degree of corroboration or stoutness in their spirits hearts and souls by means whereof they should be able both to do and to suffer and this without much regret or trouble greater things for God and for the Gospel than the common sort of Believers can But why doth pray that this mighty strengthening in the inner man might be wrought by the Spirit I answer Because it is the appropriate work of the Spirit thus to elevate and raise the hearts and spirits of men above fears and doubtings God never conferring this high Priviledge upon Believers themselves without his interposure And besides it is considerable that it is the manner of the Saints throughout the Scriptures and so it was observed by Christ himself in his Prayer Joh. 17.11 17 19 20. that whenever they make any great request unto
with the water of life and not filled up to the brim they will never be upon such terms of advantage to do that great Service for God whereunto the Law of their high and heavenly calling obligeth them First That the Consolations of the Gospel Sect. 2 especially where they have most of God and of the Gospel in them are very rich and glorious need not be any mans doubt or question if he considers a little what the Holy Ghost speaketh of them in the Gospel Wherein God saith the Apostle willing more abundantly to shew the Heirs of the Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things by which it was impossible for God to lye we might have valid or strong Consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.17 18. We see God hath raised the Pin of the Gospel to such a height that it is not only able to furnish men and women with a good proportion of comfort and peace but he hath put so much of himself of his grace and love bounty and magnificence into it that it powreth out unto men abundantly of the highest and strongest Consolations although there be very few that understand how or where to hold their hearts that these pourings out of the Gospel may run or fall into them Now the Consolation which is strong and potent indeed is able not only to suppress and subdue its enemies discouragements doubts fears c. and withal to maintain it self in peace against them but also to discourage as it were and dishearten these Enemies from ever attempting any thing against it For he properly is strong whose strength being known maketh an enemy to have no mind to meddle with him but causeth him to fear to rise up in opposition against him by means whereof be enjoyes himself with little or no trouble or disturbance Such is the Consolation of the Gospel and is accordingly found by men when it is received in the power and glory of it It is not only able to suppress and keep under fears and doubtings and sad apprehensions in every kind which are enemeies to it But to enjoy it self in fulness of peace and security without any danger of being infested or annoyed by them This is the height of the Consolation of the Gospel he that is baptized into the Spirit of it enjoyeth himself with a divine security in the frailty of a weak and mortal man To this we may add that of Peter 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Now in telling them that believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory I suppose his meaning was not that they did now at this time actually enjoyce at the rate he speaks of however at other times they may be pensive and said But that they were in such a state or condition and had such a Gospel preach'd known and believed amongst them whereby they might and ought to rejoyce habitually and as oft as they should set their hearts about it For in Scripture Phrase Persons many times are said to do that not only which they actually or at present do but which they may or have opportunity and means and are like to do And sometimes it speaketh of men as doing that which is their duty and what they ought to do whether they actually and indeed do it or no. Thus Rom. 1.21 it is said of the Heathens when they knew God that is when they had opportunity and means to know him they stood upon account to him as men that did know God so that if they did not walk and act and glorifie him as became men and women that did really and truly know God they were as deep in condemnation as such persons would be who did know him and yet refuse or neglect to glorifie him So 1 Joh. 4.2 Hereby know ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God c. that is you may at any time know and discern this Spirit Thus Rom. 13.3 Rulers are said to be not a terrour to good works but to the evil not that they are actually or alwaies are either the one or other I mean no terrour to good works but unto evil too frequent experience proves the contrary viz. That they are a terrour to good works and not to evil but because they ought to be so so Verse 8. they are said to attend continually upon this very thing the Service of God in the due execution of their places not that they do thus attend but because the Law of their Institution binds them unto it they ought to attend continually hereupon This kind of expression occurs frequently in the Scripture We might add that of our Saviour Joh. 10.10 I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly I am come upon such terms unto the World and have brought along with me such a Gospel out of the bosome of my Father and opened unto men such Counsels and gracious intendments of his touching his love and favour and that affection towards the world that they may have life in what measure or proportion they please They may have life that is comfort and peace joy happiness c. for life in Scripture frequently imports a being with much contentment death the contrary more abundantly viz. than ever they will seek or endeavour to have and enjoy or more abundantly that is that they may have it with all the variety of pleasures and delights they can desire So likewise Luke 1.14 That he would grant to us that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear c. To serve God without fear my Brethren this also doth amount to matter of strong Consolation For what can a man or woman desire more for their comfort than to be exalted above fears sorrows troubles and every thing that is of a discouraging and disconsolating nature in or from the World The horn of Salvation is lift up to such an height in the Gospel that by beholding of it in its Elevation we may serve God without fear of any enemy or evil whatsoever and that not only for such a time day or year as when or whilst we are or may be extraordinarily acted or superacted by a spirit of joy but even all the daies of our lives This horn of Salvation is so raised in the Gospel that peace and joy may flow in the hearts and souls of men uniformly as a great River whose waters fail not Secondly We added this that they whose hearts do not serve them Sect. 3 to quit themselves like men indeed for obtaining that incomparable prize we speak of the first born of the Consolations of the Gospel are not like to obtain it It was the saying of an Heathen man Deus omnia labore vendit God
we see New Wine because of the spirit-fulness the heat and activeness of it being freely drank will make men that are of a slow speech or discourse backward and indisposed to much talk will make I say even these men to forget themselves and to pour out words apace after the manner of those that love as we say to hear themselves talk the pleasant vapour of the Wine over-coming with the warmth and heat of it the coldness of the Brain and so giving free motion unto the Tongue under such a provocation or encouragement as this even men that are naturally slow will speak and utter themselves at another manner of rate than ever they were known to do before Even so when the strong and high-spirited Consolations of the Gospel have once taken the head and the heart and soul of a man and seated themselves there they will soon alter and change the inward constitution and temper of the man So that whereas before he was dull and heavie yea and as dead unto God and could savour and relish nothing but his own things his own personal interest as his ease pleasure and the like Now he is as it were turned quite about and is all for God these Gospel Consolations when they are apprehended clearly in their strength and height and set to work in the soul accordingly then they are operative like unto themselves and have such a property and peculiarity of vertue in them so to affect the heart and soul that they will not be able to refrain or contain themselves but will be still speaking of their great and heavenly Benefactor When once they shall have received a strong sense and feeling of that abundant grace from him which the Gospel presenteth and tendereth unto the World and are possest of those matters of joy and high exaltation of spirit all the waters of this World will never be able to quench this flame but they will be ever and anon breaking forth against all oppositions of the Flesh and all carnal Interests whatsoever laughing all these to scorn and if it be possible they will lift up the Name of the Great God that hath done such great things for them that hath in effect prevented them with life and immortality already Secondly Sect. 7 Unless a person hath drunk liberally of the Consolations we speak of unless he be like a Prince in his spiritual estate and demesns and lives in high satisfaction of soul he will never be able to speak out like an Angel the vertues the pleasant and lovely things of his God he will never attain unto a lip of excellency for the service But the expressions of such a man whether by words or actions will be lean and starveling no waies Commensurable nor holding out with the Heights and Depths with the great and worthy things of God No man can discourse the Royal state and excellency of a King or Prince but an observant Courtier that hath had Communion with the grandeur and glory and goodly things belonging thereunto So a man that hath but lightly tasted of the grace goodness and bounty of God in the Gospel that hath alwaies kept in the valleys of the visions thereof and had Communion only with the rudiments and first beginnings of Evangelical knowledge can never be able to shew out the the vertues of God or bring them forth into a perfect light Something in this kind such a person possibly may do he may as it were whisper and stammer out in some broken manner somewhat of the transcendent excellencies of God And verily this is the length of such a mans arm he can lift up the Name of God no otherwise or upon no better terms in the World But now persons that have for a considerable space of time dwelt much in the upper Regions of the Gospel which border upon the third Heavens where life and immortality dwell as it were bodily persons that have with a clear eye of Faith seen the unsearchable riches of the grace of God in Christ and know not how to fear or whereof to be afraid being full of the love of God which casteth out fear they are the only men that are able to speak a Dialect proper to express those glorious things of God which are otherwise hard to be uttered especially unto the World being so dull of hearing in this kind the only men that know how to translate the vertues of God into such a Language whether by words or actions that the World may come to some reasonable and competent knowledge of them To this purpose the Apostle Peter admonished his scattered Saints to whom he writeth thus 1 Pet. 2.9 You are a Royal Priesthood that you should shew forth the praises of him that calleth you meaning that they were Evangelical Priests of a Royal and Princely Extraction and had withal spiritual or Evangelical Demesns and Revenues of joy peace and heavenly contentments answerable to both their great dignities of Kings and Priests Rev. 1.6 and that they had received these great things from God that hereby they might be fit and in a capacity to shew forth the vertues of God and of Jesus Christ that had called them out of darkness c. clearly implying That they which are not Royal that is royally spirited and so far from all servility and slavishness of spirit through fear are not in a condition to shew unto the World either their Creator or Redeemer in all their glory or like unto themselves It is the Prayer of David Psal 51.15 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Now God hath no way or means at least none so proper to open any man's lips to a due wideness for the shewing forth of his praise as by causing him to know that by the bloud of Jesus Christ his Conseience is purged from dead works see Heb. 9.14 And thus we see the second thing also cleared that they that are not the Sons and Daughters of the richest and choisest Consolations of the Gospel are in no advantagious or worthy capacity to shew forth or make a declaration unto the World of the vertues or lovely things of God And if they shall attempt to do any thing in this kind they will do it to loss and disadvantage I mean comparatively in respect of what they might have done had they stood upon an higher ground of Gospel peace For otherwise in simple consideration it is most true which the Levites acknowledged Neh. 9.5 that the glorious Name of God excelleth or is exalted above all blessing and praise Consonant whereunto are these sayings of the Son of Sirach What power have we to praise him For he is above all his works Praise ye the Lord and magnifie him as much as ye can yet doth he far exceed c. Ecclus. 43.28.30 And thus we have done with the proof of that which was supposed and taken for granted in the Reason which was That it is every man's
reclaimed from his dissolute and destructive courses are emphatically represented ver 20.22 23 24. although he is said to have had another an elder Son who had been regular and well ordered all his daies Yea when this Son made himself agrieved that greater respects were shewed by his Father to his Brother that had lately and for a long time together been a Son of Belial than unto him who had alwaies been observant of his Counsels and Commands his Father pleads not simply the lawfulness but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meetness or comliness of that which he had done in that case in these words It was meet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oportebat or it was as it should or ought to be that we should make merry and be glad For this thy Brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found Ver. 32. So that the way of God in making the last first and the first last a way wherein he frequently walketh that is his giving the precedency of reward unto those who having lived long in a lost condition and whose repentance was against hope and above expectation yet unfeignedly repent and turn with their whole heart unto him at the last rather than unto such who from the dawnings of their daies have plodded on in a regular course and profession of his Worship and Service without any scandalous or reproachful deviation at any time this way of God I say is justifiable by the like demeanours of the generality of men in like cases But Notwithstanding this or any thing formerly argued or pleaded Sect. 7 to evince the equity and fairness of those proceedings of God between his last and his first his Evening and his Morning Converts which have been mentioned yet nothing hinders but that they who began early and were the first in service or of the first may if they quit themselves accordingly keep their place of priority unto the end so as never to be cast behind or come into the number of those that shall be last in reward For if they shall all along their progress be diligent to stir up themselves daily to be like unto those that come late into the work and service of God in their love their zeal their humility their self-denial and chastity of dependence upon the grace of God in Christ for their Justification and Salvation and their other Christian excellencies and shall not grow drowsie or sleepy because the Bridegroom tarrieth nor wax weary of well doing nor suffer their love to wax cold nor let their left hand know what their right hand doth in works of righteousness nor stumble at any other of those stones which are commonly laid in the way of a long profession by the Flesh the World and the Devil doubtless they shall have equal respects from God in their reward with the best of his late Proselytes or Converts Nor is it impossible on the other hand but that even they who have waxed old in the service of Sin and Satan and so upon their repentance have had much forgiven them and withal more reasonable advantages and engagements than their Brethren early called to excell in holiness and so to approve themselves towards and in the close of their daies upon terms of highest acceptance with God and upon this account to be of the first in reward may notwithstanding before they die through an unmanlike oscitancy and the allurements of the Flesh and of the World turn their backs upon all the great advantages of their late Conversion and either suffer themselves to be overtaken with the usual drousiness dulness or formality of old Professors and so become last in reward in the better sense of the clause or which is much more sad cast in their lot with final Apostates and so become last in the worst and hardest sense of all As it was no part of the intent or meaning of Christ in presenting the Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable yet in hand giving order to his Steward to pay the Labourers their wages in this order beginning at the last unto the first in the sense so oft and at large declared either to discourage men from remembring their Creator in the daies of their youth and believing with the first but only to caution and admonish those who shall thus believe that they take heed of those evils which are so incident to a long race of Profession and that they be careful so to grow in grace daily all along their course that every new day may seem to be the first day of their conversion unto God or to encourage men to defer their Repentance unto old age and until sin hath abounded but only to encourage those for whom Satan hath been too hard all or the greatest part of the best of their daies yet to repent at the last by assuring them that though it be very late in the day of their lives ere they repent and turn unto him yet their repentance shall be most acceptable and their entertainment by him with more or greater respects of grace and favour than he is wont to vouchsafe unto their Brethren who have been of far more ancient standing in his service As these I say were the things intended and not intended by Christ in the passage in hand so neither is there any other thing intended in all that explication that hath now passed on it The gloss doth all homage and reverence unto the Text and trembleth to make it speak any thing which is not in the heart and inward parts of it Yea and would not willingly conceal any of those gracious and comely things wherewith the heart of it is full even to the brim And for a cloze I shall here subjoyn this that it is the sense of some good Expositors and this so probable that I could with very little regret of Judgment espouse it and make it mine own that the passage last insisted on Give the Labourers their wages beginning from the last unto the first is the Master vein in the Parable and that all the passages in it besides are subservient to it and face towards it as well those in the rear of it as those in the front and that they were framed by Christ either only or chiefly to make way for a rational and commodious introduction of it However by that narrow and large survey that hath been taken of the Parable it sufficiently I presume appears that which way soever it be managed or the interpretation and sense of it carried so it be with reason and with due respects to the ground or occasion and so to the scope of it or conclusion intended by Christ to be illustrated by it together with the proper import of the principle clauses and passages in it That there can nothing reasonably be inferred from it in favour of that opinion which undertaketh to reduce all the Crowns of righteousness that shall be set upon the heads of the Saints
account touch only one place more at present though there be very many consorting with it Having therefore these Promises meaning of that high and sacred consequence as those now mentioned ver 16 17 18. of the preceding Chapter let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 As if he should say Had you only matters of lighter concernment or less desirableness promised and proposed unto you for your encouragement and reward than those insured you by God in the Gospel you might much more reasonably demur upon the exhortation now given you yea or absolutely reject it I know it is a very tedious and uncouth thing unto you and next unto death if not equal to it yea or above it to abandon all Sensuality to crucifie the Flesh with all the lusts and deeds thereof and seriously to strive after perfection of holiness both in Flesh and Spirit But the things promised and confirmed unto you by God in the Gospel are so above measure desirable and super-transcendently glorious that for the enjoyment of them you shall offer no violence at all to your reasons or judgments but rather highly satisfie and content them by hearkening and submitting unto all that the Exhortation requireth of you Gospel Precepts are not to be reconciled with flesh and bloud but only by the mediation of Gospel Promises but these are proper to make peace yea and more than peace even mutual love and delight between them This for a second consideration Thirdly Sect. 17 According to the import of this last particular and in pursuance of our present design it is observable that the most generous and heroick services performed unto God by the best and worthiest of men are by the Holy Ghost still ascribed unto the desires and expectations which they had of those magnificent rewards and that superlative glory which he hath promised unto those that obey him which cannot reasonably imply less than that such desires and expectations were amongst other motives and inducements which it is like strengthened their hand also to those great undertakings predominant in them That one Chapter Heb. 11. recordeth many more instances in this kind than at present we judge needful to insist upon And the Chapter following one that is much greater than all those In the former of these Chapters The reason of that ready and signal obedience which Abraham yielded unto God when he called him to go out into a strange Country he knew not whither where he dwelt in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob is thus expressed ver 10. For he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God So that which enabled him to another as great an act of submission unto God if not a greater I mean the offering up of his only Son Isaac in sacrifice unto him upon his Command is intimated to have been a certain expectation and hope that according to the import of this Declaration or Promise made unto him In Isaac shall thy Seed be called God being able to do it would raise him up from the dead in case he had been actually sacrificed ver 17 18 19. Those most eminent and renouned strains of Self-denial in Moses as that he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Aegypt all these high actings I say are ascribed unto the influence which the hope of the great things promised by God unto those that should quit themselves with the like faithfulness had upon him For saith the Text he had respect unto the recompense of reward ver 26. as if it should have been said It is the less to be marvelled that he should deny himself at that most worthy and exemplary rate considering that he was seriously intent upon and taken up with confident expectations of those soul-ravishing enjoyments which he knew God had promised unto Self-denying men Doubeless both Moses and Abraham were persons of as great ingenuity of as gracious spirits as great lovers and friends of God and of all righteousness and goodness as the ordinary nay the more choice and improved sort of Christians are yea and doubtless these worthy Principles were not asleep in them when they acted those magnalia hominum those stately things of men which have been mentioned Yet the Holy Ghost as we have seen attributeth none of those great things done by them unto any of these neither unto the love of God love of righteousness or the like but only unto the inspirations of those desires and hopes of the excellent things which God had set before them as rewards of their obedience which wrought in them respectively By the way then that Doctrine which teacheth it to be unlawful to serve God or do the best actions with an eye to the reward promised unto them cannot but seem very uncouth and strange to considering men Certainly the express tendency of it is at once to destroy if it were possible both Nature and Grace out of men Yea let me add upon this occasion that were it possible yea were it never so probable or likely that men out of the meer love of God or of goodness without any thought of or respect had unto the recompense of reward might or would live holily and quit themselves as worthy Christians yet should they sin in tempting God and in spreading a snare in their own way in case they should neglect the great and sacred Encouragements which God hath given them by promise to strengthen their hand unto such waies For when God hath prescribed and vouchsafeth a plurality of means for the enabling of men to the performance of any duty it is a sin even a tempting both of God and a man's self also to despise or neglect the use of any one of them But this occasionally only If you desire more instances where the high services of the Saints are imputed as well sufferings as doings unto their desires and hopes of inheriting the great and precious Promises of God you may at leisure peruse ver 7 15 16 35. of the late mentioned Chapter Heb. 11. Paul himself seems to profess himself as it were a debtor to that incorruptible Crown he speaks of for those high animations by which he was acted to do and to suffer at an almost incredible rate for Christ and for the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. from 22 to the end But the instance in this kind and above all others is that of the Lord Christ blessed for ever It is said of him also that for the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame c. Heb. 12.2 It was that high exaltation which God the Father had set in the eye of his Faith that made that deep humiliation passable
followeth Sect. 11 He that receiveth of another is not God the Holy Spirit doth so i. e. receiveth of another therefore he is not God The Minor is witnessed from Joh. 16.14 The Major is proved thus God is he that giveth all things unto all wherefore if there be any one that receiveth of another he cannot be God The Antecedent is plain from Acts 17.25 Rom. 11.35 36. The Consequence is undeniable because he that is deficient is not God he that receiveth from another is deficient therefore he is not God The Major is unquestionable for to say one is deficient which implyeth imperfection and yet is God is in effect to say that he is God and not God This is the compass likewise of the fifth Argument the strength of this Argument such as it is is easie enough to be discerned the stress of it resteth upon these words of Christ as you may perceive concerning the Spirit Joh. 16.14 He shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you because he is here said to be a Receiver therefore our Adversary cannot allow him to be God because saith he God is he that gives all things unto all and it implieth a contradiction that he that giveth all things unto all should receive any thing from any but amongst all his Arguments this is the first born amongst the poor For I reply first Though God in a sense be said to give all things unto all yet withal he is said also in a sense proper enough to receive several things and this without any contradiction at all He is said to receive the Prayers of his Saints Psal 6.9 To receive the Saints themselves Psal 49.15 73.24 To receive comfort Isa 57.6 And so to receive glory and honour and power Rev. 4.11 Therefore this Proposition is most untrue He that receiveth of another is not God yea he may be and is God who receiveth something from another as we have heard Nor is it the proper notion of dependency to receive of another these things are very loosely and unduly affirmed God is sometimes in Scriptures said to give all things unto all because he giveth unto all all things which they stand possessed of He gives them Faculties Principles Strength and means to do all things which they do and in this sense he may be said to give them all the actions motions and workings also which they act and work and consequently those very Praises and acknowledgements which yet he receiveth from them too As for example He that gives a man money wherewith to buy such a commodity he may very properly be said to give him the things which are purchased with the money And so the Scripture Phrase runneth for he is thy money speaking of the Servant So when God eâ—dneth a Creature with strength and power to get wealth he may be said to give him wealth it self which he did allow him by means of that power and understanding infused into him God's giving all things unto all in this sense doth not hinder but that he may receive also many of these very things which he giveth in the sense declared therefore it is no infallible Character of a true God not to receive from another The Apostle himself in that very Scripture which the Argument citeth Acts 17.25 saying That God is not to be worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing clearly implieth that God may receive things from his Creatures but not upon any such account as this viz. As if he needed any thing meaning for he bettering of his own condition or compleating of his happiness and unless our Adversary can prove that the Holy Ghost received what was Christs for his own necessities and supplies The simple receiving of it doth no way incumber the plea of his Godhead 2. When our Saviour speaking of the Holy Ghost saith He shall receive or shall take as the word signifieth and is accordingly translated in the next verse of mine and shall shew it unto you he doth not imply as if the Holy Ghost had not then when Christ thus spake received or taken that or those things of his for it is certain that he had taken these things of Christ under the Old Testament and had revealed them unto the Prophets of God and other holy men and by these unto the World as is very evident from many Scriptures yea certain it is that he had received them from Eternity but our Saviour's meaning in the Clause or Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall take of that which is mine seems to be this That whereas the Holy Ghost had viz. in his mind or understanding both at present and ever before abundance of that which was Christs even his whole Treasury his relation to his Father his Godhead his Incarnation his Infinite Grace Love Sweetness Holiness c. together with all his Counsels Purposes and Intentions concerning the World c. He should when he should visibly be given and come unto them take not simply this or all this But he should take viz. of himself and out of the Treasury of his own understanding so much or such particulars concerning Christ to reveal unto them which should be necessary for them to know either for their own comfort or to furnish or accomplish them for the great Office and work of Apostles in the World So that the word take in this place The Holy Ghost shall take of mine is used in some such sense as when a man is said to take a thing which is already his own or in his own possession only in order to the doing of something with it in this sense God saith Zach. 11.10 I took my staff even beauty and cut it asunder The staffe he speaks of was in his possession before only he is said to have taken it in order to cutting it asunder So again The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13.33 is like unto Leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal to name no more places in this kind ver 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of Mustard-seed which a man took and sowed in his Field 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in the words before us The Spirit shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you i. e. From amongst many other things which he knows concerning me he shall take such and such which shall be needful for you to know and shall reveal them unto you Even as a prudent Minister or Scribe instructed for the Kingdom of heaven As our Saviour speaks out of the rich and full treasure of his understanding taketh and chuseth such and such particular notions and veins of spiritual truth relating unto God and Jesus Christ which he judgeth meet to be delivered and imparted to such and such a people The words taken in such a sense as this do no way favour the dangerous conceit of our Adversaries that the Holy Ghost is not God There is another sense likewise wherein the
Spirit the Holy Spirit so much spoken of in the Scriptures to be God The debate of this Question we have already finished Another of the three Questions was How or what course a Christian or any other Person Man or Woman may and ought to take to be filled with the Spirit i.e. How or after what manner the Exhortation imposed in the Text is to be obeyed or put in execution The third and last Question was How a man or woman may either come to discern and know themselves or how others may come to the like knowledge of them whether they be filled with the Spirit I mean the Spirit of God or some other Spirit of another nature and contrary to it I suppose much light will be given by the examination of the truth in the Former of the two Questions for the decision of the Latter so that we may be somewhat the briefer here To begin then with the former of these Questions Sect. 2 how a Christian or a Believer yea or any other person may be filled with the Spirit which the Text and Doctrine mention for it will appear by the way that any other Person as well as a Believer is in a capacity though somewhat more remote of being filled with the Spirit likewise What it is to be filled with the Spirit hath been formerly declared in the opening of the Doctrine notwithstanding I conceive it is necessary for the resolution of the Question in hand that we briefly remind you of what we delivered in that kind we signified unto you that to be filled with the Spirit doth not note and import an absolute and precise fulness that is a having of the Spirit in such a precise fulness and height that there is no capacity left of having more of him No but as in Scripture Phrase a Vessel is said to be full when there is a good and sufficient and competent proportion in it and so in ordinary discourse we say a Cup is full of drink not when it is full to the brim but if there be a good quantity and proportion in it just so a fulness with the Spirit doth not suppose or imply such a uniform kind of fulness as if no man could be said to be full of the Spirit but only he that is fullest of all But if any person be acted by the Spirit or doth quit himself like unto a man he in whom the Spirit hath any considerable power of command may be truly said to be filled with the Spirit as David had many Worthies in his Army and yet they did not reach or attain unto the three first though they were worthy in their way so there may be many Christians of several sizes and degrees who yet may be said to be filled with the Spirit of God So that in propriety of Phrase it signifieth to have an actuous vigorous and operative presence of the Holy Ghost in you to enjoy his grace love and favour upon such terms as to receive from him and from the glory of his power ever and anon upon all occasions excellent quicknings incitements impulses enlargements strengthnings of heart and soul unto every worthy way and every good work to have all contrary workings motions and risings of the flesh borne down with a strong hand and swallowed up in victory so that a man or woman shall find no great no considerable opposition or turmoile as formerly from any weakness or corruption within him in his way of well-doing but only such which he shall be enabled and this at a very good rate to overcome I say when this is found to be the case and condition of any Christian it is a sign of such a presence or fulness of the Spirit of God I here describe unto you only that kind of filling with the Spirit which is the duty of all Christians as of other persons also in their way to mind look after and be industriously careful to obtain and which only I conceive is intended by the Apostle in the Text. For I do not conceive that he doth admonish and exhort the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit as if his meaning should be that he would have them be filled with such a kind of filling by which some were enabled to work miracles or reveal things secret and unrevealed in the Scriptures being yet future and to come Although I can easily believe that even such a filling with the Spirit as this at least to a considerable degree was within the reach of Christians in the Apostles daies yea and that the Apostle did exhort the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12.31 to seek after some such kind of filling as this in these words but covet earnestly after the best gifts Doubtless he would not have had them to lay out themselves with any desire after these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as speaking with Tongues and Prophecying but that there was a means for the attaining of them But that filling with the Spirit which he commendeth to the Ephesians by way of duty in the words before us is only or at least principally such a filling as we have both formerly and even now described unto you which respecteth the effectual stirring up and strengthening of the hearts and souls of men unto waies and works of righteousness and these of the worthiest and most excellent kind and strain And yet it is not unlike but that if men and women should quit themselves worthily and with faithfulness in this Race I mean in their endeavours to be filled with the Spirit in that kind or sense we speak of there would be cast in unto them by way of heaped measure somewhat of that kind of filling also they should have a kind of first fruits of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit also as of healing of the sick declaring things to come c. I could give an account of my apprehension in this kind and this in more particulars than one were it not for fear of lengthening out this Discourse in hand beyond what you are willing to bear Notwithstanding Sect. 3 there is one thing more necessary I conceive to be touched here also in order to your better satisfaction about the Question in hand though something as I remember hath been spoken to it formerly that is How it can stand with the weakness and unworthiness of the Creature man on the one hand and the incomprehensible Majesty and Glory of the Holy Ghost on the other hand that it should be in the power of man to procure or draw into himself i.e. into his heart and soul such a rich or glorious presence of the Spirit as that wherein our being filled with him consists Or whether in this case the Spirit may not be conceived to be obnoxious unto or in the power of man I am the rather desirous to remove this stumbling block out of the way before we go forward to give reply to the principal Question propounded because I conceive it must needs be
and that in opposition unto others Secondly A second Property of the Spirit mentioned was his grace We read Heb. 10.29 of despighting the Spirit of grace And so God is called 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace meaning that he is a gracious Spirit Now grace as we have formerly opened the nature of it unto you importeth a readiness or great propenseness in the will and soul of a man to shew kindness or to do good where no engagement is from without from him unto whom kindness is shewn it differeth from mercy For the object of mercy alwaies is misery or persons in misery But the object of grace may as well be persons in a good condition and free from misery as those that are in misery for Grace only respects as it were an absence of all motives or engagements from those to whom we intend good and reacheth no further So then when the Spirit is called the Spirit of grace it doth import a freeness a readiness a willingness and propenseness of mind to do good unto such persons who never laid any engagement upon him to whom he is no waies Debtor by one Law or other When there is a propenseness in any person thus freely without engagement to deal courteously or kindly with others this is Grace truly so called Now the Spirit is said to be a gracious Spirit because he vouchsafeth to come unto men and to dwell with them and to couple and joyn himself with men whilest they are strangers unto him even whilest as yet he hath received to no kindness from them he is pleased to come unto them and to invite them Nay the truth is there is a more excellent degree of grace than this in the Spirits dealing with men when kindness is shewed not only where no engagement hath gone before but contrary to engagements on the other hand This is grace in abundance and in its exaltation when a person hath done us wrong or disgraced us unjustly and offered us injury and we notwithstanding such hard measure received from him shall yet be ready to stand by him and accommodate him then are we gracious in an excellent and eminent degree Now such lusts and sinful dispositions in men which are contrary to this Character or property of Grace in the Spirit are very distasteful unto him apt to grieve and obstruct him in his course as well as the former viz. uncleanness c. In that former place Eph. 4.30 where the Apostle had added And greive not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption meaning by corrupt communication He immediately addeth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice c. The motive lieth in the middle between the two Exhortations and it enforceth them both it is a motive both to that which went before Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth and unto that which followeth namely that all wrath and malice and the like should be put away Therefore this clearly shews that these kind of corruptions and distempers bitterness and malice c. are contrary to the Spirit of Grace and those gracious dispositions and inclinations of his to do good and to shew kindness and love where there is no merit yea even unto those men who have rather merited sorrow and hard measure from him But much more when men without any provocations shall be in bitterness of Spirit and full of wrath and anger and shall entertain and admit malice evil thoughts and intentions of hardness cruelty and bloud into their hearts this being so extremely contrary to that gracious and sweet property of the Spirit of God in reason must needs be signally obstructive unto him in his way of filling men with himself A third Property was the heavenliness of the Spirit of God Sect. 18 Joh. 3.31 He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth He that cometh from heaven is above all Therefore that Lust that is contrary to this property in the Spirit of God heavenliness or heavenly mindedness this must in a way of reason be offensive unto the Spirit of God Of this kind are all lusts of Covetonsness inordinate Love unto this present World earthly mindedness when mens hearts savour the things of the earth only or mainly when the matters of this life eat out the very heart and sinews of a Man Such Lusting as these must needs likewise be of a very offensive nature unto the Spirit of God When the Holy Ghost shall come unto men and offer them life and shall be ready to lead them into the Faith Knowledge and Love of God when he shall talk and discourse with men and women about heavenly things and they answer him with their carnal and their sensual things when he discourseth unto them of Faith and Holiness and the things of their Eternal Peace and blessedness and they shall have cars only to hear of Silver and Gold and Wealth and Grandeur and Power and Honour and the like certainly if lusts of this nature be made much of and harboured in the soul of a man there can be no expectation that ever the Spirit of God should take pleasure or delight to put forth or to give out himself in his glory in such a soul A fourth and last particular was a disposition aptness Sect. 19 or readiness of mind to communicate the things of God matters of a spiritual import the Secrets of God unto the minds and consciences of men Therefore such kind of Lusts in men which are opposite to this property in the Spirit of God must needs be offensive unto him and obstruct him in this blessed work we are speaking of Which lusts and distempers are these and such like viz. such lusts by which men are invited tempted and carried away from the Ministry of the Spirit and those waies whereby the Spirit is wont to utter himself which are the Ordinances of God and especially that of the Ministry of the Gospel and more especially such a kind of Ministry which is prepared as it were by God on purpose to bring forth the mind of God unto men For as God of old appointed Moses and the People to meet at the door of the Tabernacle So now hath he appointed the World the Sons and Daughters of men to meet with him in these Ministrations of his House and to treat with him there about the great business and things of their peace If men and women therefore shall suffer the great Enemy of their peace so to bewitch them that they fall in their esteem of these appointments of his and look upon them as if there were no great matter in them this is another thing which hath a direct opposition unto and is a ready way to quench the Spirit of God Mind and compare these two verses together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit But how or which way should
his House 1 Kings 21.29 Yet evident it is by the tenour of the place that he was far from being a person truly believing or a person justified in the sight of God In like manner John was not a man endued with Justifying Faith as appears by the Character which the Holy Ghost gives of him 2 Kings 10.29 30. yet was God well pleased with him not only to do as great matters for him as he did for Ahab viz. To establish the Kingdom to him But likewise to continue this Kingdom unto his Posterity for four Generations howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam Jehu did not depart This is Character enough to shew that he was not a true Believe and yet the Lord said unto him Because thou hast done well c. Men may do well though they may be without justifying Faith It is no way probable that all of the Family of the Rechabites were Persons so justified in the sight of God and in favour with him yet was God well pleased with them Jer. 35.14 18.19 So the men of Niniveh were not all and every one of them in the favour and love of God they were not in the state of Justification The like may be said of the young man in the Gospel Mar. 10.21 22. It appeareth from that sad parting between the Lord Christ and him when he went away sorrowful from him you know upon what words speaking that he was not in the state of Justification in the sight of God yet nevertheless he did many things well and was in very great favour with Christ as man for it is said that Jesus beholding him loved him So then men that pray unto God for the gift of his Spirit may be accepted with God as to the obtaining of what they pray for though they be not in an estate of Justification Again secondly If we understand the Saying of the Apostle mentioned Without Faith it is impossible to please God of such a Faith which only importeth a knowledge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what we do or intend to do in which sense the word is sometimes used in the Scriptures And particularly thus it is twice used Rom. 14.23 He eateth not of Faith here the word Faith is taken for knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth I say if we understand such a kind of Faith as this then it imports no more but this that without a belief or knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth he cannot please God in the doing of it Now that men may know the lawfulness of praying unto God for his Spirit without Justifying Faith and consequently please God in the Action so far as to obtain what is prayed for needeth I suppose be no mans question at least if we grant or suppose that a man may believe or know and that without Justifying Faith that God hath a Spirit to give unto them that ask him Now though it be somewhat hard to conceive how a man without Justifying Faith yea and somewhat more should distinctly know or believe that God hath a Spirit to give coessential or of the same infinite being with himself yea possibly many that have Justifying Faith may be ignorant or doubtful of this as we read of some in Acts 19. that they did not know as they professed whether there were any Holy Ghost or no yet that God is able inwardly to enlighten quicken stir up and strengthen to that which is good men may know and believe without such a Faith which justifieth and to know this I mean that God is able to enlighten c. is interpretatively or constructively to know that he hath a Spirit to give because these things are proper for him to do by his Spirit and doubtless God out of his abundant Grace and Condescention unto his Creature Man will construe his Prayer as a Prayer made unto him for his Spirit who shall pray for illumination and quickning unto waies and works of well doing This for the seventh and last means we shall insist upon at present by which men and women may be filled with the Spirit of God viz. Prayer And thus much likewise for resolution of the Second Question propounded viz. How men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit and what is to be done by them in order hereunto CHAP. XI A third Question propounded viz. How a man or woman may know whether himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but is indeed a Spirit contrary to it Wherein are several Rules laid down in order to a clear understanding thereof Prov. 6.9 10. 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. Jam. 3.17 Prov 2.22 Chap. 9.6 Rom. 8.13 Psal 145 17. 1 Cor. 2.10 11. in part opened THe Third and last Question was this Sect. 1 How a man may know or judge whether either himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but indeed is a Spirit far differing from it For reply hereunto these five things are necessary in a few words to be premised by the way First That there are a Generation of men and women in the World who cannot properly be said to be filled with any Spirit at all in one kind or other unless haply it be with that which the Scripture calleth in Rom. 11.8 a spirit of slumber or rather a spirit of sloath such as the Wiseman describeth Prov. 6.9 10. How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the arms together Some there are that are of a dull heavy and of a stupified temper little active or stirring in one kind or other somewhat like unto the men of Laish Judges 18.7 who are said to have been quiet and secure and to have had no business with any man We know there are some such in the World who seem to have little sense either of the one World or of the other yea scarce to know whether they be alive or in being or no. Now though these kind of persons we speak of be as good as dead unto all manner of activeness yet if this be come upon them by any Judgment of God by reason of any preceding sin or provocation they may truly and properly enough be said to be filled with the Spirit of slumber drowsiness or floth because God hath left them in the hand and to the power of some evil spirit or other who dismantles and bereavs their nature bodies and souls of that activeness or disposition unto Action in one kind or other which is natural unto them and otherwise would be found in them But if that such a kind of temper be found in any person simply by way of Nature and not by a just recompense of reward for some former sinful miscarriages then the case is far differing I
it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which as the Apostle calleth it is the Ministration of the Spirit Secondly They who though they do not make it matter of Conscience to neglect or despise this Ministry yet make it no matter of Couscience diligently to attend upon it when they know otherwise how to bestow their time whether in the pursuit of their pleasures or recreation or in the service of Mammon and attending upon the World between these we might insert a third sort viz. such who though they have not turned their backs upon the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel but seem to make it some matter of Conscience to attend upon it yet have itching ears and cannot long together endure wholsome and sound Doctrine but run from Mountain to Hill from one Minister to another For the first We all know that of late years there is a strange spirit of Error and Ungodliness gone out into the World and walks up and down the Streets of your City and hath taken the heads or hearts rather of many who sometimes greatly loved or at least seemed thus to love the Assemblies of the Saints and those discoveries of himself which God is wont by his Word and the Ministry thereof to make from day to day unto them The Spirit we now speak of is a Spirit which teacheth men to say that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts are vile and for the Ministry of the Gospel and the opening the Mysteries thereof by those that have an Anointing from heaven to do it Wherein is it to be esteemed This Spirit also reacheth and perswadeth those men to fortifie and strengthen or harden themselves in their way not only by Reasons and Arguments such as they are but by the Scriptures themselves also as if they were divided in themselves and destroyed with one hand what they build up with the other Do not men who suffer themselves to be lead by this superordinancing Spirit rather consult the emptying of themselves of the Spirit of God than their filling with him and take a course by degrees wholly to bereave and dispossess themselves of that presence of his in them which at present they do enjoy or have enjoyed formerly Where no wood is saith Solomon or as the Hebrew hath it Prov. 26.20 without wood the fire goeth out In like manner except the Spirit of God in men be fed and nourished with the fresh and new comings in of the light of the knowledge of God and of Christ his presence will languish and sink and die in a manner Hence it is that the Apostle having admonished the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 He immediately subjoyneth by way of caution ver 20. and presignification how they might and must prevent it Despise not Prophesying or as our last Translation with more agreeableness to the Original rendreth it Despise not Prophesyings in the plural number Prophesyings i.e. the opening and interpreting the Word of God by a proper gift of the Spirit for the work if this be despised i. e. made nothing of as the word signifieth then the Spirit in men and women will be quenched i. e. the vigour and activeness of his presence in men will abate and if the neglect and disesteem be long continued in will by degrees wholly cease The word Prophesyings in the Plural number seems to imply that not only or simply to despise Prophesying i. e. the Work or Ordinance it self in the general of Preaching or opening the Scriptures is the ready way to quench the Spirit but to despise the frequency of the opportunities vouchsafed by God in that kind viz. when the bountiful providence of God affordeth unto men and women frequent opportunities of attending upon the Spirit of God in the exercise of Prophesyings and when they may be diligence and wise ordering and disposing of their secular and worldly occasions without any considerable inconveniency frequently attend the openings of the mouth of God which we spake of and yet they shall frequently neglect to do it pleasing themselves with a conceipt that to attend on Prophesying on the Lord's day only is sufficient If the persons with whom we have to do in the reproof in hand Sect. 2 should ask me But why should the despising or neglecting of Prophesying or of the Ministry of the Word be the quenching of the Spirit or a way to empty us of the Spirit I reply First Suppose we could give no other reason of the thing now enquired into but only the Will and pleasure of God and could say no more in the case but this that it is the Counsel of the Will of God to make the attendance of the Creature man upon the Ministry of the Gospel where he vouchsafeth it the condition of the Spirits presence or abiding with him so that in case he doth neglect it his Spirit shall withdraw from him If there were nothing else but this Were not this enough to satisfie any man of Conscience But now the truth is that the reasons of this Counsel of the Will of God that the attendence upon the Ministry of the Gospel should be a standing means to preserve and maintain the presence of the Spirit of God the reasons I say are not so hard to come at in this case but that if the Minds Judgments and Understandings of men were impartially engaged in the enquiry after what the Scriptures speak as to matters of this nature they might be clearly discerned The reasons therefore why God hath made such a Connexion between the attending upon the Ministry of the Word and the presence of his Spirit are first because the word of God is as it were the materials or proper matter for the Holy Ghost to work on to work all his excellent and heavenly works in the hearts and souls of men As for example to work Faith Peace Joy and Righteousness and Holiness and Love c. The Holy Ghost produceth all these excellent works in the hearts of men by the truths of God in the Gospel As an Artificer worketh upon his materials and by his Art and Skil produceth his Artificial piece as a Carpenter upon his Timber or a Goldsmith upon his Metal so that if you do not furnish them with these materials they can do nothing As the Carpenter cannot work when he hath no Timber the Holy Ghost in like manner if there be no Vision no Truth no New Light coming in for him to work on he will take no pleasure nor delight to inhabit or continue there He shall saith our Saviour speaking to his Disciples of the Holy Ghost He shall receive or take of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 What things of his doth our Saviour mean the Holy shall take and shew Doubtless they are such things of his or relating unto him which are contained and asserted in the Gospel As his Divine Nature Humane Nature his Incarnation Conception
Teachings serve the World well near upon as good and happy terms as if they were infallible For Eighthly Nortwithstanding that infallibility which was vested in the Apostles yet those that heard them were to examine and search into the Scriptures to find whether the Doctrines taught by them were agreeable unto them or no and their belief of what the Apostles taught them was not solid or compleat untill they had thus cast their Doctrine into the fire of the Scriptures to try whether it would not burn And when they found that the Scriptures gave the right hand of Fellowship unto it then it was their own now they were satisfied with it and full of peace by it You know that passage of the Bereans Acts 17.11 12. Though the Doctrine which was preached unto them by Paul had not only the Authority of so great an Apostle as he was to attest it but the mouth of another very considerable witness I mean Silas yet they would not receive it untill they had searched the Scriptures Now then if the Doctrines which the Apostles themselves did preach were and ought to be tried by those that heard them and upon such a trial as this they were to give entertainment unto them and believe them then it lay upon them the hearers of the Apostles themselves by way of duty to examine such Doctrines as were delivered unto them There is the same reason now and Christians are in the same capacity to enquire into and examine by the Touchstone of the Scriptures whatever Doctrine shall be delivered unto them and it lieth upon them as a duty to search the Scriptures accordingly c. If this course were but taken by men there would be no more danger of their being mistaken now than there was in the Apostles daies Ninthly Sect. 12 The great and blessed end which is most considerable as to the stopping the mouth of all that can be pretended for that plea of infallibility may be reached and obtained though the Minister be not infallible yea though in something in his Doctrines he should be mistaken yea and that which is more than this though they that hear him should be carried away with some of his errors and mistakes yet the great blessed and sovereign ends of the Ministry of the Gospel may be obtained There are two great ends of the Ministry of the Gospel the one subordinate unto the other the conversion of men unto God and the building them up in holiness and preparing and making them meet for the Kingdom of heaven the sovereign and supreme end is the saving of their souls we include the glory of God in them both Now the Ministry as to both these ends may be mightily effectual and full of authority and power though the Minister should be obnoxious to mistakes I remember it was the saying of an ancient Father mistake or error in matters of Religion if it hath not pertinaciousnes and stubbornness joyned with it doth not oppose holiness in men Faith and Love may be wrought and raised in men thorough Arguments Motives and Considerations which lie fair and large in the Gospel notwithstanding there may be a mixture of some Misprision in the Minister For the Arguments and grounds which are most convincing and which are most awfull and carry the greatest authority with the consciences and souls of men are such which not only the Minister that preacheth them but even the common sort of men may be infallible as to the judgment of the truth of them and of their nature and weight at least to a degree so as to weigh them so far as to come to understand that there is enough of truth in them to bring their hearts unto subjection unto them The Arguments in the Scriptures for these ends and purposes are so plain and so evident that it is not lightly possible for men to mistake herein For what is the great work that the Gospel and the Ministers of it have to do with the Children of men It is only to bring them off from themselves and to make them have little list to please themselves to pull down imaginations and strong holds and all high thoughts that exalt themselves in the minds and inward thoughts to men and to bring them into subjection to Jesus Christ Now then those thoughts in men which are to be demolished and brought down by the Engines of the Gosel are discernable enough and do discover and utter themselves in the waies and sometimes from the lips and mouths of men namely in waies of covetousness earthly mindedness deceit sinful pleasures idleness vain discourse and the like So that I say it is not hard matter to come to this conclusion without any danger of mistake that certainly these men do build upon such and such foundations they have such and such thoughts and imaginations within them that these waies are better and more commodious for them than the waies of God than the waies of Righteousness and Holiness would be This may safely be presumed from that essential connexion and relation which is between such Practices and Principles such thoughts imaginations and actions And by this means the Ministers of the Gospel may be capable enough to declare such thoughts and imaginations unto men which lie deep in their hearts And then again as touching such truths of the Gospel by which such imaginations are to be overthrown and pulled down they are so clear and so agreeable with the light of reason and common understandings planted in men that there is little fear or matter of doubt that they should be deceived or entangled with any error herein or howsoever if the things which shall be delivered be proper to demolish and throw down these vile thoughts lying conceits and imaginations be they what they will the very opposition which shall be found in them unto those corruptions is ground sufficient and testimony in abundance on their behalf that they are truths yea and that they are the truths of God And therefore as to the greatest matters and main work of the Gospel and Ministry thereof although the Ministers should be men as subject unto error as other men and as weak this way as the Apostle saith of himself and other Christians in his daies that they knew but in part Even so if we that are Ministers shall but Prophesie in part nay though we should mingle with our Prophesying some mistakes and misprisions yet through the grace of God and that blessing annexed by promise unto this erection and establishment of the Ministry for the building up of men in holiness and in the love of God and in the faith of Jesus Christ these great and blessed ends may go on with an high hand and men and women may be promoted into the love and favour of God and thereby made meet for the heavenly Kingdom notwithstanding the great pretense of fallibility Another pretense Sect. 13 which the persons now under reproof sometimes plead to make
see and perceive upon the minding and narrow considerations of them that surely these things are so and so because they have so clear and happy a consistency with those things which they do believe already But what may be the Reason why the men and women we speak of Sect. 10 should think they edifie by such a kind of Ministry as their hearts are now lift up unto and could not edifie by the other which they did forsake I reply First The reason why they think they edifie by their new Ministry is either because they meet with new and strange terms uncouth phrases and expressions which they had not learned or heard of before or else for want of skill but chiefly for want of will care and desire to compare the substance of the matter which is delivered unto them in such new and strange Phrases and antique kind of Language with what they had learned before they conceive that behold now all things are become new now we are enlightned now we see and understand things that never entred into our thoughts or minds before whereas the truth is the matter that many times lieth under these new and uncouth Phrases and Expressions is but one and the self-same thing with that which they did understand and know before and they themselves might discover as much if they did but weigh and compare the words and phrases and what is imported in them As for instance the plain Doctrine of Mortification and Self-denial it is very strange to hear how and in what kind of habit they do adorn these Doctrines which are plain and wholsome and sound They put them into a new kind of expression that was not seen nor heard of before nor declared by those Ministers who are sound and sincere in their teaching of the Gospel It is in this case only as if a man should meet an old friend of his with a new Suite on his back of an antique and uncouth fashion which he was never seen or known to be in before in such a case as this one would think him to be a new man and some stranger So these men if they have but their old matter put into a new garbe of expression they are pleased and think they have heard excellent Notions and such things as they never did hear before The second Reason hereof seemeth to be this because they received distaste and dislike upon the account formerly mentioned namely that this Ministry is not for their turn it will not serve their lusts and the waies wherein they desire to walk Now upon such an occasion as this is beginning to conceive a distaste thenceforth they do gather from day to day and from time to time all matters which have any colour of dislike in them and if they can put any unworthy sense and interpretation upon any Passage or Doctrine that is delivered by such Teachers all this is put to that account namely to strengthen their own hands and hearts to forsake them and to quit themselves of them as it is with a side of a house which begins to settle all the weight of the house cometh that way So if the credit or authority of a Ministry do but begin a little to fall in the minds of men then all the weight of their infirmities who manage it or any thing in them that can be conceived to look like weakness or miscarriage will be laid upon it and so in a short time men will work themselves to a perfect liberty and thoughts will be made that this is not a Ministry for them and that their soul is not like to prosper under it and therefore they will seek where it may be better with them Again Sect. 11 Whereas the persons under reproof frequently charge that kind of Ministry which they forsake with being a legal Ministry I reply That I verily believe that they who thus pretend either know not or consider not what they speak herein for I would gladly know of them what they mean by a legal Ministry Is not their sense and notion of a legal Ministry this viz. to be frequent and zealous in pressing men to keep the Law to obey the Will and Commands of God and to threaten with wrath and the vengeance of hell fire the Children of disobedience and those that shall walk after the flesh and to promise the love and favour of God to the exact observers of his Law But if such a Ministry as this be legal what Ministry can be more legal than that exercised by the Lord Christ himself and his greatest Apostles both Peter and Paul c What Minister did ever press holiness or the duties required of men in the Law more strictly more zealously with greater authority and power than he Whoever threatned Transgressors with greater severity and dread than he in that most excellent discourse a Sermon of his as it is called upon the Mount Mat. 5. How doth he all along command and press the observation of the Law and the things contained in it The eight Beatitudes as they are commonly called what are they but a pressing by motives of weight certain duties contained in the Law As blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are the merciful c. Now all these are express duties contained in the Law and yet we see our Saviour commends them unto his Hearers by the great motives of blessedness which shall attend those who shall perform them And in ver 17. and many passages of that Chapter we find that the Lord Christ is very full and high in calling upon men for the duties of the Law Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil meaning in his own Person first and then to fulfill them likewise by his Doctrine and by the charge which he would leave with his Apostles and by them derive to all his Ministers and Agents to the worlds end So in ver 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so to do he shall be accounted least in the Kingdom of Heaven But towards the end and conclusion of this Sermon Chap. 7.21 see with what mighty authority and force doth he impose upon men the keeping of the Law Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in heaven which holy and perfect will of God is comprehended and laid down in the Law ver 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils c. Yet saith he ver 23. I will profess unto them I never knew them depart from me ye that work iniquity So that from this and many such like Passages it is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was a great Exacter and Perswader a constant Urger and Presser
subjection to the Law Nor yet again is it any Character or property of a Legal Ministry if we take the word Legal in any disparaging sense to promise the Love and Favour of God Life and Salvation to those that shall be found the exactest observers of the things required by God in the Law in the Moral Law especially if such obedience proceed from that Faith which worketh by Love for the Ministry both of the Lord Christ and so of the two Apostles mentioned made many Promises upon these terms viz. upon keeping of these Commandments All or the greatest part of the Beatitudes as they are called pronounced by our Saviour in the entrance upon his Sermon on the Mount Mat. 5. of which we lately spake are but so many Promises made unto persons duly observant of things commanded in the Law As when he saith Blessed are the Meck blessed are the Merciful blessed are the Peace-makers c. Now Meekness Mercifulness and Peace-making c. are holy dispositions with their proper fruits and actions commanded in the Law So again Joh. 15.10 If ye keep my Commandments ye shall continue in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love Now his Commandments are no other but the very self-same things which are commanded in the Law of God Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments i. e. that hath them in his mind in his life and conversation he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him c. So that still we see that the Promises are made unto the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 2.6 7 10. where the Apostle speaking of God saith that he will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing i. e. by keeping the Commands of God seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but to them that are contentious c. indignation and wrath By such Passages as these it doth evidently appear that both the Ministry of the Lord Christ and of the Apostle Paul was full of these Promises unto moral qualifications or unto obedience unto the Law Thus then we see that a Ministry is not to be termed Legal in any reprovable sense upon the account of any the three properties mentioned nor yet upon the account of them all though concurring in one and the same Ministry as indeed they ought yea and must if they will be faithful and are like to edifie men in faith and holiness Very like it is that the persons now under censure Sect. 13 do ignorantly asperse that Ministry as Legal against which they seek a quarrel upon the pretense of one or other or all the three particulars specified But the Ministry that deserves that imputation of being Legal to add this briefly by the way is first and most properly such which teacheth Justification i. e. Remission of sins by Works i. e. by the merit of Works for otherwise Faith is a Work and so called by our Saviour himself Joh. 6.29 But to Preach Justification by Faith is not to Preach Legally but most Evangelically For that was the Master vein of the Ministry of Paul viz. to avouch and prove that Justification was to be obtained by Faith in Jesus Christ whereas they the Jews held that it was to be obtained by observing and keeping the Law Now though to Preach Justification by Faith alone as was even now said be not to Preach Legally but Evangelically yet to Preach it by Faith sensu meritorio as if Faith were the meritorious cause of Justification is either to Preach Legally or upon an account every whit as bad and as repugnant to the tenour of the Gospel Secondly That Ministry may in a sense be termed Legal which like unto Pharaoh's Taskmasters in their hard dealings by the Israelites exacteth the full Tale of Brick from men yet gives them no straw whereof to make them I mean which is continually in a manner pressing men unto duties yea the hardest of duties binding the heavie burthens of the Law upon the Consciences of men with the Iron bands of sharp reproofs and sore threatnings seldom or never ministring unto them the rich and high encouragements of the Gospel whereby both their hearts and hands might be strengthened and all that which is distasteful to the flesh in such works and waies be drowned and taken away They that require of men to do Angels work I mean do high and excellent services to God should feed them with the food of Angels they had need have the highest encouragements even such as are in the Gospel They that require of men to be as fruitful and as zealous in serving God and men as Paul was who laboured to promote the interest of God and men more abundantly than they all as himself saith they must endeavour to lift them up higher as high as the third heaven for there doubtless it was that Paul learned that nobleness greatness and worthiness of spirit there he learned to act after another manner of Rate than all the men of the World besides who never came there as he had done The way to draw out mens hearts and souls and all that is within them in serving God and men doing good to their Generation is as far as possible to raise in them the consolation of the Gospel then shall you bring the World under your feet and when that shall be under your feet then shall you be able to lift up your hands to any of the Commands of God But untill men are full of the hope of the life and glory and great things of the World which is to come every good work and way will stick with them and combate with their souls and spirits whereas give men but felicity enough and then if their eyes will do you any service they will pluck them out and give them unto you But this only by the way to give a little light whereby to estimate a legal Ministry which is a Word or Phrase used by many but rightly understood by very few Thirdly Such a Ministry may be termed Legal which sendeth men forth about their spiritual business in their own strength without informing them and that plainly that without Jesus and his Spirit they can do nothing For the gift of the Spirit unto men and so also the Doctrine of Prayer upon which God doth convey his Spirit is Evangelical Received you the Spirit by the hearing of the Law c. therefore they who teach men that they have no need of the Spirit or of the gracious assistance thereof but that they may do things in their own strength are in a sense Anti-Evangelical Teachers Fourthly and lastly That Ministry also may not unproperly be called Legal which bindeth over to Condemnation where the Gospel doth not that concludeth or shutteth men up under Sin and Wrath where the Gospel doth not or that shall make any stricter bands of
to the Creature in a lower sense Thirdly It is here said that the love of God when it is perfect in the sense declared casteth out fear meaning that the Genius or property of this holy and heavenly affection is to work or cast our fear viz. that kind of fear which hath pain or torment in it as he presently expresseth himself perfect love casteth out fear viz. when it is set on work and imployed accordingly for no passion or affection in man acteth or moveth but only upon some apprehensions or other answerable to that affection especially spiritual affections or affections when spiritualized and as such do not produce the effects that are most natural and proper to them but by the mediation and engagement of the understanding The reason hereof seems to be because such affections as these are not natural unto men but are as it were grafted and implanted upon or into their natures by the Spirit of God associating himself in the work by means whereof their effects and consequents especially some of the richest and choicest and most excellent of them are like strangers unto them they cannot be produced by the affections themselves but by the intervening of the Reasons and Judgments and Understandings of men consulting with the Scriptures or Word of God Now where such affections take place in men the affection is ready to produce the fruit that is natural and proper to it so that when it is said Perfect love casteth out fear it doth not import that this is alwaies done but only that it may be done that there is that in the nature of love that is sufficient and proper to do it We lately gave you this Rule that Verba agendi quandoque naturam seu vim tantùm innuunt Verbs properly signifying action many times only declare the natures and properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do as when the Apostle saith that knowledge puffeth up but charity or love edifieth 1 Cor. 8.1 the meaning is not that knowledge alwaies puffeth up but only it importeth that there is a kind of property in knowledge which is apt to puff up And so when he saith Charity edifieth the meaning is not that this grace is alwaies working thus but it only declares the genius of this famous grace viz. That it is apt to provoke men and women to seek for their spiritual enriâ—hing with the light and knowledge of God So here Perfect love casteth out fear i. e. it is the nature and property of love to cast fear out of the heart viz. when it is grown perfect in the sense lately declared If it be here demanded Sect. 12 but if it be the nature or property of love to cast out fear Why is the effect here appropriate unto perfect love and not rather unto love simply in what degree soever Things that are essential to the nature of things are not suspended upon their degrees To this I reply if the act or effect here spoken of the casting out of fear did proceed simply and solely from love let the degree of it be what it will doubtless love in the lowest degree of it as well as in that perfection or strength here required would do the service But as in another case faith is said to act or work by love so in the case in hand Love in casting out fear worketh by knowledge As thus a man must not simply love God but he must know he loveth God for otherwise our love to God will not be found to have such power to cast out fear as a Sun-Dial the use and end of it being to shew the time of the day yet will do nothing in this kind but only when the Sun shineth upon it So it is in this case if the love of God be in the heart of man yet if it be not shined upon by the understanding and so have strength and vigour added to it it will be insignificant and do nothing towards the casting out of fear Or as the Well of water near Hagar Gen. 21.19 did not refresh her nor minister any hope of life until she knew where it was So likewise is it with the love of God if it lieth unknown to the mind of a man it will be as if it were asleep it will not stir nor do any thing that is worthy of it If a man or woman who loves God but a little yet really and truly could certainly know that they do thus love him this lower degree of this affection would cast out fear So that the reason why this great effect of casting out fear is appropriated to love when it is perfect is because usually it is not nay it very hardly can be known but only where it sheweth it self like the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven otherwise a man will be alwaies questioning whether he love God yea or no. Now when a man cannot be thoroughly satisfied that he loves God it cannot be that his love should cast out fear But if he have the knowledge that he loveth God this love of God though but small would cast out fear as well as the other which is perfect If it be further demanded But why should love though perfect cast out fear What is there or what may there be conceived to be in the nature of it that should have that kind of antipathy against fear so as to remove and not to suffer it to abide in the heart and soul I answer The reason of this effect as proceeding from love is to be found as well in the nature of that fear which is cast out by it as in love it self or the nature hereof For it is not the property of love to cast out every thing else as well as fear Therefore the Reason at least somewhat of the reason why it worketh here by way of antipathy doth depend upon the nature and genius of this fear and the reason here given of this effect of love is in reference only to the nature of fear Perfect love saith he casteth out fear because fear hath Torment so that it is that fear which is apt to offend grieve disquiet and discourage the hearts of men that is cast out by perfect love But why should that fear which hath this property in it namely to torment give an opportunity to love to throw it out of the hearts of men The Reason hereof again is because the love of God is a grace of such high acceptation with God and renders those wherever it is found Friends of God and God is not willing that any of his Friends any of those that love him should taste any thing that is grievous or obstructive unto their peace and therefore he hath given perfect love this property he hath put enmity between this principle of love in men and between whatsoever doth pain or trouble or torment them and whatsoever it hath of this kind of property to discharge all fear that hath torment in
Cor. 15.8 but certain it is that he was born an Apostle and came into the work of God some considerable space of time after all his fellows yet we know he laboured more abundantly there than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 In like manner they that were called at the eleventh hour might do as much good and acceptable service as those that were called early And therefore no marvel if they received equal consideration for their work with these Besides God represented by the Lord of the Vineyard estimateth as we know the frame of the heart and inward disposition of the mind into the outward works and services of men So that the body and bulk as it were of their services may be fair and large when as the spirit of their value and acceptation with God may not answer by much and yet their persons nor services be wholly rejected neither As on the other hand where the hidden man of the heart is beautiful and lovely in his sight a performance or service which is but slender and ordinary in appearance may be highly prized and accepted of by him and this according to the most exact Rules of Justice Reason and Equity Christ pronounced a just and true Sentence when he said that the poor Widow who cast in only two Mites into the Treasury had cast in more than all the rich men who yet are said to have cast in much Mar. 12.41 43. Now it is not improbable but that by the early-called into the Vineyard may be set forth such a kind of Christian or Believer who savours much of the justiciary and legal spirit and is commonly active and zealous enough in his way for God but inclined to a rugged harsh and peremptory temper which unpleasant complexion and frame of heart though it doth not make void their Faith nor exclude them from the saving love of God yet it much abates and brings down the value and esteem of their outward services and performances with him So that Believers of a more Evangelical sweet and Christian constitution and frame of soul may equalize them in acceptance with God although they have not had time or opportunity to equalize them in the one half of their external services If it be yet urged and said But the Lord of the Vineyard doth not alledge against the early-called either any defect in them or in their work or labour nor any thing more commendable in those called at the eleventh hour as any reason why he should make these equal in reward unto them but only his will and pleasure I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. ver 14. From whence it seems that the will and good pleasure of God is the only Rule by which the Saints are rewarded and that by this Rule they shall be rewarded equally whether their works have been more or fewer more or less excellent according to any computation I answer These words from the Lord of the Vineyard to one of the first-called in the name of them all I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. do not at all prove either that the Will of God is the sole Rule by which the Saints shall be rewarded or that no consideration to the difference of their works whether they have been more or fewer more or less excellent shall be had therein They only prove that God typified in the Lord of the Vineyard will not acquaint proud quarrelsome or high minded persons with the Counsels of his Will or Reasons of his Doings especially with such as are more secret but will put them off with telling them what his peremptory Will is and an asserting the justness and lawfulness of it even as men likewise are wont to do by persons of a like evil temper whereas they are willing and free to give account of matters unto those that are ingenuous and of good spirits And this disposition is found in God himself according to these sayings of David The meek he will guide in judgment that is he will acquaint him with the grounds and reasons of all that he requires of him to do the meek he will teach his way viz. by shewing him the goodness and desirableness of it Psal 25.9 So again The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. And Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous God is most wont to communicate things of a more spiritual and mysterious cognizance but only unto those that are of meek and yielding spirits and reverently affected towards him So that it is no marvel if the Lord of the Vineyard would give no other reason but his will unto persons that were evil-spirited and contentious of such a dispensation as seemed hard unto them although he was able and ready to give reason enough thereof otherwise This for answer to the second Objection The third and last Objection Sect. 12 which pleads against all preheminence amongst the Saints in glory is taken from such Scriptures which intitle the Saints indefinitely taken or the whole species of them not only unto the same glory but unto such glory greater than which none can lightly be imagined The places of this import are these with others Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 So where it is said of Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Phil. 3.21 So again to mention no more where the Apostle Paul having said Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that last day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 All these Texts of Scripture speak of the Saints in general and without any differencing some from others by way of greater excellency and yet they promise unto them all shining like the Sun in their Fathers Kingdom and having their vile bodies changed by Christ and fashioned like unto his own glorious body the receiving Crowns of righteousness from God as well as Paul himself Which all seem to be expressions of as great glory as the greatest of Saints are capable of Therefore it is not to be conceived that one Saint shall differ from another in glory But To this also I answer That these and the like places only prove an identity or sameness in the species or kind of that glory whereof all the Saints shall be partakers not that they shall all partake of this glory in the same degree They shall all shine with a Sun-like lustre and brightness and yet some out-shine others The Sun it self doth not alwaies shine forth with the same lustre and glory Debora Judg. 5.31 prayeth that those that love God may be as the Sun when he riseth or goeth forth in his might which supposeth that sometimes he riseth with a weaker and less glorious splendour Yea it is said that
the face of the Lord Christ himself in his transfiguration on the Mount did shine as the Sun Mat. 17.2 Yet I think it is no mans Faith that either the faces or the bodies of the Saints shall shine with equal glory unto his For how should he then in all things have the preheminence which yet the Apostle affirms concerning him Col. 1.18 Therefore when it is also said That he shall change the vile body of the Saints that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body the word like doth not import the quantity or degree but only the quality or nature of the glory of the body of Christ unto which their vile body shall be conformed as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth For otherwise the import would be that the bodies of all the Saints should be equal in glory unto the body of Christ himself which is a thing so little worthy belief that as was even now hinted Christians generally are either ashamed or affraid to affirm it So that the meaning of the passage must needs be this or to this effect That Christ by the Almightiness of his power will so alter the property and condition of the bodies of the Saints which now in the state of mortality are vile that is of an abasing and humbling complexion and frame as to invest them with an heavenly splendour and brightness of the same kind with that wherewith his own body is made most transcendently glorious not but that he should be known amongst them by the surpassing glory of his body above theirs as readily as the Sun may be known from the rest of the Stars whose light nevertheless is of the same kind with the light of the Sun and derived from it Nor yet as if all the Saints who shall all partake of this glory should partake hereof in the same measure or degree As though all the Stars in the firmament of Heaven which to us are without number shine with one and the same kind of light namely that which is originally vested in the Sun and is by and from him communicated unto them yet are they not equal among themselves in the participation of this light the Apostle himself attesting the judgment of our sense in this that one star differeth from another in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 meaning not in respect of the nature or kind but in the quantity measure or degree of that light which makes them all glorious And if that notion of some Philosophers as well as of some learned Christians be true which many thoughts bestowed upon the Contemplation have made little questionable unto me that God hath stamp'd the matters of the visible and invisible World with the same seal and made the things that are seen in a rational correspondency with the things that are not seen that so by the one men might the more easily ascend to the knowledge and belief of the other I cannot but judge it a probability of the first magnitude that God as the Author of Nature hath created such Creatures as the Sun on the one hand and the rest of the Stars respectively on the other and so contrived dependencies respects and relations between and amongst them not only if so much to serve the World in those inferiour accommodations of light influence distinction of seasons c. for in reason he might have as well provided for these and all such ends and purposes by some other contrivance and ordering of them at least in some particulars but that they might be a natural type or representation wherein he purposeth to appear in glorifying his Son Jesus Christ on the one hand and his Saints respectively on the other For he purposeth to confer and settle upon Christ such an heaped measure of glory by which he shall be known to be the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1.14 and be eminently conspicuous amongst and over all his Saints and from which all these according to their different capacities shall be furnished and filled with glory even as all the stars according to their several magnitudes and receptivities have their fill of light communicated unto them by and from the Sun whose superabounding light by degrees without number surmounteth theirs So when the Apostle Paul promiseth or declareth that Crowns of righteousness shall be given to all the Saints by Christ for these he meaneth by those that love his appearance as well as unto himself although there will be found very few or none of them equal in service unto him his meaning only is that they shall be advanced to royal honour and dignity and wear Crowns as well as he But amongst Kings themselves there is we know a great difference in respect of riches extent of Dominion number of Subjects strength for war and consequently in Magnificence Grandeur Majesty Yea all Crowns are not of equal weight or value Nor doth the Apostle in the place in hand give the least intimation of an equality in worth or richness in all the Crowns that shall be given by Christ unto his Saints in glory The current of the Scripture as was lately shewed unto you runs another way And thus we have at last we trust made good the first of the two supposals in the reason last propounded Which was that there is a variety of rewards greater and lesser intended by God to be counferred upon his Saints according as his grace shall be found to have wrought in them more or less effectually in this present World The second thing supposed in the Reason was that every man every person of mankind stands bound in duty towards God yea Sect. 13 and towards himself also to put himself by the grace vouchsafed unto him into a capacity of the greatest rewards to seek and labour for the richest investiture of glory that such a Creature as he is capable of There is a sense indeed wherein the seeking of such a thing is so far from being matter of duty that it is nothing else but sin and vanity to do it And this is such a seeking as that which we read of in the Mother of Zebedees children Mat. 20.20 21. and so in the Children themselves Mar. 10.35 Now the Mother sought for the highest preferments in Heaven signified by sitting on the right and left hand of Christ in his Kingdom she sought I say for this in the behalf of her Sons in the nature of a gratuity hoping that seeking in time and before the said places were disposed of she might be gratified in her request as if the first desires were likest to speed And so the Sons themselves sought it after the like manner or upon the same terms if the honours or high places in Christs Kingdom were to be obtained by meer petitioning or asking for them The meaning therefore of the supposition is That it is every mans duty not simply to ask or only to desire the most excellent things of the World to come but to put themselves into
that possesseth and filleth them with a windy confidence that they are the Children of God when indeed they are not because the Spirit of God is not wont to go forth nor to enter into the hearts and consciences of men but where the glorious Gospel of God is received in the truth of it We could instance in some particulars for there are as the Apostle telleth us 1 Cor. 8.5 in his daies in respect of Gods and Lords many that were Gods and Lords so called but saith he unto us there is but one c. So the truth is at this day there are amongst us and round about in this City and near to us Gospels many and Preachers many but in the mean time there is but one Gospel for us for those that know the truth as it is in Jesus And yet many of these Gospels we speak of have their spirits that do attend upon them and for the most part they do wait upon these very Gospels and Ministries that are the rankest of all others filling the Receivers of them with the greatest assurance and confidence that they are the Children of God and in the right way of worshipping and serving of him There is a Gospel which joyns Baptism with Faith in Christ by way of necessity to Justification and so to Salvation even as the Jewish Converts did Circumcision in the Apostles days of which Paul saith unto them Gal. 5.2 I say unto you if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing meaning if ye be Circumcised with an opinion of being justified thereby Christ shall profit you nothing There is another Gospel preached amongst us which teacheth you in effect and underhand yea by express and near-hand consequence that if you be elected how loosely wickedly prophanely and desperately soever ye shall live yet you are in no danger of perishing yea and that however you shall go to work God will bring you in one time or other and that he will so far change the state of affairs with you that you shall neither will nor chuse but to repent and so be saved together with several other Doctrines and Notions of like dangerous consequence and import Again thirdly Another Gospel so called ye have preached amongst you which calleth you from the Scriptures and the light of life which shineth there unto that which they call a light within them though that light be never so dark As if the Scriptures and the light within men so far as it is light and not darkness were at odds Or as if the conveying of Scripture light into the hearts and Judgments of men were like to obscure darken or obstruct and not rather to encrease brighten and perfect that light in men This kind of Gospel is of as dangerous consequence as any of the other A fourth Gospel preached abroad in the World is that all that ever will or shall be justified were justified from Eternity and that upon this account God seeth no sin in them Yea there is a Gospel which preacheth down all Preaching and denieth the usefulness thereof Many other Gospels there are so called in the World which though they be at great variance amongst themselves yet they all agree in enmity and opposition to the true Gospel of Christ like Sampson's Foxes But there is no end of enumerating these high and by kind of strains which men run into from day to day thinking thereby still to better their condition Godward As you find many in a lingring condition with sickness that think if they should but change into such a Room or into such a Bed they should be better So when men have not made a serious and consciencious improvement of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ whilest they did attend and live under the Ministry and Preaching of it but find themselves dissatisfied in their hearts and souls and not enjoying themselves upon terms of that content which they desire they think now that if they do but go forth into such other waies and walk in such other paths that then they shall be made great then they shall reign like Kings and Princes in the Profession of Jesus Christ Now the great Enemy of their Peace and of the Salvation of their souls lies in wait to meet with such occasions and advantages as these are and therefore if such Notions do but begin to bud and put forth in their first conceptions or that the hearts of men do but begin to hanker that way the Devil helps them with his perswasions to go on and then men are very apt to be perswaded that now the Spirit of God is come to them and that he doth procure them that great peace of God which they could never attain nor find from his hand before I cannot pass by that Expression though but lately handled in the Scriptures now opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it carrieth in it so pregnant a Testimony against that dangerous Doctrine which of late hath began to make head amongst us viz That the Holy Ghost is not God Now if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit himself and not any other inferiour spirit subservient unto him who bears witness with the Spirits of the Saints all the World over that they are the Children of God then can he be no other than God himself who filleth all places with his presence Thus then we see a third thing Sect. 17 by means of which they that are filled with the Spirit must needs be possessed with an assurance of their attonement and peace made with God by Jesus Christ viz. they have the Spirit of Adoption within them testifying aloud and with authority with their spirits that they are the Children of God and consequently that their sins are fully attoned in his sight And this was the former particular of the two propounded by which men and women must needs be prepared and put into a rich capacity of enjoying free Communion with God We shall not need I suppose to add any thing to prove or shew that a clear assurance of a mans Attonement made with God opens an effectual door unto him for a free Communion with God This is lightsome and evident enough of it self especially if we take the word Attonement in a compleat signification I mean as it includes and carrieth with it grace and acceptation of a mans person with God For when God is actually reconciled unto a Creature and hath accepted an attonement for his sin He doth not only cease to be an Enemy unto him remaining still as a Stranger or as one from whose anger or displeasure the Person reconciled and attoned is indeed free but hath no further interest in him but upon this said reconciliation unto this Creature he becometh a most real Friend unto him and admits him into his special grace and favour Amongst men it is oft times otherwise a man doth not remain an Enemy after Attonement for that properly is imported in the word Attonement But
in our Attonement with God there is another thing included and is inseparable from it viz. special interest in the love and favour of God Indeed with men as I said the case may be otherwise when there hath been an Attonement and Reconciliation made between two persons at a distance yet they may remain as strangers one unto another there is no necessity that upon the making up of the breach there must be intimate love and friendship But it is otherwise with God he never comes to be reconciled unto any but presently he opens his heart and soul and doth entreat them graciously upon their attonement made Now then if men for whose sins God hath accepted the Attonement made by Christ be not only delivered from all danger of suffering by his displeasure but further be received and entertained into the greatest respects of love and friendship Evident it is that they who are possessed of and do enjoy these two Priviledges especially being assured of their possession in this kind are in a good capacity of enjoying free Communion with God What should there be to hinder And he that is filled with the Spirit as he must of necessity be in the possession of both cannot but know that his Attonement is made with God and so as we have lately shewed he must needs have assurance also that he stands thus possessed of them Yet Secondly Sect. 18 There was another thing mentioned as proper to compleat that capacity we speak so much of I mean of enjoying free Communion with God This was the testimony of a man's Conscience upon good grounds that he walketh not nor alloweth himself in any known sin either of Commission or Omission whatsoever no not in the sin of neglecting to enquire after the good and holy and perfect will of God concerning him He that is armed with this Brestplate of Righteousness may stand like a Prince before the great God of Heaven and Earth for he hath the greatest security that Heaven lightly can give him that he is in favour with God 1 Joh. 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God if our hearts i.e. our Consciences condemn us not i.e. by a Metonymie of the Effect put for the Cause if our Consciences do not charge sin upon us do not upbraid us with voluntary and habitual neglect of or disobedience unto the Command of Christ then have we confidence or boldness or liberty of face or of speech as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more properly signifieth towards God By the way the Apostle is here to be understood of such persons whose hearts or consciences are in some measure enlightned with the knowledge of the waies and Precepts of God and more particularly with the knowledge of his Precept or Command of believing in his Son Jesus Christ as it followeth in ver 23. And this is his Commandment that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ For otherwise many mens hearts may not condemn them yea may possibly commend and justifie them who yet have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any confidence at least not any right or ground of confidence as some expound the word towards God The hearts of those I formerly instanced who thought they should do God good service in putting the Disciples of Christ to death did not condemn them at least in this and if not in so great and broad a sin as this possibly not in any other yet had they no right or ground of boldness or confidence towards God So likewise they of whom the Apostle speaks Col. 2.18 in this Chapter and gives this Character that they were vainly puft up in their fleshly minds whose hearts were established as he speaks elsewhere not by grace but by meats it is like their hearts did not condemn them yet had they not ground of confidence towards God So also Paul himself had confidence enough in himself when he had no ground when he thought he ought to do many things against the name of Christ Therefore we must needs limit the Apostle John in the passage before us to persons who have some competent knowledge of the Gospel and of the great things contained in it And indeed if we look narrowly to it he seems to speak appropriately unto such and of such only Beloved if our hearts condemn us not c. And whereas being understood of such he saith Then have they confidence towards God his meaning is not that all such actually and de facto have this confidence but that they have a right to it and ground for it and upon consideration and enquiry may have it As many things in Scriptures are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Thus Rom. 6.8 If we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him We believe i.e. we have ground or reason sufficient to believe that we shall live with him So 1 Joh. 2.29 If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him i.e. of God i.e. ye may know there are means in abundance whereby ye may know that he who doth righteousness and he only is born of God meaning that he proceeds from him according to this new capacity or new birth which is nothing else but a participation of the Divine Nature As Children have Communion with their Parents in their nature so he that doth Righteousness is partaker of the same Nature with God and Jesus Christ And so when God saith speaking of Abraham Gen. 18.19 That he will command his Children and his House after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord he doth not suppose that they would certainly keep the way of the Lord for we know many of them did otherwise and were cast out of his sight therefore this is not spoken by way of strict Prophesie as if God had foretold what Abraham's House and Family and Posterity after him should do it and therefore the meaning must be that they had ground in abundance to have done what Abraham commanded them viz. to keep the way of the Lord. Now then when he saith If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God he clearly implies that where the heart of a man or woman doth in the sense declared condemn them i.e. charge them with the customary and willing practice of any known sin or neglect of any Command of God there can be no place for any boldness or confidence towards God The reason is because fear and dread of Divine Displeasure follows the consciousness of sin as the shadow follows or attends the body in the Sun It doth not indeed alwaies follow sin because sin many times is committed where it is not known but wherever it is committed with knowledge or against knowledge for these are the same in the case we speak of there it is alwaies accompanied