dead in Sin And herein is seated that peculiar obstinacy whence it is that no Unregenerate Person doth or can answer his own Conviction or walk up unto his Light in Obedience For the Will may be considered two wayes 1. As a rational vital Faculty of our Souls 2. As a free Principle freedom being of its Essence or Nature This therefore in our Conversion to God is renewed by the Holy Ghost and that by an effectual implantation in it of a Principle of Spiritual Life and Holiness in the room of that Original Righteousness which it lost by the Fall That he doth so is proved by all the Testimonies before insisted on 1. This is its Renovation as it is a rational vital Faculty and of this Vivification see before 2. As it 's a free Principle it is determined unto its Acts in this case by the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost without the least impeachment of its Liberty or Freedom as hath been declared And that this is so might be fully evinced as by others so by the ensuing Arguments For 1. if the Holy Ghost doth not work immediately and effectually upon the Will producing the creating in it a Principle of Faith and Obedience infallibly determining it in its free Acts then is all the Glory of our Conversion to be ascribed unto our selves and we make our selves therein by the obediential actings of our own free-will to differ from others who do not so comply with the Grace of God which is denyed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. Neither can any purpose of God concerning the Conversion of any one Soul be certain and determinate seeing after he hath done all that is to be done or can be done towards it the Will remaining undetermined may not be converted contrary to those Testimonies of our Saviour Rom. 8. 28. Mat. 11. 25 26. John 6. 37. Neither can there be an Original Infallibility in the Promises of God made to Jesus Christ concerning the multitudes that should believe in him seeing it is possible no one may so do if it depends on the undetermined Liberty of their Wills whether they will or no. And then also must Salvation of necessity be of him that willeth and of him that runneth and not of God that shews mercy on whom he will have mercy contrary to the Apostle Rom. 9. 15 16. And the whole Efficacy of the Grace of God is made thereby to depend on the Wills of Men which is not consistent with our being the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes. 2. 10. Nor on this Supposition do Men know what they pray for when they pray for their own or other Mens Conversion to God as hath been before declared There is therefore necessary such a Work of the Holy Spirit upon our Wills as may cure and take away the Depravation of them before described sreeing us from the state of Spiritual Death causing us to live unto God determing them in and unto the Acts of Faith and Obedience And this he doth whilst and as he makes us new Creatures quickens us who are dead in Trespasses and Sins gives us a new Heart and puts a new Spirit within us writes his Law in our Hearts that we may do the Mind of God and walk in his wayes worketh in us to will and to do making them who were unwilling and obstinate to become willing and obedient and that freely and of choice Sect. 56 In like manner a prevailing Love is implanted upon the Affections by the Spirit of Grace causing the Soul with Delight and Complacency to cleave to God and his Wayes This removes and takes away the Enmity before described with the Effects of it Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayest live This Circumcision of the Heart consists in the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh as the Apostle speaks Col. 2. 11. He Crucifies the Flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof Some Men are inclined to think that all the Depravation of our Nature consists in that of the sensitive part of the Soul or our Affections The vanity and folly of which Opinion hath been before discovered Yet it is not denied but that the Affections are signally depraved so that by them principally the Mind and Will do act those Lusts that are peculiarly seated in them or by them do act according to their perverse and corrupt Inclinations Gal. 5. 24. Jam. 1. 14 15. Wherefore in the Circumcision of our Hearts wherein the Flesh with the Lusts Affections and Deeds thereof are crucified by the Spirit he takes from them their Enmity Carnal Prejudices and Dâ—praved Inclinations really though not absolutely and perfectly and instead of them he fills us with Holy Spiritual Love Joy Fear and Delight not changing the being of our Affections but sanctifying and guiding them by the Principle of Saving-Light and Knowledg before described and uniting them unto their proper Object in a due manner From what hath been spoken in this third Argument it is evident that the Holy Spirit designing the Regeneration or Conversion of the Souls of Men worketh therein effectually powerfully and irresistibly which was proposed unto confirmation Sect. 57 From the whole it appears that our Regeneration is a Work of the Spirit of God and that not any Act of our own which is only so is intended thereby I say it is not so our own as by outward Helps and Assistance to be educed out of the Principles of our Natures And herein is the Scripture express for mentioning this Work directly with respect unto its Cause and the manner of its Operation in the effecting of it it assigns it positively unto God or his Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 3. God according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again James 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth John 3. 5 6 8. Born of the Spirit 1 John 3. 9. Born of God And on the other hand it excludes the Will of Man from any active interest herein I mean as to the first beginning of it 1 Pet. 1. 23. Born again not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever John 1. 13. Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God see Matth. 16. 17. Titus 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 9 10. It is therefore incumbent on them who plead for the Active Interest of the Will of Man in Regeneration to produce some Testimonies of Scriptures where it is assigned unto it as the effect unto its proper Cause Where is it said that a Man is Born again or Begotten a-new by himself And if it be granted as it must be so unless violence be offered not only to the Scripture but to
the Church until it was accomplished towards them Acts 1. 4 5 8. They would have been again embracing his humane Nature and rejoycing in it But as he said unto Mary touch me not John 20 17. to wean her from any carnal consideration of him so he instructs them all now to look after and trust unto the Promise of the Holy Ghost Hence is that of our Apostle though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5. 16. For although it was a great Priviledg to have known Christ in this World after the flesh yet it was much greater to enjoy him in the Dispensation of the Spirit And this was spoken by the Apostle as the Ancients judge to rebuke the boasting of some about their seeing the Lord in the Flesh who were thereon called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he directs unto a more excellent knowledg of him It is in vain pretended that it was the Apostles only and it may be some of the Primitive Christians who were concerned in this Promise For although the Holy Ghost was bestowed on them in a peculiar manner and for especial Ends yet the Promise in general belongs unto all Believers unto the End of the World For as to what concerns his Gracious Operations whatever the Lord Christ prayed for for them and so promised unto them as the Spirit was procured for them on his Prayer Joh. 17. 16 17. he prayed not for it for them alone but for them also which should believe on him through their word John 17. 20. And his Promise is to be with his always even unto the End of the World Math. 28. 20. As also that wherever two or three are gathered together in his Name there he would be in the midst of them Math. 18. 20 which he is no otherwise but by his Spirit For as for his Humane Nature the Heavens must receive him until the times of the Restitution of all things Acts 3. 21. And this one Consideration is sufficient to evince the importance of the Doctrine and things which concern the Holy Spirit For is it possible that any Christian should be so supinely negligent and careless so inconcerned in the Things whereon his Present Comforts and future Happiness do absolutely depend as not to think it his Duty to inquire with the greatest Care and Diligence into what our Lord Jesus Christ hath left unto us to supply his Absence and at length to bring us unto himself He by whom these things are despised hath neither Part nor Lot in Christ himself For if any Man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8. 9. Sect. 11 Secondly The great work of the Holy Ghost in the Dispensation and Ministration of the Gospel unto all the Ends of it is another evidence unto the same Purpose Hence the Gospel it self is called the Ministration of the Spirit in opposition to that of the Law which is called the Ministration of the Letter and of Condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministry of the Spirit is either that Ministry which the Spirit makes effectual or that Ministry whereby the Spirit in his Gifts and Graces is communicated unto Men. And this is that which gives unto the Ministry of the Gospel both its Glory and its Efficacy Take away the Spirit from the Gospel and you render it a dead Letter and leave the New-Testament of no more use unto Christians than the Old-Testament is of unto the Jews It is therefore a mischievous imagination proceeding from Ignorance Blindness and Unbelief that there is no more in the Gospel but what is conteyned under any other Doctrine or Declaration of Truth that it is nothing but a Book for men to exercise their Reason in and upon and to improve the things of it by the same Faculty For this is to separate the Spirit or the Dispensation of the Spirit from it which is in Truth to destroy it And therewith is the Covenant of God rejected which is that his Word and Spirit shall go together Isa. 59. v. 20. 21. We shall therefore God assisting manifest in our Progress that the whole Ministry of the Gospel the whole Use and Efficacy of it do depend on that Ministration of the Spirit wherewith according to the Promise of God it is accompanied If therefore we have any concernment in or have ever received any benefit by the Gospel or the Ministration of it we have a signal Duty lying before us in the matter in hand Sect. 12 Thirdly There is not any Spiritual or Saving-Good from first to last communicated unto us or that we are from and by the Grace of God made Partakers of but it is revealed to us and bestowed on us by the Holy Ghost He who hath not an immediate and especial Work of the Spirit of God upon him and towards him did never receive any especial Love Grace or Mercy from God For how should he so do Whatever God works in us and upon us he doth it by his Spirit He therefore who hath no Work of the Spirit of God upon his heart did never receive either Mercy or Grace from God For God giveth them not but by his Spirit A disclamure therefore of any Work of the Spirit of God in us or upon us is a disclamure of all Interest in his Grace and Mercy And they may do well to consider it with whom the Work of the Spirit of God is a Reproach When they can tell us of any other way whereby a Man may be made Partaker of Mercy and Grace we will attend unto it in the mean time we shall prove from the Scripture this to be the way of God Sect. 13 Fourthly There is not any thing done in us or by us that is Holy and Acceptable unto God but it is an Effect of the Holy Spirit it is of his operation in us and by us Without him we can do nothing For without Christ we cannot Joh. 15. 5. And by him alone is the Grace of Christ communicated unto us and wrought in us By him we are Regenerated by him we are Sanctified by him are we Cleansed by him are we Assisted in and unto every Good Work Particular instances to this Purpose will be afterwards insisted on and proved And it is our unquestionable concernment to enquire into the Cause and Spring of all that is Good in us wherein also we shall have a true discovery of the Spring and Cause of all that is Evil without a competent knowledge of both which we can do nothing as we ought Sect. 14 Fiftly God lets us know that the only peculiarly remediless Sin and way of sinning under the Gospel is to sin in an especial manner against the Holy Ghost And this of it self is sufficient to convince us how needful it is for us to be well instructed in what concerns him For there is somewhat that doth so which is
the edification of the Church Ephes. 4. 10 11 12 13. The owning therefore and avowing the Work of the Holy Ghost in the Hearts and on the Minds of Men according to the Tenor of the Convenant of Grace is the principal part of that Profession which at this day all Believers are called unto Sect. 5 4. We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us that through his Aid and Assistance we may live unto God in that Holy Obedience which he requires at our hands Luk. 11. 9 10 12 13. Our Saviour enjoyning an importunity in our Supplications v. 9 10. and giving us encouragement that we shall succeed in our Requests v. 11 12. makes the Subject Matter of them to be the Holy Spirit Your Heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him v. 13. Which in the other Evangelists is good things Mat. 7. 11. because he is the Author of them all in us and to us Nor doth God bestow any good thing on us but by his Spirit Hence the Promise of bestowing the Spirit is accompanied with a Prescription of Duty unto us that we should ask him or pray for him which is included in every Promise where his sending giving or bestowing is mentioned He therefore is the great Subject Matter of all our Prayers And that signal Promise of our Blessed Saviour to send him as a Comforter to abide with us for ever is a Directory for the Prayers of the Church in all Generations Nor is there any Church in the World fallen under such a total Degeneracy but that in their Publick Offices there are Testimonies of their ancient Faith and Practice in praying for the coming of the Spirit unto them according to this Promise of Christ. And therefore our Apostle in all his most solemn Prayers for the Churches in his dayes makes this the chief Petition of them That God would give unto them and increase in them the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit with the Spirit himself for sundry especial Effects and Operations whereof they stood in need Ephes. 1. 17. Chap. 3. 16. Col. 2. 2. And this is a full conviction of what importance the Consideration of the Spirit of God and his Work is unto us We must deal in this Matter with that confidence which the Truth instructs us unto and therefore say That he who prayeth not constantly and diligently for the Spirit of God that he may be made partaker of him for the Ends for which he is promised is a Stranger from Christ and his Gospel This we are to attend unto as that whereon our Eternal Happiness doth depend God knows our State and Condition and we may better learn our Wants from his Prescription of what we ought to pray for than from our own Sense and Experience For we are in the Dark unto our own Spiritual Concerns through the Power of our Corruptions and Temptations and know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. But our Heavenly Father knows perfectly what we stand in need of And therefore whatever be our present Apprehensions concerning our selves which are to be examined by the Word our Prayers are to be regulated by what God hath enjoyned us to ask and what he hath promised for to bestow Sect. 6 5. What was before mentioned may here be called over again and farther improved yea it is necessary that so it should be This is the solemn Promise of Jesus Christ when he was to leave this World by Death And whereas he therein made and confirmed his Testament Heb. 9. 15 16 17 He bequeathed his Spirit as his great Legacy unto his Disciples And this he gave unto them as the great Pledg of their future Inheritance 2 Cor. 1. 22. which they were to live upon in this World All other good things he hath indeed bequeathed unto Believers as he speaks of Peace with God in particular Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you John 14. 27. But he gives particular Graces and Mercies for particular Ends and Purposes The Holy Spirit he bequeaths to supply his own Absence John 16. 17. that is for all the Ends of Spiritual and Eternal Life Let us therefore consider this Gift of the Spirit either formally under this Notion that he was the principal Legaoy left unto the Church by our dying Saviour or materially as to the Ends and Purposes for which he is so bequeathed and it will be evident what valuation we ought to have of Him and his Work How would some rejoice if they could possess any Relique of any thing that belonged unto our Saviour in the dayes of his Flesh though of no use or benefit unto them Yea how great a part of Men called Christians do boast in some pretended Parcels of the Tree whereon he suffered Love abused by Superstition lies at the bottom of this Vanity For they would embrace any thing left them by their dying Saviour But he left them no such things nor did ever bless and Sanctify them unto any holy or Sacred Ends. And therefore hath the abuse of them been punished with blindness and Idolatry But this is openly testified unto in the Gospel then when his Heart was overflowing with Love unto his Disciples and Care for them when he took an Holy Prospect of what would be their Condition their Work Duty and Temptations in the World and thereon made Provision of all that they could stand in need of he promiseth to leave and give unto them his Holy Spirit to abide with them for ever directing us to look unto Him for all our Comforts and Supplies According therefore unto our valuation and esteem of Him of our Satisfaction and Acquiescency in Him is our regard to the Love Care and Wisdom of our Blessed Saviour to be measured And indeed it is only in his Word and Spirit wherein we can either honour or despise him in this World In his own Person he is exalted at the Right Hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers So that nothing of ours can immediately reach him or affect him But it is in our regard to these that he makes a Tryal of our Faith Love and Obedience And it is a matter of Lamentation to consider the contempt and scorn that on various Pretences is cast upon this Holy Spirit and the Work whereunto he is sent by God the Father and by Jesus Christ. For there is included therein a contempt of them also Nor will a pretence of honouring God in their own way secure such Persons as shall contract the guilt of this Abomination For it is an Idol and not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who doth not work effectually in the Elect by the Holy Ghost according to the Scriptures And 2. if we consider this Promise of the Spirit to be given unto us as to the Ends of it Then Sect. 7 6. He is promised and given as
the sole Cause and Author of all the Good that in this World we are or can be made Partakers of For 1. there is no good communicated unto us from God but it is bestowed on us or wrought in us by the Holy Ghost No Gift no Grace no Mercy no Priviledg no Consolation do we receive possess or use but it is wrought in us collated on us or manifested unto us by him alone Nor 2. is there any good in us towards God any Faith Love Duty Obedience but what is effectually wrought in us by Him by him alone For in us that is in our flesh and by Nature we are but flesh there dwelleth no good thing All these things are from him and by him as shall God assisting be made to appear by Instances of all sorts in our ensuing Discourse And these Considerations I thought meet to premise unto our Entrance into that Work which now lyeth before us Sect. 8 The great Work whereby God designed to glorifie himself ultimately in this World was that of the New Creation or of the Recovery and Restauration of all things by Jesus Christ Heb. 1. 1 2 3. Ephes. 1. 10. And as this is in general confessed by all Christians so I have elsewhere insisted on the Demonstration of it 2. That which God ordereth and designeth as the principal means for the manifestation of his Glory must contain the most perfect and absolute Revelation and Declaration of Himself his Nature his Being his Existence and Excellencies For from their discovery and manifestation with the Duties which as known they require from rational Creatures doth the Glory of God arise and no otherwise 3. This therefore was to be done in this great Work and it was done accordingly Hence is the Lord Christ in his Work of Mediation said to be the Image of the Invisible God Col. 1. 15. The brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1. 3. in whose Face the Knowledg of the Glory of God shineth forth unto us 2 Cor. 4. 6. Because in and by him in his Work of the New Creation all the glorious Properties of the Nature of God are manifested and displayed incomparably above what they were in the Creation of all things in the beginning I say therefore in the Contrivance Projection Production carrying on disposal and accomplishment of this great Work God hath made the most eminent and glorious Discovery of himself unto Angels and Men Ephes. 3. 8 9 10. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. That we may Know Love Trust Honour and Obey him in all things as God and according to his Will 4. In particular in this New Creation he hath revealed himself in an especial manner as Three in One. There was no one more glorious Mystery brought to Light in and by Jesus Christ than that of the Holy Trinity or the Subsistence of the Three Persons in the Unity of the same Divine Nature And this was done not so much in express Propositions or verbal Testimonies unto that purpose which yet is done also as by the Declaration of the mutual Divine Internal Acts of the Persons towards one another and the distinct immediate Divine external Actings of each Person in the Work which they did and do perform For God revealeth not himself unto us meerly Doctrinally and Dogmatically but by the Declaration of what he doth for us in us towards us in the accomplishment of the Counsel of his Will see Ephes. 1. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. And this Revelation is made unto us not that our minds might be possessed with the Notions of it but that we may know aright how to place our Trust in Him how to Obey him and Live unto him how to obtain and exercise Communion with him until we come to the enjoyment of him Sect. 9 We may make Application of these things unto and exemplifie them yet farther in the Work under Consideration Three things in general are in it proposed unto our Faith 1. The Supream Purpose Design Contrivance and Disposal of it 2. The Purchasing and Procuring Cause and Means of the Effects of that Design with its Accomplishment in it Self and with respect unto God 3. The Application of the Supream Design and actual Accomplishment of it to make it effectual unto us The first of these is absolutely in the Scripture assigned unto the Father and that Uniformely and every where His Will His Counsel His Love His Grace His Authority His Purpose His Design are constantly proposed as the Foundation of the whole Work as those which were to be pursued effected accomplished see Isa 42. 1 2 3. Psal. 40. 6 7 8. John 3. 16. Isa. 53. 10 11 12. Ephes. 1. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. and other places innumerable And on this Account because the Son undertook to effect what-ever the Father had so designed and purposed there were many Acts of the Will of the Father towards the Son in sending giving appointing of Him in preparing him a Body in Comforting and Supporting Him in rewarding and giving a People unto Him which belong unto the Father on the account of the Authority Love and Wisdom that were in them their actual Operation belonging particularly unto another Person And in these things is the Person of the Father in the Divine Being proposed unto us to be known and adored Secondly The Son condescendeth consenteth and engageth to do and accomplish in his own Person the whole Work which in the Authority Counsel and Wisdom of the Father was appointed for him Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. And in these Divine Operations is the Person of the Son revealed unto us to be honoured even as we honour the Father Thirdly The Holy Ghost doth immediately Work and Effect what-ever was to be done in reference unto the Person of the Son or the Sons of Men for the Perfecting and Accomplishment of the Father's Counsel and the Son's Work in an especial Application of both unto their especial Effects and Ends. Hereby is he made known unto us and hereby our Faith concerning him and in him is directed And thus in this great Work of the New Creation by Jesus Christ doth God cause all his Glory to pass before us that we may both know him and worship him in a due manner And what is the peculiar Work of the Holy Ghost herein we shall now declare Work of the Holy Spirit with respect unto the Head of the New Creation the Humane Nature of Christ. CHAP. III. 1. The especial Works of the Holy Spirit in the New Creation 2. His Work on the Humane Nature of Christ. 3. How this Work could be considering the Union of the Humane Nature unto and in the Person of the Son of God 4. Assumption of the Humane Nature into Union the only Act of the Person of the Son towards it 5. Personal Union the only necessary Consequent of this Assumption 6. All other Actings of the Person of the Son in and on
tuae deputo quaecunque non feci mala Quid enim non facere potui qui etiam gratuitum amaâ—i facinus omnia mihi dimissa esse fat or quae mea sponte feci mala quae tâ— duce non feci Quis est hominum qui suam cogitans infirmitatem audet viribus suis trib ere câ—stitatem atque innocentiam suam ut minus amet te quasi minus necessaria suerit erit misericordia tua quâ condonas peccata conversis ad te Qui enim vocatus ad te secutus est vocem tuam vitavit ea quae me de meipso recordanâ—em fatentem legit non me derideat ab eo medico aegrum sanari a quo prestitum est ut non oegrotaret vel potius ut minus oegrotaret Et ideo te tantundem imo vero amplius diligat quia per quem me videt taatis peccatorum meorum languoriribus exui per eum se videt tantis peccatorum lang â—oribus non implicari I will love thee O God and thank thee and confess unto thy name because thou hast forgiven me my evil and nefarious Deeds I impute it to thy Grace and Mercy that thou hast made my sins to melt away as Ice and I impute it to thy Grace as to all the evils which I have not done For what could not I have done who loved wickedness for it self All I acknowledg are forgiven me both the Evils that I have done on my own accord and what through thy guidance I have not done Who is there who considering his own weakness dare ascribe his Chastity or Innocency unto his own strength that he may less love thee as though thy mercy were less necessary unto him whereby thou forgivest the sins of them that are converted to thee For let not him who being called of thee and having heard thy voice hath avoided the Evils which I have confessed deride me that being sick was healed of that Physician from whom he received the Mercy not to be sick or not to be so sick Sect. 10 This brief account of the Actings of corrupted Nature until it comes unto the utmost of a recoverable Alienation from God may somewhat illustrate and set off the Work of his Grace towards us And thus far whatever habit be contracted in a course of sin yet the state of Men is absolutely recoverable by the Grace of Jesus Christ administred in the Gospel 1 Cor. 6. 9. 10 11. No state of sin is absolutely unhealable until God hath variously dealt with Men by his Spirit His Word must be rejected and He must be sinned against in a peculiar manner before Remission be impossible All Sins and Blasphemies antecedent thereunto may be forgiven unto Men and that before their Conversion unto God Matth. 12. 31 32. Luke 12. 10. Wherefore the Manner and Degrees of the Operations of this Spirit of God on the Minds of Men towards and in their Conversion is that which we shall now enquire into reducing what we have to offer concerning it unto certain Heads or Instances Sect. 11 First under the Ashes of our collapsed nature there are yet remaining certain sparks of Celestial Fire consisting in inbred notices of Good and Evil of Rewards and Punishments of the presence and All-seeing Eye of God of Help and Assistance to be had from him with a Dread of his Excellencies where any thing is apprehended unworthy of him or provoking unto him And where there are any means of Instruction from supernatural Revelation by the Word preached or the care of Parents in private there they are insensibly improved and increased Hereby Men do obtain an objective distinct knowledg of what they had subjectively and radically though very imperfectly before These notices therefore God oftentimes excites and quickens even in them that are young so that they shall work in them some real Regard of and Applications unto him And those great Workings about the things of God and towards him which are sometimes found in Children are not more effects of nature For that would not so act it self were it not by one Occasion or other for that End administred by the Providence of God effectually excited And many can call over such Divine Vâ—sâ—tations in their Youth which now they understand to be so to this purpose speaks the Person mentioned Puer coepi rogare te auxilium refugium meum in tuam invocationem rum pebam nodos linguae meae regavi parvus non parvo affectu ne in Schola vapularem He prayed earnestly to God as a Refuge when he was afraid to be bâ—at at School And this he resolves into Instruction or what he had observed in others Invenimus homines rogantes te didicimus ab eis sentientes te ut poteramus esse magnum aliquem qui posset etiam non apparens sensibus nostris exaudire nos subvenire vobis lib. 1. cap. 9. And hereunto he addâ— some general Instruction which he had from the Word Cap. 11. And from the same Principles when he was a little after surprized with a fit of sickness â—e cryed out with all earnestness that he might be Baptized that so he night as he thought go to Heaven for his Father was 〈◊〉 yet a Christian whence he was not baptized in his Infancy Vidisti Domine cum adhuc puer essem quodam die pressus stomachi Dolere repente astuarem pene moâ—turus vidisti Deus meus quoniam custos meus jam â—ras quo motu animi qua fide baptismum Christi tui Dei Domini mei stagitavi Cap. 11. Such Affections and occasional Actings oâ— Soul towards God are wrought in many by the Spirit With the most they wear off and perish as they did with him who after this cast himself into many flagitious Sins But in some God doth in and by the use of these means inlay their Hearts with those Seeds of Faith and Grace which he gradually cherisheth and increaseth Sect. 12 Secondly God works upon Men by his Spirit in outward Means to cause them to take some real and steady consideration of him their own distance from him and obnoxiousness unto his Righteousness on the account of Sin It is almost incredible to apprehend but that it is testified unto by daily experience how Men will live even where the Word is Read and Preached how they will get a form of speaking of God yea and of performing some Duties of Religion and yet never come to have any steady thoughts of God or of their Relation to him or of their concernment in his Will What-ever they speak of God he is not in all their Thoughts Psal. 10. 4. What-ever they do in Religion they do it not unto him Amos 5. 25. They have neither heard his Voice at any time nor seen his Shape John 5. 37. knowing nothing for themselves which is their Duty Job 5. 27. And yet it is hard to convince them that such is
16. And the like may be said of all other Duties whatever Sect. 12 It is certain therefore that whereas God is Holy if we are not so all the Duties which we design or intend to perform towards him are everlastingly lost as unto their proper Ends. For there is no Entercourse nor Communion between Light and Darkness God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and if we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in Darkness as all unholy Persons doe we lye and doe not the truth but if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and truely our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus 1 Joh. 1. 6 7. v. 3. Now what man that shall consider this unless he be infatuated would for the Love of any one sin or out of Conformity to the World or any other thing whereby the Essence and Truth of Holiness is impeached utterly lose and forfeit all the Benefit and Fruit of all those Duties wherein perhaps he hath laboured and which he hath it may be been at no small charge withall But yet this is the Condition of all men who come short in any thing that is essentially necessary unto universal Holiness All they doe all they suffer all the Pains they take in and about Religious Duties all their complyance with Convictions and what they do therein within doors and without is all lost as unto the great Ends of the Glory of God and their own Eternal Blessedness as sure as God is Holy Sect. 13 3 It ariseth from a Respect unto our future everlasting Enjoyment of him This is out utmost End which if we come short of Life it self is the greatest Loss better ten thousand times we had never been For without it a Continuance in Everlasting Miseries is inseparable from our State and Condition Now this is never attainable by any unholy Person Follow Holiness saith our Apostle without which no man shall see God For it is the pure in Heart only that shall see God Matth. 5. 8. It is hereby that we are made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. Neither can we attain it before we are thus made meet for it No unclean thing nothing that defileth or is defiled shall ever be brought into the glorious Presence of this Holy God There is no Imagination wherewith Mankind is besotted more foolish none so pernicious as this That Persons not purified not sanctified not made holy in this Life should afterwards be taken into that state of Blessedness which consists in the Enjoyment of God There can be no Thought more Reproachfull to his Glory nor more inconsistent with the Nature of the things themselves For neither can such Persons enjoy him nor would God himself be a Reward unto them They can have nothing whereby they should adhere unto him as their chiefest Good nor can see any thing in him that should give them Rest or Satisfaction nor can there be any Medium whereby God should Communicate himself unto them supposing them to contue thus unholy as all must doe who depart out of this Life in that Condition Holiness indeed is perfected in Heaven but the Beginning of it is inviolably and unalterably confined to this World and where this fails no hand shall be put unto that Work unto Eternity All unholy persons therefore who seed and refresh themselves with Hopes of Heaven and Eternity doe it meerly on false Notions of God and Blessedness whereby they deceive themselves Heaven is a place where as well they would not be as they cannot be in it self it is neither desired by them nor fit for them He that hath this Hope indeed that he shall see God purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 2. 3. There is therefore a manifold Necessity of Holiness impressed on us from the Consideration of the Nature of that God whom we serve and hope to enjoy which is Holy Sect. 14 I cannot pass over this Consideration without making some especial Improvement of it We have seen how all our Concernment and Interest in God both here and hereafter do depend on our being Holy They invented a very effectual Means for the Prejudicing yea indeed a fatal Engine for the Ruine of true Holiness in the World who built it on no other bottome nor pressed it on any other motive but that the Acts and Fruits of it were Meritorious in the sight of God For whether this be Believed and complyed withall or not true Holiness is ruined if no other more effectual Reason be substituted in its room Reject this Motive and there is no need of it which I am perswaded hath really taken place in many who being taught that good Deeds are not meritorious have concluded them useless Comply with it and you destroy he Nature of true Holiness and turn all the pretended Duties of it into Fruits and Effects of spiritual Pride and blind Superstition But we see the Necessity of it with respect unto God hath other Foundations suited unto and consistent with the Grace and Love and Mercy of the Gospel And we shall fully shew in our Progress that there is not one Motive unto it that is of any real Force or Efficacy but perfectly complyes with the whole Doctrine of the free undeserved Grace of God towards us by Jesus Christ nor is there any of them which gives the least Countenance unto any thing of worth in our selves as from our selves or that should take us off from an absolute and universal Dependance on Christ for Life and Salvation But yet such they are as render it as necessary unto us to be Holy that is to be sanctified as to be Justified He that thinks to please God and to come to the Enjoyment of him without Holiness makes him an unholy God putting the highest Indignity and Dishonour imaginable upon him God deliver poor Sinners from this Deceit There is no Remedy you must leave your Sins or your God You may as easily reconcile Heaven and Hell the one remaining Heaven and the other Hell as easily take away all Difference between Light and Darkness Good and Evil as procure Acceptance for unholy Persons with our God Some live without God in the World whether they have any Notion of his Being or no is not material They live without any Regard unto him either as unto his present Rule over them or his future Disposal of them It is no wonder if Holiness both Name and Thing be universally despised by these Persons their Design being to serve their Lusts to the utmost and immerse themselves in the Pleasures of the World without once taking God into their Thoughts they can do no otherwise But for Men who live under some constant sense of God and an eternal Accountableness unto him and thereon do many things he requires and abstain from many Sins that their Inclinations and Opportunities would suggest
are before this Work is wrought in them and on them Ephes. 2. 1 5. which is the Work of the Spirit alone for it is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. see Rom. 8. 9 10. Titus 3. 4 5 6. where the same Truth is declared and asserted But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Sect. 4 What we have frequently mentioned occurreth here expresly namely the whole Blessed Trinity and each Person therein acting distinctly in the Work of our Salvation The Spring or Fountain of the whole lyeth in the Kindness and Love of God even the Father Thereunto it is every-where ascribed in the Scripture see John 3. 16. Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. What-ever is done in the Accomplishment of this Work it is so in the pursuit of his Will Purpose and Counsel and is an Effect of his Love and Grace The procuring Cause of the Application of the Love and Kindness of God unto us is Jesus Christ our Saviour in the whole Work of his Mediation v. 6. and the immediate efficient Cause in the Communication of the Love and Kindness of the Father through the Mediation of the Son unto us is the Holy Spirit And this he doth in the Renovation of our Natures by the washing of Regeneration wherein we are purged from our sins and sanctified unto God Sect. 5 More Testimonies unto this purpose need not be insisted on This Truth of the Holy Spirit being the Author of our Regeneration which the Ancients esteemed a Cogent Argument to prove his Deity even from the the Greatness and Dignity of the Work is in words at least so far as I know granted by all who pretend to sobriety in Christianity That by some others it hath been derided and exploded is the occasion of this Vindication of it It must not be expected that I should here handle the whole Doctrine of Regeneration practically as it may be educed by Inferences from the Scripture according to the Analogie of Faith and the Experiences of them that believe It hath been done already by others My present aim is only to confirm the Fundamental Principles of Truth concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which at this day are opposed with violence and virulence And what I shall offer on the present Subject may be reduced unto the ensuing Heads Sect. 6 1. Although the Work of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit was wrought under the Old Testament even from the Foundation of the World and the Doctrine of it was recorded in the Scriptures yet the Revelation of it was but obscure in comparison of that Light and Evidence which it is brought forth into by the Gospel This is evident from the Discourse which our Blessed Saviour had with Nicodemus on this Subject For when he acquainted him clearly with the Doctrine of it he was surprized and fell into that enquiry which argued some amazement How can these things be But yet the Reply of our Saviour manifests That he might have attained a better acquaintance with it out of the Scripture than he had done Art thou saith he a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Dost thou take upon thee to Teach others what is their State and Condition and what is their Duty towards God and art ignorant thy self of so Great and Fundamental a Doctrine which thou mightest have learned from the Scripture For if he might not so have done there would have been no just cause of the Reproof given him by our Saviour For it was neither Crime nor Negligence in him to be ignorant of what God had not revealed This Doctrine therefore namely That every one who will enter into the Kingdom of God must be born again of the Holy Spirit was contained in the Writings of the Old Testament It was so in the Promises That God would circumcise the Hearts of his People that he would take away their Heart of Stone and give them a Heart of Flesh with his Law written in it and other wayes as shall be afterwards proved Sect. 7 But yet we see that it was so obscurely declared that the principal Masters and Teachers of the People knew little or nothing of it Some indeed would have this Regeneration if they knew what they would have or as to what may be gathered of their minds out of their great swelling words of vanity to be nothing but Reformation of Life according to the Rules of the Scripture But Nicodemus knew the necessity of Reformation of Life well enough if he had ever read either Moses or the Prophets And to suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ proposed unto him the thing which he knew perfectly well only under a new Name or Notion which he had never heard of before So to take an advantage of charging him with being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood is a blasphemous Imagination How they can free themselves from the Guilt hereof who look on Regeneration as no more but a Metaphorical Expression of Amendment of Life I know not And if it be so if there be no more in it but as they love to speak becoming a new Moral Man a thing which all the World Jews and Gentiles understood our Lord Jesus was so far from bringing it forth into more Light and giving it more perspicuity by what he teacheth concerning Regeneration the Nature Manner Causes and Effects of it that he cast it thereby into more darkness and obscurity than ever it was delivered in either by Jewish Masters or Gentile Philosophy For although the Gospel do really teach all Duties of Morality with more exactness and clearness and press unto the Observance of them on motives incomparably more cogent than any thing that otherwise ever befel the Mind of Man to think or apprehend yet if it must be supposed to intend nothing else in its Doctrine of the New Birth or Regeneration but those Moral Duties and their Observance it is dark and unintelligible I say if there be not a secret mysterious Work of the Spirit of God in and upon the Souls of Men intended in the Writings of the New Testament but only a Reformation of Life and the Improvement of Mens Natural Abilities in the Exercise of Moral Virtue through the Application of outward means unto their Minds and Understandings conducting and perswading thereunto they must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever as some have not feared already to publish unto the World concerning the Epistles of Paul But so long as we can obtain an acknowledgment from Men that they are true and in any sense the Word of God we doubt not but to evince that the things intended in them are clearly and
properly expressed so as they ought to be and so as they are capable to be expressed The Difficulties which seem to be in them arising from the Mysterious Nature of the things themselves contained in them and the weakness of our Minds in apprehending such things and not from any obscurity or intricacy in the Declaration of them And herein indeed consists the main Contest whereunto things with the most are reduced Some judg that all things are so expressed in the Scripture with a condesension unto our Capacity so as that there is still to be conceived an inexpressible Grandure in many of them beyond our Comprehension Others judg on the other hand That under a Grandure of Words and Hyperbolical Expressions things of a meaner and a lower sense are intended and to be understood Some judg the Things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious the Words and Expressions of it to be plain and proper Others think the Words and Expressions of it to be Mystical and Figurative but the Things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the Natural Reason of every Man But to return Sect. 8 Both Regeneration and the Doctrine of it were under the Old Testament All the Elect of God in their several Generations were all Regenerate by the Spirit of God But in that Ampliation and Enlargement of Truth and Grace under the Gospel which came by Jesus Christ who brought Life and Immortality to light as more Persons than of old were to be made Partakers of the Mercy of it so the Nature of the Work it self is far more clearly evidently and distinctly revealed and declared And because this is the principal and internal Remedy of that Disease which the Lord Christ came to cure and take away one of the first things that he Preached was the Doctrine of it All things of this Nature before even from the beginning of the World lay hid in God Ephes. 3. 9. Some intimations were given of them in Parables and dark Sayings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 78. 2. in Types Shadows and Ceremonies so as the Nature of the Grace in them was not clearly to be discerned But now when the great Physician of our Souls came who was to heal the Wound of our Natures whence we were dead in Trespasses and Sins he layes naked the Disease it self declares the Greatness of it the Ruine we were under from it that we might know and be thankful for its Reparation Hence no Doctrine is more fully and plainly declared in the Gospel than this of our Regeneration by the effectual and ineffable Operation of the Holy Spirit And it is a Consequent and Fruit of the Depravation of our Nature that against the full Light and Evidence of Truth now clearly manifested this Great and Holy Work is opposed and despised Sect. 9 Few indeed have yet the confidence in plain and intelligible words to deny it absolutely But many tread in the steps of him who first in the Church of God undertook to undermine it This was Pelagius whose principal Artifice which he used in the Introduction of his Heresie was in the clouding of his Intentions with general and ambiguous Expressions as some would be making use of his very Words and Phrases Hence for a long time when he was justly charged with his Sacrilegious Errors he made no defence of them but reviled his Adversaries as corrupting his Mind and not understanding his Expressions And by this means as he got himself acquitted in the Judgments of some less experienced in the sleights and cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive and juridically freed in an Assembly of Bishops so in all probability he had suddenly infected the whole Church with the poison of those Opinions which the proud and corrupted Nature of Man is so apt to receive and embrace if God had not stirred up some few Holy and Learned Persons Austin especially to discover his Frauds to refel his Calumnies and confute his Sophisms which they did with indefatigable industry and good success But yet these Tares being once sown by the envious one found such a suitable and fruitful Soil in the darkned Minds and proud Hearts of Men that from that day to this they could never be fully extirpated but the same bitter Root hath still sprung up unto the defiling of many though various new Colours have been put upon its Leaves and Fruit. And although those who at present amongst us have undertaken the same Cause with Pelagius do not equal him either in Learning or Diligence or an Appearance of Piety and Devotion yet do they exactly imitate him in declaring their minds in cloudy ambiguous Expressions capable of various Constructions until they are fully examined and thereon reproaching as he did those that oppose them as not aright representing their Sentiments when they judg it their Advantage so to do as the scurrilous clamorous Writings of S. P. do sufficiently manifest Sect. 10 Secondly Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the same Work for the kind of it and wrought by the same Power of the Spirit in all that are Regenerate or ever were or shall be so from the beginning of the World unto the end thereof Great variety there is in the Application of the outward means which the Holy Spirit is pleased to use and make effectual towards the Accomplishment of this great Work Nor can the Wayes and Manner hereof be reduced unto any certain order For the Spirit worketh how and when he pleaseth following the sole Rule of his own Will and Wisdom Mostly God makes use of the Preaching of the Word thence called an Engrafted Word which is able to save our Souls James 1. 21. and the incorruptible Seed by which we are born again 1 Pet. 1. 21. Sometimes 't is wrought without it as in all those who are Regenerate before they come to the use of Reason or in their Infancy Sometimes Men are called and so regenerate in an extraordinary manner as was Paul but mostly they are so in and by the use of ordinary Means instituted blessed and sanctified of God to that end and purpose And great variety there is also in the perception and understanding of the Work it self in them in whom it is wrought For in it self it is secret and hidden and is no other wayes discoverable but in its Causes and Effects For as the Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3. 8. Sect. 11 In the Minds and Consciences of some this is made known by infallible Signs and Tokens Paul knew that Christ was formed and revealed in himself Gal. 1. 16. So he declared that who-ever is in Christ Jesus is a New Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. that is is born again whether they know themselves so to be or no. And many are in the dark as to their own condition in
and universal Sect. 16 2. The Effects of this Work on the Mind which is the first Subject affected with it proceeds not so far as to give it Delight Complacency and Satisfaction in the lively Spiritual Nature and Excellencies of the things revealed unto it The true Nature of Saving Illumination consists in this that it gives the Mind such a direct intuitive insight and prospect into Spiritual Things as that in their own Spiritual Nature they suit please and satisfie it So that it is transformed into them cast into the Mould of them and rests in them Rom. 6. 17. Chap. 12. 2. 1 Cor. 2. 13 14. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Chap. 4. 6. This the Work we have insisted in reacheth not unto For notwithstanding any discovery that is made therein of Spiritual Things unto the Mind it finds not an immediate direct Spiritual Excellency in them but onely with respect unto some Benefit or Advantage which is to be attained by means thereof It will not give such a Spiritual insight into the Mystery of God's Grace by Jesus Christ called his Glory shining in the Face of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. as that the Soul in its first direct view of it should for what it is in it self admire it delight in it approve it and find Spiritual Solace with refreshment in it But such a Light such a Knowledg it communicates as that a Man may like it well in its Effects as a way of Mercy and Salvation Sect. 17 3. This Work extends it self to the Conscience also but yet it doth not purge the Conscience from dead Works that we should serve the living God This is the effect of a real Application of the Blood of Christ by Faith unto our Souls Heb. 9. 14. Two things it effects upon the Conscience 1. It renders it more ready quick and sharp in the reproving and condemning of all Sin than it was before To condemn Sin according unto its Light and Guidance is natural unto and inseparable from the Conscience of Man But its Readiness and Ability to exercise this condemning Power may by custom and course of sinning in the World be variously weakned and impeded But when Conscience is brought under the Power of this Work having its directing Light augmented whereby it sees more of the evil of sin than formerly and having its self-reflections sharpned and multiplyed it is more ready and quick in putting forth its Judging and Condemning Power than it was 2. Conscience is assisted and directed hereby to condemn many things in Sin which before it approved of For its Judging Power is still commensurate unto its Light And many things are thereby now discovered to be sinful which were not so by the meer natural guidance under which before it was But yet notwithstanding all this it doth not purge the Conscience from Dead Works that is Conscience is not hereby wrought unto such an Abhorrency of Sin for it self as continually to direct the Soul unto an Application to the Blood of Christ for the cleansing of itself and the purging of it out It contents it self to keep all things in a tumult disorder and confusion by its constant condemning both Sin and Sinners Sect. 18 4. This Work operates greatly on the Affections We have given Instances in the Fear Sorrow Joy and Delight about Spiritual Things that are stirred up and acted thereby But yet it comes short in two things of a through-Work upon the Affections themselves For 1. it doth not fix them And 2. it doth not fill them 1. It is required that our Affections be fixed on Heavenly and Spiritual Things and true Grace will effect it Col. 3. 1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are Above where Christ sitteth on the Right Hand of God Set your Affections on things Above The Joys the Fears the Hopes the Sorrows with reference unto Spiritual and Eternal Things which the Work before mentioned doth produce are evanid uncertain unstable not onely as to the Degrees but as to the very Being of them Sometimes they are as a River ready to over-flow its Banks Men cannot but be pouring them out on all occasions And sometimes as Waters that fail no drop comes from them Sometimes they are hot and sometimes cold sometimes up and sometimes down sometimes all Heaven and sometimes all World without equality without stability But true Grace fixeth the Affections on Spiritual Things As to the Degrees of their Exercise there may be and is in them great variety according as they may be excited aided assisted by Grace and the means of it or obstructed and impeded by the interposition of Temptations and Diversions But the constant bent and inclination of renewed Affections is unto Spiritual Things as the Scripture every-where testifieth and Experience doth confirm 2. The fore-mentioned Work doth not fill the Affections how-ever it may serve to take them up and pacifie them It come like many Strangers to an Inn to Lodg which take up a great deal of room and make an Appearance as if none were in the House but themselves and yet they turn not out the Family which dwelleth there but there they make their abode still Light and Conviction with all their Train and Attendants come into the Mind and Affections as if they would fill them and possess them for themselves alone But yet when they have done all they leave the quiet Places of the House for the World and Sin and Self they do not thrust them out of the Affections and fill up their places with Spiritual Things But Saving-Grace fills up the Affections with Spiritual Things fills the Soul with Spiritual Love Joy and Delight and exerciseth all other Affections about their proper Objects It denies not a room to any other Things Relations Possessions Enjoyments meerly as they are natural and are content to be subordinate unto God and Spiritual Things But if they would be carnal disorderly or predominant it casts them out Sect. 19 5. This Work is often-times carried on very far in Reformation of Life and Conversation so that it will express the whole form of Godliness therein But herein also it is subject unto a three-fold Defect and Imperfection For 1. it will consist with and allow of raging and reigning sins of Ignorance The conducting Light in this Work not leading into the Abhorrency of all sin as sin nor into a pursuit of Holiness out of a design to be universally conformable unto Christ but being gathered up from this and that particular Command it oft-times leaves behind it great sins unregarded So it left Persecution in Paul before his Conversion and so it leaves hatred and a desire of Persecution in many at this day And other Sins of the like Nature may escape its utmost search to the ruine of the Soul 2. It s Reformation of the Conversation is seldom universal as to all known sins unless it be for a season whilst the Soul is under a flagrant pursuit of Self-Righteousness
Salvation which is therein declared unto them 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Col. 1. 25 26 27 28. 3 To be the means and Instrument of conveying over unto them and giving them a Title unto and a Right in that Grace and Mercy that Life and Righteousness which is revealed and tendred unto them thereby Mark 16. 16. 4 To be the way and means of communicating the Spirit of Christ with Grace and Strength unto the Elect enabling of them to believe and receive the Attonement Gal. 3. 2. 5 Hereby to give them Vnion with Christ as their Spiritual and Mystical Head us also to fix their Hearts and Souls in their choycest Actings in their Faith Trust Confidence and Love immediately on the Son of God as Incarnate and their Mediator Joh. 14. 1. Wherefore the first and principal End of the Gospel towards us is to invite and encourage lost sinners unto the Faith and Approbation of the Way of Grace Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ without a Complyance wherewith in the first place the Gospel hath no more to do with sinners but leaves them to Justice the Law and themselves But now upon a supposition of these things and of our giving Glory to God by Faith in them the whole that God requireth of us in the Gospel in a way of Duty is that we should be Holy and abide in the use of those means whereby Holiness may be attained and improved in us For if he requires any other thing of us it must be on one of these four Accounts 1. To make Attonement for our sins or 2. To be our Righteousness before him or 3. To merit Life and Salvation by or 4. To supererogate in the behalf of others No other end can be thought of besides what are the true ends of Holiness whereon God should require any thing of us And all the false Religion that is in the world leans on a supposition that God doth require somewhat of us with respect unto these ends But 1 He requires nothing of us which we had all the Reason in the world to expect that he would to make Attonement or satisfaction for our sins that might compensate the injuries we had done him by our Apostasie and Rebellion For whereas we had multiplyed sins against him lived in an Enmity and Opposition to him and had contracted insupportable and immeasurable Debts upon our own Souls Terms of peace being now proposed who could think but that the first thing required of us would be that we should make some kind of satisfaction to Divine Justice for all our enormous and heynous provocations Yea who is there that indeed doth naturally think otherwise so he apprehended who was contriving a way in his own mind how he might come to an Agreement with God Micah 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my Transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul This or something of this nature seems to be but a very reasonable Enquiry for a Guilty self-condemned sinner when first he entertains thoughts of an Agreement with the Holy sin-avenging God And this was the foundation of all that cruel and expensive Superstition that the World was in bondage unto for so many Ages Mankind generally thought that the principal thing which was required of them in Religion was to attone and pacifie the wrath of the Divine Power and to make a Compensation for what had been done against him Hence were their Sacrifices of Hecatombs of Beasts of Mankind of their Children and of themselves as I have elsewhere declared And the same principle is still deep rooted in the minds of convinced sinners and many an Abby Monastery Colledge and Almes-house hath it founded For in the fruits of this Superstition the Priests which set it on work alwayes shared deeply But quite otherwise in the Gospel there is declared and tendred unto sinners an absolute free pardon of all their sins without any satisfaction or Compensation made or to be made on their part that is by themselves namely on the Account of the Attonement made for them by Jesus Christ. And all Attempts or Endeavours after Works or Duties of Obedience in any respect satisfactory to God for sin or meritorious of pardon do subvert and overthrow the whole Gospel See 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Wherefore in Answer to the Enquiry before mentioned the Reply in the Prophet is that God looks for none of these things and that all such Contrivances were wholly vain He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God v. 8. which last Expression comprizeth the whole of our Covenant-Obedience Gen. 17. 1. as the two former are eminent Instances of it in particular 2 He requireth nothing of us in a way of Righteousness for our Justification for the future that this also he would have done we might have justly expected For a Righteousness we must have or we cannot be accepted with him And here also many are at a loss and resolve that it is a thing fond and inconvenient to think of peace with God without some Righteousness of their own on the Account whereof they may be Justified before him and rather than they will forgoe that apprehension they will let goe all other thoughts of Peace and Acceptance Being ignorant of the Righteousness of God they go about to establish their own Righteousness and do not submit themselves unto the Righteousness of God nor will they acquiesâ—e in it that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth as Rom. 10. 3 4. But so it is that God requireth not this of us in the Gospel for we are Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 24. And we do therefore conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the works of the Law v. 28. so Rom. 8. 3 4. Neither is there any mention in the whole Gospel of God's requiring a Righteousness in us upon the Account whereof we should be justified before him or in his sight For the Justification by works mentioned in James consists in the evidencing and Declaration of our Faith by them 3 God requireth not any thing of us whereby we should purchase or Merit for our selves Life and Salvation For we are saved by Grace through Faith not of works lest any man should boast Ephes. 2. 8 9. God doth save us neither by nor for the works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his own Mercy Titus 3. 5. so that although on the one side the wages of sin is Death there being a proportion in
our sin and folly when we are negligent herein All Believers are no doubt in some measure convinced hereof not only from the Testimonies given unto it in the Scripture but also from their own Experience And there is nothing in themselves which they may more distinctly learn it from than the Nature and Course of their Prayers with the workings of their Hearts Minds and Affections in them Let profane Persons deride it whilest they please it is the Spirit of God as a Spirit of Grace that enables Believers to pray and make Intercession according to the mind of God And herein as he is the Spirit of Supplications he copyeth out and expresseth what he worketh in them as the Spirit of Sanctification In teaching us to pray he teacheth us what and how he worketh in us And if we wisely consider his working in our Hearts by Prayer we may understand much of his working upon our Hearts by Grace It is said that he who searcheth the Hearts that is God himself knoweth the mind of the Spirit in the Intercessions he worketh in us Rom. 8. 27. There are secret powerfull Operations of the Spirit in Prayer that are discernible only to the great searcher of Hearts But we also ought to enquire and observe so far as we may what he leads us unto and guides us about which is plainly his work in us I do not think that the Spirit worketh Supplications in us by an immediate supernatural Divine Afflatus so as he inspired the Prophets of old who oft-times understood not the things uttered by themselves but enquired afterwards diligently into them But I do say let the proud carnal World despise it whilest they please and at their peril that the Spirit of God doth graciously in the Prayers of Believers carry out and act their Souls and Minds in Desires and Requests which for the matter of them are far above their natural Contrivances and Invention And he who hath not Experience hereof is a greater stranger unto these things than will at length be unto his Advantage By a diligent Observance hereof we may know of what kind and nature the work of the Holy Ghost in us is and how it is carryed on For how in general doth the Holy Spirit teach us and enable us to pray It is by these three things 1 By giving us a spiritual Insight into the Promises of God and the Grace of the Covenant whereby we know what to ask upon a spiritual view of the Mercy and Grace that God hath prepared for us 2 By acquainting us with and giving us an Experience of our wants with a deep sense of them such as we cannot bear without Relief 3 By Creating and stirring up desires in the new Creature for its own Preservation Encrease and Improvement And in Answer unto these things consisteth his whole work of Sanctification in us For it is his effectual Communication unto us of the Grace and Mercy prepared in the Promises of the Covenant through Jesus Christ hereby doth he supply our spiritual wants and sets the new Creature in Life and Vigour So are our Prayers an Extract and Copy of the Work of the Holy Spirit in us given us by himself And therefore by whomsoever he is despised as a Spirit of Supplication he is so as a Spirit of Sanctification also Now consider what it is that in your Prayers you most labour about Is it not that the Body the Power the whole Interest of Sin in you may be weakened subdued and at length destroyed Is it not that all the Graces of the Spirit may be renewed daily encreased and strengthened so as that you may be more ready and prepared for all Dutyes of Obedience And what is all this but that Holiness may be gradually Progressive in your Souls that it may be carryed on by new Supplyes and Additions of Grace untill it come to Perfection Sect. 10 It will be said perhaps by some that they find neither in themselves nor others by the best of their Observation that the Work of Sanctification is constantly Progressive or that Holiness doth so grow and thrive wherever it is in sincerity For as for themselves they have found Grace more vigorous active and flourishing in former dayes than of late the streams of it were fresher and stronger at the Spring of Conversion than since they find them to be in their Course Hence are those complaints among many of their Leanness their Weakness their Deadness their Barrenness Nor were many of the Saints in the Scripture without such Complaints And many may cry Oh that it were with us as in our former Dayes in the dayes of our youth Complaints of this nature do every where abound and some are ready to conclude upon this Consideration that either sincere Holiness is not so growing and progressive as is pretended or that indeed they have no interest therein Yea the like may be said upon a diligent Observation of others Churches and single Professors what Evidence do they give that the work of Holiness is thriving in them doth it not appear rather to be Retrograde and under a constant Decay I shall so far consider and remove this Objection as that the Truth which we have asserted suffer not from it and so be left as an empty Notion nor yet those altogether discouraged who come not up unto a full compliance with it And this I shall doe in the ensuing Rules and Observations 1 It is one thing what Grace or Holiness is suited unto in its own nature and what is the Ordinary or Regular way of the procedure of the Spirit in the work of Sanctification according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace Another what may occasionally fall out by Indisposition and Irregularity or any other obstructing Interposition in them in whom the work is wrought Under the first Consideration the Work is thriving and progressive in the latter the Rule is liable to sundry Exceptions A Child that hath a Principle of Life a good natural Constitution and suitable food will grow and thrive But that which hath Obstructions from within or Distempers and Diseases or Falls and Bruises may be weak and thriftless When we are Regenerate we are as New-born Babes and ordinarily if we have the sincere milk of the Word we shall grow thereby But if we our selves give way to Temptations Corruptions Negligences Conformity to the World is it any wonder if we are lifeless and thriftless It suffices to confirm the Truth of what we have asserted that every one in whom is a Principle of spiritual Life who is born of God in whom the work of Sanctification is begun if it be not gradually carryed on in him if he thrive not in Grace and Holiness if he go not from strength to strength it is ordinarily from his own sinfull Negligence and Indulgence unto carnal Lusts or Love of this present World Considering the time we have had and the Means we have enjoyed what grown
day the Greatness of his Mercy towards all sorts of Sinners his Readiness to receive them his Willingness to pardon them and that freely in Christ without the Consideration of any Worth Merit or Righteousness of their own And do you not herein invite all sorts of Sinners the worst and the greatest to come unto him by Christ that they may be pardoned and accepted Whence then can arise any Argument for the Necessity of Holiness from the Consideration of the Nature of this God whose Inestimable Treasures of Grace and the freedom of whose Love and Mercy towards Sinners no Tongue as you say can express Sect. 33 An. 1 This Objection is very natural unto carnal and unbelieving Minds and therefore we shall meet with it at every turn There is nothing seems more reasonable unto them than that we may live in sin because Grace hath abounded If men must yet be Holy they can see no need nor use of Grace And they cannot see that God is Gracious to any Purpose if notwithstanding men may perish because they are not Holy But this Objection is raised rejected and condemned by our Apostle in whose Judgement we may acquiesce Rom. 6. 1. And in the same place he subjoyns the Reasons why notwithstanding the superabounding Grace of God in Christ there is an indispensible Necessity that all Believers should be Holy 2 God himself hath obviated this Objection He proclaims his Name Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God gracious and mercifull abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgressions and Sin Had he stood here and neither in this nor in any other place of Scripture further declared his Nature and unchangeable Purposes concerning Sinners some Colour might have been laid on this Objection But he addes immediately and that will by no means clear the Guilty that is as it is explained in places of Scripture innumerable such as go on in their Sins without regard unto Obedience and Holiness springing from the Attonement made for their guilty Souls in the Blood of Christ. 3 We doe we ought to declare the rich and free Love Grace Mercy and Bounty of God unto Sinners in and by Jesus Christ and Woe unto us if we should not be found in that Work all our Dayes and thereby Encourage all sorts of Sinners to come unto him for the free Pardon of their Sins without Money or Price without Merit or Desert on their part For this is the Gospel But notwithstanding all this Grace and Condescension we declare that he doth not dethrone himself nor deny himself nor change his Nature nor become unholy that we may be saved He is God still Naturally and Essentially holy Holy as he is in Christ reconciling the sinfull World unto himself and therefore indispensibly requires that those whom he pardons receives accepts into his Love and Communion with himself should be Holy also And these things are not only consistent but inseperable Without the Consideration of this Grace in God we can have no Encouragement to be Holy and without the Necessity of Holiness in us that Grace can neither be glorified nor usefull CHAP. II. Eternal Election a Cause of and Motive unto Holinesse Other Arguments for the Necessity of Holiness from Gods Eternal Election The Argument from thence explained improved vindicated Sect. 1 WE have seen upon the whole Matter what Conclusions as unto our own Duty we ought to draw from that Revelation of the Nature of God in Christ which is made unto us and our Relation unto him If we are not thereby prevailed on alwayes in all Instances of Obedience to endeavour to be Holy universally in all manner of Holy Conversation we neither can enjoy his Favour here nor be brought unto the Enjoyment of him in Glory hereafter Sect. 2 That Consideration which usually we take of God next after his Nature and the Properties of it is of the Eternal free Acts of his Will or his Decrees and Purposes And we shall now enquire what Respect they have unto Holiness in us what Arguments and Motives may be taken from them to evince the Necessity of it unto us and to press us thereunto especially from the Decree of Election which in an especial Manner is by some traduced as no Friend to this Design I say then that Sect. 3 It is the Eternal and Immutable Purpose of God that all who are his in a peculiar manner all whom he designs to bring unto Blessedness in the Everlasting Enjoyment of himself shall antecedently thereunto be made Holy This Purpose of his God hath declared unto us that we may take no wrong Measures of our Estate and Condition nor build Hopes or Expectations of future Glory on sandy Foundations that will fail us Whatever we are else in Parts Abilities Profession Moral Honesty Usefulness unto others Reputation in the Church if we are not personally spiritually Evangelically Holy we have no Interest in that Purpose or Decree of God whereby any Persons are designed unto Salvation and Glory And this we shall briefly confirm Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and unblameable before him in Love But is this that which firstly and principally we are ordained unto and that for its own sake namely Holiness and Unblameableness in the Obedience of Love No we are firstly Ordained unto eternal life Acts 13. 48. we are chosen from the Beginning unto Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. That which God in the first place intends as his End in the Decree of Election is our Eternal Salvation to the prayse of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1. 5 6 11. How then is he said to Choose us that we should be Holy in what sence is our Holiness proposed as the Design of God in Election It is as the indispensible Means for the attaining of the End of Salvation and Glory I doe saith God choose these poor lost Sinners to be mine in an especial manner to save them by my Son and bring them through his Mediation unto Eternal Glory But in order hereunto I do purpose and decree that they shall be holy and unblameable in the Obedience of Love without which as a Means none shall ever attain that End Wherefore the Expectation and Hope of any man for Life and Immortality and Glory without previous Holiness can be built on no other Foundation but this that God will Rescind his Eternal Decrees and change his Purposes that is cease to be God meerly to comply with them in ther Sins And who knowes not what will be the End of such a cursed Hope and Expectation The contrary is seconded by that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 36. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called Wherever Predestination unto Glory goes before concerning any Person there Effectual Vocation unto Faith and Holiness infallibly ensues And where these never were the other never was So 2 Thess. 2. 13. God hath chosen