so that this is an errour in the foundation For first Though it be here said And the Spirit and the Bride say come yet it is not said that the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the bride say come It is the sense of some learned men that by the Spirit in this place is not meant the Holy Ghost but the Angel or Spirit which Christ is said Chap. 1.1 to have sent to signifie this Revelation unto John and who conversed with him all along hitherto Angels we know are of a spiritual nature and frequently in Scriptures termed Spirits Now to reason either a genere or a specie ad individuum from a general to a particular affirmatively is an Argument fitter for a child than for a man As thus It was a man that did such or such a thing therefore it was William or Thomas that did it such a reasoning as this is that before us The Spirit saith come therefore such or such a Spirit by name as the holiest Spirit of all saith come But grant we the Adversary that which his Argument demands that by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost Yet Secondly It is not necessary to conceive that the Holy Ghost spake thus saith unto Christ come as being without the Bride but as speaking in and by the Bride Nay it cannot reasonably be conceived otherwise For if the Holy Ghost separated from and without the Bride shall say come then the Bride must be supposed to say come of her self and without the presence and assistance of the Holy Ghost In which case were she able to conceive such a Prayer as this of her self which yet she is not yet would it not be acceptable unto God no Prayer being accepted with him but that which is prayed in or by the Holy Ghost Thirdly Though here be two Agents or two Speakers I beseech you mind it mentioned the Spirit and the Bride yet here is but one Action or speaking asserted to them both here is but one Come And the Spirit and the Bride say come it is not and the Spirit saith come and again the Bride saith come No but the Spirit and the Bride together make one lip as it were between them and together they say as it were with one voice come So that this passage or expression wherein the Spirit of God and the Spouse are made joynt Agents or joynt Speakers in one and the same Action or Speech perfectly agreeth with that Notion which runs throughout the Scriptures from place to place according unto which God and the Creature are made Co-workers or joynt Agents in all that the Creature doth worthily and according to the will of God in which respect also the Act produced between them is sometimes ascribed to the one and otherwhile to the other Many Instances hereof we have heretofore given you from the Scriptures if you please let us touch one instead of many at present in this kind not formerly observed and which hath a special affinity with the place in hand Acts 15.28 The Apostles Elders and Brethren assembled at Jerusalem write thus among other things to the Church of the Gentiles For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and unto us to lay no other c. Here the Apostles and the rest with them ascribe that Act of apprehension unto themselves as well as unto the Holy Ghost though to the Holy Ghost in the first place which was raised in them by the assistance and motion of the Holy Ghost though not without the joynt concurrence of their Understandings and Wills also the meaning is not that the things spoken of seemed good unto the Apostles and the rest apart from the Holy Ghost or without the dictating of the Notion or apprehension by the Holy Ghost nor again that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost simply considered or apart and extrinsical unto them For how then could they have told them that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and them But it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and us the meaning is that the Holy Ghost did enlighten and reveal the thing unto them and gave them directions and put them upon it to send this Counsel unto the Gentiles Namely to impose upon them by way of burthen and charge no other thing but that they abstain from such and such things so that here the Holy Ghost and the Apostles are joyned together in the same Act of apprehension so in the place in hand the Spirit and the Bride they make one and the same voice together the Spirit he dictates and the Bride she uttereth Thirdly suppose it had been so expressed And the Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come That there had been two distinct Actions mentioned the one ascribed unto the Holy Ghost the other unto the Bride or Church of Christ yet neither would it have followed from hence that therefore the Holy Ghost had prayed unto Christ to come to Judgment When a Judge prescribes or dictates the form of an Oath to be taken by a Jury or any Person thereof he doth not swear or take an Oath though the other that speaketh the same words after him doth formally and properly swear In like manner the Holy Ghost may teach the Bride what she should say and put words into her mouth and say thus within the Conscience and Soul of the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Now though the Holy Ghost spake these words and dictated unto the Bride what she should say and pray it doth not follow that therefore he should pray himself When Christ taught his Disciples to pray Our Father c. it doth not follow that therefore he himself did pray but he did put words into the mouths of his Disciples which when they came to utter would be a Prayer properly and truly so called c. Mr Brightman understandeth the place thus The Tenth Argument levied against the Deity of the Holy Ghost is this He in whom men have not believed Sect. 16 and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God Men have not believed in the Holy Spirit and yet have been so viz. Disciples Believers Ergo. The sum and substance of this Argument which spreads much Paper in the Author's words is this because we read in the Scriptures of some called Disciples who yet did not believe in the Holy Ghost Nor had so much as heard or known whether there were any Holy Ghost or no and withal that the Apostle Paul did not take any occasion thereupon to declare the Holy Ghost to be God Therefore certainly he is not God To this I answer and affirm by the way that from the Crown of the head unto the sole of the Foot of this Argument there is no sound part in it For first The Major Proposition which is the head of this Argument He in whom men have not believed and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God This Proposition I say
on the one hand and on the other that they are at a loss within themselves and troubled in their spirits because they cannot reach or attain that fulness of assurance in Judgment or Understanding in the case which they desire Now it may the question of some such person what is best to be done in the case Whether it be better and safer to Neutralize between these two Opinions and hang in suspense like a Meteor in the air between Heaven and Earth or else to fall in and close in his Judgment either with the one Opinion or with the other To this I reply First Though there be some kind of Opinions and Tenents in matters appertaining to Religion wherein a modesty and tenderness in Judgment do well become the gravest and best-grown Christians viz. such wherein either the Arguments on both sides have much probability and strength of reason at least seeming strength of reason in them or else where there is little can be produced on either side for the satisfying of the Judgment or eviction of the truth Although I say in doubts and questions of this nature a modest tenderness of Judgment is not unworthy a sober and sound Christian yet an absolute Scepticism or meer Neutrality of Judgment in these or any other questions doth not answer the state and dignity of a Christian one who desires to be thought a man in understanding The Reason is because there are hardly any Positions or Opinions whether truth or error but have somewhat either in themselves in their own constitution and frame or else in some consideration or other relating to them and this accessible enough which is sufficient to found or build some lighter estimate at least upon their agreement either with errour or with truth Now to be ignorant in this case or not apprehensive of such things the knowledge of which is proper to encline at least the Judgment and withal may with competent search and consideration be obtained is not honourable for him who is esteemed spiritual or skilful in the word of Righteousness But Secondly Concerning the Question before us viz. about the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost the nature and condition of it is such that there is no place or possibility for a meer Neutrality or suspension of Judgment about it Men and women must of necessity take either the right hand or the left and go along with the one Opinion or the other The reason is because the Question as well in the Affirmative part of it as in the Negative relates unto Practice yea it relates unto two such Practices which in the Language of Logicians are contraria immediata such contraries which admit no Mediums between them He that denies the Deity of the Holy Ghost and holds that he is not God cannot honour him with that honour which is proper unto God only but at most with such a kind of honour which is competent to an excellent Creature As on the other hand he that believeth the Holy Ghost to be very God cannot but worship him as God Now it is impossible but that a man or woman must either honour the Holy Ghost as God or not as God for if he judgeth him to be a Creature or created Spirit now he doth not honour him as God If he judgeth him to be an increated Spirit and God himself now he honoureth him at least in this his Judgment of him as God So that if a man or woman shall think to say and hold thus I will neither judge or think him to be either a finite and created Spirit on the one hand nor yet an infinite or increated Spirit on the other hand This is a kind of inconsistency and it plainly enough supposeth that such a person doth not judge or think him to be God and refuseth or neglecteth to exhibite divine honour unto him which being interpreted is a denial of his Godhead So that evident it is that in the Question about the Holy Ghost's being God there is no place nor possibility for a neutrality of judgment or Opinion but we must of necessity at least in our practice or behaviour towards him conclude him either to be God or not God Well then this being supposed Sect. 12 it may haply be some mans question The case being so with us that we are intangled and perplexed in our Judgments and Consciences between the Arguments on the one hand and the Arguments on the other hand and are not able clearly to satisfie our selves either touching the sufficiency or insufficiency of the Scriptures and other grounds insisted on by men of the one Opinion and the other What is best and safest and most Christian like to be done in such a case as this I reply There being two kinds of Arguments or Reasons as Logicians distinguish them whereby Positions or Tenents are wont to be proved Artificial and Inartificial by Artificial the meaning is those that are levied and wrought out by the light and strength of the understanding from general Principles By Inartificial the testimony or consent of Judgment amongst men about a matter when a man can make no earnings of the former those that are Artificial but these on both sides seem to balance the one the other or it may be are demonstrative or satisfactory on neither hand then the best and safest way is to have recourse unto the latter the Authority Testimony or Consent of Judgment amongst men especially men who are most competent to be heard and regarded in such cases When satisfaction I say cannot be had touching the mind of God or the true sense and meaning of such and such Texts of Scripture which are wont to be insisted on for the proof of such or such a Doctrine or Tenent one or more neither from other Scriptures nor yet from any clear or undoubted Principle in Reason The safest course in this case especially where there is no place for a Neutrality in Judgment which we have shewed to be the case in the Point in hand is to have recourse to the sense and Judgment of the Churches of Christ in all Ages or to the Judgments of those whom God hath raised up from time to time to be Teachers and Instructers of his People We find that the Apostle Paul himself did attribute much to the Authority and Judgment of the Churches of Christ in such cases wherein a clear and satisfactory issue was hard to come at either by Scriptures or Argument otherwise As in the Question about mens Prophesying with their heads uncovered But saith he if any man seem contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 Meaning that if any person remained yet unsatisfied or unconvinced touching the meetness of such an habit both for men and women in the Church during the time of the publick Worship of God whether by Prayer or by Prophesying as he had now commended unto them and pleaded for but would still pretend
themselves For when because of any weakness or infirmities which men are subject unto or because of any discourteous behaviour in word or deed used towards us we shall be at any greater distance from them or shall be less kind or serviceable unto them than otherwise we would be in case no such weakness were found upon them or no such unkindness had been done unto us this is the casting of mens burthens upon their own necks and to reject the Commandment of Christ by which we our selves stand charged to bear them The Apostle in this injunction of hearing one another burthens seems to suppose that even in men of the best temper and most Consciencious and Circumspect in their lives and waies there is somewhat more or less that is burthensome that is distasteful unpleasing and in some degree offensive unto others This notwithstanding if men would but fulfil the Law of Christ and cut Tallies one with another every man gratifying other with bearing his burthens the great Common-wealth of Mankind would be prosperous and happy and little or no damage or inconvenience accrue unto it by the weaknesses or want of wisdom in the respective members of it There would be the same as full as quick an entercourse and commerce of love and of the services thereof as there would or could be in case they were all perfect and as so many Angels of God Yea my Brethren this bearing the burthens of one another did we freely submit unto it and practice it would turn to a very happy account ot us in another day For God will not give greater rewards for any kind of works or service than for bearing the burthens of men especially the burthens of the Saints and most of all for the bearing the burthens of Christ viz. persecution for righteousness and a good conscience sake We shall hardly find any of the Commands of God or of jesus Christ but the keeping of them would turn to the peace and comfort of men These are they that in the very nature of them all are apt to create peace and prosperity in the World and the want of a diligent and faithful performance of them is that that doth occasion trouble between man and man and maketh breaches upon their mutual Comforts You can hardly break any of the Commands of Jesus Christ but you will make a breach upon the peace of the World you will fall foul one of another But so long as you keep on in the waies of Christ's Commands you comply and comport with the peace and comfort of the World round about you Secondly Sect. 5 The very Example of a through Conformity and subjection to the Law of God must needs be of a very choice and high accommodation to the World besides the nature and tendency of the actions themselves The very Example though but of one single person his Conformity to the Laws of God may be of singular concernment to the World Your Zeal saith the Apostle to the Corinthians hath provoked many 2 Cor. 9.2 And as the Scripture demandeth a little fire how great a matter or how great a wood for so it is in the original how great a wood or forest of wood doth it kindle or set on fire So one person one man or woman that doth clearly and in the face of the World walk in a through Conformity to the Law of Christ that is tender and circumspect and taketh all his Commands in their respective seasons along with him in his course may propagate a great Generation of Conformists in the same kind For who knoweth how many trees of the Forest of this World may be set on fire by this Example Men and Women more generally seem to look upon the Laws of Jesus Christ as if they were given to men only to hear and speak of or at most to live by in another World and so the neglect or breach of them toucheth few mens Consciences makes no breach upon their peace Whereas if these Laws were but translated into practice by flesh and bloud by men and women subject to like passions and infirmities with themselves this would beget other manner of thoughts in the hearts and consciences of the World generally concerning them Did men but seriously consider it with themselves that if flesh and bloud men of the same nature liable to the same tentations with themselves by the same means and assistance both inward and outward which are afforded unto them can keep the Commandments of Jesus Christ and walk holily they could not lightly but be convinced that certainly the God of Heaven will look for it at their hands that they go and do likewise Again secondly Sect. 6 He that shall diligently and faithfully keep the Commandments of Jesus in the view and sight of the World must needs be a signal Benefactor unto it in the things of their Eternal peace which are of a thousand times greater consequence than all the concernments of this life Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works c. Mat. 5.16 Our Saviour in this passage clearly implies that there is a proper tendency in mens good works to prevail with others to glorifie their Father which is in Heaven viz. by repenting and believing in him and living unto him and this is a most blessed accommodation unto the World The Apostle speaketh concerning the faithful behaviour of Servants towards their Masters Tit. 2.9 10. telling them that by such a carriage and behaviour they shall adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Now Brethren What is the reason that the hearts of men are not drawn out more freely to the Doctrine of God and Christ Why do mens hearts stand off and make no more treasure of it than they do Doubtless one main reason hereof is it wants adorning and beautifying it is not set forth before their eyes with that advantage to take the hearts of men wherewith it might and ought to be But who are they that do adorn this Doctrine and consequently that commend it in the sight of men and make it a beautiful lovely and desirable object unto them They that deal by their Great Lord and Master Jesus Christ as the Apostle would have other Servants to deal by theirs viz. by being obedient unto them and pleasing them well in all things Tit. 2.9 They that shall diligently and faithfully observe and keep the Commands of Jesus Christ they will adorn it they will commend it with authority and power to the souls and consciences of men Such men when they shall but utter and assert the plain words of the Gospel when they shall say unto any man or unto any numbers of men that certainly Jesus Christ is He He is the Saviour of the World and whosoever cometh unto him shall be saved by him or the like such persons I say as these we speak of by such plain and known words as these are like to pierce and wound
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
as intimate the Holy Ghosts not being truly God but rather assert and affirm it Because the Apostle Paul teacheth us Phil. 2.12 13. that it is God and not an Angel that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure and upon this account admonisheth us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling which admonition clearly implies these two things 1. That that working of God in men to will and to do doth not make men actually to will and to do but that over and besides that which God doth in this kind mens own endeavours to provoke them to comport with God in these preventing interposures of his are requisite and necessary Otherwise the Apostle need not to have admonished them to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling nor needs there more to be done by men for their Salvation but only to will and to do 2. The said admonition considering the ground and motive upon which it is given and administred clearly implies that God's preventing grace vouchsafed unto men termed by the Apostle His working in men to will and to do is a most dreadful engagement upon men to take the opportunity and advantage thereof to bestir themselves about the great business of their Salvation Now he doth not simply warn and charge them to work out their Salvation but to work it out with fear and trembling and that because it is God that worketh in them This clearly implies that much of this engagement would be taken off if it should be a Creature only as suppose an Angel and not God himself that should work in us to will and to do Bat Before we proceed to a fourth proof from the New Testament Sect. 7 to prove the Holy Ghost to be God we shall answer the Objections made against the Scriptures already produced and argued upon that account The first place insisted upon from the New Testament was Mat. 3.16 which mentions the opening or cleaving of the Heaven and the descending of the Spirit of God from whence we argued several things But because some of contrary judgment importunely and vainly boast that this Scripture is for them and that they desire no better advantage of ground for their opinion than what this passage affords though they cannot reasonably object or except against any thing that was delivered against their opinion from it let us here briefly weigh what their confidence in this kind amounteth unto or what there is in that plea whereon they build themselves from any thing found in this Scripture The strength which they pretend unto from the place lieth it seems in that metaphorical expression of the Holy Ghosts descending upon Christ Their notion or conceit is this He that removes and descends from one place to another cannot be God or the most high God But this is here and elsewhere attributed to the Holy Ghost Ergo. To this I reply First To the Major He that removes or descends from place to place c. 1. Simply to the principle of those men themselves who thus argue this Proposition taken in the most literal sense or construction that can be put upon it is untrue For they say and hold that even their most high God is bounded and limited in his Essence contained and comprehended within the Circle of the Heavens and that he is not Omnipresent unless haply it be in respect of his knowledge and power Though out of their bountiful respects towards him they grant him to be Omniscient and Omnipotent yet their liberality will not hold out to grant him an Immensity or an Omnipresence in respect of his Essence So that in making a capacity of removing from one place to another a demonstrative Argument of a created Essence and Being they prevaricate with their own grounds and principles and fall fowl upon their own Tenets which is a seldom failing Character of men intangled with error For if God the most high God as they love to call him be bounded in his Essence and his ordinary residence be circumscriptively in the Heavens what should hinder but that he may remove from place to place and as well as Angels or created Spirits do ascend and descend at his pleasure Therefore they that reason so as we have heard pull down with the right hand what they build up with the left But 1. As to the said Proposition simply considered and in it self true it is that he that removes descends or ascends from one place to another viz. literally properly and after the manner of Creatures or finit beings is not cannot be God the most high God But it follows not from hence that he that is figuratively and in some particular respect only said to remove or descend from place to place must needs be a Creature or some finite being For it is well known and generally acknowledged amongst Christians and men learned in the Scriptures that most of those things if not the whole sum of them which are spoken of God I mean the most High God in the Scriptures are spoken figuratively and with the exclusion of such particularities importing imperfection which the same things spoken of men or any other Creature do commonly imply and signifie So that God may in Scripture Language and indeed oft is said to remove from his place Psal 18.9 without any breach made upon the infinity of his Essence or without any repugnancy thereunto Thus Gen. 18.21 He is said to go down So Exod. 19.18 to descend or come down Hos 5.15 He is said to return to his place Now God may be said to descend or remove from place to place not because his Essence or substance of being changeth his place or ceaseth to be where it was before or beginneth to be where it was not thus to descend argues finiteness of being and limitedness of Essence and consequently imperfection and so is no waies attributeable unto God but he I say is said to descend when he makes any glorious or more than ordinary appearance or discovery of himself in one kind or other in these sublunary parts upon or near unto the earth or amongst men the ordinary place where he gives an interview of his face glory and Majesty unto his Creature being the Heavens above Even as a person that ordinarily makes his abode in the upper rooms of an house when he desires to shew himself to those below and who cannot with conveniency go up to him descends or goes down to them And God is said to return unto his place as in the expression cited from Hosea when having been graciously present with a Person or People for a time as either by a more than ordinary protection over them or by a more than ordinary communication of his Counsels unto them or the like when he shall now withdraw these signs of his gracious presence from them In such a case as this he is said to return to his place because he doth like a Prince who in his Progress
Treatise is gravely and with solidity penned and worthy the perusal of those whose feer are taken in the snare of that Error or others remaining in any measure dis-satisfied about the Point Though the truth is they have as much reason to be dis-satisfied about their Christianity it self and whether Salvation is to be obtained by Jesus Christ and Faith in his bloud as to be dis-satisfied about the Holy Ghost being God We might argue the Deity of the Holy Ghost from other particulars observable Sect. 10 upon such an account from the said passages of Scripture lying yet before us As 1. That Christ saith of him that he should teach them all things 2. That he should bring to their remembrance all things that he had spake to them 3. That he proceedeth from God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall but only glance at them First our Saviour undertakes for the Holy Ghost that when he comes he shall teach his Disciples all truth To be able to teach all truth is a Royalty too rich to be vested in any Creature it is most worthy God himself and meet only for him The Eph. 3.9 10. Angels learn many things from the Church and from the Min stry and Dispensation of the Gospel there And the Apostle Paul himself professeth of himself and the rest of his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 13.9 who knew more than all the World besides of the mystery of Christ and of God that they knew but in part Therefore no Angel was in a capacity to teach them all things when as they themselves were in a condition to learn some things of them If it be demanded But how can these two stand together 1. That Christ should say unto the Apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them all things and lead them into the way of all truth And yet 2. That Paul should say notwithstanding that they knew but in part Can he be said to know but in part who hath been taught all things or led into the way of all Truth I answer 1. That the all things which the Holy Ghost according to our Saviours Promise here was to teach the Disciples is to be restrained to the business in hand which is very frequent in Scripture and so such things as were necessary and meet for them to know in order to the performance of their Apostolical Office as well in teaching as in planting Churches and ordering the Government hereof For it was not for them to know the times and seasons which God had reserved in his own hand Nor doth it follow from hence either that the Holy Ghost was not able to teach them that restrained all things or that the teaching of this restrained all things should be no sufficient proof of the Holy Ghosts being God The former of these is evident enough from the common principle in reason God and Nature as they are not defective in things that be necessary so neither do they abound in things that be superfluous And therefore if the Apostles had no need of any further knowledge of any thing which did any waies conduce to the performance of their great Office as they were Apostles It is not to be conceived that the Holy Ghost should impart such things unto them which were not expedient for them to know The latter viz. That the teaching of that limited all things we speak of especially taken with that Clause that goeth along with it and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 14.26 is an Argument no waies defective in proof that the Holy Ghost who was to do all these things is truly God this I say is evident from hence For 1. He that shall be able to teach all that was necessary for the Apostles to know for the discharge of their great Office must be supposed to know all the heights and depths of the Scriptures all things that are contained and comprehended there For doubtless there is nothing in the Word of God but what was fitting and necessary for the Apostles to know and understand As namely the sitting and applying of all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies under the Law to and with the Gospel and so likewise to know and understand all obscure Prophesies for otherwise they might have been foyled and intangled by their Adversaries which would have been matter of prejudice to them in the fulfilling of their Office Now then to be able to do this certainly doth prove sufficiently that he must needs be God For 1 Cor. 2.1 1. saith the Apostle what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him It is the Spirit within a man who knoweth all the motions of the heart all the Purposes Counsels Hopes Sorrows c. No man knows all these things but the spirit of a man which is within him which is intimous to him and upon the matter himself Even so after the same manner we may say no man knows the things of God but the spirit of God The Spirit God searcheth the deep things of God As the Spirit of a man is privy to the most secret things of a man even so the Spirit of God is privy to the secrets of God So there is no man and consequently no Spirit besides no Creature no Angel though never so great and near unto God in point of Office and Ministry that is able to search the deep things of God but only the Spirit of God which is intimately acquainted with the deep things of God 2. He that was able to bring so the Apostles remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them must neds be God because he must know their hearts and their thoughts and what of themselves they did remember without him and withall to know what was worn or blotted out of their memories For I suppose the meaning is not that when the Spirit comes he should be a Remembrancer unto them of such things which they remembred already and therefore it supposes that the Holy Ghost of whom it is said he should remember them of all things that Christ had formerly spoken unto them did know the state of their minds and inward parts and that he knew what things they had or did remember and what things they had forgotten and lost and accordingly shouldsupply them Which is another consideration that doth argue that certainly this Spirit of God this samje great Remembrancer of the Apostles can be no other but God 3. We might also argue from that other Clause where our Saviour describes the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God there being no plurality of Holy Ghosts to be one individual Spirit of Truth And then denotes his Process which proceeds from or out of the Father For both words should be put in from the Father and proceeds out of the Father after an ineffable and inconceivable manner Now if any such Character as this or any near to it can be found to be given of
furnished and endued them with such properties and qualities as now he hath done That so there might be fit resemblances to train and nurture up the Minds Understandings and Reasons of men in the knowledge and apprehension of the mysteries of Christ and the great things of Eternity And I make no question but that God in Nature hath contrived and ordered the matter so with that Creature which we call the Wind that it poseth and troubles all the Philosophers that though they hear the sound of it yet not any one of them can give an account of it what it should be and whence it should come and when once it is up in motion why it should Fall Nay God hath so ordered the original of the wind and things appertaining to it at least to the Vnderstandings of men that they should not be able to give so steady an account of the rising and falling of it as they are to do of the rising and setting of the Sun that so there might be a kind of rising advantage administred unto men to conceive the better of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and of his Transactions and manner in doing matters with the Creatures So that now we see the Holy Ghost himself is resembled with the wind and very aptly so may be but the gifts of the Holy Ghost neither are in Scripture nor with any commodiousness of resemblance can be resembled by breathing or by wind therefore by the Holy Ghost in the place in hand cannot be meant the Gifts of the Holy Ghost but the Person of the Holy Ghost himself Again this might be made to appear further by comparing herewith several other places of Scripture by which it is evident that it was the Holy Ghost himself that was to be given unto the Apostles and to be and to abide with them Mar. 13.11 Joh. 14.16 17. So grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit Eph. 4.30 1 Thes 5.19 besides other places Now then if Christ said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost there is no question but they did receive him they I mean all those to whom he thusspake Now if he were a created Angel or meer Creature how could more than one receive him at once Especially how could he be in and remain with many at the same time when these shall be dispersed and scattered up and down the World in Nations and places far distant as the Apostles we know soon after were We never read nor heard of any more than one Holy Ghost as was observed therefore the Argument in hand cannot be put off with common Evasions viz. That the Holy Ghost might be in the Apostles though never so remote at one and the same time by his Deputies or Vicegerents other inferiour Angels under his command or the like For 1. we have no ground in Scripture to conceive any such power given unto one Angel over another as that any one should be at the command or disposal of his Fellows Besides when Christ said to his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost if it be supposed that there is but only one Holy Ghost and certain I am that the Scripture supposeth no more and that this Holy Ghost could be but only in one of them at the precise time of Christ's so speaking unto them which must likewise be supposed if the Holy Ghost be a finite and created Angel then it undeniably follows that though Christ indifferently said to all his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost and indifferently breathed upon them all yet that he gave him unto one only and that the rest had some other Angel given unto them not the Holy Ghost We might likewise reinforce it from the words following touching the power of remitting and retaining sin conferred at the same time upon the Disciples when they received the Holy Ghost from hence I say we might re-assert our former Argument for the Divinity of the Holy Ghost viz. His power to forgive sins For the power of forgiving and retaining sins being given unto the Apostles upon their receiving of the Holy Ghost plainly sheweth that Primarily and Authoritatively it resideth in the Holy Ghost himself and that it was derived unto them only in a Ministerial way and as they were to be acted and guided by him in the administration and exercise of it And if the case were so with the Holy Ghost as our Adversaries conceit it to be viz. The Holy Ghost himself should only have a power by way of Commission from God and ministerially to forgive sins and that he is or must be regulated and bound up in the exercise of this power by his Commission as well as the Disciples were by theirs Then why might not they baptize in their own Names as well as his Besides if the Holy Ghost were Commissionated by God to forgive sins he had no power to give Commission either to the Apostles or any other to transact the same work it being a general and known Rule and this very equitable that he that is Deputed or Commissionated by another having a lawful Authority so to depute to transact any business hath no power to depute or substitute others in his stead for the transacting the business committed unto him Another Scripture or pair of Scriptures evincing the same great Truth with the former that without controversie the Holy Ghost is truly God is Acts 1.16 compared with Acts 4.24 In the former place Peter speakech thus Men and Brethren this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas c. In the latter place the Disciples express themselves thus And when they heard that they life up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy Servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c He who in the former place is termed the Holy Ghost is styled in the latter Lord and God who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea c To say that God may be said to speak by the mouth of David because he gave order unto the Holy Ghost to move David so or so to speak is to oppose the direct and clear Letter of the Scripture with a man 's own thoughts and these weak and groundless If it had been said that God by the mediate or intervening motions of the Holy Ghost spake so or so by the mouth of David it had been somewhat colourable for our Adversaries purpose and indeed no more or if there were any such expression to be found in all the Scripture that God spake so or so one thing or other to any person by the mediation of the Holy Ghost this had been somewhat though less than the other But now the constant tenour of the Scripture speaking as to the point in hand being either that God spake or the Lord spake or
several places expresly calleth him simply God Rom. 9.5 Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Observe these words as concerning the flesh which words are restrictive plainly intimating That Christ had another Nature than that of the Flesh or Humane Nature and derived it also or had it communicated unto him from another and not from those from whom his Humane Nature was derived So again 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh c. Tit. 2.13 Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Thus then the Second Person of the Three Jesus Christ overshadowed his own supreme honour and dignity with such kind of words and expressions which did only remotely or by consequence hold forth the same never in plain terms calling himself either God or the Son of God It is most reasonable to conceive that the Third Person also should do likewise especially considering that what Christ did and spake in this kind he both did and spake by the Holy Ghost And therefore it is an Objection without strength against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost to pretend that he is no where called God in the Scriptures But yet thirdly and lastly These things which are delivered in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost insinuating by way of Argument and Discourse his being God are such and so full of insinuation this way that they no waies become a Creature or him that is not God For though it well becometh God as we lately heard to conceal a thing and in some cases to make darkness his Pavilion round about him as the Psalmist speaketh I mean to shroud or hide Divine Majesty in such Expressions and Dispensations wherein he cannot be discovered but by a diligent exercise of the Mind and Understanding of men yet it no waies becometh a Creature to conceal or hide his Creatureship or his being a Creature under any such veil or covering of words which are far more apt and likely to tempt the thoughts and reasons of men to think him to be God than a Creature It is indeed the property of that Creature who is the first-born Son of Perdition the Devil thus to do all that he is able both by word and deed to entice the World into a consent or opinion that he is God and we know that he hath prevailed upon the far greatest part of the World with his subtile Enchantments in this kind who to this day worship him as God but that an Angel of light nay the first born of this blessed Generation for such our Adversaries suppose the Holy Ghost to be should lay wait in Ambushments of words and Phrases to surprise and ravish the hearts and consciences of men with adulterous perswasions of his being God whereas he is conscious to himself that he is of the same house and linage of vanity descended from the same nothing with them is at too great a distance with all Principles as well of Reason as Religion for any confidering man to believe or once imagine and yet such things are from place to place in the Scriptures attributed unto and spoken of the Holy Ghost and this must needs be by his own directions and procurements he being the Author of what is there delivered in this kind as hath been said which are abundantly perswasive to the Judgments and Consciences of men to apprehend and conceive him to be God and this not only the proper signification and direct import of the words and passages themselves do sufficiently prove as hath in part and might be further and in more particulars yet argued But the experience also of all Ages since the daies of the Apostles the whole Succession in a manner of Christians yea of the most Learned Grave Pious and considerate amongst them having been drawn and perswaded by the said expressions and passages of Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost to conceive him to be God and to worship him accordingly Besides if we consider the great jealousie of God over his Name Honour and Glory which the Scriptures frequently speak of and represent as very terrible unto those who shall provoke it it will appear altogether irrational and unlikely that the Holy Ghosts in case he were a Creature and not God should cause such things to be spoken or thought of him as the Scripture often speaketh and suggests unto the minds and thoughts of men The nature of jealousie is to be provoked and wrought upon not only when the person or thing beloved is accidentally seized upon and unlawfully enjoyed by another Competitor or Corrival but when any thing is done that hath a tendency such a way or which bewrayeth an affection or inclination in a man to injure him in such a kind An Husband that zealously loves his Wife cannot only not brook or bear an Adulterer but is highly provoked with any immodest light or wanton behaviour in any man towards her In like manner the Jealousie of God over his name and glory is not only incensed and provoked by an express and right down assuming or claiming divine honour by a Creature but by any carriage or behaviour in a Creature whether by word or deed which containeth any semblance in it of such a thing or which is apt or likely to draw divine respects unto it self from any other Creature one or more Herod Acts 12.22 23. did not assame or claim divine honour no nor yet expresly own or accept it when it was cast upon him by the people only because he did not presently and out of hand testifie his abhorrency of the peoples act in that kind he was smitten by an Angel and presently died an ignominious and loathsome kind of death Now most evident and unquestionable it is that the Holy Ghost in the Scripture if he doth not explicitely and directly attribute things proper unto God to himself and so claim divine honour yet he doth very little less He speaketh such things of himself once and again over and over which according to the ordinary yea and somewhat more than ordinary apprehensions of men amount unto as much as the assuming of such honour unto him which doubtless so well knowing the terror of the Jealousie of God as he doth he would never do if he were conscious to himself of a Creature Parentage and did not know himself to be God indeed Thus much for answer to this Objection In the answer we have found further Argument and proof both from the Scriptures themselves and from clear Principles of Reason that the Holy Ghost is God Though for brevities sake I pass by sundry Texts of Scripture which are very pregnant for the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost Sect. 18 as Mat. 12.31 and 2 Cor. 13.14 with others yet before we pass on to answer those Arguments that our Adversaries have levied and trust unto for the maintenance of
their cause I desire to trie their Doctrine and Opinion in the Point in hand whether it be truth or no by that definition or description of the Gospel which the Apostle delivereth 1 Tim. 6.3 and elsewhere calling it a Doctrine according unto Godliness i.e. as heretofore upon occasion we have interpreted a Doctrine every way and in all the parts and veins of it composed and framed for the advancement of Godliness in the World or for the making of men Godly So that every Doctrine or Opinion the face whereof is set towards Godliness and which hath a tendency in it to promote the interest thereof not contradicting or overthrowing another Doctrine which hath a more express and potent tendency to the same end is undoubtedly a vein or branch of the Gospel and consequently from God for that is to be considered at this turn that not every Opinion or Doctrine which hath some inferiour and fainter tendency unto Godliness is hereby evinced to be an Evangelical Truth in case it opposeth and riseth up against another Doctrine which is fuller of the same Spirit than it but only then when the Doctrine or Opinion contrary unto it hath either no tendency at all this way I mean to further Godliness or else only such a tendency in this kind which is weak in comparison of the other As for Instance that God will save those that will live godlily from the wrath and vengeance which ungodly men shall suffer by an utter annihilation of them or by putting them into such a condition as if they had never been born is a Doctrine or Opinion which hath some kind or degree of a tendency unto Godliness as is evident viz. It is better saith our Saviour speaking concerning Judas that a man should never have been born than that he should suffer the vengeance of Eternal fire But because it contradicteth another Doctrine which hath a far more potent and efficacious tendency unto Godliness than it viz. that Doctrine which encourageth and provoketh unto Godliness not by a promise of escaping the wrath which is to come by an utter Annihilation but by the inheritance and enjoyment of eternal blessedness and glory That tendency which the former Doctrine hath unto Godliness is no Argument or Proof that therefore it is a Truth or any part of the Gospel On the other hand that Doctrine that the Saints may lawfully converse in civil affairs with the Fornicators and Covetous or Extortioners of this World as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 6.10 although it hath nothing of that rich and powerful tendency unto Godliness which many other Doctrines of the Gospel have yet is that inferiour tendency that it hath this way an Argument that it is an Evangelical truth because it contradicteth no other Doctrine which hath any superiour tendency unto Godliness than it self Many more instances of both kinds might be given if it were needful any man remembring the Principle or Rule may at leisure and with a little consideration furnish himself with Instances in abundance So then to apply the Rule to the case in hand if upon due consideration it shall appear that that Doctrine which denying the Holy Ghost to be God the most High God affirmeth him to be a Creature opposeth and contradicteth a Doctrine which is of a more express pregnant and potent tendency to the advancement of Godliness than it self certain it is that it is no member of the Doctrine which is according unto Godliness and consequently no truth of the Gospel therefore to make this appear it is to be considered first The greater and more honourable the Agent is that is sent and imployed by God to negotiate his Affairs with men about the things of their eternal Peace and Salvation his Agency or Message is so much the more likely to be regarded by and take place with men themselves As on the other hand the less honourable or worthy the Agent is or is apprehended by men to be who shall be thus imployed the business he is to transact is so much the less likely to succeed or prosper in his hand This Principle is delivered unto us in the Scriptures themselves in the Parable of the Vineyard our Saviour presenteth the Husbandmen to whom it was let out as misusing the Servants or the Lord thereof whilest he sent only persons of this capacity to receive the Fruits of his Vineyard of them The Husbandmen took his Servants saith the Parable Mat. 21.33 and beat one and killed another and stoned another Again he sent other Servants more or rather greater or more honourable for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oft signifieth and they the Husbandmen did unto them likewise Again secondly He presenteth the Lord of this Vineyard by whom God himself according to all Expositors is signified as intending to send his own Son unto them and that upon this account viz. Because he thought that though they neglected and evilly entreated his Servants being inferiour persons comparatively yet they would reverence his Son being a more worthy and honourable person meaning that they would hearken unto him and yield to those terms that he should propound to them From whence it evidently appears that there is so much the greater likelihood that whatsoever God hath to do with men or seeks to bring them over unto they will be the more easily won or prevailed with by how much the greater or more excellent his Agent or Minister is who shall be employed herein The same Principle is asserted also by the Apostle Heb. 2.1 Therefore we ought to give the more carnest heed c. The reason why there is the less hope of escaping the severe judgment of God by those who should despise him that speaketh from heaven as elsewhere he expresseth it the Lord Christ in the Gospel than was of their escaping who despised Moses who notwithstanding were most severely punished even for despising him the Reason I say hereof is this because Jesus Christ is a more honourable Person than Moses was and consequently men were more engaged and bound to hearken unto God and obey him upon His Agency with them than they were in or upon the Agency of the other this reason is intimated in the Text it self as also Heb. 10.28 and 12.25 Upon this ground it was that King Balak sent Princes and Nobles unto the false Prophet Balaam desiring him to come up and to curse the Israelites Num. 22.15 But when God came unto him in a Dream and charged him not to do it Upon this Balak thought that the repulse which he had received from the Prophet was because the Messengers which he had sent were not either great enough in place of honour and dignity or otherwise not competent in number therefore he sendeth more and these more honourable making account that these great persons next unto himself would prevail And upon this account it is the more holy innocent and righteous the Messengers and Ministers of the Gospel are
who are sent unto us by God to preach the Gospel it is so much the more reasonable that we should hearken unto God in them and we deserve and have cause accordingly to expect to meet with so much the greater punishment from God if we do it not The reason hereof is because the more holy the Messengers which God sendeth unto us are and the more they have of himself in them so much the nearer they are unto him and proportionably so much the more honourable Hence it is that our Saviour insists upon it as an aggravation of the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees that they did not repent and believe under the Ministry of John when as he came unto them in a way of righteousness Mat. 21.32 which also he mentioneth as contributing towards the repentance and believing of the Publicans and Harlots upon his Preaching Much more might be added from the Scriptures for the confirmation of the Principle and ground you are now upon But let us work the business we have in hand by the Rule we have now explained and found straight The Question is Sect. 19 which Opinion of the two either that which affirmeth the Holy Ghost to be God truly and essentially God Or that which denieth him to be so and affirmeth him to be a Creature be of the truest and most effectual calculation for the advancement of Godliness in the World Examine them as to this Point and try them by the Rule now specified and you will easily discern to which of the two the preheminence in this kind belongeth It hath been manifest unto us by the Scripture that the greater and more honourable Agent God shall send unto men to perswade them unto Godliness to transact Affairs of any such kind or import with them especially the greatness of this Agent being made known and apprehended by men he is so much the more likely to prevail Men being naturally more inclined and disposed to mind and consider what is spoken unto them by Persons of Eminency and greatest worth than what is spoken by those of an inferiour Line Now then whether he that is really naturally and substantially God be greater in Wisdom Worth and Dignity than a Creature take it where the glory of Creation shineth with the greatest brightness is I presume no man's question every man without any hesitancy or debate in himself or doubtfulness of disputation subscribing the preheminence of Divine Being in all manner of perfection of dignity and worth above the Creature If it be thus then it is a clear case that that Opinion or Doctrine which affirmeth the Holy Ghost sent by God the Father abroad into the World unto and into the hearts and consciences of men to negotiate with them about the great business of Godliness to be truly and substantially God equal with God the Father who sendeth him is a Doctrine of a far richer and of a more glorious tendency hath ten times more spirit and life in it to promote and carry on the cause and interest of Godliness in the World than the contrary Doctrine hath I mean that which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God and affirmeth him to be a Creature only We might in the second place justifie and make good the same tenour of the comparison between the two Doctrines by another Principle and ground also which upon such an Argument as this might be framed That Doctrine which rendreth the encouragement countenance or reward promised by God unto those that shall live godly greater and more desirable is a Doctrine of a more forceable and effectual tendency towards the promotion of Godliness than that which maketh all these less and less desirable This Proposition I suppose needeth no further proof or clearing being built upon this unquestionable Principle That a great reward promised upon the same or like terms of security is a greater encouragement a more effectual motive unto action or work than a lesser Therefore I go on and assume thus But that Doctrine which affirmeth the Holy Ghost to be God rendereth the encouragement countenance and reward promised by God unto those that shall live godly much greater and more desirable than that which denieth him to be God therefore that is the Doctrine that hath the most effectual tendency for the advancement of Godliness The Reason of this latter Proposition is likewise near at hand and is this viz. Because God hath promised the gift of the Holy Ghost or at least the encrease or enlargement of this gift which is the same as to our purpose by way of encouragement and reward unto those that live godlily or that shall believe which we know is the entrance upon or the beginning of a godly life This is evident from many places of Scripture which we shall not need upon this account at present to insist upon Now it is I presume no manner of doubt but as the gift of Jesus Christ the natural Son of God unto men was and is a greater gift a greater encouragement unto men to believe in him for Justification than the gift of a meaner person would have been So likewise is the gift of such a Spirit to quicken enlighten teach comfort and support the hearts and souls of men who is naturally and substantially God himself a greater gift a far higher and greater encouragement to perswade men to believe and live holily and godlily than the gift of any inferiour or created Spirit would have been So that it appeareth by the light shining in at this window also that the Doctrine maintained by us in the Question yet depending and which asserteth the Holy Ghost to be God is far more sympathizing with the interest of Godliness in the World than the other To this we might add a third Argument to prove the Opinion which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God not to be a Doctrine according unto Godliness comparable with that which affirmeth it And that is this That doctrine which rendereth the threatnings against ungodliness lighter less considerable or more easie to be born is not a Doctrine so effectual for the advancement of Godliness as that which holdeth forth these to be more terrible but so does that Doctrine contended against CHAP. VIII The most material Arguments that are generally insisted on by those who deny the Divinity of the Holy Ghost are weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary Wherein also those Scriptures which are generally insisted on by those who perswade themselves and would also perswade others that he that is the Searcher of hearts is but of a finite extraction Or the Holy Spirit of God is but a Creature are all discharged from bearing that burthen which is laid upon them As also the great profitableness yea the great necessity of this Discourse though somewhat large is asserted LEt us hear now what our Adversaries are wont to plead for the supporting of their Cause Sect. 1 we shall find their Arguments generally to be empty subtilties built
of the same oneness of the Letter to be found in the Scripture is therefore to be rejected for when the Notion or Substance of what is delivered in the Scriptures either in a plurality or greater number of words or else in words whose signification is more obscure or dark unto the generality of men or else in some Principle or Assertion which vertually contains and comprehends it When this I say is put into one or fewer terms or into words of a more ready and easier signification or is drawn out by clearness of deduction from such words or sayings which vertually contain it it is not therefore to be rejected because it is not word for word found in the Scripture For if the mind of God which hath been more immediately delivered by him in such words which the Holy Ghost as Peter speaketh taught the Apostles and other Penmen of the Scriptures shall be expressed and conveyed to the minds of men in other words than those and taught them it may be too by the Holy Ghost as well as they it is not therefore to be rejected because it is not thus conveyed in those very Terms or Phrases wherein it came immediately from God For if such a thing should be there would be no place left for interpreting opening or expounding the Scriptures but only for reading of them and this without conceiving or forming any sense or meaning of them in one kind or other in the mind either of him that readeth them or of him that heareth them read for a man cannot lightly form the sense of any Phrase or passage of Scripture in his mind and understanding but by the opportunity and advantage of some other words though only inwardly spoken which are more familiar and better known to him And certain it is that the Holy Ghost did not only reveal the substance and subject matter of the Scriptures unto those whom he made choice of for his Penmen but also bound them up in such particular words and phrases as those wherein they are now written that so there might be the greater necessity of the work and service of such Persons whom God should anoynt with the gifts of interpretation and stir up accordingly to the work from time to time For it is no waies to be believed but that had God only given instruction unto the Penmen of the Scriptures to deliver the substance and matter and notions of what they have now delivered if he had left them at liberty to have put it into their own terms I say there is little question to be made but that they would have contrived and put it into such terms that they should have shut out and left no place nor opportunity for those gifts of interpretation and of that service and employment which God hath now opened a door effectually unto and hath layed a necessity upon men to seek after in which kind of employment the God of Heaven hath a great stock of glory going and great concernments amongst men for the promoting of Godliness and growing in Grace I say all this would have been cut off and the necessity of it if the Scripture had been drawn up or put into such words and terms as men possibly may think had been better to have been done So that now as the Eunuch Acts 8.31 demanded when Philip asked him this question viz. Whether he understood what he read in the Scriptures How saith he can I understand unless some man guide me meaning who is able to interpret the Scriptures in like manner may the generality and far greater part of men and women say How shall we understand the Scriptures aright unless some such Interpreter as Job speaketh of one of a thousand shall guide us But not to insist upon this at present evident it is from that little which hath been said that the distinction of God taken Essentially and Personally is not therefore to be rejected because the words or terms of it are not heard in the Scriptures in case the notion sense and substance of them be to be found there Secondly Sect. 2 therefore we reply That though it be no where in so many letters or words said in Scripture that God or the word God is sometimes taken Essentially sometimes Personally yet that it must or ought to be taken sometimes in the sense meant by the one word and sometimes again in the sense meant by the other word may be clearly evinced from the Scripture at least if that be acknowledged and owned as evinced and proved by the Scriptures which is requisite to make the Scriptures speak sense and with congruity to the apprehensions and understandings of men and I know not what can be reasonably thought to be more substantially proved from the Scriptures than such a thing Now that the word God must of necessity to make the Scriptures speak sence be taken sometimes Essentially and sometimes Personally is evident from the consideration and comparing of such Texts and places wherein such a construction or acceptation of the words cannot reasonably be avoided Consider we these two Verses together Heb. 1.8 9. which is quoted from Psal 45. But unto the Son he saith Ver. 8. Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever A Scepter of righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee c. This Clause therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee is rendred both by Beza in the place cited in the New Testament Heb. 1.9 And so by Junius and Tremelius out of the original Hebrew in the Old Testament Psal 45.6 Therefore O God thy God hath anointed c. In the former verse in that Clause Thy throne O God is for ever and ever And likewise in the former place of the clause mentioned in the latter verse according to the Translation specified Therfore O God thy God hath c. the word God is to be understood personally and that of Christ the Second Person subsisting in the Godhead or divine Essence as in the latter place of this Clause Therefore O God thy God hath anointed thee it is to be understood personally of the Father or First Person Now if Christ the Son be God and the Father be God both which are plainly enough asserted in the passages mentioned and yet notwithstanding be not two Gods but one and the same our Adversaries themselves not granting a plurality of Gods then it undeniably followeth that the word God when it is attributed unto them both thus the Father and the Son are God or are the same God evident I say it is that that word God in such Propositions or Sayings as these must of necessity be taken Essentially not Personally because it is manifestly untrue to say that the Father and the Son are one and the same Person and as manifestly true too it is that they are one and the same God there being no more Gods than One. So
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
to do but leaveth the soul solitary and to it self And when there is such a calm no breathing of the Spirit upon the soul there will be no lust no motion nor desire to do any thing that is spiritual or heavenly and then it is with the soul as it is with a quantity of Wine when the Spirits are extracted out of it that which remaineth is but as a little water Just so are the Spirits and hearts and souls of men when the Spirit of God is grieved within them when he withdraweth Their very life and all that vigour of spirit which at other times is found in them all is under hatches and doth not appear On the contrary when the Spirit of God is pleased and delighted in men he is like unto men when they are under greatest contentment and satisfaction of mind they are now in a posture and readiness to do all the good they can to please and gratifie every man This we have opened unto you formerly and have shewed you how the Scriptures run much upon it As saith Mephibosheth to David Let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace 2 Sam. 19.30 And so Gal. 4.15 Where is then the blessedness you speak of For I bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes c. And so again Bless and curse not bless I say for thereunto you are called as who should say Christians by means of that rich portion of contentment and joy which they are interessed in by the Gospel are in a posture to do good unto the World under all the cursings and prosecutings of it Even so it is with the Spirit of God when he taketh delight and pleasure in a man then is he enlarged towards him he is then active stirring and vigorous in the heart and soul These motions quicknings and encitements unto waies that are good these beat strong upon a man Now the Spirit of God the more he is pleased the more he doth enlarge and give out himself unto men So then if we desire to be filled with the Spirit here is another means proper to obtain it namely if you will be led by the Spirit There is nothing more pleasing unto a man especially unto a man of wisdom than to see his Counsel followed This very impression being found in the hearts of men argueth that there is a like strain of this in the nature of God for we have often signified unto you that God made man after his own Image endued him with the same Principles of Wisdom and Understanding namely for nature or kind which were in himself he drew a kind of Copy of his own Wisdom in the Nature of man And this by the way is the reason of another thing also viz. That in his Treaties with men about the great and important business of their everlasting Peace he still goeth by such Rules which men go by and manage the things of their highest concernments But now the reason why God doth deal with men in very many cases by their own Principles is not simply because he will thus fall in with them but because these are the Rules of God himself according to the excellency of his Nature by which he ruleth and governeth the World Sixthly Sect. 12 It must needs be of good consequence unto you in order to your being filled with the Spirit to take and keep all things out of the way which are contrary hereunto I mean which are like to hinder and will hinder your being filled with the Spirit in case they be not taken and kept out of the way to see that we do not lay any obstruction in his way but that it may be plain and smooth before him Now those things in the general which are like to be an offense unto the Spirit of God and so obstructive to your being filled with him are all such things which are gratifactory and pleasing unto the flesh and tend to the encouragement and strengthening of the hand thereof The reason hereof is because the Apostle informeth us Gal. 5.17 that the Spirit and the Flesh are contrary one to the other and lust one against the other one lusteth after that or after the doing of that i.e. secretly inclineth and perswadeth men and women to the doing of that which being done is contrary to the interest of the other it discourageth weakens and disableth the force or moving power of the other in the soul Therefore a course is to be taken and something done that may restrain the motions of the Flesh or at least break the heart or strength of it It is not like the Spirit will advance to the filling of the soul with his presence so long as lust remains in heart and strength in men for this is to be remembred and taken along by way of caution at this turn that though there be a contrariety in all the lusts of the Flesh unto the Spirit yet all kinds or degrees of these lustings are not so or upon such terms repugnant and contrary to the Spirit and his growth in men but that this may proceed and go forward some of them notwithstanding For as it is in the comings in of the Tide and flowings of the waters whilst the Waters are encreasing and the banks filling there are some smaller refluxes or fallings back of the water which are presently recovered and this with advantage by the next reflux and bearing up of the Tide so that the Tide holdeth on its way maketh good its course untill it cometh to its height and fulness these lesser refluxes notwithstanding In like manner though there be at times some lesser yieldings and givings back of the Spirit in the soul meeting with the current or stream of the Flesh yet he may be brought on again toties quoties and that with power to the over-bearing and breaking the motions and current of the Flesh and so keep still upon the advance and be filling of his channels and banks daily There are two kinds or degrees of the lustings of the Flesh Sect. 13 though they be both contrary to the Spirit and his motions and advance in the soul yet one of them doth little or nothing to interrupt him in his course the other is that which grieveth him and obstructeth him in his way The former kind of these lustings are such which for distinction sake we may call natural though the word be not altogether so proper to express the thing intended the Greek hath somewhat a more significant term wherein to express them calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sudden rushing or inconsiderate risings or startings up of nature or the natural faculties in the soul which-they compare to the winking or shutting of the eye-lids when any thing threatneth the eye or so to the lifting up of the hands to the head for safeguard when a blow is coming upon the head these are Natures motions by
external Act it self of sin This is done when the heart or will of man or woman falleth in with the Lust and taketh her to Wife and couple themselves with her i. e. when men approve and like of the Lust or Desire we speak of and begin to take care as the Apostle elsewhere speaks to make provision for it or to bethink themselves how they may gratifie it and fulfil it By the way when James saith as we have heard Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin The meaning is not as if this alwaies proved so viz. that every Lust consented unto produceth the external or complete Act of sinning there are many times Conceptions where there are no Births or bringing forth of Children many things may interpose to occasion an abortion or a consumption of that which is conceived in the womb And thus it may be and often is in the case of Lusts in their conceptions many men have for a time intended and purposed to do many things that are evil whose purposes and intentions notwithstanding have been dissolved or turned out of their way so that they never come to be put in execution This is apparent in Davids case when by Abigail's wise behaviour and advice he was taken off from his hard and bloudy intentions against Nabal and his House Therefore the Apostles meaning in saying that when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin is not to shew what is alwaies done in the case he speaks of but what is frequently done and alwaies likely or probable to be done of which kind of sayings there are very many in the Scriptures Joh. 11.9 10. If any man walk in the day saith our Saviour he stumbleth not but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth his meaning is neither to affirm that no man that walketh in the day ever stumbleth nor that every man that walketh in the night doth stumble but only that there is a probability both of the one and of the other and that they are likely either to stumble or not to stumble So likewise the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 7.32 33. The unmarried careth for the things of the Lord c. But this only by the way The business we have in hand is to give you to understand and know that that kind of lusting which hindreth your being filled with the Spirit yea and will hinder it untill it be taken away is that which is owned accepted and approved of by the will and judgement of a man or woman and for the gratifying and fulfilling whereof care is taken by men Such lusts as these are they which grieve and quench the Spirit and consequently hinder his progress motion or advance in the soul When with the Scriptures we say the Spirit is grieved we do not mean nor doth the Holy Ghost in this expression mean any thing else but only that he is turned out of the way he doth retire himself and is quiet and still men shall hear but very little from him so that there will be but very weak and faint motions and suggestions from him But we were saying unto you that all fleshly lusts in the general are obstructive to the course of the Spirit Sect. 15 in his advance or growth in the soul Now as all Lusts in the general entertained and countenanced as hath been declared in the heart and soul are malignant against and opposite unto the growth and coming on of the Spirit in the Soul so the Scriptures seem to cast an eye upon some as being of a more virulent and express antipathy in this kind than others and obstruct that blessedness of the soul we speak of with an higher hand than their fellows These are such lusts which carry in them a direct contrariety to those signal characters or properties which the Scriptures take notice of and ascribe unto the Holy Ghost We shall take notice of at present and briefly insist upon only four of these and the like number of lusts in men more directly opposite unto them First The Spirit of God is famously known throughout the Scriptures by the great attribute of holiness he is more frequently termed the holy Spirit than spoken of under any other name or expressed by any other Character whatsoever We shall not need to cite places for this The thing I presume is sufficiently known unto you all A second property which the Scriptures attribute unto the Spirit of God is Grace or a gracious disposition Heb. 10.29 He is termed The Spirit of grace And God is termed The God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 A third property taken notice of in the Holy Ghost by the Scriptures is his heavenliness he is said in 1 Pet. 1.12 to have been sent down from heaven which implies that his coming or sending into the World is about the affairs of heaven and that he only mindeth these so elsewhere he is said to be the Spirit which is of God 1 Cor. 2.12 14. So also in Joh. 15.26 Christ promiseth to send him from the Father all which imply him to be an heavenly and heavenly minded Spirit A fourth property and the last we shall now take notice of which the Scriptures mind in the Holy Ghost is a disposition and propensness of mind in him to be communicating and revealing the Counsels and secret things of God unto the minds and consciences of men This property of the Spirit of God which is of some assinity with the last named and gives testimony unto it is oft mentioned in the Scriptures 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12 13. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him c. So again ver 12 13. Now we have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know viz. by his discovering it unto our Judgments and Consciences the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And so in Joh. 16.13 Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come speaking of the Comforter he will guide you into all truth c. and he will shew you things to come c. This is another heavenly property of him who cometh from the Father to communicate and acquaint men with the great mysteries of the Counsels of God so far as it doth concern the souls of men to know them Now all such lusts and sinful dispositions being indulged and nourished which are contrary to and fight against these properties and dispositions of the Spirit are and must in reason needs be most distasteful unto him and consequently most obstructive to him in his way of advancing his blessed presence in the souls of men The first of the four Particulars attributed unto the Holy Ghost in Scripture was holiness Sect.
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
the Creature man by reason of the excellency of his Nature above other Creatures were able perfectly to understand those several Impressions c. that are in their beings respectively yet could they never comprehend those in man for the reason even now hinted In like manner though God be able to comprehend all the Notions and Principles and all the Projections that are incident to the hearts and spirits of men yet men are not able without the Spirit to apprehend and conceive what his Thoughts Notions Counsels and Projections are But now saith he the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God otherwise without this Spirit no man knoweth what are the things of God and thoughts of his heart no more than any other Creature knoweth or is able to comprehend what is in the hearts of men So again ver 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given unto us of God Meaning the things of the Gospel those terms and conditions upon which life and salvation is promised and secured unto the World This sheweth that where there is any considerable degree of the knowledge of the things of God especially of the deep things of God that have been kept secret from Age to Age. This argueth an excellent presence of the Spirit of God ver 13. Which things we also speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth c. for the natural man receiveth not the things of God c. By the natural man in this place is not meant the unregenerate or the carnal man but the Babe in Christ I could not speak unto you saith that Apostle Chap. 3. ver 1. of the same Epistle as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even babes in Christ So that evident it is from this Scripture that these natural men who could not receive the things of God were not unregenerate men or carnal in the sense which we generally take the word carnal but babes in Christ Now these could not understand any thing but what was plain the things here spoken of the deep things of God such things which lie above the apprehensions of ordinary men these things are too strong for such mens stomacks they cannot bear them they cannot see how they should be agreeable to the Goodness Wisdom and Love of God neither can they receive them viz. whilst they are Babes or Children Yea though in their state of Childhood they are not capable of them they are capable of growing and coming to manhood A man that hath not had to do with Jewels he knows them not nor of what value or worth they are Even so it is with the deep and excellent things of the Gospel if these be set before those that are weak in judgment and Children in understanding alas they know not what to make of them they can make no nourishment of them but in time they may grow to such a capacity that such meat as this will be the most desirable unto them and they will say as the Jews Lord evermore give us this bread Men that are grown will call for strong meat such as will sort and sute with their stomacks And thus much for this Character And so we have done with our Reply to the third and last of the three Questions long since propounded for the further clearing and opening of the Doctrine we are now come to the Use and Application This Doctrine is useful three several waies For Instruction for Reproof and for Exhortation CHAP. XII The first Vse of the Doctrine by way of Instruction in four main Points First Shewing how comely a thing it is for men and women to be found obedient to the Commands of God in general and particularly how beautiful and honourable a thhing it is for men and women to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be found acting accordingly Secondly An account given what strangers the Saints themselves are unto many great Duties and more especially unto this great Duty of being filled with the Spirit insomuch that even this Generation are as it were asleep thereunto Thirdly That this great blessedness of being filled with the Spirit is no impossible thing but is attainable by the endeavours and engagements of men Fourthly and lastly That it is the will and design of God that Believers should be a Royal Generation of Kings and Priests unto himself and that they should live accordingly FIrst For Instruction Sect. 1 if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men and more especially upon all Believers to be filled with the Spirit then take we knowledge from hence That it is a comely and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to act and declare themselves accordingly I mean so to behave and demean themselves in all things that it may be known to the World that they are filled with the Spirit their Actions and Waies should be all Heroick and Princelike and have a lustre and beauty and brightness in them above the Actions Waies and Conversations of other men Even as the Lord Christ was known to be the only begotten Son of God Joh. 1.14 by that excellent glory wherein he appeared We saw saith the Evangelist his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God meaning that his glory whatsoever it was was so glorious and so excellent for the kind of it that they that saw it could not but conceive and judge that it was too full and too Majestick for any Creature whatsoever too excellent for any of the Angels themselves and much more for man and by this they perceived him to be the only begotten of God those Robes of glory were too rich for any Creature to be attired and adorned withal though they did indeed become the glory and dignity of his Person In like manner it would be exceeding comely for the Sons and Daughters of God to have such a glory of life and conversation still to accompany them as they walk up and down the World and where-ever they become which may distinguish them from all others to be persons of that rank and such a Generation that are filled with the Spirit of God My Brethren there is a strain of Action and Conversation that is apt and able to convince the World even against their minds and wills and will make them confess and acknowledge that these are a Generation of men and women by themselves for God enjoyns nothing by any of his Precepts or Laws unto men but what is comely grateful and lovely for them to do and that which will commend them both in his eyes and in the eyes of all his Angels yea of all truly judicious and understanding men Even as Parents are wont to teach their Children a good carriage of themselves and comliness of behaviour that may render them acceptable on all hands So doth God by his Precepts
and Exhortations teach the Sons and Daughters of men such a deportment and demeanour of themselves in all cases and under all circumstances that will set them off with the best and highest acceptation with men for every Command and Precept of his hath a kind of pleasant correspondence with the frame and condition of man and when men and women neglect the performance of any of them in their season or shall do any thing contrary unto them they render themselves so much the less lovely and desirable No man ever neglected any of the Commands of God but that by every such neglect ipso facto they stain and spot the dignity and excellency of their glory whereas if they had been true to themselves and to their own interest in yielding obedience to those Commands of God they would have been more lovely comely and pleasant and more highly accepted both with God and amongst men The Holy Ghost himself very frequently commends obedience and subjection unto the Laws of God under this very Notion we now speak of unto men My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8 9. hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of grace upon thy head and Chains upon thy neck meaning that Instructions from the Word of God administred unto us by our Parents and those that be over us being regarded and submitted unto by us will render us lovely and respected both of God and men So again Prov. 3.22 So shall she meaning Wisdom submitted unto be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck She shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy head c. So again 1 Tim. 2.9 10. The Apostle in this Contexture of Scripture sheweth how women professing Godliness ought to behave themselves in all Modesty Shamefac'dness and Sobriety accompanied with good works these namely good works are comely Ornaments as well for men as for women And it is the property of good works and all manner of conforming to the Will of God to make a kind of noise in the World and to provoke men to look upon them who are found fruitful in them Even as rich Jewels do make and beget by their Lustre a kind of high esteem and reverence in men to persons who wear them In like manner they who shall adorn themselves with works of righteousness by submitting to the Commands of God shall by such waies be known to be the Sons of God even by the richness of those Ornaments and Jewels which hang about their necks Mat. 3.15 It becometh us saith our Lord Christ to fulfill all Righteousness as who should say This is the way that would advance and adorn him and make him more comely in the sight of God his Father and of Angels and of Men. And so Rom. 16.2 That ye receive her in the Lord speaking of Phebe as becometh Saints and that ye assist her c. My Brethren there is no occasion no business nothing to be done either abroad or at home when a man is sitting in his house or speaking to his Servants or any other persons but there is an opportunity for such a kind of behaviour which will well become us and which will set us off with a kind of comliness or loveliness in the eyes of those which are about us This then is the first thing which we commend unto you by way of Instruction That if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men especially Believers to be filled with the Spirit then is it a comly and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to walk accordingly by means whereof they shall find acceptation both in Heaven and in Earth Secondly Sect. 2 If it be the Will and Command of God that all Believers especially should be filled with the Spirit of God take we further knowledge from hence that there are some Duties and these of most worthy consequence and concernment unto men unto which the minds and consciences of men even of Professours themselves are generally asleep taking little notice of them or of yielding obedience unto them they do not put them into their Roll or Catalogue of Duties or things commanded or enjoyned For first That this Precept of God which enjoyns a being filled with the Spirit of God directed more particularly unto the Saints is a Precept of very high concernment unto them hath been made to appear formerly and particularly when we gave directions how to raise an ardent desire in your souls unto it by setting before you the various and most rich accommodations which do alwaies accompany such a fulness Secondly That this Precept notwithstanding the excellency of it is little in the thoughts of Believers themselves and that their Consciences are little better than dead unto it is too too evident from the general neglect that is found amongst them of the use of the means which are proper to fill them accordingly without the diligent use whereof it is impossible they should be obedient unto the Precept as we have heretofore opened the business unto you and besides the little regard of this Precept even amongst Believers themselves is apparent more than enough from the general tenour of their actions and waies which are nothing like the actions and waies of men filled with the Spirit And as it is with this Precept of being filled with the Spirit in being so generally neglected and forgotten by Believers So is it with several other also which share in the same disrespect at the hand of Believers with it viz. as That of walking circumspectly or exactly as the word signifies That of redeeming the time in respect of the evil of the daies wherein we live That of bearing one anothers burthens That of not respecting persons for their wealth and costly cloaths That which enjoyns rich men to be rich in good works These with some others as generally all such which grate hard upon the flesh and require a spiritual Heroickness and true greatness of spirit to submit unto them and which are not sanctioned or back'd with an express threatning of exclusion from the Kingdom of God and of Salvation in case of disobedience Most of the Precepts of any of these Characters are like some absolute and antiquated Laws or Statutes in a State or Commonwealth which through a long customary and general disuse and neglect are no more minded or regarded than if they were not nor persons any waies challenged charged or thought the worse of for not conforming themselves unto them So are such Precepts of Christianity which respect excellency of walking and have not the vengeance of hell fire attending them to awaken the Consciences of men to the observance They seem to be no otherwise looked upon by Professours than as if they were given by the Lord Christ only to be gazed on and looked at and not with any intent that they should be obeyed by men or with any expectation
be found and had or no or at the best knows for a certain that they are but sparingly and with a kind of malignity and scantness to be found and to go forth upon this account where he certainly knows that what he desireth and what his soul longeth for is lodged and is to be had in the greatest plenty and abundance He spake as a man that thoroughly understood the natural frame and propension of the heart of a man in that particular we now speak of who said Dulce est de magno tollere Acervo It is a thing marvellously satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to be still taking from a great heap and upon this ground are those Proverbial Sayings There is no fishing like to a fishing in the sea no service like the Service of a King because in one there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of pleasure that Fishers look after And for them that serve and must live by their service there is none like that of Princes because they have abundance of reward and of opportunity whereby to recompense the Services of those that do wait and attend upon them and that is the reason why our Saviour in the tenth of John to render and make men so much the more free and willing to come unto him for the life that they stand in need of doth inform them that he hath not a competency or a sufficiency only of this life but that he hath plenty and abundance of it Speaking of his Sheep saith he I am come that they might have life and not simply that they might have life but that they might have it in abundance or more abundantly as who should say If there were only life in Jesus Christ or if it were there in measure only and in a scanty proportion this would be some kind of regret and men would make a stand in their coming but since he is come upon such terms that all that come to him might have it in abundance this is a motive that doth accommodate and fall in with the Natures and with the Principles of the heart and soul of men And upon the same ground it is that the Scriptures in several places do not only assert and testifie that God is merciful and gracious but abundant in mercy and full of Grace and not simply that there is Redemption in him but plentiousness of Redemption Psal 86.5.15 103.8 130.7 Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way c. let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon The Commodity which we stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins in case we have been unholy and ungodly Creatures this commodity is abundantly in God There it is treasured up as waters are in the Store-house of the Sea There is no end of the Treasures of his Grace Mercy Pardon and Compassion There is no man being in want but had ten times rather go to a rich mans door to be relieved than to the door of a poor man if he knoweth the rich man to be as liberal and as bountifully disposed as the poor man can be These Proverbial Sayings amongst us Better leave than lack Where more is more is to be had are of a consonant import unto the former and they all joyntly and severally declare this that men generally love to seek their desires where they are in the greatest abundance likely to be found Now then they who go about to send men for a filling to such a Spirit that can but fill them in measure and with a straitned and malign quantity in comparison of what an increated Spirit is able to do certainly they do as much as such an error can do to obstruct and prejudice the way of men in such a course as this What do they else but cool if not wholly quench the desires and together with these the endeavours of such who are obedient unto the Doctrine who are in a way of being filled with the Spirit We formerly mentioned a Touchstone to try whether any Doctrine which is presented to us be an Evangelical truth or no Sect. 3 and that was this If it be for the advancement of Godliness for the Gospel being a Doctrine according unto Godliness as the Holy Ghost presenteth it that is so framed and constituted of such and such Principles Promises Counsels and Exhortations as if they were made on purpose to advance Godliness and promote the Interest of it And if this be the nature and frame of it in the general then every limbe and vain of it must have a tendency the same way therefore whatsoever Opinion Notion or Conceit it be if it cutteth the Sinews of Godliness or riseth up against the Interest thereof and causeth men to look off and aside from it this is a most certain sign and proof against it that it is no part or branch of the Gospel but an imagination and lying conceit which hath been engendered and begotten in the dark thoughts of the hearts of men or perhaps rather by a worse hand I mean Sathan who doth nothing else but study and invent Opinions and Conceits and Imaginations which may have some colour of truth that so they may fall in with the Judgments of men He doth invent and mint and set such Opinions abroad in the World and then his next work is as far as possibly he can to find out Agents and Instruments the best he can prevail withal and which are fitted and prepared to promote his design in the World And the better men are the more learned and the more innocent in their lives and conversations can they be prevailed withal these are the chosen vessels for him and fitted for his turn Herein the Devil imitateth the Great God for as God when he hath a design to make manifest his most spiritual truths and most holy things maketh choise of the worthiest and holiest men men that are of the best acceptance with the people round about them because they are likeliest to take so much the better So doth the greatest Enemy of the Peace and Salvation of the World he follows God as near at the heels as he can come if he finds any man better than others he shall do his work and if he cannot find any many of such qualifications as we speak of then he must be content with others for he hath a desire that his Opinion should be promoted though never so unreasonable There is great reason by the way why Sathan should set abroad all the waies he can such Opinions in the World which are derogatory from the honour of the Son of God and from the Spirit of God partly because by this means that he hath the more advantage to derogate from either of these in their esteem and honour amongst men And partly because the works of Creation being appropriate unto God the Father principally and not
the work of Redemption Sathans chief work lies to undermine the Godhead of those persons to whom that work is most appropriate and who are most engaged therein For the Son of God is his great Enemy and the Person who threateneth his undoing and the Ruine of all that he hath gotten by drawing men aside from God And then likewise the Holy Ghost hath put to his supreme hand all his work being bent against the Devil and his Temptations Now in reason it cannot be thought but that he Satan will be more engaged against these to bring their Godhead if it be possible into question and to destroy the belief of it out of the World He that doth but know the nature of him as that he is full of malice mischief and bloud and that he is ready to rise up against God himself as far as he is able I say they that do but know the Devil so far cannot wonder at it or think it strange that he should labour to fill the World in all the quarters of it with such kind of Notions and Opinions that shall make the greatest breaches upon the honour and reverence that is gotten up into the hearts of men both towards the Lord Christ God blessed for ever and the Holy Ghost that Spirit of God by whom the Children of God are sealed to the day of their Redemption But as the Prophet Jeremiah in a case not much unlike demands What is the Chaff to the Wheat So may we say What is finite to that which is infinite What is a Creature for the carrying on of the Salvation of the World in comparison of the great Creator Secondly Whereas there are a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands Saints upon the Earth and these in places far distant from one another to be filled at the same time with the Spirit of God or that may be engaged with their hearts and souls in waies and means to be thus filled with the Spirit if the Spirit which should fill them in this kind be a created a finite Spirit limited and confined to one and the same place at one and the same time for this must be his condition if he be finite How can these be raised to any ground of hope that ever they should be filled with the Spirit For if he be a finite Spirit it is impossible that he should fill any more than one person at a time and so must depart and withdraw thence to fill another And As Andrew said Joh. 6.9 of that slender provision which was to be had in comparison of the great multitude that were to be fed There is saith he a Lad here which hath five barley Loaves and two small Fishes but what are these amongst so many So may we well demand and ask in the case before us there being such vast numbers and multitudes to be filled with the Spirit What is a limited a finite a created Spirit to fill them all What is such a Spirit as this amongst so many thousands such an infinite number of men and women who all are labouring to be filled with the Spirit How is it possible he should accommodate such a numberless number of Saints so as to make them all glad Therefore they who teach men that the Holy Ghost the Spirit that shall fill them is but a Creature like unto themselves in limitedness and fuâ—iteness of being do by these whom it concerns to be filled with the Spirit and in order hereunto advance in their endeavours accordingly much as those Spies of old did by the Israelites Num. 13.32 who by bringing an evil report upon the good Land of Canaan and telling them that it was a Land that did eat up the Inhabitants of it discouraged the hearts of the People from attempting the Conquest and possession of it if it had not been for Caleb and Joshuah whose hearts were more upright In like manner they that bring up such a report as this upon the Spirit as that he is but a finite Spirit a created Spirit a straitned Spirit what do they do else but discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of those who have given out themselves and have their hands lifted up to such an exercise and make Treasure of such an heavenly advice and piece of Counsel as this is of being filled with the Spirit of the ever blessed God And besides if the Spirit we speak of with which the Saints are to be filled be a finite Spirit suppose he could at any time mind and attend them all all over the World from the East to the West and from the North to the South in their several applications of themselves to obtain such a filling yet he could actually fill but one person one heart or one soul at once and therefore when he hath filled one he must empty him again by withdrawing himself from him before he can fill another because it is impossible that he should fill them all with himself at one and the same time If it be replied Sect. 4 but he may be said to fill the Saints with himself although he doth not abide alwaies personally present with them viz. by leaving strong impressions of himself his grace and power upon their hearts and spirits though in person he be withdrawn from them as those Saints or Christians amongst whom Paul had been preaching the Gospel and had not only prevailed with them to believe but had put them into a zealous posture of profession and made them like unto himself these may be said to be filled with Paul or with Pauls spirit I reply That holy and zealous impressions upon the hearts and spirits of men may be declarative of their being filled with the Spirit of God but they are not properly and formally their filling or their being filled with this Spirit they are but the suites symptoms or signs of their being filled therewith as the Grapes that grow upon the Vine are not the Vine it self A being filled with the Spirit implies an actual residence or abode of the Spirit himself in men according to that of our Saviour Joh. 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever he in person not in his gifts or operations only So in the next verse And he shall be in you And the Apostle maketh a plain and express difference between the Person of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.5 Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit So verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit And the Scripture from place to place speaketh of the Holy Ghost as personally inhabiting or residing in the Saints as in these and the like expressions and passages 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee saith Paul to Timothy keep by the Holy Ghost which or who dwelleth in us the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost
and drawn forth by the Spirit of God in them Hence you see that that which is supposed or taken for granted in the Objection in hand viz. that the Devil is said to tempt all the World over at one and the same time is an airy and loose supposition and hath no stable Basis or Foundation to support it neither doth it hold parallel with the Holy Ghost because it is possible that men and women may be tempted and yet not by the Devil It is true the Devil doth compass the Earth to and fro but we see it cannot be concluded that every temptation to sin and wickedness is from the Devil because the Apostle James saith expresly that a man when he is tempted he is drawn away with his own Lust and enticed so that if there were no Devils men might be drawn away with their own Lusts Seventhly Concerning those that are tempted Sect. 8 or said to be tempted by the Devil there is no such emphatical punctual or precise limitation or appropriation of their temptations to one unclean Spirit or Devil as there is of all the variety of spiritual gifts unto one holy spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 Now there are diversities of gifts saith the Apostle but the same Spirit It is no where said that there are varieties of temptations but the same Tempter or the same tempting Spirit Again To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the interpretation of Tongues but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Ver. 8 9 10 11. A man would think by these expressions especially by the last but all these worketh one and the self-same Spirit that the Apostle had foreseen that there would in time rise up such a Generation of men in the Christian World whom he meant to way-lay in their errour viz. such who would deny the Divinity of the Spirit yea and would pretend and plead by way of countenance for their errour that there are many Spirits and that these amongst them perform all those operations dispense all those gifts the performance and dispensation whereof are the peculiar and appropriate praise of one and the self-same Spirit viz. that Spirit which is infinite increated and God himself Eighthly The Apostle a little before the passages now cited viz. ver 4 5. compared plainly enough teacheth or supposeth that as there are no more Lords than one notwithstanding the variety of Administrations so there are no more Spirits but one notwithstanding the great variety and diversity of gifts Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord the same Spirit and the same Lord. Is it not rational to infer from hence that the Apostle did not own or acknowledge any more Spirits interessed in giving or bestowing the great multiplicity and diversity of spiritual gifts which in these times especially of which the Apostle here speaketh did abound in all Christian Churches Than he did acknowledge Lords in the disposing of the several Administrations of those gifts Now those Enemies of the Spirit of God I mean to the Divinity of this Spirit with whom we have now to do do confess and acknowledge that there is but one Lord i. e. but one Jesus Christ though they count it no Sacriledge to rob him also of his equality with God they confess him indeed to be God the Scriptures in plain and express words affirming this but what manner or kind of God they would make him neither do I nor I suppose themselves well know For they deny him to be the most High God and so they seem to make him some demy-God But this only by the way By the consideration now insisted upon and suggested by the Apostle it plainly appeareth that however there be Legions of Tempters or of Devils who may tempt at the same time in several places of the World and all these temptations be ascribed to the Devil or to the Prince of Devils because of their subordination unto him in such actions yet there is no such number of these holy Spirits who fill the Saints with their presence all over the World at the same time No But that this is one and the same Spirit who upon this account must needs be God Ninthly Whereas the Apostle verse 11 of the late mentioned Chapter ascribeth such a liberty to the Spirit as to divide to every man as he pleaseth But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Is not this also of like pregnant intimation that he looked upon him as God For hath God vested any such Prerogative in any Angel or created Spirit to govern the World to Umpire or administer the Affairs of the Children of men after their own will and pleasure Or is not the disposing and bestowing of those excellent gifts and endowments of which the Apostle speaks so much in that Contexture of Scripture mentioned a considerable vein and piece of the Government of the World For what other thing almost can we look upon that is so considerable in the Government and Ministration of the Affairs of the World as the disposing of those excellent gifts and endowments Now then he that gives out and dispenses these as he will and pleaseth is no Creature No Creature hath the Government of these Master dispensations in his own hand and at his own disposure none but God himself 10ly Comparing the said ver 11. now cited with ver 6. Sect. 9 of the Chapter we may have a light clear enough to see that the Apostle supposeth the Spirit of which he all along speaketh to be God Verse 6. He had said There are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all And ver 11. He saith thus But all these things worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Therefore the same God of which he spake in the former verse and the same Spirit of which he speaks in the latter verse are one and the same God the working of the same things being respectively ascribed to him Nor can it with any colour of reason here be pretended that the same actions may be and frequently are in Scripture ascribed unto God and unto the Creature God is often said to save men and so Timothy is said to save men 1 Tim. 4.16 So here God may be said to work all these things and the Spirit may be said to work all these things also although it be supposed that the Spirit is a Creature The reason why this pretense will not serve here is First Because though the same attribution here in the same Contexture of Scripture he made unto God and then unto the Spirit of God yet there is not the least intimation
truth upon their error whether from the Scriptures or otherwise we have answered at large heretofore For Sathan when he perswadeth any man to be mad he furnisheth him with reasons such as they are to maintain it under the veil of soberness and truth yea never was there any Error in matters appertaining to Christian Religion how senseless uncouth or pernicious soever set on foot but that it pretended Divine Authority for it self and confirmation by the Scriptures so doth the Error we now speak of which saith unto men Despise ye Prophesying never regard the Preaching of the Gospel especially of those that are the Ministers thereof For wherein is it to be esteemed This fond and most destructive Error I say claims acquaintance and confederacy with the Scriptures as if it were a strain of that Wisdom which is revealed from heaven to make men wise unto Salvation whereas indeed and in truth it is as opposite to it as the East is to the West as the Heaven is to the Earth Two Scriptures especially there are which are presumed to countenance that most unchristian and prophane practice The former is Heb. 8.10 11. The latter is 1 Joh. 2.27 Both these places we formerly I remember examined somewhat at large though now some while since and found nothing at all in either of them complying with such a practice but somewhat in both strongly opposing it For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel c. First It is evident that this passage containeth a promise appropriate unto the Nation of the Jews which doth not appertain unto the Gentiles this is evident from these words The house of Israel This is the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel Now though the word Israel put alone may sometimes be found to signifie the whole Church as consisting of Jews and Gentiles who together are called The Israel of God Gal. 6.16 yet the house of Israel is never found but to signifie this Nation and People by themselves and as distinct from others It is needless to cite all the Texts in the Old Testament where the Phrase is used in that appropriate sense we speak of Ezek. 3. only it is used four or five times in this sense viz. 1.4 5 7 17. besides that in the place in hand it is to be understood in that peculiar sense is evident from the Context all along from ver 6 7 c. So that by these words in the passage And they shall not teach every man his Neighbour it is evident that God speaks to this people touching this Covenant with whom he had made the former Covenant which must be the Jews and containeth no promise made unto the Gentiles If it be objected Sect. 6 but when this Promise shall be performed and made good unto the Jews Shall not Believers among the Gentiles partake of it I Reply If by partaking of this Promise be meant receiving benefit and spiritual accommodation by it it may be granted that they shall be made partakers of it viz. in such a sense as the World did partake of the extraordinary gifts of the Apostles these gifts were not formally or in the Letter of them granted unto any but unto the Apostles themselves though thousands did reap benefit or blessings by them In like manner I suppose the words we speak of are to be taken literally and shall literally and according to the preciseness of their signification be made good unto the Jews and that things shall be at that pass amongst this people that no man shall need to teach his Neighbour yet it doth not follow that therefore things shall be at the same pass amongst the Gentiles though it shall be much better for the Gentiles that knowledge shall thus abound among the Jews they shall drink of the over-flowings of their Cup for the Scriptures seem to hold forth such an high Prerogative to the Jewish Nation to be conferred upon them in the latter times which are yet to come viz. That the knowledge of God should so wonderfully abound amongst them that the Nations of the Earth should repair unto them by their Agents and Ministers to learn of them and to receive encrease of light in the things of God from them As the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon to see and learn from him So shall the Nations of the Gentiles repair unto Jerusalem to receive knowledge of God and to encrease in the understanding of the Truth The Scriptures of the Old Testament are full of such Predictions as these wherein such a grace as this is peculiarly intended by God for the first-born Nation that their Mountain shall be lifted up above all the Mountains of the Earth and that all Nations shall repair to them for knowledge Not to insist on many more places at present but leaving them to your own observation in reading only that of Zech. 8.20 21 22. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts it shall yet come to pass that there shall come People and Inhabitants of many Cities and the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another saying Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also yea many People and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. It is principally I conceive in respect of that advance in the knowledge of God which the Gentiles shall gain by the Jews when that Day we speak of shall dawn upon them that the Nations shall whet on and stir up one another to go to Jerusalem to enquire So Isa 60.3 The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising ten men shall take hold out of all Languages of the Nations of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Zech. 8.23 He was known in Jury other Nations had not the like knowledge of him But this will be also after a more rich and glorious manner He shall put on more beautiful Apparel to visit that Nation of the Jews when the day cometh than ever he was seen and enjoyed by any Nation under heaven before And we know that their receiving and entertainment by God into grace and favour is by the Apostle styled Rom. 11.15 In reference to the Gentiles A Resurrection from the dead and that which somewhat more particularly answereth those words in the Scripture before us which have the most appearance in them for the practice under reproof is that Jer. 31.33 And they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every one his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the greatest to the least As to the clearing I say of this Passage it is to be considered that the Scripture doth not Predict that the knowledge of God shall simply or in the general abound amongst the Jews when the time of their
Restauration shall be or that there shall be some or some considerable numbers of them to whom this excellency of knowledge shall be vouchsafed by God But that the generality of this People or the common sort of them shall be thus enriched by him The earth saith the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Land of Judeah and the Inhabitants of it when the time spoken of shall come shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Isa 11.9 There shall be an universal deluge or overflowing of the knowledge of God over all the Land And elsewhere Thy people also shall be all righteous Isa 60.21 So then the Promise of the abundance of knowledge in the Scripture before us respecteth the Jews only in the sense which hath been declared there is no thing can be inferred from it by those that are not of this Nation but Gentiles as that they shall have the like abundance of knowledge given unto them But Secondly Suppose it should not be appropriable only to the Jews but equally appliable unto the Gentiles also yet neither upon this supposition will it follow that the time of the accomplishment of it either to the Jews or to the Gentiles is yet come First That the Jews have not yet attained the blessing promised therein who yet in all reason shall be first served though it should be supposed that the Gentiles shall sit down at the same Table with them is evident in that the generality of that Nation remaineth to this day in that blindness and ignorance which the Apostle Paul bewailed in them in his daies Secondly For the Gentiles the said Promises neither have been nor are performed as yet unto them is altogether as evident as the former the generality of these being so far from such a knowledge that they have no need that any should teach them that we know they stand in need to be taught the very first Principles or Foundations of Christian Religion Nor can it reasonably be here replied or said Sect. 7 that though the said Promise be not as yet fulfilled in the generality of the Gentiles yet it may be begun to be fulfilled in some of them and the fuller accomplishment of it may by degrees take place untill the times of the plenary and perfect fulfilling of it shall come for against this there are several Considerations 1. As you heard lately that the Promise is not made to the Gentiles but to the Jews 2. It hath not been made good no not in the sense now pleaded for unto the Jews themselves not so much as to a handful of them they generally remaining still in the hardness of thâ—â— hearts and in that blindness of their minds wherein they were in the Apostles daies they are so far from the knowledge of God and of the Gospel of his Son as ever they were and yet all or the most part of them will be first served and have the preeminency and first fruits of this glory 3. The Scriptures intimate as if this Promise were to be fulfilled suddenly and at once when it beginneth to be fulfilled Isa 66.7 8. It is made matter of high admiration Before she travelled she brought forth c. Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day Or shall a Nation be born at once c. The travel of Sion seemeth to note some such change and alteration in her condition which withall intimateth a strange and unexpected expedition and that she shall be raised and built up in a very short time unto a very glorious State and Nation and therefore the Prophet calls it the bringing forth of a Nation in one day So again Isa 60.22 I the Lord will hasten it in his time meaning that when the time should come then he would hasten it and would bring it into perfection very suddenly 4. If a few mens excelling in knowledge were the fulfilling of the said Prophesie and Promise then was it fulfilled in the Apostles daies for there were many 1 Cor. 1.5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge It seemeth that in this one Church there was a great floud of light insomuch that they had nothing now to learn but did wait for the full appearance of the Lord Christ and yet that these Promises of Christ were not fulfilled in those daies in the sense declared is evident because the Apostle pressed the duty of Preaching upon others and layeth a heavy curse upon himself Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel How many passages may we find in his Epistles of the same import 5. And lastly The persons themselves who do pretend this Promise and passage of Scripture to justifie them in their way do make use of somewhat like the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel they have certain Methods which they pretend to edifie themselves by so that they do offer an affront to themselves and do condemn themselves in those things which they do allow And if they judge themselves capable of any benefit by these their meetings certainly there is a thousand times more reason why we should expect and look for more from the publick Ministry of the Gospel by such who have a competent anointing of the Spirit of God If they do interpret and give a sense of what they speak or affirm and produce from the Scriptures then as I say why should we not rather hearken unto the judgment and sense of them that attend upon the Word and Prayer as the Apostle speaks who are set apart as it were and who do separate themselves unto God and to his Service and of the Tabernacle That they should be likely to give out the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures above others is reasonable to conceive The Eunuch was in all likelihood a great man and surely a man of more than ordinary parts and abilities and yet he professeth plainly unto Philip Acts 8.31 when he asked him if he understood what he read How saith he can I except some man should guide me or I have some one to interpret It is true it is one thing what the Spirit of God is able to do for men but it is another what he himself judgeth meet for him to do And certainly he doth not judge it meet to build with one hand and to pull down with the other hand which yet he should do having erected an Ordinance as he hath done giving some to be Pastors and Teachers for the work of the Ministry if these things might be gained otherwise I mean in an ordinary way and where the Ministry which Christ hath set on foot may be had and enjoyed But Thirdly and lastly To the Scripture before us although it should be granted to be already fulfilled yet it is not necessary to understand these Expressions They shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother literally but figuratively by an Hyperbole A figure
wherein the Holy Ghost much delighteth as Isa 60.6 22. For the other Scripture mentioned Sect. 8 1 Joh. 2.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him remaineth or abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you c. implying that the former things which he had written to them concerning those that seduced them that is those men who went about to seduce them according to the Language of the Scripture wherein when any Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded are not actually seduced As these Christians were not actually seduced and yet he writeth to them concerning those that seduced them and then he closeth his Admonition thus But saith he the anointing which ye have received of him meaning Christ abideth in you As if he had said it is true that which I have written is in order to fortifie and to strengthen you against those who go about to ensnare and entangle you but saith he you have another means and help in your selves by which to preserve your selves from them and from their snares Now by this anointing I suppose he means not properly the Holy Ghost though he was in them and according to Scripture-phrase may be very properly said to abide in them But by anointing I conceive he rather means the work of the Spirit which he had wrought in them that is the impressions of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness their love to God and Men. This is that anointing which they had received and saith he you need not that any man teach you but as this anointing teacheth you meaning that they needed not that any thing should be offered unto them but that whereof they might be competent Judges by means of those holy Principles of Righteousness and Love which the Holy Ghost had wrought and raised in them For the Gospel in the whole compass or circumference of it being a Doctrine according unto godliness men that have a Principle of Godliness rich and full and any whit raised may sent any Doctrine and if they will but consult with the Oracles in their own breasts they may find out and come to understand whether it be according unto Godliness yea or no. If it carrieth any repugnancy unto Godliness or unto Holiness then saith he you have no need of it you are better without it This anointing is truth and it is no lie As if he had said they themselves could not but know it for Godliness is a real Propensity of heart and soul unto that which is Good Just and Righteous and which maketh for the glory of God and well-being of men these are the Royal things of God not liable to any dispute whether they be true or whether they be false delusions therefore saith he having such an anointing within you you need not that any man should teach you any thing lying above the reach of this For let any Doctrine or Practice whatsoever come to you if it comport and fall in with this Principle then you may receive it And he plainly implieth here that though the same anointing teacheth all things yet they that had this anointing had need that men should teach them according as this teacheth them And the truth is that men and women that are godly and have this anointing in the fullest measure have need to be taught those things which are consonant and agreeable to this anointing and which will nourish enlarge quicken and revive it So that this place is so far from countenancing that Notion or Practice by which men turn aside from the Ministry of the Gospel that it proveth and that very clear that they indeed ought to attend upon it The persons now under reproof Sect. 9 besides what they pretend and plead directly and immediately from the Scriptures have other Arguments and Pleas to harden themselves in their Practice Let us therefore deal with them as sober men use to deal with them that are frantick and mad when they have gotten Knives or Swords wherewith they are like to do either themselves or others a mischief they wrest them out of their hands In like manner let us try by evidence and strength of reason and of truth to take away those weapons at least the chief of them wherein they put their trust One thing they pretend why they should not attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies are not infallible We cannot safely depend upon them in what they teach us they may lead us into error as well as truth Is not this a Consideration sufficient to justifie us in our taking our selves off from hearing them To this I reply First By putting the question to them Whether they judge themselves to be infallible or no If they answer Affirmatively that they do judge themselves infallible which I suppose they will not then Why should not the Ministers of the Gospel be as infallible as they Besides if they be infallible What need they fear of being led aside into Error by the Ministers of the Gospel But it is like they will reply Negatively and grant that they are not infallible If so why then do they depend upon themselves or upon their own Notions or Apprehensions or upon their own senses and interpretations of Scripture May they not as well be mistaken and deceived by leaning unto these as unto such things which shall be by the Ministers of the Gospel delivered unto them Or will these persons themselves be only Sceptiques and profess that they are absolute Neutralists in all manner of Tenents and Opinions in matters of Religion or that they doubt of every thing and firmly believe nothing If they profess this they are more degenerate from men than the generality of the Heathen They firmly believe that there is one God and that he is good c. yea they are worse than the devils of whom James saith That they believe there is one God and tremble Besides such a Profession as this that men believe nothing in matters of Religion interfeers with it self for he that saith he believes nothing certainly pretends herein to know certainly that all things are doubtful yea and to know certainly that it is best for him to be of this Judgement that all things are uncertain and therefore nothing for him to believe Otherwise Why is he thus minded why doth he not rather submit to the contrary But this last Scepticism is a strain of folly not worth the contending against But to the Reason propounded Sect. 10 by which the seekers of superordinancers do make attempt to justifie their practice in giving over the Ministry of the Gospel I reply Secondly That the Scribes and Pharisees were doubtless every whit as far from being infallible as the Ministers of the Gospel now are yet our Saviour himself Mat. 23.2 3. counselled the people and his own Disciples too to hear them yea and
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
that seem streight which is crooked and to justifie that which is to be condemned I mean their practice of turning aside from the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies do not cannot work miracles as the Apostles did and therefore they do not hear them This Pretext hath less in it than either of the former For where doth the Scripture make the want of a gift of working Miracles in them that preach the Gospel a ground or reason why men should not hear them It is expresly said Joh. 10.41 of John the Baptist that he wrought no Miracles yet the Lord Christ said of him Joh. 5.35 That he was a burning and a shining light and it was prophesyed of him by an Angel from heaven That he should turn many of the Children of Israel unto the Lord their God and that he should be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb Luke 1.15 Nor do we read that Timothy had the gift of working Miracles yet Paul chargeth him before God and the Lord Jesus who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearance and Kingdom That he should preach the Word that he be instant in season and out of season that he should reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.1 2. And as we lately heard assureth him that by taking heed unto himself and to his Doctrine by a continuing therein he should both save himself and those who should hear him 1 Tim. 4.16 Again the men with whom we have to do are not willing to be looked upon as Infidels or Unbelievers if not then what have they to do with Miracles or Miracles wiht them Prophesying or Preaching without Miracles is for them who do believe wherefore Tongues saith the Apostle speaking of Tongues extraordinarily and miraculously given are for a sign not to them that do believe but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them which believe 1 Cor. 14.22 So that men and women who own the Gospel to be a truth and to come from God need no Sign or Miracle but an effectual opening and applying this Gospel in the several parts and branches of it unto them By the way when the Apostle saith that Tongues are not for a sign to those that believe but to those that believe not he doth not mean as if those who do believe could receive no benefit or edification by Signs or Miracles but only meer Infidels For doubtless they who do believe may receive a confirmation and encrease of their Faith from Signs As the Disciples of Christ themselves are said to have believed on him with a new Faith or a Faith renewed and encreased for they did believe on him before upon his first Miracle of turning Water into Wine Joh. 2.11 But the Apostles meaning is that Miracles or Signs are not so necessary for those who do already believe though but in part As for those who are wholly unbelieving the reason is because they who are wholly Infidels and unbelieving are Neglecters or Despisers if not professed Enemies and Opposers of the Gospel and therefore they stand in need of more than ordinary means for their awakening and conviction and it would be in vain to open or apply any part of the Gospel unto them who peremptorily reject the whole Whereas when a man so far believeth that he owneth the Gospel in general as from God the rational unfolding and effectual applying of particulars unto him cannot but conduce much to his edification Again Whereas it is said that Prophesying serveth not for those that believe not but for those that do believe the meaning is not as if Prophesying or Preaching of the Gospel even where Signs and Miracles are wanting might not work upon those who are wholly unbelieving to their conversion The Apostle himself plainly enough supposeth the contrary two or three verses after but Prophesying serveth not or is not for those who do not believe i.e. serveth not so effectually the necessities and spiritual exigences of professed Infidels as it doth the interest and occasions of them who do in part believe Comparative senses or meanings are frequently in Scripture expressed in absolute and positive terms as heretofore upon like occasion we have from time to time signified unto you and given you several instances I shall only add two or three things more briefly by way of further answer to te pretense concerning the necessity of working Miracles by Ministers in these daies First That Miracles Sect. 14 in case Ministers of the Gospel in these daies had the gift of them would not convert men at least not such who are hardned in their unbelief and maliciously bent in their spirits against the Gospel This is evident from what we read Joh. 12.37 For though he had done so many Miracles before them yet they believed not on him We see here that not simply Miracles but that Miracle upon Miracle many Miracles abundance of Miracles sometimes wil not do the deed will not so far convince men as to prevail with them to believe So again Mat. 11.20 21 c. Then began he to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Corazin c. Here we read of several Cities which had the help and advantage not of Miracles simply but of mighty Miracles mighty works yea and of great variety of these wherein he had done most of his mighty works yea of sundry mighty Miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ himself who questionless wrought them upon terms of all possible advantage to make them effectual for the ends for which they were wrought in which respect I conceive it is that they amongst whom they were wrought are said to be lifted up to heaven Yet I say there was not so much as any one of all these Cities that were thus filled with great Miracles with mighty Works that repented or were brought over to believe in Christ by means of them If the men therefore now under reproof were gratified in their importune desire as the murmuring Israelites sometimes were in theirs when God gave them flesh till it came out again at their nostrils So if these men had their fill of miracles from the Ministers of the Gospel it is a question whether these would have any saving influence upon them or no. And the reason to add this by the way because we are upon a point that we seldom have occasion to handle why Miracles may very possibly do little good where there is a strong Antipathy against the Gospel may be this viz. because when men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either but rather to pass lightly and slightly by them especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them
it is appointed to Umpire in the hearts and consciences of men if it were not able to make good those things which it threatneth and promiseth that they are Realities and not only Notions and faint Speculations it would do no great things it would be but a powerless and faint thing As we see all the devised and fained Stories that are abroad in the World though they may please the fansies of some that hear them yet they have no great work upon them they do not move or encline them to any great undertaking And as no man will go to the charge of building a Ship to travel to the Lands of Vtopia because it is only a fained Land of pleasure and delight but no man was ever able to make good the being thereof So for the glorious and great things of the World to come which are spoken of in the Gospel unless you can get it into mens hearts to believe that these things are really so you may treate with them by this and adjure them by that and yet the Conscience not move at all upon any such account but when it shall be made known to them demonstratively that these great things are not words only nor fansies or devised Fables but that they are the same in nature and reality which they are in terms and names now the Consciences of men and women are over-awed and overcome at this point there is no standing out but only in such cases wherein men are bewitched and have their eyes blinded by the God of this World Thirdly and lastly The efficacy of the Ministry we speak of is seen in that Sect. 22 that it communicateth and deriveth the Spirit of God unto men who receive and believe it It is to be considered in this case that it is not simply appointed by God to convey the Spirit of God into the hearts and souls of men and women but that it is an Ordinance of such a nature that it is most proper for such a service for the great God as this viz. the giving forth of the Spirit into the Consciences and Souls of men 2 cor 3.6 Who also hath made us Ministers c. not of the Letter but of the Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So that this is unquestionably true that the Ministry of the Gospel is erected by God for the communication of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of men Even as a Conduit Pipe is a means to convey the water into our Cisterns which before were empty so the hearts souls and inward parts of the Sons and Daughters of men being to a great degree empty of the Spirit of God God hath as it were made and framed these golden Pipes of the Ministry of the Gospel to convey the Holy Ghost into the hearts and souls of men that so together with him there may be life and power and strength and all manner of divine excellencies This the Ministry of the Gospel will certainly do when it is managed like it self and where the Wisdom and gracious Counsel of God is embraced and entertained and men have done homage and have bowed the knee of their Understanding and Judgement unto it and have owned the things contained in it as from God And meet it is that such a service and subjection of the Creature unto God as this is should be immediately and out of hand rewarded by him with so great a gift as his own Spirit As if God should say Where my Advice is received and where my Counsel goeth there shall my Spirit go also This saith the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive We have done at present with the first of the second sort of Offenders who were lately designed to Reproof upon the account of this general Delinquency against the said Doctrine viz. That instead of being filled with the Spirit they take a direct course to be emptied of the Spirit altogether The particular Delinquency of these Persons is that they wholly withdraw themselves from the Ministration of the Gospel which according to the intent and declaration of the Great Founder of it God is the Ministration of the Spirit according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith We have taken away the Weapons from them wherein they trust and have evinced those Texts and places of Scripture upon which they bear themselves for the justification of their practice to have no manner of compliance herewith but rather being rightly understood to stand bent a contrary way We have likewise detected the insufficiency and impertinency of such other Grounds and Reasons for their Practice on which they chiefly insist and wherein their foot is taken and held in a snare of Death The Lord break the snare in sunder and deliver their souls and shew mercy to those that are yet at liberty that they be not led aside into the same Error CHAP. XV. Five sorts of Offenders more under the Second Head reproved First Such who are chill and cool in their respects unto the Ministry of the Gospel An account of the Causes thereof The danger of false Notions concerning God A second sort reproved for withdrawing from a lively and powerful Ministry Reasons of such miscarriages Legal and Evangelical Ministry distinguished What renders Persons duly fitted for the Ministry of the Gospel The third sort justly reprovable are such who neglect to be led by the Spirit of God How and when the Spirit of God is neglected A fourth sort justly reprovable also are such that do resist the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God The fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who refuse to sow unto the Spirit of God WE proceed to a second sort under this Head of Offenders against our Doctrine Sect. 1 who together with the former are summoned to hear what the Spirit of God will please to say unto them in a way of reproof to their practice also and these are of several sorts First Such who though they do not with the former make it matter of conscience wholly to desert the Ministry of the Gospel nor rise up to plead in words against the blessing of it yet are they chill and cool in their respect unto it they do not esteem it as their appointed food they are not zealous in their attendance on it their hearts are not perfect with it when they come to it they come as if they came not or cared not much whether they came or no and so they hear as if they heard not Sathan with a very slender and slight temptation may interpose at any time and separate between them and their attendance upon it We know there are many thousands amongst us of that lukewarm and unworthy temper we speak of who think it enough to wait upon God when he is speaking the
take another course namely to desert and to retract that course and practice which he is in and to betake himself to such waies whereof he can give a reasonable and worthy and a sound account both unto God and men Jer. 2.12 13. Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be ye horribly affraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. Such a passionate expressing of himself as this is doth bespeak something notable and strange somewhat that is quite besides the course of nature But What is that the Holy Ghost doth usher in by such a Preface as this What hath the Lord to say that should put the Heavens to such an astonishment This is it For my People have committed two evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisterns breken Cisterns that will hold no water For my People have committed two evils c. They have turned themselves aside from waâ—es and things that are honourable that are holy that are spiritual and heavenly from waies that would bless them and make them happy for ever and have turned themselves unto such things which have nothing of worth in them such things which could not give them any true content or satisfaction therefore called Cisterns broken Cisterns c. This is a deportment of the Creature man towards God in the consideration of which the Prophets call the Heavens and the Earth to an Extasie of admiration and astonishment hereby giving us to understand and to consider that there is nothing so monstrous and so far beside the course of nature as that men should forsake God the Fountain of living waters who leadeth them in the way of salvation and blessedness and to go unto the empty and perishing Vanities of this present World Implying that the Reason and Conscience of man when first given unto him were directed unto God that every mans understanding tendeth Godward Now that men should forsake this Object and those waies and engagements which are natural and should turn aside and call off their mâ—nds and thoughts from such excellent things as these and turn themselves to things that are meerly vain light and empty This is that which God himself holdeth as the most horrible and monstrous thing in the World enough to cause the Heavens to forget their Natures and Motions Once more Mat. 16.26 For what will it profit a man if he should gain the whole World and lose his own soul c. Now every man seeketh for profit and it is but rational and natural so to do and God doth not only give men frâ—e leave to look after their profit but hath imposed it by way of duty upon them and counteth it their folly not to do it therefore much 〈◊〉 God offended at any way or engagement which will be for your advantage Our Saviour saith What will it profit a man to gain the World and lose his own soul Now how can men gain the World but by engaging the faculties and power of their Souls in order hereunto It is impossible for men to get Wealth if they do not take some course about it Our Saviour would know of every man and woman of us what it will profit us when we have cast up the Account and he would have you cast it up Suppose that it were possible for you to gain the whole World and in the mean time you should lose your own souls as All they will certainly do who are so intent to gain the World that they have no reason no understanding no vigour of spirit to look after and to mind the great things of Eternity or such as this a being filled with the Spirit What will it profit you in case you have gotten the whole World It implyeth not only the invaluable disproportion between the gaining the whole World and losing their Souls but also that mens laying out themselves to gain the World is the stumbling stone upon which they stumble and lose their own Souls You have the World before you and have Reasons and understandings now weigh and consider it with your selves there is the loss of your souls Do you know what this will amount unto Do you know that the endeavouring to win the whole World will expose you to the losing or at least the danger of losing your own Souls So that we may plainly see that in these and many such like places in the Scriptures the Holy Ghost maketh it matter of shame and great reproach unto men to take off their Minds and Judgments from things that are of a most excellent and glorious import that will stand by them for ever and set them upon things of no value nor continuance Let us now ponder and weigh the Motive last insisted upon and so dismiss it if we know how to contrive how to dispose of our time of our reasons and understandings which must indeed be thoroughly engaged about this great Design of being filled with the Spirit if we intend to effect this Design If we know I say how to dispose them otherwise to a better purpose to more profit and advantage to our selves then might we more reasonably neglect yea and despise the Exhortation which with so much importunity hath been urged upon us or if we knew any other prize to run for which were in any degree worthy to stand in competition with that recommended in the Exhortation we might reasonably stick and demur and take into consideration what we had best to do in the case whether to lay our selves out about a being filled with Spirit or upon some other account inconsistent with this But if neither of these Lions be in our way if there be nothing disputably better than nay if there be nothing disputably equal with a being filled with the Spirit about which we can set the intellectual Faculties of our souls on work how shall we not fall down before the voice of the Exhortation which exhorteth us to be filled with the Spirit without any more ado and go forth with all our thoughts made and resolved in the highest that whatsoever shall be required of us in a due order to a being thus filled we will to the utmost of our power so do When we may have Bread for our money will we give it for Stones or for that which will not profit or nourish When we may with the same labour and travel both of soul and body invest our selves with Priviledges and Possessions that are excellent and glorious which will stand by us to Eternity shall we accept of things of little or no value Is not this for those that are come to be men to resume Childishness again My Brethren these are matters of very vast yea prodigious concernment unto you The word that now hath been spoken in your ears will judge you in the last day Let him therefore that hath an heart consider what hath been now propounded unto him Seventhly Sect. 9 To work your hearts to close with the
and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7.7 I mention this passage of Scripture to shew that where there is a promise made of being heard and accepted with God and there is the same Notion in the other Scripture even now mentioned and argued there is still something required of men to render them meet to be accepted of him As here God requires of such as are but weak in Faith and of an ordinary growth in holiness and in the love and favour of God that they be frequent and constant in their importuning of him before he will give them the things they desire of him Whereas those who are zealous for God have a more quick and ready audience Christians of a lower form and ordinary growth and stature as I said even now may be heard but they must put more strength to their Prayers and wait long untill they have their answer from God which is signified in these words Seek and ye shall find which shews that if persons have not that excellent qualification in the sight of God to commend them in his love and favour they must work so much the harder and wait so much the longer upon God Shall he not avenge his Elect who cry day and night unto him Luke 18.7 But Noah Daniel and Job if they shall but stand before him the first appearance of them will do it The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry The righteous cry and the Lord heareth c. Psal 34.15 17. The word open is not in the Original but the meaning is that the ear of God is propense and in a leaning kind of posture towards the cries of the Righteous the word may here be taken Emphatically as many times in Scripture it is for some worthy choice and excellent strain of righteousness Those who are worthy and righteous indeed the ear of God I say is propense and leans and hangs towards them and their Prayers according to that of Cant. 2.14 Let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice There is a kind of naturalness and pleasantness between the ear of God and the Prayers and Petitions and cries of such a righteous man Joh. 15.7 If ye abide in me and my word abide in you ask what you will and it shall be done unto you There is a double condition mentioned and expected to be in persons that desire to receive and to have every thing done unto them and for them at the hand of God First Their abiding in his Word that they do not decline it and turn their backs upon it nor cut themselves off from him or hearing him further And secondly If my word abide in you if you be observant of opportunities and improve the times and seasons vouchsafed unto you and will provide and take care that my words abide in you then saith he your Prayer will be the great prevailer at the Throne of Grace God my Father will not deny you any thing that you shall ask of him For I suppose the meaning of these words and my Word abide in you to be this that persons should be solicitous about the words of Christ and matters of duty contained in them and that they should not have them to seek but make special treasure of them and have them alwaies ready at hand that they may be directed and put upon their duty and service by the means of them It is the common case of Christians they would do the things which the Word of Christ requires of them if this Word of his were present in their thoughts and minds but they miscarry at many a turn and fall foul upon many things contrary to their duty only because the Word by which they should be â—â—â—ected is not in their minds nor near at hand unto them They do not 〈◊〉 caâ—â— that the Word of Christ should dwell richly in them It may 〈◊〉 when they meet with it they will give it the hearing and it may be understand it also but if they do understand it they hide it not its their hearts for they that hide we know can find they have not that high esteem of it which they ought for then it would abide with them and not be to seek upon such occasions and at such times when they should be directed by it to do and perform such and such services acceptable unto God and then for want of its presence with them there is a breach in their obedience and consequently in their peace and comforts and they are often thrown upon disadvantages when they come to the Throne of Grace Another place like unto this is Joh. 16.26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you c. The Father loveth you namely because he knows the love you have unto me which you have declared by believing in me and therefore I shall have no need particularly to intercede for you His desire was to ground them in the greatest confidence of the love of God himself or the Father unto them and therefore he saith inasmuch as you have loved me and declared your affection in believing that I came forth from God therefore saith he the Father himself loveth you and is of himself exceeding propense to hear your Prayers Joh. 14.13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son The meaning of that clause that the Father may be glorified in the Son which steers the sense of the whole Verse doth import this that the things which ye shall ask in order to the glorifying of the Father and that upon the account of me or in my name such Requests and Petitions shall surely be granted and I will stand by you in them and they shall be done unto you Besides we find that the Saints of old Sect. 3 they that were excellent in their waies made account that if they were in any straight or danger or their people stood in need of any special and extraordinary deliverance and protection that it was but their praying to God and interceding for it and they made as due account of receiving of it in such a case as the Husbandman which soweth his Seed doth to reap the Harvest in due time Exod. 17.11 When Joshuah was fighting with Amaleck in the Valley c. The Text saith That all the while that the hands of Moses were lifted up Israel prevailed but being weary when they hung down Amaleck prevailed and therefore they found a way Aaron and Hur to support them and so Amaleck was overthrown Now this lifting up and falling down of Moses hands in Prayer was significative for we cannot suppose but that Moses did pray as effectually when his hands hung down as when they were lifted up And therefore I suppose this is taught and signified unto us by the lifting
this while here is a fit opportunity for the Spirit of God to joyn himself with those persons and carry them on from lesser light to greater It is for his glory to delight in such persons who make much of his motions They that will but mind his beginnings and his first breathings into their hearts and souls he will presently cause them to take up a new Lesson and will still carry them forward and cause them to know things more considerable Now then put the case that this was the state of any of them that they did attain unto any such Spirit to be above fears and dread this might be by means of the Spirit of God which might be a kind of fulness of the Spirit in them If it be objected Sect. 10 But the Heathen are said to be without God in the World Eph. 2.12 To this I reply It is true to speak of the body and bulk of the Heathen they were indeed without God in the World this was the state of the generality of them yet notwithstanding the same Apostle saith that they knew God Rom. 1.21 2.14.15 and that they were a Law unto themselves Now look to what degree they did those things by the Law and light of Nature that they would have done in case they had had the written Law to that degree they were a Law unto themselves and their Consciences either excused or accused them accordingly Now it is usual to speak some things of a Body or People in the general which cannot belong or be applied to every individual or particular person As when Christ crucified is said to be unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 it must be understood that he speaks only of the generality of them for the Apostle explains himself But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks we preach Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God So that that which the Scriptures speak concerning the Gentiles is not to be applied unto every particular but only to the generality of them Concerning persons whether they bear the name of Christians or no who by means of debauched Principles and Practices by following Lusts and Pleasures unsatiably seem to have contracted or gained a freedom from fears and tormenting cares the truth is that for the most part they are not Inheritors or in possession of any such freedom it is but a Copy of their countenance under this kind of practice There is a Worm that lies gnawing them that ever and anon doth sting and bite them even in the greatest heat of their jollity they are often stung The Wiseman says Prov. 14.13 that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness The end of foolish and vain jollity is heaviness and not only so but many times it breaks out even in the midst of it and comes upon them as the pains of a woman with Child which plainly shews that their fearlesness of spirit is not of that kind which we speak of These waies and courses of pleasure bring but a false kind of joy for their disease all this while lies hid within them festering And so men may cause these kinds of fears to be allayed by this kind of mirth and jollity as men may lay mud upon a Fountain but after a while the Spring will make its way So will the Conscience be as a Spring of sorrow and trouble the Conscience will work thorough and thorough though they should lay on one kind of Pleasure after another yea though they should lay on never so much and it will appear in due time that these men are far from being partakers with the Saints of God in that great and blessed Priviledge of being fearless and dreadless So that we see that that fearlesness of spirit which we have argued for is an appropriate effect of our being filled with the Spirit God And though there be some counterfeits of it in some other persons who are not full of this Spirit of God yet if you take the Priviledge as we described it take it in the richness of it and in the truth and reality of it take it as being raised upon good grounds that it be not baffled with any thing that shall rise up against it thus it is only the effect of such a signal Righteousness as we speak of and some other answerable effects of a being filled with the Spirit Now as the case is in this Priviledge Sect. 11 so there is the same reason of all the other three particulars namely that a Creature cannot invest himself in them but only by that course we have spoken of Joy and Peace a setled Peace an excellent strain of Joy cannot be attained by any other person but only by him who is more excellent than his Neighbour this is the natural result and product of an excellent course and strain of Righteousness and Obedience unto the Command of God And if men shall attempt to raise it in themselves in any other way or by any other means they will be disappointed for this kind of fruit grows from no other Tree whatsoever it ariseth only from an enlargement of the Creature towards his God And the truth is that which is found in many men and which in the Language of some is termed joy is but a kind of degenerate joy There may be joy so called but that which is joy indeed is a quite different thing from it It was the saying of an Heathen Philosopher and it is a very true Saying that true joy is a severe thing and for the maintaining of it it requireth much watchfulness of them that are the Subjects thereof they must not turn aside to do any thing that is unworthy of it Now therefore when men are light and loose in their words and actions carried away by that contentment which is in sin there is nothing of reality in their joy You may find out some other name for it or if you will you may call it Joy but there is nothing of the nature or of the substance of this joy in it which is unspeakable and glorious and so concerning that other particular a capacity of enjoying a free and large Communion with God This cannot arise in any mans heart without the Spirit of God who can fill men with the knowledge of God and impart and communicate the secrets of God accordingly Who knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit will reveal them And our Saviour saith no man knoweth the things of God but only the Son no man knows them without manifestation and discovery of them by him As Horse and Mule and other Creatures do not nor cannot understand the things of a man because they have no Communion with him in his Principles of Reason and understanding In like manner neither are men capable of the things of God further than himself doth manifest
both kinds of works shall be recompensed respectively with blessedness and with torments proportionably to the measure and degree wherein the one have been good and the other have been evil This appears from several places of Scripture as likewise from the reason it self Sect. 13 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but be that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully To restrain this to a reaping i. e. to what a man is like to receive or shall receive in this present World is contrary to several other Scriptures If saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.19 in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Therefore when the Holy Ghost promiseth that they who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully it evidently follows that this must be expounded of what they shall receive from God in the World which is to come And so in Rev. 14.13 where it is said of those that die in the Lord Blessed are the dead c. their works follow them Which shews that their works do not only stand by them or abide with them here while they are in this life but that when they shall go out of this World then blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them out of this World into that which is to come The Apostle gives this by way of Motive to press to good works that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord namely in proportion let a man do but little and he shall receive but little but let him rise as high as he will and be as fruitful as fruitfulness it self can render him he shall receive all and every particular Work and every particular Service in proportion of reward Know my Brethren there is not any of this precious Seed of glory and future blessedness lost there is not one corne or grain of this that shall rot under the clods The Heavens are the fruitfullest soil that can be sown in The Seed that you sow is the precious Seed of Righteousness and true Holiness and you cannot sow too thick of this seed For the Heavens are other manner of Fields than the Fields of this World They may indeed be sowed too thick with seed of another nature which may hinder the fructification thereof but you cannot sow the Fields of Heaven so thick but that your harvest will be answerable Mat. 25.34 c. our Saviour declares how and after what manner he will entreat those that have or shall have ministred unto him in his members Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat c. Our Saviour makes this the very reason and account which he gives unto the World why the Saints were admitted into that Kingdom which was prepared for them i. e. for men and women who did act in the World after such a manner because they had done these things namely fed the hungry and cloathed c. By the way to give a little light unto that question Sect. 14 Whether Faith alone justifies or how and in what sense men are justified by works viz. by the Works of the Law Whensoever the Apostle is disputing with the Jews he treats with them according to their own sense which was that they did expect to be justified by the Works of the Law upon a riged account of their own Righteousness and that upon the merit of what they did and that it would be unrighteousness in God not to justifie them upon such terms Now the Apostle argues that by the Works of the Law in this sense no man can be justified Justification is taken two waies in Scripture either for the putting of men into a state of grace and favour with God or else it may be taken for that final judgement or award which God will pronounce unto men in the great Day Now if we speak of the former this no waies depends upon the Works of the Law nor upon any Works whatsoever for then the bare or meer performance of such Works would justifie men Now the Justification which Paul had chiefly to do with the Jews about was the first of these justifications which stands in the remission of sins which he describes in Rom. 4.7 8. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man c. This doth not depend upon the Works of the Law for without shedding of bloud there is no remission of sins Heb. 9.22 therefore Justification in this sense doth wholly depend upon the bloud of Jesus Christ and is procured by it and derived unto the Creature which doth believe and accept of him for a Saviour But if you take Justification in the second sense either for Gods approbation of men or for his final award that he shall give unto men this Justification doth depend wholly upon the matter upon mens Works and upon their righteousness For the Sentence of that justification at that day shall be awarded unto men not according as they have believed but according to the righteousness which they have wrought and so Works are necessary when it is said He that condemneth the Righteous and justifieth the Wicked that both are an abomination unto the Lord Prov. 17.15 Now to justifie here and in many other places signifies to approve or discharge from punishment so that for men to approve of the wicked in their evil waies and to discharge them from such punishment which ought to be inflicted on them is an abomination to the Lord. Thus then we see that what the Scriptures speak concerning God's rewarding mens good works it is not to be restrained to any thing they receive from him in this life yea if what God in the Scripture promiseth unto worthy and well-doing or unto men righteous and holy were confined to what they are like to receive from him in this World all the service that any mans righteousness or fruitfulness in well doing would do him would not amount to an exempting of him from being of all men the most miserable according to that passage of the Apostle lately mentioned 1 Cor. 15. If in this life only we have hope in Christ c. But this only by the way Sect. 15 That which we have in hand is this viz. That the good things which men and women do in respect of the reward of them are not limited unto this present life Besides the Scripture already mentioned there are very many others which speak directly as to this viz. that there shall be different degrees of rewards Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shin as â—h brightness of the firmament and they that turn many unto righteousnâ—sâ— as the Stars for ever and ever And so Mat. 10 41. He that receivâ—th a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward which clearly