the Jew first Of the Jew first as knowing most being instructed out of the Law ver 17 18. To be wise unto Salvation is to be wise indeed But a common notional Knowledg like a dead Faith may deceive will never save Men. Now to shew wherein sound Spiritual-Knowledg differeth from other common knowledg 1. Spiritual Knowledg differeth from Natural Knowledg as this is a Knowledg of Natural things that of Spiritual things Natural Knowledg is the Knowledg of a Man Spiritual Knowledg is the Knowledg of the Holy Prov. 9.10 the knowledg of a Saint or of a Christian Natural Knowledg is a Knowledg of God in his works Rom. 1.19 20. Spiritual Knowledg is a Knowledg of God according as he is revealed in his Word Psal 119.169 But here you may say Is there not a Literal Knowledg of the Word different from Saving Spiritual Knowledg Answ 2. Spiritual Knowledg differs from a Literal Knowledg as a Literal Knowledg doth not always infer a Spiritual Knowledg though a Spiritual Knowledg doth not include the Literal A Literal Knowledg is from a common illumination Spiritual Knowledg from a special Illumination of the Spirit Eph. 1.17 * Docet modum nempe per revelationem Sacrarum Literarum quae fit tollendo velum è cordibus nostris illustrando mentes nostras quò c. De Revelatione hîc loquitur non quae Prophetis speciali modo siebat sed quae omnibus piis communis est M. Pol. è Zanch. in Eph. p. 31. c. b. Not that it is by immediate Revelation as the Doctrine of the Gopel was made known to the Aspostles Nor do Divines intend such immediate Revelation or Inspiration when they distinguish betwixt Literal Knowledg and Spiritual as betwixt an acquired Habit and an Habit infused But this is by a special powerful irradiation and shining upon the Understanding lightning and raising it to a Spiritual discerning of the Mystery and method of Salvation revealed in the Word which a Man had but a slighty overly Knowledg of before 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Though by such means as Reading Hearing Study Conference he may come to a notional literal Knowledg of the Scriptures and of the Doctrine of Christ yet without a special work of the Spirit a Man cannot spiritually discern the same Take a Natural Man that knows most of the things of God that can discourse well of Regeneration and other Points in Divinity yet they are strange things to him he sees them but as things afar off yea blindness of Mind in a prevailing degree still hinders him from passing a right practical Judgment of the surpassing worth and excellency of Spiritual things till he comes to this enlightning of the Spirit And one that is thus enlightned can say as he Joh. 9.25 whereas I was blind now I see He hath other thoughts of Sin than he had before he hath other thoughts of God and Christ of Heaven and Holiness than he had before 3. Spiritual Knowledg is not ordinarily attained without means and when it is attained it teacheth still to attend humbly and diligently on the means God hath appointed The more common works of the Spirit prepare for the special works of the Spirit So a common Literal Knowledg makes way for Spiritual Knowledg Certainly it is not the ordinary way and method of the Spirit to dart in the Saving Knowledg of God and Christ immediately into Souls that knew nothing of God and Christ before But those Divine Truths which we had but a dim and slighty apprehension of he sheweth with fuller and plainer evidence And as the Lord hath enjoyned us the use of the means to attain to Knowledg Men have no ground to hope they should come to Knowledg in the neglect of means Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Hos 6.3 We are not now to look for immediate Revelations but to hear what the Word saith which was given by Divine Inspiration What the Scripture saith that the Spirit saith Heb. 3.7 Rev. 2.7 We are to wait on the Spirit not to give us new Scriptures but to open our Vnderstandings to understand the Scriptures which he hath already given We are to Read Hear Pray c. that we may understand They that wholly neglect and despise the means of Knowledg that will not go to the Law and to the Testimony that seek not the Law at the Mouths of God's Messengers whose Lips should preserve Knowledg but despise prophesying conceiting themselves wiser than their Teachers And they that would be Wise and knowing besides and above that which is written and set up cry up the Light within as they speak above the written Word how much soever they are conceited of their own Knowledg should know that it cannot be sound Such as exalt their Wisdom against the Wisdom of God in his Word contemning the means he hath appointed are presumptuous indeed and Proud knowing nothing as they ought to know Such are not taught as the Holy Ghost teacheth be their pretences to the Spirit never so high To receive Wisdom's words to incline our Ears and apply our Hearts thereto to cry after Knowledg and lift up our Voice for Understanding to seek her as Silver and dig for her as for hid treasures this is the way indeed to find the Knowledg of God Prov. 2.1 c. 4. Spiritual Knowledg is clear and satisfying True it is that all who have the special Illumination of the Spirit have not the same degree and measure of Knowledg but recipitur ad modum recipientis Some Christians are but Babes not Men of Knowledg And we all know but in part and see but darkly compared with the Saints in Heaven Yet where God hath shined into the Hearts of any to give the Light of the Knowledg of his Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ Such must needs have a more firm and certain assent to the Truth than they who are in a state of Darkness As Peter said Joh. 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the Living God As Christ of the Disciples Joh. 17.8 They have received my Words and have known surely that I came out from thee As the Apostle Rom. 14.14 I know and am perswaded As the Gospel came to the believing Thessalonians not in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance 1 Thes 1.5 As the Apostle speaks of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of the Gospel Col. 2.2 As Divines distinguish inter cognitionem agnitionem betwixt bare knowing and acknowledging of the Truth That of the Head only this of the Heart also that overly and superficial this deep and thorow As the Apostle prayeth here that they might be filled with the Knowledg of God's Will
quite different from that implicite Faith and credence of the Churches Testimony which some Popish Doctors so much commend And that this is not true Faith is very plain and evident For 1. The Popish implicite Faith is but the belief of an humane Testimony And can that be a Divine Faith which resteth on an humane Testimony 2. It prepares Men for receiving and drinking in abundance of Errors contrary to the Word contrary to Sound Faith They must believe as the Church believeth and therefore may not question much less deny any thing the Church holdeth how contrary soever to the word of Truth 3. It fostereth a Multitude of their poor deluded People in most lamentable Ignorance Yea indeed it seemeth to have been devised to put out Mens Eyes that so they might lead them even which way they please Notwithstanding many of their Writers cannot but grant that this implicite Faith hath no place about the necessary Articles of Faith but that these must be explicitely believed Only they say it is sufficient for the common People to believe with an implicite Faith those points which are besides the necessary Articles of Faith yet it is famously known that the Ruling part of their Church have even denied the common People the use of the Holy Scriptures in their own Tongue where they well could and have been also for imposing on them Service in an unknown Tongue whereby People commonly understand not either what is said by the Priest or what themselves say Of which Sr. Europae Speculum Quarto p. 8. Edwyn Sandys sayes well Their Service is no other than as a Lamp put out which bringeth no Light at all to the Understanding nor can bring any due warmth to the Affection And thus notwithstanding the fair Comment that some of their Doctors School-men and Casuists put upon their implicite Faith their common practice would teach us to take it in a worse sense scil as an Engine contrived to keep People in Ignorance and in blind Obedience and fast subjection to their Prelates 4. It is a great Absurdity Their Implicite Faith is no Faith but a meer Cloak for Ignorance As * Arch-Bishop of 〈…〉 on 〈…〉 p. 39. One that had been well acquainted with them Verily for any Man to say I believe that which another Man believeth is as much as if he said I see that which another Man seeth though my own Eyes be shut What rare learned Doctrine was that of Altenstaig That an implicite Faith availeth so much Dictionar in verbo credere that if any one having it should think falsly moved with his natural reason that the Father was greater than or before the Son or that the three Persons were locally distant from one another or the like yet he is not an Heretick he sinneth not whilst that he doth not pertinaciously defend his errour and believeth this because he believeth the Church doth so believe What a rare device is this that would keep an Arrian a Nestorian an Audian or Anthropomorphite from being an Heretick But how absurd is it to hold that a Man believeth Non tantum qui actu ut loquuntur non assentit Panstr tom 3. p. 377. §. 13. sed etiam qui actu dissentit as learned Chamier notes who not only doth not actually assent but also actually dissenteth But enough of that 2. True Saving-Faith is not a bare Historical or Dogmatical Faith The Papists quarrel with the term Historical But by Historical Faith our Divines do not mean a Faith confined to the Historical part of the Scriptures but such a Faith which though it taketh in the whole Word of God for its object yet assenteth no otherwise unto it than as a Man may give credit to an History of things that nothing concerneth him This Historical or Dogmatical Faith which is their Fides informis formless Faith they hold to be one and the same with the Faith which is Justifying and Saving That Faith whether it be joyned with or separated from Charity hath all that is essential to Faith only the conjunction of Charity with Faith makes it Living and Saving But if Historical Faith was the same with Justifying Faith Thes Theol. in Folio p. 3. §. 11. vid. §. 12. then whosoever had Historical Faith hoc ipso he should have Justifying Faith as Le Blanc argues And then all that have Historical Faith having all that is essential to Faith should be saved For he that believeth shall be saved The Scripture cannot be broken which hath entailed Salvation upon all true Believers Either Faith necessarily includeth more than a bare Assent to the Truth or all that assent to the Truth are saved Indeed we have some that hold Faith to be only an Assent of the understanding a giving credit to the Word of God as true As to believe a thing is to assent to the truth of a Proposition for the Authority and Testimony of him that speaks it And this they would confirm by Scripture As that Text is urged Joh. 11.26 27. In which words says one we see Hobs Philosoph Rudiments c. 18 p. 349. that the Question Believest thou in me is expounded by the Answer Thou art the Christ To believe in Christ therefore is nothing else but to believe Jesus himself saying that he is the Christ So Mat. 16.16 and 1 Joh. 4.2 is likewise alledged here But it is certain the Scripture doth not take the words Faith and Believing in so strict a sense as a Philosopher would take them but more largely And so as others have noted the expressions alledged are not to be taken exclusive Vid. Ames Medul c. 3. §. 20. Shepherd Sound Believer p. 159 160. but inclusive not as excluding other Acts of Faith which other Texts of Scripture expressively attribute unto it but as including and supposing them And there was a special reason why Faith should be described then as a believing that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the Living God and a believing that Jesus Christ was come in the Flesh Because this was a new Article of Faith necessary to be believed and was in those times a main point in question and by the Men of the times strongly I mean violently opposed Thus it was a greater matter to believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ at that time than for us to assent to this Truth when it is generally owned and professed As one well noteth We must distinguish times Dr. Manton on Jam. 2.19 p. 305. The Truths of God then Suffering under so many prejudices c. The Wind that bloweth on our Backs blew in their Faces and that which draweth on many to assent to the Gospel was their discouragement But to prove that a bare intellectual Assent is not true Saving-Faith we need look no further than that Text Jam. 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble The Apostle instanceth in this
the Christian Society As Colledges have their Statutes and other Companies and Societies their particular Orders This is an Order for all that are of Christ's School And without renouncing Self we cannot rightly depend on Christ without forsaking Self we cannot follow Christ without crossing Self we cannot comply with the Will of Christ without denying self we cannot be ready to confess Christ we cannot be willing and prepared to die to suffer for Christ How easily are Men brought to deny the Faith and Truth to deny God and Jesus Christ that have not learnt to deny themselves Will Lovers of themselves will Self-seekers stick to Christ and his Truth when put upon trial whether indeed they are content to sell all for the Pearl of price Whether they can forsake all for Christ When the Cross shall follow those that follow Christ will not such flinch from him then Yea before any such Trials come all that have not learnt to deny themselves have denied God and Christ already in their Hearts and are daily denying him in their Works and Lives Though Men have a form of Godliness yet while they deny the power thereof so far they deny God And to deny the power of Godliness is a sad preparation and introduction to the grossest and most shameful denial of God and Christ when a Temptation thereunto shall come No wonder therefore that Christ says here Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him utterly deny himself The simple Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as to deny that with this Preposition added it seems to signifie more to deny with an Emphasis to deny with contempt and abhorrence of ones self Quest But what is it to deny our selves Answ 1. In the Negative 1. We must not deny our selves to be what indeed we are as we must not feign our selves to be what we are not As the Prophet Ahijah said to the disguised Wife of Jeroboam Why feignest thou thy self to be another It is one thing to disguise and another to deny our selves The Hypocrite that seems to be what he is not and would not appear to be what he is is yet far from that Self-denial Christ calls us to he deceives himself and others while he does not deny himself So likewise many a sensless Sinner when admonished of his Faults will not acknowledg that he is the Man whom such a repoof concerns He will justifie himself though his Lips prove him perverse and though it may further provoke the Lord to plead with him as Jer. 2.35 To deny the Truth here is quite opposite to Self-denial Again Some there are in another Extream For whom God hath done much yet being clouded with Melancholy c. they cannot see so clear as otherwise they might and thereupon soon question yea deny any good wrought in them The condition of these is far better than the others spoken of before Yet they are to be pittied and such an Humour not to be fed or encouraged It is one thing to deny our selves and another to deny God's goodness to us It is no way contrary to Self-denial for a Christian to say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am what I am Some go further yet and charge themselves more deeply than there is just cause As some poor troubled Spirits will not down with it but that they have sinned the unpardonable Sin c. But though we are not to deny our selves we are not falsly to accuse our selves 2. We are not to deny our selves in that sense wherein it is said that God cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 He abideth faithful he cannot deny himself He is ever as good as his Promise constant to his Word We may not in this sense deny our selves may not go back from lawful promises made either to God or Men. We should not use lightness yea and nay 3. We are not to renounce the use of our Reason That is no piece of Self-denial intended or required here That would be to make the Christian Religion unreasonable And how great a reproach would that cast upon Religion What is Man but Animal rationale or Ens ratione praeditum a Creature endued with Reason That it is as natural to him as congruous to that form and kind of being which his Creator has given him that he should use his Reason as that the Sun Moon and Stars should shine and give forth their light And it is certainly the highest and noblest use our Reason serves for to help us in the discovery of Truth and to direct us in the choice of Good Therefore no doubt we may be the Servants of Christ upon more Honourable terms than Nahash would have put upon the Men of Jabesh-Gilead Christ never required his Followers in this sense to put out their right Eyes though we must part with our dearest Lusts which have been as our right Eyes yet when these are pluckt out we should see never the worse But it is the way of Antichrist to perswade Man to an implicit Faith and to blind Obedience It is the drift and design of the Synagogue of Satan to get Men hood-winkt that they may be content to see with the Eyes of their Rulers and Leaders and follow them which way they please But we should be ready always to give an answer to every Man that asketh us a Reason of our Faith 1 Pet. 3.15 And can we give a Reason of our Faith without using our Reason And how oft doth the Lord reason with Men about Matters of Religion See Isa 46. from ver 5. to ver 9. Then would he not have Men use their Reason here Yea how does he upbraid Men that they used their Reason no better that they did not shew themselves Men See Isa 44.19 Chap. 27.11 It is a People of no understanding And it is plain the Scriptures that are a Rule for our Faith and Practice could not be rightly applied and made use of without putting forth our Reason Mat. 22.29 31 32. Where Christ telleth the Sadducees that denied the Resurrection Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures No Man could discover the Resurrection of the Dead in that Scripture brought for it without the use and exercise of Reason And farther We must have Reason to convince those who as yet believe not the Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures How else should Heathens Infidels be convinced and converted Would we have them change their Way and Opinions without seeing any Reason for it And while Hereticks and Men of unsound Minds abuse their Reason setting it against the Truth should not we use and improve our Reason in defence of the Truth Can we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confute Gain-sayers without using our Reason And the Apostle would have Christians not as Children but Men in understanding 1 Cor. 14.20 And that is a weighty passage which some have laid down who have written to good
the pardon of Sin is promised as we find in other Texts of Scripture see Prov. 28.13 1 John 1.9 And what follows there Psal 32.3 5. doth very much countenance such an interpretation Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose spirit there is no Guile Then it follows When I kept silence my Bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long I acknowledg my Sin unto thee and mine Iniquity have I not hid I said i. e. resolved I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my Sin And he freely confessed his Sin not only to the Lord but to Man 2 Sam. 12.13 Hypocrites like the Pharisees are for justifying themselves And what they cannot justifie they will mince and extenuate all they can How much ado had the Prophet Samuel with Saul to convince him of his Sin And after all he could not be brought to a free serious and hearty Confession He confesseth but not without an excuse 1 Sam. 15.24 Hypocrites are not for confessing till they can no longer hide their Sins Or if they confess some Sins for fashion-sake they are usually such as the best are not free from They have still a desire to keep close their Bosom-sins 6. The upright Man has left halting betwixt two is really resolved for God and entirely devoted to him Thus his heart is perfect with God 1 King 8.61 2 Chron. 16.9 his heart is for God before all other it is not divided betwixt God and other things The Hypocrites heart like the Adulteresses is divided divided betwixt God and Mammon divided betwixt God and his Lusts That is a false adulterous heart that is divided betwixt God and other Lovers But blessed are they that seek him with the whole heart Psal 119.2 Sic ut eum solum quaerant diligant reliqua tantùm propter Deum Muis in Pol. Synop. Blessed are they that seek him above all seek him indeed for himself and other things but for him As the Psalmist could say for himself ver 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee The Lord promised Jer. 24.7 that his People should return unto him with their whole heart As he says of the main Body of the People on the contrary Jer. 3.10 Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but feignedly Where we see that is not a true but feigned conversion to God which is not with the whole heart We must turn unto the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul Deut. 30.10 And thus we must love him Deut. 13.3 And thus we must serve him Deut. 10.12 And to serve him thus is to serve him in truth 1 Sam. 12.24 Serve him in truth with all your hearts Object But then where is there a Man upon Earth that truly turns to God or loves or serves him if there be no doing these in truth but with all the heart Answ Speaking strictly none do thus turn to God love seek or serve him But the phrase with all the heart and with the whole heart must be taken in a more favourable sense here So the whole heart and a perfect heart is opposed to a double heart a divided heart an heart and an heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A double-minded Man is the Character of an Hypocrite James 1.8 He has two souls as it were one inclining him towards God and Christ and Heaven another inclining more strongly towards the World towards Worldly Riches Pleasures Vain-glory or Applause He is double-soul'd and therefore unstable not knowing where to fix When he would give up himself to his Lusts Conscience is pulling him back and when he should give up himself to God his Lusts draw him back And his heart being never truly set on God it is more easily drawn from him than from the World from his Lusts which he is more for Object But is there not Flesh and Spirit two contrary Principles in the best Saint upon Earth Answ True Yet so that the Spirits interest is predominant the prevailing bent of the Heart and Will is for God But the Hypocrite is still halting betwixt two Opinions his heart divided betwixt God and the World Like a Man that is in bivio Of the new Cov. p. 225. in a double way as Dr. Preston has the Comparison he stands and looks on both and knows not which to take So the double-minded Man looks upon God and looks upon the World and one while he is for God another while for the World He stands thus in suspence Whereas the upright Man is come to his choice he is resolved what way to take and all the World cannot turn him His heart is fixed upon God his resolution thorowly set for God Though honest hearts do find unsteadiness as to Degrees yet they are not unsettled as to the Object The prevailing habitual bent of such hearts is towards God though they are not carried out towards him with the like ardency of Affection and like vigorous endeavours at all times 7. The upright Man is one that loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Cant. 1.4 The upright love thee Hypocrites unsound Professors do but pretend love to the Lord Jesus Christ the Upright only love him indeed Thus the Apostle concludes his Epistle to the Ephesians Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Here all the Hypocrites in the World fall short and are cut out While an Hypocrite in outward actions may may seem to out-do many a sincere Christian yet in the point of affection he is utterly wanting He wants that which should be the main spring of his actions He is wholly acted from self-love and by self-respects not from love to Jesus Christ which is the cause of that great unevenness in the course of Hypocrites They are not steady but off and on moved to and fro as self-interest and self-respects move and incline them While it is for their credit and profit and is like to make way for their preferment to profess his Name they would be sorry that any should be more forward to own Christ and his wayes than they but when the wind bloweth in another quarter ordinarily they will then face about and shamefully retreat or if they hold on yet it is still from some self-respect not from real love to Christ But the Upright heartily love him and therefore cleave to him with full purpose of heart and follow him fully even when he is most despised and opposed Like those good Women to whom the Angel spake Mat. 28.5 Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified They that love Christ indeed will continue seeking him when most despised when persecuted when crucified And if our hearts be not with Christ they cannot be sound and upright 8. The Upright Man is careful in his ordinary course to walk before God to carry as in God's sight and presence Gen.
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cumulata alta cognitio a knowing thorowly a deep apprehension of the Truth Many have the Truth lying loose on their Minds have only fleeting wavering apprehensions of it Whereas it is deeply impressed on the Minds of Believers And though they may not have so much notional Knowledg as others have yet they have not a bare Knowledg but are come to an acknowledgment of the Truth not a meer verbal but a real hearty acknowledgment at least of all Truth absolutely necessary to Salvation And as the Anointing hath taught them they shall abide in it 1 Joh. 2.27 Now are we come to know the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed Do we see Spiritual things to be as great realities as are in the World Or are we still halting between two opinions and but almost perswaded of the Truth of Christianity Are our Minds hovering and in suspence thinking these things may be true or they may be false Though a Man be able to discourse Learnedly and Orthodoxly of the evil of Sin and a Sinners Misery without Christ of Christ and his Benefits and the way to be interested in him of the Day of Judgment Heaven and Hell that there is a place and state of everlasting Happiness prepared for the Righteous and there is a place and state of endless Misery for all that are finally impenitent and Unbelievers if yet he has come to no certain conclusion with himself about these matters he durst not venture all he hath in the World upon the Truth of these things surely it is but opinion that such a one taketh up withal it deserveth not the name of Knowledg 5. Sound Spiritual Knowledg is powerfully affecting By this we are not only resolved in our Judgments but resolved in our choice A good understanding will chuse the better part is for cleaving to that which is good So Wisdom and Spiritual Vnderstanding are joyned here And the wisdom of the Prudent is to understand his way Prov. 14.8 Spiritual Knowledg will teach one to approve things that are excellent Phil. 1.9 10. A meer Notional Speculative Knowledg is of no effect it leaveth the Will undetermined And let a Man know never so much in Religion if it be meerly speculatively not practically it is in effect as if he knew nothing Deut. 32.28 They are a Nation void of Counsel neither is there any understanding in them Hence the Scripture calleth all wicked Men Fools So Christ calleth the Pharisees Blind though many of them were knowing Their Knowledg being without effect it was as if they had none And can there be any greater Blindness or Folly in the World than for Men to prefer Worldly Pleasures Riches Honours before an Interest in Christ and the Favour of God and the Fruition of him to prefer Fading Lying Vanities before endless Joys enduring Substance and a never-fading Crown of Glory to chuse Sin Hell and Everlasting Destruction before Righteousness Holiness and Eternal Happiness If this be not sottish Folly tell me what is As there is a form of Godliness without the Power 2 Tim. 3.5 So there is a form of Knowledg Rom. 2.20 without the Power Notional Knowledg is weak indeed but Spiritual Knowledg that is powerful As they said Act. 4.20 We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard So we cannot but be affected with the great things God makes known to us by his Word and Spirit †Est enim Sapiens cui quaeque res saepiunt prout sunt Bern. If we are come to a Spiritual discerning of things then certainly we see an excellency in Christ so as to desire and prize an Interest in him above all things in the World we see the evil of Sin so as to dread and hate and resolve against it so as to forsake and flee from it we see a Beauty in Holiness so as really to fall in love with it and in good earnest to follow after it Isa 51.7 Hearken unto me ye that know Righteousness the People in whose Heart is my Law Vera cognitio non est imaginativa sed conjuncta cum serio affectu Sound Knowledg resteth not in the Head but in the Heart Wisdom resteth in the Heart of him that hath Vnderstanding Prov. 14.33 As we read of Wisdom entring into the Heart Prov. 2.10 When Wisdom entreth into thine Heart And so 6. Spiritual Knowledg is renewing Col. 3.10 And have put on the new Man which is renewed in Knowledg It is Non modo Lux sed sanitas quaedam integritas Animae It is not a Light in the Mind but the soundness of the Mind It is not only directing but rectifying not barely enforming but reforming and transforming It is true that Knowledg which is not Saving may make a great change in the lives of some As we read of some Apostates that had escaped the pollutions of the World through the Knowledg of Christ 2 Pet. 2.20 But Spiritual Knowledg that which is an effect of special Illumination is an Introduction to Spiritual Renovation to an inward thorow change It not only brings Conviction but is attended with Conversion There is a turning from Iniquity with this understanding of the Truth Dan. 9.13 And a coming in to Christ Joh. 6.45 Every Man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me So the Spirit guideth those to whom he is given not only to the Truth but into Truth into all necessary Truth Joh. 16.13 An Emphatical Expression Tò docere terminatur in intellectu Sed ducere c. pertinet ad voluntatem affectum The Truth spiritually apprehended makes a Spiritual Impression on the Soul The Heart is new cast into the form and Mould of Divine Truth Rom. 6.17 Thus Sound Knowledg makes sound Spiritual Knowledg maketh a Spiritual Man As the Fear of the Lord i. e. the Word that teacheth his Fear is clean Psal 19.9 It is so not only formalitèr but effectivè pure in it self and a cause of Purity Spiritual Knowledg will make a Man spiritually minded And this is a grand difference betwixt Notional and Spiritual Knowledg The former doth something enlighten but not sanctify but the latter is also Sanctifying Joh. 17.17 Sanctify them through thy Truth Certainly that Knowledg of the Truth is not Saving which is not Sanctifying Nor is our Knowledg sanctified if we are not sanctifyed by it 7. Spiritual Knowledg is humbling Sound Knowledg does not puff up so as other Knowledg does 1 Cor. 8.1 2. If any Man seemeth to himself to know any thing i. e. is lifted up with proud and high conceits of himself in regard of his Knowledg he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know We cannot think it to be the Apostles meaning here to commend Scepticism or a doubting of every thing in Religion or to commend a fained Modesty or denying the Knowledg God hath given us
hold on by consent and affiance Or thus there is the primary and principal Object of Faith and the secondary and less principal Object The primary and principal Object of Faith are the fundamentals essentials and most necessary points of the Christian Religion Such Divine Doctrines Promises and Precepts without assent and consent unto which we cannot believe unto Salvation or be sound Christians Yet I shall not contend with those that make Christ the only Mediator and Saviour the principal Object of Faith forasmuch as I doubt not but we are agreed that the belief of all that is necessary to be known and believed of Christ doth suppose and include the belief of all other points that are absolutely necessary to Salvation And as he is the Chief and principal Means of bringing us to God the Scriptures have a chief reference and respect to Christ Luk. 24.44 Joh. 5.39 The secondary and less principal Object of Faith takes in other things contained in the Word that are of good use indeed Rom. 15.4 2 Tim. 3.16 But though all Scripture be of use and profitable yet all that is there written is not absolutely necessary to be distinctly known and explicitely believed And yet you may not hence infer that if you know and believe so much as is absolutely necessary to Salvation there needeth no more None are to stand at a stay in Religion All that are in the School of Christ must be making proficiency growin Faith and Knowledg We should diligently improve the means that the Word of Christ may dwell in us richly that we may be filled with the knowledg of his Will And further as a late Writer noteth there are points of Faith secondarily fundamental Fowler Design of Christianity p. 235. the disbelief of which cannot consist with true Holiness in those to whom the Gospel is sufficiently made known And all such Doctrines as are with indisputable clearness revealed to us the belief of these is absolutely necessary from an external cause though not from the nature of the points themselves viz. in regard of their perspicuity that nothing can cause Men to refuse to admit them but that which argueth them to be stark naught and to have some unworthy and base end in so doing or in the phrase of Scripture 2 Tim. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reprobate concerning the Faith Note one thing more touching the Object of Faith scil That more is taken into the necessary Object of Faith now under the Gospel than was necessary before The Mystery of our Redemption by Christ being more fully unfolded in the Gospel a more distinct explicite Faith in Christ is required of us than was required of those to whom less was revealed Revelatio est mensura Fidei Le Blanc Though Noah Abraham and all the faithful before Christ were justified and saved by Faith yet not by that special kind of Faith that such as live under the Gospel are saved by I mean there are new Articles of Faith relating to Christ his Office and Undertaking as Mediator essential to a Gospel-Faith that were not essential to Faith before the promulgation of the Gospel Nor did the Apostles themselves believe some of them till after Christ's Resurrection concerning whom excepting Judas we have no doubt but they were true Believers Next to shew you the special and proper Acts of Faith They speak much in a little that call Faith a practical Assent and a fiducial Consent I cannot exclude any of these three Acts Assent Consent and Affiance The two last are plainly expressed in the shorter Catechism and all three fully in the Confession of Faith forecited And so the learned and holy Bishop Vsher Body of Divinity p. 197. Edit 1648. to the Question What is true Saving-Faith Answereth It is such a firm Assent of the Mind to the Truth of the Word as flows into the Heart and causeth the Soul to embrace it as good and to build its eternal Happiness on it And it should not seem strange that so much is taken into the nature of true Faith As Divines now generally place it not in the Vnderstanding only or in the Will only but in both faculties conjunct if they be distinct faculties and not the very essence of the Soul disposed and acting differently towards the Object considered in a different notion and respect And methinks it is plain in Scripture that the Faith to which Salvation is promised doth not consist in one single Act for there are these diverse Acts even now mentioned attributed to it 1. It is an Assent An Assent to the Truth of the Word in general and particularly to the Promise of Salvation by Christ Though I shewed before that Faith consists not barely in Assent that this is not the whole of Faith yet we cannot deny but this is part of it We find Faith thus described again and again that we must acknowledg it one Act of Faith It would be strange indeed if a belief of the Truth be no part of Faith Then Martha answered nothing to the Question Joh. 11.26 27. when she said yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ So see Rom. 10.9 But how does Faith assent to Divine Truth 1. Faith assenteth really not feignedly A true Believer doth not only profess or confess with his Mouth but believes in his Heart as he professeth to believe 2. Faith assents firmly not waveringly It riseth higher than opinion It is more than a Semi-perswasion of the Truth As they said We believe and are sure Not as Agrippa almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian I grant that as all Christians have not the same measure of Spiritual-Knowledg and as there are different degrees of Faith so all Believers have not the same degree of firmness of Assent And Faith does not wholly exclude all doubtings but overcometh them Indeed sometimes very horrid thoughts arise or are injected that would put the Soul upon questioning all but they are not entertained but ordinarily abhorred and rejected as they come As one says Herb. Palmer Paradoxes p. 64. §. 72. He is sometimes so troubled that he thinks nothing is true in Religion and yet if he did think so he could not be at all troubled It is true thus a Believer sometimes is sore shaken yet not quite taken off from all but rather put upon earnest Prayer and indeavours to be more rooted and grounded in Faith So these shakings are wont to end in his more firm establishment And take the weakest Believer out of such a swounding-fit and he has ordinarily a deeper sense of Divine Truths and a stronger assent to them than others whose Faith is unsound though these may have a far greater measure of Notional Knowledg even such an Assent that he dare venture his Soul and all his hopes and concerns deliberately upon them 3. Faith assents freely In this sense it is true that with the Heart Man believeth Some are convinced of the Truth but sore
against their Wills There Assent is a forced not a free Assent As some are willingly Ignorant so some again are knowing unwillingly As Light is troublesome to sore Eyes so Knowledg and Convictions to unsound Minds And they put off convictions as long as they can Though they may take some delight in speculative Truths though they may not be offended at some practical Truths yet those Soul-searching and practical Truths that would come nearest and that most concern them they are strongly prejudiced against A true Believer would not resist the Truth would not shut it out He willingly yields to and takes part with God's Truth when he knows it even against any Errour or sinful practice he had been for before And so 4. Faith assents impartially A Believer assents to the whole Word of God in general and to every thing which he sees held forth in God's Word as true And we receive no Truth upon the Testimony and Authority of God in his Word if we receive not every thing for Truth which we see his Word for A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia A partial Assent or yielding to some Truths with a rejection of others which we see as clearly laid down in the Word will not stand with true Faith Certainly I cannot have the Faith of a Christian without believing the Trinity in Unity the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the way of Mans Redemption and Salvation by him But now when carnal reasonings are subdued and a Man is come to assent to those great Mysteries and chief Articles of Faith where the greatest difficulty lay he will more easily assent to other points of less difficulty seeing them confirmed by the same Divine Testimony upon which he rests assured of the Truth of those higher Mysteries Thus though good Men and true Believers may err and differ in controvertible points in points not fundamental or essential to true Christianity yet they are agreed in this common Principle That whatsoever the Lord saith in his Word is true And therefore when they see the Scripture against any opinion they have held it immediately puts an end to the Controversy They dare not hold any opinion contrary to known Scripture As for those that are for bringing Scripture to their opinions and not for bringing their opinions to Scripture and such as obstinately maintain their errours against clear evidence of God's Word which they see and will not see they must needs be of corrupt Minds and reprobate concerning the Faith Yet further to shew the impartiality of Faith's assent to Divine Truth 1. Hereby a Believer assents to the Truth of any thing he sees God's Word for without any other reason As indeed it is most unreasonable not to believe that God who cannot Lye who cannot be deceived or deceive Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith takes it for sufficient proof and good demonstration that a thing is so because God saith it when it doth not otherwise at all appear to a Man's Sence or Reason 2. Where the same thing may be proved both by Scripture and by humane Reason e.g. that the World was created and had a beginning as we are taught in the Scripture we may also prove it by Reason yet a Believer more chearfully acquiesceth in the Testimony of God in his Word is better satisfied with that than with any Arguments a Philosopher could bring for it To a Believer there is more weight in one single Scripture-Testimony to ballast his Judgment than in a multitude of Philosophical Reasons besides the Scripture 3. A Believer assents to the Truth of the Word in things that are quite above Mans Reason Fides nostra super ratione quidem est non tamen temerarie irrationabiliter ad sumitur Junilius Ep. Afri As that there are three Persons yet but one God that the Son of God took Mans nature that there are two natures in Christ yet but one Person that there shall be a resurrection of the Body the same numerical Body though resolved into Dust shall be raised again and re-united to the Soul Such points as quite non-plus humane reason Faith takes for great and certain Verities Where natural Reason would say How can these things be Faith will readily conclude they must certainly be true being attested by the God of Truth And yet by the way here is nothing for the Popish Monster of Transubstantiation for where hath God said that upon the words of Consecration the Bread is turned into Christs Body Or from what Word of God is so much necessarily inferred 4. A Believer assents to the Word in things that are purely contrary to the Wisdom of the Flesh and carnal Reason That which was to the Jews a stumbling-Block and to the Greeks foolishness a Believer admires as the Wisdom of God It is marvellous in the Eye of Faith That Godliness is great gain this passeth with Believers for currant Truth and an unquestionable principle though carnal Reason judgeth otherwise even that it bids Men loss Faith concludes with the Word that he that walketh uprightly walketh surely that Integrity is the best Policy when carnal Reason says that nothing sooner or more surely runs Men upon Rocks of danger Faith will give us to see that the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour even when such are commonly esteemed as the filth of the World and off-scouring of all things Thus Faith assents to divine Truth impartially 5. The Assent of true Faith is an holding Assent Men have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato said a stable belief touching the Idea of Good The lusts of Mens Hearts are ever and anon streaming up and casting a Mist over their Minds Thus it is with the most They have a glimpse of their Truth sometimes but they soon shut it out There is great fickleness and inconstancy in their assent to the Truth A temporary Faith and a temporary Assent that comes and goes but stays not But Saving-Faith is such a Faith as is never lost And so its assent is holding and abiding They have damnation that cast off their first Faith 6. The Assent of true Faith is practical and efficacious It is an operative Assent According to that before-cited It acteth * Putásne Filium Dei repurat Jesum quisquis ille est homo qui ipsius nec terretur comminationibus nec attrahitur promissionibus nec praeceptis obtemperat nec consiliis acquiescit Nonne is etiam si fateatur se nosse Deum factis tamen negat Bern. in octav pasch Ser. 1. differently upon the belief of the Commands Threatnings and Promises of the Word That is it acteth suitably to the nature of each A belief of the Promises working Consent and Affiance a belief of the Threatnings Fear a belief of the Commands Obedience A dead Man is not a Man so neither is a dead Faith true Faith A sound Assent produceth a real
of a Sermon that toucheth them but their trouble is soon over Vid. Dyke Deceitf of the Heart p. 92. They are as one says sometimes Sermon-sick but no otherwise than as Men are Sea-sick who are well again as soon as they come on Shore Yea this presently heals the matter with them they are ready to conceit that hereby they have made God amends And thus the Storm that was raised in their Consciences is laid and all is quiet again Sinners have their sad moods sometimes but like a Morning Cloud which is soon blown over and as the early dew which soon goes away Whereas a gracious Soul retains an humble broken frame of Heart for Sin has a Spirit of Mourning As the Psalmist says My Sin is ever before me I cannot look off from it neither can I think of it without Sorrow Even when he may have good hope through Grace that God is reconciled to him yet he cannot for all that be reconciled to himself He is still grieved at the remembrance of his Sins even when the Lord is pacified towards him We read Mat. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that are mourning As the Participle there used may denote a continued act Yea one goes further and layeth it down as not improbable but that Godly Sorrow though without any bitter ingredients mixed with it shall be in Heaven All Tears indeed are wiped from those Blessed Eyes But the Question is of the Act of the Vnderstanding apprehending the evil of Sin and of the will disliking and being displeased with Sin whether these are not for the perfection of Nature and no oppression of it And whether a clearer sight and fuller taste of God's infinite Goodness which the Saints have in Heaven be not joyned or attended with a clearer and deeper sence and apprehension of the evil of their Sins committed here against so good a God Vid Symonds Case and Cure p. 239. Which I leave to the discussion of better Judgments 6. Godly Sorrow is a deep intense Sorrow not slighty and superficial It is called a great Mourning Zach. 12.11 As it is a mourning for Sin as the greatest evil As Sin is the greatest evil our greatest Sorrow should be for Sin If outward troubles be as a Thorn in the Flesh we should be pricked to the Heart with a sence of Sin Sin should be as a Sword piercing thorow our Souls As the Apostle Paul that was never heard to say O miserable Man that I am in regard of the Bonds and Afflictions that did abide him here in the World yet cryed out O wretched Man that I am in regard of a Body of Sin A Body of Sin was more grievous to him than all his Sufferings in the Body And proportionably to the measure of Grace any one attains to as he grows in Grace so his Sorrow for Sin riseth his displicence against Sin encreaseth But here two or three Questions are to be answered Quest 1. Are Tears necessary to evidence the Truth of our Repentance and Sorrow for Sin Answ 1. We find that the godly mentioned in Scripture ordinarily were such as could weep for Sin yea such as wept for the Sins of others As Ezra confessed weeping Chap. 10.1 Josiah his Heart was tender and he wept before the Lord 2 King 22.19 And what Floods of Tears think we did David pour out for his own Sins while as he says Psal 119.136 Rivers of Tears ran down his Eyes for the Sins of other Men And see a weeping Convert Luk. 7.37 38. Who even washed Christs Feet with her Tears So Peter after his great Sin in denying his Master went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26.37 2. Men are oft called to Humiliation and Sorrow for Sin in Scripture under the term of weeping See Isa 22.12 Joel 2.12 And Jam. 4.9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep 3. God hath promised such a frame to his People in general that they should lament after him and follow him with Tears See Jer. 31.9 and 50.4 4. Yet Tears sometimes may be repressed through excess of inward Sorrow The Heart is fullest of Sorrow sometimes when it has no vent Seneca Leves dolores loquuntur ingentes stupent 5. Some how great soever their inward Sorrows are have so dry a constitution as will not afford Tears Thus in regard of that difference there is in their natural constitutions sighs and groans are more to some than plenty of Tears to others And they may have far more inward Humiliation and Sorrow for Sin though they cannot shed one Tear than others who have Tears at will 6. Tears are not pleasing to God but as proceeding from a contrite Heart God is pleased with a contrite Heart though it cannot command one Tear when the greatest abundance of Tears are not acceptable without a contrite Heart There are hypocritical Sighs and Tears as there are hypocritical Confessions 7. But if we can weep freely for outward losses or crosses that befal us and yet never weep for Sin this is a shrewd sign that we are Strangers to Godly Sorrow Thou that hast Tears enow and too many to spend about thy Worldly Troubles sure it is not from the dryness of thy Brain or from unaptness in thy natural temper and constitution but from the hardness of thy Heart if thou never sheddest Tears for thy Sins Quest 2. Whether one truly gracious may not have more grief for some great outward Tryal as the loss of some dear Relation c. than he hath for Sin Answ 1. However it is de facto yet de jure every one ought to grieve more for Sin than for Affliction The Love of God requires it In the Afflictions that befall us the will of the Lord is done and whatever we suffer we should say The will of the Lord be done but in Sin his will is crossed and disobeyed There is nothing so contrary to God as Sin Yea as the love of God so a regular self-love requires it that we grieve most for Sin There is nothing so contrary to our Souls Interest and Happiness as Sin 2. We must distinguish betwixt grief as seated in the sensitive Faculty as it is a Passion and as it is seated in the rational Powers Understanding and Will So the Passion of Grief may be greater for some sadly pressing pinching and smarting Tryal and Affliction than for Sin in one that hath true Godly Sorrow As Grief is common to us with brute Creatures and as they say the Hart when taken by the Hounds sheds tears the sensitive Faculty and one truly gracious may feel a deeper impression of trouble from outward Afflictions that are nearer to our sences and yet the rational part has a deeper sence of Sin and is more disquieted for it As 1. The practical Vnderstanding and Judgment accounts Sin a greater evil than all Afflictions A worse kind of Evil. An Affliction may be grievous but Sin is odious and is accounted
Light it argues unsoundness But he that doth truth cometh to the Light Joh. 3.20 21. To do Truth and to walk in Truth is as much as to walk with an upright heart 2 King 20.3 And such as are for walking in Truth are for coming to the Light for knowing the Truth the Will and Word of God the rule they are to walk by Mic. 2.7 Do not my Words do good to him that walks Vprightly Annon placebunt verba mea as some Will not my words please him Yea indeed it will do much good it will please them well to hear from God to know more of his mind He that hath ears to hear let him hear We have that expression often All have not ears to hear as the Upright have But where the Lord has a mouth to speak the upright Man has an ear to hear He will say still Speak Lord thy Servant heareth The Upright heart is that good and honest heart Luk. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad verbum pulchro bono quod non modo bonum videri sed esse studet Brugens in Pol. Synops which is both ready to receive and careful to keep the Word The Sincere Milk of the Word will readily down and agree well with Sincere hearts Upright words words of truth will be very acceptable Eccl. 12.10 to true upright hearts False deceitful and unsound hearts are willingly ignorant and willing to be deceived in many points But a plain honest heart would pray as the Psalmist Psal 119.29 Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy Law graciously And as it is in Job what I see not teach thou me When such come to the Word they can say with Cornelius Act. 10.33 Now are we here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God They would entertain every Divine Truth welcom every Word of God They would chuse the way of truth when discovered how cross soever to their worldly interests or to their former apprehensions and opinions As Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of Truth And v. 162. I rejoyce at thy Word as one that findeth great Spoil As the Truth and Will of God was further revealed to him he was very much joyed as one that had got a rich prize And thus an Vpright heart and a corrupt mind will not dwell together That the Upright Man has a will and desire to know the whole Counsel of God so far as is his concern and duty this is a special preservative from undoing errors and mistakes in Religion Psal 37.31 The Law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Pro. 11.3 The Integrity of the Upright shall guide them And v. 5. The Righteousness of the Perfect shall direct his way Pro. 13.6 Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way Prov. 21.29 As for the upright he directeth his way If he has been drawn into error into by paths he does not harden his face as resolved to persist in his course but looks about him considers and so comes to understand his errour and to see the right way which his heart is for walking in 3. The Upright Man is willing to be searched is for self-searching Truth seeks no corners though it may sometimes be driven into corners Such as deal with deceitful Wares will keep their Shops dark or use false-lights but if you mean honestly and your Commodities be right you are not unwilling to bring them into the light And he that will neither deceive others nor be deceived himself certainly that Man is not in a way of studied Hypocrisie See how the Man after God's heart prayeth Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me The meaning may be that he would have God to discover him more fully to himself as well as clear up his integrity to others God's searching and trying Men is not for his own information but to make them known to themselves or others The Psalmist was so willing to have his heart searched that he prayes earnestly for it Search me O God and try me c. And this is an hopeful sign of Sincerity if thou art for strict and serious Self-examination and much in it As a godly Minister told me a little before his death That it was some stay to him then that he had loved uses of Examination that it was very pleasing to him to read or hear that part of the Application of the Word soundly prosecuted Hypocrites are for enquiring into others for a narrow observing and censuring of others rather than for searching and examining themselves Hypocrites use to be quick-sighted abroad but have no mind to look home love to be great strangers at home As decayed Tradesmen broken Chapmen have no delight to look into their Books of Accounts so Hypocrites those deceitful Chapmen care not for looking into the Books of their own Consciences 4. A sound upright Heart will approve of sound and wholesome admonition and reproof To take reproof well as it is a sign of an humble Self-denying spirit so of an upright heart And one that desires to walk uprightly will be glad to be told of it when he has stepped awry or turned out of the way Let the Righteous smite him it shall be a kindness Psal 141.5 If sound and wholsome Admonition will not down with us it would shew our hearts unsound An upright heart would not hate him that reproveth would not abhor him that speaketh uprightly They were Lying Children which said to the Prophets Prophesy not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesy Deceits Isa 30.9 10. The upright heart is for right things whilst the unsound heart is more for pleasing Deceits And the Hypocrite can worst of all endure to hear any thing against his beloved Bosom-sin As Herod could not bear it when John told him of his Herodias Mat. 14.3 4 5. 5. The upright Heart is not for hiding Sin but for a plain and hearty confession of it The word translated Perfect mark the perfect Man signifies Plain or Simple Perfect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Upright The perfect upright Man is a plain Man As Jacob was a plain Man Gen. 25.27 it is the same word He hath not those cunning shifts as others use Simplex sine plicis He cannot fold and wrap up an evil Matter as others will do As Job an upright Man had not the art to keep his Sins close Job 31.33 If I had covered my Transgressions as Adam or after the manner of Men by hiding mine Iniquity in my bosome The plain Heart knows not how to cover Sin The upright Man is one in whose spirit is no guile Psal 32.2 He has no will to dissemble or conceal his Sins or to excuse or extenuate them Some think the Psalmist looks especially to that plainness freeness open-heartedness in Confession whereunto