suffer great pains travel dust smoke and swelter in their fiery furnaces and though they attain not the great Arcana yeâ— often meet with curious rarities which sufficiently reward their diligence 2 pet 1.5 10. Assurance usually comes in upon our diligent use of prayer meditation and holy walking in some time after several plunges fears and sorrows Though indeed somtimes the wayes of God prove unsearchable and sometimes he is pleased to bestow this favour on a sudden to such as are gracious from their childhood tractable and ingenuous at the calls of God as young Samuel when he understood it by the instruction of an elder Saint and when such have not been defiled by any great staines and blotches in their youth nor caused the ways of God to be evil spoken of by any scandalous sin Quest If now you ask how to preserve it when you have received it in an answer to your earnest prayer Psal 25.7 A. I answer Conservatur qua quaeritur T is preserved by the very same methods 6. Call to mind what former experiences you have enjoyed Having once seen the Kings face it will for ever enlighten yours former mountain-visions makes a Saints heart to shine as bright as Moses's face Psal 34.5 and reflects upon the heart gloriously in the vally of desert once haviâ—g câ—eared up the love of God to you then may you return to that experiment As a fountain shewn by the Angel of the Covenant at Beersheba the well of the sacred â—ath of God Gen 21.14 Rom. 11.29 Heb. 3.14 10.35 Phil. 1.6 It will never dry up it fears no scorching summers For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Caâ—r not away then the beginnings of your confidence For he will perfect what he hath begun till the day of Christ 7. Cherish the sacred motions of the Spirit of God for he takes of the things of Christ not from us our merits faith or holiness for they are of no value but of his blood to comfort us John 16.15 therefore hearken to his affectionate breathings If thou at any time fall thru ' infirmity this holy Spirit helps thee to mourn under the sight of displeased love If thy faith seem to muddle and grope in the dark he will shine upon thy paâ—h again If grace like the sensible plant shrink up by the touch of some rough hand of tentation it will open and expand its branches again by this Suns warm and sweet influences If then the joy of Assurance spring again if the glories of heaven be described as in a lively Landskarp before thine eyes written as it were with bright illuminated letters E capite mortuo sanguinis vel urinae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Song 4. Jerom. bless the Spirit of grace and cry out with the Spouse in the book of Songs Be gone O chill and blasting north and come O fruitful cherisâ—ing distilling south upon the garden of my Soul that the spices thereof may flow forth that my beloved may come and eat his pleasant fruits 8. Be careful in the constant use of Ordinances and pure worship and especiaâ—ly the Lords Supper and considering the times of trouble as frequent as thou canst but woe to them that are obstructers and remember when God opens the doors of his Sanctuary that thou behave with all holy reverence endeavouring to enjoy it in its purity and power There the King sits at his Table Song 1 1â— and the Spiknard fends forth its fragrâ—ant smell At this banquet Faith helps to assure us that we shall as certainly sit with Christ in glory as we now partake of the seals in grace Here Christ is received by the hand of a true believer here we eat drink Christ into our souls As we take the bread and wine into our bodies so by Faith we take his most precious body and blood which being digested with an holy heart is turned into the nerves and spirits of Assurance That thou mayst now sing the holy hymn of praise with a loud voice This is my Lord and my God he will come and save us Let not go this your holy confidence but hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.13 Lastly look dilgently to the holiness of your ways and with it be careful of a humble resigning interpretation of the ways of God towards you that you be never too much elevated or high-crested in prosperity nor in time of adversity despise his corrections Heb. 12.5 Souls conflict p. 321. Rom. 8.28 or faint under them It is a never-sailing rule said holy Sibbs to discern a mans state in grace when he finds every condition draw him nearer to God and when all things work together for his good As the flesh of vipers I may add and other poysons compounded and corrected into Antidotes and mixt well together prevail against contagious diseases so do corrections sanctified sweat out the poyson of fin that it shall never fatally touch the heart and vitals of such as truly love God and are called according to his purpose I shall now conclude this long but sweet Chapter with Mr. Scudders Testimony of the work of Grace Walk p. 555 Lond 8. 1674. The Question being put about Assurance he there asserts that whoso can answer affirmatively to these following queries which I may contract may be assured of Gods peace and love and of his own salvation what ever fears or feelings may seem to happen to the contrary Quest 1 How stand you affected to sin are you afraid to offend God and dare not sin wittingly is it your grief and burden that you cannot abstain it nor get out of it as soon as you would Quest 2. How are you affected to holiness and the power of godliness To know Gods will and do it to fear and please him is it your grief when you fail and your joy when you do well Quest 3. How to the Church of God are you glad when it goes well and grieved when it goes ill and sit trembling with Ely to hear how it goes with the Ark of God however it be with your own particular Quest 4. How towards men do you dislike wicked men and love those that fear the Lord because they are good Quest 5. Can you endure your soul to be ript up and your beloved sin to be smitten by a searching Minister and like him the rather and can yield an obedient ear to such a wise reproof Quest 6. Tho you have not Evidence alwayes or can scarce tell whether you ever had it yet resolve or desire and will as you are able to cleave to God in Christ for salvation by Faith and to trust in no other person nor by no other means to be saved If you can answer Yea to all or Any of these assure your self you are in God 's favour and state of grace and that you sin
the particular faculties let us further manifest it and begin with that of Philip to the Eunuch of Ethiopia If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest he baptized so our Lord to the two Disciples O foolish and slow of heart to believe Again in the Epistle to the Romans If thou shalt believe in thy heart thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and we are commanded to trust in the Lord with all our heart And again Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by Faith and on the other side unbelief is fixed also Eph 3 17. Heb 3 12 or seated in the heart Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief I might multiply but its obvious in Scripture The Jewish Rabbins or Philosophers such as they are use to place the Soul and its understanding faulty in the heart Job 38 36 according to that in Job Barthol Anat. Hag. 165◠8 d. Cartesius l 3 c 6. p 336 Fromond de anima Who gives understanding to the heart but the Greek Schools in the head or brain where some Anatomists have found out a chamber of presence and therein the Glandula pinealis where this Empress sits in state and commands the little world or Empire of man. The Peripateticks give the Soul a Forest-range through the whole body others as Tremember conceit that it swims in the blood and flies up and down in the spirits c. and make a great stir about the fibula animae the button or bond that ties or links the rational and animal soul together and when they come to the powers and faculties of the Soul they make great distinction and from thence their notions are derived and mixed with many subtleties among the school Divines in the dark times before the Reformation appeared Whose works though in some things may be of good use to fix terms and distinctions yet ordinarily their niceties have eaten out the heart of solid Divinity till the happy dayes of the restauration of the Gospel As to what we are upon Durandus Q Scaliger c. I think with some of the School men and several other Learned men of late that there is no sound foundation in reason for this variety of faculties specifically distinct as some would have it yet having asserted that Faith is subjected in the whole Soul that I may conform to the received and used Opinion I would shew how Faith resides and acts in every reputed faculty and thence by induction of particulars in the whole Soul. That Faith is seated in the understanding is undoubted because it is a rational act of the soul being resolved into the divine authority of God who is insallible Since also our reason is finite corrupt and obnoxious to many impostures from satan I take him for the wisest and most rational person who in the deep and profound mysteries of Christian Religion 2 Coe 4 4 acts his reason by Faith in this life and waits for fuller Revelation when he comes to glory Here we see that is understand but in part but there we shall know even as we are known 1 Cor 13 12 In the work of Grace the understanding is first enlightned to know the truth called the opening of the heart in Lydia Acts 16 14 Joh 4 10 our blessed Lord tells the woman of Sichem if thou knewest the gift of God thou wouldest have asked him for living water There 's a thick massy wall broken through by the hammer of Gods word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within the stony heart 2 Cor 10 4. and a clear christal window placed in the breach that the light of the glorious Gospel may shine into the mind 2 cor 4 4. which before was blinded by the God of this world that they should not believe the truth Eph 5 6 Ye were darkness it self sayes Paul more than Egyptian or Cymbrian this being the darkness of the bottomless pit but now are light in the Lord. This illumination from Heaven fetches off the scales as from the eyes of Paul and teaches us all to have a prospect of an Ocean of wonders in Gods Law and of deep mysteries in the promises yea to apprehend and apply them aright Isa 53 11 Therefore Faith is sometimes set out by knowledg Joh 10 38 by his Knowledg objectively shall my righteous servant justifie many Our Lord also proving his Deity by his Miracles 17 3 bids them if they will not credit his words yet believe his works that ye may know sayes our Lord and believe that the Father is in me and I in him Where knowledg and Faith are explicitly connexed together 14 20 Again This is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent It was to that purpose our Lord made himself known and manifest to all his Disciples in the glory of his Deity Yea our Faith on him as God-man is wrought in us by revelation from the Spirit the eyes of our understanding being enligtned by him Eph 1 17 So that we have both the object and Organ illustrated at once Christ set forrh in the Gospel and our understanding shone upon by the Spirit and at length from the first degree of light the Saints proceed from Faith to Faith Rom 1 17 Col. 2.2 1 12 2 Tim 4 8 and then by holy Meditation with deligence arrive to that acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Nay to such sweet and full assurance at last that with holy Paul they come to know whom they have believed and wait for the Crown of Righteousness at his appearance and Kingdom From all this we may conclude that a true Believer takes Christ for his Saviour and Ruler with a clear and irrefragable Judgment 2. The second particular work in the order of nature tho conjoynt in time as to conversion is the inclination of the will to receive Christ Now because the Scripture delights exceedingly to set forth our Relation to Christ by Marriage union Eph 5 32 Song of Solom I shall a little insist upon it We say then in such covenants that 't is the Will that makes the Match T is not the saying a few words in the Chancel out of a Book by inforcement of Parents or Friends instigation against their own wills and minds such Marriages are but bruitish conjunctions when persons marry meerly for Money or outward Preferments not unfained love which God never ordained or appointed to be the ends of that blessed union but with the heart and sincere affection Promises are but dipt in falshoods and lies and often managed by some subtle false Judas for base ends where the sweet unforced inclinations of the will is not present which will after a while vent it self in captious perverse suspitions and unnatural reflections and seldom ends but in gall and bitterness
of my own deficiency and intreat a candid Reader to pardon what is here done out of a great thirst and desire to cast in some mites for initiated believers as may help I hope and add to their faith or the joy of faith and supply something of what is yet lacking in the faith of some weaker christians with whom we converse in Ordinances Divinity is an Ocean that hath neither shoares nor bottom there is room enough without envy for every one to spread new Sails and in continual travelling we may still see more wonders of God in these Deeps But yet not to prescind and cut off all proper method and genuine handling of this subject I shall first set down the true nature and essence of this grace of saving faith and then proceed to the rest of the chapters in their prescribed order Now since it hath pleased the goodness of God to give spiritual life to many thousands in these British Isles that have and do believe by the instrumentality of several burning and shining lights ever since the latter end of the Reign of Tiberius Gildas deexciâ— Britan. when the Gospel began first to shine among our praecessors whom God hath raised from age to age out of his infinite mercy as serviceable under his divine commission to open and apply the holy Scriptures from Joseph of Arimathea and his companions at Glastenbury as our Ancestors do generally determine it and have handed it through dark and gloomy times Spelman concil Tom. 1. till its brightness recovered again by the industry of German of Auxere and Lupus of Troyes their disputation at Vepulam against Pelagius his errors and heresies Nay through his divine goodness there never wanted some worthy patrons of the truth under British Saxon and Nerman Governments till the days of Wicklif that great Luminary whose rayes shone into Bohemia Helvâ—tia and thence into Poland as a late worthy Rector of Lesna an university in that Kingdom sometimes since did acquaint me that they own it And after him still sprang up more and more illustrious persons till the restauration from Popery Since which the doctrines of holy â—aith derived from Scripture have been set forth by the Reformed in several Nations and called a Body of confessions printed in quarto But to let them pass I shall for the maine follow that Type of truth which our own teachers have gather out of those sacred pages In the first place then the church of England having exhibited the main doctrines consonant to the holy Scriptures in their Articles Catechism and Homilies I shall name some particulars to our purpose about Faith. In the eleventh Article we have this clause That we are justified by faith only is a most wholsome doctrine and very full of comfort See Nowels Catechism Homilies edit Lond. 1635. Fol. p. 22. Homily of â—alvation or justification part 1. p. 14. as is more largly expressed in the homily of Justification of which more fully in the confession of Faith and the defence of it by Bishop Jewel some hints see in the Catechism but especially the Homilies In the fourteenth Homily thus Lively Faith is a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and farther that this true and lively faith is not ours but by Gods working in us and again p. 17. 'T is not the act of faith that justifies that were by some act or vertue that is within our selves c and again p. 18. By Faith given us of God we embrace the promise of Gods mercy and of the remission of our sins and yet still more fully in the third part p. 20. True christian faith is c to have a sure trust and confidence in Gods merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ whereof doth follow a loving heart to obey his Commandments In the little Catechism there are hints to the same purpose as that in the answer about Baptism there is required Faith Whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God. But le ts proceed to others The Assembly of Divines in their Confession of Faith after some previous Discourse about it expresly thus The principal act of saving Faith are accepting receiving and resting upon Christ alone for Justification Sanctification and eternal life by vertue of the covenant of Grace There 's also much to the same effect amplified in the larger and contracted in the shorter Catethism The Declaration of the Faith and Order of the Congregational Churches in England met at the Savoy in London by the Elders and Messengers Octob. 12. 1658. express it in the very same words Chap. 14. Sect. 2. Page 24. which are before rehearsed out of the confession of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster All these Societies then for substance do most harmoniously agree in the same Doctrine of Faith exclusive of works in the point of Justification And oh that they would also once agree to live quietly and peaceably by each other as becomes Professors of the same holy Faith washt in the same holy Baptism and called in one hope of the same calling and as becomes the worshippers of one Lord and one God and Father of all Eph. 4.5 who is above all and through all and in all that truly believe We agree in Judgment as to the great points of Salvation and why not affection and brotherly love and peace forbearing one another in little matters not introduced into the primitive Churches before the declension and apostacy began I am sure the Church of England teaches other Doctrine in the second and third part of the ☞ Sermon of Faith. Well then we are at amity in this great particular That Faith is the gracious acting of the whole soul or heart of a sincere Christian whereby he rests and relies upon a crucified Saviour for remission of sins and eternal life grounded on the precious promises of God which is infused and wrought there by the holy Spirit at our new birth and convertion from sin to holiness In this Declaration of the nature of Faith we may for distinction sake take more especial notice of the succeeding particulars in peculiar Sections SECT I. 1. FIrst We may enquire where this Grace of Faith is subjected and that 's exprest to be in the whole man. The Subject of its inherence is not this or that particular faculty but the whole Soul or heart of Man as the Scripture often expresses it and we may observe that some times the Heart is put for the a 1 King. 3.9 understanding sometimes for the b Act. 7.39 will other times for c 1 Cor. 7.37 purpose for the affection of d Mat. 6.21 love for inordinate e Rom. 1.24 lusts in their seat for f Eccl 6.7 desire and for the g Luk. 1.16 21.14 Acts 8 37 Luk. 24 Rom. 10.9 Prov 3 5 memory Now that Faith is scituate first in geral in the heart and then in
upon the foundation or ground-work of our encouragement in the management of this great affair aright by the strength and co-operation of the spirit and that 's no other than by the divine promises laid up in the covenant of grace 'T is the promise allures us the voice of the word calls us the faithfulness of God secures us the motion of the spirit prompts incites and hastens us to come to Christ who most graciously accepts us kisses us and lays us down to rest in his most fragrant bosom And here it is worth our time if every minute were more precious than the whole universe turned into a massy diamond to expatiate upon the freeness the unsought and unforethought love of God in making them the certainty of their accomplishment as built on the essence and veracity of God their riches and preciousness as being equivalent to the Crown of glory encompassed with the golden ring of eternity When we have obtained like precious Faith we shall be made partakers of like precious promises 2 Pet. 1.1 4. Heb. 13.7 6.12 as if we follow the Faith of Saints we shall at last with them inherit the same promised Kingdom In the seventh Place I might trace a little the time of Faiths first infusion SECT 7. and first operation in the heart which is undoubtedly at the new birth when ever it is But how to prescribe and when precisely to determine that in the soul of a Believer is more difficult than to state the quickening or animation of an embrio in the womb of her that is with child or for any Naturallist so set the moment of the first separation of night from day at the initiating crepusculum or ascent of the first attom of the morning raies of the Suns body or the primogenial fermentation of the vegetative soul in the seed Corn in the Earth when it begins to chit or the first vapors in Mineral beds that procreare Mercury into a running liquid body which afterward is congealed by Sulphur into Gold. Its much more difficult to set down the first punctual workings of the Spirit in our hearts Q. But you may ask me Cui Bono To what end were it to be so accurate if it were possible A. I Answer In all humility tho we never attain the precise and nicest time yet as far as we may and with what holy modesty we can attain to dive into these heavenly secrets the sooner we discern the work by so much the sooner may our spiritual joy spring which animates our services and anoints the wheels of our Souls to become like the Chariots of Aminadab For which purpose I refer my Discourse to the third Chapter of this Treatise SECT 8. In the eighth Place I might shew the inseparable union and connexion between Faith and Holiness they are individui comites sweet companions never divided but delighted in each others smiles lovely twins brought forth by grace The heart of a Believer is purified by Faith and his life most orient and beautiful in holiness Act. 15 9 Whoso then pretends to be a Believer and walks not in holiness of life is a self-deceiver and wrongs his own soul But le ts reserve this to a peculiar Chapter below Chap. 6. I should now issue this Chapter but that I desire in the close of every one to answer one or more practical Questions for our spiritual improvement referring to what precedes in the same Chapter Q. 1. If any trembling soul should ask Have I this sound Faith of Gods Elect I should Answer briefly 1. Christ is precious to every one that believes 1 Pet. 2.7 the joy of his heart and delight of his soul when but under this sweet hope and when a little quickened and enlivened in communion I sat under his shadow with great delight Song 2.3 Faith and Love alwayes ride together in Solomons Chariot which is paved with love for the Daughters of Jerusalem 3.10 2. The promises of the Covenant are precious to such a soul they are ornaments of grace about his neck and aetherial Cordials in all its fainting Fits I had fainted Psal 27.13 sayes David had I not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living It values them above a Kingdom Q. 2. If we fear our state how may we gain Faith Rom. 10. I Answer briefly 1. By diligent attendance on the Word of God Faith cometh by hearing 2. By hearkening to the inward motions of Gods Spirit in hearing the Word Luke 24.31 When thy heart is warmed by some passage in a Sermon take special notice of that particular point It s a sign Christ is conferring with thy heart as with the two Disciples near Emmaus whose hearts burned while he opened the Scriptures 3. Ponder and meditate deeply upon that which warmed thy heart to bring Christs counsel into a resolution for obedience 4. Sacrifice these intentions upon the Altar of Prayer in the Name of Jesus Chrâ—st unto the Father But these things requiring little tracts Gerson Bonaventur Scala I le conclude with that of Gerson the Chancellor of Paris who treating of Meditation states that for the sweetest when the soul opens it self towards Heaven receiving in its precious dewes Psal 85.8 without forced and artificial methods as David I le hearken what God the Lord will say for he will speak peace to my soul Ariani perilpl mar Ery thraeâ— Benjamin itinerar which is like the mother shell of the Oriental Pearl at Baharem which Naturalists relate conceives those precious unions by the dew of Heaven But I must now retire to the second Chapter and t is more than time only I dilated upon this a little the more as being a substantial head in respect to the essential nature of Faith. CHAP II. Various Expressions in Scripture setting forth the Nature of FAITH THe beginning and carrying on of the work of Faith in the heart is set forth in holy Scripture by many pertinent and sweet expressions which tend to enlighten and comfort the souls of dark drooping and weak believers and helping them to discern the inherence of this grace in their hearts Metaphors Parables and Allâ—geries many times teach us when direct Precepts will not do the work Vpon some whereof I shall endeavour to treat in this Chapter and present them as a climax or a Jacobs Ladder whereby to scale the Palaces of eternal joy 1. In the first place Rev. 24.6 22.17 We find this grace set forth by thirsting and hungring after Christ and his righteousness which are strong and vehement appetitions after supply of proper food and moisture to refresh the Spirits and to preserve natural vigoâ— Which if not timely satisfied produce pantings faintness swoundings Psal 42.1 and at last convulsive motions the very harbingers of death Thus did holy David pant after God as the hunted Hart having lickt up a fiery Serpent pants after
but to cut off prolixity Psal 108 1. Luke 10. ult I shal rather convert the former ten particulars with the like into some spiritual Soliloquies since all of them exhibit some excellent benefits flowing from Christ alluring the soul to him as by the smell of those precious ointments wherewith he was affused and inaugurated into all his offices by the Holy Ghost which was signified by the inunction of the Aaronieal Priesthood of old in type by a choice composition of myrrhe or Benzoin cinamon sweet calamus cassia lignea Exod. 30.24 and oil-olive So was our holy Lord conse crated a Priest for ever over the house of God. Psal 45.7 Let us now breathe out our warm desires and flowing hopes in some few Ejaculations as to all the ten particulars into his own bosom The Soliloquies 1 O Blessed Lord I am scorchd and burnt up with the sense of thy wrath the thunders of thy Law amaze my soul Death and Eternity make my bexes to quake Psal 22.15.119.13 I am dryed like a pot-sheard or as a bottle in smoke Vox faucibus haeret my tongue is ready to cleave to the roof of my mouth But I come to thee as a gracious Saviour inviting calling promising to help me in those fainting agonies I thirst after thee as the fountain of Siloam and more than David after the water of Bethlehem 2. I faint and my soul quivers upon my pale lips nay is upon the wing to take flight into eternâ—ty I look up for some reviving smiles from the light of thy countenance Do thou look down O blessed Lord with one beam of mercy and it cures me for ever speak Lord for my soul waits to hear that peace which is the fruit of thy lips Psal 45.2 and that grace which was poured out into them O let me not faint nor sink into the dust of death and perish for ever For I have chosen to exhale my soul into thy bosom and dye at thy feet These are the sweet ardours of Faith. 3. Now then since I am come to thee O my blessed Saviour and that with my whole soul and come at the call of thy Word and Spirit For I heard thy voice in the woods of the wilderness and am returned to lie down at thy foot shall the hungry go emty away from the feast of such a Solomon Thou didst invite me by thy Ministers in many a choice calling Sermon and I made no excuse Luke 1.53 Prov 9.3 though too much delay so speaks my sorow yet the feet of those who brought the glad tidings of thy love were to me more beautiful and enamouring than the ruddy morning 4. Moreover O searcher of Reins thou knowest that I am inwardly willing to receive thee upon all the terms in thy holy Gospel signified by thy heavenly call since then my bended will inclines its bowing head towards thy bosom and my whole soul cries after thee since my hands are stretcht out towards thy holy place and my parched mouth wide open to receive that Nectar of heaven the waters of life O fail not â—he expectation of the needy that commits his soul to thee be not silent to my cries Psal 40.2 that ascend out of the deep and dark pit and from the horrible clay 5. Thou hast O Saviour full of bowels given strength to my feet and restored the nerves and sinews that hung shriveld about my anckle bones as thou didst to the cripple at the Temple-gate so deal with me thy Lazarus that 's spiritually lame and full of fores Acts 3.7 yet limps towards the throne of grace the Temple of mercy Strengthen my hands O Lord that I may as firmly take hold of thy love as I am freely come to thee for thy Salvation 6. Yea most blessed Saviour I begin to be encouraged by the warm beams of thy love and feel some vertue flowing from thee to invigorate all the muscles and tendons of my affections and whatever incites and inspirits the motive faculty of my soul so that I now most humbly and reverently beg leave and permission to lean upon thee and to lay my soul down by thee and in thy bosome to repose as far as thou shalt graciously please to admit me into thy communion for succor suâ—port and comfort 7. O stay me with flaggons for I am faint by the strong and over coming beams of divine love and yet resolved in thy strength to cleave to the arm of thy power 1 Cor. 6.17 and by the unction of thy spirit to be united into one spirit with the Lord. 8. And to embrace thy love that everlasting love which sprang from thee in thine electing mercy and pity before the world began 9. And am now become more solicitous by thine aid and help to cast all my cares upon thee then ever I was anxious and distressed as to events while those pressures caused my foul to groan out to heaven 10. I am now determined by thy power to breathe out my soul at last only into thy compassionate bosome Col. 1.11 to be kept to the day of Redemption and being strengthned with all might by thy glorious power humbly resolve to wait with all patience in the fresh actings of Faith till I see thy face in the joyful morning of the resurrection The soul having in these few panting Soliloquies poured forth its breakings of heart before God desires yet further to be resolved in one question to help its joy and therewith I shall conclude this chapter Quest How may I discern the truth and integrity of these breathings of the soul to be the true actings of Faith. Answ I answer labour to feel the pulse of thy soul as once a Greek Physitian touching the arterial pulse of a young Prince of Macedon knew whether his heart wâ—nt So may we assuredly know where our treasure is seated and where our love is planted if we find our hearts to be where Christ is set down even at the right-hand of God. But le ts reply a little more distinctly Col. 3 1 2. 1. Consider where thy soul doth most acquisce where dost thou feel thy soul at most rest and quiet He that bids his soul take ease in a fat barn was but a gross fool Luke 12.18 and he that puts his hope or trust in a clod of yellow clay bows down to a dumb Idol that cannot profit But if as David when dying we have all our hope and salvation in the covenant of a living God 2 Sam. 23. establisht to us in all things and sure If thou repose thy weary spirits in the bosome of Christ and findest thy lingring weariness to wear away in the warm bath of his Love and resignest thy self into his tuition and under the canopy of heaven and exercising thy self in applying precious promises suitable to thy captive state by the rivers of Babylon and patiently waitest for his bright and blessed appearance and Kingdom
This is true Faith. 2. Where is the solace and delight of thy soul Is it in things and persons of Christs delight The things of the spirit and the excellent persons upon earth Rom. 8.5 Psal 16.3 Rom. 5 1. is thy soul at rest and under holy quiet because in some measure satisfied that thou art at peace with God. This will breed true joy for peace is the alma parens the happy Mother of joy Whereas contention and grief quarrel in the yoke together Now when the storms of Gods wrath are calmed by the sprinkling of Christs precious blood upon the Mercy-Seat there will gradually follow joy unspeakable and sull of glory And where this peace is there 's true Faith be sure 3. By the souls continuance in the daily actings of faithful recumbency whereby the habit is fortified Yet always remember to add thereto a continuance in well-doing Stedfast Christians are perserverers The Stony-ground brought forth spâ—eâ—ily Rom. 2.7 and that with joy at the first hearing it was but flashy and endured not having no firm root the rock lying too near under it but the good ground brought forth fruit with patience Luk. 8.15 continuing under winters frost and summers he at till the joyful day of harvest This is true Faith Indeed and commended by our Lord himself CHAP III The least or lowest Degree of FAITH HAving Discoursed of some various Expressions of Scripture painting out the true Nature of Faith to the life Let us now proceed further in our design to comfort shaken and contrite Spirits To which end since we find Scripture mentioning some persons as strong in Faith giving glory to God and others but infirm and weak accosted with this compellation O ye of little Faith why do ye doubt and fear the Faith of the former being very visible and apparent to themselves and others Mat. 6.30 8.26 the latter tho true Believers yet exceedingly fill'd with fears sorrows and jealousies over their own hearts It would be expedient for their erection and comfort to considâ—r what may be the Criterions or tokens of a true Faith tho in the lowest degree and upon that account to dilate a little on these two Branches 1. What may be accounted the lowest meanest weakest estate of new Converts or young beginners in the School of Christ And 2. To how low an Ebb secure souls may be reduced in time of desertion An answer to either of these may yield mutual satisfaction to both Le ts begin with the first Q 1. What may we enstate and determine to be a critical token of a true Believer in his meanest acts of Faith A. In Answer to this lets consider First in general that the commencement or beginning of this grace is sometimes represented by conception or quickning of a Câ—ild in the Womb Eph. 2.2 John 3.3 sometimes by the new birth or visible appearance in the light of this World. Sometimes the work of regeneration and therein Faith its principal ingredient is resembled to the wind in its invisible original from mineral Exhalations out of the bowels of the Earth and Sea Mark 4.27 Luk. 13.2 to its motion and progress in the air Otherwise 't is likened to a grain of Mustard-seed the least of all oleracious Seeds that grow to so great an extension at last It s likeâ—ed also to a little leaven that ferments and works it self into the whole mass To Seed-Corn under the glebe or mould that swells by the impregnation of nitrous Rain and sulphurious Earth concurring to their germination first chits and breaks the membranes and then sprouts above the ground Or it may be compared to the budding and flowring of Trees in the Spring or to the grafting of a Cyon into the cleft or a Bud inoculated into the bark of a Tree which by degrees conceives both by the warmth and moisture of the Stock But still the precise time or modus of the curious transactions in the vegetable Kingdom the secret transfusion or percolation of Liquors and Spirits is not easily discerned or accounted for by the most accurate Naturalists Yea when all is done and written by Roger Bacon of Oxford or Sir Francis of Verulam or the Learned Harvy or any of the new Philosophers of Brittain France or Germany or Borrichius that Learned Dane there 's none in the whole quire can yet determine the admirable mysteries of Generation None can fathom the works of God in wise productions and the various textures and needle-works of his diving power as the Psalmist hath exprest it But much more abstruse intricate and unfathomable is it in spiritual cases Psal 139.15 Opere Phrgianico For how and at what time grace is inspired or sown in the heart and how it works ferments and by warm influences becomes like a Spiritus intus agens an inward working Spirit it s neither discerned by persons themselves much less by others sometimes during the space of several years For it grows we know not how nor can delineate the motion of its growth Gen. 2 6 Col. 2.19 but being watered from heaven by a living mist sent by God upon this happy Plant in the Eden of a gracious soul it encreases with the encrease of God. Hence it follows that 't is impossible for thousands to fix the time of these first heavenly workings or irritations these irradiations or impregnations of the Spirit of God. Neither needs it sufficient it is to discern it when sprouted a little from its seminal Principles Wherefore to urge the preciseness of time as to regeneration in persons that draw near to Ordinances is timerarious and rash and he is too busie a person that strictly requires it of tender Consciences and makes it an inflexible rule of Communion I may then say of this more than of all other works of divine Wisdom and Power in this lower Orb that the eye of the Vulture hath not searcht it out it is too high and too wonderful for us Job 28 77 Psal 139.6 As holy David having treated of his being secretly fearfully and wonderfully made as to the curious fabrick of his body in all its vessels ligaments veins arteries nerves and juices in all the repositaries sings in harmony and consort to heaven how vastly melodious beyond the hymn of Galen and stands at length upon the brink of an Ocean of Extasies as to the precious thought ver 17. that God had to and in his soul I shall therefore not venture into these Arcana Imperii and Magniala Dei these stupendious secrets of divine wisdom and mercy nor sail too far in deep waters near this terra incognita nor treat too close of the first initial formation of grace and faith in the heart by the operation of the spirit of God. A labour wherein we may sweat and toil till faint and dive so long till the damps in these golden mines extinguish our Spirits I shall then only for some comfort to sincere
beginners insist a little according to what I may by the help of grace and ponder on the first discoveries and discernings of this work in the heart under the beginning work of Regeneration that is under the present agitations and breathings of the holy Spirit To which purpose I may genuinely compare the sense which the mother of an Embrio begins to feel when discerns an inward conception by some secret pulsations â—s of a little wind in her bowels and some nauseous ebullitions from her stomack Ferneli de c. Weckerus de Secretis l. 4. P. 85. Bas. 1629.8 thereby perceives there is a new work of impregnation formed with in bevond all observations of the state of body since her birth and begins to give a right judgment that in Gods due time she may become a happy Mother indeed of some beautiful creature Or give leave to behold it in the glass of another Emblem It fares here as when persons by some unobserved and unforeseen emanations of spirits from the heart Plin. l. 11. c. 37 Song 6.5 4.9 and pressing through the optick nerves flow into their mutual eyes and dart themselves into one anothers breasts whence they become suddenly taken and as it were inkindled by certain lineatures in their feitures and are rapt into deep admiration of somewhat in each other which neither themselvâ—s nor the wifest Philosopher in being can give reason fagacious enough to unfold the surprizing influence when they are constellated to conjugal union So true is that I think of Lucretius Multa tegit sacro involucro natura neque ullis Fas est scire quidem mortalibus omnia c Nature with sacred mantle things does hide Nor can Man's wit such mysteries decide Much more deep shall we find it to be in spiritual and divine concernments when the Soul having heard or read of the admirable and unparallel'd incomparable excellencies of Christ begins by the powor of heavens influence to hearken to Gospel motions whence the first beginnings of grace are coucht in faint and weak though sâ—eet and pleasing inclinations to hear more of that precious and excellent person Then the Soul proceeds with the Daughters of Jerusalem to enquire further of his dignities and the blessed disposition of this kingly Saviour Next after intelligence received it never rests seeking for him with the lovely Spouse In Niceph call and when once come to a sight of that glorious countenance in which Majesty and Love sit upon their Throne as 't is reported of his external hiâ—w then does the soul by this interview break forth into holy Ardors after the enjoymâ—nt of his everlasting kindness and the bottomless bowels of his infinite mercy and affection This is the point which I would endeavour yet further to exemplifie in the sequel of this Chapter and labour to state the first beginnings of grace to lie in secret motions holy wishes and inclinations of the will to Christ this Princely Saviour of the Elect. The desire of a man sayes Solomon is his kindness thâ— he cant accomplish his will yet t is acceptable with God for the deed Prrv. 19.22 2 Cor. 8.12 When some spiritual good is presented to the newly sanctified will by the light of a heaven-born judgment it draws the soul to think ponder and study how to attain that happiness and this volition or extension of the spirit is found in different persons at various times Some feel a blessed inclination from their very child hood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Religious courses and the holy wayes of God. 2 Tim. 3.15 You may observe in some Children at four or five years old a love to the sacred Bible and the wise instructions of godly Parents It would do ones soul good to see how prettily and earnestly the little hearts will lean their heads to the wall or hangings and suck in the sincere milk of a mothers instructions as Solomon did Only let Parents be prudent and heedful in pressing too much or powring too long into little Venice Glasses lest it nauseate or run over Gen. 33.13 Remember Jacob would not drive the little ones too fast lest they died Children are like a Chicken or little Birds feed them too much and by night and you endanger killing them Be wise towards such Isai 28.10 and sow here a little and there a little and the work of God may prosper sweetly In Persons at the first workings of the Spirit of God you may observe 1. First There appears some savouring of the things of God which shews there is a new palate formed by the spirit of God in the soul â— Cor. 2.14 Rom. 8.5 suited to the Manna of heaven they begin to mind the things of the Spirit with a disrelish of vain and frothy company a happy inclination to virtue and wholsom infusions with some reverent awe to their Teachers and instructors which when once taken off from the heart all the Argument or Rhetorick in the world shall never fasten any good maxim upon such a person but now you shall see very young ones love to have their heads in a Bible and the tears ready to spring at some sweet passages in that blessed Book intimating to us that the same spirit who penned it hath begun to write the faithful counterpart on the fleshy tables of their hearts 2. They find and feel the inward bent of their soul to be towards God the byas of the will alwayes inclined Heaven-ward tho some rubs and hillocks may divert a while They are like the Sun-flower ever turning to that glorious Lamp or as the needle pointing to the Northern Pole. It may suffer some variations and supervariations and misteries of Declination not hitherto fully determined to heip the longitude but in the main its course bent and delight is toward that point of the compass The soul no otherwise having received an affrication or touch from divine love evermore bends the motion towards God and is enamoured upon the goodness and Excellency of our blessed Saviour Vain things like vinegar upon nitre gives an odious hiss Prov. 25.29 Eccl. 2 2. and fumes away in a Stench so does this gracious soul pity carnal mens laughter as a touch of madness and sayes of foolish mirth what does it 3. Again There is in this new heart of flesh this covenant heart an inward sweet sensibleness of that great stone of impenitence that as yet remains unbroken in pieces which with its ragged points and angles wounds the tender fleshy part and makes it bleed with joyful sorrow The holy new convert is greatly sensible of its proud flesh and that heavy lump that hangs like a talent of lead at the feet and the worlds bird-lime that sticks to the wings of the soul when it would mount up to heaven in holy duties Or as persons after a great autumnal fever labour under a squeazy stomack with a mass of baked humours at the bottom So does the
Lordship and drunk down the royalty of fishing in many Rivers As 't is easy to see in the turns of estates from the old to new upstart races in the antiquities of many counties described by diligent men of late But what is worst of all they are ready to sink into everlasting burnings in flaming pitch and brimstone in that direful and bottomless lake Quest 2. If true holiness be so rare a Jewel and always connexed with true Faith then help us to know whether we are indeed truly sanctified Answ 1. I answer we may know that we are truly sanctified if we have been exercised in godly sorrow and repentance for sin joyned with an holy hatred against it True penitent tears like salt-waters do purge and cleanse the soul Bitter sorrows and an inward sense ef Gods wrath with an holy awe of Gods precepts and threatnings Zâ—ch 12 10. and a sincere desire of a mendment fit the souls pallace for the carrying on of grace Holiness of life and reformation of our ways does alway follow inward and sincere Repentance 2. An inward satisfaction with and some delight from the heart in a convincing Preacher that searches his heart to the bottom and le ts out the old corruption and then pours in the Samaritan Oyle of the Gospel upon the acute wine of the Law yea he reverences and loves him for his work sake and faithfulness to his Patient Obj But may not an unfanctified person shew outward holiness and have some inward dogmatical Faith as Herod and others A. Their Obedience is neither universal nor permanent Luk. 8.13 Heb. 6.4 10.24 2 Pet. 2.20 and their Faith not rooted in an unfeigned love to Christ No more here to this intending a further measure in the eighth Chapter To conclude about Sanctification with the words of that holy and reverend Person Bp. Vsher in his little sheet about the two Witnesses Being askt by a Lady of Honour what Sanctification was after some modest diversion brake out into this expression That it was the offering up tho whole will to God See Brit. Divinâ— at Dort. p. 11â— which was more than all burnt offerings and Sacrifices To which I may subjoyn that none need to dread or fly back from the flames of affection in this free-will Offering tho' it be difficult to â—â—esh and blood for t is perfumed with the Frankincense of our Lords passion-offering at the brazen Altar and the fragrant mingled Incense of his intercession at the golden Altar So that in conclusion all the holy wayes of wisdom are pleasantness and all her paths are peace Thus much at present to explain a little the nature of holiness in this Chapter together with a sad lamentation dropt upon the Herse of vain Professors in these dayes But le ts add Let him that stands take heed lest he falls be not high-minded but fear for thou standest by Faith Rom. 11 20. 1 Cor. 4.7 and that grace of God alone makes thee to differ Let us now finish this excellent and useful Subject of Holiness tho' mixt with some warm reflections for the good of souls and come to a very comfortable Subject about the Beauty and joy of Faith in the Throne of assurance tho' I should interweave a shorter Chapter about the infirmities of Believers to prevent stumbling at the threshold of Assurance and now I hope somewhat to change my voice in more sweet lessons of comfort for the use of broken and mournful Saints The Foundation indeed is laid in the Doctrines of Faith and holiness if faithful Souls will diligently build gold and precious stones upon it they may erect the most stately and Imperial Temple in the whole World not like the Pygmy Pyramids of Egypt up to the Clouds and Vapors but like the Cedar-Temple of the second Solomon all wrought with Saints and Cherubims whose Pinacles reach within the highest Heavens nec habent umbras all shadows and mists are flâ—d away Still remember that all must pass thru ' the Temple of vertue and grace before they can enter the Temple of heavenly glory CHAP VII THis Chapter about the infirmities of Believers for the same fore-written causes I lay aside at present and proceed to the Eighth about the Doctrine of Assurance CHAP. VIII Of the Assurance of FAITH THe nature of Assurance and Method to attain it is the Subject of this Chapter In former times Faith was represented under the notion of assurance or a Saints particular certainty that Christ died for his own soul among the rest of Believers Like to that special priviledg to which Paul prescribes Gaâ— 2. â—0 that Christ loved him and died for him But now more diligent observation of Holy Scripture and experience hath cleared up this point that assurance is the belief Rom. 5.1 that we are justified by Faith in Christ and so have peace with God. It is the application of Faith or a perswasion of our hearts concerning the love of God. Joh. 3.19 When the Spirit of God sets his seal upon our hearts with the impression of the image of Christ as in wax or as the Antients graved the effigies of their Princes on a Cornelian or Opal or such precious Stones Eph. 3.12 Joh. 14.23 It produces a confidence of access by Faith in Christ and is daily more and more evidenced by the abode of both Father and Son with us when the ripe Grapes of Eshcol are cast into our bosoms and Christ himself comes in to sup with us Rev. 3.20 Assurance shines by a reflex beam of the souls eye upon it self When a Saint sitting down in the closet of his own heart takes a clear view of his face in the glass of Faith. I may term it a Saints belief of his own Faith. Assurance is the cream of Faith when t is settled it s the joy of Faith springing in the Soul from the warm healing beams of the Sun of righteousness rising upon its humble valleys Some take Faith to be a trust on the promise for remission of our own sins in particular or conjoyned with reliance dependance adherence and affiance When having cast all our hope and expectation of heaven and happiness into the arms of Christ alone and thence infer the promise to have been made to us in particular by an immediate consequence drawn from our special and personal application of the indefinite or more general promise and taking it as a divine Oracle to us in particular and therefore call it special Faith the promise being thereby assigned to me immediately as certainly as to any in the world because I have set to my seal that God is truth and accepted him upon his Word When this is done to wait with joyful expectation that God will perform it at the day of Christ But what is all this any more than Faith and assurance tied up together in a bundle of sweet smelling Myrrhe Psal 1.6 drest up in various words to
Tokens sent before Marriage and to be sure God will not lose his earnest nor be defeated of the fore tokens of his contract of love to souls sometimes the Spirit is compared to fire and yields both the light of joy the heat of love and influences or quicknings for service And 't is this lively Faith which works by love effectually thru ' the Spirit But I would speak a little more distinctly for the observation and the experience of holy men hath set to their seals that they do find and feel sometimes a most illustrious irradiation upon their hearts from the Spirit of God which I take to be of two sorts The 1. We may call an irradiation of concurse with our spirits The 2. An irradiation of incidence upon our spirits Give leave to use the terms and explain them to the meanest The First or the irradiation of concurse is then dispensed when he shines upon our Argumentation when we have laboured with our spirits used scripture mediums and upon examination suited them to our hearts in their most inward sincere and humble searches then comes the spirit of God and witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God. When we have toiled and sweat many a time in our closets and brought things as we hope some times to a pritty good issue then thru ' one tentation or another our unbelieving hearts fly off from the Conclusion and all our comfort vanishes But now when our arguings by evident Scripture tokens are finisht over and over and yet still we demurre to lay hold on the Tree of life and while we stick in the mire of fear doubtings and hesitancies and wander under dark clouds in the depth of midnight then comes in the spirit of God Rom. 8.16 as the Morning Star glittering over the Horizon and clears all This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the co-witness of the Spirit of God. 2. The other is that which I beg leave from a term in Opticks to call the irradiation of incidence and is then illustriously performed when the Spirit of God in his most free and glorious agency is pleased to shine personally upon our spirits without and apart from all argumentation whatsoever This comunion with the spirit draws nigh to that of Angelical intuition where by acts of volition and luminous emanation they converse mutually together in a higher degree than we do here by ratiocination with mediums and consequences This is the point we are now upon to shew that the Spirit of God when he pleases without any previous foregoing arguments doth testifie by a secret still heart-ravishing voice Acts 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doth sweetly and suddenly as 't is said in the Acts dart in a ray perswading and satisfying the soul in an instant that thou art a Child of God that sin is pardoned and that thou shalt be saved page 147. Which I reâ—ember the British Divines at Dort call the â—pirits speaking to the heart and even in darker times there were some of the Ilâ—uminate both of Spain and Germany and France that had to do I am perswaded with many distrssed souls in their secret confessions were acquainted with great worâ—nigs in the hearts of penitents but few of â—hem had skill to manage those inward methods Of which things we may find some â—otable footsteps in Bonaventure Gerson Thanlerus and sundry others So that of this inwaâ—d clear and bright perswasion of Gods love to the heart we have no solid reason to doubt but that some holy persons have enjoyed it Austin at his conversion in the garden at Millain had a voice though he had no vision as Paul had in the fields by Damascus I shall be sparing and touch but an instance or two Dr. Manton spake it in my hearing at Oxon of one that being in conflict in prayer had a beam shining into the chamber and being desired by him to have a care of delusion answered O Mr. Manton little do you know what God may do for his poor distressed children or very like words But the caution was wise and grave I know one also who being for almost a week deeply distressed about Eternity had an impression as like a voice within as if he heard it comforting in these words I will give thee rest and so iâ— followed speedily and joyfully and at another time I will not leave thee noâ— forsake thee I might also hint at the beam upon the wall in prayer to Dr. Winter in his life and the voices of Angels to Mr. Patrick Simpson I must confess they are great priviledges and sweetnesses which God may it his divine good plâ—asure and I am perswadâ—d doth sometimes instil and drop in to gracious when timorous hearts anâ— whose constitutions the great former oâ— hearts and spirits knows full well to bâ— naturally over subject to fears and inwarâ— commotions he like a most gracious and Tender Father full of pity and bowels discerns our frames See Mr. Maâ—hers prevalency of prayer Psal 103. p 17.14 at the end of his Tract of N. E. troubles Psal 40.17 By his loving eye and remembring that we are dust is mindfull of us in our low condition whereas many proud and disdainful persons set light by the inward sorrows of broken and contrite souls And are like lamps despised in the thought of him that is at ease But says David though I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me and with how many precious thoughts his goodness is pleased to embroider and enamel upon the hearts of his holy humble meek and trembling children For your high exalted boasting persons tho' it may be have some few grains of grace at bottom are seldom visited with these inward joyes But the meek will he teach his ways Such blessed thoughts of grace David could not number Ps 139.17 18 they were more than the Sands of the Sea or the stars of heaven for multitude But now if these or such like lines should fall under the view or knowledge of any prophane or scoffing Ishmael that may vilifie the works of God and like bruits speak ignorantly of what they know not would advise them to forbear presumptious speeches 2 Pet. 2 12. Jude 10. lest their bonds be made strong lest the Terrors horrors of the almighty should one day drink up their spirits So that when Gods Servants shall rejoyce and sing for joy of heart they shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit Isal 65.14 But yet because there may be such things as Enthusiasines and transformation of Angels of darkness among some that call themselves Sweet-singers and among others that have more need to mourn over their follies and delusions in the dust of shame I would speak somewhat to that question of an humble Soul. Quest How may I comfort my heart that this irradiation you speak of is a true and immediate work of the Spirit of God and