And therefore to satisfie us in this also after he had abode some time upon Earth after his Resurrection and satisfied his Disciples by frequent converses with them that he was really risen and given them all necessary Orders for their future conduct in the propagation of his Gospel he carried them out to Bethany where after he had lift up his hands and blessed them he ascended before their eyes into Heaven upon which it is said Luke 24.52 That they worshipped him and returned to Ierusalem with great Ioy surely not because their dear Lord was gone from them never in this World to be seen by them more that was cause of sorrow rather than joy to them but because he was gone to the right hand of the Father there to intercede in Person for them and for ever to exhibite that wounded and bleeding body of his by which he had made expiation for the sins of the World and purchased the promise of the Spirit and of eternal life upon this account indeed they had great cause to rejoyce because now they knew they had a sure Friend in Heaven where their main hope and interest lay even that very Friend who not long before had freely exposed himself to a most shameful and tormenting death to rescue them from death eternal and who after such an instance of love they could not but conclude would employ his utmost interest with the Father in their behalf and in a word who being the only begotten of the Father whose precious Bloud he had graciously accepted as a ransom for the sins of the World could not but have an interest with him infinitely sufficient to obtain for them all the graces and favours that were fit either for them to ask or for his Father to bestow So that now if we heartily comply with him as Mediating for his Father with us we have all the encouragement in the world to depend on him as Mediating for us with his Father since he doth not Mediate with him by a second hand or at a distance but in his own Person in that very Person which is not only infinitely dear to the Father as being his only begotten Son but hath also infinitely merited of him by offering him his own life at his command as a Sacrifice for the sins of the World. And accordingly upon this consideration the Apostle founds the hope of Christians 1 Iohn 2.1 2. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not but if any man sin let him not presently give up himself as hopeless and irrecoverable for we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins VI. And lastly Another thing which the Scripture proposes to our belief concerning this Mediator is that upon his return from us to Heaven there to Mediate Personally for Men with God he substituted the divine and Omnipresent Spirit Personally to promote and effectuate his Mediation for God with Men. When he went up to Heaven there to Mediate for us with God he did not thereby abandon his Mediation for God with us but immediately substituted a certain mighty spiritual Being to act for him whom he calls the Advocate or as we render it the Comforter and the Holy Ghost and who was to Mediate with Men in his behalf even as he Mediated with them in the behalf of his Father and to Advocate for his Authority as he Advocated for his Father's For so he tells his Ministers whom he left behind him to assert and propagate his Authority in the World I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter or Advocate i. e. to plead for and inforce your Ministry in my behalf whose Ministers you are that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth c. I will not leave you comfortless or without an Advocate I will come to you that is by this Spirit of Truth who is to be my Vicegerent even as I am my Father's Iohn 14.16 17 18. But for the fuller explication of this great and necessary Article I shall first shew what this divine Spirit is which Christ hath substituted to Mediate for God with us in his absence Secondly I shall explain his subordination and substitution to Christ in this part of his Mediation Thirdly I shall shew what it is that he hath done and still continues to do in order to the effecting this Mediation First What this divine Spirit is which Christ hath substituted to Mediate for God with us in his absence I answer it is the third Person in the Tri-une Godhead For that besides the Father and the Son there is a third divine Person subsisting in the Godhead seems to have been a current Doctrine among the ancient Writers both Gentile and Iewish and is most plainly and expresly asserted in holy Scripture which third Person is known in Scripture by the name of the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of the Lord. For that the Holy Ghost so often named in the New Testament is the same with that Spirit of the Lord so much celebrated in the Old S. Peter expresly asserts 2 Pet. 1.2 For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost from which words it is evident that this Holy Ghost whom S. Peter here mentions is the very same with that holy Spirit or Spirit of the Lord by whom as we are told in the Old Testament the ancient Prophets were inspired vid. Isa. 63.11 2 Sam. 23.2 Mich. 2.7 and abundance of other places and accordingly S. Peter applies that Prophecy of Ioel 2.28 I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh to that miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost Acts 2.16 17. but this is that saith he which was spoken by the Prophet Ioel c. which could not be true if Peter's Holy Ghost were not the same with Ioel's spirit of the Lord. But it is most certain that the Holy Ghost whom S. Peter and the New Testament so often mention was in the first place a real Person and not a meer Quality as the Socinians vainly dream For so we every where find personal properties and actions attributed to him Thus he is said to speak Acts 28.25 and Heb. 3.7 yea and his speeches are frequently recorded so Acts 10.20 The Spirit said unto Peter arise therefore get thee down and go with them for I have sent thee and Acts 13.2 The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them and how can we without horrible force to such plain historical relations which ought to be literal and not figurative attribute these speeches to a meer Vertue or Quality And elsewhere he is said to reprove the world Iohn 16.8 and to search into and know the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11. and to divide his Gifts
severally to every man as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 And not only so but such things and actions are attributed to him as can in no sence be attributed to the Father which would be non-sence if he were only the vertue or power of the Father and not a real Person distinct from him Thus the Holy Ghost is said to come as sent from the Father in the name of Christ Iohn 14.26 and in Iohn 16. he is said to come as sent from Christ verse 7. And when he comes Christ promises them that he shall guide them into all truth for he shall not speak of himself saith he but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak ver 13. Again he shall glorifie me saith Christ for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you verse 14. And to name no more the Holy Ghost is said to make Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Rom. 8.27 none of which things can in any tolerable sence be said of God the Father Since therefore not only personal actions but such personal actions also as cannot be attributed to the Father are frequently attributed to the Holy Ghost it hence necessarily follows that he is not meerly the vertue or power of the Father but a distinct principle of action from him that acts from and by himself and consequently is a real person or subsistence It being evident therefore from what hath been said that the Spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament is the same with the Holy Ghost in the New and that the Holy Ghost in the New is a real person distinct from the Father it hence follows in the second place that this Holy Ghost is a divine person because in the Scripture-forms of Baptism and Benediction he is always ranked with divine persons viz. the Father and the Son thus Baptism is in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 And the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all is the usual form of Benediction 2 Cor. 13.14 Now that the Father is a divine person all acknowledge and that the Son is so too hath been proved at large and therefore since the Holy Ghost is ranked with the Father and the Son both in our Baptismal Dedication and form of Benediction that is a sufficient evidence that he is a divine person also For what likelihood is there that in such solemn acts of Religion a meer Creature should be taken into copartnership with the divine Father and Son But besides both in the Old and New Testament divine actions and perfections are attributed to him Thus in Iob 33.4 Creation is ascribed to him The Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life So also Iob 26.13 By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Since therefore to Create is a divine Act and since every Act flows from the Essence of the Agent it follows that the Essence of this Spirit from which this divine Act of Creation flows is divine Again in Psal. 139.7 Omnipresence is attributed to this divine Spirit Whither shall I go from thy Spirit And if there be no place whither we can go from him as the Question plainly implies there is not then he must necessarily fill all places and be Omnipresent So again 1 Cor. 2.10 Omniscience is attributed to him for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God and that by searching here is not meant Enquiry but Knowledge and Comprehension the next verse will inform us For what man knows the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man save the Spirit of God. If then the Spirit 's search be knowledge and his Knowledge comprehends all things what else is this but Omniscience And as the Actions and Attributes which the Scripture attributes to the Holy Ghost are divine so are the Honours also For so 1 Cor. 6.19 our bodies are said to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in us now since there is nothing can make a Temple which as such is the house of God but only the Inhabitation of a divine Person and since no person can have right to the honour of a Temple which as such is made for divine Worship but he to whom divine Worship is due it will hence necessarily follow both that the Holy Ghost is a divine Person and that he hath right to divine Worship and accordingly 1 Cor. 3.16 the Apostle makes the Inhabitation of God's Spirit in us to be that which constitutes us Temples of God but how could his Spirit 's dwelling in us constitute us Temples of God unless he himself were God Besides all which he is in express words affirmed to be God. So in 2 Cor. 3.15 16 17. Even unto this day when Moses is read the Vail is upon their hâ—arts nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the Vail shall be taken away now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty in which words the Apostle as all agree refers to Exod. 34.34 When Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him he took the Vail off until he came out from whence I argue that Lord whom Moses went in to speak with was Iehovah the true God this Iehovah the Apostle tells us is that Spirit this Spirit he also tells us is the Spirit of the Lord or the Holy Ghost therefore the Holy Ghost is Iehovah the true God. So also Acts 5.3 4. Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost c. Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God i. e. in Lying to the Holy Ghost who is God for if he were not God as we are sure he is not man it might as well have been said thou hast not lied unto men only no nor to the Holy Ghost only but unto God and indeed it ought to be so expressed supposing that by the Holy Ghost and God he did not mean the same thing because the design of the words was to aggravate Ananias his crime from the consideration of the greatness of the Person against whom it was committed and therefore had the Holy Ghost been any thing less than God as we are sure the Apostles were to whom the lye was immediately told he ought to have pursued the 〈◊〉 as well to the Holy Ghost as to men and then it must have been it was not meerly to men that thou didst lye no nor to the Holy Ghost meerly but unto God himself since therefore he places the Aggravation of his lying to the Holy Ghost in this only that he lyed not unto men but unto God it is plain that by the Holy Ghost and God he meant the same thing From all which Testimonies it is very apparent that this great
thenceforth to reside and make his constant abode and from whence and by whom he would for the future communicate himself to Mankind And accordingly the sign which God gave to Iohn Baptist by which he might know the Messias when he saw him was this Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost i. e. who from himself or from his own fulness shall communicate the Holy Ghost to the World Ioh. 1.33 For so full was Jesus of the Holy Ghost that he not only prophesied himself and did miracles by it whensoever he pleased but he also communicated it to his own immediate Disciples and impowered them to communicate it to others and hence it is said that God gave not the Spirit by measure to him John 3.34 i. e. with limitations and restrictions to such particular times or ends and purposes but in that unlimited manner as that he could not only act by it himself whensoever or howsoever he pleased but also communicate it to others in what degree or measure soever he pleased For so Ioh. 20.22 it is said that he breathed upon his Disciples and bid them receive the Holy Ghost and Acts 8.17 we are told that upon their laying their hands upon others they also received the Holy Ghost And by this unlimited fulness of the Holy Ghost which our Saviour received at his Baptism he was perfectly accomplished for his Prophetick Office. For the Holy Ghost abode in him after that visible glory in which he descended disappeared even throughout the whole course of his Ministry and hence Luke 4.1 we are told that being full of the Holy Ghost he returned from Iordan and after he had finished his forty days Fast in the Wilderness he returned from thence in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ver 14. where in his own City of Nazareth he began to Prophesie declaring and manifesting that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him vers 18 to 23. and at Cana in Galilee he began to work Miracles and thereby to manifest forth his Glory Joh. 2.11 Thus by Prophesying and confirming his Prophecies by Miracles he exerted that fulness of the Holy Ghost which was communicated to him at his Baptism And now since before he came down to Prophesie to us he was from Eternity in the bosom of the Father and since when he came down he was clothed in humane nature and in that nature was inspired with such an unbounded fulness of the Holy Ghost as that he could not only Prophesie himself and confirm his Prophecy by Miracles when he pleased but also communicate these his Gifts to others in what measures and proportions he thought fit to enable them to Prophesie for him wheresoever he thought meet to send them what can we imagine farther necessary to compleat and accomplish him for the Prophetick Office I proceed therefore in the next place to shew how throughly and effectually he discharged this Office which will plainly appear by considering briefly what those things were which as a Prophet he performed all which are reducible to these six Heads First He made a full Declaration of his Father's Will to the World. Secondly He proved and confirmed what he had declared by Miracles Thirdly He gave a perfect Example of Obedience to what he had declared and proved to be his Father 's Will. Fourthly He sealed his declaration with his own Bloud Fifthly He instituted an Order of men to preach what he had declared to the World. Sixthly He sent his Holy Spirit when he left the World to recollect and explain to those men what he had declared and to enable them also to prove and assert it by Miracles I. He made a full Declaration of his Father's Will to the World viz. in those Sermons Parables and Discourses of his which we find recorded in the four Evangelists in which the whole Will of God concerning the Way and Method of our Salvation is fully and perfectly revealed For thus S. Paul declares to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that he had kept back nothing that was profitable for them but had testified both to the Iews and Greeks repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ Acts 20.20 21. and ver 27. he tells them that he had not shunned to declare unto them all the Counsel of God. Now it is certain that this whole Counsel of God which he had preached was only that account of our Saviour's Discourses and Actions which S. Luke gives us in his Gospel who as Irenaeus tells us was a follower of S. Paul and did compile into one Book that History of our Saviour's Life and Doctrine which S. Paul had taught and delivered and if so then the whole Counsel of God must be contained in this Gospel and accordingly S. Luke tells his Theophilus in the beginning of his Gospel That forasmuch as many had set forth a declaration of those things that were surely believed among Christians it seemed good unto him also having had a perfect understanding of all things from the first to write them down in order that he might know the certainly of those things wherein he had been instructed From whence I infer that supposing that S. Luke performed what he promised his Gospel must contain a full declaration of the Christian Religion For first by promising to give an account of those things that were surely believed among Christians he engaged himself to give an entire account of Christianity unless we will suppose that there were some parts of Christianity which the Christians of that time did not surely believe Secondly In promising to give an account of those things of which he had perfect understanding from the first and in which his Theophilus had been instructed he also engaged himself to give a compleat account of the whole Religion unless we will suppose that there were some parts of this Religion which S. Luke did not perfectly understand and in which Theophilus had not been before instructed And the sâ—me may be said of the three other Evangelists viz. that their Gospels do severally contain all the necessary Articles of Christianity though the last of them seems to have been wrote upon a more particular design viz. more fully to explain than any oâ— the former Evangelists had done the Article of the Divinity and eternal generation of Jesus Christ the Son of God. And if the whole of Religion be contained in these Gospels which are only Histories of our Saviour's Preaching and Actions then it cannot be denied but that he made a full revelation of God's Will to the World. It is true there are sundry other divine Writings annexed to these Gospels which together with them compleat the New Testament viz. the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles but these pretend not to declare any new Religion to the world For as for the Acts of the Apostles it is only an Historical account of the Preparations
Holy Spirit when he left the World to recollect and explain to his Disciples the Doctrine he had taught them and to enable them also to prove and assert it by Miracles For as Elias the Great Prophet of Israel when he was snatched up into Heaven let drop his Mantle and with that derived that holy Spirit on his Disciple Elisha by which he Prophesied and wrought his Miracles so Iesus the Great Prophet of the World when he ascended into Heaven derived that divine Spirit upon his Apostles and Disciples by which he himself Prophesied and confirmed his Prophecies by miraculous Evidences while he was upon Earth Vid. supra p. 66 67 c. For in all likelihood the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost not only on the Apostles but also upon all the rest of the hundred and twenty Disciples of whom we read in Acts 1.15 For of these consisted the Prophetick School of our Saviour who in all probability separated them while he was yet upon Earth from the rest of his Followers to be the Heralds and Preachers of his Gospel to the World and if so we may reasonably conclude that the Holy Ghost fell on them all as well as on the Apostles to qualifie them for that work which together with the Apostles they had been fore-ordained to Indeed as the Apostles were placed in a higher station than any of the rest as being authorized by Christ to superintend and preside over them so they received a peculiar Gift of the Holy Ghost in which none of the rest communicated with them and that was conferring by imposition of hands the Holy Ghost upon others For so in Acts 8. we find that when Philip had converted the People of Samaria he could not confer the Holy Ghost on them but Peter and Iohn are sent thither for that purpose who laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost verse 17. Now by thus deriving his Holy Spirit on his Apostles and Disciples the blessed Iesus still proceeded by them to Prophesie to the World till through their Ministry he had fully consummated his Prophetick Office and revealed and explained the whole Doctrine of the Gospel For till such time as the whole New Testament was compleated his Ministers generally preached by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost who as I have shewn at large p. 67 c. not only recollected to their memories those Doctrines which Christ himself had taught them but also explained them fully to their minds and thereby enabled them to explain them fully to the World and when this was once finished and the whole Doctrine of the Gospel committed to Writing and collected into a Volume the Spirit of Prophecy was withdrawn from the Ministers of Christianity who were from thenceforth obliged to supply the want of it by their own study and industry For now the Gospel being fully revealed there needed no farther Revelation and for the Holy Spirit to reveal over again to mens minds what he had plainly enough revealed already and set before their eyes would have been but actum agere to multiply actions to no purpose Whilst the Gospel lay hid in the Eternal Counsel of God out of the reach and prospect of humane understandings it was necessary that the Holy Ghost should immediately reveal it to the minds of those who were to declare it to the World otherwise it is impossible it should ever have been known to Mankind but when once he had fully revealed it to them and declared it by them and transmitted their declaration by a standing Scripture to all succeeding Generations to what end should he still proceed to make new Revelations of it unless it were to gratifie mens sloth and idleness and excuse them from the trouble of searching and studying that Scripture in which he had taken care to transmit his Gospel to them But though that blessed Spirit hath never been wanting to Mankind in any necessary assistance yet when once he hath put things within our own power he always expects that we should do them and not sit still with our hands in our Pockets expecting that he should do them for us Since therefore by transmitting to us the Scripture he hath put it within the power of its Ministers to understand and teach the Gospel he expects that they should exercise that power in a diligent study of those things which lead to the true understanding of Religion and not depend upon new Revelations for the understanding of that which he hath already sufficiently revealed to them For thus till the whole Old Testament was finished God continued the Spirit of Prophecy in the Iewish Church after which he immediately withdrew it and wholly remitted his People to the conduct of the Priests and Levites who in their forty eight Cities which were so many Vniversities for their education in divine Learning diligently read and studied the Law and thereby accomplished themselves to preach and explain it to the People And in like manner God continued the same Spirit of Prophecy in the Christian Church till the whole New Testament was revealed and written and Copies of it dispersed through all the Churches and from thenceforth the Spirit of Prophecy ceased and in the room of its first inspired Ministers there succeeded an ordinary standing Ministry who by their Learning and Industry and diligent search of Scripture were to supply the defect of immediate Revelation and to qualifie themselves to teach and instruct the several Flocks that were committed to their Charge In short therefore the Spirit of Prophecy remained upon the Ministers of Christ till such time as it had fully revealed and clearly explained the Gospel to them and when this was done and they had transmitted its Revelations to writing there could be no farther need of it unless it be supposed either that he had not sufficiently revealed the Gospel to them or that he hath some new Gospel to reveal And thus you see what it is that our Saviour hath done in the discharge of his Prophetick Office. And considering all I know not what farther he could have added to compleat and perfect it and to render his Prophecy effectual to teach and instruct the World. So that if after all these mighty performances we still remain in darkness and ignorance the blame of it wholly redounds upon our selves for he hath in all respects abundantly performed his part towards the enlightening of the World and chalked out to us the way to our happiness with such plain and visible lines that if we are but willing to walk in it we cannot mistake or wander from it but if we will be so supine and negligent as to concern our selves no more about it than if it were only a Fanciful description of the Road to Vtopia or the High-way to the World in the Moon it is impossible we should be throughly acquainted with it how plainly soever it is described It is true there are some Doctrines in
rewarded accordingly with the Government of ten Cities ver 16 17. the other had been faithful though not altogether so diligent and by his one pound had gained five and accordingly he is made Lord of five Cities ver 18 19. By which he plainly declares that by so much as we fall short of those improvements we might have made in Piety and Vertue so much he will substract from our furure reward So that the sense of the Law of perfection is this as you would not incur the forfeiture of some degrees of your happiness in the other life be sure you imploy your utmost diligence in this to improve your selves in every grace and vertue of Religion II. There is the Law of sincerity which requires the being and Reality of all Christian Graces and vertues in us together with the proper Acts and Exercises of them as we have opportunity and doth no farther forbid those gradual defects of them which are within our possibility to supply than as they are the effects of our gross continued and wilful neglect and so inconsistent with sincerity Now the Reality of these Christian Vertues in us consists in the universal and prevailing consent and resolution of our Wills to regulate our practice by them so as not wilfully to admit of any thing that is contrary to them upon any occasion or temptation whatsoever and so long as this resolution continues firm and prevails in our practice we are just in the eye and judgment of this Law of sincerity though we do not always exert it to the utmost of our possibility He therefore who hath so submitted his Will to God as to be throughly resolved without any reserve to obey him and not to do any thing that is contrary to his Will either against knowledge or through affected ignorance or inconsideration hath in this resolution the real being of all Christian vertues in him and so long as this holds he stands uncondemned in the judgment of the Law of sincerity But though this resolution includes in it the being and reality of all Christian vertue yet doth it not include the utmost possibility of it nor doth it at all follow that because I am sincerely resolved to conduct my life by the Laws of Piety and Vertue therefore I must be in all respects as Pious and Vertuous as it is possible for me to be considering my present state and circumstances I may be sincerely resolved and yet not be always equally diligent and active I may now be exceeding vigilant and watchful and what I am now I may always be if I always exert the utmost of my possibility yet it may so happen anon that though I am sincerely resolved still I may be more remiss supine and inadvertent and in this posture a temptation may surprize me before I am aware and hurry me into an action against which I am firmly resolved And there is no doubt but even the best of men might have beâ—n much better than they are had they always 〈…〉 their possibilities and applied themseâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 their utmost skill and diligence to the methods and Ministries of improvement Now though not to exert our utmost power in the avoidance of evil and the improvement of our selves in vertue and goodness is doubtless a sin yet it is only a sin against the Law of perfection the Penalty of which is only deprivation of some degree of our future reward but so long as we keep up a prevailing resolution in our Wills to govern our 〈◊〉 by the Laws of Piety and Vertue we stand â—â—ear in the eye of the Law of sincerity the Penalty of which is no less than everlasting Exile from the presence of God into the dark and horrible Regions of endless misery and despair only this proviso it admits that if after we have sinned against it we reassume our good Resolution and heartily repent and amend we shall be released from the obligation to this dreadful Penalty and be restored to that happy state of grace and favour from whence we fell by our transgression So that the great difference between the Law of Perfection and the Law of Sincerity is this that the penalty of the later is much more severe but the duty of the former much more comprehensive Having thus given this brief account of our Saviours Legislation and Laws I proceed to the II. Of those Regal Acts which Christ hath performed in his Kingdom once for all and that is his Mission of the Holy Spirit to subdue Mens minds to the Obedience of his Laws and to govern them by them For so the Apostle makes the Mission of the Spirit to succeed the Triumphal progress of our Saviour to his Coronation in Heaven Eph. 4.8 He ascended up on high he led captivity captive he gave gifts unto Men where by the gifts which he gave we are to understand the Holy Spirit and in him all those extraordinary Gifts which he poured out upon his Church on the day of Pentecost for so Acts 2.33 S. Peter makes the effusion of the Spirit by Christ to be the consequence of his advancement to his universal Royalty therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Now the end for which he sent his Spirit was to supply his room when he went from earth and in his absence to preside as his Vicegerent in his Kingdom below Since therefore this blessed Spirit acts as our Saviours Agent whatsoever he doth that our Saviour doth by him So that all those operations he performs in order to the subduing us to the obedience of Christ and to the governing of us when we are subdued are truly the operations of Christ himself It is he that conquers and governs us by his Spirit our hearts are the Territories which Christ invades by him and his inspirations are the victorious Arms by which Christ conquers and subdues them Our Wills are the Thrones on which Christ sits and rules and governs by him and his holy suggestions are the awful powers by which Christ himself commands our obedience But what it is that this blessed Spirit doth and hath done in order to the subduing Men to Christs Laws and governing them by them hath been already shewn at large and therefore of this I shall need say no more at present III. And lastly therefore another of those Regal Acts which Christ hath once for all performed in his Heavenly Kingdom is his erecting in it an external Polity and Government What this Polity is and what are the functions of it hath been shewn at large and it is as well by this external Government as by the internal Ministry of his Spirit that Christ now rules his Kingdom for in all just and lawful things the lawful Governours of his Church do act by his Commission and Authority as being substituted by him the visible representatives of his
Spirit or Holy Ghost whom Christ hath substituted to carry on his Mediation for God with men in his absence is no other than the third divine Person subsisting in the eternal Godhead And indeed considering the mighty part he was to act viz. to Mediate under Christ for God with men the same reason which rendered it necessary for Christ to be God to qualifie him for this Office vide Page 24. do render it altogether as necessary for the Holy Ghost to be so And indeed how is it possible he should operate upon so many men together at such remote distances as he is obliged to do by his Office and at once move every member of that vast Body of Christ the Catholick Church dispersed over the Face of the whole Earth unless like an Omnipresâ—nt soul he be diffused through the whole and co-exists with every part and if he be Omnipresâ—nt â—e must be God. And now having given an account of the Person and Quality of this Divine Spirit I proceed Secondly To explain his subordination and substitution to Christ in this part of his Mediatorship for God with men In order to which it is to be considered that this subordination of the sacred Persons in the holy Trinity proceeds not from any inequality of Essence but from the inequality of their personal Properties For as to their Essence they are all of them God i. e. infinite in being and perfections and being infinite they must all be equal there being no such thing as more or less in infinity and then being equal in Essence they must necessarily be equal in essential Power and Dominion and consequently as such are no way subject or subordinate to one another But as to their personal Properties it cannot be denied but they are unequal for the Father who begot must in that respect be superiour to the Son who was begotten and the Holy Ghost who proceeded must in that respect be inferiour to the Father and Son from whom he proceeded and upon this inequality their subordination is founded For as there is a stated Number in the Trinity by which the sacred Persons are determined to Three so there is also a stated Order by which they are ranked into a First a Second and a Third which Order is not made by mutual consent or arbitrary constitution but founded in the nature of those personal properties by which they are distinguished from one another For as the Father being the Fountain of Godhead to the Son must be first in order of nature and as the Son together with the Father was the Fountain of Godhead to the Holy Ghost and therefore must be second to the Father and in order of nature before the Holy Ghost so the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son must of the Three be in order of nature the Third For so the Scripture expresly asserts that he proceeded from the Father John 15.26 and also that he is the Spirit of the Son Gal. 4.6 and the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of Iesus Christ Phil. 1.19 And being the Spirit both of the Father and the Son he must be supposed to proceed from both And where-ever the Holy Ghost is in the Old Testament called the Spirit of God it is in the Hebrew Ruach Elohim in the Plural which seems to intimate that he proceeded not from one but from two divine Persons i. e. not from the Father alone but from the Son also So that though as to their Godhead they are all equal yet in order of nature and in respect of their personal properties the third is inferiour the second superiour and the first supreme and being unequal in those personal Properties by which they stand related to each other it is very reasonable that according to these their personal inequalities they should be subordinate to one another and consequently that the Father who is the Fountain of the Divinity should be supreme in the Divine Monarchy and that the Son who was begotten of him should minister to him and that the Holy Ghost who proceeded from the Father and the Son should minister to both And accordingly in all its external actions and administrations this hath ever been the Oeconomy of the Holy Trinity for the Father to act by the Ministry of the Son and the Son by the Ministry of the Holy Ghost For so before the Fall of man and consequently before this Mediation of the Son commenced it is evident that even in creating the World the Father acted by the Son and therefore is said to have made the World by him Heb. 1.2 and the Son acted by the Spirit who is said to have moved upon the face of the Chaos Gen. 1.2 for that by the Spirit of God there is meant the third Person in the Holy Trinity we have reason to believe because he is elsewhere said to have made man and to have garnished the Heavens as hath been already shewn And in the same Method of subordination the Godhead hath always proceeded in its transactions with the world and that more especially and remarkably in this great affair of Mediating with mankind wherein the Father hath always used the Ministry of the Son and the Son the Ministry of the Holy Ghost but in the matter of the Mediation it is evident that this subordination of these sacred persons was founded not only in these their personal inequalities but also in a mutual agreement between them in which the Son agreed with the Father that in case he would be so far reconciled to Rebellious Mankind as to grant them a Covenant of mercy and therein among other blessings to promise them his Holy Spirit he himself would assume our natures and therein not only treat with us personally in order to the reducing us to our bounden Allegiance but also die a Sacrifice for our sins upon which agreement the Father long before the Son had actually performed his part of it even from our first Apostasie granted his Spirit to mankind which Spirit was granted to this end that under the Son he should Mediate with men in order to the reducing them to their due subjection to the Father For all that heavenly influence which the Holy Ghost sheds forth upon the minds of men is wholly Mediatorial in God's behalf and in order to the reconciling men's minds unto him and therefore in this his Mediation he must be supposed to act in subordination to the Son who is supreme Mediator and accordingly as the Son hath been and will be always Mediating with men by this blessed Spirit even from his Ascension to the end of the World so I make no doubt but he always Mediated with them by the same Spirit even from the Fall of man to his Incarnation For so in the time of the Old World we read of the Spirit 's striving with men i. e. in order to the subduing their stubborn Wills to a due subjection to the Will of the Father Gen.
6.3 in doing of which he even then Mediated for God with Men under the Great Mediator and so he hath continued to do through all successive Ages of the World. For there is nothing more apparent from Scripture than that it is under Christ that the Spirit acts in the Kingdom of God upon which account he is called the Spirit of Christ 1 Pet. 1.11 even as by the ancient Jews he is called the Spirit of the Messias as was observed before and this Spirit whom St. Peter calls the Spirit of Christ was as he himself there tells us the Spirit which was in the ancient Prophets by which it is evident that long before Christ came this Spirit was his and that he acted by him And even when he came down into the World to transact personally with men he generally acted by this holy Spirit For so at his Baptism we are told that the Holy Ghost descended on him in a bodily shape Luke 3.22 upon which it is said that he went away full of the Holy Ghost Luk. 4.1 after which it is plain that it was by this Holy Ghost in him that he Prophesied and wrought his Miracles for so Isa. 61.1 the Prophet attributes the whole Prophecy of Christ to the Spirit of the Lord which was upon him and in Matt. 12.28 our Saviour himself affirms that he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God and therefore he calls the Jews attributing his miraculous works to the Devil blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matt. 12.31 because it was by the power of the Holy Ghost that he wrought them Now as the Father's acting by the Son implies the Son's Subordination to him so the Son 's acting by the Spirit implies the Spirit 's subordination to him which subordination of the Spirit in his Mediatorial Office is immediately founded in that Compact of the Son with the Father upon which he undertook the Mediation For the Spirit was a part of the purchace of the Son's Bloud and whatsoever he purchased he purchased of the Father by compact and agreement with him so that now he hath a right to the Spirit 's Ministry not only by vertue of his proceeding from him together with the Father but also by the purchace of his own Bloud whereby he obtained the promise of him from the Father For so the Holy Ghost is said to be shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour i. e. through the Intercession he makes in vertue of his meritorious Sacrifice Tit. 3.5 6. For whatsoever comes to us from God through Christ is part of what he hath purchased for us and in Rom. 5.5 6. he makes Christ's dying for the ungodly the reason of the giving the Holy Ghost to us The promise of the Holy Ghost therefore being part of the purchace of Christ's bloud he by his Advocation in Heaven obtained the performance of it of the Father even as he doth the performance of all his other promises For the Father being the supreme person in the Holy Trinity is the prime and Original Fountain of all our blessings and every good thing we receive is derived from him to us through the Son and by the Holy Ghost and even the Holy Ghost himself is derived to us from the Father through the Advocation of the Son. For so he himself tells us I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter namely the Holy Ghost Iohn 14.16 So that though Christ hath purchased the Holy Ghost of the Father as he hath also all the other blessings of the New Covenant yet it is plain this Purchace vests him not with a right to bestow and send him without the Father but only to obtain him of the Father upon his Prayer or Advocation and so of all those other blessings So that still the Father is the supreme Source from whence the Spirit and all those blessings are derived to us and it is from his hands that the Son procures them by his powerful Intercession in short therefore Christ by his death purchased a right of the Father to obtain of him by his Intercession Authority to send the Holy Ghost to Minister for and under him in his Mediation for God with men and accordingly he promises his Disciples that when he departed this World he would send the Comforter to them Iohn 16.7 where he uses the very same phrase as he did when he Commissioned his Apostles to minister under him As the Father hath sent me so send I you John 20.21 and accordingly his sending the Comforter must denote his Commissioning him by the Authority he had received from the Father to minister under him in his Mediation for the Father For so in Iohn 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me where first the Son is said to Commission or send him Secondly to Commission or send him from the Father i. e. by Authority from him And thirdly to Commission or send him to testifie of him and therein to minister to him and so in Luke 24.49 when he was just ascending into Heaven he tells his Disciples Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you i. e. the promise of the Holy Ghost and accordingly Acts 2.33 St. Peter tells us upon that miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost that Christ being exalted to the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost i. e. having by his Intercession received authority of the Father to send the Holy Ghost according to that promise which he had before purchased of him with his bloud he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear i. e. this Miraculous Gift of the Holy Ghost in all which places it is evident that the Holy Ghost was substituted commissioned and sent by the Son authorized thereunto by the Father to minister under him For as the Son acts by the Father's Authority as he is his Minister so all that authority which he communicates to others to act under him he must derive Originally from the Father and consequently that Authority by which he sent the Spirit to act as his Minister he must have derived from the Father whose Minister himself is and hence the Father is said to send the Spirit in the name of the Son i. e. to appoint the Spirit to act under the Son and by his authority Iohn 14.26 as the Son is said to send the Spirit from the Father i. e. by the authority which he had received of the Father and this I verily believe is the reason why the Apostle in Eph. 4.8 quotes the Psalmist with that variation he ascended up on high saith he speaking of Christ he led Captivity Captive he gave gifts unto men whereas the words of the Psalmist are He received gifts for men Psal. 68.18 to denote that that gift of the Holy Ghost which Christ gave
proposed the divine light to their minds so he also illuminated their minds to discern and comprehend it he raised and exalted their intellectual faculties and as a vital form to the light of their reason did actuate and thereby enable it to comprehend his Revelations And hence Acts 19.6 we are told that the Disciples who upon St. Paul's laying his hands on them received the Holy Ghost spake with Tongues and Prophesied i. e. explained the deep Mysteries of the Gospel for so Prophesying in the New Testament doth most commonly signifie hence 1 Cor. 13.2 the Apostle makes Prophecy to consist in understanding divine Mysteries and Knowledge and in ver 9. We know in part saith he and we Prophesie in part so that the effect of their receiving the Holy Ghost you see was Prophecy that is a clear understanding of and ability to explain the Mysteries of Religion A plain evidence how effectually he taught them in that they no sooner became his Scholars but they were fit to be the Teachers of the World. For though it seems probable that he as well as our Saviour instructed them gradually in the knowledge of the Gospel since it was some time after this first descent that the Mystery of the calling of the Gentiles was revealed to them yet it is very apparent that he instructed them much faster than our Saviour had done and much fuller and that those impressions of divine truth which he made upon their understandings were much more vigorous and clear and therefore could not be so easily either forgotten or mistaken by them And accordingly our Saviour himself tells them that he had many things to say unto them but they could not bear them such was the narrowness of their capacity and the way of his teaching Howbeit saith he when the spirit of truth is come he shall lead you into all truth John 16.12 13. and teach you all things John 14.20 Thus the Holy Ghost fully instructed them what Doctrines they were to preach to the World and by his immediate inspirations enabled them to deliver down the truth to us the whole truth and nothing but the truth Thirdly The Holy Ghost enabled them to give the most convincing evidence of the Truth and Divinity of their Doctrines without which it was impossible they should ever have succeeded in their Ministry But the only certain evidence they could give that their Doctrine was divine was the testimony of Miracles For there is nothing which pretends to be divine can any otherwise evidence it self to be so but by something that is apparently divine and there being nothing apparently divine but what is plainly and evidently a miraculous effect of divine power it follows that Miracles only can attest the Divinity of any Doctrines Wherefore to enable the first Planters of the Gospel to convince the World that their Doctrine was divine it was highly requisite that they should be endowed with this divine power of working Miracles and accordingly so they were upon this miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost upon them For so Acts 2.43 upon this coming of the Holy Ghost on them we are told that many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles so also Acts 4.30 31. that upon their praying that God would stretch forth his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might be done by the name of Iesus God in answer to their Prayer filled them with the Holy Ghost that is enabled them by his Spirit to effect these signs and wonders they had prayed for It is true indeed they had in some measure this gift of the Holy Ghost before this miraculous Descent even while our Saviour was among them but that was very sparingly and only upon some particular occasions and for the effecting some particular Miracles but our Saviour promised them that upon his going to the Father to send the Comforter to them They who believed on him should not only do the Works which he did but greater works than those John 14.12 and accordingly when after his Ascension the Holy Ghost came upon them he continued with them and upon all occasions impowered them to do all kinds of Miracles for the confirmation of their Doctrine so that whereas before the greatest part of these miraculous signs of the divinity of the Christian Doctrine were performed by Christ himself in his own Person and by that means confined to the place of his Personal habitation which was too narrow a Theatre for many Spectators to behold them the Holy Ghost by working Miracles in his name of all sorts and upon all occasions in and by his Ministers who were presently to be dispersed over the face of the whole Earth did much more amply display his divine power and with greater speed spread the renown of it through the World and by constantly impowering so many persons in so many parts of the World to perform so many miraculous things in Christ's name did as it were carry him in open Triumph through the World and at once display his Majesty and Power over the face of the whole Earth For what Christ did in his own Person while he was on Earth that and much more the Holy Ghost did in the persons of all his Ministers and the Holy Ghost did that at the same time in a thousand parts of the World which Christ did only in one and by these miraculous effects which are therefore called the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 the Holy Ghost asserted to the World the truth and divinity of those Doctrines which the Ministers of Jesus taught For this gift of Miracles expired not with those Primitive Ministers but was continued down to their Successors for several Generations together until the Christian Doctrine was propagated through the World and then when it had done its work and accomplished its end it was withdrawn as being no longer necessary Fourthly and lastly The Holy Ghost conducted them by his own infallible advice through all the emergent difficulties of their Ministry For the work wherein they were ingaged was attended with difficulties that were utterly insuperable to Humane Wisdom and Power For first their work being such as required an invincible courage and firm integrity of mind a watchful prudence and spotless purity of manners it was highly needful especially at first a good beginning being of vast importance to all great undertakings that they should be infallibly directed what persons were fit to be ordained to it and which of those were mosâ— fit and proper for the several Countries and Provinces of the World and then through the whole course of their Ministry they were fain to contend with all the united Wit and Malice of the World and were very often sent to preach among strange Nations whose Tempers and Manners they understood not and still where-ever they came they had Spies upon them to watch their Designs and observe their actions and ever and anon they were accused and impleaded by subtil and
insinuating Orators before the Tribunals of their Enemies and there forced to answer for themselves Besides that they being to convert both Iews and Gentiles between whom there was an inveterate aversion and to unite them together into one communion it could not be otherwise expected but that great dissentions should arise among their own Converts as accordingly it hapned which if not managed with infinite prudence must needs give a great disturbance to them and interrupt the course and hinder the success of their Ministry And in such difficult circumstances it was almost impossible for them not to miscarry without being conducted by an infallible prudence and circumspection under all which exigencies the Holy Ghost served the primitive Church in the same capacity as the Vrim and Thummim did the ancient Iews i. e. as an Oracle to advise them in all cases of difficulty and direct them in the management of all their great and weighty affairs Thus in that difficult case which of the Apostles should be sent forth to the Gentiles the Holy Ghost either by a Bath Col i. e. Voice from Heaven or an immediate inspiration thus directs them Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them Acts 13.2 and when they went forth among the Gentiles the Holy Ghost advises them where they should preach and where not Acts 16.6 and so also in the choice of their Bishops they had always the Direction of the Holy Ghost so in Acts 20.28 it is said that it was the Holy Ghost that set them over the Flock and S. Paul tells Timothy that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Episcopal Office wherewith he was invested was given him by Prophecy i. e. by the immediate direction of the Holy Ghost and S. Clemens who was a Disciple of the Apostles tells us that in those times they ordained Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discerning by the Spirit who should be ordained and again that they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a perfect fore-knowledge who they should chuse And thus also for composing the differences which arose between their Iewish and Gentile Converts they had the immediate advice of the Holy Ghost who directed them to that wise expedient Acts 15.28 by which the peace of the Church was secured for the present and afterwards maintained in despite of all the attempts of seditious Incendiaries to break and divide it And thus having recourse upon all occasions to this infallible Guide they were never at a loss either what to say or how to behave themselves the Holy Ghost making good to them what our Saviour had promised them When they bring you before Magistrates take no thought what ye shall answer for the Holy Ghost shall teach you at the same hour what ye ought to say Luke 12.11 12. These are the extraordinary things which the Holy Ghost acted for and under Christ in order to the planting and propagating his Gospel through the World and which he continued to act so long as it was necessary for that end For as for the first the Gift of Tongues it seems to have been continued no longer than till the Gospel had been preached to and some Converts made in the several Nations the First-fruits of whom were always ordained to the work of the Ministry and when once the several Nations had Natives of their own to preach the Gospel to them in their own Languages there was no farther necessity of this miraculous Gift of Tongues And then as for the second the Gift of Revelation it seems to have been continued no longer than till the whole New Testament was revealed and the several parts of it were collected into one Volume and distributed to the several Churches after which there was no farther necessity of any new revelation But as for the third the Gift of Miracles it seems to have been continued much longer than either of the former as indeed there was longer occasion for it especially for that of ejecting evil Spirits who for many Ages had been the Gods of the World and detecting their frauds and impostures that so by beholding the manifold Triumphs of Christ's power over them the Heathen might be at length convinced of the falseness of their own Religion and of the truth of Christ's and accordingly this gift as I shall shew hereafter was continued in the Church for above two hundred years together till it had wrought its designed effect i. e. had sufficiently detected the fraud and malice of those Idol Gods to the conviction of all that were convincible and then it was withdrawn as being no farther necessary And then as for the last viz. the Gift of Counsel and Direction it seems to have been continued no longer than till the Government of the Church was every where established and its Affairs reduced into a stated course and method by which sufficient provision being made against those emergent difficulties with which the state of Christianity was perplexed this Gift also ceased together with the reason and necessity of it Thus by these extraordinary Gifts and Operations the Holy Ghost continued to sollicite the cause of Christ and his Religion in the World till by their invincible evidence he had baffled the malice and prejudice of a deluded World and captivated Mankind into the belief and obedience of the Gospel and this being effected he discontinued those Extraordinaries and now proceeds to solicite the same cause in a more ordinary and standing way and method viz. by co-operating with mens minds and wills in a more humane and regular manner by joyning in with their Reason and thereby influencing their Wills and Affections which brings me to the 2. Second sort of the Holy Ghost's operations viz. that which he ordinarily doth and always hath done and will always continue to do For upon the cessation of these his miraculous operations the Holy Ghost did not wholly withdraw himself from mankind but he still continues Mediating with us under Christ in order to the reconciling our Wills and Affections to God and subduing that inveterate Malice and Enmity against him which our degenerate nature hath contracted For it is by this blessed Spirit that Christ hath promised to be with us to the end of the World Matth. 28.20 and Christ himself hath assured us that upon his Ascension into Heaven he would pray his Father and he should give us another Comforter meaning this Holy Ghost that he might abide with us for ever John 14.16 and accordingly the Holy Ghost is vitally united to the Church of Christ even as Souls are united to their bodies For as there is one body i. e. Church so there is one Spirit i. e. one Holy Ghost which animates that body Eph. 4.4 and hence the Unity of the Church is in the foregoing verse called the Vnity of the Spirit because as the soul by diffusing it self through all the parts of the body unites them together and keeps them from flying abroad and dispersing into
atomes so the Holy Spirit by diffusing himself throughout this mystical body joyns and unites all its parts together and makes it one separate and individual Corporation So that when by Baptism we are once incorporated into this body we are intitled to and do at least de jure participate of the vital influence of the Holy Ghost who is the Soul of it and accordingly as Baptism joyns us to that body of which this divine Spirit is the Soul so it also conveys that divine Spirit to us So that as in natural bodies those Ligaments which unite and tie the parts to one another do also convey life and spirit to them all so also in this mystical body those federal rights of Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are as it were its Nerves and Arteries that joyn and confederate its members to one another are also the conveyances of that spiritual life from the Holy Ghost which moves and actuates them all And hence the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost the being born of water and of the Holy Ghost are put together as concurrent things and in Acts 2.38 Baptism is affirmed to be necessary to our receiving the Holy Ghost and if by Baptism we receive the Holy Ghost that is a right and title to his Grace and Influence then must the Holy Ghost be still supposed vitally united to the Church whereof we are made members by our Baptism and like an Omnipresent Soul to be diffused all through it and to move and actuate every part of it by his heavenly Grace and Influence It is true he doth not move and actuate us by meer force and irresistible power so as to necessitate us or to determine our natural liberty one way or t'other nor doth he ordinarily work upon men in such a strange and miraculous way as he did in the first Ministration of the Gospel when he frequently transformed men in an instant from Beasts and Devils into Saints and as it were at one act turned the whole Tide of their natures into a quite contrary Current For so Origen against Celsus very often triumphs in these sudden and miraculous Conversions wrought by the Christian Religion so lib. 1. p. 21. should any man saith he release men's Souls from all sorts of wickedness from Lust and Unrighteousness and Contempt of God and this but in a hundred instances surely no man would imagine that he could ever have inspired so many men with reasons strong enough to conquer so many Vices without a divine assistance but if you enquire into the lives of those that have imbraced Christianity you will find that whereas before they lived in all impurities and lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. from that very time wherein they received the Word how much more equal and temperate serious and constant are they grown So again li. 2. p. 78. in answer to Celsus who calls Christianity a pestilent Doctrine neither Jew saith he nor any one else can ever make it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that a pestilent Doctrine should so wonderfully convert the most profligate persons that embraced it to a life most sutable to Nature and Reason and all manner of Vertue Such were the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost in those days as to transport men in an instant from an inveterate habit of wickedness to a habit of Piety and Vertue For so Lactantius de fals sup lib. 3. c. 26. what a mighty influence the divine Precepts have upon mens Souls daily experience shews for saith he Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus maledicus effraenatus paucissimis Dei Verbis tam placidum quam ovem reddam da cupidum avarum tenacem jam tibi eum liberalem dabo pecuniam suam plenis manibus largientem da timidum doloris ac mortis jam cruces ignes Taurum contemnet da libidinosum Adulterum Ganeonem jam sobrium castum continentem videbis da crudelem sanguinis appetentem jam in veram clementiam furor ille mutabitur da injustum insipientem peccatorem continuò aequus prudens innocens erit i. e. Give me a man who is wrathful reproachful ungovernable and with a few words of God I will render him as placid as a Lamb give me a covetous a niggardly and tenacious man I will return him to thee liberal and distributing his money with a bountiful hand give me one that is timorous of grief and death he shall despise all manner of torment give me one that is lustful adulterous and a Buffoon you shall presently see him sober chaste and continent give me one that is cruel and thirsty of bloud his fury shall be immediately converted into pity and clemency give me one that is unjust foolish and criminal and he shall be presently rendred just prudent and innocent which wondrous Changes were so very frequent in the Primitive times that the Heathen as St. Austin hath observed were very much amazed at them and therefore attributed them to the power of Magick thinking it impossible they should ever be effected without the assistance of some very powerful Spirit But since Christianity hath been spread through the World and prevailed so far as to be the Religion of Nations the divine Spirit doth not ordinarily work upon men in such a strange and miraculous way nor produce in them such sudden Changes and instantaneous Conversions but proceeds more gradually and more suitably to the Methods of Humane Nature by joyning in with our understandings and leading us on by reason and persuasion from Acts to Dispositions and from Dispositions to Habits of Piety So that whatsoever Grace he now affords us it ordinarily works on us in the same way and after the same manner as if all were performed by the strength of our own reason so that in the Renovation of our natures we cannot certainly distinguish what is done by the Spirit from what is done by our natural Reason and Conscience co-operating with him only this we do most certainly know that in this blessed work the Spirit is the main and principal Agent that without him we can do nothing and that he is the Author and Finisher of our faith who worketh in us to will and to do according to his own pleasure but yet that he doth not work upon us as a Mechanick upon dead materials but as upon living and free Agents that can and must cooperate with him that he acts not on us by any necessary causality but in such a way as is fairly consistent with the natural liberty of our Wills and doth not renew us whether we will or no but takes our free consent and endeavour along with him and that having done all on his part that is necessary to perswade us he expects that we should consider what he saith and upon that consent to his gracious Motions and express this consent in a constant course of holy and vertuous endeavour and
that unless we do thus concur with him we shall for ever remain and perish in our sin notwithstanding all that grace which he affords us But as for the particular manner of the Holy Ghost's operation on our mind it is not to be expected that we who know so little of the nature and intercourse of Spirits should be able to render a clear and distinct account of it only thus much may be said that our Soul being a thinking Spirit whose very Essence consists in a power or principle of cogitation seems naturally incapable of any other passion from any external Agent but only the impression of Thoughts For how can a Spirit whose very Essence is thinking be any otherwise affected by any thing without it but only by being made to think or by having such thoughts and considerations impressed on it And by the same reason that bodies which are material substances are impressible only by matter Souls which are thinking substances must be impressible only by Thought And hence we find by experience that there is no Object we converse with can any otherwise affect our Mind than by suggesting such thoughts and cogitations to it and that all the pleasure and torment of our minds consists in joyful and tormenting thoughts which are plain Arguments that our mind is a sort of Being which nothing but thought can strike or touch and which hath no sense or feeling of any thing but only of dreadful or hopeful pleasant or painful Cogitations And if this be so then the way of the Holy Spirits working upon our minds supposing that he works sutably to their natures must be by inspiring or impressing them with thoughts For as he is an infinite Spirit he is always and every where present with our Spirits and hath an immediate access to them by vertue of which he can speak to our minds whenever and whatever he pleases and also urge what he speaks with that life and power as to excite our most serious consideration and attention and by this it is that he ordinarily works upon us in order to the reducing us to God viz. by inspiring such good thoughts into our minds as are most apt to move and perswade us to believe and obey the Gospel and by a continued repetition of them urging and pressing them upon us in order to the reducing our vain and roving minds to a fixed and serious attention to them For it is very apparent that our Faith and all our good Resolutions are the immediate effects of deep and serious consideration I considered my ways saith David and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies So that in reducing us to God the great work of the Spirit is to reduce us to a fix'd and steady consideration which being once effected there naturally follows a good resolution unless the Will be invincibly obstinate and to this as naturally succeeds the actual return of the Soul to God. Now to reduce us to this fix'd consideration the Holy Ghost in the first place suggests good thoughts to our minds and then to keep our minds fix'd and intent on them that so our worldly cares or pleasures may not divert us from them he most importunately urges and repeats the same thoughts or seconds them with a train and succession of new ones to the same purpose so that unless we are incorrigibly obstinate against all good motions we cannot avoid admitting them into our most serious consideration and when they are there they cannot fail of raising in us good desires and affections which if we carefully cherish will soon determine in holy purposes and resolutions In all which things you see it is only by impression of thoughts that the Holy Spirit operates on our minds But this will more plainly appear by considering those particular operations on our minds which the Scripture attributes to the Holy Ghost all which may be ranked under these five Heads 1. Illumination 2. Sanctification 3. Quickening or excitation 4. Comforting or supporting 5. Intercession First Illumination or informing our minds with the light of heavenly truth thus Eph. 1.17 18. the Apostle prays that the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of Christ's calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and 1 Cor. 2.12 we are told that it is by receiving the Spirit of God that we know the things that are freely given us of God. Now this illumination of the Spirit is two-fold first External by that revelation which he hath given us of God's Mind and Will in the holy Scripture and that miraculous evidence by which he sealed and attested it for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 or as it is elsewhere expressed was delivered by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And all those miraculous testimonies we have to the Truth and Divinity of Scripture are as hath been already proved from the Holy Ghost and upon that account are called the demonstration of the Spirit So that all that light we receive from Scripture and all the evidence we have that that light is divine we derive originally from the Holy Spirit But besides this external illumination of the Spirit there is also an internal one which consists in impressing that external light and evidence of Scripture upon our understandings whereby we are enabled more clearly to apprehend and more effectually to believe it For though the divine Spirit doth not at least in the ordinary course of his operation illuminate our minds with any new truths or new evidences of truth but only presents to our minds those old and Primitive truths and evidences which he at first revealed and gave to the World yet there is no doubt but he still continues not only to suggest them both to our minds but to urge and repeat them with that importunity and thereby to imprint them with that clearness and efficacy as that if we do not through a wicked prejudice against them wilfully divert our minds from them to vain or sinful objects we must unavoidably apprehend them far more distinctly and assent to them far more cordially and effectually than otherwise we should or could have done For alas our minds are naturally so vain and stupid so giddy listless and inadvertent especially in spiritual things which are abstract from common sence as that did not the Holy Spirit frequently present importunately urge and thereby fix them on our minds our knowledge of them would be so confused and our belief so wavering and unstable as that they would never have any prevailing influence on our Wills and Affections So that our knowledge and belief of divine things so far forth as they are saving and effectual to our renovation are the fruits and products of this internal
illumination of the Spirit Secondly Another of these ordinary operations of the Spirit is Sanctification which consists in the purifying our Wills and Affections from those wicked Inclinations and inordinate Lusts which countermand God's Will in us and set us at enmity against him and this also the Scripture attributes to the Holy Spirit So Tit. 3.5 For according to his mercy he saveth us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and in 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God. And this is the meaning of our being sealed by the Spirit so often mentioned in the New Testament viz. our receiving his Image or Impression from him which consists in holiness and righteousness and by this Image or Impression we are discriminated and set apart from the rest of the World as a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation and a peculiar People 1 Pet. 2.9 and made Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 upon which account we are said to be anointed by the Spirit 1 John 2.20 and by the same Image we are also intitled to and secured of all the blessings of the New Covenant upon which account it is called The earnest of the Spirit and the first-fruits of the Spirit And this Image of himself the Holy Ghost produces in us by suggesting to our minds the powerful Motives and Arguments of Religion and by often reiterating imprints them upon us with all their native force and efficacy in the most lively and affecting Characters and by these his blessed suggestions he by degrees perswades and bends our stubborn Wills mâ—lts and mollifies our hard hearts reduces and tempers our wild affections to a willing compliance with the Will of God and at length to a hearty complacency in all those instances of Piety and Vertue wherein our Sanctification or this Image of himself consists Which operation of the Spirit we frequently experience in our selves For how often do we find good thoughts injected into our minds we know not how nor whence which are many times improved into such strong and vehement convictions of the folly and danger of our sin as even in the midst of our loose mirth and jollity and in despite of all our endeavour to chase them from our minds and rock our selves into a deep security cease not to follow and haunt and importune us till they have scared us into wise and sober Resolutions and though we like ungrateful Creatures do oftentimes stifle the good motions of the Spirit and turn a deaf Ear to his Calls and gracious Invitations yet doth he not presently give us over but still as we are running away from him we hear a voice behind us calling after us to return and though we still run on yet still he follows us with his importunities through the whole course of our sinful life till either he hath brought us back or sees us past all hope of recovery And indeed such is the degeneracy of our Natures the vanity of our Minds and the prejudice of our Wills and Affections against God and Goodness that without this sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost it is certain no man ever was or ever will be reclaimed to a state of Piety and Vertue For though our Religion furnishes with such Motives as are infinitely sufficient to perswade us and though our Minds and Wills are not so depraved but that still we are naturally capable to consider and naturally free to follow those Motives yet so vain and roving are our Minds so averse to all serious and spiritual thoughts so stubborn and inflexible are our Wills to those spiritual duties which those Motives perswade to so cankered and prejudiced against them that did not the Holy Ghost frequently impress them on our Minds and Pathetically urge and apply them to our Wills and Affections we should never of our selves so throughly consider them as to be conquered and perswaded by them but either our thoughts would presently fly away from them and rove into sensual cares or pleasures or our Wills and Affections by objecting their prejudices and the interest of their Lusts against them would infallibly bâ—ssle and defeat them So that it is to this sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost that all the Graces and good Dispositions of our Minds are owing Thirdly Another of thâ—se ordinary operations of the Spiâ—it is Quickning or Exciting us in the ways of Piety and Vertue For as by his sanctifying influence he first inspires us with spiritual life so he still proceeds to cherish and invigorate it and to quicken it up into Activity and Motion wheâ—ever he perceives it droop or languish Hence the Apostle Gal. 5.25 If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit i. e. if we have recâ—iâ—ed spirituâ—l life from him let us move and act by him and hence also we are said to be led by the Spirit of God i. e. to be moved and conducted in our motion by him Rom. 8.14 And this he also doth partly by admonishing and putting us in mind of our duty which in the Câ—â—ud and Hurry of our Worldly occasions we are too prone to forget and partly suggesting to our minds such considerations of Religion as are most apt to quicken ouâ— sluggish endeavour to allure our hope or alarm our fear or â—ffâ—ct our ingenuity and by thâ—se to excite our zeal and render us more active and vâ—gorous in the ways of Piety and Vertue and of this operation of the Holy Spirit there is no good man but hath frequent experience For thus when our thoughts are squandered abroad among our worldly cares and pleasures we are many times assaulted with unexpected temptations which â—inding our minds in a careless forgetful and incogitant posture are apt to surprise and hurry us into sinful actions before we are aware in which nick of time a good thought is suddenly shot into our minds to warn and admonish us of the precipice of sin and guilt we are falling into by which if we are not wilfully deaf and inadvertent to it the temptation is discovered and baffled and defeated and thus also when through the many temptations that do here surround us our zeal for God and goodness doth at any time languish and we begin to grow cold and indifferent in Religion we find a world of good thoughts pressing so hard upon our minds as that without doing violence to our selves we cannot avoid listening and attending to them and when they have almost forced themselves into our attention there they do so vigorously struggle with our reluctant Wills so Pathetically address to our listless affections that without equal violence to our selves we cannot avoid being moved by their perswasions and at last conquered by their powerful importunities Now these good thoughts are many times the immediate inspirations and whispers of the Holy Spirit to our minds
which they are most endeared and familiarized into the divine and spiritual world there is no one duty whatsoever to the due performance of which our carnal affections are naturally more listless and averse and therefore as herein we have most need of the Holy Spirit 's assistance so herein he more especially operates on our minds exciting in us all those graces and affections which are proper to the several parts of our Prayer such as shame and sorrow in the confession of our sins a sense of our need of mercy and a hope of obtaining it in our supplications for pardon and forgiveness resignation to God's Will and dependance on his truth and goodness in our address for temporal mercies and deliverances hunger and thirst after Righteousness in our Petitions for his grace and assistance and in a word Gratitude and Love and Admiration of God in our praises and thanksgivings for mercy and in these divine affections the life and soul of Prayer consists And accordingly in Gal. 4.6 the Apostle tells us Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father that is by kindling devout and pious affections in your Souls enabling you to cry to God with all earnestness and assurance as to a kind and merciful Father and hence also we are said to pray in or by the Holy Ghost Iude 20. because all the proper graces and affections of Prayer are excited in us by him And this his excitation of the graces of Prayer in us is called his making Intercession for us Rom. 8.26 27. which imports no more than his enabling us to offer up the matter of our Prayers to God in a most devout and affectionate manner or as he there explains himself with sighs and groans that are not to be uttered that is with such earnest and flagrant affections as are too big for words to express And this is properly to intercede for us For as Christ who is our Advocate in Heaven doth offer up our Prayers to the Father and enforce them with his own Intercessions so his Spirit who is our Advocate on Earth begets in us those affections which render our Prayers prevalent and wings them with fervour and ardency the one pleads with God for us in our own hearts by kindling such desires there as render our Prayers acceptable to him and the other pleads with him for us in Heaven by presenting those desires and soliciting their supply and acceptance Now this Intercession of the Holy Spirit is also performed as all the aforegoing operations by suggesting to and imprinting such thoughts upon our minds as are most apt to raise and excite our affections which thoughts he often urges with that vehemence and presses with that reiterated importunity that if we do not wilfully repel them from our minds and refuse them admittance to our hearts and affections they cannot fail to stir up in us all the graces of Prayer and enflame our Souls with a servent devotion and accordingly whenever we harbour these suggestions of the Spirit and by seriously attending to them cherish and encourage them we find by experience they so affect and influence our devotions as that in every Prayer our Souls take wing and like the Angel that appeared to Manoah â—ly up to Heaven in the flames of our Sacrifice And thus I have given a brief account both of what the Holy Spirit hath done and of what he still continues to do towards the promoting and effectuating of Christ's Mediation for God with men And by what hath been said it abundantly appears that he hath done for us and still continues to do all that our case and necessity requires and that there is nothing imaginable wanting on his part towards the reducing and reconciling our minds to God. So that now he may justly say to us what God doth to his Vineyard Isa. 5.4 What could I have done more for my Vineyard that I have not done Or as the Hebrew expresses it What is to be done more Not but that by his omnipotent power absolutely considered the Holy Spirit can do more for us than he ordinarily doth he can in an instant infuse a new nature into us in despite of all the resistance of our Wills and make such irresistible impressions on our minds as our most inveterate prejudice and enmity against God shall never be able to withstand but then his power always acts by the direction of his wisdom and can do no otherwise that is it can do no more than it can wisely do and it is certain that ordinarily and regularly it cannot wisely so act upon men as to determine their natural liberty to good and evil since by so doing he must not only commit a perpetual violence on the frame of our Beings and thereby reverse the established course of our natures but also destroy the very being of Vertue in us which is no longer Vertue than while it is free and unconstrained But whatsoever he can wisely do or which is all one consistently with the liberty of our nature he hath done and still continues doing So that now to the reduction of our Souls to God there is nothing wanting but our own consent and free co-operation which if we will refuse we may for for desperate obstinacy there is no remedy if we will not comply with the blessed Spirit it is certain he will not save us whether we will or no. So that when inquisition shall be made for the bloud of our Souls the utmost we can charge him with is that he did not drag us to Heaven in spite of our teeth and bind up our hands in the Cords of an irresistible Fate to hinder us from murdering our selves but if we have so little regard of our selves as to spurn at our own happiness it is by no means fit that he should force it upon us and it would be a very mean and unreasonable condescension in him to prostitute his grace to such as scorn and refuse it If therefore after all these things that the Spirit hath done for us we persist and finally perish in our enmity against God he may fairly wash his hands in innocency over us and charge our bloud upon our own heads and how deplorable soever our condition proves in the future state his Iustice will Triumph gloriously in our ruine and our own Consciences together with all the reasonable World will be forced to be his Compurgators and to pronounce him infinitely just and righteous in all his ways SECT II. Concerning the particular Offices of Christ's Mediation FOR the clearer stating what are the particular Offices of the Mediator it will be necessary briefly to enquire into the state and condition of the Parties between whom he Mediates as they stand related to one another For he being to officiate for and between God and Man to be sure his Offices must be such as their respective states and conditions do require For how can
is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repents Luke 15.10 we cannot but suppose that so far as their own ability and the Laws of the invisible World will permit them they do promote and further our repentance since in so doing they contribute to their own joy and in a word since the Scripture assures us that the Angels are present in our holy Assemblies which that passage of S. Paul seems necessarily to imply 1 Cor. 11.10 For this cause ought the woman to have power over her head i. e. to be veiled in the sacred Assemblies because of the Angels or out of a decent respect and reverence to those blessed Spirits who are supposed to be present there since I say they are present in our Religious Assemblies we cannot reasonably suppose them to be present merely as Idle Auditors and Spectators who have nothing else to do but only to observe and gaze upon our holy solemnities and therefore must conclude that their great business there is to assist us in the performance of them to remove our indispositions and recollect our wandrings to fix our attention excite our affections and inflame our devotions for besides as they are the Ministers of the divine Providence they have many opportunities of presenting good objects to us and removing temptations from us of disciplining our natures with prosperities and afflictions and of so ordering and varying our outward Circumstances as to render our duty more facile and easie to us besides which I say as they are Spirits they have a very near and familiar access to our souls not that they can make any immediate impressions on our Vnderstanding or Will which are a sphere of light to which no created spirit can approach it being under the immediate Oeconomy of the Father of Spirits but yet being Spirits there is no doubt but they may and oftentimes do insinuate themselves into our fancies and mingle with the spirits and humours of our bodies and by that means never want opportunity both to suggest good thoughts to us and raise holy affections in us For that they can work upon our fancies is apparent else there could be neither Angelical nor Diabolical dreams and if they can so act upon our fancies as to excite new images and representations in them they may by this means communicate new thoughts to our understandiâ—g which naturally Prints off from the fancy those Ideas and Images which it there finds set and composed And as they can work upon our fancies so there is no doubt but they can influence our spirits and humours else they have not the power so much â—s to cure or inflict a disease and by thus working â—pon our spirits they can moderate as they please the violence of our passions which are nothing but the flowings and reflowings of our spirits to and fro from our hearts and by influencing our humours they can compose us when they please into such a sedate and serious temper as is most apt to receive religious impressions and to be influenced by the Heavenly motions of the Holy Ghost These things I doubt not the blessed Angels can and frequently do though we perceive it not and though by the Laws of the world of Spirits they may probably be restrained from doing their utmost for us that so we may still act with an uncontrouled freedom and be left under a necessity of a constant and diligent endeavour yet this we may be sure of that as the evil Angels are always busie to pervert and seduce us from our duty so the good are no less active to reduce us to and assist us in it VI. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their conducting the separated Spirits of his faithful Subjects to the Mansions of Glory It was an ancient Tradition among the Jews that the Souls of the Faithful were conducted by Angels into Paradise of which the Chaldee Paraphrase makes mention on Cant. 4.12 and this Tradition of theirs is confirmed by our Saviour Luke 16.22 where he tells us that when Lazarus died he was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom i. e. into that place of refreshment where the Soul of Abraham who was the Father of the Faithful dwells and in all probability that fiery Chariot and Horses wherein Elias was mounted up to Heaven 2 Kings 2.11 was nothing but a Convoy of Angels and accordingly Tertullian de anima c. 52. stiles the Angels Evocatores animarum i. e. the Messengers of God that call forth the lingring souls out of their bodies and shew them the Paraturam diversorii the preparation of those blessed Mansions where they are to abide till the Resurrection And this Office the good Angels do perform to the Souls of the faithful not meerly to congratulate their safe arrival into the world of blessedness though there is no doubt but that they who do so heartily rejoyce in the Conversion of sinners are ready enough to congratulate their Glorification but that which seems to be the great reason of this Ministration of theirs is to guard holy Souls when they leave their bodies through those lower Regions of the Air which are the Seat and Principality of the Apostate Angels who may therefore be very reasonably supposed to be continually lying in wait there like birds of prey to seize upon the Souls of men as soon as they are escaped out of the Cage of their bodies into the open Air and either to sâ—are and terrifie them in their passage to Heaven or to lead them away captive into their dark Prisons of endless horrour and despair and therefore to prevent their affrighting good souls which is all the hurt they can do them as they pass along through their Territories they are no sooner parted from their bodies but they are taken into the custody of some good Angel or Angels who guard them safe through the Enemies quarters and beat off those evil Spirits from them that would fain be infesting and assaulting them and it is not at all improbable but that by this very thing those evil Spirits do distinguish what Souls do belong to them from what do not viz. their being destitute of or attended with this holy Guard of Angels When they behold a separated Spirit under this Heavenly Convoy they fly away from it with infinite rage and envy to see it irrecoverably rescued out of their power to make it miserable but when they perceive one destitute and abandoned of this Angelick guard they immediately seize it as their own and so commit it to their Chains of darkness And as the good Angels do guard good Souls as they pass through the Air against the power and malice of the Prince of the power of the Air so they also conduct and guide them to their Mansions of blessedness For when the departed Soul is wafâ—ed through the Air into those immense tracts of Aether wherein the Sun and all the Heavenly bodies
it a great many years after for so Ignatius who was his Cotemporary in his Epistle to that Church stiles him Polycarp your Bishop and earnestly exhorts his Presbyters and Deacons as well as the Laity to be subject to him and Irenaeus who personally knew him hath this passage concerning him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Polycarpus was not only instructed by the Apostles and did not only converse with many of those who had seen our Lord but by the Apostles who were in Asia was made Bishop of Smyrna Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 15. and in their Encyclical Epistle of his Martyrdom the whole Church of Smyrna stile him Bishop of the Catholick Church of Smyrna ibid. So also Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus who was thirty eight years old when Polycarp suffered tells us that he was Bishop and Martyr in Smyrna Euseb. Hist. l. 5. c. 24. And the same is attested by Tertullian Eusebius and S. Ierom and indeed by all Ecclesiastick antiquity so that it is a plain case that one of these Angels to whom S. Iohn writes was Bishop of the Church whereof he stiles him the Angel and since one was so to be sure all were so especially considering that very near if not at the very time when these Epistles were written we have certain accounts that there were Bishops actually presiding in these seven Churches So within twelve years after these Epistles were written Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians makes mention of Onesimus their Bishop whom he exhorts them all as well Presbyters and Deacons as Laity to obey That there was also at the same time a Bishop in Philadelphia is abundantly evident from Ignatius his Epistle to that Church though he doth not name him and about the same time Carpus was Bishop of Thyatira as the ancient Roman Martyrology testifies and Segasis of Laodicea Vid. Euseb. Hist. lib. 4. c. 25. And Melito Bishop of Sardis ibid. And as for the Church of Pergamus Paraeus in his Commentary on Chap. 2. of the Revelations proves out of Aretas Caesariensis that Antipas that faithful Martyr mentioned Rev. 2.13 was Bishop of it immediately before the Angel of that Church to whom S. Iohn wrote and that that Angel was one Gaius who as he proves out of Clemens immediately succeeded Antipas in the Episcopal Chair Since therefore it is apparent that at the writing these Epistles to these seven Churches there was a Bishop actually presiding in one of them and that about the same time there were Bishops presiding also in all the rest there can be no colour of Reason to doubt but that all those Churches had Bishops in them when S. Iohn wrote to them and if so to be sure those Bishops being the Governours of those Churches and having the charge of them committed to them were those very Angels whom S. Iohn wrote to because he all along writes to them as to those who were the Overseers and Governours of their respective Churches and if those Angels were Bishops then in them our Saviour expresly allows and approves of the Episcopal Order since he not only dignifies them with the name of Angels but calls them stars in his own right hand The sum of all therefore is this If our Saviours own institution seconded by the practice of his Apostles upon it and succeeded by the Conformity of all the Primitive Churches to it and this Conformity of theirs authorized by the express approbation of our Saviour be a sufficient argument of the Divine Right of any form of Church-Government then must the Episcopal form which hath all these things you see to plead for it self be of Divine Right and Ordination Having thus shewn at large what that Ecclesiastick or spiritual Government is which Christ hath established in his Church I proceed Thirdly and lastly To shew what are the proper Ministries of this Government in the Kingdom of Christ and these are of two sorts First such as are common to the Bishops or Governours of the Church with the inferiour Officers and secondly such as are peculiar to the Bishops or Governours First Such as are common to the Bishops together with the inferiour Officers of the Church and these are 1. To teach the Gospel 2. To administer the Evangelical Sacraments 3. To offer up the Publick Prayers and Intercessions of Christian Assemblies I. To teach the Gospel which is the first Ministerial Act mentioned by our Saviour in the Commission which he gave his Apostles Go teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 and accordingly the Apostles declare Acts 6.2.4 that preaching the Word was one of the principal imployments appertaining to their Office but yet it is evident that it never was restrained to their Office for not only the Apostles but the seventy Disciples also were Commissioned to Preach the Gospel by our Saviour Luke 10.9 10 11. and even in the Apostles days not only they but Philip also and Stephen and Lucius of Cyrene who were no Apostles did yet preach the Gospel to the World and besides the Apostles there were Prophets Teachers and Evangelists that preached the Gospel as well as they But yet as for the Office of Preaching it is plain that none were ever admitted to it but either by immediate Commission from our Saviour or by Apostolick Ordination or by an immediate Miraculous Unction of the Holy Ghost by which they were inspired with the gift of Preaching and enabled freely and readily and without any study of their own to explain and prove and apply the Doctrines of the Gospel to their Hearers and that either in their own or other Languages as occasion required which gift was the same with that which is called in Scripture the gift of utterance and it being bestowed upon them for the publick benefit and edification of the Church the very bestowing it without any other Ordination was an immediate Mission from the Holy Ghost only they who pretended to it were to be tried by such as had the gift of discerning of Spirits vid. 1 Cor. 12.10 compared with 1 Cor. 14.29 and if upon that trial their pretence was found real they were owned and received without any more ado as authorized Preachers sent by the Holy Ghost and it was upon this extraordinary Mission as it seems very probable that those extraordinary Offices of Prophets and Evangelists were founded both which included Authority to preach the Gospel and therefore upon the Cessation of this extraordinary Mission those Offices ceased immediately with it as depending wholly upon it and from thenceforth none were ever admitted to the Office of Preaching but by ordinary Mission and Ordination from the Apostolate derived to the Bishops and Governours of the Church For though there are some very early instances of learned Lay-men that were admitted to preach upon some emergent occasions and upon special license from the Bishop yet can there no one instance be produced of any that were admitted to the Office of Preaching without Episcopal Ordination II. Another of the
judgment seat whence every Eye shall see him shine in his own his Fathers and his Angels glory who in a bright Corona shall sit round about him like so many Stars about a Sun and where as the Prophet Daniel describes him Chap. 7. ver 9 10. he shall exhibit himself to publick view cloathed in garments as white as snow with the hair of his head like the pure wooll sitting on a Throne like the fiery flame and its Wheels as burning fire with a fiery stream issuing out from before him and a thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him whilst the Iudgment is set and the Books are opened And thus I have given a brief account from Scripture of the manner and circumstances of his coming from whence I proceed to the IV. And last general I proposed to treat of viz. to explain the whole Process of this Iudgment And that we may proceed herein the more distinctly we will consider it with respect to those twofold objects viz. the Righteous and the Wicked about which it is to be exercised for it is plain from Scripture that they are not to be judged promiscuously one among another as they come but the Sheep are to be separated from the Goats the Good from the Bad and to be tried and sentenced apart from one another Mat. 25.32 33. And he i. e. the Son of Man shall separate them from one another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his Right hand and the Goats on the left in which separation the precedency will be given to the Sheep or Righteous who are to be judged first for so the Scripture assures us that the dead in Christ are to rise first and that after they have undergone their Iudgment they are immediately to be wasted up into the Air there to meet the Lord and to sit as Assessors with him in that Judgment which he shall afterwards pass upon the wicked vid. 1 Thes. 4.15 16 17. compared with 1 Cor. 6.2 In explaining therefore the Process of this Iudgment we will treat of it in the same order wherein it will be transacted beginning first with the Iudgment of the Righteous in which according to the Scripture-account of it there are these five things implied 1. Their Citation or Summons 2. Their personal Appearance before the Judgment Seat. 3. Their Trial. 4. Their Sentence 5. Their Assumption into the clouds of heaven I. This Judgment of the Righteous includes their Citation or Summons which as was observed before is to be performed by the Voice or Trump of the Archangel i. e. by an Audible shout or noise made by the Prince of Angels and sounding throughout the Universe like the mighty blast of a Trumpet For as it was anciently the manner of Nations to gather their Assemblies by the sound of a Trumpet so by the same sound the Scripture tells us God will assemble the world of men to judgment and that this shall be a real Audible sound like that of a Trumpet though proceeding from no other instrument than that of the Archangels mouth I see no reason to doubt because with such a noise we read God did descend upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19.16 and why may we not as well understand the one in a literal sense as the other it being no more improper in the nature of the thing for God to proclaim by such a sound his coming to judge the World than it was his coming to give Laws to Israel But then together with this mighty Voice or Trump of the Archangel there shall proceed from Christ a divine power even his holy Spirit by which he raised himself from the dead by whose omnipotent Agency all those holy Reliques of the bodies of his Saints which are now scattered about the world shall be gathered up reunited and reorganized into glorious bodies for so the Apostle attributes the Resurrection of our bodies to the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.11 For if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us and the old materials of their bodies being thus reunited and reformed by the powerful energy of the Holy Ghost accompanying the sound of the Archangels Trump those Saintly Spirits which anciently inhabited them and which are now come down from heaven with their Saviour shall every one re-enter its own proper body and animate it with immortal vigour and activity and whilst the dead Saints are thus arising those who shall then be living and have not tasted death shall by the same Almighty Power be changed transformed and glorified in the twinkling of an eye 1 Cor. 15.51 52. which being transacted they shall all be gathered together by the Ministry of the holy Angels from all parts of the Earth before the judgment Seat of Christ Mat. 13.27 For II. This Iudgment of the Righteous doth also include their personal Appearance before the Judgment Seat. What this Iudgment Seat will be hath been briefly hinted before viz. a vast body of luminous aether condensed into the form of a bright and radiant Cloud and placed in the Region of the Air at a convenient distance from the Earth streaming with light from every part and casting forth an unspeakable glory for which cause it is called the Throne of his glory and is described by S Iohn to be a great white or refulgent Throne Rev. 20.11 out of which Lightnings and Thunders are said to proceed Rev. 4.5 which implies that it will be a Cloud it being from Clouds that Thunders and Lightnings do proceed And before this glorious Tribunal or bright Iudgment-Seat shall all the Assembly of the Righteous appear to undergo a merciful Trial and receive a happy Doom Here shall the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs the holy Church throughout all the World both Militant and Triumphant meet and in one entire body present themselves before their blessed Redeemer who looking down from his exalted Throne shall at one view see all the Congregation of his Saints before him and with infinite complacency surveigh the fruit of the travel of his Soul and the mighty purchase of his precious bloud for so the Apostle tells us that we must all stand before his Iudgment Seat. Rom. 14.10 III. This Iudgment of the Righteous doth also include their Trial for so the Apostle assures us We must all appear i. e. we Righteous as well as others before the Iudgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body 2 Cor. 5.10 which plainly implies that even the Righteous shall undergo an impartial trial of their deeds that so they may receive a reward proportionable to them and more expresly Rom. 14.12 he tells us that we must every one of us give an account
Imprimatur CAROLUS ALSTON R.P.D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis â—nii 26. 1686. THE Christian Life PART II. Wherein that FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF Christian Duty THE Doctrine of our SAVIOURS Mediation is Explained and Proved VOLUME II. By JOHN SCOTT D. D. Rector of S. Peters Poor London The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in S. Paul's Church-Yard and Thomas Horn at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange 1687. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THis second Volume of the second Part of the Christian Life had long since been made Publick had it not been for an unfortunate Accident which befel me when it was almost finished by which I was necessitated almost to begin again and cast the whole into a different Method from what I first designed for according to my first Draught this second Volume had not ammounted to much above half of what it now is only I intended to have added some Notes at the end of it for the fuller proof and explanation of several Points therein handled which now I am forced to leave out the Book being already swell'd so much beyond my first Intention only three or four of them I am forced to Print with it because I had referr'd to them in two of the Sheets which were Printed before I new model'd the whole Design I pray God prosper this Work according to its honest Intention and that will be an abundant compensation for all the Pains and Labor I have undergone in composing it THE CONTENTS SECT I. OF the Signification and Notion of a Mediator pag. 4 c. Six general Articles proposed to our belief in Scripture concerning the Person and Offices of the Mediator First That he is designed and authorized to this Office by God who is our absolute Lord and Sovereign 6. Vpon what accounts the belief of this is necessary 8. Secondly That this Office to which he is Authorized consists in acting for and in the behalf of God and Men who are the Parties between whom he mediates 10. the belief of which Article carries with it the most indispensible Obligations to Christian Piety and Vertue 11. Thirdly That his Mediation proceeds upon certain terms and stipulations between God and Man which terms he obtained of God for us and in Gods Name hath published to us 17. what these terms are ibid. the performance of these Terms our Saviour solicits both of God and us 18. Fourthly That as he acts for and in the behalf of God and Men so be partakes of the Natures of both 23. That he should partake of the Nature of God was highly necessary to qualifie him for this sublime Office of mediating for God with Men 24. and the same necessity there was that he should partake of the nature of Man 27. That he should also partake of the nature of both no less requisite to qualifie him to Mediate for Men with God 30. That he is God as well as Man proved from Scripture 34. and also that he is Man as well as God 39. Fifthly That as he partakes of the Natures of both so that he might transact Personally with both he was sent down from Heaven to us and is returned from us to Heaven 42. Of the Birth and Personal Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in Christ 44. Of his Death Resurrection and Ascension 46 c. Sixthly That upon his return to Heaven there to mediate Personally for Men with God he substituted the Divine and Omnipresent Spirit personally to promote and effectuate his mediation for God with Men 49 50. This Divine Spirit is the third Person in the Triâ—une Godhead 50. That there is a third Person subsisting in the Divine Nature and that he is the same with the Spirit of God in the Old Testament 51. And first That this Spirit is a Person ibid. Secondly That he is a Divine Person 53. Thirdly That he is the third Divine Person 56. Of the subordination of these Divine Persons and that it arises not from any inequality of Essence but from the inequalities of their Personal properties 57 c. That there was always a subordination of the Son to the Father and of the Holy Ghost to both 58. That in the affair of the Mediation this subordination was founded not only in the inequalities of their Personal properties but also in a mutual compact and agreement 59. That the Holy Spirit acts and hath always acted under Christ in the Kingdom of God 60. That by the Holy Spirit Christ himself acted while he was upon Earth 60 61. That this Spirit is sent both from the Father and the Son and of the different nature of their Missions 61 c. Some things which the Holy Spirit hath done in the pursuance of his Ministry to our Saviour and hath long since ceased to do as first he inspired the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour with the gift of Languages 65 66. Secondly He fully instructed them by his immediate Inspirations in the Doctrine which they were to teach the World 67 c. Thirdly He gave the most convincing evidence of the Truth and Divinity of their Doctrine 70. Fourthly He conducted them by his infallible advice through all the emergent difficulties of their Ministry 72. Of the cessation of these miraculous Assistances 74 c. Other things which the Holy Spirit hath always done and always continues in pursuance of this his Ministry as being continually present with the Church 76. We receive him in our Baptism 77. Of the different manner of his ordinary Operations now from what it was heretofore 78 c. That these his ordinary Operations are all performed by impression of thoughts 81 82. they are all reduced to five Heads First Illumination 83 c. Secondly Sanctification 85. Thirdly Quickning or Excitation 88. Fourthly Comforting and supporting 90. Fifthly Intercession 93. SECT II. Concerning the particular Offices of Christs Mediation From the respective states and conditions of the Parties between whom Christ mediates is shewn the necessity of his being Prophet Priest and King 98. The order in which our Saviour proceeds in the discharge of these Offices 100. SECT III. Concerning the Prophetick Office of Christ. The great need of this Office 101. That the Messias was to be a Prophet 102. Of the import of the word Prophesie 103. The admirable accomplishments of our Saviour for this Office shewn in three Particulars First That when he came down to Prophesie to us he came immediately from the Bosom of the Father 104. Secondly That he came down into our own Natures 160. Thirdly That while he abode among us he was always full of the Holy Ghost 109. how effectualy he discharged this Office shewn in six Particulars First He made a full declaration of his Fathers Will to the World 113. Secondly He proved and confirmed what he declared by Miracles 116. Thirdly He gave a perfect example of Obedience to what he declared and proved to be his Fathers
sacrificed body to the Father he did what the High Priest did when he sprinkled the bloud of his Sacrifice i. e. he interceded for us with God and indeed he interceded more prevalently by this significant action than if he had used all the Eloquence of Men and Angels For his wounds are vocal and his bloud speaks yea and not only speaks better things for us than the bloud of Abel spoke but also expresses what it speaks far more powerfully and emphatically than it is possible for any verbal Oratory to do So that by the presenting to his Father his wounded and bleeding body which carries with it an inexhaustible fountain of Rhetorique and Persuasion he makes the most moving and pathetical intercession for us the sense of which is this though the full force and Emphasis of it no Language can express O my Father behold this sacrificed body of mine which by thy consent and approbation hath been substituted to bear the punishment which was due to thee from Mankind and through the wounds of which I have chearfully poured out the precious bloud of God as a ransom for the sins of the World for the sake of this bloud therefore be thou so far propitious to those miserable sinners it was shed for as upon condition they shall repent to accept it in exchange for the lives of their Souls which are forfeited to thee to release them from the Obligation they are under to die eternally and upon their final perseverance in well-doing to crown them with eternal life and that this bloud which at thy command I have willingly shed for them may not through their inability to repent and persevere be utterly ineffectual to them O send thy Holy Spirit to assist their weak faculties to excite their endeavours and co-operate with them This is the Language of Christ's sacrificed body in Heaven and these are the better things which his bloud bespeaks for us For his bloud bespeaks those good things for us in Heaven for which he shed it upon Earth i. e. the remission of our sins and our eternal life of which blessings his bloud being the price that God had promised to accept his presenting it to him in Heaven not only speaks for but humbly demands them as carrying with it the unanswerable claim of an accepted Price to a stated Purchace So that this address which Christ makes for us to God in heaven is not performed by him after the manner of a prostrate Supplicant with bended knees up-lifted hands and lowly supplications but in such a manner as comports with the Kingly Majesty he is advanced to and so as at the same time to assert his own right of purchace in the blessings he addresses for and yet to acknowledge God to be the supreme fountain and disposer of them And this the Scripture tells us he performs by appearing in the presence of God for us and presenting his sacrificed body to him as a standing motive to prevail with him to be propitious to us and to crown us with all those graces and favours in consideration of which he laid down his life for us And accordingly he is said to offer himself to God for us in heaven Heb. 9.25 and to offer his one Sacrifice i. e. to God in heaven for sin for ever Heb. 10.12 By which offering or presenting his Sacrifice to God he doth at once claim for us by the right of his purchace all those good things for which he paid down the price of his bloud and also by a silent desire pray to God to bestow them upon us whereby he acknowledges him to be the sovereign disposer of them So that this significant action of Christ's presenting his sacrificed body to God is both a Claim and a Prayer or rather it is a Prayer backt and enforced with a rightful claim to the blessings he prays for For so for that particular blessing of the Spirit he himself tells us I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14.16 not that he offers up any other Prayer to the Father but what his wounds and bloud continually make which with incessant importunity do move and solicite God in our behalf but his meaning is this by presenting that Sacrifice to my Father in Heaven which I am going to offer on the Cross and by which among other blessings I shall purchace of my Father his Holy Spirit for you I will pray him to send his Holy Spirit to you I will pray him by my wounds and bloud which are a thousand times more moving and eloquent than any vocal Prayer I can offer in your behalf for while they pray him to send his Spirit to you they lay an undeniable claim to what they pray for as being the dear and inestimable price by which I am purchasing his Spirit for you From all which it is evident that this address which Christ now makes for us to his Father in Heaven consists in the presenting his sacrificed body to him by which he both prays to him and claims what he prays for III. It is by the continued and perpetual oblation or presentment of this his sacrificed body to the Father that Christ continues and perpetuates this his address or intercession in our behalf For the fiâ—st presenting or oâ—lation of his sacrificed body in Heaven was the beginning and commencement of his intercession and the whole progress of his intercession is nothing but that same oblation continued and perpetuated For as the High Priest was interceding for the people all the time that he was presenting the bloud of the Sacrifice before the Lord so Christ is interceding for us all the while that he is presenting his sacrificed body in Heaven For it is by the presence of his sacrificed body that he intercedes and therefore so long as his body is present in Heaven so long he must be interceding by it in our behalf So that between the Iewish High Priest's Intercession and Christ's there is this vast difference that the former presented himself in the Holy of Holies with his Sacrifice and consequently interceded by it but once a year viz. on the great day of Expiation whereas the latter continually presents his Sacrifice in Heaven and so doth continually intercede by it and whereas the bloud which the High Priest presented was so mean and inconsiderable that the whole vertue of it was still spent in one Act of Intercession as not being available enough for him to intercede with it twice insomuch that in every new act of Intercession he was still fain to present new bloud the bloud of Christ was of that infinite moment and value as that though he makes a continued and perpetuated Intercession by it yet the vertue and efficacy the power and prevalency of it with God remains fresh and unimpaired so that he needs not sacrifice again that so he may have new bloud to present but with that
first Commencement of this Covenant Christ was Mediator of it and so hath continued all along under that particular Renewal of it which God made to the People of Israel For the Scripture expresly affirms that he is the Mediator and Surety of this New and better Covenant that is that it is he who as our Advocate with God obtains for us the Blessings of this Covenant and who as our King under God dispenses thâ—m to us and if he be thus the Mediator of this Covenant now he must have always been so even from the Fall upon which it commenced to his Ascension into Heaven otherwise the New Covenant upon which he now Mediates must have been four thousand years without a Mediator which considering the whole state and condition of it can by no means be allowed For besides that the Fall of man was the reason why God withdrew himself from all immediate converse with him and that therefore it is reasonably to be presumed that whatsoever converse he had with him afterwards it was through a Mediator there is nothing more evident from Scripture than that this very Covenant which is the standing Medium of God's converse and intercourse with men was granted to us by God in consideration of Christ's Death and Sacrifice Since therefore it was granted long before Christ died even from the Fall of Adam it must be granted upon Christ's obliging and engaging himself to the Father to die for us in the fulness of time which engagement of his was virtually and in effect an offering up himself a Sacrifice for us God being as much secured of it upon his engagement as if he had actually performed it Upon which account he is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 because upon his obliging himself to die for us which was immediately after the Fall the Event became as certain and infallible as if in that very moment he had breathed out his Soul upon the Cross. And accordingly God proceeded on it as on a sure and certain Fund and in consideration of it granted the new Covenant to the World. Hence the Apostle tells us that it was by means of his death that there was redemption for the transgressions that were under the first Covenant Heb. 9.15 Since therefore it was in consideration of Christ's future Sacrifice that God first granted this Covenant to men it necessarily follows that upon the same consideration he at the same time appointed Christ to be the Mediator of it because as I shewed before he is Mediator in the right and vertue of his Sacrifice by which he obtained it and therefore since his Sacrifice had the same vertue in it when it was future as it hath now when it is past he had the same right to be Mediator of it then as he hath now In short Christ's Sacrifice was as certain in God's account and therefore as prevalent with him before as after it was offered and therefore since his Mediatorship of the New Covenant is wholly owing to the prevalence of his Sacrifice there was the same reason why God should admit him to be Mediator of it before it was offered as after and accordingly long before he offered up his Sacrifice he is called the Angel or Minister of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 And St. Paul expresly tells us that four hundred and thirty years before the Law of Moses this Covenant was confirmed of God to Abraham in Christ Gal. 3.17 and if it was then confirmed in Christ it is certain that then Christ was the Mediator of it Fourthly Christ's being always Mediator of this Covenant necessarily implies his having been always King under God of all that ever were admitted into it and particularly of the People of Israel because his Kingly Office is so necessary and essential a part of his Mediatorship that he cannot be properly a Mediator without it For to mediate as he doth between God and men is to act Authoritatively for and in the behalf of both parties so that if he act only for one he cannot be truly said to be a Mediator between both but in his acting Authoritatively for God consists his Royalty or Kingly Office as you may see p. 7 8. and if his Mediatorial Office necessarily includes a Kingly power to be sure that power must extend to all that ever were admitted into the Covenant upon which he Mediates For how can any man be admitted into that Covenant of which he is the authorized Mediator without being subject to all the Authority which his Mediatorship necessarily implies Hence therefore it follows that Christ hath been always King of the Church of God or confederate Society of the true Worshippers of him in all Ages of the world For thus in the Old world St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 3.19 that by that very Spirit whereby Christ rose from the dead he went and preached to the spirits in prison i. e. by Noah who by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit was a Preacher or Herald of Righteousness Christ preached to the Spirits or Souls of men whilst they were yet shut up in and united to their bodies long before that general separation of their Souls from their Bodies which was made by the Floud vid. Dr. Ham. in Loc. at this time I say whilst they were yet alive Christ preached to them to warn them of that general destruction which was pursuing them and would ere long overtake them unless they speedily repented which shews that long before the Floud Christ acted as a King in issuing out by his Heralds his Royal Proclamations to men to declare his Will and Pleasure to them and warn them of the fatal consequence of their disobedience to it Soon after the Floud mankind almost universally Apostatized from God to Idolatry so that the Church or Society of the true Worshippers of him was quickly reduced into a very narrow compass so that four hundred years after it seems very probable thâ—t Melchisedeck was the only King in the world who was not an Idolater And now God seeing his Church almost totally extinguished by this general defection of mankind from his Covenant to recover and repair it he calls Abraham out of his Idolatry and Idolatrous Country and with him and his Posterity renews the New Covenant which the rest of mankind had renounced and deserted and to secure them from ever revolting from it he seals and ratifies it with them by a sign in their flesh viz. that of Circumcision which he gave them as a mark to distinguish and preserve them distinct from the Idolatrous Nations round about them And when afterwards the Posterity of Abraham was multiplied in Aegypt into a numerous Nation and this Rite of Circumcision being by Ishmael and Esau derived to their Posterity and so made common to other Nations with Israel God to renew this distinction gives them the Ceremonial Law upon their coming out of Aegypt one great design of which even as
to fall asleep again afterwards when their Lord was apprehended condemned and crucified At all which times they were doubtless rather more sorrowful than they were in the Garden and therefore it seems very probable that there was a much more powerful cause than sorrow in the case viz. a preternatural stupâ—faction of their senses by some of those malignant spirits that were then conflicting with our Saviour who perhaps to deprive him of the solace of his Disciples company did by their Diabolical Art produce that extraordinary stupor that oppressed them that so having him all alone they might have the greater advantage to tempt and terrifie him Fourthly and lastly If we consider the warning our Saviour gave his Disciples when they entered the Garden with him of the extraordinary danger they were in of falling into temptation it seems very probable that he expected and found there an extraordinary Concourse of Tempters or evil Spirits for as soon as they were entered with him into the Garden S. Luke tells us that he bid them pray that ye enter not into Temptation Luke 22.40 and when notwithstanding this admonition they fell asleep the first time he bids them again watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Matth. 26.41 which words plainly imply our Saviour's apprehension of some extraordinary danger they were in of being tempted in the very time and place of his Agony and what more probable account can be given of this apprehension of his than this that he â—ound vast numbers of evil spirits there by whom he himself at that very time was furiously tempted and assaulted and that therefore having experienced their power and malice in himself he thought meet to admonish his Disciples who were much less able to resist them than he to stand upon their guard lest they should tempt them as they had tempted him For these reasons it seems highly probable that this last Agony of our Saviour was nothing else but a mighty struggle and conflict with the powers of darkness who having by God's permission mustered up all their strength against him intending once more to try their fortune against him and if possible to tempt or deter him from prosecuting his design of redeeming the World were in the end gloriously repulsed by his persevering resistance and forced to flee before him and of this his glorious victory over them he made an open shew upon the Cross where in despite of all those terrors and temptations they had exercised him with if possible to divert him from laying down his life for the World he freely and voluntarily poured out his Bloud as a Sacrifice for the sins of mankind And hence the Apostle tells us Col. 2.15 that on his Cross he spoiled Principalities and Powers viz. in that victorious Act of laying down his life to ransom us from their power in despite of their most exquisite temptations to the contrary and made an open shew of them triumphing over them And by this glorious Victory he finished his Conquest of those Infernal Powers so that from thenceforth they never durst assault him more but like vanquish'd Slaves were forced to yield their unwilling Necks to the yoke of his Empire and though with infinite Reluctance to obey his Will and execute his Orders and hence we are told that by his Death our Saviour hath destroyed him that hath the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 so that now at his powerful Name every knee must bow or every Being yield obeisance not only of things in heaven and of things on earth i. e. of Angels and Men but of things under the earth too i. e. of Devils who notwithstanding they are incensed with an implacable animosity against him and would gladly pull him down from his Throne if they had but Power answerable to their Malice yet having long since experienced the might of his victorious Arms even then when they had him at the greatest advantage and being thereby driven into everlasting despair of prevailing against him they have from thenceforth been forced by the mere dread and terrour of his power to submit themselves to him and to become his Servants and Ministers in his heavenly Kingdom so that now whatsoever they do it is by his Permission or Order who holds their mischievous power in Chains and lets it loose or restrains it as he pleases And thus having proved at large that both the good and bad Angels are Christ's Subjects and Ministers I proceed in the second place to shew wherein their Ministry to Christ in his Kingdom consists And in the first place I shall shew wherein the Ministry of good Angels consists And secondly wherein consists the Ministry of bad Angels And because the Philosophy of the Nature and Operations of Angels is far above the ken of our short-sighted understandings I shall not presume to inquire any farther into the Ministry of either good or bad Angels than the Scripture gives me light in which we find these seven following instances of the Ministry of good Angels under Christ. First They declare upon occasion his Mind and Will to his Church Secondly They guard and defend his Subjects against outward dangers Thirdly They support and comfort them upon great undertakings and under pressing Calamities Fourthly They protect them against the rage and fury of evil spirits Fifthly They further and assist them in all their Religious Offices Sixthly They conduct their separated Spirits into the Mansions of Glory Seventhly They are to attend and assist Christ in the great solemnity of the day of Iudgment I. One instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their declaring upon occasion his Mind and Will to his Church and People for thus most of those Prophetick Messages which God from time to time sent to the World were conveyed to the Prophets by the Ministry of Angels so Daniel for instance had all his Visions from an Angel of God vid. Dan. 8.16 and Chap. 9.22 23. as also Chap. 10.11 so also the Prophet Zechariah vid. Chap. 1.9 14 19. and Chap. 2.3 4. and sundry other instances there are of it in the New Testament vid. Matt. 1.20 21. as also Chap. 2.13 20 22. and Luke 1.13 30 31. and many other places and it was an ancient and Catholick Doctrine among the Jews that all Prophecy was communicated by the Mediation of Angels whence the Pharisees describing St. Paul as a Prophet thus pronounce concerning him We find no evil in this man but if a Spirit or Angel hath spoken to him let us not fight against God Act. 23.9 And accordingly we find our Saviour sending forth his holy Angels on Prophetick Messages to his Church for so St. Iohn received his Revelations from Christ by the hand of an Angel Rev. 1.1 Rev. 22.16 And an Angel is sent from Christ to Philip to bid him go to the Ethiopian Eunuch to expound to him the Prophecy of Isaiah Acts 8.26 And Cornelius received a Message from Christ
them whether it be Fear or Sorrow or Ioy and it being in their power to excite our Passions to what degree they please there is no doubt but that being ministring Spirits they can and do minister Ioy and Comfort to us when ever our case and circumstances require it IV. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their protecting his Subjects against the Rage and Fury of evil Spirits for considering with what a fierce and indefatigable malice those malignant spirits which in vast numbers rove about in the Air are animated against mankind and especially against the Subjects of Christ their most dreaded and implacable enemy and considering also the mighty power they have as they are Angels to do mischief it is not to be imagined but that were they not opposed and restrained by a mightier power than their own they would never be able to forbear exercising their direful rage and cruelty upon us till they had converted this Earth into Hell and made this School of our Probation the place of our Torments and as for the Kingdom of Christ whose Subjects have so solemnly renounced their Yoke and Dominion to be sure they would never cease infesting it with the fiery darts of their malice till they had utterly ruined and destroyed them and therefore to prevent their mischievous attempts God in mercy hath thought meet to commit us to the Guardianship of his holy Angels and to send them forth under the Conduct of Iesus our Mediator to fight against these Hellish powers in the defence of his Church and People for so God promised Ierusalem Zech. 2.5 that he would be as a wall of fire round about her i. e. as the most learned Expositors suppose by surrounding her with a Guard of Angels whom in the defence of his People against evil Angels he maketh a flaming fire as the Psalmist expresses it Psal. 104.4 and in Rev. 12.7 we read of a War in Heaven or the airy Region of which the Devil is called the Prince Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels which War Michael undertook as the foregoing verses tell us in the defence of the Woman that was cloathed with the Sun which all agree was the Christian Church so also in verse 9. of Iude's Epistle we read that Michael the Archangel contended and disputed with the Devil about the body of Moses or Jewish Church so called for the same reason that the Christian Church is called the Body of Christ. And it is very probably supposed that that Hedge which the Devil complained God had set about Iob and about his house by which he was hindered from breaking in upon him was no other than a Guard of Angels by which he was driven back as oft as he attempted to execute his Rage and Malice upon him Chap. 1.10 Now by what means or instruments the good Angels war against and repel the evil ones is I conceive an enquiry beyond our Cognisance Revelation from whence we receive all our notions of the state and Oeconomy of the invisible world being wholly silent in the case only thus much we may say without any way presuming beyond our Capacity that spiritual Agents can as easily strike upon spirits as bodily Agents do upon bodies and though we who are Spectators only of corporeal motion can give no account of the manner how one spirit acts upon another yet there is no reason at all to doubt but that they have some way of impressing one another and communicating to each other a mutual sense and feeling of each others pleasures and displeasures and if so then it is easie to suppose that the more powerful any spirit is the stronger and more exquisite impressions of its displeasure it can make upon other Spirits and consequently that the Good Angels who by preserving their innocence and improving their perfections have augmented and redoubled their natural strength and vigour are much more powerful than the bad ones who have rather impaired it and so are much more able to withstand and repel the violent impressions of the bad Angels than the bad Angels can theirs so that though the bad Angels may and oftentimes do resist and oppose the good yet they can never conquer them but in the conclusion are still forced to flee before them as being unable to withstand their more powerful impressions Since therefore we wrestle not with flesh and bloud i. e. only with flesh and bloud but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickednesses in high Places i. e. against the several Ranks of Devils that are in the Air under the Command and Conduct of Beelzebub their Prince Eph. 6.12 And since these Apostate Spirits are by much too strong and powerful for us so that were we left to grapple with them alone by our own single strength they would infallibly vanquish and lead us captive to eternal ruine God hath thought meet to subject his holy Angels to the command of our compassionate Mediator that so when ever we are too hardly beset by these evil spirits he might send them forth to guard and protect us against them and either to assist us in our conflicts with them or to chase them away from us when we are no longer able to withstand them and accordingly we have a sure word of promise that if we resist the Devil he shall fly away from us Iam. 4.7 not that our weak resistance is in it self sufficient to put those daring and mighty Spirits to flight but the meaning without doubt is that if when they assault us with any temptation to sin we do but oppose them with a sincere resolution God will not permit us to be vanquished by them but when ever they press too hard upon us will be sure to send down some good Angel to us to repel and drive them away from us for so he hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 which plainly implies that should God suffer him the Devil can tempt us above what we are able and this without doubt he is ordinarily hindered from by the timely interpositions of the holy Angels who when our strength begins to fail are always ready to second us and with their victorious arms to encounter and put to flight those evil spirits that do so importunately tempt us V. Another instance of the Ministry of Angels in the Kingdom of Christ is their furthering and assisting his Subjects in the Works and Offices of Religion for since they are said to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation there is no doubt but that they minister to them in the discharge of their Religious Obligations upon which their Salvation depends and since as our Saviour assures us there
hath wholly deposited it in the hands of the Temporal Powers who are now his sole Ministers and Revengers to execute wrath upon those that do evil But yet still upon occasion he so far makes use of the Ministry of the Devils in correcting us as to permit them to excite wicked men and especially wicked Princes and Governours to plague and persecute us When he sees his Church or any particular part of it degenerating from the purity of his Religion or waxing cold and remiss in their love and duty to him he many times gives a loose to these malignant Spirits who always burn with inveterate rancour against it and permits them to provoke and stimulate its Enemies to exert and imploy their power against it So that whatsoever mischiefs wicked Princes or men do to the Church of Christ or to any part of it they do it only as the Instruments of these evil Angels and by their mischievous suggestions and instigations for so Christ tells the Church of Symrna in Rev. 2.10 The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that is the wicked Governours there shall do it by the instigation of the Devil to whom I will certainly give permission to instigate them thereunto for so Christ is said to have the Keys of the bottomless Pit Rev. 1.18 that is power to confine or let loose those evil Spirits that inhabit it at his pleasure and when he thinks fit to confine them we find the Church enjoys peace and rest and prosperity Rev. 20.1.2 3 4. but no sooner doth he let them loose again but they are immediately instigating the wicked powers of the Earth to fight against it and persecute it Ibid. ver 7 8 9. from whence it is evident that the power of these evil Spirits to excite evil Princes or men to persecute his Church is under the restraint and determination of our Saviour that they can proceed no farther in this their mischievous design than he thinks meet to permit them and consequently that in all those persecutions to which they excite their Instruments they are but the Ministers and Executioners of Christ even as the Dog is the Shepherds in worrying the straying sheep into the fold III. Another instance of the Ministry of evil Spirits to Christ is their hardening and confirming incorrigible and obstinate sinners in their wicked purposes For when notwithstanding all those powerful Methods which in the administration of his Government Christ uses to reduce and reclaim men they still persist in their Rebellion when they have conquered his Grace quenched his Spirit broke through all his persuasions and baffled all his Arts of saving them he many times withdraws from them those powerful aids of his Spirit and of his holy Angels which they have wilfully neglected and utterly abandons them to the powers of Darkness whom from thenceforth he freely permits to tempt and seduce them and to â—oul them on at their pleasure from sin to sin and from one degree of sin to another till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities and this without doubt is the severest punishment that Christ inflicts upon sinners on this side Hell for this is a kind of Damnation above ground to be delivered up alive to those restless Furies who having free leave to back and ride us at their pleasure to be sure will never cease stimulating and spurring us on from wickedness to wickedness till they have leapt us headlong into the everlasting burnings And this I conceive is the meaning of Gods hardening sinners so often mentioned in the holy Scripture which doth not at all imply that God by any positive act of his own infuses any sinful quality into mens Wills to excite or stimulate them to sin as some men have blasphemously enough asserted for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but when men have a long while hardned themselves against all the powerful impressions of his Grace and in the pursuit of their wicked courses have turned a deaf ear to all his persuasions to the contrary then as a just punishment of their incorrigible obstinacy he many times withdraws from them the influences of his Grace and delivers them up to Satan or which is the same thing permits him to seize them as his own and to take possession of them and as a wicked soul to animate and act them in all their wickedness for so the Devil is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to work in the Children of disobedience so that these Children of disobedience are a sort of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of persons that are possessed and acted by the Devil And too many deplorable instances there are of wicked men that sin on at that rate as if they were really acted by some Diabolical Genius that are hurried into such monstrous extravagancies of wickedness as are neither pleasant nor profitable nor reputable so that they gratifie no passion or appetite in humane nature by committing them but do seem to sin merely for the sake of sinning out of a kind of preternatural malice when they can scarce give any other reason to themselves why they do such an action but only this because it is wicked so truly Diabolical is their love of wickedness so abstract from all those motives which are wont to affect the passions and appetites of men that it is hardly resolvable into any other reason but that they are delivered up by God to be informed and acted by the Devil who having once obtained the possession of them continually plies them with Temptation and never ceases urging and pressing them forward from one degree of wickedness to another till at length he hath seared and hardened them into final and incurable Impenitence And this in particular was the case of Iudas who having long persisted in his Thievery and Sacriledge notwithstanding all those warnings and admonitions our Saviour had given him to the contrary was at length abandoned to that Devil to whose Temptations he had been so obsequious upon which it is said that the Devil entered into him Luke 22.3 and the Devil being in possession of him immediatly provokes and irritates him to the foulest and most horrible villany that ever any mortal Creature was guilty of for so Iohn 13.2 we are told that the Devil put it into the heart of Iudas to betray Christ. But as yet it seems he was not totally abandoned to the Devil who had only permission to make that black and dire proposal to him after which our Saviour attempts by the most Pathetick persuasions to prevent his compliance Mark 14.21 notwithstanding which the Wretch being still enticed by his own covetousness to listen to that horrid suggestion our Saviour having marked him out for a Traytor by giving him the Sop it is said again that Satan entred into him and upon this second entrance our Saviour gives him up for desperate for that thou dost saith he do quickly John 13.27 as much as if he had
said now I find the Devil has the full possession of thee and that henceforth there remains no more hope of reclaiming thee go therefore and dispatch thy wicked purpose as soon as thou pleasest So that now it seems he was entirely delivered up to the Devil who thereupon immediatly hurries him to the execution of his black design IV. And lastly Another instance of the Ministry of evil Spirits to Christ is their executing his vengeance on incorrigible sinners in the other World. For since as I have shewn before our Saviour makes use of the power and malice of these evil Spirits to correct and chasten men in this life why may we not thence conclude that he makes use of the same to plague and punish them in the life to come especially considering that they bear the same malice to us in the other life that they did in this for they tempt us to sin here for no other end but that they may make us miserable there and therefore to be sure that same malice of theirs which excites them now to contribute all they can to our sin will equally provoke them then to contribute all they can to our misery and render them altogether as active in tormenting us in Hell as they were in tempting us upon Earth and then considering that Spirits can act upon Spirits as well as Bodies upon Bodies and that the more powerful any Spirit is the more vigorously it can act upon other Spirits we may be sure that those evil Spirits being Angels by nature are incomparably more powerful than the souls of men and therefore can act upon them with unspeakable more force and vigour than one Soul can on another for the weaker any Spirit is the more passive it must necessarily be to those Spirits that are stronger and more powerful and therefore by how much weaker wicked Souls are than wicked Angels by so much more passive must they be to their power and consequently be so much more liable to be vexed and tormented by them and since in all probability the disproportion which Nature hath made between the power of Angâ—ls and Souls is far greater than that which sin hath made between the power of one Angel and another we may reasonably conclude that wicked Souls are far more impressible by the power of wicked Angels than wicked Angels are by the power of good Angels and therefore since the good Angels can make such violent impressions upon the wicked ones as they are not able to endure but are still forced to fly before them as oft as they encounter them vid. P. 965. what intolerable impressions can wicked Angels make upon wicked Souls when they are abandoned by God to their malice and fury for though our Souls are no more impressible by corporeal action than the beams of the Sun are by the blows of a Hammer yet that they can feel the force of spiritual action we find by every days experience for so a thought which is a spiritual action if it be very horrible or dismal doth as sensibly pain and aggrieve our Souls as the most exquisite Corporeal torment can our Bodies Now there is no doubt but evil Spirits can suggest preternatural horrors to our minds and repeat and urge them with such Importunity and vehemence as to render them most exquisitely painful and dolorous of the truth of which we have a woful Example in that miserable Wretch Francis Spira who upon that woful breach he made in his Conscience by renouncing his Religion notwithstanding he had received several kind admonitions from Heaven to the contrary was forsaken of God and delivered up alive into the hands of those dire Tormenters of Souls whereupon though he had not the least symptome of bodily melancholy he was immediatly seized with such an inexpressible Agony of mind as amazed his Physicians astonished his Friends and struck terror into all that beheld him for he was so near to the condition of a damned Spirit that he verily believed Hell it self was more tolerable than those invisible lashes that his Soul endured without any intermission and therefore he often wished that he were in Hell and as often attempted to dispatch himself thither in hope to find sanctuary there from those direful thoughts which continually preyed upon his Soul. Now that these Horrors were inflicted on him by Diabolical suggestion is evident both by the impenetrable hardness and obstinacy of his mind against all the motives of Repentance that accompanied them and by the horrible blasphemies they frequently extorted from him And if now in this life they have so much power to torment our minds whenever God thinks it meet to let them loose upon us what will they have hereafter when our wretched Spirits shall be utterly abandoned to their mercy and they shall have a free scope to exert their fury on us and glut their hungry malice with our Torment and vexation And since it is evident they do not want power we may certainly conclude even from that natural malignity that is in the temper of a Devil they do not want Will to plague and torture us in the other World. And this Will and Power of theirs our Saviour makes use of as the Common Executioner of his Vengeance upon incorrigible sinners in the other Life for as soon as ever a wicked Soul departs from its Body it is immediatly consigned into the hands of those Diabolical Furies who like so many hungry Hounds seize it with infinite greediness and fall a tearing and worrying it with horrible suggestions without any pause or intermission and by continually recording its sins to it and reproaching it with the folly of them and putting it in mind of that dismal eternal futurity it must suffer for them do incessantly sting and vex it with swarms of dire reflections and tormenting thoughts which are the only Instruments of Torment that can fasten upon a Soul. And hence in Matt. 18.34 the Devils to whom the wicked Servant was delivered up by his Master for his cruelty toward his fellow Servant are called Tormenters as being the Ministers of our Saviours just Vengeance upon wicked and incorrigible offenders And thus having shewn at large that the good and bad Angels are the Ministers of Christ and wherein their Ministry to him consists I proceed to the III. Third sort of the Ministers of Christs Kingdom viz. The Kings and Governours of the World for though there are many Infidel Kings in the World that know not Christ and that never submitted themselves to his Empire but instead of that do openly defie and persecute his holy Religion yet these of right are subject to him though in fact they are inslaved to the Devil and he hath the disposal of their Crowns and the command of their power and doth actually imploy and use it even as he doth the power of the Devils in the prosecution of the righteous ends of his Government And though too many of those Kings who by
the Tribulation of those days in that prodigious irruption of Vesuvius in Campania the woful effects whereof were felt not only in Rome and Italy but in a great part of Africa in Syria Constantinople and in all the adjoyning Countries Vid. Dion Cass. lib. 66.68 but it is apparent that our Saviour here prophesies of the Judgment of Ierusalem as it was a Type and Representation of the general Judgment so that though his Prophesie respects Ierusalems doom immediately yet through this it looks forward to the final Doom of the World and therefore as in foretelling the former he prefigures the later so in foretelling the foregoing signs of the former he prefigures the foregoing signs of the later And since he here intended the signs of Ierusalems dooms-day only for Types and Figures of those signs which shall forerun the dooms-day of the World and seeing that Types have always less in them than are in the things which they typifie and prefigure there is no doubt but those signs which shall forerun the last judgment will be much more eminent and illustrious than those of Ierusalems judgment which were intended only to Typifie and prefigure them and accordingly St. Ierom tells us of an ancient Tradition of the Jewish Doctors to which our Saviour in this Prediction seems plainly to refer that for fifteen days together before the general judgment there shall be transacted upon the Stage of Nature a continued Scene of fearful Signs and Wonders the Sea shall swell to a prodigious height and make a fearful noise with its tumbling Waves the Heavens shall crack day and night with loud and roaring Thunders the Earth shall groan under hideous Convulsions and be shaken with quotidian Earthquakes the Moon shall shed forth purple streams of discoloured light the Sun shall be cloathed in a dismal darkness and the Stars shall shrink in their light and twinkle like expiring Candles in the Socket the Air shall blaze with Portentous Comets and the whole frame of nature like a funeral Room shall be all hung round with mourning and with Ensigns of horrour and when these fatal symptoms appear upon the face of the Universe then shall the Inhabitants of the earth mourn and the Sinners in Sion shall be horribly afraid being loudly forewarned by these astonishing Portents of the near approach of their everlasting Doom Having thus briefly shewn what shall be the Signs of our Saviours coming to Judgment I proceed to the III. The Third general which was to shew the manner and circumstances of his coming and here we will first consider the place from whence he is to come Secondly the State in which he is to come Thirdly the Carriage on which he is to come Fourthly the Equipage with which he is to come Fifthly the place to which he is to come I. The place from which he is to come which is no other than the Highest Heavens where he now lives and reigns in his exalted and glorified Humanity for him must the Heavens receive till the time of the Restitution of all things Acts 3.21 in that bright Region of eternal day that Kingdom of Angels and of spirits of just men made perfect he is to reign in Person till the last and terrible day and from thence he is to begin his Circuit when he comes to keep his general Assizes upon earth for he is to be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess. 1.7 and to descend from Heaven with a shout 1 Thess. 4.16 so that in the close of those dreadful Alarms which he will give the World by the preceding signs of his coming he will arise from his imperial Seat at his Fathers right hand and descend in person from those high habitations of inaccessible light and every eye shall see him as he comes shooting like a Star from his Orb and the sight of him shall affect the whole World with unspeakable joy or consternation the righteous when they see him shall lift up their heads and rejoyce because they know he is their Friend and brings the day of their redemption with him they shall congratulate his Arrival and welcome him from Heaven with Songs of Triumph and deliverance but as for the wicked they shall shreik and lament at the sight of him as being conscious to themselves that by a thousand provocations they have render'd him their implacable Enemy the sense of which will cause them to exclaim in the bitter Agonies of their souls O yonder comes he whose mercies we have spurned whose Authority we have despised whose Laws we have trampled on and all the methods of whose love we have utterly baffled and defeated and now forlorn and miserable that we are how shall we abide his appearance or whither shall we flee from his presence O that some Rock would fall upon us or that some Mountain would be so pitiful as to swallow us up and bury us from his sight for ever But wo are we within these few moments the Rocks and Mountains will be gone the Heavens and Earth will melt away and nothing will be left besides our selves for his fiery indignation to prey on Thus shall the sight of the son of man descending from his Throne in the Heavens to judge the World inspire his friends with unspeakable joy and strike his enemies with terrour and confusion II. We will consider the State in which he is to come which shall be far different from that in which he came sixteen hundred years ago Then he came in an humble and despicable condition clouded with poverty and grief and oppressed with all the innocent infirmities of humane nature but at the last day he shall come in his glorified state cloathed in that Celestial Body which he now wears at the Right hand of God. For so Acts 1.11 the Angel assures his Disciples This same Iesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven that is he shall return to Judgment in that self-same glorified Body wherein you now see him ascend and what a glorious one that is we may partly learn from that majestick description of it Rev. 1.13 14 15 16. In the midst of the seven Candlesticks was one like the Son of man his head and his hair were white as wool as white as snow his eyes were as a flame of fire and his countenance was as the Sun shining in its strength And partly from his transfiguration on the Mount which was but a short essay and specimen of his Glorification for it 's said that his face did shine as the Sun and that his Raiment was white as the light white with those beams of Glory which from his transfigured Body shone through all his Apparel Mat. 17.2 When therefore he descends from Heaven to judg the World it shall be with this glorified Body this Body of pure and immaculate splendor with its hair shining like threds of light its eyes sparkling with
which he very often imprints on us with that life and vigour and repeats and urges with that efficacious Ardour and restless Importunity that unless we are strangely obstinate we cannot find in our hearts to repel or resist them Fourthly Another of these ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit on mens minds is comforting and supporting them or inspiring their minds with such joys and refreshments as are necessary to support them under the difficulties and temptations they are here exposed to For this operation of the Spirit is a standing provision against such Difficulties and Temptations as are too great for an ordinary patience and courage to conâ—est with and is not ordinarily vouchsafed to us but only at such times when we are called to do or suffer something beyond our selves and above our own strength and ability in which cases we are secured of this supporting influence of the Spirit by that Promise 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer ye to be tempted above what ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it For thus we read of the Primitive Church that they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost Acts 9.31 i. e. had the constant supporting influence of the Spirit of God to strengthen and bear up their minds under that mighty work and grievous persecutions they were to undergo and the Apostle makes it his earnest Prayer to God for his Christian Romans that he would fill them with all joy and peace in believing that is in their profession of the Christian Faith and that they might abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15.13 And accordingly we find the Ages of Persecution abounding with remarkable instances of this operation of the Holy Ghost For whereas constant Persecutions never failed to exterminate false Religions from the World witness the Heathen Religion and the Christian Heresies the Priscillians Arians and Donatists which whilst they were tolerated or connived at did mightily encrease and multiply but under vigorous persecutions immediately shrunk and in a little time dwindled into nothing the true Christianity on the contrary bore up its head under the heaviest oppressions and triumphed in the midst of flames and was so far from being vanquished by all the barbarous cruelties of its Persecutors that the more they persecuted it the more it conquered and prevailed which doubtless is in a great measure to be attributed to this supporting influence of the Holy Spirit which still accompanied its Confessors and Martyrs For how was it possible that a company of tender Virgins delicate Matrons and aged Bishops could ever have endured those long and dolorous Martyrdoms as many times they did when their Tormentors took their turns from morning to night and plied them with all kinds of cruelties till they were oftentimes forced to give over and confess that they had not heart enough to inflict the Tortures which those poor Sufferers had courage enough to endure How could they have sung in the midst of Flames smiled upon Racks triumphed upon Wheels and Catastaes and there challenged their Executioners as they often did to distend their Limbs to the utmost stretch to tear their flesh with Vngulae to scorch their tender parts with fires and rake their bowels with Spikes and Gaunches How I say could they have endured all these miserable harrasings of their tender flesh with the most witty and exquisite Tortures and this sometimes for sundry days together when for one base and cowardly word they might have been released when they pleased had they not been supported with an invisible hand and refreshed with such strong consolations as not only abated but sometimes quite extinguished their pains And the same comforts though not perhaps in the same degree other good men have frequently experienced sometimes upon their undertaking some great and Heroick Office of Piety or Vertue sometimes in their conflict with some great Temptation sometimes when they have been sorely oppressed with some mighty sorrow or affliction and sometimes in the hour and extremities of Death for it is only upon these or such like extraordinary occasions that the Holy Spirit usually administers these great Consolations to our minds And this he also performs in the same manner as he doth the aforenamed operations viz. by suggesting to and vigorously impressing comfortable thoughts upon our minds for there is no doubt but that as he can impress on us what thought soever he pleases so he can also impress it with what strength and vigour soever he pleases and accordingly as he impresses a comfortable thought on us more or less vigorously it must of necessity be a greater or a less consolation to us if he think fit and our state require it he can imprint a comfortable thought on us with that strength and vehemence as that it shall even ravish us from our sense and so ingross all our attention to it as that we shall be altogether mindless and insensible of any pain or pleasure of the body For thus it is usual for serious Contemplators in their profound Muses to collect and call together all their animal spirits to attend that work so as that many times there are none or not enough at least remaining to supply the Offices of their sense and carry on the inferiour operations of Nature and if we our selves by intense thinking can thus alienate our minds from sense we may easily suppose that the Holy Ghost who hath the command of our minds can when he pleases stamp a joyous thought so vigorously upon them as that it shall instantly transport them into an ecstasie and ravish them from all Corporeal sensation And that thus he hath done is notoriously evident in the above-named Martyrs whose Senses were many times so intranced by the rapturous contemplations their minds were seised with that they lay smiling and sometimes singing under the bloudy hands of their Tormentors without any apparent sense of those long and exquisite cruelties that were practised upon them And though the blessed Spirit seldom applies these strong and powerful Cordials to pious minds but in such great and urgent extremities it being much more for their interest to be kept humble and lowly than to be ravished with continued comforts yet ordinarily he administers a standing peace and satisfaction to them and when ever their necessities call for it he inspires them with such degrees of joy and consolation as their case and condition requires Fifthly and lastly Another of these ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit on Men's minds is Intercession by which he enables us to offer up our Prayers to God with such ardent and devout affections as are in some measure sutable to the matter we pray for For Prayer being the immediate converse of our Souls with God wherein our minds are obliged to withdraw themselves from sense and sensible things and wholly to retire themselves from those Objects to