they should but that it is the Spirit that helps the Saints infirmities Rom. 8.26 I say when a Christian upon the knowledge and sense of the absolute necessity of the Spirits presence and assistance is made to value desire him more than any thing than all things in this World then is the Spirit given and then does the Spirit delight to joyn himself to such a Soul and to make his constant abode there But as for the men of the world on the other hand because they are under no such sense they know him not nor the necessity and worth of his presence nor are under any longings of Soul after him for those and the like spiritual ends before mentioned therefore is it that they are in no present capacity of receiving him See both these things set forth in Joh. 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Why cannot the World receive the Spirit of Truth which Christ promiseth Even because it seeth him not neither knoweth him The antecedent being as I conceive here put for the consequent of not seeing and knowing him and that is Their not prizing nor desiring him For the men of the World who contrary to the Saints walk by Sight and not by Faith do not value and esteem such things whose worth and use are not discerned but by Faith 1 Cor. 2.14 and such is the gift and presence of the Spirit of God but such things are matters of their esteem as do accommodate the natural senses And because they do not thus desire him out of a sensible knowledge of his worth and excellency and their want of him therefore is it that they cannot receive him he being not otherwise given than upon such terms But why then do the Saints receive him So that he dwelleth with them and shall be in them The Reason is Because they know him and so highly prize him and thorowly desire him For the Particle FOR in this place but ye know him FOR he dwelleth with you hath not I conceive the force of a Cause but of an Effect not as if the Reason why they knew him is because he dwelleth with them but the Reason why he dwelleth with them is because they know or have known him The same Particle being used in this sense Luk. 7.47 And indeed the words are thus translated by Dr. Hammond But ye know him therefore he abideth with you and shall be among you And besides all this the antithesis that lies between the reasons why the World cannot and the Saints can and do receive him evidently gives this to be the right sencing of these words For if that be the reason why the World cannot receive him viz. because it knoweth him not as it is then the reason why others do receive him is that knowledge they have of him for the want of which the World cannot receive him That we see then which is said of Wisdom Prov. 8.17 is most true of this holy Spirit which is the Spirit of Wisdom I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me Those that so love him out of a deep sense of their extream want of him and his incomparable worth to them as to seek him early in the first place and before all other things with the first of their strength and desire he loves them and loves to be found of them and loves to dwell with them and to be every good thing to them Sect. 7 2. And the next act of Faith which I would speak of as prevalent for the procuring the Spirits residence in the Soul for the great and spiritual ends for which he is promised is the act of Relyance or Dependance upon the Father and the Son for it Gal. 3.14 That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Through Faith not only concerning other Promises but also and especially touching such as concern the Father and the Sons giving the holy Spirit who because he is given and received by vertue of Promises made and embraced is therefore stiled The holy Spirit of Promise Ephes 1.13 And Faith eying Gods knowledge and sense of the Creatures condition in making such a Promise and in what need he was of the thing promised and his love and friendship to him by engaging himself in such a Promise which he needed not to have done had not his good-will been great to him and that therefore his intendment of doing the thing must needs be very thorow and real and eying also his faithfulness in keeping and power of performing Promises hereupon leans and depends upon the Lord for this Promise of the Spirit and so accordingly receives it from him Sect. 8 3. And that in the Third place which follows upon the two former is the Faith of desiring him and the hope and confidence of obtaining and receiving him digested into incessant and fervent Prayer for him For when the sense of the Spirits worth and our want of him renders him exceedingly desirable unto the Soul and when the sense of the Fathers good-will and readiness to give him by his promise of giving him and by what he hath done already in giving Christ when we needed him shall prompt the soul with confidence of obtaining him and the sense of all together shall dispose the Soul Prayer-wise and influence the Prayer with much of desire and longing with much of earnestness importunity and perseverence in begging and with much of confidence in expecting then undoubtedly will the holy Spirit be obtained as an inhabitant to the Soul for so hath our Lord assured us saying If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11.13 Sect. 9 This Property in Faith of which I have now spoken humbly to depend on God for spiritual supplies for maintenance of spiritual life and to be strengthened unto spiritual work is I am perswaded that which puts a manifest difference between the living and the dead Faith For the dead Faith being found in that nature which never under-went such a change yet as will denominate it to be a new creature is void of spiritual sense perceives not the necessity of those spiritual supplies which are the new creatures life and nourishment nor feels the want of them and therefore cannot long after them nor depend on God for them but such an one thinks himself in excellent good condition because he beleeves Christ died for him and that he hath been Baptized in his Name and hath Communion in his Ordinances and gives Christ good Words and professes himself to be his Servant and can Discourse it may be many Points in
terms he hath appointed they may well go without it for all his willingness to give it It is most sure that Christians are more or less healthful in soul and spiritual condition as they do more or less depend upon the Lord for his saving health for the power and presence of his grace and Spirit to renew them unto God If men had but Faith enough they might have what they would in this kind from the Lord. When there was but once ground for Christ to say O Woman great is thy Faith he presently sayes also Be it unto thee even as thou wilt Matth. 15 28. And therefore such as have but little Faith had need to make the best use and improvement of that little by depending upon the Lord for the perfecting of that which is lacking in their Faith as well as any other grace Men receive but little of this healing vertue from Christ but little hatred of sin and strength to overcome the flesh but little of the power of love and of an humble mind but little of the quick and lively savour of spiritual things because they expect but little if they were larger and stronger in their expectations from God they should have more from him he does not love to disappoint his servants of this hope especially Open your mouth wide and I will fill it saith he Psal 81.10 And those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled Matth. 5.6 If Righteousness were but desired and sought at the hands of God and he depended on for it as meat and drink is wont to be desired and sought by those that are ready to famish for want of food in which case no other thing but food will satisfie there would not be such a spiritual leanness and emptiness found among Christians as too commonly there is No it is mens indifferency about matters of this mighty moment that causes them to fall so short and to be so scanty in their receptions from God The Lord does not care to pour out abundance of inward grace and health and strength upon the soul until the soul knows the worth of them feels the want of them and desires them more than any thing in the world besides And therefore men may ask them and seek them and yet go without any great measures of them while but cold and indifferent in their desires this way but when their desires are strong their confidence strong their requests fervent and God can as it were have no rest for them but they are still following of him night and day and will have no nay then does the Lord rejoyce over them to Answer them in the joy of their heart and to cause them to inherit substance and to fill their treasures For he waits to be gracious and is alwayes ready and never unprovided of the greatest measures of grace and spiritual strength and is more desirous to give than the best of men are to receive if they would but come up to his terms which are established by him in wisdom and counsel but surely when he hath first given men Faith he does not use to bestow upon them any great addition of spiritual ability but upon the improvement and exercise of that Faith in a way of dependance upon himself for it nor does he give much in this kind to those that are but of little Faith but encreases their spiritual revenue as they encrease in the measure and degree of their relyance upon him for it Sect. 5 4. The gift of the holy Spirit by whose presence power and influence the Saints Salvation must be wrought through and they strengthened with all might in the inward man Ephes 3.16 and by whose Workmanship they are formed fashioned and fitted for that glory which is prepared for them 2 Cor. 5.5 This great gift is I say received also by Faith and consequently it is the property of true Faith indeed to be busied about the receiving of it I shall not so much stand to make this out by shewing you how the Scripture speaks of mens receiving the Spirit after they beleeved as consequential thereunto Ephes 1.13 In whom also after that ye Beleeved ye were Sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise Joh. 7.39 This he spake of the Spirit which they that Beleeve on him should receive Acts 19.2 Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye beleeved Though this also is worthy consideration hereabout For though it 's true That Faith it self in it's first act is raised by the holy Spirit in the Soul 1 Cor. 12.9 Gal. 5.22 Acts 18.27 Ephes 2.8 so as to furnish it with this divine Principle and Power for where else should man have it And so in this respect the Spirits work upon the Soul goes before the Spirits being received by that divine principle which is wrought by it yet the giving and receiving of the Spirit to remain and abide as a constant nourisher supporter comforter guide leader or teacher follows beleeving I know not how better to illustrate this thing than by this similitude A man by visits addresses and applications of Love to such or such a Woman raises in her such Affections towards him as by which afterward he is invited and drawn to become her Husband and constant co-habitant and to take upon him the care and management of her houshold affairs which he would not have done had he not been thereunto encouraged by those Affections which were but the fruit of his own Applications Even so the Spirit by his applications and visits first raises in the Soul that Faith by means whereof his company and presence is so valued and desired as that thereby he is strongly invited to come and dwell in that Soul and to undertake the management of the spiritual affairs thereof and upon which he does accordingly But that by which I would more expresly and particularly make out how the holy Spirit is by Faith invited to come and to make his usual and constant abode in that Soul that does beleeve I shall present to you under these three Heads Sect. 6 1. The First is that which I but now hinted viz. That act of Faith or Divine light by which a Christian sets a holy and very high esteem of the Spirits presence as not knowing how to live the Christian life or to do the Gospel-work without it For when the Soul enlightened and converted to God is made to know that there is no inheriting without overcoming Rev. 21.7 2.7 11 17.26 3.5.12.21 and that the reason why any do overcome is Because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 and is made to know likewise That men cannot mortifie the deeds of the body but by the power and strength of the Spirit and yet mortified they must be or else they must die Rom. 8.13 when they shall perceive That they know not how to Pray as they ought or to do other Christian duties as
that we loose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward 2 Jo. 8. Do not bear upon what you have been and what you have done but forgetting those things which are behind be reaching forth to those things which are before and pressing on toward the mark for the price of your high calling Phil. 3.13 14. Remember that better is the end of a thing then the beginning of it Eccles 7.8 For that dissolution and death which is come upon those Churches recorded both in Old Testament and New which at the first and for some time were so promising and so flourishing plainly evinceth it to be a far harder matter to hold on well and so to make a good conclusion than it is to set out well and to make a good beginning What not one of those Churches but miscarried first or last good Lord what Church what Christian shall not tremble at the consideration of it Sirs you have begun in the Spirit I beseech you take heed of ending in the flesh let that never be said to you which Paul spake to a people to whom the Gospel was so precious at the first as that for the sake of it they received him as an Angel of God yea even as Christ Jesus and could have pluckt out their eyes to do him good Ye did run well who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth Gal. 4.14 15 and 5.7 If the Scripture had said nothing to inform you touching your danger of cooling and declining yet this present age in which we live hath furnished you with so many sad precedents and examples of the withering of such whose hopeful beginnings in Christianity promised very much as may sufficiently admonish you to take heed of the like miscarriage Yea the general decay of that spirit of tenderness sobriety and close ingagement of Soul to God which was found in Christians twenty or thirty years ago when there was less light and more heat may well inspire you with a spirit of fear lest you should be infected with the epidemical disease of this Age. Sect. 8 There is a danger it 's true of returning back again to those corruptions in Worship Discipline and Administation of Holy Ordinances wherewith many good people that had not the sence of it were formerly defiled and from which the light that now shines hath delivered you And truly I could heartily wish that the miscarriage of too many whose zeal hath run out more for the Form than Power of Godliness were not so pressing a temptation as it is upon many to have a far more light and low esteem of the form and fashion of Gods house then in truth of right belongs to it But that which I esteem the greater danger by far and of which in love and tenderness I warn you is the placing of Religion chiefly in Form and mens valuing the goodness of their condition by that though a lively and fresh savour of the greater things of the Gospel such as are the daily work of mortification self-denial living by Faith humbleness of mind sweetness of behaviour secret and close communion with God fear of grieving the Spirit Righteousness Mercy Love and Bounty be wanting For at this door as may be conceived destruction entred upon the former Churches and I pray God it prove not the bane of many now in being At that very time when God by his Prophet Esaiah threatned his Vineyard saying I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be troden down And I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isai 5.5 6. I say at this very time when God thus threatned that Congregation and chosen people of his for their unfruitfulness they did abound in the form and placed much confidence therein They had a multitude of Sacrifices and did abound in Oblations Incense New-Moons and Sabbaths they frequently called Assemblies and solemn Meetings yea they spread forth their hands and made many prayers Isai 1.11 to 15. The Lord as he sayes Psal 50.8 would not reprove them for their Sacrifices and Offerings for he did acknowledg them to have been continually before him and sayes that he was full of them Isa 1.11 to 15. Yea they did seek God daily and had a delight to know his wayes as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God and took delight in approaching to God Isai 58.2 And such was their confidence of their acceptation with God upon this account and for that they added unto all the rest Fasting as that they wondred that God should not hear them and readily help them And therefore they are brought in expostulating the matter with God thus Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our Soul and thou takest no knowledg They were otherwise unworthy in their wayes as touching Judgement Mercy and the love of God and yet verily thought themselves to be the onely people of God and in Covenant with him and his promises to be theirs because of that Form of Gods Worship and service which was amongst them Which way of waiting upon God and worshipping him though of his own appointment when found in company and conjunction with a carnal and unholy life otherwise is mentioned by God as if it were every whit as provoking to him as the great abominations condemned by his Law And therefore he does not only say that it was iniquity indifinitely and that he could not away with their devotions and that his soul hated them and that they were a trouble to him and that he was weary to hear them Isa 1.13 14. but compares them with the most provoking sins Idolatry and Murder He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol and why they have chosen their own wayes and their Soul delighteth in their abominations Isai 66.3 Just as if God should now compare Preaching Hearing Baptisme Prayer Breaking of Bread and the holding all the principles of the Doctrine of Christ in opinion and notion with worshipping of false gods and murdering of men while used held and practised by men whose conversation is of a carnal and unholy cast And therefore no marvel if Churches Formality in Religion hastens their destruction their being Spewed out of the mouth of Christ Sect. 9 The Law saith the Apostle is good if a man use it lawfully 1 Tim. 1.8 and so I say of all the Ordinances of Gods House from the greatest to the least of them they are all good i. e. a means of good to you if duly used and kept within their own bounds there is a blessing in every one of them and therefore to loose any of them is to loose so
of weak and low parts and in that respect but vessels of dishonour in the worlds eye are not in that danger to be courted by the world nor under any probability or hopes of obtaining honour from the world though they should seek it thence it comes to pass that their minds are more at liberty to look after glory and greatness in the next world since they neither have nor are like to have any in this and so to fall in with the doctrine of the Gospel which both offers and opens the way to the glory to come but makes little of this world calls mens minds off it and teaches self-denial about it And then when such have actually imbraced the truth as it is in Jesus though they themselves are but poor and meane in parts and humane abilities and of shallow capacities yet the Spirit of God now becomes their guide and he takes of the things of Christ viz. his Doctrines contained in the Scriptures and shews them unto them John 16.14 And what ever parts and humane abilities men may have by the power of which they may go for us to the Grammatical sense of the Scriptures yet as to the spiritual designe of them whilst they themselves are strangers to the sense of such a thing upon their own hearts and consequently have not that presence of the spirit of truth who keeps at a distance from the high-minded and worldly-wise they must needs be in greater danger of wresting the Scriptures as unto the spiritual design of them then the poor humble and meek Soul with whom God delights to dwell and whom he hath promised to guide in judgement and teach in his way Psal 25.9 Isai 57.15 though very far inferior in humane accomplishments But since the mis-understanding of the Scriptures about the doctrine of Justification by Faith without the works of the Law hath proved and I exceedingly fear doth still prove a snare of death unto vast multitudes of poor souls as I intimated before therefore to awaken men who have been but in a spiritual dream about this important business and to undeceive many poor souls who are in extream danger of perishing eternally under a mistaken confidence of Salvation I shall as of the ability which is of God by comparing the Scriptures hereabout endeavour to open and further to clear this mighty point upon the practical understanding of which doth depend even the salvation of all our souls CHAP. II. Shewing of what sort or kind of Works those are which Paul in his Epistles excludes in the point of Mans justification before God Romans 4.5 But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted unto him for righteousnesse SECT I NOT to meddle with the coherence of these words for the present because I shall have a fit occasion to touch that afterwards You may easily perceive that they do in themselves contain a brief description of the Man whom God will justifie And we have him here described both negatively and affirmatively 1. Negatively he is such an one as worketh not so saith the Text To him that worketh not c. 2. Affirmatively he is such a one as does believe on him that justifieth the ungodly for the Text tells us concerning him that his faith is counted to him for righteousness I shall God willing speak something to both parts of the description and shall begin with that first which is first in the Text. How then is the Apostle to be understood when he affirms the man that works not to be the capable subject of Justification provided otherwise he be such a one as doth beleeve what kind of Works are they which he shuts out from having part and fellowship in this matter and in what respects 1. Whatever they are it is not the presence of them which he excludes as if a man that hath the works he here speaks of could not be justified but it is such a justifying vertue power and property which some supposed to be in them but were deceived which he excludes as having no hand less nor more in any mans Justification for otherwise Paul though whilst he was a Pharisee and to the very time of his beleeving was such a worker as that he could say that as touching the righteousnesse of the law he was blameless Phil. 3.6 yet this was no obstruction to his Justification when he did beleeve indeed 2. But the Apostles meaning is that the absence of the Works here spoken of would not at all hinder a mans Justification in case he did beleeve but that he was in as good a capacity of Justification upon his beleeving though he had none of the works he here speaks of as he would or could have been in case he had them all 3. But then in the next place the main question will be what and what manner sort or kind of Works it is without which a man if he beleeve shall be justified and whether he intends to exclude all and all manner of works in this case or some one sort or kind only For the resolution whereof we must consider upon what occasion these words of the Apostle are here brought in and what people and what opinions they are against which he is here disputing the knowledge of which will be as a key to open the door of this Text and to give us clearly to understand what Works they are without which a man beleeving may be justified That it is not against any such opinion as reckons a Gospel conversation consisting of self-denial mortification of worldly lusts and sinful affections the love of Christ above all and the preferring other mens spiritual interest and profit before their own temporal and a tender caring for others temporal good as well as their own I say that it is not any such opinion against which the face of the Apostles present argumentation is bent will evidently appear 1. By the carriage of other Scriptures which are so far off from affirming any man to be justified by Faith without these Works as that contrarily they do positively and peremptorily conclude and declare that Faith to be dead unprofitable and vain and such as shall never save that is without these And therefore we may by no means understand the Apostle in any such sense as would make him clash with and fall foul upon the general current of the Scripture elsewhere But the further opening and handling of this I must respite unto its proper place afterwards Sect. 2 2. But that the Works here cast out of doors by the Apostle in the matter of mans Justification are precisely of that sort or kind which are elsewhere called by him the deeds of the Law Rom. 3.28 viz. Mosaical ordinances and services especially such as were Circumcision and Sacrifices and the like which were Works required in the Law of Moses I come now to demonstrate And for the clearing of our way to this we will as I
and soundness of your Faith and thereby the validity of your title to the promise as will satisfie the Judge Delegate Conscience and make that on your side and then you have cast your adversary and foiled him in his suit he can proceed no further with you his accusation and Bill in this kind being thrown out of the Court of Conscience as malicious and scandalous Sect. 4 But then O how does it concern us to have the evidences and proofs of the goodness of our Faith which is our title to be alwayes in a readiness and not to seek for to be sure shall they be wanting or should they be lost or but defaced and blur'd or but in a capacity of delivering themselves ambiguously our Adversary the Devil is so diligent to prie into matters of this nature as that there will be no hiding them from him and so subtile to improve advantages in this kind given as that we shall hear of him in such a time and season which of all other we have least need to be troubled by him And therefore as you would not have your bitter and cruel Enemy the Devil to vex perplex and worst you in the Court of your own Conscience be careful above all things so to shew forth your Faith by your Works James 2.18 as that you may put the Devil out of heart as it were of attempting you in this kind or if he do that you may be sure he shall but loose his labour He that is begotten of God sinneth not but keepeth himself that the wicked one toucheth him not 1 John 5.18 It 's sinning and matter of miscarriage unevenness and faultering in ones way that gives the Devil advantage against one and power of impleading him but those that are truly careful to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing mark that Col. 1.10 as those that are begotten of God do they keep themselves out of the Devils reach that the wicked one toucheth them not though he diligently seeks it yet he cannot get this advantage against them It 's in vain for the Devil to bring his accusations against a man at the Barr of his Conscience if Conscience it self which is Judge in the case be able to bear a man witness that his Faith is of that kind that in the tenour of his life worketh by such acts which argue unfeigned love both to God and men This brest-plate of Righteousness will effectually safeguard the Soul from all the thrusts of the Devil that he shall not be able to wound the Spirit Ephes 6.14 Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way Prov. 13.6 it 's that to the Soul which a coat of Mail is to the body it preserves the Soul from the molestations of the Devil his weapons cannot enter his insinuations touching a mans bad condition before God cannot take place The armour of righteousness is armour of proof on the right hand and on the left 2 Cor. 6. â—7 If a man have that on the Devil can find no way to enter or to draw blood of the Soul but let a man leave off that but a little and he shall soon feel the Devils darts striking through his Liver to allude to Prov. 7.23 and his Sword passing through his Soul and such aches paines and gripes occasioned thereby in the Soul as sometime caused a stout Souldier of the Lords upon that occasion to roar for the disquietness of his heart Psal 38.8 and to complain of broken bones Ps 51.8 Sect. 5 And truly for Conscience it self which is such a Judge as next to the supream Judge is privy to all a mans wayes inward outward it cannot take a mans part against the Devils accusations and pleas before its Barr touching the unsoundness of his Faith and brokenness of his title to the promise of Justification and life if it discern not in him those spiritual qualifications as will in the eye of the holy Law of Jesus evince his Faith to be living and not dead For as it is the living and not the dead among men in whom the title in Law rests and is alwayes so judged so is it the living and not the dead Faith in which the title in the sence of the Gospel rests and will be alwayes so judged by an upright Conscience And therefore if you would have Conscience to pass the sentence on your side and against the impleadings of your enemy and to be a witness for you in your cause be you sure you do nothing at any time to offend Conscience and to disoblige it or to make it a witness against you For if the Devil shall appeal to Conscience it self which is the Judge whether it be not able to witness that at such and such a time such and such offences and transgressions of the holy Law were committed and done in word or deed not only in its sight but contrary to its items and checks and the Conscience knows it to be true can the Conscience think you in such a case vindicate a mans cause against his Enemy surely no but must give the Devil his due and say as he sayes so far as he speaks true And how far a few instances of this nature will go towards the spoiling of a mans cause when he comes to be tryed for his integrity I leave to every Soul seriously to consider A few acts of this nature will go further to evince a man to be unfaithful and false to God and under the condemnation of his Law in the maine than a great many good actions in company of these will do to prove him to be faithful and under the protection of the Law Ezek. 33.12 13. The righteousnesse of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression Again When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to bis own righteousnesse and commit iniquity all his righteousnesse shall not be remembred but for his iniquity which he hath committed he shall dye for it Which surely remains in force where true Repentance which consists of contrition and reformation hath not altered the case which otherwise is indeed a remedy against the Sin of backsliding as well as against other evills where it takes place Sect. 6 Again Conscience in its testimony or verdict is that which does not only acquit a man from the accusations of the Devil when calumnious but which also gives him boldness towards God of receiving a gracious and merciful sentence of final Justification and absolution from Christ when the day of his solemn and publick tryal shall come For as here in London at the Sessions of Peace an inferior Court things are prepared and made ready for tryal at the Grand Sessions so that a man may guesse by the verdict of the petty Jury in the lower Court how things are like to go with him in the Upper Court even so may a man be able to make a kind of certain Judgement how things are