you Certainly the Law makers would make other Laws then now they do and men would lead other kind of lives And what security you would have of your goods or houses or lives a week from the malice or covetousness of others I cannot imagine You would not dare to travel by the way or look out among men You could not trust your servants nor your wives or husbands because there would be nothing but temporal punishment to restrain them which cunning might escape I do not think but you would rather have servants or neighbours or husband or wife that believe a Life to come then those that do not if you had tryed others but a little while and seen how little they were to be trusted and consequently how bad your opinion is Quer. 16. And I would know Whether you pretend to any honesty and Conscience or not If not you will give us leave to judge of you and trust you accordingly If you do then upon what ground is it possible for you to be honest If you believe no life to come you must take your pleasure here on earth for your chiefest happiness and you cannot believe any proper Government of the world by the Laws Rewards and punishment sufficient to restrain men from their sin Vertue can be no Vertue if God no more regard it and sin is no sin if against no Law Indeed while you live among Believers where vice is in disgrace you may for your credit seem to be vertuous But your Profession alloweth us to judge that you avoid no evil that you dare commit if it do but suit with your fleshly interest He that believeth no Life to come and tells me so doth bid me in effect to suppose him resolved for all the wickedness imaginable so far as he dare and hath temptations and opportunity Are you of this Brutish judgement I shall expect from you then no better then a brutish life and trust you less then I would do a brute because you have more interest and temptation to do evil and more cunning to perform it Are you Brutists in opinion Then you are already habitually perfidious cruel covetous malicious murderers whoremongers thieves lyars and worse if any thing be worse For honest you cannot for shame expect that any should esteem you I will not believe a word you say further then some interest of your own is concerned in the truth of it Qu. 17. If it be not the very Light and Law of Nature that teacheth and obligeth a man to believe a life to come how comes it to pass that all the world except a few Savages and Cannibals and here and there an Apostate among us do universally profess to believe it The Jews the Turks the Heathens of most Nations besides the Christians do all make it an Article of their Belief We differ indeed about the way and yet are all agreed that Godliness and Honesty fearing God and doing Righteousness are necessary but that there is another life we are in almost all the world agreed And will you go against the light of humane Nature it self Or with what face can you expect that here and there such a wretch as you should be though wiser then all the world till you give us better evidence of your wisdom And how justly do they perish that will follow you Quer. 18. Are not those that Believe the Life to come of Holyer lives for the generality then those that do not And whether is it like that God should reveal his mind to them or unto wicked wretches and is it liker that he should forsake all the holy persons of all ages and give them up to deceit in the greatest matters who most diligently study and pray for Knowledge rather then forsake those sensual wretches that wilfully forsake him Quer. 19. Is there not in thy own Conscience at least sometimes some fears yet left of a life to come I believe there is and when thou hast done thy worst thou wilt hardly perfectly overcome them Doth not conscience say O but what if there should be a Hell for the ungodly Where am I then Hearken then to thy Conscience Quer. 20. Dost thou believe that spirits in borrowed shapes have oft appeared unto men and in voioâ—s spoaken to them to draw them to sin or to perdition If thou do believe it thou maist easily believe that there is a Hell which they are so busie to perswade us to and a Heaven of which they would deprive us If thou believe not that there have been such Apparitions I am able to give thee undenyable testimonies Read what I have said in my Treatise against Infidelity of this Read Remigius Bodin Danâ—us Malleâ—s Maleficorum c. of Witches and Read a little Book called The Devil of Mascon where is abundant testimony of his Vocal conference for about a quarter of a year together in the house of a godly Minister in a populous City before Papists Protestants and all Many I could give you that were done here at home In these twenty Questions I have but endeavoured to prepare you to Believe by shewing you the very Light of Nature But it is a lively faith in the word of God that effectually prevaileth against Infidelity and therefore next let us come to that I will not so much lose my time as to cite particular Texts of Scripture for that which is the very work and drift of the Scripture But because thou canst have no shift in the world for thy Brutish unbelief but by denying the Scripture to be the Word of God I referr thee to that which I have written in the Books forementioned to prove it And at this time shall add to what is there said but these few Questions Qu. 1. If the Scripture be not the Word of God How could it tell us of the making of the world and such like things which none but God alone could tell I know you will say I know not whether it tell us true or not or whether the world were not as Aristotle thought from eternity But tell me this then to pass by the rest now How comes it to pass that in all the world there are no Books or Monuments known of any longer standing then the time that Scripture assigneth to the Creation It is not six thousand years since the Creatiou If the world had lasted thousands and millions of years before is it possible that all its Antiquities should be lost and not one to be seen nor mentioned by man in all the world For the sabulous tales of some in China without all proof are not worth the mentioning Certainly some Book would have been saved or some Cities or lasting piles or stony monuments preserved or some sign or tradition kept alive of some of all those many thousand years If you say that Writing or Printing were not then known you come to that which confounds you more How is it possible that in so many hundred thousand years the
honoured all rejoyce 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. As weak as Christians are and as worthless in your eyes one of their hearty spiritual prayers and one word of their holy savoury conference doth profit us more then all your Treasures will ever profit you While the Divine nature is in them somewhat Divine will proceed from their mouthes and be seen in their lives which is worth more then all the Riches of the world And O how fruitful are the holy Ordinances which we partake of both in the Churches Communion and alone in our retirements A poor Christian can get more in a Sermon which you sleep under or deride then you will get by your trades or livings while you live He findeth greater Treasures in one Chapter of the Bible or in one good Book then you can get out of all your lands or labours The best of your livings will not yield you so much commodity in seven years nor in seven thousand years if you could so long keep them as a believing soul can get from God in one hours prayer even in secret where he is not by man observed You do not believe this that are ungodly I know you do not heartily believe it for else you would try it and not continue in your ungodliness But they that try it know it to be true Or else what makes them continue in it and live upon their holy Communion with God and his servants more resolvedly then you do on your lands and labours Somewhat you may conjecture they find in holy duty that makes them so instant in it as they are 7. Another part of our commodity by Holiness is the Promise and Assurance of the Love of God and of our salvation and the Peace of Conscience that followeth hereupon All true Believers have objective certainty that is the thing is certain in itself whether they perceive it or not And they may have subjective or Actual certainty in themselves if they do their parts And is not a certain Title to a Lordship or a Kingdom a greater Treasure then the possession of a straw Much more is Gods Promise of Everlasting Glory a greater Treasure then all your wealth As Heaven is infinitely better then earth so the Promise of God is the best security Though we be not with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and do not yet see the face of God yet have we a Promise that speedily we shall be there and shall see that which they see and enjoy all that which they enjoy The poorest Christian hath all that in Promise under the hand of God himself which Angels and Glorified Saints have in possession They can shew you a better Title to Heaven though they are unworthy in themselves then any of you can shew to your lands or houses in your Deeds or Leases As poor and simple as that Godly man is whom you despise he is an Heir of Heaven and a fellow-Heir with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 3. 29. Heb. 1. 14. 11. 9. When we had the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy-Ghost and were justified by grace we were made the Heirs of eternal life according to the hope that is given us by the Gospel Tit. 3. 5 7. And God that hath given them those Better things that accompany salvation is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love if they do but shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end and be not sloathful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6. 9 10 11 12. For this cause was Christ the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the Transgressions under the first Testament they which are called may receive the Promise of the eternal inheritance Heb. 9. 15. And we know that he is faithful that hath promised And if your Bills and Bonds and Deeds and Leases be part of your Riches we shall much more take the Promise of God for our everlasting happiness in Heaven to be far greater Riches 8. And yet we may put this among our Riches or at least as the Over-plus given us by God that we have better advantage even for the matters of this world then the ungodly have For we have a Promise that we shall lack nothing that is good for us Psal 34. 10. and so have not they We have warrant to east all our care on God who by promise is engaged to care for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. We are commanded to be anxiously careful for nothing but in all things to make known our requests to God as little children that care not for themselves but go to their father for what they want Phil. 4. 6. It is enough for us whatever we want that our heavenly Father knoweth that we want it Matth. 6. 32. who hath charged us to disburden our minds of these vexatious cares and to seek first his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof and promised us that other things shall be added to us Mat. 6. 33. We have also a promise that all things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. And therefore we shall have more from the things of this life then the ungodly have Yea more by the want of them then they by the possession For if they do us good in our graces and communion with God and in the matter of our salvation they help us to that which is of far higher value then themselves Poverty to a true Believer is better then Riches to the ungodly that destroyeth himself by them when the Believer is helped by his poverty Imprisonment to Paul and Silas was better then liberty to their persecutors And thus in the fruits and saving benefits all things are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. We have the Love of God with what we possess be it more or less when the wicked have his wrath with it And who would have their Riches on such terms 9. Another part of the Gain of Godliness is that it puts us into a Readiness to die and a fitness to appear before the Lord. Though all the Godly have not so great a readiness as to desire to be presently dissolved yet all of them are in a safe condition and are so far ready that death shall pass them into a blessed state For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernaâ—le were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hâ—… eternal in the heavens And in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven And God that hath given 〈…〉 the earnest of his Spirit hath wrought in us to be alwayes confident or at least given us cause knowing that whilest we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith and not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1
and all right reason required of thee For surely he that made thee hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work and hath not given thee an hour too much A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting And shall a loytering Rebell that hath wasted so much of his little time cry out What needs so much ado Quest 25. Is it not the graceless miserable sort of men that cry out What needs all this ado Certainly it is For Scripture and Reason and Experience tell us that all that are godly are of another mind The more grace they have the more they would have The more they love God the more they would love him The more good they do the more they would do Do you not see how they labour after more grace and hear how they complain that they are no better O how it would glad them to be more Holy and more Heavenly It is therefore the strangers and despisers of grace that never knew by experience the nature and power and sweetness of it than say It is more ado then needs And is it not a most unreasonable thing for a man that hath no saving grace and holiness at all to cry out against excess of holiness And for a man that is in the captivity of the Devil and ready suddenly to drop into Hell if death do but strike the fatal blow before he be regenerate to talk against doing too much for heaven And for a man that never did God one hours pleasing service Heb. 11. 6. to prate against serving God too much O poor wretch were thy eyes but opened thou wouldst see that of any man in the Town or Countrey this language ill beseemeth thee When God hath been so long offended and thy soul is almost lost already and death and hell is hard at hand and may swallow thee up in endless desperation for ought thou knowest before thou hast read this Book to the end or before thou see another year or moneth or day is it time for such a one as thee to say What needs so much ado One would think if there be any life in thee thou shouldst stir as for thy life and if thou have a voice to cry thou shouldst cry out to God hoth day and night in the fervour of thy soul even now while mercy may be had lest time should over-slip thee and thou be shut up in the place of torment If Hell-fire will not make thee stir What will Should a weak Christian that is cast behind hand by his negligence but once speak against a diligent life he were exceedingly too blame But for thee that art yet in the gall of bitterness and the misery of an unregenerate state to speak against holy diligence for salvation when thou art in such great and deep distress and like a man that is drowning or a house on fire that must presently have help or perish this is a madness that hath no name sufficient to express it by which its a wonder that a rational soul should be guilty of Quest 26. Art thou not afraid of some sudden vengeance from the Lord for thus making thy self his open enemy and contradicting him to his face Mark his language and then mark thine Christ saith Enter in at the strait gate For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go iâ— thereat because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 7. 13 14. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. See then that ye walk circumspectly or exactly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time Ephes 5. 15 16. For I say unto you thâ—â— except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribâ—s and Pharises ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 5. 20. Wherefore brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Workout your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3. 11 12. And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4. 18. Lay not up for your selves a treasure on earth c. but lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven c. For where your treasure it there will your hearts be also Matth. 6. 19 20 21. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Matth. 6. 33. Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11. 12. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 26 27. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Isa 55. 1 2 3. Be servent in spirit serving the Lord. Rom. 12. 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and sanctifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully Jer. 48. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might For there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thougoest Eccles 9. 10. These and such like are the sayings of God by which thou mayst easily understand his mind concerning the necessity of a serious diligent holy life And shall a blind and wretched worm come after and dare to contradict him and unsay all this and say What needs so much ado What! darest thou thus openly resist God to his face What art thou and
Book against Infidelity to which I must again dismiss you that there is a full and infallible Evidence that this Scripture was written by the Apostles and Evangelists and these Miracles done as there is that any of the Statutes of this Land are the currant Statutes of those Parliaments that are said to make them And your Lands and Lives are held by the credit of these Statutes A word or two to the objections of a Masked Infidel of this Countrey Clem. Writer Saith he Men be not commanded to believe these Statutes on pain of damnation Therefore the case is not like Answ But men are commanded to obey them upon pain of death and believing is prerequisite to obeying therefore the case is like Death is the utmost penalty that man can inflict or if there be greater it all runs on the same foundation And sure that evidence that proves men culpable for breaking mans Laws must prove him culpable for breaking Gods You have no other eyes to read the Laws of God then those by which you read mans Laws And doth it follow that God must not condemn you for breaking his Laws when men do but hang you for breaking theirs Sure Gods Laws and mans may be printed in the same Character and read with the same eyes and both have the same Natural means of delivery and yet the sin and punishment differ as the Authority doth Objection But saith he Can the Miracles confirm the Scripture when it is the Scripture that reports the Miracles Answ 1. Cannot a Statute tell you what Parliament made it and what matters of fact were the occasion and also what shal be your duty upon pain of death so that the Makers and facts shall give force unto the Law and yet the Law reveal the makers and facts Do not Church Constitutions do the same The Scripture hath two parts the History and the Doctrine May not the History confirm the doctrine and that doctrine oblige us to our duty 2. But you suppose that the Miracles and facts can only be known by a Divine belief of the History But that is false The common Evidence that all Statutes Histories and Actions in the world have to make them certain to posterity as Cicero's or Virgils Writings or Caesars Reign c. the same have the Books and Miracles of Scripture to us And by these we can know them de facto to be such before we believe them by a Divine faith And as the Scripture is a History that hath the same Evidence as the best of Histories have so it may concur with abundance of other Evidence which I have recited in my my Determination against Infidelity and in my Key for Catholicks to prove the Facts and then those Facts will fully prove the Truth of all the Doctrines which they attest and consequently we shall add to our humane Faith and Knowledge a Divine faith concerning the History it self Object 3. But saith Writer If God had means that the Scripture should be a Law to all he would not have writ it in a language which they understand not Answ Any thing will serve to make an Infidel when the mind is corrupted and deplorate Were they no Laws which the Romans wrote in Latin for the Government of all the Nations of the Roman World It was enough that the Rulers of the Previnces caused them to be so far understood by the People as was necessary to a righteous Government I mean those Laws that were added to the proper Laws of that people 2. Was there any one Language then that all the world understood And was it not enough that God appointed the Ministerial Office purposely to preserve and publish this Gospel to the world from generation to generation And is not Translating whether by Voice or Writing a part of that preaching or explication Did not the Ministers of Christ preach the same doctrine to the world then in the several languages of the Nations where they came And were not the Scriptures presently translated according to the use of the Churches Upon how silly a pretence then would your silly Imperial Majesty impose it on the God of Heaven to write his word in as many Languages as are in the world if he would be believed I 'le trouble you with no more such wretched Cavils These three are the main strength of three Pamphlets written against the Holy Scriptures and me by this Apostate Their sum is Man is man therefore we are not sure that Scripture is true or that God is God I mean Men cannot understand the minds of others but by signs All signs whether words or deeds have some ambiguity or lyableness to misunderstanding therefore nothing can be known concerning God or man by signs These are not his words but the true scope and life of all the Writings of him and all the Infidel Seekers If you chide me for troubling the Christian Reader here with so much against the Infidels and Brutists I answer 1. I did it because that sort increase and threaten the Land 2. Because the strengthening of the Belief of the best Christians is the removing the Cause of all their weakness and complaints 3. And Principally because when once the certain Truth of another Life is manifested he must be a Bedlam or worse that will not be Godly or that will open his mouth any more against a Holy Life What! is it possible for a sober man to Believe that he is so near an Everlasting Joy or Misery and yet to neglect it and oppose them that make it their chiefest care and labour to prepare for it The Brutist hath drowned his Reason and the careless Professor laid it to sleep the Malicious ungodly Professor of Christianity sights against it and only the serious Holy Christian doth use it for his Everlasting good CHAP. IV. Holiness is Best for all Societies REader if thou be but a man that hast the free use of thy reason I have already removed the greatest impediment out of thy way and said enough by confuting thy Infidelity to prove that godliness is the Better part Thou hast nothing left now to say against it but what fighteth against Reason in the open light and therefore I shall find an easier task with thy understanding in all that follows though with thy corrupted Will and Concupiscence the conflict yet may be as strong Well! if yet thou art not resolved that Diligent Serious Godliness is that Good part that all should choose and better then all thy worldly pleasures I shall now discover it to thee in these particulars 1. I shall shew you that Godliness is Best for all Societies 2. That it is Best for every Person And that 1. It is the safest way 2. It is the Honestest way 3. That it is the most gainful way 4. That it is the most Honourable way and 5. That it is the Pleasant and Delightful way Yea that there is no other true Safety Honesty Profit Honour or Delight
that are but honest-hearted may certainly understand them Which quiets and pleaseth and satisfies the mind 3. And yet there is an exciting Difficulty in many things that are offered to our Knowledge which doth but make our holy studies the more delightful If the Word of God were so plain and obvious to all that it might be all understood at the first reading the plainness would bring our Sacred Knowledge into contempt as being an easie common thing Things common and easily got are little set by But when the plainness is such as may prevent our despair and dissatisfaction and yet the Difficulty such that it may hold us in study and prevent our contempt it makes the most delightful Knowledge It is Pleasant to find some daily addition to our Light and to be on the gaining and thriving hand and this upon our diligent search Successes are as pleasant as a present fulness of supplies The daily blessing of God upon our studies and humble learning addeth to our delight So that all this set together may shew you how pleasant a thing it is to have the Knowledge of a Saint Especially if you add that he hath an Exporimental and so a sweeter Knowledge then the most learned men have that are ungodly He hath tasted that the Lord is gracious and he hath tasted the sweetness of his Love and of all the Riches of his Grace in Christ and of his full and precious promises and of the inward powerful workings of his spirit His experimental Knowledge is the most Delightful Knowledge The Pleasure of Natural Knowledge is great but the Pleasure of saving Knowledge is much greater I do not believe that ever any of the Ambitious troublers of the world that let go Heaven that they may Rule on Earth have half the Pleasure in their Greatness and usurped Dignities as an honest Student hath in his Books and studious exercises and successes But if you compare the Pleasures of their Greatness and Commands with the Pleasure of a true Believing soul in his life of Faith and sweet fore-thoughts of his Heavenly Inheritance I must plainly tell you that we disdain the comparison Again I say that if you will compare the Drunkards the Fornicators or the Ambitious or Covetous mans delight with the solace that I find in my retired studies even about natural common things I disdain the comparison But if you compare their Pleasure with that little alas too little pleasure that I find in the believing thoughts of Life Eternall I do not only disdain your comparison but detest it Were I minded to be long I would shew you from these twelve particular Instances the abundant Pleasure of Holy Knowledge 1. What a Pleasant thing is it to know the Lord the Eternal God in his blessed Attributes The dimmest glimmering Knowledge of God is better then the clearest Knowledge of all the mysteries of nature 2. How Pleasant is it to know the works of his Creation How and why and when he made the world and all that is therein 3. How Pleasant is it to know the blessed Son of God and to behold the face of his Fathers Love that is revealed in him as his fullest Image 4. How Pleasant is it to know the Law and Gospel the Matter and the Method the litteral and spiritual sense to see there the mind and will of God and to see our Charter for the Heavenly Inheritance and read the Precepts and the Promises and the Examples of the faith and patience of the Saints 5. How Pleasant is it to know the Heavenly operations of the Holy Ghost and the nature and action of his several Graces and the uses of every one of them to our souls and especially to find them in our selves and to be skilled in using them 6. How Pleasant is it to know the nature and frame of the Church of Christ which is his Body and to know the difference and use of the several members To understand the office of the Ministry and why Christ hath set them in the Church and how much love he hath manifested therein that they should preach to us and offer us Reconciliation in his name and stead 2 Cor. 5. 19. and marry us unto Christ in Baptism receiving us in his name into the Church and holy Covenant and that in his name and stead they should deliver us his body and blood and absolve the penitent sinner from his sins and deliver him a sealed pardon and receive the returning humbled soul into the Church of Christ and Communion of the Saints 7. How Pleasant is it to know the nature and use of all Christs Ordinances The excellencies of his Holy Word the use of Baptism and the refreshing strengthening use of the Supper of the Lord the use and benefit of Holy prayer and praises and thanksgiving and Church-order and all parts of the Communion of the Saints 8. Yea there is a holy Pleasure in knowing our very sin and folly When God bringeth a sinner to himself though his sin be odious to him yet to know the sin is Pleasant and therefore he prayeth that God would shew him the bottom of his heart and the most secret or odious of his sins 9. And it is Pleasant to a Christian to know his Duty It very much quieteth and delighteth his mind when he can but know what is the will of God When the way of Duty is plain before him how chearfully can he go on whatever meet him and how easie doth it make his labour and his suffering 10. Yea it is Pleasant to a Believer to understand his very danger Though the Danger it self be dreadful to him yet to know it that he may avoid it is his desire and his delight 11. And how Pleasant is it to understand all the Helps Encouragements and Comforts that God hath provided for us in our way and how many more are for us then against us 12. But above all how Pleasant is it to know by faith the life that we must live with God for ever and what he will do for us to all eternity in the performance of his holy Covenant I do but briefly name these Instances of Delightful Knowledge which are sweeter to the holy soul then all the Pleasures of sin to the ungodly Do you think that any of you hath such solid Pleasure in your sins as David had in the Law of God when he meditated in it with such delight and saith How sweet is it to my mouth even sweeter then the honey and the hony-comb Surely you dare not compare with him in Pleasures 2. Another part of Holiness that is Pleasant in the Nature of it is that which is subjected in the heart or affections And here is the chiefest of its sweetness and delights 1. The very compliance of the Will with the Will of God and its Conformity to his Law doth carry a quieting Pleasure in it That soul is happyest that is nearest God and likest to him and that
our Comforter And if that be not a pleasant life that is managed by such a Guide and that be not likest to be a joyful soul that is possest by the Spirit of joy it self there is no joy then on earth to be expected Hath God promised his Spirit to comfort you that are wicked in your sin No it is the malicious deceiving spirit that is your Comforter that by his comforts he might keep you from solid spiritual everlasting comforts But the Repenting Believing soul that is united unto Christ and hath already had the spirit for his conversion it is he that hath the promise of the spirit for his consolation And if that be not the most comfortable life where the God of Heaven becomes the comforter we cannot then know the effect by the cause If Life it self will quicken if light it self will illuminate the comforting spirit will certainly comfort in the degree and season as God seeth meet and the soul is fitted to receive it 4. Moreover we have the whole treasurie of the Gospel to go to for our Delight And little doth the sensual unbelieving soul know what sweetness what supporting pleasures may be from thence derived I had rather have the holy word of God to go to for contents then the treasures of the rich or the pleasures of the sensual or the flatteries and vain glory of the ambitious man All that the world doth make such a pudder about which they ride and run for which they so much glory in will never afford them so much Content as one Scripture promise will do to a truly faithful soul I must profess before Angels and men that I had rather have one Promise of the Love of God and the life to come which is contained in the holy Scriptures then to have all the riches pleasures and honours of this world My God this was my Covenant with thee and to this I stand O blessed be the Lord that hath provided us such a Magazine of Delight as is this heavenly sacred Book The Precepts appoint us a pleasant work The strictest prohibitions do but restrain us from our own calamities and keep out of our hands the knife by which we would cut our fingers The severest threatnings do but deterre us from running into the consuming fire and hedge about the devouring gulf lest we should foolishly cast our selves therein And these are the bitterest parts of that holy word But when we read the promises of a Saviour and the wonderful history of his Incarnation and of his holy self-denying life his conquests miracles death resurrection ascension intercession and his promise to return when we read of the foundation which he hath laid and the building which he intends to finish of his rich abundant promises to his chosen what provision do we find for our abundant joys No strait can be so great no pressure so grievous no enemies so strong but we have full consolation offered us in the promises against them all We have promises of the pardon of all our sins and promises of heaven it self and what can we have more we have promises suited to every state both prosperity and adversity What do we need which we have not a promise of And the word of God is no deceit What but a promise can comfort them that are short of the possession May I not have more joy in sickness with a promise then the ungodly without a promise in their health A promise in prison sets a man as at liberty A promise in Poverty is more then riches A promise at death is better then life What I have a promise of I may be sure of but what you possess without a promise you may lose and your souls and hopes with it this night There is no condition on earth so hard to a man that hath interest in the promises in which he may not have plentiful relief We live by faith and not by sense And we reckon more on that as ours which we hope for then which we do possess We are sure that there is no true felicity on earth It then we have a promise of Heaven when Infidels lie down in the dust with desperation have we not a more comfortable life then they 5. Moreover we have Heaven it self to fetch our comfort from Not Heaven in sight or in Possession but Heaven in Promise and seen by faith And if Heaven will not afford us pleasure whence shall we expect it Even sensual men can rejoyce as well in what they see not if they are assured it is theirs as in what they see And why then may not Believers do so much more A worldling when he seeth not his money in his chest or at use or his lands and cattel that are far from him can yet rejoyce in them as if he saw them And should not we rejoyce in the certain Hopes of Heaven though yet we see it not when I am pained in sickness and role in restless weariness of my flesh if then I can say I shall be in Heaven may it not be the inward rejoycing of my soul You know where you are but you know not where you shall be The Believer knoweth where he shall be as truly as he knoweth where he is unless it be one that by his frailty hath not reacht unto assurance who yet hath reached unto Hope What great matter is it if I lay in greatest pain if I can say I shall have everlasting ease in Heaven Or if I lay in prison or in sordid poverty and can say I shall shortly be with Christ Or if I had lost the love of all men and could say that I shall everlastingly enjoy the Love of God Most of your comforts do come in by the way of your thoughts And what Thoughts should so rejoyce the soul as the thoughts of our abode with Christ for ever If a day in the Courts of God be so delightful what is ten thousand millions of ages in the Court of Glory and all then as fresh as at the first day There it is that our sin will be put off Our carnal enmity laid by our temptations will be over our enemies will all have done our fears and sorrows will be at an end Our desires will be accomplished Our differences be reconciled Our charity perfected and our expectations fully satisfied and Hope turned into full fruition O may I but be able with stronger faith and fuller confidence to say that Heaven is mine and when this tabernacle is dissolved I shall be with Christ my life and my death will be delightful and I need not complain for want of pleasure Let who will take the pleasures of the flesh may I but have this In prayer in meditation in holy conference in every duty it is the expectation of approaching blessedness that drops in sweetness into all No wonder if it can sweeten a course of duty when it can make light the greatest sufferings and turn pain into pleasure
which the Gospel worketh as well as small 3. That good which they had was wrought only by some â—eraps or parcels of the same holy Truth that is contained in the Scriptures And therefore even so much Truth among the Heathens as proficed them to any Reformation was the word of God and owned by him Quer. 6. Do you believe that Jesus Christ did rise again from the dead or not and that he and his Disciples did work those many uncontrolled Miracles or not If you do believe it then what need you further testimony to prove the doctrine to be of God or to prove that there is a Life to come Shall the Captain of our Salvation himself Rise from the dead and conquer death and ascend up into Heaven to shew us that there is a Life to come and yet will you not believe it Or would God lend to any man his Power to confirm a false doctrine to the world If so then 1. It would be God himself that should mislead us For it is he that worketh the Miracles or granteth special Power to the instrument to do it 2. Man should be unavoidably misled For if a man rise from the Dead and raise others and give to thousands the guifts of Languages healing and the like and all this have no greater contrary evidence from God of some contradiction or controllment I am unavoidably deceived and neither my greatest innocency or diligence or any other help from men could possibly relieve me And he that can believe that the Infinitely Powerful Wise and Good is either necessitated or disposed to deceive the world and Rule them by deceit and falshood and to lend his power to confirm a doctrine that he hateth and is against himself this man indeed believeth not that there is any God 3. Even the Brutists themselves and all the Infidels with whom we talk will confess that if they should see Christ Rise or see such Miracles they would believe and therefore they do confess that they are cogent Evidence to those that know of them Obj. Did not the sorcerrers in Egypt work Miracles Ans 1. Wonders they did but not Miracles 2. They were controlled and shamed and disowned by God by Moses his contradictory conqueting Miracles Obj. But some might have dyed between the Magicians wonders and Moses controlment and so have been unavoidably lost Answ 1. The time was neer and that not likely of those that knew of them 2. At the first wonder of the Magicians Aarons Rod swallowed up their Rods Exod. 7. 12. and therefore the conquest obliged them to suspend belief of the other 3. The Miracles of Moses were not to reveal a new doctrine of salvation that could not otherwise be known but partly to convince Pharaoh that the Lord was God and partly to cause him to let go the Israelites The peoples salvation lay not on the later and the former they had abundant means to know by the works and light of Nature it self And the Magicians wonders were not to reveal a New false doctrine any further then to contend againg Moses Miracles and if they had yet being against the doctrine of the whole Creation that revealeth the Creator no man could be excusable for believing them because God hath given so full a testimony before against them so that this objection is plainly but an impertinent cavil But I doubt not but you will say that you are not sure that Christ rose again and that ever such Miracles were done I Ask therefore Quer. 7. Whether it be possible that so many and so wise and godly men as their writings prove them should give up their lives and all that they had and could have hoped for in this world to perswade the world that they saw Christ Risen if it were false and to draw them to believe a falshood that tended to the worldly ruine of them all Quer. 8. And is it possible that if they had been so bad and mad that so many thousands would have believed them when their own frequent Miracles Language c. were the witness of their fidelity to which they openly appealed and this in the very age and place where all these things might easily be confuted if untrue If I should pretend to convince the world by Languages not learned and by other Miracles and guifts which I never had would countreys or any sober persons believe me or should I not be the common scorn Would the Churches of the world have been planted by pretended Miracles that never were would they all have given up estates and lives upon an evident lye It was easie for them all to see and hear whether these things were done or not And therefore he that seeth those Churches which were the proper effects of Miracles may know the Cause A real effect had a real cause Quer. 9. Was it possible that so many hundred or thousand persons dispersed about the world on a sudden could without coming neer each other agree both upon one and the same false doctrine throughout and on the same practices to deceive the world Quer. 10. Is it possible that among so many thousands that torments or death or common ingennity would not have forced some to have repented and opened the deceits of all the rest Quer. 11. Is it possible that so many Hereticks that did fall from them and set against the true Aposles would none of them have disclosed the deceit if really the Miracles had not been done Quer. 12. Is it possible that none of the Jews their bitter Enemies nor any of the Learned Romans of that age would have discovered the fraud and by writing confuted the matters of fact being publik and if false so easily confuted Where are the Books that ever any one of them wrote to disprove any of these Miracles If you say The Christians burnt them give us the least proof of it if you can When did any Jew complain of such a thing Nay how could the dispersed persecuted Christians destroy the writings of their reigning enemies The writings of Jews and Romans then written remain to this day and had fuller humane advantages of preservation then any that are against them No Jews or Romans complained or to do this day complain of such a thing nor tell us of any such writings of theirs that ever were in the world Quer. 13. Nay the Jews confessed the Miracles themselves and had no shift left for their unbelief but by Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and saying that they were done by the Power of the devil Quer. 14. All the dispersed Churches and Christians of the world have universally concurred in delivering us down these matters of fact and the Writings that contain them and this as a thing that they grounded all their hope of Salvation on and for which they contemned this present world And the Enemies that gainsaid their doctrine did not gainsay these matters of fact Could this be feigned Quer. 15. Have I not fully manifested in my