Peace with God And by this we may understand from whence the purifying Vertue of Faith as it justifies proceeds for it necessarily supposes us to be under the guilt of Sin and in desperate Misery that we are obnoxious to God's Tribunal who is a righteous and holy Judge angry and incens'd for our Sins and will be a revenging Judge to all that continue in their guilty state and that our Pardon and Right to Eternal Life are to be intirely ascrib'd to the soveraign Mercy of God the Original Cause and the Blood of Christ the Meritorious Cause of it Now Faith works by Love the Love of God to us apprehended by Faith and our Love to him which is the reflexion of his Beams shining in our Hearts and is the powerful Principle of Obedience to him The well-grounded Belief that God will save us and bring us to Eternal Glory does naturally and necessarily inspire the Breast of a Christian with a holy Fear of Sin that provokes him and a constant Care to please him in all things Besides God in dispensing his pardoning Mercy requires our perseverance in a holy Conversation What our Saviour said to the Man miraculously cur'd of his inveterate Disease Behold thou art made whole Sin no more least a worse thing befall thee is virtually said to every pardon'd Believer when God speaks peace to his people 't is with this Caution let them not return any more to folly I shall under another Head speak of Faith as the Effectual Means of our Sanctification and now will proceed 3. Faith in the disposal of all things by the Infallible Providence of God is one of those universal Principles those prime and great Truths rich in practical Consequences that are powerful to compose and calm our Minds and Hearts in the midst of the visible disorders and confusion of things in the present World The Heathens measur'd the Divine Perfections by the compass of their narrow Understandings They could not conceive that one God was able to order all things and form'd a vast number of Subordinate Gods to whom the care of particular things was Committed They blasphem'd him in their Imaginations thinking him to be like Mortal Kings insufficient to govern immediately several Kingdoms and Nations divers in their Customs and Languages who are constrain'd to manage their Affairs by the number variety and order of Officers Vice-Roys to divide the Government Counsellors to advise about occurrences of Moment Secretaries to give Commissions and make dispatches Judges to dispense the Laws Military Officers to prevent Tumults Others confin'd his Presence and Agency to the Heavens and sequester'd him from the lower World the mutable Sphere of the Elements and of Men and their Actions leaving them under the dominion of Fortune Others thought that he was so content with his own Felicity that all things without him were distant from his Thoughts and Care and that to regard and regulate the multitude of Emergencies in this lower World would disturb his Felicity Thus the Professors of Wisdom like the Foolish Harpaste that Seneca speaks of who insensible of her own blindness alwayes complain'd the Sun was down and the house dark thought all things were left at random in loose disorder and confusion here below Nay some of the clearest spirits and most Vertuous among the Heathen could not reconcile the Oppressions and Infelicities of Good Men and the Prosperity of the Wicked with the Rectitude and Equity of the Divine Providence and express'd their Discontents in the Stile and Accent of their Passions Of this we have two Eminent Instances Brutus who with inviolable Integrity had as a Senator managed the Publick Affairs and with undeclining Courage endeavour'd to recover his Countrey from Ignominious Bondage when Vanquisht by the Usurpers broke out into a Tragical Complaint O Virtue I worship thee as a substantial Good a Deity but thou art an empty Name an Idol The Emperor Titus who was the delight of Mankind for his goodness and benignity surpriz'd with Death in his flourishing Age accus'd Heaven that his Life was unjustly snatcht from him The ways and thoughts of God in the Government of the World are above the wayes and thoughts of men as the heavens are higher than the earth And if his Wisdom had not descended from Heaven and discover'd it self in the Sanctuary We should be foolish and like the beasts that perish But the Word of God assures us that nothing happens in this tumultuous and tempestuous World without the Knowledge the Will either approving or permissive and Efficiency of God so far as to dispose the worst Evils by his powerful Providence subordinately to his main End that is alway good Nothing is so high as to be exempted from the Dominion nor so low as to be excluded from the Care of his Providence 1. We are assur'd that all things and persons are under the Eye and Inspection of his Providence No silence no solitude nor darkness can hide the Designs and Actions of the Wicked nor the Sufferings of his People from his perfect Knowledge How many Millions of Inhabitants are in the World how different their Conditions and Circumstances ebbing or flowing but they are all actually and distinctly known to God Without his Universal and Infallible Knowledge it were impossible that God should Govern the World and Judge it Torquatus Manlius a Noble Roman though blind through Age was chosen Consul and General to Rule the State and the Army But no Arguments no Intreaties could perswade him to Consent to it he answer'd That it was absolutely absurd that the Lives and Estates of others should be Committed to his Providence and Protection who must manage all things by the Eyes of others The Perfection of God's Knowledge qualifies him to Govern the World and is the Foundation of Trust in him He tells the number of the Stars that seem innumerable Psal. 147. 41. and from hence the Psalmist encourages the Church that was then disperss'd in Captivity that he could gather the out-casts of Israel though scatter'd in strange Countries and build up Jerusalem He not onely numbers the Stars but the hairs of our Heads that are of so small Consideration All Creatures are supported in their Beings and Operations by his Power therefore 't is impossible they should be without his Knowledge and that any thing should be done by them or befall them without his disposing VVill. 2. The Providence of God is not merely Theoretical but Active and orders all things He rides upon the heavens that is regulates their Motions as easily as a skilful Rider manages a Horse The Stars that in the Language of Scripture are the Armies of Heaven for their Number Order and Actions he calls by their names that is absolutely Commands them For his Call is always effectual and exactly accomplish'd As in the Creation He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast So in the Conservation and
and serious Thoughts his Dying Love to the Soul will cause an irresistible Affection to him stronger than Death We must learn of Christ how to love him His Love was express'd in the most real Actions and convincing Evidence it was an incarnate Love a beneficent Love productive of our Salvation our love must be productive of Obedience This is the surest Trial of it If ye love me you will keep my words saith our Saviour The Frost of Fear will hinder the breaking forth of Carnal Lusts into notorious Acts as the Cold of Winter binds the Earth that noxious Weeds cannot spring up but the heat of Love is productive of all the Fruits of Righteousness Love to Christ will make every Command pleasant and the exactest Obedience to be voluntary liberal and ingenuous Fear may enforce Constancy for a time but Love is a Vital Principle continually operative in all the Transitions of this Life This secures Obedience Christ has fasten'd us to his Service by a Chain compos'd of his most precious Benefits by the pardon of our innumerable sins and to whom much is forgiven they love much Fear tries in vain to make an alliance between the Flesh and Spirit obeys some Commands and transgresses others but Love respects all Fear induces a desertion of our Duty when Evils nearly threaten us but Love encounters them with such a Character of Assurance as becomes those who esteem it a Favour and Honour to Suffer for Christ. Some are harden'd against Afflictions and endure with Courage Persecutions for the Cause of Christ but yield to pleasant Temptations like the Manna that would endure the Fire but melted in the heat of the Sun but Love to Christ by an overcoming delight renders the pleasures of Sin nauseous and insipid In short the properties of natural Love are united in the Love of Christ. Love will transport us to Heaven and transform us into his likeness Love will make us Zealous in constant and excellent Endeavours to be compleatly conform'd to him Resemblance is the common Principle of all unions in Nature 't is preparative to Love and the effect of it Experience is a sensible demonstration of this For the love of Friends if in a degree of Eminence Causes a perfect sympathy an exact correspondence in their Tempers The exercise of Love in the most precious Esteem of him in burning desires after a Propriety in him in the sweetest complacency in Communion with him are intimate and inseparable Qualities in all the Lovers of Christ. Love to him is always joyn'd with an irreconcileable hatred of Sin that cost him so dear to expiate its guilt Our love intirely and intensely is due to him and no lower degree is accepted For 't is a disparagement and infinitely unworthy of him To content our selves with a less Affection is not only far distant from Perfection but from the first disposition of a Saint The tenderest and strongest Affections in Nature must be regulated and subordinate to the Love of Christ. Our Love to him must be Singular and Supreme Briefly his Love to us is Beneficent ours is Obedient He values no Love without Obedience and no Obedience without Love 2. Love must descend from God to our Neighbour This Duty is so often Commanded and Commended in the Gospel that we may from thence understand its Excellency The beloved Disciple that lay in the Bosom of Christ from that Spring of Love derived the Streams that flow in his Writings He declares that God is Love and he that loves dwells in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4. 11. He makes it an Evidence that we are born of God of our renewed state and that we are past from death to life Our Saviour injoyns it with a note of Eminency as his new Command as the distinctive Character of his Disciples as the special Qualification of those at his right hand in the Day of Judgment to recommend it to our Love and Obedience He tells us that to love our neighbour as our selves is like the most divine Precept of loving the Lord our God We read in that Solemn Proclamation of God's Name when his Glory past before Moses that to the Title of Lord God there was immediately annext Merciful and Gracious abundant in Goodness to signifie that Goodness is his dearest Glory and in the Divine Law next to Piety to God Charity to our Neighbour is Commanded to signifie how pleasing it is to him The Gospel Eclipses all other Institutions by the Precept of Universal Love and inspiring a delightful disposition in Christians to exercise it This adorns the Gospel and recommends it to the Esteem and Affections of Men. A Person innocent and pure but of a severe and harsh Temper condemns by his Holy Conversation the Profane and Scandalous but a Good Man charms and captivates the Hearts of others that one would dare to dye for him This Duty is prescrib'd in the Extent and Qualifications of it 1. In the Extent it reaches to all within the compass of Humanity to Strangers and Enemies in all our dealings Let all things be done with Charity The Relation of Consanguinity is the Natural Cause of a Benevolent Affection to all Men. The likeness of kind prevents mischief between the most fierce and hurtful Creatures We never heard that Lyons devour Lyons or Vipers bite Vipers and unless we add Beneficence to Innocence we are but in the rank of Brutes The Love of good Will is express'd by promoting their Good and preventing Evils by rejoycing in their Prosperity and relieving them in their Afflictions This Love is more radicated in the breasts of Men by considering the condition of Nature wherein they are equal whether the original happy state of their Creation or their miserable wretched state since their Fall Similitude either in Happiness or Misery unites Mens Affections How low and despicable so great a part of Mankind is at present yet the remembrance that all Men were equal in their first honourable and happy Condition Inhabitants of Paradise and by deputation Lords of the World will raise our esteem and be an incentive of kind Affections to them And since the Fall the calamitous Condition of Mankind is a proper motive of mutual assistance to one another Society in Miseries endears the Sufferers and produces a tender sympathy between them None are so merciful as those who by Experience know what it is to be miserable The Consideration of the common Evils to which all are exposed in the present state induces a strong obligation to the offices of Love and Kindness But the principal and divine cause of Love is the Law of Christ that enjoyns us to do good to all but especially to the houshold of Faith for the spiritual Relation is more intimate and excellent than the natural That we are the off-spring of the same Heavenly Father united as Members to the same glorious Head renewed to a Divine Life by the same Holy Spirit incorporated into
when he leaves this World and enter naked and solitary into the next World where he will be poor for ever He is rich that carries with him Divine Graces and Comforts the Treasures of the Soul when he dyes and takes possession of the Inheritance undefiled that passes not away How often do Worldly Men in their last hours when the thoughts of the Heart are declared with most feeling and least affectation condemn their unaccountable Folly for their having set their Affections on things below and neglecting things above that with such fervour and constancy they prosecuted their secular ends and were so coldly affected to eternal things as unworthy of their care and diligence Those forlorn Wretches in their Extremities with what significant and lively Expressions do they decry the Vanity of this World and the Vanity of their Hearts in seeking it 'T is related of Philip King of the Macedonians that while one was pleading before him he drop'd asleep and waking on a sudden past Sentence against the righteous Cause Upon this the injur'd Person cryed out I appeal The King with Indignation ask'd To whom He reply'd From your self sleeping to your self waking and had the Judgment revers'd that was against him Thus in matters of eternal moment if there be an Appeal from the sleeping to the waking Thoughts of Men when Death opens their Eyes to see the Dross of false Treasures and the Glory of the true what a change would it make in their Minds Affections and Actions But O Folly and Misery they but superficially consider things till constrain'd when 't is too late From these Considerations we understand the Reasons of our Saviour's declaring 'T is as easie for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle as for a rich Man that trusts in his Riches to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But what is impossible with Men is possible with God He can by so strong a Light represent the Eternal Kingdom to Mens Minds and purifie their Affections that they shall so use the World that they may enjoy God We should from hence be excited to watchfulness against this Sin Our Saviour gave a double Caution to his Disciples Take heed and beware of Covetousness In some the Leprosie appears in their Foreheads their Company their Conversation make it evident that the World is set in their Hearts In others the Leprosie is in their Bosoms their Affections are intensly and entirely set on the World though the discovery is not so visible None but the circumspect can be safe In order to the mortifying this Lust the following means with the Divine Blessing will be very useful The inward causes of the greedy desires and tenacious humour of the Covetous are the irregular esteem of Riches and consequently the jealousie of losing what is so highly valued and sollicitude to prevent all possible future wants Now to take away these causes consider 1. There are Treasures infinitely more precious and durable and more worthy of our esteem and love than all the Gold that is drawn from the Mines in Peru the true inrichments of the Soul without which a Man possess'd of all the Wealth of the Flota is not rich towards God but wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked God offers himself to be our Portion who is rich in all Perfections whose Treasures are unsearchable and unwasted If we seek his Love and Grace to love him we shall inherit substance and durable Riches The Apostle when the scales were fallen from his Eyes discovered such an excellency in the knowledge of Christ that he counted all things loss and dung that he might have an interest in him This eminent advantage there is in seeking Heavenly Treasures we shall certainly obtain them and never be deprived of them whereas the most eager pursuit of Earthly Riches is uncertainly successful and if we do acquire them they will certainly be lost Now as inward bleeding that endangers Life is stop'd by revulsion in opening a Vein so if the stream of our Affections be directed to things above it will stop their impetuous current to things below 2. The liberal use of Riches for the Glory of God and in Charity to others is the best means to secure the tenure of our Temporal Possessions For the neglect of paying the Tribute we owe to God makes a forfeiture of our Estates and he can by Right and Power resume them in a moment Besides there is no Epithet more proper to be joyn'd with Riches than uncertain Is that Man certainly rich whose entire Estate is in a Ship sailing through dangerous Seas and open to frequent Piracies There is no greater a distance between a Tempest and a Shipwrack than between often and always Innumerable Disasters are imminent and nearly threaten the undoing of the richest Man But God who commands the Winds and the Seas and governs the Wills of Men whose Providence orders the most fortuitous Events has promised that the liberal Man who deviseth liberal things he shall stand He has a special Protection and as he is like to God in giving so he shall be in not being poorer for his giving The Apostle incourages Christians not to be covetous by this Argument God has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee We may firmly rely on his Promise for Truth is the foundation of trust and rest on his Providence which is Omnipotent Add to this Consideration there is an accessional security to the Charitable from the assistance of others Man is sociable by instinct and the civil Life that is proper to him will be dissolv'd without mutual assistance 'T is order'd by the Rule of Providence that there is no Man so compleatly sufficient in himself so absolutely and independently happy but he wants the Counsel the Courage the Help of others 'T is usual that he who possesses most can do less and that he that has less can do more From hence it follows that the Wealth of the one and the Strength of the other the giving that wherein one abounds and the receiving that which the other wants makes such an equipoise between the Rich and the Poor that they cannot be disjoyn'd Experience declares there is nothing does more endear and engage the Affections of others to us than acts of Kindness Beneficence joyn'd with Innocence render Men venerable and amiable conciliate Esteem and Love for a good Man one would even dare to dye Whereas the Covetous and Incompassionate not only provoke God for he that abuses a Benefit despises the Benefactor and by imprisoning their Treasures without doing Good the abuse is as real as by riotous wasting them but are exposed to Hatred and Contempt and if a Disaster surprises them a secret Joy touches the Hearts of others 2. 'T is a means to increase Riches 'T is a Rule not only in Spirituals but in Temporals As a Man sows so he shall reap both in the Recompences of Justice and the Rewards of
and of different degrees of Goodness the Vine the Fig-tree the Apple-tree if an Apple-tree produce the best Fruits in its kind though not equal to the Fruit of the Vine 't is perfectly good Thus in the World there are several Conditions of Life among Men some are in places of Dignity and Superiority others of subjection and service A Servant that is faithful and diligent adorns the Gospel and excels in that Relation and is equally accepted of God as others in a higher order He that gain'd two Talents was esteem'd as faithful as he that gain'd five because the profit resulting from the improvement was in proportion to the stock entrusted with him There is a Perfection Relative to the various Spiritual States of Christians here St. John addresses his Counsel to Christians under several Titles to Children to Young Men and Fathers with respect to their different Ages in Christianity A Child is perfect in the quality of a Child when he has the stature the strength the understanding that is becoming his Age though he is distant from that compleat state to which he will arrive in his mature Age. A young Man has the Perfection proper to his Age. A new Convert that has such degrees of Knowledge and Holiness as are suitable to the Means and his Time of advancement by them is esteem'd Compleat in that state of Grace Some are enter'd into the School of Heaven and are in the first Lessons of Christianity others have made a higher progress in it to the fulness of the Stature Beyond the Perfection attainable here there is an absolute Perfection of Holiness in the extent of its parts and intention of degrees 'T is our present Duty to aspire and endeavour after this but attain'd only in Heaven where every Saint is renewed into the perfect Image of God and made glorious in holiness the great end of our Saviour's Love in dying for us By gradations Christians ascend to that Consummate state the period of Perfection CHAP. VI. Particular Graces Consider'd the internal Principles of Perfection Divine Faith Doctrinal Justifying and in the disposal of Providence Doctrinal Faith is not Imagination nor Reason The Objects of it The Motives consider'd The Essential Perfections of God Faith a divine Revelation is the most reasonable Act of the Humane Mind God's Truth a Principle immediately evident His Jurisdiction reaches to mens Understandings God never requires our Assent to supernatural Truths but he affords sufficient Conviction that they are reveal'd by him God reveals himself in Scripture by humane expressions according to our Capacity We are obliged to believe supernatural Doctrines no farther than they are reveal'd To attempt the Comprehensive knowledge of them is perfectly vain 't is impossible impertinent and dangerous Curiosity often fatal to Faith An Answer to Objections that supernatural Doctrines are not reconcileable to Reason That when men use all means sincerely to know the truth of them and are not Convinc'd of it they shall not be Condemn'd for involuntary speculative Errors I Will now particularly Consider those Graces that are of a more Excellent Nature and have a more powerful Causality and Influence in the lives of Christians Faith and Love Hope and Fear are the internal Principles of Christian Perfection I will first discourse of Divine Faith the first principle and foundation of Religion as the Apostle declares He that comes to God must believe that he is and the rewarder of them that diligently seek him The belief of his Being and Bounty is the Motive of Holy Worship This Grace is most Honourable to God and beneficial to us The understanding is our Supreme Faculty and by submitting it to divine Revelation we pay the most humble Homage to him By Faith we Conceive of God becoming his divine Perfections in believing the Revelation he has made of his Nature which is as Incomprehensible as 't is Invisible and the declaration of his Will though the things promis'd are encompass'd with opposition and seeming impossibilities we glorifie his perfect Veracity and Omnipotence in the highest manner He that believes the divine Testimony sets his Seal that God is true ratifies his word in the most solemn manner Faith is most beneficial to us 'T is the root of the Spiritual Life from whence all other Graces derive their flourishing and fruitfulness 'T is not only productive of its own acts but excites and animates every Grace in its distinct exercise Like the animal Spirits that give motion and vigour to all the Senses Faith in Christ conveys to a weak Christain a kind of Omnipotence The Apostle declares I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me The most eminent effects of other Graces either active or suffering Fortitude Zeal Self-denyal Patience are attributed to Faith as the Honour of a Victory is ascribed to the General by whose Conduct and Courage the Battle is managed though 't is obtained by the Valour of the Soldiers By Faith we are justified from the guilt of our many and mighty Sins We are purified from their deep Pollutions We are adopted into the line of Heaven and are saved from misery extreme and eternal I will consider Divine Faith under three Heads 1. Doctrinal Faith 2. Justifying Faith 3. Faith in the disposal of all things by the ruling Providence of God Doctrinal Faith I will consider 1. In its nature 2. The objects of it 3. The motives 4. The efficacy 1. The nature of it All the notions of Faith agree in this 't is a dependance upon the truth of another Thus Trust is called Faith because it relies upon the truth of a Promise And one is said to keep his Faith inviolate when he performs the Promise that another relyed on Faith in the propriety of expression is an assent for the veracity of the speaker Accordingly Divine Faith is a firm assent of the Mind to things upon the authority of Divine Revelation 'T is distinguish'd from Imagination and from comprehensive Reason Fancy draws a Copy of those Objects that are perceived by the external Senses or compounds many Copies together but creates no images of things not perceptible by the Senses We can imagine Mountains of Gold because we have seen Gold and Mountains We conceive monstrous mixtures in Dreams but no actors can appear on the theatre of Fancy but in borrowed habits from sensible things But the Objects of Faith are such things as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard and transcend the capacity of the Imagination to conceive and of the external Senses to represent Yet Infidels blaspheme the Eternal Truths of Divine Things as the fictions of Fancy 2. Faith is distinguish'd from Science acquired by Study and from Reason Reason implies a progress from one degree of Knowledge to another by consequences drawn from the first to the second But Faith asserts to things upon the account of superiour Authority that reveals them and commands us to believe them The same things may be
the Objects of Faith and of Reason buâ— in different respects Reason may discover them by ascending from effects to their causes or descending from causes to their effects Faith receives them as revealed in Scripture By Faith we know the Worlds were made which may be proved by clear Reason 2. The Objects of Faith The general Object of Faith is the Word of God the special are those Doctrines and Promises and Things that Reason cannot discover by its own Light nor perfectly understand when revealed The Word of God contains a Narrative of things past and Predictions of things to come The destruction of the old World by a deluge of Waters and the consumption of the present World by a deluge of Fire are Objects of Faith But the Unity of the Divine Nature and the Trinity of Divine Persons the Incarnation of the Son of God his Eternal Counsels respecting Man's Redemption never enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive but are as far above our thoughts as the Heavens are above the Earth and cannot be comprehended God may be considered absolutely in himself or as revealing himself and his Will to us We have some knowledge of his Being and Divine Attributes Wisdom Power Goodness in his Works of Creation and Providence but we believe in him as declaring his Mind and Will to us in his Word We may know a Person and his excellent Vertues Intellectual and Moral but we cannot believe in him without some discovery of his Thoughts and Affections to us 3. The motives of Belief are to be considered Divine Faith must have a Divine Foundation Faith may be absolutely true and relatively false Many believe the Doctrine of the Gospel upon no other grounds than the Turks believe the Alcoran because 't is the reigning Religion of their Country and by the impression of Example From hence their Faith is like the House built on the Sand and when a Storm arises is in danger of falling The firm foundation of Faith is the essential supreme Perfections of God unerring Knowledge immutable Truth infinite Goodness almighty Power 'T is equally impossible that he should be deceived or deceive His infinite Understanding is the foundation of his perfect Veracity And whatsoever is the Object of his Will is the Object of his Power for to will and to do are the same thing in him 'T is true the knowledge of things by experimental Sense is a clearer perception than the perswasion of them by Faith The first is to see the original the other is to see the copy that usually falls short of it 'T is therefore said We now see in a glass darkly But the Divine Testimony in it self has the most convincing evidence above the assurance we can have by the report of our Senses which often deceive us through the indisposition of the Faculty or the unfitness of the medium or distance of the Objects or the knowledge of things by discursive Ratiocination The objective certainty of Faith is infallible We know with the highest assurance that God can no more lye than he can dye 'T is said All things are possible with God but to lye or dye are not possibilities but passibilities not the effects of Power but proceed from Weakness We know the sacred Scriptures are the Word of God by the signatures of his Perfections Wisdom Holiness Goodness Justice and by the Miracles perform'd by the Pen-men of them that proved they were divinely inspir'd and consequently infallible in what they wrote From hence Faith is often express'd by Knowledge Nicodemus gives this testimony of our Saviour We know thou art a teacher come from God We believe and are sure thou art that Christ the Son of the living God We know that if the house of this earthly tabernable be dissolved we have a building made without hands eternal in the Heavens We know that he was manifested that he might take away Sin We know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is I will not insist upon the particular supernatural Doctrines revealed in the Gospel for there is little new to be said upon those Points If Men with renewed Minds and Hearts considered the testimony of Scripture there would need no more arguing But I will lay down some Considerations that prove Divine Faith to be the reasonable act of the Humane Understanding 2. Answer the Objections alledged to justifie the disbelief of Divine Doctrines that we are not able to conceive nor comprehend 1. That God is true is a Principle immediately evident not dependently upon an antecedent motive This by its native irresistible evidence is beyond all dispute and exempted from all critical Inquiries There is no Principle written in the Minds of Men with clearer Characters 'T was the saying of a wise Heathen If God would converse visibly with Men he would assume Light for a Body and have Truth for his Soul God is most jealous of the Honour of his Truth Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name Truth is the supreme Character of the Deity The Apostle builds the assurance of Christians upon the Promises and their strong Consolation upon this infallible Rock God that cannot lye From hence it follows that in supernatural Doctrines we must first consider the authority of the revealer and then the nature of Doctrines 2. God's Jurisdiction extends to our Understandings as well as to our Wills He rules our Understandings by light our Wills by empire If God did command us to believe only Truths in themselves evident our receiving them would not be an undoubted respect to his Authority but to believe his testimony without the evidence of things is an Obedience worthy of him And we are equally obliged to believe his testimony concerning the truth of things notwithstanding the reluctancy of the carnal Mind and their seeming repugnance to the natural notions of Reason as to obey his Precepts notwithstanding the reluctancy of the corrupt Will and the inclinations to forbidden things 3. God never requires our assent to supernatural things revealed in his Word but affords sufficient conviction that they are Divine Revelations When God deputed any by Commission for an extraordinary Work he always afforded a Light to discover the Commission was uncounterfeit Moses was sent from God with a Command to Pharaoh to release the Israelites from their cruel Servitude and he had the Wonder-working Rod to authorise his Commission and confirm the truth of his Message by Miracles The Divinity of the Scripture the Rule of Faith shines with that clear and strong evidence that only those whose Minds are prevented with a conceit of the impossibility of the Doctrines contained in it and perverted by their Passions can resist it Colour'd Objects are not discern'd more clearly by their Colours nor Light by its Lustre than that the Scriptures are of Divine Revelation Reason is an Essential Faculty of Man and by it we are directed
our judgment for that which has least Now 't is certainly much more suitable to the reasonable Mind to acknowledge that things may be true which we are not able to conceive and comprehend than to deny the natural and proper sense of many clear and express texts of Scripture that declare those things And by this we may judge of the Glosses of Socinus and his followers who without reverence of the Majesty of God and the sincerity of his Word rack the Scriptures to make them speak what they do not and use all Arts to silence them in what they do reveal Unhappy men 〈◊〉 that affect to be esteem'd Ingenious and Subtil to the extreme hazard of their own Salvation How much safer and more easie is it to believe the plain sense of the Scriptures than the turns and shifts that are invented to elude it and extricate Heretical Persons out of the difficulties that attend their Opinions I shall add the Doctrine of the Trinity is so expressly set down in the Gospel of Christ that 't is impossible the Son of God who is Infinite and Eternal Love who gave himself for our Redemption should have declar'd it and engag'd his Disciples in all Ages and Places in an Error of such dreadful Consequence as the Worshipping those who are not God 2. 'T is alledged that if a Person sincerely searches into the Scripture and cannot be convinc'd that the supernatural Doctrines of the Trinity and others depending upon it are contain'd in them he shall not be Condemn'd by the Righteous Judge of the World for involuntary and speculative Errors To this I answer 1. This pretence has deceiv'd many who were guilty of damnable Heresies and there is great reason to fear deceives men still The heart is deceitful above all things and most deceitful to it self Who can say that neither Interest nor Passion neither Hope nor Fear neither Anger nor Ambition have interven'd in his Inquiry after Truth but he has preferr'd the knowledge of Divine Truths before all Temporal Respects and yet he cannot believe what the Scripture reveals of the Nature of God and the oeconomy of our Salvation let this Imaginary Man produce his Plea for I believe there was never any such There are many that make reason the Soveraign Rule of Faith and determine such things cannot be true because they cannot understand how they can be true Prodigious Inference the most absurd of all Errors that makes the narrow Mind of Man the measure of all things This is the proper Principle of that horrible Compofition of Heresies and execrable Impieties which so many that are Christians in Profession but Antichristians in Belief boldly Publish They will choose to Err in matters of Infinite Importance rather than Confess their Ignorance And which is astonishing they will readily acknowledge the defectiveness of Reason with respect to the understanding of themselves but insolently arrogate a right to determine things in the Nature of God 'T is true Ignorance the more invincible is the more excusable but when the Error of the Mind is from a vicious Will both the Error and the Cause of it are sinful and inexcusable When the corrupt Will has an Influence upon the Understanding and the Mind is stain'd with some Carnal Lust when a Temptation diverts it from a serious and sincere considering the Reasons that should induce us to believe Divine Doctrines their Unbelief will be justly punish'd The Scripture declares That an evil heart is the cause of unbelief Pride and obstinacy of Mind and Carnal Lusts are the Cause that so many renounce those Eternal Truths by which they should be saved 2. 'T is alleged That speculative Errors cannot be Damnable To this I answer 1. The Understanding of Man in his Original State was Light in the Lord and regular in its directions now 't is dark and disorder'd and in the points of Religion that are reveal'd any Error induces guilt and if obstinately defended exposes to Judgment Some Truths are written because necessary to be believed others are to be believed because written 2. According to the quality of the Truths reveal'd in Scripture such is the hurtfulness of the Errors that are opposite to them Some Truths are necessary others profitable some Errors are directly opposite to the Saving Truths of the Gospel others by Consequence undermine them Those who deny the Lord that bought them are guilty of damnable Heresies capital Errors not holding the head 3. The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a mere speculative Truth nor the denial of it a speculative Error the Trinity is not only an Object of Faith but of Worship In Baptism we are dedicated to the Sacred Trinity in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which clearly proves they are of the same Authority and Power and consequently of the same Nature for 't is impossible to Conceive of three Infinite Beings for by necessity one would limit another The Apostle declares without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh The Nature and End of this Divine Mystery is to form the spirits of Man to believe and love and obey God For in it there is the clearest Revelation of God's admirable Love to Men of his unspotted Holiness his incorruptible Justice the great Motives of Religion In that Divine Doctrine we have the most ravishing Image of Piety and Vertue the most becoming the Nature of God to give and of Man to receive Briefly God Commands us to believe in his Son without Faith in him we are uncapable of Redemption by him When Christ perform'd Miraculous Cures he requir'd of the Persons whether they did believe in his Divine Power and what he declar'd himself to be Electing Mercy ordains the Means and the End The Apostle gives thanks to God because he has chosen the Thessalonians to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth Holiness and Faith in the Doctrine of the Gospel are indispensable qualifications in the Learn'd and Ignorant that would be saved by the Son of God 'T is a high Contempt of the Truth and Goodness of God not to yield a firm Assent to what he has reveal'd concerning our Salvation by his Incarnate Son He that believes not the Record that God hath given of his Son makes God a Liar This infinitely provokes him and inflames his Indignation To dis-believe the Testimony that Jesus Christ has given of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine is to despise him it robs him of his Essential and his acquir'd Glory by the work of our Redemption There can be no true Love of God without the true knowledge of him as he is reveal'd not onely in his Works but in his Word Our Saviour who is the Way the Truth and the Life has declar'd when he gave Commission to his Apostles to preach the Gospel to the World whoever believes and is baptised shall be saved whoever believes not shall
universal Providence in the regular disposal of Natural Causes superiour middle and lowest in such a union that from the insuperable Discord of Natures the insuperable Concord of Operations proceeds for the preserving of the World The Afflictions of the Saints are medicinal to prevent or recover them from Sin And what Man of Understanding does not esteem his Physician that prescribes bitter Remedies for his Health before a Cook that prepares things pleasant to his Taste Faith sees the Love of a Father through a Cloud of Tears and that he is as gracious when he corrects us for our Transgressions as when he incourages us in his Service In the Sufferings of his People from the wickedness and wills of their Enemies his Wisdom and Power appear in ordering them for excellent Effects For the same things that increase the Guilt and Punishment of their Enemies increase the Graces and Reward of the Saints These light Afflictions that are but for a moment work out for them an exceeding eternal weight of Glory When all the Folds of Providence shall be opened we shall clearly understand every Dispensation was as it ought to be and for the best The belief of this is the reason of those Commands Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God And the Peace of God that passes understanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Jesus Christ. An unbelieving Heart anticipates future Evils exasperates present Evils and makes sharp reflections on past Evils It makes Men dead with Fear drunk with Sorrow mad with Oppression Faith in the gracious Providence of God frees us from vain fears sad prognosticks and the miserable perplexities that torment the Minds of Men. Musing on our Miseries is like chewing a bitter Pill that is readily swallowed by resignation to the blessed Will of God the Rule of Goodness Faith inlightens us to consider things with a rectified Judgment and not with the partiality of the Passions In the Churches extremity when the conspiring Enemies are great in numbers and power Faith raises the drooping Spirits If God be for us who can be against us When Antigonus was ready to ingage in a Sea-fight with Piâ—lomy's Armada and the Pilot cryed out How many are they more than we The couragious King replyed 'T is true if you count their numbers but for how many do you value me One God is All-sufficient against all the combin'd Forces of Earth and Hell We are therefore commanded to cast all our care on him for he cares for us 'T is very dishonourable to God to distrust him in doing our Duty For it proceeds either from a jealousie of his Goodness or low thoughts of his Power as if he were unable and unwilling to save us A prudent use of Means is requisite otherwise we do not trust but tempt his Providence There is a vicious Carelesness and a vertuous Care but diffident and anxious Cares as if all things run at random without the ordering of our Heavenly Father is not only fruitless but pernicious The Apostle tells the believing Hebrews Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye may inherit the Promise Some Evils would admit of no Consolation without the Promise But the just shall live by Faith of God's presence with them to support and relieve them in their Sorrows and of a perfect and gracious deliverance out of them God will shortly put an end to the Malice of the Wicked and the Patience of the Saints In the next State when he has clear'd our sight we shall justifie his Wisdom and discover that all Events were divinely ordered and are beautiful to admiration Now in the Churches distress we are apt to say with Gideon If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us But then we shall turn the current of our wonder upon our Ignorance and Infidelity that notwithstanding the Evidence of the Word and the Experience of the Saints prove that God turns all Temporal Evils to their Spiritual Good yet we are unbelieving CHAP. VIII Love the leading Affection Men are distinguish'd by their Wills rather than by their Understandings Holy Love has the supremacy among other Graces The excellencies of Love specified Love to God the first Command in order and dignity The Causes and Properties of it considered The absolute and relative Perfections of God the motives of our Love The Benefits received from God in the order of Nature Creation and Preservation The Love of God appears in its full force in our Redemption We must learn of Christ how to love him Love must descend from God to our Neighbour 'T is commended in Scripture The extent and qualifications of it It must be sincere pure and fervent The forgiving Injuries an excellent effect of Love THE second particular Grace that we should strive to increase is Love 'T is the Apostle's Prayer for the Philippians That their Love may abound more and more in knowledge and all understanding Love is the affection of Union Of this we have an illustrious Instance recorded in Scripture That the Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own Soul Love is to be directed to a double Object God and our Neighbour I will consider the excellency of this sanctified Affection and its exercise and reference to the supreme and subordinate Objects of it 'T is requisite to premise that Love is the leading Affection that draws the whole train with it not only Desire and Joy that are of near alliance with it but Anger and Hatred between which Affections and Love there is a repugnance and entire opposition are inseparable from it For aversion and flight from Evil proceeds from the love of some Good that the Evil deprives us of From hence it follows that 't is a matter of the highest Consequence by Wisdom discreet and severe to direct our Love to worthy Objects Love is the principle of all the Passions and either sanctifies and refines them from the reliques of carnal infection or seduces and corrupts them The Mind is so clouded by Carnal Love and over-rul'd by pleasant Error that it prefers sensual Happiness before spiritual that is suitable to the nature and dignity of the Soul If the Light that is in thee be Darkness how great is that Darkness The Angels of Light are distinguish'd from the Angels of Darkness not so much by Knowledge and Power as by Love and Holiness The Devils are immortal Spirits but under the tyrannous power of Hatred and Revenge of Envy and Malice which are their Sins and Torment Men are not distinguish'd so much by their Understandings as their Wills not meerly by Knowledge but Love the first act of the Will the Faculty that rules in Man and obeys God There may be knowledge of the Divine Law and an approving it by those who do not practise it For the
Contemplation of its Goodness and Equity constrains the Mind to assent to it From hence we may infallibly inferr that the radical difference and distinguishing character between a Saint and one in the state of polluted Nature is the affection of Love with respect to its objects and degrees Love to God as our sovereign Happiness is the immediate Cause of our Conversion and Re-union with him Love to vicious Objects or when with an intemperate current it descends to things not deserving its ardent degrees alienates the Heart from God Holiness is the order of Love The excellency of holy Love will appear in the following Considerations 1. Love has the supremacy among all the Graces of the Spirit This in the most proper sense is the Fire our Saviour came to kindle on the Earth The Apostle declares that Charity is greater than Faith and Hope which are Evangelical Graces of eminent usefulness For 1. 'T is the brightest part of the Divine Image in us God is Love 'T is the most adequate Notion of the Deity and more significant of his blessed Nature than any other single Attribute The most proper and honourable Conception we can form of the Deity is Love directed by infinite Wisdom and exercised by infinite Power Faith and Hope cannot be ascribed to God they imply imperfection in their Nature and necessarily respect an absent Object Now all things are present to the Knowledge of God and in his Power and Possession But Love is his Essential Perfection the productive Principle of all Good Love transforms us into his likeness and infuses the divinest temper into the Soul In the acts of other Graces we obey God in the acts of Love we imitate him This may be illustrated by its contrary There are Sins of various kinds and degrees Spiritual and Carnal Spiritual such are Pride malignant Envy irreconcilable Enmity delight in Mischief which are the proper Characters of the Devil and denominate Men his natural Sons Carnal Sins which the Soul immerst in Flesh indulges all riotous Excesses Intemperance Incontinence and the like of which a meer Spirit is not capable denominates Men the Captives and Slaves of Satan Now Spiritual Sins induce a greater guilt and deeper pollution than Carnal The exacter resemblance of the evil one makes sinful Men more odious to God 2. Love is more extensive in its influence than Faith and Hope their operations are confin'd to the Person in whom they are The Just lives by his own Faith and is saved by his own Hope without communicating Life and Salvation to others But 't is the spirit and perfection of Love to be beneficial to all Love comforts the afflicted relieves the indigent directs those who want Counsel 'T is the vital cement of Mankind In the Universe Conversation and reciprocal Kindness is the Blood and Spirits of Society and Love makes the circulation 3. Love gives value and acceptance to all other Gifts and Graces and their operations The Apostle tells us Though I have the gift of Prophestes and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge though I have all Faith and could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my Goods to feâ—d the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Without Charity Faith is but a dead assent Hope is like a Tympany the bigger it grows the more dangerous it proves The most diffusive Beneficence without Love is but a sacrifice to Vanity 'T is not the richness of the Gift but the love of the giver that makes it accepted and rewarded in Heaven The Widows two Mites cast into the Treasury of the Temple were of more value in our Saviour's account than the rich Offerings of others For she gave her Heart the most precious and comprehensive Gift with them The giving our Bodies to be burned for the truth and glory of the Gospel is the highest expression of Obedience which the Angels are not capable of performing yet without Charity Martyrdom is but a vain-glorious blaze and the sealing the Truth with our Blood is to seal our Shame and Folly Sincere Love when it cannot express it self in suitable effects has this priviledge to be accepted in God's sight as if it were exuberant and evident in outward actions for God accepts the Will for the Deed If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath and not according to that he hath not 4. Love is the perfection of the Law the sum and substance of every Precept All particular Duties though distinguished in the matter are united in Love as their principle and centre St. Austin observes That all other Vertues Piety Prudence Humility Chastity Temperance Fortitude are Love diversified by other names Liberal Love gives supplies to the Poor patient Love forgives Injuries Love is the end and perfection of the Gospel Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned Some restrain the word Commandment to the Law thinking that the Gospel is only compounded of Promises But they misunderstand the difference between the two Covenants 'T is not in that the one commands and the other does not command but in the nature of the Duties commanded The Law commands to do for the obtaining of Life the Gospel commands to believe for Salvation This is the command of God that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Apostle used for the Doctrine of the Gospel As the end of a Science or Art is the perfection of the Understanding in those things which are the proper subject of the Science The end of Philosophy is Knowledge and Moral Vertue the end of Rhetorick is Eloquence Thus the end of the Gospel the Divine Doctrine of our Salvation is Love a Coelestial Perfection Faith in the redeeming Mercy of God is the product of the Gospel not of the Law and Love is the end of Faith Now the end is more excellent than the means to obtain it In this respect Love is greater than Faith Briefly Love is stil'd the Bond of Perfection as it unites and consummates other Graces comprehends and fastens them Love to God draws forth all the active powers of the Soul in Obedience He that with a full and fervent Will applyes himself to his Duty will more easily pleasantly and exactly perform it The Love of God will form the Soul into a more entire conformity to his Nature and obedience to his Law and raise it to a greater eminency of Holiness than the clearest knowledge of all Precepts and Rules can do 4. Love never fails The Gifts and Graces of the Spirit are dispensed and continued according to our different states Some are necessary in the present state of the Church with respect to our Sins and Troubles from which there is no perfect freedom here Repentance is
a Duty of constant revolution for while we are cloathed with frail Flesh in many things we offend all He is the best Saint who seldom falls and speedily rises What Tertullian said of himself is applicable to all We are born for Repentance What is more becoming a Christian while so many defects and defilements cleave to him than a mournful sense of them This in our dying Hours will make our Redeemer more precious to us and our relyance upon his Merits and Mediation more comfortable Repentance should accompany us to the Gates of Heaven But Repentance ceases for ever when there is entire Innocence Faith is as necessary as Life for we are justified by it from the Condemnation of the Law But in the future state there is no use of it for in Heaven all Sins are pardoned and in Hell no Sins are forgiven Faith gives us the prospect of Heaven Hope waits for it but Love alone takes the possession Faith reslgns to fruition Hope vanishes in the Enjoyment of our desir'd Happiness but Love is in its Exaltation The Graces requisite for our Militant State are Spiritual Armour the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Hope and when our Warfare is ended they are useless But Love and Peace and Joy are Robes suitable to our Triumphant State 'T is true there are some acts of Love that suppose Want and Misery as acts of Bounty and Compassion for there are no Objects in Heaven to whom they may be express'd Perfect Happiness excludes all Evil. But Love in its Nature implies no Imperfection and is Eternal as the Soul the Subject in whom it Reigns and as God and the Blessed Spirits the Objects upon whom 't is Conversant In Heaven 't is more pure and refin'd Here the Love of God takes its rise from the Love of our selves there 't is principally for the amiable Excellencies inherent in himself Here the Love of the Saints is not absolutely pure but in Heaven whatever is desireable in Love is continued and what is Carnal and defiling is purg'd away The smoaky Fire is chang'd into a Spiritual Flame The Acts of it are more intense and the Exercise is without interruption In Heaven the Saints are enlightned with Knowledge from the Father of Lights and inflam'd with Love from God who is Love the more fully he is enjoy'd the more fervently he is loved Without Love there can be no Felicity in Heaven for as Desire without Fruition is a Torment so Possession without Delight is Stupidity The Joy of Heaven arises either from the direct Fruition of God or from the reflection upon the Happiness communicated to the Saints and Love is the Cause of that Joy Love to Corporeal things often declines in our possessing them for Curiosity is soon cloyed and Experience discovers the Imperfections that were conceal'd and according to the cooling of Love is the lessening of Joy From hence proceeds distasts and a sickle slight from one thing to another without ever receiving any Satisfaction But the amiable Perfections of God are truly Infinite and the more clear the Vision the more satisfying the Fruition is The Brightness and Influence of the Divine Presence maintains equal Love and Joy in the Blessed According to the degrees of Excellency in the Object and the vigorous Exercise of the comprehensive Faculties the Understanding and Will upon it such is our Felicity When the Beams of God's Face are received into the prepar'd Soul 't is ravished with unspeakable Sweetness and Security in his ever-satisfying Goodness and Beauty The perfect and mutual Love of the Saints causes a full overflowing Joy in Heaven Sincere Love is always Benevolent and according to its Ardency is the desire of the Happiness of those who are the Objects of it From hence the delight of the Saints above is redoubled by the sense of their Personal Happiness and the reflexion upon the happiness of all that blessed Society who are cemented by that dear Affection Sorrow is allayed by the Sympathy of our Friends but Joy is heightned by Communication Sorrow like a Stream divided in many Channels runs more Shallow but Joy like a Sun-beam reflects with more intense Heat from the Breast of one endear'd to us by Love In Heaven there is an Eternal Extasie of Love and Joy I shall now proceed to Consider our Love to God which is the First and Great Command in Order and Dignity 'T is the universal Command that binds all Persons and in all times Some precepts are particular and respect the several Relations of men either Natural Civil or Spiritual Other Commands though General yet are to be perform'd in special Seasons Prayer is a universal Duty for all are in a state of dependance upon God and 't is the appointed means to obtain his Favour and Benefits 't is a Duty of daily Revolution for we continually stand in need of his tender and powerful Providence to bestow good things and avert evil but this not to be our perpetual Exercise For there are other Duties to which we must attend that require a great part of our time If there be a disposition in the Heart an aptness for that Holy Duty though the Season be distant 't is sufficient for our Acceptance with God But Love in all periods of Time must be in Act for Obedience must ever be practis'd and that is animated by the Love of God the Spring and Soul of it The Life of a Christian is a continual Exercise of humble grateful and dutiful Love I will consider the Causes and Properties of this Sanctified Affection Love is an Affection drawn forth by Desire in the absence of its Object resting in Complacency when the Object is present The attractive of it is Goodness which implies a convenience and agreement between the Object and the Faculty The Appetite is excited by the apprehension In the Sensitive Nature without Perception and Agreement there can be no desire and delight The Eye is not pleas'd with the most exquisite Musick being undiscernible and unsuitable to it The Ear though exactly temper'd is not affected with Light the first and fairest of Sensitive Beauties for every sense has its proper Object to which 't is Confin'd and cannot perceive or taste any pleasure in another And such is the frame of the Humane Soul the inlightened Understanding instructs and excites the Will to esteem and love choose and embrace God as the Supreme Good for his absolute inherent Perfections and his Relative Attributes whereby he is infinitely the best and most aimiable Being in himself and the most beneficial to us The internal Perfections of the Deity though they are all the same Divine Nature for otherwise they could not be truly Infinite yet we may conceive as distinguisht in a threefold order either as Natural or Intellectual or Moral Natural Perfections Self-Existence Eternity Immensity Omnipotence Intellectual Perfections Knowledge comprehensive of all things that are and all things within the possibility of Being Wisdom sufficient
the same Spiritual Family This Affection proceeds from the upper springs of Grace the exercise of it is immediately terminated on Men but ultimately respects the Glory of God for whose sake 't is performed To do good and distribute forget not for with such Sacrifice God is well-pleased In short our Love to God must be supream and for himself our Love to Men and other things only in the degrees he allows and not for themselves but for God who commands to love them as they bear his Image or are instrumental in the performance of our Duty Otherwise we are in danger of being alienated from the Love of God when any person or thing becomes a Temptation to us to do any thing either to obtain or preserve them against his Will But if we love them only for his sake we shall readily part with them as a Snare or offer them as a Sacrifice if his Will requires it As if we love some particular Meat because 't is healthful and not because 't is pleasant upon the first discovery that 't is hurtful we shall reject it The properties of this Love are specified in the Command 1. It must be sincere The Apostle directs Let Love be without dissimulation Love is essentially sincere 't is seated in the Heart and express'd in real actions 't is cordial and operative There is an empty noise of Love and Respects that proceeds from a double Heart not entire and ingenuous Some by fair Promises work and wind Men to obtain their Ends and then slip through them How often are the sincere deceiv'd by the liberal expressions of Love untryed and untrue mistaking a shining Counterfeit for a real Ruby But though the Humane Eye cannot see through the disguise he that commands sincere Love pierces into the Heart and if it be wanting there his Anger burns against the vain pretenders to it Some will seem to grace others with a flourish of words that they may tax them more freely and without suspicion To praise without a ground of real worth is sordid Flattery but to commend with a mischievous intent is the worst Treachery Some will assist the Sick day and night and seem to sympathize with them in their Pains and Sorrows but their design is to obtain a rich Legacy They appear like mourning Doves but are real Vulturs that smell a Carcass to feed on There are others less guilty who esteem empty Complements to be Courtly Decencies and though 't is not their design to be injurious to those whom they caress yet their Love is only from the Tongue which in the Apostle's expression is but a tinkling Cymbal Their pretended Friendship is like Leaf-Gold very extensive but soon worn off for want of depth Others are Mercenaries that like the Heathens do Good to those from whom they receive Good their Love degenerates into Traffick and does not proceed from a Divine Principle Ingenuous and Christian Spirits have not such crooked Inclinations always reflecting upon their own Interest 'T is true Christian Love declares it self in alternate acts of Kindness but is also exercised where there are no such inducements This is to imitate our Heavenly Father who does good to all without any desert in the receivers and beyond all requital Affliction is the Furnace wherein sincere Friends are tryed and discern'd from the deceitful their Afflictions are common their Compassions and cordial assistance are common This is the most certain and significant Character of unfeigned Love not to fail in a calamitous season Job aggravates his Sorrows by this reflection that his Friends dealt deceitfully as Brooks that run in a full stream in Winter when Snow falls and there is no want of refreshing Waters but when 't is hot they are dryed up and vanish We may securely rely on their Friendship who afford us undesir'd supplies in time of trouble The Observation of the wise Philosopher is verified in every Age That Men in a flourishing condition are surrounded with Friends but in an afflicted are forsaken This Consideration should inflame us with a holy ambition of the friendship of God for his sincere Love is most tenderly express'd in our distress The Psalmist enforces his Request by this motive Be not far off for trouble is near 'T is often seen that Men fly from their Acquaintance when the clearest tryal is to be made of their Affection but then the blessed God draws nearest to us and affords Relief and Comfort 2. Our Love must be pure Seeing you have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren see that ye love one another with a pure Heart fervently The purity of Love either respects the cause of it or the exercise and effects of it The cause of pure Love is the Divine Command and the Divine Pattern set before us The Love of God to Men is a leading Rule to us He loves them according to the resemblance of his imitable Perfections in them and consequently the more holy and heavenly the more righteous and gracious Men are the more they should be endear'd to our Affections This is to love God in them and according to their true lovelyness This is to love them by the impression of that Love wherewith God loves himself Our Saviour tells us They that do his Father's Will are his Brothers Sisters and Mothers There is an impure Love that proceeds from the similitude of vicious Affections and is entertain'd by sinful Society that is fatally contagious The Tempter most forcibly allures when he is least suspected He conceals the Serpents Sting in the Tongue of a Friend The Friendship of the World is contracted and cemented by sensual Lusts and the end of it will be the tormenting the Corrupters and the Corrupted together for ever The exercise and effects of pure Love principally respect the Soul the more excellent and immortal part of our Friends We are commanded to exhort one another while 't is called to day and to provoke one another to love and good works Exhortation includes Instruction and Admonition The giving Counsel how to preserve the Purity and secure the Salvation of the Soul how to prevent Sin or to cure it by the conviction of Conscience when ignorant of its Duty by the excitation of the Affections when cold and sluggish and direction to order the Conversation aright The performance of this Duty is inseparable from pure and unfeigned Love and the neglect of it is an argument of deadly Hatred Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart nor suffer Sin to lye upon him If you discover any prognostick or symptom of a Disease growing in a Friend that threatened his Life what a cruel neglect were it not to advise and urge him to apply the best means for his preservation Much more are we obliged to rectifie the Errors in Judgment and Miscarriages in Conversation which they are guilty of especially since Spiritual
nearness of an Evil and the apprehensions of it the stronger is the Fear In the turning of Sinners the impressions of it are different Stronger degrees are requisite to rouse the obdurate and to make them fly from the Wrath to come The Jaylor surprised with Terrors cryes out Sirs what shall I do to be saved 'T is said The Lord open'd the heart of Lydia as with an oyl'd Key but an Earthquake was necessary to open the Jaylors Till there is felt something more tormenting than carnal sweets are pleasing Men will not mortifie their Lusts. One will not suffer a part of his Body to be cut off unless an incureable Gangrene threatens speedy Death The World is present and sensible and continually diverts men from the consideration of their Souls unless Eternal things are by a strong application impress'd on their Minds Till urged by the Terrors of Everlasting Death they will reject the offers of Everlasting Life While Carnal Men are in Prosperity they hate Instruction to prevent Sin and despise Reproof to correct Sin they slight the fearful report of Thunder and do no more tremble at the Torments of Hell threaten'd in the Word of God than at Squibs and Crackers the sport of Boys But in sharp Afflictions and the approaches of Death when Conscience draws near to God's Tribunal it becomes bold and resumes the Government and calls them to an account for all their Rebellions and forces them to Confess what they would fain Conceal their fears of Eternal Judgment 2. Holy Fear preserves and increases Religion This may be consider'd as it includes Reverence of God with Circumspection and Caution The Fear of Reverence is an inseparable Affection and Character of a Saint Hear the prayers of thy servants who desire to fear thy name The desires include the sincerity of this Grace in opposition to Hypocrisie and pretences for they are the unfeigned Issues of the Soul and the freeness of the Affection in opposition to Violence and Constraint The Name of God implies his Excellent Attributes the proper Motives of Holy Fear His Majesty is ador'd by the Angels in their humble posture before his high Throne His Purity wherein God does so excel and we are so defective excites the most awful respects of him Who would not fear thee for thou art holy Holy and reverend is his name His Goodness to a Holy ingenuous Soul is a motive of fear they shall fear the Lord and his goodness If Fear declines and slumbers there is present danger of losing the purest sweetness of Love and Joy that proceed from intercourse and Communion with God His Omniscience and the recompences of his Justice and Power keeps the Soul Cautious lest we should offend him What Stupidity what fury to provoke so dreadful an Adversary who can dispatch a Sinner to the Grave and Hell in a Moment Some object that 't is unsuitable to the gracious dispensation of the Gospel for the Children of God to reflect upon his Terrible Attributes But are they wiser than God who uses this Discipline as Medicinal either to prevent Sin or to correct them into their Duty Are they more Evangelical than our Saviour who counsell'd his Disciples I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him which after he hath kill'd hath power to cast into hell I say unto you fear him Are they more Spiritual than St. Paul who from the Consideration of our being accountable for all things done in the Body before the inlightned Tribunal of Christ infers Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men This Influenc'd him to a zealous discharge of his Duty It may seem very difficult to reconcile the exercise of holy Fear with Faith and the Sanctified Affections of Love Hope and Joy But it will appear they are very consistent 1. Fear is the product of Faith and assurance of God's Favour is preserved by the Fear of his Displeasure Fear is not contrary to Faith but to Presumption Be not high-minded but fear A jealousie of our selves lest we should provoke God is joyn'd with a more entire and pure Trust in his Grace and Mercy 2. The Love and Fear of God have a mutual Causality on each other The Love of God excites Thoughts of his continual Presence and Perfections that cause an awful esteem of him by which Love is maintain'd Desires proceed from Love and 't is express'd in the forecited place thy Servants who desire to fear thy Name The fear of the Lord is their Treasure not their Torment for their fear to Offend him is from their pure Love to Please him Indeed servile Fear that is meerly from the consideration of his Anger and Power is consistent with the Love of Sin and inconsistent with the Love of God 't is a judicial and violent impression on Conscience that Carnal Men would sain deface that they might freely enjoy their desir'd Objects and 't is by Fits for God sometimes thunders in the Conscience as well as in the Air. But filial Fear is the Habitual Constitution of a Saint he is voluntary and active to preserve it in continual Exercise 3. The Fear of God and Hope are joyn'd in Scripture and in the Hearts of Believers The Lord delights in those that fear him and hope in his mercy Fear and Hope contemper each other Fear without Hope is slavish and Hope without Fear is secure As the growth of things in Nature Flowers and Fruits is from the heat of the Days and the cold moisture of the Nights so growth in Grace is by the warm encouragements of Hope and the chilling influence of Fear A regular Hope in the Promises is joyn'd with an humble Fear and Subjection to his Commands 4. Holy Fear is mixed with Joy Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Carnal Joy and Carnal Fear and Sorrow are contrary Extremes that proceed from contrary Causes A prosperous State in this World and the Satisfaction of the Sensual Desires is the root from whence carnal Joy springs and is nourisht and the being deprived of Temporal good things disabled by Sickness to enjoy them or the prospect of some imminent Disaster are the cause of Fear and Guilt But the exercise of Spiritual Joy and Holy Fear are consistent at the same time for the serious reflection on the Divine Attributes excite both those Affections We read that when Mary Magdalen with the other Mary came to the Sepulchre of Christ at the bright appearance of an Angel that declar'd his Resurrection they went away with fear and great joy Sinful Affections are opposite to Grace but Gracious Affections are inseparable The fear of offending God is a preservative of our Joy in him as a Hedge of Thorns is a Fence to a Garden of Roses In the Kingdom of Love and Joy the Reverent Fear of God is in
its Exaltation 2. There is a Fear of Caution that is always joyn'd with the other and excites us to walk circumspectly and exactly that we may be always approved and accepted of God The fear of the Lord is clean effectively This will prevent secret Sins which are only known to God Thou shalt not curse the deaf nor lay a stumbling-block before the blind but fear the Lord. Fear is an Internal Guardian that keeps the Heart pure of which God is the inspector and judge It will not suffer us to Sin freely in Thought nor foully in Act. When Fear draws the Lines of our Duty our Steps will be Regular Fear keeps us close to God by the perswasion of his All-seeing Eye and is oppos'd to the forgetfulness of God the cause of all the Errors of our Lives Holy Fear will make us to perform our Duty in those degrees that are commanded to please God 'T is the Principle of Perseverance thus God assures his People I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall never depart from me The Causes of back-sliding are Allurements and Terrors pleasant Temptations sometimes so strongly insinuate into the Affections that Love calls in Fear to its Assistance to repel them for strong Fear and Delight are inconsistent If Terrors are objected to drive us from our Duty the greater Fear will over-rule the less the Fear of God will expel the fearfulness of Man For the most flaming Anger of Men is more tolerable than a spark of his Displeasure From hence 't is evident that the Fear of God is the Fountain of heroick Courage and fortifies the Spirit that the threatenings of Men cannot supplant our constancy If our residence were perpetual in this World it were a point of Wisdom to secure the Favour of Men but since we must shortly dye as surely as we live 't is extreme folly by compliance and low respects to Men to lose our interest in God and provoke him with whom we must be either in his favourable and felicitating presence or in his terrible presence for ever The Rage of Man cannot reach beyond the Grave but the Wrath of God extends to Eternity 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Let us therefore be exhorted to pass the time of our sojourning in fear Temptations are frequent and we are frail and are never safe without circumspection The Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom the principal part of it Wisdom is not imployed about trivial things but affairs of moment Now what is there of such consequence in the World as the directing the Soul to Eternal Blessedness How to escape the most imminent and destructive Evil and to obtain the most desirable Good Indeed the Passion of Fear when exorbitant and overwhelming causes a wretched neglect of the means of Salvation If a Ship springs a leak and the Waters pour faster into it than the Mariners can pump it out and they see nothing but the Sea ready to swallow them up their Hearts and Hands faint and they give over all labour If Men are desperate they will be disobedient But we can never raise our Fears of God too high if we retain a firm belief of his Mercy that rejoices over Judgment This will not infringe our Liberty but inlarge it for 't is the most ignominious slavery to be under the dominion of Sin and the just apprehensions of its terrible Consequences The Fear of God ingages him to be our Friend and rescues us from all the perplexities to which we are lyable in this open slate Many Sins are committed for the fear of the Anger of Men and presumption of the Mercy of God but 't is often found that a Religious Constancy gains more Friends than Carnal Obsequiousness When a Man's ways please the Lord he will make his enemies to be at peace with him Especially in all acts of Worship this Grace should be in its highest exercise 'T is the Apostle's direction Let us draw near with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire We must solemnly consider the Greatness of God who dwells in Light inaccessible and is a consuming Fire to all that disparage him by slight and careless Addresses Shall not his Excellency make us afraid In Prayer let us draw near to his Throne in the deepest sense of our meanness and unworthiness and tremble at the hearing of his Word This dispositin will make us acceptable in his Eyes The Lord saith The Heaven is my throne and the Earth is my footstool to him will I look who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word And in times of Temptation when pleasing Lusts are imperious and violent then 't is necessary to controul them by the fearful remembrance that for all these things God will bring us to Judgment This will clear the Mind from the eclipses and clouds of the Carnal Passions and keep the Senses under the dominion of the superiour and surer Faculties Blessed is the Man that fears always that is continually vigilant in secret and society who considers that God's Eyes are always upon him in order to Judgment and whose Eyes are always upon God in order to Acceptance CHAP. X. The Promise that God will be our Father a powerful inducement to strive after the Perfection of Holiness The dignity and happiness of the Relation The Pardon of Sin an adoptive freedom in Prayer an interest in the Eternal Inheritance are the Priviledges of God's Children The influence of this Relation to make us entirely holy considered An Inquiry whether we are proceeding to Perfection The vanquishing Sin an indication of the Power of Grace The habitual frame of the Heart and fixed regularity of the Life discovers our progress in Holiness According to our Love to God and things that have the nearest resemblance to him we may judge of our Spirituality The Spiritual Law of God the Spiritual Worship of God the Spiritual Image of God in the Saints are the principal Objects of the Love of the Spiritually-minded To preserve an equal temper of Mind in the changes of the present state discover excellent degrees of Holiness I Am now come to the Third General Head the Motives to inforce the Duty of striving after pure and perfect Holiness the Promises specified in the antecedent Chapter That the Lord Almighty will receive us and we shall be his Sons and Daughters that he will dwell in us his living Temples and walk in us This divine Relation and Communion the consequent of it should keep the state of Perfection always in our design and view and inspire us with unchangable resolutions to endeavour the obtaining it I will consider the Dignity and Happiness of this Relation 1. The Dignity Secular Nobility that is transfused from the Veins of Progenitors into the Veins of their Progeny derives its lustre from Flesh and Blood and the glory of the
a general Duty that binds all Relations and particular Relative to their several states There is Superiority in a Husband Sovereignty in Parents Authority in Masters but it must be temper'd with Discretion Indulgence and Humanity in the exercise of it The mutual Duty of Husband and Wife is Love wherein the Society Sweetness and Felicity of Marriage consists In this is included the bearing with the Infirmities of one another that allays the fierce Passions that are the cause of Strife and makes the patient party better The exercise of this Affection is distinguish'd the Love of the Husband is counselling and comforting providing and protecting the Love of the Wife obsequious and assisting His Superiority and her Subjection must be sweeten'd with Love The Husband must not be bitter nor the Wife sowre The Husband must govern the Wife as the Soul does the Body with wisdom and tenderness There is a servile Subjection from fear of Punishment or hope of Gain and a liberal Subjection full of freedom from Love and this is of Wives to Husbands and of Children to Parents The Wife tho' inferiour is a fellow-ruler with him over Children and Servants She is subject as his Vicegerent always preserving Love and Reverence in Affection and expressing Meekness and Obedience in Actions She as his Deputy is to dispose things for his Credit and Profit Prudence is requisite in both that they may deposite their Cares in each others Bosoms and trust their secret Thoughts as securely as in their own Hearts The principal Duty of Husbands and Wives is a tender Care for the Good of each others Souls The Husband should lead her in the way to Eternal Life by his Counsel and Example and the Wife by her humble and holy Conversation recommend Religion to his Mind and Affections The Soveraignty of Parents over Children must be mix'd with tender Affections not with Rigour We are commanded Parents provoke not your Children to wrath lest they be discouraged The Duty of Children is to reverence and obey their Parents in all things that are pleasing to God There can be no dutiful Love without Fear nor Paternal Authority without Love The religious and secular Government of the Family is in the Husband and Wife who are like the two great Luminaries in the Heavens the one rules in the absence of the other But 't is principally in the Husband This testimony is given of Abraham that so endear'd him to the Favour and Friendship of God as to reveal his secret Counsels to him I know Abraham that he will command his Children and Servants and Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. The Master must not be imperious austere and fierce but manage his Power with that Condescension and Lenity with that exact performance of what is due to his Servants as becomes one that is accountable to the universal Master before whom he must stand in an equal Line and with whom there is no acceptance of Persons Servants must be humble incorrupt diligent and faithful Our Saviour inquires Who is that wise and faithful Servant And the Master calling his Servants to an account says Well done good and faithful Servant The Wisdom and Goodness of a Servant consists in his Fidelity In short The neglect of Prayer holy Instruction and setting a Pattern of Holiness to the Family the not watching for the Souls of Children and Servants to restrain them from Evil and excite them to Good will be a terrible Accusation against many Parents and Masters at the Day of Judgment The Provision for the Family is an indispensable Duty upon the Master of it There is a Divine Alliance between the Precepts of the Law they are all to be obeyed in their season The Duties of the first Table do not supersede our obedience to the Duties of the second If an Eagle should only gaze on the brightness of the Sun and suffer its young ones to starve in the Nest it were prodigiously unnatural He that by a pretence of serving God in Acts of immediate Worship neglects to provide for his Family is worse than an Infidel But how will those who by wasting their Estates or Idleness Ruin their Families appear before the Judgment-Seat of God The Superiours in the Family must preserve Order and Tranquility in it The Fire of Discord turns a House into a Little Hell full of the tormenting Passions Sorrow and Anguish Disdain and Despight Malice and Envy that blast the most flourishing Families But when Religion that is pure and peaceable Governs the House it turns it into a Paradise where the God of Peace dwells and delights and dispenses the most precious Fruits of his Favour Wisdom and Watchfulness are requisite to maintain an Harmonious Agreement in Families wherein are Persons of different and contrary Tempers Some are of such unnatural Dispositions that they love Jars and Dissentions as some Plants thrive on the top of the Alps where they are continually expos'd to Storms There is such and Irregularity in the Dispositions of some that between those Persons there is fierce Hatred where intire Love is due the Discord between Brothers is deeply wounding and hardly curable The reason of it is evident for where by the Law of Nature the dearest Love is requir'd and expected the not obtaining it is so injurious and provoking that the Hatred in one is equal to the Love to which the other does not Correspond The Spartan Magistrates Celebrated for their Wisdom and Justice being inform'd of frequent Quarrels between two Brothers likely to end in bloody Contentions they sent for their Father and punish'd him as more Culpable and Guilty in not timely Correcting them Ruling Wisdom in the Father of the Family so as to conciliate Love with Respect Soverity mix'd with Sweetness which rarely meet are necessary to prevent or compose Dissentions in those little Common-wealths In order to this the prime Care must be to quench the first sparks that appear that are seeds pregnant with Fire if they are blown up and fed with Materials they break forth into a sudden Flame And in the second place to observe and imploy every one in the Family in what is proper for them As the Stones in an Arch must be so cut and form'd that they may point one against another and support one another thus there are variety of Tempers and Talents in a Family and 't is the Wisdom of Superiours to observe and employ the several Persons for the good of the whole In short Authority is accepted with more easie submission in the Title of a Father than of a Master Therefore as Seneca observes the Romans that they might prevent Envy towards Masters and Contempt of the Servants call'd the Master The Father of the Family 2. There is a Sacred Relation between Pastor and People I shall but glance on the Duties belonging to them Evangelical Pastors are compar'd to the Luminaries of Heaven that by their Light Heat and