care of God as that which was given by Inspiration from himself Matth. 5. But I have on other occasions treated of these things and shall not therefore here enlarge upon them Sect. 21 The third sort of the immediate extraordinary Operations of the Holy Ghost absolutely exceeding the actings and compliance of Humane Faculties are Miracles of all sorts which were frequent under the Old Testament Such were many things wrought by Moses and Joshua Elijah and Elisha with some others those by Moses exceeding if the Jews fail not in their Computation all the rest that are recorded in the Scripture Now these were all the immediate Effects of the Divine Power of the Holy Ghost He is the sole Author of all real miraculous Operations For by Miracles we understand such Effects as are really beyond and above the Power of Natural Causes however applyed unto Operation Now it is said expresly that our Lord Jesus Christ wrought Miracles for Instance the casting out of Devils From Persons possessed by the Holy Ghost And if their immediate Production were by him in the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ personally united unto the Son of God how much more must it be granted that it was He alone whose Power they were wrought in those who had no such Relation unto the Divine Nature And therefore where they are said to be wrought by the Hand or Finger of God it is the Person of the Holy Spirit which is precisely intended as we have declared before And the Persons by whom they were wrought were never the real Subjects of the Power whereby they were wrought as though it should be inherent and residing in them as a Quality Acts 2. 12 16. Only they were infallibly directed by the Holy Ghost by Word or Action to presignifie their Operation So was it with Joshua when he commanded the Sun and Moon to stand still Josh. 10. 12. There was no Power in Joshua no not extraordinarily communicated to Him to have such a real influence upon the whole frame of Nature as to effect so great an Alteration therein Onely he had a Divine Warranty to speak that which God himself would effect whence it is said that therein God hearkned unto the Voice of a Man v. 14. It is a vanity of the greatest magnitude in some of the Jews as Maimonides More Nebuch p. 2. cap. 35. Levi B. Gerson on the place and others who deny any fixation of the Sun or Moon and judge that it is only the speed of Joshua in subduing his Enemies before the close of that day which is intended This they contend for lest Joshua should be thought to have wrought a greater Miracle than Moses But as the Prophet Habakkuk is express to the contrary c. 3. 11. and their own Sirachides c. 45. 56. so it is no small prevarication in some Christians to give countenance unto such a putid Fiction see Grot. in loc It is so in all other miraculous Operations even where the Parts of the Bodies of Men were made instrumental of the Miracle it self as in the Gift of Tongues They who had that Gift did not so speak from any Skill or Ability residing in them but they were meerly Organs of the Holy Ghost which he moved at his Pleasure Now the end of all these miraculous Operations was to give reputation to the Persons and to confirm the ministry of them by whom they were wrought For as at first they were the occasion of wonder and astonishment so upon their consideration they evidenced the respect and regard of God unto such Persons and their Work So when God sent Moses to declare his Will in an extraordinary manner unto the People of Israel he commands him to work several Miracles or Signs before them that they might believe that he was sent of God Exod. 4. 8. And such Works were called Signs because they were Tokens and Pledges of the Presence of the Spirit of God with them by whom they were wrought Nor was this Gift ever bestowed on any Man alone or for its own sake but it was alwayes subordinate unto the Work of Revealing or Declaring the Mind of God And these are the general Heads of the extraordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit of God in Works exceeding all Humane or Natural Abilities in their whole kind Sect. 22 The next sort of the Operations of the Holy Ghost under the Old Testament whose Explanation was designed is of those whereby he improved proved through immediate impression of his own Power the Natural Faculties and Abilities of the Minds of Men. And these as was intimated have respect to things Political Moral Natural and Intellectual with some of a mixed Nature First He had in them respect unto things Political such were his Gifts whereby he enabled sundry Persons unto Rule and Civil Government amongst Men. Government or Supream Rule is of great concernment unto the Glory of God in the World and of the highest usefulness unto Mankind Without it the whole World would be filled with violence and become a Stage for all Wickedness visibly and openly to act it self upon in disorder and confusion And all Men confess that unto a due management hereof unto its proper Ends sundry peculiar Gifts and Abilities of Mind are required in them and needful for them who are called thereunto These are they themselves to endeavour after and sedulously to improve the Measures which they have attained of them And where this is by any neglected the World and themselves will quickly feed on the Fruits of that Negligence But yet because the utmost of what Men may of this kind obtain by their ordinary endeavours and an ordinary Blessing thereon is not sufficient for some especial ends which God aimed at in and by their Rule and Government the Holy Ghost did oftentimes give an especial Improvement unto their Abilities of Mind by his own immediate and extraordinary Operation And in some Cases he manifested the Effects of his Power herein by some external visible Signs of his coming on them in whom he so wrought So in the first Institution of the Sanhedrim or Court of Seventy Elders to bear together with Moses the Burden of the People in their Rule and Government the Lord is said to put his Spirit upon them and that the Spirit rested on them Numb 11. 16 17. And the Lord said unto Moses Gather unto me Seventy Men of the Elders of Israel whom thou knowest to be Elders of the People and Officers over them And I will take of the Spirit that is upon thee and put it upon them and they shall bear the burden of the People with thee vers 25. And the Lord took of the Spirit that was on Moses and gave it unto the Seventy Elders and the Spirit rested on them That which these Elders were called unto was a share in the Supream Rule and Government of the People which was before intirely in the hand of Moses This the occasion of their Call declares vers
all things sin only excepted if he had not been Partaker of our Nature there had been no Foundation for the imputing that unto us which he did suffered and wrought Rom. 8. 3. And hence these things are accounted unto us and cannot be so unto Angels whose Nature he did not take upon him Heb. 2. 16. This therefore was the Work of the Holy Ghost in reference unto the Humane Nature of Christ in the Womb of his Mother By his Omnipotent Power he formed it of the Substance of the Body of the Holy Virgin that is as unto his Body And hence sundry things do ensue Sect. 11 1. That the Lord Christ could not on this account no not with respect unto his Humane Nature only be said to be the Son of the Holy Ghost although he supplyed the Place and Vertue of a Natural Father in Generation For the Relation of Filiation dependeth only on and ariseth from a Perfect Generation and not on every Effect of an Efficient cause When one Fire is kindled by another we do not say that it is the Son of that other unless it be very improperly Much less when a Man builds an House do we say that it is his Son There was therefore no other Relation between the Person of the Holy Ghost and the Humane Nature of Christ but that of a Creator and a Creature And the Lord Christ is and is called the Son of God with respect only unto the Father and his eternal ineffable Generation communicating Being and Subsistence unto Him as the Fountain and Original of the Trinity Filiation therefore is a Personal Adjunct and belongs unto Christ as he was a Divine Person and not with respect unto his Humane Nature But that Nature being assumed whole Christ was the Son of God Sect. 12 2. That this Act of the Holy Ghost in forming of the Body of Christ differs from the Act of the Son in assuming the Humane Nature into Personal Union with Himself For this Act of the Son was not a Creating Act producing a Being out of Nothing or making any thing by the same Power to be what in its own Nature it was not But it was an ineffable Act of Love and Wisdom taking the Nature so formed by the Holy Ghost so prepared for him to be his own in the instant of its Formation and thereby preventing the singular and individual Subsistence of that Nature in and by it self So then as the creating Act of the Holy Ghost in forming the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Womb doth not denominate him to be his Father no not according to the Humane Nature but he is the Son of God upon the account of his Eternal Generation only So it doth not denote an Assumption of that Nature into Union with himself nor was he incarnate He made the Humane Nature of Christ Body and Soul with in and unto a Subsistence in the Second Person of the Trinity not his own Sect. 13 3. It hence also followes that the Conception of Christ in the Womb being the Effect of a Creating Act was not accomplished successively and in process of time but was perfected in an Instant For although the Creating Acts of Infinite Power where the Works effected have distinct Parts may have a Process or Duration of Time allotted unto them as the World was Created in six Dayes yet every part of it that was the Object of an especial Creating Act was instantaneously produced So was the forming of the Body of Christ with the infusion of a Rational Soul to quicken it though it increased afterwards in the Womb unto the Birth And as it is probable that this Conception was immediate upon the Angelical Salutation so it was necessary that nothing of the Humane Nature of Christ should exist of it self antecedently unto its Union with the Son of God For in the very instant of its Formation and therein was the Word made Flesh John 1. 14. And the Son of God was made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. So that the whole Essence of his Nature was created in the same Instant Thus far the Scriptures go before and herein it is necessary to assert the forming of the Body and Soul of Christ by the Holy Spirit The curious enquiries of some of the Schoolmen and others are to be left unto themselves or rather to be condemned in them For what was farther in this Miraculous Operation of the Holy Ghost it seems purposely to be hid from us in that Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Power of the most High shall overshadow thee Under the Secret Glorious Covert hereof we may learn to adore that Holy Work here which we hope to rejoyce in and bless God for unto Eternity And I suppose also that there is in the Word an allusion unto the Expression of the Original Acting of the Holy Spirit towards the newly produced Mass of the Old Creation whereof we spake before Then it is said of Him that He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were hovering and moving over it for the Formation and Production of all things living For both the Words include in them an allusion unto a Covering like that of a Fowl over its Eggs communicating by its cognate warmth and heat a principle of Life unto their Seminal Virtue Sect. 14 It remaineth only that we consider how the same Work of the Conception of Christ is assigned unto the Holy Ghost and to the Blessed Virgin For of Her it is said expresly in Prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 7. 14. A Virgin shall Conceive the same Word that is used to express the Conception of any other Woman Gen. 4. 1. Hence She is termed by the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dei genetrix which last at least I wish had been forborn Compare it with the Scripture and there will appear an unwarrantable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it So Luk. 1. 31. The words of the Angel to Her are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt Conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son where Her Conception of Him is distinguished from her bringing of him forth And yet in the Ancient Creed commonly called the Apostles and generally received by all Christians as a Summary of Religion it is said he was Conceived by the Holy Spirit and only Born of the Virgin Mary An. The same Work is assigned to both as Causes of a different kind unto the Holy Spirit as the active efficient Cause who by his Almighty Power produced the Effect And the Disputes managed by some of the Ancients about de Spiritu Sancto and ex Spiritu Sancto were altogether needless For it is his Creating Efficiency that is intended And his Conceiving is ascribed unto the Holy Virgin as the passive material Cause for his Body was formed of her Substance as was before declared And this Conception of Christ was after her Solemn Espousals unto Joseph and that for sundry Reasons For 1. under the
Church They praying by his especial Guidance and Assistance say Come or Preachers say unto others Come and the Bride or the Body of the Church acted by the same Spirit joyn with them in this great Request and Supplication and thereunto all Believers are invited in the following words and let him that heareth say Come Sect. 10 All these things were necessary to be premised in general as giving some insight into the Nature of the Operations of the Holy Spirit in us and towards us And hereby we have made our Way plain to the consideration of his especial Works in the Calling Building and Carrying on the Church unto Perfection Now all his Works of this kind may be reduced unto three Heads 1. Of Sanctifying Grace 2. Of Especial Gifts 3. Of peculiar Evangelical Priviledges Only we must observe that these things are not so distinguished as to be negatively contradistinct to each other for the same thing under several Considerations may be all these a Grace a Gift and a Priviledg All that I intend is to reduce the Operations of the Holy Spirit unto these Heads casting each of them under that which it is most eminent in and as which it is most directly proposed unto us And I shall begin with his Work of Grace BOOK III. VVORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE New Creation BY REGENERATION CHAP. I. 1. The New Creation Compleated 2. Regeneration the especial Work of the Holy Spirit 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Wrought under the Old Testament but clearly revealed in the New And 10 11 12. is of the same kind in all that are Regenerate 13 14. The Causes and Way of it being the same in all 15 16. It consisteth not in Baptism alone Nor 17 18. in a Moral Reformation of Life But 19 20. a New Creature is Formed in it whose 21 22. Nature is declared and 23. farther explained 24. Denial of the Original Depravation of Nature the Cause of many Noxious Opinions 25 26. Regeneration consisteth not in Enthusiaslick Raptures their Nature and Danger 27. The whole Doctrine necessary dâ—spised corrupted vindicated Sect. 1 WE have formerly declared the Work of the Holy Spirit in Preparing and Forming the Natural Body of Christ. This was the beginning of the New Creation the Foundation of the Gospel-State and Church But this was not the whole of the Work he had to do As he had provided and prepared the Natural Body of Christ so he was to prepare his Mystical Body also And hereby the Work of the New Creation was to be compleated and perfected And as it was with respect unto him and his Work in the Old Creation so was it also in the New All things in their first production had Darkness and Death upon them For the Earth was Void and without Form and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep Gen. 1. 2. Neither was there any thing that had either Life in it or Principle of Life or any Disposition thereunto In this condition he moved on the prepared Matter preserving and cherishing of it and communicating unto all things a Principle of Life whereby they were animated as we have declared It was no otherwise in the New Creation There was a Spiritual Darkness and Death came by sin on all Mankind Neither was there in any Man living the least Principle of Spiritual Life or any Disposition thereunto In this State of things the Holy Spirit undertaketh to create a New World New Heavens and a New Earth wherein Righteousness should dwell And this in the first place was by his Effectual Communication of a New Principle of Spiritual Life unto the Souls of God's Elect who were the Matter designed of God for this Work to be wrought upon This he doth in their Regeneration as we shall now manifest Sect. 2 1. Regeneration in Scripture is every-where assigned to be the proper and peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit John 3. 3 4 5 6. Jesus answered and said unto Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Nicodemus saith unto him How can a Man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit It was an ancient knowing Teacher of the Church of the Jews a Master in Israel whom our Blessed Saviour here discourseth withal and instructs For on the consideration of his Miracles he concluded that God was with him and came to enquire of him about the Kingdom of God Our Saviour knowing how all our Faith and Obedience to God and all our Acceptance with him depended on our Regeneration or being born again acquaints him with the necessity of it wherewith he is at first surprized Wherefore he proceeds to instruct him in the Nature of the Work whose necessity he had declared And this he describes both by the Cause and the Effect of it For the Cause of it he tells him it is wrought by Water and the Spirit By the Spirit as the Principal Efficient Cause and by Water as the Pledg Sign and Token of it in the initial Seal of the Covenant the Doctrine whereof was then preached amongst them by John the Baptist or the same thing is intended in a redoubâ—ed Expression the Spirit being signified by the Water also under which Notion he is often promised Sect. 3 Hereof then or of this Work the Holy Spirit is the Principal Efficient Cause whence he in whom it is wrought is said to be born of the Spirit v. 8. so is every one that is born of the Spirit And this is the same with what is delivered Chap. 1. v. 13. Who are born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God The Natural and Carnal Means of Blood Flesh and the Will of Man are rejected wholly in this Matter and the whole Efficiency of the New Birth is ascribed unto God alone His Work answers what-ever Contribution there is unto Natural Generation from the Will and Nature of Man For these things are here compared and from its Analogie unto Natural Generation is this Work of the pirit called Regeneration so in this place is the Allusion and Opposition between these things expressed by our Saviour That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit v. 6. And herein also we have a farther Description of this Work of the Holy Spirit by its Effect or the Product of it It is Spirit a new Spiritual Being Creature Nature Life as shall be declared And because there is in it a Communication of a new Spiritual Life it is called a Vivification or quickning with respect unto the State wherein all Men
Christ in this World And thus far the Dispensation of the Gospel is only a causa sine qua non of the Regeneration of Men and the granting of it depends solely on the Will of the Spirit of God Sect. 11 It is Subjective Darkness which is of more direct and immediate Consideration in this Matter the Nature whereof with what it doth respect and the influence of it on the Minds of Men must be declared before we can rightly apprehend the Work of the Holy Spirit in its removal by Regeneration This is that whereby the Scripture expresseth the Natural Depravation and Corruption of the Minds of Men with respect unto Spiritual Things and the Duty that we owe to God according to the Tenor of the Covenant And two things must be premised to our consideration of it As Sect. 12 1. That I shall not Treat of the Depravation or Corruption of the Mind of Man by the Fall with respect unto Things Natural Civil Political or Moral but meerly with regard to things Spiritual Heavenly and Evangelical It were easie to evince not only by Testimonies of the Scripture but by the Experience of all Mankind built on Reason and the Observation of Instances innumerable that the whole Rational Soul of Man since the Fall and by the entrance of sin is weakned impaired vitiated in all its Faculties and all their Operations about their proper and natural Objects Neither is there any Relief against these Evils with all those unavoidable Perturbations wherewith it is possessed and actually disordered in all its Workings but by some secret and hidden Operation of the Spirit of God such as he continually exerts in the Rule and Government of the World But it is concerning the Impotency Defect Depravation and Perversity of the Mind with respect unto Spiritual Things alone that we shall treat at present I say then Sect. 13 2. That by reason of that Vice Corruption or Depravation of the Minds of all Unregenerate Men which the Scripture calls Darkness and Blindness they are not able of themselves by their own Reasons and Understandings how-ever exercised and improved to discern receive understand or believe savingly Spiritual Things or the Mystery of the Gospel when and as they are outwardly revealed unto them without an effectual powerful Work of the Holy Spirit creating or by his Almighty Power inducing a new Saving Light into them Let it be supposed that the Mind of a Man be no way hurt or impaired by any natural defect such as doth not attend the whole Race of Mankind but is personal only and accidental suppose it free from contracted habits of Vice or voluntary Prejudices yet upon the Proposal of the Doctrine and Mysteries of the Gospel let it be done by the most skilful Masters of the Assemblies with the greatest Evidence and Demonstration of the Truth it is not able of it self Spiritually and Savingly to receive understand and assent unto them without the especial Aid and Assistance and Operation of the Holy Spirit To evince this Truth we may consider in one Instance the Description given us in the Scripture of the Mind it self and of its Operations with respect unto Spiritual Things This we have Ephes. 4. 17. 18. This I say therefore and testifie in the Lord that you hence-forth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their Mind having the Understanding darkned being alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Heart It is of the Gentiles that the Apostle speaks But the Apostle speaks of them on the account of that which is common unto all Men by Nature For he Treats of their Condition with respect unto the Faculties of their Minds and Souls wherein there is as unto the Life of God or Spiritual Things no difference naturally among Men and their Operations and Effects are for the substance of them the same Sect. 14 Some indeed give such an account of this Text as if the Apostle had said Do we not live after the Heathens in the vileness of those Practices and in their Idol Worship That long course of Sin having blinded their Understandings so that they see not that which by the Light of Nature they are enabled to see and by that gross Ignorance and obduration of Heart run into all Impiety are far removed from that Life which God and Nature require of them It is supposed in this Exposition 1. That the Apostle hath respect in the first place to the Practices of the Gentiles not to their State and Condition 2. That this Practice concerns only their Idolatry and Idol-Worship 3. That what is here ascribed unto them came upon them by a long course of sinning 4. That the Darkness mentioned consists in a not discerning of what might be seen by the Light of Nature 5. That their Alienation from the Life of God consisted in running into that Impiety which was distant or removed from the Life that God and Nature require But all these Sentiments are so far from being contained in the Text as that they are expresly contrary unto it For 1. although the Apostle doth carry on his Description of this State of the Gentiles unto the vile Practices that ensued thereon on v. 19. Yet it is their State by Nature with respect unto the Life of God which is first intended by him This is apparent from what he prescribes unto Christians in opposition thereunto namely The New Man which after God is created in Rightcousness and true Holiness v. 24. 2. The Vanity mentioned is subjective in their Minds and so hath no respect to Idol-Worship but as it was an Effect thereof The vanity of their Minds is the Principle whereof this walking be what it will was the Effect and Consequent 3. Here is no mention nor intimation of any long course of sinning much less that it should be the cause of the other things ascribed to the Gentiles whereof indeed it was the Effect The Description given is that of the state of all Men by Nature as is plain from Chap. 2. 1 2 3. 4. The Darkness here mentioned is opposed unto being Light in the Lord Chap. 5. 8. which is not meer Natural Light nor can any by that Light alone discern Spiritual Things or the Things that belong to the Life of God 5. The Life of God here is not that Life which God and Nature require but that Life which God reveals in requires and communicates by the Gospel through Jesus Christ as all Learned Expositors acknowledg Wherefore the Apostle treateth here of the State of Men by Nature with respect unto Spiritual and Supernatural Things And three Heads he reduceth all things in Man unto 1. He mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mind 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Understanding And 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heart And all these are one entire Principle of all our Moral and Spiritual Operations and are all affected
well as of the Father what followeth thereon 130 8 The Spirit how and when given by Christ. 157 3 The Holy Spirit supplyes the Bodily absence of Christ. 158 5 How the Spirit glorified Christ. 161 The Spirit that is born of the Spirit what it is 173 3 Holy Spirit worketh by Means ordinarily 187 25 Things of the Spirit of God what they are 218 26 Holy Spirit the immediate Author of Regeneration 254 4 The Holy Spirit the immediate Sanctifier of all Believers 337 15 The Holy Spirit promised with respect unto his Effects 357 2 The Spirit that is formed in Believers what it is 418 12 Holy Spirit the principal efficient Cause of the Mortification of Sin 481 15 c. Vse of Spiritual Gifts 2 1 Abuse of Spiritual Gifts ibid. Spiritual Gifts their Author Nature Vse and End 5 6 7 4 5 6 7. Spiritual Mercies all from the Holy Spirit 125 7 No spiritual Good in any one by Nature 166 10 Spiritual Troubles by some despised 197 10 Spiritual and Natural how opposed 217 25 Spiritual things Foolishness unto men of corrupt Affections 233 53 Spring of spiritual Life in God 246 22 Spiritual Life what it is and wherein it doth consist 246 23 Spiritual things how spiritually to be discerned 282 53 Spiritual Life wherein it consists 419 13 Spiritual things how they are to be taught 460 78 Spiritual Life and Natural compared in their Powers and Acts. 465 7 Work of the Spirit towards the Humane Nature of Christ in the State of the Dead 146 10 State of Regeneration the same in all 179 14 Strength by spiritual Aids from the Holy Spirit 383 Strength administred in each Covenant to fulfill its tearms 545 21 Stupidity in sinning 397 12 Variety of Style in the Holy Scripture whence it proceedeth 114 20 Moral Suasion not the onely Means of Conversion 256 257 c. 7 8 Submission to the Will of God how acted in the Sufferings of Christ. 145 Submission to the Will of God promoted by thoughts of Eternal Love 527 17 All Sufficiency unto Obedience from God none in our selves 467 9 Suitableness between the Mind and Duty from Grace onely 437 Sun Moon and Starres the Host of Heaven 71 6 Supererogation the Vanity thereof 333 13 Supernatural principle of holiness wrought by the Holy Ghost 414 5 Suppositions of a State of Grace may be abused 355 Surprizals with a Spirit of Prophecy 86 11 Symbolical Actions how enjoyned the Prophets 109 15 T. Teaching by the Holy Ghost 59 25 Advantages in the Teachings of Christ above all others 559 12 How the Spirit teacheth us to pray 349 9 Temptations how they hinder and how they further the Growth of Holiness 352 Tempting of the Spirit wherein it consists 63 28 Testimony of the Spirit unto Christ with its Efficacy 150 Skill in the Original Text necessary to the Exposition of the Scripture 30 4 Thankfulness for Cleansing from sinne 403 Three things required to render man meet to live to God 76 14 Things represented in Vision to the Prophets 108 14 Things against the Light of Nature not really enjoyned the Prophets 109 15 Three things required unto the Writing of the Scripture 113 20 Things supposed unto the Work of the Holy Spirit towards the Church 155 2 The same things ascribed unto the Holy Spirit and unto Men in what sence 168 9 Things in the Power of our own Wills required in order unto our Regeneration 193 4 Things of the Spirit of God what they are 218 26 Spiritual Things Foolishness unto men of corrupt Affections 233 53 Tongues and Hands of the Prophets guided by the Holy Ghost 105 10 Mistake of sundry ancient Translations 30 3 Doctrine of the Trinity the great Foundation of all Religion 45 4 The holy Trinity revealed in the New Creation 126 8 Troubles wherein we stand in need of Consolation of two sorts 360 Truth a Grace expressing the Image of God 517 31 Tryal of Prophets and Prophecy under the Old Testament two-fold 18 22 Two-fold State of all Mankind 205 2 Two-fold Work of the Spirit in Sanctification and Supplications answering each other 348 9 V. Vanity of all Pleas and Pretences against the Divine Personality of the Holy Ghost 49 10 Vanity of the Mind what it is and wherein it consists 211 15 Vanity the Nature and Causes of it in the World 213 18 Vanity of Papal Inventions for the Purification of sin 379 380 Valuation of the Means of Cleansing from sin 403 14 Various Significations of the Name Spirit 30 31 32 33 2 3 4 5 6. Variety of Duties required unto the Mortification of Sin 490 28 All Vertue of the especial Operation of the Spirit of God 77 15 Moral Vertues and Endowments in Civil things wrought by the Holy Spirit 118 23 Moral Vertue is not the Holiness of Truth 326 8 Vertues to be imitated in Christ. 450 59 Name and Nature of Moral Vertue examined 459 78 Moral Vertue what intended thereby 506 15 View by Faith of the Blood of Christ as sacrificed and the Efficacy thereof 389 6 View of Sin under suffering usefull 392 View of the State of Nature necessary 393 10 Vindication of the true sence of the Law by Christ. 557 7 8 Vine and Branches their mutual Relation and In-being 456 70 No Violence or Force offered unto the Will by Grace 271 33 Prophetical Visions by the Representation of things to the outward senses 107 14 Visions and Representations of things of two sorts 108 14 What is required to render Visions Divine Revelations 109 14 No Vital Acts under the Power of Death spiritual 246 21 Vivification what it is 279 49 Divine Voluntary Actings constantly ascribed unto the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 49 10 Articulate Voyces in Divine Revelations how formed 106 12 Unalterable Decree of God that no unholy Person shall be saved 521 4 Guilt of Unbelief notwithstanding Natural Impotency 273 37 Unclean the same with Vnholy 370 Things unclean by the Law why made so 375 Uncleansed sinners can never come to the Enjoyment of God 394 10 Uncleansed Sinners can have no Communion with Christ. 406 16 Unction of Christ unto his Prophetical Office 139 4 Understanding with all the proper Acts of it ascribed unto the Spirit 55 19 The Understanding the use of it and how it is depraved 212 16 Understanding corrupted as to the Object of its Acting 281 52 No unholy Person can ever enjoy God 505 13 Vanity of Unholy Persons pretending an Interest in the Mediation of Christ. 562 19 Unholy Persons how of all others they dishonour Jesus Christ. 563 20 Personal Union or the subsistence of both the Natures of Christ in one Person the necessary Consequent of Assumption 129 5 Union with Christ notwithstanding the Defilement of Sin how possible 406 16 Union with Christ by Vertue of the New Creature 407 Union with Christ wherein it consists 419 13 Union with Christ and the Nature thereof 453 66 Whether Union goe before Sanctification and in
are before this Work is wrought in them and on them Ephes. 2. 1 5. which is the Work of the Spirit alone for it is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. see Rom. 8. 9 10. Titus 3. 4 5 6. where the same Truth is declared and asserted But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Sect. 4 What we have frequently mentioned occurreth here expresly namely the whole Blessed Trinity and each Person therein acting distinctly in the Work of our Salvation The Spring or Fountain of the whole lyeth in the Kindness and Love of God even the Father Thereunto it is every-where ascribed in the Scripture see John 3. 16. Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. What-ever is done in the Accomplishment of this Work it is so in the pursuit of his Will Purpose and Counsel and is an Effect of his Love and Grace The procuring Cause of the Application of the Love and Kindness of God unto us is Jesus Christ our Saviour in the whole Work of his Mediation v. 6. and the immediate efficient Cause in the Communication of the Love and Kindness of the Father through the Mediation of the Son unto us is the Holy Spirit And this he doth in the Renovation of our Natures by the washing of Regeneration wherein we are purged from our sins and sanctified unto God Sect. 5 More Testimonies unto this purpose need not be insisted on This Truth of the Holy Spirit being the Author of our Regeneration which the Ancients esteemed a Cogent Argument to prove his Deity even from the the Greatness and Dignity of the Work is in words at least so far as I know granted by all who pretend to sobriety in Christianity That by some others it hath been derided and exploded is the occasion of this Vindication of it It must not be expected that I should here handle the whole Doctrine of Regeneration practically as it may be educed by Inferences from the Scripture according to the Analogie of Faith and the Experiences of them that believe It hath been done already by others My present aim is only to confirm the Fundamental Principles of Truth concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which at this day are opposed with violence and virulence And what I shall offer on the present Subject may be reduced unto the ensuing Heads Sect. 6 1. Although the Work of Regeneration by the Holy Spirit was wrought under the Old Testament even from the Foundation of the World and the Doctrine of it was recorded in the Scriptures yet the Revelation of it was but obscure in comparison of that Light and Evidence which it is brought forth into by the Gospel This is evident from the Discourse which our Blessed Saviour had with Nicodemus on this Subject For when he acquainted him clearly with the Doctrine of it he was surprized and fell into that enquiry which argued some amazement How can these things be But yet the Reply of our Saviour manifests That he might have attained a better acquaintance with it out of the Scripture than he had done Art thou saith he a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Dost thou take upon thee to Teach others what is their State and Condition and what is their Duty towards God and art ignorant thy self of so Great and Fundamental a Doctrine which thou mightest have learned from the Scripture For if he might not so have done there would have been no just cause of the Reproof given him by our Saviour For it was neither Crime nor Negligence in him to be ignorant of what God had not revealed This Doctrine therefore namely That every one who will enter into the Kingdom of God must be born again of the Holy Spirit was contained in the Writings of the Old Testament It was so in the Promises That God would circumcise the Hearts of his People that he would take away their Heart of Stone and give them a Heart of Flesh with his Law written in it and other wayes as shall be afterwards proved Sect. 7 But yet we see that it was so obscurely declared that the principal Masters and Teachers of the People knew little or nothing of it Some indeed would have this Regeneration if they knew what they would have or as to what may be gathered of their minds out of their great swelling words of vanity to be nothing but Reformation of Life according to the Rules of the Scripture But Nicodemus knew the necessity of Reformation of Life well enough if he had ever read either Moses or the Prophets And to suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ proposed unto him the thing which he knew perfectly well only under a new Name or Notion which he had never heard of before So to take an advantage of charging him with being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood is a blasphemous Imagination How they can free themselves from the Guilt hereof who look on Regeneration as no more but a Metaphorical Expression of Amendment of Life I know not And if it be so if there be no more in it but as they love to speak becoming a new Moral Man a thing which all the World Jews and Gentiles understood our Lord Jesus was so far from bringing it forth into more Light and giving it more perspicuity by what he teacheth concerning Regeneration the Nature Manner Causes and Effects of it that he cast it thereby into more darkness and obscurity than ever it was delivered in either by Jewish Masters or Gentile Philosophy For although the Gospel do really teach all Duties of Morality with more exactness and clearness and press unto the Observance of them on motives incomparably more cogent than any thing that otherwise ever befel the Mind of Man to think or apprehend yet if it must be supposed to intend nothing else in its Doctrine of the New Birth or Regeneration but those Moral Duties and their Observance it is dark and unintelligible I say if there be not a secret mysterious Work of the Spirit of God in and upon the Souls of Men intended in the Writings of the New Testament but only a Reformation of Life and the Improvement of Mens Natural Abilities in the Exercise of Moral Virtue through the Application of outward means unto their Minds and Understandings conducting and perswading thereunto they must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever as some have not feared already to publish unto the World concerning the Epistles of Paul But so long as we can obtain an acknowledgment from Men that they are true and in any sense the Word of God we doubt not but to evince that the things intended in them are clearly and
enabling unâ—o all Acts of Holy Obedience and so in order of Nature antecedent unto them then it doth not consist in a meer Reformation of Life and Moral Vertue be they never so exact or accurate Three things are to be observed for the clearing of this Assertion before we come to the Proof and Confirmation of it As 1. That this Reformation of Life which we say is not Regeneration or that Regeneration doth not consist therein is a necessary Duty indispensibly required of all Men. For we shall take it here for the whole course of Actual Obedience unto God and that according to the Gospel Those indeed by whom it is urged and pressed in the room of Regeneration or as that wherein Regeneration doth consist do give such an Account and Description of it as that it is or at least may be Foreign unto true Gospel-Obedience and so not contain in it one Acceptable Duty unto God as shall afterwards be declared But here I shall take it in our present enquiry for that whole Course of Duâ—â—â—s which in Obedience towards God are prescribed unto us 2. That the Principle before described wherein Regeneration as passivâ—ly considered or as wrought in us consists doth alwayes certainly and infallibly produce the Reformation of Life intended In some it doth it more compleatly in others more imperfectly in all sincerely For the same Grace in Nature and Kind is communicated unto several Persons in various Degree and is by them used and improved with more 〈◊〉 care and diligence In thâ—se therefore that are adult these things are inseparable Therefore 3. The difference in this Matter 〈◊〉 unto this Head We say and believe that Regeneration consiâ—s in Spirituali Renovatione Naturae in a Spiritual Renovation of our Nature Our Modern Socinians that it doth so in Morali Reformatione vitae in a Moral Reformation of Life Now as we grant that this Spiritual Renovation of Nature will infallibly produce a Moral Reformation of Life so if they will grant that this Moral Reformation of Life doth proceed from a Spiritual Renovation of our Nature this difference will be at an end And this is that which the Ancients intend by first receiving the Holy Ghost and then all Graces with him However if they only design to speak ambiguously improperly and unscripturally confounding Effects and their Causes Habits and Actions Faculties or Powers and occasional Acts infused Principles and acquired Habits Spiritual and Moral Grace and Nature that they may take an opportunity to rail at others for want of better Advantage I shall not contend with them For allow a new Spiritual Principle an infused Habit of Grace or gracious Abilities to be required in and unto Regeneration or to be the Product or the Work of the Spirit therein that which is born of the Spirit being Spirit and this part of the Nature of this Work is sufficiently cleared Now this the Scripture abundantly testifieth unto Sect. 20 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature This New Creature is that which is intended that which was before described which being born of the Spirit is Spirit This is produced in the Souls of Men by aS Creating Act of the Power of God or it is not a Creature and it is superinduced into the essential Faculties of our Souls or it is not a New Creature for what-ever is in the Soul of Power Disposition Ability or Inclination unto God or for any Moral Actions by Nature it belongs unto the Old Creation it is no New Creature And it must be somewhat that hath a Being and Subsistence of its own in the Soul or it can be neither New nor a Creature And by our Apostle it is opposed to all outward Priviledges Gal. 5. 6. Chap. 6. 15. That the production of it also is by a Creating Act of Almighty Power the Scripture testifieth Psal. 51. 10. Ephes. 2. 10. And this can denote nothing but a New Spiritual Principle or Nature wrought in us by the Spirit of God No say some a New Creature is no more but a changed Man it is true but then this Change is Internal also yes in the Purposes Designs and Inclinations of the Mind But is it by a real Infusion of a new Principle of Spiritual Life and Holiness No it denotes no more but a new course of Conversation only the Expression is Metaphorical a New Creature is a Moral Man that hath changed his Course or Way For if he were alwayes a Moral Man that he was never in any vitious Way or Course as it was with him Matth. 19. 18 19 20. then he was alwayes a New Creature This is good Gospel at once overthrowing Original Sin and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Doctrine I am sure was not learned from the Fathers whereof some used to boast Nay it is much more fulsome than any thing ever taught by Pelagius himself who indeed ascribed more unto Grace than these Men do although he denied this Creation of a New Principle of Grace in us antecendent unto Acts of Obedience And this turning all Scripture-Expressions of Spiritual Things into Metaphors is but a way to turn the whole into a Fable or at least to render the Gospel the most obscure and improper way of teaching the Truth of things that ever was made use of in the World Sect. 21 This New Creature therefore doth not consist in a new course of Actions but in renewed Faculties with new Dispositions Power and Ability to them and for them Hence it is called the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. He hath given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Divine Nature is not the Nature of God whereof in our own Persons we are not subjectively Partakers And yet a Naâ—ure it is which is a Principle of Operation and that Divine or Spiritual namely an Habitual Holy Principle wrought in us by God and bearing his Image By the Promises therefore we are made Partakers of a Divine Supernatural Principle of Spiritual Actions and Operations which is what we contend for So the whole of what we intend is declared Ephes. 4. 22 23 24. Put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind and put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness It is the Work of Regeneration with respect both to its Foundation and Progress that is here described 1. The Foundation of the whole is laid in our being renewed in the Spirit of our Mind which the same Apostle else-where calls being transformed in the Renovation of our Minds Rom. 12. 2. That this consists in the participation of a new saving Supernatural Light to enable the Mind unto Spiritual Actings and to guide it therein shall be afterwards declared Herein
that special kind of Life which is given by the especial quickning Principle of a rational Soul Sect. 5 Hence it is evident wherein Death natural doth consist And three things may be considered in it 1 The Separation of the Soul from the Body Hereby the Act of infusing the living Soul ceaseth unto all its Ends. For as a Principle of Life unto the whole it operates only by Vertue of its Union with the subject to be quickned by it 2 A Cessation of all Vital Actings in the quickned Subject For that Union from whence they should proceed is dissolved 3 As a Consequent of these there is in the Body an Impotency for and an Ineptitude unto all Vital Operations Not only do all Operations of Life actually cease but the Body is no more able to effect them There remains in it indeed Potentia obedientialis a passive power to receive Life again if communicated unto it by an external efficient Cause So the body of Lazarus being dead had a receptive Power of a living Soul But an active Power to dispose it self unto Life or Vital Actions it hath not Sect. 6 From these things we may be a just Analogie collect wherein Life and Death Spiritual do consist And to that End some things must be previously observed As 1 That Adam in the state of Innocency besides his Natural life whereby he was a Living Soul had likewise a Supernatural Life with respect unto its end whereby he lived unto God This is called the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. which Men now in the state of nature are alienated from The Life which God requires and which hath God for its Object and End And this Life was in him Supernatural for although it was concreated in and with the rational Soul as a perfection due unto it in the state wherein and with respect unto the End for which it was made yet it did not naturally flow from the Principles of the rational Soul nor were the Principles Faculties or Abilities of it inseparable from those of the Soul it self being only accidental Perfections of them inlaid in them by especial Grace This Life was necessary unto him with respect unto the state wherein and the End for which he was made He was made to live unto the living God and that in a peculiar manner to live unto his glory in this World by the discharge of the rational and moral Obedience required of him and to live afterward in his Glory and the eternal Enjoyment of him as his Cheifest Good and Highest Reward That whereby he was enabled hereunto was that Life of God which we are alienated from in the state of Nature 2. In this Life as in Life in General three things are to be considered 1 Its Principle 2 Its Operation 3 Its Vertue or Habit Act and Power Sect. 7 1. There was a Quickning Principle belonging unto it For every Life is an Act of a Quïckning Principle This in Adam was the Image of God or an habitual Conformity unto God his Mind and Will wherein the Holiness and Righteousness of God himself was represented Gen. 1. 26 27. In this Image he was created or it was concreated with him as a Perfection due to his Nature in the Condition wherein he was made This gave him an habitual disposition unto all duties of that Obedience that was required of him It was the Rectitude of all the faculties of his Soul with respect unto his Supernatural End Eccles. 7. 20. 2 There belonged unto it continual Actings from or by Vertue of and suitable unto this Principle All the Acts of Adam's Life should have been subordinate unto his great moral End In all that he did he should have lived unto God according unto the Law of that Covenant wherein he walked before him And an Acting in all things suitable unto the Light in his Mind unto the Righteousness and Holiness in his Will and Affection that Uprightness or Integrity or Order that was in his Soul was his Living unto God Sect. 8 3 He had here-withal Power or Ability to continue the Principle of Life in suitable Acts of it with respect unto the whole Obedience required of him that is he had a sufficiency of Ability for the Performance of any Duty or of all that the Covenant required And in these three did the Supernatural Life of Adam in Innocency consist And it is that which the Life whereunto we are restored by Christ doth answer It answers unto it I say and supplies its absence with respect unto the End of living unto God according unto the New Covenant that we are taken into For neither would the Life of Adam be sufficient for us to live unto God according to the terms of the New Covenant nor is the Life of Grace we now enjoy suited to the Covenant wherein Adam stood before God Wherefore some Differences there are between them the Principal whereof may be reduced into two Heads Sect. 9 1. That Principle of this Life was wholly and intirely in Man himself It was the Effect of another Cause of that which was without him namely the Good Will and Power of God but it was left to grow on no other Root but what was in Man himself It was wholly implanted in his Nature and therein did its Springs lye Actual Excitations by Influence of Power from God it should have had For no Principle of Operation can subsist in an Independence of God nor apply it self unto Operation without his Concurence But in the Life whereunto we are renewed by Jesus Christ the Fountain and Principle of it is not in our selves but in him as One common Head unto all that are made Partakers of him He is our Life Col. 1. 3. and our Life as to the Spring and Fountain of it is hid with him in God For he quickneth us by his Spirit Rom. 8. 10. And our Spiritual Life as in us consists in the Vital Actings of this Spirit of his in Us for without him we can do nothing John 15. 3. By Vertue hereof we walk in newness of Life Rom. 6. 4. We live therefore hereby yet not so much we as Christ liveth in us Gal. 2. 20. Sect. 10 2. There is a Difference between these Lives with respect unto the Object of their Vital Acts. For the Life which we now lead by the faith of the Son of God hath sundry Objects of its Actings which the other had not For whereas all the Actings of our Faith and Love that is all our Obedience doth respect the Revelation that God makes of himself and his Will unto us there are now New Revelations of God in Christ and consequently new Duties of Obedience required of us as will afterwards appear And other such differences there are between them The Life which we had in Adam and that which we are renewed unto in Christ Jesus are so far of the same Nature and kind as our Apostle manifests in sundry Places Ephes. 4. 23 24.
Friend and Companion lib. 4. cap. 5 6 7. And in all the several Warnings he had from God he chargeth the Want and Guilt of their non-improvement on his natural blindness his Mind being not illuminated and the corruption of his Nature not yet cured with the efficacy of evil Society and the course of the World in the places where he lived But it would be tedious to transcribe the particular Accounts that he gives of these things though all of them singularly Worthy of Consideration For I must say that in my Judgment there is none among the Ancient or Modern Divines unto this day who either in the Declarations of their own Experiences or their Directions unto others have equalled much less out-gone him in an accurate search and observation of all the secret Actings of the Spirit of God on the Minds and Souls of Men both towards and in their Recovery or Conversion And in order hereunto scarce any one not Divinely Inspired hath so traced the way of the Serpent of the effectual working of Original Sin in and on the Hearts of Men with the efficacy communicated thereunto by various Temptations and Occasions of Life in this World The wayes also whereby the deceitfulness of Sin in complyance with objective Temptations doth seek to elude and frustrate the Work of God's Grace when it begins to attempt the strong holds of Sin in the Heart were exceedingly discovered unto him Neither hath any Man more lively and expresly laid open the Power of effectual and victorious Grace with the manner of its Operation and Prevalency And all these things by the guidance of the Good Spirit of God and attendance unto the Word did he exemplifie from his own Experience in the whole Work of God towards him Only it must be acknowledged that he declareth these things in such a way and manner as also with such Expressions as many in our dayes would cry out on as fulsome and fanatical Sect. 17 Secondly In the way of calling Men unto the saving Knowledg of God the Holy Spirit convinceth them of Sin or he brings them under the Power of a Work of Conviction It is not my Design nor here in my way to handle the Nature of the Work of Conviction the Means Causes and Effects of it Besides it hath been done at large by others It is sufficient unto my purpose 1. To shew the Nature of it in general 2. The Causes of it 3. The Wayes whereby Men lose their Convictions and so become more and more hardned in sin 4. How the Holy Spirit doth carry on the Work in some unto compleat Conversion unto God Sect. 18 1. For the Nature of it in general it consists in a fixing the vain Mind of a Sinner upon a due consideration of Sin its Nature Tendency and End with his own concernment therein and a fixing of a due sense of sin upon the secure Mind of the Sinner with suitable Affections unto its Apprehensions The Warnings before insisted on whereby God excites Men to some steady notices of him and themselves are like Calls given unto a Man in a profound sleep whereat being startled he lifts up himself for a little space but oppressed with the Power of his deep slumber quickly layes him down again as Austin expresseth it But this Work of Conviction abides with Men and they are no way able speedily to disintangle themselves from it Sect. 19 Now the Mind of Man which is the Subject of this Work of Conviction hath two things distinctly to be considered in it 1. The Understanding which is the active noetical or contemplative Power and Faculty of it 1. The Affections wherein its passive and sensitive Power doth consist With respect hereunto there are two parts of the Work of Conviction 1 The Fixing of the Mind the Rational contemplative Power of it upon a due Consideration of Sin 2 The fixing of a due sense of Sin on the practical passive sensible part of the Mind that is the Conscience and Affections as was said before Sect. 20 1. It is a great work to fix the vain Mind of an Unregenerate Sinner on a due Consideration of sin its nature and tendency The Darkness of their own mind inexpressible Vanity wherein I place the principal effect of our Apostacy from God do disenable hinder and divert them from such Apprehensions Hence God so often complains of the foolishness of the people that they would not consider that they would not be wise to consider their latter end We find by Experience this folly and vanity in many unto an Astonishment No reasons Arguments Entreaties by all that is naturally dear to them no Necessities can prevail with them to fix their minds on a due consideration of sin Moreover Satan now employs all his Engines to beat off the Efficacy and Power of this Work And when his Temptations and Delusions are mixed with Men's natural Darkness and Vanity the Mind seems to be impregnably fortified against the power of Conviction For although it be real Conversion unto God that overthrows the Kingdom of Satan in us yet this Work of Conviction raiseth such a Combustion in it that he cannot but fear it will be its End And this strong Man armed would if possible keep his Goods and House in peace Hence all sorts of persons have daily Experience in their Children Servants Relations how difficult yea how impossible it is to fix their Minds on a due Consideration of sin until it be wrought in them by the exceeding Greatness of the power of the Spirit of God Wherefore herein consists the first part of this Work of Conviction it fixeth the mind on a due Consideration of sin So it is expressed Psal. 51. 3. my sin is ever before me God reproves Men and sets their sins in order before their eyes Psal. 50. 21. Hence they are necessitated as it were always to behold them and that which way soever they turn themselves Fain they would cast them behind their backs or cast out thoughts of them but the Arrows of God stick in them and they cannot take off their Minds from their consideration And whereas there are three things in sin 1 The Original of it and its native inherience in us as Psal. 51. 5. 2 The state of it or the Obnoxiousness of Men to the Wrath of God on the Account thereof Ephes. 2. 1 2 3. 3 The particular sins of Mens Lives in the first part of the Work of Conviction the Minds of Men are variously exercised with respect unto them according as the Spirit of God is pleased to engage and fix them 2. As the Mind is hereby fixed on the Consideration of sin so a sense of sin must also be fixed on the Mind that is the Conscience and Affections A bare Contemplation of the Concernments of sin is of little use in this matter The Scripture principally evidenceth this work of Conviction or placeth it in this Effect of a sense of sin in Trouble Sorrow
testifieth unto but withall I must adde that as to the proper Nature or Essence of it no Mind can apprehend it no Tongue can express it none can perfectly understand its glory some few things may be added to illustrate it Sect. 13 1 This is that whereby we have Vnion with Jesus Christ the Head of the Church Originally and efficiently the Holy Spirit dwelling in him and us is the Cause of this Union But formally this new Principle of Grace is so It is that whereby we become members of his bones and of his flesh Ephes. 5. 30. As Eve was of Adam she was one with him because she had the same Nature with him and that derived from him which the Apsotle alludeth unto so are we of him partakers of the same Divine Nature with him Thus he that is Joyned unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. that is of one and the same spiritual Nature with him Heb. 2. 11 14. How excellent is this Grace which gives us our Interest in and Continuity unto the Body of Christ and to his Person as our Head It is the same Grace in the kind thereof which is in the holy Nature of Christ and renders us one with him 2 Our Likeness and Conformity unto God consists herein For it is the Reparation of his Image in us Ephes. 4. 23 24. Col. 3. 10. Something I hope I apprehend concerning this Image of God in Believers and of their Likeness unto him how great a Priviledge it is what honour safety and security depend thereon what Duties are required of us on the Account thereof But perfectly to conceive or express the Nature and Glory of it we cannot attain unto but should learn to adore the Grace whence it doth proceed and is bestowed on us to admire the Love of Christ and the Efficacy of his Mediation whereby it is renewed in us but the thing it self is ineffable 3 It is our Life our spiritual Life whereby we live to God Life is the Foundation and summe of all Excellencies Without this we are dead in Trespasses and sins and how we are quickened by the holy Ghost hath been declared But this is the internal Principle of Life whence all Vital Acts in the Life of God do proceed And whereas we know not well what is the true Form and Essence of Life Natural only we find it discern it and judge of it by its Effects much less do we know the Form and Essence of Life Spiritual which is far more Excellent and Glorious This is that Life which is hid with Christ in God Coloss. 3. 3. In which words the Apostle draws a Veil over it as knowing that we are unable steadfastly to beholds its Glory and Beauty Sect. 14 But before I proceed unto a further Description of this Principle of Holiness in its Effects as before laid down it may not be amiss practically to call over these general Considerations of its Nature and our own Concernment in this Truth which is no empty Notion will be therein declared And First We may learn hence not to satisfie our selves or not to rest in any Acts or Duties of Obedience in any good Works how good and usefull soever in themselves nor howsoever multiplyed by us unless there be a Vital Principle of Holiness in our Hearts A few honest Actions a few usefull Dutyes do satisfie some persons that they are as holy as they should be or as they need to be And some mens Religion hath consisted in the multiplying of outward Duties that they might be meritorious for themselves and others But God expressely rejecteth not only such Duties but the greatest multitude of them and their most frequent Reiteration if the heart be not antecedently purified and sanctified if it be not possessed with the Principle of Grace and Holiness insisted on Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Such Acts and Duties may be the Effects of other Causes the Fruits of other Principles Meer Legal Convictions will produce them and put men upon a Course of them Fears Afflictions Terrors of Conscience Dictates of Reason improved by Education and confirmed by Custom will direct yea compell men unto their Observance But all is lost men do but labour in the Fire about them if the Soul be not prepared with this spiritual Principle of habitual Holiness wrought in it immediately by the Holy Ghost Yet we must here observe these two things 1 That so far as these Duties be they of Morality or Religion of Piety or Divine Worship are good in themselves they ought to be approved and men encouraged in them There are sundry wayes whereby the best Duties may be abused and misapplyed as when men rest in them as if they were meritorious or the matter of their Justification before God For this as is known is an effectual Means to divert the Souls of sinners from Faith in Christ for Life and Salvation Rom. 9. 31 32. Chap. 10. 3 4. And there are Reasons and Causes that render them unacceptable before God with respect unto the Persons by whom they are performed as when they are not done in Faith for which Cain's Sacrifice was rejected and when the Heart is not previously sanctified and prepared with a spiritual Principle of Obedience But yet on neither of these grounds or pretences can we or ought we to condemn or undervalue the Duties themselves which are good in their own nature nor take off men from the performance of them yea it were greatly to be desired that we could see more of the Fruits of Moral Vertues and Duties of Religious Piety among unsanctified Persons than we doe The World is not in a Condition to spare the good Acts of bad men But this we may doe and as we are called we ought to doe When men are engaged in a course of Duties and good Works on Principles that will not abide and endure the triall or for Ends that will spoyl and corrupt all they doe we may tell them as our Saviour did the Young man who gave that great Account of his Diligence in all Legal Duties one thing is yet wanting unto you you want Faith or you want Christ or you want a spiritual Principle of Evangelical Holiness without which all you do will be lost and come to no account at the last Day The due Assertion of Grace never was nor never can be an Obstruction unto any Duty of Obedience Indeed when any will give up themselves unto such Works or Actings under the Name of Duties and Obedience unto God which although they may make a specious shew and appearance in the World yet are evil in themselves or such as God requireth not of men we may speak against them deny them and take men off from them So Persecution hath been looked on as a good Work men supposing they did God good service when they slew the Disciples of Christ and men giving their Goods unto pious Uses as they were called indeed impious Abuses
Î ÎΕΥΜΑΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the HOLY SPIRIT WHEREIN An Account is given of his Name Nature Personality Dispensation Operations and Effects His whole Work in the Old and New Creation is Explained The Doctrine concerning it Vindicated from Oppositions and Reproaches THE Nature also and Necessity of Gospel-Holiness the Difference between Grace and Morality or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience and a Course of Moral Vertues are Stated and Declared By JOHN OWEN D. D. John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom LONDON Printed by J. Darby for Nathaniel Ponder at the Peacock in Chancery-Lane near Fleetstreet MDCLXXIV To the Readers AN account in general of the Nature and Design of the ensuing Discourse with the Reasons why it is made publick at this time being given in the first Chapter of the Treatise it self I shall not long detain the Readers here at the entrance of it But some few things it is necessary they should be acquainted withal and that both as to the Matter contained in it and as to the mannâ—r of its handling The Subject Matter of the whole as the Title and almost every Page of the Book declare is the Holy Spirit of God and his Operations And two things there are which either of them are sufficient to render any Subject either difficult on the one hand or unpleasant on the other to be treated of in this way both which we have herein to conflict withal For where the Matter it self is abstruse and mysterious the handling of it cannot be without its Difficulties and where it is fallen by any means what-ever under publick contempt and scorn there is an abatement of satisfaction in the Consideration and Defence of it Now all the Concernâ—â—â—s of the Holy Spirit are an eminent part of the Mystery or deep Things of God For as the knowledg of them doth wholly depend on and is regulated by Divine Revelation so are they in their own Nature Divine and Heavenly distant and remote from all things that the Heart of Man in the meer Exercise of its own Reason or Understanding can rise up unto But yet on the other hand there is nothing in the World that is more generally despised as foolish and contemptible than the things that are spoken of and ascribed unto the Spirit of God He needs no furtherance in the forfeiture of his Reputation with many as a Person Fanatical estranged from the conduct of Reason and all generous Principles of Conversation who dares avow an Interest in his Work or take upon him the Defence thereof Wherefore thâ—se things must be a little spoken unto if only to manifest whence Relief may be had against the Discouragements wherewith they are attended For the first thing proposed it must be granted that the things here treated of are in themselves mysterious and abstruse But yet the way whereby we may endeavour an acquaintance with them according to the 〈◊〉 of the Gift of Christ unto every one is made plain in the Scriptures of Truth If this Way be neglected or despised all other wayes of attempting the same end be they never so vigorous or promising will prove ineffectual What belongs unto it as to the inward frame and dispoâ—â—tion of Mind in them who search after Understanding in these things what unto the outward use of Means what unto the performance of Spiritual Duties what unto conformity in the whole Soul unto each discovery of Truth that is attained is not my present Work to declare nor shall I divert thereunto If God give an opportunity to treat concerning the Work of the Holy Spirit enabling us to understand the Scriptures or the mind of God in them the whole of this way will be at large declared At present it may suffice to observe that God who in himself is the eternal Original Spring and Fountain of all Truth is also the only Sovereign Cause and Author of its Revelation unto us And whereas that Truth which Originally is one in him is of various sorts and kinds according to the Variety of the things which it respects in its Communication unto us the ways and means of that communication are suited unto the distinct Nature of each Truth in particular So the Truth of things natural is made known from God by the Exercise of Reason or the due Application of the understanding that is in Man unto their Investigation For the things of a Man knoweth the Spirit of a Man that is in him Neither ordinarily is there any thing more required unto that Degree or Certainty of knowledg in things of that Nature whereof our Minds are capable but the diligent Application of the faculties of our Souls in the due Use of proper means uâ—â—o the Attainment thereof Yet is there a secret Work of the Spirit of God herein even in the Communication of Skill and Ability in things Natural as also in things Civil Moral Political and Artificial as in our ensuing Discoursâ— is fully manifested But whereas these things belong unto the Work of the Oâ—dâ—â—eâ—tion and the Preservation thereof or the Rule and Government of Mankind in this World meerly as rational Creatures there is no use of Means no Communication of Aids spiritual or supernatural absolutely necessary to be exercised gâ—â—ntâ—d about them Wherefore Knowledg and Wisdom in things of this Nature 〈◊〉 â—stributed promiscuously among all sorts of Persons according to the roâ—â—tion of their Natural Abilities and a superstruction thereon in their diligent Exercisâ— without any peculiar Application to God for especial Grace or 〈◊〉 serving still a Liberty unto the Sovereignty of Divine Providence in the disposal of all Men and their Concerns But as to things supernatural the Knowledg and Truth of them the Teachings of God are of another Nature and in like manner a peculiar Application of our selves unto him for Instruction is required of us In these things also there are Degrees according as thâ—y approach on the one hand unto the Infinite Abysse of the Divine Essence and Existence as the eternal Generation and Incarnation of the Son the Procession and Mission of the Holy Spirit or on the other unto those Divine Effects which are produced in our Souls whereof we have Experience According unto these Degrees as the Divine Condescension is exerted in their Revelation so ought our Attention in the Exercise of Faith Humility and Prayer to be encreased in our Enquiries into them For although all that Diligence in the Use of outward Means necessary to the Attainment of the Knowledg of any other Useful Truth be indispensibly required in the pursuit of an Acquaintance with these things also yet if moreoover there be not an Addition of Spiritual Ways and Mâ—ans suited in their own Nature and appointed of God unâ—o the receiving of Supernatural Light and the Understanding of the Deep Things of God our labour about them will in a great measure be but fruitless and unprofitable For although the
and performed all Obedience as Thomas did in his great Confession My Lord and my God John 20. 28. Now as he had before intimated that those who disowned him and called him accursed did speak by the instinct and instigation of the Devil by whom they were acted So he lets them know on the other hand that no man can thus own and confess Jesus to be the Lord but by the Holy Ghost But it may be said that some acted by the unclean Spirit confessed Christ to be the Lord. So did the Man in the Synagogue who cryed out I know thee who thou art the Holy One of God Mark 1. 23 24. And vers 24. He suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him And the Damsel possessed with a Spirit of Divination cryed after the Apostle saying These Men are the Servants of the most high God Acts 16. 17. So also did the Man who abode in the Tombs possessed with an unclean Spirit who cryed out unto him What have I to do with thee Jesus thou Son of the most high God Mark 5. 7. And other Testimonies to the like purpose among the Heathen and from their Oracles might be produced Ans. 1. Our Apostle speaks of such a saying of Jesus to be Lord as is accompanied with Faith in him and subjection of Soul unto him which is from the Holy Ghost alone Thus none acted by the unclean Spirit can call him Lord. 2. These Acknowledgments were either 1. wrested from the Devil and were no small part of his punishment and torment or 2 were designed by him with an intention to prejudice the Glory of Christ by his Testimony who was a Lyar from the Beginning And Malus bonum cum simulat tunc est pessimus These things therefore can have here no place Hereby then the Apostle informs them wherein the Foundation of all Church-Relation Order and Worship did consist For whereas they had all respect unto the Lordship of Christ and their acknowledgment thereof this was not from themselves but was a pure Effect of the Operation of the Holy Ghost in them and towards them And any thing of the like kind which doth not proceed from the same Cause and Fountain is of no Use to the Glory of God nor of any advantage unto the Souls of Men. Sect. 3 Some think that this saying of Jesus to be the Lord is to be restrained unto the manner of speaking afterwards insisted on For the Apostle in the following verses treateth of those Extraordinary Gifts which many in that Church were then endowed withall None can saith he say Jesus is the Lord in an extraordinary manner with divers tongues and in Prophesy but by the Holy Ghost Without his especial Assistance none can eminently and miraculously declare him so to be And if this be so it is likely that those before intended who said Jesus was accursed were some Persons pretending to be acted or really acted by an extraordinary Spirit which the Apostle declares not to be the Spirit of God And so Chrysostome interprets those words of them who were visibly and violently acted by the Devil Many such Instruments of his Malice did Satan stir up in those dayes to preserve if it were possible his tottering Kingdom from Ruine But there is no necessity thus to restrain the words or to affix this sense unto them Yea it seems to me to be inconsistent with the Design of the Apostle and Scope of the Place For intending to instruct the Corinthians as was said in the Nature Use and Exercise of Spiritual Gifts he first lays down the Spring and Fountain of all Saving Profession of the Gospel which those Gifts were designed to the furtherance and improvement of Hereupon having minded them of their Heathen State and Condition before he lets them know by what means they were brought into the Profession of the Gospel and owning of Jesus to be the Lord in opposition unto the dumb Idols whom they had served And this was by the Author of those Gifts unto whose consideration he was now addressing himself The great Change wrought in them as to their Religion and Profession was by the Holy Ghost For no Man can say that Jesus is the Lord which is the Sum and Substance of our Christian Profession but by him though some think he hath little or no concern at all in this matter But to say Christ is the Lord includes two things First Faith in him as Lord and Saviour So was he declared and preached by the Angels Luke 2. 11. A Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this word Lord includes as the Dignity of his Person so his Investiture with those Offices which for our Good this Lord did exercise and discharge Secondly The profession of that Faith which two where they are sincere do always accompany each other Rom. 10. 10. For as the saying of Jesus to be Anathema did comprise an open Disclaimure and Abrenunciation of him so the calling of him Lord expresseth the Profession of our Faith in him and Subjection unto him And both these are here intended to be sincere and saving For that Faith and Profession are intended whereby the Church is built upon the Rock the same with that of Peter Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Matth. 16. 16. And that these are the Works of the Holy Ghost which none of themselves are sufficient for shall God assisting be afterwards abundantly declared Sect. 4 Having thus stated the Original and Foundation of the Church in its Faith Profession Order and Worship he farther acquaints them that the same Spirit is likewise the Author of all those Gifts whereby it was to be built up and established and whereby the Profession of it might be enlarged V. 4. Now there are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit These are the things which he intendeth to discourse upon wherein he enlargeth himself in the whole ensuing Chapter Now because the Particulars here insisted on by him in the beginning of his Discourse will all of them occur unto us and be called over again in their proper places I shall only point unto the Heads of the Discourse in the verses preceeding the Eleventh which we principally aim it Treating therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of these Spiritual Things or Gifts in the Church he first declares their Author from whom they come and by whom they are wrought and bestowed Him he calls the Spirit v. 4. the Lord v. 5. God v. 6. And to denote the Oneness of their Author notwithstanding the diversity of the things themselves he calls him the same Spirit the same Lord the same God The words may be understood two wayes First That the whole Trinity and each Person distinctly should be intended in them For consider the immediate Operator of these Gifts and it is the Spirit or the Holy Ghost vers 4. Consider them as to their Procurement and immediate Authoritative Collation and so they are from Christ the Son
found in a better Condition And yet it were to be wished that even here bounds might be fixed unto the fierceness of some Mens Spirits But they will not suffer themselves to be so confined In many Places they are transported with Rage and Fury so as to stir up Persecution against such as are really anointed with the Spirit of Christ and that for no other Reason but because they are so Gal. 4. 29. Other things indeed are pretended by them but but all the World may see that they are not of such importance as to give Countenance unto their wrath This is the Latent cause which stirs it up and is oftentimes openly expressed Sect. 27 These things at present are charged only as the Miscarriages of Private Persons When they are received in Churches they are the Cause of and an Entrance into a Fatal Defection and Apostasy From the Foundation of the World the Principal Revelation that God made of himself was in the Oneness of his Nature and his Monarchy over all And herein the Person of the Father was immediately represented with his Power and Authority For he is the Fountain and Original of the Deity the other Persons as to their Subsistence being of him Only he did withal give out Promises concerning the peculiar Exhibition of the Son in the Flesh in an appointed season as also of the Holy Spirit to be given by him in an especial manner Hereby were their Persons to be signally glorifyed in this World it being the Will of God that all Men should honour the Son as they honoured the Father and the Holy Spirit in like manner In this state of things the only Apostacy of the Church could be Polutheisme and Idolatry Accordingly so it came to pass The Church of Israel was continually prone to these Abominations so that scarcely a Generation passed or very few wherein the Body of the People did not more or less defile themselves with them To wean and recover them from this Sin was the Principal End of the Preaching of those Prophets which God from time to time sent unto them 2 Kings 17. 13. And this also was the Cause of all the Calamities which befel them and of all the Judgments which God inflicted on them as is testifyed in all the Historical Books of the Old Testament and confirmed by Instances innumerable To put an End hereunto God at length brought a total Desolation upon the whole Church and caused the People to be carried into Captivity out of their own Land And hereby it was so far effected that upon their Return what-ever other sins they fell into yet they kept themselves from Idols and Idolatry Ezek. 16. 62 63. Chap. 23. vers 27 48. And the Reason hereof was because the time was now drawing nigh wherein they were to be tryed with another Dispensation of God The Son of God was to be sent unto them in the Flesh. To receive and obey him was now to be the principal Instance and Trial of their Faith and Obedience They were no longer to be tried merely by their Faith whether they would own only the God of Israel in opposition unto all false Gods and Idols for that Ground God had now absolutely won upon them But now all is to turn on this Hinge whether they would receive the Son of God coming in the Flesh according to the Promise Here the Generallity of that Church and People fell by their Unbelief apostatised from God and became thereby neither Church nor People Joh. 8. 24. They being rejected the Son of God calls and gathers another Church founding it on his own Person with Faith and the Profession of it therein Mat. 16. v. 18 19. In this new Church therefore this Foundation is fixed and this Ground made Good That Jesus Christ the Son of God is to be owned and honoured as we honour the Father 1 Cor. 3. 11. And herein all that are duly called Christians do agree as the Church of Israel did in one God after their return from the Captivity of Babylon But now the Lord Jesus Christ being ascended unto his Father hath committed his whole Affairs in the Church and in the World unto the Holy Spirit Joh. 16. 7 8 9 10 11. And it is on this Design of God that the Person of the Spirit may be singularly exalted in the Church unto whom they were so in the dark before that some none of the worst of them professed they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost or no Acts 19. 2. that is at least as unto the peculiar Dispensation of him then introduced in the Church Wherefore the Duty of the Church now immediately respects the Spirit of God who acts towards it in the Name of the Father and of the Son And with respect unto him it is that the Church in its present state is capable of an Apostasy from God And whatever is found of this Nature amongst any here it hath its Beginning For the sin of despising his Person and rejecting his work now is of the same Nature with Idolatry of Old and the Jews Rejection of the Person of the Son And whereas there was a Releif provided against these Sins because there was a new Dispensation of the Grace of God to ensue in the Evangelical work of the Holy Ghost if Men sin against him and his operations containing the Perfection and Complement of God's Revelation of himself unto them their Condition is deplorable Sect. 28 It may be some will say and plead that whatever is spoken of the Holy Ghost his Graces Gifts and Operations did entirely belong unto the first Times of the Gospel wherein they were manifested by visible and wonderful Effects To those times they were confined and consequently that we have no other Interest or concern in them but as in a recorded Testimony given of old unto the Truth of the Gospel This is so indeed as unto his Extraordinary and miraculous operations But to confine his whole Work thereunto is plainly to deny the Truth of the Promises of Christ and to overthrow his Church For we shall make it undenyably evident that none can believe in Jesus Christ or yield Obedience unto him or Worship God in him but by the Holy Ghost And therefore if the whole Dispensation of him and his Communications unto the Souls of Men do cease so doth all Faith in Christ and Christianity also Sect. 29 On these and the like Considerations it is that I have thought it necessary for my self and unto the Church of God that the Scripture should be diligently searched in and concerning this great matter For none can deny but that the Glory of God the Honour of the Gospel the Faith and Obedience of the Church with the Everlasting Welfare of our own Souls are deeply concerned herein Sect. 30 The Apostle Peter treating about the Great things of the Gospel taught by himself and the Rest of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ tells
9. So the Evil Spirit came upon him to excite out of his own adust Melancholy discontents fears a sense of Guilt as also to impress terrifying thoughts and Apprehensions on his Imagination For so it is said an Evil Spirit from the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 16. 14. terrified him frightened him with dreadful Agitations of Mind And that we may touch a little on this by the way The Foundation of this Trouble and distress of Saul lay in himself For as I do grant that he was sometimes under an immediate Agitation of Body and Mind from the powerful Impressions of the Devil upon him for under them it is said he prophesied in the midst of the House 1 Sam. 18. 10. which argues an extraordinary and involuntary Effect upon him yet principally he wrought by the Excitation and Provocation of his Personal Distempers Moral and Natural For these have in themselves a great Efficacy in cruciating the Minds of Guilty Persons So Tacitus observes out of Plato Annal. lib. 6. Neque frustra praestantissimus humanae sapientiae firmare solitus est si recludantur Tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus ictus quando ut corpora verberibus ita saevitia libidine malis consultis animus dilaceretur The most Eminent Wiseman was not wont in vain to affirm that if the minds of Tyrants were laid open and discovered it would be seen how they were cruciated and punished seeing that as the Body is rent and torn by stripes so is the Mind by cruelty Lusts evil Counsels and Undertakings so he as I suppose from Plato de Repub. lib. 9. Where Socrates disputes sundry things to that purpose And another Roman Historian gives us a signal Instance hereof in Jugurtha after he had contracted the Guilt of many horrible wickednesses And yet this Work in it self is of the same kind with what God sometimes employs holy Angels about because it is the Execution of his Righteous Judgments So it was a watcher and an Holy One that in such a Case smote Nebuchadnezzar with a sudden madness and frenzy Dan. 4. 13 14. Sect. 12 To return as he is called the Holy so he is the Good Spirit of God Psal. 143. v 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Spirit is Good lead me into the Land of Uprightness So Ours Rather Thy Good Spirit shall lead Me. Or as Junius Spiritu tuo bono deduc me lead me by thy Good Spirit The Chaldee here adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Good Spirit of thy Holiness or thy Holy Good Spirit Didymus Lib. 2. de Spirit Sanc. says that some Copies here read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Remembrance whereof is in the M. S. of Tâ—cla and not elsewhere So Nehem. 9. 10. Thou gavest them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Good Spirit of thine to instruct them And he is called so principally from his Nature which is essentially Good as there is none Good but One that is God Matth. 19. 17. as also from his Operations which are all Good as they are Holy and unto them that believe are full of goodness in their Effects Crel Prolegom p. 7. distinguisheth between this Good Spirit and the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost For this Good Spirit he would confine unto the Old Testament making it the Author or Cause of those Gifts of Wisdom Courage Prudence and Government that were granted unto many of the People of old So it is said of Bezaliel That he was filled with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and Understanding and in Knowledg Exod. 31. 3. So Chap. 35. 31. That is saith he with this Good Spirit of God So also it is pretended in all those Places where the Spirit of God is said to come on Men to enable them unto some great and extraordinary Work as Judg. 3. 10. But this is plainly to contradict the Apostle who tells us that there are indeed various Operations but one Spirit and that the one and self same Spirit worketh all these things as he pleaseth And if from every different or distinct Effect of the Spirit of God we must multiply Spirits and assign every one of them to a distinct Spirit no Man will know what to make of the Spirit of God at last Probably we shall have so many feigned Spirits as to lose the only true One. As to this particular Instance David prays that God would lead him by his Good Spirit Psal. 143. 10. Now certainly this was no other but that Holy Spirit which he prays in another place that the Lord would not take from him Psal. 51. 11. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me which is confessed to be the Holy Ghost This he also mentions 2 Sam. 23. 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his Word was in my Tongue And what Spirit this was Peter declares 1 Epist. Chap. 1. v. 21. The Holy Men of God spake in old time as they were moved by the Holy Ghost So vain is this pretence Sect. 13 Again He is commonly called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the Lord So in the first mention of Him Gen. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters And I doubt not but that the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elohim which includes a plurality in the same Nature is used in the Creation and the whole Description of it to intimate the Dictinction of the Divine Persons For presently upon it the Name Jehovah is mentioned also Chap. 2. 4. but so as Elohim is joyned with it But that Name is not used in the account given us of the Work of Creation because it hath respect onely unto the Unity of the Essence of God Now the Spirit is called the Spirit of God originally and principally as the Son is called the Son of God For the Name of God in those Enunciations is taken personally for the Father that is God the Father the Father of Christ and our Father John 20. 17. And he is thus termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the account of the Order and Nature of Personal Subsistence and Distinction in the Holy Trinity The Person of the Father being Fons Origo Trinitatis the Son is from him by eternal Generation and is therefore his Son the Son of God whose denomination as the Father is originally from hence even the Eternal Generation of the Son So is the Person of the Holy Spirit from him by eternal Procession or Emanation Hence is that Relation of his to God even the Father whence he is called the Spirit of God And he is not only called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit that is of God which proceedeth from him as a Distinct Person This therefore arising from and consisting in his proceeding from him he is called Metaphorically the Breath of his Mouth as proceeding from him by an eternal Spiration On this Foundation and Supposition he is
of these actings is not considered absolutely as a Divine Person but with respect unto some peculiar Dispensation and Condescention So the Father gives sends commands the Son as he had condescended to take our Nature upon him and to be the Mediator between God and Man So the Father and the Son do send the Spirit as he condescends in an especial manner to the Office of being the Sunctifier and Comforter of the Church Now these are free and voluntary Acts depending upon the Sovereign Will Counsel Pleasure of God and might not have been without the least diminution of his Eternal Blessedness 2. There are especial Acts ad extra towards the Creatures This the whole Scripture testifieth unto so that it is altogether needless to confirm it with particular Instances None who have learned the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ but can tell you what works are ascribed peculiarly to the Father what to the Son and what to the Holy Ghost Besides this will be manifested afterwards in all the distinct Actings of the Spirit which is sufficient for our purpose Sect. 6 Fifthly Hence it follows unavoidably that this Spirit of whom we treat is in himself a distinct living powerful intelligent divine Person for none other can be the Author of those internal and external Divine Acts and Operations which are ascribed unto him But here I must stay a little and firm that Foundation which we build upon For we are in the Investigation of those things which that one and self-same Spirit distributeth according to his own Will And it is indispensibly necessary unto our present Design that we enquire who and what that one and self-same Spirit is seeing on him and his Will all these things do depend And we do know likewise that if men prevail in the Opposition they make unto his Person it is to no great purpose to concern our selves in his Operations For the Foundation of any Fabrick being taken away the Superstructure will be of no use nor abide Sect. 7 The Opposition that is made in the World against the Spirit of God Doctrinally may be reduced unto two Heads For some there are who grant his Personality or that he is a distinct self-subsisting Person but they deny his Deity deny him to be a participant of the Divine Nature or will not allow him to be God A Created Finite Spirit they say he is but the chiefest of all Spirits that were created and the Head of all the Good Angels Such a Spirit they say there is and that he is called the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost upon the account of the Work wherein he is employed This way went the Macedonian Hereticks of old and they are now followed by the Mahumetans and some of late among our selves have attempted to revive the same Frenzy But we shall not need to trouble our selves about this Notion The folly of it is so evident that it is almost by all utterly deserted For such things are affirmed of the Holy Ghost in the Scripture as that to assert his Personality and deny his Deity is the utmost madness that any one can fall into in Spiritual things Wherefore the Socinians the present great Enemies of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and who would be thought to go soberly about the work of destroying the Church of God do utterly reject this Plea and Pretence But that which they advance in the room of it is of no less pernitious Nature and Consequence For granting the things assigned to him to be the Effects of Divine Power they deny his Personality and assert that what is called by the Name of the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit is nothing but a Quality in the Divine Nature or the Power that God puts forth for such and such purpose which yet is no new invention of theirs I do not design here professedly to contend with them about all the Concernments of this Difference for there is nothing of importance in all their Pretences or Exceptions but it will in one place or other occur unto consideration in our Progress I shall onely at present confirm the Divine Personality of the Holy Ghost with one Argument which I will not say is such as no Man can return the shew of an Answer unto For what is it that the Serpentine Wits of Men will not pretend an Answer unto or an Exception against if their Lusts and Prejudices require them so to do But I will boldly say it is such as that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it in the Hearts of true Believers the strengthning of whose Faith is all that in it I do aim at And if it doth not unto all unprejudiced Persons evince the Truth and Reality of the Divine Personality of the Holy Ghost it must certainly convince all Men that nothing which is taught or delivered in the Scripture can possibly be understood Sect. 8 One Consideration which hath in part been before proposed I shall premise to free the Subject of our Argument from Ambiguity And this is that this Word or Name Spirit is used sometimes to denote the Spirit of God himself and sometimes his Gifts and Graces the Effects of his Operations on the Souls of Men. And this our Adversaries in this Cause are forced to confess and thereon in all their Writings distinguish between the Holy Spirit and his Effects This alone being supposed I say it is impossible to prove the Father to be a Person or the Son to be so both which are acknowledged any other way than we may and do prove the Holy Ghost to be so For he to whom all personal Properties Attributes Adjuncts Acts and Operations are ascribed and unto whom they do belong and to whom nothing is or can be truly and properly ascribed but what may and doth belong unto a Person he is a Person and him are we taught to believe so to be So know we the Father to be a Person as also the Son For our Knowledg of things is more by their Properties and Operations than by their Essential Forms Especially is this so with respect to the Nature Being and Existence of God which are in themselves absolutely Incomprehensible Now I shall not confirm the Assumption of this Argument with reference unto the Holy Ghost from this or that particular Testimony nor from the Assignation of any single Personal Property unto him but from the constant Uniform Tenor of the Scripture in ascribing all these Properties unto him And we may add hereunto that things are so ordered in the Wisdom of God that there is no Personal Property that may be found in an Infinite Divine Nature but it is in One place or other ascribed unto him Sect. 9 There is no Exception can be laid against the force of this Argument but only that some things on the One hand are ascribed unto the Spirit which belong not unto a Person nor can be spoken of him
who is so and on the other that sundry things that properly belong to Persons are in the Scripture figuratively ascribed unto such things as are not so Thus as to the first head of this Exception the Holy Spirit is said to be poured out to be shed abroad to be an Unction or the like of all which Expressions we shal treat afterwards What then shall we say that he is not a Person but only the Power of God Will this render those Expressions concerning him proper How can the Vertue of God or the Power of God be said to be poured out to be shed abroad the like Wherefore both they and we acknowledg that these Expressions are figurative as many things are so expressed of God in the Scripture and that frequently and what is the meaning of them under their figurative Colours we shall afterwards declare This therefore doth not in the least impeach our Argument unless this Assertion were true generally that whatever is spoken of figuratively in the Scripture is no Person which would leave no One in Heaven or Earth On the other side it is confessed that there are things peculiar unto rational Subsistents or Persons which are ascribed sometimes unto those that are not so Many things of this Nature as to hope to believe to bear are ascribed unto Charity 1 Cor. 13. But every one presently apprehends that this Expression is figurative the Abstract being put for the Cencrete by a Metalepsis and Charity is said to do that which a Man endued with that Grace will doe So the Scripture is said to see to foresee to speak and to judg which are Personal Actings but who doth not see and grant that a Metonymy is and must be allowed in such assignations that being ascribed unto the Effect the Scripture which is proper to the Cause the Spirit of God speaking in it So the Heavens and the Earth are said the hear and the Fields with the Trees of the Forrest to sing and clap their hands by a Prosopopeia Now concerning these things there is no danger of Mistake The Light of Reason and their own Nature therein do give us a sufficient understanding of them And such figurative Expressions as are used concerning them are common in all Good Authors Besides the Scripture it self in other Places innumerable doth so teach and declare what they are as that its plain and direct proper Assertions do sufficiently expound its own figurative Enunciations For these and such like Ascriptions are only occasional the direct description of the Things themselves is given us in other Places But now with respect unto the Spirit of God all things are otherwise The constant uniform Expressions concerning him are such as declare him to be a Person endowed with all Personal Propertys no Description being any-where given of him inconsistent with their proper Application to him Sect. 10 If a Sober Wise and Honest Man should come and tell you that in such a Countrey where he hath been there is One who is the Governour of it that doth well discharge his Office that he heareth Causes discerneth Right distributes Justice relieves the Poor comforts them that are in distress supposing you gave him that Credit which Honesty Wisedom and Sobriety do deserve would you not believe that he intended a Righteous Wise Diligent Intelligent Person discharging the Office of a Governour What else could any Man living imagine But now suppose that another unknown Person or so far as he is known justly suspected of deceit and forgery should come unto you and tell you that all which the other informed you and acquainted you withal was indeed true but that the words which he spake have quite another Intention For it was not a Man or any Person that he intended but it was the Sun or the Wind that he meant by all which he spake of him For whereas the Sun by his benign Influences doth make a Countrey fruitful and temperate suited to the Relief and Comfort of all that dwell therein and disposeth the Minds of the Inhabitants unto mutual Kindness and Benignity he described these things figuratively unto you under the notion of a Righteous Governour and his Actions although he never gave you the least intimation of any such Intention Must you not now believe that either the First Person whom you know to be a Wise Sober and Honest Man was a Notorious trister and designed your Ruine if you were to Order any of your occasions according to his Reports or that your latter Informer whom you have just reason to suspect of falsehood and deceit in other things hath endeavoured to abuse both him and you to render his Veracity suspected and to spoyl all your Designs grounded thereon One of these you must certainly conclude upon And it is no otherwise in this Case The Scripture informes us that the Holy Ghost Rules in and over the Church of God appointing Overseers of it under him that he discerns and judgeth all things that he comforteth them that are faint strengthens them that are weak is grieved with them and provoked by them who sin and that in all these and in other things of the like Nature innumerable he worketh ordereth and disposeth all according to the Counsel of his Own Willl Hereupon it directeth us so to order our Conversation towards God that we do not grieve him nor displease him telling us thereon what great things he will doe for us on which we lay the stress of our Obedience and Salvation Can any Man possibly that gives Credit to the Testimony thus proposed in the Scripture conceive any otherwise of this Spirit but as of an Holy Wise Intelligent Person Now whilst we are under the Power of these Apprehensions there come unto us some Men Socinians or Quakers whom we have just cause on many other Accounts to suspect at least of deceit and falsehood and they confidently tell us that what the Scripture speaks concerning the Holy Spirit is indeed true but that in and by all the Expressions which it useth concerning him it intendeth no such Person as it seems to do but an Accident a Quality an Effect or Influence of the Power of God which figuratively doth all the things mentioned namely that hath a Will figuratively and Understanding figuratively discerneth and judgeth figuratively is sinned against figuratively and so of all that is said of Him Can any Man that is not forsaken of all Natural Reason as well as Spiritual Light chuse now but determine that either the Scripture designed to draw him into Errors and Mistakes about the Principal Concernments of his Soul and so to ruine him Eternally or that these Persons who would impose such a sense upon it are indeed Corrupt Seducers that seek to overthrow his Faith and Comforts Such will they at last appear to be I shall now proceed to confirm the Argument proposed Sect. 11 1. All things necessary to this purpose are comprized in the solemn Form of our
hereby animated and capable of all Vital Acts. Hence he could move eat see hear c. for the natural Effects of this Breath of Life are only intended in this Expression Thus the first Man Adam was made a Living Soul 1 Cor. 15. 45. This was the Creation of Man as unto the essentially constituting Principles of his Nature Sect. 11 With respect unto his Moral Condition and Principle of Obedience unto God it is expressed Gen. 1. 26 27. And God said Let us make Man in our own Image after our likeness and let them have dominion so God created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him He made him upright Eccles. 7. 29. perfect in his Condition every way compleat fit disposed and able to and for the Obedience required of him Without Weakness Distemper Disease contrariety of Principles Inclinations or Reasonings An universal Rectitude of Nature consisting in Light Power and Order in his Understanding Mind and Affections was the principal part of this Image of God wherein he was created And this appears as from the Nature of the thing it self so from the Description which the Apostle giveth us of the Renovation of that Image in us by the Grace of Christ Ephes. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. And under both these Considerations we may weigh the especial Operations of the Spirit of God Sect. 12 First As to the Essential Principles of the Nature of Man it is not for nothing that God expresseth his Communication of a Spirit of Life by his breathing into him God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life The Spirit of God and the Breath of God are the same onely the one Expression is proper the other metaphorical wherefore this breathing is the especial acting of the Spirit of God The Creation of the Humane Soul a Vital Immortal Principle and Being is the immeate Work of the Spirit of God Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me and the Breath of the Almighty hath given me Life Here indeed the Creation and Production of both the essential parts of Humane Nature Body and Soul are ascribed unto the same Author For the Spirit of God and the Breath of God are the same but several Effects being mentioned causeth a repetition of the same Cause under several names This Spirit of God first made Man or formed his Body of the Dust and then gave him that Breath of Life whereby he became a living Soul So then under this first Consideration the Creation of Man is assigned unto the Holy Spirit for Man was the Perfection of the Inferior Creation and in order unto the Glory of God by him were all other things Created Here therefore are his Operations distinctly declared to whom the perfecting and compleating of all Divine Works is peculiarly committed Sect. 14 Secondly We may consider the moral State and Condition of Man with the Furniture of his Mind and Soul in reference unto his Obedience to God and his enjoyment of him This was the principal part of that Image of God wherein he was created Three things were required to render Man idoneous or fit unto that Life to God for which he was made First An ability to discern the Mind and Will of God with respect unto all the Duty and Obedience that God required of him as also so far to know the Nature and Properties of God as to believe him the only proper Object of all Acts and Duties of Religious Obedience and an all-sufficient Satisfaction and Reward in this World and to Eternity Secondly A free uncontrolled unintangled disposition to every Duty of the Law of his Creation in order unto living unto God Thirdly An ability of Mind and Will with a readiness of complyance in his Affections for a due regular performance of all Duties and abstinence from all Sin These things belonged unto the integrity of his Nature with the uprightness of the State and Condition wherein he was made And all these things were the peculiar Effects of the immediate Operation of the Holy Ghost For although this Rectitude of his Nature be distinguishable and separable from the Faculties of the Soul of Man yet in his first Creation they were not actually distinguished from them nor superadded or infused into them when Created but were concreated with them that is his Soul was made meet and able to live to God as his Sovereign Lord Chiefest Good and Last End And so they were all from the Holy Ghost from whom the Soul was as hath been declared Yea suppose these Abilities to be superadded unto Man's Natural Faculties as Gifts supernatural which yet is not so they must be acknowledged in a peculiar manner to be from the Holy Spirit For in the Restauration of these Abilities unto our minds in our Renovation unto the Image of God in the Gospel it is plainly asserted that the Holy Ghost is the immediate Operator of them And he doth thereby restore his own Work and not take the Work of another out of his Hand For in the New Creation the Father in the way of Authority designs it and brings all things unto an head in Christ Ephes. 1. 10. which retrived his original peculiar Work and the Son gave unto all things a new consistency which belonged unto him from the beginning Col. 1. 16. So also the Holy Spirit renews in us the Image of God the original implantation whereof was his peculiar Work And thus Adam may be said to have had the Spirit of God in his Innocency He had him in these peculiar Effects of his Power and Goodness and he had him according to the Tenor of that Covenant whereby it was possible that he should utterly lose him as accordingly it came to pass He had him not by especial Inhabitation for the whole World was then the Temple of God In the Covenant of Grace founded in the Person and on the Mediation of Christ it is otherwise On whomsoever the Spirit of God is bestowed for the Renovation of the Image of God in him he abides with him for ever But in all Men from first to last all Goodness Righteousness and Truth are the Fruits of the Spirit Ephes. 5. 9. Sect. 15 The Works of God being thus finished and the whole frame of Nature set upon its Wheels it is not deserted by the Spirit of God For as the preservation continuance and acting of all things in the Universe according to their especial Nature and mutual Application of one unto another are all from the powerful and efficacious Influences of Divine Providence so there are particular Operations of the Holy Spirit â—â—nd about all things whether meerly Natural and Animal or also Rational and Moral An Instance in each kind may suffice For the first as we have shewed the Propagation of the succeeding Generations of Creatures and the annual Renovation of the Face of the Earth are ascribed unto him Psal. 104. 30. For as we would own the due and just Powers
more but to speak out interpret and declare the Minds or Words of another So God tells Moses that He would make Him a God unto Pharaoh One that should deal with him in the Name stead and Power of God and Aaron his Brother should be his Prophet Exod. 7. 1. that is one that should interpret his meaning and declare his Words unto Pharaoh Moses having complained of the Defect of his own Utterance So Prophets are the Interpreters the Declarers of the Word Will Mind or Oracles of God unto others Such an One is described Job 33. 23. Hence those who expounded the Scripture unto the Church under the New Testament were called Prophets and their work Prophecy Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 14. 31 32. And under the Old Testament those that celebrated the Praises of God with singing in the Temple according to the Institution of David are said therein to Prophesy 1 Chron. 25. 2. And this Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prophet was of ancient use for so God termed Abraham Gen. 20. 7. Afterwards in common use a Prophet was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Seer because of their Divine Visions and this was occasioned from those words of God concerning Moses Numb 11. 6. And this being the Ordinary way of his Revealing himself namely by Dreams and Visions Prophets in those Days even from the Death of Moses were commonly called Seers which continued in use until the days of Samuel 1. Sam. 9. 9. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man of God 1 Sam. 2. 27 which Name Paul gives to the Preachers of the Gospel 1 Tim. 6. 11. 2 Tim. 3. 17. And it is not altogether unworthy Observation what Kimchi notes that the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most frequently used in the Passive Conjugation Niphal because it denotes a receiving of that from God by way of Revelation which is spoken unto others in a way of Prophecy And as it lies before us as an Extraordinary Gift of the Holy Ghost it is neither to be confined to the strict Notion of Prediction and Foretelling nor to be extended to every true Declaration of the Mind of God but only that which is obtained by immediate Revelation Sect. 9 This Peculiar Gift therefore of the Holy Spirit we may a little distinctly enquire into And two things concerning it may be considered 1. It s General Nature 2. The particular wayes whereby especial Revelation was granted unto any First For its Nature in general it consisted in Inspiration So the Apostle speaks of the Prophesies recorded in the Scripture 2 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Inspiration was the Original and Cause of it And the acting of the Holy Ghost in communicating his Mind unto the Prophets was called Inspiration on a double account First in answer unto his Name and Nature The Name whereby He is revealed unto us signifieth Breath and He is called the Breath of God whereby his Essential Relation to the Father and Son with his Eternal Natural Emanation from them is expressed And therefore when our Saviour gave Him unto his Disciples as a proper Instructive Emblem of what he gave he breathed upon them John 20. 22. So also in the great Work of the Infusion of the Reasonable Soul into the Body of Man it is said God breathed into him the Breath of Life Gen. 2. 7. From hence I say it is namely from the Nature and Name of the Holy Spirit that his immediate actings on the Minds of Men in the supernatural Communication of Divine Revelations unto them is called Inspiration or Inbreathing And the Unclean Spirit counterfeiting his Actings did inspire his Worshippers with a preternatural Afflatus by wayes suited unto his own filthy Vileness Secondly This Holy Work of the Spirit of God as it is expressed suitable to his Name and Nature so the Meekness Gentleness Facility wherewith he works is intended hereby He did as it were gently and softly breath into them the Knowledg and Comprehension of Holy Things It is an especial and immediate Work wherein he acts suitably unto his Nature as a Spirit the Spirit or Breath of God and suitably unto his peculiar Personal Properties of Meekness Gentleness and Peace So his Acting is Inspiration whereby he came within the Faculties of the Souls of Men acting them with a Power that was not their own It is true when He had thus inspired any with the Mind of God they had no Rest nor could have unless they declared it in its proper Way and Season Jer. 20. 9. Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak in his Name any more but his Word was in mine heart as a burning Fire shut up in my Bones and I was weary with forbearing I could not stay But this Disturbance was from a moral sense of their Duty and no◠from any violent Agitations of his upon their Natures And whereas sometimes trouble and consternation of Spirit did befal some of the Prophets in and under the Revelations they received from Him it was on a double account First Of the dreadful Representations of things that were made unto them in Visions Things of great dread and terror were represented unto their Fancies and Imaginations Secondly Of the greatness and dread of the Things themselves revealed which sometimes were terrible and destructive Dan. 17. 27. Chap. 7. 15 28. Hab. 16. Isa. 21. 2 3 4. But his Inspirations were gentle and placid Sect. 10 Secondly The immediate Effects of this Inspiration were that those inspired were moved or acted by the Holy Ghost Holy Men of God spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 21. Moved or Acted by the Holy Ghost And two things are intended hereby First The Preparation and Elevation of their Intellectual Faculties their Minds and Understandings wherein his Revelations were to be received He prepared them for to receive the Impressions he made upon them and confirmed their memories to retain them He did not indeed so enlighten and raise their Minds as to give them a distinct Understanding and full Comprehension of all the Things themselves that were declared unto them There was more in their Inspirations than they could search into the bottom of Hence although the Prophets under the Old Testament were made use of to communicate the clearest Revelations and Predictions concerning Jesus Christ yet in the Knowledg and Understanding of the meaning of them they were all inferior to John Baptist as he was in this Matter to the meanest Believer or least in the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore for their own Illumination and Edification did they diligently enquire by the ordinary means of Prayer and Meditation into the meaning of the Spirit of God in those Prophesies which themselves received by extraordinary Revelation 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Nor did Daniel who had those express Representations and glorious Visions concerning the Monarchies of the World and the providential Alterations which should be
this Matter all their dayes For they fear the Lord and obey the Voice of his Servant Christ Jesus and yet walk in Darkness and have no Light Isa. 50. 10. They are Children of Light Luk. 16. 8. John 12. 36. Ephes. 5. 8. 1 Thess. 5. 5. and yet walk in darkness and have no Light which Expressions have been well used and improved by some and by others of late derided and blasphemed Sect. 12 And there is great variety in the carrying on of this Work towards Perfection in the Growth of the New Creature or the Increase of Grace implanted in our Natures by it For some through the supplies of the Spirit make a great and speedy progress towards Perfection others thrive slowly and bring forth little Fruit the Causes and Occasions whereof are not here to be enumerated But notwithstanding all Differences in previous Dispositions in the Application of outward Means in the manner of it ordinary or extraordinary in the Consequenâ—s of much or less Fruit the Work it self in its own Nature is of the same kind one and the same The Elect of God were not regenerate one way by one kind of Operation of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament and those under the New Testament another They who were miraculously Converted as Paul or who upon their Conversion had miraculous Gifts bestowed on them as had multitudes of the Primitive Christians were no otherwise regenerate nor by any other internal Efficiency of the Holy Spirit then every one is at this day who is really made Partaker of this Grace and Priviledg Neither were those Miraculous Operations of the Holy Spirit which were visible unto others any part of the Work of Regeneration nor did they belong necessarily unto it For many were the Subjects of them and received miraculous Gifts by them who were never Regenerate and many were Regenerate who were never Partakers of them And it is a Fruit of the highest Ignorance and Unacquaintedness imaginable with these things to affirm that in the Work of Regeneration the Holy Spirit wrought of old miraculously in and by outwardly visible Operations but now only in an humane and rational way leading our Understanding by the Rules of Reason unless the more external Mode and Sign of his Operation be intended For all ever were and ever shall be Regenerate by the same kind of Operation and the same Effect of the Holy Spirit on the Faculties of their Souls Which will be farther manifest if we consider 1. That the Condition of all Men as Unregenerate is absolutely the same One is not by Nature more unregenerate than another All Men since the Fall and the corruption of our Nature by sin are in the same State and Condition towards God They are all alike alienated from him and all alike under his Curse Psal. 51. 5. John 3. 5 36. Rom. 3. 19. Chap. 5. 15 16 17 18. Ephes. 2. 3. Tit. 3 3. 4. There are Degrees of Wickedness in them that are Unregenerate but there is no difference as to State and Condition between them all are Unregenerate alike As amongst those who are Regenerate there are different Degrees of Holiness and Righteousness one it may be far exceeding another yet there is between them no difference of State and Condition they are all equally Regenerate Yea some may be in a greater forwardness and preparation for the Work it self and thereby in a greater nearness to the State of it than others but the State it self is incapable of such Degrees Now it must be the same Work for the Kind and Nature of it which relieves and translates Men out of the same State and Condition That which gives the formal Reason of the change of their State of their Translation from Death to Life is and must be the same in all If you can fix on any Man from the Foundation of the World who was not equally born in sin and by Nature dead in Trespasses and Sins with all other Men the Man Christ Jesus only excepted I would grant that he might have another kind of Regeneration than others have but that I know he would stand in need of none at all Sect. 14 2. The State whereinto Men are brought by Regeneration is the same Nor is it in its Essence or Nature capable of Degrees so that one should be more Regenerate than another Every one that is born of God is equally so though one may be more beautiful than another as having the Image of his Heavenly Father more evidently impressed on him though not more truly Men may be more or less Holy more or less Sanctified but they cannot be more or less Regenerate All Children that are born into the World are equally born though some quickly outstrip others in the Perfections and Accomplishments of Nature And all born of God are equally so though some speedily out-go others in the Accomplishments and Perfections of Grace There was then never but one kind of Regeneration in this World the Essential Form of it being specifically the same in all 3. That the Efficient Cause of this Work the Grace and Power whereby it is wrought with the internal manner of the Communication of that Grace are the same shall be afterwards declared To this Standard then all must come Men may bear themselves high and despise this whole Work of the Spirit of God or set up an Imagination of their own in the room thereof but whether they will or no they must be tryed by it and no less depends on their interest in it than their Admission into the Kingdom of God And let them pretend what they please the true Reason why any despise the New Birth is because they hate a New Life He that cannot endure to live to God will as little endure to hear of being born of God But we shall by the Scripture enquire what we are taught concerning iâ— and declare both what it is not of things which falsly pretend thereunto and then what it is indeed Sect. 15 First Regeneration doth not consist in a participation of the Ordinance of Baptism and a profession of the Doctrine of Repentance This is all that some will allow unto it to the utter rejection and overthrow of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the dispute in this Matter is not whether the Ordinances of the Gospel as Baptism do really communicate internal Grace unto them that are as to their outward manner of their Administration duly made Partakers of them whether ex opere operato as the Papists speak or as a â—aederal means of the Conveyance and Communication of that Grace which they betoken and are the Pledges of but whether the outward susception of the Ordinance joyned with a profession of Repentance in them that are adult be not the whole of what is called Regeneration The vanity of this presumptuous folly destructive of all the Grace of the Gospel invented to countenance Men in their Sins and to hide from them the
consists our Renovation in Knowledg after the Image of him who created us Col. 3. 10. And 2. the Principle it self infused into us created in us is called the New Man v. 24. That is the New Creature before-mentioned and called the New Man because it consists in the universal change of the whole Soul as it is the principle of all Spiritual and Moral Actions And 1. it is opposed unto the Old Man vers 23. put off the Old Man and put on the New Man vers 22 24. Now this Old Man is the corruption of our Nature as that Nature is the Principle of all Religious Spiritual and Moral Actions as is evident Rom. 6. 6. It is not a corrupt Conversation but the Principle and Root of it For it is distinguished both from the Conversation of Men and those corrupt lusts which are exercised therein as to that Exercise And 2. it is called the New Man because it is the Effect and Product of God's Creating Power and that in a way of a New Creation see Ephes. 1. 18. Col. 2. 12 13. 2 Thess. 1. 11. and it is here said to be Created after God v. 24. Now the Object of a Creating Act is an instantaneous Production What-ever preparations there may be for it and dispositions unto it the bringing forth of a new Form and Being by Creation is in an instant This therefore cannot consist in a mere Reformation of Life So are we said herein to be the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes. 2. 10. There is a Work of God in us precedeing all our good Works towards him For before we can work any of them in order of Nature we must be the Workmanship of God created unto them or enabled Spiritually for the performance of them Sect. 22 Again This New Man whereby we are born again is said to be created in Righteousness and true Holiness That there is a respect unto Man created in Innocency wherein he was made in the Image of God I suppose will not be denyed It is also expressed Col. 3. 10. You have put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Look then what was or wherein consisted the Image of God in the First Man thereunto answers this New Man which is created of God Now this did not consist in Reformation of Life no nor in a course of vertuous Actions For he was created in the Image of God before he had done any one good thing at all or was capable of so doing But this Image of God consisted principally as we have evinced elsewhere in the Uprightness Rectitude and Ability of his whole Soul his Mind Will and Affections in unto and for the Obedience that God required of him This he was endowed withal antecedently unto all voluntary Actions whereby he was to live to God Such therefore must be our Regeneration or the Creation of this New Man in us It is the begetting infusing creating of a new saving Principle of Spiritual Life Light and Power in the Soul antecedent unto true Evangelical Reformation of Life in Order of Nature enabling Men thereunto according unto the Mind of God Sect. 23 Hereunto accords that of our Saviour Luk. 6. 43. A good Tree bringeth not forth corrupt Fruit neither doth a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit compared with Matth. 7. 18. The Fruit followeth the Nature of the Tree And there is no way to change the Nature of the Fruit but by changing the Nature of the Tree which brings it forth Now all Amendment of Life in Reformation is but Fruit Matth. 3. 10. But the changing of our Nature is antecedent hereunto This is the constant Course and Tenor of the Scripture to distinguish between the Grace of Regeneration which it declares to be an immediate supernatural Work of God in us and upon us and all that Obedience Holiness Righteousness Vertue or what-ever is good in us which is the Consequent Product and Effect of it Yea God hath declared this expresly in his Covenant Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. Jer. 31. 33. Chap. 32. 39 40. The Method of God's proceeding with us in his Covenant is that he first washeth and cleanseth our Natures takes away the Heart of Stone gives an Heart of Flesh writes his Law in our Hearts puts his Spirit in us wherein as shall be evidenced the Grace of Regeneration doth consist The Effect and Consequent hereof is That we shall walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them that is reform our Lives and yeeld all Holy Obedience unto God wherefore these things are distinguished as Causes and Effects See to the same purpose Rom. 6. 3 4 5 6. Col. 3. 1 5. Ephes. 2. 10. Chap. 4. 23 24 25. This I insist upon still on supposition that by Reformation of Life all Actual Obedience is intended For as to that kind of Life which is properly called a moral course of Life in opposition to open Debaucheries and Unrighteousness which doth not proceed from an internal Principle of Saving Grace It is so far from being Regeneration or Grace as that it is a thing of no acceptation with God absolutely what-ever Use or Reputation it may be of in the World Sect. 24 And yet further This Work is described to consist in the Sanctification of the whole Spirit Soul and Body 1 Thess. 5. 23. And if this be that which some men intend by Reformation of Life and Moral Vertue they must needs win much esteem for their clearness and perspicuity in teaching Spiritual Things For who would not admire them for such a Definition of Morality namely that it is the principal Sanctification of the whole Spirit Soul and Body of a Believer by the Holy Ghost But not to dwell longer on this Subject There is no description of the Work of Regeneration in the Scripture in its Nature Causes or Effects no Name given unto it no promise made of it nothing spoken of the Wayes Means or Power by which it is wrought but is inconsistent with this bold Pelagian Figment which is destructive of the Grace of Jesus Christ. The ground of this Imagination that Regeneration consists in a Moral Reformation of Life ariseth from a denial of Original Sin or an inherent habitual corruption of Nature For the Masters unto the Men of this Perswasion tell us that what-ever is of vice or defilement in us it is contracted by a custom of sinning only And their Conceptions hereof do regulate their Opinions about Regeneration For if Man be not originally corrupted and polluted if his Nature be not depraved if it be not possessed by and under the Power of evil Dispositions and Inclinations it is certain that he stands in no need of an inward Spiritual Renovation of it It is enough for such a one that by change of Life he renounce a custom of sinning and reform his Conversation according to the Gospel which in himself he hath power to do
an esteem for any one part of the Gospel will shelter Men from the Punishment due to the rejection of the whole by whom any essential part of it is refused And this is the condition of many The Things which most properly belong to the Mysteries of the Gospel or the unsearchable Riches of the Grace of God in Christ Jesus are foolishness unto them and the Preaching of them is called Canting and Folly And some of these although they go not so far as the Frier at Rome who said That St. Paul fell into great excesses in these things yet they have dared to accuse his Writings of Darkness and Obscurity for no other reason so far as I can understand but because he insists on the Declaration of these Spiritual Mysteries And it is not easie to express what contempt and reproach is cast by some Preachers on the Preaching of them But it is not amiss that some have proclaimed their own shame herein and have left it on Record to the abhorrency of Posterity Sect. 37 5. The Event of the Dispensation of the Gospel manifesteth That the Spiritual things of it are foolishness to the most for as such are they rejected by them Esa. 53. 1 2 3. Suppose a Man of good Reputation for Wisdom and Sobriety should go unto others and inform them and that with Earnestness Evidence of Love to them and care for them with all kind of Motives to beget a belief of what he proposeth that by such ways as he prescribeth` they may exceedingly increase their Substance in this World until they exceed the wealth of Kings a thing that the Minds of Men in their Contrivance and Designs are intent upon if in this case they follow not his Advice it can be for no other reason but because they judge the things proposed by him to be no way suited or expedient unto the end promised that is to be foolish things And this is the state of things with respect unto the Mysteries of the Gospel Men are informed in and by the ways of God's Appointment how great and glorious they are and what blessed consequents there will be of a Spiritual reception of them The Beauty and Excellency of Christ the inestimable Priviledge of Divine Adoption the great and pretious Promises made unto them that do believe the glory of the World to come the necessity and excellency of Holiness and Gospel-Obedience unto the attaining of Everlasting Blessedness are Preached unto Men and pressed on them with Arguments and Motives filled with Divine Authority and Wisdom Yet after all this we see how few Eventually do apply themselves with any industry to receive them or at least actually do receive them for many are called but few are chosen And the Reason is because indeed unto their darkened Minds these things are Foolishness whatsoever they pretend unto the contrary Sect. 38 Secondly As the instance foregoing compriseth the reasons why a Natural Man will never receive the things of the Spirit of God so the Apostle addes a reason why he cannot and that is taken from the manner whereby alone they may be usefully and savingly received which they cannot attain unto Because they are Spiritually discerned In this whole Chapter he insists on an Opposition between a Natural and a Spiritual Man Natural things and Spiritual things Natural light and knowledg and Spiritual The Natural Man he informs us will by a Natural light discern Natural things The things of a Man knoweth the Spirit of a Man And the Spiritual Man by a Spiritual light received from Jesus Christ discerneth Spiritual Things For none knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God and he to whom He will reveal them This Ability the Apostle denies unto a Natural Man And this he proves 1 Because it is the Work of the Spirit of God to endow the Minds of Men with that ability which there were no need of in case Men had it of themselves by Nature And 2 as he shews plentifully elsewhere The Light it self whereby alone Spiritual things can be Spiritually discerned is wrought effected created in us by an Almighty Act of the Power of God 2. Cor. 4. 6. Sect. 39 From these Things premised it is evident That there is a two-fold Impotency on the Minds of Man with respect unto Spiritual things 1. That which immediately affects the Mind a Natural Impotency whence it cannot receive them for want of Light in it self 2 That which affects the Mind by the Will and Affections a Moral Impotency whereby it cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because unalterably it will not and that because from the unsuitableness of the Object unto its Will and Affections and the Mind by them they are Foolishness unto it 1 There is in unregenerate Men a Natural Impotency through the immediate depravation of the faculties of the Mind or understanding whereby a Natural Man is absolutely unable without an especial Renovation by the Holy Ghost to discern Spiritual things in a saving manner Neither is this Impotency although absolutely and naturally insuperable and although it have in it also the nature of a punishment any excuse or Alleviation of the sin of Men when they receive not Spiritual things as proposed unto them for although it be our misery it is our sin it is the misery of our Persons and the sin of our Natures As by it there is an inconformity in our Minds to the Mind of God it is our sin as it is a consequent of the Corruption of our Nature by the fall it is an Effect of sin and as it exposeth us unto all the ensuing evil of sin and unbelief it is both the punishment and cause of Sin And no man can plead his sin or fault as an excuse of another sin in any kind This Impotency is Natural because it consists in the deprivation of the Light and Power that was Originally in the faculties of our Minds or Understandings and because it can never be taken away or cured but by an immediate communication of a new Spiritual power and Ability unto the Mind it self by the Holy Ghost in its Renovation so curing the Depravation of the Faculty it self And this is consistent with what was before declared the Natural Power of the Mind to receive Spiritual things For the Power respects the Natural Capacity of the faculties of our Minds this Impotency the Depravation of them with respect unto Spiritual Things Sect. 41 2. There is in the Minds of Unregenerate persons a Moral Impotency which is reflected on them greatly from the Will and Affections whence the Mind never will receive Spiritual things that is it will always and unchangeably reject and refuse them and that because of various Lusts Corruptions and Prejudices invincibly fixed in them causing them to look on them as Foolishness Hence it will come to pass that no Man shall be judged and perish at the last day meerly on the acount of his Natural
thereunto So that to say there is no Disposition unto Spiritual Life in any Unregenerate Person is to make them all equal which is contrary to Experience Answ. 1. There is no doubt but that Unregenerate Men may perform many external Duties which are good in themselves and lie in the order of the outward Disposal of the means of Conversion Nor is it questioned but they may have real Designs Desires and Endeavours after that which is presented unto them as their chiefest Good But so far as these Desires or Actings are meerly Natural there is no Disposition in them unto Spiritual Life or that which is Spiritually Good So far as they are Supernatural they are not of themselves For 2. Although there are no preparatory Inclinations in Men yet there are preparatory Works upon them Those who have not the Word yet may have Convictions of Good and Evil from the Authority of God in their Consciences Rom. 2. 14 15. And the Law in the Dispensation of it may work Men unto many Duties of Obedience much more may the Gospel so do But what-ever Effects are hereby produced they are wrought by the Power of God exerted in the Dispensation of the Word They are not educed out of the natural Faculties of the Minds of Men but are Effects of the Power of God in them and upon them For we know that in the flesh there dwelleth no good thing And all Unregenerate Men are no more for that which is born of the flesh is flesh 3. The Actings thus effected and produced in Men Unregenerate are neither Fruits of nor Dispositions unto Spiritual Life Men that are spiritually dead may have Designs and Desires to free themselves from dying Eternally but such a desire to be saved is no saving Disposition unto Life The Nature Causes and Means of Regeneration CHAP. V. 1. Description of the State of Nature necessary unto a right understanding of the Work of the Spirit in Regeneration 2. No possibility of Salvation unto Persons living and dying in a state of Sin 3. Deliverance from it by Regeneration only 4. The Holy Ghost the peculiar Author of this Work 5. Differences about the Manner and Nature of it 6. Way of the Ancients in explaining the Doctrine of Grace the present Method proposed 7. Conversion not wrought by Moral Swasion only 8 9 10. The Nature and Efficacy of Moral Swasion wherein they consist 11. Illumination preparatory unto Conversion 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. The Nature of Grace morally effective only opened not sufficient of Conversion 19 20. The first Argument disproving the working of Grace in Conversion to be by Moral Swasion only 21 22. The Second 23 24. The Third 25. The Fourth 26 27 28. Wherein the Work of the Spirit in Regeneration positively doth consist the use and end of outward means 29. Real internal efficiency of the Spirit in this Work 30 31 32 33 34 35. Grace victorious and irresistible the Nature of it explained 36. Proved 37 38 39 40. The manner of God's working by Grace on our Wills further explained Testimonies concerning the Actual Collation of Faith by the Power of God 41 42 43 44. Victorious efficacy of internal Grace proved by sundry Testimonies of Scripture 45 46 47 48 49. From the nature of the Work wrought by it in Vivification and Regeneration 50 51 52 53 54. Regeneration considered with respect unto the distinct Faculties of the Soul The Mind 55. The Will 56 57. The Affections Sect. 1 UNto The Description we are to give of the Work of Regeneration the precedent account of the Subject of it or the State and Condition of them that are to be Regenerated was necessarily to be premised For upon the knowledg thereof doth a due Apprehension of the Nature of that Work depend And the occasion of all the Mistakes and Errors that have been about it eiâ—her of old or of late hath been a misunderstanding of the true state of Men in their lapsed condition or of Nature as depraved Yea and those by whom this whole Work is derided do now countenance themselves therein by their Ignorance of that state which they will not learn either from the Scripture or Experience For Natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre as Austin speaks It is an Evidence of the Corruption of Nature that it disenables the Minds of Men to discern their own Corruption We have previously discharged this work so far as it is necessary unto our present purpose Many other things might be added in the Explication of it were that our direct Design Particularly having confined my self to treat only concerning the Depravation of the Mind and Will I have not insisted on that of the Affections which yet is effectual to retain unregenerate Men under the Power of sin though it be far enough from Truth that the whole Corruption of Nature consists therein as some weakly and Athologically have Imagined Much less have I treated concerning that encrease and heightning of the Depravation of Nature which is attracted by a Custom of sinning as unto all the perverse Ends of it Yet this also the Scripture much insists upon as that which naturally and necessarily ensues in all in whom it is not prevented by the effectual transforming Grace of the Spirit of God And it is that which seals up the Impossibility of their turning themselves to God Jerom. 13. 23. Rom. 3. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. But that the whole Difficulty of Conversion should arise from Mens contracting an Habit or Custom of sinning is false and openly contradictory to the Scripture These things are Personal Evils and befal Individuals through their own default in various Degrees And we see that amongst Men under the same use of means some are converted unto God who have been deeply immersed in an habitual course of open sins whilst others kept from them by the Influence of their Education upon their Inclinations and Affections remain uncoverted So was it of old between the Publicans and Harlots on the one hand and the Pharisees on the other But my design was only to mention that which is common unto all Or wherein all Men Universally are equally concerned who are partakers of the same Humane Nature in its lapsed Condition And what we have herein declared from the Scriptures will guide us in our Enquiry after the work of the Holy Spirit of Grace in our Deliverance from it Sect. 2 It is evident and needs no further confirmation that persons Living and Dying in this Estate cannot be saved This hitherto hath been allowed by all that are called Christians nor are we to be moved that some who call themselves so do begin to laugh at the disease and Despise the Remedy of our Nature Among those who lay any serious and real claim unto Christianity there is nothing more certain nor more acknowledged than that there is no Deliverance from a state of misery for those who
Act and thereby determine it self in the choice of that which is good in believing and repenting then the Grace thus administred concurs with it helps and aids it in the perfecting of its Act so that the whole Work is of Grace So pleaded the Semi-Pelagians and so do others continue to do But all this while the way whereby Grace or the Spirit of God worketh this Illumination excites the Affections and Aids the Will is by Moral Perswasion only on real strength being communicated or infused but what the Will is at perfect liberty to make use of or to refuse at pleasure Now this in effect is no less than to overthrow the whole Grace of Jesus Christ and to render it useless For it ascribes unto Man the Honour of his Conversion his Will being the principal cause of it It makes a Man to beget himself a-new or to be born again of himself to make himself differ from others by that which he hath not in an especial manner received It takes away the Analogie that there is between the forming of the Natural Body of Christ in the Womb and the forming of his Mystical Body in Regeneration It makes the Act of living unto God by Faith and Obedience to be a meer Natural Act no Fruit of the Mediation or Purchase of Christ and allows the Spirit of God no more Power nor Efficacy in or towards our Regeneration than is in a Minister who preacheth the Word or in an Orator who eloquently and pathetically perswades to Vertue and dehorts from Vice And all these consequences it may be will be granted by some amongst us and allowed to be true to that pass are things come in the World through the confident pride and ignorance of Men. But not only it may be but plainly and directly the whole Gospel and Grace of Christ are renounced where they are admitted Sect. 24 This is not all that we pray for either for our selves or others when we beg effectual Grace for them or our selves There was no Argument that the Ancients more pressed the Pelagians withal than that the Grace which they acknowledged did not answer the Prayers of the Church or what we are taught in the Scripture to pray for We are to pray only for what God hath promised and for the communication of it unto us in that way whereby he will work it and effect it Now he is at a great indifferency in this Matter who only prayes that God would perswade him or others to believe and to obey to be converted or to convert himself The Church of God hath alwayes prayed that God would work these things in us and those who have a real concernment in them do pray continually that God would effectually work them in their Hearts They pray that he would convert them that he would create a clean heart and renew a right Spirit in them that he would give them Faâ—th for Christ's sake and increase it in them and that in all these things he would work in them by the exceeding greatness of his Power both to will and to do according to his good pleasure And there is not a Pelagian in the World who e're once prayed for Grace or gracious Assistance against Sin and Temptation with a sense of his want of it but that his Prayers contradicted his Profession To think that by all these Petitions with others innumerable dictated unto us in the Scripture and which a Spiritual Sense of our Wants will ingage into we desire nothing but only that God would perswade excite and stir us up to put forth a Power and Ability of our own in the performance of what we desire is contrary unto all Christian Experience Yea for a Man to lie praying with Importunity Earnestness and Fervency for that which is in his own Power and can never be effected but by his own Power is fond and ridiculous And they do but mock God who pray unto him to do that for them which they can do for themselves and which God cannot do for them but only when and as they do it for themselves Suppose a Man to have a Power in himself to believe and repent suppose these to be such Acts of his Will as God doth not indeed cannot by his Grace work in him but only perswade him thereunto and shew him sufficient Reason why he should so do to what purpose should this Man or with what congruity could he pray that God would give him Faith and Repentance This some of late as it seems wisely observing do begin to scoff at and reproach the Prayers of Christians For whereas in all their Supplications for Grace they lay the Foundation of them in an humble Acknowledgment of their own vileness and impotency unto any thing that is spiritually Good yea and a natural aversation from it and a sense of the Power and Working of the Remainder of in-dwelling Sin in them hereby exciting themselves unto that earnestness and importunity in their requests for Grace which their Condition makes necessary which hath been the constant practice of Christians since there was one in the World this is by them derided and exposed to contempt In the room therefore of such despised Prayers I shall supply them with an Ancient Form that is better suited unto their Principles The Preface unto it is Ille ad Deum digne elevat manus ille Orationem bonâ— Conscientiâ— effundit qui potest dicere The Prayer followeth Tu nosti Domine quam Sanctae Purae Mundae sint ab omni malitia iniquitate rapina quas ad te extendo manus â—â—uemadmodum justa munda labia ab omni mendacio libera quibus offero tibi Deprecationes ut mihi miserearis This Prayer Pelagius taught a Widow to make as it was objected unto him in the Diospolitan Synod that is at Lydia in Palestine cap. 6. only he taught her not to say that she had no deceit in her Heart as one among us doth wisely and humbly vaunt that he knoweth of none in his so every way perfect is the Man Only to ballance this of Pelagius I shall give these Men another Prayer but in the Margen not declaring whose it is lest they should censure him to the Gallows Whereas therefore it seems to be the Doctrine of some that we have no Grace from Christ but only that of the Gospel teaching us our Duty and proposing a Reward I know not what they have to pray for unless it be Riches Wealth and Preferments with those things that depend thereon Sect. 25 Fourthly This kind of the Operation of Grace where it is solitary that is where it is asserted exclusively to an internal Physical work of the Holy Spirit is not suited to effect and produce the Work of Regeneration or Conversion unto God in Persons who are really in that state of Nature which we have before described The most effectual Perswasions cannot prevail with such Men
1. The Opposition is not ad idem The Enmity and Opposition that is acted by the Will against Grace is against it as objectively proposed unto it So do Men resist the Holy Ghost that is in the external Dispensation of Grace by the Word And if that be alone they may alwayes resist it the Enmity that is in them will prevail against it Ye alwayes resist the Holy Ghost The Will therefore is not forced by any Power put forth in Grace in that way wherein it is capable of making opposition unto it but the prevalency of Grace is of it as it is internal working really and physically which is not the Object of the Wills opposition for it is not proposed unto it as that which it may accept or refuse but worketh effectually in it Sect. 35 2. The Will in the first Act of Conversion as even sundry of the Schoolmen acknowledg acts not but as it is acted moves not but as it is moved and therefore is passive therein in the sense immediately to be explained And if this be not so it cannot be avoided but that the Act of our turning unto God is a meer natural Act and not spiritual or gracious For it is an Act of the Will not enabled thereunto antecedently by Grace Wherefore it must be granted and it shall be proved that in Order of Nature the Acting of Grace in the Will in our Conversion is antecedent unto its own acting though in the same instant of time wherein the Will is moved it moves and when it is acted it acts it self and preserves its own Liberty in its exercise There is therefore herein an inward almighty secret Act of the Power of the Holy Ghost producing or effecting in us the Will of Conversion unto God so acting our Wills as that they also act themselves and that freely So Austin cont Duas Epistol Pelag. lib. 1. cap. 19. Trahitur homo miris modis ut velit ab illo qui novit intus in ipsis cordibus hominum operari non ut homines quod fieri non possit nolentes credant sed ut volentes ex nolâ—ntibus fiant The Holy Spirit who in his Power and Operation is more intimate as it were unto the Principles of our Souls than they are to themselves doth with the Preservation and in the Exercise of the liberty of our Wills effectually work our Regeneration and Conversion unto God This is the substance of what we plead for in this Cause and which declares the Nature of this Work of Regeneration as it is an inward Spiritual Work I shall therefore confirm the Truth proposed with evident Testimonies of Scripture and Reasons contained in them or educed from them Sect. 36 1. The Work of Conversion it self and in especial the Act of believing or Faith it self is expresly said to be of God to be wrought in us by him to be given unto us from him The Scripture says not that God gives us Ability or Power to believe onely namely such a Power a we may make use of if we will or do otherwise but Faith Repentance and Conversion themselves are said to be the Work and Effect of God Indeed there is nothing mentioned in the Scripture concerning the communicating of Power remote or next unto the Mind of Man to enable him to believe antecedently unto actual believing A remote Power if it may be so called in the Capacities of the Faculties of the Soul the Reason of the Mind and Liberty of the Will we have given an account concerning But for that which some call a next Power or an ability to believe in order of Nature Antecedent unto Believing it self wrought in us by the Grace of God the Scripture is silent The Apostle Paul saith of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things or prevail in all things through Christ who enableth me where a Power or Ability seems to be spoken of antecedent unto Acting But this is not a Power for the first Act of Faith but a Power in them that believe Such a Power I acknowledg which is acted in the Co-operation of the Spirit and Grace of Christ with the Grace which Believers have received unto the performance of all Acts of Holy Obedience whereof I must treat elsewhere Believers have a stock of Habitual Grace which may be called Indwelling Grace in the same sense wherein Original Corruption is called Indwelling-Sin And this Grace as it is necessary unto every Act of Spiritual Obedience so of it self without the renewed Co-working of the Spirit of Christ it is not able nor sufficient to produce any Spiritual Act. This working of Christ upon and with the Grace we have received is called enabling of us But with Persons Unregenerate and as to the first Act of Faith it is not so Sect. 37 But it will be Objected That every thing which is actually accomplished was in potentia before There must therefore be in us a Power to believe before we do so actually Answ. The Act of God working Faith in us is a Creating Act. For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus Ephes. 2. 10. And he that is in Christ Jesus is a New Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Now the effects of Creating Acts are not in Potentia any-where but in the Active Power of God so was the World it self before its actual existence This is termed Potentia Logica which is no more but a Negation of any contradiction to Existence not Potentia Physica which includes a disposition unto actual existence Notwithstanding therefore all these Preparatory Works of the Spirit of God which we allow in this Matter there is not by them wrought in the Minds and Wills of Men such a next Power as they call it as should enable them to believe without further Actual Grace working Faith it self Wherefore with respect to believing the first Act of God is to work in us to will Phil. 1. 13. He worketh in us to will Now to will to believe is to believe This God works in us by that Grace which Austin and the School-men call Gratia Operans because it worketh in us without us the Will being meerly moved and passive therein That there is a Power or Faculty of believing given unto all Men unto whom the Gospel is preached or who are called by the outward Dispentation of it some do pretend And that because those unto whom the Word is so Prâ—acâ—ed if they do not actually believe shall perish eternally as is positively declared in the Gospel Mark 16. 16. But this they could not justly do if they had not received a Power or Faculty of Believing Answ. 1. Those who believe not upon the Proposal of Christ in the Gospel are left without remedy in the guilt of those other Sins for which they must perish eternally If you believe not saith Christ that I am he you shall die in your sins John 8. 12. 2. The Impotency that is in Men as
to the act of believing is contracted by their own fault both as it ariseth from the Original Depravation of Nature and as it is increased by corrupt Prejudices and contracted Habits of Sin wherefore they justly perished of whom yet it is said That they could not believe John 12. 39. 3. There is none by whom the Gospel is refused but they put forth an Act of the Will in its Rejection which all Men are free unto and able for I would have gathered you but you would not Mat. 23. 37. You will not come to me that you may have life Sect. 38 But the Scripture positively affirms of some to whom the Gospel was Preached that they could not believe John 12. 39. And of all natural Men that they cannot perceive the Things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. neither is it given unto all to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God but some only Matth. 11. 25. And those to whom it is not so given have not the Power intended Besides Faith is not of all have not Faith 2 Thess. 3. 2. But it is peculiar to the Elect of God Tit. 1. 1. Acts 13. 48. And these Elect are but some of those that are called Mat. 20. 16. Sect. 39 Yet further to clear this it may be observed that this first Act of Willing may be considered two wayes 1. As it wrought in the Will subjectively and so it is formally only in that Faculty And in this sense the Will is meerly passive and only the Subject moved or acted And in this respect the Act of God's Grace in the Will is an Act of the Will But 2. it may be considered as it is efficiently also in the Will as being acted it acts it self So it is from the Will as its Principle and is a Vital Act thereof which gives it the Nature of Obedience Thus the Will in its own Nature is mobilis fit and meet to be wrought upon by the Grace of the Spirit to Faith and Obedience with respect unto the Creating Act of Grace working Faith in us it is mota moved and acted thereby And in respect of its own elicit Act as it so acted and moved it is movens the next efficient cause thereof Sect. 40 These things being premised for the clearing of the Nature of the Operation of the Spirit in the first Communication of Grace unto us and the Wills complyance therewithal we return unto our Arguments or Testimonies given unto the actual collation of Faith upon us by the Spirit and Grace of God which must needs be effectual and irresistible for the contrary implies a contradiction namely that God should work what is not wrought Phil. 1. 29. To you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake To believe on Christ expresseth Saving-Faith it self This is given unto us And how is it given us Even by the Power of God working in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure Chap. 1. 13. Our Faith is our coming to Christ. And no Man saith he can come unto me except it be given him of my Father Joh. 6. 65. All Power in our selves for this end is utterly taken away no Man can come unto me How-ever we may suppose Men to be prepared or disposed what-ever Arguments may be proposed unto them and in what season soever to render things congruous and agreeable unto their Inclinations yet no Man of himself can believe can come to Christ unless Faith it self be given unto him that is be wrought in him by the Grace of the Father Col. 2. 11. So it is again asserted and that both negatively and positively Ephes. 2. 8. By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Our own Ability be it what it will how-ever assisted and excited and God's Gift are contra-distinguished If it be our selves it is not the Gift of God if it be the Gift of God it is not of our selves And the manner how God bestows this Gift upon us is declared v. 10. For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Good Works or Gospel-Obedience are the things designed These must proceed from Faith or they are not acceptable with God Heb. 11. 6. And the way whereby this is wrought in us or a Principle of Obedience is by a Creating Act of God we are his Workmanship created in Jesus Christ. In like manner God is said to give us Repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Acts 11. 18. This is the whole of what we plead God in our Conversion by the exceeding greatness of his Power as he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the Dead actually worketh Faith and Repentance in us gives them unto us bestows them on us so that they are meer Effects of his Grace in us And his working in us infallibly produceth the Effect intended because it is actual Faith that he works and not only a Power to believe which we may either put forth and make use of or suffer to be fruitless according to the pleasure of our own Wills Sect. 41 Secondly As God giveth and worketh in us Faith and Repentance so the way whereby he doth it or the manner how he is said to effect them in us make it evident that he doth it by a Power infallibly efficacious and which the Will of Man doth never resist For this way is such as that he thereby takes away all Repugnancy all Resistance all Opposition every thing that lyeth in the way of the Effect intended Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thine Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and all thy Soul that thou mayest live A denyal of the Work here intended is expressed Chap. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this day What it is to have the Heart circumcised the Apostle declares Col. 2. 11. It is the putting off of the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ that is our Conversion to God It is the giving an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear that is Spiritual Light and Obedience by the removal of all Obstacles and Hindrances This is the immediate Work of the Spirit of God himself No Man ever circumcised his own heart No Man can say he began to do it by the Power of his own Will and then God only helped him by his Grace As the Act of outward Circumcision on the body of a Child was the Act of another and not of the Child who was onely passive therein but the Effect was in the Body of the Child only so is it in this Spiritual Circumcision It is the Act of God whereof our Hearts are the Subject And whereas it is the Blindness Obstinacy and Stubbornness in Sin that is in us
dead in Sin And herein is seated that peculiar obstinacy whence it is that no Unregenerate Person doth or can answer his own Conviction or walk up unto his Light in Obedience For the Will may be considered two wayes 1. As a rational vital Faculty of our Souls 2. As a free Principle freedom being of its Essence or Nature This therefore in our Conversion to God is renewed by the Holy Ghost and that by an effectual implantation in it of a Principle of Spiritual Life and Holiness in the room of that Original Righteousness which it lost by the Fall That he doth so is proved by all the Testimonies before insisted on 1. This is its Renovation as it is a rational vital Faculty and of this Vivification see before 2. As it 's a free Principle it is determined unto its Acts in this case by the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost without the least impeachment of its Liberty or Freedom as hath been declared And that this is so might be fully evinced as by others so by the ensuing Arguments For 1. if the Holy Ghost doth not work immediately and effectually upon the Will producing the creating in it a Principle of Faith and Obedience infallibly determining it in its free Acts then is all the Glory of our Conversion to be ascribed unto our selves and we make our selves therein by the obediential actings of our own free-will to differ from others who do not so comply with the Grace of God which is denyed by the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. Neither can any purpose of God concerning the Conversion of any one Soul be certain and determinate seeing after he hath done all that is to be done or can be done towards it the Will remaining undetermined may not be converted contrary to those Testimonies of our Saviour Rom. 8. 28. Mat. 11. 25 26. John 6. 37. Neither can there be an Original Infallibility in the Promises of God made to Jesus Christ concerning the multitudes that should believe in him seeing it is possible no one may so do if it depends on the undetermined Liberty of their Wills whether they will or no. And then also must Salvation of necessity be of him that willeth and of him that runneth and not of God that shews mercy on whom he will have mercy contrary to the Apostle Rom. 9. 15 16. And the whole Efficacy of the Grace of God is made thereby to depend on the Wills of Men which is not consistent with our being the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes. 2. 10. Nor on this Supposition do Men know what they pray for when they pray for their own or other Mens Conversion to God as hath been before declared There is therefore necessary such a Work of the Holy Spirit upon our Wills as may cure and take away the Depravation of them before described sreeing us from the state of Spiritual Death causing us to live unto God determing them in and unto the Acts of Faith and Obedience And this he doth whilst and as he makes us new Creatures quickens us who are dead in Trespasses and Sins gives us a new Heart and puts a new Spirit within us writes his Law in our Hearts that we may do the Mind of God and walk in his wayes worketh in us to will and to do making them who were unwilling and obstinate to become willing and obedient and that freely and of choice Sect. 56 In like manner a prevailing Love is implanted upon the Affections by the Spirit of Grace causing the Soul with Delight and Complacency to cleave to God and his Wayes This removes and takes away the Enmity before described with the Effects of it Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayest live This Circumcision of the Heart consists in the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh as the Apostle speaks Col. 2. 11. He Crucifies the Flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof Some Men are inclined to think that all the Depravation of our Nature consists in that of the sensitive part of the Soul or our Affections The vanity and folly of which Opinion hath been before discovered Yet it is not denied but that the Affections are signally depraved so that by them principally the Mind and Will do act those Lusts that are peculiarly seated in them or by them do act according to their perverse and corrupt Inclinations Gal. 5. 24. Jam. 1. 14 15. Wherefore in the Circumcision of our Hearts wherein the Flesh with the Lusts Affections and Deeds thereof are crucified by the Spirit he takes from them their Enmity Carnal Prejudices and Dâ—praved Inclinations really though not absolutely and perfectly and instead of them he fills us with Holy Spiritual Love Joy Fear and Delight not changing the being of our Affections but sanctifying and guiding them by the Principle of Saving-Light and Knowledg before described and uniting them unto their proper Object in a due manner From what hath been spoken in this third Argument it is evident that the Holy Spirit designing the Regeneration or Conversion of the Souls of Men worketh therein effectually powerfully and irresistibly which was proposed unto confirmation Sect. 57 From the whole it appears that our Regeneration is a Work of the Spirit of God and that not any Act of our own which is only so is intended thereby I say it is not so our own as by outward Helps and Assistance to be educed out of the Principles of our Natures And herein is the Scripture express for mentioning this Work directly with respect unto its Cause and the manner of its Operation in the effecting of it it assigns it positively unto God or his Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 3. God according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again James 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth John 3. 5 6 8. Born of the Spirit 1 John 3. 9. Born of God And on the other hand it excludes the Will of Man from any active interest herein I mean as to the first beginning of it 1 Pet. 1. 23. Born again not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever John 1. 13. Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God see Matth. 16. 17. Titus 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 9 10. It is therefore incumbent on them who plead for the Active Interest of the Will of Man in Regeneration to produce some Testimonies of Scriptures where it is assigned unto it as the effect unto its proper Cause Where is it said that a Man is Born again or Begotten a-new by himself And if it be granted as it must be so unless violence be offered not only to the Scripture but to
their condition But when God is pleased to carry on his Work of Light and Grace in them they can call to mind and understand how it was with them in their former Darkness Then will they acknowledg that in Truth they never had serious steady thoughts of God but only such as were occasional and transient Wheresore God begins here with them and thereby to subduct them from under the absolute Power of the vanity of their Minds By one means or other he fixeth in them steady thoughts concerning himself and their relation unto him And there are several wayes which he proceedeth in for the effecting hereof As Sect. 13 1. By some sudden amazing Judgments whereby he revealeth his Wrath from Heaven against the ungodliness of Men Rom. 1. 18. So Waldo was affected when his Companion was stricken dead as he walked with him in the Fields which proved the occasion of his Conversion unto God So the Psalmist describes the Affections and Thoughts of Men when they are surprized with a Storm at Sea Psal. 107. 25 26 27 28. An instance whereof we have in the Mariners of Jona's Ship Chap. 1. 5 6 7. And that Pharaoh who despised one day saying Who is the Lord that I should regard him Being the next day terrified with Thunder and Lightning cries out Intreat the Lord for me that it may be so no more Exod. 9. 28. And such like Impressions from Divine Power most Men at one time or other have experience of 2. By Personal Afflictions Job 33. 19 20. Psal. 78. 34 35. Hos. 5. 15. Affliction naturally speaks Anger and Anger respects Sin It bespeaks it self to be God's Messenger to call Sin to remembrance 1 Kings 17. 8. Gen. 42. 21 22. The time of Affliction is a time of Consideration Eccles. 7. 14. And if Men be not obdurate and hardned almost unto practical Atheism by a course of sinning they cannot but bethink themselves who sends Affliction and for what End it is sent Hence great thoughts of the Holiness of God and of his hatred of Sin with some sense of Mens own Guilt and especial Crimes will arise And these Effects many times prove preparatory and materially dispositive unto Conversion And not what these things are in themselves able to operate is to be considered but what they are designed unto and made effectual for by the Holy Ghost 3. By remarkable Deliverances and Mercies So it was with Naaman the Syrian 2 Kings 2. 15 16 17. Sudden changes from great Dangers and Distresses by unexpected Reliefs deeply affect the Minds of Men convincing them of the Power Presence and Goodness of God And this produceth a sense and acknowledgment of their own unworthiness of what they have received Hence also some temporary Effects of submission to the Divine Will and Gratitude do proceed 4. An observation of the Conversation of others hath affected many to seek into the Causes and Ends of it And this inclines them unto imitation 1 Pet. 3. 1 2. 5. The Word in the Reading or Preaching of it is the principal means hereof This the Holy Spirit employeth and maketh use of in his entrance into this Work 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. For those Convictions befal not Men from the Word universally or promiscuously but as the Holy Spirit willeth and designeth It is by the Law that Men have the knowledg of Sin Rom. 7. 7. Yet we see by experience that the Doctrine of the Law is despised by the most that hear it Wherefore it hath not in it self a force or vertue alwayes to work conviction of Sin in them unto whom it is outwardly proposed Only towards some the Spirit of God is pleased to put forth an especial Energie in the Dispensation thereof Sect. 14 By these and the like means doth God oft-times put the wildness of Corrupted Nature unto a stand and stirs up the Faculties of the Soul by an effectual though not saving Impression upon them seriously to consider of its self and its Relation unto Him and his Will And hereby are Men oft-times incited and ingaged unto many Duties of Religion as Prayer for the Pardon of Sin with Resolutions of Amendment and although these things in some are subordinated unto a further and more effectual Work of the Spirit of God upon them yet with many they prove evanid and fading their Goodness in them being as a Morning Cloud or as the early Dew which passeth away Hos. 6. 4. And the Reasons whence it is that Men cast off these Warnings of God and pursue not their own Intentions under them nor answer what they lead unto are obvious For Sect. 15 1. The Darkness of their Minds being yet uncured they are not able to discern the true Nature of these Divine Intimations and Instructions but after a while regard them not or reject them as the Occasions of needless Scruples and Fears 2. Presumption of their present Condition that it is as good as it need be or as is convenient in their present Circumstances and Occasions makes them neglect the improvement of their Warnings 3. Profane Societies and Relations such as it may be scoff at and deride all tremblings at Divine Warnings with ignorant Ministers that undertake to Teach what they have not learned are great means of hardning Men in their Sins and of forfeiting the benefit of these Divine Intimations 4. They will as to all Efficacy and the Motions they bring on the Affections of Men decay and expire of themselves if they are not diligently improved Wherefore in many they perish through meer sloth and negligence 5. Satan applies all his Engines to the defeatment of these beginnings of any Good in the Souls of Men. 6. That which effectually and utterly overthrows this Work which causeth them to cast off these Heavenly Warnings is meer love of Lusts and Pleasures or the unconquered adherence of a corrupted Heart unto sensual and sinful Objects that offer present satisfaction unto its Carnal Desires By this means is this Work of the Spirit of God in the Hearts and Minds of many utterly defeated to the increase of their Guilt an addition to their natural hardness and the ruine of their Souls But in some of them he is graciously pleased to renew his Work and by more effectual means to carry it on to Perfection as shall be afterwards declared Sect. 16 Now there is scarce any of these Instances of the care and watchfulness of God over the Souls of Men whom he designs either to convince or convert for the Ends of his own Glory but the Holy Person whom we have proposed as an Example gives an account of them in and towards himself declaring in like manner how by the wayes and means mentioned they were frustrate and came to nothing Such were the Warnings which he acknowledged that God gave him by the Perswasions and Exhortations of his Mother lib. 2. cap. 3. Such were those which he had in Sicknesses of his own and in the death of his dear
Disquietment of Mind fear of Ruine and the like see Acts 2. 37. Acts 24. 25. But this I must not enlarge upon Sect. 21 This therefore is the second thing which we observe in God's gracious Actings towards the Recovery of the Souls of Men from their Apostacy and from under the Power of sin The principal efficient Cause of this Work is the Holy Ghost the preaching of the Word especially of the Law being the Instrument which he maketh use of therein The Knowledg of sin is by the Law both the Nature Guilt and Curse belonging to it Rom. 7. 7. There is â—herefore no Conviction of sin but what consists in an Emanation of Light and Knowledg from the Doctâ—ine of the Law with an Evidence of its Power and a sense of its Curse Other Means as Afflictions Dangers Sicknesses Fears Disappointments may be made use of to excite stir up and put an edge upon the Minds and Affections of Men yet it is by one means or other from the Law of God that such a discovery is made of sin unto them and such a sense of it wrought upon them as belongs unto this work of Conviction But it is the Spirit of God alone that is the principal efficient Cause of it or he works these effects on the Minds of Men. God takes it upon himself as his own work to reprove Men and set their sins in order before their eyes Psal. 50 21. And that this same Work is done immediately by the Spirit is expresly declared John 16. 8. He alone it is who makes all means effectual unto this End and Purpose Without his especial and immediate Actings on us to this End we may hear the Law preached all the Days of our Lives and not be once affected with it Sect. 22 And it may by the way be worth our Observation to consider how God designing the Calling or Conversion of the Souls of Men doth in this holy wise Providence over-rule all their outward Concernments so as that they shall be disposed into such Circumstances as conduce to to the end aymed at Either by their own Inclinations and Choice or by the Intervention of Accidents crossing their Inclinations and frustrateing their Designes he will lead them into such Societies Acquaintances Relations Places means as he hath ordained to be useful unto them for the great ends of their Conviction and Conversion So in particular Austin aboundeth in his Contemplation on the Holy Wise Providence of God in carrying of him from Carthage to Rome and from thence to Milan where he heard Ambrose preach every Lords-day which proved at length the Means of his through-Conversion to God And in that whole Course by his discourse upon it he discovers Excellently as on the one hand the variety of his own Projections and Designes his Aymes and Ends which oft-times were perverse and froward so on the other the constant guidance of divine Providence working powerfully through all Occurrences towards the blessed End designed for him And I no way doubt but that God exercised him unto those distinct Experiences of Sin and Grace in his own Heart and Wayes because he had designed him to be the great Champion of the Doctrine of his Grace against all its enemyes and that not only in his own Age wherein it met with a fierce Opposition but also in all succeeding ages by his Excellent Labours preserved for the use of the Church see Confess lib. 5. cap. 7. 8 9 c. Tu spes mea in terra viventium ad mutandum terrarum locum pro salute animae mea Carthagini stimulos quibus inde avellerer admovebas Romae illecebras quibus attraberer proponebas mihi per homines qui diligebant vitam mortuam hinc insana facientes inde vana pollicentes ad corrigendos gressus meos utebaris occulte illorum mea perversitate cap. 8. Thou who art my hope in the Land of the Living that I might remove from one Country to another for the Salvation of my Soul didst both apply goads unto me at Carthage whereby I might be driven from thence and proposedst Allurements unto me at Rome whereby I might be drawn thither and this thou didst by Men who loved the Dead Life in sin here doing things outragious there promising things desirable to vain Minds whilst thou to correct and reform my ways didst secretly make use of their frowardness and mine Sect. 23 3. It must be granted that many on whom this work hath been wrought producing great Resolutions of Amendment and much Reformation of Life do lose all the Power and Efficacy of it with all the impressions it had made on their Affections And some of these wax worse and more profligate in sinning than ever they were before For having broken down the Damm of their restraints they pour out their lusts like a Flood and are more senseless than ever of those Checks and Fears with which before they were bridled and awed 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. 22. So the person lately mentioned declares that after many Convictions which he had digested and neglected he was grown so obdurate and sensless that falling into a feaver wherein he thought he should die and go immediately unto Hell he had not that endeavour after Deliverance and Mercy as he had many years before on lesser dangers And this perverse Effect is variously brought about Sect. 24 1. It is with most an immediate product of the power of their own Lust. Especially is it so with them who together with their Convictions receive no Gifts of the Holy Ghost For as we observed their Lusts being only checked and controuled not subdued they get new strength by their Restraint and rebel with success against Conviction Such as these fall away from what they have attained suddenly Math. 13. 5. 21. One day they seem to lye in Hell by the Terror of their Convictions and the next to be hasting towards it by their sins and pollutions see Luke 11. 24 25 26. Hos. 4. 6. cap. 6. 4. 2. This Apostacy is promoted and hastned by others As 1. such as undertaking to be Spiritual Guides and Instructers of Men in their way towards Rest who being unskilful in the Word of Righteousness do heal their wounds slightly or turn them out of the way Seducers also it may be interpose their crafty deceits whereby they lye in wait to deceive and so turn Men off from those Good ways of God whereinto they would otherwise enter So it fell out with Austin who beginning somewhat to enquire after God fell into the society and heresy of the Manichees which frustrated all the Convictions which by any means he had received 2. Such as directly and that perhaps with importunity and violence will endeavour to draw Men back into the wayes of the World and the pursuit of their lusts Pro. 1. 11 12 13 14. So the same Person declares with what earnestness and restless importunities some of his Companions endeavoured to draw
Discourse on this Subject with some Considerations of that Similitude by which the Scripture so frequently represents the gradual Improvement of Grace and Holiness And this is the growth of Trees and Plants Hos. 14. 5 6. I will be as the dew unto Israel he shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his Roots as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and his smell as Lebanon Isa. 44. 3 4. I will pour water on him that is thirsty and stoods upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine Off-spring and they shall spring up as among the grass as the Willowes by the Water-courses And so in other places very many And we may know that this Similitude is singularly instructive or it would not have been so frequently made use of to this purpose Some few Instances tending to Administer Light in this matter I shall briefly reflect upon 1 These Trees and Plants have the Principle of their growth in themselves They do not grow immediately from external adventitious Aid and Furtherance they grow from their own seminal vertue and radical Moysture It is no otherwise in the Progress of Sanctification and Holiness It hath a Root a Seed a Principle of Growth and Encrease in the Soul of him that is sanctified All Grace is immortal Seed and contains in it a living growing Principle That which hath not in its self a Life and power of Growth is not Grace And therefore what Dutyes soever any men do perform whereunto they are either guided by Natural Light or which they are urged unto by Convictions from the Word if they proceed not from a Principle of Spiritual Life in the Heart they are no fruits of Holiness nor do belong thereunto The Water of Grace which is from Christ is a Well of Water springing up unto Everlasting Life in them on whom it is bestowed Joh. 4. 14. It is therefore of the Nature of Holiness to thrive and grow as it is of a Tree or Plant that have their seminal Vertue in themselves after their kind 2 A Tree or Plant must be watered from above or it will not thrive and grow by vertue of its own seminal power If a Drowth cometh it will wither or decay Wherefore where God mentioneth this growth he ascribes it unto his watering I will be as the Dew and I will pour water is the especial Cause of it It is so in this carrying on of Holiness There is a Nature received capable of Increase and growth but if it be left unto its self it will not thrive it will decay and dye Wherefore God is unto it as the Dew and pours water on it by the actual supplyes of the Spirit as we have shewed before 3 The growth of Trees and Plants is secret and imperceptible nor is discerned but in the Effects and Consequences of it The most watchfull Eye can discern little of its motion Crescit Occulto velut arbor avo It is no otherwise in the progress of Holiness It is not immediately discernible either by themselves in whom it is or by others that make Observation of it It lyes only under the Eye of him by whom it is wrought Only by the Fruits and Effects of it is made manifest And some indeed especially in some seasons do plainly and evidently thrive and grow springing up like the Willowes by the Water-courses Though their growth in its self is indiscernible yet it is plain they have grown Such we ought all to be The growth of some I say is manifest on every Triall on every occasion their profiting is visible to all And as some say that the growth of Plants is not by a constant insensible progress but they encrease by suddain Gusts and Motions which may sometimes be discerned in the Openings of Budds and Flowers so the growth of Believers consists principally in some intense vigorous actings of Grace on great Occasions as of Faith Love Humility Self-denial Bounty And he who hath not some Experience of such actings of Grace in especial Instances can have little Evidence of his Growth Again there are Trees and Plants that have the Principle of Life and Growth in them but yet are so withering and unthrifty that you can only discern them to be alive And so it is with too many Believers They are all Trees planted in the Garden of God some thrive some decay for a season but the growth of the best is secret Sect. 9 From what hath been proved it is evident that the work of Sanctification is a progressive Work that Holiness is gradually carryed on in us by it towards Perfection It is neither wrought nor compleated at once in us as is Regeneration nor doth it cease under any Attainments or in any Condition of Life but is thriving and carryed on A River continually fed by a Living Fountain may as soon end its streams before it come to the Ocean as a stop be put to the Course and Progress of Grace before it issues in Glory For the path of the Just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more to the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. So is their Path wherein they are led and conducted by the Holy Spirit even as the Morning Light which after it once appears thought it may be sometimes clouded yet faileth not untill it arrive unto its Perfection And as the Wisdom Patience Faithfulness and Power which the Holy Spirit of God exerciseth herein are unutterable so are they constantly admired by all that are interested in them So are they by the Psalmist Psal. 66. 8 9. Psal. 31. 17. Who is there who hath made any diligent Observation of his own Heart and Wayes and what have been the workings of the Grace of God in him and towards him to bring him unto the Stature and Measure whereunto he is arrived that doth not admire the watchful Care and powerfull workings of the Spirit of God therein The Principle of our Holiness as in us is weak and infirm because it is in us in some to so low a Degree as is oft-times unto themselves imperceptible This he preserves and Cherisheth that it shall not be overpowered by Corruptions and Temptations Among all the glorious works of God next unto that of Redemption by Jesus Christ my Soul doth most admire this of the Spirit in preserving the Seed and Principle of Holiness in us as a spark of living Fire in the midst of the Ocean against all Corruptions and Temptations wherewith it is impugned Many Breaches are made in and upon our Course of Obedience by the Incursions of Actual sins these he cures and makes up healing our backslidings and repairing our Decayes And he acts the Grace we have received by constant fresh Supplyes He wants much of the Comfort and Joy of a Spiritual Life who doth not diligently observe the Wayes and Means whereby it is preserved and promoted And it is no small part of
deceive not themselves with a partial work in Conviction only or Change of the Affections also in stead of this Evangelical Sanctification It is often and truely spoken unto how men may have their Minds enlightened their Affections wrought upon and their Lives much changed and yet come short of reall Holiness The best tryal of this Work is by its Vniversality with respect unto its Subject If any thing remain unsanctified in us sin may there set up its Throne and maintain its Sovereignty But where this Work is true and reall however weak and imperfect it may be as unto its Degrees yet it possesseth the whole Person and leaveth not the least hold unto sin wherein it doth not continually combat and conflict with it There is saving Light in the Mind and Life in the Will and Love in the Affections and Grace in the Conscience suited to its Nature there is nothing in us whereunto the Power of Holiness doth not reach according to its measure Men may therefore if they please deceive themselves by taking up with some Notions in their Minds some Devotions in their Affections or some good and vertuous Deeds in their Conversations but Holiness doth not consist therein And Lastly men may hence see how vainly they excuse themselves in their Sins their Passions Intemperances and the like disorders of Mind from their Constitutions and Inclinations for true Sanctification reacheth unto the Body also It is true Grace doth not so change the natural Constitution as to make him that was sickly healthy and strong nor so as to make him who was Melancholy to be Sanguine or the like it altereth not the course of the Blood the animal spirits with the Impressions they make on our Minds But consider these things Morally and as the whole Person is a Principle of Spiritual and Moral Operations and so it doth work that Change and Alteration on the whole Person as to cure Morally sinfull distempers as of Passion Elation of Mind and Intemperancies which men were before more than ordinarily inclined unto by their Tempers and Constitutions Yea from the Efficacy of it upon our whole Persons in the curing of such habitual inordinate and sinfull distempers lyes the principal discovery of its Truth and Reality Let no men therefore pretend that Grace and Holiness do not change mens Constitutions thereby to excuse and palliate their disorderly Passions before men and to keep themselves from being humbled for them before God For although it do not so naturally and physically yet it doth so Morally so that the Constitution it self shall be no more such a fomes and Incentive unto disorderly Passions as it hath been If Grace hath not cured that Passion Pride Causeless Anger Inveterate Wrath Intemperance which mens Constitutions peculiarly incline unto I know not for my part what it hath done nor what a number of outward Dutyes do signifie The Spirit and Grace of Christ causeth the Wolf to dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard to lye down with the Kid Isa. 11. 6. It will change the most wild and savage Natures into Meekness Gentleness and Kindness Examples whereof have been multiplyed in the World CHAP. IV. The Defilement of Sin wherein it consists with its Purification 1 Purification the first proper Notion of Sanctification 2 Institution of Baptisme confirming the same Apprehension 3 A Spiritual Defilement and Pollution in Sin 4 The Nature of that Defilement or wherein it doth consist 5 Depravations of Nature and Acts with respect unto Gods Holiness How and Why called Filth and Pollution 6 Two-fold Pravity and Defilement of Sin Its Aggravations We cannot purge it of our selves nor could it be done by the Law nor by any Wayes invented by men for that End Sect. 1 THese things being premised we proceed to the Consideration of Sanctification it self in a further Explication of the Description before given And the first thing we ascribe unto the Spirit of God herein which constitutes the first part of it is the Purifying and cleansing of our Natures from the Pollution of Sin Purification is the first proper Notion of internal real Sanctification And although in order of Time it do not precede the other Acts and parts of this Work yet in order of Nature it is first proposed and apprehended To be unclean absolutely and to be Holy are universally opposed Not to be purged from sin is an Expression of an unholy Person as to be cleansed is of him that is holy And this Purification or the effecting of this Work of Cleansing is ascribed unto all the Causes and Means of Sanctification As 1 unto the Spirit who is the principal Efficient of the whole Not that Sanctification consists wholly herein but firstly and necessarily it is required thereunto Prov. 30. 12. Ezek. 36. 25. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you That this sprinkling of clean Water upon us is the Communication of the Spirit unto us for the End designed I have before evinced It hath also been declared wherefore he is called Water or compared thereunto And the next Verse shews expressly that it is the Spirit of God which is intended I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes And that which he is thus in the first place promised for is the Cleansing of us from the Pollution of sin which in order of Nature is preposed unto his enabling us to walk in Gods Statutes or to yield holy Obedience unto him To the same purpose among many others is that Promise Isa. 4. 4. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Hierusalem by the Spirit of Judgment and the Spirit of Burning Upon what ground the Spirit is compared to Fire and thence here called a Spirit of Burning hath been also declared In brief Fire and Water were the Means whereby all things were purified and cleansed Typically in the Law Numb 31. 23. And the Holy Spirit being the principal Efficient Cause of all spiritual cleansing is compared to them both by which his Work was signified and called by their names See Mal. 3. 2 3. And Judgment is frequently taken for Holiness The Spirit of Judgment therefore and the Spirit of Burning is the Spirit of Sanctification and Purification And he is here promised for the Sanctification of the Elect of God And how shall he effect this Work He shall do it in the first place by washing away their filth and purging away their blood that is all their spiritual sinfull Defilements 2 The Application of the Death and Blood of Christ unto our Souls for our Sanctification by the Holy Ghost is said to be for our cleansing and purging Ephes. 5. 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word He gave
by their own Fear which is the inseparable Adjunct of it so are they taught the Filth of sin by their own Shame which unavoidably attends it To instruct us herein is one End of the Law and the Gospel For in the Renovation of the Law which was added to the Promise because of Transgressions Gal. 3. 19. and in the Institutions annexed unto it God designed to instruct us further in them both with the Wayes whereby we may be freed from them In the Doctrine of the Law with the Sanction and Curse of it and the Institution of Sacrifices to make Attonement for sin God declared the Nature of Guilt and its Remedy By the same Law and by the Institution of sundry Ordinances for Purification and cleansing as also by determining sundry Ceremonial Defilements he makes known the Nature of this Filth and its Remedy To what End were so many Meats and Drinks so many Diseases and Natural Distempers so many external fortuitous Accidents as touching the Dead and the like made Religiously unclean by the Law It was to no other but to teach us the Nature of the spiritual Defilement of sin And to the same End together with a Demonstration of the Relief and Remedy thereof were the Ordinances of Purification instituted which as they were Outward and Carnal purged those Uncleannesses as they also were Outward and Carnal made so by the Law But Internal and Spiritual things were taught and presigured hereby yea wrought and effected by vertue of their Typical Relation to Christ as the Apostle teacheth Heb. 9. 13 14. For it the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heyfer sprinkling the unclean sanctifyeth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ purge our Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God And hence the whole Work of Sanctification is expressed by opening a Fountain for sin and for uncleanness that is the purging of them away Zech. 13. 1. So is it in the Gospel where the Blood of Christ is said to purge our sins with respect to Guilt and to wash our Souls with respect to Filth Yea so inseparable is this Filth from sin and Shame from Filth that wherever abides a sence of sin there is a sence of this Filth with Shame The very Heathen who had only the workings of their own Minds and Consciences for their Guide were never able to quit themselves from a sence of this Pollution of sin And thence proceeded all those wayes of Lustration Purgation and Cleansing by Washings Sacrifices and Mysterious Ceremonious Observances which they had invented It remains therefore only that we enquire a little into the Reasons and Causes why this pravity of sin and discrepancy from the Holiness of God is such a Defilement of our Natures and so inseparably attended with shame For without the Consideration hereof we can never understand the true Nature of Sanctification and Holiness And it will also then yet further appear how openly they betray their prodigious Ignorance of these things who contend that all Grace consists in the Practice of Moral Vertues And we may to this Purpose observe Sect. 3 1 That the Spiritual Beauty and Comeliness of the Soul consists in its Conformity unto God Grace gives Beauty Hence it is said of the Lord Christ That he is fairer or more beautifull than the Children of Men and that because Grace was poured into his lips Psal. 45. 2. And when the Church is furnished or adorned with his Graces he affirms her to be Fair and Comely Cant. 1. 5. chap. 6. 4. chap. 7. 6. Christ by washing of it takes away its spots and wrinkles rendring it beautifull that is Holy and without blemish Ephes. 5. 27. And this Beauty Originally consisted in the Image of God in us which contained the whole Order Harmony and Symmetry of our Natures in all their Faculties and Actions with respect unto God and our utmost End That therefore which is contrary hereunto as is all and every sin hath a Deformity in it or brings Spots Stains and Wrinkles on the Soul There is in sin all that is contrary to spiritual Beauty and Comeliness to inward Order and Glory and this is the Filth and Pollution of it 2 Holiness and Conformity to God is the Honour of our Souls It is that alone which makes them truely Noble For all Honour consists in an Accession unto Him who is the only Spring and absolute Possessour of all that is so in whom alone is Originally and Perfectly all Being and Substance Now this we have alone by Holiness or that Image of God wherein we were created Whatever is contrary hereunto is base vile and unworthy This is sin which is therefore the only base thing in Nature Hence it is said of some great Sinners that they had debased themselves to Hell Isa. 57. 9. This belongs to the Pollution of Sin that it is base vile unworthy dishonouring the Soul filling it with shame in its self and contempt from God And there are no Persons who are not absolutely hardened but are in their own Minds and Consciences sensible of this Baseness of sin as they are also of the Deformity that is in it When mens Eyes are opened to see their Nakedness how vile and base they have made themselves by sin they will have a sence of this Pollution not easily to be expressed And from hence it is that sin hath the Propertyes and Effects of Vncleanness in the sight of God and in the Conscience of the sinner God abhorrs loaths it accounts it an abominable thing as that which is directly contrary to his Holiness which as impressed on the Law is the Rule of Purity Integrity spiritual Beauty and Honour And in the Conscience of the sinner it is attended with Shame as a thing deformed loathsome vile base and dishonourable See Jer. 2. 26. In all in whom it is I say unless they are blind and obdurate it fills them with shame I speak not of such as are little or not at all spiritually sensible of sin or any of its propertyes who fear not because of its Guilt nor are disquieted by its Power not acquainted with its Fomes or Disposition to evil and so not ashamed of its filth much less of such as are given over to all uncleanness with Delight and Greediness wallowing in the pollution of it like the Sow in the Mire who not only do the things which god abhorreth but also have pleasure in them that do them But those I intend who have the least real Conviction of the nature and tendency of sin who are all in one Degree or other ashamed of it as a filthy thing And a Casting off of outward shame that is so from its Object or Shame with respect unto the Conscience and Judgement of Humane Kind as those doe who proclaim their sins as Sodom and hide them not is the highest Aggravation of sinning and Contempt of God and the casting out of
Ray of Supernatural Light The Light of a Natural Conscience will convince Men of and reprove them for actual sins as to their Guilt Rom. 2. 14 15. But the meer Light of Nature is dark and confused about its own Confusion Some of the Old Philosophers discerned in general that our Nature was disordered and complained thereof But as the Principal Reason of their Complaints was because it would not throughout serve the Ends of their Ambition so of the Causes and Nature of it with respect unto God and our Eternal Condition they knew nothing of it at all Nor is it discerned but by a Supernatural Light proceeding immediately from the Spirit of God If any therefore have an Heart or Wisdom to know their own Pollution by sin without which they know nothing of themselves unto any Purpose let them pray for that Directing Light of the Spirit of God without which they can never attain to any usefull Knowledge of it 2. Those who would indeed be purged from the Pollution of Sin must endeavour to be affected with it suitably to the Discovery which they have made of it And as the proper Effect of the Guilt of sin is Fear so the proper Effect of the Filth of sin is Shame No man who hath read the Scriptures can be ignorant how frequently God calls on men to be ashamed and confounded in themselves for the Pollutions and Uncleannesses of their sin So is it expressed in Answer unto what he requires O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God because of our Iniquities Ezra 9. 6. And by another Prophet We lye down in our shame and our Confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God Jerem. 3. 25. And many other such Expressions are there of this Affection of the Mind with respect unto the Pollution of sin But we must observe that there is a Two-fold shame with respect unto it 1 That which is Legal or the product of a meer Legal Conviction of Sin Such was that in Adam immediately after his Fall And such is that which God so frequently calls open and profligate sinners unto A shame accompanyed with Dread and Terrour and from which the sinner hath no Relief unless in such sorry Evasions as our First Parents made use of And 2 There is a shame which is Evangelical arising from a mixed Apprehension of the Vileness of sin and the Riches of Gods Grace in the Pardon and Purifying of it For although this latter gives Relief against all terrifying discouraging Effects of shame yet it encreaseth those which tend to genuine self-Abasement and Abhorrency And this God still requires to abide in us as that which tends to the Advancement of his Grace in our Hearts This is fully Expressed by the Prophet Ezek. 16. 60 61 62 63. I will remember my Covenant with thee in the Dayes of thy Youth and I will establish unto thee an Everlasting Covenant then shalt thou remember thy Wayes and be ashamed and I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord God There is a shame and Confusion or face for sin that is a Consequent yea an Effect of Gods renewing his Covenant and thereby giving in the full Pardon of sin as being pacified And the Apostle asks the Romans what Fruit they had in those things whereof they were now ashamed Chap. 6. 21. Now after the Pardon of them they were yet ashamed from the Consideration of their Filth and Vileness But it is shame in the First sence that I here intend as antecedent unto the First Purification of our Natures This may be thought to be in all men but it is plainly otherwise and men are not at all ashamed of their Sins which they manifest in Various Degrees For Sect. 12 1 Many are senceless and stupid no Instruction nothing that befalls them will fix any real shame upon them Of some particular Facts they may be ashamed but for any thing in their Natures they slight and despise it If they can but preserve themselves from the known Guilt of such sins as are punishable amongst Men as to all other things they are secure This is the Condition of the Generality of men living in sin in this World They have no inward shame for any thing between God and their Souls especially not for the Pravity and Defilement of their Natures no although they hear the Doctrine of it never so frequently What may outwardly befall them that is shamefull they are concerned in but for their Internal Pollutions between God and their Souls they know none 2 Some have a Boldness and Confidence in their Condition as that which is well and pure enough There is a Generation that is pure in their own Eyes yet are they not washed from their Filthiness Prov. 30. 12. Although they were never sprinkled with the pure Water of the Covenant or cleansed by the Holy Spirit although their Consciences were never purged from dead Works by the Blood of Christ nor their Hearts purified by Faith and so are no Way washed from their Filthiness yet do they please themselves in their Condition as pure in their own Eyes and have not the least sence of any Defilement Such a Generation were the Pharisees of Old who esteemed themselves as clean as their Hands and Cups that they were continually washing though within they were filled with all manner of Defilements Isa. 65. 4 5. And this Generation is such as indeed despise all that is spoken about the Pollution of Sin and its Purification and deride it as Enthusiastical or a fulsome Metaphor not to be understood 3 Others proceed farther and are so far from taking shame to themselves for what they are or what they doe as that they openly Boast of and Glory in the most shamefull sins that Humane Nature can contract the Guilt of They proclaim their Sins saith the Prophet like Sodom where all the People consented together in the Perpetration of Unnatural Lusts. They are not at all ashamed but Glory in the things which because they do not here will hereafter fill them with Confusion of Face Jerem. 6. 15. Chap. 8. 12. And where once Sin gets this Confidence wherein it compleats a Conquest over the Law the in-bred Light of Nature the Convictions of the Spirit and in a word God himself then is it ripe for Judgement And yet is there a higher Degree of shamelesness in sin For 4 Some content not themselves with Boasting in their own Sins but also they approve and delight in all those who give up themselves unto the like Out-rage in Sinning with themselves This the Apostle expresseth as the highest Degree of shameless sinning Rom. 1. 32. Who knowing the Judgement of God that they which Commit
thereof Such a Spiritual Heavenly Supernatural Life so denominated from its Nature Causes Acts and Ends we must be partakers of in this World if ever we mind to attain Eternal Life in another Sect. 7 And herein we shall take what View we are able of the Nature Glory and Beauty of Holiness and do confess it is but little of them which I can comprehend It is a matter indeed often spoken unto but the Essence and true Nature of it are much hidden from the Eyes of all living men The sence of what the Scripture proposeth what I believe and what I desire an Experience of that I shall endeavour to declare But as we are not in this Life perfect in the Duties of Holiness no more are we in the Knowledge of its Nature First therefore I say it is a gracious supernatural Habit or a Principle of spiritual Life And with respect hereunto I shall briefly do these three things 1. Shew what I mean by such an Habit. 2. Prove that there is such an Habit required unto Holiness yea that the Nature of Holiness consists therein 3. Declare in general the Properties of it Sect. 8 1. Our First Enquiry is after the Essence and form of Holiness that from which any one is truely and really made and denominated Holy or what is the formal Reason of that Holiness which our Nature is partaker of in this World This must be something peculiar something excellent and sacred as that which constitutes the great and only Difference that is between Mankind on their own part in the sight of God with respect unto Eternity Every one that hath this Holiness pleaseth God is accepted with him and shall come to the Enjoyment of him And every one that hath it not is rejected of him here and hereafter And this Holiness in the first place doth not consist in any single Acts of Obedience unto God though good in their own Nature and acceptable unto him For such Acts may be performed yea many of them by unholy persons with Examples whereof the Scripture aboundeth Cain's Sacrifice and Ahab's Repentance were signal single Acts of Obedience materially yet no Acts of Holiness formally nor did either make or denominate them Holy And our Apostle tells us that men may give all their Goods to the Poor and their Bodies to be burned and yet be nothing 1 Cor. 13. yet in single Acts who can go further Such Fruits may spring from Seed that hath no Root Single Acts may evidence Holiness as Abraham's Obedience in sacrificing his Son but they constitute none Holy nor will a series a Course a Multiplication of Acts and Duties of Obedience either constitute or denominate any one so Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14 15. All the Duties a series and Multiplication whereof are there rejected for want of Holiness were good in themselves and appointed of God Nor doth it consist in an Habitual Disposition of Mind unto any outward Duties of Piety Devotion or Obedience however obtained or acquired Such Habits there are both Intellectual and Morall Intellectual Habits are Arts and Sciences When men by Custom Usuage and frequent Acts in the Exercise of any Science Art or Mystery do get a ready Facility in and unto all the Parts and Duties of it they have an Intellectual Habit therein It is so in things Morall as to Vertues and Vices There are some seeds and sparks of Moral Vertues remaining in the Ruines of depraved Nature as of Justice Temperance Fortitude and the like Hence God calls on profligate Sinners to remember and shew themselves Men or not to act contrary to the Principles and Light of Nature which are inseparable from us as we are Men Isa. 46. 8. These Principles may be so excited in the Exercise of Natural Light and improved by Education Instruction and Example untill persons by an assiduous diligent performance of the Acts and Duties of them may attain such a Readiness unto them and Facility in them as is not by any outward Means easily changed or diverted and this is a Moral Habit in like manner in the Duties of Piety and Religion in Acts of outward Obedience unto God men by the same Means may so accustom themselves unto them as to have an habitual Disposition unto their Exercise I doubt not but that it is so unto an high Degree with many superstitious Persons But in all these things the Acts do still precede the Habits of the same nature and kind which are produced by them and not otherwise But this Holiness is such an Habit or Principle as is antecedent unto all Acts of the same kind as we shall prove There never was by any nor ever can be any Act or Duty of true Holiness performed where there was not in Order of Nature antecedently an Habit of Holiness in the Persons by whom they are performed Many Acts and Duties for the substance of them good and approveable may be performed without it but no one that hath the proper Form and Nature of Holiness can be so And the Reason is because every Act of true Holiness must have something supernatural in it from an internal renewed Principle of Grace and that which hath not so be it otherwise what it will is no Act or Duty of true Holiness Sect. 9 And I call this Principle of Holiness an HABIT not as though it were absolutely of the same kind with acquired Habits and would in all things answer to our Conceptions and Descriptions of them But we only call it so because in its Effects and Manner of Operation it agreeth in sundry things with acquired intellectual or moral Habits But it hath much more Conformity unto a natural unchangeable Instict than unto any acquired Habit. Wherefore God chargeth it on men that in their Obedience unto him they did not answer that instinct which is in other Creatures towards their Lords and Benefactors Isa. 1. 3. and which they cordially observe Jerem. 8. 7. But herein God teacheth us more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven Job 35. 11. This therefore is that which I intend A Vertue a Power a Principle of Spiritual Life and Grace wrought created infused into our Souls and in-laid in all the Faculties of them constantly abiding and unchangeably residing in them which is antecedent unto and the next Cause of all Acts of true Holiness whatever And this is that as was said wherein the nature of Holiness doth consist and from which in those that are Adult the actual Discharge of all Duties and Works of Holiness is inseparable This abideth alwayes in and with all that are sanctified whence they are alwayes Holy and not only so when they are actually exercised in the Duties of Holiness Hereby are they prepared disposed and enabled unto all Duties of Obedience as we shall shew immediately and by the Influence hereof into their Acts and Duties do they become Holy and no otherwise Sect. 10 For the further
to have others pray for their Souls and expiate their sins when they were gone out of this World These and the like other innumerable pretended Duties may be judged condemned exploded without the least fear of deterring men from Obedience 2 That wherever there is this Principle of Holiness in the Heart in those that are Adult there will be the Fruits and Effects of it in the Life in all Duties of Righteousness Godliness and Holiness For the main Work and End of this Principle is to enable us to comply with that Grace of God which teacheth us to deny all Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. That which we press for is the great Direction of our Saviour make the Tree good and the Fruit will be so also And there can be no more vile and sordid Hypocrisie than for any to pretend unto inward habitual Sanctification whilest their Lives are barren in the Fruits of Righteousness and Duties of Obedience Wherever this Root is there it will assuredly bear Fruit. Secondly It will appear from hence whence it is that men propose and steer such various Courses with respect unto Holiness All men who profess themselves to be Christians are agreed in words at least that Holiness is absolutely necessary unto them that would be saved by Jesus Christ. To deny it is all one as openly to renounce the Gospel But when they should come to the practice of it some take one false Way some another and some Actually despise and reject it Now all this ariseth from Ignorance of the true Nature of Evangelical Holiness on the one hand and Love of Sin on the other There is nothing wherein we are spiritually and eternally concerned that is more frequently insisted on than is the true Nature of Sanctification and Holiness But the thing it self as hath been declared is deep and mysterious not to be understood without the Aid of spiritual Light in our Minds Hence some would have Moral Vertue to be Holiness which as they suppose they can understand by their own Reason and practise in their own Strength and I heartily wish that we could see more of the Fruits of it from them But real Moral Vertue will hardly be abased into an Opposition unto Grace the Pretence of it will be so easily and is so every day Some on the other hand place all Holiness in superstitious Devotions in the strict Observance of Religious Duties which Men and not God have appointed And there is no end of their Multiplication of them nor measure of the Strictness of some in them The Reason why men give up themselves unto such soul-deceiving Imaginations is their Ignorance and hatred of that only true real Principle of Evangelical Holiness which we have discoursed For what the World knoweth not in these things it alwayes hateth And they cannot discern it clearly or in its own Light and Evidence for it must be spiritually discerned This the Natural man cannot doe 1 Cor. 2. 14. And in that false Light of Corrupted Reason wherein they discern and judge it they esteem it foolishness or Fancy There is not a more Foolish and Fanatical thing in the World with many than that internal habitual Holiness which we are in the Consideration of And hence are they lead to despise and to hate it But here the Love of Sin secretly takeâ— place and influenceth their Minds This universal Change of theâ—â—oul in all its Principles of Operation into the Image and Likeness of God tending to the Extirpation of all sins and vitious Habits is that which men fear and abhorre This makes them take up with Morality and superstitious Devotion any thing that will pacifie a Natural Conscience and please themselves or others with a Reputation of Religion It is therefore highly incumbent on all that would not wilfully deceive their own Souls unto their Eternal Ruine to enquire diligently into the true Nature of Evangelical Holiness and above all to take care that they miss it not in the Foundation in the true Root and Principle of it wherein a mistake will be pernitious Thirdly It is moreover evident from hence that it is a greater matter to be truely and really holy than most Persons are aware of We may learn eminently how great and Excellent a Work this of Sanctification and Holiness is from the Causes of it How emphatically doth our Apostle ascribe it unto God even the Father 1 Thess. 5. 23. Even the God of Peace himself sanctifie you It is so great a Work as that it cannot be wrought by any but the God of Peace himself What is the immediate Work of the Spirit therein what the Influence of the Mediation and Blood of Christ into it hath been already in part declared and we have yet much more to adde in our Account of it And these things do sufficiently manifest how Great how Excellent and Glorious a Work it is For it doth not become Divine and Infinite Wisdom to engage the immediate Power and Efficacy of such glorious Causes and Means for the producing of any ordinary or common Effect It must be somewhat as of great Importance unto the Glory of God so of an Eminent Nature in it self And that little Entrance which we have made into an Enquity after its Nature manifests how Great and Excellent it is Let us not therefore deceive our selves with the Shadowes and Appearances of things in a few Duties of Piety or Righteousness no nor yet with many of them if we find not this great Work at least begun in us It is sad to see what trifling there is in these things amongst men None indeed are contented to be without a Religion and very few are willing to admit it in its Power Fourthly Have we received this Principle of Holiness and of spiritual Life by the gracious Operation of the Holy Ghost there are among many others three Dutyes incumbent on us whereof we ought to be as carefull as of our Souls And the First is Carefully and diligently by all Means to cherish and preserve it in our hearts This Sacred Depositum of the New Creature of the Divine Nature is entrusted with us to take care of to cherish and improve If we willingly or through our neglect suffer it to be wounded by Temptations weakened by Corruptions or not exercised in all known Duties of Obedience our Guilt is great and our Trouble will not be small And then Secondly It is equally incumbent on us to evidence and manifest it by its Fruits in the Mortification of corrupt Lusts and Affections in all Duties of Holiness Righteousness Charity and Piety in the World For that God may be glorified hereby is one of the Ends why he indues our Natures with it And without these visible Fruits we expose our entire Profession of Holiness to reproach And in like manner is it required that we be thankefull for what we have received Sect.
such abundant Testimony unto as to render it unquestionable For we have received the Spirit of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God By vertue of what we have received we know or discern Spiritual things 1 Cor. 2. 12. So we know the mind of Christ v. 15. This is the substance of that double Testimony 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. This abiding Vnction is no other but that habitual inherent Grace which we plead for and by it as it is an holy Light in our Mind we know all things The Understanding that is given us to know him that is True 1 John 5. 20. Only it is their Duty continually to endeavour the improvement and enlargement of the Light they have in the daily Exercise of the spiritual Power they have received and in the use of Means Heb. 5. ult Sect. 33 2 This Power in the Will consists in its Liberty Freedom and Ability to consent unto choose and embrace spiritual Things Believers have Free-will unto that which is spiritually Good For they are freed from that Bondage and slavery unto sin which they were under in the state of Nature Whatever some dispute concerning the Nature of Free-will that it consists in an Indifferency unto Good or Evil one thing or another with a Power of applying it self unto all its Operations whatever their Objects be as the Scripture knoweth nothing of it so it is that which we cannot have and if we could it would be no advantage at all unto us yea we had much better be without it Have it indeed we cannot for a supposition of it includes a Rejection of all our Dependance on God making all the springs of our Actions to be absolutely and formally in our selves Neither considering the Prejudices Temptations and Corruptions that we are possessed and exercised with would such a flexibility of Will be of any Use or Advantage unto us but would rather certainly give us up to the Power of Sin and Sathan All that the Scripture knows about Free-will is that in the state of Nature antecedent unto the Converting sanctifying Work of the Spirit all men whatever are in bondage unto sin and that in all the Faculties of their Souls They are sold under sin are not subject unto the Law of God nor can be can neither think nor will nor doe nor desire nor love any thing that is spiritually Good according to the Mind of God But as unto what is Evil perverse unclean that they are free and open unto ready for prone and inclined and every way able to doe On the other side in those who are renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified it acknowledgeth and teacheth a freedom of Will not in an Indifferency and Flexibility unto Good and Evil but in a Power and Ability to like love choose and cleave unto God and his Will in all things The Will is now freed from its Bondage unto sin and being enlarged by Light and Love willeth and chooseth freely the things of God having received spiritual Power and Ability so to doe It is the Truth that is Faith in the Gospel the Doctrine of the Truth which is the Means of this Freedom The Truth that makes you free Joh. 8. 32. And it is the Son of God by his Spirit who is the principal Efficient cause of it For if the Son make us free then are we free indeed v. 36. and otherwise we are not whatever we pretend And this freedom unto spiritual Good we have not of our selves in the state of Nature for if we have then are we free indeed and there would be no need that the Son should make us free Sect. 34 The Difference therefore about Free-will is reduced unto these Heads 1. Whether there be a Power in Man indifferently to Determine himself his Choice and all his Actings to this or that Good or Evil one thing or another independently on the Will Power and Providence of God and his Disposal of all future Events This indeed we deny as that which is inconsistent with the Prescience Authority Decrees and Dominion of God and as that which would prove certainly ruinous and destructive to our selves 2. Whether there be in men unregenerate not renewed by the Holy Ghost a Freedom Power and Ability unto that which is spiritually good or to Believe and Obey according to the Mind and Will of God This also we deny as that which is contrary to innumerable Testimonies of Scripture and absolutely destructive of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3. Whether the Freedom of Will that is in Believers do consist in an indifferency and freedom from any Determination only with a power equally ready for Good or Evil according as the Will shall determine it self or whether it consist in a Gracious Freedom and Ability to choose will and doe that which is spiritually Good in Opposition to the Bondage and slavery unto sin wherein we were before detained This last is that Liberty and Power of the Will which we assert with the Scripture in persons that are sanctified And a Liberty this is every way consistent with all the Operations of God as the Sovereign first Cause of all things every way complyant with and an Effect of the special Grace of God and the Operations of the Holy Ghost a Liberty whereby our Obedience and Salvation are secured in Answer to the Promises of the Covenant And who that understands himself would change this reall usefull gracious free-will given by Jesus Christ the Son of God when he makes us free and an Effect of Gods writing his Law in our Hearts to cause us to walk in his Statutes that Property of the new Heart whereby it is able to consent unto choose and embrace freely the things of God for that fictitious imaginary freedom yea for it if it were reall of an Indifferency unto all things and an Equal Power unto every thing whether it be Good or Evil. I say then that by the Habit of Grace and Holiness infused into us by the Spirit of Sanctification the Will is freed enlarged and enabled to answer the Commands of God for Obedience according to the Tenor of the New Covenant This is that freedom this is that Power of the Will which the Scripture reveals and regards and which by all the Promises and Precepts of it we are obliged to use and exercise and no other Sect. 35 3 The Affections which naturally are the principal servants and instruments of Sin are hereby engaged unto God Deut. 30. 6. And from what hath been thus far discoursed the sence of our former Assertion is evident as also the Nature of the Principle of Holiness insisted on The Holy Ghost in our Sanctification doth work effect and create in us a new holy spiritual vital Principle of Grace residing in all the Faculties of our Souls according as their especial Nature is capable thereof after the manner of a permanent and prevalent Habit which he cherisheth preserveth encreaseth
may be to Relieve and Cherish them This End is good and so far the Work or Duty it self is good also But the ultimate and General End of this Action may be Self Merit Reputation Praise Compensation for sin committed and not the Glory of God in Christ which vitiates the whole Now Moral Habits acquired by Endeavours answerable unto our Light and Convictions or the Dictates of Enlightened Reason with Resolutions and Perseverance may encline and dispose the Will unto Actions and Works that for the Substance of them are Duties and are capable of having particular Ends that are good but a want of Respect unto the General End allows them not to be any part of Gospel Obedience And this is applicable unto all Moral Habits and Duties whatever But the difference asserted is farther manifested Sect. 45 First From the especial Fountain and Spring of Holiness which constitutes its Nature of another Kind than any Common Grace or Morality can pretend unto And this is Electing Love or Gods Purpose of Election Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and unblameable before him in Love God chooseth us from Eternity that we should be Holy that is with a Design and Purpose to make us so He sets some men apart in his Eternal Purpose as those unto whom he will communicate Holiness It is therefore an especial Work of God in the pursuit of an especial and eternal Purpose This gives it its especial Nature and makes it as was said of another Kind than any Effect of Common Grace whatever That is Holiness which God works in men by his Spirit because he hath chosen them and nothing else is so For he chooseth us unto salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thess. 2. 13. Salvation is the End that God aimeth at in his choosing of us in subordination unto his own Glory which is and must be the Vltimate End of all his Purposes and Decrees or of all the free Acts of his Wisdom and Love The Means which he hath ordained whereby we shall be brought unto this Salvation so designed in his Eternal Purpose is the sanctification of the Spirit Gospel Holiness therefore is the Effect of that Sanctification of the Spirit which God hath designed as the especial Way and Means on their part of bringing the Elect unto Salvation And his choosing of them is the Cause and Reason why he doth so sanctifie them by his Spirit And where our Sanctification is comprized under our Vocation because therein and thereby we are sanctified by the sanctifying Principle of Holiness communicated unto us it is not only reckoned as an Effect and Consequent of our Predestination but is so conjoyned thereunto as to declare that none others are partakers of it but those that are Predestinate Rom. 8. 30. And this Consideration is of it self sufficient to Evince that this Holiness whereof we treat differs essentially from all other Habits of the Mind and Actions proceeding from them as having an especial Nature of its own Whatever there may be in any men of Vertue and Piety or whatever their Endeavours may be in Wayes of Honesty and Duty towards God and Men if the Power and Principle of it in them be not a Fruit of Electing Love of the Spirit of Sanctification given of God for this certain End that we may attain the Salvation whereunto we are chosen it belongeth not unto this Holiness Wherefore the Apostle Peter giving us in charge to use all Diligence whereby we may make our Calling and Election sure that is unto our Souls and in our own Minds prescribes as the Means of it the Exercise and Encrease of those Graces which are its proper Effects 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 10. And the Reason why we see so many glorious Professions of Faith and Obedience utterly to fail as we do is because the Faith so professed was not the Faith of the Elect of God Tit. 1. 1. And the Obedience of it was not the Fruit of that Spirit of Sanctification which God gives to man to make his Purpose of Election infallibly Effectual that so the Purpose of God which is according to Election might stand Rom. 11. And the Election or those Elected might obtain the Grace and Glory designed for them Rom. 11. 5. 7. And it is an Evidence of much spiritual Sloth in us or that which is worse namely that our Graces and Obedience are not genuine and of the true Heavenly Race if we endeavour not to satisfie our selves that they are real Effects of Electing Love Sect. 46 If any one shall enquire How we may know whether the Graces of Holiness which we hope are in us and the Duties that proceed from them are Fruits and Effects of Election seeing such only are genuine and Durable I answer it may be done three wayes 1 By their Growth and Encrease This in ordinary Cases setting aside the Seasons of prevalent Temptations and Desertions is the best Evidence hereof Waters that proceed from a living Fountain encrease in their progress because of the continual Supplyes which they have from their Spring when those which have only Occasional Beginning â—rom showers of Rain or the like do continually decay untill they are dryed up The Graces that come from this Eternal Spring have continual supplyes from it so that if they meet with no violent Obstructions as they may do sometimes for a season they do constantly encrease and thrive And therefore no man can secure his spiritual Comforts one Moment under a sensible decay of Grace For such a decay is a very sufficient Reason why he should call the Truth of all his Grace into Question Where the Spirit of Sanctification is as given in pursuit of the Purpose of Election it is a Well of Water springing up into Everlasting Life Joh. 4. 14. The quietness and satisfaction of Professors under a Decay of Grace is a Soul-ruining security and hath nothing in it of Spiritual Peace Sect. 47 2 We may discern it when we are much stirred up unto diligent Actings and Exercise of Grace out of a sence of that Electing Love from whence all Grace doth proceed It is the Nature of Grace that is the Fruit of Election greatly to affect the Heart and Mind with a sence of the Love that is therein So the Apostle sayes expressely that one Grace exciteth and stirreth up another from a sence of the Love of God which sets them all on work Rom. 5. 2 3 4 5. So God is said to draw us with Loving-kindness because he hath loved us with everlasting love Jerem. 31. 3. That is he gives us such a sence of his everlasting Love as thereby to draw us after him in Faith and Obedience Those Principles of Dutyes in us which are excited only by Fear Awe Hope and the jealous Observances of an awakened Conscience will scarce at any time evince this heavenly Extract unto a spiritual
ver 18. being acted by him and not by the vitious depraved principles of our corrupted Nature Rom. 8. 4. Walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit To walk after the flesh is to have the principles of indwelling sin acting its self in us unto the production and perpetration of actual sins Wherefore to walk after the Spirit is to have the Spirit acting in us to the effecting of all gracious Acts and Duties And this is given unto us in command that we neglect not his motions in us but comply with them in a way of Diligence and Duty see ver 14. 15. So are we injoyned to attend unto particular Duties through the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us 2 Tim. 1. 14. that is through his Assistance without which we can do nothing Sect. 12 2 As we are said to be led and acted by him so he is declared to be the Authour of all gracious Actings in us Galat. 5. 22. 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness temperance All these things are wrought and brought forth in us by the Spirit for they are his fruits And not onely the Habit of them but all their Actings in all their Exercise are from him Every Act of Faith is Faith and every Act of Love is Love and consequently no Act of them is of our selves but every one of them is a fruit of the Spirit of God So in another place he adds an universal affirmative comprehending all instances of particular Graces and their Exercise Ephes. 5. 9. The fruit of the Spirit is in all Goodness and Righteousness and Truth Unto these three heads all Actings of Grace all Duties of Obedience all parts of Holiness may be reduced And it is through the supplies of the Spirit that he trusteth for a good issue of his Obedience Phil. 1. 19. So is it expressely in the Promise of the Covenant Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and doe them This is the whole that God requireth of us and it is all wrought in us by his Spirit So also Chap. 11. 19 20. Jerem. 32. 39 40. All the Obedience and Holiness that God requires of us in the Covenant all Duties and Actings of Grace are promised to be wrought in us by the Spirit after we are assured that of our selves we can doe nothing Sect. 13 3 Particular Graces and their Exercise are assigned unto his acting and working in us Gal. 5. 5. We through the Spirit wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith The hope of the Righteousness of Faith is the thing hoped for thereby All that we look for or expect in this World or hereafter is by the Righteousness of Faith Our quiet waiting for this is an especial Gospel Grace and Duty This we do not of our selves but through the Spirit Phil. 3. 3. We worship God in the Spirit love the brethren in the Spirit Col. 1. 8. we purifie our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren 1 Pet. 1. 22. See Eph. 1. 17. Act. 19. 31. Rom. 5. 5. Rom. 8. 15. 22 26. 1 Thes. 1. 6. Rom. 14. 17. Chap. 15. 13 16. of Faith it is said expressely that it is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes. 2. 7 8. Sect. 14 Thirdly There are Testimonies that are express unto the Position as before laid down Phil. 2. 13. It is God who worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure The things thus wrought are all things that appertain unto our Obedience and Salvation as is evident from the Connexion of the words with v. 12. Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Hereunto two things are required 1 Power for such Operations or for all the Duties of Holiness and Obedience that are required of us That this we are indued withall that this is wrought in us bestowed upon us by the Holy Ghost hath been before abundantly confirmed But when this is done for us is there ought else yet remaining to be done Yea 2 There is the Actual Exercise of the Grace we have received How may this be Exercised All the whole work of Grace consists in the internal Acts of our Wills and external Operations in Duties suitable thereunto This therefore is incumbent on us this we are to look unto in our selves it is our Duty so to do namely to stir up and exercise the Grace we have received in and unto its proper Operations But it is so our Duty as that of our selves we cannot perform it It is God who worketh effectually in us all those gracious Acts of our Wills and all holy Operations in a way of Duty Every Act of our Wills so far as it is Gracious and Holy is the Act of the Spirit of God efficiently He worketh in us to will or the very Act of willing To say he doth only perswade us or excite and stirre up our Wills by his Grace to put forth their own Acts is to say he doth not do what the Apostle affirms him to do For if the gracious Actings of our Wills be so our own as not to be his he doth not work in us to will but only perswadeth us so to do But the same Apostle utterly excludeth this pretense 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured abundantly yet not I but the grace of God which was with me He had a Necessity incumbent on him of declaring the great labour he had undergone and the pains he had taken in preaching of the Gospel But yet immediately least any one should apprehend that he ascribed any thing to himself any gracious holy Actings in those Labours he addes his usual Epanorthosis Not I let me not be mistaken it was not I by any power of mine by any thing in me but it was all wrought in me by the free Grace of the Spirit of God Not I but Grace is the Apostles Assertion Suppose now that God by his Grace doth no more but aid assist and excite the Will in its Actings that he doth not effectually work all the gracious Actings of our Souls in all our Duties the Proposition would hold on the other hand Not Grace but I seeing the principal Relation of the Effect is unto the next and immediate Cause and thence hath it its Denomination And as he worketh them To Will in us so also To Doe that is Effectually to perform those Duties whereunto the gracious actings of our Wills are required Sect. 15 And what hath been spoken may suffice to prove that the Holy Spirit as the Author of our Sanctification worketh also in us all gracious Acts of Faith Love and Obedience wherein the first Part of our Actual Holiness and Righteousness doth consist And the Truth thus confirmed may be further improved unto our Instruction and Edification 1 It is easily hence discernible How contrary are the Designs
and Expressions of the Scripture and the Notions of some Men among us There is not any thing that is good in us nothing that is done well by us in the way of Obedience but the Scripture expressely and frequently assigns it unto the immediate Operations of the Holy Spirit in us It doth so in general as to all gracious Actings whatever and not content therewith it proposeth every Grace and every Holy Duty distinctly affirming the Holy Ghost to be the immediate Author of them And when it comes to make mention of us it positively indeed prescribes our Duty to us but as plainly lets us know that we have no power in or from our selves to perform it But some men speak and preach and write utterly to another purpose The Freedom Liberty Power and Ability of our own Wills the Light Guidance and Direction of our own Minds Reasons and from all our own Performance of all the Duties of Faith and Obedience are the 〈◊〉 of their Discourses and that in Opposition unto what is aâ—â—â—bed in the Scriptures unto the Immediate Operations of the Holy Ghost They are all for Grace Not I but Grace not I but Christ without him we can do nothing These are all for our Wills not Grace but our Wills doe all It is not more plainly affirmed in the Scripture that God created Heaven and Earth that he sustains and preserves all things by his Power than that he creates grace in the Hearts of Believers preserves it acts it and makes it effectual working all our Works for us and all our Duties in us But Evasions must be found out strange forced uncouth sences be put upon plain frequently repeated Expressions to secure the Honour of our Wills and to take care that all the Good we doe may not be assigned to the Grace of God To this purpose Distinctions are coyned Evasions invented and such an Explanation is given of all Divine Operations as renders them useless and insignificant Yea it is almost grown if not Criminal yet weak and ridiculous in the Judgement of some That any should assign those Works and Operations to the Spirit of God which the Scripture doth in the very words that the Scripture useth To lessen the Corruption and Depravation of our Nature by Sin to extoll the Integrity and Power of our Reasons to maintain the Freedom and Ability of our Wills in and unto things spiritually Good to resolve the Conversion of men unto God into their Natural good Dispositions Inclinations and the right use of their Reason to render Holiness to be only a Probity of Life or Honesty of Conversation upon rational Motives and Considerations are the things that men are now almost wearied with the Repetition of Scarce a Person that hath Confidence to commence for Reputation in the World but immediately he furnisheth himself with some new tinkling Ornaments for these old Pelagian Figments But whoever shall take an impartial View of the Design and constant Doctrine of the Scripture in this matter will not be easily carryed away with the plausible Pretences of men exalting their own Wills and Abilities in Opposition to the Spirit and Grace of God by Jesus Christ. Sect. 16 2 From what hath been discoursed a further discovery is made of the Nature of Gospel Obedience of all the Acts of our Souls therein and of the Duties that belong thereunto It is commonly granted that there is a great difference between the Acts and Duties that are truely gracious and those which are called by the same name that are not so as in any Duties of Faith of Prayer of Charity But this difference is supposed generally to be in the Adjuncts of those Duties in some properties of them but not in the kind nature or substance of the Acts of our minds in them Nay it is commonly said that whereas wicked men are said to believe and doe many things gladly in a way of Obedience what they so doe is for the substance of the Acts they perform the same with those of them who are truely Regenerate and Sanctified They may differ in their Principle and End but as to their Substance or Essence they are the same But there is no small mistake herein All gracious Actings of our Minds and Souls whether internal only in Faith Love or Delight or whether they go out unto external Duties required in the Gospel being wrought in us by the immediate Efficacy of the Spirit of Grace differ in their Kind in their Essence and substance of the Acts themselves from whatever is not so wrought or effected in us For whatever may be done by any one in any acting of common Grace or performance of any Duty of Obedience being educed out of the power of the Natural Faculties of men excited by Convictions as directed and enforced by Reasons and Exhortations or assisted by common Aids of what nature soever they are natural as to their kind and they have no other substance or Being but what is so But that which is wrought in us by the especial Grace of the Holy Ghost in the way mentioned is supernatural as being not educed out of the Powers of our natural Faculties but an immediate Effect of the Almighty supernatural Efficacy of the Grace of God And therefore the sole Reason why God accepts and rewards Duties of Obedience in them that are sanctified and regardeth not those which for the outward Matter and Manner of Performance are the same with them as unto Abel and his Offering he had respect but he had no respect unto Cain and his Offering Gen. 4. 4 5. is not taken from the State and Condition of the Persons that perform them only though that also have an influence thereinto but from the Nature of the Acts and Duties themselves also He never accepts and rejects Duties of the same Kind absolutely with respect unto the Persons that do perform them The Duties themselves are of a different Kind Those which he accepts are supernatural Effects of his own Spirit in us whereon he rewardeth and crowneth the Fruits of his own Grace And as for what he rejects whatever Appearance it may have of a Complyance with the outward Command it hath nothing in it that is supernaturally Gracious and so is not of the same Kind with what he doth accept CHAP. VIII Mortification of Sin the Nature and Causes of it 1 Mortification of Sin the Second Part of Sanctification 2 Frequently prescribed and enjoyned as a Duty 3 What the Name signifies with the Reason thereof 4 As also that of Crucifying Sin 5 The Nature of the Mortification of Sin explained 6 In-dwelling Sin in its Principle Operations and Effects the Object of Mortification 7 Contrariety between Sin and Grace 8 Mortification a Part-taking with the whole Interest of Grace against Sin 9 How Sin is Mortified and why the Subduing of it is so called 10 Directions for the right Discharge of this Duty 13 Nature of it unknown to many 15 The Holy Spirit
the Author and Cause of Mortification in us 21 The Manner of the Operation of the Spirit in the Mortification of Sin 22 Particular Means of the Mortification of Sin 23 Duties necessary unto the Mortification of Sin directed unto by the Holy Ghost 24 Mistakes and Errors of Persons failing in this matter 28 How Spiritual Duties are to be managed that Sin may be mortified 33 Influence of the Vertue of the Death of Christ as applyed by the Holy Spirit into the Mortification of Sin Sect. 1 THere is yet another Part or Effect of our Sanctification by the Holy Ghost which consisteth in and is called Mortification of Sin As what we have already insisted on concerneth the Improvement and Practice of the Principle of Grace wherewithall Believers are indued so what we now propose concerneth the Weakning Impairing and Destroying of the Contrary Principle of Sin in its Root and Fruits in its Principle and Actings And whereas the Spirit of God is every where said to sanctifie us we our selves are commanded and said constantly to mortifie our Sins For Sanctification expresseth Grace communicated and received in general Mortification Grace as so received improved and acted unto a certain End And I shall be brief in the handling of it because I have formerly published a small Discourse on the same Subject And there are two things that I shall speak unto 1 The Nature of the Duty it self 2 The Manner how it is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost which I principally intend Sect. 2 It is known that this Duty is frequently enjoyned and prescribed unto us Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your Members that are on the Earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Iâ—â—atry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be supplyed Mortifie your Members that are on the Earth that is your carnal earthly Affections avoyding or by avoyding Fornication c. And so a distinction is made between carnal Affections and their Fruits Or the special sins mentioned are instances of these carnal Affections Mortifie your carnal Affections namely Fornication and the like wherein there is a Metonymy of the Effect for the Cause And they are called our Members 1 Because as the whole Principle of sin and Course of sinning which proceedeth from it being called the Body of Sin Rom. 6. 6. or the Body of the Sins of the Flesh Col. 2. 11. with respect thereunto these particular Lusts are here called the members of that Body Mortifie your members For that he intends not the Parts or Members of our Natural Bodyes as though they were to be destroyed as they seem to imagine who place Mortification in outward Afflictions and Macerations of the Body he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are on the Earth that is Earthly carnal and sensual 2 These Affections and Lusts the Old man that is our depraved Nature useth naturally and readily as the Body doth its Members And which addes Efficacy unto the Allusion by them it draws the very Members of the Body into a complyance with it and the service of it against which we are cautioned by our Apostle Rom. 6. 12. Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal Bodies that is our natural Bodies that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof which Exhortation he pursues v. 19. as ye have yielded your Members servants unto Vncleanness and to Iniquity unto Iniquity even so now yield your Members servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Which some neglecting do take the Members of Christ that is of their own Bodies which are the Members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot 1 Cor. 6. 15. And many other Commands there are to the same purpose which will afterwards occurre Sect. 3 And concerning this great Duty we may consider three things 1. The Name of it whereby it is exressed 2. The Nature of it wherein it consists 3. The Means and Way whereby it is effected and wrought First For the Name it is two wayes expressed and both of them Metaphorical 1 By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render to mortifie our selves The first is used Col. 3. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is mortifie that is Extinguish and destroy all that Force and Vigour of Corrupted Nature which enclines to earthly carnal things opposite unto that spiritual Heavenly Life and its actings which we have in and from Christ as was before declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is eneco morte macto to kill to affect with or destroy by Death But yet this word is used by our Apostle not absolutely to destroy and to kill so as that which is so mortified or killed should no more have any Being but that it should be rendred useless as unto what its strength and vigour would produce So he expresseth the Effects of it in the passive word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4. 19. He considered not his own Body now dead now mortified The Body of Abraham was not then absolutely dead only the natural Force and Vigour of it was exceedingly abated And so he seems to mollifie this Expression Heb. 11. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we well render of one and him as good as Dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating a Respect unto the thing treated of So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mortifie signifies a continued Act in taking away the Power and Force of any thing untill it comes to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dead unto some certain Ends or Purposes as we shall see it is in the Mortification of sin Rom. 8. 13. If ye through the Spirit doe mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another word to the same purpose it signifies as the other doth to put to death But it is used in the Present Tense to denote that it is a work which must be alwayes doing If ye do mortifie that is If you are alwayes and constantly imployed in that work And what the Apostle here calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deeds of the Body he therein expresseth the Effect for the Cause Metonymically For he intends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he expresseth the same thing Gal. 5. 24. The Flesh with its Affections and Lusts whence all the corrupt Deeds wherein the Body is instrumental do arise Sect. 4 2 The same Duty with relation unto the Death of Christ as the Meritorious Efficient and Exemplary Cause is expressed by Crucifying Rom. 6. 6. Our old Man is Crucifyed with him Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ Chap. 5. 20. They that are Christs have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. Chap. 6. 14. By the Lord Jesus Christ the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World Now as perhaps there may be something intimated herein of the Manner of mortification of sin which is Gradually carryed on unto its final Destruction as a Man dyes on the Cross yet that which is principally
Prayes as he ought no man joyns in Prayer with another who prayes as he ought but these Petitions are a part of his Prayer Especially will they be so and ought they so to be when the Mind is peculiarly engaged in the Design of destroying sin And these Petitions or Requests are as far as they are gracious and effectual wrought in us by the Holy Ghost who therein maketh intercession for us according to the Will of God And hereby doth he carry on this work of the Mortification of sin for his Work it is He makes us to put up prevalent Requests unto God for such continual supplyes of Grace whereby it may be constantly kept under and at length destroyed And this is the first way whereby this Duty hath an Influence into Mortification namely Morally and by way of Impetration Sect. 32 Secondly This Duty hath a real Efficiency unto the same End It doth its self when rightly performed and duly attended unto mightily prevail unto the weakning and Destruction of sin For in and by fervent Prayer especially when it is designed unto this End the Habit Frame and Inclinations of the Soul unto universal Holiness with a Detestation of all sin are increased cherished and strengthened The soul of a Believer is never raised unto a higher Intension of spirit in the pursuit of love unto and delight in Holiness nor is more conformed unto it or cast into the mould of it than it is in Prayer And frequency in this Duty is a principal means to fix and consolidate the mind in the form and likeness of it And hence doe Believers oft-times continue in and come off from Prayer above all Impressions from sin as to Inclinations and Complyances Would such a frame alwayes continue how happy were we But abiding in the Duty is the best way of reaching out after it I say therefore that this Duty is really Efficient of the Mortification of sin because therein all the Graces whereby it is opposed and weakened are excited exercised and improved unto that End as also the Detestation and Abhorency of sin is increased in us And where this is not so there are some secret flaws in the Prayers of men which it will be their wisdom to find out and heal Sect. 33 Fourthly The Holy Spirit carrieth on this work by applying in an especial manner the death of Christ unto us for that end And this is another thing which because the World understandeth not it doth despise But yet in whomsoever the Death of Christ is not the death of sin he shall dye in his sins To evidence this Truth we may observe 1 in general That the Death of Christ hath an especial influence into the Mortification of sin without which it will not be Mortified This is plainly enough testified unto in the Scripture By his Cross that is his Death on the Cross We are crucified unto the world Gal. 6. 14. Our old man is crucified with him that the Body of sin might be destroyed Rom. 6. 6. That is sin is Mortified in us by vertue of the Death of Christ 2 In the Death of Christ with respect unto sin there may be considedered 1. His Oblation of himself and 2. The Application thereof unto us By the first it is that our sins are expiated as unto their Guilt but from the latter it is that they are actually subdued as to their Power For it is by an Interest in and a participation of the Benefits of his Death which we call the Application of it unto us Hereon are we said to be buried with him and to rise with him whereof our Baptism is a pledge Rom. 6. 3 4. not in an outward Representation as some imagine of being dipped under the water and taken up again which were to make one sign the sign of another but in a powerful Participation of the vertue of the Death and Life of Christ in a death unto sin and newness of life in Holy Obedience which Baptisme is a pledge of as it is a token of our initiation and implanting into him So are we said to be baptized into his death or into the likeness of it that is into its power ver 3. 3 The old man is said to be crucified with Christ or sin to be Mortified by the Death of Christ as was in part before observed on two Accounts 1 Of Conformity Christ is the Head the Beginning or Idea of the New Creation The first born of every Creature Whatever God designeth unto us therein he first exemplified in Jesus Christ And we are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. Hereof the Apostle gives us an express instance in the Resurrection Christ the first Fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming 1 Cor. 15. 23. It is so in all things all that is wrought in us it is in resemblance and conformity unto Christ. Particularly we are by Grace planted into the likeness of his Death Rom. 6. 5. being made conformable unto his Death Phil. 3. 10. and so to be dead with Christ Col. 2. 20. Now this conformity is not in our Natural Death nor in our being put to death as he was for it is that which we are made partakers of in this Life and that in a way of Grace and Mercy But Christ died for sin for our sin which was the meritorious procuring cause thereof And he lived again by the Power of God A likeness and conformity hereunto God will work in all Believers There is by nature a Life of sin in them as hath been declared This Life must be destroyed sin must dye in us and we thereby become dead unto sin And as he rose again So are we to be quickened in and unto newness of life In this death of sin consists that Mortification which we treat about and without which we cannot be conformed unto Christ in his Death which we are designed unto And the same Spirit which wrought these things in Christ will in the pursuit of his Design work that which answers unto them in all his Members Sect. 34 2 In respect of Efficacy vertue goeth forth from the Death of Christ for the subduing and Destruction of sin It was not designed to be a dead unactive passive Example but it is accompanied with a Power conforming and changing us into its own likeness It is the Ordinance of God unto that End which he therefore gives efficacy unto It is by a fellowship or participation in his sufferings that we are made conformable to his Death Phil. 3. 10. this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an interest in the Benefit of his suffering we also are made partakers thereof This makes us conformable to his Death in the Death of sin in us The Death of Christ is designed to be the Death of sin let them who are dead in sin deride it whilest they please If Christ had not dyed sin had never dyed in any sinner unto Eternity Wherefore that
and prompt them unto not to endeavour after that universal Holiness which alone will be accepted with him is a deplorable Folly Such men seem to Worship an Idol all their dayes For he that doth not endeavour to be like unto God doth contrarily think wickedly that God is like unto himself It is true our Interest in God is not built upon our Holiness but it is as true that we have none without it Were this Principle once well fixed in the Minds of men that without Holiness no man shall see God and that enforced from the Consideration of the Nature of God himself it could not but influence them unto a greater Diligence about it than the most seem to be engaged in Sect. 15 There is indeed amongst us a great Plea for Morality or for Moral Vertue I wish it be more out of Love to Vertue its self and a Conviction of its Vsefulness than out of a Design to cast Contempt on the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel as it is declared by the faithfull Dispensers of it However we are bound to believe the Best of all men Where we see those who so plead for Moral Vertues to be in their own Persons and in their Lives modest sober humble patient self-denying charitable usefull towards all we are obliged to believe that their Pleas for Moral Vertue proceed from a Love and Liking of it But where men are proud furious worldly revengefull profane intemperate covetous ambitious I cannot so well understand their Declamations about Vertue Only I would for the present enquire What it is that they intend by their Morality Is it the Renovation of the Image of God in us by Grace is it our Conformity from thence unto him in his Holiness is it our being Holy in all Manner of Holiness because God is holy is it the acting of our Souls in all Duties of Obedience from a Principle of Faith and Love according to the Will of God whereby we have Communion with him here and are lead towards the Enjoyment of him If these are the things which they intend what is the matter with them why are they so afraid of the Words and Expressions of the Scripture Why will they not speak of the things of God in Words that the Holy Ghost teacheth Men never dislike the Words of God but when they dislike the Things of God Is it because these Expressions are not intelligible People do not know what they mean but this of Moral Vertue they understand well enough We appeal to the Experience of all that truely fear God in the World unto the contrary There is none of them but the Scripture Expressions of the Causes Nature Work and Effects of Holiness do convey a clear experimental Apprehension of them unto their Minds Whereas by their Moral Vertue neither themselves nor any else do know what they intend since they do or must reject the common received Notion of it for Honesty amongst men If therefore they intend that Holiness hereby which is required of us in the Scripture and that particularly on the Account of the Holiness of that God whom we serve they fall into an high Contempt of the Wisdom of God in despising of those Notices and Expressions of it which being used by the Holy Ghost are suited unto the spiritual Light and Understanding of Believers substituting their own arbitrary doubtfull uncertain Sentiments and Words in their Room and place But if it be something else which they intend as indeed evidently it is nor doth any man understand more in the Design than Sobriety and Vsefulness in the World things singularly good in their proper place then it is no otherwise to be looked on but as a Design of Sathan to undermine the true Holiness of the Gospel and to substitute a deceitfull and deceiving Cloud or Shadow in the Room of it Sect. 16 And moreover what we have already Discoursed doth abundantly evince the folly and falshood of those clamorous Accusations wherein the most important Truths of the Gospel are charged as inconsistent with and as repugnant unto Holiness The Doctrine say the Socinians of the Satisfaction of Christ ruines all Care and Endeavours after an Holy Life For when men do believe that Christ hath satisfied the Justice of God for their Sins they will be enclined to be careless about them yea to live in them But as this Supposition doth transform Believers into Monsters of Ingratitude and Folly so it is built on no other Foundation than this that if Christ take away the Guilt of Sin there is no Reason in the Nature of these things nor mentioned in the Scripture why we should need to be holy and keep our selves from the Power Filth and Dominion of Sin or any way Glorifie God in this World which is an Inference weak false and ridiculous The Papists and others with them lay the same Charge on the Doctrine of Justification through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us And it is wonderfull to consider with what virulent Railing this Charge is managed by the Papists so with what scorn and scoffing with what Stories and Tales some amongst our selves endeavour to expose this sacred Truth to Contempt as though all those by whom it is Believed must consequently be Negligent of Holiness and good Works Now although I deny not but that such men may find a great Strength of Connexion between these things in their own Minds seeing there is a Principle in the corrupt Heart of man to turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness yet as shall in due time be proved this sacred Truth is both Doctrinally and Practically the great constraining Principle unto Holiness and Fruitfulness in Obedience For the present I shall return no other Answer unto those Objections but that the Objectors are wholly mistaken in our Thoughts and Apprehensions concerning that God whom we serve God in Christ whom we Worship hath so revealed his own Holiness unto us and what is necessary for us on the Account thereof as that we know it to be a foolish wicked and blasphemous thing for any one to think to please him to be accepted with him to come to the Enjoyment of him without that Holiness which he requireth and from his own Nature cannot but require That the Grace or Mercy or Love of this God who is our God should encourage those who indeed know him unto Sin or countenance them in a Neglect of Holy Obedience to him is a monstrous Imagination There are as I shall shew afterwards other invincible Reasons for it and Motives unto it But the owning of this one Consideration alone by them who Believe the Grace of the Gospel is sufficient to secure them from the Reproach of this Objection Sect. 17 Moreover from what hath been discoursed we may all Charge our selves with Blame for our Sloth and Negligence in this Matter It is to be feared that we have none of us endeavoured as we ought to
day the Greatness of his Mercy towards all sorts of Sinners his Readiness to receive them his Willingness to pardon them and that freely in Christ without the Consideration of any Worth Merit or Righteousness of their own And do you not herein invite all sorts of Sinners the worst and the greatest to come unto him by Christ that they may be pardoned and accepted Whence then can arise any Argument for the Necessity of Holiness from the Consideration of the Nature of this God whose Inestimable Treasures of Grace and the freedom of whose Love and Mercy towards Sinners no Tongue as you say can express Sect. 33 An. 1 This Objection is very natural unto carnal and unbelieving Minds and therefore we shall meet with it at every turn There is nothing seems more reasonable unto them than that we may live in sin because Grace hath abounded If men must yet be Holy they can see no need nor use of Grace And they cannot see that God is Gracious to any Purpose if notwithstanding men may perish because they are not Holy But this Objection is raised rejected and condemned by our Apostle in whose Judgement we may acquiesce Rom. 6. 1. And in the same place he subjoyns the Reasons why notwithstanding the superabounding Grace of God in Christ there is an indispensible Necessity that all Believers should be Holy 2 God himself hath obviated this Objection He proclaims his Name Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God gracious and mercifull abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgressions and Sin Had he stood here and neither in this nor in any other place of Scripture further declared his Nature and unchangeable Purposes concerning Sinners some Colour might have been laid on this Objection But he addes immediately and that will by no means clear the Guilty that is as it is explained in places of Scripture innumerable such as go on in their Sins without regard unto Obedience and Holiness springing from the Attonement made for their guilty Souls in the Blood of Christ. 3 We doe we ought to declare the rich and free Love Grace Mercy and Bounty of God unto Sinners in and by Jesus Christ and Woe unto us if we should not be found in that Work all our Dayes and thereby Encourage all sorts of Sinners to come unto him for the free Pardon of their Sins without Money or Price without Merit or Desert on their part For this is the Gospel But notwithstanding all this Grace and Condescension we declare that he doth not dethrone himself nor deny himself nor change his Nature nor become unholy that we may be saved He is God still Naturally and Essentially holy Holy as he is in Christ reconciling the sinfull World unto himself and therefore indispensibly requires that those whom he pardons receives accepts into his Love and Communion with himself should be Holy also And these things are not only consistent but inseperable Without the Consideration of this Grace in God we can have no Encouragement to be Holy and without the Necessity of Holiness in us that Grace can neither be glorified nor usefull CHAP. II. Eternal Election a Cause of and Motive unto Holinesse Other Arguments for the Necessity of Holiness from Gods Eternal Election The Argument from thence explained improved vindicated Sect. 1 WE have seen upon the whole Matter what Conclusions as unto our own Duty we ought to draw from that Revelation of the Nature of God in Christ which is made unto us and our Relation unto him If we are not thereby prevailed on alwayes in all Instances of Obedience to endeavour to be Holy universally in all manner of Holy Conversation we neither can enjoy his Favour here nor be brought unto the Enjoyment of him in Glory hereafter Sect. 2 That Consideration which usually we take of God next after his Nature and the Properties of it is of the Eternal free Acts of his Will or his Decrees and Purposes And we shall now enquire what Respect they have unto Holiness in us what Arguments and Motives may be taken from them to evince the Necessity of it unto us and to press us thereunto especially from the Decree of Election which in an especial Manner is by some traduced as no Friend to this Design I say then that Sect. 3 It is the Eternal and Immutable Purpose of God that all who are his in a peculiar manner all whom he designs to bring unto Blessedness in the Everlasting Enjoyment of himself shall antecedently thereunto be made Holy This Purpose of his God hath declared unto us that we may take no wrong Measures of our Estate and Condition nor build Hopes or Expectations of future Glory on sandy Foundations that will fail us Whatever we are else in Parts Abilities Profession Moral Honesty Usefulness unto others Reputation in the Church if we are not personally spiritually Evangelically Holy we have no Interest in that Purpose or Decree of God whereby any Persons are designed unto Salvation and Glory And this we shall briefly confirm Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and unblameable before him in Love But is this that which firstly and principally we are ordained unto and that for its own sake namely Holiness and Unblameableness in the Obedience of Love No we are firstly Ordained unto eternal life Acts 13. 48. we are chosen from the Beginning unto Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. That which God in the first place intends as his End in the Decree of Election is our Eternal Salvation to the prayse of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1. 5 6 11. How then is he said to Choose us that we should be Holy in what sence is our Holiness proposed as the Design of God in Election It is as the indispensible Means for the attaining of the End of Salvation and Glory I doe saith God choose these poor lost Sinners to be mine in an especial manner to save them by my Son and bring them through his Mediation unto Eternal Glory But in order hereunto I do purpose and decree that they shall be holy and unblameable in the Obedience of Love without which as a Means none shall ever attain that End Wherefore the Expectation and Hope of any man for Life and Immortality and Glory without previous Holiness can be built on no other Foundation but this that God will Rescind his Eternal Decrees and change his Purposes that is cease to be God meerly to comply with them in ther Sins And who knowes not what will be the End of such a cursed Hope and Expectation The contrary is seconded by that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 36. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called Wherever Predestination unto Glory goes before concerning any Person there Effectual Vocation unto Faith and Holiness infallibly ensues And where these never were the other never was So 2 Thess. 2. 13. God hath chosen
of Christ in the State of the Dead 146 10 Death Natural what it is 240 5 Death Natural and Spiritual wherein they differ and wherein they agree 243 13 Death of Christ applyed by the Spirit for the Mortification of Sin 492 33 Spiritual Death Two-fold 239 2 Decayes in Grace to be found in many 353 Deceits practical about Holiness 420 Dedication unto God in what sence it is Sanctification 324 7 Deep Things of God what and how searched by the Spirit 56 19 Defilement of Sin wherein it doth consist 374 4 Degrees of Prophecy fancied by the Jewes rejected 105 11 Degrees in Holiness and growth in Grace whereon they do depend 167 10 Deliverances means of Conviction 294 13 Delight an Effect of Love 514 27 Delight in Sinners as sinning the highest degree of Shamelesness 397 398 How the Spirit of God departed from Saul 37 11 How the Holy Spirit departeth from Men. 91 19 Natural Depravation discovers the Nature of the Grace of Conversion 279 48 Depravation of the Mind how removed 282 52 Depravation of the Mind by Sin what it is and wherein it doth consist 209 13 Description of Sanctification 338 2 Spiritual Desertions and the Nature of them by some Derided 92 19 Design of the Gospel what it is 330 13 Design to be like unto God the Life of Holiness 503 11 Desires of Heaven of what sort they ought to be 512 21 Despisers of God who are so 538 11 Destruction of Sin in the Root and Principle our great Duty 405 Determination of the Will as a free Principle by Grace proved 284 55 Diabolical Pride in Scoffing at the Humiliation of Sinners 405 Difference between receiving Doctrines Notionally and Things really 219 28 Difference about Free-will stated and debated 434 34 Difference between a Spiritual Life and a Life of Moral Vertue 408 17. 414 6 Difference in Religion before the Entrance of Sin and afterwards 461 81 Differences between the life of Adam in Innocency and the life of Grace in Christ. 241 9 Differences about Regeneration none in it 178 12 Different Operations and Effects of one and the same Spirit 38 12 Different degrees of Graces 340 4 Difficulties of Faith 401 13 Difficulties in Duties from sundry Causes 438 39 Difficulty and Necessity of the Work of Mortification 480 13 Dignity of Professors wherein it consists 511 20 Diligence required in the Exercise of Grace 354 Discerning of Spirits an extraordinary Gift at the first 18 22 Discovery of Graces of Holiness springing from Election 443 46 Discovery of a false Foundation of Duties 364 Dispensation of the Spirit not consined unto the first times of the Church 25 28 Dispensation of the Spirit in general declared 79 80 1 2 3. Take away the Dispensation of the Spirit and the whole Church is ruined 157 Disposition of the Soul unto Acts and Duties of Holiness from an inward Principle 423 16 No Disposition unto spiritual Life in a State of spiritual Death 250 29 A Gracious Disposition expressed by Fear Love and Delight 427 17 Depraved Disposition in the Mind by Nature 215 20 Dispositions unto Regeneration of what sort 191 1 Natural Dispositions of some more sedate than of others 568 4 Disquisitions after God by the Light of Nature and their success 230 48 Distinct Operations ascribed unto the distinct Persons in the Trinity 45 4 Manifestation of the Distinction of Persons in the Divine Nature a great End in the Work of the New Creation 155 2 Distresses upon Conviction of Sin 302 27 Distribution of spiritual Gifts 6 5 Distributions of Grace used by the Ancients 255 6 Disturbance on Divine Revelations whence it proceeds 103 9 Diversity of Gifts an Occasion of Differences in the Churches 7 7 Knowledge of Divine things in their Operations and Effects 20 24 Divine voluntary Actings constantly ascribed unto the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 49 10 Divine Persons succeeded not to each other in their Operations 70 3 Divine Nature in Christ acted not as his Soul 137 2 No true Apprehension of Divine Goodness but in Christ. 229 36 Division of the Holy Spirit in what sence spoken of 93 20 Doctrine of the Spirit of God the second great Principle of the Spirit 8 9 Doctrine of the Spirit the Life of all saving Truth 33 8 Doctrine of the Trinity despised by many 45 4 Doctrine of Regeneration variously described 196 10 Doctrine of some men about Regeneration 261 19 Doctrine of Obedience taught by Christ and what is considerable therein 558 10 Doctrines concerning the Operations of the Spirit of God preached with Efficacy 26 31 Things or Doctrines of the Gospel reduced to two Heads 223 36 The Dove under which shape the Holy Ghost appeared of what sort it was 52 53 15 16 Dreams a Means of Divine Revelation 107 13 Christ how Driven by the Spirit 142 Duty not the Measure of Power 379 Things wrought in a way of Grace prescribed in a way of Duty 379 No Duty of Obedience but an Holy Heart is enclined unto it 425 19 Duty and End to be considered in every Act of Obedience 441 43 Dutyes of Persons intrusted with spiritual Priviledges 7 1 Dutyes required in order to Conversion 192 3 Dutyes of Morality in the Gospel superstitious not the Foundation 235 58 Dutyes of Vnbelievers how Sins 248 25 Good Dutyes how vitiated yet accepted 248 26 The same Dutyes how accepted and rejected with respect unto divers Persons ibid. Dutyes not accepted on the Account of Persons 249 26 Dutyes of Faith Repentance and Obedience on what Grounds to be pressed on men 249 28 Good Dutyes of Vnregenerate men how to be esteemed 250 251 30 Dutyes of themselves will denominate no man Holy 362 Dutyes of Morality and Piety to be encouraged 420 Special Dutyes of those who have received a Principle of Holiness 422 Dutyes Internal and External distinguished 463 2 Dutyes of Believers and Vnbelievers differ in their Substance 471 16 Dutyes required in order unto the Mortication of Sin 487 23 Dutyes how to be performed that Sin may be mortified 489 27 Dutyes of Holiness more clearly revealed by Christ than any other way 557 9 How the Spirit dwelleth in Believers notwithstanding the Remainders of Sin 484 20 E. Earth in the first Creation what it contained 72 8 Education and Convictions in some measure compose Natures Disorders 568 6 Effects of Conviction where to be placed in the Soul 199 15 Effects of natural Vanity and how they are to be opposed 214 19 Effects of Conviction 301 26 Effects of the Priestly Acts of Christ of two sorts 555 3 Especial Effects of Divine Love 514 25 Every work of the Spirit Effectual 198 14 Effectual Work of Grace and our own earnest Endeavours consistent 345 7 Efficacy given to all Ordinances by the Holy Spirit 23 26 No Efficacy in second Causes independently on the first 77 15 Efficacy of Faith whence it ariseth 401 13 Efficacy of the Death of Christ for the destruction of Sin wherein it
God Author of our Sanctification 322 3 God how he is the God of Peace 323 3 All good in the Scripture ascribed to the Holy Spirit 470 15 A good man who he is 515 516 29 No good in us but what is wrought by the Holy Spirit 11 13 The good Spirit and the Holy Spirit the same 38 12 Good Spirit of God over-ruling the Devil 112 18 Gospel how abused and despised 223 36 Apprehension of Gods Goodness in the Light of Nature not sufficient to reconcile men to him 229 47 No true Apprehension of the Divine Goodness but in Christ. 229 48 Nature of the Gospel with respect unto the Objects of mens Lusts and Desires 233 54 Things peculiarly belonging to the Gospel or its own Things 234 56 Things known in the Light of Nature further manifested in the Gospel 234 What the Gospel superaddes unto Moral Duties 235 57 Gospel sent for the Accomplishment of the Decree of Election 524 11 Nature of Gospel Precepts 535 6 Grace taken two wayes in the Scripture 164 7 Grace how really efficient in Conversion 264 23 Grace of the Gospel overthrown by asserting it to be a Moral Suasion only 265 23 Nature of Converting Grace explained 268 27 Grace victorious and irresistible 270 30 Grace internal not resisted 271 34 Grace produced by a Creating Act. 275 40 Grace and Nature opposed 322 3 All Grace depends on continual Influences from God 344 6 All Grace Originally in Christ. 362 Things wrought in a way of Grace prescribed in a way of Duty 379 Grace excited by Afflictions 392 Sin and Grace cannot bear rule in the same Person at the same time 429 25 Grace and Nature opposed 322 3 Grace how it frees the Soul from spiritual Incumbrances 436 36 Grace how communicated from Christ unto Believers 457 70 Administration of Grace not equal at all times 547 24 Graces acted and exercised in the Oblation of Christ. 144 Graces which are our Duties not absolutely in our own power 322 2 Graces of Holiness improved into Glory 328 10 All Graces excited unto Exercise by the Holy Ghost 341 5 Graces whose Exercise is Occasional onely how they are encreased 343 6 Graces eminently making us like unto God 513 23 Graces declaring our Conformity to God 515 28 Growth in Grace and Wisdom how ascribed unto Christ. 138 2 Growth in Holiness compared unto that of Trees and Plants 346 8 Growth of Holiness secret and indiscernible 347 8 Growth in Holiness an Object of Faith 351 10 Growth in Holiness enjoyned unto us and required of us 339 4 Growth in Holiness an Access towards Glory 511 21 H. Habit of Holiness antecedently necessary to every Act of Holiness 416 8 Habit of Grace preserved by the constant Influences of the Holy Spirit 417 10 Habit of Holiness not acquired but preserved in a way of Duty ibid. Habit of Holiness permanent in its Inclination 427 23 Habits encline unto Acts of their own kind for a certain End 423 15 Infused Habits of Grace proved 280 50 Intellectual Habits the Nature of them 415 8 Habitual Vncleanness equal in all 378 Habitual Pollution inconsistent with any Holiness ibid. Habitual Grace necessary unto all Acts of Obedience 548 26 Tongues and Hands of the Prophets guided by the Holy Ghost 105 10 Harmony between Grace and the Command 551 33 Head of the Church first respected in the New Creation 128 1 The Heart what it signifies and how it is depraved 212 17 Stony Heart how taken away 277 43 New Heart promised what it is 277 44 418 11 Heart the meaning of it in the Scripture 367 Historical Books of the Scripture written by Divine Inspiration 113 19 The Holy Spirit how both Lord and God 6 4 Holy Spirit the onely Author unto us of all spiritual Good 11 12 The Holy Spirit known by his Operations 21 24 Holy Spirit so called from his immaterial substance 34 9 The Holy Spirit so called first because he is essentially holy 35 36 9 10 Holy Spirit called holy from his Work 36 10 Holy Spirit in what sence called the Spirit of God 38 13 Holy Spirit how called the Spirit of the Son 39 14 The Holy Spirit an Eternal Infinite Intelligent Person 46 47 48 49 c. 7 8 9 10 c. The Holy Spirit hath a spiritual substance and subsistence of his own 54 18 Why the Holy Spirit never Appeared in the Person of a Man 55 18 The Holy Spirit the Author of the Ministry of the Church 61 26 The Holy Spirit the Object of mens Actings in Religion 62 28 The Holy Spirit not a Quality or Vertue of the Divine Nature 64 30 The Holy Spirit expresly called God 64 31 The Holy Spirit given of God and how 80 3 The Holy Spirit compared unto Fire and Water and why 88 13 The Holy Spirit One dividing as he pleaseth to others 94 21 The Holy Spirit the Promise and Legacy of Christ. 124 6 The Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son as well as of the Father and what followeth thereon 130 8 Actings of the Holy Spirit not ascribed unto him Exclusively 130 9 The Holy Spirit supplyes the bodily Absence of Christ. 158 5 Holy Spirit worketh by Means ordinarily 187 25 The Holy Spirit the immediate Sanctifier of all Believers 337 15 The Holy Spirit promised with respect unto his Effects 357 2 Holy Spirit the principal efficient Cause of the Mortification of Sin 481 15 c. Holy Ghost how the Power of the most High 132 No Holiness but by the Gospel and the Grace of it 325 8 Holiness passeth over into Eternity and Glory and how 328 11 Holiness glorious in this Life 329 12 Holiness all that God requireth of Believers 330 13 Holiness commanded in a way of Duty promised in a way of Grace 336 14 Holiness in its true Nature 338 2 Holiness how it is encreased in Believers 340 4 Holiness may thrive where its growth is not discerned 350 10 Holiness pleaseth God wherever it is 361 5 No Holiness beyond the bounds of Relation to Christ. 363 6 Holiness of God wherein it consists 374 4 Where the Principle of Holiness is there will be the Fruits of it 421 All Holiness derived from Christ. 450 451 c. Evangelical Holiness an effect of the Covenant of Grace 459 75 Holiness of God how an Argument of the Necessity of Holiness in us 500 5 Holiness not absolutely of the same use under the New Covenant and the Old 503 9 Holiness necessary unto the future Enjoyment of God 504 13 Holiness the highest Excellency whereof our Nature is capable 509 18 Holiness the Design of God in Election 521 3 Vniversal Holiness how required in the Precepts of the Gospel 535 6 Necessity of Holiness 537 9 Moral Honesty not Holiness 363 6 The Host of Heaven what it is 70 6 Host of the Earth 71 6 Humane Nature of Christ derived no evil from the Fall of Adam Reasons thereof 136 1 Sanctification of the Humane Nature of
whence voluntary and meritorious 146 9 Obligation unto Holiness no less under the Gospel than under the Law 535 6 All Obstacles removed by effectual Grace 270 30 Obstinacy and Stubbornness of the Heart by Nature 277 45 Obstructions of the Growth of Holiness 350 10 Occasions of spiritual decays in Grace 354 How Christ Offered himself to God through the Eternal Spirit 143 8 Office of Witness-bearing unto the Lord Christ discharged by the Holy Spirit 149 13 One singular Spirit of God declared in the Scripture 33 8 The Holy Spirit One dividing as he pleaseth to others 94 21 Operations of the Spirit called the Spirit by a Metonymy 33 8 Divine Operations of all sorts ascribed to the Holy Spirit 59 24 All Divine Operations ascribed unto God absolutely 68 1 Operations of the Holy Spirit on the Humane Nature of Christ of two sorts 128 2 Operations of the Holy Spirit on the Humane Nature of Christ notwithstanding its personal Vnion with the Son 129 3 Operations of the Holy Spirit in Conversion suited unto the Powers of our Souls 270 31 Two-fold Operation of Christ as Three in One 162 Opening of the Heavens what it signifies 52 15 Opinions in the Primitive Church falsly fathered on spiritual Revelations 15 19 Opposition to the Spirit of God and his Works with the Grounds of it 21 25 Pretences of Opposition unto the Spirit of God examined 21 25 Oppositions against the Church suppressed by the Spirit of God 78 16 No Opposition between Gods Commands and his Grace 167 Vniversal Opposition between Sin and Grace 477 7 Order of Divine Dispensations dependeth on the Order of the subsistence of the Divine Persons 39 14 Order of subsistence of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity 66 33 Order of Operation depending on the Order of Subsistence not the Order of Promination ibid. Outward Order in the Church of no use without the Presence and Work of the Spirit 158 4 Order in Subsistence gives Order in Operation 162 Order of the Mind in its first Creation 212 15 Order of the Gospel inverted by Prejudices 235 58 Order of Precedency in the Acts of Sanctification 410 1 Skill in the Original Text necessary to the Exposition of the Scripture 30 4 Original of all things in their several kinds 73 9 Original of the Spirits Acting in all his Works towards the Church 89 15 Where Original Sin is denyed Regeneration cannot be effected 186 24 Original Order of our Souls wherein it consisted 568 6 Outward Manner and wayes of Divine Revelations 106 11 P. Pains of Death how loosed towards Christ. 147 11 Vanity of Papal Inventions for the Purification of Sin 379 380 Partial departure of the Spirit from any 91 19 Partial Works deceitfull 369 Two Parts of the Life of God 423 16 Particular good End not sufficient to render a Duty Good or Holy 441 44 Peace with God preserved by Sanctification 323 3 How God sanctifieth us as the God of Peace ibid. Pelagius his Artifices 177 9 Doctrine of Pelagius 183 20 Pelagianism renewed 255 5 Pelagianisme reduced unto its Head 256 7 Difference between Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians 262 19 Pelagian Grace inconsistent with Prayer 265 24 Pelagius his Prayer 266 25 Pelagian Grace rejected 458 73 Pen-men of the Scripture whether all holy 111 18 Pen-men of the Scripture not left unto the use of their own Natural Abilities 114 20 Sinless Perfection not attainable in this Life 547 25 Persecution of Erring Persons vain and fruitless 19 20 23 Person of the Spirit and his Operations distinguished 33 8 Third Person in the Trinity whence called the Spirit 34 9 Person of the Father the Fountain of the Trinity 38 13 Some things not proper to a Person assigned to the Holy Ghost in what sence 48 9 The Person of the Holy Spirit not poured out but his Gifts and Graces 87 13 Every Divine Person Author of the same Work 68 1 The Person of Christ how the Fountain of all Grace 455 The whole Person of a Believer the subject of Sanctification 365 Divine Persons succeeded not to each other in their Operations 70 3 Manifestation of the distinction of Persons in the Divine Nature a great End in the Work of the New Creation 155 2 All Personal Properties assigned unto the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 48 8 Personal Vnion or the Subsistence of both the Natures of Christ in one Person the necessary Consequent of Assumption 129 5 Personality of the Holy Spirit from John 14. 15 16. 60 61 25 Perswasive Efficacy of the Word Preached 258 12 Perswasion conferres no Strength 262 21 Perswasions enable not men to convert themselves 266 25 Perswasions of Perfection ruinous to Holiness 355 Pharisaical Confidence 397 12 Wise Philosophers of Old the greatest Despisers of the Gospel 221 222 Physical Operations of Grace proved 269 29 Pleas for Balaam answered 111 112 19 Pleas of Pelagians 263 21 Vain Pleas for the Power of Free-will in Opposition to the Aids of the Spirit 471 15 Pleas for Holiness by unholy persons uncomely and dangerous 498 2 Pleas for Moral Vertue examined 506 15 Pollution or spiritual Defilement in Sin 372 3 Pollution of Sin that property of it whereby it is opposed to the Holiness of God 374 4 Habitual Pollution inconsistent with any Holiness 378 Pouring forth of the Spirit 86 11 Pouring forth of the Spirit alwayes respects the times of the Gospel 87 12 Power ascribed unto the Holy Spirit 58 22 Powers and Operations of Secondary Causes to be owned 77 15 Power of the Mind with respect unto spiritual things examined 216 23 Power in the Mind by Nature to discern spiritual things 221 30 Power of spiritual Darkness 227 43 Power of Darkness in the Devil 228 45 Powers and Duties of the Mind 236 60 Power unto Obedience in the State of Innocency 241 8 Power in Natural men beyond what they do or will use 245 20 Power in the Faculties of Nature as Corrupted 250 29 Power of the Word to prevail on the Souls of Men whereon it depends 258 13 Spiritual Power in the Habit of Holiness 432 31 Commands of the Covenant respect the Power administred in the Covenant 432 30 Spiritual Power wherein it consists 432 31 No Power in Believers unto Duties of Holy Obedience without assistance of the Spirit 465 c. Power administred by Christ enabling us to be Holy 502 8 No Power given by one Covenant to fulfill the Commands of the other 544 20 All power unto Obedience from Grace 546 22 Two-fold power necessary unto Obedience 547 26 Practice of Moral Vertue not Gospel Holiness 459 77 Pravity of Sin with respect unto the Holiness of God Two-fold 377 6 Praying for the Spirit prescribed as our Duty 123 124 5 Difference between the Prayers of Wicked men and of Believers 164 6 Prayers of the Church prove Effectual Grace 265 24 Prayers for Grace and Holiness of what Nature 348 349 9 Prayer for the Holy Spirit in what sence 357 2
it is proposed unto us For God sets him forth as to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood as offered Rom. 3. 25. so to be our Sanctification through Faith in his Blood as sprinkled And the Establishing of this especial Faith in our Souls is that which the Apostle aims at in his excellent Reasoning Heb. 9. 13 14. And his Conclusion unto that Purpose is so evident that he encourageth us thereon to draw nigh in the full Assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. 3 Faith worketh herein by Fervent Prayer as it doth in its whole Address unto God with Respect unto his Promises because for all these things God will be sought unto by the House of Israel By this Means the Soul brings it self nigh unto its own Mercy And this we are directed unto Heb. 4. 15 16. 4 An Acquiescency in the Truth and Faithfulness of God for Cleansing by the Blood of Christ whence we are freed from discouraging perplexing shame and have Boldness in the Presence of God 4. The Holy Ghost actually Communicates the cleansing Purifying Vertue of the Blood of Christ unto our Souls and Consciences whereby we are freed from shame and have Boldness towards God For the whole work of the Application of the Benefits of the Mediation of Christ unto Believers is his properly And these are the things which Believers aim at and intend in all their servent Supplications for the Purifying and Cleansing of their Souls by the sprinkling and washing of the Blood of Christ the Faith and Perswasion whereof give them Peace and Holy Boldness in the presence of God without which they can have nothing but shame and Confusion of Face in a sence of their own Pollutions Sect. 7 How the Blood of Christ was the Meritorious Cause of our Purification as it was offered in that thereby he procured for us Eternal Redemption with all that was conducing or needfull thereunto and how thereby he Expiated our sins belongs not unto this place to declare Nor shall I insist upon the more mysterious Way of Communicating cleansing Vertue unto us from the Blood of Christ by Vertue of our Vnion with him What hath been spoken may suffice to give a little insight into that Influence which the Blood of Christ hath into this first part of our Sanctification and Holiness And as for those who affirm that it no otherwise cleanseth us from our sins but only because we Believing his Doctrine confirmed by his Death and Resurrection do amend our Lives turning from Sin unto Righteousness and Holiness they renounce the Mystery of the Gospel and all the proper Efficacy of the Blood of Christ. Sect. 8 3 Faith is the Instrumental Cause of our Purification Purifying their Hearts by Faith Acts 15. 9. The two unfailing Evidences of sincere Faith are that within it purifyeth the Heart and without it worketh by Love These are the Touch-stone whereon Faith may yea ought to be tryed We purifie our Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 20. That is by Believing which is our Original Obedience unto the Truth And hereby are our Souls purified Unbelievers and Unclean are the same Tit. 1. 15. For they have nothing in them whereby they might be Instrumentally cleansed And we are Purified by Faith Because 1 Faith it self is the principal Grace whereby our Nature is restored unto the Image of God and so freed from our Original Defilement Col. 3. 10. Joh. 17. 3. 2 It is by Faith on our part whereby we receive the Purifying Vertue and Influences of the Blood of Christ whereof we have before Discoursed Faith is the Grace whereby we constantly adhere and cleave unto Christ. Deut. 4. 4. Josh. 23. 8. Acts 11. 10. And if the Woman who touched his Garment in Faith obtained Vertue from him to heal her Issue of Blood shall not those who cleave unto him continually derive Vertue from him for the healing of their spiritual Defilements 3 It is by the Working of Faith principally whereby those Lusts and Corruptions which are Defiling are mortified subdued and gradually wrought out of our Minds All actual Defilements spring from the Remainders of defiling Lusts and their depraved Workings in us Heb. 12. 15. Jam. 1. 14. How Faith worketh to the correcting and subduing of them by deriving supplyes of the Spirit and Grace to that End from Jesus Christ as being the Means of our abiding in him whereon alone those supplyes do depend Joh. 15. 3 4 5. as also by the Acting of all other Graces which are contrary to the Polluting Lusts of the Flesh and destructive of them is usually declared and we must not too far enlarge on these things 4 Faith takes in all the Motives which are proposed unto us to stir us up unto our utmost Endeavours and Diligence in the use of all Means and Wayes for the preventing of the Defilements of sin and for the Cleansing our Minds and Consciences from the Relicts of Dead Works And these Motives which are great and many may be reduced unto Two Heads 1 A Participation of the Excellent Promises of God at the Present the Consideration hereof brings a singular Enforcement on the Souls of Believers to endeavour after universal Purity and Holiness 2 Cor. 7. 1. And 2 the future Enjoyment of God in Glory whereunto we cannot attain without being purifyed from sin 1 Joh. 3. 1. Now these Motives which are the Springs of our Duty in this Matter are received and made Efficacious by Faith only Sect. 9 4 Purging from sin is likewise in the Scripture ascribed unto Afflictions of all sorts Hence they are called Gods Furnace and his Fining-Pot Isa. 31. 9. Chap. 48. 10. whereby he taketh away the Dross and Filth of the Vessels of his House They are called Fire that trieth the Wayes and Works of Men consuming their Hay and Stubble and purifying their Gold and Silver 1 Cor. 3. 13. And this they do through an Efficacy unto the Ends communicated unto them in the design and by the Spirit of God For by and in the Cross of Christ they were cut off from the Curse of the First Covenant whereunto all Evil and Trouble did belong and implanted into the Covenant of Grace The Tree of the Cross being cast into the Waters of Affliction hath rendred them Wholsom and Medicinal And as the Lord Christ being the Head of the Covenant all the Afflictions and Persecutions that befall his Members are Originally his Isa. 63. 9. Acts 9. 5. Col. 1. 24. so they all tend to work us unto a Conformity unto him in Purity and Holiness And they work towards this Blessed End of purifying the Soul several wayes For 1 They have in them some Tokens of Gods Displeasure against sin which those who are Exercised by them are led by the Consideration of unto a fresh View of the Vileness of it For although Afflictions are an Effect of Love yet it is of Love mixed with Care to obviate and prevent Distempers Whatever
they are else they are alwayes Chastisements and Correction respects Faults And it is our safest course in every Affliction to lodge the Adequate Cause of it in our own Deserts as the Woman did 1 King 17. 18. and as God directs Psal. 81. 30 31 32. Lament 3. 33 34. And this is one Difference between his Chastiments and those of the Fathers of our Flesh that he doth it not for his Pleasure Heb. 12. 9 10. Now a View of sin under Suffering makes men loath and abhorre themselves for it and to be ashamed of it And this is the first step towards our Purifying of our selves by any Wayes appointed for it Self-pleasing in Sin is the highest Degree of our Pollution and when we loath our selves for it we are put into the Way at least of seeking after a Remedy 2 Afflictions take off the Beauty and Allurements of all Created Good Things and their Comforts by which the Affections are solicited to commit Folly and Lewdness with them that is to embrace and cleave unto them inordinately whence many Defilements do enensue Gal. 6. 14. This God designs them for even to wither all the Flowrings of this World in the Minds of men by discovering their Emptiness Vanity and Insufficiency to give Relief This intercepts the disorderly entercourse which is apt to be between them and our Affections whereby our Minds are polluted For there is a Pollution attending the least inordinate Actings of our Mind and Affections towards Objects either in their own nature sinfull or such as may be rendred so by an Excess in us towards them whilest we are under the Command of Loving the Lord our God with all our Minds Souls and strength and that alwayes 3 Afflictions take off the Edge and put a Deadness on those Affections whereby the Corrupt Lusts of the Mind and Flesh which are the Spring and Cause of all our Defilements do act themselves They curb those Vigorous and Brisk Affections which were alwayes ready press'd for the service of Lust and which sometimes carry the Soul into the pursuit of sin like the Horse into the Battail with Madness and Fury They are no more such prepared Channels for the Fomes of Concupiscence to empty it self into the Conversation nor such Vehicles for the spirits of Corrupted Lusts and Inclinations God I say by Afflictions brings a kind of Death unto the World and the Pleasures of it upon the Desires and Affections of the Soul which render them unserviceable unto the Remainder of Defiling Lusts and Corruptions This in some indeed endures but for a season as when in Sickness Wants Fears Distresses Losses Sorrowes there is a great appearance of Mortification when yet the strength of sin and the Vigour of Carnal Affections do speedily revive upon the least outward Relief But with Believers it is not so but by all their Chastisements they are really more and more delivered from the Pollutions of Sin and made Partakers of Gods Holiness 2 Cor. 4. 16 17. 4 God doth by them excite stir up and draw forth all the Graces of the Spirit into a constant Diligent and Vigorous Exercise and therein the Work of cleansing the Soul from the Pollution of sin is carried on A time of Affliction is the Especial season for the peculiar Exercise of all Grace For the Soul can then no otherwise support or relieve it self For it is cut short or taken off from other Comforts and Reliefs every sweet thing being made bitter unto it It must therefore live not only by Faith and Love and Delight in God but in some sence upon them For if in their Exercise Supportment and Comfort be not obtained we can have none Therefore doth such a Soul find it necessary to be constantly abounding in the Exercise of Grace that it may in any measure be able to support it self under its Troubles or Sufferings Again there is no other Way whereby a Man may have a sanctified Use of Afflictions or a good Issue out of them but by the assiduous Exercise of Grace This God calls for this he designs and without it Afflictions have no other End but to make men Miserable and they will either have no Deliverance from them or such a one as shall tend to their farther Misery and Ruine And so have we taken a View of the First Part of our Sanctification and Holiness which I have the more largely insisted on because the Consideration of it is utterly neglected by them who frame us an Holiness to consist only in the Practice of Moral Vertue And I do not know but what hath been delivered may be looked on as Fanatical and Enthusiastical Yet is there no other Reason why it should be so but only because it is taken from the Scripture Neither doth that so much insist on any Consideration of Sin and Sanctification as this of the Pollution of the one and the Purifying of it by the other And to whom the Wisdom and Words of the Holy Ghost are displeasing we cannot in these things give any satisfaction And yet I could easily demonstrate that they were well known to the Ancient Writers of the Church and for the substance of them were discerned and discussed by the Schoolmen in their Manner But where men hate the Practice of Holiness it is to no Purpose to teach them the Nature of it Sect. 10 But we may not pass over these things without some Reflections upon our selves and some Consideration of our Concernment in them And First Hence we may take a View of our own State and Condition by Nature It is usefull for us all to be looking back into it and it is necessary for them who are under it to be fully acquainted with it Therein are we wholly defiled polluted and every way unclean There is a Spiritual Leprosie spread all over our Natures which renders us loathsom to God and puts us in a state of separation from him They who were Legally unclean were separated from the Congregation and therein all the Pledges of Gods Gracious Presence Numb 5. 2. It is so Virtually with all them who are spiritually defiled under that Pollution which is Natural and Universal they are abhorred of God and separated from him which was signified thereby And the Reason why so many Laws with so great severity and exactness were given about the Cleansing of a Leprous person and the Judgement to be made thereon was only to declare the Certainty of the Judgement of God that no unclean person should approach unto him Thus is it with all by Nature and whatever they do of themselves to be quit of it it doth but hide and not cleanse it Adam cured neither his Nakedness nor the shame of it by his Fig-leaves Some have no other Covering of their Natural Filth but outward Ornaments of the Flesh which encrease it and indeed rather proclaim it than hide it The Greatest Filth in the World is covered with the greatest Bravery See Isa. 3. 16. 17.