Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ghost_n	holy_a	spirit_n	3,926	5	5.5026	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14923	The soules progresse to the celestiall Canaan, or heavenly Jerusalem By way of godly meditation, and holy contemplation: accompanied with divers learned exhortations, and pithy perswasions, tending to Christianity and humanity. Divided into two parts. The first part treateth of the divine essence, quality and nature of God, and his holy attributs: and of the creation, fall, state, death, and misery of an unregenerated man, both in this life and in the world to come: put for the whole scope of the Old Testament. The second part is put for the summe and compendium of the Gospell, and treateth of the Incarnation, Nativity, words, works, and sufferings of Christ, and of the happinesse and blessednesse of a godly man in his state of renovation, being reconciled to God in Christ. Collected out of the Scriptures, and out of the writings of the ancient fathers of the primitive Church, and other orthodoxall divines: by John Welles, of Beccles in the County of Suffolk.	Welles, John, of Beccles.	1639 (1639)	STC 25231; ESTC S119607	276,075	406

nature and by restoratives and requisite dyet brings a new flesh wholesome and without disease the former diseased flesh being utterly wasted and consumed with the extremity of Physicke How to mortifie our diseased actions and affections So he that is resolved in his repentance and hath a loathing and detestation of his sinnes and desire to free his soule from the contagion of sinne must also resolve to endure such bitter physicke and strict dyet as the judgement of spirituall physicke doth prescribe him whereby all the evill depraved and corrupt affections of his soule may be utterly wasted that thereby his soule may have new and fresh endowment of grace without taint without disease without griefe This was figured in the manner of Gods calling Moses to his Princely and Propheticall office for when Moses made offer to come neare the presence of God in the bush Exod. 3.5 6. God forbad him saying Come not hither put thy shooes off thy feete that is before thou presume to approach my presence thou must put off thy sinfull and corrupt affections for hee that hath base and vile affections is not fit is not worthy the presence of God It was also commanded of God in the ceremoniall Law that they that were polluted with the touch of any uncleane thing Levit. 15.2 were for a time prohibited the Sanctuary and the presence of God and had a time limited to cleanse themselves before they were allowed and admitted for cleane persons all which ceremonies doe but note unto us the nature of holinesse how impossible it is to be reconciled with sinne for as the two contrary elements fire and water cannot possibly be in any one substance without intestine strife No peace betweene God and Belial so God and Belial grace and sinne can never conspire in any one particular subject in the same respect but what is gracious cannot be sinfull and what is sinfull cannot be gracious there being in them a full opposition of nature not to bee reconciled Phil. 2.12 Therefore it is necessary and needfull that before wee entertaine the graces of Gods holy Spirit wee must first discharge and abandon our sins which have had so long entertainement in us and before that wee can be regenerate and made the sonnes of God we must mortifie our sinfull affections whereby wee were made the servants of sinne Saint Paul admonishing the Colossians to the imitation of Christ and his holinesse adviseth them first to mortification as if without that meanes the other were impossible Mortifie therefore saith he your members Col. 3.5 6. which are on the earth fornication uncleannesse c. And hee giveth a reason of this direction in the Epistle to the Romans For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die Rom. 8.13 but if ye mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit yee shall live By which place wee are taught what mortification is and of what necessity it is Mortification is the abolishing of the deeds of sinne in our flesh What mortification is by the grace and operation of Gods Spirit By the deeds of the flesh is meant not onely our evill actions but our desires and carnall affections Saint Paul in the place before alledged Col. 3.5 6. calleth them members of the earth Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affections evill concupiscence Luke 5.6 and covetousnesse which is Idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God commeth upon the children of disobedience In which hee comprehendeth not onely our sinfull actions but our affections also nay the very naturall concupiscence and depravednesse of our nature To endeavour exactly is exactly to performe not that any man is able exactly to performe these duties but sincerely to endeavour them and that our defects may be in our power but not in our purpose and endeavour therefore you must mortifie your sinnes of action your sinnes of affection and your sinnes by descent and seeing mortification is an office of the Spirit Quest here importeth a question whether the word Note spirit in this place is meant of the Spirit of God the holy Ghost or the spirit of man our naturall soule It is answered Answ that the spirit executing this office of mortification is principally meant of the holy Ghost who giveth the first motion of desire in every godly action it is also respectively meant of the care and travell of our owne spirits or soules Note Phil. 2.13 not that our owne spirits is the cause of our mortification but being first caused by the holy Spirit of God it is entertained and continued by the exercise of our owne reformed spirits our spirits having no such strength in their owne nature but as they are prepared by the grace of the holy Ghost For as in casting a stone or running of a boule though the strength of the arme give the first motion to the boule or stone yet afterwards is the motion continued a competent time as well because of the powerfull moving of the arme as also because of the aptnesse or fitnesse of the thing moved so in the office of mortification Note and in all other divine offices of the soule though the soule move not it selfe to these holy actions No soule can move it selfe to divine action yet by reason of the spirituall nature of our soules when it is once moved by the holy Ghost it then continueth such motion toward perfection so the prime honour of the holy exercise of mortification and so of all other spirituall offices is wholly to be ascribed to the power of Gods holy Spirit which moveth in our hearts every act and every purpose of well-doing and he doth also illuminate us by his holy Spirit infusing a new and heavenly light into our minds being so blind before as that it neither saw nor could see the things which doe belong to the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.14 the naturall man faith Saint Paul perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can hee know them through ignorance in like manner also in the will which is altogether perverse and wholly falne from God hee worketh an uprightnesse and in all the affections a new holinesse Hence proceedeth that new man which is created after God in true holinesse and righteousnesse Ephes 4.24 and causeth us being enlightened and thus changed to apprehend his mercy to desire and affect our amendment and to answer his call like David For when God had pierced Davids eare by his Spirit he answered Loe I come Psal 27.9 There is also a necessity of mortification imposed upon every man upon pain of condemnation this is shewed in the words before alledged by S. Paul for saith he If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 yee shall live whereby the Apostle proposeth life and death before the Romanes

salvation to the Elect. The necessity of mortification doth require in every one an exact diligence in that Christian office for seeing the hazzard of eternall life dependeth upon the death or not dying of sinne and that necessarily there is no man of that simple understanding but will thinke it expedient nay necessary wisedome rather to destroy his sinne then himselfe for one of the two must of necessity be mortified suffer death and die and if any man thinke to devise a meanes to save both himselfe and his sinne and in the reformation of himselfe to over-leape the duty of mortification as a duty too precise and of grievous performance and shall thinke that mortification is not of necessary substance but rather a severe circumstance which may be safely avoyded to him may bee said as Saint Paul saith to the Corinthians with admiration O foole 1 Cor. 15 36. that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and let him be sure that if hee either faile or faint in this endeavour there is no endeavour can purchase him the favour of God and the salvation of his soule Therefore it most neerely respecteth all men not to esteeme their sinne which is their enemy and would destroy them more then God which is their friend and would save them nay more then their soules and their salvation Therefore let every man make warre upon himselfe and his owne flesh To subdue our owne sinfull affections is the greatest conquest in the world and let him bee valiant to conquer himselfe and triumph in the spoile and death of his sinfull actions and affections for there is no warre can gaine our names a greater glory then to victor our selves and he is most redoubted and most valiant that can conquer his owne affections the which all men must doe before they can have the garland of holy victory from the hand of God Againe seeing that in our mortification there is no respect of favour had to any sinne but that all sinne must die the sinnes that have gained us either our profit or our pleasure for all sinne being in hatred with God all sinne is therefore commanded to die without dispensation proviso or exception of any It therefore behooveth all men to hate as God hateth even all sinne because all sinne is in Gods hatred lest they provoke God as Saul did and with Saul to declare themselves reprobates God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15.1 c. a sinfull and God-lesse people Saul performed his Commandement but in part for though he destroyed many yet he spared some for which God cast him from his favour and rent his Kingdome from him Our sinnes are those Amalekites God hath commanded us to destroy them utterly if therefore any man presume against Gods Commandement to spare any God will certainly cast him with Saul from the hope of salvation This doth admonish all to avoyd the common custome of men that commonly hate the sinnes and infirmities of others but flatter and feed their owne with saturity the usurer hee condemneth the prodigall the prodigall condemneth him the drunkard condemneth the glutton Every contrary despiseth one another the glutton he condemneth the drunkard age and youth have each their particular sinnes yet doe they despise one another and so doe every particular his contrary so that many can abhorre those sinnes to the which they are not naturally addicted but few doe mortifie them that are neerest and dearest unto them These are they that our Saviour Christ calleth hypocrits Math. 23. that point at little sinnes in others but flatter and foster maine ones in themselves this evill custome is farre short of the duty of mortification which requireth a loathing and detestation nay a death not of some sinnes not of other mens sinnes but of our owne sinnes and of all our owne sinnes without exception of any and seeing that the holy Ghost doth move this grace in our hearts and doth give us spirituall power in the office of mortification It behoveth all men to addresse their prayers to God that he will give them the direction of his grace to guide them in so needfull a performance and that when they finde in themselves a desire to mortifie their sinnes and sinnefull affections Titus 1.12 c. then let them assure themselves that they are called by the divine and efficatious power of God to the performance of that duty that then they yeeld their endeavour with all diligence to doe as the holy Ghost directs them lest by neglecting the admonishments of Gods Spirit they bring upon themselves a greater condemnation The life and soule as it were thereof is the illumination and reformation of the minde and an efficatious bending conforming and working of the heart and will whereby it becomes obedient to the voyce of God and returnes as it were an audible and lively eccho into their eares the end thereof is first the glory of God and the commendation of his mercy to whom wee must ascribe both grace and nature and of whom wee have received our soules and bodies yea and the very soule of our soules which is his spirit The second end of this vocation is our deliverance and translation out of ignorance infidelity sensuality and rebellion The soule of our soules is the Spirit of God 2 Thes 2 14. unto spirituall grace and glory for wee are called out of darknesse into light that we might walke in light and no longer serve the Prince of darknesse wee are called out of the world unto God to the end that wee should relinquish the lusts of the flesh the pleasures of the world and to serve God in newnesse of life that walking uprightly before him in this world we may live and raigne with him for ever in the world to come The meritorious cause of this effectuall calling is Christ and his merits for Christ hath merited in our behalfe and hath promised that the holy Ghost should had sent into us John 15.26 16.7 8. even the Spirit of truth to illuminate and adorne our hearts with his graces and is wrought in us by a speciall powerfull and inward worke of the holy Spirit For like as when a skilfull Musitian hath once strung tuned and strucke his instrument it sends forth many pleasant and sweet sounds so when the Lord hath once breathed his spirit of life into the nostrils of our so●les and when hee hath once tuned the jurring strings of our sinnefull hearts and hath toucht them with the finger of his spirit he makes them send forth many delectable and harmonious sounds Tokens of mortification Rom. 1.6 6.17 18. 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. wherein he takes delight So then it as with the Romans wee performe hearty obedience to the Word of God if with the Corinthians wee be rich in spirituall graces and have purged our hearts by true repentance from our former iniquities and if wee be mortified and renued

to him will I give power over Nations Not hee that endevoureth the beginning the middle or a part of his life but hee that endureth to the end he shall be saved This salvation by Christ Jesus is the crowne of glory for which all men strive which none can gaine but he that runneth the race of his life faithfully and constantly 1 Cor. 9.24 therefore Saint Paul saith So runne that ye may obtaine that is endeavour your strength with your time to the utmost for though ye begin well it is nothing unlesse ye also end well for as the tree falleth so it lyeth Note and as men die so shall they rise to judgement for the grave can give no holinesse no perfection but doth onely continue us in the state it found us earth and corruption The manner of regeneration is how the children of God bee borne a new and how it is caused by the secret working of Gods holy Spirit in the children of grace John 3.8 he giveth an instance by the moving of the ayre that is when wee heare a whistling of the wind we know it bloweth yet doe we not know from whence it commeth so in the act of regeneration when we feele in our hearts the motion of Gods holy Spirit breathing salvation into our soules and when our workes and consciences give us an undoubted testimony that we are regenerated and borne of God it is then as vaine a care to search into the secret working of the Spirit of God was to enquire of the mind from whence it commeth or whether it goeth this thing is not necessary though regeneration is most necessary and not to be neglected upon paine of condemnation Seeing regeneration is of such absolute necessity to salvation Iohn 3.5 that Except a man be regenerate and borne anew of water and of the Spirit hee cannot enter into the Kingdome of God neither bee sonnes nay the servants of God though we never so much endeavour in the service of other Christian duties This doth admonish all men to have principall care to labour all meanes possible to have faithfull and sufficient witnesses both from their consciences and by testimony of their workes that they are the adopted children of God established in the assured hope of their salvation being knowne and sealed of God with the marke of regeneration for it must needs bee sufficient to resolve a conscience of Gods favour when we know we are his children it is a grounded cause to make us hopefull and confident in the trust of Gods mercy And seeing regeneration is an act of the holy Ghost every man ought so to rectifie and reforme the errors of his life as that the Spirit of God may not take loathing to enter our soules but rather that by mortification and holy excercise wee may be prepared to entertaine that sacred guest into our hearts least when hee commeth hee finde us as God will finde the reprobate in the day of judgement unprovided carelesse and secure and so not seale us for his sonnes but marke us the children of death and the friends of Antichrist Againe seeing the regenerate are made the children of God it ought therefore to be a principall care of every man to be regenerate because regeneration is the undoubted witnesse of the child of God 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore Saint Peter admonisheth all men to give diligence to make our calling and election sure which can be no way better assured us then by assuring our regeneration which is the certificat and testimony of our election and seeing the workes of regeneration must be both constant and faithfull by constancy is meant perseverance by faithfulnesse a choyce of lawfull particulars therefore every man ought to exercise his devotion and zeale in lawfull argument and that hee run in the spirituall race which God hath proposed him and not in the by waies of error of false and selfe opinion and that in this course he faint not in his spirituall courage but that hee hold out the race of his life with alacrity and hopefull confidence to win the garland of salvation which all shall both win and weare that constantly and faithfully endeavour themselves in godly actions The ordinary outward meanes to bring us to holy and godly action 2 Thes 2.14 is the preaching of the Gospel Saint Paul saith whereunto you are called by the Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Iesus Christ. The Law serves to prepare our hearts for grace but it is the oyly drops to the Gospel by the power of the Spirit that doe soften and mollifie the heart and makes it supple and pliable and like Balme it doth revive and comfort the heart and senses and makes them pliable to that which is good and godly Rom. 1.16 the Gospel is the power of God that is the instrument of Gods power unto salvation to all them that believe also good examples afflictions losses crosses want sicknesse and the like are by the blessing of God 1 Pet. 1.23 good preparatives to grace but the preaching of the Gospel is the proper instrument of the Spirit for the effecting of grace for by the word of the Gospel God speakes to the eares of the soule and by it as by a pipe hee conveyes his graces into the cisternes of our hearts Regeneration then being of such infinite excellent worth and of absolute necessity let us take off our cares and endeavours from worldly occasions and apply them to this holy purpose for being regenerate wee shall avoyd the danger both of sin and death and live in the favour of God and be graced with the honorable title of his Son then let us remember them that proudly vaunt and boast their pedigree and their descent from honorable parents let us pity their errour and despise their vaine glory let us compare such honour with the honour of Gods regenerate children wee shall find an infinit distance of their worth their 's to be transitory passable and of short continuance vaine and full of bitter mixture this without comparison to be eternall and infinite infinite in worth infinite in time let us therefore despise that to gaine this let us desire no other honorable title then to be called the children of God To be the child of grace is the greatest honour in the world that will give us the most sufficient and greatest reputation that can be for that in the least degree will exceed and out-glory all earthly honour in the highest degree let us not care how base the world repute and esteeme us nay though the world persecute us let us not faint nor feare for wee know that our Saviours kingdome is not of this world neither is the glory of his children of this world but in him that hath begotten us by the grace of his holy Spirit is our glory and by him wee are made honourable let us therefore despise the world and the vanities

God allure us by easie meanes and faire promises to everlasting life which the Law denieth to all men no man being able to satisfie the justice of the Law If it be objected then that the grace of the Gospell doth destroy the workes of the Law because that mercy is given of grace and not of desert it is answered that the Gospell doth not destroy the workes of the Law and the substance thereof but onely doth mitigate the rigour and severity thereof As God when he preserved Daniel in the Lyons denne hee did not destroy the Lyons but onely shut their mouthes and bound their power that they might not hurt Daniel Dan. 6.16 so he did not destroy the Law but onely restraine the violence thereof from hurting his Daniels that is his faithfull servants and as when King Darius tooke Daniel from the denne and cast in his accusers the Lyons power was no longer shut up Dan. 6.24 but had the mastery and devoured them their wives and children no more shall the reprobates avoyd the condemnation of the Law notwithstanding the promise of the gospell and the new covenant of grace Because no man hath the benefit of mercy but hee that first is the child of faith therefore the great King of all the world shall take his faithfull Daniels his Elect from the power of the Lyons the Law but leaveth the reprobate in the state of their destruction Thus much in generall of the Gospell and the difference betweene that and the Law and them that lived under the bondage of the Law and us that now live in the liberty of the Gospell the purpose of the Gospell is the salvation of man And therefore the Angell that was the first preacher of the gospell told the shepheards that hee brought them tydings of great joy Luk. 2.10 indeed a greater could not be then to bring them tydings of their salvation The matter of the gospell is the life the death and the doctrine of Jesus Christ for they are the onely meanes by which wee attaine to the favour of salvation Esay 43.11 his doctrines were directions his life examples and his death was and is life eternall to all them that apprehend him by a lively faith In the circumstance of the gospell is principally considered First God who of himselfe and of his owne election without any cause in man did enter this covenant of grace being moved onely by the pleasure of his owne most holy will and by his owne gracious love to his creatures for so saith the Holy Ghost God so loved the world Iohn 3.16 that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life Whereby it is evident that the love of God was the onely cause that moved him to this effect for God can glorifie himselfe aswell in the damnation Gods love to man is the moving cause of the covenant of grace as in the salvation of men For hee needeth no addition of honour that is infinite both in greatnesse and goodnesse but as his mercy is most eminent over all his attributes so in this new covenant of the Gospell hee doth give us the greatest demonstration of his mercy that can be in giving his only begotten Son to die on the Crosse for the redemption of mankind In every word there is a passion of love infinitely beyond all comparison wherein it seemeth that God doth as it were put off his Majesty and descend himselfe in his care to pity and redresse the ruined state of sinfull man his enemie Secondly in the person of Christ who is the cause both moving and finishing the covenant of the Gospell there is matter of most worthy and admirable consideration For Christ is not onely to bee understood as the instrumentall cause whereby this covenant of grace betweene God and man was effected but also as the first moving cause and deviser thereof it being impossible to assigne him offices without his appointment hee being equall to God the Father and the holy Ghost and they having all but one divinity undivided This the unbelieving Jewes could not comprehend and therefore they derided Christ when he said Before Abraham was Iohn 8.58 I am not knowing that hee was God equall and coeternall with the Father and was begotten before all beginning It is therefore most wonderfull in the person of Christ that hee being Lord of all the world that he would leave the bosome of his Father and for a time to put off the presence of his divine Majesty and to take our nature upon him in humility Strong witnesses of the love of Christ towards us and in a base estate to undertake not onely to satisfie the Law and to make good our defects but also to beare the displeasure of his Father and to suffer the malice of wicked men to prevaile against him even to his death and that he hath endured all this for the sinnes and good of man a creature that by sinne had brought himselfe in disgrace and heavy displeasure with God and which is most of all that hee hath done all this by his owne appointment without either command or direction there being no power above him by whom he could bee commanded This incomparable love of God is able to astonish a Christian meditation and to make a man admire and say with holy David Lord what is man that thou hast such respect unto him Psal 144.3 or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him This doth strongly relieve our faith against all diffidence shewing that our salvation hangs not like a meteor in the ayre but is firmely fixed upon the love of God in Christ Iere 31.3 32.40 2 Tim. 2.19 and it furthereth our spirituall joy in that it teacheth us that the love of God is constant and his decree concerning our welfare eternall And it also eclipseth the pride of the heart shewing that Gods dignation and not mans dignity his favour not mans faith his mercy and not mans merite is the fountaine and foundation of mans felicity Thirdly is considered The Ministers ●n the office of the Gospell the officers in the holy ministration of the gospell by whose faithfull endeavour and vigilance the spirituall graces of the gospell are distributed to the children of faith for whose sakes the covenant of grace is given the first officers in this kind were the twelve Apostles of purpose chosen by Christ Jesus himselfe that they might bee the faithfull witnesses of the whole passage of his life and that after his ascention they might plant in mens hearts a knowledge of the gospell by their prayers preachings and godly exhortations to dispose the holy seed of grace in their hearts whom God should make capable to entertaine it with profit These holy labourers being assisted by the holy Ghost travelled in Gods husbandry with such alacrity as that the Gospel in their times spread it selfe into very large

diligence is required of their spirituall travells all which ought to fashion themselves as neere as they can to the example of the holy Apostles Lastly The promises of the Gospell belong to the faithful onely seeing the promises of the Gospell belong to the faithfull onely that is industrious in the service of the Law this ought to provoke all men to contend in godly exercise to exceede one another and to stirre up their frozen and dead desires with the hope of the promise of the Gospel and that they thinke not the Law burthensome being now made easie by the grace of the Gospel and therefore to travaile in the duties of the Law with alacrity and spirituall comfort having their confidence and eyes of faith upon the promise of Christ made in the Gospel Thus if men dispose themselves and their affections they shall find the great and happy difference betwixt Mount Sinai and Mount Sion the Law and the Gospel The difference betweene Mount Sinai and Mount Sion in both which the gracious may finde comfort but with great inequality for unlesse wee be throughly perswaded that our salvation doth flow from the fountaine of Gods mercy and acquaint our selves with eternall election which God hath set forth in the holy Scriptures the schoole of the holy Ghost wherein as nothing is omitted necessary to bee knowne so nothing is taught but that which is expedient for man to know The ministers of Gods Word must therefore beware that they doe not keepe the faithfull from that which the Scripture delivereth unto them lest they seeme maliciously to defraud them Ephes 1. of that which God doth afford unto them or reprove his Spirit as if hee had revealed things fit for some considerations to be revealed The Word is a sure rule to direct our understanding and it is the chiefest point of sobriety in us when wee learne to make God our schoole-master and then to leave learning when hee leaves teaching and when hee leaves speaking wee should leave inquiring hee which curiously pries into Gods secrets runnes himselfe into an inextricable labyrinth and findes not that wherewith his curiosity may be satisfied Religion is not an indifferent thing but wholly to be imbraced and constantly professed The Gospell therefore being a covenant betweene God and our soules our care should be rightly to understand this covenant lest by mis-understanding and false construction we breake the covenant of grace and so runne our selves into a dangerous hazzard Let us therefore search the sence of the mysteries of the holy gospell and if they exceed our understanding let us compare them with the holy writings of the Prophets and Apostles if they exceed our capacity let us consult with the learned expositions of reverend fathers of the Church if all these satisfie not let us daily resort to the servants of this ministration and by diligent observing their sermons expositions and spirituall exhortations we shall both learne what is the covenant we have entred with God and the meanes we must use to keep that covenant and when wee have obtained this forwardnesse 1 Tim. 4.1.2 and hope of better knowledge let us carefully avoyd the dangerous inchauntments of heretiques schismatiques and all false teachers let us beware and not taste of their poyson though they present it in cups of gold let their bayte make us suspect their hookes and their faire and holy pretences their foule and wicked purposes for having found the Lord Christ which is all truth and hath sealed his covenant with us let us preserve that truth from defacing and laying that for our foundation let us build thereon the whole frame of our life and fashion all our actions by the rules of the gospell as the example of Christ hath commanded us that so wee may keepe covenant with our God and obtaine the promise of the gospell which is the salvation of our soules and then with holy Iacob Gen. 45.28 let us boast of our happinesse and say unto our soule wee have enough wee desire no enlargement Againe when wee meditate the matter of the gospell that is the words and workes of our Saviour Christ then it should move us to a reverend esteeme of the story of the gospell and make us delight to exercise our time in the often reading and conferring thereof for if they that have estates of temporall possessions be most carefull to preferre such evidences and writings as is delivered them for their security and assurance and often times spend a great part of their wealth and labour to confirme and continue such estate and such evidence shall we not then much more spend our best diligence and meanes to keepe covenant and understand rightly the writings of the holy Gospel which are the deeds and evidences betweene God and us touching the everlasting state of our soule and carefully to keepe such covenants as give us claime and interest in the possession of a Kingdome Shall men give their substance to Lawyers to maintaine their beggerly possessions on earth beggerly indeed in respect of Heaven though it were the possession of the whole earth and shall we neglect the covenants of everlasting life and may have Law without money let us never doe it Note let us never give testimony of such madnesse let them labour their earthly possessions that will but let us labour the possession of Heaven let them waste their substance on Lawyers wee can have Law and Lawyers much more reasonable Let the Prophets and Apostles be our Counsellors their hands will not be corrupted their judgement cannot erre let us therefore affy in their confidence and endeavour as they direct us Lastly when we meditate upon the particulars of the story of the Gospel let us despise all other histories in comparison of them and the old Testament for the writings of men commonly labour vaine vile and unworthy arguments and those of them that travell in a good cause yet are they defective either in matter or forme but the Gospell and other holy Scriptures being written by the direction of Gods holy Spirit they are nor onely holy in their matter but excellent in their forme and most able to give the desirous Reader infinite variety of content Therefore when wee desire to read of Majesty and great action of Empire warre conquest government policy and infinite other of this kind that depend on greatnesse we may finde both stories and examples in the Scriptures many and unmatchable If we desire to read the stories of mercy love peace humanity civill action and the rest that depend on goodnesse every page in the Gospel can furnish us either with some story or some example of that kind if wee desire to read of wonders and miracles of most admirable credence they are in the Scripture most frequent yet most true in other writings not common yet commonly false Therefore let the holy Scriptures and especially the holy Gospell which is the covenant of our

God false repentance by the feare we have of Gods justice and the punishment due to our sinnes the one is the office of a sonne the other is the office of a slave both of them repenting one matter but for divers respects Sinne then is the materiall cause of repentance the moving cause is God who moving by his holy Spirit in the hearts of his Elect presents them the ugly formes of their sinnes God is the moving cause in every office of grace awakes their consciences and stirres them to a serious cogitation of their sinnes and wretchednesse giving them still such proportion of grace as the degrees of their repentance and spirituall sorrow shall require and that God is the first moving cause to godly repentance is evident by many places of Scripture namely the second of Timothy where Saint Paul advising Timothy to instruct them that are contrary minded he giveth this reason 2 Tim. 2. Vers 25. Because ye shall thereby prove if God at any time will give them repentance that they may know the truth Here repentance is called the gift of God which doth utterly barre man from all cause of boasting his owne ability in this necessary duty for saith the Apostle Eph. 2.8.9 You are saved by grace through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should boast himselfe Also in the Acts of the Apostles proving Jesus to bee Christ and God coequall to his Father Acts 5.31 useth this argument before the counsell of the Jewes that God made him a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins where the power of forgiving of sins and giving repentance is made a proofe of his divinity interposed betweene his office of Saviour and his power of forgiving of sins These places out of many sufficiently prove that God is the first and principall moving cause of fruitfull repentance Note now God moveth not repentance in all them that repent for sin but onely in them that truly repent his chosen Elect. Now of the cure or meanes of deliverance from spirituall griefe In the curing is considered first the preparing and dressing of the wounded soule whereby it is made fit for curing Secondly the matter to be applied to the soule Thirdly the manner of applyment In the preparing of the wounded soule there be foure things necessary First a spirituall sorrow for sinne that is ascent of sorrow in the soule caused by a cogitation of sin and guiltinesse and this is a necessary preparative in a repentant soule for that soule cannot desire a spirituall refreshment that hath not first a sense of sorrow and feeling of present calamity This preparative to repentance was in the Jewes that were hearers of holy Peter when he declared before them their sinne in crucifying the Lord Jesus Acts 2.37 for the text saith When they heard it they were pricked in their hearts and said what shall we doe as if the present sorrow and anguish did so astonish them as they knew not what to doe nor how to advise themselves Humble acknowledgement The next preparative is an humble acknowledgement of the soule of the misery it is in and an exposing of such particular griefes as we finde in the register of our conscience this is also necessary in the preparing of our soules For though God the Physition of our sicke soules understand our sinnes better then our selves and can remember them better then conscience yet it is great reason that hee which desireth the health of his soule should declare so much of his griefe as hee can remember not to instruct or helpe the knowledge of God but to confesse and acknowledge our selues and our dutifull desires This acknowledgement of sinne was common in the custome of holy David The example of holy David Psal 32.5 6. how often hath hee confessed his sinne and exposed his griefe before God for God is so desirous of our good as that then he readily helpeth us when we doe but carefully desire it Therefore saith the Prophet David I said I would confesse my sinne unto the Lord Vers 6. and so thou forgavest the wickednesse thereof David did but say he would confesse his sinne God taketh his word and forgave him his sinnes and certainely humble and unfeyned acknowledgement in our repentance is an undoubted testimony that God doth give us grace and that he will without question give us his favour The third preparative consisteth in holy action that is No man can satisfie Gods justice for sin when we endeavour a reformation and declare our repentance in a conscionable discharge of our duty for though no man can satisfie the justice of God for sinne yet ought all men so much as they have by the power of grace given them to satisfie men For example he that stealeth or defraudeth be it by force or of fraud is of necessitie bound to make restitution if he be able And this the reformed Publican Zacheus well understood who professing before Christ his reformation and repentance to witnesse it to be true and unfeigned hee gave this infallible token Behold Lord Luk. 19.8 9. saith he the halfe of my goods I give to the poore and if I have taken from any man by force or forged cavillation I restore him foure-fold and the Text saith in the next Verse that then salvation was come into his house and so Zacheus endevouring that hee could not did at one time entertaine both his Saviour and his salvation therefore though no man can satisfie the Law yet every man must endeavovr it otherwise his repentance is idle and but vaine neither can hee have part in the righteousnesse and redemption of Jesus Christ Psa 25.1 2 c. The last preparative is prayer that is a lifting up of the heart to God with faith unfeigned and hopefull confidence in the exercise of prayer there is a double office First wee must expose our griefe next we must implore his favour for as in ordinary cures in surgery Note the patient must first suffer his wounds to be ript launst and search'd before the remedy can be applyed to the sore so must wee rip and search the wounds of our soule avoid and empty the infectious matter and when we have it out 2 King 19.14 1● 16. we must use it as Hezekiah did the blasphemous letter of Rabshakeh spread it all before the Lord and then with earnest humblenesse implore his favour lay open our sins unto him and confesse that these are they that have wounded our soules troubled our conscience for which we grieve for which we pray when our soule is thus prepared there is joy in our repentant teares pleasure in our griefe and hope in our spirituall sorrow and then and not before are wee made fit to apprehend and apply Christ Jesus the salvation of our soule The matter of the cure of

admonishing them that of necessity they must chuse one either to mortifie the flesh and live or pamper the flesh and die there being no meanes no cause of avoydance of this necessity and S. Paul hath admiration at their simplicity that cannot apprehend this mystery who in the Allegory of seed proving the resurrection of the body proveth also the necessary mortifying of the flesh O foole saith hee 1 Cor. 15.36 that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die for as the blade of seed corne cannot appeare before the graine be first rotten in the earth and as there cannot be a resurrection to life before there be first a separation and rottennesse by death so there cannot be a regeneration by grace before there be a mortification to sin for new birth is gotten by the death of sin and mortification is the predecessour and next parent to regeneration they being necessary Relatives for where one is both are and where both are not neither is therefore it is generally necessary all men being bound to mortifie all sin without favour or dispensation of any Lastly it is moved in us by the Spirit of God but it is exercised by our owne reformed spirit Note God first kindling the fire of zeale in our hearts which when it is kindled burneth of it selfe but not without divine assistance for when it shall please the Almighty God by his grace to call us out of the grave of sin by hearty and serious repentance unto newnesse of life by faith in Christ and by the motion of his holy Spirit cause in us a loathing and a detestation of our sins then wee may assure our selves that the gracious goodnesse of God will not give us over but will assist us with his holy Spirit and support us with his divine grace so that we shall never fall away except wee prove voluntary revolters from him for by the promise of God made to his elect in the covenant of grace Ierem. 32.38 39 40 41 42. hee saith They shall be my people and I will be their God And I will give them one hearts and lead them in one way that they may feare mee all the daies of their life I will make an everlasting covenant with them namely that I will never cease to doe them good and that I will put my feare in their heartt so that they shall not depart from me yea I will have a lust and pleasure to doe them good with my whole heart and with my whole soule even so will I also bring upon them all the good that I have promised them and marke our Intercessour and Mediatour Christ Ioh. 17.11.15.20 who hath prayed effectually unto his father for our preservation and conservation in the world because we are his subjects and members who is a most puissant and gracious Prince and Advocate and a most perfect and blessed head and therefore wee may be sure that hee will protect and preserve his subjects profligate and extirpate their sins their enemies and by his Spirit convey spirituall sense and motion into all his members To conclude this calling is an argument of admirable power in God and of his infinite mercy to us for as hee shewed his power in creating and making of things to be that before were not even so he manifests his power in his effectuall calling men that were dead in sin and worse then nothing by their owne deserts to live the life of grace and in breathing into them the breath of new life which was utterly expired by their fall in Adam yea the Lord may seeme to exhibite more power or mercy when he calls men out of their sinnes then when hee did create them For at his creation there was none to hinder him but at his vocation there were many hinderers and great impediments though all inferiour unto God there is the Divell and his suggestions there is the world and her incantations scandalls and allurements and there is our owne flesh the rebellious corruption of the heart all these God must vanquish and overcome 2 Cor. 8.12 and perswade and incline our hearts and wills and of nillers make us willers to come unto him before he perfect and accomplish in us this his glorious and thrice happy worke of grace indeed there is more goodnesse shewed more grace exhibited in restoring of man out of his grievous and intollerable misery and in curing him of his cursed blindnesse then giving him a being Psal 27.1 having none before and in making him to see which before in spirituall things was blinde to raise a dead soule from the death of sinne unto a supernaturall life is a greater worke of mercy than to raise a dead body from bodily death to live a naturall life Joh. 11.43 44. when Christ had cryed to Lazarus being dead and said Lazarus come forth hee forthwith revived and came forth of the grave So when Peter had said to dead Tabitha Acts 9.40 Tabitha arise shee immediately opened her eyes and sate up even so when God shall please to vouchsafe to call a man with his powerfull voyce and shall effectually speake unto the heart and say Arise thou that sleepest in sin come forth of the grave of iniquity stand up and walke in the waies of righteousnesse his voice is so mighty and his Word so powerfull that the man to whom he doth so speake must needs awake arise come forth and walke The voyce of the Lord Psal 29. saith David it mighty in operation the voyce of the Lord breaketh the Cedars it divideth the flames of fire it maketh the wildernesse to tremble The voyce of the Lord is a glorious voyce that maketh the thunder these are the effects of that voyce likewise the voyce which God speaketh to the eare of the soule in his effectuall calling is so mighty and so glorious Heb. 4.12 as that it rendeth the heart and maketh it tremble Ioh 6.20 it discovereth the soule and pierceth into the most secret parts of it and looke as at the sound of the seven trumpets the wall of Iericho fell flat downe and as at that efficacious voyce of Christ saying I am hee Ioh. 18.6 his enemies that came to apprehend him went backward and fell to the ground even so when Gods voyce shall sound in a mans eare and when Christ shall speake effectually unto the heart the walls of hell shall reele and totter the fortresses of iniquity shall be ruinated the castles of sinne shall be cast downe our spirituall enemies shall be driven backeward the strong man Satan shall be fettered and his cursed workes dissolved these are the admirable effects of his glorious voyce Rom. 11.16 these are the worthy and wonderfull workes of Gods effectuall calling wee may therefore justly say The voyce of the Lord is mighty the voyce of the Lord is glorious and bringeth wonderfull things to passe this inward vocation is an infallible pledge of

God What fiery darts of the divell can be so mortiferous that they cannot be quenched in the fountaine of divine grace What so great a staine of the conscience that his blood cannot purge Here is not felt the fire of Gods fury but the heat of his love here is the Sonne of righteousnesse Malac. 4.2 the present light of our soules our first Parents were brought into Paradise that most sweet and fragrant garden Gen. 2.8 the type of eternall beatitude behold the penitent conscience is here cleansed by the blood of the Sonne of God and by the body of Christ are nourished the members of Christ the head the faithfull soule is fed with divine and heavenly dainties the sacred flesh of God which the Angels adore in the unity of person which the Arch-angels reverence Psalm 18. at which the powers doe tremble and which the vertuous admire is the spirituall food of our soules Let the heavens rejoyce Psal 96.11 let the earth be glad but much more the faithfull soule upon whom such and so great benefits are bestowed Our most bountifull God Matth. 22.4 hath prepared a great feast hearts that be hungry must be brought unto it he that tasteth not thereof feeleth not the sweetnesse of this heavenly feast to believe in Christ is this heavenly feast but no man believeth Note unlesse he confesse his sins with contrition and repent him of the same Contrition is the spirituall hunger of the soule and faith is the spirituall feeding God gave Manna Exod. 16.4 the bread of Angels to the Israelites in the wildernesse In this feast of the new testament God giveth us the heavenly Manna that is his grace and forgivenesse of sins yea his Sonne Christ Jesus The Lord of the Angels is that spirituall bread which came downe from heaven to give light and life unto the world The desire is the food of the soule and the soule comes not to this mysticall feast unlesse it desires to come thereto Matth 25.8 Verse 10. and it cannot desire the heavenly sweetnesse if it be full of this worlds comforts at the comming of the Bridegroome the Virgins that had no oyle in their lampes staying too long were shut out so they whose hearts in this world are not filled with the oyle of the holy Spirit shall not be admitted by Christ to the participation of the joy of this holy feast but shall have the gate of indulgence the gate of mercy the gate of consolation the gate of hope Rom. 5.20 the gate of grace and the gate of good workes shut against them Our Saviour Christ hath yet another kinde of calling and happy is hee that heares and obey it Christ often knocks at the gates of our heart by holy desires Note devout sighes and pious cogitations and happy is hee that openeth unto him as soone therefore as thou feelest in thy heart any holy desire of the heavenly grace assure thy selfe that Christ knockes at thy heart make haste let him in lest hee passe by and presently shut the gate of his mercy against thee as soone as thou feelest in thy heart any sparke of holy motions or godly meditations perswade thy selfe that it is kindled by the heat of divine grace and love that is of the holy Spirit cherish and nourish it 1 Thes 5.19 that it may grow to be a fire of love in thee and take heed that thou quench not the Spirit 1 Cor. 3.17 and hinder the worke of the Lord our heart is the Temple of the Lord hee that destroyeth the Temple of the Lord shall feele his severe judgement and he destroyeth it whosoever refuseth to give place to the holy Spirit inwardly calling him by the Word In the old Testament the Prophets could heare the Lord speaking inwardly in them and so all the true godly doe feele those inward motions of the holy Spirit drawing them unto goodnesse Ephes 4.3 therefore all men must endeavour to keepe the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace A preparation to the receiving of the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Iesus Christ THere is a hearing and a preparation before hearing there is a praying and there is a preparation before praying and there is a receiving and there is a preparation before receiving which if it be wanting the receiver receiveth uncomfortably the prayer prayeth vainly and the hearer heareth unfruitfully like those which doe eate before hunger or drinke before thirst this preparative before hearing praying and receiving for the health of our soules doth signifie the rules of physicke for preparatives are ministred alwaies before physicke Note and as the preparative which goes before maketh way to the physicke or else it would doe no good but hurt so unlesse examination goe before the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.27 29. wee seale up the threatnings which are pronounced against us in stead of the promises which are made unto us for the Sacrament is a seale and sealeth good or evill as every other seale doth therefore all men ought carefully to examine themselves but they that are suspected of a crime doe not examine themselves but are examined of others lest they should be partiall in their owne cause but a faithfull Christian should examine himselfe of his crime Verse 31.32 Note and be his owne judge his owne accuser and his owne condemner for no man knowes the spirit of man but the spirit which is in man which will condemne him if he be guilty and tell him all that he hath done and with what minde he did it and what punishment he deserveth for the same this is the close sessions or private arraignement when Conscience sits in her chaire to examine accuse judge and condemne her selfe Eccles 18.19 because she will escape the just condemnation of God Thus have holy men kept their sessions at home and made their hearts the fore-man of the Jury and examine themselves Note as wee examine others The feare of the Lord stood at the doore of their soules to examine every thought before it went in and at the doore of their lips to examine every word before it went out so shouldest thou sit in judgement of thy selfe and call thy thoughts words and actions to give in evidence against thee whether thou be a Christian or an Infidell a sonne or a bastard a servant or a rebell a sincere believer or an hypocrite if upon examination thou find not faith nor feare nor love nor zeale in thy selfe let no man make thee believe thou art holy that thou art godly Note that thou art sanctified that thou art a Christian that thou art a believer because thou art worse then thou seemest to thy selfe to be therefore if my heart tell mee that I love God whom shall I believe before my selfe 1 Cor. 2.11 No man can search the heart of another man so Paul saith No man knoweth the spirit of any man