duty and more especially the duty of every Believer to desire and seek after part and fellowship in the highest Consolations which the Gospel administreth and which are attainable by men thereby because without being baptized with such a baptism as this men will not be in that singular and signal capacity to shew forth the vertues or pleasant and lovely things of God which they ought to lift up their hearts and desires unto That which as we said is asserted plainly in the Reason Sect. 8 is that without being filled with the Spirit men and women will never be able to reach the Consolations of the Gospel where they run high and carry in them a strong savour of life and immortality Now for the opening and clearing of this unto you you are to take knowledge and consider that men and women may so go to work may stand upon such terms before God and the Gospel for many years together that according to the ordinary and settled course of Divine Providence in the World and the exigency of second causes they will not be like I mean whilst they continue in such a way to know what the Consolations of the Gospel in those veins of it in which they are most soveraign rich and glorious mean Yea the truth is considering the present experiment which persons of both Sexes generally give of themselves in the World there is scarce one of a City or two of a Tribe whose hearts do in any measure serve them to live up to such terms which are like to render them capable of eating the fat and drinking the sweet of the Gospel For First men that savour as the Scripture speaks the things which are of men and love this present World are not in any likely capacity but only upon the changing of the frame of their mind and of their course of life ever to know what is the hope of their Calling as the Apostle speaks either in respect of the ground of it what pregnant lively and abundantly satisfactory arguments and grounds there are why they should hope for and expect all the great things which the Gospel promiseth or else what is his hope in respect of the object of it how glorious excellent and wonderful these things are which are now hoped for and will be found of all those that shall with Faith and Patience wait upon God for them Men and women I say that stick fast with their minds and hearts in the mire and clay of this present World are never like to know what the hope of the Gospel-calling is in either consideration and consequently not to inherit or enjoy in this World the riches of the glory of the Gospel Consolations The Reasons hereof are many we shall hint only two First Because when the intellectual powers and faculties of the Soul are drunk up with worldly and sensual engagements or over-acted upon the things which are seen they become aukward indisposed and unserviceable for spiritual negotiations and imployments about heavenly things By such low and mean Converse as this they contract an habit of a kind of intellectual rudeness and disingeniousness by reason whereof they know not how to quit or behave themselves about more noble and high-born objects nor indeed care not much to have to do with them or come into their company Even as persons that have been alwaies bred and brought up inter sordes amongst rude and rustical people of course and rough behaviour cannot presently change their temper and disposition and so become capable of conversing orderly and according to the principles of Civility with persons of better quality and more refined carriage and by reason of a consciousness to themselves in this kind they avoid as much as well they may the company of such persons In like manner those divine discoveries made in the Gospel those veins of wisdom and of the knowledge of God there upon which I mean upon the apprehension of which the high raisings and liftings up in Evangelical Consolations of which we speak chiefly depend being of a very fine spinning very spiritual and remote from the common thoughts and apprehensions of men and much more from the thoughts of such minds and understandings which have accustomed themselves wholly in a manner to this Worlds affairs persons of this Character knowing that these things lie out of the way of their Genius and that they are not able to conceive of them with much contentment to themselves nor to speak of them with contentment unto others in these respects take little or no pleasure to enquire after them nor to engage themselves to any purpose in the study of them So then this is one reason why such persons who are over-intent and bent upon this present World are not like to ascend in spirit into the Region of light where the Consolations we speak of have their dwelling and are to be found viz. because by continual digging in the earth with their reasons apprehensions and understandings they make them blunt and dull and altogether unapt to take the Genuine and through impressions of such Gospel-notions wherein the riches of the comforts thereof are laid up as in a store-house Secondly Another Reason hereof is because as we lately heard the revelations and discoveries of these Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge that are hid in the Gospel in the understanding and clear apprehension whereof as we lately likewise shewed the strength of the said Consolations lye are made over or as we may speak safely enough and yet more plainly are promised by God by way of reward unto those that love him and proportionably the fuller measure of them to those that love him above the rate of his ordinary friends Now the Holy Ghost expresly informs us 1 Joh. 2.15 That if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Yea the Apostle James goeth somewhat further or at least speaketh more plainly affirming That the friendship of the World is enmity with God and that whosoever will be a friend unto the World is an enemy unto God James 4.4 If the love of the Father of God the Father be not in men the deep things of God in the Gospel such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. are not prepared or made ready to be communicated unto them nor indeed are they prepared or fit to receive and understand them This then in a word is another Reason why persons much addicted to this present World are not like to sit at the upper end of the Table which is spread with the Consolations of the Gospel Secondly Sect. 9 Neither are they like to taste of the Feast we speak of or be filled with the best and choycest of the comforts of the Gospel who are hard of bowels cruel unmerciful hard to forget and forgive injuries yea who have not eyes and hearts full of commiseration and of pity hearts well exercised with mercy For as mercy in the Apostle Jame's
many places Actions are ascribed unto him that doth assist and direct and help men in the performance of them and not unto him that is the formal and immediate Agent Page 232 235 XVII That in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon by the Creature Page 242 XVIII Such Causes which work and contribute towards their Effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is literal or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all Causes 244. Yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand Page ibid. XIX A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him Page 248 XX. God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and Waies of Men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and faller Connexion they have with their peace and happiness Pag. 248 XXI Though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert and put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth Page 281 XXII The way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us but to go about that which is our Duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgement and deep sense of our inability Page 283 XXIII It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed for the means or course that is usually taken to effect it Page 284 XXIV Though there be a presence of the Spirit of God with men in the state of Nature or unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do not speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of their receiving him until they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him Page 285 XXV Whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Page 286 XXVI Whosoever makes the Creature either meerly Passive in its Works or Services or willing as they say by or from a necessitation they despoil it of all capacity of being rewarded by God and so while they pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God indeed and in truth make nothing of it Page 287 XXVII It is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them should no other circumstance hindring be intrusted with a greater Page 288 XXVIII God usually walketh with Men by such Principles and Rules which are written on their hearts by the finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their Civil and Common Affairs Page 31 32 288 297 XXIX God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it Page 289 XXX The Hebrew Dialect many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Consequent Page 299 XXXI That is sometimes said to be dâ—ne which is done frequently or isal waies probable or likely to be done Page 301 XXXII The Connexive Particle and sometimes implieth a Motive enforcing a preceding Exhortation Page 304 XXXIII God hath built and framed the body of his Laws and Precepts given unto men upon like terms by such Principles and Rules of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 according to which prudent Law makers amongst men me went to compile and 〈◊〉 the body of those Civil or Politick Laws which they make for the benefit or use of their States or Communities respectively Pag. 348 349 XXXIV The Gospel being a Doctrine according to Godliness every limbe and vein of it must have a tendency the same way Page 363 XXXV When an Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded be not actually seduced Page 399 XXXVI Comparative senses or meanings are frequently expressed in absolute and positive terms Page 407 XXXVII When Men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them and so to arm their Consciences and Judgments against them Page 407 XXXVIII Whether Words or Works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there Page 408 XXXIX When a man is unwilling to do a thing he may according to Scripture Dialect or manner of speaking be said to be unable to do it Page 20 21 413 XL. There is no ground to judge and determine a Ministry to be legal because the face of it is set and bent as it were to press men to the keeping of the Commands of God contained in the Moral Law Page 441 XLI A person may be said to be moved or enclined when that is done unto him which is apt and proper and sufficient to cause him to be moved and enclined whether he be actually moved or enclined or no Page 446 XLII Such a person is said to sow unto the Spirit who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Page 450 XLIII That which is delivered unto the World in the New Testament by the mouth of Jesus Christ himself or upon the account of his coming from Heaven as all that which the Holy Ghost hath further revealed by the Apostles is is more obliging and binding upon the Consciences of men and more severely punishable by God when neglected or despised than the things delivered in the Old Testament or before Christ's coming into the World were or are Page 459 XLIV It is not unusual in Emphatical Discourses to speak of one and the same person in different considerations as of two Page 459 It is usual in the Scriptures when things are more fully done or after a more rich and bountiful manner discovered to represent them as newly done Page 462 XLV It is frequent in Scripture when the Holy Ghost would reprove Men in things that be irrational to interrogate them as to the reason or ground of what they do Page 476 XLVI The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Page 501 XLVII The words Perfect and Perfection are most frequently used when applied to Men or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but in a limited and diminutive sense but when applied to God in the strictest sense Page 501 XLVIII Verbs properly signifying action many times declare the Natures and Properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do Page 502 XLIX Many things in Scripture are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Page 512 L. The Verb Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which properly signifies the simple and absolute Being on Existence of a thing is oft used in the Scriptures for the Being of a thing in Act Exercise or manifestation Page 228 The End
be praised so shall I be saved from mine Enemies I will pray saith he and then I do expect as it were of course Salvation and deliverance from God And so again in ver 5 6. The sorrows of hell compassed me about And what did he in this case When he saw no way of escape he dispatches his Angel unto Heaven and his Angel was sent back with deliverance he heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears And then what follows What a tempest and storm doth God presently raise against his Enemies Ver. 7 8 c. Then the Earth shook and trembled the foundations of the Hills moved and were shaken c. And so again ver 18.19 They prevented me in the day of my calamity But the Lord was my stay he delivered me because he delighted in me We know it is a thing usual with men and that which is but equal and no mans reproach or shame to be more kind and more enclinable to help those that are willing to serve them those that are respectful of them and charge their minds and thoughts with their Affairs and Concernments I say it is but reasonable that a man who is thus respected by another should shew and measure out respects proportionably to him again So God it seems uses to deal with men in this case ver 20 21. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me for I have kept the waies of the Lord and not wickedly departed from my God We see that it was not simply Prayer or David's crying unto the Lord that brought this deliverance down from Heaven unto him with so high an hand no but it was his righteousness the cleanness of his hands the keeping of himself clean in the sight of God this was that which gave power to his Prayer and caused it to prevail at that high rate with him And so Psal 6.9 10. The Lord saith he hath heard my Supplication and he will receive my Prayer And what then Let all mine Enemies be ashamed and sore vexed c. As if he had said Let them look to it all mine Enemies for I am resolved that I will pray and call upon God and I know then what will fall to their portion and therefore let them look for nothing nor expect nothing but ruine and destruction when I shall do it And in Rev. 11.5 6. It is said there concerning the two Witnesses That if any man would hurt them fire proceeded out of their mouth and devoured their Enemies and if any man will hurt them be must in this manner be killed As if he had said there is no way with them but one if they attempt any thing cruelly and unmercifully against my Witnesses their fiery Prayers and Supplications which proceed out of their mouths will destroy them And so he goes on ver 6. These have power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the day of their Prophesie and have power over waters to turn them into bleud c. Ye have heard that this Book of the Revelations runneth much upon Allegories and Types which it borrows from the Old Testament but the plain meaning of these Expressions is only this that those that should stand it out against Antichrist his Apostacies and the Idolatrous doings in those times should be able to do as great things and to bring to pass things of the like nature and consideration in their kind with those great works in the daies of Elijah and of Moses c. Ezek. 14.14 where God speaks of Noah Daniel and Job that if these men should stand before him yet they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness It is very likely that it was a received Principle amongst the Israelites that men like unto these could prevail for what they would with God and God would not deny them any thing that they asked of him For otherwise it was to no purpose to affect the people and to take them off from expectation of any help from the mediation of them or such as they were unless they had hoped for deliverance by the means of such men But now saith he it is true indeed if these men or any like unto them should stand up and intercede with me they should have somewhat more than other men they should prevail with me for themselves But as to the saving of the Nation and the preventing of the Judgment which I am now fully resolved to execute upon you it is such of such a nature and consequence that it is not fit for me to grant neither indeed would these men ask any such things at my hand if they knew the state of things between me and you and how repugnant it is to those Principles of Holiness Wisdom and Justice by which I govern the World and must govern it if I govern it like my self So God likewise telleth Jeremiah Neither lift up a cry for this people for if they pray I will not hear them Jer. 11.14 14.11 7.16 As if Jeremiah had had such an opinion that this people might have been brought off from that Judgment which God intended towards them and that God should have suffered some kind of inconveniency to have denied him if he had prayed for them and therefore to prevent him he plainly tells him that he would not have him pray for them As if God had said it is not at all out of my way to deny such Petitions and Suits as they that are wicked and stubborn put up but it would be otherwise with me in case thou shouldst pray and I must go somewhat out of my way to deny thee and therefore saith he do it not Now this passage plainly shews that such persons who excell in righteousness and that are wont to lay out themselves freely for God he is wont to express himself with an answerable freedom and bounty to them and consequently to give them power at the Throne of Grace and interest there Thus then we see how and upon what account Persons filled with the Spirit of God must needs according to the Scriptures have a great interest in God and carry a great stroke by their Prayers at the Throne of Grace viz. because they keep his Commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight Now it is a matter of easie and ready apprehension to conceive of how rich a consequence such an high Priviledge as this we have mentioned Sect. 5 and found men and women filled with the Spirit to stand possessed of must needs be to make the life of a man most desirable in this World We know for a man to have the Ear of a King or a great Potentate of the Earth so as to be able to procure his Arm to be stretched forth on his behalf as oft as he should reasonably desire it is esteemed and not altogether without cause to
be a great piece of wordly Felicity But alas What is such an interest in the greatest or mightiest King or Prince under the Heavens being compared with that interest which such a person as we have spoken of hath in God The gleanings of him that hath the Ear of the Great God of all the Earth open to his Prayer are better than the Vintage of him that hath the Ear of the greatest Monarch in the World open unto him They who have the Ear of God open upon such terms as persons filled with the Spirit have it are in a capacity hereby not only to provide or procure for themselves as oft as they desire all accommodations regularly necessary to render their lives full of peace comfort and contentment but likewise to Umpire and order the great Affairs of the World round about them yea and to give Laws unto Nations and to rule them with a Rod of Iron For such persons as we now speak of are a first fruits of that World to come which in Scriptures is called the new Heavens and the new Earth the Kingdom of Christ and of the Saints and is much discoursed amongst us under the name of the Fifth Monarchy a Name and Notion proper enough for it and have a first-fruit granted unto them by God of those glorious Priviledges of that Interest of Power and Grandeur which shall be vested in the great Body or whole Community of the Saints in that day of which we may have occasion ere long to speak more particularly So as this shall be the Priviledge and Prerogative of all the Saints in that day that they shall rule the Nations as it were with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel meaning that the whole Earth shall be given unto them as it is in Daniel Dan. 7.18.27 Even so shall the persons we speak of before the Dawning of that Day before the New Heaven and the New Earth taste of the great happiness and felicity of the Chosen of God in those daies and they shall Umpire and Rule and carry and sway the great Affairs of the World as we have it in Rev. 2.26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end that man that standeth it out in my Cause and fights it out unto death to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule with a Rod of Iron c. meaning that he shall have part in the great felicity of that day You know that passage in Jam. 5.17 where it is said that Elijah who was a man subject to the like passions and the like infirmities with other men I suppose he means not so much if at all sinful infirmities as corporal he was a man subject to sorrow and sickness and death as well as we or any of us are and yet he did thus by Prayer he prayed and he shut the Heavens and again he prayed and he opened the Heavens and provided rain for the Earth by his Prayer Now I suppose the Apostle inserts these words A man subject to like passions as we are to remove that great stumbling stone which might be in the minds and thoughts of ordinary Christians that are weak and poor that carry about with them a body of sickness and death and are despised in the World and not regarded and set by by the great men in the World How then should they expect that a God of that infinite Majesty which he is to whom they should pray and make their requests should regard them Especially in the gratifying of them upon any such terms that he should do any great or excellent thing more than ordinary for them Now to such the Holy Ghost here saith do not be troubled let no such thought as this arise within you upon such an occasion for I tell you that Elijah was a man as weak as you cloathed with the same flesh subject to sicknesses and pain and to be contemned and slighted by men as he was by Ahab and others yet this did not at all obstruct his interest with God his Prayer was potent and powerful with him for he did very great things as you know by his Prayer he shut the Heaven being highly offended with the wickedness of the People and their Idolatry He interceded as it were against them and sought to draw down Judgments upon them indeed he sought hereby to humble them and to bring them to the sight of their sins as it seems he did and accordingly when he saw that they did repent and were reformed in their waies he did by another Prayer turn the course of the Displeasure of God another way and drew down the love and favour of God out of Heaven upon them And Sect. 6 my Brethren doubtless the reason why the interest of Prayer is fallen so low and sunk as it were in the Christian World in comparison of what it was in the Primitive times in the daies of the Apostles and in the Ages next after them the reason I say why so little is done in the World by means of Prayer is because the Generation of those who in the Primitive times were wont to be filled with the Spirit and to be large hearted towards God is in a manner extinct and that heavenly vigour which possessed the hearts and reins and brake forth and shewed it self in the lives and waies of the First and Second Ages of Primitive Christians was not lookt after in the Generations afterwards but instead thereof many of them suffered a Spirit of ignorance and blind zeal to enter into them and to possess them which under a pretense of bestirring it self and acting for God and Jesus Christ made wrack and havock of their interest in the World And there is more than enough of this kind of spirit and vigour that is gotten into the the hearts and inward parts of many Professors amongst us who like to the Jews of old have a great zeal for God but not according to knowledge yea there is a great variety of several shapes and forms of this kind of zeal amongst us The Antinomian he laies out himself effectually for the advancement of his Opinion and waies and thinks he doth God and his Gospel the only service in the World A second sort of Professor he is as a flame of fire he is content to spend and to be spent in the Service of his way being full of confidence that even whilest he treads and tramples under foot the peace and comforts of the Children and dear Servants of Christ yet he is the only Benefactor to his Throne and Kingdom amongst men A third Party abominating the Zeal of the former riseth up early and goeth to bed late and eats the bread of much carefulness to mount upon the back of Secular Authority and if he get but his foot fast and sure upon this ground he makes account that by turning the edge of the Magistrates Sword against all that he conceipts