you believed you were sealed by the holy Spirit of Promise Ephes. 1. 13 14. 2. There is a Witness which is given to the Saints that the thing may not be always dark and doubtful The Holy-Ghost is given as a Witness If you would know whether or no you are the Children of God see that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God As under the Law in the Mouth of two Witnesses every doubtful Thing was to be established Deut. 17. 6. So here the Spirit beareth Witness together with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Our Spirits alone may be lying deceitful we may flatter our selves and think we are the Children of God when we are Children of the Devil All certainly comes from the Holy-Ghost and therefore the great Question which is traversed to and fro in the Heart is Whether we be God's Children What is the Spirit 's Witness 1. He lays down Marks in Scripture which are the Ground and Decision of this Debate for the Scriptures are of the Holy-Ghost's inditing and so may be said to bear witness Rom. 8. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God 1 John 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother Thus the Spirit beareth witness to our Spirits by laying down such Marks as we by our own spiritual Sense and renewed Conscience feel to be right within our selves And this is the main thing called the Witness of the Spirit 2. He worketh such Graces as are peculiar to God's Children and are Evidences of our Interest in the Favour of God and therefore it is called the Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thess. 2. 13. and the renewing of the Holy-Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Look as Iohn knew Christ to be the Son of God by the Spirit 's descending and abiding upon him Iohn 1. 32. So by the Spirit 's Work and the Spirit 's Inhabitation we know whether we are the Children of God or no whether we dwell in God and God in us because of his Spirit that he hath given us that is because of those Graces wrought in us And this is called the Seal of the Spirit for the Holy-Ghost stamping the Impress of God upon the Soul working in us an answerable Likeness to Christ is said to be the Seal then we have God's Impress upon us 3. The Spirit goes further he helpeth us to feel and discover those Acts in our selves There is a stupid Deadness in the Conscience so that we are not always sensible of our spiritual Acts. Hagar saw not the Fountain near her until God opened her Eyes So we may not see the Work of the Spirit without the Light of the Spirit We cannot own Grace in the midst of so much Weakness and Imperfection there is a misgiving of Conscience therefore the Spirit of Sanctification is also a Spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 17. The Author of the Grace is the best Revealer and Interpreter of it He works and he gives us a sight of it As a Workman that made a thing can best warrant it to the Buyer he knows the Goodness and Strength of it and how it is framed and made So the Holy-Ghost which works Grace he reveals and discovers this Grace to us 4. The Spirit helps us to compare them with the Rule and accordingly to judg of their Sincerity The Spirit opens our Understandings that we may be able to discern the Intent and Scope of the Scripture that so we may not be mistaken We must plow with God's Heifer if we would understand the Riddle In thy Light we shall see Light We shall be apt to misapply the Rule so as to judg of our own Actions Rom. 9. 1. I lie not the Holy-Ghost bearing me witness when he had spoken of some eminent Thing wrought in him We are apt to lie and feign and misapply Rules Comforts and Privileges But now the Holy-Ghost bearing witness with our Spirits by this means we come to have a Certainty There are so many Circuits Wiles Turnings in the Heart of Man that we are not competent Judges of what is wrought in us therefore it is usually ascribed to the Spirit to be the Searcher of the Heart Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence Acts 5. 4. Thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God The Holy-Ghost is rather spoken of than any other Person because it is his personal Operation to abide in the Hearts of Men and to search and try the Reins It is more particularly ascribed to him tho it belongs to all the Persons 5. As the Spirit helps us to compare that which is wrought with the Rule the impression or thing sealed with the Stamp or the thing sealing so he helps us to conclude rightly of our Estate For many times when the Premises are clear the Conclusion may be suspended either out of Self-Love in case of Condemnation or out of legal Fear and Jealousy in case of Self-acquitment Therefore the Conclusion is of the Holy-Ghost 1 John 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit There 's a great deal of do to bring us to Heaven with Comfort There needs a Person of the Godhead to satisfy us as well as to satisfy God and help us to determine concerning our Condition 6. He enlivens and heightens our Apprehensions in all these Particulars and so fills us with Comfort and raiseth our Joy upon the feeling of the Sense of the Favour of God for all this is the Fruit of his Operation Therefore it is said Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy-Ghost which is given unto us Those unspeakable Glimpses of God's Favour and sweet Manifestations of God's Love in the Conscience which we have these are given by the Holy-Ghost There is not one Act of the Soul but the Holy-Ghost hath a stroke in it for our Comfort in every degree all comes from God So that if you would know what the Witness of the Spirit is consider What are the Marks in Scripture What Graces are wrought in your Hearts How doth the Spirit help you to discern those Graces to compare them to the Rule to make accordingly in these Things a Determination of our Condition And what Joy and Peace have you thereupon wrought in your Hearts by the Holy-Ghost For an immediate Testimony of the Spirit the Scripture knows of no such thing All other is but Delusion besides this 3. There are certain Fruits and Effects which do more sensibly evidence it unto the Soul What are those Fruits of the Spirit of Adoption in our Hearts by which we may further evidence it whether we are the
corrupt and wholly poisoned with Self-Love we prefer every base Interest and Trifle before God nay we prefer carnal Self before God Some are wholly brutish and so they may wallow in Ease and Pleasure and eat the Fat and drink the Sweet never think of God care not how God is dishonoured both by themselves and others And then some O how tender are they in matters of their own Concernment and affected with it more than for the Glory of God! Ioh. 12. 43. They are more affected with their own Honour and their own Loss and Reproach than with God's dishonour or God's Glory If their own Reputation be but hazarded a little O how it stings them to the Heart But if they be faulty towards God they can pass it over without Trouble A Word of Disgrace a little Contempt cast upon our Persons kindles the Coals and â—ills us with Rage but we can hear God's Name dishonoured and not be moved with it When they pray if they beg outward Blessings if they ask any thing it is for their Lusts not for God 't is but to feed their Pomp and Excess and that they may shine in the Pomp and Splendor of external Accommodations If they beg Quickning and Enlargment it is for their own Honour that their Lusts may be fed by the Contributions of Heaven So by a wicked Design they would even make God to serve the Devil The best of us when we come to pray what a deep Sense have we of our own Wants and no desire of the Glory of God If we beg daily Bread Maintenance and Protection we do not beg it as a Talent to be improved for our Master's use but as Fuel for our Lusts. If we beg Deliverance it is because we are in pain and ill at ease not that we may Honour and glorify God that Mercy and Truth may shine forth If we beg Pardon it is only to get rid of the Smart and enlarged out of the Stocks of Conscience If they beg Grace it is but a lazy Wish after Sanctification because they are convinced there is no other way to be happy If they beg eternal Glory they do not beg it for God it appears plainly because they can be content to dishonour God long provided they at length may be saved Most of us pray without a Heart set to glorify God and to bring Honour unto his great Name Tho a Man hath never so much sense and feeling in his Prayer yet if his Hâ—art be not duly set as to the Glory of God his Prayer is turned into Sin It is not the manner of the Vehemency only for a Carnal Spring may send forth High-Tides of Affection and Motions that come from Lust may be earnest and very rapid Therefore it is not enough to have Fervour and Vehemency but when our aim is to honour and glorify God Zech. 7. 5 6. When ye fasted did ye at all fast unto me even to me And when ye did eat and when ye did drink did you not eat for your selves and drink for your selves Vse 2. For Exhortation to press us to seek the Glory of God above all things Take these Arguments 1. How necessary it is the Lord should have his Glory The World serves for no other purpose it is made and continued for this End Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created All that God hath made it was for his own Glory And Rom. 11. 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Of him in a way of Creation Through him by way of Providential Influence and Supportation that they may be To him in their final tendency and result God did not make us for our selves but his own Glory 2. It is a singular Benefit to be admitted to sanctify God's Name O that poor Worms should come and put the Crown upon God's Head And that he will count any thing we can do to be a Glory to himself â— Chron. 29. 14. But who am I and what is my People that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 3. Consider how much it concerneth us that we may make some Restitution for our former dishonouring of God therefore we should be more zealous in this Work How forward have we been to dishonour God in Thought Word and Deed before the Lord wrought upon us There is not a Mercy but we have abused it nor any thing we have medled with but one way or other we have turned it to the Lord's Reproach and Dishonour Now when the Lord hath put Grace in our Hearts When we are a People formed for his Praise Isa. 43. When he hath made us anew we should think of making some Restitution some amends to God and should zealously affect his Glory above all things Vse 3. For Trial. Do we prefer the Glory of God in the first place Take these Marks 1. Then we would be content with our own loss provided the Name of God may gain any respect in the World and so he may be magnified no matter what becomes of us and our Interest and Concernment Phil. 1. 20. The Apostle expresseth there a kind of Indifferency So Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death O then it is a sign you make it your purpose drift and care when you are contented to do or be any thing that God will have you to be or do This holds good not only in temporal Concernments when you are content to want necessary Food c. But it holds also in Spiritual Concernments As to sense of Pardon tho God should suspend the Consolations of his Spirit yet if it be for the Glory of his Grace I am to be content Nay in some Cases God's Glory is more to be cared for than our own Salvation if they two could come in competition but that case never falls out with the Creature our Salvation is conjoyned with the Glory of God But yet in supposition if it should as Paul and Moses puts the Supposition Exod. 32. 32. Blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written So God might be honoured in saving that People So Rom. 9. 3. For I could wish that my self werâ— accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh. It was not a rash Speech a thing spoken out of an unadvised Passion see but with what a serious Preâ—ace it is ushered in vers 1. God is my Witness I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost He calls God to witness this was the real disposition of his Heart and he speaks advisedly and with good deliberation Object But is it lawful thus to wish to be accursed Certainly Paul could not
wicked Wretch takes advantage against David and rails at him yet David forgives him when restored to his Crown He shall not die 2 Sam. 19. 23. Nay he sware to him So his Estate When a Debtor is not able to pay and yet submits So Paul bids Philemon to forgive the Wrongs of Onesimus Put it on my Score Philem. Vers. 18. that is for my sake forgive this Wrong 3. We must be ready to perform all Offices of Love to them Luke 6. 27. Love your Enemies do good to them which hate you Mark do not only forbear to execute your Wrath and Revenge upon them but do good to them yea tho they be Enemies upon a religious ground tho Religion be made a Party in the Quarrel and so engage us to the greater Fury when that which should bridle our Passions is the Fuel of them Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44. Miriam when she had wronged Moses yet he falls a praying for her Numb 12. 13. that the Lord would forgive the Sin and heal her For the Reasons why those that would rightly pray to be forgiven of God must forgive others It should be so it will be so there is a Congruency and a Necessity 1. The Congruency it should be so It is fit that he that beggeth Mercy should shew Mercy it is exceedingly congruous For this is a general Rule That we should do as we would be done unto and therefore if we need Mercy from God we should shew Mercy to others and without it we can never pray in Faith He that doth not exercise Love can never pray in Faith why His own revengeful Disposition will still prejudice his Mind and make him conclude against the Audience of his Prayers for certainly we muse on others as we use our selves And that 's one reason of our Unbelief why we are so hardly brought to believe all that tender Mercy which is in God because 't is so irksom to us to forgive seven times a day we are apt to frame our Conclusions according to the Dispositions of our own Heart Can we think God will forgive when we our selves will not forgive A Man 's own Prayers will be confuted What is more equal than to do as we would be done unto And therefore it is but equal if he entreat Mercy for himself he should shew it unto others Look as the Centurion reasoned of God's Power from the Command that he had over his Souldiers Mat. 8. 9. I am a Man under Authority and I say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh Those things we are accustomed to they are apt to run in our Minds when we come to think of God Now he that kept his Souldiers under Discipline that if he said Go they go he reasons thus of God Surely God hath Power to chase away Diseases So accordingly should we reason of God's Mercy according to the Mercy that we find in our selves Therefore it is very notable that when Christ had spoken of forgiving our Brethren not only seven times but seventy times seven the Disciples said unto the Lord Increase our Faith Luke 17. 5. How dotâ— this come in In the 4 th Verse Christ had spoken that they should forgive not only seven times but seventy times seven and they do not say Lord increase our Charity but our Faith implying that we cannot have such large thoughts of God when our own Hearts are so straitned by Revenge and our private Passions 2. In point of Necessity as it should be so so it will be so for God's Mercy will have an Influence upon us to make us merciful All God's Actions to us imprint their stamp in us his Election of us makes us to choose him and his ways his Love to us makes us love him again who hath loved us first so his forgiving of us makes us to forgive our Brethren There is an answerable Impression left upon the Soul to every act of God why for a true Believer is God's Image The new Man is created after God Eph. 4. 24. and therefore he acts as God Certainly if there be such a Disposition in our Heavenly Father it will be in us if we have an Interest in him Look as a Child hath Part for Part and Limb for Limb answerable to his Father tho not so big in Stature and Bulk so hath a Child of God which is created after God he hath all the Divine Perfections in some measure in his Soul And this Consideration is of more force because the New-Creature cannot be maimed and defective in every Part but is entire lacking nothing And therefore if God forgive others certainly the Godly will be inclinable to forgive too Vse 1. Here 's a ground of Tryal whether we are pardoned or no. Is our revengeful Disposition that is so natural and so pleasing to us mortified That 's one Trial or Evidence whether we are forgiven of God can we freely from the Heart forgive others Object But it may be objected against this Do you place so much in this property of forgiving others It doth not agree only to pardoned Sinners because we see some Carnal Men are of a weak and stupid Spirit not sensible of Injuries And on the other side many of God's Children find it hard to obtain to the perfect Oblivion of Injuries that is required of them Answ. As to the first part I answer We do not speak of this Disposition as proceeding from an easy Temper but as it proceedeth from Grace when in Conscience towards God and out of a Sense of his Love to us in Christ our Hearts being tendered and melted towards others to shew them such Mercy as we our selves have received from the Lord that 's the Evidence And again we do not press to judg by this Evidence single and alone but in Conjunction with others when they are humbly Penitent and confessing their Sins and turn to the Lord which is the great Evangelical Condition Job 33. 27. If any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not Then will he restore light to him When a Man is soundly touched with remorse and seeth the folly of his former Courses and asketh Pardon of God then is God gracious to him But this is that we say that this Disposition of Pardon in Conjunction with the great Evangelical Condition of Faith and Repentance it helpeth to make the Evidence more clear 2. As to the other part of the Objection which was this it will be a great weakening of the Confidence of God's Children who cannot get such a perfect Oblivion of Injuries they have received but find their Minds working too much this way I answer As long as we live in the World there will be Flesh and Spirit Corruption as well as Grace there will be an intermixture of the Operations of each Carnal Nature is prone to Revenge but Grace prevaileth and inclineth to a Pardon
the contrary when Men cater for the Flesh provide for it indulge carnal Distempers and feed them with that Diet which they affect These tempt themselves and seem willing to lie under their Bondage and to be glad of it 3. When a Man is a Sinner to his loss and hath Reasons of Nature to disswade him as well as Reasons of Grace not only Religion but his civil Interests would counsel him to do otherwise as he that brings a Blot upon his Name or Ruin upon his Estate by evil Courses when Men draw on Iniquity with a Cart-rope as the Expression is Isa. 5. 18. that is when it is not Pleasure but a very Toil and Burden and temporal Inconvenience to them to be sinful that industriously make it their business those that are holden with the Cords of their own Sins Prov. 5. 22. He speaks of such as did bring temporal Inconveniencies upon themselves as did consume their Flesh and their own Bodies these certainly are those that have cause to complain of their own Hearts not to put it on Satan but themselves II. Having opened the Nature of Temptations I come now to give the Reasons why this is so usual an Evil we encounter with in the World Temptation 1. God permits it for his own Glory to discover the Power the Freeness and Riches of his Grace that Men may be driven the more earnestly to sue out their Peace in the Name of Jesus Christ. Luther propounds this Reason Tho Man be prone to sin of himself of his own accord yet God suffers the Tempter to be in the World because Man is backward to seek Mercy and Grace by Christ and therefore God urgeth him with sore Temptations Certainly this Reason was given by him not amiss You know when Paul felt those Paroxisms and sad Counter-buffs in his own Spirit this makes him bless God for Jesus Christ. Rom. 7. 25. But thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord It makes him reflect upon the Grace of God in Christ. We keep off from the Throne of Grace till Temptations drive us thither As when the Sheep wander the Shepherd le ts loose his Dog upon them not to worry them but to bring them back to the Fold again so God lets loose Satan to drive us to himself 2. For the trial of that Grace which he hath wrought in us Grace doth better appear in Temptation than out of it The greatness of the Woman of Canaan's Faith would never have been discovered had it not been for Christ's Answer and Denial Mat. 15. 25 28. Then O Woman great is thy Faith The Glory of that Grace which God hath wrought in his People would not be discovered so much were it not for the great Trials he puts them upon Heb. 11. 17. By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac Before we go to Heaven we shall have our Trials and shall be tried in our dearest Comforts and choicest worldly Contentments and all to see what Faith we have and what Loyalty to God in the midst of these Trials A great Tempest discovereth the goodness of a Ship and skill of the Pilot and so these great Trials they discover the soundness of our Hearts and the fruit of that Grace which God hath wrought in us Gold is most tried in the Fire and discovered to be pure and perfect Stars that lie hid in the Day shine in the Night We have but dry Notions of the Comforts of Christianityâ— and make them matter of talk until we are put upon great Trials then is our belief and sense of them proved A gilded Potsherd may shine until it comes to scouring but then the Varnish and Paint is worn off The Valour and Worth of a Souldier is not known in times of Peace and when he is out of Action When we are put to some difficulty and straits then is Faith seen Now this is a very pleasing Spectacle to God to see them approve their Faith and Loyalty to his Majesty 3. Temptations as they serve to prove so also to humble us that we may never be proud of what we have or conceited of what we have not As Paul that he might not be exalted above measure he was buffeted with a Messenger of Satan 2 Cor. 12. 7. Poor Bladders we are soon blown up and swoln into Vanity and vain Conceits of our selves therefore had need be pricked that we may let out those swelling Winds A Ship that is loaden with precious Ware needs to be ballasted with Wood Stones or contemptible Stuff But why will God humble us by Temptations and such kind of Temptations as are solicitatious to Evil Answer Spiritual Evils need a Spiritual Cure Outward Afflictions they humble but not so much as Temptations do they are not so conducible to humble a gracious Heart as Temptations to Sin Why For then the Breach is made upon our Souls and the Assault is given to that which a gracious Man counts to be dear and therefore these are suffered to come upon us If any thing will humble a Child of God this will do it It may be he may bear up under losses tollerably but when his Peace comes to be assaulted and his Grace this will humble him to purpose Worldly Men they value their Estate by their outward Interest But a Child of God by his Peace of Conscience and his thriving in Grace O this wounds him to the Heart when in either of these he suffers loss This sets him a praying and groaning to God as Paul groans bitterly when he felt those gripes of Sin and those reluctances in his Heart O wretched Man c. Afflictions they conduce to humble and prove us Deut. 8. 16. And besides too the Lord loves to make the Cause of our Mischief to be the Means of our Cure This giveth us the sight of some Corruption we saw not before 4. God permits this Exercise to his People to conform us to Christ. We must pledg him in his own Cup it must go round He himself was tempted Heb. 2. 7. Christ hath felt the weight burden and trouble of Temptations and knows the danger of them Now the Disciple is not above his Lord nor the Scholar above his Master The Devil that did set upon Christ will not be afraid of us 5. By Temptations to Sin God mortiâ—â—eth Sin not only that Sin to which we are tempted but others that we may not be so heedless When we have smarted under Temptation we are not so indulgent to Corruption as before we do not let our Senses nor Affections run loose as David speaks that he got this by his Fall Psal. 51. 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know Wisdom O I shall be wiser and more circumspect for this all my Life When Men have smarted they grow more cautious and so by the over-ruling and good Hand of God our Sins do us service in our passage to Heaven as well as our Graces And God's Children may