act from an inward Principle 34. Every one by Nature is obliged to a Sociable Life 35. Parties in a Covenant must know themselves to be Parties and must know each other and understand what they covenant about 36. God is the Lord Paramount of all Fees 37. A Fee is a Benefice and Grace 38. Angels have and hold in Fee 39. Men have and hold in Fee 40. Grace in Feudo is defeisable 41. Glory in Feudo is indefeisable 42. Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father 43. God shall be all in all 44. Church hath no Legislative Power it is Christs Prerogative 45. If the things be done that are to be done then the things are to be had that are to be had But if the things be not done that are to be done then the things are not had that are to be had 46. Unusquisque potest cedere Jure suo Every one may depart from his own Right It seemeth therefore absurd that these Principles and such as these and what may rationally flow from them should not be certainly known by men the practise whereof in life and conversation is enjoyned by the Authority of God as well as those the practise whereof in life and conversation is forbidden by the Authority of God If we may and do know some things certainly which may be left unknown by us without damage Why should we not as certainly know some things which are better which are commanded to be known and if they be not known we incurr a penalty for not knowing them And if we cannot know them how can we do them and if we cannot know the contrary how can we avoid them The World of wise men have been too careless in the understanding of Moral Truths upon a false opinion and supposition received that there can be no firm or infallible Certainty in them but only a flexible and fallible Probability And this hath been the cause of their sloath in not setting their excellent wits to work upon the search of them as they might have done because they found others before them groping in the dark in great doubts and they were afraid to look out further or tread harder upon such sinking Sands when as the light was hard by and the ground firm under them if they had but dared to venture and few or none did encourage them nay others autoritatively bound them up and charged them not to advance upon the pain and punishment of Heresie and Rebellion that should fall thereon But God hath not dealt so with us but hath bid us try all things and hold fast that which is good and bids us aspire to perfection and shews unto us a more excellent way Aristotle a man rarely learned Aristotle hath done a great deal of mischief in this kind to learned men that have tied themselves up too close to his Oracles because of his mighty Name for a portentous Wit above all men which Estimation by a kind of Fatal Errour he hath had for many ages cast upon him And that proud Emblem which he hath fixed upon the Frontispiece of his Book of Morals hath frightned most men from all hopes of ever obtaining any more than a Probability Indeed and in Truth if we rightly consider things Demonstrations The Subject of a Demonstration is the Proposition to be demonstrated that is in which the necessary Connexion of the Predicate with the Subject is to be manifested by some Principle or more general Effatum which must contain the Reason of that so necessary Connexion So that it sufficeth to make a Demonstration if any Thing or Action hath an Attribute or Predicate whose necessary connexion with the Subject may by some comprehensive Axiom of undoubted Truth be mediately or immediately demonstrated whether that Action or Thing of its self depends upon necessary Causes or not If therefore searching Wits would be more free and bold not without modesty and fear to exert their Faculties they might worthily advance the Commonwealth of Learning in using their great Judgments to the finding out of higher Truths from the plain and prime Principles of Natural and Supernatural Light obvious to them that have skill and want only courage to use them For my own part I acknowledg my own weakness to do any great matters I have attempted to build upon these golden Foundations such matter as may be suitable and durable in my poor Judgment and I wish the stupendious Wits of this Age would help me in these Essayes and vent their famous thoughts more clearly and largely upon these so stately Subjects These and the like Prime Principles here and elsewhere scattered in these volumes are as so many Veins and Arteries Nerves and Fibres from the heart and brain of the Scriptures insinuating themselves and creeping into all the Parts and Members of this Body to enliven and strengthen the same If there be withal a Symmetry and due proportion therein it is the chiefest Beauty it hath or could have as for the Colour or outward Ornaments to set it off to please the Curiosity of the outward view it hath few or none nor did I intend it should or if I had I should according to my Genius industriously wave all tedious wordings or dawbing fucus upon such Notions as to the Judicious Reader will appear more lovely I am sure more useful without them I know full well I might have shortened these Books and Titles very much That others may do for themselves that are more knowing The Authors Apology but the less skilful perhaps would not understand my meaning For to them dum brevis esse laboro obscurus fio if I should be short I should be dark And so as I have contrived by the help of God I go on with my Work In which I protest to determine nothing magisterially but to submit my Judgment humbly to the Scriptures and to the judgment of the wisest freest and most moderate opinions from them which is all in effect that can be said or done to the Worlds end always resting satisfied with the substance of all when all is said that can be said or done that can be done namely Faith and a good Conscience which are all in all Compendiums Lastly I do not say that all these Principles are alike uncontrolable or that because of their number some of them may interfere The Candidly Judicious will pardon in long Tractats what is not strictly and severely Logical in â—ood and Figure and will give some fair allowances to the expatiations of Rhetorick when they do no harm If I had gone contractedly to work to give Hints only by Definitions Aphorisms and Observations I might have tied my self closer to exact Rules which are now implicitely couched in Larger Titles and may easily be reduced into closer Compendiums I cannot tell what the matter is but before I go any further I must needs tell the Reader what troubles me I cannot be rid of some
me free from the Law of Sin and Death Ro. 8.1 2. Ro. 8.5 6. And they that are in Christ walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit The Gospel times therefore were prophesied to be searching times Consequences Mal. 3.1 2 c. The Lord shall suddenly come into his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a Refiner's fire and like Fuller's sope And he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an Offering in Righteousness Then shall the Offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the daies of old and as in former years Thus the thoughts of many hearts will be discovered and it shall be known who will follow the World and who will follow Christ who will live after the Flesh and who will live after the Spirit Who will enter into Covenant with God and who with the Devil Thus the Letter of the Law killeth 1. Because it only discovers sin 2. Because it only condemneth sin 3. Because it stirreth up sin the more 4. Because it punisheth sin without mercy Thus the Spirit giveth life 1. Because it offereth Life freely 2. Because it justifieth them that accept it 3. Because it saves them from Sin Death and Hell 4. Because it giveth them Eternal Life and Glory SECTION III. Digression Cautions Mistake not these words Take heed well what you hear and read He that hath ears to hear let him hear and he that hath a heart to understand let him understand 1. Some will not read the Scriptures nor hear them read or preached by any study or pains by any Art or Eloquence 2. Some will not pray by any forms at sett times or places nor submit to any Discipline nor preach by Meditation or helps of any Comments or Writing nor hearken to any Counsels Exhortations or Conferences nor be ruled by any Laws or Orders of men These trust they say to the Light that is in them and to the motions of the Spirit in their own Consciences which is rather their humor fancy and obstinacy These are above all Ordinances in the letter of the Law of God or Man and walk aloft by the revelations of the Spirit which if it were the true Spirit would never be contrary to the true sense and Spirit of the Gospel written and preached The Spirit teacheth us to pray preach and live Spiritually by the Means of the Word of God and wholesom Discipline of Men. Therefore what is written in the Book and preached by the Voice and commanded by lawful Power is the same with that which is the Mind of God first predestinated and secret then revealed and published to and by the Fathers at last to and by Christ and his Apostles and written in the heart by the Holy Ghost Therefore deceive not your selves 1. With vain Fancies and new Revelations for the Truth is old 2. With feigned Words and canting Expressions for the Truth is plain 3. With framing a Law to your selves as if infallible contrary to Nature's Law to the Laws of Nations and to Christ his Law This must needs be a Spiritual cheat tending to all mischief and confusion Take heed therefore 1. Of Law-Preachers of Curses Hell and Damnation 2. Of Spirit-Preachers of Evidences and Rapture walking without and against all Law and Rule These sort of men are Rigid Surly Morose Self-conceited Opiniators Malicious Proud Scoffers Straitners of God's love to Mankind therefore not of God and having not the Spirit SECTION IV. Leave of vain Disputes and learn 1. To hold all necessary and confessed Truths Instructionâ— and contend only for the Faith and a good Conscience 2. To submit to all Orders and Decencies and to fulfil all Righteousness which is the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price 3. To reverence and adore the Manifold Wisdom of God admiring and praising but not prying and searching into the Reasons of his Workings whose waies are alwaies Just but often hid from our eyes because his paths are in the great Waters and his foot-steps past our finding out 4. To embrace the Promises of Forgiveness of sins Adoption Heaven and Happiness This will engage the Soul to live by the Spirit of the Gospel and not merely by the Letter much less by the Law or by Sense This will sublimate the Soul to the spiritual acts of Faith Hope Love Prayer Self-denial against the Carnal acts of Sense Lust Drunkenness c. Forbear ignorant and proud boasting of the Spirit to be above Ordinances and contrary to what is Revealed it is most dangerous Let us not be Fools or Cross 1. In being too superstitiously Formal and trusting to Outward worship 2. In being too Profane and Licentious in neglecting all Conscience and Inward worship 3. In being too superstitiously precise in Inward worship only without any regard to Decency and Order calling it Jewish Heathenish and Popish 4. In being actually Rebellious thereupon by separation from publick Assemblies and rising up in Arms openly and destroying the Powers of the Church and State There is a right way if we could hit upon it as we may without prejudice against any man's Person to take in all the Truths held by them though we like not other things which they are mistaken in The way of Charity is excellent To suffer long and to be kind not to envy or vaunt not to be puffed up not to behave our selves unseemly 1 Cor. 13.4 c. nor to seek our own not to be easily provoked to think no evil not to rejoyce in iniquity but to rejoyce in the Truth to learn all things to believe all things hope all things endure all things There are that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness which ceaseth not to be the Truth because they hold it with other Errors There are that hold the Foundation of Gold Silver and Precious stones though they unhappily build Wood Hay and Stubble and such unworthy matter thereupon There are that sit in Moses's Chair and teach according to the Law and their Disciples are bound to believe and do according as they say though they say and do not There are that preach Christ out of Envy and for Gain and yet Christ is preached and thereat they may rejoyce and should rejoyce If I find a Jewel upon a Dung-hill I will stoop to take it up I will reverence Wisdom in the poor or blind or lame or otherwise
be perplexed for those sins that are fully and freely pardoned or for those Judgments which are as fully and freely removed by the death of Christ But in this weak Flesh there will be fears and doubts and causeless complaints which will cease by degrees till all be removed when death comes They talk of a Conscience quiet but not good and good but not quiet and good and quiet and neither good nor quiet but such Rimes and Cadences and flashes will give no solid satisfaction to a piercing Spirit Men may run them over with their tongues in hast and they make a jingling noise but in the brain they will keep no time at all In evil Men. 2. In evil Men it is a Disease The customs and habits of sin stop the exercise of the Natural Conscience Pectus inustae Deformant maculae vitiisque inolevit imago This the Casuists not unfitly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Stony heartedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ferity and barbarity in Men that act such things as the Monsters and Savage Creatures use not to do to their kind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a callousness contracted by long working in wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a blindness of mind as was in the Gentiles who became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Who walked in the vanity of their minds having the Understanding darkned Rom. 1.21 being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling Eph. 4.18 have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all manner of uncleanness with greediness Vitia inolita Vices in bred and increased in them Vitia encaustica Sins burnt in nealed branded stamped stained incorporated in them A stupefaction and dozing of mind a mopish and besotted condition as they that considered not the Miracle of the Loaves For their heart was hardned Make the heart of this People fat and their ears heavy Shut their eyes Mar. 6.52 lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts Is 6.10 and be converted and be healed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benummed Mar. 4.12 as those parts that are forsaken of the Vital Spirits withered and dried up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hard heartedness stiffneckedness Iron-sinews inflexible gainsaying given over to a reprobate mind to every good work reprobate Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwaies resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 Lev. 26.21 c. 1 Thes 5.10 Eph. 4.30 James 2.8 Prov. 1.7 Jer. 5.3 Acts 13.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Set your selves with all your might against the motions of the Spirit If ye walk contrary unto me I will walke contrary unto you and punish you seven times c. Quench not the Spirit Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God c. They that observe lying vanity forsake their own mercy despise Knowledg would none of my Counsel Refused to return Judg themselves unworthy of Eternal life Put the good away far from them Turn their faces from Heaven and their backs upon all goodness Will ye also go away Whither should we go for thou hast the words of Eternal Life Their destruction is from themselves In this their day they will not know the things that belong to their peace and therefore they shall be hid from their eyes In seeing they will not see and hearing they will not hear shutting their eyes against the Sun and stopping their ears at the voice of the Charmer though he charme unto them never so often never so wisely they chuse Death rather than Life How often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen gathereth her brood under her wings but ye would not Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and after thy hardness and impenitent heart Rom. 2.4 treasurest unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath When they knew God they glorified him not as God Ro. 1.21.28 they did not like to retain God in all their thoughts wherefore God gave them up to a reprobate mind c. Having their consciences seared with a hot iron Departing from the Faith giving heed to Doctrines of Devils SECT I. 1. How do Mens consciences suffer them to do as they do Qu. To lye and flatter to cheat and cousen to rob and steal to kill and destroy to commit all uncleanness with greediness to swear and forswear to extort and oppress and to do all injustice I answer It is the Will the willful Will Answ the domineering brazen-faced will without all fear or shame As for the Natural Conscience in the most wicked Men it is utterly against such doings with their Mind they would serve the Law of God but with their Flesh the Law of sin They delight in the Law of God after the inward Man but there is another law in their members warring against the Law of their Mind and leading them into captivity to the Law of sin But why so little remorse appears in them that do these horrid things Truly I cannot tell what to say in this case If there be no inward pangs I should wonder it must be a very hard heart that never relents and that 's a most desperate condition both of Sin and misery 2. In good Men. How do their consciences come to be so much troubled I answer Why indeed For I know no just cause There is a just cause of fear for the Body that may fall upon a constant and stout Man when sudden and imminent danger threatens death But for a just cause of fear for the Soul to fall upon a faithful justified and sanctified Man engrafted into Christ and adopted the Son and Heir of God I cannot apprehend Fearful they are and may be but it is their fancy their passion and humour that makes them so not their real Conscience There are that put too many causes of Conscience and make doubts which they can never resolve and tye knots which they can never unloose and raise devils which they are never able to lay again Confessors make a Trade of it and a good one too unlock the closets of Mens Hearts but more of their Purses Poor Souls are oppressed by Cases of Conscience as Mens Estates are by Cases of Law and as Mens Bodies are by Physick There are certain plain Rules that would resolve all doubts to a plain meaning Man better than all their subtil Distinctions A few necessary Doctrines of Faith and a good life will do the work and the Brethren ought to be troubled no farther As for those that pretend every thing to be against their Consciences it is a manifest cheat For it is their lust and that hath the casting voice with them in all that they do and whatsoever is contrary to their lusts is falsly affirm'd to be against their Consciences because they will suffer no rule of Law to come upon them
by the Scriptures and by the Spirit of God in them If there be other Traditions without writing they also for the main agree with the Traditions written but some circumstances may differ and some must needs be lost in both But still the Traditions in Writing must needs be the surest and most lasting wherefore God himself wrote the two Tables with his own hand and commanded Moses to write the rest for a perpetual Record As for Traditions without writing they must needs be more hazardous because of the shortness of mens lives the weakness and varieties of mens apprehensions and memories the Interest of parties c. Nor are Writings impregnable but in the changes of times if they escape the fire and other ruines they cannot escape the ignorance and perversness of Scribes But God hath hitherto among both Jews and Christians secured the main Oracles written and unwritten and will secure them for ever SECT III. As for an exact Representation of the holy Catholick Church it cannot easily be imagined either in the Head thereof which is Christ Representative Church there being no express warrant for such a Representative Head or in the Members for such a Representative Body For who can represent the mind of Christ but the Spirit of Christ which is in him or who can represent the mind of Christians but the Spirit of Christians which is in them For Christ will not needs not come in Person to declare his will because he hath sufficiently done it already and Christians cannot meet all together to declare their will because there are most in Heaven from whence it is impossible for them to come and the rest are in all parts of the World from whence it is little less than impossible they should gather together and if they should they would all agree most certainly in the same Faith and Holiness but in Forms and Circumstances they could not And besides there would be Hypocrites among them do what they can for all that Profess have not faith And moreover men as men have various conceptions apprehensions and reasonings and languages and humors and interests And words are too few for things and are ambiguous and Idioms are diverse and there will be mistakes and there is no help for it and few have the true Arts of right reasoning therefore in these cases they must be contented to bear one with another and keep the peace well enough We may thank God that he hath left us the Scriptures and they are sufficient for salvation and be contented and judge as well as we can So men are fain to do in Civil Laws with some helps of Judges because mens Laws are not so plain as they should be but Gods are and they must rest satisfied with what they know till God shall come in into them by farther discoveries upon their honest search and endeavours after saving truth But still where scruples are some body must determine Some body must determine because of practice and because of peace I mean in matters of Discipline and so people must be contented though not satisfied but in Faith and a good Conscience every one knows sufficiently and every one is satisfied So in a Ship the Pilot must steer as well as he can though he may fail and some body else may know better For every one hath liberty to judge for himself but not altogether to act for himself much less for others That 's left to Governours who are as Gods yet they may erre as men it being Gods Prerogative only to know all good and evil and yet under God we must be guided by them who with reverence and godly fear do determine hard cases as the Turkish Mufti who when consulted to give his Judgment sets it down in writing and subscribes modestly This is my Judgment but God knows better And now what would the World have or what can they have more than they have and why will they not be contented with what they have and God thinks fit for them to have Why call they for a Judg when God is their Judge as the Israelites called for a King when God was their King This is to reject the Judgment and Government of God and trust to the judgment and government of Men and to have greater assurance than God thinks fit to allow them Pride There is an itch of Power in all this in the Clergy that are forbidden by their Master to seek after Greatness and leave the care and government of the Church and Commonwealth to Kings and Princes to whom it is committed to be Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of Gods People Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Let them give their Advice to Kings humbly and teach their People truly and give them good Examples and they have done their duty God is not will not be wanting to his People for soul or body for this life or for a better But still the noise of an Earthly Judg rings in mine ears and I cannot be quiet for it And the sound thereof takes with the Vulgar and they are too willing to be cheated and some body thereby gets no small advantage O good God when shall we be at peace A Faction a stream of Worldly-mindedness and glory runs high The true Spirit of Christianity is lowly and lovely and quiet and looks up to God in the midst of all distractions What should poor Souls do but trust to their good God and be silent acquaint themselves with him and be at peace Calumnies They tell us we have no Church we are without a Head we have no Shepherd no Guide no Assurance we are utterly lost and out of the bosom of the Church c. Soft and fair Are we not Men have we not our reason and senses about us have we not Faith and a good Conscience within us What should we have more They that have ears to hear let them hear We will speak for our selves once more O ye that call your selves the Darlings of God the only True Church give us leave to own the same God and Faith with you and God will own us we doubt not whether you will own us or no. We are men and Christians still for all you our Senses and Judgments and Wills are our own still for all you There is Grace sufficient for us and you notwithstanding all your Anathema's and Curses against us Though you curse yet we bless All the Evidences cannot be on your side we have something to say for our Religion as well as you Scriptures The Scriptures of God we say under God are our Judges We go to the Law and to the Testament of God These you say are not Evident they are dead letters they cannot speak We say that the mind of God in them is a living letter and the Spirit speaks in them and is to be trusted to when the Spirits of men fail and are not to be trusted We understand
Christ's Mediation to bring us to God Cross to be gloried in Cross outward and inward Effect of Cross-crucifixion Procured by outward cross Philosophy Christianity Christ the Sacrifice and Priest Christians true Sacrifices and Priests Decrees Christ's doing and suffering our doing and suffering Corollaries Christ a Priest Christ quickened by his eternal spirit Christ a Prophet Christ a King p. 224 APPENDIX OR Application to the Clergy and Laity Title 1. Of the Clergie's Calling Word Sacraments Gospel-spirit p. 243 Title 2. Of the Clergie's Doctrine Precepts Promises Conditions p. 244 Title 3. Of the Clergie's Persons p. 246 Title 4. Of the Clergie's Study Law Law-terms p. 247 Title 5. Of the Laitie's Calling p. 251 Title 6. Of the Laitie's Doctrine ibid. Title 5. Of the Laitie's Persons p. 252 Title 8. Of the Genius of the Gospel Joy Fear Decrees Gospel dispensations Worship spiritual Ceremonies Difference of Mosaick and Christian Rites Church of Rome Perfection of Christianity Spiritual perfection Ritual worship abolished No other Rites to be superinduced No Rites ever pleased God Greater perfections in the Christian Religion Prayer and other duties are Relativi Juris p. 254 THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Volume of the Estate of God The First Book Of Rights Title 1. Of Things TRansition Testament Things Method God's Donation Things to be had Things to be done Free-will Right p. 287 Title 2. Of Persons Personality Forfeiture Freedom Falling Recovery p. 293 Title 3. Of Rights Transition Right Definition Instances Independency Indifferency Liberality Creation Donation Declaration Faction Reception Justification Private right Publick right Justice Rights to God Rights to body and soul Rights to wife Rights to children Rights to estate and honour Rights not to be violated Day of Judgment Shame To be right To make right To bestow right To have right To do right Collections Rather hurt self than others Moral honesty not doubted of Vse Reason Reason of Nature Equity of Conscience Tricks in law Severity of old in the Church Man's judgment Relations Friendship Possibility of law Fates Justice in God and Man Wrong none Truth evident Caution p. 295 Title 4. Of Actions Transition Intention Execution Free-will Imperfection Willingness Implicit faith Social actions Jussion p. 316 The Second Book Of Titles Title 1. Of a Sinner Transition Vnjust legally Vnjust morally Vnjust jurally Oppressed Blemished Distressed Tainted p. 322 Title 2. Of Original sin Rom. 5.12 explained Recapitulation Accounting Adam's will not ours Levi's paying of Tithes All mortal in Adam Righteous in Christ Immortal in Christ Every Individuum acts for it self Sinner legal Sinner moral Sinner jural Psal 51.6 explained Ephes 2.3 explained Soul a spirit Good most common Good lovely v. lib. 7. Tit. 3.2 Vol. Argumenta Laciniata p. 326 Title 3. Of a Just man Just Just legally Just morally Just jurally Right Accounting God righteous 349 The Third Book Of Justification Title 1. Of the Name of Justification The term Justifie Accounting Synonyma Bondage Freedom Burden Corporation Other names p. 357 Title 2. Of the form of Justification Imputation Logick Logistick Christ's Righteousness p. 364 Title 3. Of the Matter of Justification Right Corporation Impunity Liberty Provision Protection Audience Alliance Resurrection Jurisdiction Glory Rights of Christ Expectation Supplication Possession p. 371 Title 4. Of the Title of Justification Free grace Titles Birth Purchase Desert Favour Condemnation Gifts Impunity Election Glory Boasting Will of the Receiver Will of the Donor Free grace begins at God's will Free grace makes the Title stronger Free grace makes for God's grace and glory Justification is the best state of love All Rights are from Grace Donation Election Promise God justifieth Christ justifieth The wrong title Law Allegory of the two Covenants Ishmael and Isaac Hagar and Sarah Law a Covenant of bondage Gospel a Covenant of liberty Jacob and Esau Works p. 380 Title 5. Of the Continuance of Justification Relapse a revolt from God Breach of one Party disobligeth the other Mutability of Justification Kingdom of God Natural man Spiritual man Forfeiture Example of Israelites p. 398 Title 6. Of the Tenure of Justification Transition Works James 2.18 explained Works of love p. 405 Title 7. Faith Notions of Faith Credence Trust Promise given Promise taken Re-promise Courage Hope Covenant Faith in Christ Christ the conveyer of faith Christ the author of faith Declaring God's will Proving God's will Testament ad pias Causas Physical operation Moral operation Saving faith Means of faith A new heart 409 The Fourth Book Of Sanctification Title 1. Of the Spirit Transition Spirit the first Agent Hidden man Outward man Natural man Supernatural inspiration Penal and grievous Beneficial and gracious Holy spirit Spiritual man p. 421 Title 2. Of Conscience Definition Seat Vnderstanding Will Memory Reflection p. 424 Title 3. Of the disposition of Conscience To direct To urge To register To testifie To accuse Before the action In the action After the action p. 425 Title 4. Of the indisposition of Conscience Suspension of the offices of Conscience In good men In evil men Ignorance Learning Riches Poverty Self-love Idleness Prejudice Companions God 's not regarding Cross sins Success Satisfaction Want of a spiritual Clergy p. 431 Title 5. Of the restitution of Conscience Believe Conscience Not believe Conscience Self-examination Forsake sin Confess sin Collections p. 440 Title 6. Of a New Creature Transition Old man Old leaven Natural man Carnal mind New man New lump Spiritual mind New birth First resurrection Old creation Concurrency of God and man p. 444 Title 7. Of the Flesh and Spirit Transition Sensual and Spiritual life Mind and will of Flesh and Spirit Life in man threefold Spiritual senses and passions Life of Faith Corollaries Conclusion p. 450 The Fifth Book Of Assurance Title 1. Of the Nature of Assurance Transition Promises Publick Faith Spirit Waiting p. 455 Title 2. Of the Grounds of Assurance Matter of Fact Matter of Right Matter of Witness Spirit of Assurance Ability Sealed Earnest p. 460 Title 3. Of the Kinds of Assurance Names Species p. 465 Title 4. Of the Abuse of Assurance Doctrine of Masses Of no Salvation without the Pale of the Church Of lying still in sin Imputed Righteousness Collections Cautions Obstructions Rules Election p. 468 The Sixth Book Of Tenures Title 1. Of Allodium Transition Estates Allodium Lordship Model from the Goths Etymology Crown Lands Caution Apology p. 476 Title 2. Of Feudum Name Definition Promise Investiture Felony p. 481 The Seventh Book Of Christ's Church and Kingdom Title 1. Of a Feudal Kingdom Transition Feudal Customes Feudal Kingdoms best Goths and Vandals Goths honest Goths endowed the Church first with Lands and Lordships Jus Feudale Manners of Goths Resemblances of a Feudal Kingdom Blessedness Cursedness Church Militant Church Triumphant Tenure of Heaven conditional Holding of God Absolute dominion Feuds a middle government Christ sole Judge Customes in a Feudal kingdom Excellency of a Feudal government Collections Parables run not on all four Tenure of
Law for ever It is a Change for the better Carnal things for Spiritual Temporal things for Eternal A New Covenant established upon better Promises 1. And indeed here is the continuance of the same Priesthood that ever was but never so known before and that ever will be and be better understood 2. And here is the continuance of the same spiritual Temple Altar and Sacrifice that ever was but never so known before and that ever will be and be better understood 3. And here is the continuance of the same spiritual Law that ever was but never so known before and that ever will be and be better understood Christ is a Priest without beginning or end of daies The Law of Nature began with nature and God's worship therewith The Carnal Priesthood Worship and Law were Intermedial Temporal and Typical and by their intervention there was no interruption of the spiritual Priesthood Worship or Law which was the same for substance not perfection before under and after all the Mosaical Dispensation O the depths of the manifold wisdom of God! how unsearchable are his waies Melchisedec was greater than Abraham Moses Aaron and all the Prophets but behold a greater than Melchisedec is here 1. The King and Prince of Righteousness and Peace indeed 2. The Priest that truly blesseth and titheth all men even the Blessers and Tithers themselves and to him they offer their spiritual Offerings and Tithes in token of Subjection and Thankfulness Now is the Truth of all things even the full Will of God revealed by this Great Prophet Look for no more Kings Priests nor Prophets for CHRIST is all these Heb. 10.19 c. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an High Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised and let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to Good works for if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries He that despised Moses 's Law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God The CONTENTS Few Disciples in Christ's time Resipiscence True Wisdom TITLE II. Of the Nature of the Gospel THE New Testament contains the compleat Will of God in toto in solido for Duties to be done and Trespasses to be left undone and for Rewards to be had and Punishments to be avoided And this Religion admits of no Intermixtures but must be pure and free from all compliances with any other especially from the two extreams of Judaism and Gentilism While Christ was alive and preached this New Religion Few Disciples in Christs time he gained but few Disciples who dared to confess him openly for fear of the Jews Joh. 9.21 and 12.42 But after his death multitudes of all Ages Sexes Sects and Nations believed and confessed him though with the Cross So true was that saying of Christ If I ascend up to Heaven I will draw all men after me Joh. 12.32 Then Joseph Nicodemus the Centurion and many of the Priests and Jews that crucified him made open Confession of him But ten days after his Ascension Three thousand were converted by one Sermon of St. Peter's The Reason was Act. 2.41 Reason because the Resurrection of Christ after all his Miracles made ample Demonstration to the World that he was the Son of God and the Saviour of the World This Doctrine Conversation Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Mission of the Holy Ghost opened a wide door of Hope to all Sinners by Repentance to be saved from all Sins and Miseries and admitted to all happiness from which they could not be delivered and unto which they could not be received by any other means or mediation whatsoever This Resipiscence or after-wisdom of blinded Souls Resipiscence disclaiming their own seeming Excellencies and relying upon the Grace of God is divine and coming from above opposed to the earthly Wisdom which is natural sensual and carnal This is the true Conversion and Transforming from the World unto God from Darkness unto his marvellous Light the Regeneration and new Creation the putting off of the old Man with the Corruptions and Lusts and the putting on of the New man which after Christ is renewed in Righteousness and true Holiness This is Justification Sanctification Separating Cleansing Mortification Self-denyal Circumcision of the Spirit Crucifixion taking up the Cross Death unto sin Life unto Righteousness Planting into the likeness of Christ's Death Burial with him in Baptism the Power of his Death the Fellowship of his Sufferings and Vertue of his Resurrection All these and such like precious things are comprehended under the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Repentance of the Gospel for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3.2 Mat. 4.17 Luc. 24.47 True Wisdom This is the Foundation of all Christian Comforts No Jew by the Law written nor Gentile without the Law attained unto this Wisdom All the Wisdom of the World was Foolishness unto it the Gospel only effected this saving Reformation and all other things were but Loss and Dross and Dung in comparison of the excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg This was the Day-spring from an High that visited them that sate in Darkness and in the shadow of Death that made the Jew amazed at the insufficiency of all his Service and the Gentiles confounded at their vain Philosophy and Worship This confounds the Wisdom of the wise and brings to nought all the imaginations of Mankind This makes the proud and stubborn veil their high Conceits and stoop to the Contrivances of the Great God By this they see themselves outwitted and their Freedom purchased by a way they could never have invented Thus they are brought from their own Darkness into the marvellous Light of God and translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God Here they perfectly see and feel that Holiness and Blessedness which before they groped after but by no means could attain unto till Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life made demonstration of it to the World in whom all the Nations of
the good of his Church So he is able to save them to the utmost that come to God by him seeing that he ever liveth to make Intercession for them REASONS 1. Because the Sacrifice offered was without all sin and infirmity and Reason 1 therefore fit for Heaven into which no unclean nor weak thing can ever enter Christ's Body therefore being quickned by the Spirit and made immortal was prepared and fit to be offered by the same Spirit in the fittest Place of Heaven unto the fittest Person the God of Heaven for the obtaining of the fittest Blessings of Heaven or the Kingdom of Heaven So the Person that offers is Heavenly The Sacrifice offered is Heavenly The Spirit by which he offers is Heavenly The God to whom he offers is Heavenly The Place where he offered is Heavenly The Blessings he offered for are Heavenly All harmonious and homogeneal the substance and truth of Types and Shadows 2. Because an Earthly Sanctuary may be purged by the blood of Bulls Reason 2 or Goats c. But an Heavenly Sanctuary cannot be purged by any thing but by the blood of Christ Earthly and carnal Blood is sufficient to consecrate an earthly and carnal Sanctuary and to expiate earthly and carnal Sins and Pollutions but heavenly and spiritual Blood only can consecrate an heavenly and spiritual Sanctuary and expiate spiritual and Soul-sins The Blood of Goats and Calves c. did cleanse from outward Filthiness but could not purifie the Conscience nor cause the Remembrance thereof to cease so as there should be no more Conscience nor Punishment of sin It was therefore necessary Heb. 9.23 24. that the bare Patterns and Representations of things which are in the Heavens should be purified with these Sacrifices but the Heavenly things themselves must be purified with better Sacrifices than these For Christ is not entred into the Holy Places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the Presence of God for us Obj. Needs then the Heaven of Heavens to be purged Sol. No for it is most Holy But it needs to be dedicated or consecrated by Christ's blood not for himself to enter in for his habitation it was from everlasting but for us Men that we might have right by him to enter in after him when he shall call for us Therefore he as High-Priest thus solemnly entred by this New and Living way through the Veil that is to say his Flesh to offer the Blood thereof shed on the Cross in the outward-Temple so to consecrate or dedicate that Place for us Thus he is gone before to prepare a place for us that where he is there we might also be He first opened Heaven-door If he had not opened it it had never been opened And now it is opened by him it shall never be shut by him nor by any other against any that seek rightly to enter in for who dare shut when he hath opened or open where he hath shut Who hath the Keys of David that shutteth when no man openeth and openeth when no man shutteth This is the Gate of the Temple into which none but Christ did ever enter nor ever shall but all the Righteous shall enter in at the last day both Souls and Bodies Psal 114.20 This is the Gate of the Lord into which the Righteous shall enter And none but such as have right by Faith can enter for though this place of Rest everlasting be provided for all as the Promises were to all yet all shall not enter because all men have not Faith for without Faith it is impossible to please God And so they cannot enter in because of their Unbelief This is he that comes with full Right and Power of Command saying Open me the Gates of Righteousness Psal 114.19 c. and I will enter into them This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes This is the Day which the Lord hath made Psal 24.7 c. we will rejoyce and be glad in it Lift up your heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye Everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Who is this King of Glory The LORD strong and mighty in Battel the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory Thus Christ is the True Sacrifice the True Light the True Bread the True Way the True Life the True Altar the True Priest and Heaven is the True Temple And all is Truth which Christ came to bear witness of in the Gospel Reason 3 3. Because Christ did never enter into the Earthly Sanctuary for he had no Right as being of Judah not of Levi though otherwise he had all Right nor did he take upon him to Sacrifice or to Rule being born under the Law Who made him a Priest or a Judge till he ascended up into his proper Temple and Throne of Heaven he pertaineth to another Tribe Heb. 7.13 of which no man gave attendance at the Altar for it is evident our Lord sprang of Judah of which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood Christ therefore being a Priest must offer and must have somewhat to offer and some Place to offer in but he had nothing to offer here on Earth for there were other Priests that had nor was he a Priest here nor had he any Altar to offer upon or Temple to offer in as the other Priests had He could therefore offer up nothing but his own Body and Blood and that only in the Most holy Place of Heaven and not elsewhere We have such an High Priest as is set on the Right hand of the Majesty in the Heavens a Minister of the Sanctuary Heb. 8.1 c. and of the True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man For every High-Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of Necessity that this Man have somewhat to offer For if he were on Earth he should not be a Priest seeing there are Priests that offer Gifts according to the Law who serve unto the Example and Shadow of Heavenly things as Moses was admonished to make all according to the Pattern delivered to him in the Mount 4. Because a Worldly Service required a Worldly Sanctuary but a Reason 4 Heavenly Service required a Heavenly Sanctuary The Candlestick the Table the Golden Censer Heb. 9.1 the Ark of the Covenant over-laid round about with Gold the Golden pot of Manna Aaron 's Rod that budded the Tables of the Covenant the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-Seat besides Washings and Sacrifices of all kinds of which it is too large to speak All these were fitted for that Time and Place But God hath prepared a New and Spiritual Service an Altar Priest and Sacrifice and Temple all Heavenly and in Heaven 5. Because the Way to the Holiest of all was made manifest after the Reason 5 first Tabernacle on Earth was fallen Heb. 9.8 The Thing
line upon line here a little and there a little to stir up our poor mind by way of remembrance although we are established in the present Truth and good Government to restrain from vice by penalty of Law These and such like are as I said the subordinate vulgar reasons or arguments ad hominem the causes or rather occasions of the indisposition of the Conscience in bad Men whereby the Conscience is or rather seems to be falsa Lex a false Law a false Gloss a false Instigatrix Notarie Witness and Judg cross to its Creation or rather a false Conscience or no Conscience at all There being an intercision and retardation or adulation instead of Conscience suspending the true exercise of deducting right conclusions from the premises or observing no premises nor conclusions at all But a hurrying after extream and wild passions humours and fancies and a continual course of obstinate rebellion a self-pleasing Perit omne judicium cum res transit in affectum Nothing is done wisely when all is affection or prejudice reason is clouded and Will rules Si possem sanior essem Sed trahit in vitam nova vitiorum Turba Engagements in sin desperate wadings and wallowings in licentiousness Horror and hatred of God and desperate actings against God and all goodness not caring what becomes of us Sic volo sic jubeo stat pro Ratione voluntas Non nisi per scelera ad scelera tutum est iter The CONTENTS Believe Conscience Not believe Conscience Self-Examination Forsake sin Confess sin Collections TITLE V. Of the Restitution of Conscience THe Cure of the strange and wonderful indispositions and distempers of the Soul and Conscience are from God the sole Lord of the Conscience who only understands the errors and deceits that are therein Therefore God hath left some wholesom directions which Spiritual Physicians may prescribe out of his word for the recovery of feeble Souls First therefore as to good Men They advised and required Believe Conscience To believe their own Consciences notwithstanding strong temptations to the contrary and notwithstanding bodily discomposures 1. Because temptations are lyes not Truths the instigations and allurements are in themselves evil and they tend and move to evil therefore they are not in themselves nor in their motions to be trusted I say to believe their Consciences 2. Because they are justified by Faith and sanctified by the Spirit of Truth and therefore have peace with God and are at peace with themselves and do not cannot flatter falsly to a lye because they are of the Truth and the Truth is in them 3. Because diseases and pains in the Body which occasion doubts and fears in the mind are only in the outward Man and the inward Man is not toucht at all But the Soul enjoyes intimate union and communion with God as much when the Body is afflicted more and than at any other time and exercises more Faith and Love and Patience and Hope and hath more trials and experiences of Grace and is more firmly fastned upon the Rock and foundation of Jesus Christ than at any other time The Conscience therefore when observed upon enquiry and search thereinto speaks comfortable Truth which God would have us to believe and we ought to believe it But the passions occasioned by sickness and misery speak nothing but uncomfortable lyes which the Devil would have us to believe but we ought not to believe him nor them 4. Because the natural temper and constitution of many Bodies tend to fears and sorrows in the mind by the vicinity of humours that have a kind of operation upon them Notwithstanding all which passions the Understanding is taught to remember that she hath no reason to doubt of her good condition because these griefs and terrors are no sins of hers but rather her miseries and afflictions indeed of which she hath just cause to complain and ask for a removal but not for pardon which is only proper for sin not misery 5. Because Faith in the Heart is above Sense in the Flesh And we live by Faith and not by Sense and therefore we are to believe Faith and not Sense yea to believe a bove Hope and contrary to Hope which is above Sense and contrary to sense I know not how nor I know not why in the judgment of my Flesh but this I know that he is Faithful which hath promised to give and I have promised to obey and I will trust in him and be obedient unto him though I be sometimes at a stand yet I will not let go my hold but strengthen my self and comfort my self in my God in prosperity and adversity He is my God though I feel not his comforts yet I have them and shall have them and if I want them I shall strive to be content and though I gain nothing desirable from him here yet I shall take God alone to be sufficient for me and to be my exceeding great Reward 6. Because God's Principles breed none but good conclusions Ex veris nil nisi vera sequuntur Though in my error of passion I am not able to make it out yet God shall make it out for me Many an honest Debtor is not able to make out his own dues but a just and merciful Creditor will help him and make it out for him that he shall not be a loser What therefore is wanting in me I believe God will supply and I am sure to be safe in his hands say mine own pretended Conscience and the Devil or Men of devilish Spirits what they will they may vex and perplex me and break my heart with grief but they shall never be able to destroy my Soul and Body in Hell fire For I am fully perswaded that neither height nor depth nor length nor breadth nor Life nor death nor any thing else shall be ever able to separate me from the Love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord and that being justified by Faith I have peace with God and that if God hath justified none shall condemn me no not my own Conscience which is sanctified as is my whole Soul and Body by the Spirit of God which is in me Thus an honest Heart and humble Soule is in a safe condition with God in the midst of fears and terrours occasioned by temptations arising from sickness pains and distempers of a weak Body So am I like a Ship that lives in a storm while the winds drive her and the waves run over her So to the pure all things are pure the Conscience being good all things that come from it are good and all that comes unto it shall be for good Secondly as to wicked Men their remedy is this Not believe Conscience they are advised and required 1. Not to believe their own Consciences notwithstanding strong illusions to the contrary and notwithstanding their bodily good composures and outward peace and prosperity to all things 1. Because flatteries of peace are lyes and not
truths there is no peace to the wicked and what peace can there be so long as their whoredoms and witchcrafts are so many 2. Because they are not justified by Faith therefore they are not at peace with God nor with their own Souls because they are not of the Truth neither is Truth in them 3. Because health and ease in the Body and outward flourishing and tranquillity may be in the Estate though the Soul have no union or communion with God at all Nor is it any sign of God's favour or disfavour to thrive and prosper or to suffer in this World but all things happen alike to all Men in this World and no Man knoweth what is good or bad by any thing that is before him 4. Because their natural tempers and constitution of bodies may tend to mirth joy and rejoycing in the lower faculties while the higher powers of the Mind and Conscience are defiled and have no hope nor comfort in them 5. Because Sense in the Flesh is below Faith in the Heart and they live by Sense and not by Faith and therefore they believe Sense and not Faith because there is no Faith in them to believe And so they live by Sense which is no life but death For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace 1. They have no reason therefore at all to believe their own Consciences falsly so called for the Conscience speaks bitter things unto them and that they may believe and if the Offices of Consciences be suspended in them it is because the habits and customs of sin have taken away the sense thereof and created a hardness darkness stupefaction and numness in them 2. They are to hearken to good counsel without for there is none within or very rare but when it is they are not to neglect it at any hand 3. They are carefully to observe calamities ordinary and extraordinary that happen to themselves or others which are sent of God on purpose to awaken them from their sins 4. They are to cease from the hurry and noise of pleasures and profits of this World and to make a stand sometimes and to retire into their own thoughts and look up to God and remember their later end and put a stop to their nots and excesses and try to shake them off by degrees and strive to enter into a course of honesty sobriety and temperance and see how it may work in them by little and little till they come to their wits again and live like Men by Reason and so farther as Christians by Faith and not meerly as Beasts by Sense And this they may do if they will and recover and come to by breaking off their sins by repentance and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor To this end all Men are exhorted Self-Examination 1. To self-examination The Scholar must leave poring alwaies upon his Book and turn over the Book of his own Conscience and learn the state of his own Soul The Statesman and wise politician must leave plodding and contriving publique State affairs and learn to manage the Government of himself The worldly voluptuous and luxurious Persons that mind all things that are without them must learn to come home and dwell with themselves and know the things that are within them by acquainting themselves with themselves more and more and being strangers to others 2. To keep no private sin unforsaken Forsake sin the sin that sticks so close within them the plague of their own heart the Idol of abomination which they have set up in their own Spirit the cursed thing which troubles all things So long as any such thing lurks in the Will the Will is not turned There is a lye in my right hand I hide iniquity under my tongue I mock God and my Soul If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer 3. To confess every sin I said I will confess my sins unto the Lord Confession and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin I thought on my waies and turned my heart unto thy testimonies To this end the Conscience must be set a work and made to do its offices by discoursing with our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 4.4 Sym. Aug. Ventilabam Roman Psalt scopabam vulg To commune with our own hearts in our Chambers and be still to dig and delve into our Spirits to hunt there to winnow the chaff from the Corn to sweep and search diligently in every corner of the heart This is the great neglect of the Sons of Men that they do not exercise their faculties nor use the Reason that is in them that they might know themselves Nemo in sese tentat descendere Nemo The Conscience is the light and face of the Soul there they might see and know themselves if they would bethink themselves and think their thoughts over again considering and setting their heart on their waies This is the dilatation or expansion of the Soul spreading the bloudy colours that are ruffled and furled up together the anatomizing of the smallest fibra's of the heart the reflection of the mind upon it self A word spoken to the heart a reckoning and casting up of our accompt a retiring to our own Soul a putting our sins upon our Soul bringing them back to the place from whence they came a retractation a recognition a scrutiny of all circumstances Quis quid ubi quibus auxiliis Cur quomodo quando Who what where by what means why how when Reminiscentia animi dilatatio Reflexio mentis dictio cum corde Reputatio viarum Reditio ad cor Positio super cor c. SECT I. I shall drive in these wedges to keep this Cause from stirring 1. Conscientia obnubilari potest quia non est Deus extingui non potest Collections quia est à Deo The Conscience may be clouded and obscured because it is not God but it cannot be extinguished because it is from God 2. Conscientia non habet potestatem legislativam sed jurisdictionem tantùm non est Frinceps sed Judex non Jus facit sed dicit The Conscience hath no Supreme legislative power but jurisdiction only because she is not a Prince but a Judg she doth not make Right but declares what Right is 3. Conscientia est in omnibus rationalibus Angelis hominibus The Conscience is in all rational Creatures Angels and Men. 4. Conscientia non extinguitur in damnatis The Conscience is not extinguished in the damned but most of all awakened 5. Nemo semper fuit Atheus No Man hath been an Atheist at all times 6. Peccatum semper ambulat cum capite Sin ever accompanies the person of a Sinner 7. Maxima violatio Conscientiae est maximum peccatum The greatest violation of the Conscience is the greatest sin 8. Maximus angor Conscientiae est maxima poena The greatest torment of the Conscience is the greatest
us and them at the last day 3. We may not think of our selves or others that when we or they have honestly and constantly endeavoured after goodness and come short of what is indeed perfection therefore we shall be all rejected and left under woful disappointments God is not so hard a Master 4. We may not think that every one that in heat of passion despairs or makes away himself is lost for ever or every Mad-man or Fool is damned These have no Will and therefore no sin for the time and therefore cannot suffer justly for such actions but for what they did while they were themselves if ever they were so If never they are sufferers not Sinners no shame to them but for God's Glory 5. We may not think that every one that boasts of his Assurance is sure and of his Perfection is perfect There is cause to suspect such most who least suspect themselves 6. The Cares and Loves of God are not altogether without some fears and jealousies Pietas etiam tuta aliquindo pertimescit Piety though in a safe condition is now and then fearful The liberal Man mistrusteth his Bounty The Believer his Unbelief Lord I believe help thou my unbelief If this be a fault it is a safe one Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall Be not high minded but fear Every Man hath not a Mansion in Heaven that pretendeth to it nor is every Man shut out who doubteth of his evidence for Heaven Diffidence is a character of a good Man who would fain be better Though he hath built up his Assurance as strong as he can yet he thinketh himself not sure enough but seeketh farther for Assurance and fortifieth it with his fear and assiduous diligence to make it stand fast for ever The case of every one that uses desperate words is not desperate if they proceed from distempers of Body or ignorance of Mind and not from corrupt consciences We may be bold to say If real despair hath killed her thousands Presumption hath slain her ten thousands Despair is the Daughter of Sin and Darkness but Presumption is the ludibrium of Hope But holy confidence is the Genuine Off-spring of a pure conscience 7. Neglect not the Grace of God nor receive it in vain nor turn it unto wantonness nor sin that Grace may abound But be vigilant and careful and wisely fearful Fortis saepè victus cautus rarissime A strong Man over confident oft falls but a wary Man seldom SECT VI. Proofs For a Close to leave my own Conceptions I will lay most of the Scriptures together concerning this point and let the Reader try what I have said from them or what he himself can gather out of them And they are these Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by which ye are sealed unto the day of your Redemption And not only they that is the Creation but our selves Ro. 8.23 which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our Bodies Eph. 1.14 The Spirit which is the earnest of our Inheritance untill the Redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Ro. 8.15 Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Gal. 4.5 6. To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons and because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba Father Joh. 1.12 As many as have received him to them gave he power to be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 5.16 If any Man sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death There is a sin unto death I do not say ye shall pray for it Ro. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Joh. 16.22 I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no Man taketh from you 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoicing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our conversation in the World 1 Joh. 3.21 Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Joh. 16 17. We have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 5.15 And if we know that he hears us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the Petitions that we desired of him Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name he will give it you 2 Pet. 1.10 The rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure For if ye do these things ye shall never fall Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Ro. 8.33 c. it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the Right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being perswaded that he that had promised was able also to perform Ro. 4.21 Ye know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 even to them who are the called according to his purpose We know that we have passed from death unto Life 1 Joh. 3.14 16. because we love the Brethren he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren Verily verily I say unto you he that knoweth my Word Joh. 5.23 and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Ps 23 1 c. he maketh me to lie down in green pastures c. In thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be ashamed c. Ps 31. i. He that
dispensation of the Gospel God hath now in a great measure left frighting of men to heaven by visible terrors The Law of the Messias was delivered upon the Mount in the small and still voice and is set home upon the hearts of men by the terrour only of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 23.14 a more heavy vengeance in another world than what overtook the despisers of Moses Law God expects now that we should be judiciously religious and acted to his service by a spirit of love and of a sound mind to fear his threatning more than the burnings of Sinai to look upon a bad man since the appearance of Christ to take away sin as the greatest prodigy and to expect the signs of an approaching Judgment non in Erratis naturae sed Saeculi Id. ib. p. 18. Fanaticks Now we shall ever find that all Persons which take up Opinions from their own poetical genius and busie fancy are impregnable to all the assaults of reason The Rosicrucians acted so hugely by imagination in Philosophy Some kind of Chymists in Medicks The Cabalists in Scripture Expositions Enthusiasts in Religion Figure-casters in Astrology are so invincibly resolved upon their Hypotheses that like him in the story when their hands those little reasonings wherewith they hold them are cut off they will mordicùs defendere hold them with their teeth biting and reviling language thrown upon their opposers and neglecters They are entertained with pleasant and easie dreams and therefore angry with those that attempt to awaken them and discompose them Ib. p. 19. As the assistance of God the Spirit with our holy endeavours doth not take away the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weaknesses attendant on Christian practises because he acts us ad modum nostrum so neither doth the Co-assistance of God the Father with all natural Agents quite remove the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Errours of Nature Ib. p. 23. Terrible Representations of God The opinion of Prodigies represents God before the Soul with a rod of Vengeance perpetually in his hand A Belief of a God is that Fort which the Devil could never storm force by any direct temptation and therefore he designs by such terrible and servile conceits wrought in the hearts of men to undermine it For perpetual jealousies and slavish fears of God like over-heated waters boyl over at last and extinguish that fire that faith and sense of God which first produc't them When the Notion of a Deity stands alway before the mind like a Gorgons head pregnant with nothing but horrours and dismaies it quickly works and turns it to a stony stupid neglect of him so to get rid of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that mighty Fear which was its continual Executioner Moreover the Devil no doubt loves to bring men off from a noble and generous temper And as it is the design of Religion to cast out fear and to introduce a spirit of true freedom and confidence toward God so it is the work of the Devil to call on a spirit of Bondage and Fear that so he see may in men the more lively and express images and pourtraictures of himself who believes and trembles He would have his Rites of Worship of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frightful and amazing mysteries the Idols wherein he was worshipped bear in their very Names and Titles a remembrance of that Baseness and Servility of spirit which attended his Votaries in the service of so absolute a Tyrant being styled sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 horrours Is 40 5. Jer. 50.38 Ps 106.36 as 't is rendred in the Margin 2 Chron. 15.16 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying trouble and terrour and the Devils are styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming from a word which signifies horrour because usually tendring themselves to view in the most frightful forms Now this Superstitious perswasion of Prodigies doth hugely minister to bondage of Spirit and tends to seal men with the mark of Cain according to the Jews a perpetual Trembling and Astonishment P. 24. That which possibly assisted this Tradition was the succeeding of Rome Christian as into the place so into very many of the Rites and usages of Rome Pagan as might be easily made appear at large were that our business and into as large a power over the Faiths and Consciences of men as Rome Pagan had over their Bodies and so was enabled to mold them into what Opinions or Practises they might best serve themselves upon Ib. p. 29. As in Heresie Populus sequitur Doctiores ☜ Popular Errors the People follow the Learned as being in a matter more abstract and subtil more apt to believe than to judge so in Superstition Doctiores sequuntur Populum the Learned are not seldom observed to follow the People because early surprized into an opinion that can enter so valuable a plea for its self as common Consent This Notion of presages by Prodigies being so popular and Catholick Wise men in their first and unwary years when they are Discipuli Plebis may entertain conceits thereof which shall plead prescription against the strongest reasons to dispossess them As Iron in a greater and more massie body sequitur Naturam communem follows the Law of common Nature in all heavy bodies and moves to the earth but in smaller pieces sequitur Naturam privatam it follows its own private Nature and directs it self to the Load-stone Thus Learned men where they are prest by the force and weight of Education and a Common prejudice generally follow common Nature in men which inclines to embrace Society and therefore more in Judgment Secundum viam Terrae but in matters out of vulgar ken and where they cannot be tempted by a common Agreement they move Secundum viam Consilii and pursue the dictates of their private light and understanding Even wise men in many instances held Aras Focos their Faith and their Estates by the same Tenure Tradition from Ancestours and therefore we may receive their Judgments tanquam ex Cathedrâ as engagements to consider not alwaies tanquam ex Tripode as obligations to believe Ib. p. 39. They look upon their Gods as a kind of Fairies which would throw Firebrands and Furies about the house for the omission of some petty Criticisms in their Rites and that therefore they gave forth frequent intimations of those impotencies and distastes They thought they were lost with a Trifle and won again to a good opinion of them by paying them the homage of a little crouching and circumstantial Devotion ☞ Fathers not all pure To the Testimony of Fathers I answer in general That 't were no wonder to find them living so near the times of Gentilism speaking in favour sometimes for some of the Doctrines thereof The main trunk and body of the Gentile Superstition was indeed hewen down in their minds but still there were some small roots and fibres remaining which are observed to spring up ever