our Soul's welfare and the making us partakers of his own image and likeness can by no Circumstances whatsoever become unfit to be bestowed on those that heartily and sincerely seek it And therefore we are assured that those prayers that are put up for such things with a true heart and full assurance of faith in his Power and Goodness are seconded in Heaven by our Blessed Lord And him the Father heareth always John 11. 42. We have shewed that our Saviour hath purchased a Rich supply of Grace to help our Weakness and that his Holy Spirit is promised to those that ask him who will not fail to assist them whilest they carefully exert that power they are already in possession of But the most Honest Souls have so frequent experience of Heaviness Dulness and Distractions in their Addresses to God that they would be in great danger of despairing of the Success of their Prayers but for this Consideration that they have a no Less Friend in Heaven than the Only Begotten Son of God who is most powerful with his Father and supplies all the Defects of their Prayers by his own Intercession in their behalf I need not say what a marvellous incouragement this is of our Faith and Hope in the Divine Goodness which are so necessary to Animate us and to put Spirit and Life into all our Endeavours And the Mediation and Intercession of our Blessed Saviour conduceth exceedingly to the overcoming those inslaving Passions of Fearfulness and Shame which arise from Guilt and do naturally cause a great Averseness in Sinners from going into the Presence of God and disable them when they are there to behave themselves as they ought before him S. Paul tells the Ephesians that In Christ Iesus they have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him That is through Christ's Mediation those Believing Gentiles of whose Calling he was discoursing as great Sinners as they had been even dead in Trespasses and Sins have liberty of Approach to God with Confidence of a kind Reception and a Gracious Acceptance And the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 10. 19 c. doth thus encourage Sincere Souls to draw near to God Having therefore Brethren boldness or Liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us in opposition to the dead shadows under the Law through the veil that is to say his Flesh Breaking through the veil of his Flesh being fain to die before he ascended into Heaven 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 That is being sincerely resolved against all sins both of Heart and Life As none that had touched any unclean thing under the Law till the Priest had sprinkled them with pure Water had Liberty to enter into the Congregation Fifthly The Reward which our Saviour hath purchased for and promised to those that shall get free from the power of their Lusts is another Motive than which a more Powerful one is not to be imagined He hath promised that such shall be with him where he is That because he lives they shall live also Hath assured them that He is gone to Heaven before to prepare a place for them That He is entered thither as their Forerunner That they shall behold the Glory there which his Father hath given him and that they shall be sharers also with him in that Glory That they shall sit with Him upon his Throne Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me upon my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his Throne That the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Matth. 13. 43. That their dead Bodies also being raised again shall be fashioned like to his own most Glorious Body according to the Mighty working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 21. Of this Glory it is impossible we should speak much in this state worthily of it it far surpasseth our most Elevated Conâ—eptions and therefore our highest Expressions must needs fall excessively short of it It doth not yet appear what we shall be saith S. Iohn 1 Epist. 3. 2. only we know so much of the Heavenly Bliss as to be assured that it is astonishingly Great for as it follows this we know that when he appears we shall be like him like Him the infinitely Holy and Happy Being in his Holiness and Happiness for we shall see him as he is Which implieth such a clear distinct and vigorous knowledge of his most Glorious Perfections as will transform the Soul into His own Nature and fill it with His own Blessedness to the utmost extent of its capacity Could we now apprehend this Blessedness in any proportion to its transcendent Greatness and Excellency we should have no more Spirit left in us as it is said of the Queen of Sheba when she beheld the Magnificence of Solomons Court Indeed there is such an Account given us of the Happiness prepared for Good men that we should find it impossible to believe it but that God which cannot lye hath promised it and that it is the purchase of a most inestimable price the Bloud of his Eternally Begotten Son And we have so great Evidence of its being promised by his Father and purchased by Himself given us by our Blessed Lord that our own Hearts can't wish for greater nay such as we could not have asked any comparable to it might we have had our own choice of Evidence viz. His innumerable Miraculous works His Resurrection from the Dead His Ascension into Heaven And afterwards exactly according to his promise His sending the Holy Ghost We have not more Evidence that Iesus is the Son of God than we have that All his sincere Disciples shall live with him in unspeakable and Eternal Blessedness for we have the self same for both The same Arguments which have abundantly demonstrated the truth of the former Proposition do equally prove the latter for they depend mutually upon each other As S. Paul hath shewed in 1 Cor. 5. 13 14. If there be no Resurrection of the Dead then is Christ not risen And if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain That is there will be no Resurrection of the Dead Now of what mighty force and efficacy are the exceeding great and precious promises of such a Glorious state as this to engage all the Powers of our Souls in the pursuance of that Holiness which is not only an indispensable Condition to precede the obtaining of it but like a necessary Qualification for it The Happiness which will naturally by proper Efficiency and necessary Consequence result from our
and particular concerns And the Opposites to these do give the Soul great Enlargement and Liberty viz. That Confidence that is opposite both to Fear and to Shame Delight and joy which are opposite to Trouble and Dejection of Mind and Generosity and Nobleness of Spirit whereby a man is carried forth to the loving of God the Chief Good in the first place and a hearty concern for the general welfare of his Fellow-Creatures which is opposite to immoderate Self-love First The Observance of the Rules of Righteousness casteth out Fear This is a most servile Passion the Apostle speaketh of some who through fear of â—â—ath were all their life-time subject to bondage By Fear I mean that which is expressed by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cowardly and dispiriting Fear None can imagine I mean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Awful and Reverential Fear such as is called Heb. 12. 28. a Godly fear Nor yet do I mean such a Fear as awakens and excites the Soul to the use of means for the shunning and keeping off evils Such a Fear as this doth not at all inslave or put a man out of his own power but is highly serviceable to the maintenance and preservation of Liberty And therefore it is commended to us by the Apostle Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it But as was said the Fear which is enslaving is a Cowardly Dispiriting Fear and this the Righteous and Good man is freed from He hath not received the spirit of bondage again to fear in this sence but the spirit of Adoption whereby he crieth Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. He is not afraid of God as a poor Slave is of his fierce Master or as a wicked Servant of his justly provoked and incensed Lord but not being under the guilt of wilful sins his Conscience being privy to no other guilt than that which upon good grounds he believes is expiated by the Bloud of Iesus he can go to God as a child to his loving and tender Father And as he hath no tumultuary confounding or disheartening fear of God so neither hath he of the Devil or Men or any worldly evil as knowing that all these are subject to the restraint of that good Providence which ever chargeth it self with the care of good Souls and all their concerns God hath not given him the Spirit of fear or timidity and fearfulness but of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. This man is an affectionate Lover of God and therefore cannot question God's love to him and is assured that all things shall work together for his good for his good both in this life and in the life to come Herein is our love made perfect saith S. Iohn in his 1 Epistle 4. 17. because as he is so are we in this world because we follow the example of our Blessed Saviour in the conscientious observance of the Rules of Righteousness there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love That is he that is affected with such a fear as hath now been described He who is not under the power of Cowardizing dismaying Fear his Spirit is at great Liberty but a care to keep an inoffensive Conscience both towards God and men to adhere to the Rules of Righteousness and Goodness and never to swerve from them will banish this Fear The wicked saith the Wise man fleeth when no man pursueth but the righteous is bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely or confidently and securely Prov. 9. 10. To which great truth the Poet gives his Testimony in those known Verses Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu c. He that 's in life upright and pure in heart Is too secure to need the Bow or Dart. hic murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi nullâ pallescere culpâ The strongest Bulwark's not so sure a Fence As is an inoffensive Conscience Secondly True Goodness begets that confidence which is opposed as to Fear so to Shame too There is a highly commendable shame which is proper to a Good man namely that which is expressed by the Latine Verecundia Which is a quick sense of whatsoever is indecorous and misbecoming No man can have too much of this for the more any one hath of it the better man must he necessarily be But there is another sort of Shame expressed by Pudor which is a troublesome passion arising from a sense of disgrace upon consciousness of Guilt Of this Shame the most learned Doctor Henry More observeth in his incomparable Ethicks that it neither falleth upon the worst nor the best of men For he who is conscious to himself that he constantly exerciseth his liberty in doing the best things knows that he ought not to be contemned and thereupon being above all contempt contempt it self is contemned by him which is a great instance in good men of Generosity but in bad men is the very height of improbity This Shame is a good effect of a bad cause for though it be an evil yet 't is a necessary evil and tends to the deterring men from unworthy actions for the time to come and doth actually produce this good effect where the great uneasiness and perturbation of mind which was caused thereby upon past commissions of sin is seriously and consideratively reflected upon For where this Shame is there is great Bondage where there is consciousness of guilt the mind of a man is miserably pent up confined and straitned so that he dares many times neither to look abroad into the world nor to look up to Heaven nor reflect upon himself And therefore Liberty and Confidence are expressed by the same word viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek language But while a man is careful in the observance of the Laws of Righteousness to be Righteous before God and to walk as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless he is not affected with this kind of Shame and consequently enjoys a mighty Freedom by this means Upright Iob had the happy experience of this effect of uprightness as we find Chap. 31. 35 36 37. Oh that one would hear me saith he behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine Adversary had written a book Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a Crown unto me I would declare to him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Which is as much as if he had said Oh that mine Adversary instead of secretly whispering evil things of me had drawn up a charge in writing against me I would be so far from endeavouring to have it concealed
said to be weak through the flesh or in regard of the impetuosity and violence of mens fleshly Appetites Rom. 8. 3. Nor is there any express mention in the Ceremonial Law of any necessity of purity of heart This was only represented by the divers legal washings and other Rites the mortification of corrupt Affections was signified by the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh and the great substantial duties were veiled under dark shadows So that a man might be very punctually observant of this Law according to the mere literal sence thereof and yet his Soul remain perfectly under the power of sinful Affections And the Learned Mr. Chillingworth in his Sermon on Gal. 5. 5. saith thus even of the Moral Duties of the two Tables as they are part of the Mosaical Jewish Law viz. That they required only an external obedience and conformity to the Affirmative Precepts thereof and an abstaining from an Outward practice of the Negative They did not reach unto the Conscience no more than the National Laws of other Kingdoms do So that for example when the law of Moses forbids Adultery upon pain of death he that should in his heart lust after a Woman could not be accounted a Transgressor of Moses his law neither was he liable to the punishment therein specified Whereas the Gospel requires not only an Outward and as I may say corporal obedience to God's Commandments but also an inward sanctification of the Soul and Conscience upon the same penalty of everlasting damnation with the former And what is now said proceeds he of the Moral Precepts as they are part of Moses his law by the same proportion likewise is to be understood of the Iudicial And as for the Promises of this Law they were only of Temporal good things and therefore the Gospel is called by the Author to the Hebrews The bringing in of a better hope Chap. 7. 19. And is said to be established upon better promises Chap. 8. 6. 'T is confessed that promises of Heavenly things were contained in those of Earthly as some of the latter were Types of the former particularly the land of Canaan of the Eternal Rest in Heaven and the promises of good things in the general had those of the other life implied in them but there is not the least express mention in this Law of any Life after this I do not say in any part of the Old Testament but in this Law Now then seeing it abounded with Temporal Promises and none but such being in express terms contained therein 't is no wonder if it became an occasion to the sensual Iews of their being the more eager and vehement in prosecuting the profits honours and pleasures of this life as it was of their being the more Mercenary in their obedience The like may be said of the Threatnings of this Law they are all so expressed as if they were only of Present Temporal Evils and the Iews for the most part looking no farther than the outward letter of these Threatnings it was not to be expected that they should be excited by them to obey from any higher motive than the mere fear of such evils as those that did not look beyond the letter of the Promises were obedient only from the hope of some sensual present good And by this means especially did this Law Gender to bondage as we read it did Gal. 4. 24. The terrible manner in which the Law was given and the Threatnings of Present death or other temporal Calamities upon the Transgression thereof did occasion that slavish sear which the Apostle calls the Spirit of bondage in those words Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8. 5. God dealt with the Iews as it was most fit to deal with such a carnal such a stiff-necked stubborn and disingenuous people who would not be wrought upon and overcome by love to himself or a sense of the loveliness of Virtue and true Goodness nor regard any Laws but such as were enforced with severe present Penalties or promises of sensual good things Which obedience of theirs was most truly and properly the obedience of Slaves a Servile and Mercenary Obedience So that this Law having been abused by the Iews to the so much the more captivating them to their fleshly lusts for this reason chiefly was it laid aside namely because the Liberty which consisteth in a thorough compliance with the Rules of Righteousness the Obligation of this Law would have greatly obstructed the promoting of And the things expresly required in this Law being such as had no internal goodness in them being weak and beggarly Elements as the Apostle calls them Gal. 4. 9. the imposition of many such must needs be apt to call away mens Minds and Affections from those that are essentially and immutably good whilest the spiritual meaning of those injunctions is either not understood or not attended to And that it had this effect upon the generality of the Iews by this means is a case too plain to need to be proved And though the great substantial duties which are in their own nature Good and Necessary and of Eternal obligation were inculcated upon them by all their Prophets as well as taught by Natural Light such as Doing Iustice loving Mercy walking humbly with God and the like yet they generally were so sottish as to think that He valued Sacrifices and the other Ceremonial and External Performances of the Law so much above such Duties nay though he had expresly also declared the quite contrary as that their exact and diligent observation of those would make expiation for their remisness in these and fully satisfie for gross immoralities They trusted in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these implying that their continual attendance on the services there performed according to the prescription of the Law would effectually secure them from Divine vengeance although they refused to amend their ways and were never so immoral in their Practices And their constant Trading in Sacrifices in Rituals and Ceremonial things occasioned their having but very little sense of things Morally good so that that distinction was almost lost among them of things Positively and Morally so or things good only because commanded and things commanded because good Their being so intent upon a many little things caused them to sleight and overlook the great ones as our Saviour told the Pharisees Luke 11. 42. Ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God And Mat. 23. 23. Ye pay tith of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and faith And their omitting these things was too plain an Argument alone though there is other proof of it of their having scarcely any notion of things Absolutely Immutably and Essentially Good and Evil which was occasioned as I said by their
to be believed and practised by us in order to Salvation and which without any Additions are able to make us wise to Salvation as S. Paul assures us and are a complete Rule of Faith and Practice And that Preacher who shall offer to require his Auditors assent to any thing not delivered either in express terms or by plain consequence in the Writings of the Old or New Testament doth impudently impose upon their belief except he be able to work real Miracles for the convincing of them He takes more upon him than either the Apostles or our Saviour himself who did still appeal to the works the Supernatural works he did to attest the truth of the Doctrine he delivered I would such impudent imposers were onely to be found among the Romanists who are all so and the most impudent that ever appeared upon the stage of the World but alas they are too too common also among professed haters of Popery Thirdly And as to the sence of the more difficult places of Scripture no sober Preacher pretends to come to the knowledge thereof by the immediate illumination of the Spirit but such a one acknowledgeth he doth it in the general by the exercise of his Reason And particularly by considering the proper signification of Words and Phrases in the Original Languages by comparing Scripture with Scripture by searching into the Ancient Customs which give great light to a great number of Texts and without the knowledge of which they are not to be understood by enquiring after the judgment of those who lived nearest to the Times of the Apostles c. And after all they submit their Expositions of such Texts to the judgments of their Hearers I mean such of them as are capable of judging As for others Oportet discentes credere It becomes Learners to give credit to their Teachers And Credendum est peritis in suâ Arte. But Fourthly We do piously and by the Authority of Scripture believe that the Spirit is ready to assist us in our Reasonings and Enquiries and whatsoever particular good means we use for the understanding of Scripture when He is humbly and devoutly sought to by us and when without the least prejudice partiality ill design or sinister respect but for the best of Ends and from the pure love of Truth we make Enquiry Thus even Private Christians are assisted in the searches and enquiries which they are able to make For God hath promised that The Meek he will guide in judgment and the Meek he will teach his way Fifthly In composing also of profitable Discourses as we implore so we have the Divine Assistance but we see no ground to believe that we have it in any other manner than in other good works of what nature soever But as for the ready Faculty of Discoursing from a Pulpit and popular speaking to a Congregation we have no reason to believe it a Gift of the Spirit any more than the Lawyers strange readiness in pleading at the Bar. And a volubility of speech upon any subject whatsoever heat of Fancy and nimbleness of Wit and Invention are as much to be attributed to the Holy Spirit as such a Faculty And hence we may gather that a Preacher of the Gospel can plead no such Liberty as is wholly exempted from Restraints by Authority But one that is known to have never so good a Talent at Preaching may be forbidden the exercise of it till he hath submitted to a lawful Ordination such as was in use in the Churches of Christ for Fifteen hundred years together And when Ordained he may lawfully have bounds set him as to the places where he shall exercise his Ministry in publick and as to the times when And he may be forbidden to meddle with such Arguments as are above the reach of his Peoples Understandings or are not like to conduce to their Edification and much more to broach dangerous Doctrines that is such as are so in the judgment of his Governours And for his Disobedience and other Misdemeanours he is as liable to be suspended or totally deprived of his Ministerial Office as are any other Officers I do but touch upon and give light glances at these things because my present subject will not give me leave to discourse largely upon them which would be too great a digression from its proper business CHAP. XV. A Third False Notion of Christian Liberty viz. that which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it Two things premised 1. That Conscience is not so sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being obliged by Humane Laws 2. That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth That what is contended for is more properly Liberty of Practice than of Conscience The Author's Opinion in reference to this Liberty delivered in Ten Propositions That whatsoever Liberty of this nature may be insisted on as our Right it is not Christian Liberty but Natural Liberty THirdly and Lastly I proceed to that Notion of Christian Liberty which makes Liberty of Conscience a Branch of it But before I deliver my Opinion about this weighty point which hath occasioned as great Feuds and sharp Contests as any whatsoever I shall premise two things First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws Secondly That no man can properly be deprived of the true Liberty of his Conscience by any Power on Earth First That Conscience is not so Sacred a thing as to be uncapable of being Obliged by Humane Laws This is sufficiently clear from what is discoursed in the Thirteenth Chapter But it is said by many that God is the onely Lord of Conscience and therefore it is the highest presumption for Men to go about to bind it by their Laws It is the sole Prerogative of the Deity to search the Heart and try the Reins of the Children of men Conscience is too inward and secret a thing to fall under Mans cognizance and therefore what have any of our Fellow-Creatures to do to give Laws to our Consciences In Answer hereunto We have already seen what S. Paul's sense is about this matter that he saith We must needs be Subject or Obedient and that not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake So that the Apostle was far from thinking that the obligation of Humane Authority is founded in mere Prudence not at all in Conscience But no man in his Wits will say that the Laws of Men do oblige Conscience as the Laws of God do Those cannot do it immediately as these do but onely by virtue of the Divine Authority S. Paul saith Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers I think I shall not be over-critical in saying that is every Conscience for what follows proves the obligation of Conscience to subjection and is an Answer to the foresaid Objection against it viz. For there is no Power but