as his own expression is seeking whom he may devour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. whom he may devour at once 1 Pet. 5.8 and with as much haste as possible may be meaning by filling them with all unrighteousness with uncleanness love of this world fearlesness of God and of his Laws Precepts and Commands For he namely Satan hath no other weapons to destroy men and women withal but these And in these and in these only lye his murthering and devouring attempts So that where he meets not with one that is greater and stronger than himself to oppose him And there is but one to stand in his way of whom the Apostle John gives this testimony That he that is in you namely the Saints is greater than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 I say When he meets not and is not encountred by this Spirit of God that is stronger than he Yea if this Spirit have not advanced in his strength and assistance by the means before spoken of to some good degree in the hearts and souls of men He namely the evil one is very likely to prevail yea and questionless will prevail over men and fill the hearts and inward parts of men with all unrighteousness covetousness love of the world c. and with all manner of sinful inclinations dispositions and propentions which will be their ruine For sin as the Apostle James testifieth when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam 1.15 When it is finished i. e. impenitently persisted in unto the last it certainly bringeth damnation or eternal destruction upon men Or if you will thus Sin when it is finished or perfected that is when it is raised hath much of strength and power in the heart and soul of a man and when they are full of sin Then it is apt and likely to bring forth death the workings and operations thereof incline and tend strongly that way yea and will certainly issue in Death as was even now hinted if it be not stopped in its way by a more than ordinary care and diligence to make resistance against it Now that Satan or the evil Spirit will certainly prevail with men and women to fill themselves with him or with his fruits unless they be filled or in a way of filling themselves with the Spirit of God is evident upon these two gradual considerations taken together First Sect. 4 If men shall be found to be wholly destitute and devoid of the Spirit of God and as it were altogether flesh so that they have not wherewith to oppose or to make any resistance against the devil or evil Spirit in any kind or at least to any considerable degree Then is it no marvel if he prevail over men For that which is flesh in men whether we take it for that which is properly so called the body or outward man considered simply as such or whether by flesh we mean that which is born of the flesh according to our Saviours expression Joh. 3.6 i.e. inordinate desires sinful inclinations and lusts that are ingendred and occasioned by the flesh I say in both these considerations whether we take the flesh either litterally or metaphorically it is wholly confederate with Satan against the soul and spiritual life of man ready to open unto him and comport with him in all his dangerous and destructive applications of himself unto them and consequently such men that are only flesh or full of it receive the Laws of their minds from the inspiration thereof and are not furnished with any principles wherewith to oppose him and as it is said concerning John the Baptist That they that persecuted him did unto him whatsoever they listed (a) Mat. 17.12 Mar. 9.13 Even so the Scriptures speak of or concerning such persons as we are now treating of That Sathan carrieth them captive at his will (b) 2 Tim. 2.26 and filleth them with what kind of lusts and uncleanness he pleaseth yea and to what degree he pleaseth When men are filled with the Holy Spirit so that it acteth with much strength and vigour in them and that they are subdued and brought under the power thereof the Scripture is used to speak of them as wholly diabled and debilitated to sin So the Apostle Paul speaketh concerning himself and of such others that were made partakers of the same anointing with him For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 So on the contrary they that are filled with the spirit of the devil have nothing in them but what is born of the flesh and therefore they can do nothing for but against the truth no not in their own souls judgments and consciences still comporting with Sathan against the truth and their own peace and comfort But It is a Question perhaps of no easie resolution Whether there be any person man or woman under heaven who is wholly destitute of the Spirit of God unless it be those which have blasphemed the Spirit of God and have stumbled at that stumbling stone which will certainly not only break but grind all to powder which shall fall under it That sin which is the seed of immortal eternal and irreconcileable hatred and alienation between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of him whosoever he be that hath committed it I mean the sin against the Holy Ghost I rather at present incline to the affirmative part of the Question and do conceive That there is no person of mankind who from or after his first enlightening by the Spirit of God upon and after his coming into the world under the guilt of any sin or sins whatsoever except that sin only before excepted that is at any time untill the day and hour of his death wholly bereaved of the presence and assistance of the Spirit of God with him Of which my apprehensions I have as I remember heretofore given some account and may possibly have occasion to speak more largely unto it hereafter But for the present Whereas some in the Scripture are said not to have the Spirit Jude the 19 verse sennsual not having the Spirit a Scripture formerly made use of upon another occasion I answer the meaning is not as if they had no degree or presence Sect. 5 or no assistance of or from the Spirit of God within them But this by not having the Spirit is meant That there was no appearance of the exercise of the Spirit is meant That there was no appearance of the exercise of the Spirit of God in them They appeared unto the judgments of men as such who had not the Spirit their lives and conversations were such which did not shew forth any presence of the Spirit of God in them A person in the Scripture Phrase is said not to have that which he doth not make use of or improve or that which he doth not seem to have For unto every one that hath saith our Saviour Mat. 25.29 shall be given and he shall
therefore the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Sect. 1 because if they be not filled Reason 1 or do not endeavour to be filled with the Spirit of God they will certainly be filled with some one or other worse Spirit which will lead them aside into the waies of sin and vanity and of darkness and death And most certain it is the duty of all Christians to do all things that are requisite and necessary for the preventing of so great an evil and misery coming upon them as this namely of being filled with any spirit contrary to the Spirit of God and spirit of sin and wickedness whatsoever That it is simply necessary to prevent such a polution or defilement so miserable a state and condition as this is not or at least ought not to be a question unto any man who minds but to any degree the things of his peace Now that it is a duty lying upon all c. to be filled with the Spirit is evident if we shall consider that there are many other Spirits abroad in the world every one of which hath a direct antipathy to the holy Spirit of God That which the Apostle John speaketh more particularly of Doctrines Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4.1 may be said of Spirits in general For there are many Spirits walking up and down in the World Isa 19 3. a spirit of perverseness Deut. 32.5 a spirit of whoredom Hos 4.12 a spirit of covetousness Ezek. 33.31 a spirit of slumber Rom. 11.8 a spirit of fear 2 Tim. 1.7 Now when principles or dispositions in men whether they be disposions unto vertue and holiness or unto sin and vice are grown up unto any fulness so that they put forth themselves with force and are vigorous and active in them It is usual in the Scripture language dialect or manner of speaking to express such or such principles or dispositions by the name of Spirit As when love acteth vigorously in men to express it by the name of the spirit of love So a meek and humble frame of heart by a spirit of meekness So on the other hand a perverse and froward spirit by a spirit of perverseness an inordinate love of money or inordinate coveting after riches by a spirit of covetousness Sect. 2 Now the reason of this denomination to call covetousness where it is strong and raised in men and when they favour strongly of it by the name of a spirit of covetousness and so of fear when it is active and vigorous in men by a spirit of fear There is the same consideration to be had of love meekness holiness c. for these principles or dispositions when they are active and vigorous are as well denominated unto us by the name of spirit as those which are of a contrary nature and import The reason hereof is First to shew that when principles and dispositions in men are raised to any great degree of strength and become vigorous and active and have gotten any considerable power in or over men if I may so speak they are hard to be resisted Even as Spirits or Angels who as the Psalmist saith excell or according to the Hebrew reading in the Margin are mighty in strength Psal 103.20 they are yery potent and powerful not easie to be resisted in their operations Even so it is with principles and dispositions when they are grown to any considerable height in men and become strong and potent they are hard to be resisted and therefore called by the Holy Ghost by the name of Spirit Or else happily the reason may be which I chiefly eye because all dispositions in men and principles of action whether good or evil when ever they are raised any whit high and have gotten strength within them there is some spirit or other good or evil that mingleth it self with them and by this means doth add vigour and strength unto them and doth raise them above that measure and pitch of strength and activity which they would never be raised unto without the interposure of some such Spirit good or evil properly so called It is true When holy dispositions in men are in their greatest strength and glory there is but one Spirit by which they are acted and that is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost who through the infiniteness of his power doth answer yea more than anwer yea even far surpass in power the innumerable company of unclean Spirits and therefore when holy dispositions and inclinations are raised in men though they be many and various and spring from different principles in the heart and soul of a man Yet this one and indivisible spirit is able through or by means of his concurrence with them and influencing of them to add strength power and energie unto them and enable every one of them to fructifie and bring forth genuine fruit according unto its respective kind But now as concerning evil and sinful principles and dispositions it is very probable that the case is far otherwise For as there is a vast number and company of devils and unclean spirits so is it no waies dissonant unto reason to conceive that they have their distinct imployments and offices One sort of them may be employed to raise stir up and strengthen a spirit of uncleanness in men Another a spirit of covetousness A third a spirit of malice and revenge A fourth a spirit of gluttony and excess c. The * Eph. 1.21 Col. 2.15 Mat. 12.25 26. Scripture and that not obscurely seems to countenance this notion viz. that they are ranged into orders and are under a kind of regiment and that they are in a straight band league and confederacy to carry on one and the same grand design And if so their nature considered viz. their wisdom and subtilty it is most probable that every one of them is imployed according to his proper genius Some because they are of a more bloudy and cruel nature than others may be employed to stir up and to strengthen in men a spirit of malice and persecution Others that are otherwaies disposed may be imployed to stir up and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness A third sort of them whose genius lyeth that way to strengthen and increase a spirit of error But we may have occasion to speak more of this afterwards In the mean season this is that which we say in the reason in hand Sect. 3 That unless men shall take a course to be filled with the Spirit of God they will by degrees at least and perhaps sooner than they are aware be filled with some evil and contrary spirit a spirit of some sin and wickedness one or other The reason hereof is plain and near at hand because the evil and unclean Spirit that is the old Serpent Job 1.7 commonly called the Devil who walketh up and down the world compassing the earth too and fro
instinct and they do not depend upon the consent of the will or discourse of reason The latter kind of these lustings are such which have gained or gotten the consent of the will unto them and hereby they conceive as James speaketh Jam. 1.15 i. e. are made pregnant like a woman that is with Child so have such lustings as these the Act or Deed it self of sin in their womb or bowels Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished i.e. actually or externally perpetrated or committed bringeth forth death Then when lust hath conceived c. This clearly supposeth that there is or may be a lust or lusting which in this respect is Virgin like hath no corruption of the act of sin in it wherein the act of sin is not formed or shaped This kind of lust we speak of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek word expresseth it the first motion or moving of nature in a man which is exerted or put forth before a man intends thinks or knows any thing of it This kind of lust may be troublesome unto a man and find him inward exercise and work more than enough to suppress it as it riseth that so the will and consent may not touch it or come at it yet this is not the lusting of the Flesh which doth much obstruct the Spirit in his way or prejudice the souls being filled with him Paul was a man that was abundantly filled with the Spirit and yet he saith that he knew that in him that is in his Flesh as he interprets dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 And that he saw ver 23. i. e. discerned felt or perceived another Law in his members warring against the Law of his mind and bringing him into captivity i. e. endeavouring to bring him into captivity to the Law of sin which was in his members meaning unto it self by an Hebrew kind of Dialect which many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Relative I thank my God saith the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 1.4 alwaies on your behalf for the grace of God not for his grace which is given unto you c. So again Eph. 4.16 From whom the whole body maketh encrease of the body meaning of it self See also Luke 3.19 Now the Apostle saying That in him i.e. in his flesh there dwelt no good thing meaning but abundance of that which is naught or dangerous according to the Rule often upon occasion delivered unto you viz. That Adverbs of denying signifie the contrary of these words with which they are joyned implies and signifies that the fleshly part of him which he calleth his members ver 23. i. e. his body was ever and anon occasioning his spirit or soul being so near in conjunction with it to bubble or put forth in some vain foolish or sinful desire or other which made him work without end partly in lamenting over himself by reason of them and their mingling themselves with all his services and spiritual actings and doings Partly in a solicitousness and careful watching over his heart or will lest they came to be confederate with them in respect of this turmoil he still had with his flesh and body ver 24. He crieth out O wretched or miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body or from a body of death i.e. From a body that worketh or createth all sorrow trouble and care to me I thank God saith he through Jesus Christ our Lord meaning that that deliverance from that body of death he speaks of which was procured unto him by Jesus Christ and which he had in his eye as coming apace towards him provoked him to a signal thankfulness unto God for his grace towards him in such a deliverance and so concludeth the Chapter So then with my mind I my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same person I or he or that man that is I serve the Law of God but with my flesh the Law of sin With my mind I my self serve the Law of God that is yield obedience unto it with an intent and desire hereby to honour it with my mind I my self thus serve it In this Discourse Paul maketh a plain opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I and my self or between him and himself affirming that he did many things which he himself did not and was resolved not to do I man may be said in the general and common language to do whatsoever he doth upon any terms whatsoever viz. what he doth causelesly what he doth contrary to the desire of his soul and which he doth thorough violence of temptations c. But a man himself cannot in emphaticalness of expression be said to do any thing but what he doth with his heart and soul with a full and free consent of his will c. And so our Apostle who was very far from flattering himself yet acquits himself from that which was done by him contrary to the bent and frame of his heart and without consent of his will by casting it upon sin that dwelt in him i. e. that sinful weakness which kept possession of his Flesh Now if I do that which I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me It is no more I meaning that all the while he did that which was evil and sinful for him to do with his entire will and full consent it was he himself that did it and not the sin or sinful weakness that dwelt in him but now saith he since the frame of my heart and bent of my will standeth against that which I do in this kind from hencesorth I may truly speaking Evangelically discharge my self from the doing of it and arraign that weakness which inseparably hangeth upon me as the Author and Actor of it I have stood somewhat the longer upon the opening of this passage of the Apostle because I desire with as much evidence and satisfaction as may be to make out this unto you that so you need not be discouraged in the course or way of your endeavours to be filled with the Spirit by such kind of lustings of the flesh within you as these we have spoken so much of though they should still haunt and follow you in as much as you have heard that he that was filled almost to the brim with the Spirit was notwithstanding obnoxious to such a lusting Such Lusts as these do not intoxicate bewitch or drink up your Reason Judgments or Understandings but they may remain whole and intire unto you them notwithstanding for any spiritual work or service and consequently for comporting with the Spirit of God in order to his filling you with himself But Secondly Those words of James Then when Lust hath conceived Sect. 14 it bringeth forth sin c. as plainly shew that Lust also may be so intreated and dealt with as to be made pregnant and big with the
given of any different consideration wherein the action is ascribed unto God and wherein it is ascribed unto the Holy Ghost whereas for all those other Scriptures the very tenour of the words and many of the Phrases do give light sufficient whereby to discern when God is said to do such and such a thing and when the same action is attributed to the Creature and in what sense it is ascribed unto the one and unto the other Secondly The clause formerly taken notice of dividing unto every man as he will speaking of the Spirit plainly sheweth that the Spirit in working and giving the gifts here spoken of acteth in the capacity of God or of an independent being who hath power to order and manage all things according to the counsel of his will and not as a Creature for it is the Character of every Creature and second Agent or instrument not to act any thing according to his own will but according to the will of the Principal Agent 11ly That Spirit which is to fill all the Saints had need to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a searcher of the reins or knower of the heards of the Children of men otherwise how should he know when and upon what account to fill them with his presence and how to fall in with such a creature as man is in order to such an end Now we know that this Prerogative of searching the hearts and trying the reins the Scripture appropriates unto God yea and all Interpreters have acknowledged it as one of his incommunicable properties To make this therefore a universal and standing Priviledge to any created being whatsoever What is this but to rob God of that which is incommunicable and to transfer upon the Creature that which is beyond its Line a priviledge only commensurable unto him that is God himself and appropriate unto his own transcendent glory 12ly Sect. 10 Let me add one thing more which I have had occasion given me to think of and consider since I last spake unto you by means of a little book which came to my hand lately I suppose published by that importune Spirit which laboureth might and main to fill the World with dishonourable thoughts at least comparatively concerning the Holy Ghost unweariedly propagating and spreading abroad this dangerous Opinion which we oppose As it is said of some who have itching ears heaping up Teachers after their own Lusts so there are Teachers who have itching heads and are restless in drawing Disciples after them Now in this little Book in a short Epistle directed to the Christian Reader prefixed by the Author unto this Book he conjures his Reader as he tenders his own salvation that he would thoroughly examine his disputation and discourse plainly enough intimating hereby that without being of his opinion and judgment which according to the sense of those who understand the Scripture yea and sound Principles of Reason better than he judgeth that he breatheth no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost yet by the said conjurement of his Reader he plainly enough declares his sense to be that without being of his mind in denying the Godhead of the Holy Ghost there is no salvation Now I cannot but look upon this as little less than or next to a demonstrative Argument against that opinion which is obtruded upon the World upon those terms and that the opinion it self is erronious and of a dangerous consequence unto men For it is matter of ready observation that when men take up any new or by opinion which they desire for the honour of their names and glory of their parts and abilities to propagate in the World and being not furnished to their minds with grounds and reasons otherwise to convince and satisfie the judgments of men about them they are still wont to attempt the amusing and stumbling the Consciences and Judgments of men by a confident and importune bearing them in hand that the opinion which they commend unto them is no less than matter of eternal Life and eternal Death Thus the Jewish Doctors in the Apostles times would bear the Christians in hand Acts 15.1 That except they were circumcized after the Law of Moses they could not be saved We see here they made Circumcision a matter of life and death and that not Circumcision only or simply but Circumcision after that manner and mode But the Apostle knew better what did belong unto Circumcision and taught them a contrary Doctrine I Paul saith he say unto you if you be circumcized Christ shall profit you nothing And the truth is that such Notions and Doctrines for the most part which are thrust upon men or violently urged upon their Judgments and Consciences upon such an account as this as they stand charged as they love their Souls or desire Salvation to entertain this or that for truth these are more contrary and destructive than other to the salvation of the Promoters and Abettors of them As particularly I believe with the consent of all the ancient Fathers that this Opinion or Notion which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God is destructive unto the salvation of men destructive certainly it is whether destruction alwaies follows actually or no The tendency and course of it if it be not otherwise hindered will lead men to destruction but it may be hampered with other cross Doctrines in Christian Religion and so eternal ruine haply may be prevented The Christian Learning that was in the World in those Fathers daies could not tell how to frame and build up the body of Christian Religion nor how to make head or foot of the Gospel without this Doctrine that the Holy Ghost was one and the same God with the Father and with the Son and yet now we have a quite contrary commended unto us and thrust upon us and that upon such terms as that we hazard the loss of salvation unless we be of the same mind with them that deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost But to let you see how inconsistent men of this mind are with themselves there is another that is full of the same opinion denying both the Godhead of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that yet find faults with those that are opposite unto him for handling and writing so particularly and fully concerning the great Mysterie of the Trinity and he maketh this his pretense That however the case be if it should be so sure as we say yet we trouble and intangle the thoughts and minds of the Common people And the reason is because the Doctrine of the Trinity is no waies necessary unto salvation This is the sense of another as great a Master in his way and one who was able to say as much or more to this Opinion than they that are troublesome to us herein 13ly and lastly For this suppose we that there be some yet unsatisfied Sect. 11 that cannot tell which way to turn themselves because it may be there is so much said
not believe except they saw Signs and Wonders so the Holy Ghost himself represents such persons as worse than Harlots who did believe without Signs and Wonders Mat. 21.32 John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him So likewise elsewhere the Holy Ghost adjudgeth such to be persons more degenerate from the nature and property of men than ordinary to be signally wicked and perverse that would not hearken to the Doctrine of such Teachers who were excellently righteous and holy And to add this as a close of this particular it is probable that the Apostles themselves wrought not Miracles but at their first coming to a place and that they did not make use of them in those places after any long stay in them The reason may be because at their first coming to a place Miracles might be an effectual means to awaken men whereas if they staid but any considerable time then they had the means and opportunities to observe their lives and conversations NOw this would do the same service in regard of the truth and for the confirmation of what they preached that Miracles could do The Apostle Paul when he came to Rome where he continued three years in preaching the things of God there is no mention of any Miracles that he wrought there because he had opportunity to give an account and sufficient confirmation of the truth of his Doctrine by the holiness and heavenliness of his life and conversation So that it is but a vain and empty pretense to talk of signs and Miracles now for the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel for indeed in speaking such things and making such demands they demonstrate themselves to be as was even now said of the race of those that are called an Adulterous Generation by the Lord Christ who was not wont to slander men Another Pretense or Plea insisted upon by the persons under censure Sect. 17 for justification of themselves in their unchristian deportment in saying to the Ministry of the Gospel depart from us we desire thee not is this it is unto them but as salt that is infatuated and hath lost its savour we find no benefit by it we are not edified nor built up in our most holy Faith we have been oft rained upon by it and yet we do not flourish under it I reply first Though haply it be not meet to charge all those who are in the condemantion we speak of with alledging that which they do not only know is not truth but what they know to be contrary unto the truth as a ground of their practice Yet is it much to be feared that some of them pick the quarrel against the Ministry of the Gospel on a quite contrary ground because it hath too much savour and bites and gnaws and beareth hard upon their Consciences This I say is much to be feared is the true cause why many of them withdraw from it and are not able to bear the dread and terrour of it We saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 2.16 are unto those that perish the savour of death unto death The Gospel is so severe against those whose heart will not yield unto it that it kindles the savour and smell as it were of the fire and brimstone of hell in thier Consciences it makes them to know that they are a most cursed Generation of men and women the words thereof to wicked men are like the words of Michaiah unto Ahab 1 Kings 22.8 who hated him because he never prophesyed good unto him It suffers them to have no peace nor pleasure in their great Estates here in this present World So that it is much to be feared that many upon this account have turned their backs upon it that so they may be free from those gnawings and those kind of fiery doings which are ever and anon kindled in their inward parts by the means of it Secondly That the Ministry of the Gospel is not so effectual so mighty in operation upon those who take up this disparaging complaint against it doth not at all prove that either it is not effectual in it self or that it is not so unto others no nor yet that it is ineffectual unto them upon any such terms but that if they would remove that out of the way which maketh it ineffectual and which hindereth the efficacy of it which they might remove by the grace of God vouchsafed unto them it might become as effectual unto them as it is in it self and in its own nature and as it is unto many men in the World First That the Gospel is effectual in it self I think we need not question and more especially when opened like unto it self it is called The power of God or the Arm of God unto salvation Rom. 1.16 Heb. 4.12 The Word is said to be quick and powerful in operation it is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men This my Brethren is the property of the Gospel and of the Ministry thereof when it is handled like it self and when it deserves the name of the Ministry of the Gospel But I confess the Word of God may be so handled that the edge and spiritfulness of it may be blunted and flatted as when they that preach it and undertake to open it know not how to bring forth the mind of God in it but substitute their own thoughts and apprehensions instead thereof The truth is that in such cases as these the Word of God is but like the word of men It is the Spirit of the Word that is so piercing and searching and which is the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men it is not the Letter of it though we should preach the jots and tittles of the Word but then put a false sense and interpretation on it that will not do that great and lively execution which is proper to it it will not rouse the Conscience nor awake the spirits of men but it is the mind of God the true sense and meaning of the Word conveyed and brought home to the Conciences and Understandings of men this is all spirit and all life The words which I speak saith Christ they are spirit and life meaning in their true sense and meaning So that it is a clear case that the Ministry of the Gospel is in it self a thing exceeding lively and penetrative and effectual it will take mens hearts out of their bodies and give them into their hands to see all that is within them many times it poureth out it self like a great flash of lightning and makes men to see hideous shapes of thoughts conceits opinions and apprehensions on the one hand and allureth on the other hand to waies of holiness and virtue by strong and potent Arguments or Motives Secondly Sect. 18 That it is also effectual unto others appears by the great and many wonders it hath wrought in
Exhortation delivered and the Duty recommended therein you may please to consider this one thing farther which was lately touched on by the by that you may rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of much carefulness you may spend the strength of your minds and understandings to procure other accommodations and enjoyments such I mean which relate to the outer man only aad yet never eat the labour of your hand nor see the fruit of the travel of your souls or that which is little better if not rather worse ye may only taste of what you seek after in this kind that which you shall take in hunting and yet not be able to continue the enjoyment of it for any considerable space of time A day an hour yea possibly a moment may bereave you of what the care and labour of many years advanced you unto whereas first it hath been already shewed and proved unto you that whoever shall lay out themselves for this spiritual and heavenly accommodation of being filled with the Spirit shall most certainly obtain it Secondly In persevering in this course unto the end your attainments shall stand by you in glory and blessedness for ever But as the Prophet David saith Psal 34.10 The young Lions shall suffer hunger c. so it is with those that seek the glory and great things of this World that pursue the Honours and Wealth and Pleasures thereof these many times suffer hunger and want He that seeketh after Honour and Riches falleth short and so he that seeketh after Pleasures is disappointed But he that shall seek to be filled with the Spirit of God shall be filled therewith neither shall any thing be able to separate between him and it And as the Apostle reasoneth concerning the love of God Rom. 8. Even so it is in the case in hand neither life nor death nor any other thing neither Trouble nor Persecution nor Angels no nor Devils shall be able to separate and step in between those who shall engage themselves in a consciencious manner to be filled with the Spirit and the actual accomplishment and enjoyment of this felicity The Spirit of Ambition may work in you as the Grace of God did in Paul mightily and yet of this Spirit you may reap nothing but dishonour and disgrace and covering of the face with shame and confusion Absolom as we lately intimated ran with all his might and with all his strength for the Prize of a Kingdom but that which he got by his running was an ignominious and untimely death being hung by the hair of his head on the bough of a great Oak 2 Sam. 18.9 as he fled to save his life from the pursuit of Davids men in which posture three Darts were thrust through his heart by Joab Many ambitious Climers in all Ages have met with the like disasters and disappointments All Histories almost fill the World with examples in this kind that men before they come at the top of the Ladder fall down and are broken and crushed to pieces they wholly miscarry and get nothing but a covering of darkness instead of that grandeur or greatness which they lift up their hearts unto and many who did compass the grandeur and greatness in the World which they sought after were soon dispossessed The like may be said concerning Riches and of those that in the sweat of their brows and burning of their hearts have sought to sit down and rest themselves under the shadow of a great Estate As Paul said of his Country-men the Jews that following after the Law of Righteousness they attained not the Law of Righteousness so we may say of many that following after Riches they have not attained to be rich But whosoever follow after this being filled with the Spirit have and shall most certainly attain it Those carnal designs are meerly accidental and casual attempts which men often miscarry in The Scriptures are full of such Expressions which sufficiently confirm the truth of what we say I returned and saw an evil under the Sun saith Solomon Eccl. 9.11 the Race is not to the swift nor the Bâ—ttel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet Riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill but time and chance happens to all So elsewhere Prov. 28.22 11.24 you shall find that those who are great designers of Wealth many times are disappointed and senâ— empty away He that maketh haste to be rich hath an evil eye and knoweth not doth not consider that poverty is coming upon him And so There is that withholdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty many times their Projects fail them and they come to poverty So that we see there is great uncertainty in all these things we do not know whether our design will prosper in our hand or no for God hath not made any such connexion between these carnal projects and their ends but that he can forbid their coming together But we have the Word of the Living God the security of Heaven that if any man will build a spiritual house carry on a heavenly design if they will lay out their hearts and spirits upon it God will stand by such men their labour shall not be in vain God hath established a Law that shall not be broken a Law like unto the Law of the Sun and Moon which shall be kept inviolable that he that desireth to eat of this bread shall have to eat abundantly he that shall run the course of this Design shall obtain He that giveth to every Seed his own body ordinarily in things natural will never fail here he hath put a Law upon himself neither will his nature give him leave to separate and divide between the means that are spiritual and the end to be attained by them He that soweth the Seed shall reap the Fruit whosoever shall ask in this kind shall receive and whosoever knocketh it shall be opened unto him Now if you please but to consider in a word the weight and import of this Motive you know that men do not love to sow their Seed in vain to part with their Silver and Gold for things that are of no use It is every mans case and they are accounted the wisest of men that can prevent such things the interposure whereof is apt to deprive them of that for which they have given their money Now then this is the case as to the business we have been exhorting you unto viz. A being filled with the Spirit it is a Commodity which if you will lay out your selves for it will most certainly be made good unto you it is not obnoxious to any disappointment either by God Angels or Men. Now then Why should any man bestow his time upon that which he may possibly not enjoy or in case he may enjoy it it will be but for a short season or if he should enjoy it for any long season yet at last it
in our Attonement with God there is another thing included and is inseparable from it viz. special interest in the love and favour of God Indeed with men as I said the case may be otherwise when there hath been an Attonement and Reconciliation made between two persons at a distance yet they may remain as strangers one unto another there is no necessity that upon the making up of the breach there must be intimate love and friendship But it is otherwise with God he never comes to be reconciled unto any but presently he opens his heart and soul and doth entreat them graciously upon their attonement made Now then if men for whose sins God hath accepted the Attonement made by Christ be not only delivered from all danger of suffering by his displeasure but further be received and entertained into the greatest respects of love and friendship Evident it is that they who are possessed of and do enjoy these two Priviledges especially being assured of their possession in this kind are in a good capacity of enjoying free Communion with God What should there be to hinder And he that is filled with the Spirit as he must of necessity be in the possession of both cannot but know that his Attonement is made with God and so as we have lately shewed he must needs have assurance also that he stands thus possessed of them Yet Secondly Sect. 18 There was another thing mentioned as proper to compleat that capacity we speak so much of I mean of enjoying free Communion with God This was the testimony of a man's Conscience upon good grounds that he walketh not nor alloweth himself in any known sin either of Commission or Omission whatsoever no not in the sin of neglecting to enquire after the good and holy and perfect will of God concerning him He that is armed with this Brestplate of Righteousness may stand like a Prince before the great God of Heaven and Earth for he hath the greatest security that Heaven lightly can give him that he is in favour with God 1 Joh. 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God if our hearts i.e. our Consciences condemn us not i.e. by a Metonymie of the Effect put for the Cause if our Consciences do not charge sin upon us do not upbraid us with voluntary and habitual neglect of or disobedience unto the Command of Christ then have we confidence or boldness or liberty of face or of speech as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more properly signifieth towards God By the way the Apostle is here to be understood of such persons whose hearts or consciences are in some measure enlightned with the knowledge of the waies and Precepts of God and more particularly with the knowledge of his Precept or Command of believing in his Son Jesus Christ as it followeth in ver 23. And this is his Commandment that we should believe in his Son Jesus Christ For otherwise many mens hearts may not condemn them yea may possibly commend and justifie them who yet have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any confidence at least not any right or ground of confidence as some expound the word towards God The hearts of those I formerly instanced who thought they should do God good service in putting the Disciples of Christ to death did not condemn them at least in this and if not in so great and broad a sin as this possibly not in any other yet had they no right or ground of boldness or confidence towards God So likewise they of whom the Apostle speaks Col. 2.18 in this Chapter and gives this Character that they were vainly puft up in their fleshly minds whose hearts were established as he speaks elsewhere not by grace but by meats it is like their hearts did not condemn them yet had they not ground of confidence towards God So also Paul himself had confidence enough in himself when he had no ground when he thought he ought to do many things against the name of Christ Therefore we must needs limit the Apostle John in the passage before us to persons who have some competent knowledge of the Gospel and of the great things contained in it And indeed if we look narrowly to it he seems to speak appropriately unto such and of such only Beloved if our hearts condemn us not c. And whereas being understood of such he saith Then have they confidence towards God his meaning is not that all such actually and de facto have this confidence but that they have a right to it and ground for it and upon consideration and enquiry may have it As many things in Scriptures are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Thus Rom. 6.8 If we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him We believe i.e. we have ground or reason sufficient to believe that we shall live with him So 1 Joh. 2.29 If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him i.e. of God i.e. ye may know there are means in abundance whereby ye may know that he who doth righteousness and he only is born of God meaning that he proceeds from him according to this new capacity or new birth which is nothing else but a participation of the Divine Nature As Children have Communion with their Parents in their nature so he that doth Righteousness is partaker of the same Nature with God and Jesus Christ And so when God saith speaking of Abraham Gen. 18.19 That he will command his Children and his House after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord he doth not suppose that they would certainly keep the way of the Lord for we know many of them did otherwise and were cast out of his sight therefore this is not spoken by way of strict Prophesie as if God had foretold what Abraham's House and Family and Posterity after him should do it and therefore the meaning must be that they had ground in abundance to have done what Abraham commanded them viz. to keep the way of the Lord. Now then when he saith If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God he clearly implies that where the heart of a man or woman doth in the sense declared condemn them i.e. charge them with the customary and willing practice of any known sin or neglect of any Command of God there can be no place for any boldness or confidence towards God The reason is because fear and dread of Divine Displeasure follows the consciousness of sin as the shadow follows or attends the body in the Sun It doth not indeed alwaies follow sin because sin many times is committed where it is not known but wherever it is committed with knowledge or against knowledge for these are the same in the case we speak of there it is alwaies accompanied
be a great piece of wordly Felicity But alas What is such an interest in the greatest or mightiest King or Prince under the Heavens being compared with that interest which such a person as we have spoken of hath in God The gleanings of him that hath the Ear of the Great God of all the Earth open to his Prayer are better than the Vintage of him that hath the Ear of the greatest Monarch in the World open unto him They who have the Ear of God open upon such terms as persons filled with the Spirit have it are in a capacity hereby not only to provide or procure for themselves as oft as they desire all accommodations regularly necessary to render their lives full of peace comfort and contentment but likewise to Umpire and order the great Affairs of the World round about them yea and to give Laws unto Nations and to rule them with a Rod of Iron For such persons as we now speak of are a first fruits of that World to come which in Scriptures is called the new Heavens and the new Earth the Kingdom of Christ and of the Saints and is much discoursed amongst us under the name of the Fifth Monarchy a Name and Notion proper enough for it and have a first-fruit granted unto them by God of those glorious Priviledges of that Interest of Power and Grandeur which shall be vested in the great Body or whole Community of the Saints in that day of which we may have occasion ere long to speak more particularly So as this shall be the Priviledge and Prerogative of all the Saints in that day that they shall rule the Nations as it were with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel meaning that the whole Earth shall be given unto them as it is in Daniel Dan. 7.18.27 Even so shall the persons we speak of before the Dawning of that Day before the New Heaven and the New Earth taste of the great happiness and felicity of the Chosen of God in those daies and they shall Umpire and Rule and carry and sway the great Affairs of the World as we have it in Rev. 2.26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end that man that standeth it out in my Cause and fights it out unto death to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule with a Rod of Iron c. meaning that he shall have part in the great felicity of that day You know that passage in Jam. 5.17 where it is said that Elijah who was a man subject to the like passions and the like infirmities with other men I suppose he means not so much if at all sinful infirmities as corporal he was a man subject to sorrow and sickness and death as well as we or any of us are and yet he did thus by Prayer he prayed and he shut the Heavens and again he prayed and he opened the Heavens and provided rain for the Earth by his Prayer Now I suppose the Apostle inserts these words A man subject to like passions as we are to remove that great stumbling stone which might be in the minds and thoughts of ordinary Christians that are weak and poor that carry about with them a body of sickness and death and are despised in the World and not regarded and set by by the great men in the World How then should they expect that a God of that infinite Majesty which he is to whom they should pray and make their requests should regard them Especially in the gratifying of them upon any such terms that he should do any great or excellent thing more than ordinary for them Now to such the Holy Ghost here saith do not be troubled let no such thought as this arise within you upon such an occasion for I tell you that Elijah was a man as weak as you cloathed with the same flesh subject to sicknesses and pain and to be contemned and slighted by men as he was by Ahab and others yet this did not at all obstruct his interest with God his Prayer was potent and powerful with him for he did very great things as you know by his Prayer he shut the Heaven being highly offended with the wickedness of the People and their Idolatry He interceded as it were against them and sought to draw down Judgments upon them indeed he sought hereby to humble them and to bring them to the sight of their sins as it seems he did and accordingly when he saw that they did repent and were reformed in their waies he did by another Prayer turn the course of the Displeasure of God another way and drew down the love and favour of God out of Heaven upon them And Sect. 6 my Brethren doubtless the reason why the interest of Prayer is fallen so low and sunk as it were in the Christian World in comparison of what it was in the Primitive times in the daies of the Apostles and in the Ages next after them the reason I say why so little is done in the World by means of Prayer is because the Generation of those who in the Primitive times were wont to be filled with the Spirit and to be large hearted towards God is in a manner extinct and that heavenly vigour which possessed the hearts and reins and brake forth and shewed it self in the lives and waies of the First and Second Ages of Primitive Christians was not lookt after in the Generations afterwards but instead thereof many of them suffered a Spirit of ignorance and blind zeal to enter into them and to possess them which under a pretense of bestirring it self and acting for God and Jesus Christ made wrack and havock of their interest in the World And there is more than enough of this kind of spirit and vigour that is gotten into the the hearts and inward parts of many Professors amongst us who like to the Jews of old have a great zeal for God but not according to knowledge yea there is a great variety of several shapes and forms of this kind of zeal amongst us The Antinomian he laies out himself effectually for the advancement of his Opinion and waies and thinks he doth God and his Gospel the only service in the World A second sort of Professor he is as a flame of fire he is content to spend and to be spent in the Service of his way being full of confidence that even whilest he treads and tramples under foot the peace and comforts of the Children and dear Servants of Christ yet he is the only Benefactor to his Throne and Kingdom amongst men A third Party abominating the Zeal of the former riseth up early and goeth to bed late and eats the bread of much carefulness to mount upon the back of Secular Authority and if he get but his foot fast and sure upon this ground he makes account that by turning the edge of the Magistrates Sword against all that he conceipts