And blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Matt. 5.3 4. Their mourning is while they are in travel but when they have brought forth then there is rejoycing when Faith hath overcome then joy and gladness And this is in some sooner in some later In the primitive times of the Apostles when the mystery of the Gospel or glad tydings was holden forth with open face as I may say and without a vail or myst many that received those tydings by Faith were immediatly filled with peace and consolation How quickly was the Jaylor that came in trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas crying out Syr's what must I doe to be saved How quickly I say was he raised up into peace and consolation after he had heard the joyfull tydings of Salvation by Christ Jesus plainly preached to him in few words and by Faith received it Act. 16.31 32 33 34. And they said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House And they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his House And he took them the same hour of the night it was not a work of many hours but the same hour and washed their stripes and was Baptized he and all his straight way And when he had brought them into his House he set meat before them and rejoyced believing in God with all his House See how love and joy accompanied his Faith believing in God he rejoyced Therefore the Gospel is called glad tyding of great joy For who can believe that his sins are done away in Christ Jesus and that freely by grace or in love the Lord accepteth him in Christ Jesus and not therein rejoyce The Preaching of the Gospel is preaching peace by Jesus Christ Act. 10.26 Eph. 2.17 And therefore it s call'd the Gospel of Peace How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tydings of good things Rom. 10.15 The Eunuch to whom Philip preached Christ and opened to him the way of Salvation by Christ and he by Faith had received this love of God in Christ the same day he was filled with joy and after Philip was caught away from him he went on his way rejoycing Act. 8.39 So at Samariâ— Philip having preached Christ unto them and working Miracles in his name there was great joy in that City Act. 8.8 So likewise that great multitude that was converted at Peters preaching the Gospel to them Act. 2. besides those eminent Fruits of love which sprang up in them in an extraordinary manner they also were filled with great joy and consolation which made them to eat their meat with gladness and singlenes of praising God This true Faith in Christ Jesus brings peace and consolation upon two principal accounts First because it receives the glad tydings of remission or forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ The guilt of sin or conscience of sin binds a man under the fear of condemnation and causes him to cry out in the bitterness of his Soul what shall I doe As it did these here in the 2d of the Acts when they were struck with a sense of their sin they cryed out Men and Brethren what shall we doe And so the Jaylor what shall I doe to be saved And this state the Apostle Paul personates Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Now what can be more joyfull at such a time and to such a condition then to be satisfyed that their sins are forgiven them and that Christ Jesus the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World hath borne their sin in his own body on the Tree And so to have their conscience sprinkled by his blood from an evil conscience and to be made clean by that blood of sprinkling Here 's cause indeed of rejoycing by Faith in him For now the chaine of darkness is unloosed and the liberty of the Sons of God begins to appear and he is translated out of darkness into marvellous light Even the light of life 1 Pet. 2.9 And then secondly in this faith there is also a measure of the Spirit received which is the comforter and brings his Testimony with him which is beyond all words for giving consolation and peace The Spirit witnessing with our Spirits that we are accepted into Sonship with God And therefore the joy received in believing is called the joy of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit 1 Thess 1.6 And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost That is joy which the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit ministred in their receiving the word There 's joy in Heaven over one sinner that truely repents and he also is made partaker of that joy Thus the Fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace to that man that receives the Testimony of the love of God in Christ Jesus and also it begets the same in that man towards others It begets love in him towards others and joy in their returning to God and makes him a man of Peace in the World Obj. It may be some may say how can this be seeing Christ said I came not to send peace on Earth but a Sword And to set one man at variance against another Answ That is occasionally because the Earthly Spirit will be opposing and persecuting the rightous seed although the righteous seed be a seed of peace and quietâ—ess in it self and to others Obj. Again some may say Christ â—ells of mourning ye shall mourn â—nd the World shall rejoyce c. How then doth this stand with that â—y which thou speaks of Answ A Woman while she is in â—ravel hath sorrow but when she hath brought forth she rejoyceth for joy that a man Childe is brought forth into the World so it is here And then again saith Christ Jesus In the World ye shall have tribulation but in me ye shall have peace Joh. 16.33 Forthly I come now to another Fruit or concomitant of this Faith and that is this it excludes boasting It cuts down vainglory Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 For what hath that man to glory in in respect of himself that sees himself wholy a receiver at the hands of the Lord When he rightly sees himself justifyed freely by grace and the superaboundant mercy oâ— God who hath revealed himself to him in Christ Jesus That is hath revealed his love to him in Chrisâ— Jesus for God is love And hath let him see that he is accepted freely in Christ Jesus He that hath the right sence of this upon his Spirit it draws his Heart into the admiration of the infinite love and mercy of God in deep humility And the more fully this is revealed to him or in him the greater is his admiration still of
to prepare for that which is to come after that we may in hope look for that day that is to come We are raised up here out of the death of sin that we may rise with comfort hereafter We are judged of the Lord here that we may not be condemned with the World and we are made to judge our selves here that we may not be judged Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on him the second death hath no power So that Hope having so sure a foundation it is as an Anchor sure and stedfast And tends greatly to an essential Christian life to bear us up therein in holding on in patience doing the will of God and denying the pleasurable and easie paths of unrighteousness This Hope of an eternal inheritance makes us not ashamed to bear reproach for Christs sake and for observing his commands though we be accounted as the of-scouring or refuse of all things for so doing So that Hope is as a Helmet upon our heads to bear us up under all the vilifyings of the World I know it is a common thing with many if not with most to say I hope to be saved and I hope God will be mercyfull Yea and they will swear by their hope too saying as I hope to be saved Well I would not dash thy hope in Gods mercy but rather strengthen it and help to raise it up higher But take heed how thou exposes thy hope and thy self therewith to judgment in breaking the command of the great judge who is to judge the◠and all the World who hath said Swear not at all neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath Certainly if men shall give an account in the day of judgment of every idle word as the true judge hath told us they shall Matt. 12.36 then surely forbidden Oaths must be given account of therefore put away such things as are threatened with judgment And to raise up thy hope into strength and infallibility that it may be a comfortable stay to thee consider what it is that it is grounded upon and how it will operate in thee if it be right and see that the right foundation be layd Consult with the sayings of those who have had this lively hope in them and see how their's was grounded and what they testify of it I shall lay this one Scripture before thee to consider on and to set before thee as a marke to presse after 1 Joh. 3. the three first verses Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the Sons of God therefore the World knoweth us not because in knew not him Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And every man that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself even as he is pure Wouldst thou have thy hope raised up to this pitch to expect to be made like the Son of God at his appearing by beholding of him or seeing him as he is Then thou must purify thy self from all uncleanness of Flesh and Spirit for he is pure and piercing If the Sun shine upon a dull thick Earthy body it doth not fill that with its beautifull light but if it shine upon a pure transparent Gem in fills that with its one glorious light Therefore there must be a purifying and cleansing going before to prepare us to be made partakers of the glory of the Lord. Every one that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself as he is pure Now there be two things requisite in this purification namely Faith in Christ and an obedient life Purifying their Hearts by Faith saith the Scripture and again If I wash thee not thou hast no part in mee thus he purifyeth the conscience from dead works by his Spirit working faith in us in his blood and by the same Spirit leading us in an obedient conversation And as many as are led of the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God And the same Spirit that leads the Sons of God the same witnesses in them that they are so And so giveth a most firm ground of Hope 〈…〉 So that we may say with the beloved Apostle now are we the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Oh Brethren How can one think of these things and give himself up to a loose wicked life and conversation Nay this hope tends greatly to the essential life of a Christian and to preserve him therein from turning back again into the polluted wayes of the World As for Forms wherein since the Apostacy men professe the same Christ there may be something essential also to a Christian life But not as they are such or such a form but as the Lord shall require or lead men by his Spirit and exercise their Spirits for the tryal of them whether they will follow him whithersoever he leads either into them or out of the n◠bearing the reproach of the World and shewing their obedience in answering that measure of light wherewith he doth illuminate them and in which he goes before them by the movings of his good Spirit in them But herein is danger namely in urging men by the force of reason before the Lord lead them for men may lay that burden upon the Spirits of others which the Lord doth not lay and this work makes only Proselytes and Hypocrites It s safe to minde what Christ Jesus our Lord layes upon our Spirits and not what men lay I will put upon you no other burden but that which ye have already hold fast till I come saith Christ to some in the Church of Thyatyra Rev. 2.24 25. But there were some that would have layd upon them other burdens who undervalued the simple and honest hearted and counted them weak and dark not knowing the depths of Satan as they used to speak in their vaunting over them But the Lord encouraged them to keep to the burden which he alone layd upon them Again there is another danger in those that are urged before the Lord go before them to lead them I speak in point of Form and outward observations namely to be puffed up and exalted in themselves from their form and so to overlook the righteous life in others And then they fall into the number of those who being exalted in their form say in their Hearts stand by thy self come not near to me for I am holyer then thou And this now provokes the Lord to wrath and he will rather look to him that is of a humble and contrite Spirit standing in awe of him then to such It s good for both these to minde what 's said Isa 66.5 Hear the word of the Lord ye that
Therefore I say though the Kingdom of God be a gloryous Kingdom yet hath he many Subjects belonging to it some in it and some pressing hard after it some going mourning and full of heavyness not accounting themselves worthy of it but yet longing after it and the glory of his Kingdom being inward the purblinde Worldly Eye see it not For who of them would think that 〈◊〉 poor shatter'd creature full of heavyness and of a drooping Spirit and it may be sorely exercised with outward afflictions and wants and hath no pleasant carriage iâ— their Eye that such a one belongs to the Kingdom of God And yet our Lord pronounces such poor ones in Spirit to be blessed and saith their's is the Kingdom oâ— God Obj. But it may be some will still object that though these things be true yet we doe not see Christians arise to that Vigor of Christianity and joy and pace as they did in the primitive times nor so quickly receive peace and comfort as they did then What 's the reason of that if the same Heavenly state be attanable now as was then attained unto by believers Answ For Answer hereunto consider that there was a mystery of iniquity to arise under the formal part of Christianity and that this mystery was to overspread Nations Tongues Multitudes Peoples and sit upon these Waters for so they are called And that under this mystery a bottomless Pit was to be opened out of which a smoke arose and darkened the Sun in the Firmament Now this mystery is the height of wickedness under the profession of Christianity To act the Devils part in the name of Christ and that makes it a mystery To teach traditions of men and their inventions for precepts of Christ which was alwayes call'd whoredom among the Jews and is so among Christians To teach lyes in Hypocrisie to teach Murther as a precept of Christ as all Persecutors who professe Religion must doe this is to hold out the Devils work in the name of Christ Now such Apostacy as this and teaching â—uch things they darken the Sunshine of â—he gloryous Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And God will not give his glory to another then Christ nor his praise to graven Images nor mens curious imaginations or traditions And therefore the gloryous beams of the Gospel being obscured by such things the Heavenly warmth and refreshing thereof hath not so speedily nor fully darted into mens Spirits to raise them up so powerfully it may be and so quickly into the enjoyment of that peace and joy that passes understanding But yet God hath not left himself without witnesses to bear Testimony to the Truth of the joyfull tydings of Salvation by Faith in Christ and he will raise up still mâ—re as the mystery of iniquity consumes What think ye of those that love not their lives unto death warring against the mystery of iniquity Who expose their lives and all they have to the fury and rage of men rather then ensnare their consciences with the vain traditions of men Thus Michael and his Angels feight by suffering And the Dragon and his Angels by inflicting Therefore seeing the mystery of iniquity is to be overcome by such warrs as these Christ Jesus our Lord and Captain wants not his valiant Souldiers to encounter with the Dragon and his Champions even under the Apostacy into the mystery The Dragon feights but prevails not against the Lords hoast Now do not think that its a small matter that makes men so resolute and venterous thus to expose their lives No it s for no lesse then a Kingdom either already in possession of or in view to be attained But these things being Spiritual are not discerned by the carnal Eye And so the Subjects of Christs Kingdom whether they be in real possession of it or in earnest pursuite of it are little seen by the World although many belong thereunto Obj. But one Objection more may seem very material and weighty to many namely thus In this Treatise of Essential Christianity why is there no mention made of Baptism and the Lords Supper and of Preaching the Word and Prayers Are not these Essential things in Christianity And why are these left out Answ I answer I do not leave them out in opposition to them but because first they are not so inseparable to the Kingdom of Christ as that there is no enjoyment thereof without these especially as they are under the Apostacy administred Secondly because these may all be professed and taken up by persons who are workers of iniquity and not owned by our Lord Jesus Christ even by men who live in open wickedness and therefore are not admitted into his Kingdom because they are Baptised or receive the Supper or frequent publique Prayers or are Preachers of the Scriptures Paul speaks the same thing to a Baptized Church who also had the Supper of the Lord in practice among them and who came behind in no gift Yet notwithstanding all these things he sets this caution before their Eyes to ponder on Know ye not saith he that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor Thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of Goâ— 1 Cor. 6.9 10. This he speaks to such 〈◊〉 did wrong and defrauded their Brethren Laying before them the danger of suâ—â— courses if they should fall back again to suâ—â— things and return with the Dog to tâ—â— vomit and like the Sow to her wallowinâ— in the mire Hence it is that we are admonished to turn away from such as have 〈◊〉 form of Godliness as men that professe theâ— things namely Baptism the Lords Suppeâ— publique Prayers and Preaching may have but deny the power thereof Simon Magâ— was Baptized and yet was in the Gall 〈◊〉 bitterness and bond of iniquity Act. 8 â— one may eat and drink the Lords Suppeâ— without profit to themselves yea they mâ— eat and drink judgment to themselves and 〈◊〉 guilty of the body and blood of the Lorâ— 1 Cor. 11. And for Prayers men maâ— make many Prayers and long Prayers and yet be no better then the Phariseeâ— or the Jews of old who honoured the Lorâ— with their lips while as their Heart waâ— far from him And Christ himself hath foretold that many shall plead for themselveâ— thus Lord Lord have we not Prophecyâ— in thy name c. Yet he will answer them I never know youâ— depart from me 〈◊〉 that work iniquity Now here 's a form of Godliness lyes in these things namely in being Baptized and frequenting Prayers and Preaching and the Lords Supper but seeing one may live in these and yet be far from the Kingdom of God therefore I have not placed these things among those that are essential to that life that enters the Kingdom although these things rightly used and at the Lambs requirings