5 6 7. and in publick Assemblies Heb. 10.25 Zach. 14.16 17. And doubtless it ought to be used for the Attainment of Holiness as may be proved First in General Because God communicates all Salvation to a People ordinarily by or in a Church either by taking them into Fellowship or holding forth the Light of Truth by his Churches to the World A Church is the Temple of God where God dwells 1 Tim. 3.15 He hath placed his Name and Salvation there as in Jerusalem of old Joel 2.32 2 Chron. 6.5 6. He hath given to his Churches those Officers and Ordinances whereby he Converts others 1 Cor. 12.28 His Springs are there Psal 87. He makes the several Members of a Church Instruments for the Conveyance of his Grace and Fulness from one to another as the Members of the Natural Body convey to each other the fulness of the Head Eph. 4.16 All the New-born are brought forth and nourished by the Church Isa 66.8 10. ch 49.20 60.4 And therefore all that would be saved should joyn to a Church They shall prosper that love the Church so as to stand in its Gates and unite as Members Brethren and Companions Psal 122.2 4 6. And wrath is denounced against those that are not Members of it at least of the mystical Body They cannot have God for their Father that have not That for their Mother Can. 1.7 8. This maketh those that desire Fellowship with God to take hold of the Skirts of his People Zech. 8.23 2. In particular Fellowship with the Saints conduceth to Holiness many ways 1. By manifold helps to Holiness which are received thereby As 1. The Word and Sacraments Act. 2.42 Isa 2.3 Mat. 28.19 20. And all the Ministerial Office and Labour in watching over Souls Heb. 13.17 1 Thess 5.12 13. Isa 25.6 None of these Helps can be enjoyed without Fellowship of Saints each with other and if Believers had been to have stood single by themselves and not maintained Fellowship with each other for mutual Assistance and common Good none of these things could have continued neither could any Believer been extant at this day in an ordinary way but even the very Name of Believers had been Abolished 2. Mutual Prayer which is the more forcible when all pray together Mat. 18.19 20. 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Jam. 5.16 Rom. 15.30 3. Mutual Admonition Instruction Consolation to help each other when they are ready to fall and to promote the good work in each other 1 Thess 5.14 He that walketh with the wise shall be wise Prov. 13.20 Wo to him that is alone when he falleth See Eccl. 4.9 12. In Church-Fellowship there are many Helpers many to watch Soldiers have their Security in Company and the Church is compared to an Army with Banners Cant. 6.10 So for quickning Affections Iron sharpneth Iron Prov. 27.17 Likewise the counsel of a friend like ointment and perfume rejoyceth the heart Prov. 27.9 Yea the Wounds and Reproofs of the Righteous are as precious Balm Psal 141.5 4. External Supports which mitigate Afflictions and are to be communicated mutually Eph. 4.28 1 Pet. 4.9 10. The Affliction is increased when none careth for our Souls Psal 142.4 5. Excommunication when Offences are exceeding hainous or Men obstinate in sin This Ordinance is appointed for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saved 1 Cor. 5.5 Better and more hopeful it is to be cast out by the Church for a persons amendment than to be wholly without the Church at all times and better to be a lost Sheep than a Goat or Swine For Excommunication cuts off Actual Communion only until Repentance be evident and not absolutely abolisheth the Title and Relation of a Brother and Church-member tho it judgeth one to be an unnatural Brother and a pernicious rotten Member at present not fit for Acts of Communion Besides Admonition which is still to be afforded 2 Thes 3.15 and any means is to be used that may serve to Cure and restore him the Church reacheth forth a Hand to help such a person tho they do not joyn Hands in Fellowship with him or it communicateth to him not with him Yet if he have not so much Grace as to Repent it were better he had never known the way of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.21 6. The lively Examples of Saints are before our Eyes in Church-fellowship to teach and encourage Phil. 3.17 ch 4.9 2 Tim. 3.10 11. 2 Cor. 9.2 2ly By those holy Duties that are required and do appertain to this Fellowship and Communion all Acts that belong to this Fellowship are Holy as Hearing receiving the Sacraments Prayer mutual Admonitions c. I shall consider some such holy Acts whereby we are rather doers than receivers and which we perform towards others As 1. Godly Discourse Teaching Admonishing Comforting others in Christ which we cannot so perform towards others as towards those we have strict Fellowship with in Christ Others like Swine trample these Jewels under Foot and Saints therefore are forced to refrain from Godly Discourse in their Company Amos 5.10 13 16. and 6.10 But holy Discourse is most acceptable to the Saints and to be practised with them Mal. 3.16 and is greatly to the advantage of Holiness Prov. 11.25 2. In helping succouring and conversing with Christ in his Members we do good to Christ in his Members in Church-fellowship and we our selves as Members of Christ Act as well from Christ as towards Christ whereas if we do good to others without we do good only for Christs sake but not to Christ Mat. 25.35 49. Psal 16.2 3. We have advantage in general to do all Duties that belong to us as Members of Christ to Fellow-members which we cannot do if separate from them as a Natural Member cannot perform its Office to other Members if separate from them 2ly The means must be used rightly for the attaining of Holiness only in Christ 1. One Rule is Do not trust on Church-membership or on Churches as if this or that relation in Fellowship commended you to God of it self whereas a Church-way is but a help to Fellowship with Christ and walking in the Duties of that Fellowship The Israelites stumbled at Christ by trusting on their Carnal Priviledges and set them in opposition to Christ whereas they should have only made them subservient to Christ Confidence in them should have bin abandoned as Pauls example teacheth Phil. 3.3 4 5. c. We must not Glory in Paul Apollos Cephas but in Christ else we Glory in the Flesh and in Men 1 Cor. 1.12 13. 3.21 Trusting on Church-priviledges is an inlett to Formality and Licentiousness Jer. 7.4 8 9 10. and thence the Corruption of Churches Isa 1.10 2 Tim. 2.20 2. Follow no Church any further than you may follow it in the way of Christ and keep Fellowship with it only upon the Account of Christ because it follows Christ and hath Fellowship with Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 Zech. 8.23 If a Church
Person cannot receive inward Comfort from outward things as from worldly Estate Wife Husband Friends c. except it chuse them as good and count them his own by a Right and Title This is the only rational way whereby the Soul can actively lay hold on Christ and take actual Possession of him and his Salvation as he is freely offered and promised to us in the Gospel by the Grace of Faith which God hath appointed to be our great Instrument for the receiving of him and closing with him If we do not make choice of Christ as our only Salvation and Happiness or if we be altogether in a slate of Suspence and doubting whether God will be pleased to give Christ to us or no it is evident that our Souls are quite loose from Christ and have no Holdfast or Enjoyment of him They do not so much as pretend to any actual receiving or laying hold or choosing of him neither are they fully satisfied that it is lawful for them so to do but rather they are yet to seek whether they have any good Ground and Right to lay hold on him or no. Let any rational Man judge whether the Soul doth or can put forth any sufficient Act for the Reception and Enjoyment of Christ as our Saviour Head or Husband while it is yet in Doubt whether it be the Will of Christ to be joyned with us in such a near Relation can a Woman honestly receive any one as her Husband without being assured that he is fully willing to be her Husband The same may be said concerning the several Parts of Christ's Salvation which are to be received by Faith It is evident that we do not aright receive the Benefit of Remission of Sins for the purging of our Consciences from that Guilt that lyeth upon them unless we have an assured Perswasion of God's forgiving them we do not actually receive into our Hearts our Reconciliation with God and Adoption of Children and the Title to an everlasting Inheritance until we can assure our selves that God is graciously pleased to be our God and Father and take us to be his Children and Heirs We do not actually receive any sufficient Strength to encourage our Hearts to Holiness in all Difficulties until we can stedfastly believe that God is with us and will not fail nor forsake us Hence then we may firmly conclude that whoso seeketh to be saved by Faith and doth not seek to have Assurance or Confidence of his own Salvation doth but deceive himself and delude his Soul with a mere Fansie instead of saving Faith and doth in effect seek to be saved in his corrupt Natural state without receiving and laying actual hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Salvation Sixthly It is also a great and necessary Office of Saving Faith to purifie the Heart and to enable us to live and walk in the Practice of all holy Duties by the Grace of Christ and by Christ himself living in us as hath been shewed before which Office Faith is not able to perform except some Assurance of our own Interest in Christ and his Salvation be comprehended in the nature of it If we would live to God not our selves but by Christ living in us according to Paul s Example we must be able to assure our selves as he did Christ loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 We are taught that if we live in the Spirit we shall walk in the Spirit Gal. 5.25 It would be high Presumption if we should endeavour to walk above our natural Strength and Power by the Spirit before we have made sure of our living by the Spirit I have shewed that we cannot make Use of the comfortable Benefits of the Saving Grace of Christ whereby the Gospel doth engage and encourage us to an holy Practice except we have some Confidence of our own Interest in those saving Benefits If we do not assuredly believe that we are dead to Sin and alive to God through Christ and risen with Christ and not under the Law but under Grace and Members of Christ's Body the Temple of his Spirit the dear Children of God it would be Hypocrisie to serve God upon the Account of such Priviledges as if we reckoned our selves to be Partakers of them he that thinks he should doubt of his Salvation is not a fit Disciple for this manner of Doctrine and he may reply to the Preachers of the Gospel if you would bring me to Holiness you must make Use of other more essectual Arguments for I cannot practice upon these Principles because I have not Faith enough to believe that I have any Interest in them some Arguments taken from the Justice and Wrath of God against Sinners and his Mercy towards those that perform the Condition of sincere Obedience would work more powerfully upon me O what a miserable worthless kind of saving Faith is this that cannot fit a Believer to practice in a Gospel manner upon the most pure and powerful Principles of Grace but rather leaveth him to work upon Legal Principles which can never bring him to serve God acceptably out of Love and as such a Faith faileth wholly in the right manner of obeying upon Gospel Principles so it faileth also in the very matter of some great Duties which are of such a nature that they include Assurance of God's Love in the right Performance of them such are those great Duties of Peace with God rejoycing in the Lord always Hope that maketh not ashamed owning the Lord as our God and our Saviour praying to him as our Father in Heaven offering up Body and Soul as an acceptable Sacrifice to him casting all our Cares of Body and Soul upon him Contentment and hearty Thanksgiving in every Condition making our Boast in the Lord triumphing in his Praise rejoycing in Tribulation putting on Christ in our Baptism receiving Christ's Body as broken for us and his Blood as shed for us in the Lord's Supper committing our Souls willingly to God as our Redeemer when ever he shall be pleased to call for us loving Christ's Second Appearance and looking for it as that blessed Hope when we fall into any sudden Doubting whether we are in a state of Grace already when we are called to any present Undertaking as to partake of the Lord's Supper or any Duty that requires Assurance to the right Performance of chem we must relieve our selves by trusting confidently in Christ for the present Gift of his Salvation or else we shall be driven to omit the Duty or not to perform it rightly or sincerely can we judge our selves already in a state of Grace by the reflect Act of Faith if we do not find that we perform these Duties at least several of them sincerely or if we do not find that we have such a holy Faith as doth enable or incline us to the Performance of them And can we be thus enabled and inclined by any Faith that is without some true Assurance of
Likewise your Hearts will be purified to unfeigned love of the Brethren in Christ and you will walk toward them with all lowliness meekness long-suffering forbearing one another in Love if you maintain a stedfast belief and perswasion of those manifold Bonds of Love whereby you are inseparably joyned with them through Christ as particularly that there is one Body and one Spirit one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Finally you will be able to abstain from all fleshly and worldly Lusts that war against the Soul and hinder all Godliness by an assured perswasion not meerly that Gluttony Drunkenness Letchery are filthy Swinish Abominations And that the pleasures profits and honours of the World are vain empty things but that you are Crucified to the Flesh and the World and quickned raised and set in heavenly places through Christ and that you have pleasures profits honours in Christ to which the best things in the World are not worthy to be compared And that you are Members of Christ the Temple of his Spirit Citizens of Heaven Children of the Day not of the Night nor of Darkness So that 't is below your State and Dignity to practise deeds of darkness and mind fleshly worldly things Thus I have given Instances enough to stir you up to acquaint your selves with the manifold endowments priviledges properties of your New State in Christ as they are discovered in the Gospel of your Salvation whereby the new Nature is fitted for holy Operations as the common Nature of Man is furnished with the Endowments necessary for those Functions and Operations to which it is designed and also to stir you up to make use of them by Faith as they serve to strengthen you either for Universal Obedience or for particular Duties And by this manner of Walking your Hearts will be comforted and established in every good Word and Work and you will grow in Holiness until you attain to Perfection in Jesus Christ 8. If you endeavour to grow in Grace and in all Holiness trust assuredly that God will enable you by this manner of Walking to do every thing that is necessary for his Glory and your own everlasting Salvation and that he will graciously accept of that Obedience through Christ which you are enabled to perform according to the measure of your Faith and pardon your Failings though you offend in many things and fall short of many others as to degrees of Holiness and high Acts of Obedience And therefore attempt not the performance of Duty in any other way though you cannot yet attain to do so much as you would in this way This is a necessary Instruction to establish us in the life of Faith that the sense of our manifold Failings and Defects may not move us eitheir to Despair or to return to the use of carnal Principles and Means for help against our Corruptions as accounting this way of living and acting by Faith to be in-sufficient for our Sanctification and Salvation The Apostle Paul exhorts the Galatians to walk in the Spirit though the flesh lusts against the spirit so that they cannot do the things that they would Gal. 5 10 17. We are to know that though the Law requireth of us the utmost perfection of Holiness yet the Gospel maketh an allowance for our Weakness and Christ is so meek and lowly in heart that he accepteth of that which our weak Faith can attain to by his Grace and doth not exact or expect any more of us for his Glory and our Salvation until we grow stronger in Grace God shewed his great Indulgence to his People under the Old Testament that Moses the Law-giver suffered them because of the hardness of their hearts to put away their Wives Though from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19.8 and also in tolerating the customary practice of Polygamy tho Christ will not tolerate the continuance of such Practices in his Church since his Spirit is more plentifully poured forth under the Gospel Yet he is as forward as ever to bear with the Failings of his weak Saints that desire to obey him sincerely We have another Instance of God's Indulgence more full to our present purpose in his commanding that the fearful and faint-hearted should not be forced to enter into the Battel against their Enemies but suffered to return home to their Houses Though sighting in Battel against Enemies without Fear and Faint-heartedness was a Duty that God did much exercise his People in at that time Deut. 20.3 8. So under the Gospel though it be an eminent part of Christ's Service to endure the greatest Fight of Afflictions and Death it self courageously for his Name sake yet if any be so weak in Faith that they have not sufficient Courage to venture into the Battel no doubt but Christ alloweth them to make use of any honest means whereby they may escape the hands of Persecutors with safety to their holy Profession He will accept them in this weaker kind of Service and will approve of them better than if they should hazard a denial of his Name by venturing themselves upon the Tryal of Martyrdom when they might have escaped it Peter came off with Sin and Shame by venturing beyond the measure of his Faith into the hands of his Persecutors when he went after Christ to the High Priest's Hall whereas he should rather have made use of that indulgent Dismission that Christ gave to him and the rest of his Disciples Let these go their way Joh. 18.8 Christ dealeth with his People as a good careful Shepherd that will not over-drive his Sheep He gathereth his Lambs with his Arms and carrieth them in his Bosom and will gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 He would not have his Disciples urged rigorously upon the Duty of Fasting when their Spirits were unfit for it because he knew that imposing Duties above their Strength is like putting a piece of new Cloath into an old Garment and new Wine into old Bottles which spoyleth all at last Mat. 9.14 17. That Precept of Solomon Be not righteous overmuch Prov. 7.10 is very useful and necessary if rightly understood We are to beware of being too rigorous in exacting Righteousness of our selves and others beyond the measure of Faith and Grace Overdoing commonly proveth undoing Children that venture on their Feet beyond their Strength have many a Fall and so have Babes in Christ when they venture unnecessarily upon such Duties as are beyond the strength of their Faith We should be content at present to do the best that we can according to the measure of the gift of Christ though we know that others are enabled to do much better and we are not to despise the day of small things but to praise God that he worketh in us any thing that is well-pleasing in his sight hoping that he will sanctify us throughout and
slavish fear in the full assurance of Faith in this as well as in other holy Ordinances and we are to rejoyce in the Lord in this spiritual Feast as the Jews were bound to do in their solemn Feasts Deut. 16.14 15. There are other Abuses of this Ordinance like to those of Baptism forementioned whereby it is rendred opposite rather than subservient to the Life of Faith Some put it in the place of Christ by trusting on it as a work of Righteousness for the procuring of Gods Favour or an Ordinance sufficient to confer Grace to the Soul by the very work wrought Others make it so necessary that they account that Faith is not sufficient without it and therefore they will partake of it if they can possibly tho it be in a disorderly manner upon their sick-Beds when they are in fear of Death as their Viaticum The Papists do horribly Idolize it by their figment of Transubstantiation and the Adoration of their Breaden God and their Sacrifice of the Mass for the sins of the Quick and the Dead We ought warily to conceive that the true Body and Blood of Christ are given to us with the Bread and Wine in a spiritual mysterious manner by the unsearchable Operation of the Holy Spirit uniting Christ and us together by Faith without any Transubstantiation in the outward Elements 6. Prayer is to be made use of as a means of living by Faith in Christ according to the New Man And it is the making our Requests with Supplication and Thankfgiving That it is to be used so as an eminent Means appears because God requireth it 1 Thess 5.17 Rom. 12.12 It is our priestly Work 1 Pet. 2.5 compared with Psal 141.2 and the property of Saints 1 Cor. 1.2 and God is a God hearing Prayer Psal 65.2 God will be prayed to by his People for the benefit that he is minded to bestow upon them when once he hath enabled them to pray though at first he is found of them that seek him not Ezek. 36.27 37. Phil. 1.19 20. that he may prepare them for Thanksgiving and make Benefits double Benefits to them Psal 66.16 18 19. and 50.15 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Though his Will be not changed by this means yet it is accomplished ordinarily and his Purpose is to accomplish it this way And therefore trusting assuredly should not make us neglect but rather perform this Duty 2 Sam. 7.27 Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant by which Justification and Sanctification are promised is also the Mediator for Acceptance of our Prayers Heb. 4.15 16. The Spirit that sanctifieth us begetteâ—h us in Chist sheweth the things of Christ to us is a Spirit of Prayer Zech. 12.10 Gal. 4.6 He is as Fire inslaming the Soul and making it to mount upward in Prayer to God Prayerless People are dead to God If they are Children of Sion yet they are but still-born dead Children that cry not Acts 9.11 not written among the living in Jerusalem Heathens in Nature though Christians in Name Jer. 10.25 It is a Duty so great that it is put for all the Service of God as a fundamental Duty which if it be done the rest will be done well and not without it and other Ordinances of Worship are Helps to it Isa 56.7 It is the great means whereby Faith doth expert it self to perform its whole Work and poureth it self forth in all holy Desires and Affections Psal 62 8. and so yeilds a sweet savour as Mary's Box of precious Spicknard Mark 14.3 John 12.3 And so the same Promises are made to Faith and Prayer Rom. 10.11 12 13. It is our continual Incense and Sacrifice whereby we offer our selves Hearts Assections and Lives to God Psal 141.2 We act all Grace in it and must act it this way or else we are not likely to act it any other way And as we act Grace so we obtain Grace by it and all Holiness Psal 138.3 Luk. 11.13 Heb. 4.16 Psal 81.10 Our Riches come in by it Israel prevails while Moses holds up his Hands Exod. 17. By Prayer Hannah is strengthened against her Sorrows 1 Sam. 1.15 18. Peace is continued Phil. 4.6 7. the disordered Soul set in order by it as Hannah 1 Sam. 1. Psal 32.1 5. Incense was still burnt while the Lamps were dressed Exod. 30.7 8. It is added to the Spiritual Armoury not as a particular piece of it but as a means of putting on all and making use of all aright that we may stand in the evil Day Eph. 6.18 It is a means of transfiguring us into the likeness of Christ in Holiness and making our spiritual Faces to shine as Christ was transfigured bodily whilst he prayed Luk. 9.29 and Moses his Face shone whilst he talk'd with God Exod. 34.29 Hence the frequent use of this Duty is commended to us Eph. 6.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on all Seasons and Opportunities and by the example of the Saints in publick with the Congregation Acts 2.42 10.30 31. Solemn continued Acts of Prayer should be Mat. 6.1 Yea several times as Morning and Evening Sacrifice Dan. 6.10 Psal 92.2 or Thrice Psal 55.17 besides special Occasions Jam. 5.13 and brief Ejaculations that hinder not other business Psal 129.8 2 Sam. 15.31 Nch. 2.4 Prayers should be solemn in our Closets Mat. 6.6 in Families Acts 10.30 31. And as Sacrifices were multiplyed on the Sabbath-days and days of Atonement and at other appointed seasons Numb 〈…〉 the continual burnt-offering so ought 〈…〉 In a word a Christian ought to give up himself eminently to this Duty Psal 109.4 without limits Psal 119.164 But the great work is to practise this Duty rightly for Holiness only by Faith in Christ Here we had need say Lord teach us to pray Luke 11.1 and that not only as to the matter but as to the manner both which are taught by Christ in some measure in that brief patern of Prayer which he taught his Disciples But for the understanding of it we must consult the whole Word 2 Tim. 3.16 17. And we have need of the Spirit of Christ to guide us in the Duty and therefore we are taught to pray by the Spirit i. e. the Holy Ghost Jude 20. Eph. 2.18 the Spirit of God only guideth and enableth our Souls to Pray aright and that you may do so take these Rules 1. You must pray with your Hearts and Spirits Isa 26.9 Joh. 4.24 where the Spirit of Christ and of Prayer principally resides Gal. 4.6 Eph. 1.17 with Vnderstanding 1 Cor. 14.15 16. for we are renewed in Knowledg Col. 3.10 2 Pet. 1.3 so that praying in Ignorance cannot Sanctifie And it must be with sincere hearty desire of the good things we ask in Prayer For God seeth the Heart Psal 62.8 Prayer is chiefly a heart-work Psal 27.8 God heareth the Heart without the Mouth but never heareth the Mouth acceptably without the Heart 1 Sam. 1.13 Your Prayer is odious Hypocrisie mocking of God and taking his Name
and is more powerful to secure an holy Practice than any of those Resolutions of Obedience or resignating Acts that some would have to be the great conditions of our salvation which are indeed no better than hypocritical Acts if they be not produc'd by this Faith There is indeed a counterfeit dead Faith such as wicked men may have and if that tend to Licentiousness let not true Faith be blamed but rather mark the Description of it which I have given that you may not be deceived with a counterfeit Faith instead of it I shall add something concerning the efficient cause of this excellent Grace and of our Union with Christ by it whereby it may appear that it is not so slight and easie a way of Salvation as some may imagine The Author and Finisher of our Faith and of our Union and Fellowship with Christ by Faith is no less than the infinite Spirit of God and God and Christ himself by the Spirit for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body of Christ and are all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor 12.12 13. God granteth us according to the Riches of his glory to be strengthened with all might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.16 17. If we do but consider the great effect of Faith that by it we are raised to live above our natural condition by Christ and his Spirit living in us we cannot rationally conceive that it should be within the power of Nature to do any thing that advanceth us so high If God had done no more for us in our Sanctification than to restore us to our first natural Holiness yet this could not have been done without putting forth his own Almighty Power to quicken those that are dead in Sin How much more is this Almighty Power needful to advance us to this wonderful new kind of Frame wherein we live and act above all the power of Nature by an higher Principle of Life than was given to Adam in Innocency even by Christ and his Spirit living and acting in us The natural man bringeth forth his Off-spring according to his Image by that natural Power of multiplying with which God blessed him at his first Creation but the second Adam bringeth forth his Off-spring new born according to his Image only by the Spirit Joh. 3.5 As many as receive him even those that believe on his name are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. Christ took his own Humane Nature into personal Union with himself in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost coming upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowing her the same Power whereby the World was created Luke 1.35 So He taketh us into mystical Union and Fellowship with himself by no less than an Infinite Creating Power For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2.10 And if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 For the accomplishing of this great Work of our new Creation in Christ the Spirit of God doth first work upon our Hearts by and with the Gospel to produce in us the Grace of Faith for if the Gospel should come to us in Word only and not in Power and in the Holy Ghost Paul might labour to plant and Apollos to water without any success because we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God yea we shall account them foolishness until the Spirit of God enable us to discern them 1 Thess 1.5 1 Cor. 3.6 2.14 We shall never come to Christ by any teaching of Man except we also hear and learn of the Father and be drawn to Christ by his spirit John 6.44 45. And when Saving Faith is wrought in us the same Spirit giveth us fast hold of Christ by it As he openeth the Mouth of Faith to receive Christ so he filleth it with Christ or else the acting of Faith would be like a Dream of one that thinketh that he eateth and drinketh and when he awaketh he findeth himself empty The same Spirit of God did both give that Faith whereby Miracles were wrought and did work also the Miracles by it So also the same Spirit of Christ doth work Saving Faith in us and doth answer the aim and end of that Faith by giving us Union and Fellowship with Christ by it So that none of the Glory of this Work belongeth to Faith but only to Christ and his Spirit And indeed Faith is of such an humble self-denying nature that it ascribeth nothing that it receiveth to itself but all to the Grace of God and therefore God saveth us by Faith that all the Glory may be ascribed to his Free-Grace Rom. 4.16 If Adam had Strength enough in Innocency to perform the Duty of Faith as well as we yet it will not follow that he had Strength enough to raise himself above his natural state into Union with Christ because Faith doth not unite us to Christ by its own Vertue but by the Power of the Spirit working by it and with it Thus we are first passive and then active in this great work of mystical Union we are first apprehended of Christ and then we apprehend Christ Christ entereth first into the Soul to joyn himself to it by giving it the Spirit of Faith and so the Soul receiveth Christ and his Spirit by their own Power As the Sun first enlighteneth our Eyes and then we can see it by its own light We may note further to the Glory of the Grace of God that this Union is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we act that Faith in the reception of him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is enclined and disposed to an active receiving of Christ And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants who have the Spirit of Faith and yet cannot act Faith because they are not come to the use of their Understandings but those of riper years that are joyned passively to Christ by the Spirit of Faith will also joyn themselves with him actively by the Act of Faith and until they act this Faith they cannot know or enjoy their Union with Christ and the Comfort of it or make use of it in acting any other Duties of Holiness acceptably in this Life DIRECT V. We cannot attain to the Practice of true Holiness by any of our Endeavours while we continue in our natural State and are not Partakers of a new State by Vnion and Fellowship with Christ through Faith EXPLICATION IT it evident all have not that precious Faith whereby Christ dwelleth in our Hearts yea the number of those that have it is small comparatively to the whole World that lieth in Wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 20. and many of those that at length attain unto it do
themselves for the Lords Supper that so they may make their Peace with God and trust securely on Christ for his Salvation but all Resolutions of that kind are vain and hypocritical sooner broken than made Those that know the Plague of their own hearts do find that their mind is enmity unto the Law of God and Christ and cannot be subject unto it Rom. 8.7 and that they can as soon remove a mountain as give up themselves sincerely to Obedience before they trust on Christ for his Salvation and for the gift of a new heart whereby they may be enabled both to will and to do any thing that is acceptable to God We should have been sufficiently obliged to all obedient purposes resolutions and resignations if Christ had never come into the World to save us but he knew that we could perform nothing holily except he made us first Partakers of Salvation and that we shall never obey him as Law-giver until we receive him as Saviour He is a saving Lord trust on him first to save you from the guilt and power of sinâ— and dominion of Satan and to give you a new spiritual Disposition then and not till then the Love of Christ will constrain you to resign up your self heartily to live to him that died for you 2 Cor. 5.14 and you will be able to say with an unfeigned Resolution O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds Psal 116.16 4thly It seemeth to them evident that some good works are necessary before we can trust on Christ safely for the forgiveness of sins because our Saviour teacheth us that if we forgive not men their Trespasses neither will our heavenly Father forgive our Trespasses and directeth us to pray Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Mat. 6.12 15. Restitution also was to be made of things wrongfully gotten from others before the Sacramental Atonement was made by the Trespass offering Lev. 6.5 7. This is sufficient to prove that forgiving others and Restitution according to our ability or at least a sincere desire and purpose so to do are very closely joyned with the forgiveness of our sins and are very necessary to fit us for Prayer and for Sacramental Applications of pardoning Grace to our selves A lively Faith cannot be without these Fruits and therefore we cannot pray or partake of Sacraments in Faith without them but yet if we strive to do either of these before we trust on Christ for our Pardon and Salvation we shall do them slavishly and hypocritically not in any holy acceptable manner Our forgiving others will not be accompanied with any hearty Love to them as to our selves for the sake of God and our Restitution will be but a forced act like Pharaoh's letting the Children of Israel go or like Judas restoring the thirty pieces of Silver being compelled thereunto by terror of Spirit and when the terror that forced us is removed we shall be as ready to recal our Forgiveness and to wrong others again as Pharaoh was to bring the Israelites again into bondage after he had let them go Exod. 14.5 If you would forgive others heartily so as to love them again you must first apprehend the love and mercy of God towards your selves by Faith in Christ and then you will be able according to the Apostle's Instruction to be kind tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Ephes 4.32 The readiness of Zaccheus to make Restitution followed upon a discovery of Christ's love to him and his joyful receiving Christ into his house was fruit whereby he did evidence the Truth of that Faith that was already wrought in his heart 5thly I shall reckon up together several other Qualifications that distressed Souls would find in themselves that they may be duly prepared to trust on Christ for their Salvation and when they have laboured anxiously a long time and cannot get them at last they lie down in sorrowful Despondence not daring to apply the Consolations of the grace of God in Christ to their wounded Consciences Let perplexed Souls mark the particulars and observe whether the condition of their own Souls be reached in any of them O thou afflicted tossed with tempests and not comforted what good Qualifications is it that thou wouldest have that thou mayest be encouraged to lay hold on Christ for Salvation It is likely thou wilt answer in the bitterness of thy Soul O let me have first some love to God and Godliness in mine heart and freedom from mine hateful heart-risings against him and his Service Let me have some good thoughts of God his Justice Mercy Holiness that I may be able to justifie him tho' he damn me and that I may not be filled with murmuring and hellish Blasphemies in my mind against him let the raging of my lusts be abated and the stinking kennel of my wicked heart a little cleansed let me have some holy reverential Fear of God and not only a pannick tormenting horror I would be more affected with the wrath of God and not be of a slighting heedless Spirit I would be more humbled for Sin loath it and be ashamed of it and be sorry for it with a godly Sorrow not meerly because of the Punishment but because it grieveth and vexeth the holy Spirit of God I would be able to make a willing and ingenious Confession of sin and to pour out my Soul to the Lord in lively affectionate Prayer for Forgiveness and to praise and glorifie him heartily and not to be like a lifeless stone in the duty of Prayer as I am Are these the things thou desirest O poor distressed Soul The best Reply I can make for thy speedy comfort is to inform thee that the things are good but thy desires are not well timed it is unreasonable for thee to expect these holy Qualifications whilst thou art in thy natural State under the guilt of Sin and the apprehension of the Wrath of God before thou hast received the Atonement and the new Spiritual Life that is by Christ through Faith in his Name thou dost but exasperate thy Corruptions and harden thy Heart and make thy wounds to stink the more because of thy foolishness such good Qualifications are included in the Nature of Faith and for the most part they follow after it so that they cannot possibly be obtained before thou trustest in Christ for thy Salvation as I shall shew concerning them particularly in their Order A love to the Salvation of God and to the free Gift of Holiness is included in the Nature of Faith so that it cannot be hearty without it Act Faith first with this kind of Love and the Apprehension of God's Love to thy Soul will sweetly allure and constrain thee to love God and his Service universally We love him because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4.19 We cannot be before-hand with God in love and
any present interest in Christ and shall never attain unto Holiness or Happiness until they learn a better way of Religion 4. Think not that you can effectually encline your Heart to the immediate practice of Holiness by any such practical Principles as do only serve to bind press and urge you to the performance of holy Duties But rather let such Principles stir you up to go to Christ first by Faith that you may be effectually enclined to the immediate practice of Holiness in him by Gospel Principles that strengthen and enable you as well as oblige you thereunto There are some practical Principles that do only bind press and urge us to holy Duties by shewing the reasonableness equity and necessity of our Obedience without shewing at all how we that are by Nature dead in sin under the wrath of God may have any Strength and Ability for the performance of them As for Instance the Authority of God the Law-giver our absolute dependance on him as our Creator Preserver Governour in whose hand is our Life Breath and all our Happiness here and for ever His All-feeing Eye that searcheth our Heart discerneth our very Thoughts and secret Purposes his exact Justice in rendring to all according to their works his Almighty and Eternal Power to reward those that Obey him and to punish transgressors for ever The unspeakable Joy of Heaven and terrible Damnation of Hell Such Principles as these do bind our Consciences very strictly and do work very strongly upon the prevalent Affections of Hope and Fear to pross and urge our Hearts to the performance of holy Duties if we believe them assuredly and work them earnestly upon our Hearts by frequent serious lively Meditation And therefore some account them most forcible and effectual means to form any Vertue in the Soul and to bring it to immediate performance of any Duty tho never so difficult and that the Life of Faith consisteth principally in our living to God in Holiness by a constant Belief and Meditation on them And they account those things that serve to mind them of such Principles very effectual for Holiness as looking on the Picture of Death or on a Deaths-head keeping a Coffin by them ready made walking about among the Graves c. But this is not that manner of living to God whereof the Apostle speaketh when he saith I live yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and the Life that I live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me If a Man make use of these obliging Principles to stir him to go to Christ for Strength to Act holily he walketh like one that hath received Christ as his only Life by Faith otherwise he walketh like other Natural Men. For the Natural Man may be brought to Act by these Principles partly by Natural Light and more fully by Scripture-Light without any true knowledge of the way of Salvation by Christ and as if Christ had never come into the World And he may be strictly bound by them and vehemently urged and pressed to holy Duties and yet all this while is left to his own Natural Strength or Weakness being not assured by any of these Principles that God will give him Strength to help him in the performance of these Duties and can do nothing aright until he get new Life and Strength in Christ by a more precious saving Faith There would be no need of a new Life and Strength by Christ if these Principles were sufficient to bring us to a holy Conversation Therefore this manner of practice is no better than walking after the flesh according to our corrupt state and a seeking to be made perfect in the flesh No question but Paul was very diligent in it while he was a blind Pharisee Yea the Heathen Philosophers might attain to it in some measure by the Light of Common Reason The Devils have such Principles as they do believe assuredly yet they are never the better for them It s a part of that Natural Wisdom whereby the world knew not God not that Wisdom of God in a Mystery discovered in the Gospel which is the only sanctifying Wisdom and Power of God unto Salvation VVhat can you produce but corruption by pressing with Motives to Holiness one that hath no soundness in him from the sole of the foot even to the head only wounds and bruises and putrified sores He that is made truly sensible of his own vileness and deadness by Nature will despair of ever bringing himself to Holiness by Principles that afford him no Life and Strength but only lay an Obligation upon him and urge and press him to Duty What are meer Obligations to one that is dead in sin While the Soul is without spiritual Life sin is the more moved and enraged by pressing and urging upon the Soul the Obligations of the Law and its Commands The motions of sin are by the Law and sin taking occasion by the Commandment worketh in us all manner of Concupiscence Rom. 7.5 7 8. And yet these obliging Principles are very good and excellent in this right Gospel use of them as the Apostle saith of the Law that it is good if it be used lawfully 1 Tim. 1.7 The humbled sinner knoweth well his Obligations but it is Life and Strength that he wanteth and despaireth of walking according to such Obligations until he get this Life and Strength by Faith in Christ Therefore these obliging Principles do move him to go in the first place to Christ that so he may be enabled to answer their End by the strengthning and enlivening Principles of Gods Grace in Christ Some there are that make use of Gospel-Principles only to oblige and urge to Duty without affording any Life and Strength for the performance as they that think that Christ dyed and rose again to establish a New Covenant of Works for our Salvation and to give us a pattern of Good Works by his own Obedience rather than to purchase Life Obedience and good Works for us Such as these do not understand and receive the Principles of the Gospel rightly but they pervert and abuse them contrary to their true Nature and Design and thereby they render them as ineffectual for their Sanctification as any other natural or legal Principles 5. Stir up and strengthen your self to perform the Duties of Holiness by a firm perswasion of your enjoyment of Jesus Christ and all spiritual and everlasting Benefits through him Set not your selves upon the performance of the Law with any prevailing thoughts or apprehensions that you are yet without an Interest in Christ and the love of God through him under the Curse of the Law the power of Sin and Satan having no better Portion than this present World no better strength than that which is in the purposes and resolutions of your own Free-will While such thoughts as these prevail and influence your Actings its evident that you
in vain when you utter Petitions for the coming of his Kingdom and doing of his Will and yet hate Godliness in your Heart This is Lying to God and slattering with your Lips but no true Prayer and so God takes it Psal 78.36 and you must have a sense of your wants and necessities and that God only can supply 2 Chron. 20.12 And fervency in those desires is required Jam. 5.16 And you must pray with attention minding your selves what you pray or else you cannot expect that God should mind it 1 Pet. 4.7 Watch to it Dan. 9.3 Set your selves to this Duty intently God seeth where your Heart is wandring when you pray without attention Ezek. 33.31 When you say never so many prayers without Understanding Attention Affection it is not praying at all but sinning and playing the Hypocrite as Papists mumble over their Latin Prayers upon the Beads by Tale prating like Parrots what they cannot understand And thus ignorant People say over their Forms of English Prayers and account they have well-discharged their Duty tho their Heart prayed not at all and were minding other things This is a meer Lip-labour and bodily Exercise offering a dead Carcass to God plain deceit Mal. 1.13 14. a form of Godliness with denying the Power 2 Tim. 3.5 whereby Popery hath cheated the World of the Power of this and all other Holy Ordinances They say God minds and knows what they speak and approves it I answer He doth so as to Judg them for Hypocrites and profane persons for not knowing minding and approving what they utter themselves He hath no pleasure in Fools Eccles 5.1 2. They would not deal so with an Earthly Prince 2. You must pray in the Name of Christ for the Spirit glorifies Christ Joh. 16. and leadeth us to God through Christ Eph. 2.18 As I have shewed that walking in the Spirit and walking in Christ is all one so praying in the Spirit and by and through Christ And as we are to walk in the Name of the Lord and to do all things in his Name as is commanded Joh. 14.13 14. It is not enough to conclude our Prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord but we must come for Blessings in the Garments of our elder Brother and must depend upon his Worthyness and Strength for all So also we must praise God for all things in his Name as things received for his sake and by him Eph. 5.20 We must lay hold on his Strength only and plead nothing and own nothing for our Acceptance but him We must not plead our own works arrogantly like the proud Pharisee Luk. 18.11.12 except only as Fruits of Grace and Rewards of Grace Isa 38.1 2. Praying in the Spirit is upon Gospel not legal Principles Rom. 7.6 with 2 Cor. 6.3 with great Humiliation and sense of Unworthyness Psal 51. with a broken Spirit with Despair of Acceptance otherwise than upon Christ's Account Dan. 9.18 If your Enlargements Struglings Meltings have been never so great yet without this all is Abominable 3. Hence you must not think to be accepted for the Goodness of your Prayers and trust on them as works of Righteousness which is making Idols of your Prayers and putting them into the place of Christ quite contrary to praying in the Name of Christ Thus Papists hope to be sav'd by saying their Tale of Prayers upon their Bead-Rows and they have Indulgences granted upon their saying so many Prayers and of such a sort Yea some ignorant Protestants trust on their Prayer as Duties of Righteousness and they think one Prayer to be more acceptable than another by reason of the Holiness of the Form if it were made by Holy Men especially the Lords Prayer which they use to help them in any Exigence or Danger how little soever they can apply it to their own Case they make an Idol of it And some use it and other places of Scriptures as a Spell or Charm to drive away the Devil And others think their Prayers more acceptable in one place than in another by reason of the Holiness of the place Joh. 4.21 24.1 Tim. 2.8 Others trust on their much speaking Mat. 6. which they call the enlarging of their Hearts They think to put off God and stop the Mouth of Conscience with a few Prayers and so to live as they list 4. Pray to God as your Father through Christ as your Saviour in Faith of Remission of Sins and your acceptance with God and the obtaing of all other things which you desire of him as far as is necessary for your Salvation Jam. 1.5 6 7. ch 5.15 1 Joh. 5.14 15. Mar. 11.24 Heb. 10.24 and Psal 62.8 and 86.7 and 55.16 and 57.1 2. and 17.6 This is praying in Christ Eph. 3.12 and by the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.16 Gal. 4.6 Without this Prayer is Lifeless and Heartless and but a dead Carcass Rom. 10.14 Psal 77.4 By this you may judge whether you have prayed rightly more than by your melting Affection or largeness in Expression Though you be not assured that you shall have every thing that you ask yet every thing that is good This Faith you must endeavour to act and therefore if any Sin lye on Conscience you must strive first to get the Pardon of it Psal 32.1.5 and 51.14 15. and Purisication from it by Faith that you may lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 The sin of wrath there is especially mentioned because that is contrary to Love and forgiving others Here lyes the Strength Life and Powerfulness of Prayer Set Faith on work and you will be powerful and prevail 5. You must strive in Prayer to stir up and act every other sanctifying Grace through Faith moving you thereunto Thus your Spikenards will yield their Smell as godly sorrow Psal 38.18 peace Isa 27.8 joy Psal 105.3 hope Psal 71.5 desire and love to God Psal 4.6 and love to all his commands Psal 119.4 5. and to his people out of love to him Psal 122. you must seek the Spirit it self in the first place Luk. 11.13 Psal 37.5 and all spiritual things Mat. 6.33 Praying only for carnal things shews a carnal Heart and leaves it carnal Pray for faith Mar. 9.24 and for such things as may serve most for the glorifying God 2 Chron. 1.11 12. and for outward things you must act in submission to his Will and thus Prayer sets you in a holy frame Mat. 26.42 Luk. 22.42 43. Hallowing Gods Name must be your aim Mat. 6. not your Lusts Jam. 4.3 6. Strive to bring your Soul into order by this Duty however disordered by Guilt Anguish inordinate Cares or Fears Psal 32.1 5. and 55.16 17 20 22. and 69.32 Phil. 4.6 7.1 Sam. 1. A Watch must be often wound up you must wrestle in Prayer against your Unbelief Doubting Fears Cares Reluctancy of the Flesh to that which is good against all Evil Lusts and Desires Coldness of Affection Impatience trouble of Spirit every
thing that 's contrary to an Holy Life and the Graces and holy Desires to be acted for your selves or others Col. 4.12 Rom. 15.30 Stir up your selves to the Duty Col. 2.1 2. Isa 64.7 Though the Flesh be cross and reluctant we must not yield but resist by the Spirit Mat. 26.41 And thus we shall find the Spirit helping our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 27. Though God seem to defer long we must not faint or be discouraged Luk. 18.1 7. The greater our Agonies be the more earnestly we are to pray Psal 22.1 2. Luk. 22.42 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.12 Eph. 6.18 Thus you will find Prayer a great Heart-work and not such a thing as may be done while you think on other things and that it requireth all the Strength of Faith and Affection that you can possibly stir up Thus you may get a holy Frame 7. You must make a good use of the whole matter and all the manner of Prayer as ordinary and extraordinary Exigencies may require to stir up Grace in you by wrestling and to bring your Hearts into a holy Frame As in Confession you must condemn your self according to the Flesh but not as you are in Christ You must not deny that Grace that you have as if you were only wicked hitherto and now to begin again which hinders Praise for Grace received in those that are already converted In Supplication you must endeavour to work up your Heart to a godly Sorrow Psal 38.18 and a holy sense of your own Sin and Misery and lay before you the Aggravations thereof Psal 51.3 Psal 102. Complaint and Lamentation are one great part of Prayer as Lamentations of Jeremiah And you must add pleading to your Petitions with such Arguments as may serve to strengthen Faith and to stir up and kindle Affection Job 23.4 which pleadings are taken from Attributes Num. 14.17 18. Promises 2 Sam. 7.27 28 c. Gen. 32.9 12. the equity of our cause Psal 17.2 3. the advantage and benefit of the thing to the glory of God and our comfort Psal 115.1 2. Psal 79.9.10 13. Naked Petitions are not sufficient when the Soul findeth special cause of strugling and wrestling against Corruptions and Dangers and for Mercies Christs large Prayer is made up Joh. 17. of pleading and very few Petitions And we must make use also of Praise and Thanksgiving for to stir up Peace Joy Love c. Gen. 33.10 Psal 18.1 2 3. and 33.1 and 74.14 and 104.34 Especially be much in praising God for Mercies of the new State in Christ Eph. 1.3 and then you will the better give thanks for all benefits on his account Eph. 5.20 1 Thess 5.18 and plead those Benefits to stir up to Faith and Duty That brief Ejaculation Lord have mercy on me is very good to be used but it will not answer the end and use of the whole Duty of Prayer as some lazy carnal People would have it and so harden themselves in the neglect of the Duty Though the large Improvement and use of all the matter of Prayer at all times is not required but only as ordinary or extraordinary Occasions may require 8. You must not confine and limit your Prayers by any prescribed Form seeing it is impossible that any such Forms should be contrived as should answer and fit all the various Conditions and Necessities of the Soul at all times I do not condemn all Forms as that made by Christ the Lords Prayer though it were easie to shew that Christ never intended it for a Form of Prayer so as to bind any to the precise Form of Words and it 's plain the Spirit of God hath expressed it in different Words Mat. 6. Luk. 11. But better to pray by that Form or other Forms than not at all It is uncharitable to take away Crutches or Woodden Leggs from lame People yet none will look upon them but as dead helps I say it is utterly unlawful to bind our selves to any Form because none can answer the Duty fitly and suitably to particular occasions Eph. 6.18 Phil. 4.6 Joh. 15.7 1 Thess 5.18 Eph. 5.20 You must make the whole Scripture your Common-Prayer-Book as the Primitive Church did being the Language of the Spirit reaching all Occasions and Conditions and sittest to speak to God in And if you use a Form you must follow it by the Spirit further than the Form goes according as he shall guide you by the Word or else you quench the Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 If you know the Principles of Prayer and have a lively sense of your Necessities and hearty Desires of Gods Grace and Mercies you will be able to pray without Forms and your Affections will bring forth words out of the fulness of your Heart And you need not be over-solicitous and timorous about words for doubtless the Spirit who is the help to us in speaking to Men will also much more help us to speak to God if we desire it 1 Cor. 1.5 Mar. 13.11 Luk. 12.12 And God regards not eloquent Words nor artificial Composure neither need we regard it in private Prayer Isa 38.14 If you limit your self to Forms you will thereby grow formal and limit the Spirit 7. Another means appointed of God is Singing of Psalms i. e. Songs of any sacred Subject composed to a Tune are Hymns or Songs of Praise and spiritual Songs of any sublime spiritual Matter as Psal 45. and the Song of Solomon God hath commanded it Col. 3.16 Eph. 5.19 in the New Testament Though now in these days many question whether it be an Ordinance or no and there were many Commands for it under the Old Testament Psal 149.2 3. and 96.1 and 100. Moses and the Children of Israel sang before David's time Exod. 15. David composed Psalms by the Spirit to be sung publickly 2 Sam. 23.1 2. yea privately too Psal 40.3 2 Chron. 29.30 Psal 105.2 Other Songs also were made upon several Occasions and used whether they were parts of the Scripture or no as Solomon made 1005. 1 King 4.32 And they made Songs upon occasion which teacheth that it is lawful for us to do so so they be according to the Word Isa 38.9 14. The matter of Scripture may be sung Psal 119.54 Christ and his Disciples sang a Hymn Mat. 26.30 supposed to be one of David's Psalms and they were written for our Instruction as well as other parts of Scripture Rom. 15. and so to be used now in singing They speak of the things of the New Testament either figuratively or clearly and we may understand them better now than the Jews could under the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.16 Col. 2.7 Christians heretofore practised this Duty as well as Jews Act. 16.25 Hence their Antelucani Hymni were noted by Pliny a Heathen These Songs or Hymns may be used at all times especially for holy Mirth or Rejoycing Jam. 5.13 But is not to be taken exclusively in Singing any more than in Prayer Psal 38.18 2 Chron. 35.25
But the right manner of this Duty is chiefly to be noted and here 1. Trust not upon the Melody of the Voice as if that pleased God who delighteth only in the Melody of the Heart Col. 3.16 Neither let the recreating your Senses be your end which is but a carnal work Non Musica Chordula sed Cor. This spiritual Musick was typifyed by musical Instruments of old 2. You must use it for the same end as Meditation and Prayer according to the nature of what is sung i. e. to quicken Faith 2 Chron. 20.21 22. Act. 16.25 26. and joy and delight in the Lord glorying in him Psal 104.33 34. and 105.3 and 149.1 2. and 33.1 2 3. You are never right until you can be heartily merry in the Lord to act Joy and Mirth holily Jam. 5.13 Eph. 5.19 and also to get more Knowledge and Instruction in heavenly Mysteries and in your Duty teaching and admonishing Col. 3.16 Many Psalms are Maschills as their Title is i. e. Psalms of Instruction thus we are to sing such Psalms as speak in the first Person though we cannot apply them to our selves as words uttered by our selves concerning our selves And in this we do not lye David speaks of Christ as of himself as a Patern of Affliction and Vertue to instruct others and we sing such Psalms not as our words but words foâ— our Instruction and therein we do not lye anâ— more than the Levites the Sons of Corah or Jâ—duthun or other Musicians bound to sing theâ— Psal 5. and 39. and 42. Though it be good personate all good that we can yet we have much liberty in the use of Psalms that thoâ— we cannot apply all to our selves as speaking and thinking the same yet we shall answer the end if we sing for our Instruction as in Psal 6. 26. 46. 101. 131. And Psalms have a peculiar fitness for teaching and instructing because the pleasantness of Metre said or sung is very helpful to the memory See Deut. 31.19 21. And there is a Variety of curious Artifice in the placing of words in the Psalms upon this Account and there are some Alphabetical Psalms as Psal 25. 34. 37. 111. 112. 119. 145. And by the Melody of the Sound the Instruction comes in with delight as a Physical Dose sugar'd and Sorrow is naturally allay'd to fit the mind for spiritual Joy and distemper'd Passions appeased 2 Kings 3.15 1 Sam. 16.14 15 16. So that Orpheus Amphion and others were famous for Civilizing rude barbarous People by Musick 8. Fasting is also an Ordinance of God to be used for the same purpose and end and is commended to us under the New Testament Mat. 9.15 and 17.21 1 Cor. 7.5 And we have Examples of it Acts 13.2 3. and 14.23 Under the Old Testament there were frequent Commands for it and Examples chiefly upon occasion of extraordinary Afflictions 1 Sam. 7.6 Neh. 9.1 Dan. 9.3 and 10.2 3. 2 Sam. 12.16 Psal 35.13 2 Sam. 3.31 Joel 2.13 beside the Anniversary great day of Atonement Lev. 16.29 31. when every one was to Fast on pain of cutting off There is a Prophecy of the same for the times of the New Testament Zech. 12.12 It was used most on extraordinary occasions and it is a help to Holiness by Faith because it is a meet help for extraordinary Prayer and Humiliation Joel 1.14 and 2.12 But the great matter is to use it rightly as followeth 1. Trust not in it as Meriting or Satisfying as Papists and Pharisees do Luke 18.11 putting it in the place of Christ or as a means of its self conferring Grace and mortifying Lusts as many do who may sooner kill their Bodies than their Lusts or any purifying Rite yea or in or for it self acceptable to God 1 Tim. 4.8 Heb. 12.9 Col. 2.16 17 20 23. Imagine not that Prayer is not acceptable without it for this is against Faith Fasts as well as Feasts are no substantial parts of Worship because not Spiritual but Bodily Tho under the Old Testament they were parts as instituted Rites figurative and teaching but that Use is now ceased as that on the day of Atonement and so many significative Rites adjoyned to Fasting as Sackcloth Ashes Rending Garments pouring out Water lying on the Earth the Kingdom of God consists not in these things Rom. 14. the Soul is hardned by trusting in them Isa 58.3 6. Zech. 7.5 10. 2. Use them as helps to extraordinary Prayer and Humiliation that the mind-may not be unsuited for it by Eating Drinking or bodily Pleasures Joel 2.13 Isa 22 12-13 Zech. 12.10 14. It is good only as a help to the Soul removing Impediments The best Fast is when the Mind is taken off from delights as in John the Baptists Case Mat. 3.4 when Heaven and Godly Sorrow takes off the Soul Zach. 12.10 14. 3. Use it in such a measure as may be proper for its End without which its worth nothing If Abstinence divert your mind by reason of a gnawing Appetite then you had better eat sparingly as Daniel in his great Fast ch 10. Some have not enough of spiritual-mindedness to give up themselves to Fasting and Prayer without greater distraction and such had better eat than go beyond their strength in a thing not absolutely necessary which produceth only a slavish Act as in the Case of Virginity 1 Cor. 7.7 8 9 34 35 36. Christ would not have his weak Disciples necessitated to the Duty Mat. 9.14 15. In the mean time such should strive to be sensible of the weakness and carnality that hinders their use of this excellent Help 4. You may expect here something to be spoken of Vows but I shall only say this of them Think not to bring your selves to good by Vows and Promises as if the strength of your own Law could do it when the strength of Gods Law doth it not We bring Children to make promises of amendment but we know how well they keep them The Devil will urge to Vow and then to break that he may perplex your Conscience the more 8ly Another great means is Fellowship and Communion with the Saints Acts 2.42 1. This means must be used diligently Whomsoever God saveth should be added to some Visible Church and come into Communion of other Saints and if they have not opportunity for it their Heart should be bent towards it Sometimes the Church is in the Wilderness and hindred from Visible Communion and Ordinances But they that Believe in Christ are always willing and desirous so to add and joyn themselves Acts 2.41 44 47. and they continued stedfastly in fellowship 1 Joh. 2.19 And God binds his People to leave the Fellowship and Society of the wicked as much as may be 2 Cor. 6.17 And so far as we are necessitated to accompany with them we ought to shew Charity to their Souls and Bodies 1 Cor. 5.9 This Communion with Saints is to be exercised in private Converse Psal 101.4
11. And I have shewed that all fears of Damnation will never bring Persons to work out of love and that nothing will do it but a comfortable Doctrin 3ly It hath this excellent Property that it is a Never-failing effectually powerful alone Sufficient and sure way to attain to true Holiness They that have the Truth in them find it and the truly humbled find it People strive in vain when they seek it any other way therefore venture with the Lepers else you die 2 Kings 7. Isa 55.2 3 7. All other ways either stir up Sin or increase Despair in you as seeking Holiness by the Law and working under the Curse doth and breeds but Slavish and Hypocritical Obedience at best and restrains Sin only instead of mortifying it Gal. 4.25 The Jews sought another way and could not attain it Rom. 9. And all that seek it another way shall lye down in Sorrow Isa 50.11 And that 1. Because as we are under the Law in our Natural Estate we are Dead and Children of Wrath Eph. 2.1 3. And the Law curseth us instead of helping us Gal. 3.10 and giveth no Life by its Obligation Gal. 3.21 And we cannot work Holiness in our selves Rom. 5.6 So that an humbled Person finds it in vain to seek Holiness by the Law or his own Strength for the Law is weak through our Flesh seeking a pure Life without a pure Nature is building without a Foundation and no seeking a new Nature from the Law for it bids make Brick without Straw and saith to the Cripple Walk without giving any Strength 2. In this way only God is reconciled to us even in Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 Eph. 1.7 And so he loves us and is a fit Object of our Love 1 John 4.19 And so in this way only we have a new and Divine Nature by the Spirit of Christ in us effectually carrying us forth to Holiness with Life and Love Rom. 8.5 Gal. 5.17 2 Pet. 1.3 4 and have new Hearts according to the Law so that we serve God heartily according to the new Nature and cannot but serve him 1 John 3.9 So that here is a sure Foundation for Godliness and love to God with all our Heart Might and Soul and Sin is not only restrained but mortified and not only the outside made clean but the inside and the Image of God renewed and Holy Actings surely follow We Sin not according to the new Nature though we are not perfect in degree because of the old Nature 4ly It is a most pleasant way to those that are in it Prov. 3.17 and that in several respects 1. It is a most plain way easie to be found to one that seeth his own Deadness under the Law and is so renewed in the Spirit of his Mind as to know and be perswaded of the Truth of the Gospel though such may be troubled and pestered with many legal Thoughts and Workings yet when they seriously consider things the way is so plain that they think it Folly and Madness to go any other way So that the wayfaring Man though a Fool doth do not err therein Isa 35.8 Prov. 8.9 The enlightned Soul cannot think of another way when truly humbled Prov. 1.8 And when we are in Christ we have his Spirit to be our Guide in this way 1 John 2.27 John 16.13 So that we need not be filled with such distracting Thoughts about knowledge of our way as legal Spirits are about Thousands of Cases of Conscience which do so multiply upon them that they despair of finding out the way of Religion by reason of so various Doubts and manifold Intricacies Here we may be sure that God will so far teach us our Duties as that we shall not be misled with Error so as to continue in it to Destruction Psalm 25.8 9 14. What a trouble is it to a Traveller to be doubtful of his way and without a Guide when his Business is of great Importance upon Life and Death it is even an Heart-breaking But those that are in this way may be sure that though they sometime err yet they shall not err destructively but shall discern their way again Gal. 4.7 10. 2. It is easie to those that walk in it by the Spirit though it be difficult to get into it by reason of the Opposition of the Flesh or Devil scaring us or seducing us from it Here you have Holiness as a Free Gift received by Faith an Act of the Mind and Soul whosoever will may come take it and drink freely and nothing is required but a willing mind Joh. 7.38 Isa 55. 1. Rev. 22.17 But the Law is an intolerable Burden Mat. 23.4 Acts 15.10 if Duty be laid on by its Terms We are not left in this way to conquer Lusts by our Endeavours which is a successless Work but what is Duty is given and the Law is turned into Promises Heb. 8. Ezek. 36.25 26. Jer. 31.33 32.40 We have all now in Christ Col. 3.11 and 2.9 10 15.17 This is a Catholick Medicine instead of a Thousand How pleasant would this Free-gift Holiness be to us if we knew our own Wants and Inabilities and Sinfulness How ready are some to Toyle continually and macerate their Bodies in a melancholy legal way to get Holiness rather than perish for ever and therefore how ready should we be when it is only Take and Have Believe and be Sanctifyed and Saved 2 Kings 5.13 Christs burden is light by his Spirit bearing Mat. 11.30 No weariness but renewing of strength Isa 40 31. 3. It is a way of Peace Prov. 3.17 free from Fears and Terrors of Conscience that those meet with unavoidably that seek Salvation by Works for the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 It is not the way of Mount Sinai but of Jerusalem Heb. 12.18 22. The Doubts of Salvation that People meet with arise from putting some condition of Works betwixt Christ and themselves as hath appeared in this Discourse but our walking in this way is by Ftith which rejects such Fears and Doubtings Joh. 14.1 Mar. 5.36 Heb. 10.19 22. It 's free from Fears of Satan or any Evil Rom. 8.31 32. And free from slavish Fears of perishing by our Sins 1 Joh. 2.1 2. Phil. 4.6 7. it laying hold on infinite Grace Mercy and Power to secure us The Lord is the Keeper and Shade on the right hand Psal 121.5 Free and powerful Grace answers all Objections 4. It is a way that is paved with Love like Solomons Chariot Cant. 3.10 We are to set Gods loving-kindness and all the gifts of his Love still before our eyes Psal 26.2 Christs Death Resurrection Intercession before our eyes which breed Peace Joy Hope Love Rom. 15.13 Isa 35.10 You must Believe for your Justification Adoption the Gift of the Spirit and a future Inheritance your Death and Resurrection with Christ In Believing for these things your whole way is adorned with Flowers and hath these Fruits growing on each side so that it 's through the Garden