hath promised this unto his people Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you 2. Another is a sincere heart though hypocrisie be vanishing yet sincerity A sincere heart will continue there is faithfulnesse and stedfastnesse in sincerity and God hath promised to give this heart unto his people Ezek. 11. 19. I will give them one heart and one way Zach. 8. 3. Jerusalem shall be called a City of truth and ver 8. They shall be my people and I will be their God in truth and righteousnesse Isa 1. 22. Then shalt thou be called the City of righteousnesse the faithful City 3. A third is entire and exceeding love this will hold out unto the death yea Intire love it is stronger than death and this hath God also promised to give his people Deuteronomy 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul 4. A fourth is the fear of himself which is the beginning of wisdome and The fear of God the deliverance from sinne this also God promiseth to give unto his people in that Covenant Jer. 32. 40. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 5. A fifth is sound faith 1. Of union 2. Dependance both these he Sound faith promiseth They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abideth fast for ever John 6. 45. They shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the father cometh to me Zeph. 3. 12. And they shall trust in the Name of the Lord. Hab. 2. 4. The just shall live by his faith 2. God doth expresly promise to keep his people from falling away from him God promiseth to keep his people from falling and that he will never leave nor forsake them 1 Sam. 12. 22. The Lord will not forsake his people for his great Name-sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people Psal 37. 24. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand Ver. 28. The Lord forsaketh not his Saints they are preserved for ever Psalme 94. 18. When I said my foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up Hosea 14. 4. I will heal their back-slidings 2 Thess 3. 3. The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you 3. God doth expresly promise to strengthen and increase their grace The righteous God promiseth to strengthen and increase their grace shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Job 17. 9. The path of the just shall be as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. He will make all grace to abound he will work in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruit in old age 4. God doth promise to confirm his people unto the end and to finish the work God promiseth to confirm his people to the end which he hath begun in them 1 Cor. 1. 8. He shall confirm you to the end that ye may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Jesus Phil. 1. 6. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begunne a good work in you will perform it will perfect it he will carry it on untill the day of Jesus Christ 5. God doth promise to break down all which might else cause his people to God promiseth to over-power whatsoever may make his people tâ— break Covenant break off the Covenant There are but five causes supposable for the breaking off that Covenant on our part and God removes every one of them from his people 1. One is the power of sin but God hath promised to subdue our iniquities Mic. 7. 19. And sin shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. 2. A second is the power of Satan but God hath promised that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10. 13. He hath promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his people Matth. 16. 18. He hath promised that the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. and that he will bruise Satan under our feet Rom. 16. 20. and resist the devil and he shall flye from you James 4. 7. 3. A third is the power of the world but said Christ to his Disciples John 16. 33. Be of good chear I have overcome the world and 1 John 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even over faith 4. A fourth is the supposed liberty and inconstancy of mans will that a man if he will he may cast off his God and give over to be one of his people but this God promiseth to remove by giving of his own Spirit which shall cause us to walk in his Statutes and to keep his Laws and to do them Ezekiel 36. 27. and Jeremiah 32. 39. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever 5. A supposition that God will substract or with-draw his grace from his people Neither shall this be for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance so Rom. 11. 29. And Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be takâ—n from her Luke 10. 42. 2. A second Argument to demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant 'twixt God and his people shall be taken from several considerations of Christ From several considerations of Christ and believers and believers who are the people in Covâ—nant 1. Christs suretiship 2. Christs Mediatorship 3. Christs union with them 4. Christs love 5. Christs intercession 6. Christs promises and preparations for them 1. The suretiship of Christ in Heb. 7. 22. Christ is said to be made a surety The suretiship of Christ of a better Covenant so I conceive the word should be rendred viz. Covenant and not Testament for a surety is not of a Testament but of a Covenant A surety is one who is engaged and stands bound for another and is responsable for him as Judah for Benjamine Gen. 43. 9. I will be surety for him of my hands shall they require him And in matters of contract 'twixt person and persons a surety is taken in for this very end That the contract may be made sure and good may not faile but be truly and perfectly performed and the surety is a distinct person undertaking and engaging in the behalf of him who is of himself the more weak and insufficient contractor As to this consideration Christ is stiled the surety of the
Our life 3. Our peace 4. Our hope The Titles of Christ 5. Our Shepherd 6. Our Father 7. Our friend 8. Our Brother 9. Our Head 10. Our Husband 11. Our King 12. Our Saviour Verily the Covenant must needs be everlasting 'twixt us and our God who have such a Christ so engaged for us so mediating for us so strictly united to us so exceedingly loving of us so continually watchful and careful and helpful ever loving ever praying ever helping and resolved to save us 3. A third Argument to demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant shall From the Spirit of God which every one hath who is in Covenant with God be taken from the Spirit of God which every one hath who is in Covenant with God Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you Now there are ten works which the Spirit of God doth for all the people of God 1. He doth change their hearts 2 Cor. 3. 18. We all beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. He doth mortifie their sinful lusts Rom. 8. 13. If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body 3. He makes known the things of God unto them and teacheth them all things 1 Cor. 2. 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit 1 Joh. 2. 27. Teacheth you of all things 4. He doth powerfully enable them for all the works of obedience Ezekiel 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them 5. He doth dwell in them Rom. 8. 11. and he dwells in them for ever Joh. 14. 17. and dwelling in them he makes them a fit habitation for God Ephes 2. 22. 6. He doth guid and lead them Joh. 16. 13. The Spirit of truth he will guid you into all truth Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God 7. He doth sustain or uphold them Psal 51. 12. Vphold me with thy free Spirit 8. He helps them in their infirmities Romans 8. 26. and supplies them Phil. 1. 19. 9. He beares witnesse that they are the children of God and if children then heires Heires of God and joynt Heires with Christ Rom. 8. 16 17. 10. He Seals them unto the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. and moreover abides in their hearts he is the earnest of their inheritance untill the Redemption of the purchased possession 4. A fourth Argument to demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant From some considerations in the people of God They are born again of incorruptible seed Partakers of the divine nature They are the house built upon the Rock They are delivered from the power of darknesse Their hearts are set on God and only on him 'twixt God and his people shall have respect to some considerations in the people of God 1. They are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. 2. They are partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. and of the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 11. 3. They are the house built upon the Rock which fell not because it was builded upon a Rock Mat. 7. 25. and that Rock is Christ who is a sure foundation Isa 38. 16. 4. They are delivered from the power of darknesse and translated into the Kingdome of Christ Colossians 1. 13. And his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome unto the Sonne he saith Thy Throne is for ever and ever Heb. 1. 8. 5. Their hearts are superlatively set on God and only on him Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none that I desire upon earth besides thee God is my portion for ever Psal 73. 25 26. 6. They are strenghthened with might by his Spirit and rooted and grounded in They are strengthened with might They are the Pillars in the Temple of God They are the inheritance of God love Ephes 3. 16 17. 7. They are the Pillars in the Temple of God and shall go no more out Revelations 3. 12. 8. They are the inheritance of God his portion his peculiar treasure and purchased with the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. He would never pay so dear a price for them and then put them off Isa 49. 25. And Israel mine Inheritance Zach. 2. 12. The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion Deut. 32. 9. The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance Psamle 135. 4. The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure 9. The commands and wayes and communions with God are no burdans to them The commands of God are not burdensome but delightful to thē not grievous because they are born of God and love him 1 John 5. 3. But pleasing and delightful The Law of God is written in their hearts Jer. 31. 33. Psal 119. 16. I will delight my self in thy Statutes Ver. 24. Thy Testimonies are my delight Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste 10. They hate evil Psal 97. 10. and loath their abominations Ezekiel They hate evil 36. and have crucified the flesh with the lusts and affections thereof Galations 5. 11. They are a people who live by faith and are much in prayer that God They live by faith and are much in prayer would work all his works in them and for them that he would not leave them nor forsake them that he would preserve and uphold and confirm and stablish them unto the end They work out their own salvation with feare and trembling 2. The reason why the Covenant which God makes with his people is an everlasting Reasons of it In respect of God Covenant and shall be so 1. There are reasons for this in respect of God 1. His Wisdome hath contrived this Covenant in a way of everlastingnesse His wisdome which appeares in three particulars 1. He layes the foundation of it not upon our selves but Christ not on our will and power but on the power and sufficiency of Jesus Christ 2. He engages himself for himself and for his people to keep them unto himself and from falling and to continue them to be his people for ever not only to give them grace but to preserve that grace not only to beginne a good work but also to finish it 3. He promiseth mercy to pardon the sins of his people and grace to heal their back-slidings None of these were in the Covenant of works and therefore that lasted not but all these are in the Covenant of grace and therefore it is everlasting 2. His purpose his purpose in making of this Covenant was to exalt and glorifie His purpose and magnifie the greatnesse of his love and the riches
righteousnesse of Christ by faith and you have the pardon of your sins by faith you are heirs of all by faith He that believeth on the Sâ—n hath everlasting life Joh. 3. 26. The promise that he should be the heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 13. 4. All the dealings with God as a God in Covenant is by Faith you can have no communion with him at all without faith you cannot acknowledge him All our dealings with God is by Faith nor love him nor desire him nor delight in him nor call upon him nor trust him nor take any thing from him nor make any use of him or of his promises but by faith Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him James 1. 6. But let him ask in faith c. SECT II. Quest 1. BUt now come three Questions what Faith that is which is necessary and which must be put forth to bring us into the Covenant and without which we neither are nor can be in Covenant with God 2. Whether Faith only be the condition What faith it is that is the condition 3. Why Faith is the condition 1. What Faith it is that is the condition Sol. There are several distinctions of Faith considered in the kindes of it of which I shall not speak and there are several conditions of the same Faith in respect of the particular acts issuing or following from it 1. That Faith which brings us into the Covenant is a Faith which respects A faith which respects Christ Christ or which is conversant about Christ No other Faith but this Faith and of this Faith there are divers acts 1. One is an uniting act 2. And there is a justifying act 3. A third is a drawing act The faith which brings us into the Covenant is that faith which doth unite us unto A faith that doth unite us to Christ Christ which makes us one with him And we being thus united to Christ we are thereupon and therefore in the Covenant Faith considered as justifying doth not bring us into the Covenant for our justifying follows our being in the Covenant we must first be in the Covenant before we can have Righteousnesse and forgivenesse of sins Neither doth faith as drawing any grace from Christ bring us into the Covenant Forasmuch as all the fruits of communion are consequents unto us being first in the Covenant But it is faith considered only as uniting us unto Christ which brings us into the Covenant For the opening of this Point which is as difficult and weighty as any that I meet with give me favour to enlarge my self a little in shewing unto you 1. That there is an union twixt Christ and us 2. That faith is the means or instrument of that union 3. That our interest in the Covenant necessarily flows from this union with Christ 1. That there is an union twixt Christ and us not an imaginary union an union There is a union betwixt Christ and us only in the apprehension of the minde as an object apprehended is conveyed and united to the intellect but a very real union Hence it is that the Church is called the Body and Christ is called the Head Ephes 5. 23. Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the body And verse 30 Ye are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bonâ—s Now there is a real union 'twixt the body and the head and between every member of the body and of the head they are all joyned to the head by the Nerves and Ligatures from whence they receive their sensation and strength In like manner there is an union between us and Christ we are joyned to the Lord 1 Cor. 6. 17. and he is â—oyned unto us c. The Church is called a building and house and Christ is called the foundation and corner-stone Eph. 2. 20. We are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Corner-stone 1 Pet. 2. 4. To whom coming as unto a living stone verse 5 ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house c. There is an union twixt the building and the foundation the building depends upon the foundation and the foundation bears up the building The Church is the Branches and Christ is the Vine Joh. 15. 5. I am the Vine and ye are the branches The living branches have their union with the roots there they grow and there they live and are nourished The Church is called the Spouse and Wife of Christ and Christ the Husband I will marry thee to my self Hosea 2. 19. I have espoused you unto one husband saith Paul 2 Cor. 11. 2. And twixt them the union is so near that they are called one flesh Gen. 2. 24. so likewise are Christ and they who are united to Christ called one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. 2. That faith is the means and instrument of our union with Christ By which we Faith is the instrument of our union are near to him enjoy him are joyned unto him possesse him as ours And this the Scripture holds forth unto us abundantly in the several expressions of faith Our believing is sometimes stiled a coming to Christ Come unto me and No man comes to me except c. A receiving of Christ Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him c. A livingly Christ and a living in Christ Because I live ye shall live also Joh. 14. 19. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God Gal. 2. 20. and a joyning to Christ 1 Cor. 6. 17. A being in Christ Ye are in Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 30. and that is by faith A partaking of Christ a planting of us into Christ and Christ is said to dwell in us by faith and so do we dwell in him by faith and abide in him by faith A eating and drinking of Christ Joh. 6. 56. When the Spirit of God works faith in our hearts our hearts are now brought in to Christ they are subdued and captivated We embrace Christ and we come in to Christ and Christ is ours and we are his and the whole heart ir setled upon Christ and knit unto Christ and becomes one with Christ 3. Our interest in the Covenant necessarily follows from this union with Christ Our interest in the Covenant 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 The â—â—â—enaÌ„t was 〈◊〉 â—ade with Christ and 〈◊〉 us in relation to Christ Being brought by faith into Christ you are now in the Covenant And that I shall clear unto you thus 1. The Covenant of God was made first with Christ as the head of the Church and with us in relation unto Christ and with Christ in
and rebellion of their hearts there must be a mutual will and consent and agreement which cannot be till resistance in our hearts be removed that so our hearts may be made willing to comply with him and with his will and with his wayes and with his works Secondly That he may bring them all into union with Jesus Christ his people Bring them into union with Christ are a people given unto Christ from all eternity Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. And as they are given to Christ by an eternal compact so they must be given in to Christ in time by effectual vocation in a way of believing And for this reason also he will take away the hardness of their hearts which is imcompatible with closing with Christ Heb. 3. 7. To day if ye will hear his voice ver 8. harden not your hearts Thirdly That he may enjoy communion with them and they with him This is one Reason why he makes us to be his people that he might make known all Enjoy communion with them his love and goodness unto us and that our hearts might be taken up with him and set on him in love and fear and desire and joy and hope None of which will or can be unless the Lord were pleased to take away the heart of stone from his people c. Fourthly That he may bring upon them all the good which he hath promised unto And bring upon them all the good that he hath promised to his people viz. All the blessings of mercy and peace and comfort and joy of which they are not capable untill the Lord take away the hardness of their hearts Would you have the Lord to settle pardoning mercy on a hard heart and to speak peace to a hard heart and to revive with comfort and joy the soul of an hardened sinner who will hold fast his iniquities and who will not obey his voyce and will none of him This is as it were a foundation-work for the other works of the Covenant Sol. 2. Again the Lord himself doth again by promise undertake to take away God by promise undertakes it Because of the impossibility of it the stony heart from his people upon a twofold account First On the impossibility of the work without his own Omnipotency None but the Almighty can cure the stone of the heart neither Angels nor Men nor Ministry nor Self-power for the hard heart is too hard for all means whatsoever only the Lord is too hard for it he can subdue all the powers of sin and he can pull down all high imaginations which do exalt themselves and he can abase the pride of man and he can circumcise all the stoutness of the heart so that the rebellious shall submit themselves Secondly The other that his people when they are made sensible of their That men may not despair hardnesse may not despair but may apply themselves unto him who is able to work all their work in and for them and to heal all their diseases and to subdue all their iniquities Beloved a Promise of God in any kind is a singular foundation for Faith and Prayer And so it is in this business of hardness of heart if the Lord promise to take it away then the work is possible it may be done and it is likewise de futuro it shall be done As the Lord is able to perform whatsoever he promiseth to his people so he is faithful and will perform the same And both these are grounds for Faith and Prayer to go unto the Lord and beseech him and trust upon him that he will according to his word take away the hardness of our hearts Quest 3. How this can be affirmed for a truth seeing that much hardnesse How this can be since much hardness remains A difference betwixt the hardness remaining in the best and that in the wicked The godly are sensible of it of heart remaines in all the people of God all the dayes of their lives Sol. This hath been answered in part already in the manner how God takes away the hardness of heart from his people only I will adde that there is a vast difference 'twixt the hardness of heart remaining in the people of God and that hardness of heart abiding in ungodly men v. g. First Though hardness of heart in some degrees remains in the people of God yet they are sensible of it as their great evil and burden and do exceedingly bewail it and complain to the Lord of it and cry out Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear Isa 63. 17. But wicked men are unsensible of the hardness of their hearts they are past feeling and their consciences are seared as with a hot iron as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4. 2. When a part of the body is feared with a hot iron it becomes utterly stupid and unsensible c. Secondly The hardnesse of heart remaining in the people of God it It is still mortifying in the best is still mortifying and decreasing the more they feel it the more they pray against it and never give over till they have obtained more grace and strength against it untill they find their hearts more tender and pliable But the hardness of heart in ungodly men as it is raigning so it is raging it still increaseth unto more hardness ungodly men sin more and more and still oppose the means of softning their hearts and the more they do sin the more they do harden their hearts and the more they do oppose the light and means of softning the more they do augment their sins and hardness Thirdly Though hardness of heart doth remain in the people of God yet Though it remains yet They do not willingly take those wayes that tend to hardening 1. They do not willingly and advisedly give up themselves to any wayes and courses which tend to the hardning of their hearts as to the neglect of the Ordinances to the omission of holy duties to the commission of sins against the light of the Word and of Conscience 2. They do cordially use all the means to work off the hardness of their hearts as frequent self-examinations humble confessions and self-judgings earnest Prayer for more Faith and fear and tenderness of spirit and the Lord doth Cordially use the means against it graciously â—ear them in these Requests But thus it is not with ungodly men whose hearts are hardened they practice wickedness and they sell themselves to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord 1 King 21. 25. And give themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greedinesse Ephes 4. 19. And trample under feet the light of the Word and the actings of Conscience and whatsoever stands in their way to restrain them from sinning and are so far from improving any means for the removing of the hardness of their hearts that they deride and scorn at them and reject and abhor
hearing or reading or meditating c. 2. It is such a softness as leaves a person in as great a pliableness nay greater to evil than to good You may as soon draw them to an Ale house and Play-house and Gaming-house as to Gods house they cannot deny their friend and request c. 3. Notwithstanding this softness and tenderness yet a mans heart remains spiritually hardned for take me this soft natured person which can weep almost at every thing and put him upon mourning for his sins for his long ignorance for his manifold profaness for his exceeding unprofitableness under the means of grace why this soft-natured man now cannot shed a tear and is ordinarily so far from relenting and mourning that even his heart riseth against what you speak and is extreamly incensed c. Secondly The second is Moral which ariseth from education and learning Moral and is of that force as to restrain and civilize and scowre off the barbarous rudeness of spirit and behaviour and trims up the person to a gentleness of conversation but neither is this the heart of flesh in the Text for 1. This is but an outward and seeming softness 2. If any thing of it may be said to be inward yet it flows not from any work of grace but from the Rules of Moral Philosophy admitted iâ—to the understanding as fit to be received and practised for a mans reputation in the world 3. It is Humane and not Divine it is a tenderness to respect men when all this while there is a stubbornness and resistance and unyieldingness and a constant irrespectiveness to God and his will and ways Thirdly The third is a legal tenderness which is the yielding tenderness Legal and pliableness of the heart under the sense of Gods dreadful wrath for sin what will not a sinner do in such a case he will pray and hear and forbear and do what God will have him to do and forsake what God will have him forsake but this is not the heart of flesh neither for 1. This is but anguish of heart it is not tenderness of heart 2. This will off when anguish is off like Iron that is softned in the fire when the fire is taken away it grows more hard Pharaoh yet hardned his heart more when God gave him some respite 3. The sinner is quickly weary of this tenderness and would with all his heart be rid of it but so it is not in the right softness 4. The fourth is Evangelical tenderness or softness of heart and this Evangelical is a gracious temper of heart given or formed by God himself whereby the whole soul becomes meâ—â—ing and yielding and pliable flexible to God in respect of his Attributes Word and Works here observe First It is a gracious temper or frame of heart no man hath it but first It is a gracious temper he partakes of the Spirit of grace his heart is converted and renewed by grace before the work of grace the heart is stubborn and rebellious disobedient and gain-saying the natural man is a child of disobedience as well as of wrath he is stiffe-necked and unto every good work reprobate but when grace enters into the heart now his heart is changed and subdued and mollified and is easie to be intreated and is ready to take any impression that God will stamp upon it Acts 10. 33. We are all here present before God to hear all things commanded thee of God Secondly It is a temper or frame of heart it is not an occasional and transient A temper of heart work but an inherent and permanent and fixed work upon the soul Simile even wicked and hardned sinners may have some fits and appearances of softness as some hard stones in change of weather appear to be moist Pharaoh under some of Gods judgements did relent and Ahab under those sharp threatnings of God did humble himself and Felix upon the hearing of Paul did tremble and the Israelitet in their distress did cover the Altar with tears and Judas with the terror of conscience did repent but these were fits and passions only they did not last and abide on their hearts when exigences were off their natural hardness appeared again It is not thus when God gives an heart of flesh i. e. a tender and soft heart for this dwells and reigns and continues in all estates in all changes in perplexity and in adversity in freedom and in danger under blessings as well as under afflictions Thirdly It is such a temper whereby the whole heart becomes a melting and By it the heart becomes melting and yielding yielding heart and pliable and flexible the Scripture calls it sometimes a contrite heart Psal 51. 17. sometimes a trembling heart Isa 66. 2. sometimes a tender heart 2 Chron. 34. 27. sometimes a mourning heart Zach. 12. 10 11. sometimes an obedient heart Rom. 6. 17. sometimes an heart that bows and stoops to receive the Word of God Deut. 33. 3. And this softness and pliableness spreads over the whole soul when God gives an heart of flesh It spreads over the whole soul First The mind is willing to see and to be taught and know the mind of God his will his way his work concerning us Teach me thy truth and teach me thy way and teach me thy will saith David Psal 27. 11. Let us go up to the house of the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths Isa 2. 3. Secondly The judgement is willing and ready to assent and to acknowledge the truths and commands of God the Law is good and holy said Paul Rom. 7. I esteem thy precepts to be right said David Psal 1 19. Thirdly The will is made tender and pliable I will keep thy statutes Psal 119. 8. I will run the way of thy Commandments Ver. 32. The Lord is our God and him will we serve Josh 24. 18. Fourthly All the affections are tender and pliable O what propensions to mourn for sin they that escape of them shall be on the Mountains as Doves of the Valley all of them mourning every one for his iniquity Ezek. 7. 16. and so a tender fear they fear the Lord and his goodness Hosea 3. 5. a tender love a tender delight c. Fourthly This frame of tenderness and softness appears towards God This tenderness appears towards God 1. In respect of his Attributes His mercifulness melts the heart and leads it to Repentance his goodness melts and draws it to more obedience his greatness and power and wisdom awes the heart O who would not fear and serve such a God 2. In respect of his Word Promises work on the heart and threatnings and precepts and reproofs the promises draw and raise the soft heart threatnings awaken and awe the soft heart precepts direct and bind the soft heart reproofs do pierce and recover and
Joh. 14. 23. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come and make our abode with him Ver. 16. The Father shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever The Father dwells in us 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will dwell in them The Son dwells in us Ephes 3. 17. Christ dwells in your hearts by Faith The Spirit dwells in us Rom. 8. 11. Fourthly That all the people of God have the Spirit of God may plainly appear by the works â—f the Spirit which are to be found in every one of them 1. They are sanctified by the Spirit Ye are sanctified by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. 2. They are led by the Spirit As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God Rom. 8. 14. 3. They are upheld and strengthened by the Spirit Psal 51. 12. Vphold me with thy free Spirit Ephes 3. 16. To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man 4. They are partakers of the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8. 23. Our selves have the first fruits of the Spirit 5. They are helped by the Spirit Rom. 8. 26 The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities and the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered 6. They are taught by the Spirit Joh. 14. 26. The Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things 7. They are comforted by the Spirit Acts 9. 31. They walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost 8. They are sealed by the Spirit Ephes 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise Quest 3. Why doth the Lord put his Spirit within every one of his Reasons of it people Sol. There may be assigned six Reasons for it viz. 1. Necessity 2ly Congruity 3ly Conformity 4ly Excellency 5ly The love of God 6ly The purchase of Christ First Necessity The presence and enjoyment of the Spirit is necessary for The necessity of it them in many respects 1. For applying of Christ unto them and for the applying of them unto Christ For applying Christ that there is a conjunction or union between Christ the Head and his Mystical body the Church is an unquestionable truth And how Christ who locally in heaven should be joyned or united to his Church here on earth this cannot be done but by the Spirit who doth knit or joyn Christ to us and us to Christ as really as the head is joyned to the body and as the body is joyned to the head But take the instance in any particular believer that Christ is his and he is Christs it is certain but how comes Christ to be his what is that on Christs part which makes this union it is the Spirit and none but the Spirit and what is it on our part which makes this union it is faith and it is caused by the Spirit So that the Spirit is necessary to this union on either part on Christs part to apply or unite him to us and on our part in causing faith which applyes and unites us to Christ And unto this reciprocal union the Spirit is such a necessary agent that without him there cannot possibly be any union at all No man can be united to Christ but by the Spirit neither can Christ I speak it with reverence unite himself to us but by his Spirit 2. For conveying of spiritual life into them or a new being into their souls For conveying of spiritual life Naturally all men are dead in trespasses and sins and every faculty in them is totally defiled and polluted and corrupted and is deprived of the glory of God nor can any man help himself in this case nor can any creature do it None can raise him from his death but that Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead Therefore is the Spirit called the Spirit of life and the Spirit of grace forasmuch as he is the authour of both unto our souls it is the Spirit who quickens them by infusing the life of Christ into them and who renews them by changing of them into the image of Christ 3. For all the actings of grace Take me any Christian though endowed with For all the actings of grace all the principles of grace and great measures thereof now put him upon any particular acting put him upon believing put him upon repenting upon mourning upon any acts of obedience why looâ—â—s no member of the body can move or strive but from an influence from the head no more can we act any grace we have but by an influence from the Spirit of Christ our Head Joh. 15. 5. And we find it in experience that it is with our souls Simile as with a ship which stirs not if the wind stirs not and it stirs more or less as the wind is greater or lesser so if the Spirit of God stirs not in us our graces stir not c. For all our receptions 4. For all our Receptions Would you know any truth of God you cannot know it unless the Spirit of God give you his light to know it 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. would you be acquainted with the love of God you can never perceive it unless the Spirit shed abroad that love in your hearts Rom. 5. 5. would you be clear and satisfied in your relation of sonship unto God as your Father all the men in the world cannot perswade and satisfie as to that unlesse and untill the Sperit beareth witness with your Spirits that you are the children of God Rom. 8. 16. Secondly Congruity It is meet and fit that the people of God should have the Spirit of God For Congruity 1. They are his children and is it not meet that the children of God should have the Spirit of God should they not bear his image if they were led by the same spirit by which the children of this world are led had they not another Spirit they could not be his children 2. They are his servants and therefore they have much to do for him and they have much to suffer for him Is it not meet that the Lord should help his servants The services of the people of God which they are to do for him and to suffer for him are above all their own strength and therefore God will give them his Spirit to enable them for all their services whether active or passive the Spirit can supply them for every work 3. They are his Heirs and intended for eternal glory and is it not fit that they should have the Spirit of grace who must have the Spirit of glory Heirs of God Rom. 8. 17. Before a person comes to heaven it is fit that he should be fitted for heaven be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. And who
will you weary my God also said the Prophet Isa 7. 13. So say I Is it a small thing that you injure another but will you also injure the Spirit of God Simile If a friend should help you out of prison and heal all your diseases and sores and furnish you with clothes and money and house and lands do you not wrong him in saying upon every discontent What hath he done he hath never done any thing for me Why it is the Spirit of God who hath quickned you from the dead who hath delivered you out of the power of darkness who hath renewed and healed your soul who hath begun every saving grace in your hearts who hath been your life and strength and after all this is it meet for you to say What hath he done and he hath wrought nothing for us nothing why how came you to be so sensible of your sins how came your hearts to be broken and mournful whence came those desires after Christ and grace whence came those fervent prayers and importunate cries whence came those resolutions to walk with God and careful endeavours to honour and glorifie him O Christianâ— be humbled for thy rashnesse and for thy unthankfulness and for this injuriousness done unto the good Spirit of God disown him no more and deny not any work of his any more though it be but little yet do not disown it though it be sometimes hidden from thee yet do not disown it though it doth many times work but weakly do not disown it though it be put sometimes to a stand though thou dost not in every particular answer the motions and rules of the Spirit yet do not disown the work of the Spirit condemn every sinful work which is thine own but do not deny or dishonour any work that is his Secondly By not crediting the testimony of the Spirit Beloved sometimes By not crediting the spirit we do bear witness or give testimony for the Spirit as when we humbly and thankfully confess his workmanship in our hearts saying This is the Lords doing this he hath done for my soul c. Sometimes the Spirit bears witness or gives in testimony unto our hearts he bears witness saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 16. that we are the children of God and concerning this he gives in his testimony partly by his works of Faith and Regeneration which are to be found in all and only the children of God And partly by extraordinary assurance letting in such a ligâ—t and evidence and perswasion which abundantly clears up our Relation that without doubt God is our Father and we are his children If now after both these testimonies in assurance of the Spirit in after times of darkness and desertion and temptation we call the testimony of the Spirit into question and charge it for a false delusion do we not exceedingly injure the Spirit of God in some sort to make bim a lyer and a false witnesse Object But we do not do so and we dare not do so his testimony is true only How to know the testimony of the Spirit we fear that the testimony which we have found was not his testimony but a delusion either of Satan or of our own hearts Sol. O but what if indeed that testimony was not the delusion of your hearts but the very testimony of the Spirit which you have challenged and rejected as a delusion are you not then very guilty of great injuriousness unto the Spirit And that it was the very testimony of the Spirit of God may thus appear 1. It was a testimony after deep humblings of the heart for sin 2. It was a testimony after importunate cries and wrestlings for mercy and assurance 3. It was a testimony after your believing and closing which Christ offered and accepted 4. It was a testimony after the matching of the promises with your souls condition 5. It was a testimony that filled your heart with joy unspeakable and glorious and with a love most dear and superlative and with most humble and serious care and diligence how to walk more exactly and chearfully to the praise and honour of this most gracious God If it was thus it was no delusion it was indeed the testimony of the Spirit and you have dealt unkindly and unworthily thus to requite him and thus to disgrace his precious testimony Thirdly By disregarding and slighting the Ordinances of Christ Some people do think that because they have the Spirit therefore there is no need of Ordinances By slighting Christs Ordinances at least for them perhaps they hold that the Ordinances may be useful for others who as yet have not received the Spirit but yet they are needless for them who have received the Spirit And three places of Scripture they alledge for this Jer. 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them saith the Lord. 1 Joh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a most sure Word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in your hearts With your favour I will speak something in 1. Opposition to this Opinion it is the Opinion of the Libertines of old and of some now amongst our selves The Libertines answered who desire and endeavour to subvert the Ministry and the Ordinances of preaching 2ly In resolving the true meaning of those places of Scripture First I affirm that Gods giving of his Spirit unto his people was never intended by him to put a period unto any Evangelical Ordinance or to render them useless unto any of his people this may be demonstrated thus First From the scope of the Scriptures All Scripture saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 16. is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Iâ—struction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works ver 17. If the Word of God be given for these ends For Doctrine to teach us the matter of faith for Reproof to convince errors for Correction to condemn sin for Instruction to shew us our duties and to make us perfect To beget us Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the Word of truth To build us up Acts 20. 33. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified then certainly the presence of the Spirit and the Ministry of the Word are not