according to a consecution or emanation from Mans nature As when we say Man is by nature endowed with an Understanding Will c. Thus the powers and properties of Mans nature are said to be natural to him 3. Or for that which is by and according to a connexion with Mans nature as Paul saith We were by nature children of wrath Eph. 2.3 This condition was connexed with our nature we were subject to the revenging justice of God as soon as we received the nature of man Thus the pravity and pollution of Mans nature is said to be natural to him The import of this question is not Whether the Conscience be evil either in regard of its natural constitution or essence In this sense it must needs be good because it is by the special efficience and gift of God Job 32.8 Chap. 20.7 Or 2. in regard of any natural consecution or emanation from its nature Thus it cannot be bad but good for the same reason because it cometh from the blessed God whose work is perfect Deut 32.4 But 3. in regard of a natural connexion i.e. Whether Conscience in man by and according to the condition which is connexed with his nature be morally evil or sinful yea or no That every mans Conscience is by nature sinful in the sense last mentioned appears First From the notorious defilement of every man by nature These propositions are of Apostolical proof That all have sinned and that they are all under sin That all the world is become guilty before God And that they are all by nature children of wrath Rom. 3.9 19 23. Ephes 2.3 What is man that he should be clean and that which is born of a woman that he should be righteous saith Eliphaz All persons and all the parts of man are impure and defiled Job 15.14 15 16. Rom. 3.9 19. And who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean To them that are defiled is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled Job 14.4 Tit. 1.15 The leaven of sin hath over-spread the whole lump The leprosie of sin hath left no faculty untainted The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint It reacheth from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot So that the Conscience is corrupt as well as the corporeal part 1 Cor. 5.6 Isa 1.4 5 6. Secondly From the notable declarations in the Covenant of Grace What on Gods part is therein more clearly proposed than this I will put a new spirit within you I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh I will circumcise your hearts I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. Ezek. 11.19 20. Chap. 36.26 Jer. 31.33 Deut. 30.6 And what can on mans part then be more clearly supposed than this That the heart of man is of a stony adamantine and uncircumcised temper without the sculpture of any saving truth e're grace takes him within the Covenant And surely by nature the sons of men are all strangers from the Covenants of Promise Zach. 7.12 Jer. 9.26 27. 2 Cor. 3.3 Eph. 2.12 cum 3. Thirdly From the known design of the Commandments and conveyance of Grace A good Conscience is the end of Gods Commandments 1 Tim. 1.5 1 Pet. 3.16 If Conscience were good by nature how should the goodness thereof be the end and effect of the Gospel of Grace A good Conscience was not found by the Gospel in the regions where it came but was the fruit of the Gospel The Gospel was sent amongst them not as supposing their Conscience already good but to set them right and leave them good whom it found bad Act. 26.18 20. 1 Cor. 14.24 25 Heb. 4.12 A good Conscience is the effect of the grace of faith in Christ God purifying mens hearts by faith Act. 15.9 Heb. 10.22 Before the coming of faith then the Conscience is defiled To the unbeliever nothing 〈◊〉 pure And manifest enough it is that faith it Christ never grew in the garden of nature when most pure from the weeds of sin which the Fall hath brought in but is an eflux of divine grace and an especial gift of God Tit. 1.15 Heb. 11.6 Eph. 2.8 Phil. 1.29 Fourthly From the necessary diffusion of sanctifying grace throughout the whole nature of Man The God of peace sanctifie you wholly the whole then was sinful And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless c. The upper region of Mans soul then and which is rational as well as the lower region and which is more sensitive were stained and culpable The Conscience therefore cannot but be corrupted 1 Thes 5.23 The Conscience could neither require nor receive the renovation of grace if it were righteous by nature But renovation passeth through all the parts and powers Behold all things are become new This is to put on the new man and to put off the old man Sin did and Sanctification now doth extend it self over all the man especially the mind To be renewed is eminently in the spirit of our mind 2 Cor. 5.17 Eph. 4.22 23 24. Fifthly From the noted derivation of a good Conscience to us by means of Christ Till his blood be sprinkled on us the Conscience is not sanctified in us as is implied Heb. 9.14 'T is the blood of Christ Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God which purgeth your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Hebr. 9.14 Conscience is impure then till Christ purgeth it 'T is he freeth it from sin and fitteth it for Gods service But by nature we are all without Christ alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works Men do not come by nature but are called by grace unto the fellowship of the Son Jesus Christ Eph. 2.12 cum 3. Col. 1.21 1 Cor. 1.9 Sixthly From the notable defilement of Conscience in the discharge of its acts and offices Now laesae actiones laesas facultates indicant It must needs be a maimed and diseased power that puts forth such maimed and diseased performances These I shall briefly instance in the next Question and judg needful to pluck down the pride of Man and to preserve you from the dangerous precipices of many who cry up Conscience and its conduct for Salvation instead of calling men to Christ and to the conduct of the Scriptures Q. 2. What are the evils of Mans Conscience naturally which we should be heedful of and and humbled under Though I cannot fully open that sink of sin which lieth here a work that is more accurately done by an acute and able hand * Anth. Burgess Orig. sin par 3. c. 2. §. 1 8. and though a further manifestation hereof must follow in our ventilation of the several sorts of an evil Conscience of which hereafter yet something shall be done for the discovery of this evil and putrefaction Conscience may
curses your rich estates will be the ruin of your souls your eminent pleasures will end in perdition and the greater is your confluence the greater will be your confusion if guilt shall still abide upon your Conscience If ye will not lay it to heart saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart Deut. 28.15 ad finem Eccles 7.13 Jam. 5.3 6. Rev. 18.7 Mal. 2.2 4 Is Conscience evil you have no interest in Christ An interest in Christ and an evil Conscience are things inconsistent who doth always purge their Conscience whom he proprietateth in his choice benefits True it is the priviledges by Christ are large but as Peter told Simou Magus so must I tell thee upon the same reason Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God Heb. 9.14 c. 10.22 Act. 8.21 5 Is Conscience evil your choicest endeavours are also evil because you frustrate the end of the Commandment which is to free you from an evil Conscience and are not framed to that entireness which the Commandment enjoyneth and expecteth unless your hearts are sprinkled from an evil Conscience you have no access to God nor can hope for acceptance much less can you have assurance your prayers are turned into sins and provocations So long as Conscience was statedly sinful God accounted the most costly Sacrifices of the Jews wherewith went supplications also but as so many splendid mockeries and they were so far from receiving acceptation that they were reckoned abomination 1 Tim. 1.5 Jam. 4.8 Heb. 10.22 Psal 109.8 Isa 66.3 4. Prov. 21.27 6 Is Conscience evil be sure the consequence will be evil if you continue this evil So long as Conscience is bad no one capacity or faculty can be good which are all under the empire and influence of Conscience If thine eye be evil the whole body is full of darkness and if the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Mat. 6.23 But this is not all mind the place of Conscience miserable must be the issue of an evil and polluted Conscience Corruptio optimi pessima You that are fearless of its sin now shall feel its sting hereafter and shriek and roar with the corrodings of that worm which you would not here attempt to kill or cure It s evil of sin will issue in extreamest and eternal sufferings if not timely salved Cure it or it will kill and condemn you and you will contract condemnation from God unto you Mar. 9.44 Isa 66.24 1 Joh. 3.20 IV. Speed your â—onversion from sin your Conscience must needs be sinful so long as your sin continueth If you continue in a sinful state the state of Conscience must needs be sinful If you are defiled this is defiled If you are after the flesh so is this also Tit. 1.15 Rom. 8.5 6 7 8. If you would heal Conscience then hasten your conversion do not only try your ways but turn to the Lord who will bind up that which is broken Lam. 3.40 Hos 6.1 The change of your condition includeth the change of Conscience Turn you at Gods reproof and he will pour out his spirit upon you and then you are no more in the flesh but in the spirit the motions and mindings of Conscience shall be no more so fleshly Prov. 1.27 Rom. 8.9 c. 7.5 6. V. Strike in with Christ The stain of Conscience is such that none but the sprinklings of Christs blood upon it can purge it from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 10.22 c. 9.14 The evil of Conscience came in originally by the first Adam and is only healed by the second Adam Hasten to him by an active faith This is that bunch of Hysop which sprinkleth this blood upon you and so the Conscience becomes clean in the sight of God Psal 51.7 Would you have Conscience cured from its evil state close with Christ by a sound faith He dwelleth in the heart by faith Eph. 3.17 VI. Search and put the Covenant into suit follow him that did create and can alone cure the Conscience with iterated prayers and with the instance and pressing of his promises Peruse his Promises I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh c. Ezek. 11.19 20. c. 36.26 27. Deut. 30.6 Plead them in your petitions He will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel Ezek. 36.37 Unfold the pravity of your Hearts and Consciences Lord I acknowledg my Conscience is miserably corrupted far departed from thy first Creation and foully depraved both by the fall of Adam and my own voluntary dâ—fections Behold I bring thee an old and obdurate Heart Lord renew and mollifie it a diseased and defiled Heart Lord repair and purge it an Heart of stone and adamant inflexible to thy ducture impenetrable by thy displeasure c. Lord remove it and renew me Urge him with his Promises to do it and thine own heart there-with also to deliberate and draw from them Lord hast thou not said A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you I will â—ake away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh O make good â—hy word to thy poor creature who can no â—ore cure this heart of stone than I can â—reate another world Create in me a clean heart 〈◊〉 God and renew a right spirit within me So David Psal 51.10 See further helps hereâ—â—ter Q. 4. How may we know whether our Consciences are Evangelically good or bad Be plain with Conscience § 1 and let it be â—ain with thee But in regard our Conâ—â—ience may and doth put a paralogism upon 〈◊〉 and its argumentation is oft-times sophiâ—â—cal and fallacious through the depravedness of our natures of which hereafter and so men deceive their own selves Jam. 1 2◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It therefore requireth the stricter care and caution in your part and circumspection on mine how we manage thiâ— work To which end before I propound marks * See Dik Good Conscience ch 7 8 9. p. 73. ad 128. Sheffield Good Conscience ch 24. Bald wins cas Conscience ch 12. I would promise this brief animadversioâ— for preventing mistakes * See Sheffields Good Conscience ch 18 2â— that you may 〈◊〉 conclude the goodness of your Conscienâ—â— either from their past or present 1 scrupulosâ—â— 2 smart or trouble on the one hand 3 stillâ—â— or quiet on the other without further aâ— fuller evidence Which I shall put upon a 〈◊〉 deliberate enquiry hereafter The stated habitude of your Conscienâ—â— may be discerned by these five things Tâ—â— adjuncts the acts the absoluteness the aspeâ— the answer of the Conscience First § 2 By the Adjuncts of Conscience aâ— your Consciences Evangelically pure or defiled Evangelically at peace or disquieted
then make you draw off your guards and centinels or make you more diligent and circumspect 2 Greater fortitude of spirit forbearing troubles breaking thorow tentations and baffling all the assaults of flesh and blood upon the sanctified habits and faculties The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall keep it as with a garrison as that word is elsewhere used Joh. 16.33 Phil. 4.7 cum 2 Cor. 11.32 It shall fit you for resistance fill you with resolution and free you from those returns of fraud and force which make others become their prisoners * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr. Scho. Doth this peace then cool and slacken your resolutions for duty especially in case of discouragements and difficulty or doth it quicken and add spurs and wings to it 3 Greater vigors of obedience A formal peace is the best effect usually of that Pharisaical peace But this Evangelical peace is not without an Evangelical power upon the heart within and in the acts without Rom. 14.17 cum 1 Cor. 4.20 2 Tim. 1.3 cum 6. This Soul not only maintains a course or track in spiritual matters but manageth them with a spiritual mind His spiritual peace begets a spiritual plenty and now he can easily step over what heretofore stumbled him No offence is so great to him as that his obedience is no greater He not only liveth up to Gods testimonies but he loves him exceedingly Rom. 8.6 Psal 119.165 169. Doth your peace then make you more slight and formal in duty or more spiritual and vigorous Are they not only more bulky but more strong and sincere fuller of the sap of love and of the spirit of life 4 Greater vivacity of Holiness Evangelical peace is ever prospered to Evangelical grace and growth See how it fructifieth and clusters Rom. 5.1 6. Gal. 5.22 23. Let the day of that false peace be as the harvest-time to the formal hypocrite His righteousness is now all gathered into barn But 't is as the seed-time to the faithful soul The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace Jam. 3.18 Now is this Soul's time to be distributing the seeds of righteousness for God and among men and by the oyl of gladness to make increase likewise of the oyl of grace This holy peace puts him upon perfecting holiness in himself and provoking others Souls to take and taste thereof likewise Heb. 13.20 21. Psal 66.16 34.8 51.12 13. Q. 3. May not the Soul that enjoys ease and tranquility after eminent troubles of Conscience infer that his is Evangelical peace In no wise * See Sheffield's good Cons c. 18. pag. 263 c. Though a good Conscience may prove greatly troublesom after great tranquility yet the greatest tranquility after the greatest troubles cannot simply and by it self prove Conscience good Because the Devil turns in men hither and a deceitful heart often taketh up here I have felt the terrors of the Lord but now find tranquility and taste of his love as they did Heb. 6.4 5 6. cum 9. Hear me therefore a few things 1. Prop. 2 Every trouble is not a trouble of Conscience that may be so called 1. There is a trouble of carnal policy Herod is troubled and all Hierusalem with him but 't is that Christ is born who might shake his Secular Kingdom not that he was born without Christ or seeth no title to an eternal Kingdom So is the King of Assyria sore troubled But 't is for the defeating of his Counsels not for destroying his corruptions Mat. 2.3 2 King 6.11 2. There is a trouble of Concupiscence and iniquity Ahab is so troubled as he taketh his bed upon it not for want of faith in or forgiveness from God but for want of the Vineyard So is Amnon not that his lust may be subdued but that it may be satisfied upon his Sister Tamar 1 King 21.4 2 Sam. 13.2 3. There is a trouble that is but corporeal and bodily through excess of Melancholy c. which is sometimes mixt sometimes meerly such This disordereth the imagination or fancy This again distempereth the passions these discompose the natural spirits these again drive to and fro and agitate the humours of the body and so all is in a commotion nothing is quiet And now happily a mans own spirit falls upon him within and an evil spirit from the Lord also from without And then terrour taketh hold of him on every side as it did upon Saul But what are these troubles Rather of sickness than for sin from the oppression of nature rather than in order to grace at least originally if not only 1 Sam. 16.14 I presume you will not call it peace of Conscience to have a period or conclusion put to any or all of these 2. Eminent troubles of Conscience there may be Prop. 2 and often are which are neither preparatory to nor productive of peace but rather a providential fulfilling of God's threatnings and a preface sometimes to greater torments as they were to Cain and Judas Will you read his threatning The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind and thou shalt fear day and night In the morning thou shalt say would God it were even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear Deut. 29.65 67. Lev. 26.36 Isa 8.21 22. God may remit then or remove such troubles as he doth other temporal judgments without renovation of the person or the blessing of a religious peace 3. Prop. 3 Eminent troubles of Conscience may and have ended in a still and sapless formality without sincerity or sanctifying the Conscience The Pharisees are a clear and confessed instance Conscience arrests the Jews with fears and conscernation Away they betake them to a course of prayer and fasting but in both formal And so Conscience is at rest but as the Psalmist observeth was not right in them Isa 58.2 c. Psal 78.33 37. Ananias and Sapphira seem pricked in their heart but were not purified in their heart Formality drew out that prick but drew on their perdition Conscience takes hold on Magus on Ahab and others and they are troubled But wherein ended their pangs of Conscience In a sound peace No but in a spiritless profession and practice of some external duties without any saving change upon them Act. 2.37 cum 5.1 c. 8.13 c. 1 King 21.27 cum c. 22. This amounts to no more than a silencing of such troubles not the sanctifying of them Formality is as bad an evidence of the truth of our peace as it is of the truth of our grace 4. Prop. 4 Eminent troubles and distresses of Conscience may and have ended in stupidity and dedolence The smiting reproving Conscience may become a seared remorsless Conscience witness Pharaoah Felix Belshazzar What pangs of Conscience might you have sometime found them in who within
thus plagued He as upon the borders of this crime Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency But he soon takes up the tentation Isa 49.4 Job 35.2 3. Psal 73.2 12 16. 3. To furious commotions both of their reason and passions so as to curse their birth to complain of life and to court and covet death saith Job 3. per totum Mark me saith he and be astonished even when I remember I am afraid and trembling taketh hold of my flesh My sighing cometh before I eat and my roarings are poured out like the waters My bones shook my hair stood up Job 21.5 6. c. 3.24 c. 4.14 15. 4. To fearful concussions of the very frame of nature in them I am troubled saith David I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long there is no soundness in my flesh I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave saith Heman I am as a man that hath no strength My members are as a shadow saith Job My bowels boiled and rested not Psal 38.6 7 8. 88.3 4. Job 17.7 c. 30.27 Conscience pours out blackness and darkness upon the constitution and this pours it back upon Conscience 5. To frightful conclusions against themselves As if all past were but hypocrisie all present were but iniquity and all future were but exclusion from mercy and enduring of misery as if it were not only past help but past hope What is my strength that I should hope saith this Soul with Job Yea where is now my hope as for my hope who shall see it My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. My Judgment is passed over from my God My bones are dried up my hope is lost and I am cut off for my part I am counted with them that go down into the pit like the slain that lie in the grave whom God remembreth no more Job 6.11 c. 17.15 Isa 40.27 Ezek. 37.11 Psal 88.4 5. Upon such precipices may the prejudices and passions of pious Souls hurry them So that their Souls may refuse comfort as if they resolved with Jacob to go down into the grave mourning and to give the Sons of Consolation but Isaiah's language in another case Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me Psal 77.2 Gen 37.35 Isa 22.4 Let me only add that though I have justified these Propositions I must not be understood to justifie the passions and provocations instanced I have not written this for the patronage but plucking up of sin nor for the ulcerating but healing of Souls as also that others may hear and fear that they fall not after the same examples of distrust into the same excesses of disquiet Q. 12. What if a pious Soul hath hitherto persisted in the use of such means and yet finds no peace but his perplexities rather increase what shall he do Direct 1. Abide with perseverance Give not over but go on with the use of the means prescribed thee nor slacken thy diligence in the duties shewn thee If they are means they conduce to this end and will be crowned with success in the end And if thou expect to come at the end it must be by a continued use of the means These are not wells without water nor clouds without rain They tend to peace in their native operation and shall end in peace according to God's ordinance and promise Joh. 16.33 Isa 32.17 c. 26.3 Psal 119.65 Rom. 2.10 You say then you have not declined from the means but I doubt you have either declined from Christ in them or in your care about them Let me ask you 1. Hath there not been slightness in the course of your duties You do the work of the Lord but is it not negligently How often do you quicken and convene all that is within you How often do call upon your drowsie hearts Awake awake Deborah awake awake to this holy duty If you are slothful no marvel that God and Conscience do still scourge you for you are herein guilty both of unkindness to God and cruelty to your selves for as much as every duty hath a reward in it for you as well as it is a debt to him Jer. 48.10 Psal 103.1 108.2 Jud. 5.12 Be diligent then that you may be found of him in peace He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Their Souls shall delight themselves in fatness 2 Pet. 3.14 Heb. 11.6 Isa 55.2 2. Have not you slighted Christ in your duties You come and that often but do you come unto God by him Do you take him with you in the hand of your faith and in the arms of your love No marvel if God be strange to your Souls if you are strange to his Son What atonement what acceptance can you have or hope for but by him He is our peace Heb. 7.25 Jer. 14.8 Rom. 5.11 1 Pet. 2.5 Ephes 2.13 14. Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus from hence forwards Keep him fresh before the eye of Conscience This may fill you with confidence Christ now undertakes the case and that you shall in time have comfort Bring him in your hand and he beareth you upon his heart And he cannot be denied who hath his father's ear his father's heart Col. 3.17 Ephes 3.12 Joh. 16.22 25. Exod. 28.29 30. 1 Joh. 5.14 Direct 2. I advise you that notwithstanding 1 That you attend with patience You have need of patience of the patience of expecting as well as of the patience of enduring that after ye have done the will of God you may receive the promises I doubt your work is not done or not well done However there must be time allowed for between work and wages between seed-time and harvest In due season you shall reap if you fain not Heb. 10.36 Gal. 6.9 Durst you say with that profane Pursevant of King Joram This evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer Nay rather should you say with the Church In the way of thy judgments will we saith she have we wait for thee who in the midst of judgment remembreth mercy Yea and waits that he may be gracious to his when it will be the best season when it will be best for their Souls for the Lord is a God of judgment 2 King 6.33 Isa 26.8 Hab. 3.2 Isa 30.18 God will be known to be the God of all comfort and of this arbitrarily not at our but at his own pleasure and appointment He will speak peace and that in season in due season when it shall seem most free in him the giver and when it shall be most fit for you the receivers But you must leave eternity to take his own time and not look on it as if it would be at no time because it is not at your time The vision is yet
the self-same spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 11. and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness c. Shall I need to subjoyn what you may perhaps already sense and consider That Baptism is to be ministred in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as well as in the name of the Father Mat. 28.19 Prop. 4. God the Father then is not cannot be so the object of prayer as is exclusive either of God the Son or of God the Holy Ghost 1 For the Son It is manifest that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Joh. 5.23 If you 'l review the last prayer of that lively Protomartyr Steven it is directed hither They stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Act. 7.59 He that runs may read the same requests from the beloved Disciple of Christ and from his bride the Church which conclude our Bibles Come come Lord Jesus c. Rev. 22.17 20 21. Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom is the only recorded prayer of the penitent thief upon the Cross Luk. 23.42 43. Paul begins well-nigh every Epistle with prayers to him as well as to the Father Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.3 2 Cor. 1.2 c. And is followed herein both by John and Peter 2 Joh. 3.2 2 Pet. 1.2 In short this is given us as the character of all true Christians 1 Cor. 1.2 Act. 9.14 With all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Observe it is not said That call upon the name of the Lord through Jesus Christ though this is no doubt their duty and his due as being the Mediator It lets us see that his Saints look upon him not only as a middle person through whom they pray unto God but as true and very God to whom they make their prayers 2 For the Holy Ghost We are debters in point of prayer to him as he also deriveth all our grace and peace to us We are debters saith the Apostle not to the flesh but to the spirit and this not only to live after the spirit but to lift up our hearts with our hands to him in spirit and truth O come saith the Psalmist let us worship and bow down Let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God c. Psal 95.6 7 8. The Apostle maketh application of this part of the Psalm to the Holy Ghost Heb. 3.7 8 c. External and internal worship is due then from us to God the Holy Ghost The reason which the Psalmist gives us reach him as well as the other persons He is the Lord our God he made us and not we our selves The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the almighty hath given me life The inspiration of the almighty hath given me understanding Job 33.4 c. 32.8 Know ye not saith Paul that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost Which he elsewhere maketh synonimous with being the temples of God What then Therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods and therefore glorifie God the Holy Ghost So that inward and outward worship not only may but must be given to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 20. c. 3.16 17. The Saints of God have offered him therefore their prayers of petition see instances Prop. 3. and the Seraphims do offer him their prayers of praise and thanksgiving Crying holy holy holy Lord God almighty which with express warrant enough is interpretable to the Holy Ghost and not to be limited to one or both the other persons Isa 6.3 9. with Act. 28.25 26. Shall I add more evidence where there is so much already Lo 1. The objective fundamental and formal ground of prayer is found with the Son and with the Holy Ghost as well as with the Father Is the Father God so is the Son God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 And the Holy Ghost is called God not less than three times in one Scripture 1 Cor. 3.16 17. I forbear ampler testimonies because you acknowledg this fundamental truth Is the Father an omnipresent majesty pray we where we will so is the Son also Hear him Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 So likewise is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy spirit saith the Psalmist i.e. I can go no whither but thy spirit is with me Psal 139.7 Is the Father an omnipotent mercy pray we for what we will he is able to hear and help us So also is the Son the mighty God the almighty Isa 9.6 Rev. 1.7 8. And so likewise is the Holy Ghost All these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 Briefly is the Father omniscient knowing what we pray for how we pray what are the purposes of and what principles are at act in our hearts and in what proportion and when it is best to answer our prayers and to accommodate our desires and distresses So is the Son he knoweth what is in man the very heart and reins he knoweth all things Joh. 2.24 25. c. 21.17 Rev. 2.23 And so also is the Holy Ghost he searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12. 2. For the object of faith Is it the Father only Nay so is God the Son and God the Holy Ghost And if the object of faith then of prayer also Rom. 10.14 Mat. 28.19 That the Son is the object of faith seems to require little or no proof with him that believes the Scriptures Since they were written to this very end that we might believe in the name of the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 1 Joh. 5.13 And he that disbelieveth or denieth this disbelieveth or denieth the Father also 1 Joh. 2.22 23 24. Here was the blessed faith of Peter the rock the bottom or foundation upon which the Church is built Mat. 16.16 17 18. Hitherto also our blessed Saviour calleth his Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 The Holy Ghost is the object of faith likewise I believe in the Holy Ghost is one and an eminent article of the true Creed of Christians Plain it is that the wisdom of the Spirit is the wisdom of God the power of the Spirit is the power of God the testimony of the Spirit is the testimony of God And if we may and should believe the witness of men much more the witness of God for the witness of God is greater It is the Spirit who is one God with the Father and with the Son that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth and therefore to be believed relied upon as the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 2.1 4 5. 1 Joh. 5.6 7 9. He that believeth not in the Spirit then believeth not in