and of its due effects p. 50 CHAP. VIII Of the Knowledge of Gods Omniscience or Infinite Wisdome with the due effects p. 57 CHAP. IX Of the Knowledge of Gods Infinite Goodness and Love and of the due impression of it on the soul. p. 65 CHAP. X. Of the Knowledge of God as the first Cause Creator and Preserver of all things All things are for God as the Ultimate End manifested How his Will is still fulfilled Whether he will de eventu that all obey him God willeth not sin Differences ended about it Whether he Decree not or will not ut evenit peccatum Whether he will de eventu that sin shall not come to pass when it doth All Gods works good None to be dishonoured no not our selves our Reason and Free-will as Natural and of God though as vitiated by us and ill disposed we must accuse it p. 76 CHAP. XI Of the Knowledge of God as our Redeemer Infants not in a state of Innocency but of Original sin fully proved The great ends of Redemption enumerated The effects it must have upon the soul. p. 86 CHAP. XII The Knowledge of God the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier and Comforter A further proof of Original sin Twenty considerations by way of Quere's to convince them that deny or extenuate the Sanctifying works of the Holy Ghost ascribing them to Nature and themselves p. 100 CHAP. XIII Of the Knowledge of God as the Absolute Owner Proprietary or Lord of all of his Jus Dominii grounded on his Creation and Redemption and the Uses p. 109 CHAP. XIV Of the Knowledge of God as our Soveraign Governour or King His Jus Imperii The grounds The exercise The uses and effects p. 115 CHAP. XV. Of the Knowledge of God as our most bountiful Benefactor or most Loving Father The Benefits founding this Relation 1. Common 2. Special to his chosen ones The necessary effects p. 124 CHAP. XVI Of the Freedome of God p. 131 CHAP. XVII Of the Justice of God what it is the effects p. 132 CHAP. XVIII Of the Knowledge of Gods Holiness What it is The necessary effects p. 133 CHAP. XIX Of Gods Veracity or Truth and Faithfulness The Uses The Dominicans doctrine of Phyfical efficient immediate predetermination at once obliterateth all Divine faith by denying the Veracity of God which is its formal Object Lying and Perjury abhominable p. 138 CHAP. XX. Of the Knowledge of Gods Mercifulness including his Patience and long suffering and the necessary uses and effects p. 144 CHAP. XXI Of the Knowledge of Gods Dreadfulness or Terribleness and the necessary uses and effects p. 148 ERRATA PAge 20. l. 1. blot out it p. 54. l. 25. r. a fly p. 58. l. 20. r. themselves p. 78. l. 35. r. Doth he not p. 82. l. 7. r. wilfully l. 29. r. he hath l. 3â— r. workers p. 106. l. â— blot out that p. 118. l. 22. r. wheele p. 127. l. 30. r. Object p. 145. l 26 for us r. it p. 146. l. 5 r. breath 's in p. 151. l 18. r. true p. 178. l. 37 blot out of p 187. l. 20. for particular r practical p. 204. l. 26. r would not be p. 219. l. 8. r. possessor p. 229. l. 33. for presumptuous r. awakened p 243 l. 22. r. unproved p. 252. l. 27 r. straining p. 259. l. 5 for do r. no. l. 12. for Hâ— r No. l. 24. after and r. his p. 266. l. 24. for what r that p. 276. l. 10. for any r an l. 21. r. preparation p. 282. l. 22. blot out not p. 306. l. 14. r. grudge and distasts p. 307. l. 4. blot out that p 310. l. 4. for serve r. seem p. 315 l. 27. for might r. wight p. 337. l. 14. for in r is p. 357. l. 16. blot out a. p. 369. l. 20. for formâ— r. found p. 371. l. 33 r. workers p. 372. l. 16. for that r. than p. 375. l. 19 blot out faithful p. 376. l. 20. for of it r. oft p. 377. l. 31. for nor r. no. JOHN 17. 3. And this is Life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent CHAP. I. GOD is the Principal Efficient the Supream Directive and the Ultimate final Cause of man For OF him and THROUGH him and TO him are all things and to him shall be the Glory for ever Rom. 11. 36. The New life or Nature in the Saints is his Image Col. 3. 10. The Principle of it is called The Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. The exercise of that principle including the principle it self is called The life of God Eph. 4. 18. from which the Gentiles are said to be alienated by their ignorance Therefore it is called Holiness which is a separation to God from common use and Gods dwelling in us and ours in him 1 John 4. 12 13. of whom we are said to be born and regenerate 1 John 4. 7. John 3. 5. And our perfection in Glory is our living with God and enjoying him for ever GODLINES then is the comprehensive name of all true Religion Jesus Christ himself came but to restore corrupted man to the Love and Obedience and Fruition of his Creator and at last will give up the Kingdom to the Father that God may be All and in all and the Son himself shall be subject to this end 1 Cor. 15. 24 28. The End of Christs Sacrifice and Intercession is to Reconcile God and man The End of his Doctrine is to teach us to know God The end of his Government is to reduce us to the perfect obedience of our Maker It is therefore the greatest Duty of a Christian to know God as revealed by his Son and it is such a Duty about our Ultimate End as is also our greatest Mercy and Felicity Therefore doth the Lord Jesus here in the Text describe that Life Eternal which he was to give to those whom the Father had given him to consist in Knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he had sent My purpose is in this Treatise to speak only of the first part of the Text The Knowledge of God And first I shall very briefly explain the Text. THIS That is This which I am describing LIFE Life is taken sometime for the Souls abode in the Body which is the Natural Life of man or the souls continuation in its separated state which is the Natural life of the soul and sometimes for the Perfections of Natural life And that either its Natural Perfection that is Its Health and Vivacity or its moral perfection or Rectitude and that is either in the Cause and so God is our Life Christ is our Life the Holy Spirit is our Life or in it self and so Holiness is our Life in the Principle Seed or Habit. Sometime Life is taken for the Work Imployment and Exercise of Life and so a Holy Conversation is our Moral Spiritual or holy life And sometime it is taken for the Felicity of
14. To conclude Vindictive Justice will be doubly honoured upon them that are final rejecters of this grace Though conscience would have had matter enough to work upon for the torment of the sinner and the justifying of God upon the meer violation of the Law of nature or works yet nothing to what it now will have on them that are the despisers of this great salvation For of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall he be thought worthy that hath trodden under foot the Son of God when it is willful impenitency against most excellent means and mercies that is to be charged upon sinners and when they perish because they would not be saved Justice will be most fully glorified before all and in the conscience of the sinner himself All this considered you may see that besides what reasons of the counsel of God are unknown to us there is abundant reason open to our sight from the great advantages of this way why God would rather save us by a Redeemer then in a way of Innocency as our meer Creator But for the answering of all objections against this I must desire you to observe these two things following 1. That we here suppose man a terrestrial inhabitant cloathed with flesh otherwise it is confessed that if he were perfect in heaven where he had the Beatifical Vision to confirm him many of these forementioned advantages to him would be none 2. And it is supposed that God will work on man by Moral means and where he never so infallibly produceth the good of man he doth it in a way agreeable to his nature and present state and that his work of Grace is Sapiential magnifying the contrivance and conduct of his Wisdom as well as his Power otherwise indeed God might have done all without these or any other means 3. The knowledge of God in Christ as our Redeemer must imprint upon the soul those Holy Affections which the design and nature of our Redemption do bespeak and which answer these forementioned ends As 1. It must keep the soul in a sense of the odiousness of sin that must have such a remedy to pardon and destroy it 2. It must raise us to most high and honourable thoughts of our Redeemer the Captain of our Salvation that bringeth back lâ—st sinners unto God and we must study to advance the Glory of our Lord whom the Father hath advanced and set over all 3. It must drive us out of our selves and bring us to be nothing in our own eyes and cause us to have humble penitent self condemning thoughts as men that have been our own undoers and deserved so ill of God and man 4. It must drive us to a full and constant dependance on Christ our Redeemer and on the Father by him As our life is now in the Son as its root and fountain so in him must be our faith and confidence and to him we must daily have recourse and seek to him and to the Father in his Name for all that we need for daily pardon strength protection provision and consolation 5. It must cause us the more to admire the Holiness of God which is so admirably declared in our Redemption and still be sensible how he hateth sin and loveth Purity 6. It must invite and encourage us to draw near to God who hath condescended to come so near to us and as sons we must cry Abba Father and though with reverence yet with holy confidence must set our selves continually before him 7. It must cause us to make it our daily imployment to study the Riches of the Love of God and his abundant mercy manifested in Christ so that above all books in the world we should most diligently and delightfully peruse the Son of God incarnate and in him behold the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of the Father And with Paul we should desire to know nothing but Christ crucified and all things should be counted but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord Phil. 3. 8. That we may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and heighth and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we may be filled with all the fulness of God 8. Above all if we know God as our Redeemer we must Live in the Power of holy Love and Gratitude His Manifested Love must prevail with us so far that unfeigned Love to him may be the predominant affection of our souls And being free from the spirit of bondage and slavish fear we must make Love and Thankfulness the sum of our Religion and think not any thing will prove us Christians without prevailing Love to Christ nor that any duty is accepted that proceedeth not from it 9. Redemption must teach us to apply our selves to the holy Laws and Example of our Redeemer for the forming and ordering of our hearts and lives 10. And it must quicken us to Love the Lord with a redoubled vigour and to obey with double resolution and diligence because we are under a double obligation What should a people so Redeemed esteem too much or too dear for God 11. Redemption must make us a more Heavenly people as being Redeemed to the incorruptible inheritance in Heaven The blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 3. 12. Lastly Redemption must cause us to walk the more carefully and with a greater care to avoid all sin and to avoid the threatned wrath of God because sin against such unspeakable Mercy is unspeakably great and condemnation by a Redeemer for despising his grace will be a double condemnation Joh. 3. 19. 36. CHAP. XII 11. THE third Relation in which God is to be Known by us is as he is our Sanctifier and Comforter which is specially ascribed to the Holy Ghost And doubtless as the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost is the Perfecting dispensation without which Creation and Redemption would not attain their ends and as the sin against the Holy Ghost is the great and dangerous sin so our Belief in the Holy Ghost and Knowledge of God as our Sanctifier by the Spirit is not the least or lowest act of our faith or Knowledge And it implieth or containeth these things following 1. We must hence take notice of the certainty of our common original sin The necessity of sanctification proveth the corruption as the necessity of a Redeemer proveth the guilt It is not one but all that are Baptized that must be Baptized into the Name of the Son and Holy Ghost as well as of the Father which is an entering into Covenant with the Son as our Redeemer and with the
spent your time in youth and in your riper age and how many sinful thoughts and words and deeds you have been guilty of how oft you have sinfully pleased your appetites and gratified your flesh and yeilded to temptations and abused mercy and lost your time how oft you have neglected your duty and betrayed your souls how long you have lived in forgetfulness of God and your salvation minding only the things of the flesh and of the world how oft you have sinned ignorantly and against knowledge through carelesness and through rashness through negligence and through presumption in passion and upon deliberation against convictions purposes and promises how oft you have sinned against the precepts of piety to God and of justice and charity to men Think how your sins are multiplied and aggravated more in number then the hours of your lives Aggravated by a world of mercies by the clearest teachings and the lowdest calls and sharpest reproofs and seasonable warnings and by the long and urgent importunities of grace Think of all these and then consider whether you have nothing now to do with God whether it be not a business to be followed with all possible speed and diligence to procure the pardon of all these sins you have no such businesses as these to transact with men you may have business with them which your estates depend upon or which touch your credit commodity or lives but you have no business with men unless in subordination to God which your salvation doth depend upon your eternal happiness is not in their hands They may kill your bodies if God permit them but not your souls You need not sollicite them to pardon your sins against God It is a small matter how you are judged of by man you have one that judgeth you even the Lord 1 Cor. 4. 3 4. No man can forgive sin but God only O then how early how earnestly should you cry to him for mercy Pardon must be obtained now or never There is no Justification for that man at the day of Judgement that is not forgiven and iustified now Blessed then is the man whose iniquity is forgiven whose sin is covered and to whom it is not imputed by the Lord Rom. 4. 7 8. And wo to that man that ever he was born that is then found without the pardon of his sins Think of this as the case deserves and then think if you can that your daily business with God is small 5. Moreover you have Peace of Conscience to obtain and that dependeth upon your Peace with God Conscience will be your accuser condemner and tormenter if you make it not your friend by making God your friend Consider what Conscience hath to say against you and how certainly it will speak home when you would be loth to hear it and bethink you how to answer all its accusations and what will be necessary to make it a messenger of Peace and then think your business with God to be but small if you are able It is no easie matter to get assurance that God is reconciled to you and that he hath forgiven all your sins 6. In order to all this you must be united to Jesus Christ and be made his members that you may have part in him and that he may wash you by his blood and that he may answer for you to his Father woe to you if he be not your righteousness and if you have not him to plead your cause and take upon him your final justification None else can save you from the wrath of God And he is the Saviour only of his body Eph. 5. 23. He hath dyed for you without your own consent and he hath made an universal conditional grant of pardon and salvation before you consented to it But he will not be united to you nor actually forgive and justifie and save you without your own consent And therefore that the Father may draw you to the Son and may give you Christ and Life in him 1 Joh. 5. 9 10 11. when all your hope dependeth on it you may see that you have more to do with God then your senseless hearts have hitherto understood 7. And that you may have a saving interest in Jesus Christ you must have sound Repentance for all your former life of wickedness and a lively effectual faith in Christ Neither sin nor Christ must be made light of Repentance must tell you to the very heart that you have done foolishly in sining and that it is an evil and a bitter thing that you forsook the Lord and that his fear was not in you and thus your wickedness shall correct you and reprove you Jer. 2. 19. And Faith must tell you that Christ is more necessary to you then food or life and that there is no other name given under heaven by which you can be saved Act. 4. 12. And it is not so easie nor so common a thing to Repent and Believe as ignorant presumptuous sinners do imagine It is a greater matter to have a truly humbled contrite heart and to loath your selves for all your sins and to loath those sins and resolvedly give up your selves to Christ and to his Spirit for a holy life then heartlesly and hypocritically to say I am sorry or I Repent without any true Contrition or Renovation And it is a greater matter to betake your selves to Jesus Christ as your only hope to save you both from sin and from damnation then barely through custom and the benefit of education to say I do believe in Christ. I tell you it is so great a work to bring you to sound Repentance and Faith that it must be done by the power of God himself Act. 5. 31. 2 Tim. 2. 25. They are the Gift of God Eph. 2. 8. you must have his spirit to illuminate you Eph. 1. 18. and shew you the odiousness of fin the intolerableness of the wrath of God the necessity and sufficiency the power and willingness of Christ and to overcome all your prejudice and save you from your false opinions and deceits and to repulse the temptations of Satan the world and the flesh which will all rise up against you All this must be done to bring you home to Jesus Christ or else you will have no part in him his righteousness and grace And can you think that you have not most important business with God who must do all this upon you or else you are undone for ever 8. Moreover you must have all the corruptions of your natures healed and your sins subdued and your hearts made new by sanctifying grace and the Image of God implanted in you and your lives made holy and sincerely conformable to the will of God All this must be done or you cannot be acceptable to God nor ever will be saved Though your carnal interest rise against it though your old corrupted natures be against it though your custome and pleasure and worldly gain and honour be against it
the living And so it containeth all the former in their highest perfection that is both Natural Life and Moral-Spiritual Life and the holy exercise thereof together with the full attainment and fruition of God in Glory the End of all ETERNAL That is simply eternal objectively as to God the principal object and Eternal ex parte post subjectively that is Everlasting THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL Not Natural life in it self considered as the Devils and wicked men shall have it But 1. It is the same Moral-Spiritual Life which shall have no End but endure to Eternity It is a Living to God in Love But only initial and very imperfect here in comparison of what it will be in Heaven 2. It is the Eternal felicity 1. Seminally for Grace is as it were a seed of Glory 2. As it is the Necessary way or means of attaining it and that preparation which infallibly procureth it The Perfect Holiness of the Saints in Heaven will be one part of their perfect happiness And this Holiness imperfect they have here in this life It is the same God that we know and love here and there and with a Knowledge and Love that is of the same nature seminally As the egg is of the nature of the Bird Whether it may be properly said to be formally and specifically the same quoad actum as well as quoad objectum yea whether the Objectum clare visum and the objectum in speculo vel aenigmate visum make not the act specifically differ I shall not trouble you to dispute And this imperfect Holiness hath the promise of Perfect Holiness and Happiness in the full fruition of God hereafter So it is the Seed and Prognostick of Life Eternal TO KNOW Non semper ubique eodem modo vel gradu Not to know God here and hereafter in the same manner or degree But to know him here as in a glass and hereafter in his Glory as face to face To know him by an Affective Practical knowledge There is no Text of Scripture of which the rule is more clearly true and necessary than of this that Words of Knowledge do imply affection It is the closure of the whole soul with God which is here called the knowing of God And because it is not meet to name every particular act of the soul when ever this duty is mentioned it is all denominated from Knowledge as the first Act which inferreth all the rest 1. Knowledge of God in the Habit is Spiritual Life as a Principle 2. Knowledge of God in the exercise is Spiritaal Life as an employment 3. The Knowledge of God in perfection with its effects is Life Eternal as it signifieth full felicity What it containeth I shall further shew anon THEE That is The Father called by some Divines Fons vel fundamentum Trinitatis the fountain or foundation of the Trinity and oft used in the same sense as the word GOD to signifie the pure Deity THE ONLY He that believeth that there is more Gods than One believeth not in any For though he may give many the Name yet the description of the true God can agree to none of them He is not God indeed if he be not One only This doth not at all exclude Jesus Christ as the second person in Trinity but only distinguisheth the pure Deity or the Only true God as such from Jesus Christ as Mediator between God and man TRUE There are many that falsly and Metaphorically are called Gods If we think of God but as one of these it is not to know him but deny him GOD The word GOD doth not only signifie the Divine perfections in himself but also his Relation to the Creatures To be a God to us is to be one to whom we must ascribe all that we are or have and one whom we must Love and obey and honour with all the powers of soul and body and one on whom we totally depend and from whom we expect our judgement and reward in whom alone we can be perfectly blessed AND JESUS CHRIST That is As Mediator in his Natures God and man and in his Office and Grace WHOM THOU HAST SENT That is whom thy Love and Wisdom designed and commissioned to this undertaking and performance The Knowledge of the Holy Ghost seemeth here left out as if it were no part of life Eternal But 1. At that time the Holy Ghost in that Eminent sort as sent by the Father and Son on the Apostles after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ was not yet so manifested as afterwards and therefore not so necessarily to be distinctly known and believed in as after The having of the Spirit being of more necessity than the distinct knowledge of him Certain it is that the Disciples were at first very dark in this article of faith And Scripture more fully revealeth the necessity to salvation of believing in the Father and Son than in the Holy Ghost distinctly yet telling us that if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. 2. But presently after when the Spirit was to be sent the necessity of believing in him is expressed especially in the Apostles Commission to Baptize all Nations that were made Disciples in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Doct. THe Knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ the Mediator is the Life of Grace and the necessary way to the life of Glory As James distinguisheth between such a dead faith as Devils and wicked men had and such a living and working faith as was proper to the justified so must we here of the Knowledge of God Many profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. There is a form of knowledge which the unbelievers had Rom. 2. 22. and a knowledge which puffeth up and is void of Love which hypocrites have 1 Cor. 8. 1. 13. But no man spiritually knoweth the things of God but by the spirit And they that rightly know his name will put their trust in him Psal. 9 10. Thus he giveth the regenerate a heart to know him Jer. 24. 7. and the new creature is renewed in knowledge Col. 3. 10. And vengeance shall be poured out on them that know not God 2 Thes. 1. 8. This saving Knowledge of God which is Eternal Life containeth and implyeth in it all these acts 1. The understandings apprehesion of God according to the necessary articles of faith 2. A Belief of the truth of these articles that God is and is such as he is therein described 3. An high estimation of God accordingly 4. A Volition complacency or Love to him as God the chiefest Good 5. A Desiring after him 6. A Choosing him with the rejection of all competitors 7. A Consent that he be our God and a giving up our selves to him as his people 8. An intending him as our Ultimate End in
Tertullian in the Churches Creed speaks misit vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat O that men knew how much of their well-fare dependeth on a faithful obeying of the Holy Ghost CHAP. XIII 12. THe next part of our Knowledge of God is to know him in those great consequent Relations to which he is entitled by Creation and Redemption viz. as he is Our Absolute Lord or Owner our most Righteous Governour and ou most Bountiful or Gracious Father or Benefactor 1. God both as our Creator and Redeemer hath Jus Dominii an Absolute Dominion of the world that is He is our Owner or Proprietary and we are his Own For we take not the term Lordship or Dominion here in the looser sense as it signifieth a Ruler but in the stricter sense as it signifieth an Owner Of this Relation I have already spoken in a Sermon of Christs Dominion and therefore shall say the less in this place The Knowledge of Gods Dominion or Propriety must comprehend 1. The certain truth of this his right 2. The fulness of it 3. The effects that it must have on us I. And the Truth of it is beyond dispute even among Infidels that know there is a God He that made us of his own materials or of nothing must needs be the Owner of us And so must he that Bought us from destruction Ezek. 18. 4. Behold all souls are Mine Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ both dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Joh. 16. 14 15. All things that the Father hath are Mine The Father then hath this Propriety by Creation and the son by Redemption and the Father also by communication with the Son in Redemption and the Son by communication with the Father in Creation II. And it must be the most Absolute Plenary Dominion because the very Being of all the Creatures is from God and therefore no one can be co-ordinate with him or his corrival nor any thing limit his Interest in us III. And the effects that this must have upon us are these following 1. Hence we must conclude and reverently and willingly consess that further then he voluntarily doth oblige himself to us it is impossible that God should be our Debtor and consequently that upon terms of commutative Justice we should Merit any thing of God For what can we render to him but his Own And how should he properly and Antecedently be indebted to and for his Own 2. And we must conclude that antecedently to his Laws and promise it is impossible that God can do us any wrong or any thing that he can do can be guilty of injustice For Justice giveth to all their Own and therefore it giveth Nothing to us from God but what he voluntarily giveth us himself which therefore is first a gift of Bounty and but secondarily a Due in Justice 3. And therefore we must hence learn that God may do with his own as he list And therefore we must take heed that we repine not at any of his Decrees or Providences or any passages concerning them in his word Much may be above us because our blindness cannot reach the reasons of his wayes but nothing is unreasonable or evil For all proceedeth from Infinite Wisdom and Goodness as well as from Omnipotency As no man must feign any thing of God and say This is his Decree or Word or Providence and therefore it is good when there is no such thing revealed to us so when we find that it is indeed Revealed our Reason must presently submit and undoubtedly conclude it reasonable and good Yet is there no cause from hence to fear lest God should condemn the innocent or break his promises and deny us the reward nor is there any hope to wicked men that he should violate his peremptory threatnings or as they call it in their selfish language be better then his word Because though God have an Absolute Propriety and therefore in regard of his interest or Power may do what he Will yet he is essentially also most Wise and Good and accordingly hath fitted all things to their use and taken upon him the Relation of our Governour and as it were obliged himself by his Laws and Covenants and declared himself to be most Just and shewed us hereby that he Will do nothing contrary to these As there is no contradiction but most perfect Unity in Gods Omnipotency Wisdom and Goodness his Dominion or Propriety his Kingdom and Paternity so shall there be no contradiction but a perfect Concord of all these in the exercise He therefore that as our King or Governour hath undertaken to advance the Godly and destroy the wicked will not by the exercise of his Absolute Dominion deny himself nor be unfaithful to his people or to his rules of Government If you ask me in what cases then this Dominion is exercised I answer 1. In laying the Foundations of laws and Right 2. In the Disposal of the unreasonable Creatures 3. In abundance of things about his Rational Creatures wherein as Rector he is not engaged nor hath in his Laws declared his will As about the various constitutions and complexions of men their ranks and dignities in the world their riches or poverty their health or sickness their gifts and parts both natural and acquired the first giving of the Gospel and of special Grace to such as had forfeited them and had no promise of them the degrees of outward means and mercies the degrees of inward grace more then what is promised c. From hence also we must learn not to repine at the providences of God about his Church which are strange to us and past our reach and seem to make against it wellfare Remember that as he may do with his own as he list so we have no reason to think that he will be lavish or disregardful of his own The Church is not ours but Gods and therefore he is fitter then we to be trusted with it And so in our own distresses by affliction when flesh repineth let us remember that we are his Own and he may do with us as he please If we be poor despised sick and miserable in the world let us remember that as it is no injury to the beasts that they are not men or to the worms that they are not beasts or to the plants that they have not sense or to the stars that they are not suns so it is no wrong to the subjects that they are not Princes or to the poor that they are not rich or to the sick that they are not healthful May not God do with his own as he list shall a Beggar grudge that you give not all that he desireth when you are not bound to give him any thing 4. Yea hence we must learn to be the more Thankful for all our mercies because they proceed from the Absolute Lord that was not obliged to us He might have made
powerfully illuminate Many among men have pretended to Infallibility that never could justifie their pretensions but have confuted them by their own mistakes and crimes But none can deny the Infallibility of God He never yet was deceived or did deceive He erreth not nor teacheth errour Nicodemus knew Christ was to believed when he knew that he was a Teacher come from God Joh. 3. 2. Christ knew that the Jews themselves durst not deny the truths of John's Doctrine if he could but convince them that it was from Heaven and not of men It is impossible for God to lye It is the Devil that was a Lyar from the beginning and is yet the Father of lyes No wonder if they believe lyes that follow such a Teacher And those that follow the flesh and the world do follow the Devil They that will believe what their fleshly interest and lusts perswade them to believe do believe what the Devil perswadeth them to believe For he perswadeth them by these and for these What marvel then if there be found men in the world that can believe that Holiness is Hypocrisie or a needless thing that those are the worst men that are most careful to please God that the world is more worthy of their care and labour than their salvation is that the pleasures of sin for a season are more desirable than the everlasting happiness of the Saints that cards and dice and mirth and lust and wealth and honour are matters more delectable than Prayer and meditating on the Word of God and loving him and obeying him and waiting in the hopes of life eternal that gluttons and drunkards and whoremongers and covetous persons may enter into the Kingdom of God c. What wonder if a thousand such damnable lyes are believed by the Disciples of the Father of lyes what wonder if there are so many Saint-haters and God-haters in the world as to fill the earth with persecutions and cruelties or make a scorn of that which God most highly valueth and all this under pretences of Order or Unity or Justice or something that is good and therefore fit to palliate their sin Is there any thing so false or foul or wicked that Satan will not teach his followers Is he grown modest or moderate or holy or just Is he reconciled to Christ to Scripture to Godliness or to the Godly Or is his Kingdom of darkness at an end and hath he lost the earth Or are men therefore none of the servants of the Devil because they were baptized as Simon Magus was and call and think themselves the servants of Christ As if still it were not the art by which he gets and keeps Disciples to suffer them to wear the livery of Christ and to use his name that he may thus keep possession of them in peace who else would be frighted from him and fly to Christ He will give them leave to study Arts and Sciences and to understand things excellent of inferiour use so be it they will be deceived by him in the matters of God and their salvation He can allow them to be learned Lawyers excellent Physicians Philosophers Politicians to be skilful Artists so be it they will follow him in sin to their damnation and will overlook the Truth that should set them free Joh. 8. 32. Yea he will permit them when there 's no remedy to study the holy Scriptures if he may but be the expounder and applyer of it Yea he will permit them notionally to understand it if they will not learn by it to be converted to be holy and to be saved He can suffer them to be eminent Divines so they will not be serious Christians Thus is the world by the grand Deceiver hurried in darkness to perdition being taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26. But the Sanctified are all illuminated by the Holy Ghost by whom their eyes are so effectually opened that they are turned from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. The Father of Glory hath given them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ that the eyes of their understanding being enlightned they may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1. 17 18. Certainly that illumination of the Holy Ghost which is so often mentioned in Scripture as given to all true believers is not a fansie nor an insignificant name And if it signifie any thing it signifieth somewhat that is much above the teaching of man All that walk with God are taught of God! And can man teach like God God hath accesse unto the heart and there he doth transcribe his Laws and put them into our inward parts And they that walk with him have not only his Word to read but his Spirit to help them to understand it and being with him in his family yea he dwelleth in them and they in him he is ready at hand to resolve their doubts when he gave them his fear he gave them the beginning of wisdom Psal. 111. 10. He causeth them to incline their ear to wisdom Prov. 2. 2 6. and to apply their hearts unto it Psal. 90. 12. and maketh them to know it in the hidden parts Psal. 51. 6. It is his Law that they have determined to make their rule They live as under his authority They are more observant of his Will and Government than of any Laws or Government of man And as they obey man in and for the Lord so they do it in subordination to him and therefore not against him and his Laws which being the standard of Justice and the Rule of Rulers and of subjects both they are in the safest way of unerring wisdom who walk with God according to that Rule and refuse to turn aside though commanded by man or enticed by Satan the world or flesh 5. He that walketh with God is the most considerate person and therefore hath great advantage to be wise The frequent and serious thoughts of God do awaken all the powers of the soul so that drowsiness doth not hinder the understanding and so occasion its deceit There is scarce a more common and powerful cause of mens folly and delusion and perdition in all the world than that sleepiness and stupidity which hindereth Reason from the vigorous performance of its office In this sensless case though a man both know and consider of the same Truths which in their nature are most powerful to cleanse and govern and save his soul yet sluggishness doth enervate them He knoweth them as if he knew them not and considereth them as if he never thought of them They work little more upon him then if he believed them not or had never heard of them even as a dream of the greatest matters moveth not the sleeper from his pillow In this senslesse state the Devil can do almost any thing with a sinner He can
make him sin against his knowledge And when Conscience hath frighted him into some kind of Penitence and made him cry out I have sinned and done foolishly and caused him to promise to do so no more yet doth the Devil prevail with him to go on and to break his promises as if he had never been convinced of his sins or confessed them or seen any reason or necessity to amend He doth but imprison the truth in unrighteousness and bury it in a senseless heart whereas if you could but awaken all the powers of his soul to give this same truth its due entertainment and take it deeper into his heart it would make him even scorn the baits of sin and see that the ungodly are beside themselves and make him presently resolve and set upon a holy life And hence it is that sickness which causeth men to receive the sentence of death doth usually make men bewail their former sinful lives and marvail that they could be before so sottish as to resist such known and weighty truths and it makes them purpose and promise reformation and wish themselves in the case of those that they were wont before to deride and scorn Because now the Truth is deeplier received and digested by their awakened souls and appeareth in its proper evidence and strength There is no man but must acknowledge that the same truth doth at one time command his soul which at another time seems of little force It is a wonder to observe how differently the same consideration worketh with a man when he is awakened and when he is in a secure stupid case Now this is his advantage that walks with God He is much more frequently then others awakened to a serious apprehension of the things which he understandeth The thoughts of the presence of the most Holy God will not suffer him to be as secure and senseless as others are or as he is himself when he turneth aside from this Heavenly conversation He hath in God such exceeding transcendent excellencies such Greatness such Goodness continually to behold that it keepeth his soul in a much more serious lively state than any other means could keep it in so that when ever any truth or duty is presented to him all his saculties are awake and ready to observe it and improve it A Sermon or a good book or godly conference or a mercy when a man hath been with God in prayer or contemplation will relish better with him and sink much deeper then at another time Nay one serious thought of God himself will do more to make a man truly and solidly wise then all the reading and learning in the world which shuts him out 6. Walking with God doth fix the mind and keep it from diversions and vagaries and consequently much helpeth to make men wise A stragling mind is empty and unfurnished He that hath no dwelling for the most part hath no wealth Wandering is the beggars life Men do but bewilder and lose themselves and not grow wise whose thoughts are ranging in the corners of the earth and are like masterlesse dogs that run up and down according to their fansie and may go any whether but have business nowhere The creature will not fix the soul But God is the center of all our cogitations In him only they may unite and fix and rest He is the only loadstone that can effectually attract and hold it steadfast to himself Therefore he that walks with God is the most constant and unmoveable of men Let prosperity or adversity come let the world be turned upside-down and the mountains be hurled into the sea yet he changeth not Let men allure or threat let them scorn or rage let laws and customs and governments and interest change he is still the same For he knoweth that God is still the same and that his Word changeth not Let that be death one year which was the way to reputation another and let the giddy world turn about as the seasons of the year this changeth not his mind and life though in things lawful he is of a yeilding temper For he knoweth that the interest of his soul doth not change with the humours or interests of men He still feareth sinning for he knoweth that Judgement is still drawing on in all changes and seasons whatsoever He is still set upon the pleasing of the most Holy God whoever be uppermost among men as knowing that the God whom he serveth is able to deliver him from man but man is not able to deliver him from God He still goeth on in the Holy path as knowing that Heaven is as sure and as desirable as ever it was Psal. 112. 6 7. Surely he shall not be moved for ever the Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance He shall not be afraid of evil tydings His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord His heart is established he shall not be afraid 7. He that walketh with God hath the great master-truths upon his heart which are the standard of the rest and the stock as it were out of which they spring The great truths about God and Grace and Glory have a greater power then many hundred truths of an inferiour nature And moreover such a one is sure that he shall be wise in the greatest and most necessary points He is guilty of no ignorance or errour that shall keep him out of heaven or hinder his acceptance with his God And if he be wise enough to please God and to be saved he is wise indeed as before was â—inted 8. Walking with God doth take off the vizar of deluding things and keepeth us out of the reach and power of those objects and arguments which are the instruments of deceit When a man hath been believingly and seriously with God how easily can he see through the sophistry of the tempting world How easily can he practically consute the reasonings of the flesh and discern the dotage of the seeming subtilties of wicked men that will needs think they have reason for that which is displeasing to their Maker and tends to the damning of their souls so far as a man is conversant with God so far he is sensible that all things are nothing which can be offered as a price to hire him to sin and that the name of preferment and honour and wealth or of disgrace and imprisonment and death are words almost of no signification as to the tempters ends to draw the soul from God and duty It is men that know not God and know not what it is to walk with him that think these words so big and powerful to whom wealth and honour signifie more then God and Heaven and poverty disgrace and death do signifie more then Gods displeasure and everlasting punishment in hell As it is easie to cheat a man that is far from the light so is it easie to deceive the learnedst man that is far from God 9. Walking with God doth greatly help us against the deceitfulness