is express in it The righteousness of God is upon them that believe Rom. 3.22 All that believe are justified Act. 13.39 And we have believed that we might be justified Gal. 2.16 And Justification is in order before Sanctification I suppose the Holy Spirit with its Graces will not dwell in an unreconciled Soul Under the Law in cleansing the Leper first the Priest put the blood on him and then the holy oyl upon the place where the blood was Levit. 14.14 17. The Believer first in order hath the atoning Blood put on him and then the holy Unction of the Spirit According to this order Faith is first of all But if Faith and all other Graces are infused at once and together then either they are infused before Justification and so Sanctification is before Justification or else after it and so Justification is before Faith Fifthly This way there will be a congruity between the old Creatiowand the new In the old Light was the first-born of the Creation and then the other parts of the World were made in the new the first thing is the light of Faith and then follow those Graces which make up the New Creature Beholding as in a glass the glory of God we are changed into his image 2 Cor. 3.16 First the eye of Faith is opened and then the Image of God drawn on the Soul this congruity is the rather to be minded because the Apostle speaking of the Creation of Faith doth it with an allusion to the Creation of Light God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 As if he had said Light in the old Creation and Faith in the new answer one to another Sixthly This way there will be a congruity between Christ formed in the womb and Christ formed in the bea rt The blessed Virgin first believed and then Christ was formed in her Womb Concetio Christi facta fuit simul ac Maria in verba Angeli consentiens dixit Ecce ancilla Domini De Incarnat lib. 2. Quest 7. siat mihi secundum verbum tuum Luk. 1.38 saith Zanchy No sooner did she say an Amen of Faith to the Promise but Christ was conceived in her therefore after her Faith the Angel immediately departed from her as having his errand already dispatched answerably the Christian first believes and then Christ is formed in him in all those sanctifying Graces which make up the holy Image of Christ The Apostles expressing those Graces under the notion of forming Christ in us Gal. 4.19 seems to hint out this Congruity Seventhly This way there will be a Congruity between the being of these Graces and the acting of them whilest both proceed from Faith depending upon Christ the head of Grace The Believers life is in Scripture called a life of Faith not as if there were not Love Meekness Obedience Patience with all the other Graces in him but because Faith is the grand principle which moves every one of them Faith worketh by love saith the Apostle Gal. 5.6 and so it worketh by Meekness Obedience Patience and all other Graces being as it were blood and spirits running in every part of the New Creature All Graces are set a working by Faith and if they also receive their being through it there is a Congruity between their being and working Upon these Congruities I take it that Faith is first in order and then other Graces As to the actual exercise of Graces It is Faith which sets them all a working To this purpose it is observable That all the worthy acts of Grace mentioned in the 11th Chapter to the Hebrews are there ascribed to Faith so is Abels excellent Sacrifice Enochs walking with God Noahs holy fear of the deluge Abrahams obedience in leaving his Country Moses 's self-denial as to the Egyptian Court The valour of some Worthies in subduing Kingdoms and the patience of others in suffering torments for the truth The reason of which is because Faith is the first mover which sets all other Graces a-moving the General under whose conduct all Graces come forth in their courses therfore the honour of all is devolved upon it Now how Faith sets other Graces a-working I shall first shew in a general way common to all of them and then more particularly with respect to some special Graces In general Faith sets other Graces in motion by such ways as these First It looks on the Command which in Scripture calls for these Graces as the very Will of God And so presses for Obedience many ways as first from the Divine Authority of it In the word of a King there is power much more in the word of a God when known to be such In the Council of Triburia a fancy touching an Episile come from Heaven made impression in some of them Had it been really known to be so indeed the impression would have been deeper At the sound of the Command Faith knows that it is the Lord that the voice is from the excellent glory and in that Authority presses to Obedience But this is not all besides Gods Authority it urges from his Love It is saith Faith the voice of thy beloved thy dear Father in Heaven who hath cast his cords and bands of Love round about thee to draw thee to himself and then the Heart must needs feel constraints and holy inflammations to Obedience and be like St. Peter who when he knew it was the Lord girt himself and made towards him Gods Love hath dropt sweetness into the Command and made all easie Moreover to make the stronger impulse on the Believer Faith demonstrates That the Command is just and right and good that holy Love and Patience and other Graces of the first Table are pure rectitudes wherein Man stands in his true posture towards God his Goodness or Providence or some other thing in him And also that Justice and Temperance and Charity are rectitudes wherein he stands in a true posture towards others or himself for Gods sake And a Command so known moves so strongly towards Obedience that a man who would pay his debts to God or his Neighbour or himself cannot must not repugn Secondly Faith looks not only upon the letter of the Command but upon the life of Christ Where all Graces are set forth in lively and orient colours really and practically exemplified to our view Precepts possibly may have more of notion in them but Examples have more of vivacity to attract the heart to imitation above all the Example of Christ must be cogent to Believers he went up and down doing of good every step one odour of Grace or other brake from him Subjection to Parents or Magistrates or Zeal towards God in purging the Temple or Humility in washing his Disciples feet or Meekness under malicious accusations and blasphemies or melting bowels upon all occasions dropping
a thing above moral virtue There is a vâ—st difference between moral virtues and spiritual graces the seeds of moral virtues are found in lapsed nature but of spiritual graces there are none at all in it nothing but a naked capacity Moral virtues do from those natural seeds bud and spring forth into being under the common influence of the spirit but spiritual graces not being seeded in nature are meer infusions or creations the seed of God must drop down from heaven into the heart or else these cannot exist hence the Apostle in contradistinction to the virtues of men calls them the virtues of God 1 Pet. 2.9 such a thing is faith of a nobler extraction then all the moral virtues in the world Thirdly This precious Faith advances both our natural faculties and our moral virtues It advances our natural faculties and so shews it self what it is grace is nature elevated above it self a reason with an heavenly light in it a will with an holy law in it and affections as it were upon the wings of Angels soaring into the upper world After such sort doth faith elevate the humane faculties when faith comes God shines into the heart and then the Reason which before had a cloud on it sparkles out as a pearl in the Sun-beams the day-star is up in the heart and whilest others live by candlelight the believer hath the Sun then the will which lay in its lusts as a slave in its chains is set upon the wheel and made free indeed then the affections which conversed among the tombs of the creatures are no longer here but are risen with Christ to seek the things above Moreover it advances moral virtues also it grafts them upon a nobler stock they are no longer meer blossoms of reason but fruits of the spirit Josephus relating the patience of the Maccabees under the torments of the bloody Antiochus cryes up Reason Reason as if that were the rock upon which they stood but sure he speaks below them a greater then reason was there even faith as the Apostle asserts Heb. 11.35 a higher spirit then their own acted in their patience and elevated it above meer morality Again meer moral virtues issuing meerly out of our own reason are apt to breed a moth of pride and vain self-reflection here we find the Moralist crowing after a strange rate Beatae vitae causa firmamentum est sibi sidere turpe est Deos fatigare Sence Epist 31. quid votis apus est fac te felicem exurge te dignum singe Deo as if he would have no other happiness but what was of his own making but when Faith comes off go the plumes of pride and humility is as a vail over all the moral virtues I live in temperance and justice saith the believing Moralist yet not I but Christ liveth in me Add hereunto meer moral virtues in their intention rise no higher then their own level of humanity but when faith comes there is a pearl in the head a pure intention in each of them towards the glory of God he that before was temperate to himself just to others and patient to necessity is now all these to God Feci Deo is the Motto of every moral act To conclude what sweet and strong motives Faith adds unto moral virtues may appear in the famous instance of Justus Lipsius Melch. Adam Vit. Philosoph that great humanist and admirer of Morality who in his last sickness being told by one present that he might now fetch much comfort from the Stoical Philosophers made this answer Illa sunt vana Domine Jesu da mihi patientiam Christianam those are but vain things Lord Jesus give me a Christian patience Thus much touching Faith in general CHAP. II. Of the special nature of Faith and here of Spiritual Illumination the first ingredient therein What it is with the necessity thereof unto Faith demonstrated THE next thing is to consider Faith in its special nature and here the first thing in order is supernatural illumination touching which I shall first shew what that is and then demonstrate the necessity of it to Faith And first what it is it is God shining into the heart and lighting our candle to make us discern divine things in a spiritual way It is an illumination above nature subjectively and not objectively only it is a thing above reason and all its improvements made upon external objects reason may be taken in a double posture either sitting with the glass of the creatures before it and so it is meerly the light of nature or else sitting with the glass of the Scriptures before it and so it is a notional knowledge of Divinity but this supernatural light is above reason in both these postures First take reason with the creature-glass before it and this supernatural light is much above it And here I might shew how much the Scripture-glass excells that of the creature the divine words there out-shine the Sun out-weigh the earth out-vye all the treasures and out-relish all the sweetnesses in nature God is more glorious in the Scripture-robes then in all the visible world his chariot in the word is statelier then that in the clouds Evangelical light is a richer garment upon him then meer natural in the creature there is but a print or footstep of God but in the Scripture there is his very image and resemblance Also which is a consequent on the former this supernatural light having the purer glass is of a far greater latitude then meer reason it spreads it self into many mysteries which never entred into natural reason but were hid from ages in the divine mind it takes a view of those rare Evangelical pearls which were never digged out of reasons mine but dropt down from heaven unto the sons of men But because the comparison of these two lights as to their outward glasses and latitudes is not so pertinent I shall compare them as to their inward natures and only in such things as both of them extend unto and a vast difference will appear between them First Reason is a far lower light then that of Faith in natural light Reason is the very faculty but in supernatural it is but a capacity God must shine into the heart there must be light upon light supernatural upon natural or else there is no faith David prays open or as the original hath it reveal thou mine eyes Psal 119.18 There is in faith a revelation of eyes and not of objects only the Apostle speaks of being renewed in the very spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 the rational spirit is the candle of the Lord but unless it be new lighted it is too dim since the fall to believe the things of God Secondly Reason is a far weaker light then that of Faith It is a light shining in darkness and after all its glimmerings it leaves but a foolish heart and vain imaginations Rom. 1.21 it is as a little spark 〈◊〉 an
reason with the Gospel before him arrive at so great a notion of Divinity as is before admitted I answer the key to open this is in the Text the natural man cannot know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned A man by reason and its furniture of learning may in the perusal of the holy Scriptures gather up a world of notions and so know the things of God notionally but he knows them not spiritually and by consequence not congruously to their spiritual nature For the opening of this we must consider that there is in the holy Scriptures something humane or which may be inventoried among the things of man as the letters and words made up of them and sentences made up of words not as if these were not dictated exactly by God himself but that they are common to humane and profane Authors I mean not for the divineness of the matter but for the phrases and forms of speech And there is in them something Divine or which must be computed among the things of God as the mysteries and spiritual things themselves which are represented by those words and phrases I may illustrate this distinction farther by that of our Saviour If I have told you earthly things and you believe them not how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things Joh. 3.12 I pray what earthly things did our Saviour tell them was not he there preaching on that divine Theme of Regeneration Very true but Christ spake to them of Regeneration under the shadow of a birth and a wind and not according to the heavenly and spiritual nature thereof in it self Thus the words and phrases in Scripture being of common use are as it were humane types and shadows but the mysteries and spiritual things themselves are altogether divine Now to apply this distinction reason improved reaching to the things of man as its proper line may know the words and sentences in Scripture and so gather up a great notion of Divinity But unless inlightned by the holy Spirit which searcheth the things of God it goeth not beyond its own line it knows not spiritual things spiritually Reason without the light of faith Take it in a Jew at a Sacrifice and it saw the type only and not Christ in it Take it in a Christian at the holy Supper and it sees only the outward elements and discerns not the Lords body Take it in the greatest Rabbi sitting with the Scriptures before him and it sees them only in the shell or letter and not in the mystery And no wonder for even in common Sciences it may be so a man may construe and know the Grammar of a principle in Euclide and yet be ignorant of the Mathematical sense of it much more in divine truths may a man be spiritually ignorant who knows a great deal literally Therefore all Scholars may do well in their studies to do as Zuinglius did who having arrived at Arts and Tongues yet in the reading of the holy Scriptures looked up to heaven As for the great Doctor the holy Spirit when he comes in supernatural illumination then we know the things of God not by our own spirit but Gods the very same spirit which breaths in the Scriptures shines in the heart Hence spiritual things are discerned spiritually by a light congruous to their nature the spirit glorifies and shews forth Christ as the expression is John 16.14 Holy truths are as it were transfigured and shewn forth in glory which before were seen but in the flesh or weakness of the Letter the Deity sparkles out in the beauty and spiritual lustre of Scripture-mysteries which before only appeared in the humanity of words and phrases Now heaven opens and free-grace passes before us the secret of the Lord is with us and we are of his Privy Councel This is the first and fundadamental difference Reason with all it s acquired notions is not a light congruous to spiritual things but the light of Faith is Out of this all the other are derived Secondly Meer Reason digging in the Letter of Scripture arrives but at notions and shadows of knowledg and though these be as the sands on the sea shore they are but a form of knowledg Rom. 2.20 but when the light of faith comes there is sound wisdom Prov. 3.21 or as the original word is essence a thing which can no more be made up of meer notions then a body can of shadows Faith is the substance or subsistence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 Without it notions and literal knowledge have no hypostasis in the heart the spiritual world is as it were lost God and Christ and Heaven are but notions But as soon as faith comes and makes the day-break in the heart the spiritual world subsists afresh God is God and Christ is Christ and Heaven is Heaven to the soul all of them are reallized by faith there is a good treasure in the heart far more substantial then Arts and Tongues and School-notions can make Thirdly Reason with its notions arrives but at a knowledge falsly so called for it knows not the things of God as they are proposed to be known those things are proposed to be known not as meer notions but as practical things to be in the first place chosen loved embraced and practised but it knows them only notionally and not practically That knowledge whilest materially true hath a secret lye in it thus the Apostle He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandements is a lyar and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 2.4 'T is not in him in a practical way so as to ballance the will and affections with the excellency of the things known but as soon as faith comes those things are known as they are proposed to be known as practical things to be improved in heart and life The supernatural light digests truths into blood and spirits and turns mysteries into godliness It knows Law and Gospel in their true tendency which is holiness not to be holy is to blast and prophane the meaning of both Fourthly The meer notional knowledge acquired by reason hath no spiritual life or sense in it it hath no life in it meer notions are but a dead faith but faith is a living notion In an unbeliever the notions are all dead affording no pulse of holy affections or motion of true obedience they are all buried in a grave of corruption and covered in the dust of earthly things But as soon as faith comes there is a resurrection in the soul the notions before dead now wake out of the dust and rise in life and power every truth lives in the heart and springs up into the new-creature This supernatural knowledge is a well-spring of life Prov. 16.22 and all the vital acts of grace stream from thence Nay as our Saviour tells us it is life eternal John 17.3 heaven doth dawn and appear in it Meer notional knowledg hath no spiritual sense in it
Chron. 20.12 we know not but thou knowest how to deliver there is nothing but confusion below but all is clear and serene in thy wise counsels there is no one way or method of deliverance in our reason but there are insinite millions of ways and methods with thee Such a faith as this made Luther in the troubles of the Church cry out That it was far otherwise concluded in heaven then at Norimberg and in the blackest tempest inspirits the believer to do as the Mariners in the Acts cast anchor and wish for the day roll himself on the wise God and wait for the dawning of comfort from him Thirdly Faith yields up the soul for instruction unto the word And here are three things considerable First Faith resigns to the word as a warrant for both the former resignations If you ask a believer why he presumes so far as to go to Christ and God for the teachings of the spirit his answer will be this I find in the word divers promises that we shall be taught of God that the spirit shall lead us into all truth that there is an holy annointing dropping from Christ which teacheth all things And all these promises are very true the counterpanes of Gods heart and exactly congruous to the grace there God speaks in them and without complement he speaks as he means therefore I resign up my soul unto Christ and God for instruction teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandements saith David Psal 119.66 where by commandements some Divines understand all the word including in it Promises as well as Commands however the believer hath a warrant to pray teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy promises of instruction Secondly Faith resigns to the word as a rich mine and treasury of knowledge there are pretious ous mysteries such as have the divine wisdom flowing in them Them Hungarians have a tradition that their golden Crown dropt down from heaven to be sure the mysteries in Scripture did so they are pure Revelations come down from God to be as golden Crowns on the head of Faith The window of the Ark was as some Rabbins say a pretious stone which gave light to all the creatures and indeed the Original which we translate window Gen. 6.16 imports a splendor or clear light Understanding is our window but the Scripture mysteries make it a window of pearl Humane learning is but painted glass but these make windows of agates such as are in the taught of God Isa 54.12 13. These are riches of understanding pearls and intellectual rubies fit to be laid up in the very middle and Center of the heart There the holy precepts and precious promises beauties of holiness and glories of grace lye open to the embraces of Faith There the invisible God whose dwelling is in light unapproachable and whose pure glory our eyes cannot look on may be seen in the reflex in the Scripture image and condescension In a word so rich are the veins of knowledge there that faith as a day-labourer is ever digging therein to draw out a stock of holy understanding from it Thirdly Faith resigns to the word as the only way in which a man may be taught of God All men are ambitïous of so grand a priviledge The very Gentiles in the puddle of their filthy Idolatries thought themselves taught of God in their Oracles The Mahometans think themselves more sure of it in their Alcoran at which say they the devils themselves rejoyced and turned to God no question they rejoyed at such a bundle of lies and blasphemies but that they turned to God is a wild delusion The Jews boast themselves no less in their Oral Law which say they God delivered over to Moses and Moses to Joshua and Joshua to the Elders and they to the Prophets and they to the Sanhedrim and they at last to writing in the Talmud calling it lux illa magna that great light which yet is but a dark labyrinth of errors and horrible falsities The Papists run to their traditions and unwritten verities as Divine and so bring in a load of fopperies and vain superstitions The Enthusiasts cry up the spirit in an extra-scriptural way and so turn aside from the main principles of Religion In such false ways do men lose themselves and the Divine teaching whilest the believer knows where to sind it even in the Scriptures in reading them he sits at Christs feet and every where looks for Maschil instruction from God In them is the Oracle the Vrim and Thummim by which God answers him here he opens his heart and spreads abroad all his sails to take in the gales of the holy spirit and be filled in all the will of God Col. 4.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled with it as the sails are with the wind Whilest the Eunuch was reading the Prophet Esaias the spirit joined Philip to his chariot Act. 8.29 Whilest the believer hath his being in the Scriptures the spirit joyns himself to his heart and by the infusion of holy light makes him go on rejoycing in the way of knowledge Here and only here doth he wait to be taught of God such is and since the sealing up of the Canon ever hath been the way of knowledge And what of extraordinary dispensation hath been since hath either directly turned men to their Bibles Confess l. 8. c. 12. Melch. Adam in vità Zuinglii as the voice to St. Austin tolle lege tolle lege pointing him to the Scripture or else hath quoted or ratified some Scripture-truth Thus when it was objected to Zuinglius that the word est in Scripture-parables may be taken for significat but not in verbis coenae in the Sacramental phrases and his thoughts were busie about it an answer was suggested to him in a dream a monitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 telling him Quin ignare respondes ei quod in Exodo legitur est enim phase hoc est transitus Domini in which there is nothing extra-scriptural but a Scripture-instance given for that which before was a Scripture-truth the Scripture is the only place where we can look for Divine teaching To conclude that of the Father is remarkable qui sacrâ non utitur Scripturâ sed ascendit aliunde non concessâ viâ fur est he that goes not into knowledge by Scripture is a thief the believer keeps the divine road Thus far of the first thing resignation for instruction in the ways of God Secondly Faith resigns up the soul to be pardoned and justisied before God unto justification and pardon there are three things prae-required First An act of free grace in God All men are naturally sinners and as such Gods holiness cannot but hate them Gods justice cannot but punish them wherefore free-grace stepped in and found out a way how God who cannot justifie the ungodliness might yet justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 and that in a way of compliance both with his
cloud upon it and Guilt as a wound in it Make it as lightsome as thou canst from Scripture that as a pure glass it may be fit to reflect the Gospel-Comforts on thy Soul Get a through cure of thy old Wounds or else sooner or later it will cry out against thee Joseph started up in his Brethrens mind a good while after their unnatural sale of him John the Baptist rose again in Herods Conscience upon the fame of Christs Miracles Theodorick having cruelly murdred Boethius and Symmachus was affrighted at the great head of a Fish at his own Table as if it had been one of theirs whom he unjustly put to death Apply therefore Christs Blood by Faith that thy Wounds may be healed David after his great fall prays first to be purged with hysop and then for the joy of Gods salvation Psal 51. The Hysop which was used to sprinkle the Blood under the Law figured out the office of Faith in sprinkling Christs Blood on the Conscience that 's a soveraign Balm to heal thy Wounds and able to make Conscience give thee an answer of Peace I have read a notable story of a sick Man who when Satan appeared and shewed him a long scrole of his Sins in writing saying Behold thy Virtues replied True Satan but thou hast not set down all set down also The Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Such a purifier is this that a Man may be able as is said of St. Austin to think of his former Evils without fear as having no spot of unpardoned Sin in him Thy Conscience being made pure walk after it A reciá Conscientia ne latum quidem unguem discedendum said the Orator Leave it not lest thou fall and wound thy self afresh When Conscience summons thee to this or that Duty up be doing God calls thee to it by thine own Heart when it tells thee of such a snare in thy way avoid it pass by it as thou wouldst by Hell God warns thee against it by thy self Conscience will measure out Comforts or Terrors to thee according as thou behavest thy self well or ill towards it If like Saul thou force thy self and rebel against light and give stabs to Conscience what hast thou to do with Peace Thy Heart will reproach thee Conscience will strike again and give thee wound for wound thou shalt doom thy self and like the Devils carry thy Chains and Hell about with thee Tiberius professed to the Senate That he suffered death daily he meant in the torments of his accusing Conscience On the other hand if thou turn thine eyes inward and observe Conscience and walk by the line and level of it thy Heart shall be at rest Conscience shall be a thousand witnesses for thee thou shalt be thine own Comforter and like the Angels carry an Heaven and Paradise aboat with thee Pauls joy shall be thine the testimony of Conscience that thy conversation hath been in godly sincerity and what is this but Assurance That Conscience which faith That thou art sincere tells thee also That thy Sins are pardoned These two are inseparable companions and never part the one from the other Again If thou wouldst have Assurance thou must be much in self-examination Commune with thy own Heart dive into the abyss of it reckon with thy self summon thy self to the Tribunal in thy own bosom The Philosophers espied out this Rule Pythagoras would not have us sleep till we had reviewed the day asking our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What have I transgressed what done and what omitted This though done by the candle-light of Nature much promoted Virtue and the comfort of it Qualâ—s ille somnus post recognitionem sui sequitur quam tranquillus altus liber saith Sencea After a review of ones self Oh what manner of sleep is there how still deep and free is it Much more must such a search into ones own Heart conduce to the Christians Graces and Comforts if done by the pure sun-Sun-light of Scripture Self-examination is a root which bears Self-knowledg and at the top of it grows Assurance which is the knowledg of gracious self Awake therefore O Believer down into thy own Heart rifle the labyrinths and break open the false bottoms there see what of Sin is in thee Is there any darling Sin such as cogs with thy complexion or falls in with thy calling or any way steals away thy Heart and Affections from God Be sure that this is an accursed thing a Deliah as the word imports an exhauster of thy peace and joy However fair it may look to sense it is virtually sorrow and wrath See again what of Grace is there in thee do thou repent of Sin and believe on the Lord Jesus and love God and his holy Ways Are thy Graces genuine such as act thee in the power of the Spirit and square thee to the holy Canon of the Word and level thy Thoughts and Intentions at the Glory of God If thou thus search into thy Heart and do it in truth and faithfulness to the holy Light I dare say thou art ready for the sealing of the Spirit and the very frame of thy Heart is a real prayer for it O how soon may the Spirit come and by a Divine irradiation on thy Soul tell thee That thy Repentance is a Repentance unto Life and thy Faith precious Faith and thy Love Love in Sincerity How soon may it apply and seal the Promises to thy Heart as if it should say to thee Thou repentest indeed and the Mercy in the Promise is thine Thou believest indeed and the Salvation in the Promise is thine Thou lovest indeed and thine are the supersensual superintellectual good things prepared for the lovers of God And now thou maist say much better than Seneca Qualis somnus O how sweet is the rest and repose which the self-searching Soul finds in the bosom of Christ and Grace He that comes to that sealing Ordinance of the Lords Supper must prepare himself for the Sâ—ul by Self-examination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let a man examine himself faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.28 Examine as a man would do Gold or Silver by the fire or by the Touchstone in like manner must he do so that he may fit himself for the Seal of Assurance of which the Sacramental Elements are Symbols Again If thou wouldst be assured exercise thy Graces and grow therein It much conduces to Assurance to render thy Graces as visible as thou canst Grace however it always carry a Divine lustre in it is not so visible when dormant in an habit or principle as when it is put forth into act and exercise neither is it so visible in its Initials in the smoking flax or bruised reed as in its Progresses and statures in Christ In point of Comfort talents not used are as none Comforts lie dead in Believers as their Graces do the holy sire raked up affords no light to them Awake therefore O Believer to
ocean of reigning corruptions and these keep the heart from taking fire with the love of those excellencies which are known by nature The Gentiles knew God but they did not like to have him in their knowledge Rom. 1.28 millions of unruly lusts like the sons of Belial about Lots house beset this natural light and keep it as it were in prison thus the Apostle they withheld it in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 and it is too weak to break out of this prison and shew it self practically I shall give some instances hereof All Nations in all climates and through all ages have conspired together to confess a Deity Conscience within bears witness to him and so do all the creatures without also one would wonder therefore that ever Idolatry should get footing in the world but what saith the Apostle they changed the truth of God into a lye and the glory of the incorruptible one into a corruptible image Rom. 1.23.25 there were store of abominable idols among them no doubt natural light gave its secret vote for God but it was but the vote of a poor prisoner altogether insignificant it was not strong enough to make them own God in his own world Again reason and nature say that God must be worshipped with the heart and that a pure heart purâ mente colendus was the old verse in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore said Seneca God hath not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more proper place upon earth then a pure heart saith Hierocles O divine saying next door to that of our Saviour blessed are the purâ— in heart for they shall see God But after all this can this natural light work a dram of true sanctity or holiness in the heart No the very Schoolmen themselves who ever give nature her due with an overplus will not say so only they say facienti quod in se est Deus revelabit Christum largietur gratiam Well if this hypothesis which I am not now to dispute were true can there be an instance given among all the Pagans from the morning of the world till this day of any one man who by the right use of â—â—turals arrived at true grace If so what will become of that in the Apostle Who hath called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1.9 If not O what a poor weak light is this of nature and how long and universally a prisoner hath it been indeed true sanctity or holiness is never found without humility but touching that there is no footstep nor shadow of commendation in all the Pagan writers saith the learned Amyraldus it is not so much as a virtue among them on the contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greatness of soul is reckoned among Aristotles virtues Well then might Erasmus his Sancte Socrates have been spared Notable is that of St. Bernard Epist 190. some saith he whilest they go about to make Plato a Christian prove themselves heathens Again because possibly the light of reason may be weakest in the concerns of Religion I shall instance in other things Doth not nature and reason plead for all things of common honesty and humanity and yet in the Laws of Lycurgus which were of high renown and commended even by the Oracle of Apollo and which as Plutarch relates Lycurgus took singular pleasure to see put in ure even as God rejoyced to see the world move and turn about I say in these there are such obscenities and inhumanities as would put any one to the blush to see them in story what else are the dancing of maids naked and throwing weak children into a pit of water spoken of by Plutarch well might the Lacedaemonians have spared the Temple and Sacrifices to their Law-giver unless he had been truer to the Law of Nature Again is not self-preservation an intimate and natural impress in the heart of man it is not scripta sed nata Lex said the Orator and yet this ingraven Law was not strong enough no not in a grave and noble Cato to keep him from murdering himself and tearing out his own bowels and over this unnatural act Seneca sounds a triumph as being a noble and heroical contempt of death it self that that sword of his which was yet pure from the blood of others might let out his own but hear the censure of St. Austin De Civit. Dei l. 19. c. 4. Vtrum obsecro Cato ille patientiâ an impatientiâ se peremit non enim haec fecisset nisi victoriam Caesaris impatienter tulisset and in another place non erat honestas turpia praecavens L 1. c. 23. sed infirmitas adversa non sustinens it was but a proud impatience and miserable trampling upon the Law of Nature Moreover the light of reason doth really produce many moral virtues and yet in these wherein its greatest strength lyeth it is too weak to elevate any one of them to the glory of the great Creator Contra Jul. Pelag. l. 4. c. 3. therefore as St. Austin hath observed the whole body of Pagan virtues for want of a single eye at that great end is full of darkness Thus much of the weakness of reason on the other side the light of faith hath a great deal of strength in it this will not cannot be commonly imprisoned it is an holy unction and at last will be uppermost it is a mighty Engine whereby the hâ—ly Spirit lifts the heart up into belief and resignation a thing of high birth and great activity being born of God and overcoming the world 1 Joh. 5.4 and because the light of reason was not able to bear up the interest of God among men this supernatural light came to do it In the primitive Church whilest this shined clear there were no such things as outward Idols or Images afterwards upon the declension thereof those things crept in by degrees first into banners and then into Churches and there first for instruction only and afterwards for adoration yet nevertheless this holy spark shewed it self in some as in Epiphanius his cutting the vail and Serenus his breaking the Images and divers others abhorrency of Idolatry and what this supernatural light doth in Churches against outward Idols that it doth in hearts against inward it will allow no Idol to stand in the secret place not an Ashteroth of riches not a Venus of pleasure not a Baal a ruling lording lust in the heart every indulged lust stands upon the unilluminated and unresigned will and after Faith hath purified the heart it must give way for God to set up his Throne there that pure heart which the Philosophers talk of at random as a Geographer of a terra incognita faith plainly discovers and practically operates Those dishonesties and inhumanities which reason could not keep out of Laws faith casts away from private Christians as the common mire and dirt of a wicked world those moral virtues
if thou sow unto the flesh thou must reap corruption He that hath but a notion of Gods power can despise Gods hand in small crosses just as the proud Greeks who when Callipolis was lost said the Turks had taken but a bottle of wine but he that hath the mystery of it dares not do so well knowing that the lightest afflictions come from Shaddai the Almighty and if need be he can strike harder he that hath but a notion of Gods All-sufficiency hath his affections scattered up and down the earth as the poor Israelites were over Egypt for straw to gather if it were possible a happiness from the flowers of the creature but he that hath the mystery of it knows how by a compendious wisdom to have all in God roll over all worlds the world of thoughts wishes and desires in the heart the world of riches honours and pleasures in nature the world of pardons graces and comforts in Saints the world of joy glory and beatitudes in heaven and after all this the believer can tell you all these are to be found in God habet omnia quihabet habentem omnid after this manner the secret of the Lord is with the believer As to Jesus Christ the believer hath the mystery of him in his heart A man may have a notion of God manifest in the flesh but unless he have an heart of flesh an yielding resigning heart for God to manifest his spirit and graces in that the heart may in some measure be made answerable to the spirit and graces in Christ he wants the mystery of it St. John speaking of love saith which thing is true in him and in you 1 John 2.8 Why so because saith he the darkness is past and the true light now shineth a man may tell the story of the meekness humility holiness obedience charity patience it Christ but if the true light do not shine in him by faith if these graces be not true in Christ and in him he hath not the mystery thereof the spyes coming back from Canaan brought not only a bare report of the good Land but clusters of grapes also he that hath the mystery of Christ hath not only a meer notion of the full treasures of grace in him but clusters of graces from thence as so many real proofs thereof the Apostle Paul doth notably decipher this sagacity that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil 3.10 If a man hath only a notion of Christ crucified and Christ risen we may character him as Erasmus did the Monastery he was in there is nihil Christi nothing of Christ crucisied where lusts are living and reigning nothing of Christ risen where the soul is dead in trespasses and sins he only knows the fellowship of Christs sufferings who hangs up his earthly members on the cross to dye and expire the only knows the power of Christs resurrection who hath felt the same Almighty power which raised up Christ quickning his soul to a heavenly life this is the mystery the so learning of Christ as the expression is Eph. 4.20 learning him so as to put off the old man with his corrupt lusts and to put on the new man in true holiness and so as to be found in him and count all dross and dung for him It deeply concerns all Christians nay the greatest Clerks to understand this so which without faith no man doth as being void of Christ and his spirit As to inherent grace the believer knows it to be an excellent thing an accident more worth then the substance of the soul it self and yet withall he knows it to be a creature and in it self defectible he knows it to be an excellent thing excellent in its supernatural parentage a thing not born of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God an holy thing formed by the overshadowing of the blessed spirit a beam of grace from the eternal grace in the heart of God excellent again as it is the souls lostre knowledge its glass humility its vail obedience its golden ear-ring love the chain of its neck righteousness its fine linnen every grace its inward glory and beauty elevating natural faculties above their own pitch into a state congruous for communion with God above all excellent as it represents God himself in every creature there is a print or footstep of God but in grace there is his very image and resemblance a believer can see more of God in an holy beam then in the great Sun in a little of heaven then in all the earth intal poor meek spirit then in all the Nimrods and mighty Potentates of the world and yet after all this the believer sees grace to be but a creature and in it self defectible without a spiritual concourse from heaven should God bid him stand alone he would be in an agony and pray as Annas Burgus did at his Martyrdome Deus mi ne me derelinquas ne ego te derelinquam my God forsake me not lest I forsake thee Should God offer him all the Angels in heaven to guard his little spark of grace in being he would tremble and say not so Lord let me be kept by thine Almighty power unto salvation that is the only keeper I desire he dares not say my mountain is strong now I am full now I am rich now I reign as a King by my self were he full of grace it would be but as a room is of light no sooner could he shut the windows and possess it in a self-subsistence but he would be in the dark and experiment every beam to hang upon the Sun of righteousness were he rich in grace it would be but as a Merchant is in his trade if the rich returns from heaven should fail he would soon spend all his stock and like a son of Adam turn bankrupt were he a spiritual King ruling over his lusts he would and must confess himself under the kingdom of Christ and to hold all his power from thence or else Mene Mene his kingdom is numbred and divided among lusts and devils St. Paul saith I live but immediately he calls it back again yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 well knowing that all his grace had its being from the true Immanuel Jesus Christ and its continuance from the continual influxes of his spirit which are in a sober sense a kind of Immanuel God with us strengthening graces where they are weak quickning where they are dead upholding where they are falling and by an incessant spiration influencing Being into them that they may not vanish into nothing As to the opposite sin the believer sees more of the sinfulness of sin and yet more of the holy God about it then others do He sees more of the sinfulness of sin then others Next to Christ who weighed sin upon the cross he of all men knows best how to