designed unto no other End but to make his Grace effectual Hence is he said to send and give his Son also And the whole Work of the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier Guide Comforter and Advocate is to make the Love of the Father effectual unto us Joh. 10. 13 14. As this out of his own Love and Care he hath Condescended unto so the Fountain of it being in the Love and Purpose of the Father and that also or the making them effectual being their End he is rightly said to be Given of him 3. In the whole Communication of the Spirit respect is had unto his Effects or the Ends for which he is given What they are shall be afterwards declared Now the Authority of this Giving respects principally his Gifts and Graces which depend on the Authority of the Father 2. This Expression denotes Freedom What is given might be withheld This is the Gift of God as he is called Joh. 4. 10 not the Purchase of our Indeavours nor the Reward of our Desert Some men delight to talk of their Purchasing Grace and Glory But the one and the other are to be bought without Money and without Price Even Eternal Life it self the End of all our Obedience is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. The Scripture knows of no earnings that Men can make of themselves but Death For as Austin says Quicquid tuum est peccatum est and the Wages of Sin is death To what End or Purpose soever the Spirit is bestowed upon us whether it be for the Communication of Grace or the Distribution of Gifts or for Consolation and Refreshment it is of the Meer Gift of God from his absolute and Sovereign Freedom Sect. 5 Secondly In Answer hereunto they are said to Receive him on whom as a Gift he is bestowed as in the Testimonies before mentioned And in Receiving two things are implyed 1. That we contribute nothing thereunto which should take off from the thing Received as a Gift Receiving answers Giving and that implys freedom in the Giver 2. That it is their Priviledg and Advantage For what a Man Receives he doth it for his own Good First then we have him freely as a Gift of God For to Receive him in general is to be made Partaker of him as unto those Ends for which he is given of God Be those Ends what they will in respect of them they are said to Receive him who are made Partakers of him Two things may be pleaded to take off the Freedom of this Gift and of our Reception and to cast it on something necessary and required on our part For 1. our Saviour tells us that the World cannot Receive him because it seeth him not neither knoweth him Joh. 14. 17. Now if the World cannot Receive him there is required an Ability and Preparation in them that do so that are not in the World and so the Gift and Communication of the Spirit depends on that Qualification in us But all Men are Naturally alike the World and of it No One Man by Nature hath more Ability or strength in Spiritual things than another For all are equally dead in Trespasses and Sins all equally Children of Wrath. It must therefore be enquired how some come to have this Ability and Power to Receive the Spirit of God which others have not Now this as I shall fully manifest afterwards is merely from the Holy Ghost himself and his Grace respect being had herein only unto the Order of his Operations in us some being Preparatory for and dispositive unto other One being instituted as the means of obtaining another the whole being the Effect of the free Gift of God For we do not make our selves to differ from others nor have we any thing that we have not Received 1 Cor. 4. 7. Wherefore the Receiving of the Holy Ghost intended in that Expression of our Saviour with respect whereunto some are able to receive him some are not is not absolute but with respect unto some certain Work and End And this as is plain in the Context is the receiving of him as a Comforter and a Guide in Spiritual Truth Here-unto Faith in Christ Jesus which also is an effect and fruit of the same Spirit is antecedently required In this sense therefore Beleivers alone can receive him and are enabled so to do by the Grace which they have received from him in their first Conversion unto God But 2dly it will be said that we are bound to pray for him before we receive him and therefore the bestowing of him depends on a Condition to be by us fulfilled For the Promise is that our Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him Luke 11. 13. But this doth not prove the bestowing and receiving of him not to be absolutely free Nay it proves the Contrary It is Gratia indebita undeserved Grace that is the proper object of Prayer And God by these encouraging Promises doth not abridge the Liberty of his own Will nor derogate from the Freedom of his Gifts and Grace but only directs us into the way whereby we may be made Partakers of them unto his Glory and our own Advantage And this also belongs unto the Order of the Communication of the Grace of the Spirit unto us This very Praying for the Spirit is a Duty which we cannot perform without his Assistance For no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. He helps us as a Spirit of Grace and Supplication to pray for him as a Spirit of Joy and Consolation Sect. 6 3. This is such a Gift as in God proceeds from Bounty For God is said to give him unto us richly Tit. 3. 6. This will be spoken unto in the fourth Way of his Communication Onely I say at present the greatness of a Gift the free Mind of the Giver and want of desert or merit in the Receiver are that which declare Bounty to be the spring and fountain of it And all these concur to the height in God's Giving of the Holy Ghost Sect. 7 Again on the part of them who receive this Gift Priviledg and Advantage are intimated They receive a Gift and that from God and that a great and singular Gift from Divine Bounty Some indeed receive him in a sort as to some Ends and Purposes without any advantage finally unto their own Souls So do they who prophesie and cast out Devils by his Power in the Name of Christ and yet continuing workers of Iniquity are rejected at the last day Matth. 7. 22 23. Thus it is with all who receive his Gifts only without his Grace to sanctifie their Persons and their Gifts and this whether they be ordinary or extraordinary But this is only by accident There is no Gift of the Holy Ghost but is good in its own Nature tending to a good End and is proper for the Good and Advantage of them by whom it is
Justice between sin and punishment yet there is none between our Obedience and our Salvation and therefore Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 23. God therefore requires nothing at our hands under this Notion or Consideration nor is it possible that in our Condition any such thing should be required of us For whatever we can do is due before-hand on other Accounts and so can have no prospect to merit what is to come Who can merit by doing his duty our Saviour doth so plainly prove the contrary as none can further doubt of it than of his Truth and Authority Luke 17. 10. Nor can we do any thing that is acceptable to him but what is wrought in us by his Grace And this overthrowes the whole Nature of merit which requires that that be every way our own whereby we would deserve somewhat else at the hands of another and not his more than ours Neither is there any proportion between our Duties and the Reward of the eternal Enjoyment of God For besides that they are all weak imperfect and tainted with sin so that no one of them is able to make good its own station for any End or Purpose in the strictness of Divine Justice they altogether come infifinitely short of the desert of an Eternal Reward by any Rule of Divine Justice And if any say that this merit of our works depends not on nor is measured by strict Justice but wholly by the Gracious Condescension of God who hath appointed and promised so to reward them I answer in the first place that this perfectly overthrowes the whole Nature of Merit For the Nature of Merit consists entirely and absolutely in this that to him that worketh the Reward is reckoned of Debt and not of Grace Rom. 4. 4. And these two are contrary and inconsistent for what is by Grace is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace and what is of Works is no more of Grace otherwise Work is no more Work Rom. 11. 6. And those who go about to found a Merit of ours in the Grace of God do endeavour to unite and reconcile those things which God hath everlastingly separated and opposed And I say secondly that although God doth freely graciously and bountifully reward our Dutyes of Obedience and upon the Account of his Covenant and Promise he is said to be and he is Righteous in his so doing yet he every where declares that what he so doth is an Act of meer Grace in himself that hath not respect unto any thing but only the Interposition and Mediation of Jesus Christ. In this sense God in the Gospel requireth of us nothing at all 4. Much less doth he require of any that they should do such things as being no way necessary unto that Obedience which themselves personally owe unto him may yet by their supererogation therein redound to the Advantage and benefit of others This monstrous fiction which hath out-done all the Pharisaisme of the Jewes we are engaged for to the Church of Rome as a pretence given to the piety or rather covering of the impiety of their Votaries But seeing on the one hand that they are themselves who pretend to these Works but flesh and so cannot on their own Account be Justified in the sight of God so it is extreme pride and cursed self-confidence for them to undertake to help others by the merit of those works whose worth they stand not in need of concerning which it will be one day said unto them Who hath required these things at your hands But now whereas God requireth none of these things of us nothing with respect unto any of these Ends such is the perversness of our Minds by Nature that many think that God requireth nothing else of us or nothing of us but with respect unto one or other of these Ends nor can they in their Hearts conceive why they should perform any one Duty towards God unless it be with some kind of regard unto these things If they may do any thing whereby they may make some Recompense for their sins that are past at least in their own Minds and Consciences if any thing whereby they may procure an Acceptance with God and the Approbation of their state and Condition they have something which as they suppose may quicken and animate their Endeavours Without these Considerations Holy Obedience is unto them a thing Lifeless and useless Others will labour and take pains both in wayes of outward Mortification and profuse Munificence in any way of Superstitious Charity whilest they are perswaded or can perswade themselves that they shall merit Eternal Life and Salvation thereby without much being beholding to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus Yea all that hath the Face or pretence of Religion in the Papacy consists in a supposition that all which God requireth of us he doth it with respect unto these ends of Attonement Justification Merit and Supererrogation Hereunto do they apply all that remains of the Ordinances of God amongst them and all their own Inventions are managed with the same Design But by these things is the Gospel and the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ made of none effect Herein then I say lies the express Opposition that is between the Wisdom of God in the mystery of the Gospel and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wisdom of the Flesh or our Carnal Reason God in his dealing with us by the Gospel takes upon his own Grace and Wisdom the providing of an Attonement for our sins a Righteousness whereby we may be Justified before him and the Collation of Eternal Life upon us all in and by him who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption But withall he indispensibly requires of us Holiness and universal Obedience for the ends that shall be declared afterwards This way thinks the Wisdom of the Flesh or Carnal Reason is meer foolishness as our Apostle testifies 1 Cor. 1. 18 23. But such a foolishness it is that is wiser than men v. 25. that is a way so excellent and full of Divine Wisdom that men are not able to comprehend it Wherefore in Opposition hereunto Carnal Reason concludes that either what God requires of us is to be done with respect unto the ends mentioned some or other or all of them or that it is no great matter whether it be done or no. Neither can it discern of what use our Holiness or Obedience unto God should be if it serve not unto some of these purposes For the necessity of Conformity to God of the Renovation of his Image in us before we are brought unto the enjoyment of him in Glory the Authority of his Commands the Reverence of his Wisdom appointing the way of Holiness and Obedience as the means of expressing our Thankfulness glorifying him in the World and of coming to Eternal Life it hath no regard unto But the first true saving
those to whom he wrote that in what was so preached unto them they had not followed cunningly devised Fables 2 Pet. 1. 16. For so were the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ then reported to be in the World What was preached concerning them was looked on as cunningly devised and artificially framed fables to inveagle and allure the People This the Apostle gives his Testimony against and withal appeals unto the Divine Assurance which they had of the Holy Truths delivered unto them v. 17 18 19 20. In like manner our Lord Jesus Christ himself having preached the Doctrine of Regeneration unto Nicodemus he calls it into Question as as thing incredible or unintelligible Joh. 3. 4. For whose Instruction and the Rebuke of his Ignorance he lets him know that he spake nothing but what he brought with him from Heaven from the Eternal Fountain of Goodness and Truth v. 11 12. 13. It is fallen out not much otherwise in this Matter Sect. 31 The Doctrine concerning the Spirit of God and his Work on the Souls of Men hath been preached in the World What he doth in convincing Men of Sin what in Working Godly Sorrow and Humiliation in them what is the exceeding Greatness of his Power which he puts forth in the Regeneration and Sanctification of the Souls of Men What are the supplys of Grace which he bestowes on them that do believe what Assistance he gives unto them as the Spirit of Grace and Supplications hath been preached taught and pressed on the minds of them that attend unto the Dispensation of the Word of the Gospel Answerable hereunto Men have been urged to try search examine them-selves as to what of this Work of the Holy Ghost they have found observed or had experience to have been effectually accomplished in or upon their own Souls And hereon they have been taught that the Great Concernments of their Peace Comfort and Assurance of their Communion among themselves as the Saints of God with many other Ends of their Holy Conversation do depend Nay it is and hath been constantly taught them that if there be not an effectual Work of the Holy Ghost upon their hearts that they cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Now these things and whatever is spoken in the Explication of them are by some called in Question if not utterly rejected Yea some look on them as cunningly devised Fables Things that some not long since invented and others have propagated for their Advantage Others say that what is delivered concerning them is hardly if at all to be understood by Rational Men being only empty Speculations about things wherein Christian Religion is little or not at all concerned Whereas therefore many very many have received these things as Sacred Truths and are perswaded that they have found them realized in their own Souls so that into their Experience of the work of the Holy Spirit of God in them and upon them according as it is declared in the Word all their Consolation and Peace with God is for the most part resolved as that which gives them the best Evidence of their Interest in him who is their Peace and whereas for the Present they do believe that unless these things are so in and with them they have no Foundation to build an Hope of Eternal Life upon it cannot but be of indispensible necessity unto them to examine and Search the Scripture diligently whether these things be so or no. For if there be no such Work of the Spirit of God upon the Hearts of Men and that indispensibly necessary to their Salvation if there are no such Assistances and supplys of Grace needful unto every Good Duty as wherein they have been instructed then in the whole course of their Profession they have only been seduced by cunningly devised Fables their deceived hearts have fed upon ashes and they are yet in their Sins It is then of no less consideration and Importance than the eternal welfare of their Souls immediately concerned therein can render it that they diligently trye examine and search into these things by the safe and infallible Touchstone and Rule of the Word whereon they may must and ought to venture their Eternal Condition I know indeed that most Believers are so far satisfyed in the Truth of these things and their own Experience of them that they will not be moved in the least by the Oppositions which are made unto them and the scorn that is cast upon them For he that beleiveth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself 1 Joh. 5. 10. But yet as Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus that he might know the certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed Luke 1. 4. that is to confirm him in the Truth by an Addition of new Degrees of Assurance unto him so it is our Duty to be so far excited by the Clamorous Oppositions that are made unto the Truths which we Profess and in whose being such we are as much concerned as our Souls are worth to compare them diligently with the Scripture that we may be the more fully confirmed and established in them And upon the Examination of the whole matter I shall leave them to their option as Elijah did of Old if Jehovah be God serve him and if Baal be God let him be worshipped If the things which the Generality of Professors do believe and acknowledg concerning the Spirit of God and his Work on their Hearts his Gifts and Graces in the Church with the manner of their Communication be for the substance of them wherein they all generally agree according to the Scripture taught and revealed therein on the same terms as by them received them may they abide in the Holy Profession of them and rejoyce in the Consolations they have received by them But if these things with those other which in the Application of them to the Souls of Men are directly and necessarily deduced and to be deduced from them are all but vain and useless Imaginations it is high time the Minds of Men were disburthened of them The Name and Titles of the HOLY SPIRIT CHAP. II. 1. Of the Name of the Holy Spirit 2. Various Uses of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Wind or any thing invisible with a sensible Agitation 3. Amos 4. 14. Mistakes of the Antients rectified by Hierom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 metaphorically for vanity 6. Metonymically for the part or quarter of any thing 7. For our Vital Breath The Rational Soul The Affections Angels good and bad 8. Ambiguity from the Use of the Word how to be removed Rules concerning the Holy Spirit The Name Spirit how peculiar and appropriate unto him Why he is called the Holy Spirit Whence called the Good Spirit The Spirit of God The Spirit of the Son Acts 2. 33. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. explained 1 John 4. 3. vindicated Sect. 1 BEfore we ingage into the consideration of the
down Rain Job 36. 27. until it water the Ridges of the Earth abundantly setling the Furrows thereof and making it soft with Showers as Psal. 65. 10. which with the things following in that place v. 11 12 13. are spoken Allegorically of this pouring out of the Spirit of God from above Hence God is said to do this richly Tit. 3. 6. The renewing of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he hath poured on us richly that is on all Believers who are converted unto God For the Apostle discourseth not of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost which were then given forth in a plentiful manner but of that Grace of the Holy Ghost whereby all that believe are regenerated renewed and converted unto God For so were men converted of old by a rich participation of the Holy Ghost and so they must be still whatever some pretend or die in their sins And by the same word is the bounty of God in other things expressed The living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. 17. 2. This pouring out hath respect unto the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit and not unto his Person For where he is given he is given absolutely and as to himself not more or less but his Gifts and Graces may be more plentifully and abundantly given at one time than at another to some Persons than to others Wherefore this Expression is metonymical that being spoken of the Cause which is proper to the Effect the Spirit being said to be poured forth because his Graces are so 3. Respect is had herein unto some especial Works of the Spirit Such are the Purifying or Sanctifying and the Comforting or Refreshing them on whom He is poured With respect unto the first to these Effects he is compared both unto Fire and Water For both Fire and Water have purifying Qualities in them though towards different Objects and working in a different manner So by Fire are Metals purified and purged from their Dross and Mixtures and by Water are all other unclean and defiled things cleansed and purified Hence the Lord Jesus Christ in his Work by his Spirit is at once compared unto a Refiners Fire and to Fullers Sope Mal. 3. 2 3. because of the purging purifying Qualities that are in Fire and Water And the Holy Ghost is expresly called a Spirit of Burning Isa. 4. 4. For by him are the Vessels of the House of God that are of Gold and Silver refined and purged as those that are but of Wood and Stone are consumed And when it is said of our Lord Jesus that he should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Luke 3. 16. it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same thing doubly expressed and therefore mention is made only of the Holy Ghost John 1. 33. But the Holy Ghost was in his Dispensation to purifie and cleanse them as Fire doth Gold and Silver And on the same account is he compared to Water Ezek. 36. 35. I will sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean which is expounded v. 26. by a New Spirit will I put within you which God calls his Spirit Jer. 32. 39. So our Saviour calls him Rivers of Water Joh. 7. 38 39. see Isa. 44. 3. And it is with regard unto his purifying cleansing and sanctifying our Natures that he is thus called With respect therefore in an especial manner hereunto is he said to be poured out So our Apostle expresly declares Tit. 3. 4 5 6. Again it respects his comforting and refreshing them on whom he is poured Hence is he said to be poured down from above as Rain that descends on the Earth Isa. 44. 3. I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry ground that is I will pour my Spirit on thy Seed and my Blessing upon thy Off-spring and they shall spring up as among the Grass as Willows by the Water-Courses v. 4. see Chap. 35. 6 7. He comes upon the dry parched barren ground of the hearts of men with his refreshing fructifying Vertue and Blessing causing them to spring and bring forth Fruits in Holiness and Righteousness to God Heb. 6. 7. And in respect unto his Communication of his Spirit is the Lord Christ said to come down like Rain upon the mown Grass as Showers that water the Earth Psal. 72. 6. The good Lord give us alwayes of these Waters and refreshing Showers And these are the wayes in general whereby the Dispensation of the Spirit from God for what End or Purpose soever it be is expressed Sect. 14 We come nextly to consider what is ascribed unto the Spirit Himself in a way of complyance with these Acts of God whereby he is given and administred Now these are such Things or Actions as manifest him to be a Voluntary Agent and that not only as to what he acts or doth in men but also as to the manner of his coming forth from God and his Application of himself unto his Work And these we must consider as they are declared unto us in the Scripture The first and most general Expression hereof is that he proceedeth from the Father and being the Spirit of the Son he proceedeth from him also in like manner John 15. 25. The Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me There is 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Procession of the Holy Ghost The 〈…〉 Natural or Personal This expresseth his Eternal Relation to the Persons of the Father and the Son He is of them by an eternal Emanation or Procession The manner hereof unto us in this Life is incomprehensible Therefore it is rejected by some who will believe no more than they can put their hands into the sides of And yet are they forced in things under their Eyes to admit of many things which they cannot perfectly comprehend But we live by Faith and not by Sight This is enough unto us that we admit nothing in this great Mystery but what is revealed and nothing is revealed unto us that is inconsistent with the Being and Subsistence of God For this Procession or Emanation includes no Separation or Division in or of the Divine Nature but only expresseth a distinction in Subsistence by a Property peculiar to the Holy Spirit But this is not that which at present I intend The consideration of it belongeth unto the Doctrine of the Trinity in general and hath been handled elsewhere Secondly There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Procession of the Spirit which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dispensatory This is the Egress of the Spirit in his Application of Himself unto his Work A voluntary Act it is of his Will and not a necessary Property of his Person And he is said thus to proceed from the Father because he goeth forth or proceedeth in the pursuit of the Counsels and Purposes of the Father and as sent by him to put them into
the edification of the Church Ephes. 4. 10 11 12 13. The owning therefore and avowing the Work of the Holy Ghost in the Hearts and on the Minds of Men according to the Tenor of the Convenant of Grace is the principal part of that Profession which at this day all Believers are called unto Sect. 5 4. We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us that through his Aid and Assistance we may live unto God in that Holy Obedience which he requires at our hands Luk. 11. 9 10 12 13. Our Saviour enjoyning an importunity in our Supplications v. 9 10. and giving us encouragement that we shall succeed in our Requests v. 11 12. makes the Subject Matter of them to be the Holy Spirit Your Heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him v. 13. Which in the other Evangelists is good things Mat. 7. 11. because he is the Author of them all in us and to us Nor doth God bestow any good thing on us but by his Spirit Hence the Promise of bestowing the Spirit is accompanied with a Prescription of Duty unto us that we should ask him or pray for him which is included in every Promise where his sending giving or bestowing is mentioned He therefore is the great Subject Matter of all our Prayers And that signal Promise of our Blessed Saviour to send him as a Comforter to abide with us for ever is a Directory for the Prayers of the Church in all Generations Nor is there any Church in the World fallen under such a total Degeneracy but that in their Publick Offices there are Testimonies of their ancient Faith and Practice in praying for the coming of the Spirit unto them according to this Promise of Christ. And therefore our Apostle in all his most solemn Prayers for the Churches in his dayes makes this the chief Petition of them That God would give unto them and increase in them the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit with the Spirit himself for sundry especial Effects and Operations whereof they stood in need Ephes. 1. 17. Chap. 3. 16. Col. 2. 2. And this is a full conviction of what importance the Consideration of the Spirit of God and his Work is unto us We must deal in this Matter with that confidence which the Truth instructs us unto and therefore say That he who prayeth not constantly and diligently for the Spirit of God that he may be made partaker of him for the Ends for which he is promised is a Stranger from Christ and his Gospel This we are to attend unto as that whereon our Eternal Happiness doth depend God knows our State and Condition and we may better learn our Wants from his Prescription of what we ought to pray for than from our own Sense and Experience For we are in the Dark unto our own Spiritual Concerns through the Power of our Corruptions and Temptations and know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. But our Heavenly Father knows perfectly what we stand in need of And therefore whatever be our present Apprehensions concerning our selves which are to be examined by the Word our Prayers are to be regulated by what God hath enjoyned us to ask and what he hath promised for to bestow Sect. 6 5. What was before mentioned may here be called over again and farther improved yea it is necessary that so it should be This is the solemn Promise of Jesus Christ when he was to leave this World by Death And whereas he therein made and confirmed his Testament Heb. 9. 15 16 17 He bequeathed his Spirit as his great Legacy unto his Disciples And this he gave unto them as the great Pledg of their future Inheritance 2 Cor. 1. 22. which they were to live upon in this World All other good things he hath indeed bequeathed unto Believers as he speaks of Peace with God in particular Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you John 14. 27. But he gives particular Graces and Mercies for particular Ends and Purposes The Holy Spirit he bequeaths to supply his own Absence John 16. 17. that is for all the Ends of Spiritual and Eternal Life Let us therefore consider this Gift of the Spirit either formally under this Notion that he was the principal Legaoy left unto the Church by our dying Saviour or materially as to the Ends and Purposes for which he is so bequeathed and it will be evident what valuation we ought to have of Him and his Work How would some rejoice if they could possess any Relique of any thing that belonged unto our Saviour in the dayes of his Flesh though of no use or benefit unto them Yea how great a part of Men called Christians do boast in some pretended Parcels of the Tree whereon he suffered Love abused by Superstition lies at the bottom of this Vanity For they would embrace any thing left them by their dying Saviour But he left them no such things nor did ever bless and Sanctify them unto any holy or Sacred Ends. And therefore hath the abuse of them been punished with blindness and Idolatry But this is openly testified unto in the Gospel then when his Heart was overflowing with Love unto his Disciples and Care for them when he took an Holy Prospect of what would be their Condition their Work Duty and Temptations in the World and thereon made Provision of all that they could stand in need of he promiseth to leave and give unto them his Holy Spirit to abide with them for ever directing us to look unto Him for all our Comforts and Supplies According therefore unto our valuation and esteem of Him of our Satisfaction and Acquiescency in Him is our regard to the Love Care and Wisdom of our Blessed Saviour to be measured And indeed it is only in his Word and Spirit wherein we can either honour or despise him in this World In his own Person he is exalted at the Right Hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers So that nothing of ours can immediately reach him or affect him But it is in our regard to these that he makes a Tryal of our Faith Love and Obedience And it is a matter of Lamentation to consider the contempt and scorn that on various Pretences is cast upon this Holy Spirit and the Work whereunto he is sent by God the Father and by Jesus Christ. For there is included therein a contempt of them also Nor will a pretence of honouring God in their own way secure such Persons as shall contract the guilt of this Abomination For it is an Idol and not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who doth not work effectually in the Elect by the Holy Ghost according to the Scriptures And 2. if we consider this Promise of the Spirit to be given unto us as to the Ends of it Then Sect. 7 6. He is promised and given as
especial part of this his Offering up himself That this was wrought in him by the Holy or Eternal Spirit was before declared And it is frequently expressed as that which had an especial Influence into the Efficacy and Merit of his Sacrifice Psal. 2. 8. He humbled himself and became Obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross. And when he offered up Prayers and Supplications though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered Heb. 5. 8. That is he experienced Obedience in Suffering It is true that the Lord Christ in the whole course of his Life yeelded Obedience unto God as he was made of a Woman made under the Law Gal. 4. 4. But now he came to the great Tryal of it with respect unto the especial command of the Father to lay down his Life and to make his Soul an Offering for sin Isa. 53. 10. This was the highest Act of Obedience unto God that ever was or ever shall be to all Eternity And therefore doth God so express his satisfaction therein and acceptance of it Isa. 53. 11 12. Phil. 2. 9 10. This was wrought in him this he was wrought unto by the Holy Spirit and therefore by him offered himself unto God 4. There belongs also hereunto that Faith and Trust in God which with fervent Prayers Cries Supplications he now acted on God and his Promises both with respect unto himself and to the Covenant which he was sealing with his Blood This our Apostle represents as an especial Work of his testified unto in the Old Testament Heb. 2. 13. I will put my trust in him And this 1. respected himself namely that he should be supported assisted and carried through the Work he had undertaken unto a blessed Issue Herein I confess he was horribly assaulted until he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal. 22. 1. But yet after and through all his dreadful Tryal his Faith and Trust in God were Victorious This he expressed in the Depth and Extremity of his Tryals Psal. 22. 9 10 11. and made such an open Profession of it that his Enemies when they supposed him lost and defeated reproached him with it v. 8. Matth. 27. 43. To this purpose be declared himself at large Isa. 50. 7 8 9. So his Faith and Trust in God as to his own supportment and deliverance with the accomplishment of all the Promises that were made unto him upon his ingagement into the Work of Mediation were victorious 2. They respected the Covenant and all the Benefits that the Church of the Elect was to be made Partaker of thereby The Blood that he now shed was the Blood of the Covenant and it was shed for his Church namely that the Blessings of the Covenant might be communicated unto them Gal. 3. 13 14. With respect hereunto did he also exercise Faith in God as appears fully in his Prayer which he made when he entred on his Oblation John 17. Now concerning these Instances we may observe three Things to our present purpose 1. These and the like gracious Actings of the Soul of Christ were the Wayes and Means whereby in his Death and Bloodshedding which was violent and by force inflicted on him as to the outward Instruments and was penal as to the Sentence of the Law he voluntarily and freely offered up himself a Sacrifice unto God for to make Atonement And these were the things which from the dignity of his Person became Efficacious and Victorious Without these his Death and Bloodshedding had been no Oblation 2. These were the things which rendred his Offering of himself to be a Sacrifice of a sweet smâ—lling Savour unto God Ephes. 5. 2. God was so absolutely delighted and pleased with these high and glorious Acts of Grace and Obedience in Jesus Christ that he smelt as it were a Savour of Rest towards Mankind or those for whom he offered himself so that he would be angry with them no more curse them no more As it is said of the Type of it in the Sacrifice of Noah Gen. 8. 20 21. God was more pleased with the Obedience of Christ than he was displeased with the Sin and Disobedience of Adam Rom. 5. 17 18 19. It was not then the outward suffering of a violent and bloody Death which was inflicted on him by the most horrible wickedness that ever Humane Nature brake forth into that God was atoned Acts 2. 23. Nor yet was it meerly his enduring the Penalty of the Law that was the means of our Deliverance But the voluntary giving up of himself to be a Sacrifice in these Holy Acts of Obedience was that upon which in an especial manner God was reconciled unto us All these things being wrought in the Humane Nature by the Holy Ghost who in the time of his Offering acted all his Graces unto the utmost He is said thereon to offer himself unto God through the Eternal Spirit by whom as our High Priest he was Consecrated Spirited and Acted thereunto Sect. 10 Eighthly There was a peculiar Work of the Holy Spirit towards the Lord Christ whilst he was in the State of the Dead For here our precedeing Rule must be remembred namely that notwithstanding the Union of the Humane Nature of Christ with the Divine in the Person of the Son yet the Communications of God unto it beyond Subsistence were voluntary Thus in his Death the Union of his Natures in his Person was not in the least impeached but yet for his Soul or Spirit he recommends that in an especial manner into the Hands of God his Father Psal. 31. 5. Luke 23. 46. Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit for the Father had ingaged himself in an Eternal Covenant to take care of him to preserve and protect him even in Death and to shew him again the Way and Path of Life Psal. 16. 11. Notwithstanding then the Union of his Person his Soul in its separate State was in an especial manner under the care protection and power of the Father preserved in his Love until the Hour came wherein he shewed him again the Path of Life His Holy Body in the Grave continued under the especial care of the Spirit of God and hereby was accomplished that great Promise That his Soul should not be left in Hell nor the Holy One see Corruption Psal. 16. 10. Acts 2. 31. It is the Body of Christ which is here called the Holy One as it was made an holy Thing by the Conception of it in the Womb by the Power of the Holy Ghost And it is here spoken of in contradistinction unto his Soul and opposed by Peter unto the Body of David which when it died saw Corruption Acts 2. 29. This Pure and Holy Substance was preserved in its Integrity by the overshadowing Power of the Holy Spirit without any of those Accidents of change which attend the dead Bodies of others I deny not but there was use made of the Ministry of
1. as to its Dispositions and Inclinations 2. As to its Power and Actings with respect unto Spiritual Supernatural Things 1. As to its Dispositions it is from the Darkness described perverse and depraved whereby Men are alienated from the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. for this Alienation of Men from the Divine Life is from the depravation of their Minds Hence are they said to be Alienated and Enemies in their Minds by wicked Works or by their Minds in wicked Works being fixed on them and under the Power of them Col. 1. 21. And that we may the better understand what is intended hereby we may consider both what is this Life of God and how the unregenerate Mind is alienated from it Sect. 21 1. All Life is from God The Life which we have in common with all other living Creatures is from him Acts 17. 28. Psal. 104. 30. And 2. that peculiar vital Life which we have by the union of the rational Soul with the Body is from God also and that in an especial manner Gen. 2. 7. Job 10. 12. But neither of these are any-where called the Life of God But it is an especial Life unto God which is intended and sundry things belong thereunto or sundry things are applyed unto the Description of it 1. It is the Life which God requireth of us that we may please him here and come to the enjoyment of him hereafter The Life of Faith and Spiritual Obedience by Jesus Christ Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 2. 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God Rom. 6. 7. 2. It is that Life which God worketh in us not Naturally by his Power but Spiritually by his Grace And that both as to the Principle and all the Vital Acts of it Ephes. 2. 1 5. Phil. 2. 13. 3. It is that Life whereby God liveth in us that is in and by his Spirit through Jesus Christ. Gal. 2. 20. Christ liveth in me and where the Son is there is the Father whence also this Life is said to be hid with him in God Col. 3. 3. 4. It is the Life whereby we live to God Rom. 6. 7. whereof God is the Supream and Absolute End as he is the principal efficient Cause of it And two things are contained herein 1. That we do all things to his Glory This is the proper End of all the Acts and Actings of this Life Rom. 14. 7 8. 2. That we design in and by it to come unto the eternal enjoyment of him as our Blessedness and Reward Gen. 15. 1. 5. It is the Life whereof the Gospel is the Law and Rule John 6. 68. Acts 5. 20. 6. A Life all whose Fruits are Holiness and Spiritual Evangelical Obedience Rom. 6. 22. Phil. 1. 11. Lastly It is a Life that dieth not that is not obnoxious unto Death Eternal Life John 17. 3. These things contain the chief concerns of that peculiar Spiritual Heavenly Life which is called the Life of God Sect. 22 2. The Carnal Mind is alienated from this Life it hath no liking of it no inclination to it but carrieth away the whole Soul with an aversation from it And this Alienation or Aversation appears in two things 1. In its unreadiness and unaptness to receive Instructions in and about the Concernments of it Hence are Men dull and flow of heart to believe Luke 24. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. 11 12. Heavy in Hearing and flow in the Apprehension of what they hear So are all Men towards what they do not like but have an aversation from This God complains of in the People of old My People are foolish they have not known me they are sottish Children and have none understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledg Jer. 4. 22. 2. In the Choice and preferring of any other Life before it The first Choice a Natural Mind makes is of a Life in Sin and Pleasure which is but a Death a Death to God 1 Tim. 5. 6. James 5. 5. a Life without the Law and before it comes Rom. 7. 9. This is the Life which is suited to the Carnal Mind which it desires delights in and which willingly it would never depart from Again if by Afflictions or Convictions it be in part or wholly forced to forsake and give up this Life it will chuse magnifie and extol a moral Life a Life in by and under the Law though at the last it will stand it in no more stead than the Life of Sin and Pleasure which it hath been forced to forgo Rom. 9. 32. Chap. 10. 3. The thoughts of this Spiritual Life this Life of God it cannot away with the Notions of it are Uncouth the Description of it is Unintelligible and the Practice of it either odious Folly or needless Superstition This is the Disposition and Inclination of the Mind towards Spiritual Things as it is corrupt and depraved Sect. 23 2. The Power also of the Mind with respect unto its actings toward Spiritual Things may be considered And this in short is none at all in the sense which shall be explained immediately Rom. 5. 6. for this is that which we shall prove concerning the Mind of a Natural Man or of a Man in the State of Nature how-ever it may be excited and improved under those Advantages of Education and Parts which it may have received yet is not able hath not a power of its own Spiritually and Savingly or in a due manner to receive embrace and assent unto Spiritual Things when proposed unto it in the Dispensation and Preaching of the Gospel unless it be renewed enlightned and acted by the Holy Ghost Sect. 24 This the Apostle plainly asserts 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1. The Subject spoke of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animalis homo the natural Man he who is a natural Man This Epithete is in the Scripture opposed unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritual 1 Cor. 15. 44. Jud. 15. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are described by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as have not the Spirit of God The foundation of this distinction and the distribution of Men into these two sorts thereby is laid in that of our Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first Adam was made a living Soul Hence every Man who hath no more but what is traduced from him is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is a living Soul as was the first Adam And the last Adam is made a quickning Spirit Hence he that is of him Partaker of his Nature that derives from him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spiritual Man The Person therefore here spoken of or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one that hath all that is or can be derived from the first Adam one endowed with a rational Soul and who hath
that special kind of Life which is given by the especial quickning Principle of a rational Soul Sect. 5 Hence it is evident wherein Death natural doth consist And three things may be considered in it 1 The Separation of the Soul from the Body Hereby the Act of infusing the living Soul ceaseth unto all its Ends. For as a Principle of Life unto the whole it operates only by Vertue of its Union with the subject to be quickned by it 2 A Cessation of all Vital Actings in the quickned Subject For that Union from whence they should proceed is dissolved 3 As a Consequent of these there is in the Body an Impotency for and an Ineptitude unto all Vital Operations Not only do all Operations of Life actually cease but the Body is no more able to effect them There remains in it indeed Potentia obedientialis a passive power to receive Life again if communicated unto it by an external efficient Cause So the body of Lazarus being dead had a receptive Power of a living Soul But an active Power to dispose it self unto Life or Vital Actions it hath not Sect. 6 From these things we may be a just Analogie collect wherein Life and Death Spiritual do consist And to that End some things must be previously observed As 1 That Adam in the state of Innocency besides his Natural life whereby he was a Living Soul had likewise a Supernatural Life with respect unto its end whereby he lived unto God This is called the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. which Men now in the state of nature are alienated from The Life which God requires and which hath God for its Object and End And this Life was in him Supernatural for although it was concreated in and with the rational Soul as a perfection due unto it in the state wherein and with respect unto the End for which it was made yet it did not naturally flow from the Principles of the rational Soul nor were the Principles Faculties or Abilities of it inseparable from those of the Soul it self being only accidental Perfections of them inlaid in them by especial Grace This Life was necessary unto him with respect unto the state wherein and the End for which he was made He was made to live unto the living God and that in a peculiar manner to live unto his glory in this World by the discharge of the rational and moral Obedience required of him and to live afterward in his Glory and the eternal Enjoyment of him as his Cheifest Good and Highest Reward That whereby he was enabled hereunto was that Life of God which we are alienated from in the state of Nature 2. In this Life as in Life in General three things are to be considered 1 Its Principle 2 Its Operation 3 Its Vertue or Habit Act and Power Sect. 7 1. There was a Quickning Principle belonging unto it For every Life is an Act of a Quïckning Principle This in Adam was the Image of God or an habitual Conformity unto God his Mind and Will wherein the Holiness and Righteousness of God himself was represented Gen. 1. 26 27. In this Image he was created or it was concreated with him as a Perfection due to his Nature in the Condition wherein he was made This gave him an habitual disposition unto all duties of that Obedience that was required of him It was the Rectitude of all the faculties of his Soul with respect unto his Supernatural End Eccles. 7. 20. 2 There belonged unto it continual Actings from or by Vertue of and suitable unto this Principle All the Acts of Adam's Life should have been subordinate unto his great moral End In all that he did he should have lived unto God according unto the Law of that Covenant wherein he walked before him And an Acting in all things suitable unto the Light in his Mind unto the Righteousness and Holiness in his Will and Affection that Uprightness or Integrity or Order that was in his Soul was his Living unto God Sect. 8 3 He had here-withal Power or Ability to continue the Principle of Life in suitable Acts of it with respect unto the whole Obedience required of him that is he had a sufficiency of Ability for the Performance of any Duty or of all that the Covenant required And in these three did the Supernatural Life of Adam in Innocency consist And it is that which the Life whereunto we are restored by Christ doth answer It answers unto it I say and supplies its absence with respect unto the End of living unto God according unto the New Covenant that we are taken into For neither would the Life of Adam be sufficient for us to live unto God according to the terms of the New Covenant nor is the Life of Grace we now enjoy suited to the Covenant wherein Adam stood before God Wherefore some Differences there are between them the Principal whereof may be reduced into two Heads Sect. 9 1. That Principle of this Life was wholly and intirely in Man himself It was the Effect of another Cause of that which was without him namely the Good Will and Power of God but it was left to grow on no other Root but what was in Man himself It was wholly implanted in his Nature and therein did its Springs lye Actual Excitations by Influence of Power from God it should have had For no Principle of Operation can subsist in an Independence of God nor apply it self unto Operation without his Concurence But in the Life whereunto we are renewed by Jesus Christ the Fountain and Principle of it is not in our selves but in him as One common Head unto all that are made Partakers of him He is our Life Col. 1. 3. and our Life as to the Spring and Fountain of it is hid with him in God For he quickneth us by his Spirit Rom. 8. 10. And our Spiritual Life as in us consists in the Vital Actings of this Spirit of his in Us for without him we can do nothing John 15. 3. By Vertue hereof we walk in newness of Life Rom. 6. 4. We live therefore hereby yet not so much we as Christ liveth in us Gal. 2. 20. Sect. 10 2. There is a Difference between these Lives with respect unto the Object of their Vital Acts. For the Life which we now lead by the faith of the Son of God hath sundry Objects of its Actings which the other had not For whereas all the Actings of our Faith and Love that is all our Obedience doth respect the Revelation that God makes of himself and his Will unto us there are now New Revelations of God in Christ and consequently new Duties of Obedience required of us as will afterwards appear And other such differences there are between them The Life which we had in Adam and that which we are renewed unto in Christ Jesus are so far of the same Nature and kind as our Apostle manifests in sundry Places Ephes. 4. 23 24.
of Pelagius that a supposition hereof renders all Exhortations Commands Promises and Threatnings which comprize the whole Way of the external communication of the Will of God unto us vain and useless For to what purpose is it to exhort Blind Men to see or Dead Men to live or to promise Rewards unto them upon their so doing Should Men thus deal with stones would it not be vain and ludicrous and that because of their Impotency to comply with any such proposals of our Mind unto them And the same is here supposed in Men as to any Ability in Spiritual things Answ. 1 There is nothing in the highest Wisdom required in the Application of any Means to the producing of an Effect but that in their own Nature they are suited thereunto and that the Subject to be wrought upon by them is capable of being affected according as their Nature requires And thus Exhortations with Promises and Threatnings are in their kind as Moral Instruments suited and proper to produce the Effects of Faith and Obedience in the Minds of Men. And the Faculties of their Souls their Understandings Wills and Affections are meet to be wrought upon by them unto that End For by Mens rational Abilies they are able to discern their Nature and judge of their Tendency And because these Faculties are the Principle and Subject of all actual Obedience it is granted that there is in Man a Natural remote Passive Power to yield Obedience unto God which yet can never actually put forth it self without the effectual working of the Grace of God not only enabling but working in them to will and to do Exhortations Promises and Threatnings respect not primarily our present Ability but our Duty Their End is to declare unto us not what we can do but what we ought to do And this is done fully in them On the other hand make a general Rule that what God commands or Exhorts us unto with Promises made unto our Obedience and Threatnings annexed unto a supposition of Disobedience that we have power in and of our selves to do or that we are of our selves able to do and you quite evacuate the Grace of God or at least make it only useful for the more easie discharge of our Duty not necessary unto the very being of Duty it self which is the Pelagianism Anathematized by so many Councils of old But in the Church it hath hitherto been believed that the Command directs our Duty but the Promise gives strength for the performance of it Sect. 18 3. God is pleased to make these Exhortations and Promises to be Vehicula Gratiae the means of communicating Spiritual Life and Strength unto Men. And he hath appointed them unto this end because considering the Moral and Intellectual Faculties of the Minds of Men they are suited thereunto Hence these Effects are ascribed unto the Word which really are wrought by the Grace communicated thereby Jam. 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 23. And this in their Dispensation under the Covenant of Grace is their proper end God may therefore wisely make use of them and command them to be used towards Men notwithstanding all their own disability savingly to comply with them seeing he can will and doth himself make them effectual unto the end aimed at Sect. 19 But it will be further objected That if Men are thus utterly devoid of a Principle of Spiritual Life of all Power to live unto God that is to repent believe and yeeld obedience is it righteous that they should perish eternally meerly for their disability or their not doing that which they are not able to do This would be to require Brick and to give no Straw yea to require much where nothing is given But the Scripture every-where chargeth the Destruction of Men upon their wilful sin not their weakness or disability Answ. 1. Mens Disability to live to God is their sin What-ever therefore ensues thereon may be justly charged on them It is that which came on us by the Sin of our Nature in our first Parents all whose Consequents are our sin and our misery Rom. 5. 12. Had it befallen us without a guilt truly our own according to the Law of our Creation and Covenant of our Obedience the Case would have been otherwise But on this Supposition sufficiently confirmed else-where those who perish do but feed on the Fruit of their own Wayes Sect. 20 2. In the Transactions between God and the Souls of Men with respect unto their Obedience and Salvation there is none of them but hath a Power in sundry things as to some degrees and measures of them to comply with his Mind and Will which they voluntarily neglect And this of it self is sufficient to bear the Charge of their eternal ruine But 3. No Man is so unable to live unto God to do any thing for him but that withal he is able to do any thing against him There is in all Men by Nature a depraved vitious habit of Mind wherein they are alienated from the Life of God And there is no command given unto Men for Evangelical Faith or Obedience but they can and do put forth a free positive Act of their Wills in the rejection of it either directly or interpretatively in preferring somewhat else before it As they cannot come to Christ unless the Father draw them so they will not come that they may have Life wherefore their Destruction is just and of themselves This is the Description which the Scripture giveth us concerning the Power Ability or Disability of Men in the State of Nature as unto the Performance of Spiritual Things By some it is traduced as Fanatical and senseless which the Lord Christ must answer for not we For we do nothing but plainly represent what he hath expressed in his Word and if it be foolishness unto any the Day will determine where the blame must lie Sect. 21 Secondly There is in this Death an actual cessation of all Vital Acts. From this defect of Power or the want of a Principle of Spiritual Life it is that Men in the state of Nature can perform no Vital Act of Spiritual Obedience nothing that is spiritually Good or Saving or Accepted with God according to the Tenor of the New Covenant which we shall in the second place a little explain The whole course of our Obedience to God in Christ is the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. That Life which is from him in a peculiar manner whereof he is the especial Author and whereby we live unto him which is our End And the Gospel which is the Rule of our Obedience is called the words of this Life Acts 5. 20. That which guides and directs us how to live to God Hence all the Duties of this Life are Vital Acts spiritually Vital Acts Acts of that Life whereby we live to God Sect. 22 Where therefore this Life is not all the Works of Men are Dead Works Where Persons are dead in sin their Works are dead
Works They are so all of them either in their own Nature or with respect unto them by whom they are performed Heb. 9. 14. They are dead Works because they proceed not from a Principle of Life are unprofitable as dead things Ephes. 5. 11. and end in death eternal Jam. 1. 15. We may then consider how this Spiritual Life which enableth us unto these Vital Acts is derived and communicated unto us 1. The original Spring and Fountain of this Life is with God Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Fountain of Life The sole Spring of our Spiritual Life is in an especial way and manner in God And hence our Life is said to be hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. that is as in its Eternal producing and preserving Cause But it is thus also with respect unto all Life whatever God is the living God all other things are in themselves but dead Things their Life what-ever it be is in him efficiently and eminently and in them is purely derivative Wherefore Sect. 23 2. Our Spiritual Life as unto the especial Nature of it is specificated and discerned from a Life of any other kind in that the fulness of it is communicated unto the Lord Christ as Mediator Col. 1. 19. And from his fulness we do receive it John 1. 16. There is a Principle of Spiritual Life communicated unto us from his fulness thereof whence he quickneth whom he pleaseth Hence he is said to be our Life Col. 3. 4. And in our Life it is not so much we who live as Christ that liveth in us Gal. 2. 20. because we act nothing but as we are acted by Vertue and Power from him 1 Cor. 15. 10. Sect. 24 3ly The Fountain of this Life being in God and the fulness of it being laid up in Christ for us He communicates the Power and Principle of it unto us by the Holy Ghost Rom. 8. 11. That he is the immediate efficient Cause hereof we shall afterwards fully evince and declare But yet he doth it so as to derive it unto us from Jesus Christ Ephes. 4. 15 16. For he is the Life and without him or Power communicated from him we can do nothing John 15. 5. 4ly This Spiritual Life is communicated unto us by the Holy Ghost according unto and in order for the Ends of that New Covenant For this is the Promise of it That God will first write his Law in our Hearts and then we shall walk in his Statutes that is the Principle of Life must precede all vital Acts. From this Principle of Life thus derived and conveyed unto us are all those vital Acts whereby we live to God Where this is not as it is not in any that are dead in sin for from the want hereof are they denominated dead no Act of Obedience unto God can so be performed as that it should be an Act of the Life of God and this is the way whereby the Scripture doth express it The same thing is intended when we say in other words that without an infused habit of internal inherent Grace received from Christ by an efficacious Work of the Spirit no Man can believe or obey God or perform any Duty in a saving manner so as it should be accepted with Him And if we abide not in this Principle we let in the whole poysonous Flood of Pelagianism into the Church To say that we have a sufficiency in our selves so much as to think a good thought to do any thing as we ought any Power any Ability that is our own or in us by Nature however externally excited and guided by Motives Directions Reasons Encouragements of what sort soever to believe or obey the Gospel savingly in any one Instance is to overthrow the Gospel and the Faith of the Catholick Church in all Ages Sect. 25 But it may be Objected That whereas many unregenerate Persons may and do perform many duties of Religious Obedience if there be nothing of Spiritual Life in them then are they all sins and so differ not from the worst things they do in this World which are but Sins And if so unto what end should they take pains about them Were it not as good for them to indulge unto their Lusts and Pleasures seeing all comes to one end It is all sin and nothing else why do the Dispensers of the Gospel press any Duties on such as they know to be in that estate What advantage shall they have by a complyance with them Were it not better to leave them to themselves and wait for their Conversion than to spend time and labour about them to no purpose Answ. 1. It must be granted That all the Duties of such Persons are in some sense sins It was the saying of Austin That the Vertues of Unbelievers are splendida peccata This some are now displeased with but it is easier to censure him than to confute him Two things attend in every Duty that is properly so 1. That it is accepted with God And 2. that it is sanctified in them that do it but neither of these are in the Duties of Unregenerate Men. For they have not Faith And without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And the Apostle also assures us That unto the defiled and unbelieving that is all unsanctified Persons not purified by the Spirit of Grace All things are unclean because their Consciences and Minds are defiled Tit. 1. 15. So their Praying is said to be an abomination and their Plowing sin It doth not therefore appear what is otherwise in them or to them But as there are Good Duties which have sin adhering to them Isa. 64. 6. so there are sins which have good in them For bonum oritur ex integris malum ex quocunque defectu Such are the Duties of Men unregenerate Formally and unto them they are sin materially and in themselves they are good This gives them a difference from and a preference above such sins as are every way sinful As they are Duties they are good as they are the Duties of such Persons they are evil because necessarily defective in what should preserve them from being so And on this ground they ought to attend unto them and may be pressed thereunto Sect. 26 2ly That which is good materially and in it self though vitiated from the Relation which it hath to the Person by whom it is performed is approved and hath its Acceptation in its proper place For Duties may be performed two wayes 1. In hypocrisie and pretence so they are utterly abhorred of God in matter and manner that is such a poisonous Ingredient as vitiates the whole Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14. Hos. 1. 4. 2. In Integrity according unto present Light and Conviction which for the substance of them are approved And no Man is to be exhorted to do any thing in Hypocrisie see Matth. 10. 21. And on this account also that the Duties themselves are acceptable Men may be pressed to
now seeth in secret will one day reward openly And the more we abound in these things the more will God be glorified in the Recompence of Reward But this is not all nor that which I intend It abides 2 for ever and passeth over into Glory in its Principle or Nature The Love wherewith we now adhere to God and by which we act the Obedience of Faith towards the Saints faileth not it ends not when Glory comes on but is a part of it 1 Cor. 13. 8. It is true some Gifts shall be done away as useless in a state of Perfection and Glory as the Apostle there discourseth and some Graces shall cease as to some especial Acts and peculiar Exercise as Faith and Hope so far as they respect things unseen and future But all those Graces whereby Holiness is constituted and wherein it doth consist for the substance of them as they contain the Image of God as by them we are united and do adhere unto God in Christ shall in their present nature improved into perfection abide for ever In our knowledge of them therefore have we our principal insight into our Eternal Condition in Glory And this is as a firm foundation of Consolation so a part of our chiefest Joy in this World Is it not a matter of unspeakable Joy and Refreshment that these poor Bodyes we carry about us after they have been made a prey unto death dust worms and corruption shall be raised and restored to Life and Immortality freed from pains sickness weakness weariness and vested with those Qualities in conformity to Christs glorious Body which yet we understand not It is so also that these Souls which now animate and rule in us shall be delivered from all their Darkness Ignorance Vanity Instability and Alienation from things Spiritual and Heavenly But this is not all These poor low Graces which no live and are acting in us shall be continued preserved purified and perfected but in their nature be the same as now they are as our Souls and Bodies shall be That Love whereby we now adhere to God as our chiefest Good that Faith whereby we are united to Christ our everlasting Head that Delight in any of the Wayes or Ordinances of God wherein he is enjoyed according as he hath promised his presence in them that Love and Good-will which we have for all those in whom is the Spirit and on whom is the Image of Christ with the entire Principle of spiritual Life and Holiness which is now begun in any of us shall be all purified enhanced perfected and pass into Glory That very Holiness which we here attain those Inclinations and Dispositions those Frames of Mind those Powers and Abilities in Obedience and Adherence unto God which here contend with the weight of their own weakness and imperfections with the Opposition that is continually made against them by the Body of Death that is utterly to be abolished shall be gloriously perfected into immutable Habits unchangeably acting our Souls in the enjoyment of God And this also manifesteth of how much concernment it is unto us to be acquainted with the Doctrine of it and of how much more to be really interested in it Yea Sect. 12 5 There is Spiritual and Heavenly Glory in it in this World From hence is the Church the Kings Daughter said to be all Glorious within Psal. 45. 13. Her inward adorning with the Graces of the Spirit making her beautifull in Holiness is called Glory and is so so also the progress and increase of Believers herein is called by our Apostle their being changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. from one degree of glorious Grace unto another As this next unto the Comeliness of the Righteousness of Christ put upon us by the free Grace of God is our only beauty in his sight so it is such as hath a real Spiritual Glory in it It is the First-fruits of Heaven and as the Apostle argueth concerning the Jews that if the first-fruits were holy then is the whole lump holy so may we on the other side if the whole weight as he calls it and fulness of our future Enjoyments be Glory then are the First-fruits in their Measure so also There is in this Holiness as we shall see further afterwards a Ray of Eternal Light a Principle of Eternal Life and the entire nature of that Love whereby we shall eternally adhere unto God The Divine Nature the new immortal Creature the Life of God the Life of Christ are all comprized in it It represents unto God the Glory of his own Image renewed in us and unto the Lord Christ the fruits of his Spirit and Effect of his Mediation wherein he sees of the travail of his Soul and is satisfied There is therefore no-nothing more to be abhorred than those carnal low and unworthy thoughts which some men vent of this glorious Work of the Holy Spirit who would have it wholly to consist in a Legal Righteousness or Moral Vertue Sect. 13 6 This is that which God indispensibly requireth of us The full prosecution of this Consideration we must put off unto our Arguments for the Necessity of it which will ensue in their proper place At present I shall shew that not only God requireth Holiness indispensibly in all Believers but also that this is All which he requireth of them or expecteth from them For it comprizeth the whole Duty of man And this surely rendreth it needfull for us both to know what it is and diligently to apply our selves unto the obtaining an assured participation of it For what Servant who hath any sense of his Relation and Duty if he be satisfied that his Master requireth but one thing of him will not endeavour an Acquaintance with it and the Performance of it Some indeed say that their Holiness such as it is is the Chief or only Design of the Gospel If they intend that it is the first principal Design of God in and by the Gospel and that not only as to the Preceptive part of it but also as unto its Doctrinal and Promissory parts whence it is principally and emphatically denominated it is a fond Imagination Gods great and first design in and by the Gospel is eternally to Glorifie himself his Wisdom Goodness Love Grace Righteousness and Holiness by Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 5 6. And in order to this his great and supreme end he hath designed the Gospel and designs by the Gospel which gives the Gospel its Design 1 To reveal that Love and Grace of his unto lost sinners with the way of its Communication through the Mediation of his Son Incarnate as the only means whereby he will be glorified and whereby they may be saved Acts 26. 18. 2 To prevail with men in and by the Dispensation of its Truth and Encouragement of its Promises to renounce their sins and all other Expectations of Relief or Satisfaction and to betake themselves by Faith unto that way of Life and
Salvation which is therein declared unto them 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Col. 1. 25 26 27 28. 3 To be the means and Instrument of conveying over unto them and giving them a Title unto and a Right in that Grace and Mercy that Life and Righteousness which is revealed and tendred unto them thereby Mark 16. 16. 4 To be the way and means of communicating the Spirit of Christ with Grace and Strength unto the Elect enabling of them to believe and receive the Attonement Gal. 3. 2. 5 Hereby to give them Vnion with Christ as their Spiritual and Mystical Head us also to fix their Hearts and Souls in their choycest Actings in their Faith Trust Confidence and Love immediately on the Son of God as Incarnate and their Mediator Joh. 14. 1. Wherefore the first and principal End of the Gospel towards us is to invite and encourage lost sinners unto the Faith and Approbation of the Way of Grace Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ without a Complyance wherewith in the first place the Gospel hath no more to do with sinners but leaves them to Justice the Law and themselves But now upon a supposition of these things and of our giving Glory to God by Faith in them the whole that God requireth of us in the Gospel in a way of Duty is that we should be Holy and abide in the use of those means whereby Holiness may be attained and improved in us For if he requires any other thing of us it must be on one of these four Accounts 1. To make Attonement for our sins or 2. To be our Righteousness before him or 3. To merit Life and Salvation by or 4. To supererogate in the behalf of others No other end can be thought of besides what are the true ends of Holiness whereon God should require any thing of us And all the false Religion that is in the world leans on a supposition that God doth require somewhat of us with respect unto these ends But 1 He requires nothing of us which we had all the Reason in the world to expect that he would to make Attonement or satisfaction for our sins that might compensate the injuries we had done him by our Apostasie and Rebellion For whereas we had multiplyed sins against him lived in an Enmity and Opposition to him and had contracted insupportable and immeasurable Debts upon our own Souls Terms of peace being now proposed who could think but that the first thing required of us would be that we should make some kind of satisfaction to Divine Justice for all our enormous and heynous provocations Yea who is there that indeed doth naturally think otherwise so he apprehended who was contriving a way in his own mind how he might come to an Agreement with God Micah 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with Thousands of Rams or with ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my Transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul This or something of this nature seems to be but a very reasonable Enquiry for a Guilty self-condemned sinner when first he entertains thoughts of an Agreement with the Holy sin-avenging God And this was the foundation of all that cruel and expensive Superstition that the World was in bondage unto for so many Ages Mankind generally thought that the principal thing which was required of them in Religion was to attone and pacifie the wrath of the Divine Power and to make a Compensation for what had been done against him Hence were their Sacrifices of Hecatombs of Beasts of Mankind of their Children and of themselves as I have elsewhere declared And the same principle is still deep rooted in the minds of convinced sinners and many an Abby Monastery Colledge and Almes-house hath it founded For in the fruits of this Superstition the Priests which set it on work alwayes shared deeply But quite otherwise in the Gospel there is declared and tendred unto sinners an absolute free pardon of all their sins without any satisfaction or Compensation made or to be made on their part that is by themselves namely on the Account of the Attonement made for them by Jesus Christ. And all Attempts or Endeavours after Works or Duties of Obedience in any respect satisfactory to God for sin or meritorious of pardon do subvert and overthrow the whole Gospel See 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Wherefore in Answer to the Enquiry before mentioned the Reply in the Prophet is that God looks for none of these things and that all such Contrivances were wholly vain He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God v. 8. which last Expression comprizeth the whole of our Covenant-Obedience Gen. 17. 1. as the two former are eminent Instances of it in particular 2 He requireth nothing of us in a way of Righteousness for our Justification for the future that this also he would have done we might have justly expected For a Righteousness we must have or we cannot be accepted with him And here also many are at a loss and resolve that it is a thing fond and inconvenient to think of peace with God without some Righteousness of their own on the Account whereof they may be Justified before him and rather than they will forgoe that apprehension they will let goe all other thoughts of Peace and Acceptance Being ignorant of the Righteousness of God they go about to establish their own Righteousness and do not submit themselves unto the Righteousness of God nor will they acquiesâ—e in it that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth as Rom. 10. 3 4. But so it is that God requireth not this of us in the Gospel for we are Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3. 24. And we do therefore conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the works of the Law v. 28. so Rom. 8. 3 4. Neither is there any mention in the whole Gospel of God's requiring a Righteousness in us upon the Account whereof we should be justified before him or in his sight For the Justification by works mentioned in James consists in the evidencing and Declaration of our Faith by them 3 God requireth not any thing of us whereby we should purchase or Merit for our selves Life and Salvation For we are saved by Grace through Faith not of works lest any man should boast Ephes. 2. 8 9. God doth save us neither by nor for the works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his own Mercy Titus 3. 5. so that although on the one side the wages of sin is Death there being a proportion in
thereof Such a Spiritual Heavenly Supernatural Life so denominated from its Nature Causes Acts and Ends we must be partakers of in this World if ever we mind to attain Eternal Life in another Sect. 7 And herein we shall take what View we are able of the Nature Glory and Beauty of Holiness and do confess it is but little of them which I can comprehend It is a matter indeed often spoken unto but the Essence and true Nature of it are much hidden from the Eyes of all living men The sence of what the Scripture proposeth what I believe and what I desire an Experience of that I shall endeavour to declare But as we are not in this Life perfect in the Duties of Holiness no more are we in the Knowledge of its Nature First therefore I say it is a gracious supernatural Habit or a Principle of spiritual Life And with respect hereunto I shall briefly do these three things 1. Shew what I mean by such an Habit. 2. Prove that there is such an Habit required unto Holiness yea that the Nature of Holiness consists therein 3. Declare in general the Properties of it Sect. 8 1. Our First Enquiry is after the Essence and form of Holiness that from which any one is truely and really made and denominated Holy or what is the formal Reason of that Holiness which our Nature is partaker of in this World This must be something peculiar something excellent and sacred as that which constitutes the great and only Difference that is between Mankind on their own part in the sight of God with respect unto Eternity Every one that hath this Holiness pleaseth God is accepted with him and shall come to the Enjoyment of him And every one that hath it not is rejected of him here and hereafter And this Holiness in the first place doth not consist in any single Acts of Obedience unto God though good in their own Nature and acceptable unto him For such Acts may be performed yea many of them by unholy persons with Examples whereof the Scripture aboundeth Cain's Sacrifice and Ahab's Repentance were signal single Acts of Obedience materially yet no Acts of Holiness formally nor did either make or denominate them Holy And our Apostle tells us that men may give all their Goods to the Poor and their Bodies to be burned and yet be nothing 1 Cor. 13. yet in single Acts who can go further Such Fruits may spring from Seed that hath no Root Single Acts may evidence Holiness as Abraham's Obedience in sacrificing his Son but they constitute none Holy nor will a series a Course a Multiplication of Acts and Duties of Obedience either constitute or denominate any one so Isa. 1. 11 12 13 14 15. All the Duties a series and Multiplication whereof are there rejected for want of Holiness were good in themselves and appointed of God Nor doth it consist in an Habitual Disposition of Mind unto any outward Duties of Piety Devotion or Obedience however obtained or acquired Such Habits there are both Intellectual and Morall Intellectual Habits are Arts and Sciences When men by Custom Usuage and frequent Acts in the Exercise of any Science Art or Mystery do get a ready Facility in and unto all the Parts and Duties of it they have an Intellectual Habit therein It is so in things Morall as to Vertues and Vices There are some seeds and sparks of Moral Vertues remaining in the Ruines of depraved Nature as of Justice Temperance Fortitude and the like Hence God calls on profligate Sinners to remember and shew themselves Men or not to act contrary to the Principles and Light of Nature which are inseparable from us as we are Men Isa. 46. 8. These Principles may be so excited in the Exercise of Natural Light and improved by Education Instruction and Example untill persons by an assiduous diligent performance of the Acts and Duties of them may attain such a Readiness unto them and Facility in them as is not by any outward Means easily changed or diverted and this is a Moral Habit in like manner in the Duties of Piety and Religion in Acts of outward Obedience unto God men by the same Means may so accustom themselves unto them as to have an habitual Disposition unto their Exercise I doubt not but that it is so unto an high Degree with many superstitious Persons But in all these things the Acts do still precede the Habits of the same nature and kind which are produced by them and not otherwise But this Holiness is such an Habit or Principle as is antecedent unto all Acts of the same kind as we shall prove There never was by any nor ever can be any Act or Duty of true Holiness performed where there was not in Order of Nature antecedently an Habit of Holiness in the Persons by whom they are performed Many Acts and Duties for the substance of them good and approveable may be performed without it but no one that hath the proper Form and Nature of Holiness can be so And the Reason is because every Act of true Holiness must have something supernatural in it from an internal renewed Principle of Grace and that which hath not so be it otherwise what it will is no Act or Duty of true Holiness Sect. 9 And I call this Principle of Holiness an HABIT not as though it were absolutely of the same kind with acquired Habits and would in all things answer to our Conceptions and Descriptions of them But we only call it so because in its Effects and Manner of Operation it agreeth in sundry things with acquired intellectual or moral Habits But it hath much more Conformity unto a natural unchangeable Instict than unto any acquired Habit. Wherefore God chargeth it on men that in their Obedience unto him they did not answer that instinct which is in other Creatures towards their Lords and Benefactors Isa. 1. 3. and which they cordially observe Jerem. 8. 7. But herein God teacheth us more than the Beasts of the Earth and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven Job 35. 11. This therefore is that which I intend A Vertue a Power a Principle of Spiritual Life and Grace wrought created infused into our Souls and in-laid in all the Faculties of them constantly abiding and unchangeably residing in them which is antecedent unto and the next Cause of all Acts of true Holiness whatever And this is that as was said wherein the nature of Holiness doth consist and from which in those that are Adult the actual Discharge of all Duties and Works of Holiness is inseparable This abideth alwayes in and with all that are sanctified whence they are alwayes Holy and not only so when they are actually exercised in the Duties of Holiness Hereby are they prepared disposed and enabled unto all Duties of Obedience as we shall shew immediately and by the Influence hereof into their Acts and Duties do they become Holy and no otherwise Sect. 10 For the further
of all Holy Acts and Duties And frequency gives facility in every kind It puts the Soul upon reiterated Actings of Faith and Love or renewed holy Thoughts and Meditations It is a Spring that is continually bubling up in them on the frequent Repetition of the daily Dutyes of Prayer Reading holy Discourse as on closing with all Opportunities and Occasions of Mercy Benignity Charity and Bounty amongst men Hereby is the Heart so accustomed unto the Yoke of the Lord and made so conversant in his Wayes that it is natural and easie to it to bear them and to be engaged in them And it will be found by Experience that the more Intermissions of Dutyes of any sort we fall under the more difficulty we shall find in the performance of them 3 It engageth the Assistance of Christ and his Spirit It is the Divine Nature the New Creature which the Lord Christ careth for in and by its Actings in all Duties of Obedience doth its Life consist Therein also is it strengthened and improved For this cause doth the Lord Christ continually come in by the Supplyes of his Spirit unto its Assistance And when the strength of Christ is engaged then and there is his Yoke easie and his Burden light Sect. 38 Some perhaps will say that they find not this Facility or Easiness in the Course of Obedience and in the Dutyes of it They meet with secret Unwillingnesses in themselves and great Oppositions on other Accounts whence they are apt to be faint and weary yea are almost ready to give over It is hard to them to pray continually and not to faint to stand in their Watch night and day against the Inrodes of their spiritual Adversaries to keep themselves from the Insinuations of the World and up unto those Sacrifices of Charity and Bounty that are so well-pleasing to God Many Weights and Burdens are upon them in their Course many Difficulties press them and they are ready to be beset round about every moment Wherefore they think that the Principle of Grace and Holiness doth not give the Facility and Easiness mentioned or that they were never made Partakers of it I answer 1 Let these Persons examine themselves and duely consider whence these Obstructions and Difficulties they complain of do arise If they are from the inward Inclinations of their Souls and unwillingness to bear the Yoke of Christ only they are kept up unto it by their Convictions which they cannot cast off then is their Condition to be bewailed But if themselves are sensible and convinced that they arise from Principles which as far as they are within them they hate and abhorre and long to be freed from and as they are from without are such as they look on as Enemies unto them and do watch against them then what they complain of is no more but what in one Degree or other all that Believe have Experience of And if their Impediments do arise from what they know themselves to be opposite unto them and that Principle whereby they are acted then notwithstanding this Objection it may be in the Nature of the Principle of Holiness to give Facility in all the Duties of it Sect. 39 2 Let Enquiry be made Whether they have been constant and assiduous in the Performance of all those Duties which they now complain that they find so much difficulty in The Principle of Grace and Holiness gives Facility in all Dutyes of Obedience but in the proper Way and Order It first gives Constancy and Assiduity and then Easiness If men comply not with its Guidance and Inclination in the former it is in vain for them to expect the latter If we are not constant in all Acts of Obedience none of them will ever be easie unto us Let not those who can omit proper and due Seasons of Meditation Prayer Hearing Charity Moderation in all things Patience Meekness and the like at their pleasure on the least Occasions Excuses or Diversions ever think or hope to have the Wayes of Obedience smooth its Paths pleasant or its Duties easie Let him never think to attain any Readiness Delight or Facility in any Art or Science who is alwayes beginning at it touching upon it sometimes As this is the way in all sorts of things Natural and Spiritual to be alwayes learning and never to come to the Knowledge of the Truth so in the Practice of Holy Obedience if men are as it were alwayes beginning one while performing another intermitting the Duties of it fearing or being unwilling to engage into a constant equal assiduous Discharge of them they will be alwayes striving but never come unto any Readiness or Facility in them 3 The Difficulty and Burdensomeness complained of may proceed from the Interposition of perplexing Temptations which weary disquiet and distract the Mind This may be and frequently is so and yet our Assertion not impeached We only say that set aside extraordinary Occasions and sinfull Neglects this Principle of Grace and Holiness doth give that suitableness to the Mind unto all Duties of Obedience that constancy in them that love unto them as make them both easie and pleasant Sect. 40 By these things we may enquire after the Habit or Principle of Holiness in our own Minds that we be not deceived by any thing that falsely pretendeth thereunto As 1 Let us take heed that we deceive not our selves as though it would suffice unto Gospel-Holiness that we have occasionally good Purposes of leaving Sin and living unto God then when something urgeth upon us more than ordinary with the Effects which such Purposes will produce Afflictions Sicknesses Troubles sense of great Guilt fear of Death and the like do usually produce this Frame And although it is most remote from any pretence unto Evangelical Obedience yet I could not but give a Caution against it because it is that whereby the Generality of men in the World do delude themselves into Eternal Ruine It is rare to find any that are so stubbornly Profligate but at one time or another they project and design yea promise and engage unto a Change of their Course and Amendment of their Lives doing sundry things it may be in the pursuit of those Designs and Purposes For they will thereon abstain from their old Sins with whose haunt they are much perplexed and betake themselves unto the Performance of those Duties from whence they expect most Relief unto their Consciences and whose Neglect doth most reflect upon them Especially will they do so when the hand of God is upon them in Afflictions and Dangers Psal. 78. 34 35 36 37. And this produceth in them that kind of Goodness which God sayes is like the Morning Cloud or the Early Dew things that make a fair Appearance of something but immediately vanish away Hos. 6. 4. Certainly there need not much pains to convince any man how unspeakably this comes short of that Evangelical Holiness which is a Fruit of the Sanctification of the Spirit It
16. And the like may be said of all other Duties whatever Sect. 12 It is certain therefore that whereas God is Holy if we are not so all the Duties which we design or intend to perform towards him are everlastingly lost as unto their proper Ends. For there is no Entercourse nor Communion between Light and Darkness God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and if we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in Darkness as all unholy Persons doe we lye and doe not the truth but if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and truely our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus 1 Joh. 1. 6 7. v. 3. Now what man that shall consider this unless he be infatuated would for the Love of any one sin or out of Conformity to the World or any other thing whereby the Essence and Truth of Holiness is impeached utterly lose and forfeit all the Benefit and Fruit of all those Duties wherein perhaps he hath laboured and which he hath it may be been at no small charge withall But yet this is the Condition of all men who come short in any thing that is essentially necessary unto universal Holiness All they doe all they suffer all the Pains they take in and about Religious Duties all their complyance with Convictions and what they do therein within doors and without is all lost as unto the great Ends of the Glory of God and their own Eternal Blessedness as sure as God is Holy Sect. 13 3 It ariseth from a Respect unto our future everlasting Enjoyment of him This is out utmost End which if we come short of Life it self is the greatest Loss better ten thousand times we had never been For without it a Continuance in Everlasting Miseries is inseparable from our State and Condition Now this is never attainable by any unholy Person Follow Holiness saith our Apostle without which no man shall see God For it is the pure in Heart only that shall see God Matth. 5. 8. It is hereby that we are made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. Neither can we attain it before we are thus made meet for it No unclean thing nothing that defileth or is defiled shall ever be brought into the glorious Presence of this Holy God There is no Imagination wherewith Mankind is besotted more foolish none so pernicious as this That Persons not purified not sanctified not made holy in this Life should afterwards be taken into that state of Blessedness which consists in the Enjoyment of God There can be no Thought more Reproachfull to his Glory nor more inconsistent with the Nature of the things themselves For neither can such Persons enjoy him nor would God himself be a Reward unto them They can have nothing whereby they should adhere unto him as their chiefest Good nor can see any thing in him that should give them Rest or Satisfaction nor can there be any Medium whereby God should Communicate himself unto them supposing them to contue thus unholy as all must doe who depart out of this Life in that Condition Holiness indeed is perfected in Heaven but the Beginning of it is inviolably and unalterably confined to this World and where this fails no hand shall be put unto that Work unto Eternity All unholy persons therefore who seed and refresh themselves with Hopes of Heaven and Eternity doe it meerly on false Notions of God and Blessedness whereby they deceive themselves Heaven is a place where as well they would not be as they cannot be in it self it is neither desired by them nor fit for them He that hath this Hope indeed that he shall see God purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 2. 3. There is therefore a manifold Necessity of Holiness impressed on us from the Consideration of the Nature of that God whom we serve and hope to enjoy which is Holy Sect. 14 I cannot pass over this Consideration without making some especial Improvement of it We have seen how all our Concernment and Interest in God both here and hereafter do depend on our being Holy They invented a very effectual Means for the Prejudicing yea indeed a fatal Engine for the Ruine of true Holiness in the World who built it on no other bottome nor pressed it on any other motive but that the Acts and Fruits of it were Meritorious in the sight of God For whether this be Believed and complyed withall or not true Holiness is ruined if no other more effectual Reason be substituted in its room Reject this Motive and there is no need of it which I am perswaded hath really taken place in many who being taught that good Deeds are not meritorious have concluded them useless Comply with it and you destroy he Nature of true Holiness and turn all the pretended Duties of it into Fruits and Effects of spiritual Pride and blind Superstition But we see the Necessity of it with respect unto God hath other Foundations suited unto and consistent with the Grace and Love and Mercy of the Gospel And we shall fully shew in our Progress that there is not one Motive unto it that is of any real Force or Efficacy but perfectly complyes with the whole Doctrine of the free undeserved Grace of God towards us by Jesus Christ nor is there any of them which gives the least Countenance unto any thing of worth in our selves as from our selves or that should take us off from an absolute and universal Dependance on Christ for Life and Salvation But yet such they are as render it as necessary unto us to be Holy that is to be sanctified as to be Justified He that thinks to please God and to come to the Enjoyment of him without Holiness makes him an unholy God putting the highest Indignity and Dishonour imaginable upon him God deliver poor Sinners from this Deceit There is no Remedy you must leave your Sins or your God You may as easily reconcile Heaven and Hell the one remaining Heaven and the other Hell as easily take away all Difference between Light and Darkness Good and Evil as procure Acceptance for unholy Persons with our God Some live without God in the World whether they have any Notion of his Being or no is not material They live without any Regard unto him either as unto his present Rule over them or his future Disposal of them It is no wonder if Holiness both Name and Thing be universally despised by these Persons their Design being to serve their Lusts to the utmost and immerse themselves in the Pleasures of the World without once taking God into their Thoughts they can do no otherwise But for Men who live under some constant sense of God and an eternal Accountableness unto him and thereon do many things he requires and abstain from many Sins that their Inclinations and Opportunities would suggest
day the Greatness of his Mercy towards all sorts of Sinners his Readiness to receive them his Willingness to pardon them and that freely in Christ without the Consideration of any Worth Merit or Righteousness of their own And do you not herein invite all sorts of Sinners the worst and the greatest to come unto him by Christ that they may be pardoned and accepted Whence then can arise any Argument for the Necessity of Holiness from the Consideration of the Nature of this God whose Inestimable Treasures of Grace and the freedom of whose Love and Mercy towards Sinners no Tongue as you say can express Sect. 33 An. 1 This Objection is very natural unto carnal and unbelieving Minds and therefore we shall meet with it at every turn There is nothing seems more reasonable unto them than that we may live in sin because Grace hath abounded If men must yet be Holy they can see no need nor use of Grace And they cannot see that God is Gracious to any Purpose if notwithstanding men may perish because they are not Holy But this Objection is raised rejected and condemned by our Apostle in whose Judgement we may acquiesce Rom. 6. 1. And in the same place he subjoyns the Reasons why notwithstanding the superabounding Grace of God in Christ there is an indispensible Necessity that all Believers should be Holy 2 God himself hath obviated this Objection He proclaims his Name Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord God gracious and mercifull abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgressions and Sin Had he stood here and neither in this nor in any other place of Scripture further declared his Nature and unchangeable Purposes concerning Sinners some Colour might have been laid on this Objection But he addes immediately and that will by no means clear the Guilty that is as it is explained in places of Scripture innumerable such as go on in their Sins without regard unto Obedience and Holiness springing from the Attonement made for their guilty Souls in the Blood of Christ. 3 We doe we ought to declare the rich and free Love Grace Mercy and Bounty of God unto Sinners in and by Jesus Christ and Woe unto us if we should not be found in that Work all our Dayes and thereby Encourage all sorts of Sinners to come unto him for the free Pardon of their Sins without Money or Price without Merit or Desert on their part For this is the Gospel But notwithstanding all this Grace and Condescension we declare that he doth not dethrone himself nor deny himself nor change his Nature nor become unholy that we may be saved He is God still Naturally and Essentially holy Holy as he is in Christ reconciling the sinfull World unto himself and therefore indispensibly requires that those whom he pardons receives accepts into his Love and Communion with himself should be Holy also And these things are not only consistent but inseperable Without the Consideration of this Grace in God we can have no Encouragement to be Holy and without the Necessity of Holiness in us that Grace can neither be glorified nor usefull CHAP. II. Eternal Election a Cause of and Motive unto Holinesse Other Arguments for the Necessity of Holiness from Gods Eternal Election The Argument from thence explained improved vindicated Sect. 1 WE have seen upon the whole Matter what Conclusions as unto our own Duty we ought to draw from that Revelation of the Nature of God in Christ which is made unto us and our Relation unto him If we are not thereby prevailed on alwayes in all Instances of Obedience to endeavour to be Holy universally in all manner of Holy Conversation we neither can enjoy his Favour here nor be brought unto the Enjoyment of him in Glory hereafter Sect. 2 That Consideration which usually we take of God next after his Nature and the Properties of it is of the Eternal free Acts of his Will or his Decrees and Purposes And we shall now enquire what Respect they have unto Holiness in us what Arguments and Motives may be taken from them to evince the Necessity of it unto us and to press us thereunto especially from the Decree of Election which in an especial Manner is by some traduced as no Friend to this Design I say then that Sect. 3 It is the Eternal and Immutable Purpose of God that all who are his in a peculiar manner all whom he designs to bring unto Blessedness in the Everlasting Enjoyment of himself shall antecedently thereunto be made Holy This Purpose of his God hath declared unto us that we may take no wrong Measures of our Estate and Condition nor build Hopes or Expectations of future Glory on sandy Foundations that will fail us Whatever we are else in Parts Abilities Profession Moral Honesty Usefulness unto others Reputation in the Church if we are not personally spiritually Evangelically Holy we have no Interest in that Purpose or Decree of God whereby any Persons are designed unto Salvation and Glory And this we shall briefly confirm Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World that we should be holy and unblameable before him in Love But is this that which firstly and principally we are ordained unto and that for its own sake namely Holiness and Unblameableness in the Obedience of Love No we are firstly Ordained unto eternal life Acts 13. 48. we are chosen from the Beginning unto Salvation 2 Thess. 2. 13. That which God in the first place intends as his End in the Decree of Election is our Eternal Salvation to the prayse of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1. 5 6 11. How then is he said to Choose us that we should be Holy in what sence is our Holiness proposed as the Design of God in Election It is as the indispensible Means for the attaining of the End of Salvation and Glory I doe saith God choose these poor lost Sinners to be mine in an especial manner to save them by my Son and bring them through his Mediation unto Eternal Glory But in order hereunto I do purpose and decree that they shall be holy and unblameable in the Obedience of Love without which as a Means none shall ever attain that End Wherefore the Expectation and Hope of any man for Life and Immortality and Glory without previous Holiness can be built on no other Foundation but this that God will Rescind his Eternal Decrees and change his Purposes that is cease to be God meerly to comply with them in ther Sins And who knowes not what will be the End of such a cursed Hope and Expectation The contrary is seconded by that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 36. Whom he did Predestinate them he also Called Wherever Predestination unto Glory goes before concerning any Person there Effectual Vocation unto Faith and Holiness infallibly ensues And where these never were the other never was So 2 Thess. 2. 13. God hath chosen
you from the Beginning unto Salvation through the Sanctification of the Spirit Chosen we are unto Salvation by the free Soveraign Grace of God But how may this Salvation be actually obtained how may we be brought into the actual possession of it Through the Sanctification of the Spirit and no otherwise Whom God doth not sanctifie and make Holy by his Spirit he never chose unto Salvation from the Beginning The Councels of God therefore concerning us do not depend on our Holiness but upon our Holiness our future Happiness depends in the Councels of God Sect. 4 Hence we may see wherein lyes the Force of the Argument for the Necessity of Holiness from Gods Decree of Election and it consists in these two things 1 That such is the Nature of the unalterable Decree of God in this Matter that no Person living can ever attain the End of Glory and Happiness without the Means of Grace and Holiness The same Eternal Purpose respecteth both I shall afterwards shew how the infallible and indissolvible Connexion of these things is established by the Law of God Our present Argument is from hence that it is fixed by Gods Eternal Decree He hath ordained none to Salvation but he hath ordained them Antecedently to be Holy Not the least Infant that goes out of this World shall come to Eternal Rest unless it be sanctified and so made habitually and radically Holy He chooseth none to Salvation but through the sanctification of the Spirit As therefore whatever else we have or may seem to have it is contrary to the Nature of God that we should come to the Enjoyment of him if we are not holy so it is contrary to his Eternal and unchangeable Decree also Sect. 5 2 It ariseth from hence that we can have no Evidence of our Interest in Gods Decree of Election whereby we are designed unto Life and Glory without Holiness effectually wrought in us Wherefore as our Life depends upon it so do all our Comforts To this Purpose speaks our Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth who are his It is the Decree of Election which he intends and he proposeth it as that alone which will give security against Apostasie in a time of great Temptations and Trials As our Saviour doth likewise Matth. 24. 24. Every thing else will fail but what is an especial Fruit and Effect of this Decree What therefore is incumbent on us with respect thereunto that we may know we have an Interest in this single Security against final Apostasie saith the Apostle And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity There is no other way to come unto an Evidence thereof but by a Departure from all Iniquity by universal Holiness So the Apostle Peter directs us to give all diligence to make our Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Sure it is in it self from all Eternity The Foundation of God standeth sure But our Duty it is to make it sure and certain unto ourselves And this is a thing of the highest Importance and Concernment unto us whence we are required to give all Diligence unto that End How then may this be done or effected This he declares in the foregoing Verses and it is only by finding in our selves and duely Exercising that Train of Gospel Graces and Duties which he there enumerates Vers. 5 6 7 8 9. Sect. 6 It is evident therefore and necessary from Gods Decree of Election that if we intend either Eternal Glory hereafter or any Consolation or Assurance here that we must endeavour to be holy and unblameable before him in Love For whomsoever God purposeth to save he purposeth first to sanctifie neither have we any ground to suppose that we are built on that Foundation of God which standeth sure unless we depart from all Iniquity What further Motives may be taken from the especial Nature of this Decree shall be considered when we have removed one Objection out of our way Sect. 7 Some there are who apprehend that these things are quite otherwise For they say that a Supposition of Gods Decree of personal Election is a Discouragement unto all Endeavours for Holiness and an effectual Obstruction thereof in the Lives of Men. And under this pretense chiefly is the Doctrine concerning it blasphemed and evil spoken of For say they if God have freely from Eternity chosen men unto Salvation what need is there that they should be Holy They may live securely in the pursuit of their Lusts and be sure not to fail of Heaven at the last For Gods Decree cannot be frustrated nor his Will resisted And if men be not elected whatever they endeavour in the Wayes of Holy Obedience it will be utterly lost for eternally saved they cannot they shall not be This therefore is so far from being a Conviction of the Necessity of Holiness and a Motive unto it as that indeed it renders it unnecessary and useless yea defeats the Power and Efficacy of all other Arguments for it and Motives unto it Now this Objection if not for the sake of those who make use of it as a Cavil against the Truth yet of those who may feel the force of it in the way of a Temptation must be removed out of our way To this End I answer two Things 1. In general that this Perswasion is not of him that calleth us This way of arguing is not taught in the Scripture nor can thence be learned The Doctrine of Gods free Electing Love and Grace is fully declared therein And withall it is proposed as the Fountain of all Holiness and made a great Motive thereunto Is it not safer now for us to adhere to the plain Testimonies of Scripture confirmed by the Experience of the Generality of Believers captivating our Understandings to the Obedience of Faith than hearken unto such perverse Cavils as would possess our Minds with a Dislike of God and his Wayes Those who hate Gospel Holiness or would substitute something else in the room of it will never want Exceptions against all its Concernments An Holiness they lay claim unto and plead an Interest in For as I said formerly a Confession in general of the Necessity hereof is almost the onely thing wherein all that are called Christians do agree But such an Holiness they would have as doth not spring from Eternal Divine Election as is not wrought in us Originally by the Almighty Efficacy of Grace in our Conversion as is not promoted by free Justification through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. Now this is such an Holiness as the Scripture knoweth nothing of unless it be to reject and condemn it Wherefore this Objection proceeding onely from the Craft of Sathan opposing the Wayes and Methods of Gods Grace when he deareth not openly oppose the thing it self it is safer for a Believer to rest quietly in clear Scripture Revelation than to attend unto such proud perverse and
froward Cavillings Sect. 9 2. In particular we are not onely obliged to believe all Divine Revelations but also in the Way Order and Method wherein by the Will of God they are proposed unto us and which is required by the Nature of the things themselves For Instance The Belief of Eternal Life is required in the Gospel But yet no man is obliged to Believe that he shall be eternally saved whilest he lives in his Sins but rather the contrary On this Supposition which is plain and evident I shall in the ensuing Propositions utterly cast this Objection out of Consideration Sect. 10 1 The Decree of Election considered absolutely in it self without respect unto its Effects is no part of Gods revealed Will. That is it is not Revealed that this or that man is or is not elected This therefore can be made neither Argument nor Objection about any thing wherein Faith or Obedience are concerned For we know it not we cannot know it it is not our Duty to know it the Knowledge of it is not proposed as of any use unto us yea it it is our sin to enquire into it It may seem to some to be like the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil unto Eve good for Food pleasant to the Eyes and much to be desired to make one wise as all secret Forbidden things seem to carnal Minds But men can gather no Fruit from it but Death See Deut. 29. 29. Whatever Exceptions therefore are laid against this Decree as it is in it self whatever Inferences are made on supposition of this or that mans being or not being elected they are all unjust and unreasonable yea proved contending with God who hath appointed another Way for the Discovery hereof as we shall see afterwards Sect. 11 2 God sends the Gospel to men in pursuit of his Decree of Election and in order unto its effectual Accomplishment I dispute not what other End it hath or may have in its indefinite proposal unto all But this is the first Regulating principal End of it Wherefore in the preaching of it our Apostle affirms that he endured all things for the Elects sake that they might obtain the Salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2. 10. So God before-hand commanded him to stay and preach the Gospel at Corinth because he had much People in that City namely in his Purpose of Grace Acts 18. 10. See Chap. 2. 47. Chap. 13. 48. Sect. 12 3 Wherever this Gospel comes it proposeth Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ unto all that shall believe repent and yield Obedience unto him It plainly makes known unto men their Duty and plainly proposeth unto them their Reward In this state of things no man without the highest Pride and utmost Effect of Vnbelief can oppose the secret Decree of God unto our known Duty Saith such a one I will neither repent nor believe nor obey unless I may first know whether I am Elected or no for all at last will depend thereon If this be the Resolution of any man he may go about his other Occasions the Gospel hath nothing to say or offer unto him If he will admit of it on no other terms but that he may set up his own Will and Wisdom and Methods in Opposition unto and Exclusion of those of God he must for ought I know take his own Course whereof he may Repent when it is too late Sect. 13 4 The sole Way of God's Appointment whereby we may come to an Apprehension of an Interest in Election is by the Fruits of it in our own Souls Nor is it Lawfull for us to enquire into it or after it any other way The Obligation which the Gospel puts upon us to believe any thing respects the Order of the Things themselves to be Believed and the Order of our Obedience as was before observed For instance when it is declared that Christ dyed for Sinners no man is immediately obliged to believe that Christ dyed for him in particular but only that he dyed to save Sinners to procure a Way of Salvation for them among whom he finds himself to be Hereon the Gospel requires of men Faith and Obedience This are they obliged to comply withall Untill this be done no man is under an Obligation to believe that Christ dyed for him in particular So is it in this matter of Election A man is obliged to believe the Doctrine of it upon the first Promulgation of the Gospel because it is therein plainly declared But as for his own personal Election he cannot believe it nor is obliged to believe it any otherwise but as God reveals it by its Effects No man ought no man can justly Question his own Election doubt of it or disbelieve it untill he be in such a Condition as wherein it is impossible that the Effects of Election should ever be wrought in him if such a Condition there be in this World For as a man whilest he is unholy can have no Evidence that he is elected so he can have none that he is not elected whilest it is possible that ever he may be Holy Wherefore whether men are Elected or no is not that which God calls any immediately to be conversant about Faith Obedience Holiness are the inseperable Fruits Effects and Consequents of Election as hath been proved before See Ephes. 1. 4. 2 Thess. 2. 13. Tit. 1. 1. Acts 13. 48. In whomsoever these things are wrought he is obliged according to the Method of God and the Gospel to believe his own Election And any Believer may have the same Assurance of it as he hath of his Calling Sanctification or Justification for these things are inseperable And by the Exercise of Grace are we obliged to secure our Interest in Election 2 Pet. 1. 11. But as for those who are as yet Vnbelievers and unholy they can draw no Conclusion that they are not elected but from this Supposition that they are in a state and Condition wherein it is impossible that ever they should have either Grace or Holiness which cannot be supposed concerning any man but he that knowes himself to have sinned against the Holy Ghost Wherefore all the supposed strength of the Objection mentioned lieth onely in the Pride of mens Minds and Wills refusing to submit themselves unto the Order and Method of God in the Dispensation of his Grace and his Prescription of their Duty where we must leave it Sect. 14 To return unto our designed Discourse The Doctrine of Gods Eternal Election is every where in the Scripture proposed for the Encouragement and Consolation of Believers and to further them in their Course of Obedience and Holiness See Ephes. 1. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Rom. 8. 28 29 30 31 32 33. As unto Mens present Concernment therein it is infallibly assured unto them by its Effects and being so it is filled with Motives unto Holiness as we shall now further declare in particular First The Soveraign and
of Applause Self-Righteousness or Superstition may make a great Appearance of Holiness But if the Principle of what they doe be onely the Commands of the Law they never tread one true step in the Paths of it Sect. 5 2 The End why these Commands require all the Duties of Holiness of us is that they may be our Righteousness before God or that we may be Justified thereby For Moses describeth the Righteousness which is of the Law that the Man which doth those things shall live by them Rom. 10. 5. that is it requires of us all Duties of Obedience unto this End that we may have Justification and Eternal Life by them But neither on this Account can any such Argument be taken as those we enquire into For the deeds of the Law no man can be justified If thou Lord shouldest mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand Psal. 130. 3. So prayes David Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 143. 2. Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 2. 16. And if none can attain the End of the Command as in this sense they cannot what Argument can we take from thence to prevail with them unto Obedience Whoever therefore presseth men unto Holiness meerly on the Commands of the Law and for the Ends of it doth but put them upon tormenting Disquietments and deceive their Souls However men are indispensibly obliged hereby and must Eternally perish for want of what the Law so requires who do not or will not by Faith comply with the only Remedy and Provision that God hath made in this Case And for this Reason are we necessitated to deny a Possibility of Salvation unto all to whom the Gospel is not preached as well as unto those by whom it is refused For they are left unto this Law whose Precepts they cannot answer and whose End they cannot attain Sect. 6 It is otherwise on both these Accounts with the Commands of God for Holiness under the New Covenant or in the Gospel For 1 Although God in them requireth universal Holiness of us yet he doth not do it in that strict and rigorous way as by the Law so as that if we fail in any thing either as to the Matter or Manner of its performance in the Substance of it or as to the Degrees of its Perfection that thereon both that and all we doe besides should be rejected But he doth it with a Contemperation of Grace and Mercy so as that if there be an universal sincerity in a Respect unto all his Commands he both pardoneth many sins and accepts of what we doe though it come short of Legal Perfection both on the Account of the Mediation of Christ. Yet this hindreth not but that the Law or Command of the Gospel doth still require universal Holiness of us and a Perfection therein which we are to do our utmost Endeavour to comply withall though we have a Relief provided in sincerity on the one hand and Mercy on the other For the Commands of the Gospel doe still declare what God approves and what he doth condemn which is no less than all Holiness on the one hand and all Sin on the other as exactly and extensively as under the Law For this the very Nature of God requireth and the Gospel is not the Ministry of Sin so as to give an Allowance or Indulgence unto the least although in it Pardon be provided for a multitude of sins by Jesus Christ. The Obligation on us unto Holiness is Equal as unto what it was under the Law though a Relief be provided where unavoidably we come short of it There is therefore nothing more certain than that there is no Relaxation given us as unto any Duty of Holiness by the Gospel nor any Indulgence unto the least sin But yet upon the Supposition of the Acceptance of Sincerity and a perfection of Parts instead of Degrees with the Mercy provided for our Failings and Sins there is an Argument to be taken from the Command of it unto an indispensible Necessity of Holiness including in it the highest Encouragement to endeavour after it For together with the Command there is also Grace administred enabling us unto that Obedience which God will accept Nothing therefore can avoid or evacuate the Power of this Command and Argument from it but a stubborn Contempt of God arising from the Love of Sin Sect. 7 2 The Commands of the Gospel do not require Holiness and the Duties of Righteousness of us to the same End as the Commands of the Law did namely that thereby we might be Justified in the sight of God For whereas God now accepts from us an Holiness short of that which the Law required if he did it still for the same End it would reflect Dishonour upon his own Righteousness and the Holiness of the Gospel For First if God can accept of a Righteousness unto Justification inferiour unto or short of what he required by the Law how great severity must it be thought in him to bind his Creatures unto such an exact Obedience and Righteousness at first as he could and might have dispensed withall If he doth accept of sincere Obedience now unto our Justification why did he not do so before but obliged Mankind unto absolute Perfection according to the Law for coming short wherein they all perished Or shall we say that God hath changed his Mind in this matter and that he doth not stand so much now on rigid and Perfect Obedience for our Justification as he did formerly Where then is the Glory of his Immutability of his Essential Holiness of the absolute Rectitude of his Nature and Will Sect. 8 Besides Secondly what shall become of the Honour and Holiness of the Gospel on this Supposition Must it not be looked on as a Doctrine less Holy than that of the Law For whereas the Law required absolute perfect sinless Holiness unto our Justification the Gospel admits of that to the same End on this Supposition which is every way imperfect and consistent with a multitude of Sins and Failings What can be spoken more to the Derogation of it Nay would not this indeed make Christ the Minister of Sin which our Apostle rejects with so much Detestation Gal. 2. 17. For to say that he hath merited that our imperfect Obedience attended with many and great sins for there is no man that liveth and sinneth not should be accepted unto our Justification instead of perfect and sinless Obedience required under the Law is plainly to make him the Minister of Sin or one that hath acquired some Liberty for sin beyond whatever the Law allowed And thus upon the whole matter both Christ and the Gospel in whom and whereby God unquestionably designed to declare the Holiness and Righteousness of his own Nature much more Gloriously than ever he had done any other way should be the great means to darken and obscure them For in and by them on this Supposition
the Command of God that we should be Holy and because of it and that especially under the Consideration of it which we have insisted on I know not what vain Imaginations have seemed to possess the Minds of some that they have no need of Respect unto the Command nor to the Promises and Threatnings of it but to Obey meerly from the Power and Guidance of an inward Principle Nay some have supposed that a Respect unto the Command would vitiate our Obedience rendring it Legal and Servile But I hope That Darkness which hindred men from discerning the Harmony and Complyance which is between the Principle of Grace in us and the Authority of the Command upon us is much taken away from all sincere Professors It is a Respect unto the Command which gives the formal Nature of Obedience unto what we doe And without a due Regard unto it there is nothing of Holiness in us Some would make the Light of Nature to be their Rule some in what they doe look no further for their Measure than what carryes the Reputation of common Honesty among men He that would be holy indeed must alwayes mind the Command of God with that Reverence and those Affections which become him to whom God speaks immediately And that it may be Effectual towards us we may consider Sect. 34 1 How God hath multiplyed his Commands unto this Purpose to testifie not only his own infinite Care of us and Love unto us but also our Eternal Concernment in what he requires He doth not give out unto us a single Command that we should be Holy which yet were sufficient to Oblige us for ever but he gives his Commands unto that Purpose Line upon line line upon line precept upon precept precept upon precept He that shall but look over the Bible and see almost every Page of it filled with Commands or Directions or Instructions for Holiness cannot but conclude that the Mind and Will of God is very much in this matter and that our Concernment therein is inexpressible Nor doth God content himself to multiply Commands in General that we should be Holy so as that if we have Regard unto him they may never be out of our Remembrance but there is not any particular Duty or Instance of Holiness but he hath given us especial Commands for that also No man can instance in the least Duty that belongs directly unto it but it falls under some especial Command of God We are not only then under the Command of God in general and that often reiterated unto us in an awfull Reverence whereof we ought to walk but upon all Occasions whatever we have to do or avoid in following after Holiness is represented unto us in especial Commands to that purpose And they are all of them a Fruit of the Love and Care of God towards us Is it not then our Duty alwayes to consider these Commands to bind them unto our Hearts and our Hearts to them that nothing may seperate them Oh that they might alwayes dwell in our Minds to influence them unto an inward constant Watch against the first Disorders of our Souls that are unsuited to the inward Holiness God requires abide with us in our Closets and all our Occasions for our Good Sect. 35 2 We may do well to consider what various Enforcements God is pleased to give unto those multiplyed Commands He doth not remit us meerly to their Authority but he applyeth all other Wayes and Means whereby they may be made Effectual Hence are they accompanyed with Exhortations Entreaties Reasonings Expostulations Promises Threatnings all made use of to fasten the Command upon our Minds and Consciences God knowes how slow and backward we are to receive due Impressions from his Authority and he knowes by what Wayes and Means the Principles of our internal Faculties are apt to be wrought upon and therefore applyes these Engines to fix the Power of the Commands upon us Were these things to be treated of severally it is manifest how great a part of the Scripture were to be transcribed I shall therefore only take a little Notice of the Reinforcement of the Command for Holiness by those especial Promises which are given unto it I do not intend now the Promises of the Gospel in general wherein in its own Way and Place we are interested by Holiness but of such peculiar Promises as God enforceth the Command by It is not for nothing that it is said that Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. There is in all the Promises an especial Respect unto it and it gives them in whom it is an especial Interest in all the Promises Sect. 36 This is as it were the Text which our Saviour preached his first Sermon upon For all the Blessings which he pronounceth consist in giving particular Instances of some parts of Holiness annexing an especial Promise unto each of them Blessed saith he are the Pure in Heart Heart Purity is the Spring and Life of all Holiness and why are such Persons Blessed why saith he they shall see God He appropriates the Promise of the Eternal Enjoyment of God unto this Qualification of Purity of Heart So also it hath the Promises of this Life and that in things temporal and spiritual In things temporal we may take out from amongst many that especial Instance given us by the Psalmist Blessed is he that considereth the Poor Wisely to consider the poor in their Distress so as to Relieve them according to our Ability is a great Act and Duty of Holiness He that doth this saith the Psalmist he is a Blessed man Whence doth that Blessedness arise and wherein doth it consist It doth so in a Participation of those especial Promises which God hath annexed unto this Duty even in this Life the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be Blessed on the Earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the hand of his Enemies the Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of languishing and thou wilt make all his Bed in his sickness Psal. 41. 1 2 3. Many especial Promises in the most important Concerns of this Life are given unto the Right discharge of this one Duty For Godliness hath the Promise of this Life And other Instances might be multiplyed unto the same Purpose It is so also with respect unto things spiritual So the Apostle Peter having repeated a long Chain of Graces whose Exercise he presenteth unto us addes for an Encouragement If ye do these things ye shall never fall 2 Pet. 1. 10. The Promise of Permanency in Obedience with an absolute Preservation from all such Fallings into Sin as are inconsistent with the Covenant of Grace is affixed unto our Diligence in Holiness And who knowes not how the Scripture abounds in Instances of this Nature That which we conclude from hence is that
Prayers of Believers for the purification of Sin how influenced by the Spirit of God 384 3 Prayer for Light to discern the Nature of Sin necessary 395 Prayer how a Means of purging Sin 400 13 Prayer weakeneth Sin and how 492 32 Preaching of the Word by the Holy Spirit 119 27 Preaching of the Gospel provided for and disposed by the Holy Ghost 209 10 Precepts of the Law not clearly understood before the Coming of Christ. 557 6 Preeminence of our Nature wherein it consists 509 18 Prejudices against spiritual things from Darkness 232 53 Prejudices against the Mystery of the Gospel what they are and whence they arise 234 55 Work preparatory unto Conversion 192 3 Works of the Spirit preparatory for the New Creation 98 2 Preparatory Works for Conversion on men not preparatory Inclinations in them 251 30 Preparatory Work unto Conversion wherein it consists 256 6 Presence of Christ by his Spirit what it is and wherein it consists 159 Preservation of the Creation by Divine Providence 77 15 Preservation of Grace a glorious Work 348 9 None can preserve their own Grace 345 6 Pretences of Opposition unto the Spirit of God examined 21 25 Pretences of Moral Vertue unto Holiness disproved 462 False pretences unto Holiness 327 10 Prevalency of the Word whereon it depends 260 15 Pride the poyson of the Age. 527 16 Acts of Christs Priestly Office 555 3 Principle of spiritual Life antecedent unto Moral Reformation of Life 185 22 Principle of Obedience how wrought in us of God 276 42 Principle of spiritual Obedience how renewed in us 280 50 A Principle of Eternal Life in Holiness 329 12 Priciple of Holiness in it self 346 8 Principle of Sanctification or Habit of Grace wrought in Believers by the Holy Spirit the Nature of it 411 2 Principle of Holiness in what sence called an Habit. 416 9 Principle of Holiness described ibid. Principle of Holiness in Believers the same in kind in all Believers distinct in degrees 417 10 Where the Principle of Holiness is there will be the Fruits of it 421 Principle of Holiness enclineth the Heart unto Acts and Duties of Holiness universally 425 19 Principle Dispositions and Effects of Sin 476 6 All false Principles of Obedience will admit of Reserves for Sin 425 19 Priviledge of one man above another on the Account of Holiness 510 19 Spirit proceedeth from the Son 39 14 Procession of the Holy Spirit of what sort 88 89 14 15 Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and Son 89 15 Two-fold Natural and Voluntary ibid. Dignity of Professors wherein it consists 511 20 Progress made by the Lord Christ in the Exercise of his Humane Faculties 137 2 Mortification Progressive 479 10 Promise of the Holy Ghost unto whom it is made 10 10 Promise of the Spirit of God unto the Church rendred useless by some 23 26 Promise of the Spirit under the Gospel unto all Believers 123 4 Promise of Christs presence with his Church how accomplished 158 5 Promise of God when respected in a due manner 337 14 Promises and Exhortations how effectual 245 18 Promises how to be mixed with Faith 400 Especial Promises annexed unto especial Duties 552 35 Promises a great Encouragement unto Holiness 553 36 Proper Ends of the Knowledge of Christ Love and Conformity 152 16 All properties of the Divine Nature ascribed unto the Holy Spirit 66 32 The properties of God most gloriously represented in Christ. 501 6 Prophets of Baal who they were and why so called 14 17 A Prophet what the Name signifies 101 8 Prophets how they enquired into their own Prophecies 100 5 Tongues and Hands of the Prophets guided by the Holy Ghost 105 10 Prophets established in the Church all Holy 111 18 Prophecy the first eminent Gift of the Holy Ghost under the Old Testament 99 5 Beginning and Ending of the Gift of Prophecy under the Old Testament 100 6 Prophecy in its Exercise Two-fold 101 8 General Nature of the Gift of Prophecy 102 9 Prophetical Office of Christ its Acts and Objects 556 6 Propositions of the Gospel to be believed of what Nature 524 12 Purgatory a great Engine for the Ruine of Souls 381 Faith how it purgeth the Soul 390 8 Purging of Sin commensurate unto the whole Work of Sanctification 378 To purifie our selves from all Sin our Duty 398 13 Purification the first of Sanctification 370 1 Means of Purification if duely used the Soul is kept from Defilement so as to be alwayes accepted with God 407 Purification the End of Christs Oblation 555 Legal Purifications Types of real Sanctification 371 2 Putting of Spirit on men and what is signified thereby 85 10 Q. Quakers mistakes and failures about Mortification 488 26 Quakers strangers unto true Mortification 489 26 Qualifications for the Receiving of Gospel Gifts unto Edification 359 Spiritual Quickening an Act of Almighty Power 279 49 The Queen of Heaven 71 6 R. Rage against the Spirit of God 24 26 Enthusiastical Raptures no Means of Conversion 186 25 Readiness unto Holy Obedience whence it proceedeth 435 36 Readiness in the Minds of Believers unto all Duties of Obedience 464 5 Real Work of Grace and Holiness in the Hearts of Believers 452 66 Reasons and Causes why the Mysteries of the Gospel are esteemed Folly 222 34 Reasons why the Growth of Holiness is hardly discerned 351 10 Corrupted Reason depraves the whole Mystery of the Gospel 325 8 Weakness of Humane Reason to instruct us unto Obedience 559 13 To Receive the Grace of God what it is 80 3 What is required to the Receiving spiritual things in a spiritual Manner 219 29 Receiving of the Spirit how Antecedent unto Faith 358 3 Rectitude of Mans Nature wherein it consisted 76 14 Reformation of Life is not Regeneration 181 17 Reformation of Life upon Convictions wherein it comes short of Holiness 201 19 Regeneration wrought under the Old Testament but not clearly as to its Nature 174 6 Regeneration not a Metaphorical Expression of Amendment of Life 175 Regeneration in the Nature of it clearly revealed in the Gospel 176 8 Regeneration as to the Kind of the Work the same in all that are Regenerate 177 10 Regeneration infallibly produceth Reformation of Life 182 19 Regeneration the only Means of Delivery from the state of Sin 254 3 Regeneration the Work of God not our own 285 57 Regenerate Persons alone have the Promise of the Spirit for their Sanctification 358 Rejection of Christ the the last fatal Fall of the Church of the Jewes 25 27 Relation of the Person of the Holy Spirit unto the Father and the Son 89 15 Relation the Ground of Communication 363 5 Reliance on the Blood of Christ for Cleansing an Act of Faith 389 No Relief by Christ for unholy Persons 564 21 Religious Worship is the due Application of our Souls unto God according to his own Manifestations of himself 44 3 Religious Obedience due to the Holy Spirit as unto the Father and Son