hath an interest in Jesus Christ in the Covenant of grace and in all those priviledges which belong to the Saints because the spirit of sanctification abides upon him but meerly an opinionative self-conceited vain glorious presuming confidence that Christ is his and he is Christ though no regard be had to those qualifications which are required in those in whose hearts Christ dwells by his blessed spirit Every hypocrite that hath been once enlightned and tasted of the heavenly gift and of the powers of the world to come will lay claim to the priviledges of the Saints and of the benefits that flow upon the account of the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ though their hearts were never truely wrought upon to a full and a final closing with Jesus Christ and they never had the witnesse of the spirit upon their hearts that he is the childe of God but the teachings of the spirit bring in unto the soul solid reasons founded upon the word of God and upon the experience of the Saints whereby from the foregoing premises he can draw a true and a real conclusion that he is Christs and Christ is his Justification and sanctification are inseparable according to that golden chain of mans salvation Rom. 8.30 Whom he justified them he also sanctified so that besides the testimony of the spirit he hath those inherent principles of sanctification within him whereupon he may evidently conclude that he is no changeling but a new born creature a true Citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem a true son amongst the Native sons of Zion But some weak Believer may say how may I distinguish between the Witness and the testimony of the spirit that I am the childe of God and that vain confidence and presumption which is in wicked mens hearts who say they are the children of God when they are not 3. The spirit doth not onely bear witness but fully perswade us of this very thing upon solid reasons which we finde true by our own experience that we are the children of God therefore saith that knowing Apostle Saint John 1 John 3.14 1 Iohn 4.13 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit But wicked men who are full of carnal confidence and sinful presumption have no sweet experience of saving grace upon their souls or any testimony much less a perswasion of the spirit that they are the children of God The grounds of carnal presumption but this presumption ariseth from a bare conceit of their good estate still hoping well of themselves or from the delusion of the Devil who hath besotted their minds with his sinfull Sophistry 2. The spirits testimony is founded upon Gods word and not upon any testimony from our selves 3 Wheresoever the spirits testimony is upon the hearts of any there follows a hatred of sin zeal for the glory of God a care and conscience to serve God in all well-pleasing for as some eminent Divines do say though I do not pin my faith upon any mans sleeve but onely as the light of the word and the light of the spirit teacheth me the doctrine of assurance will not make a Christian secure and idle in the work of the Lord ☜ but more watchful over his wayes and more thankful for so great a mercy being constrained by the love of God to the obedience of the truth and that the preaching of the Cross of Christ what love and mercy God the Father and Jesus Christ what power and wisdom was put forth in that great work of mans Redemption is of a more prevailing nature then to preach the terrors of the Law against sin and sinners to bring men out of their natural condition though both wayes must be used even by fear plucking them forth out of the fire of hell 2. Quere Whether or no are the spirits teachings or the light of the spirit in the heart of a Believer a sufficient plea for him to cast off all Ordinances means of grace as unprofitable things under so clear a dispensation I answer no 1. For as Jesus Christ in explaining the Law of Moses did not abrogate the law or derogate any thing from the use and majesty of it Mat. 6. but only clear it from those foul aspersions which the Pharisees had cast upon it so the spirit in teaching us the things of God and in enlightning our minds to understand his will doth not take away the use of the word but adds a further light unto it that we may understand the minde of the spirit in it and that all those prevarications by reason of the darkness of our understanding may be rightly placed The Sun is full of light but a blinde man cannot see it So the word is clear in it self but because our understandings are darkned we cannot understand it Now the spirit of God doth five things in order to the word of God 1. It explains it 2. It gives a further authority unto it 3. Shews us the majesty The spirits actings in reference to the word purity and excellency of it 4. Makes us to prize it above all things 5. Enables us to keep it 2. Because the word of God acknowledgeth no Spirit but what works in and by the word Gal. 5.2 Received ye the spirit by the Law or by the hearing of faith Did ye not receive the spirit by the preaching of the doctrine of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ The spirit teacheth which is consonant and agreeable to the word of God so that the word and the spirit both concurr together the spirit as the principal agent the word as the instrument which can do nothing without the spirit to teach us the will of God and to work in us all those saving Graces which accompany salvation 3. Because the word of God in the Scripture is set down as a standing rule according to which we must frame our lives unto the end of the world 1 Tim. 3.13 Till I come give attendance to Reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Attendere cum diligentia cu ram adhibere to Exhortation to Doctrine 15. Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear unto all 16. Take heed unto thy self 1 Pet. 1.23 Mat. 5.18 and unto thy doctrine continue in them c. The word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Not the least tittle of the word of God shall fail till all things be accomplished some of which things will not be fulfilled till the end of the world The Sacraments also are in use and have their efficacy for that end for which they were appointed by God in his Church to the end of the world 1 Cor. 11.26 By the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we are to remember the Lords death till he come so that till Christ shall come againe at the
of the spirit shall shine into their hearts through the face of Jesus Christ Till Christ shall sit as a refiners fire and purifie the hearts of his people as the Prophet Malachy hath it and shall make them willing in the day of his power to receive the truth in the love of it But yet we ought to distinguish Psal 110.3 Rom. 14.1 and to make a difference between the pretious and the vile between him that is weak in the faith and him that offends out of malice and obstinacy and knows that he is in a wrong way and will not be reformed With the later we are to deal in a more severe way openly 1 Tim 5.20 Mat. 7.6 Mat. 18.17 rebuhing them before many witnesses and if they still persist turn to Dogs and rent us then let them be unto us as Heathens or Publicans and let them be given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor 5.5 that their spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus I finde that the Scripture useth severall Greek words to express and shew forth the various waies we ought to proceed withall in handling those that have erred from the faith 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admonition a friendly and courteous telling them that they are not in the right way and that as long as they stick to these principles and adhere to those false conclusions they are to seek in the things of God Beseeching them to examine them by the light of the Word and the Spirits speaking in the hearts of others who have further discoveries upon their hearts of the truths of God and of those things which accompany salvation than they and to judge according to the analogy and proportion of Faith Rom 12.6 To beseech them to examine upon what grounds they close with these opinions and of the ground of their faith and of the reason of their hope For we are not upon Trust and upon bare Tradition to close with any Doctrine delivered unto us though it comes with never so fair a species of truth 1 Joh 4.1 but to try the Spirits whether they be of God or no and be alwaies ready to render a reason of our Faith 1 Pet. 3.15 and of the work of Grace upon our hearts to every one that shall require it of us And to search into the lives of those men who endeavour to draw us to their opinions Gal. 6.13 whether they are those that seek themselves and their honour and the pleasing of their own humour or the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the hearts of his people Now this admonition it must not be once but again and again till by the power of the Word and the bright shining forth of truth they being overcome by the beauty and the excellency and the power of it for what is stronger then truth they be over-weaned and prevailed upon to a sincere and hearty affection to it Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Admonition includes 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falsae doctrinae a demonstration of the absurdity and the falsity of the opinion they are in love withall as the Apostle Paul did who proved Justification to be of Grace and not of Works shewing the impossibility of it by an Antithesis between Works and Grace If it is of Works Rom. 11.6 it is not of Grace otherwise Grace is no more Grace We must first shew them that they are in a wrong way before we can perswade them of the right Saith Solomon Prov. 14.12 There is a way which seems right to a mans eyes but the ends of those waies are death Now till a man sees that death and destruction follows and attends his waies he will never seek after Wisdoms path and the waies which tend to life Act. 8.3 Act. 9.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As long as Paul was nurtur'd up in the Jewish doctrine and insensible of the depravation of it he was inraged in his spirit against the Church of God haling men and women to the Judgement seat but when once the Spirit had convinced him of the weakness of that dispensation under which he lived Rom. 10.1 and that the Law was not able to bring any thing to perfection and the Ceremonial Law is Statutes which were not good Ezek 20.25 as the Prophet Ezikiel cals them and that he cannot be justified by the works of the Law he presently disclaims whatsoever formerly he imbraced counting all things but loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2. A secret insinuating unto them the truth and the excellency of the opposite to which they hold saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 12.16 I beguiled you i. e. I caught you as fishes are caught in a net before you were aware by the power of the Word upon your hearts We ought to strike the iron while it is hot and to work upon mens hearts when they are stirred up by a holy compunction of spirit to search into the nature of things Every time is not fit to deal with men for their souls good because the spirits of men according to mens various assections stirred up at such a time rather then another are more sutable to receive an impression than at another time as the stories of Amaziah and Asa will clearly shew 2 Chron. 25. We read of Amaziah that having hired an hundred thousand valiant men out of Israel of the Tribe of Ephraim to assist him against the children of Seir the Propher came to him in the Name of the Lord commanding him to separate these men from the men of Judah that they might return to their own place Here Amaziah readily obeyed the Word of the Lord by the Prophet though to his own damage with the loss of the hundred Talents of silver Yet we finde in the following verses of the same Chapter that the same King Amaziah when the Prophet came to reprove him for serving the Gods of the Nations whom he had overcome he was wrath with the Prophet and disobeyed the Word of the Lord. O what a happy issue might many of Gods people have had of their admonitions and reproofs upon the souls of others if they had done it when the soul was of a tender frame of spirit sensible of its own infirmity and under the sense of its insufficiency kept low in its own eyes desiring above all things to be taught by the Spirit I have known many who at the first onset of a reproof though sugar'd over with many sweet words which is a great oversight in the people of God Psal 141.5 and farre from Davids temper who said If the righteous smite him it shall be as a pretious balm which shall not break his head who afterwards were as Lambs apt to be guided by the weakest hand 2 Sam. 15.6 As Absolon is said to steal away the hearts of the men
of Israel from his Father David so we are to win mens affections to our selves by our plausible and affable carriage and allure them by a self-denying frame of spirit to yield unto us As the Poet saies Peragit tranquilla potestas Quod violenta nequit It is reported of Musculus that by his gracious behaviour to the Anabaptists in his time visiting them in prison exhorting them and beseeching them to be reclaimed he did more prevail upon them to their conversion than the Magistrates could do by their imprisonments and punishments 2 Tim. 2.24 But the servant of the Lord must not strive but must be gentle towards all men apt to teach suffering the evil Instructing them with meekness that are contrary minded proving if God at any time will give them repentance that they may acknowledge the truth 2. To rebuke them sharply Greek Tit. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuttingly to lay open the Word before them that two-edged Sword and to press it home to the conscience v. g. as if they were to deal with one that denies the resurrection as the Saducees did to set home with the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit that is plainly and powerfully that place of Scripture which Christ objected against them Mat. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the God not of the dead but of the living This is it which Ecclesiastes speaks of Eccles 12.11 when the Word is nailed home by the Masters of Assemblies 2 Tim. 2.15 this is rightly to divide the Word of God giving to the stout-hearted sinner its portion Ministers are not to fear the face of man Eph. 6.20 because they are the Ambassadours of the ever living God but to particularize sinners as Nathan did David 2 Sam. 12.7 saying Thou art the man Saith God by his Prophet Hosea Hos 6.5 I have slain them by my Prophets The Word of God it kils the unregenerate part and makes us dead to the customs of the world but quickens the regenerate part within us It either divides between Christ and us and then it is the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 or either between us and our sinnes between us and the world between us and our carnall corrupt reason and then it is the savour of life unto life It is called a fire Jer. 23.29 because as the fire consumes the dross and purifies the metall so the Word it purifies the dross in our hearts and of reprobate silver it makes us fit for the use of our spirituall Master Jesus Christ And although they may resist thee and shift off the truth and hate the light and are become thine encmies because thou dealest plainly and powerfully with them as Paul speaks of the Galatians Gal. 4.16 Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth Act. 7.54 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instar serrae dentes frendebant Yea though they may gnash upon thee with their teeth as the malitious Jews did at Stephen yea though they may persecute you for your zeal yet know this that thou hast performed thy duty and delivered thy own soul Rom. 12.20 i. e. Either by thy rendring good for his evil thou hast gained thy Brother and caused him to render love for love For love is a certain secret fire enkindled in mens hearts by a sympathy with the object which allures still blazing forth and aspiring to be united with the thing loved Or if thou shalt not gain thy brother by thy Christian carriage thou shalt heap coals of fire and brimstone upon his head to his everlasting torment and thy reward is with God Thou hast heaped coals of fire upon his head and fuell for his everlasting burning But thy reward shall be as great as if thon hadst reclaimed him seeing thou hast not been wanting on thy part to do thy duty 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.10 i. e. Recusare repudiare To give them over to the swing of their lust and to let them have their liberty in their pernicious waies and for a time to divorce them from our company from having any communion or society with us as a Husband doth divorce his Wife who is given over to a spirit of Whoredom so to give them as it were a bill of divorce for the future to have any spirituall commerce with them as the word imports till God by his blessed Spirit shall bring them out of the snare of the devil Analogicall to this is the Apostles phrase he that loves not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha that is 1 Cor. 16.22 let him be accursed till the Lord comes till Christ who is the Lord shall arise in his heart and dispell the clouds of sin and ignorance and the day-starre arise in his heart Like to this is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deflectere to turn aside from them till their eyes shall be inlightened to discern between truth and errour saith Christ Mat. 18.18 Whose sinnes you binde on earth shall be bound in heaven c. So that the Church of Christ which includes both Pastor and People excommunicating a prophane Esau or a licentious Libertine or a scoffing Ishmael or a false-hearted Disciple or a rotten member that hath a postatized from the faith or one that hath fallen into some gross sin to the scandall of Religion till they have repented is seconded by God in heaven as acting that Discipline and Jurisdiction which he hath enacted in his Church Simile As a dead member in a mans body joyned to the living members doth but annoy and hinder them as if a man had one leg which were quite dead and utterly useless it were better it were cat off than that is should remain united to the rest for it rather hinders the rest of the members than profits them so it were better that all these dead members fruitless branches in Jesus Christ Joh. 15.2 walking Saints talkative Christians were separated from the Church of God especially if they are discovered to be so by some notorious fault or Apoflacy till they are renewed again by repentance than that they should defile and annoy the Church of God Saith the Prophet Haggai Hag. 2.12 An unclean thing may defile a thing which is clean though a clean thing cannot purifie an unclean ☜ Aster an unclean person or an hypocrite is discovered if they cast him not forth and excommunicate him he defiles the Church and the Ordinances of God but if he be not discovered and goes for a Saint and hath a name that he lives when he is dead Rev. 3.1 and according to the Apostles phrase Heb. 10.29 2 Pet. 2.1 for one that was sanctified by the blood of the Covenant and bought by Jesus Christ though in Gods sight he be a wicked wretch and abominable hypocrite he defiles not the Church because he is not discovered After the
have his command to the contrary his Word bids us not to do it How can we violate the authority of the sacred Majesty of heaven and earth How shall we be able to stand before God who is a consuming fire and commit these abominations in his sight What a good thing were it if Christians would make a Common-place-Book in their hearts out of Gods Word and by often reading of it and by that excellent duty of meditation laying it up that they may have spirituall matter to furnish their souls withall upon all occasions This is the true pondering of the Word of God So much of the Word of God as we meditate on and by meditation is concocted to the nourishment of our souls so much we have and no more This hiding of the Word within our heart is an excellent means to further the gift of prayer whereby we shall have store of matter at all times and upon all subects to render up our petitions unto God ☜ That is the best prayer that is founded upon the Word of God How sweetly doth the Spirit of God breathe forth in Davids Psalms and what heavenly expressions there are suitable for a Christians spirit to exercise his faith and comfort in God by in the greatest trials and most soul-dejecting desertions This hiding of the Word of God to wit the sweet promises which concern salvation contained therein to poor broken-hearted sinners affords abundance of peace of conscience and consolation of the spirit Saith David I have hoped in thy Word ☞ He is a true emblem of a faithfull soul A true sign of a beleeving soul who can trust God for his word sake and build upon the Word of consolation who can plead with God upon a bare word of promise Lord hast thou not said it and wilt thou not bring it to pass If we would by a lively faith suck eagerly at these breasts of consolation and dive deep into these wels of salvation and carry our buckets often to draw and look to Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen for the earnest of his Spirit upon our hearts that they may be rightly applied to our everlasting comfort our souls would be satisfied abundantly as with marrow and fatness So likewise saith David Thy Word is a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my paths and in the same Psalm Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding large The literall Word of God though it hath a beginning and an end in respect of the letter yet the Word of God considered Doctrinally as it is the wisdom of God the Father it is infinite like God himself and hath unfathom'd depths of the riches of Gods grace to sinners in Jesus Christ contained in it Rom. 8. O the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God how unsearchable are his works and his waies past finding out ☜ It is a rich Mine of excellent discoveries of the Almighty God which never yet hath been searcht to the full though when we come to heaven we shall know abundantly more of it than we do now and all doubts concerning it fully satisfied which do so trouble us in the body of this flesh Let men of corrupt mindes talk what they will that they fully understand the minde of God in his word by the light of the Spirit speaking within them that they can unfold all mysteries and that they need not hearken to the word any longer but only hearken to the voice of the Spirit speaking in their hearts because the light of the Spirit is a greater light they say than the light of the word I am certain that they are grosly deluded by the father of lies for the Apostle Paul that knew as much of the things of God as any Enthusiast whatsoever yet did see but through a glass as it were imperfectly till this veil of the flesh being laid aside he shall see God face to face We know in part Now if the Word of God be exceeding large larger than the perfections of all the creatures so that there is no sinne that can be conceived of but is forbidden in it and threatned with eternall death and no grace but what is commanded and exhorted to under the promise of everlasting life and the means to eschue the evil and to imbrace the good fully declared unto us without all controversie this and this only is the Word of God and ought to be the ground and rule of our faith 2. That for men to preach their own inventions When men are much addicted to Allegorize Scripture suddenly they fall into some and new fangled notions and the fancies of their own intoxicated brains or for men to Allogorize Scriptures according as their minde serves them neglecting the pure fountain of the Word of God is to build mens faith upon humane wisdom and not upon the power of God We live in a Scepticall age deadly errour and are caught as it were in a snare before they are aware What a Solaecism upon his own body Origen the father of Allegories committed by Allegorizing that portion of Scripture Mat. 19.12 is known to all those that are verst in Ecclesiasticall History wherein most Christians being troubled with that itching humour the Apostle speaks of are all for novelties and vain questions which are nothing materiall to the establishing our souls in grace and neglect the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ They are all for light but little for zeal all for knowledge but little for practice all for notions but little for truth all for further discoveries of secret mysteries but little searching into their own hearts all for those truths that may inform the Judgement but little for those truths which may work upon the affections Lord A sweet ejaculation I pray thee to give me no more knowledge than what may work upon my heart to the joyning of a hearty obedience unto it and that above all other knowledge I may seek to know Jesus Christ and him crucified to be made partaker of his sufferings and of the fellowship of his resurrection that as he rose from the grave of death so I may arise from the grave of sinne unto newness of life Lord grant that while others dive into thy secrets and search after thy Decrees and do limit thee who art the holy one of Israel by speaking of thee irreverently and ascribing unto thee those things which are not convenient and as the fly about the candle never leave prying and approaching too near till they be consumed in the pride of their own hearts and in the vanity of their own imaginations I may sincerely and humbly with all fear and reverence to thy great and glorious Majesty take thy Name into my mouth and only speak of thee as the word speaks and no further Lord thou hast said that thou art Jehovah Jchovah Jah Eheie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Spirit moved upon the waters i. e. as a Hen lieth upon her brood cherishing it and giving it heat so did the Spirit of God lie upon that Chaos fomenting and cherishing it Psal 33.6 By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 3. Adoration and worship is given to the Spirit Quod si Spiritus non esset persoua distincta sed tantum Dei virtus utique non possit in invocatione distinctae illius fieri mentio cum per particulam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aequalitèr distinctè persouae conjunguntur Si non esset Deus non esset adorandus which is only proper to God We are said to be baptized in the Name of the Father Sonne and of the holy Ghost And St Paul in his Epistles frequently The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 Fifthly We have the end for which the Spirit is given i. e. That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God Without the Spirit we are in the dark and we know not whither we go But of this hereafter Sixthly We have the adjunct or circumstance put to the things which are given unto us of God to wit that they are given freely That we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God How God is said to give us the things of salvation freely God gives and he gives freely liberally and bountifully and expects nothing at our hands but a thankfull heart The things of God are given freely upon a double account 1. In opposition to merit 2. In opposition to compulsion and unwillingness God gives freely in opposition to merit We deserve nothing at Gods hands but hell and destruction We merit hell but we merit nothing else Rom. 6.23 Primarily eternall death is meant there as appears by the Antithesis between life and death 1 Cor. 4.7 The wages of sinne is death i.e. all manner of death the death of afflictions temporal death eternall death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our common mercies as life health peace liberty friends food for our bodies and the like are all from free-grace What hast thou that thou hast not received and that thou hast not received freely If our common mercies be of free-grace for every step we step is a step of mercy the breath we breathe forth is Gods breath and not our own if he taketh away our breath we perish how much more are spiritual things of free-grace which are more eminently called the things of God It is of Gods abundant grace and goodness that by his Spirit we might know our election of God ☜ God might have elected us unto everlasting life and we never have known it untill we should have enjoyed it We might have been left in despair and under a cloud of temptation all our daies had not God freely given unto us the earnest of his Spirit The Gospel or the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation through Jesus Christ is of free grace therefore it is called the Gospel of his grace Act. 14.3 So likewise Jesus Christ is a most signall fruit and effect of Gods free grace and love to mankinde Joh. 3 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. Salvation by Jesus Christ it is of free-grace Eph. 2.5 By grace ye are saved All of grace and nothing of debt All from Gods love and nothing that is in us Gods good pleasure and his free-grace is the impulsive cause of all our mercies and that we are acquainted with those mysteries which were hid from all eternity Erigu me gratia divina sed terret me indignitas mea atqui si dignus essem jam non esset gratia sed merces si ex operibus utique non ex gratia gratia cuim non est gratia ullo modo nisi sit gratuita omni modo oie Gethardus untill these last ages Ascribe all to free grace and account thy self less than the least of all Gods mercies and unworthy of any smile or any favour from Gods hands So likewise God gives freely in opposition to compulsion or unwillingness say the Schoolmen Gods will is the cause of all things Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things according to the counsell of his own will Nothing moves God to do good to poor sinners but the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ Remember this thou poor drooping soul that complainest by reason of the burden of thy sinnes and thinkest that the multitude of thy sinnes do exceed the greatness of Gods mercies As the most righteous man that ever lived could merit nothing at Gods hands or move God to bestow any thing upon him upon his own account so neither can the greatest sinner that ever lived hinder God or his sinnes put a stop in Gods way that he cannot shew him mercy in Jesus Christ if God be pleased to shew him mercy God sheweth mercy because he will shew mercy Rom. 9.15 Exod. 33.19 God is gracious because he will be gracious As all thy prayers tears duties fastings watchings can prevail nothing with God but upon the account of Jesus Christ so neither can thy unkindness thy unprofitableness thy sinfulness thy disingenuous and foolish carriage with the great God of heaven and earth keep God from shewing thee mercy God hath his therefores of mercy in himself and not in the creature Ezek. 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may have mercy upon you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have compassion upon you It is a strange therefore that hath no dependance upon the words foregoing but upon Gods infinite mercy God shews mercy because he delights in mercy God gives us heaven because he delights to magnifie his glory upon all the vessels of mercy And when we by our prayers at the Throne of grace obtain good things at the hand of God we do not change God but only those things which God had decreed from all eternity to give us upon the condition of our asking though not for our asking we receive in time when we beg them at Gods hands Ob. How can the things of salvation as Justification Adoption c. be freely given unto us of God Baxter in his excellent Book called the Saints Everlasting Rest seeing Christ Jesus hath purchased them for us Ans 1. The purchase of Christ doth not clash with the freeness of the things of God to us They were dear to Christ but free to us If the Father freely gives the Sonne and the Sonne freely paies the debt and if God freely accepts that way of payment when he might have required all which Christ hath done at our hands and if the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost do freely offer those things
which Christ hath purchased for us upon a cordiall acceptation of them and receiving of them by the hand of faith then the purchase of Christ doth not hinder but that the things of eternity may be free to us 2. There are some things which Christ cannot properly be said to purchase for us but God out of the abundance of his mercy added as it were an over-plus to the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ Heaven and eternall glory and the beatificall vision is not strictly said to be purchased by Christ but it is a redundancy of the Fathers love The immediate effect of Christs death is Justification a redeeming us from the curse of the Law and from the wrath of God which was due to our sinnes The more remote and consequentiall effect is heaven and eternall glory Having explained the words I come now to raise some Observations from them From the matter implied That the teachings of the Spirit are absolutely necessary to know the things of God Observe this Note That none can know the things of God but those who have the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts From the words expressed observe 1. That worldly men or the men of this world are led by a worldly spirit 2. That the spirit of the world is altogether opposite to the Spirit of God 3. That all that are the people of God have or shall receive the Spirit of God 4. That the end why they receive the Spirit is that they may know the things of God 5. That all things are given to us freely of God The Observation which is the subject of my ensuing discourse is drawn from the thing implied which is this That none can know the things of God but those that have the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts In the handling this Observation I shall shew First The various acceptation of the word Spirit and that here is meant the Spirit of God Secondly What are the teachings of the Spirit 1. By way of premonition that it is a very hard thing to know them 2. Positively according to the Scripture phrase what they be Here briefly I shall distinguish between the motions impressions and flashes of the Spirit and the teachings of the Spirit Thirdly How the Spirit teacheth to wit 1. By enlightning our understandings 2. By taking away that enmity which is upon our wils against the things of God Fourthly Shew what more peculiar things the Spirit teacheth Fifthly What manner of teachings they are Sixthly Prove the conclusion That none can know the things of God but they that have the Spirits teachings Seventhly Make application 1. By way of Information to shew that the greatest part of Christians are void of the teachings of the Spirit upon their hearts 2. By way of Exhortation to stirre you up to seek after the teachings of the Spirit and this Exhortation is pressed home upon a threefold account And a threefold cord is not easily broken 1. From the excellency of the Spirits teachings and of that light which comes thereby above all other teachings and above all other knowledge whatsoever 2. Because if the Spirit teacheth thee it is an evident sign thou art the friend of God 3. If the Spirit teacheth thee it is a sign thou art instated into the Covenant of grace Eighthly I shall give severall signes whereby we may know we are taught of the Spirit Ninthly Shew how we may distinguish between the more extraordinary teachings of the Spirit upon our hearts which are peculiar to more eminent Saints and other teachings Tenthly Shew the times wherein the Spirits teachings are most manifest 1. In times of affliction 2. Near the time of death Eleventhly Answer some doubts and questions arising from the Spirits teachings Twelfthly Shew that it is the duty of every one to walk up to the light which he hath received The various acceptations of the word Spirit in Scripture I. The Spirit is put in opposition to the body Luke 24.39 A spirit hath not flesh and bones c. so the gross foul of a beast is called a spirit The spirit of a man goeth upward Eccl. 3.21 and the spirit of a beast goeth downward II. It is applied to any tenuious nimble or subtile substance So the winde may be called a Spirit Job 4. A spirit passed before my face i.e. a nimble substance resembling the gliding motion of a spirit So we commonly say the spirits of wines because of the refinedness of them III. Any strong impetous or violent inclination Burroughs upon this place in his Comment upon Hosea or full purpose to do a thing may be called a spirit Hosea 4. 12. The spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to erre i. e. a strong inclination and full bent of will to go a whoring from God hath caused them to erre IV. For the heart of man wherein listh the affections in opposition to the will and the understanding and the memory according to the intellectuall part of it 1 Thes 5.23 I pray God that your whole soul spirit and body may be kept blameless till the coming of Jeses Christ By the soul is meant the understanding and the will and by the spirit the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein lieth the affections Rem 1 9. God whom I serve with my spirit Luke 8.55 You know not of what spirit ye are of i. e. of what affections Though some have another interpretation of it as you may see hereafter V. It is taken Quo plus materiae co plus potentiae quo plus formae co plus actus Quo plus potentiae viz. passivae co plus corruptibilitatis quo plus actus co plus substantia â—ic Philosophi aiuns 1. For strength and courage 2. For incorruptibility Isa 31.3 Their horses are flesh and not spirit i.e. subject to corruption and not abiding weak and not strong What is weaker than flesh all flesh is as grass What is stronger than a spirit spirits are of vast strength and operation What is more corruptible than flesh the word flesh notes corruption What is more abiding than a spirit a spirit is of a durable nature in respect of it self though God can suddenly destroy it Luke 1.17 It is said of Jesus Christ that he shall come in the Spirit and in the power of Elias i. e. in the courage strength and power of Elias The Scripture usually puts one word for the further explanation of the other VI. It is taken for the soul of man Luke 23.40 Father into thy hands I commit my spirit Zech. 13.1 The Lord formeth the spirit of man i.e. the soul of man so saith Stephen Act. 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my spirit VII For life Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be allwaies wroth for the spirit would fail before me i.e. the life and the souls which I have made When God comes to contend with sinners for their sins there is no standing before him
unless Jesus Christ intercedes and makes up the difference VIII We reade of a spirit of infirmity Luke 13.11 There was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years i. e. she had a vehement and a great infirmity lying upon her IX We reade of a spirit of judgement and of a spirit of burning Isa 4.4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion by the spirit of judgement and by the spirit of burning i. e. by great judgements and by burning afflictions That Gods judgments are compared to fire appears by that place in the Prophet Ezekiel where God saith of wicked men Ezek. 21.32 I will bring them into the fire and there I will leave them You see the sad condition of wicked men God brings them into the fire of affliction and never takes them our again When God comes to deal with wicked men for their sinnes when he begins he makes an end Afflictions shall not rise up the second time saith the Prophet Nahum Nah. 1.9 But though God may bring sore judgements upon his own people and bring them into the fire of affliction he takes them out of the fire again and doth not leave them in it as he doth wicked men but when he hath accomplisht his own work upon them and they are fit vessels for his use he takes them out of the fire It is a sign thou art not reprobate silver but tried silver and a true Saint if thou canst patiently and beleevingly undergo the siery triall And though thou maiest be ready for the present to faint under the afflicting hand of God thinking that God hath forgotten thee and that he will be gracious to thee no more yet when Gods time is fully come and thy filth is throughly done away God will take thee out of the sire and thou shalt be a glorious Saint in the sight of God Indeed Gods people may be sorely smutted and besmeared with the fire of affliction as we see by experieuce that fire commonly blacks things before it makes them clear but yet they shall not be consumed as the wicked shall be but shall be delivered Ps 34 17. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the righteous out of all their afflictions Well may Gods judgements be compared to fire to the spirit of judgement and to the spirit of burning for these reasons 1. Fire purifies it separates the dross from the pure metall so afflictions they purifie the soul Gods children are afflicted that they might be made partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.10 Before affliction came upon us we were unclean we were worldly earthly minded we forgot our God we were impure instruments fit only for the devils service But by afflictions we are cleansed we are more spirituall and have learnt to minde heavenly things more watchfull more industrious to pump out sinne as fast as it comes into the soul and to be more diligent in Gods service afflictions are Gods files whereby he takes away that rust that defiles the soul How many hath a fit of sickness an outward cross in their estates relations good names the missing of their expectations the unfaithfulness of friends the deceit that is in the world or some grief which hath been as a continuall dropping upon their souls as the Stone Wind-cholick Falling sickness c. driven home from the house of their spirituall bondage and from this mysticall Egypt where there is nothing but pollution to bethink themselves of the house of their heavenly Father Before saies David Psal 119.67 I was afflicted I went astray but now have I learned thy righteous judgements Affliction it is Gods pruning knife whereby he lops off the superfluous branches it is Gods Razor whereby he shaves off the excrescencies of sinne it is Gods niter whereby he cleanseth our defiled garments They are Gods messengers sent to call us forth our of Sodom the spirituall Sodom where there is nothing but filthiness and wallowing in the mire of sinne to prepare our hearts to meet Jesus Christ our Bridegroom in the beavenly Canaan As the shepherd sets his dog at the sheep to fetch it out of the mire and dirt wherein it is plunged so afflictions are as it were Gods dogs to bark and hunt us out of the pollutions of the world that we may be made meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light 2. Fire melts some things and consumes others Afflictions melt the heart of Gods people but they consume the ungodly Josias heart melted when he heard the Law of the Lord read 2 King 22.19 though he did but hear what threatnings God had made against the breach of his Law his heart melted within him Manasses heart melted under Gods offliction Poverty of spirit comes often from poverty of purse in a childe of God But the afflictions of the wicked they do but perboyl them for hell they are but heralds of everlasting vengeance Gods pledges that he will never do them good they do but eat out their spirits their comforts their common graces against the eternall consumption of their spirits by that ever gnawing worm 3. Fire it softens some things and it hardens others So afflictions they soften the godly but harden the wicked the more God afflicted Ahaz the more he sinned and the more his heart was hardened therefore God hath put this brand of infamy upon him never to be wiped off again 2 Chron. 28.22 This is that King Ahaz So Pharachs heart was hardened by Gods judgements It is a most dreadfull sign God intends to make thee a brand of hell fire if thy heart is hardened under the afflicting hand of God How afflictions may be said to harden Fire it softens the wax but hardens the clay afflictions do not harden as considered absolutely in themselves but accidentally as they meet with the corruptions of mens wicked hearts A wicked man is like the Smiths Anvill the more he is smitten the more rebellious and stout hearted he is ☜ Affliction it is so farre from driving a wicked man to God that it drives him farther from him making him desperate in his wicked courses and like Julian the Apostate when the dart of Gods vengeance hath been upon them they have blasphemed and cursed the holy Name of God It is a most dreadfull thing and a great aggravation of our condemnation when we adde sinne to sinne under the afflicting hand of God As in Ames 4. saies the Lord I have brought such and such judgements upon you yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord. But Gods people are of another disposition of a flexible and of a pliable nature ready to receive whatsoever God shall impart unto them they consider that God is their Father and that all their afflictions shall be for their good That God corrects them but in measure Enashim of a weak sickly crazy man and with the rods of a man and that it is either
tell thee God hath sent the Spirit of his Son crying in our hearts Abba father The Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits that we are the children of God Fourthly The Spirits teachings are irresistible teachings Acts 6.10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spake i. e. the writings of God upon Stephens heart or the teachings of the Spirit were so evident upon him that they could not withstand him or oppose what he said When the Spirit comes it shall convince the world of sinne of judgement and of righteousness It shall convince if it doth not convert It shall either drive thee besides thy self ☜ and make thee despair of salvation or to go out of thy self and to trust in Jesus Christ There is no opposing the Spirit when he comes with the prevailings of grace upon thy heart It is said of Christ that he spake as one that had anthority Mat. 7.29 and not as the Scribes Why because he spake by the Spirit My words saith he they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6.63 Let there be never so much opposition in the heart never so much prevalency of sinne let the soul be kept never so fast bound and setter'd with the vanities of the world with the devices of Satan and with the deceitfulness of sinne Yea supposing thou wert fast asleep in the midnight of earnall security yet if the Spirit comes and joggs as the Angel did Peter we shall presently awake Act. 12.7 and the prison doors shall be open and our fetters shall be knockt off and we shall be set at liberty It is our misery that when God comes to deal with his Spirit for our souls good the Spirit doth not finde us sitting still and quiet and out of the way to heaven but posting with all speed in a quite contrary way as fast as we can to hell We do not only by nature not love God but we hate God and preferre sinne and the devil before him Now when the Spirit comes supposing we are at the very brink of hell just dropping in yet if we hear the voice of the Spirit that voice which Isaiah speaks of Isa 30.12 a voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it we shall return and be as fire-brands pluckt out of the fire The Spirit when it comes to write the things of God upon our hearts it doth not finde our souls a rasa tabula a meer blank wherein there is nothing written but the rudiments of the world of the flesh and of sinne are naturally written upon them the devil is engravened and pourtrayed all abroad upon the heart of a wicked man Now the finger of God can presently blot out this writing and unteach us whatsoever the flesh the devil and the world hath taught us and write his own characters as it were with the juyce of an onyon never to be blotted out again Joh. 5.25 It is said in the Gospel of John the dead shall hear the voice of the Sonne of God and live that is those that are dead in sinnes and trespasses that are spiritually dead that have no spirituall life that do not relish the things of God that cannot move one foot towards heaven when the Spirit cals which is meant by the voice of Christ like those dry bones which the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of they shall arise and walk and live the life of faith Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my waies to do them When the Spirit teacheth Isa 32.4 the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly No naturall impediment no indisposition can hinder the effects of the Spirit Fifthly They are arbitrary teachings As the winde bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 so is every one that is born of the Spirit The Spirit teacheth when it listeth and where it listeth The Spirit is a free agent bound to none and whatsoever he doth Matth. 11.25 he doth it freely I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things frem the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight By the same Spirit is given severall gists but all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.11 dividing to every man severally as he will The Spirit of God out of a family perhaps it teacheth the Master and leaveth the servant in darkness the childe and leaves the father in darkness And as Christ said in the Gospel of Matthew Matth. 24.41 there shall be two a grinding in the mill the one shall be taken and the other left so say I in the same seat at the same time there be many a hearing of the word together and the Spirit may come and teach one and leave all the rest in darkness What a mercy is it therefore to thee whosoever thou art to thee I say that art so highly honoured as to have the Spirit to be thy teacher that the Lord should open thine eyes to see the ugly nature of sinne and the excellency that is in Jesus Christ Why might'st thou not have been one of the ignorant prophane world one that never knewest experimentally and savingly what it is to beleeve in Jesus Christ what it is to sit down at Christs table and to eat of the feast of fat things which he hath prepared for thee Why maist thou not have lived under the dispensations of the old Law when the Patriarchs had but the glimmerings of the Spirit but that thou shouldst live under the Gospel And why under the Gospel shouldst thou have a more plentifull measure of the Spirit than others but because it is the Spirits pleasure it should be so Even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight As Christ said to his Apostles though in another sense Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see and the ears which hear the things which you hear so I may say to you that live under the teachings of the Spirit in these Gospel-times Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see and the ears which hear the things which you hear And as Christ said to the woman that came to him saying Luke 11.27 Blessed is the womb which bare thee and the paps which gave thee suck Nay saith Christ rather blessed are they which hear the Word of God and do it So say I Blessed are they that hear the voice of the Spirit speaking in their hearts and walk up to this voice of the Spirit Sixthly They are determinating fixing and quieting teachings They fix the soul in the waies of God They resolve all the doubts and carnall reasonings which are in our hearts and quite stop the mouth of flesh and blood When Paul had received
the Spirit how couragious was he in the work of the Lord he that formerly was mad with fury against the Church of God how strongly doth he row the other way As soon as ever Ananias had said Brother Saul receive thy sight Act. 9. his eyes were opened and his heart enlarged in the knowledge of God he presently goes about his Masters business to win souls over by the evidence of the Spirit to the obedience of the word Yea he was ready not only to be bound for the Lord Jesus ☞ but to suffer for him A spiritual man he chooseth and pitcheth upon mature and serious deliberation with himself being helped by the light of the Spirits teachings I say he chooseth God for his God and Christ for his Christ and the Spirit for his Spirit and the Word for his rule and Gods Commandments for his delight An implicit faith Many Christians have but an implicit faith for what they believe some believe the Word of God because they were taught so and so were instructed by education others believe so because it is the generall opinion of most men others because this way seems the best to their corrupt naturall reason others there are because such a man said so because they are perhaps engaged to him in Church-society when they have no ground in their own consciences why they close with this rather than with that The devil will have a shrewd combate with this mans faith in the hour of temptation when he shall come to die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 efflagitavit The devil hath desired to winnow thee as he did Peters faith He will try thee of what mettall thou art made whether thou art dross or silver he will sift thee throughly and if thou art found wanting as I am sure thou wilt be found for this faith hath no foundation thou shalt be cast forth as chaff out of Christs floor to be burned for ever What is the reason that we drive on so slowly for heaven why it is because of the unsetledness of our spirits We do not walk by fixed principles Go to this point whether the Word be the Word of God were you never under the buffetings of Satan for a while concerning this thing hardly any but some times or other have been under such a cloud of temptation If you were really fixed upon this principle that the Scripture is the Word of God reading what judgments attends sinners in their evil courses and what happiness follows the Saints there could not be such a general spirit of prophanness amongst men as there is and that little care to walk exactly according to the preciseness of the Gospel The Spirit quiets our mindes concerning this doubt by discovering unto us the majesty purity and perfection of it A spiritual man can say I know whom I have believed 2 Tim. 1.12 I know what I speak I know that God is true and that there is no unrighteousness in him God is in me of a truth Besides have we not Atheisticall thoughts of God like that fool Psal 14.1 who said in his heart there was no God denying the providence of God When we see the wicked men of the world prosper and we our selves counted the offscouring of it are we not ready to say like David 1 Sam. 27.1 I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul or that we shall fall of everlasting happiness God hath cast us off for ever calling the servants of God liars who speak unto us in the name of the Lord and to distrust the word of promise Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee where there are five negatives for the confirmation of it I will never never never never never leave thee nor forsake thee Psal 73. Now as David when he went into the Sanctuary of God he was better principle'd and understood their latter end that God had set them in slippery places that they might fall and not rise again So if we would wait till the Spirit comes down upon our hearts we should have all these carnall reasonings and these fleshly doubts removed and we should be setled in the truths of God When a man is taught by the Spirit he doth not stand to reason with flesh and blood shall I do this or shall I do that shall I choose heaven or shall I choose hell shall I choose sinne or shall I choose grace shall I choose God or shall I choose Baal he doth not stand reasoning the case Shall I be religious or shall I not Shall I trust all upon Gods bare promise or shall I close with the pleasures of sin which are really present but he presently renouncing all those carnall reasonings which arise from flesh and blood presently sets upon the work of the Lord knowing that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. So did Paul Gal. 1. 15 16. When the Lord had endued him with his Spirit sutable for his calling whereunto he was called he stood not to reason with flesh and blood but presently sets upon his great Masters business Jesus Christ The great danger there is in consulting with flesh and blood This consulting with flesh and blood hinders many a poor soul from a through closing with Jesus Christ Flesh will say Do not close with Jesus Christ do not serve God you had better take a certainty for an uncertainty and those present enjoyments here and live merrily In consulting with flesh and blood you consult with the enemy of Jesus Christ of the Gospel of his grace and with an enemy to your own souls Be sure the flesh will decide the controversle on the devils part against Jesus Christ Now the Spirit of God determines the matter on Christs part against the devil teaching thee the insufficiency of all the creatures to make thee happy and the true happiness only resides in God putting thee into the way wherein God is to be found and preserving thee in the same that at length thou maist reap everlasting life Seventhly The teachings of the Spirit are consonant to the Word they agree with the Word of God As the minde of the Spirit in one place of Scripture agrees with the minde of the Spirit in another and there is a sweet harmony in the Word of God So the teachings of the Spirit upon our hearts they also are correspondent with the word Saith Paul to the Galatians Gal. 1.8 If an Angel from heaven should deliver any other doctrine unto you than what you have received let him be accursed And the Apostle by a resumption or ingemination repeats it again If any man teach any other Gospel unto you than what you have received let him be accursed ◠11 12. And why My Doctrine is not of flesh nor of the will of man but of God Note this well ☜ As if the Apostle had said My word which I have delivered unto you being the Word of God
to deal withall that let them be never so great opposers to the Majesty of it by their contradicting and blaspheming yet all their carnall wisdom and policy could not avail but they must confess it to be the Word of God though the pride of their hearts and the vanity of their corrupt mindes would not suffer them to obey it 11. God hath a time when he will blast upon all other knowledge but the spirituall wisdom which comes from the Spirit shall endure for ever When the man of sinne shall be destroyed what a treasure of vain and fruitless knowledge by the bright shinings forth of the light of the Spirit which hath so so much been idolized in the world shall fall into the dust with him God hath a time to take the wise in their own counsels and to overthrow the devices of the crafty God blasted the counsell of Achitophel against David 2 Sam. 16.23 Though Achitophel was accounted as the Oracle of God for wisdom whose word was usually taken in difficult matters yet God at this time when he sets his wit to plot against his servant David he makes his counsell of none effect The Princes of Zoan are fools Isa 19.11 all their knowledge cannot deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath There is no evasion whereby thou canst shift off God and hide thy sinnes from him for God knows all the plottings and contrivances which have been in thy heart all the time of thy life 1 Cor. 1.27 Hos 5.3 Notitia judicialis non approbationis God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise Saith God in the Prophet Hosea I know Ephraim and Israel is not hid from me I know all their shifts and policies and delusions which they have invented to excuse themselves for their idolatry but when I come to plead with them for the breach of my Covenant I will lay the glory of their policy in the dust and destroy them with the breath of my mouth When once the beams of the Sunne of righteousness shall arise upon thy heart and God shall enlighten thine eyes by his Spirit then thou wilt count all thy former knowledge which thou didst so much pride thy self in but dross and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ But spirituall wisdom endureth for ever it is of an abiding nature It is of an establishing nature it confirms and strengthens the soul against all the temptations and assaults it may meet withall That heart which is filled with this treasure of heavenly wisdom is as impregnable as a Castle with bars and irons Hereby we are instructed with the methods of Satan we can search into the depths of Satan Rev. 2.24 Hereby we are furnished with an abiding store of rich grace whereby we may hold out in the fiery triall Wisdom and knowledge is the most durable of any treasure that is But when he was deprived of all his outward comforts riches houses lands friends relations all taken from him could say Omnia mea mecum porto I I carry all things away along with me because that stock of knowledge which he had none could take away from him So likewise a Saint of God hath the stock of knowledge and spirituall wisdom that shall never be taken away from him I have read of some that have lost that knowledge which they have got by study and their own pains taking Corvinus a great Scholar was brought so low by a violent fit of sickness that after he was recovered he forgat his own name but the Spiritual Wisdom which comes from above shall never be taken away from you 2. If thou art taught by the Spirit it is a sign thou art the friend of God John 15.15 Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father have I made known unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chryst Oh how greatly God condescends to the godly He speaks to them as a man would speak to his friend Abraham is called the friend of God saith God shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I shall do from Abraham my friend from him whom I have called by name to be my servant 'T is one part of friendship to reveal secrets Happy soul if God be thy friend who then shall be thy foe God is a friend that sticketh closer then all relations then Father Mother Brothers c. 3. If thou art taught by the Spirit it is a signe thou art in the Covenant of Grace It is one part of the Covenant that Believers shall be taught of God Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their hearts and they shall all know me It is an exceeding great comfort and a most special spiritual blessing to be in the Covenant of grace 1. Because in the Covenant of Grace God makes himself over to the Believer to be his as the Believer gives himself wholly totally and finally to be Gods My beloved is mine and I am his Hos 2.19 2. If God be thine and thou art the Spouse of Jesus Christ then all things are thine marriage makes all things common 3. If God be in Covenant with thee all the creatures are in league with thee Several signs whereby we may know we are taught of the Spirit 1. He that hath the teachings of the Spirit upon his heart is of an humble Spirit We finde in Scripture that the holy men of God both in the Old and in the New Testament when they have approached near to God to have any revelation from him or after they have had a revelation they have abased themselves and have been of a more submissive frame of Spirit Isa 6. Job 42. Job after God had appeared unto him and shewed him his own weakness and his Justice in proceeding with him such a way saith I abhor my self in dust and ashes Isa 65.5 Is 34.11 He doth not contemne his weak brother and like those in Isaiah say Stand by for I am holier then thou but as David he saith Come unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord and what he hath done for my soul He doth not think the better of himself but the more lowly and doth admire the Free-grace and love of God unto his soul See how Paul magnifies the Free-grace of God in discovering unto him the Mystery of Jesus Christ Vnto me who am less then the least of all the Apostles is this grace given that I should make known to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3.8 So a gracious soul is not proud of the teachings of the Spirit upon his heart but counts meanly of himself and exalts the Grace of God that such a one as he who was formerly serving divers lusts should be admitted into the number of Gods Favorites and to partake of his secrets he
his sores Paul in prison yea I may say God is more choice of a Saint under affliction then at another time as the Goldsmith looks well to the mettal while it is in the Furnace A simile lest that the least grain of silver be consumed with the dross so God is very careful lest that the least grain of his servants Graces may perish under the fire of affliction 4. That all thy afflictions shall make thy future glory 5. That the cross of Christ hath sanctified the Cross unto thee 3. If thou hast the Spirits teachings upon thy heart thou wilt not grudge at the dispensation of God to others but wilt do what lies in thy power to teach others Thou wilt be so far from grudging that thou wilt magnifie the Grace of God and bless God for what he hath done for others as well as for thy self Act. 26.27 I would to God said Paul that not onely thou but also all that hear me this day wete both almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds Likewise Moses when they told him that Eldad and Medad prophesied said Num. 11.29 I could wish that all the Lords people were Prophets So Christ Mat. 18. Father I thank thee that thou hast hid those things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes c. Christ did not envy us his fellow brethren neither was he ashamed to be called our brother neither was he unwilling to undergo that great work for the salvation of our precious souls but he was glad when he saw the fruit of his travaile and it rejoyced his seed he shall see the travaile of his soul and be satisfied A spiritual man owns the gifts and Graces of God in the hearts of others Luk. 1.41 as well as in his own heart as the Babe in Elizabeths wombe leaped for joy at Maries salutation so will the new-come Babe within thee leap for joy when thou shalt hear of the salvation brought to light to others It is the Divels spirit and a carnal fleshly spirit to envy the gifts and Graces which are in others but it is a signe of a true Christian spirit to acknowledge the least grain of true Grace in others and to cherish it as much as we can Christ ownes whatsoever is of his Spirit in us a little faith if it be true shall have its reward and so should we do Christ acknowledged a little strength in the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.8 Thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word Rom 9.3 and hast not denied my name Paul was so far from envying his Countriemen that he wished himself accursed from Christ for his brethen the Jews and Moses desires to be blotted out of the book of life Exod. 32.32 Nay thou wilt do all the good that thou canst whence once God hath taught thee to teach others saith Christ to Peter When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Luk. 22.32 Joh. 1.41 Andrew as soon as he had found the Messiah he presently telleth his brother Simon of it that he might also be one of Christs Disciples and if ever the true Messiah the King of Glory hath once entred into thy heart there will be such meltings of the heart within thee that thou canst not refrain but thou must discover the excellency of Jesus Christ to others The woman of Samaria in the fourth of John as soon as she had found the Messiah she presently left her water-pots and went into the City telling the Samaritans that she had found the Messias So likewise wilt thou do if ever the Sun of righteousness hath risen in thy heart So the converted thief he presently strives to convert his fellow Thief Fearest thou not God saith he Luk. 23.40 seeing thou art in the same condemnation The light of the spirit in a regenerate soul cannot be hid the more thou smotherst it the more it riseth up as the fire the more it is pressed down by and by it riseth up in a greater flame Saith Christ No man lighteth a candle Mat. 5.15 and putteth it under a Bushel So the Spirit it doth not create a new light within us for nothing but that we might shine to others and light others and that others might see by our light and be warmed by our fire Ministers are the lights of the world in a more eminent way as being publike lights lights set upon a hill that all may take notice of them ☞ They are the Beacons of a Nation to foretell those dreadful Judgements which are coming upon them for their sins if they do not repent They are to call upon private Christians that they hang out their lights to the world that others seeing their good works might glorifie their Father which is in heaven Mat. 5.16 Here private Christians are lights Every private Christian is to hang out his light in a private way and to shew to others what God hath done for his soul As every man hath received so let him freely give The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal This is quite opposite to the Pharisaical temper of the Separatists of our times ☞ they hold it unlawful to have any spiritual commerce with a wicked man as if they themselves were too worthy to speak unto them and to pray with them and for them and so they are more worthy then Christ or as if they were so wicked that they were past all cure and remedy Mr. Baxter If wicked men should be shut out of Gods thoughts of love and mercy as they are out of the affections of the separatists hell would enlarge her self exceedingly It is true we are to make none our companions but the godly saith David I am a companion of all them that fear thee Psal 119.63 but yet for the good of their souls we must not be strangers and unacquainted with them How knowest thou O thou Religious soul but that by thy good conference holy life and pious walking with God thou mayest gain thy brother and win him over from his vile course of life to a conscientious performing of the will of God Christ kept company with Publicans and sinners but it was for the good of their souls O that there were not a too censorious Spirit in the hearts of Gods people to count them forsaken of God and not amongst the number of his Saints who are cast out by them out of their societies If we were of the right stampe we should as the Apostle Become all things to all men in a lawful way that we may win all Yea it is impossible if thou hast the teachings of the Spirit upon thy heart but that thou shouldst make mention of the name of the Lord. The Prophet Jeremiah when he had a word from the Lord to deliver to the people he could not keep it in though he strove as much as he could to do it it
was as fire in his bones till it was revealed Jer. 20.9 It is a great burden to a gracious soul that he cannot hold forth the truths of God as the Spirit hath held them forth to his own soul It is one of the greatest troubles to a saithful soul when he comes to dye that he hath not been so serviceable to the Church of God as he might have been if he had improved that light and those talents which God hath given him to the best advantage We must have charity towards all we must wish well to all pray for all relieve all according to our abilities we must love all we must love our enemies but familiarity with all is not expedient we must edifie all and strive to convert all to the faith of Jesus Christ Now there be none so fit to edifie others as those who have the spirits teachings upon their hearts Gal. 6.1 Yee which are spiritual restore a fallen brother in the spirit of meekeness A spiritual man is best acquainted with the evil nature of sin and what shame and sorrow it brings along with it with the wrath of God and with the excellency of Jesus Christ and that beauty and comeliness which is in his wayes 4. If thou art taught by the spirit thou art a man of another spirit then thou wert heretofore as it was said of Caleb he was a man of another spirit Num. 14.24 so thou wilt be of another spirit Wert thou before carnal now thou shalt be spiritual Wert thou of a malicious spirit thou shalt have a spirit of love Wert thou of a proud spirit contentious high minded spirit thou shalt be of an humble and of a meek spirit Wert thou under a spirit of bondage thou shalt be under a spirit of liberty a spirit of adoption Wert thou of an unclean froward perverse foolish spirit thou shalt be of a clean milde and of a wise spirit Wert thou of a base cowardly frame of spirit that thou wert ashamed to make mention of the name of the Lord thou shalt be of a couragious spirit full of a holy zeal for the glory of God Wert thou of a fearful doubting drooping sad sorrowful dejected spirit thou shalt be of a merry joyful and of a lightsome spirit It is said that after Moses came down from the Mount his face did shine he had been a talking with God and afterward his face did shine So every faithful soul after he hath been in the Mount of contemplation and hath had the spirit instructing him in the things of God his heart doth shine with the oyle of Grace and his life doth shew forth the praise of him who hath called him out of this state of darkness into this marvellous light 5. He is of a meek spirit that hath the teachings of the spirit upon his heart Psal 25.8 The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way Isa 28.18 19. In the day shall the deaf hear the words of this book and the eyes of the blinde shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness The meek also shall encrease their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoyce in the holy one of Israel Psa 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Isa 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the meek to binde up the broken spirit Moses Numb 11.3 Who is called the meekest man of all the men that were upon the earth had the neerest approach to God of any that we read of in the book of God he spoke with God as a man speaks with his friend or as one man speaks to another He spoke with God face to face We must be children in our own account if we would be taught by the spirit Psal 131.2 Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a childe that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned childe i. e. As a childe is gentle and submissive you may do what you will with a weaned childe so he was of a tractable spirit ready to yeeld and to submit to Gods dispensations whatsoever they might be unto him Saith he Mat. 18.4 He that is not as a little childe shall never enter into the Kingdom of heaven 1 Cor. 14.20 A little childe in respect of meekness and gentleness and love and amity according to the Apostle In malice be ye as children but in understanding be ye men The poor receive the Gospel The poor in spirit that tremble at the word of God that are wrought upon by a kinde work of the spirit upon their hearts that dread the exceeding goodness of God and thinke themselves unworthy of any mercy at all at Gods hands who can undergoe any thing what God is pleased to impose upon them confessing that God punisheth them far less then their iniquities deserve that God cannot inflict too severe a punishment on them for their sins Signes of poverty of spirit and that if any thing besides hell it is a fruit of mercy and who groan under the burden of their sins and under the apprehension of Gods love unto them who are willing to receive any thing from Gods hand These are the fittest men to be instructed from heaven if we could perfectly go out of our selves and purge our selves of all created love we should have the flowings in of Divine grace upon our hearts abundantly If the spirit should teach wicked men it were but to cast darts against a rock It is reported of Tygers that they enter into a rage upon the sent of fragrant spices so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of Godliness It is reported of some Barbarous Nations who when the Sun shines upon them shoot their Aâ—â—ows against it so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness Burroughes which are so far from admitting any entrance that they cast back the darts against him that shoots them but the meek spirited man is ready to receive whatsoever the spirit shall dictate unto him What ever is written upon a proud and a carnal heart it is as if it were written upon the sand now you know what is written upon the sand every blast of winde is apt to deface so every blast of temptation will blot out whatsoever is written upon a carnal mans heart but what is written by the finger of God upon a meek spirit it is as it were engraven in marble never to be done out again Therefore I know no greater signe that some that pretend most of all to the spirit in these times are most of all void of it because they are of such a railing contentious froward perverse malicious spirit I am sure they were never so taught by the spirit of God for the spirit of God is a spirit of love a spirit of meekness a spirit of gentleness meekness is a
dreadful place Prov. 28.1 He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddainly be destroyed and that without remedy 4. To the light of the word which includs both Law and the Gospel 1. Sad is their condition who have onely the Law to be their light and yet sin against this Law that know they should not commit adultery and yet commit adultery they should not steal and yet will steal they should not prophane the Sabbath and yet will prophane the Sabbath that know they should not serve idols and yet will serve idols c. How many sore judgements and grievous captivities do we read of in the old Testament which God brought upon his own people the Jews for the breach of his most holy and righteous Law They had the Law and the Prophets in which Prophets some Gospel which intermingled though little in respect of that light which we have and yet their sinning against the light of the Law and the word of Prophesie delivered unto them did so incense the Lord against them that he often plagued them with sore judgements for their revoltings 2. To the light of the Gospel See the sad condition of those souls that walk not up to the light of the Gospel in the second of the Hebrews 2.3 v. For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be preached by the Lord and afterward was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Sins against Gospel light are crying sins in the ears of God By how much the greater engagements of mercy by so much the more hanious will our sins be If we walke not up to the light of the Gospel we sin against a more clear and evident light against such a light which discovers such love of God unto us in Jesus Christ which can never be expressed Against such a light which holds forth the clearest testimony of Gods good will to sinners far beyond the apprehension of men and Angels Such a light which the Angels themselves desire to behold prying into and adoring the infinite wisdom of God revealed in it Such a light which if we sin agaist it will for ever render us altogether inexcusable at the last day so that our mouths shall be muzzled as the mans was which came to the feast without a wedding garment being not able to speak a word for our selves Such a light which if we walke not up to will sinke us deep into the gulfe of misery and the blackness of darkness for ever Such a light which if we walk not up to but maliciously resist and oppose we render our selves guilty of that unpardonable sin against the holy Ghost being condemned in our own consciences and obnoxious to our selves that we deserve eternal vengeance for the slighting of it Such a light which if we do not obey makes us guilty of the highest unbelief the most notorious ingratitude the greatestwant of charity the most out-crying rebellion of the greatest hardness of heart and of the most malicious hatred that possibly can be He that rejecteth the light of the Gospel forsaketh his own mercies he hath bid adien to God to Christ to the Spirit to the Sacraments to the promises to the priviledges of the Saints yea to the Saints themselves being without hope for the present Ephes 4.17 18. being turned from a Christian to be like those Gentiles who walke in the vanities of their minds having their understandings darkned lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ should shine into their hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 1.3 Justitia Dei Dom. 1.17 Divina Virtus potentia 1 Cor. 1.24 Such a light in which is revealed the manifold wisdom of God the riches of his grace the righteousness of God Divine power and vertue the truth of God Against such a light which is the ministery of the spirit for the Gospel it is the ministery of the spirit and not of the letter Against such a light which if we walk not up to we mightily incense the great Jehovah of heaven and of earth Do you think that if a great Monarch should send to the poorest beggar that he hath under his dominions having been a notorious rebel traytor and apostate from him A simile a message of reconciliation unto him upon promise that if he would accept of pardon upon the supposition of amendment of life he would not onely be appeased with him and receive him into favor but make him as it were his Son if this miserable creature should refuse the pardon upon such noble terms himself being exceedingly worthy of death would not this render him guilty of the highest ingratitude and of the greatest contumacy if he should not close with this most courteous offer of grace and favor such stubborn hearted sinners are they who walk not up to the light of the Gospel We are all of us by nature miserable poor and wretched creatures enemies rebells traytors and apostates from God The King of Kings the Lord of Lords who is Lord over heaven and earth sends unto us by his onely son a message of reconciliation upon condition that we will receive this his onely son who hath dyed for us to redeeme us from the captivity of sin and Satan and from the curse of the Law and from eternal death for our onely Lord and Saviour and serve him only and obey him and keep his commandments unto which gracious message if we would but repent of our former rebellions and endeavor to believe on Jesus Christ is annexed a most gracious promise of everlasting happiness that we shall be his sons and that he will give us a Kingdom a Crown of Glory an everlasting inheritance and that we shall reign with Jesus Christ our elder brother and with himself for ever and ever Now what rebels and stout-hearted sinners are they who shall not accept of this gracious offer upon so small conditions The conditions are onely to repent for our sins and to receive Jesus Christ for our Lord and Saviour to rule and govern us by his Word and Spirit Who would refuse such an honourable good and gracious Master such a noble service which hath a most copious reward annexed to it In the service of Christ there is perfect freedom but in the divels service the greatest slavery Then are you free indeed John 8.6 if the Son shall make you free Do not stand off I beseech you close with this gracious offer accept of these conditions lest that thereby thou incensest God against thee to destroy thee if thou refusest this offer of reconciliation thou shalt never have the like again for in rejecting it thou sinnest against the remedy which God hath provided for the sin of thy soul by trampling under foot the precious blood
afforded me alwayes praying reading doing good and working out my salvation with fear and trembling But alas there is no more time there are no more seasons of grace afforded me God is departed from me in respect of any future mery for ever hell hath shut her mouth upon me and therefore O that I had to my everlasting comfort complyed and hearkened to the voice of the spirit contending with me That I had walked up to the light of the spirit then it had been otherwise with me to my perpetual joy then it is now to my eternal misery Thus the wretched sinner laments it self when it is too late and wishes it had never been unless he had been better because he improved not those talents and walked not up to that light which God had given him Reasons why every soul ought to walke up according to its Light 1. Because God judgeth every one according to his light Rom. 2.12 For as many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law that is those that are without the moral Law written upon tables of stone but have onely the Law of nature written upon their hearts though the moral Law is nothing but what is founded upon nature as appears in the 15. verse For the Gentiles which have not the Law i. e. the moral Law do by nature the things contained in the Law if they sin against the Law written in their consciences shall onely be judged according to that Law and those that have the moral Law shall be judged according to the moral Law but those who have the light of the Gospel shall be judged according to the light of the Gospel 16. v. In the day when God shal judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospel And those that have sinned against the light of conviction and the strivings of the spirit shall be judged according to that light and according as our light is so will be our condemnation Mat. 11.22 It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement then for us who live under the light of the Gospel and the spirits convictions because our light is the greater And for those who live under Gospel light it will be more tolerable for those at the day of judgement who have lived under a powerful Ministery all their dayes and have had more influences of the spirit upon their hearts and have had the spiritual Manna continually falling round about their houses as the inhabitants of the famous City of London have who are blessed above all other Nations with spiritual blessings then those who are less watred with showers of Grace from heaven if they shall let slip their opportunities and sleep out the day of visitation which is afforded them The Lord takes notice of every Sermon we hear and of every prayer we have prayed of every time we have received the Sacrament of every impression we have had upon our spirits of all those counsels exhortations admonitions reproofs corrections instructions we have had of all that naturall knowledge we had with the improvements of it of all the prayers and beseechings others have made and put to God for us of all those secret checks of conscience of all those various acts of providence in the course of our lives marvellous deliverances from dangers from sicknesses from imprisonments in providing for us when all other helps and means have failed of all those resolutions we have made of better obedience upon some notable conviction upon our spirits of all our services performed unto him in private and in publick and of all that conference and communion we have had with the Saints of all that progress we have towards heaven and that if we had gone but a step or two further we might have been happy and according to the severall gradations of our spirituall advantages upon the neglect of them so shall our condemnation be God will judge us for every Sermon wherein we have not met him in a Sermon for every prayer wherein we have not met him in a prayer for every receiving of the Sacrament wherein we have not met Christ in that Sacrament We are then said to meet God in a duty when upon the right improvement of it God comes nigher to us in waies of further discoveries upon our hearts or our hearts are drawn nigher to God and to Jesus Christ in way of heavenly mindedness and son-like obedience 2. We ought to walk up to that light which we have because God hath to this end given this light unto us that our evil deeds being made manifest we may loath our selves for them and avoid them for the time to come Wicked men they hate the light Joh. 3.20 because their deeds are evil they know that it is the nature of light to make manifest and thereupon if they should come to the light their consciences would be awakened and the peace of their besotted spirits lul'd asleep in gross ignorance carnall security the pleasures of sinne and by the devil would be disturbed But the godly on the other side they rejoyce in the light in the light of the Word in the light of the Spirit and bless God for the time that ever they were acquainted with the evil nature of their sinnes and with the experience of Gods infinite goodness unto them in Jesus Christ A righteous man fears not the terrours of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 for the Law was not made for him but for the rebellious disobedient murtherers of fathers and murtherers of mothers And he rejoyceth in the glad tidings of the Spirit He desires to be taught by the Spirit and daily to be nurtured up in the School of Christ till he shall come to the perfection of the Saints in glory He that doth truth cometh to the light Joh. 3.21 that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wronght in God 3. Because if a mans spirit gives him in that such a thing is a duty though it be nor or such a thing is a sinne though in it self it be not a sinne yet if he walk not up according to that verdict his conscience gives in of it unless the Word of God speaks directly against it and it be directly opposite to the analogy and proportion of faith he sinnes in not so doing Saith the Apostle Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Rom. 14.23 that is whatsoever we do doubtingly and ambiguously being in distrust whether the thing ought to be done or no if we do it we sinne in so doing We should do nothing but what we verily believe ought to be done In these two cases we may follow the light of our own consciences 1. In things indifferent which are neither simply commanded nor simply for bidden 2. In things which do not positively contradict the doctrine of faith and piety and the express Word of God or a direct and an immediate consequence plain to the capacity of all understanding men void of any prejudice against the truth drawn from solid and evident places of Scripture pat to the purpose we have in hand But if any man shall pretend a Tenet or a Custom or a Doctrine to be received believed performed and practised because his own conscience gives him in it is so or ought to be believed and practised though he hath an express command to the contrary in Gods Word I say that this mans heart is full of Atheism and unbelief and grosly deluded by the devil and though his erroneous conscience gives him in it must be so yet he sinnes if he doth it because it is directly contrary to the Word of God Now if a man sinnes if he walks not up to the light of his conscience in some cases though it may be erroneous then much more he walks not up to the light of the Word and of the Spirit these are infallible lights without the least errour and deceit Lord God we beseech thee that seeing our hearts are so apt to deceive us and to be deceived the world to flatter us and the devil to beguile us and because we live in unstable times full of delusions wherein the mystery of iniquity begins to work and Satans agents are now transformed into Angels of light that our hearts might not be bewitched with these meer phantasmes and ghosts of piety with these shadows in stead of substance but give us that spirituall eye-salve whereby we may discern the cunning sleights of men who lye in wait to deceive and that Christian prudence to foresee the evils that are coming upon the earth Psal 43.3 Send forth thy light and thy truth we beseech thee thy light is a true light and thy truth is light that by thy light we may see light and by the teachings of thy Spirit upon our hearts we may be so established in the waies of God that neither the Errours Heresies and Blasphemies that are abroad in the world may taint us nor that desolation which is coming upon us for our sinnes unless they be washed away with the tears of repentance and with amendment of life may drive us from our hope and confidence of God but that patiently enduring the chastening of the Lord because we have sinned against him by that witnessing act of thy Spirit evidently teaching us that we are thy children in the midst of all these heart-quaking times we may rejoyce in the expectation of future happiness FINIS