what hath been said I cannot much doubt thy Belief But I find it still good to suppose the worst Some believed what the Apostles preached and some believed it not O thou that believest not what I have written this I desire from thee Or rather this God requires from thee sc That thou abstain from proud peremptory concluding that it must needs be false because thou art not presently perswaded that it is true And that thou admit it to be so much as doubtful if thou canst not yet think it certain Worthy of thy Enquiry if not of thy Faith I pray thee believe it possible that thou mayst mistake And that in this very matter wherein a mistake is as dangerous as any where it can be Consequently that it imports thee highly to go pray God to certifie thee of the Truth And in order to thy being certified to go to the best Friends thou hast and best Ministers that thou knowest and discourse them concerning it and hear what they have to offer to thee for or against it I sadly know that oftentimes it is but a Wind in the Bowels that is mistaken for a Child in the Womb It stirring and moving so augely like a Child I am as warie as I can But I do and my Conscience tells me I ought to speak comfortably to very Enquirers I have known some raw Enquirers become very credible Converts in a few weeks time And I wonder who ever knew our ignorant sort of people become such by bare Hearing without Enquiring and Consulting I take it for granted that they receive little or no good from me if before much time passes they do not come unto me 'T is Collocutory Preaching that God blesseth to such And when I have brought any of them unto that I cannot but hope God intends them a Blessing Reader if thou art an Vnbeliever I despair not of thee if thou beest but an Enquirer Doubting usually precedes Faith though Faith doth not always follow Doubting E. 2. Delay not to set to the work assoon as ever thou shalt believe the word of Reconciliation Dost thou already believe it Thou hast then begun thy business about it I hope Thou never dost rightly Believe till thou dost Act. O let thy Work come full speed after thy Faith Get ability to tell thy God above and his Vicegerent thy Conscience within thee that from thy first Understanding and Perswasion of the truth of this Doctrine thou didst as David Make hast and not delay to keep his Commandments foredeclared Do not rest or let thy Minister rest then one day or hour till thou knowest the Covenant of Grace and Reconciliation Enter thee into it solemnly Consult for thy preparation for the Lords Table there to confirm it For why Delay is worthy of the worst word I have given it in my Sermon on Eccl. 12.1 But now now an hours delay is in some respects worse then a years delay before Vnderstanding and Faith unimproved unto holy Practice are the most horrible aggravations of sinful Practice But a Man is in a fair way assoon as he has took but his first true step toward Reconciliation When he has but sinceroly uttered this word Lord Jesus I will never be my own while I breathe more I am thine upon thy Gospel terms for ever Be not afraid of the pain of this 'T is a short one and presently turns to Joy As the pleasures of sin be short and quickly turn to Plagues When that is but rightly said the wheels will run in all other work Hast hast my Reader If Physicians had given thee over for a dead Man wouldst then Delay The dying people I am called to be all for present Peace with God The most healthful of the Living have full as much reason to be for it O that I could not say I see them otherwise minded I have read of Indian Prisoners chained in golden setters And I see many English ones whose Estates on Earth allow them not leisure or liberty for Peace-making with Heaven I tell them in my plainess that the Dogs in Sicily cannot hunt because the sweet flowers in every field overcome the scent And that the sweets of this World in which they live do spoil their scent and savour of Spiritual things and keep them from following after their Peace with God And for poor people how little hast do all their hardships below provoke them to make for the Treasure above Rich and Poor are both in expectation as they tell us of Eternal Happiness Both believe Reconciliation hereto necessary But alas both do not hasten to get it made and therefore great is the misery of both upon them E. 3. Let the business of thy Reconciliation have all thy strength spent on it when thou hast set unto it Reader Heard I not thee saying erewhile Here begins my essay of Reconciliation unto my offended God Thou art at it art thou not If so the Father of Glory be thy good speed But as ever thou expectest him to be so spare for no pains therein O what does require or what will requite thy pains if Reconciliation unto God will not Tell me Man doth the Gospel bid thee play or work out thy Salvation And doth it account that to be a Play or a Work of thine wherein thou puttest not forth all thy strength All thy contriving and all thy executing strength Verily in Gods esteem it is idly done whatever thou hast not forelaid with best consideration and brought forth with thy utmost might Thou dost but trifle till it comes to that pass that thou mayst truly speak thus Of all things under the Sun my Vnderstanding doth consult most my Will doth command most my Practick Powers do put forth themselves most of all for my Reconciliation with God I Project nothing I Crave nothing I Labour for nothing comparably unto it or for any thing but reductively and subordinately unto it A weak Mind a weak Heart and weak Practick power I must own mine to be Weak in themselves and weak in comparison of many other Christians But my Heart in this thing reproaches me not I am throughout Predominantly for Reconciliation Nor doth my Mind plod and study nor my Heart chuse and crave nor my Hands more follow their work for any thing to be named than for this Reconciliation I am sure I do jealously watch my Heart daily And desire to expend my whole strength in the matter of my Reconcillation which is now my whole Business I do believe God's peace is attainable by a restless Devil as soon as by an idle Man And it is and is like to be my care all days of my Life that God may never henceforth call me wicked or shalthful Servant In this I will follow Calvin as Calvin followed Christ E. 4. Let a Strength greater than thy own be invoked while thou art spending thy own in the business of Reconciliation Reader know'st not thou how in all things to prosper
when we are told it is to be through a full satisfaction made by his Son and price invaluable paid by him By him who though the infinite God became a finite Man Tho' Gods equal became his Servant Though the Blessed God yet was made a Curse for us We cannot but persist asking How can these things be It nothing repents me that I have often said We do now as much need to have the Spirit of God Live in us as ever we did need the Son of God to Dye for us And as the Purchase of Reconciliation did require a Divine Person the Proof of it doth require no less God deals with Man as Man In a way of Reason suited unto his Reasonable Nature Which cannot Believe any thing without a Reason for Belief of it Of all the great and marvellous things that God commands our Faith he first giveth sufficient grounds for our Faith of them Particularly of his foresaid Purpose to reconcile Sinners and of his Sons Purchase foresaid things of greatest worth and weight and of Concernment to as many as do need Reconciliation Of these extraordinary things God hath provided extraordinary Proof Even the Testimony of a Person no less than the Father himself or the Son Of the Glorious Spirit coessential and coequal with both This Divine Infallible Person who cannot be deceiv'd himself or deceive us is sent by the Father and his Son to certifie us of the Purpose and the Purchase which we speak of To inform us of both to conquer and drive away the Objections of our Minds against both to give us a certain kind of presence and sight of both A sight sufficient to move our Wills and make our Hearts to relye and rest upon both as really true And to draw our Affections in necessary degrees causing us to Love and long for the possession of the Reconcilement so purposed and so purchased And to over-rule our Lives and make them nothing so much as a course of Contemplation Prayer and Action for this said Reconciliation For be it deeply considered The Holy Ghost is declared in the Word to be sent for this end To be a Witness unto Jesus Christ and an Agent for him It would be very vain to object that the Holy Spirit was given under the Old Testament long before Jesus Christ came to Reconcile us by his Death For he was so upon Christs interposing as our Reconciler straight-way after sins entrance and that with respect to Christs future Oblation and Intercession for our Reconcilement And then as for degrees there is no comparison The Spirit drop'd but Dews in the Old Testament In the New he rained down Showers So that comparately he is said not to be given till Christ was Glorified He our Redeemer comes into the World and proclaims Gods Love unto it and purpose to reconcile and save sinners As also his own undertaking according to a contract made between the Father and himself to effect that Reconciliation by his Oblation and Intercession This the guilty graceless World could not believe nor have the patience to hear from the reputed Son of a Carpenter Jews as well as Gentiles made light of it yea rose in arms against it all save a handful and those better taught by him whom we are next to speak of The Holy Spirit as was agreed on between the Divine Persons now cometh and what does he Why he guides Souls into the Vnderstanding and Faith of all the Truth by Christ preach'd He Glorifies Jesus Christ convinceth Unbelievers that Christ is no Impostor but a Glorious Person come with a Glorious Commission to pursue Gods Glorious Purpose and to make the Glorious Purchase foresaid He receiveth Christs Spiritual things and shews them unto Men that could not see them before even his Truth and his Grace He receiveth them from Christ as the Lord Treasurer of them and shews them abroad that it may be seen what they are and in whose hand they are That Glory may be brought unto Christ That he may be owned and honoured as the Purchaser of the purposed Reconciliation Jo. 16.13 14 15. c. This did the blessed Spirit effectually causing the Church in all Ages to exalt the Father as the Original Purposer the Son as the Meritorious Purchaser the Holy Ghost as the convincing Proof-maker of our Reconciliation Without which Proof no Soul had ever believed it or found an Heart to look after a portion in it Which is the next great Consideration concerning it For if God has Purposed and Christ has Purchased Reconciliation and the Holy Ghost has proved it so fully that there is no just place for the least doubt but they have so done the very next thing to be looked after must be 4. The Sinners possession of it For whatever be the proportion of a good it avails not me without propriety Let this Reconciliation be thought as it is in truth a good no less than infinite If it be not made mine own if I am not Reconciled the sound of its Doctrine is to me but as the speech of Bread to a Man starving for want of it Or as words of a Pardon to a Man going up the Ladder when he hath it not O what Pillows do they sleep on who lay their Eyes together without this Reconciliation attained One would think it should be more easie to rest on the points of swords and spears then upon one thought of God unreconciled I will say with my dear and now blessed Friend Mr. Richard Alleyn of Somerset-shire If all the Kings of the Earth would give me all they are worth I would not lie down on my bed any night with one sin Vnrepented and without some hope of God Reconciled to me But I return The Holy Spirit in his Word testifyeth a purpose of Reconciliation that is Eternal As also a Reconciliation at the Death of Jesus Christ that is Fundamental But he doth as clearly deny any actual Reconciliation before Conversion Before our Understanding and sincere Consent unto the Covenant of Grace How should Divine Wifdom throw the richest Pearl to the vilest Swine Or Holiness forgive and embrace Creatures contrary to it There is no Law above God but God is a Law to himself And though he can do what he will he cannot will what is Unwise or Unholy Elect or not Elect he that believeth not on the Son the wrath of God abideth on him Jo. 3.36 He that hath not the Son of God to wit in Marriage-Covenant he hath not Life to wit the Life of Peace with God or of Hope from him or of Holiness toward him 1 Joh. 5.12 In a word Look at what time God teacheth and you learn at what time God draws and you run after him at what time you unfeignedly say Lord I do rely on the promises and I do consent to the demands of the Gospel-Covenant at that time in that very punct of time your Pardon is seal'd in Heaven 'T is published in the Gospel
and declared so to be For you are told He that hath the Son of God hath Life 1 Joh. 5.12 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And being justified by Faith you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 Come Reader come take Eternal Life from these Lines Hold thy self not a minute longer in Hell-fire for Gods wrath is not a jod less Down with my Book and down fall thou on thy Knees and utter the few words which will make God and thy Soul everlasting Friends No longer dare to live Damned Venture to strike the Gospel-Covenant and be saved Say to Jesus Christ Lord I will stay no longer I am thine upon thy Gospel-terms for ever From this instant to Eternity I will be thine Say to thy self Heart bid an eternal adieu unto Vnrighteousness and unto trust in self-righteousness as satisfactory or meritory Say unto vain Company Sirs I take my leave of you I must travel no farther with you that are not for the strait gate and narrow way If you will not be Reconciled to God with me I will not any longer sight against God with you But whither do I break Be it known unto every Reader this is Gospel God is not Reconciled to us FOR our Repentance and Faith The most penitent Believers are but unprofitable servants unto him But he is never to be Reconciled WITHOVT Repentance and Faith Both are as necessary as tho' they were Meritory though they are infinitely far from it Yea and upon the first penitent and faithful consenting to the Gospel-Covenant God and Sinners become as true Friends as God and Holy Angels And as Eternally inseparable ones Rom. 8.38 39. 'T is not to be denyed or concealed The grant of Peace is one thing and the sense of it is another And these two are separable God may be Reconciled to a Covenant-servant of his for months and years and the servant be in fear and doubt of it Those sins that hinder not Gods grant of Peace to us do often hinder our sense and assurance of it Wherefore we are to consider another particular concerning Reconciliation To wit 5. The Believers perswasion of it For though Reconciliation be the greatest good though it be Eternally purposed for me and by Christs Death purchased for me and be by the Holy Spirit proved to me that it is for some Purposed and Purchased Yea though through Grace I am possessed of it what then Until I know that I am possessed of it I am but like a Child in the Womb Living indeed in a bag of water but not knowing my own Life I have a Life that is only in degree inferiour to the Life of Angels But yet I live in doubts and fears that I am like unto Divels and that I shall lodge for ever in their unquenchable fire Now be it carefully heeded The Holy Spirit who is given to work Grace in us he is also given to witness Grace unto us and to make us know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 He is a free and soveraign Agent indeed and he works and witnesses in them in whom he worketh as he pleaseth He giveth assurance of Peace with God as much as he pleaseth and as soon and no more and no sooner than he pleaseth 1 Cor. 12.11 At the first Plantation of the Gospel-Church he used together to convert Souls and to assure them of their Reconciliation unto God But now we see he doth not ordinarily so do And as commanded 2 Pet. 2.10 most Converts do give great diligence before their Election and Reconciliation are made sure I contemn the Roman Synagogue that measures all Cloth by its own Ell and denyeth the attainableness of that assurance which they neither duly seek or ever attain Our Divines have confuted and shamed them so much that there needs not any thing to be said unto their blasphemous Dreams Let the desirous Reader see but that one most excellent Sermon of Mr. Samuel Fairclough on 2 Pet. 1.10 in the Morning Lectures against Popery The Churches of Christ do believe and teach that the blessed Spirit doth ordinarily sooner or later witness unto true Converts their Reconciliation And seal them to the day of Redemption And this either mediately or immediately Immediately by a sort of spiritual words Such as pass between God and the Blessed Spirits above By these the Holy Ghost testifieth unto humble diligent Believers that they are Gods Reconciled and Adopted Children And when he doth so he doth it with a clearness and sweetness that carry their own evidence with them For there is no Rule beyond it by which it may be tryed as there is no other visible besides the Light it self whereby you may try it Rom. 8.16 He is said therefore to witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And Eph. 1.13 with Eph. 4.30 He is said to seal us But how so Unless he doth set some print and stamp upon us distinguishing our state and Relation Again mediately the Spirit perswadeth us also of our Reconciliation To wit by enabling us to see our Graces truth and sincerity and from thence to infer our certain Reconciliation Both wayes he is ordinarily the Comforter of sound Believers I have read of a Woman that would say she had born eight or nine Children and with as much pain as other Women used to undergo But she would be content to bear all that pain over again for this comfort of the Spirit O that the same mind were in all that profess a value of it But well what if you had sought and found it too There 's another very material particular concerning Reconciliation to God that would ask for your thoughts and cares To wit 6. The practical improvement of it I mean of his Reconciliation and of his perswasion or assurance of it Hear the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.2 Having these promises to wit of Reconciliation and all Grace chap. 6. latter end what use are we to make of them Why Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God q. d. Let us live as far as we can without sin Let us do Gods will on Earth as 't is done in Heaven unto our utmost ability Let us do all we are able to make our Reconciliation more honourable to God then our Damnation would have been Assurance is a special priviledge Scarce any Childs portion at all times And 't is possible that some of Gods Children may live and dye without it However when it is bestow'd extraordinary Aids of Grace and Advantages for Duty are bestowed with it The helps which School-Men call necessary are given to all that are Converted But those which they call liberal are given but to them that are Assured In Conversion all Gods Children do receive strength sufficient to walk acceptably with him But when they are sealed by the Holy Spirit
consider that Sinners Reconciliation unto God is a thing purposed by God purchased by Christ and proved to be so by the Holy Ghost I have shewn it to be so But O Man Vnderstandest thou what thou readest I have proved it by Authority of Sacred Scriptures but alas Believest thou the report of them It is scarce every hundredth Man of those who own them that doth in truth believe them So judg'd the great Calvin himself And the truth is if in any thing it be harder then other to credit Divine Scripture it is in its Testimony unto this great Truth Nevertheless so it is that its Testimony herein must be credited sincerely and considered of seriously before we can be qualified for Christianity That is for Jesus Christs reconciling and saving Religion For the embracing it with seriousness and sincerity unto our Reconciliation and Salvation Who can charge his Conscience with all respects to a Religion whose first Principles and very Foundations he is ignorant or doubtful of Who can pursue it whatever it costs him and give it the Government of his Life and Soul They who do any less do but dally with Religion they do not use it like it self And they who do so much need to be very well certified of the goodness of the grounds they go upon If not they must continually be like to Builders who doubt their Foundation is ill laid and therefore either by and by desist from their work or go on very heartlesly with it Thus therefore must thou do whoever thou art that desirest Reconciliation unto God With a solemnity suitable to the moment of the affair thou must go and enquire into these things Namely Whether thou hast Faith And if thou hast What a Faith it is that thou hast concerning the things foresaid Alas Sin is distractive And Minds sinfully distracted do conceit themselves to believe whatever they do not in words contradict Nor do they at all discern the difference between Moon-light and Sun-shine Though the former be cold and dispel no Vapours and ripen no Fruits as the latter doth by its equally useful and beautiful Beams They distinguish not between the Historical and worthless Faith of Divels and the operative saving Faith of the operation of God Though the difference be as plain as that of a painted Sun upon a rotten Sign-post from the true Sun in the middle Heaven In a word Thou must discourse thy self soundly concerning these things and admit no rest till thou feelest thy self more then almost perswaded Till thou canst say as the Doctor of the Gentiles I know and am perswaded and as the Doctor of the Jews I believe and I am sure Lord 1. There is a God 2. This God is Three distinct Persons as to manner of Being and of Working 3. Of these Divine Persons the First hath eternally Purposed the Second hath in time dearly Purchased the Reconciliation of lost Sinners and this the Third hath convincingly Proved 4. I perish for ever if this Reconciliation be not Purposed concerning me if it be not Purchased for me and if it be not Proved some way unto me 5. Until I have this Proof made unto me I cannot possibly have knowledge of the Purchase and Purpose touching me 6. Wherefore I ought I may and I will by Gods assistance seek diligently this said Proof unto my inmost Heart and Reins Hasten Man hasten thou go Read go Pray go Hear and go Consult the best Ministers and Christians Beseech them both to tell thee how they gat assurance and certainty hereof charge them to pray the same Spirit in the use of like means to give it unto thee But this caution take thou Never judge thy Belief right and valid until it discover it self to be so by these properties e. g. Till it do shame thee for former neglects of the Father Son and Spirit and their Purpose Purchase and Proof Making thy blushing Soul to exclaim O never had I one thought worth the thinking till now Miserable Fool I have lived like a bruit as if I had been born in the Field and bred among the Cattle therein I abhor my self and every breath of my past Life Again Till it do smart and pain thee and give thee grievous feelings of thy want of more acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their actions Causing thee to esteem and desire acquaintance with the same above all the sensual delights under the Sun Likewise Till it become an effectual Goad to quicken thee to the use of all means for it and a Nail also to fasten thy Soul unto it Driving thee to this conclusion q. d. Whatever I shall henceforth propose to my self or prosecute in the World I will never so absolutely propose any thing Never so laboriously and incessantly pursue any thing as my acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their foresaid Works In other things I will be less resolute and more moderate in this I will be peremptory and I will strain every Nerve of my Soul Lastly Till it do sweeten and make grateful and pleasant all thy Religious pains At least as the most imperfect certainty that Husbandmen have of Harvest doth impart a sweetness unto their perpetual motions Till thou canst truly say thus So much I know of the Divine Persons So far I do credit the Holy Spirits Testimony of their Works Such Faith I have of both that what Ordinances and Duties were heretofore burthensome or undelightful are now become of my chiefest joy And such as I could not live without And now Man now first beats thy Pulse This is the first breath of thy laudable Life The first step of thine toward God The first stroke of reconciling work This is the first hairs breadth thou hast stirred from thy self-ruining Enmity toward the way of Peace God speed thee onward For Secondly Thou must Pray and Labour for the actual possession the comfortable perswasion and the practical improvement of Reconciliation unto God Thou art now out of doubt there is a way to get possessed of the Reconciliation Purposed Purchased Proved But can thy blindness unassistedly find that way Or can thy halting Soul enter into and walk in it unassistedly Or if with much ado thou wer 't able wouldst thou go without infallible counsel and invincible aid And that for want of asking Or didst thou never hear of multitudes that perish in the very mouth of their way Stumbling unto perdition at the very threshold of the door of Salvation I do now suppose thee to have an Eye in thy Head And if so I nothing question but thou hast a Tongue in thy Head too The Eye of Faith and Mouth of Prayer were never yet known far asunder And indeed it would be a wonder if any seer of Reconciliation should not be straitway a wrestler for it However wot it well Divine Authority requires and Bounty invites and intreats thee to shew that with thy sight of Reconciliation thou hast received Praying Lips and