many places Actions are ascribed unto him that doth assist and direct and help men in the performance of them and not unto him that is the formal and immediate Agent Page 232 235 XVII That in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon by the Creature Page 242 XVIII Such Causes which work and contribute towards their Effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is literal or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all Causes 244. Yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand Page ibid. XIX A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him Page 248 XX. God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and Waies of Men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and faller Connexion they have with their peace and happiness Pag. 248 XXI Though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert and put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth Page 281 XXII The way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us but to go about that which is our Duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgement and deep sense of our inability Page 283 XXIII It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed for the means or course that is usually taken to effect it Page 284 XXIV Though there be a presence of the Spirit of God with men in the state of Nature or unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do not speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of their receiving him until they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him Page 285 XXV Whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Page 286 XXVI Whosoever makes the Creature either meerly Passive in its Works or Services or willing as they say by or from a necessitation they despoil it of all capacity of being rewarded by God and so while they pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God indeed and in truth make nothing of it Page 287 XXVII It is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them should no other circumstance hindring be intrusted with a greater Page 288 XXVIII God usually walketh with Men by such Principles and Rules which are written on their hearts by the finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their Civil and Common Affairs Page 31 32 288 297 XXIX God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it Page 289 XXX The Hebrew Dialect many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Consequent Page 299 XXXI That is sometimes said to be dâ—ne which is done frequently or isal waies probable or likely to be done Page 301 XXXII The Connexive Particle and sometimes implieth a Motive enforcing a preceding Exhortation Page 304 XXXIII God hath built and framed the body of his Laws and Precepts given unto men upon like terms by such Principles and Rules of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 according to which prudent Law makers amongst men me went to compile and 〈◊〉 the body of those Civil or Politick Laws which they make for the benefit or use of their States or Communities respectively Pag. 348 349 XXXIV The Gospel being a Doctrine according to Godliness every limbe and vein of it must have a tendency the same way Page 363 XXXV When an Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded be not actually seduced Page 399 XXXVI Comparative senses or meanings are frequently expressed in absolute and positive terms Page 407 XXXVII When Men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them and so to arm their Consciences and Judgments against them Page 407 XXXVIII Whether Words or Works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there Page 408 XXXIX When a man is unwilling to do a thing he may according to Scripture Dialect or manner of speaking be said to be unable to do it Page 20 21 413 XL. There is no ground to judge and determine a Ministry to be legal because the face of it is set and bent as it were to press men to the keeping of the Commands of God contained in the Moral Law Page 441 XLI A person may be said to be moved or enclined when that is done unto him which is apt and proper and sufficient to cause him to be moved and enclined whether he be actually moved or enclined or no Page 446 XLII Such a person is said to sow unto the Spirit who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Page 450 XLIII That which is delivered unto the World in the New Testament by the mouth of Jesus Christ himself or upon the account of his coming from Heaven as all that which the Holy Ghost hath further revealed by the Apostles is is more obliging and binding upon the Consciences of men and more severely punishable by God when neglected or despised than the things delivered in the Old Testament or before Christ's coming into the World were or are Page 459 XLIV It is not unusual in Emphatical Discourses to speak of one and the same person in different considerations as of two Page 459 It is usual in the Scriptures when things are more fully done or after a more rich and bountiful manner discovered to represent them as newly done Page 462 XLV It is frequent in Scripture when the Holy Ghost would reprove Men in things that be irrational to interrogate them as to the reason or ground of what they do Page 476 XLVI The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Page 501 XLVII The words Perfect and Perfection are most frequently used when applied to Men or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but in a limited and diminutive sense but when applied to God in the strictest sense Page 501 XLVIII Verbs properly signifying action many times declare the Natures and Properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do Page 502 XLIX Many things in Scripture are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Page 512 L. The Verb Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which properly signifies the simple and absolute Being on Existence of a thing is oft used in the Scriptures for the Being of a thing in Act Exercise or manifestation Page 228 The End
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT Wherein is proved That it is a Duty incumbent on all men especially Believers that they be filled with the Spirit of God The gracious Counsels of God the Laws and Terms of his proceeding with men in order hereunto with Rules laid down whereby to judge whether men be filled with the Spirit of God or a contrary Spirit Lâ—kewise the way and means whereby men may be filled with the Spirit of God are all largely opened from the Scriptures AS ALSO The Divinity or Godhead of the HOLY GHOST Asserted and the Arguments brought against it throughly Examined and Answered The Grace of God â—n the fulness and freeness thereof evinced and many things relating to the Saints Communion with God and God dwelling in them Explained The necessity of the Ministry of the Gospel called the Ministry of the Spirit discussed and the usefulness thereof maintained With several other things of great importance in order to the benefit and peace of men All heretofore delivered in several SERMONS from Ephes 5.18 By that Pious Learned and Laborious Servant of God Mr. JOHN GOODWIN Sometime Minister of the Gospel in Coleman-Street LONDON And published after his Death for the Common good of all But if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of 〈◊〉 body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 And they chose Stephen a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that as him Luke 11.13 Basil Homil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by E. C. for Henry Eversden at his Shop under the Crown-Tavern in West-Smithfield 1670. THE PUBLISHERS TO THE Ingenuous and Christian READER Good Reader THat great Law of Nature that hath uttered it self from the Lips of some of the Sons thereof That no man is born for himself only but the rest of Mankind do challenge a share in him or rather the whole of him And this by the Interpretation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself is the Sum or whole of the Second Table of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments and contains our whole Duty to our Neighbour viz. That we love him that is all men as our selves This great and Royal Law both of Nature and Grace hath occasioned this Discourse in thy hand to become publick The nature of it being spiritual and sublime carrying much of the peace and inward felicity of men and women in it hath imposed a necessity upon us not to confine it amongst our selves but to present it to the publick view of all whose hearts shall serve them to make a diligent and consciencious perusal thereof for their Accommodation in the things of their Present and Everlasting Peace and Welfare For this is certain that when any man or numbers of men have any Treasure in their hands to bless the World withal the Law of God obligeth them to minister unto the wants and necessities thereof they being generally so craving by reason of that ignorance and darkness that men are filled withal We shall not need to say much as to the Author of this Discourse nor to the time when these things were delivered by him in the course of his Publick Ministry it being sometime since and we question not but that there are many yet alive of those that heard it who have not lost the sense and spiritual resentment thereof but have many of those great Principles of light and truth remaining alive in power and great strength within them and will be glad of the opportunity of a second review of them The Author himself which is now at rest having finished the work which God judged meet for him and for which he was sent into the World was a man whose heart was set within him to serve his Generation with all faithfulness in the great Work of the Ministry of the Gospel not much valâ—â—ng the opprobation or displeasure of men when the Interest of his great Lord and Master and the present Peace and Everlasting Welfare of men were concerned being indeed very faithful and laborious in that great Work So that we may without vanity say of him as our blessed Saviour when time was said of John the Baptist Joh. 5.35 that he was in his time a burning and a shining light and many did much rejoyce at least for a season in his light although at some times and some turns in the faithful discharge of his Duty he met with the same measure that his great Lord and Master had measured out unto him in the daies of his flesh Joh. 6.60 66. For the Subject it self thou wilt find it as a light to guide thee in a dark place there being many of the great and gracious Counsels of God concerning men largely opened especially of such a nature whereon much of their spiritual Welfare doth depend viz. as to the manner and method of the Spirit of God in his proceedings with men and those Rules and Laws which he hath prescribed unto himself in his advance and decrease in their hearts and souls in order to the carrying them up into the Mount of God We mean into those high strains of the Gospel where the richest and choicest Consolations lie and where men and women may drink abundantly of them and be thereby put into the best capacity to serve God upon the highest terms of acceptation with himself as also may be great blessings and Benefactors to the World round about them according to the design of the Lord Christ in that choice which he makes of men by the Gospel which as the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 2.9 signifieth is the making of them a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar People for this very end and purpose namely That they might shew forth the Praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light The design of this Discourse being to carry thee up into the way of life which the Wiseman saith is above to the Wise that he may depart from hell beneath Prov. 15 24. which whilest men who love to dwell with their minds and hearts in these lower Regions are never like to be partakers of For this World and the things thereof were never intended by God as that which should answer the vast desires of men he having prepared better things for them that those noble Endowments of theirs might be conversant with matters of far greater concernment such as will advance and raise their felicity to a near Affinity and likeness with the Angels themselves those first-born Princes of Heaven who by beholding the Face of God continually are thereby filled with unspeakable joy and satisfaction and by means hereof are made blessed indeed Even so God in the Gospel through his abundant grace shines forth the knowledge of himself unto the Children of men that so beholding as in a Glass his Glory they may be
changed from glory to glory and be made as like unto him in felicity as far as their nature will bear in order to the rendring them capable of enriching the World with the saving knowledge of the truth where ever they shall become this being one property of felicity and true greatness and nobleness of Spirit where ever it is to dilate and utter it self for the real good benefit and comfort of all that are round about it and within its reach Of these things thou hast a large account in the ensuing Treatise both as to the provision that is made by God in the Gospel for his Saints and those that serve him as likewise the nature of him that is the chief Agent the Holy Ghost to manage and to be their Assistant in all their spiritual Works and Services which by virtue of the abundant grace of God in the Gospel they are called unto and might be partakers of he being none other than him that hath all Power in his hand both in Heaven and in Earth Not a Creature lest any man should despair of ever being strengthened with might in the inner man or should fear of ever being able to arrive unto that blessedness which is prepared for those that love God and wait for the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But this Holy Spirit which thou art advised to be filled withall is no less no other than the increated Spirit God blessed for ever Which in case thou hast but such a sense of thy Salvation as to be found working of it out with fear and trembling thou mayest assure thy self that it is none other than God himself who is both able and willing yea is already at work within thee and will enable thee not only to will but also to do and that according to his good pleasure whose will and good pleasure concerning the manner of his coworking in men is largely opened in this Discourse And likewise his Godhead argued and with clearness proved both by Scriptures and sound Reason As also those Grounds and Arguments that are commonly brought to prove him to be of a created and finite extraction punctually sedately and faithfully answered and the Scriptures that are brought to serve in that Warfare are dismissed and discharged from that Service And we look upon this part of the Discourse as so much the more seasonable and we hope a good hand of Divine Providence in bringing of it forth at this time inasmuch as that Spirit of Error is now stirring more effectually than of latter times to the endangering of the Everlasting Welfare of the precious Souls of Men rendering the Gospel and the Grace of God which hath appeared to all Men by Jesus Christ and that unspeakable Gift of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God which is to remain with the Saints until his coming again as very inconsiderable Thereby making the neglect of this Grace of God and his good Spirit a thousand times more tolerable than indeed it is or is like to be unto those who shall be found to neglect so great a salvation that is brought so near unto them and that by God himself with the gracious offer of himself and his own help and assistance herein Thou hast likewise an account given thee by what means it is that the Spirit of God himself if thou shalt submit unto his most gracious Counsels herein will advance his Presence in thee whereby thou mayest have as much of his assistance as thy heart can desire Together with some Rules laid down whereby to judge whether a mans self or others be filled with the Spirit or with some other Spirit which only pretends to be the Spirit of God but is not but a Spirit of Error and Delusion very useful at all times but more especially now when Sathan that lying Spirit is playing his Last Game upon the World his time being very short he is put upon it more than ever to mingle his spiritual wickednesses with heavenly things which are his most dangerous Weapons and thereby doth greater execution than Men generally are aware of There are many Wiles and subtil Devices by which Men are taken off from attending upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit which are very mischievous and destructive it is to be feared to many and endangering more that are here detected and their nakedness laid open As also the great business of the Saints Communion with God both as to the freeness and fulness or largeness thereof discussed together with the great advantage of a large interest in God by Prayer discovered In all which there are many Scriptures clearly opened We question not but that persons who have the use and exercise of their Spiritual Senses and are to any considerable degree able to discern things that differ will find their precious time well spent in the reading hereof and will find the discourse pleasant to their Spiritual Palate and receive nourishment thereby in their inner man Good Reader We have only two Requests to make unto thee before we leave thee First â—hat if there be not in all and every passage of this Work the same height of Stile and Elegancy of Expression as is in other his Writings thou wilt excuse the Author inasmuch as it seemed good to Divine Providence to finish the daies of his mortal Pilgrimage and to gather him unto his Fathers before this Work could be made fit for Publick View And we nothing doubt but that thy Christian Candor and Ingenuity will take this for a sufficient excuse on the behalf of those things for which we Apologize Our Second Request is if thou expect to receive good by this Discourse That if at any time thou hast been prejudiced against the Author thou wilt lay all things of that nature aside as thou lovest thine own Peace and Eternal Welfare and engage with an honest heart and sincere mind in the reading hereof For although possibly there may have been some difference between him and thee and some others in some Doctrinal Points yet this being mainly Practical he and all other good men more generally agree in matters of this nature Nâ—w that the God of all Grace may fill thee with a rich Presence of his Spirit that so thou mayest be rendered most acceptable to him in all thy waies and be put into the best capacity to serve thy Generation and in the end be made partaker of the highest Glory with the Saints in light is the Desire and shall be the Prayer of The Publishers To all that desire to be filled WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT THere is a great Ambition in the Sons of Men after Fulness and so there is in the Sons of God also but the Fulness which the Sons of the latter and better Denomination do most mind and covet is of another nature and kind than that which the Sons of the other and lower Denomination are ambitious of There is an Earthly
his beloved Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and compounds it with a Verb which without it signified somewhat more than simply an abundance and so calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace superabounding or rather grace superredounding But where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth or abounded much more Rom. 5.20 Thirdly Sect. 10 A third thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of the Spirit consists Huge Grot. in Rom. 5.20 is that in all that he acts and moves and works in men according to all that variety and manifoldness of working which proceeds from him at any time he doth proceed by his own Laws and these every waies gracious full of equity and sweetness and not by any thing any Law engagement or terms imposed upon him by men When men by having as the Scripture expression is that is by imploying and improving what they have viz. from the Spirit for men have nothing of any spiritual or gracious import but from him come to have more given viz. by this gracious Spirit more light more knowledge more wisdom love zeal courage faithfulness c. they come by this means to have in abundance Now they that have in this sense according to our Saviours promise this advance of his presence and growing tenour of his operation do not procure or draw it from him by any vertue or engagement of merit nor by any terms imposed upon him by the endeavours actings or improvements of their own but only the rich efficacy and vertue of his most gracious good pleasure and will who was pleased to prescribe the Law of this grace and goodness unto himself As when God justifies and saves those that believe he doth it freely of himself and from himself because he hath made this Law unto himself and established it he hath published and declared That whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall be justified and consequently saved he doth it freely and of meer grace not by judging himself obliged to do it by any worth or merit found in mens believing and yet he doth it constantly toties quoties and without failing as oft as he meets with believers in Jesus Christ he justifieth them he saveth them And indeed it is impossible he should do otherwise because as the A postle informeth us he cannot lie neither can he deny himself in his truth and faithfulness In like manner the Spirit of God hath prescribed unto himself the like Laws and terms for all his transactions dealings and proceedings with men according to the tenour whereof he will inlarge and advance his presence in the hearts and souls and spirits of men and will not walk contrary to them nor advance or put forth himself in any eminency of working but only where his lower or former motions have been obeyed and consented unto Yet he doth not this because men regard his presence but because he regards his own righteous counsels and purposes That which the Creature doth in this case is but a weak and inconsiderable thing to ingage such an infinite Spirit as the Spirit of God is to do such great things as those in men And as God will not save those that believe because of any merit that is in their Faith but because the counsel of his will is so to do So the Spirit of God will not do as hath been said because of any worthiness in mens compliance with him but he hath made this for a Law unto himself and honoureth his own Law and himself too by observing it To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Now we shall prove from that very passage that it is a Law which the Holy Ghost hath made and declares that he would walk by it towards the Sons and Daughters of men in all their succeeding Generations to the worlds end To him that hath that is that shews that he hath that declares that he hath that improves and imploys that which he hath namely that which is given originally to him by way of stock from the Spirit of God to him that thus hath shall be given namely by way of addition he shall have more abundantly he shall still be going on and be having and having and having he shall have and have still At last he shall have abundance he shall have a full and glorious estate in Spiritual riches in wisdom in knowledge in understanding in Faith in humility in love in zeal in temperance in patience and whatever else is necessary to enrich the soul of a man and to prepare him and put him into a capacity of the richest and highest glory So that we see this is a clear and declared method by which the Holy Ghost will proceed with men and women in his communications of himself unto them And though their be nothing in the creature to invite and move him in this kind yet nevertheless there is his own wisdom his own righteousuess and goodness by which he made this Law and imposed it upon himself these are sacred ingagements upon him to do all that he doth in the case we speak of And doubtless there was abundance of reason which did induce him to it whereof though we be not so capable for his Counsels are very deep yet something in the business may with good probability be conceived by us But for the thing it self he it seems will do it as constantly as universally at least in his ordinary dispensations as if it were the greatest injustice in him and most inconsistent with the rectitude and purity of his nature not to do it It may be here objected Sect. 11 and said that the Holy Ghost doth not observe any such Law or Rule in his actings or workings in men as now you ascribe unto him or at least tell us that he hath prescribed unto himself For doth he not sometimes come upon such men that have been formerly prophane vain and sinful above measure Doth he not sometimes come upon such men after some such manner as he came upon the A postles at the time of Pentecost like a mighty rushing wind I mean with an high hand of power and conviction and so in short time works the great work of Conversion and Repentance in them Was not Paul a stiff-necked Pharisee and Blasphemer a Persecutor of the Gospel and of the Saints all his daies before Yea as himself saith the chiefest of sinners And did not the Spirit of God come upon him as a whirlwind with a strong and high hand in an irresistible and miraculous manner to effect his Conversion To this I answer First That when with the Holy Ghost himself we say that unto him that hath shall be given and interpret this to be meant of the Holy Ghost advancing his presence and operations in men even as they hearken unto him and respectively comport with him in his preventing and lower motions And so again on the other hand
recovering my self again from my sins and receiving grace and favour from God restoring me to my former enjoyments I should teach transgressors his way This then is one reason to prove clearly that it lyeth upon every man and woman of us to be great and signal Benefactors to the World First Because we stand bound to believe in Jesus Christ Secondly To make the world know that we do really and indeed thus believe Secondly Sect. 3 There is yet another thing which is of some affinity with the former yet not the same which plainly evinceth the point in hand viz. That every person of mankind man and woman and more especially the Generation of Believers stand bound according to their several capacities means and opportunities to cast liberally into the treasury of the World that which is likely and proper to enrich and bless it This is the keeping the Commandments of Jesus the translating of all his Words of all his Sayings and Precepts into Actions and Practice before the World He that stands bound to do this without all Controversie standeth bound to be a most worthy Benefactor to the World by doing that which is of a most blessed accommodation to it Now that we all stand bound to keep the Commandments of Jesus and not to cast the least of them behind our backs or tread them under our feet is I presume voted long since by all our consciences with a Nemine Contradicente and therefore we shall not stand to prove this Now that the performance of this great and worthy engagement and the quitting our selves in it like men is of a most soveraign import and tendency to bless the World I shall nor need to go far nor make any long work to prove The World may be said to be blessed in two Considerations or in two different degrees First In the things of its present peace Secondly In the things of its future and eternal peace Now That he that diligently and faithfully keepeth the Commandments of Jesus is a worthy Benefactor unto it in both is a truth near at hand and prepared in a manner with its own evidence for every mans understanding and consent First That worthy thing we speak of the obeying Jesus Christ in what he hath commanded is matter of a rich and precious import to bless the World in the things of their present comfort and peace And this in two respects in the general may be made clearly to appear First By shewing that the very Acts themselves of Conformity and Obedience unto the Laws and Commands of Christ are simply and in themselves of a sweet and beneficent nature full of a spirit of goodness and comporting with the present peace and comfort of the World Secondly By shewing that the exemplariness of such Conformity though exhibited and given by one single person or a very few at first may in a short time turn to a very good account for the further accommodation and benefit of the World First The whole Systeme and Body of the Laws of Christ is composed with a most exquisite and clear proportion Sect. 4 to the present benefit and comfort of the World these have a beneficent nature in them they are full of a spirit of goodness insomuch that were they all observed and kept on all hands it would presently turn the Waters of the World into Wine it would change the Earth which is now as a roaring Wilderness into an Eden or Garden of God to the Inhabiters of it Whereas now the prospect of the World as it appeareth in the eyes of God and Angels and Men is as of men taking one another by the throat every man tearing out of anothers bowels or belly to put into their own Upon the supposition mentioned the prospect or face of it would be quite contrary For then the World would seem yea and really be quite another thing Every man would be found what Moses was unto Aaron Exod. 4.16 instead of God unto another There would be no Emulation or Contest between men but only who in giving honour and doing good should go before other Our Saviour Mat. 22 37 38. reduceth the Law of God to these two heads Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul with all thy strength c. And thy Neighbour as thy self Now if these two general Laws were in their due compass and extent observed in the World you would soon have a new Heaven and a new Earth If we could perswade those who have Silver and Gold in abundance to minister with these unto the necessities of the poor and needy and those that have other things though they want these wherewith they may bless the World otherwise to serve the occasions of it accordingly as Peter and John had neither Silver nor Gold Acts 3.6 yet they had wherewith they blessed men at a far better rate than those who had most of these I say if mens hearts were really and truly set within them to promote the welfare and prosperity of mankind with what they have available and conducing in any kind hereunto which is nothing but what the Royal Law of Christ requireth at their hand would not all tears be soon wiped away from the eyes of the world and men on all hands be as those that dream or as if the Kingdom of God had prevented them and come upon them unawares Charge them that be rich in this world that they be not high minded c. 1 Tim. 6.17 If this one Precept of Jesus Christ were but duly and conscienciously practiced and observed from time to time what a mighty change would there be made in the World by the means of it How would the faces shine which now through hunger and cold have gathered blackness How would the voice of joy and health and thanksgiving be heard in those Habitations which are now filled with sighings groanings and lamentations And so there is another Law of Christ which the Apostle calleth his namely Christ's in an especial manner This is to bear one anothers burthens Bear ye one anothers burthens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 This also would make a great and happy change and alteration in the World if persons would but bear the burthens one of another But what is it to bear the burthens one of another I answer When we do not make our selves strangers unto men nor draw back our helping hand from them nor refuse to do them any office or service of love because of such and such infirmities as because they are not so discreet or well-advised in some of their waies or doings as they might have been or because either in a Passion or through want of Consideration they have spake unkindly to us or unworthily of us or have acted somewhat to our prejudice in one kind or other or the like But men generally are so far from bearing the burthens of others that they throw them upon their necks and make them bear them
themselves For when because of any weakness or infirmities which men are subject unto or because of any discourteous behaviour in word or deed used towards us we shall be at any greater distance from them or shall be less kind or serviceable unto them than otherwise we would be in case no such weakness were found upon them or no such unkindness had been done unto us this is the casting of mens burthens upon their own necks and to reject the Commandment of Christ by which we our selves stand charged to bear them The Apostle in this injunction of hearing one another burthens seems to suppose that even in men of the best temper and most Consciencious and Circumspect in their lives and waies there is somewhat more or less that is burthensome that is distasteful unpleasing and in some degree offensive unto others This notwithstanding if men would but fulfil the Law of Christ and cut Tallies one with another every man gratifying other with bearing his burthens the great Common-wealth of Mankind would be prosperous and happy and little or no damage or inconvenience accrue unto it by the weaknesses or want of wisdom in the respective members of it There would be the same as full as quick an entercourse and commerce of love and of the services thereof as there would or could be in case they were all perfect and as so many Angels of God Yea my Brethren this bearing the burthens of one another did we freely submit unto it and practice it would turn to a very happy account ot us in another day For God will not give greater rewards for any kind of works or service than for bearing the burthens of men especially the burthens of the Saints and most of all for the bearing the burthens of Christ viz. persecution for righteousness and a good conscience sake We shall hardly find any of the Commands of God or of jesus Christ but the keeping of them would turn to the peace and comfort of men These are they that in the very nature of them all are apt to create peace and prosperity in the World and the want of a diligent and faithful performance of them is that that doth occasion trouble between man and man and maketh breaches upon their mutual Comforts You can hardly break any of the Commands of Jesus Christ but you will make a breach upon the peace of the World you will fall foul one of another But so long as you keep on in the waies of Christ's Commands you comply and comport with the peace and comfort of the World round about you Secondly Sect. 5 The very Example of a through Conformity and subjection to the Law of God must needs be of a very choice and high accommodation to the World besides the nature and tendency of the actions themselves The very Example though but of one single person his Conformity to the Laws of God may be of singular concernment to the World Your Zeal saith the Apostle to the Corinthians hath provoked many 2 Cor. 9.2 And as the Scripture demandeth a little fire how great a matter or how great a wood for so it is in the original how great a wood or forest of wood doth it kindle or set on fire So one person one man or woman that doth clearly and in the face of the World walk in a through Conformity to the Law of Christ that is tender and circumspect and taketh all his Commands in their respective seasons along with him in his course may propagate a great Generation of Conformists in the same kind For who knoweth how many trees of the Forest of this World may be set on fire by this Example Men and Women more generally seem to look upon the Laws of Jesus Christ as if they were given to men only to hear and speak of or at most to live by in another World and so the neglect or breach of them toucheth few mens Consciences makes no breach upon their peace Whereas if these Laws were but translated into practice by flesh and bloud by men and women subject to like passions and infirmities with themselves this would beget other manner of thoughts in the hearts and consciences of the World generally concerning them Did men but seriously consider it with themselves that if flesh and bloud men of the same nature liable to the same tentations with themselves by the same means and assistance both inward and outward which are afforded unto them can keep the Commandments of Jesus Christ and walk holily they could not lightly but be convinced that certainly the God of Heaven will look for it at their hands that they go and do likewise Again secondly Sect. 6 He that shall diligently and faithfully keep the Commandments of Jesus in the view and sight of the World must needs be a signal Benefactor unto it in the things of their Eternal peace which are of a thousand times greater consequence than all the concernments of this life Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works c. Mat. 5.16 Our Saviour in this passage clearly implies that there is a proper tendency in mens good works to prevail with others to glorifie their Father which is in Heaven viz. by repenting and believing in him and living unto him and this is a most blessed accommodation unto the World The Apostle speaketh concerning the faithful behaviour of Servants towards their Masters Tit. 2.9 10. telling them that by such a carriage and behaviour they shall adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Now Brethren What is the reason that the hearts of men are not drawn out more freely to the Doctrine of God and Christ Why do mens hearts stand off and make no more treasure of it than they do Doubtless one main reason hereof is it wants adorning and beautifying it is not set forth before their eyes with that advantage to take the hearts of men wherewith it might and ought to be But who are they that do adorn this Doctrine and consequently that commend it in the sight of men and make it a beautiful lovely and desirable object unto them They that deal by their Great Lord and Master Jesus Christ as the Apostle would have other Servants to deal by theirs viz. by being obedient unto them and pleasing them well in all things Tit. 2.9 They that shall diligently and faithfully observe and keep the Commands of Jesus Christ they will adorn it they will commend it with authority and power to the souls and consciences of men Such men when they shall but utter and assert the plain words of the Gospel when they shall say unto any man or unto any numbers of men that certainly Jesus Christ is He He is the Saviour of the World and whosoever cometh unto him shall be saved by him or the like such persons I say as these we speak of by such plain and known words as these are like to pierce and wound
not rooted and grounded in this knowledge of the truth they are not like to walk in the practice of it long a little occasion will turn them aside they will soon lose their goodness So then this is the case of those lustings against the flesh which sometimes appear in heathen men they are powerless seldom victorious or long liv'd Reason and Conscience are soon bribed to keep silence It is likely we may have such cases and instances among many Professors of Christianity amongst us that may at times have lustings against the flesh and yet these soon vanish and wither because they have not any great root in themselves as our Saviour speaks they did not make a business of it to consider the weight and worth and important concernment unto them to have their corruption and deeds of the flesh more and more mortified Now the truth is there is no good action nothing that doth concern men there is no good disposition no good principle in the soul no lusting against the flesh at any time in any man but that if men would take a course accordingly they might reduce the matter to such a pass that these good things should never forsake them but that they should take possession of them and enjoy them continually For weak and faint they commonly are at first in the best of men but the reason why in good men they gather strength remain and hold out to the end is because they have much earth in such men and consequently they have good rooting They have many serious thoughts bestowed upon them they are again and again considered and weighed in their minds such men digest businesses of this nature between God and themselves contemplating and feeding heartily upon the worth and high consequents of abounding in such and such holy dispositions and practices and continuing in them When such a practical resolution as this comes to be incorporated in the heart then it continues and abides in men now they will not regard any voice behind them from the flesh to gratifie themselves in any sinful or unworthy kind But this by the way Now the lustings against the flesh which the Spirit of God is wont to stir up in holy men that are filled with him are potent and strong they will not ordinarily admit of parties nor stand to dispute with temptations No but will set them on fire to prosecute the flesh and to pursue and follow the victory against it until it be brought low and shall have little list or heart to stir or move or be any further troublesome unto them It is true there are very few that attain to any such lustings against the flesh as these few whose lustings are so strong and potent and glorious The reason is because there is not one of a thousand that grows up to the state or stature of a perfect man in Christ I speak of that perfection which the Scripture often ascribes unto men and of which we are all capable But alas my Brethren we are voluntary Dwarfs and love to keep our selves babes in Christ we are loath to go to the price to be at the cost and charges of any thing that is spiritual excellent and glorious Indeed it is an unworthy principle and it is to be feared that there is a touch and tincture if not the whole body and element of it in the hearts of far the greater part of us viz. that if we can but possess our selves of so much Grace and such a Faith which will be sufficient at last to save us we need care for no more as if herein lay the high strain and excellency of wisdom in men not to do more to be saved than is of absolute necessity to be done or to enjoy as much of the pleasures or profits of sin as is possible to be enjoyed without being damned and so to order rank and couple both Worlds together as to drive them both before them esteeming those who trouble themselves and labour more than they themselves do for the meat that endureth to eternal life no whit wiser than those who over-by their Commodities and to whom in that respect men are wont to apply that Proverb of disparagement A fool and his money are soon parted But my Brethren as it was said to the Jews in another case If you will not believe you shall not be established Isa 7.9 So if men will not weigh and consider and believe that it is better for them that both their feet stand upon the World to come that their hearts affections and desires were wholy removed from the Earth and from this present World they will never be able to do any great things for God or for their own souls their hands will never be steady in their liftings up unto those Commandments of God in the keeping whereof there is the greatest reward Some pretend and plead that whilst they are men they must be subject to infirmities and there will be miscarriages and therefore since it will be so they care not how many they be They think it not worth the while to strive to reduce themselves into as narrow a compass of sinning as flesh is able to keep or move in but without much regret or care divide themselves between Christ and Belial between righteousness and unrighteousness between things present and things that are to come And so the truth is they do enjoy only a kind of compounded life living in an estate wherein Heaven and Earth are as it were mingled together and many times they are stung and pierced through with troubles and sorrows in respect of both For first they can attain unto no stability or well-grounded comfort or hope in God because their hearts are not entire and perfect with him And secondly many times that which they do or desire to do in matters relating to Salvation is troublesome unto them and incumbers them because of their concernments in this present World And so between the one and the other they enjoy themselves in neither Whereas if they would discharge their hearts from all inordinate and impertinent lustings after the things of this present World and remove their joy and delight into the World which is to come then they would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle James speaketh Jam. 1.4 they would have as it were their possession entire they would have their inheritance round about them on every side and would be compleatly happy Neither would they complain in the least of any loss they sustained by withdrawing themselves from their carnal interest from the importune delights and pleasures and great things of this present World Thus you see upon a rational debate of the matter that it is impossible without the Spirit of God yea without being filled with this Spirit that men should ever rise to any capacity of being filled with the rich and lively Consolations of the Gospel CHAP. VI. The fifth and last Reason of the Doctrine argued Men
the greatest and strictest conformity to his own mind and to the terms on which he offereth it than those who are less observant of his counsel in this behalf and to a degree lingering and hankering after another Gospel Thirdly Neither is it contrary to any Principle or Rule of Equity that God should order the rewarding of those in the first place who have glorified him most in the World Now 1. to believe the truth and faithfulness of God in his Promises and his power is to glorifie him or to give glory unto him Rom. 4.20 2. From hence it followeth * By the mediation and authority of this known principle in arguing easie to be conceived in the Latine expression but hard to be Englished to ordinary apprehensions Ut se habet simpliciter ad simpliciter ita magis ad magis that to believe the truth and faithfulness of God in his Promises and his power to perform them in such cases wherein the performance is more rare and more difficult to be believed is a greater glorifying of God and in a higher degree than to believe them in more ordinary cases only and wherein the belief is nothing so generous and noble or so remote from the common Principles of reason The high commendation and strain of Abraham's Faith by which as we lately heard he is said to have given glâ—ry unto God meaning in a very signal and transcendent manner is expressed in these words Who against hope believed in or under hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.18 that he might become or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that he did become or was made viz. by God as Ver 17. the Father of many Nations The meaning is that Abraham's Faith breaking through those strong oppositions which the constant experience of the World and the common dictates of reason or of nature made against it was so highly pleasing unto God for that abundance of glory which in that respect it cast upon him that he judged it but a meet consideration for it to make Abraham the Father of many Nations that is to confer and settle this great dignity upon him to be for ever after reputed and acknowledged the great Exemplar or Pattern of all that to the end of the World should believe who for their numbers should equalize many Nations Therefore that believing in God which sympathizeth most with this Faith of Abraham hath most of the spirit and power of it and lifteth up it self in the soul against the stronger assaults or encounters must needs glorifie God more than that which hath only the common impediments and obstructions in the way of it to oppose it Now it is a plain case that he that hath been an inveterate and obdurate sinner and hath the heavy burthen of the guilt of many thousand most enormous and hideous provocations upon his conscience and soul and of many years rebellion against God when he believeth hath in his Faith much communion with Abraham in the excellency of his Faith believeth against many fierce Lions and bears in his way against the strongest and most violent temptations to diffidence and despair the conscience I mean of many horrid perpetrations and of enmity against God desperately persisted in for a long time together c. whereas he that cometh unto God early and believeth in the morning of his years not having debauched his Conscience with any the bold and daring affronts so frequently given unto God and his holy Commands by this miserable World hath no such mountains in the way of his Faith to be leaped over hath no such armed fears no such imperious contradiction of sin to encounter and consequently his Faith though it holds good correspondency with the Faith of Abraham in the nature and truth of it yet is it far beneath it in that Crowning property of it whereby it gave glory unto God so abundantly I mean the conception and birth of it in the soul in the very face and presence of many strong opposers who fought against it with an high hand and sought to stifle it in the breaking forth This then is another reason to vindicate the equity of that disposition in God according unto which he ordinarily maketh the last first and consequently the first last in the sense oft declared Fourthly and lastly there is a principle or disposition found in the nature of man frequently and almost constantly upon the occasion acted by men and this without the reasonable or just offence of any man which doth justifie that disposition in God with his acting semblably to it of which we are now speaking and which God himself pleadeth in the Scriptures as well by way of proof of the reality and truth as of the righteousness or equity of this disposition in him being parallel to it When any part of a mans substance which he valueth or any person neerly related to him to whom he dearly wisheth prosperity and peace have been a long time missing so that he gives them as we use to say for little better than lost if by the favour of divine Providence above his expectation and hope he comes to re-enjoy both the one and the other he is cast into a kind of ecstasie of joy over them and takes more contentment in them than in those in both kinds for which he never was in the like sorrow or heaviness This disposition I say and behaviour in men God insisteth upon partly to assure those that shall doubt that there is such a principle or disposition in him there being nothing in the nature of man but by way of extract from the nature of God who created him in his own Image or likeness partly also to justifie the righteousness or reasonableness of such a disposition in him unto those that shall question this in as much as the like is found in the generality of men without the reproof or censure of any man The Lord Christ in those three Parables in the same Chapter Luke 15. The first of the lost Sheep The second of the lost Piece of Silver The third of the Prodigal or lost Child representeth that temper or disposition in men with their practice or behaviour answerable to it which sembleth with that principle in God out of which he so frequently maketh the last first in the sense oft explained When he that had lost one of his hundred sheep leaving the ninety and nine in the wilderness to seek after the one which was lost having found it he is said to have laid it upon his shoulder rejoycing and coming home to have called together his friends and his neighbours saying unto them Rejoyce with me for I have found my sheep which was lost ver 4.5 6. Read the other two Parables at your leisure especially the latter wherein not only the great contentment and joy of the Father of the Prodigal upon his return is largely expressed but his affection also and choice respects towards his Son himself being now
of me but according to mine own labour diligence and faithfulness in his service that is according to what my labour c. shall by the standard of his grace and bounty amount unto If I have laboured more abundantly than they all I shall be rewarded above them all So Ephes 6.8 compared with Gal. 6.7 Knowing this speaking unto and encouraging Servants to shew all faithfulness unto their Masters to adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same he shall receive that is shall be punctually and particularly considered by God for it And so Gal. 6.7 For whatsoever a man sows the same shall he also reap It cannot reasonably be understood only of the sameness of the Seed as if his meaning was that he should reap the same kind of seed with that which he soweth as when for instance he that soweth wheat reapeth wheat so he that soweth the seed of Sanctification or of good works shall reap a harvest of Sanctification or of good works this cannot I say reasonably be judged to be the meaning of the Apostle but thus whatever a man sows that is whatever seed either for quantity or proportion or of nature and quality any man soweth as whether it be the seed of life and glory or of shame and punishment he shall reap in life and glory and so in shame and punishment accordingly Whatsoever a man soweth it doth not only import the species or kind but the degree also or the proportion of the goodness or badness of the Seed that shall be sown in any kind And so in the other place Eph. 6.8 knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free The Particle whatsoever must needs be comprehensive and distributive of all a mans good actions whether they have been hundreds or thousands or millions of thousands together with all the degrees of their several goodnesses respectively which are all exactly known unto weighed and estimated by God Now these good actions of men be they never so many for number or so excellent in worth and goodness yet the doers of them shall receive the same things of the Lord that is shall have in their reward a particular and appropriate consideration which shall answer not in strictness of justice for God doth not reward according to such a Rule but in the most gracious and bountiful esteem of God both every one of their said actions and every degree of goodness found in any of them and in them all Suppose a person who from his youth up until old age and the hour of his death should continue diligent and faithful fervent in spirit serving the Lord should receive no better or greater reward from him than he who amongst Believers shall have brought forth least fruit unto God and been coldest in his service this person could not in this case be said to receive whatsoever good thing he had done but only some few of these things viz. so many of them as shall answer in number and worth the services of the other who is supposed to have done little unless we shall say that this other shall receive of the Lord not only whatsoever good thing himself hath done but whatsoever any other hath done in this kind But this word whatsoever is as was said comprehensive and includes the whole body of a mans service and obedience or laying out of a mans self for God and for righteousness sake and implieth so many particular services so many particular rewards upon the matter For that very reward whatever it be which such a man shall receive will have all his worthy actions and services in it there will be a Crown calculated and framed by God as it were on purpose for him and fitted to his head wherein every thing that he hath done for God and upon the account of Jesus Christ will be found in a sutable weight of glory I shall insist only upon one place more at presenâ— 1 Cor. 15.38 Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. You see he enforceth this point of advice or exhortation to them alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord upon this motive or ground because they knew namely in their continual abounding in the work of the Lord that their labour should not be in vain in the Lord. But if we shall suppose that they that abound most of all in the labour and work of the Lord shall receive no more upon the account of such their abundant labour than they that should labour least of all being the most unprofitable of all Believers and whose Faith should be little better than an empty Vine in this case their labour namely in the excellent degree or abundance of it would be in vain that is it would turn to no account of profit or recompense of reward to him that should undergo the burthen of it For certainly the Apostle reminding them that their labour in the Lord how abundant soever should not be in vain doth not speak of the fruit or success of such their labour in the world as that they might or should do good unto or convert many by such their example or the like but of the bettering their own accounts at the Great Day giving them to understand that if they should nor slack their hand in so great and blessed a business they should consult honour and glory in abundance for themselves in the day of Christ Now if you please let us add to the Scriptures opened and argued a few reasons to strengthen your Faith yet further in the Point in hand First Such a dispensation of God as his conferring of rewards with an equal inequality giving greater things to those that do more and be more faithful Such a dispensation I say as this being proclaimed in the midst of the World hath more spirit and life in it to provoke and strengthen every mans heart and hand unto Godliness and this in the highest degree than to declare that they that sow most sparingly shall notwithstanding reap as plentifully as they who sow most liberally For such a declaration as this in effect they ascribe unto God who make him a distributor of rewards without any distinction of the services rewarded by him But doubtless such a Notion or Doctrine as this That all Believers shall fare alike is of a dangerous and quashing import to the spirit of all signal excellency and of a destructive antipathy to all heroick conceptions of Christianity When men have an opportunity to raise an estate and get wealth for themselves How will they rise early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness They will be more industrious by far than when they work only for stinted wages which they know they shall have whether they work little
into the Kingdom of Glory may be obtained in the lower waies of Godliness and men in their desires design no more nothing higher than these certain it is from the unquestionable ground on which we now argue that men will not provoke or strain themselves to walk in the upper or higher waies of Godliness for the obtaining of them at least if they be satisfied in their Judgments and Consciences that the lower waies we speak of will carry them up to them And now upon the Premises let us gather up to our intended Conclusion If it be the duty of all the Saints and Servants of God to lift up their hearts and hands to the highest and holiest and greatest of the Commandments of God and every one to strive to go before other in adorning their Profession and magnifying the Lord Jesus in the World which I presume is no man's doubt or question then must it needs be their duty also to ascend up in their desires unto those Mansions in Heaven in which they shall be as near Neighbours unto Christ himself as may be and not content themselves with seeking meerly to be saved and to escape hell fire The Reason of this Consequence is evident from the Premises viz. because 1. Men will not rise higher in their endeavours or in the use of means for obtaining the ends projected and desired by them than they judge necessary for their attainment 2. Because it cannot lightly but be known and concluded by the Saints that they must quit themselves at another manner of rate in all Christian Worth and Godliness to be made capable of sitting at the right hand and left of Christ in his Kingdom or in any of the places near adjoyning than is necessary to give them a bare entrance into this Kingdom Desires and hopes of the lesser and lower enjoyments in Heaven will not wind up their hearts to that height of zeal and resolution for the glory of God and Jesus Christ which the greater things there would do were they ardently desired and accordingly hoped for and expected It is somewhat more than probable unto me that the neglect of that duty the face whereof we have now endeavoured to unveil I mean the duty of desiring and designing not the bare but the heaped up measure of Salvation hath occasioned and bred that dwarfe generation of Professing Christians which I cannot suddenly resolve whether I should rather call the shame or the honour of the Churches of Christ in the World Fifthly and lastly For I shall propose only one consideration more and this very briefly for the clearing up of that truth which we are now pleading The desire not simply of good but of that which is the best for us and so apprehended by us is planted by God himself in the frame of the nature of man This Assertion I conceive needs no proof being if not one of those common Notions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the knowledge or belief of which men are prompted by nature without discourse yet very near of kin unto sundry of them However this Reason in a word evinceth it If there were in men only a desire of that which is simply and positively good and not of that which is superlatively good or best of all than whensoever that which is only positively good or good in a lower degree and that which is excellently good are set together before them though they should apprehend the difference between them yet should they be necessitated in their choice or desires to that which is evil for so a lesser good is in respect of a greater and not at liberty to chuse or desire that which is really and absolutely good for them Therefore doubtless there is in every man by nature from the God thereof an inclination or desire unto that which they apprehend to be best for them all circumstances considered and weighed together I remember a Saying of one of the Fathers somewhat to this purpose Etiam perditâ felicitate voluntatem felicitatis non perdidimus Though we have lost our happiness yet have we not lost our will or desire of being happy Now all desires or inclinations which are in men from God ought to be cherished strengthened and improved by them Nor are they at liberty to neglect or suffer them to languish or to lose any thing of their native force or vigour within them For they are implanted in them by God to lead them into such waies and unto such actions whereby himself as the Author and Donor of them may be glorified and themselves following their conduct be made meet to be rewarded by him So then the Saints as they are men being invested by God not with desires of things that are simply good but of the things that are of greatest and best concernment unto them when they may be had stand bound in duty to nourish and maintain these desires and not to despise or turn aside from them From whence it clearly follows That it is not a matter of indifferency or what they may do or not do as they please but a matter of duty and of obedience unto God to awaken and stir up desires in them after the greatest enjoyments in Heaven knowing in themselves that these may be obtained by waies and means both honourable and such which are or may be by seeking unto God accordingly within their power to use But two things may be here said 1. Sect. 19 The Saints may be ignorant whether they be under any possibility of obtaining those greater things in Heaven you speak of what means soever they shall use in order thereunto How then should they desire them It being a true Notion as well in Divinity as Philosophy that voluntas non vult impossibile The will never willeth that with a settled or deliberate act of willing the attainment whereof a man judgeth to be impossible unto him To this I answer That if any of the Saints be ignorant of such a thing it is their sin and such their ignorance is not justifiable and therefore it cannot excuse them under the omission of that which otherwise is their duty to do although the difficulty of overcoming it being in some degree considerable may qualifie in part the guilt of it and so likewise of that other sin which it occasioneth For though I judge it too hard to call it an affected ignorance in any of the Saints Yet I fear that in many of them it may without any breach of charity be termed a voluntary or willing ignorance because it may by a diligent search into and pondering and comparing of the Scriptures be clearly found God being no respecter of persons and standing declared that he will judge and reward every man according to his works that any person of mankind that will advance and lay out himself in waies and works of righteousness and true holiness accordingly may receive from him a Crown of the greatest weight of glory Secondly It may be said
that kind of causes which Logicians call Causa sinè quâ non the cause without which the effect is not cannot be produced which because it contributeth little or nothing at all to the effect unless it be its bare presence therefore they call it Causa fatua the foolish cause or the fools cause I suppose for this reason because none but weak and simple Persons will insist upon this kind of cause in reasoning about effects and the Causes and Reasons of them viz. if a Question were moved Why such a man runs so swiftly He that should answer Because his head stands on his shoulders or because his heart is in his body or the like should shew himself very weak because though these be causes Sinè quibus non such causes as without which the effect of running would not or could not be performed A man could not run unless his head stood on his shoulders yet his head standing on his shoulders contributes nothing unless it be in a very remote and inconsiderable manner towards it and besides takes place in many in whom no such effect as swiftness of runing is to be found If a man should ask the reason why the Waters of the red Sea were divided when time was and stood upon heaps like a Wall on the right hand and on the left hand of the Children of Israel as they passed through He that shall say this was the reason or cause of it Moses smote these waters with the Rod in his hand should quit himself very weakly in so saying though it be probable that without this without Moses his so smiting them they would not have been so divided There is the like consideration of the falling down of the Walls of Jericho upon the Israelites compassing them about seven daies and blowing with Trumpets made of Rams horns of Naaman's cleansing from his Leprosie by washing seven times in Jordan This is an Essential or distinguishing property or Character of Sacramental causes that though there be very little or nothing in them I mean in that which is litteral natural and external in them any waies apt or likely to produce their effects as there is in natural causes to produce theirs yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand The reason is because the power of God is pleased to interpose and mingle it self with these more constantly and with a higher advance for the most part than with natural causes The reason of this good pleasure of his probably may be not because Sacraments or Sacramental causes are more appropriate and peculiar Institutions or Ordinances of his than Nature or natural Causes are But because they are weak and of no strength in themselves to do that which they have to do Upon this account as he hath taught men by the light of Nature in ordering the habit of their bodies Upon their uncomely parts to put more comeliness according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power might i.e. might clearly appear to be of God and not of us So because Sacraments and Sacramental Causes are in themselves weak and without honour in respect of what Natural Causes have therefore God honours them so much the more abundantly with his strength and presence in them Sed hoc obiter Now to draw the substance of this Discourse close to the business in hand when we teach that men by hearkening unto the Counsel of God and doing that which he hath commanded in order to the obtaining of such a blessedness as a being filled with his Spirit may obtain it we neither make the Spirit obnoxious unto men but unto himself and unto his own good pleasure Nor do we attribute any thing more unto those Actions or Endeavours of men by which they obtain a being filled with him than a kind of Sacramental Efficacy and this depending only upon the gracious will and good pleasure of God God having instituted such and such means in order to this blessed end upon occasion hereof he standeth engaged to his truth and faithfulness in giving out his abundance of Grace Fifthly and lastly When we do affirm that the Spirit and so a fulness with him is attainable by men in the use of means as we do exclude all things by way of merit and likewise all such endeavours in this kind which are originally in men themselves So we do suppose that without the Spirit that is without a being prevented and without some measure of the Spirit already given no man is able to put forth his hand unto any of those works or actions whereby this same filling with the Spirit is to be obtained So that if we search the spring of these actions and waies of men whereby we affirm that the Spirit may be attained we do not find the Root in man but in something that is Extrinsical For though it be in a man yet is it not of the heart and soul of a man co-substantial with it but the root of these actions by which men are capable of filling themselves with the Spirit of God is not in themselves nor in their nature but it is in an External Agent who is God or rather indeed the Spirit of God himself as we shall shew you in the traversing of this great business For it is likely we shall have occasion to dive into that Question Whether all the men and women in the World are not prevented according to the general course of the Providence of God in governing of the World and setting forth men and women upon the Theatre of the Earth Whether they be not all prevented without asking or without any means used with so much of the Spirit of God and with such a presence of his as that thereby they are enabled to have more of him and to be filled more with him Having thus with as much brevity and plainness Sect. 5 as through the grace of God we were able to do removed that stumbling stone as we called it out of the way A conceit incident as we conceived unto some that there is no possibility for men or women to be filled with the Spirit of God by any course they can take by any means they can use We proceed now to enquire into the Scriptures what course it is that men ought to take to possess themselves of such a blessedness as a being filled with the Spirit of God imports yea and which they must take if ever they desire to be made great in the sight of God or men by being filled with the Spirit of God The first thing to be done by us in order to a being filled with the Spirit it being supposed we are clear and thoroughly satisfied about the possibility of the thing for otherwise this Corner-stone were to be laid for the building but this I say supposed the first thing to be done in direct order to a being filled with the
been signified whereas the like zealous desires in them after things appertaining to this life are offensive unto him are these First Because they willingly and knowingly submit unto his Commands he commandeth and requireth of men to be zealously affected towards spiritual things whereas he prohibiteth the like towards earthly things And Secondly Because it is reasonable for men to be zealously bent for the obtaining of the former as being far more profitable and advantageous unto them whereas the like zeal towards the latter is very irrational hath no savour of true or sound reason in it as being indeed clearly repugnant to their supream good and real benefit For this is a true Rule in general that God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and waies of men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and fuller connexion they have with their peace and happiness So that when men do upon a good account willingly knowingly and deliberately subject themselves unto his will and pleasure and do the things which he commands he is well pleased with what they do but the original and grand reason why he is so well pleased with what they do in this case is not because they do what he hath commanded but because in doing what he hath commanded they follow the clear ducture and guidance of the light of Reason Judgment and Understanding which he hath planted in them to direct them to the things of their peace For First It is most rational to do that which God commandeth men whereas it is contrary to reason and that in the highest degree to do that which he prohibits Secondly Because the things themselves which God commandeth as they are in themselves and in their own nature suted unto the heart of God so likewise is it most agreeable unto reason that men should do them as being most commodious for themselves And this is the true reason why God accepteth men hereupon it being most agreeable to the highest Principles of Reason in the World that the Creature should be subject unto God When men shall obey him he is not so much delighted with them simply because they do obey him as because they quit themselves likemen of Wisdom and sound Understanding therein and steer a course to advance their own happiness as is evident from hence because he is willing and content that if men could find out a better God than he a God from whom they might tolerably expect better and greater things than they have ground upon their obedience to expect from him he is willing and content I say upon such terms to disoblige them from himself and where ever they can find him to give them leave to turn Proselyte to such a God though he should lose their service thereby This is evident from that saying of his great Prophet Elijah 1 Kings 18.21 How long halt you between two c. As if he had said never destroy your selves do not sometime go to the true God and worship him and otherwhile unto Baal for saith he if Baal be-he if you can satisfie your selves or come at any substantial reason to prove that Baal is he that can bless you and make you great and save you and make you Kings and Princes for ever If Baal be-he then serve him As if he should say God doth not desire the service nor the application of his Creature to him in any way of obedience or service but only in reference to the Creatures good and he doth desire it on such terms that if they knew better to bestead themselves or to find out a God of more grace and power they have free leave from heaven to follow him And besides the main end why God hath given Precepts and Laws unto men himself hath declared to be not that he might be served simply or be obeyed by them but rather indeed that he might serve them or as himself expresseth it that he might do them good in their latter end Dent. 8.16 6.24 10.13 implying that God cannot come at the Creature to make him such in happiness and in glory as his heart and soul desireth unless he be in a meet capacity having quitted himself like unto a man And the reason why God making Oath unto Abraham for the confirmation of the great Promise which he had given him sware by himself is said to be this viz. That he had no greater to swear by Heb. 6.13 implying that if there had been any God above him any that could have been a ground of greater assurance unto them it had been given them In like manner it may be said if there could be any way wherein the Creature could speed better that was like to be more beneficial unto it he would not have them hang their hope confidence and expectation upon himself but he would have transmitted them unto that God Sed hac obiter In the mean time by the light of this Discourse we clearly see why God so highly prizeth zealous covetings and desires in men after spiritual things viz. because such covetings as these are most reasonable to be found in men and have an excellent connexion with their supreme good and happiness If this be questioned or doubted there is this reason near at hand over and besides the consideration of God's Commands to make it evident viz. that such covetings and desires never fail to raise endeavours sutable unto themselves for the obtaining of things so coveted and desired If you here say Sect. 7 that in prescribing such a course of means as that now exhibited for your being filled with the Spirit I prescribe you that which is hard to come by you know not how to create or raise any such coveting any such strong desires within you as these recommended unto you To this I reply That the goodness excellency and desirableness of the thing it self I mean your being filled with the Spirit if you will but give â—a narrow and intense beholding with the eyes of your minds and understandings and feed a while upon the beauty and glory of it this will furnish you will raise in you these covetings and desires we prescribe in order to the obtaining of it And indeed it is a general Rule that all objects whatsoever whether good or evil will beget or raise affections in men answerable to that degree either of good or evil that is apprehended in them if men will narrowly and frequently mind and confider them Yea if men apprehend either more good or more evil in any thing than is really and in truth to be found in them and will feed upon such apprehensions and oft repeat and renew them they will soon love and hate them proportionably above that which they ought to do For this reason it is that Solomon forbad men to look upon
things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self c. Now do but compare the latter And when he Agabus was come unto us he took Paul's Girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Upon the hearing of these things they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem and ver 13. Then answered Paul what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart For I am not only ready to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus As who should say Are you aware how blessed a business I have in hand and of how evil a tendency this your advice and this your weeping is Why saith he do ye break my heart I am all thoughts made in my felf I have no regret within me as to this service of going to Jerusalem and therefore why do you by your weeping as you do go about to dissolve and scatter that blessed and composed frame of heart which I have wrought my self unto For saith he I have not only a light willingness but I am set upon the work whatever it cost me I am not only ready to suffer such things as Bonds Imprisonment c. but I am even ready to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus I have reasons in abundance to balance against all the counter-arguings of my Flesh my Friends and Relations I have trampled them all under my feet so that I have no more to think of or to debate what to do in this case but am in an actual readiness as to this business So then you see that being filled with the Spirit of God how it removeth all obstructions out of the way of men and women in the Service of God It causeth every thing to cease from being burthensome or hard unto them It is with a man or woman that is filled with the Spirit of God in respect of their natural indispositions or aversness to the high and difficult Services of God as it is between the inferiour Orbs or Spheres in the Heavens and that utmost Sphere which Philosophers call Primum Mobile the First Mover the motion of this Sphere according to the notion they have of it and probable it is true in reason however it is very apt and proper to represent the business which we desire to possess you with is so incredible swift and strong that it carries about all the other with it notwithstanding their propensions and these very strong too in their kind unto different yea contrary motions but that same Primum Mobile carries them along with it in its own motion and course taking no notice viz. of any repugnancy in them to such a motion or comportance with it but carries them about as if they were all agreed and naturally consenting to go along with it Much after the same manner it is between a great presence or fulness of the Holy Ghost in the soul and that natural indisposition or averseness of the Flesh to waies and services of a difficult and excellent import The Holy Ghost being gloriously potent and mighty in his motions and way overbears and oversets the natural Propensions and the repugnant and cross inclinations of the Flesh to such services and works and carries these along with him in his course by reason whereof they seem willing also and consenting to what is done or to be done in that kind Or look as it is between the Tide or flowing in of the Sea and the course of the River or fresh waters upon which it comes we know the natural course of the River and the waters thereof is contrary to the course of the Sea and the waters thereof when it flows yet because the Sea moves with more authority viz. with more strength and irresistibleness of motion than the River doth it takes along the waters of the River with it in its course and these seem to be as willing with the motion as the Sea it self and the waters thereof nor is there any contrariety or averseness or reluctancy to the motion discerned in these fresh waters whilst they are under the authority and conduct of the Salt After such a manner it is between the flesh of a man and the averseness that is there unto things that are of a spiritual nature When a man is filled with the Spirit of God this carrieth all down before him and that after such a manner as that the Flesh forgetteth all hardness and difficulty that is in its way in the Service of God and so forbears all swelling or rising up against it This then in the fifth place is another worthy Priviledge that doth attend your being filled with the Spirit Sixthly Your being filled with the Spirit will enlarge your hearts mightily unto waies and works that are excellent Sect. 16 It will make you like unto Jesus Christ in true Nobleness and Prince-like disposition of Spirit and cause you to fall in travel with the World until the peace comfort and prosperity of it be provided for and established round about you This accommodation and benefit differs from the former and carrieth somewhat in it above that That consisted in a reconciling or healing the disproportion which commonly is between the hearts or natural dispositions of men and the waies especially the more high and excellent waies of God This consists in an effectual drawing out of the heart and soul unto such waies and services in setting an edge of zeal upon the Spirits of men to be like unto the Vine in Jotham's Parable Judg. 9.13 which is there said to chear both God and man A man may possibly be free from any great averseness or indisposedness to such or such an action or course and yet be but of a kind of neutral and indifferent frame of heart have no great or zealous propension towards them But he that is zealous of good works as the Scripture speaks hath not only the contrariety and averseness of his nature unto such works subdued and broken within him but hath an inclination unto them stirred up and wrought in him so that as a strong Bias in a Boule his heart leaneth and longeth that way So then this is that which I hold forth unto you in the particular now in hand If you shall be filled with the Spirit you will hereby be enriched with many noble excellent and worthy dispositions of heart and soul which will lead and carry you forth with a strong hand upon all occasions to works and actions of an high and sacred import It will relieve you against the natural scantness and narrowness of your hearts in this kind and cause you with Abraham to be numbred amongst the Friends of God and Benefactors to the World and no opportunity of doing good shall escape you It will cause you to look upon your selves with
Paul as Debtors to the Greeks and Barbarians to the wise and to the unwise Rom. 1.14 i.e. unto all persons of mankind without exception and will give you no rest in your Spirits but only whilst you are paying what you owe in this kind or at least preparing and putting your selves into a condition to pay accordingly I began to say unto you that it would make you like unto Jesus Christ himself in Prince-likeness and true greatness of Spirit it will draw you into part and fellowship and this in abundance in the same design and prevail with you to make one purse and to cast in your lot with him It will give you the considence and courage to say unto him as Jehosaphat said to King Ahab 1 Kings 22.4 I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses you will joyn with him with all the strength you have and all the friends and power you can make in the World in that great and blessed work and engagement which is now upon his hand and which he is carrying on day and night I mean the advancement of the peace and happiness of the World For though particular men and women and these not many enjoy the rich benefit and fruit of his most gracious interposures and actings in that kind we speak of yet the compass of his design to do good and bless and save and the nature and proper tendency of his actings are as large as the World or generality of mankind Hence it is that in Scripture Language things of general and publick concernment are called the things of Jesus Christ in opposition to the concernments of particular men All seek their own not the things that are Jesus Christ's Phil. 2.21 meaning that generally mens hearts were straight and narrow extending themselves only to their own particular interest and concernments not caring for things of a general and publick concernment which are properly the Affairs and Concernment of Jesus Christ who is the Great Providor for the World who doth good and blesseth particulars as they are members of the Universal and come in his way i. e. as they walk in those wares of Righteousness and true Holiness whereunto his Desires and Endeavours are to bring the World and this in order to their Peace and Happiness Now this great and glorious design of blessing the World from the one end of it unto the other was raised in the soul of Jesus Christ by his being filled with the Spirit His anointing in this kind was not by measure Hence it came to pass that the complexion of his heart and soul for doing good was so large and comprehensive to go round about the whole Creation as is witnessed of him Acts 10.38 that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went thout doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil For God was with him Look then to what degree you shall be filled with the same Spirit wâ—◠〈…〉 Christ was filled withal your hearts will be proportionably filled 〈◊〉 the same resolution as Jesus Christ was You will be enlarged in tâ—â—â— kind your endeavours and engagements to do good will be very vast and comprehensive You will not endure to see the miserable and deplorable condition of men and women in the World in one kind or other but that you will find or feel something or other in you that will provoke you yea and after a manner will compel you to minister unto them of what you have in your hand As whilst Paul staid at Athens waiting for Silas and Timotheus His spirit was stirred in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Acts 17.16 How or unto what was his spirit stirred within him Doubtless it was to relieve them by endeavouring to break asunder if it were possible that snare of death this humour of Idolatry wherewith these poor people were taken and so to deliver them as appeareth by that which followeth in vers 17. Therefore disputed he in the Synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the Market daily with them that met with him Thus then you see here is another great and worthy accommodation which a being filled with the Spirit is accompanied with which will make you like unto Princes yea like unto Jesus Christ himself You will be willing to go along with him and not so much mind or manage your own things as the things of his interest and glory You will be willing to take Christ's design along with you and still watch over that great business which he is carrying on with an high hand in the World Now who is able to estimate or compute the blessedness of such a state and frame of heart and soul as this is which we now speak of and which with the Scripture and evidence of reason otherwise we ascribe to a being filled with the Spirit The loud rejoycing of Conscience which doth accrue unto men is the natural result of such a frame of heart so enlarged and endeavours sutable unto it This great and mighty Testimony of a man's Conscience is sweeter and more desirable than life it self And we shall find the Apostle Paul make an estimate or value of it accordingly For it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void 1 Cor. 9.15 From whence this glorying of his did spring we are particularly informed from his hand 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World c. He had tasted of that sweetness and incomparable satisfaction which did flow in unto him upon the account of the enlargedness of his heart and soul in the great concernments of the Gospel which made him conclude that it were better for him to die than that any man should make void his glorying in this kind How mightily did he magnifie and glory in this great Treasure viz. his rejoycing in the Testimony of his Conscience that he had served God and men with all sincerity and simplicity This he thought was enough to make the World go and do likewise Seventhly Sect. 17 By being filled with the Spirit of God you shall be enabled to pray unto God and this more effectually and with greater acceptation and upon far better terms than any other way see that known place Rom. 8.26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God If this be proper to the Spirit simply and where he is in a lower and lesser degree then certainly where there is
turn to the praise of the Spirit But we must do them with a desire and purpose of heart that they may be to his praise So that to sow to the Spirit denoteth fruitfulness in good works especially in such good works wherein more particularly the glorious goodness and power c. of the Spirit may be discovered unto the World and when men are addicted unto such waies and such works which have a proper and clear tendency to discover the goodness bounty power and excellency c. of the Spirit of God then they may be said to sow unto the Spirit especially when they do these things with an intention to commend his goodness and power unto the World So to sow to the Flesh is to do that which tendeth to please the sensual part of man and this with an intent to gratifie the Flesh whether we understand it in respect of the outward Actions of the body or the corrupt workings of the mind it is clear that men in either of them do sow to the Flesh Only this is to be minded that the taking care of the outward man and the doing of such things which in a regular way tend to the maintenance and comfortable subsistence thereof are never said to be a sowing to the Flesh in opposition to the Spirit but only when men are inordinate in the use of these things then and only then doth the Interest of the Flesh come in For whilst men and women are providing for the comfortable being of the outward man they all this while walk by the Rule of the Word of God and comport with the Spirit of God These kind of doings are not properly the works of the Flesh but may be more truly said to be the works of the Spirit For the Spirit of God requireth that all things should be done in a regular manner that the outward man may not be disadvantaged unto spiritual Services therefore the Spirit of God doth charge men with particular care and circumspection over their Bodies that by this means he may rejoyce with so much the greater Joy where he findeth men manage themselves so that they may be in a good capacity to do such things which are holy just and good and that are righteous and of a good report Now the reason why such things as these must needs be matter of praise unto the Spirit of God is because the hearts of men cannot lightly when they see men full of good works but acknowledge that these things do come from the Spirit of God because such works as these being in goodness and glory above the Line of men plainly assert their Original to be Divine and plainly inform the World that God by his Spirit vouchsafeth to dwell and to act in men and women from whom such excellent works as these proceed But more particularly such waies and works which outstrip the generality of men yea of Christians and which they are not at present able to understand nor to see the reason of them such were some of the actions and waies of the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 5.13 For whether we be besides our selves it is for God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Paul seemed in some of his Actions as a man half-witted or besides himself and as a man bereaved of his senses yet this doubtless was of the best and choicest seed the best kind of sowing unto the Spirit of God it is true that at the first performance of them the World did not understand no nor Christians neither of an ordinary anointing as was even now hinted nor could-resolve them into their proper Principles so as to say that this was the Spirit of God that moved and stirred him up As the Seed for a while lieth buried in the ground and afterwards springeth up Even so when the reasons of such actions should be manifest unto them then they should confess that he had a great and mighty assistance of the Spirit of God with him There are some things which are above the ordinary reach of natural and moral men though the truth is there hath been here and there a Son of Nature Philosophers and such like men that have gone very far and as high it is likely as many of the Sons and Daughters of God have done or do as in that great work and strain of excellency in forgetting and forgiving of injuries and passing by all matters of unkindness disparagement and contempt which they have met withal from the hands of men Now for men and women to take no knowledge of such things from any nor to draw back from them or to withhold the hand of their goodness bounty or good will in any kind from them upon the account of any such hard measure received this is one of the highest and one of the most spiritual strains that can be that the nature of man is likely to partake of To be able to do good in the presence of all these discouragements doth argue even to the generality of men that such a man is of an excellent spirit and that he hath a great presence of the Spirit of God with him And doubtless though there may be excellent things written in this kind concerning those that have not been seasoned with the Gospel of Jesus Christ at least in so explicite a manner yet is there a more peculiar and a more rich presence of the Spirit vouchsafed unto those who enjoy the Gospel and which moveth them more strongly to spiritual actions and which have a more immediate and strong connexion with their present joy and comfort and also with their Eternal life and good of their souls But besides this there are other things of an excellent import Let your moderation saith the Apostle Phil. 4.5 be known unto all men The word signifieth let your yieldingness or comportance and compliance be known unto all men he meaneth sweetness and gentleness of disposition a readiness in men ever and anon to give away their own right to deny themselves in many things which according to strict terms and the rigour of the Law they might stand upon When ever there is danger that upon their account the Gospel is like to suffer in the hearts and consciences of men in case they should stand stifly upon their own rights then the opportunity is before a man then hath he a call to practice that moderation and that yieldingness and gentleness of Spirit which the Apostle calleth for at the hands of Christians We might instance in many more particulars of this nature but you see by that little which we have insisted upon what we mean by sowing to the Spirit But if you ask How should such a thing as this be any way or means to help us forwards in this viz. A being filled with the Spirit or any waies promote such an end I answer This is clear from the Principle insisted upon in the former
16 he is ten times over and I believe twenty times to that called the Holy Spirit and sometimes in our English Translations the Holy Ghost Now holiness as we know or at least have often heard imports separation or distance from every thing that is unclean And where holiness is in its exaltation it importeth the greatest distance from uncleanness that is possible But without dispute holiness in the Spirit of God is in the height of its exaltation It dwelleth in him bodily Therefore there must needs be the greatest distance between the Spirit of God and all manner of uncleanness The Scriptures do shew that this is the nature of holiness not simply to fly from that which polluteth and defileth but to be at the utmost distance from i◠Upon this account it is in Scripture often opposed unto uncleanness as the East is opposite unto the West as being at the greatest distance from it For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 And so Rom. 6.19 1 Cor. 7.14 And very frequently in the Scriptures you shall find a great opposition made between holiness and that uncleanness whose fulfilling polluteth and defileth the Temples of mens bodies as the lust of Adultery Fornication Incest and all impurities of such a kind which being consented unto and harboured in the souls of men and women are obstructive with an high hand to that great felicity and happiness of their being filled with the Spirit The Apostle Eph. 4.29 compared with ver 30. plainly intimates such an Antipathy between such lusts of uncleanness as these with their fruits and the Spirit of God that they are a grief unto him and consequenly as we lately opened the Metaphor unto you that his hand is weakned by them to that good work of filling men with his presence which otherwise was in his heart to have been wrought for them Let no corrupt communication proceed cut of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying and grieve not the holy Spirit c. Let no corrupt communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putrified or rotten speech such as is wont to proceed from these impure Fountains we speak of in the hearts of men and women For even as those sents and smells which are wont to breath from Laistoffs and Dunghils are noysome and offensive unto men who have their senses quick and good So are unclean Communication and rotten speech unto men who have their spiritual senses about them Now lascivious wanton unchaste or unclean communication is therefore termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corrupt or rotten because unto them that have their senses their spiritual senses sound and in a good temper and habit exercised in distinguishing things that differ such Communication and Discourse is such a kind of annoyance or offense which answers that annoyance to the bodily senses which is occasioned as was said by the fumes and smells of Laistoffs Dunghills and putrified bodies which are not simply unpleasant and offensive but of dangerous consequence also to dissolve stifle or destroy nature for otherwise there may be sents that are offensive and unpleasant and yet not Enemies unto nature nor yet of any tendency to her dissolution but for her preservation and health In like manner wanton communication and discourses are not only or simply noysome or unpleasant unto men and women that have their spiritual senses about them but have a dangerous influence also to destroy their spiritual being and that work of grace which is begun in their souls according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15.33 Evil words corrupt good manners not that they do alwaies do it but they have a property so to do they are of a destroying nature and if these destroy good manners then have they a property to do this also viz. to destroy all those good Principles out of which good manners are produced And whereas to this Exhortation that no corrupt or rotten communication should proceed out of their mouths he immediately subjoyneth And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption he doth it by way of motive clearly implying that such communication will grieve the Spirit of God Now this connective Particle and sometimes implieth a motive enforcing the precedent Exhortation Do this and live Gen. 42.18 i. e. for you shall live by doing this Exalt her and she shall promote thee Prov. 4.8 i. e. for she shall promote thee I give thee this for thy encouragement that she shall promote thee So that the meaning of the place in hand is that such a kind of rotten communication will grieve the Spirit of God That is hath a direct tendency in it to cause the Spirit of God to do as men usually do when they are grieved as we formerly shewed withdraw themselves from those who so grieve them and grow listless unto action and have no lust to go forth in their way but retire themselves and mourn and grow solitary In like manner rotten Communication will cause the Spirit to withdraw his presence in his wonted influences he will have no desire to exert or put forth himself at least with any strength or vigour in motions or encitements to holiness c. by means whereof the Flesh will gather more and more strength and the lusts thereof encrease daily This sheweth that there is a spiritual opposition between rotten Communication or any other lusts of the Flesh and the Spirit of God So Jude ver 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit Implying that they who are given over to sensual and voluptuous courses are persons who have no the Spirit I conceive this distinguishing Character that they separate themselves viz. from the Bodies and Societies of the Saints and from the Ordinances of God The Apostle would signifie this unto us that such persons as these did it under pretense of a greater measure of the Spirit some special discovery of somewhat more than had been made known unto other men As if they were of too tall a stature and growth to assemble themselves with others as men think not themselves fit company for Children so these men upon pretense of a more excellent inspiration from the Spirit of God separated themselves from other men But saith he there is this in the bottom they are sensual this separation doth not proceed from the Spirit of God nor from any further Communion more than others which they have with him But they are sensual sensual pleasures and courses have bewitched and taken away their heart And now that they may enjoy themselves in this course they must pretend to Revelation and some extraordinary Knowledge for the Saints in their Communion know no such thing but that which they know is of another nature and therefore that they might not be troubled and checked in their way they must give ear to an unclean Spirit and this they call the Spirit of God
they prevent it Ver. 20. he informeth them Despise not Prophesying As fire by laying on and throwing combustible matter upon it may be made greater and greater and the flame to wax and grow more and more So the Spirit of God is like a fire in the Spirits of men he may be nourished after such a manner that he will flame out as fire doth when more wood is laid on it but as fire will go out if you withdraw the Fuel or throw Water upon it So saith the Apostle you will quench the Spirit if you shall despise Prophesying for that is the fuel or nourishment by which the Spirit of God is fed therished and maintained in the soul and conscience and heart of a man if you will withdraw this fuel and despise Prophesie neglect the Ordinances of God and Ministrations of his House he will soon be gone and leave his place He cannot live in the soul without this kind of nourishment and food administred unto him from day to day and time to time And thus you see as all kind of fleshly Lusts in general fight against the soul and are obstructive unto the peace thereof being as so many bars in the way of the Spirit so there are some Lusts which do more appropriately and in a more particular manner oppose his progress So that if you desire to be Possessours of such an invaluable Treasure as a being filled with the Spirit of God you must not make a light matter of it so as to suffer such words and directions as tend thereunto to come in at one ear and go out at the other No but you must make Treasure of them and be very serious in a business of this nature And if you will prosper in this design you must be sure to remove out of the way as these four kinds especially so also all other Lusts of the flesh which else will hinder you in so blessed an enjoyment But it may be you will say Sect. 20 How shall we keep our selves from the lusts of the flesh in order to our being filled with the Spirit To this I answer and say You may do it yea the doing of it may without any presumption be attributed unto you as done by you especially in their first rise and before they are grown to any great strength or maturity within you without any special presence of the Spirit of God I mean a full and rich presence of him For there is a kind of standing presence of the Spirit of God with every man which we call his preventing Grace which every man hath if he hath not consumed it and made aâ—spoyl of it which will keep men from these kinds of Lusts in case men shall but comply with it For my Brethren these kind of Lusts have no power in them to compel or to necessitate any man or woman unto subjection to them No they do but only offer or present themselves to see if you will entertain or own them and nourish and bring them up If you will take pleasure in them and go with them whither they will lead you you may otherwise they have no inssuence of power and authority over you neither have they any Commission from God and Sathan can give them none any way to compel you to open the door of your hearts unto them to give them room and entertainment there No but if you shall be true and faithful unto your own souls and their itnerest and be in love with that blessedness of being filled with the Spirit you may keep your selves free from vanity and fleshly lusts For to abstain from them is but to let them alone to let them go as they come do but you keep on your course and follow the light which is set up within you do but abstain and keep from an inward converse and communion with them and they shall never do you any harm nor ever prejudice you in the carrying on your work and in the prospering of your souls as to your being filled with the Spirit There is only one means or direction more The seventh and last means which I shall prescribe unto you Sect. 21 or rather remind you of being prescribed by God himself for your being filled with the Spirit is Prayer unto God for it If you desire that your anointing should be rich and full you must imploy your Angel which God hath given to serve you in this and all other your spiritual occasions about it I mean the Spirit of Prayer which you have received from God Many great and excellent things you well know are spoken of Prayer in the Scriptures that it is a Key to open Heaven as oft as we desire a Messenger that if his dispatch be thereafter will fetch us any thing out of the Treasury of God that we stand in need of You know also that heap of Promises and Encouragements which the Lord Christ himself hath heaped upon the head of Prayer Mat. 7.7 8. compared with Luke 11.9 10. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened First these words And I say unto you c. seem to imply that what he was now about to say unto them concerning the marvelous efficacy and acceptation of Prayer with God if another one should have said it it might reasonably seem doubtful or questionable in point of truth unto you But I would have you to take knowledge that it is I that say it you may believe it upon the account of my authority though it be indeed a great and strange saying and hath a world of grace in it yet saith he this is enough sufficiently to balance this I say it Now by asking seeking knocking our Saviour questionless meaneth all kinds or variety of Prayer intending to declare and signifie some such thing as this unto us that if men be sincere and upright hearted in their praying unto God whether the manner or form of their Prayer be of this kind or of that whether it be asking socking or knocking it shall be of like acceptance with God and shall obtain what is desired If any man will please to adventure upon any narrow distinguishing of asking seeking and knocking he may do it after some such manner as this is though I would not have too much to be given to the Notion Asking very probably may be such a kind of Prayer which is right down where there is little or no Argument or little or no Scripture Rhetorick but only a right down and direct and immediate asking signifying unto God what it is that a man would have without any more ado And secondly Seeking seemeth to be a more exact or enlarged kind of Prayer wherein a man goeth about to fortifie his heart to believe that he shall receive the things that he prayeth for by
or enfeebled thine hand now this doth argue a rich presence of the Spirit of God especially in conjunction with the other things mentioned And so again when the fruits and expressions of their love to Jesus Christ or his Saints and Followers shall be very large and fair such as shall be found in none but themselves and perhaps in here one and there one besides as when either with the poor Widow in the Gospel they shall cast in their whole substance or livelihood into the Treasury of God or else shall sacrifice some great and notable opportunity of worldly advantage upon the Service of God and of the People of God especially if they shall do this once and again and as often as any opportunity affords it self unto them this cannot but argue an excellent fulness of the Spirit of God The Tree saith our Saviour is known by the Fruit and this not only in respect of the kind or property of it which is the knowledge spoken of by our Saviour But likewise in the degree of it not only good in the kind and of the same nature but also the best of the kind for goodness Eighthly Sect. 19 Another discovering Character of a persons being filled with the Spirit of God is when he is able and willing they are both one in this case to take up any Cross though never so heavy that he shall meet withal in the way of Righteousness and of God without any declining or turning aside out of his way to avoid it This is a great sign and argument of conviction that certainly he is filled with the Spirit of God especially when he shall suffer Patience to have its perfect work as James speaks i. e. shall be content chearfully and without muttering or complaint to suffer all that God shall call him to suffer though the Iniquity of those who persecute in one kind or other abound never so much yet he will not so much as stoop or step out of the way for it but shall keep strait course in the waies of God in the view of the World there cannot be a more promising sign or symptome of a person being filled with the Spirit of God than this The reason of this is because all kinds of sufferings are contrary to the Flesh and destructive to the interest thereof and unless it be to accommodate the Flesh at some other turn and in some other way no man that can decline them will expose himself unto them but only such who are strengthened by the Spirit of God in the inward man The Apostle Paul in laying down the signs of his Apostleship 2 Cor. 12.12 presents patience under trouble a willingness to suffer all and all manner of afflictions for the Gospels sake For one among the rest If a man have a proportionable aid and assistance of the Spirit of God though he do put his shoulder under the burthen of affliction yet being acted and assisted by this Spirit the Flesh will not feel any bitterness or trouble in it Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all long suffering and patience with joyfulness 1 Thes 3.3 That no man should be moved by their afflictions He acquaints them in the precedent Verse that he had sent Timothy unto them to confirm and establish them in the Faith and in the things which they now had believed And that for this end that no man should be moved by any of those things which they suffered Therefore saith the Apostle I sent him unto you to hear of your faith lest that by any means you should be tempted implying that persecution is a sore kind of temptation this is like the Axe that is laid to the root of the Tree This he knew would put them to it and be a means even to endanger the shaking of their Faith and to tell the World that they did only make a shew of believing but were not established in the truth So again 1 Thes 1.3 5 6. Remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and your patience of hope c. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost c. As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost Now this is that I say had they not had the Holy Ghost to stand by them as they would never have received the Gospel so neither without a rich presence of him would they ever have persevered therein in a day of persecution This then is the reason of the Character or sign in the eighth place Ninthly and lastly A fulness with the Spirit of God is discernable by a rich and inward acquaintance with the mind and will of God and of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures Sect. 20 When a man or woman knows more understands more of the mind of Christ in the Gospel hath more of things secret and hidden unto others discovered and made known unto them this argues that the Spirit dwelleth plentifully in them only there are two particulars to be considered and remembred First That for men and women to pretend to a knowledge of the mind of God in the Scriptures above other persons and to be confident of their own apprehensions and conceits in this kind is nothing is no Argument or proof at all that therefore they do know the mind of Christ in the Scriptures more or better than other men or consequently that they are persons filled with the Spirit of God For all this may be men and women may see the Visions of their own hearts as the Scripture speaketh and be as confident as confidence it self can make them that they are Visions of God and verily think as Paul himself sometimes did in like case that they see the Visions of God The false Prophets of old who walked in the Spirit of falshood or as some read the words in the wind of falshood Mic. 2.11 These were as confident of their Visions as the Prophets of God could be See an instance in Zedekiah the Son of Chenaanah 1 Kings 22.11 He was so confident that he would needs make himself two Iron horns to push the Syrians withal until they were consumed Michaiah the true Prophet of God was not more confident of the Vision which he had seen And so the Pharisees in the Gospel Joh. 9.40 Are we blind also As who should say If any men in all the World doth see and know and understand the mind of God we do we can well bear that thou shouldst look upon the rest of the World the ordinary sort of people as blind but we pray thee do not make us blind also clearly implying and that with the greatest indignation that whatsoever he should speak that should intimate in the least that they should not know the mind of God that that must be most false And in these daies
Servant plowing or feeding Cattel will say to him by and by when he is came from the Field go and sit down to meat and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink Doth he thank that Servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not So likewise Ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable Servants Now compare that which was delivered and taught in the former Parable how the Lord Christ will gird himself and come forth and serve them with that which is promised here namely that when they had girded themselves and administred unto him the Master while he shall eat and drink then they shall sit down and eat and drink And withal Doth he thank such a Servant because he hath done thus I trow not saith he I suppose his meaning is that it is not the manner of men when Servants do but that which commanded them to do the Master doth not think himself beholding to them neither doth he thank them by the bestowing any signal or particular reward upon them But now there is a kind of Servant upon whom the Master doth intend to bestow very great and worthy things For it is said in the other Parable expresly he will gird himself and come forth and serve them He will do it in the sight of Heaven and Earth all the World shall take notice that he will account those Servants there spoken of worthy of double honour he himself will honour them But if the Question be But what is it that maketh the difference between these two kinds of services in point of Reward both of them were good Servants and typifies such persons who should be saved The business is this if you will but consider the nature of these Commands you will find a difference of these Servants They that do the things in the latter Parable which are commanded them that is which are properly and positively and strictly commanded them viz. when God shall pitch determinately that either they must do them or else suffer for it and be destroyed with the vengeance of Eternal fire Now they that go forth in their obedience in this kind so far as that they may escape these dangers they shall sit down when their Lord and Master hath eat and drank that is they shall receive the common reward of Salvation But there are another kind of Servants in another consideration very proper and passable too that serve not as Servants but rather as Sons namely those that shall set themselves and stir up their hearts to obedience unto God in these high Commands of his which are not things commanded after such a manner or with such a kind of Command as was mentioned formerly with threatnings of hell fire unto those who shall disobey them They who shall perform these high services and commands of his which are calculated on purpose for the spirits of those men who are Children who are of a filial spirit and ingenuous temper and who desire to communicate in the greatest and highest of the affairs and blessings of God they who shall not content themselves with the observation of the former kind of Laws but shall rise up in their obedience to the observation of the other these are they whom their great Lord and Master Jesus will gird himself and come forth and serve them That is will shew them signal and special grace and favour by themselves But that by the way The truth is that the performance of the latter kind of services viz. those that be not drawn out by the means of threatning of damnation are of the most noble and genuine kind and of highest acceptation with God yet notwithstanding there is no Law made against such persons who shall not be holy and exact as Noah Daniel and Job that shall not be as worthy excellent and heavenly as these were or as serviceable in their Generation but yet these are they whom their Lord and Master will gird himself and come forth and serve but will not do so by the other So that the Servants or Believers which are expressed in the Parable that shall eat and drink when their Lord and Master hath eaten and drank are these who do only the things which are expresly and particularly enjoyned and that upon such terms that except they do them they shall neither eat nor drink That is they shall never be saved And these compared with the others may well be termed unprofitable Servants Mat. 25.30 or rather as the word signifieth and so is translated ver 26. slothful or undiligent Servants Servants that will do no more nor stir one Inch beyond their prescribed task Now such kind of Servants the Holy Ghost calls idle or sluggish who will not bestir themselves in their Masters business as they ought to do This is that which I was saying unto you that it is the observation of this latter kind of Commands which are not threatned with destruction this is that which doth beget in men that Child-like Spirit and that confidence and boldness towards God whereas the observation of that inferiour kind of Commands doth rise no higher than deliverance from destruction but doth not advance them to use it to any special interest in the favour and love of God it riseth no higher nor begetteth nothing else in them but a kind of fear or servile spirit full of doubts and diffidence and distrustfulness and these are the proper and different effects of the obedience unto these two kinds of Commands To clear this a little further there are Instances in the Scriptures where we may observe both the one and the other and likewise the mind and intent of God in them Such Precepts without conformity unto which men cannot be saved either they are such which the Law of Nature doth impose upon men and condemn and judge them if they break and transgress them or else they are such Commands which by reason of some circumstances of time and place and some necessity do so bear upon the Consciences of men that a man cannot neglect them without a manifest contempt of the Divine Authority and Majesty of God As for example when God spake to Abraham and commanded him to go out of his own Country and so to Moses to go to Pharaoh or to Paul to go to preach the Gospel now disobedience in this kind would argue a great affront to the Majesty of God But there are other Commands though perperly enough Commands wherein men are much left at liberty and freedom viz. after what manner and with what hearts and affections they do perform these when men shall not only do simply and barely the thing that is expresly commanded but likewise shall give out their hearts to it and shall observe this after the best manner This is that
influence or blessing But then he shall be all in all that is there shall be nothing in meats and drinks nothing in this Creature nothing in that Creature no but he will as it were contract and withdraw life out of all these and he will give out and utter himself intirely in and by himself only He will be the life and joy and blessedness his infinite fulness shall be the felicity of his Creature So that this is one reason why it is agreeable to the Wisdom of God to put men upon it that they should depend upon such persons as he shall have prepared for them from time to time to furnish them with the knowledge of his Will and indeed the very Method and Contrivance of the Gospel is such that if things be narrowly viewed weighed and considered by men they cannot but perceive that God hath made the Gospel and put it into such Phrases that the things of it should not be understood but by the interposure of some such person whom he shall raise up and invest with abilities to be according to that of Job Job 33.23 an Interpreter one among a thousand Now it is an easie matter to find difference between men Those men who are called Preachers and those who are Preachers indeed for Ministers there be many and Preachers many but there are but few who are Teachers indeed We may see by the very Inditing of the Scriptures in such words and Phrases wherein they are conveyed unto us that the state and condition of the generality of men and women considered and their occasions otherwise to lay out the strength of their understandings it is not lightly possible that without an Interpreter they should come to understand them Secondly Sect. 4 By this course we now speak of God gives an opportunity to try the Spirits of men in several kinds 1. By ministring an opportunity unto those who are endowed with gifts and abilities for the work of the Ministry to shew how they will behave themselves in the exercise of the variety of gifts and graces wherewith they are enriched and how they will manage a Work of such a nature as this of the Ministry is with what care and faithfulness and labour of mind and laying out of themselves for the discharging of that trust that is reposed in them 2. To try the people also How they will behave themselves in their attendance upon this great Ordinance of God and whether they will submit unto the Counsel and good Pleasure of God towards them in such a way as this is by attending diligently upon him in this appointment of his and whether they will be faithful and careful in their attendance hereupon And it is a competent trial to the spirit of some men to be put upon the attending upon especially with diligence and a giving reverence unto such an Ordinance of God which wise and prudent men of this World call foolishness For the Apostle we know borrowing the Dialect of the thoughts and speeches of the World calls it The foolishness of Preaching This in the second place Thirdly and lastly for the present There would be one or rather several Administrations lost in the World if the Holy Ghost should furnish men and women immediately by or from himself with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the things of their Eternal Peace whereas by setting on foot such an Ordinance as that of the Ministry of the Gospel he affords the World a great variety of Administrations which as it is a means of much good unto them so doth it tend to the beautifying and adorning the World and it is a thing marvelously declaring the Wisdom the manifold Wisdom of God that he knows how to furnish it with such almost incredible variety in every kind For instance If we look to the Flowers of the Field Herbs Plants and all kind of Vegetables what great variety is there amongst them Now what doth this but declare the infinite Wisdom of God in that he gives such variety of shapes and colours c. unto them and withal hath given men wisdom and skill how to order them for their good according to their several and respective Natures and Operations So if we look into the Sea What an infinite number and various kinds are there both of great and small Fishes So on the Earth What great variety of Creatures are there And of Fouls in the Air there is the like Again If we look into the Firmament What an infinite number of Stars are there also and that of several Magnitudes And in all these Creatures What various Natures Motions Colours and Properties are there amongst them So likewise in the great business of Salvation God by erecting a Ministry amongst men and putting them upon it to have recourse unto this Ordinance to come by the knowledge of the things of their eternal peace doth as it were beautifie the World in this great Ordinance of Preaching the Gospel with many dispensations wherein there are many strains of his Wisdom to be seen which if any one of these should be wanting or missing it would occasion an Hiatus or empty place in the Dispensations of God And as one compared the taking away the Ministry of the Gospel out of the World unto the taking the Sun out of the Firmament of Heaven which would cause a vacuity or emptiness in respect of light and consequently render the whole Creation of God less lovely or desirable In like manner the taking away of this Ordinance of the Ministry of the Gospel would cause a great darkness in respect of all other the Dispensations of God and there would be an empty place in the World As it is said of David when he was absent that his place was empty at Sauls Table Even so it would be in this case if this great Ordinance of the Ministry should be laid aside there would be a great separation of space between the rest of the Members which would occasion a great disparagement and unpleasantness in the World and in the rest of the Ministrations of God and would render them uncomely and less desirable Thus then we plainly see that to despise Prophesying to turn the back upon the Ministry of the Gospel and other Ordinances Appendixes thereof must be a direct means for men and women to empty themselves of the Holy Ghost insteed of filling themselves with him The knowledge of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel rightly understood is that upon which the Spirit doth as it were feed in the souls of men as the flame of fire doth upon oyl cast upon it And this knowledge is not according to the Ordinary Providence and Dispensation of God in the World to be otherwise had than by attending upon the Ministry of the Spirit which is the Preaching of the Gospel What those Quenchers of the Spirit in themselves Sect. 5 by the course we now speak of are wont to plead for themselves and to set a face of
Endeavours Some more of the great Priviledges that accompany a being filled with the Spirit A sixth Motive That the Reasons and Vnderstandings of men are not capable of being employed upon terms of greater benefit and advantage than in this engagement A seventh Consideration taken from the uncertainty of obtaining the things of this World by all the means that can be used and also from the uncertainty of the continuance of these things if gotten Whereas a being filled with the Spirit as it is attainable so by a perseverance in the use of means our attainments in this kind shall stand by us for ever FOurthly Sect. 1 to perswade you to be filled with the Spirit of God I shall further recommend by way of Motive unto you That the very exercise of your minds hearts and souls about the business your very labours and endeavours to obtain such a prize as a being filled with the Spirit is will turn to an happy account and be of worthy concernment unto you not only at the winding up of the business not only at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and receiving the Crown of which more in another Motive but even the running of the Race it self will bless you and that to a very good degree He that shall seriously engage himself in a course likely to produce and issue in a being filled with the Spirit will in a great measure be free from such foolish vain and noysome thoughts and lusts from such impertinent and sinful excursions and runnings to and fro of his mind where into men and women that are disengaged in this kind are continually obnoxious and hereby treasure up nothing but sorrow and shame to themselves It was a prophane Speech and full of slander which Pharaoh used to the Officers of the People of Israel when they came to him to complain of their Burthens and Oppressions by their Taskmasters Exod. 5.17 Ye are idle ye are idle saith he therefore ye say let us go and do sacrifice unto the Lord. But it may be said with soberness and truth that men and women because their hearts are idle and loose from all spiritual Engagements and Projections Therefore they say Come let us follow vain pleasures Let us provide thus and thus for the fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and otherwhile swarms and multitudes of Cogitations that have neither head nor foot as we use to say that are profitable for nothing that have little or no tendency at all to one end or other are rambling up and down in the inward parts of men One main reason of that sad posture wherein God beheld the World when he intended to destroy it by the Floud when every imagination of the thoughts of men were evil continually Gen. 6.5 or every day One main Reason I say why the World was now overgrown with sinful and vain imaginations and thoughts was because men and women the Inhabitants hereof were under no great spiritual Engagements This would have composed them and drawn off those Imaginations of their hearts which were now evil continually from those objects and occasions which made them evil and carried them to objects and occasions of an happy consequence and import The same thoughts and moral actings of their Souls or puttings forth of their imaginative Faculties had they been but directed unto and set upon such objects and occasions which were honourable and good this would have altered their properties and changed their natures from evil unto good For look what a good and faithful Shepherd is to his Sheep he keeps them from scattering from wandring and going astray into places of danger and where they may be lost and causeth them to feed in safety Look I say what a good Shepherd is to his Sheep such is a steady and fixed design being honourable and worthy to the thoughts and imaginations of the hearts of men it keeps them from scattering and running wild this way or that where they are like to be lost and vanish into nothing it keeps them from applying or bending themselves to occasions and things that are evil and causeth them to hunt close and to follow the sweet and rich sent of such a Game which when it is taken and won will enrich and bless men abundantly Now any spiritual design for God and Jesus Christ carried on with strength and vigour this is that which will repell all your vain and foolish thoughts it will draw away all that food which fed and nourished them it will make havock and desolation amongst all your vain thoughts and sinful Lusts which are striving within you in order to the gratifying of the Flesh And this is to be considered further that the greater and more comprehensive a man's Engagement or design is the Dominion which it hath over his thoughts is so much the larger it beareth sway over so many the more of a man's thoughts and leaves a liberty of extravagancy unto so many the fewer of them yea Umpires with so much the higher and stricter hand of authority amongst those unto which its dominion extendeth For instance Suppose a man's design be to live justly Sect. 2 or righteously in the World or to live soberly these designs are good and honourable but they are but narrow in comparison of some others and particularly of that of being filled with the Spirit A man that is seriously and solemnly engaged in his heart and soul to live justly to wrong hinder or defraud no man by vertue of this his design he must needs refrain all thoughts of injustice all projections or devisings which tend to the injuring or endamaging any man in his Estate at least so far as he apprehends any tendency in thoughts this way and consequently all thoughts and imaginations that may arise within him towards Voluptuousness or expensive living and all thoughts of Idleness c. So on the other hand he must needs raise and stir up such thoughts and resolutions within him and exercise himself in them which are proper to dispose and strengthen him to deal justly by all and to give every man that which is his due For whosoever doth not resist and reject all thoughts of the former tendency and indulge and nourish all of the latter it is a plain case that he is not full of that heavenly engagement or design we speak of I mean of dealing justly by all men he is hollow and slight in it But a man may be really under the command of this design and yet be extravagant and impertinent in thoughts of another nature and tendency I mean vain and sinful in thoughts of several other kinds which we shall not particularly insist upon There are many vain thoughts which may be entertained in the minds and hearts of men which carry no direct opposition to the design of giving to every man his due Now because this design is but narrow although it extendeth it self to many of a man's thoughts yet nevertheless there are many others
that are as bad as these that may have a standing in the hearts of men and have place and room to abide there There is the same Reason and Consideration of all other Purposes Intentions and Designs that are of such a particular and limited nature as this But that design or engagement which in the present Motive we commend unto you viz. to be filled with the Spirit is more comprehensive and where it hath taken the heart or soul with strength and power it extendeth its Jurisdiction and Command to all a man's Thoughts Purposes Counsels mental Agitations Ends and Aims whatsoever Regulating Restraining Ordering Umpiring setting up and casting down according to the exigency and import of it This is the very nature of this design that he that hath espoused it hath upon the matter threatned all vain Thoughts all loose Cogitations he hath threatned them all with ruine and destruction and with the casting them out of his heart for ever The Reason hereof is because the nature of this Engagement is such that it cannot be effectually promoted or carried on but by a diligent and vigilant superintendency and inspection over all a man's thoughts and all that stirreth or moveth or that is conceived in him For the Spirit taketh check and is grieved at least to a degree at every connivance or indulgence of any thing that is impertinent unsavoury and foolish inordinate or irregular in the heart or inward part of a man and must have nothing cherished favoured or so much as tolerated here but what is sober holy just and every waies conformable to the Law and Mind of God otherwise he will not advance or lift up himself in the mind and soul of a man upon any such terms as he is ready to do when he is pleased and accommodated to his mind in all things It is true it is not the meer conceiving or rising up of foolish vain and irregular thoughts in the heart or mind of a man or woman which is distasteful to the Holy Ghost so as to offend or grieve him for then he should take pleasure in no man whatsoever but it is the indulging of them and when nothing is done to suppress them it is not simply their rising up in the minds of men but the approving of them or at least the not endeavouring to suppress them which causeth the Spirit of God that he will not cannot work mightily Eph. 4.29 30. Where the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians that no corrupt communication should proceed out of their mouths He adds And grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Corrupt Communication doth argue that the root of bitterness within a man is let alone and winked at for otherwise if it had been taken while it was a lust while only in the bud it would never have proceeded so high let therefore no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouths and grieve not the holy Spirit c. When foolish dispositions are let alone they will grow as weeds which if plucked up whilest young would keep from seeding So if Lust and sinful motions be rejected at first coming they will never shew themselves out of doors Therefore when any person man or woman shall have espoused that most honourable and heavenly design we speak of of being filled with the Spirit if they be loyal and true to their Espousals in this kind they must and cannot but abstain from and suppress all absurd foolish and extravagant thoughts On the contrary It is very considerable that these importune and troublesome Guests or Inmates we speak of vain wilde foolish and impertinent motions and thoughts will hardly ever be reduced or brought to leave the mind or soul of a man unless it be by the interposure of some-great and worthy design cordially entertained and resolved on by the Soul there is hardly any other course will do it And when any man or woman shall for some tolerable time have practised this suppression and rejection of vain and foolish thoughts as they arise and put forth in them they shall for the future have less and less trouble with them they will not be so apt to rise in that heart or soul which is not wont to give them entertainment where they are like to die as soon as they begin to live Even as weeds by oft removing and cutting their roots are quite killed in time their root is discouraged and dieth or as hurtful flocks of Birds by being oft frighted or driven away from the Corn grow weary of coming there where they are continually frighted and not suffered to have any rest or peace Thus we see the truth of the Motive in hand viz. Sect. 3 That the very exercise of the heart mind and soul about the business or engagement of being filled with the Spirit is of a rich and excellent concernment unto you not only in reference to the grand prize or end of being filled with the Spirit but also in respect of other services it will do you by the way It will as you have heard put you upon another blessed exercise I mean to keep your hearts and minds free from a troublesome and ignoble Rabble of foolish vain unprofitable and noysome thoughts Let us only for a close of this Motive weigh and ponder a little of how happy and worthy a consequence and concernment it is for men and women to have ease and freedom in this kind to be delivered from such cogitations and thoughts which are apt without end to infest and molest their minds and hearts which ought to be a Temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in being good for nothing but to dishonour pollute and defile wherever they come and to put by their betters My Brethren to make you see of what great concernment it is to you you may please to consider that your minds and understandings are the most noble and divine part of our nature and the puttings forth of them are the best Trees in our Orchard and those that will bear the best and largest fruit Now then for these to give out their strength in things that be unprofitable and not only so but in that which annoyeth molesteth and defileth a man is so great an imbasement of them and will turn to so great damage and loss that it cannot in reason but be apprehended a mighty accommodation to be free from the cause hereof Now then inasmuch as we are not born free nor can be free in this kind but by much labour My Brethren If any of you as it is said of Lot that he vexed his righteous soul with the unclean Conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.7 have vexed your souls with these impure thoughts and malignant cogitations if you have been truly sensible and have taken knowledge of them it is impossible but that you should much lament the loss and damage your minds and understandings do you when they bring forth such rotten
you upon the like terms of benefit comfort and advantage unto you in every kind in any other way Suppose you shall totally lay aside and cut off from your minds and thoughts that engagement we speak of as the far greatest part of the World seem to do and pitch upon some other end and projection besides to bestow your time and opportunities upon and to exercise and imploy your Reasons and Understandings about whatsoever you shall pitch upon in this kind you will make a losing bargain by the hand you will but sow the wind in comparison Put case you should wave and decline the great business of being filled with the Spirit and should lay out your money give the Price that is in your hand to purchase Honour or some great place of Preferment in the World One thing is you may be defeated and disappointed in what you lift up your heart unto in this kind many have strained themselves and crackt the best vain in their hearts to catch at this shadow and yet have missed it As Absolom laboured in the very fire to make himself King but his device was too great for him to perform whilest he put forth his hand to reach a Crown he took hold of nothing but death and ruine Again secondly Suppose a man should be able to make his nest amongst the Stars and to walk up and down in the midst of Stoves of fire as it is said of the King of Tyre Ezek. 28.14 in respect of grandeur in the World yet even this would be but a faint and heartless condition in comparison A Nest amongst the Stars is in continual danger of being pulled down as all that have been made there since the beginning of the World have been and he that walketh up and down with the greatest confidence and security amongst the Stoves of fire as the King of Tyre did will be sooner at the end of his walk than he is aware of Whereas he that is filled with the Spirit the very taste and relish of his condition is rich above measure heart-taking and soul-pleasing He knows that unless he himself shall pull down voluntarily and with both his hands what he hath built up for himself in peace and happiness his Mountain is too strong ever to be removed either by Angels or men There is the same consideration of all other ends or designs whatsoever which may be conceived to be Competitors with the great work we have so much spoken of and with so much affection and importunity commended unto you If you shall cause your minds and understandings to serve you in raising your selves to great Estates in the World and gathering in Riches and making your Families great on Earth or in making provision of pleasures and delights for the flesh in one kind or other any of these will be but like the pilling of straws as we use to say in comparison they will be loss unto you Those Noble and Princelike Faculties of Reason Judgment and Understanding were created and formed by God and vested in the Natures or Souls of men with a regular proportion and as it were on purpose to make after designs truly honourable and high such as a being filled with the Spirit of God is together with others of like nature and worth with it and not at all to project or make provision for the flesh or for the outward man save only in due subordination unto these As on the other hand these spiritual and heavenly designs these high enjoyments are in their Natures and Constitutions suited to the said Faculties and as it were made and devised by God to be sought after compassed and obtained by them Much after the same manner as the Apostle observeth the reciprocal proportion in Nature and the Providence of God between the belly and meats Meats saith he for the belly and the belly for meats meaning the belly with the Appurtenances of it in the natural body of a man and so of other Creatures is so ordered and tempered by the natural constitution that it is apt to receive and concoct meat and convert it to the nourishment strength and health of the body As on the other hand meats are of such a nature and constitution as that they are sutable to the belly and apt to be digested there and turned into nourishment and therefore as it would be an unnatural kind of handling the mouth stomach and belly an abuse of them contrary to Nature to put stones and dirt into them or any thing that is contrary to the nourishment and good habit and state of the body or outward man In like manner for men and women to compel their Minds Reasons and Understandings to labour and travel either only or principally about things of an inferiour worth and perishable nature is a kind of unnatural dealing with them when as they are naturally endowed and made capable of higher engagements and attainments It is to reproach their excellency and to change their natural use into that which is against nature The Scripture it self from place to place urgeth and presseth upon men the Notion and Import of the Motive in hand Sect. 7 holding it forth with great emphaticalness and weight of Words and Phrases how great a matter of disparagement and shame and other while what an unspeakable loss is it unto men to make those Princes we speak of to go on foot I mean those divine Endowments of their Souls to travel for the wind of the slight Accommodations of this present World being capable of such imployments by the Law of their Creation by which the face of the Creature Man may shine for evermore Consider we briefly some few passages in this kind instead of many Labor not to be rich cease from thine own wisdom c. Prov. 23.4 5. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool to get Wisdom seeing he hath not a heart to it Pro. 17.16 He speaketh here as if Wisdom were in a great passion to see men enriched by God for great attainments and yet it should so fall out that they imployed these abilities and faculties about things that were but meer Toyes By Wisdom he means such things whereby he shall proclaim himself to be wise if he shall seek after them namely all the blessed conequences of Wisdom as Happiness Blessedness Glory c. in the general and every particular contained in these generals which any way may serve to advance the Creature man in true joy or felicity Now Wisdom as was noted before speaks with great indignation interrogative wise Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool c. a standing advantage to make his face to shine and yet he not have a heart to improve it but turns the means which God hath put into his hand quite another way Let us also consider that other place Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not For Riches certainly make themselves wings they
to the Creature in a lower sense Thirdly It is here said that the love of God when it is perfect in the sense declared casteth out fear meaning that the Genius or property of this holy and heavenly affection is to work or cast our fear viz. that kind of fear which hath pain or torment in it as he presently expresseth himself perfect love casteth out fear viz. when it is set on work and imployed accordingly for no passion or affection in man acteth or moveth but only upon some apprehensions or other answerable to that affection especially spiritual affections or affections when spiritualized and as such do not produce the effects that are most natural and proper to them but by the mediation and engagement of the understanding The reason hereof seems to be because such affections as these are not natural unto men but are as it were grafted and implanted upon or into their natures by the Spirit of God associating himself in the work by means whereof their effects and consequents especially some of the richest and choicest and most excellent of them are like strangers unto them they cannot be produced by the affections themselves but by the intervening of the Reasons and Judgments and Understandings of men consulting with the Scriptures or Word of God Now where such affections take place in men the affection is ready to produce the fruit that is natural and proper to it so that when it is said Perfect love casteth out fear it doth not import that this is alwaies done but only that it may be done that there is that in the nature of love that is sufficient and proper to do it We lately gave you this Rule that Verba agendi quandoque naturam seu vim tantùm innuunt Verbs properly signifying action many times only declare the natures and properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do as when the Apostle saith that knowledge puffeth up but charity or love edifieth 1 Cor. 8.1 the meaning is not that knowledge alwaies puffeth up but only it importeth that there is a kind of property in knowledge which is apt to puff up And so when he saith Charity edifieth the meaning is not that this grace is alwaies working thus but it only declares the genius of this famous grace viz. That it is apt to provoke men and women to seek for their spiritual enriâ—hing with the light and knowledge of God So here Perfect love casteth out fear i. e. it is the nature and property of love to cast fear out of the heart viz. when it is grown perfect in the sense lately declared If it be here demanded Sect. 12 but if it be the nature or property of love to cast out fear Why is the effect here appropriate unto perfect love and not rather unto love simply in what degree soever Things that are essential to the nature of things are not suspended upon their degrees To this I reply if the act or effect here spoken of the casting out of fear did proceed simply and solely from love let the degree of it be what it will doubtless love in the lowest degree of it as well as in that perfection or strength here required would do the service But as in another case faith is said to act or work by love so in the case in hand Love in casting out fear worketh by knowledge As thus a man must not simply love God but he must know he loveth God for otherwise our love to God will not be found to have such power to cast out fear as a Sun-Dial the use and end of it being to shew the time of the day yet will do nothing in this kind but only when the Sun shineth upon it So it is in this case if the love of God be in the heart of man yet if it be not shined upon by the understanding and so have strength and vigour added to it it will be insignificant and do nothing towards the casting out of fear Or as the Well of water near Hagar Gen. 21.19 did not refresh her nor minister any hope of life until she knew where it was So likewise is it with the love of God if it lieth unknown to the mind of a man it will be as if it were asleep it will not stir nor do any thing that is worthy of it If a man or woman who loves God but a little yet really and truly could certainly know that they do thus love him this lower degree of this affection would cast out fear So that the reason why this great effect of casting out fear is appropriated to love when it is perfect is because usually it is not nay it very hardly can be known but only where it sheweth it self like the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven otherwise a man will be alwaies questioning whether he love God yea or no. Now when a man cannot be thoroughly satisfied that he loves God it cannot be that his love should cast out fear But if he have the knowledge that he loveth God this love of God though but small would cast out fear as well as the other which is perfect If it be further demanded But why should love though perfect cast out fear What is there or what may there be conceived to be in the nature of it that should have that kind of antipathy against fear so as to remove and not to suffer it to abide in the heart and soul I answer The reason of this effect as proceeding from love is to be found as well in the nature of that fear which is cast out by it as in love it self or the nature hereof For it is not the property of love to cast out every thing else as well as fear Therefore the Reason at least somewhat of the reason why it worketh here by way of antipathy doth depend upon the nature and genius of this fear and the reason here given of this effect of love is in reference only to the nature of fear Perfect love saith he casteth out fear because fear hath Torment so that it is that fear which is apt to offend grieve disquiet and discourage the hearts of men that is cast out by perfect love But why should that fear which hath this property in it namely to torment give an opportunity to love to throw it out of the hearts of men The Reason hereof again is because the love of God is a grace of such high acceptation with God and renders those wherever it is found Friends of God and God is not willing that any of his Friends any of those that love him should taste any thing that is grievous or obstructive unto their peace and therefore he hath given perfect love this property he hath put enmity between this principle of love in men and between whatsoever doth pain or trouble or torment them and whatsoever it hath of this kind of property to discharge all fear that hath torment in