can get himself in those three things Saints under the Law in three respects out from it then he is wholy clear The Saints are under it partly either In respect of their Persons Actions Afflictions For their persons that is we do conceive that we do 1. As to their persons deal with God in some measure according to his law we think that God doth deal with us according to his law and that we deal with God in some measure according to his law Whereas we should conceive that God doth not look on me or speak to me or deal with me at all according to the law Christ having fulfilled it and I being dead to it but only in reference to grace so I deal with God as he is my Father as he is revealed to me in grace in the Doctrine of the Gospel so that if we could conceive that our persons are fully justified that all my weaknesses thoughout the day or week or year do not make me according to his Law one jot more unjust nor all my good doth not make me more just for Christ Jesus his Death and Resurrection doth that wholly therefore my person for ever is freed from the power of the Law and if I sin grace may call me to account for it and whip and scourge me with his Ferula but for the Law what have I to do with that what have I to do with a husband that is dead and buried what have I to do with the Covenant of works that Jesus Christ hath fulfilled and cancelled Therefore get your persons clear of the Law for that is it that evidenceth many times that you are not because when you sin against God then there ariseth storms within you that were once without you on Mount Sinai that blackness and darkness then you fear you are hypocrites then you finde wrath in your consciences as oft as you finde wrath that is the work of the Law for the Law worketh wrath it shews clearly that your persons are not quite freed from the Law for though there should be sorrow and more kindly and abundant sorrow then ever you felt before and care and other things yet even that wrath and horror and hardness of heart and risings of spirit against God will testifie that in some measure your persons are under the Law Ye are not under the Law Secondly Your actions I say should not be under 2 In respect of their actions the Law for as one saith as our persons are justified fully by Christ so are our actions that is whatsoever action I do or commit however that action may not be pleasing to God according to Grace or the Gospel it may not be an acceptable sacrifice as all our actions should be yet notwithstanding we should not conceive that our actions are to be squared and measured according to the rule and life of the Law which is the Covenant of works As for Instance when a man is under the Law whose actions are under the Law he labors all the day long to please God to serve and obey him but if he fail but once or twice that day in his duty there is some confusion whispered in his soul that all is lost there is more trouble for that one failing then he hath comfort for all that he hath done that day that is just the Law for the Law saith if he fail in one he is guilty of all Now if a man be under grace he rejoyceth in his sincere indeavor to honor God and he rejoyceth in the passages of that day that he hath had communion with God and where there is weakness there would be a sweet clear mourning for it in reference to God as a Father and not to have the heart estranged from God and straitned Our actions in a great measure are under the Law Our actions are freed from the Law in this life but we know not our freedom They are freed thus all arise either from flesh or spirit for those are the two beginnings the two first beeings of all Now those of the flesh for a Christian may do an action that is purely flesh that hath no good in it then that is a sin Christ Jesus hath done it away Now if it be an action that ariseth from his holy Spirit that flows from the principle of Iesus Christ that is in him the Lord accepts of it that is done already if he were able to do it yet it comes too late but onely he doth it as the honest upright indeavor of a loving childe to a dear father So could we measure our actions according to that rule our lives would be more holy and more sweet and comfortable Thirdly our afflictions or sufferings it were well 3 Relating to their afflictions if we could get out from under the lash of the Law in all these there we are deeply under it as soon as ever we are whipped then we say God hath found me out and it is true God may whip me for it because I will not take notice of it though God will not hide his countenance and his smiles from his childe one jot further then he must needs do it for fear of cockering him therefore I know if God frown and hide his face that God loves me and he would shew it but I have a base heart that at such times as that would like some sin and be wanton otherwise God hath no delight to hide his face a moment Now all my afflictions and sufferings I am not to look on them under the Law that is as though God in reference to these had a purpose to satisfie himself and his vengeance and to let his wrath fall upon me that is clearly to frustrate the death of Christ but I am to look on that as fully satisfied and done by Christ and God is more faithful then to be paid twice but I am to look upon all my afflictions as proceeding from the love of a dear father and I can take notice of many sins that displease him and he hath many Gospel-ends to do me good therefore in afflictions I admit not one hard thought of God but love him more for his favor in the Gospel If we see afflictions under grace aright then afflictions do exceedingly kindle love to God and increase our communion with him and whereas they make us run from God they would make us run to him and delight in him but we are under the Law and that makes our persons and actions and afflictions to be a burthen O that the Lord would help us to get clear of it that every one would labour to get his spirit his person his actions and his corrections and all clear of that and dead to that But ye are under grace Grace in this place as I conceive hath a very large extent and is not taken onely for that favor of God as it is usually in Scripture but there is something meant by it that shall
works and no otherwise for I know this no trouble nothing can befall a Saint that is rightly principled according to the Gospel but it is exceeding amiable If there be sorrow for sin or any thing that you account bitter in it self if it fall on such a soul that is indued with such a principle that is as sweet as any thing else I may say though it be Nonsence to carnal ears his sorrow is as sweet as his joy his sorrow for sin is as sweet as his joy for mercies if he be one that is rightly transplanted from Mount Sinai to Mount Sion Therefore see how the Apostle lays it down look on it and you shall see nothing but what is truly amiable But ye are come to Mount Sion Now Mount Sion was a beautiful place saith the holy Ghost the beautifullest place in all Ierusalem where the Kings house was Davids house covered with gold Therefore beautiful things in Scripture are laid down by the name of Sion and usually it is called the Virgin Sion for fairness and beauty Ye are come to Mount Sion And to the City of the living God What is that The heavenly Ierusalem Not to the old Ierusalem that was subject to be taken and to be burned and subject to pestilence and famine and sword but to the heavenly Ierusalem the Ierusalem that comes down from heaven And to an innumerable company of Angels You are come now to the place where there are Myriads of Angels In the state of the Saints in the new Testament there are innumerable companies of Angels that God hath ordered to waite on them to protect and preserve and to save them In the old Testament we read of one Angel here and another there one Angel was sent to Sennacheribs Camp to destroy it but here is an innumerable company of Angels this is the state of the Church in the new Testament To the general assembly and Church of the first born I cannot go over all the particulars but if you read All things amiable to a man rightly built upon Christ them over you shall see that there is no object but what is throughly amiable and that is the onely thing I would commend to you Let him be a man that is rightly laid upon Jesus Christ and hath the right knowledg of him according to the Gospel by his holy Spirit I do not say that there is a little but there is nothing that he can conceive or imagine but it is sweet and amiable and pleasant to him as For instance look which way you will if he behold God there he seeth infinite sweetness how he is his Father reconciled to him and ful of eternal bowels of affection towards him before the world was one that loves him infinitely and takes care of him perpetually If he look on Jesus Christ he sees that he is his husband he is one with him as Christ is one with the Father If he look upon the Ordinances he sees them as blessed pipes that have many sweet promises to convey more of the love of God and of his Spirit to his soul If he look upon the creatures he sees the glory of God upon them in creating them and the goodness of God in providing them for him and he tasts the love of God in them If he look on afflictions he sees them as sweet wise and seasonable corrections from his heavenly Father to bring him nearer to him If he look on sin as sin is the transgression of the Moral Law he sees all forgiven by the righteousness that is in Christ and all nailed to his Cross and he knows that sin in him shall work for the best that it may make him prize the grace of God more and come nearer to God If he look on persecution and the plotting of wicked people against the Church a Saint that is rightly set in the new Testament he sees nothing but what is beautiful and amiable Not but that there are objects that in themselves are not amiable as sin is not amiable in it self properly considered neither is affliction but he hath such a glass the Lord casts such a light in him through which he sees every thing the light of the Gospel through the holy Spirit that there is nothing but joy and comfort That is the reason that the Apostle commands which is a strange command Rejoyce saith he in the midst of afflictions rejoyce when ye fall into divers temptations And rejoyce and again rejoyce Phil. 4. And presently after Let your patience and moderation be known unto all men As if he had said Ye are in great afflictions yet rejoyce evermore If these Philippians had been as we are and had had those principles of Mount Sinai in them they would never have rejoyced in those great afflictions but having clearly the love of God in them and justification rightly placed on Christ and the principles of the Gospel rightly planted in them there was no affliction or temptation whatsoever but they could rejoyce in it Rejoyce evermore I do not know whether you yet fully understand it the Lord teach you that you may know what is the hope of you calling what a glorious condition God hath called you to I will conclude with three or four words of Exhortation to you from this Lesson that every object that a Saint that is in the new Ierusalem can behold is altogether amiable The uses are here mentioned in the Chapter before Then in the first place learn not to faint under afflictions 1. Use Not to faint in afflictions for that is the reason the Apostle brings this in do not so much strive or struggle how to get out of afflictions as to get more Gospel light to see afflictions for that is all one nay better then the other Therefore if the Lord do but give you a little Eye-salve that is his Spirit to look on them you shall see no gall nor taste nor see any misery or evil in them at all That is the Use that is here spoken of Therefore what ever thy afflictions be labor to understand rightly their nature and thy station in the new Testament and no doubt but thou shalt bear them through Another Use that the Apostle teacheth us is this 2. Not to undervalue the glorious condition of Saintship and me thinks in my apprehension it is a very considerable word Beware least there be any fornicator or prophane person among you as Esau that for one morsel of meat sold his Birthright for saith he we are not come to the Mount that might be touched I apprehend the meaning to be this that this being so the estate of a Saint being so glorious then beware you that are Professors least any of you be so prophane as to sell your birth-right that is all your glorious priviledges and unconceiveable happiness in your condition for a mess of pottage that is that you do not relinquish basely these mercies to forsake your
more and more for we are setling like the Jews in an outward formal Reformation without heart Now it would be terrible if the Lord should chuse our own administration and give us according to our own heart I hope he will not But this lay heavy upon my spirit to tell you of therefore the Lord direct you to make the best use you can that if it be his blessed will this place that is the honor and glory of the Kingdom and the refuge of the Saints that the Lord would not come against it FINIS THE TABLE  Page A  Abiding  ABiding with God in evil times 72 Actions  Saints not under the Law in their actions 157 Afflictions  Afflictions of godly and wicked how different 31 Afflictions turn to the good of Saints 119 The life of Faith in afflictions 130 Saints not under the Law in regard of afflictions 150 Afflictions not to be fainted in 194 Amend  All should amend when the wicked are punished 104 Angels  Angels pry into Gospel mysterie 201 Angels good and bad do it ibid. Apostacy  Apostacy a provoking sin 11 Assurance  Life of Faith in Assurance 130 Awake  Christians duty to awake God 86 B.  Betray  Not to betray Gods cause 88 Blasphemy  Blasphemy a provoking sin 9 Blessing see latter  Bristol  Gods mercy in recovering Bristol 107 C  Christ See cleaving  Christ makes all things amiable 192 Cleaving  Blessedness of cleaving to the Lord 70 Honor of cleaving to Christ in ill times 73 Special times of cleaving to God 77 Comfort  What should help Christians comfort 175 Conceits  Vain conceits of wicked men 33 Confidence  Ground of a Christians confidence 27 Consolation  Consolation a duty 40 Four things that hinder consolation ibid. Covenant  Spiritual understanding of the New Covenant effects of it 66 Covetousness  Covetousness a provoking sin 237 Creature  The vanity of the Creature why discovered 61 Conjunction  Conjunction of those that cleave to God 70 D.  Difference  Difference of Gods dealing with Saints 36 Difference between Saints and sinners 208 Discouraged  Weak Saints not to be discouraged 143 Distrust  Distrust in times of danger to be avoided 87 Division  Division among Saints a provoking sin 9 Duty See Consolation  Four grounds of Duty 149 E.  Enemies  Assurance of victory over enemies the effects of it 64 How God destroyes his enemies 85 Equality  Equality that should be between Saints 144 Evil see good  Example  Example of Saints a ground of prayer 150 F.  Faith  Faith the want of it what it doth 40 Faith the life of it 44 Faith how God tries it 83 Faith how the just live by it 128 See Affliction Assurance Sanctification  False  False dealing 237 Fondness  Holy fondness between God and the Saints 54 Holy fondness in five things 55 Fondness wrought four ways 61 Formality  Formality in duties a provoking sin 4 See Reformation  G.  Garison see Minde  God see Hypocrisie Persecutors  Good  To call evil good a provoking sin 11 See Afflictions Work  Gospel  Gospel precepts highest 162 Gospel Mysteries to be attended 202 Gospel riches to be admired 204 Gospels simplicity 225 Government  Government how to be affected 204 Greater  How to argue from less mercies to greater 120 Grace  Grace weak how to comfort it 45 Grace what meant by it 160 Of those that are under Grace 162 Power in Grace more then the Law 164 H.  Heart  Heart hardened 8 Hidden  Saints Gods hidden ones 90 Holiness  Holiness desired on wrong grounds 41 Right laboring for holiness 198 See Comfort  Hypocrisie  Hypocrisie hateful to God 48 Hipocrites honor creatures above God 50 Hypocrisie dishonors God ibid. I.  Judg.  Saints not to judg one another 143 Judgments  Maner of Gods proceeding to judgment 2 Cause of judgments what 3 Judgments why sent 103 Ingenuity  Ingenuity of right Saints 163 Justification  How to live by Faith in Justification 128 133 K.  Kiss  Holy Kiss what 145 L.  Latter Last  Blessing of the latter times 122 First shall be last how 138 Law  Saints under the Law how 156 See Persons Actions Afflictions Gospel  Learning  Learning humane wherein useful 211 Life see Faith Sanctification  Lord see cleaving  Love  Love of God what it works 62 To love though we be not loved 181 Mutual love how attained 184 M.  Minde  Garison of the minde what 16 Mingled  The life of a Christian mingled 133 Ministers  Ministers sins provoke God 149 N.  Nature  Duties grounded in nature 6 O.  Officers  Officers sins provoke God 8 Oppression  Sin of oppression 236 Ordinance  Prayer an Ordinance of God 149 Ordinances not to be neglected 152 Ordinances needful 153 P.  Patience see waiting  Peace  Peace to be studied by Saints 196 Perpetual see Prayer Persecutors Persecution  To cleave to God in persecution 78 Persecutors design 91 God persecuted in the Saints 93 Children of the godly may prove fierce persecutors 99 Persons  Persons of Saints how under the Law 156 Power  Power that Saints have 166 The Spirit called power how 173 See Grace  Prayer  Prayer a perpetual duty 151 Prayer whence it proceeds 169 Wants of prayer how supplied 170 See Ordinance Nature Precept Example Promise  Precept  Precepts ground of prayer 150 See Gospel  Promises  Promises ground of prayer 151 Protection  Protection of God who have right to it 21 Pride  Pride how discovered 185 R.  Reflect  Reflect acts hard to man 177 Saints to reflect on their estate 178 Reformation  Formal Reformation a provoking sin 5 Refuge  God a refuge 14 To repair to God as a refuge 17 Religion  Religion wherein it consists 211 Riches see Gospel  Revolting  Revolting a provoking sin 239 S.  Saints see Weak Sanctification  Life of Faith in Sanctification 129 131 Saintship to be prized 194 Satan  Grounds of Caution against Satan 202 Security  Security why to avoyd it 140 Self-love  Self-love a provoking sin 10 Shame  Iudgments sent to shame men 103 Simplicity  Simplicity of Religion 212 Simplicity of the Gospel 223 Sin  What sins provoke judgments 3 Carriage of Saints faln into sin 43 Saints carriage in a deluge of sin 77 Aggravations of sin 240 Silent  God silent in danger why 83 Soul  The soul of God departs from incorrigible sinners 244 Spirit  Spirit powerful in Saints 166 Spirit undervalued how 167 Spirit wherein powerful 169 Spirit differs Saints and Sinners 208 Spirit how known 210 Spirit to be labored for 213 Spirits excellency 215 Spirits grieving dangerous 220 Spirit to be prized 221 See Word Teaching Work Power  T.  Teaching  Teaching of the Spirit 170 Testament  Testaments compared 188 Trouble  Trouble in Saints whence 190 V.  Vengeance  Vengeance of God against the wicked 27 Union  Union between Christ and Christians 229 Upright  Uprightness ground of it 22 Uprightness how tried 84 W.  Waiting  Ground of waiting on God 112 Weak  Weak Saints not to be contemned 141 Weak Saints their carriage to stronger 142 Weak Saints to be encouraged 196 Word  Spirit to be advanced as speaking in the Word 168 Work  Who works in and for us 172 To be ready to every good work 206 FINIS
Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working What is the meaning of that That that made the Prophet cry out that the Lord was wonderful in Counsel and mighty in working it was this to see the harmony between Gods Works in his Books and in his Creatures O who would think when a man is plowing that there were such a mystery there that he should fetch a glorious mystery in afflicting his Saints from a little Cummin This also is from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working that he reveales his blessed will in his book and gives such a glorious copy of it in the creatures that we may understand the one by the other Thus have I shewed you a little of the meaning of the word of God in this Chapter as I understand Expositions and Observations on ISAIAH 40. 1. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God YOu shall finde that in the Scriptures especially Consolation a duty in the New Testament we are commanded to comfort one another as much as to exhort and more then to reprove It is very ordinary Comfort one another Though the other duties to the Saints in the New Testament are full of consolation The Apostle from every argument would have us draw comfort from the coming of Christ and every thing almost There are these four things that I shall speak of Four things hinder Consolation that hinder the consolation that might be in your souls If I take away those hinderances it is as much as if I did positively comfort Im ∣ pediment First The first is I will not say you want faith but you have a faith of the Law and not of the Gospel You believe in God but not in Christ My meaning is this your saith is begotten and bred according to the doctrine and principles of the Old Testament It is good and true but it is bred and nourished according to the principles and strain of the Old Testament which old Testament saith the Apostle is done away You need not stumble you know my meaning your faith is not yet come clearly according to the strain and course and frame of the New Testament You will say There is but little difference between the old and the New Testament Look how they be opposed 2 Cor. 3. Gal. 2. and in the Hebrews that is the main business to shew the difference between the old and New Testament Now that your faith is so it will appear three ways Which appears three ways First there is a Heathenish desire of sanctification of holiness Holiness is a blessed thing and there are none desire more earnestly sincerely to be holy then the Saints in the New Testament Holiness is upon the bridles of the horses of the Church yet there is a desire of holiness in the soul that is legal faith that by the earnest desire of holiness a man may see the frame of his faith to be legal There may be a thirst that ariseth from a Feaverish distemper of body that is not good Therefore truly a man may desire holiness more then happiness as you are wont to express it He may desire holiness and to avoyd sin more then Hell it self and any thing in the world He may say he would not for a world but overcome his lusts and O that I could overcome my frowardness and my pride and yet it may be a Heathenish kinde of thirst I have known people that have gone every day to hear and have wept and desired holiness and yet out of a Heathenish desire of holiness Why what is the meaning of this how comes this about The soul resolving to be justified and to finde favor with God partly by the righteousness of Christ and partly by some grace not that it hath but that it hopes to have Therefore the soul as a Feaverish man reacheth out and layes down this conclusion I must be holy and there are some things if I could reach them then I should be well and so the Feaver grows higher and higher And God crosseth him for it is against the way of the Gospel God will do no good to us if we go contrary to his glory Therefore if we weep our hearts out we shall not have it for it is a designe of our own saith God You will not be content with the righteousness of Christ but you will have something to make it up you will believe and be holy but you shall go my way or not at all Now a Saint that is according to Gods minde first upon believing in Jesus Christ and his righteousness his soul is fully satisfied and he is at peace He saith Lord whether I be holy or not I see a full righteousness in Jesus Christ to justifie me and to sanctifie me and pacifie my conscience And Lord here I am Thou knowest that I have nothing but my old nature thou art wise all my sins are done away do with me what thou wilt If thou wilt put me to pain or into poverty or into Hell or suffer me to go in rags all my life long do so As a godly man said If pride and frowardness must have its work though I had rather go to Hell for the time yet here I am I rejoyce in my spirit because I am accepted of thee So here is a desire of holiness but it is not Heathenish as if a man could have no assurance and comfort in his soul till he had gotten such a degree of grace These are Feaverish desires Secondly It appears to me that your comfort is not right that your faith is not according to the Gospel because of the startlings in your conscience after sin That when God suffers the soul to be overtaken and to fall the soul startles that is horror seizeth presently upon the conscience and hardness upon the heart there is a startling that makes a man that he cannot go on in his calling that makes all his neighbors take notice of him as if he were not his own man Take it as a general rule the most and the greatest dangers or the most dangerous errors border nearest on the most glorious light It is blessed to startle at sin and to desire holiness but I say there is a Heathenish desire of holiness and startling at sin that argues That the conscience is not quieted in Christ Object You will say when a Saint falls into sin shall he take no notice of it Answ Yes and have no peace till he have poured out his soul to God But yet as a Son to a Father and his assurance is whole still Thou art my beloved father and all that is befaln me thou hast suffered it and hast a hand in it I confess Father I am an unhappy childe there is never a member of thy Son Christ that thou hast more trouble with then with me there is none of them so vile and so the heart is all wholly poured out
Saint that is fond of God bring him meat he sees the love of God in Christ in it bring him cloathes or any thing his eye is fastened more upon the love of God in Christ then upon the thing As the spouse in the Canticles for the Canticles is a book of fondnesse between Christ and his people she hears one talk I warrant you saith she this is the voice of my beloved she is so fond of him that she could not hear one talk but she saith It is my beloved when she looks on the gallery and the lattice I warrant you saith she my beloved looks thorow that grate and when she sleeps her heart waketh It is a blessed thing when we do not eye things in themselves but so as we are able to see God in them And you shall know it by the various tempers of your souls for sometimes you are more spirituall and sometimes more carnall when you are carnall you use more of the creature and never see God at all but when you are spirituall you see God and his love in Christ in every thing I shall now shew you how God brings his children This fondness wrought four wayes to this holy fondnesse and I would leave you longing for it and I trust in God to leave some souls sick till God work and bring up their souls to that I will name but onely four The first thing is that God utterly convinceth a Saint 1. By disabling all the Creation to this end of the vanity of every creature and of every condition he will never be fond till then God lets him suck one creature after another and then he sees the vanity of them God puts him into one condition after another O saith a Saint when he is sick if I were well I should rejoyce and glorifie God God gives him health and then he is in a worse temper When he is poor saith he If I had to pay my debts and to set up handsomly then I should serve God God sets him up and lets his heart go after covetousnesse and saith to him Dost thou not see that thou art worse then thou wert before So God chaseth him from one creature to another and from one condition to another If he would be in the Country God convinceth him that he will be worse then in the Town At last he saith Lord I have tried and hunted all and I see they are a company of vanities And sometime when he is sick in body and shaken in soul God appears gloriously and makes the worst condition better then the best so God follows and traseth and chaseth him from one to another till he bring him to see every creature vanity and every condition and saith a Saint I do not much care what condition whether he put me in prison or at liberty whether I be rich or poor well or sick so he reveal himself to my soul You will never be fond till you come to that till God convince you of all conditions and of the use of all creatures and tire thee that thy soul may say God is all in all I am indifferent what creatures I have or want or what condition I am in for I have seen God to be all in all I have seen nothing in riches and in liberty but as God comes into a condition or is absent so it is sweet or bitter good or bad People that are professors in these sad times they would not be so reaching and griping and undermining for offices and places and preferments and I know not what if they did see this Another way it this that the Lord sheds his love into their hearts Rom 5. he poures it out as you would 2 By Gods pouring forth his love in their heart pour out a Paile or a Bucket of water God so over-powers the heart with his love that there is no guilt no hardness no fear no spirit of bondage at all left in the soul Beloved why are not we more fond of God why is not he more deare to us The reason is because we have many hard thoughts of him that he may be an enemy as well as a friend and I know not what he means I look upon him at a catch as with a staffe in his hand to strike me There are abundance of those thoughts in the soul especially in affliction some professors are ready to say God hath found me out as an hypocrite and plagueth me In afflictions ordinary professors loose more though they talk of getting But the Lord comes to some of his children and so over-powers their hearts with his love that there is not one thought nor imagination in their hearts but onely of love to him and then they will be fond for when they see pure love in God and nothing but a principle of pure love in them to God what should hinder but they should be fond one of another There is a homely comparison a woman that hath butter in a dish she melts some of the butter but if she take it too soon from the fire there will be a core a knob in the dish left and being taken from the fire it grows bigger till all be hard So a weak Saint by studying the promises of God and the love of God it dissolves much of the knobbinesse yet there are some hard thoughts and Iealousies and suspitions but God comes at last and melts all the butter together all the knobbiness that is in the heart every thought and imagination of terrour and guilt and fear that there is a clear and pure principle of love to God and then the soul is fond of him The Lord takes a great deal of delight to train and bring up his childe to be more in love with him God will so traine and bring him up that if he throw him into the worst condition that can be for body or soul and shall say what thinkest thou of me now hast thou any hard thoughts of me saith God No saith the soul all is Love As for instance I will tell you a thing the worst on this side hell I speake not of imprisonment or shame but God may take him and leave him to sin and then the soul awakes and thinks good Lord where am I O what a hell have I in me for there is a hell in the heart if God take off the vail of grace if he draw the Curtain there is nothing but hell in the soul There are many sins that thou hast committed that there is not a soul in the world that hath committed worse This is true saith a Saint and dost thou not think saith God that thou art an hypocrite and that I shall damn thee for this No saith the soul I know I have nothing in me but of thy Grace and if thou draw the Curtain all is hell but there is nothing but love even then after sin there is not one hard thought it makes the soul more fond
we may die for them But when our Bibles have gone through the hands of Papists so many hundered yeers when a man shall come to die for it he is afraid that such a thing may be crept into the text a thousand such thoughts of Athiesme will come upon a man but when a man can say this is Christ crucified and Christ pouring out of his spirit let the particles and the words run as they will this is the maine that will hold As the Gospell was intended and designed for simple men more then others so with reverence the Gospell is a more simple plain thing then most men in the world conceive The Gospell needs not the thousand part of the distinctions and definitions that the schoolmen have and that men multiply It is a simple story concerning Christ crucified and how the Holy Ghost was poured upon men and this was preached by fishermen as God gave them utterance and it was prophesied of before If Religion be a simple thing taught by fisher-men with the pouring out of the Spirit then there need not all those disputes concerning the Arts c. For my part I think learning to be a very good thing to perfect a mans naturalls but I think on the other side that a man that savingly and clearly knows Christ crucified and the pouring out of the spirit he is the fittest man in the world to be a preacher We should know things a thousand fold better and clearer then we do if we would judg of things as God judgeth of them if we would use the language of the Scripture and the notions of the holy spirit in the Scripture If we would know a Saint from a sinner as I said a man that is the Lords and another that is not this is the maine way the chief essentiall difference the one hath the spirit the other hath not It is not so much whether yonder man pray or fast or preach or repeat or whether he doth many good outward morall things but whether he hath the spirit of God though it be now almost a ridiculous thing to name the spirit of God We should I say distinguish man from man by the spirit And labour in a speciall manner to assure our selves that we have the spirit of God We should not rest in this that I have left such sins or I do such duties but go on still till I come up to this that with all humility and thankfulnesse I may say God hath given to me of his holy spirit the spirit of Jesus Christ dwells in my heart Paul was humble and modest enough in his expressions yet he could boldly say he had the spirit We have the earnest of the spirit And Iohn could say so of other Saints Ye have an unction or an annointing 1 Iohn 2. and that was the blessed spirit Truly beloved it is a comfortable thing in respect of himself for a poor creature to see many stumble at the word of God whereas if we would resolve to be wise in the wisdom of God and to speak of things as the Scripture speaks to look on things as the Scripture looks on them to use those phrases and expressions and those notions we should understand many mysteries in godlinesse which now are little lesse then stumbling blocks to us because there is a kind of thwarting wisdom in us that is crosse to that God is now I told you about to exalt the spirit yet not in a way contrary to the Scripture but the spirit in the Scripture I mean Therefore learn this lesson to strive for this as the chief thing to finde the spirit of God in you dwelling and working in you because as in the Old Testament there was one great promise to wit of the Messias the Lord Jesus that was the great promise and all other promises belonged to that So in the New Testament there is but one great promise the promise of the father as Christ calls it and that is the pouring out of the Spirit Therefore as the Lord hath been teaching us of late yeers to know his Son Christ crucified the doctrine of justification where our righteousnesse lies c. So let us not think these speculations enough but take the other maine thing that is as great as this the doctrine of the spirit That I may as well finde the spirit working in me as to know without that Jesus Christ died for me If Religion were stated aright I mean Christianity Christian Religion under the New Testament not in books but the life of Christianty it would be to know Christ crucified and to enjoy the spirit of Christ that when we read the New Testament and cast up the bill of account when we have done there is the sum of all the two hinges that all goes on Therefore take heed of being deceived by notionall knowledge of things onely without you though it be never so glorious For if thou be a Saint thou hast the Spirit of God really dwelling in thee in its measure as truly as in the Lord Iesus Christ as it is in Ephes 1. the latter end the spirit that works in them that believe O the spirit of God is a glorious thing It is that that not only makes the grand difference between a Saint and a sinner but even in a godly man the spirit is all in all in Religion Let the spirit but stir in him though he be never so dark yet all is light before him Let the spirit come and comfort him though he be in chains of Iron though he be in the greatest misery in this world yet he can sing Psalms Let the spirit be given him and then not only faith and the promises but graces and common providences every thing speaks the love of God to his soul But let the spirit withdraw from him if the Lord take away his spirit but for a moment even from the best Saint his body and his soul are no better If I may speake it then a meer carrion I allude to that of Iames The body without the soul is dead So take the body and soul without the spirit of God it is dead Dead What is that Thus take a living body that I may follow the comparison a little there is no living body but he can do something though some can do more then others yet every living body can do something he can sit or walk or talk c. And as he can do some good so he can resist some evil If a man be dying almost if you go to poure water in his throat he can turn his head aside But let the soul be away he can neither do any good I speak now of naturall civill good or resist evil So it is with the soul let the Lord take away his spirit and we are quite flat Let the Lord propose any good work to do let any part of the will of God be presented there is no stirring at all in the soul
towards it the heart lyes gaping and is dead Let any lust or sin come any temptation though it be never so poor and feeble there is no resistance there is an inrode into the soul without any opposition let pride or frowardness or filthiness or covetousness and worldliness come there is nothing to resist it because the life of the soul is away which is the spirit of God And is not this an excellent thing then for a man to have the spirit of God dwelling in him that when good is proposed to him the spirit may as it were switch him It is a homely expression but I have found it by experience As a jade with a good switch is set on to the journey or to his businesse so when the soul of a man hath somewhat within to switch him to cause him to close with good things to lay hold on them to attempt them at least Whereas when the spirit is away there is no stirring the soul is as flat and as dead as water in a stinking ditch This is the excellency of the spirit Therefore you that have it prize it There are some that if they had it again as once they had they would prize it and praise God for it and would now give a world for it Therefore you that have these stirrings of the spirit in you to make you close with good and to resist evil in some measure bless God and praise his name for it That is the thing I drive at that you may see the use and worth and excellency of the Spirit of God in your souls When the Spirit of God is away from the soul all the seals of Gods Love and the signs of his Favor they are cut off at one dash as it were I mean thus when the Spirit of God dwels in the soul you could read the love of God in every Ordinance you could see it in every Grace and in every Promise in the Word of God in every thing and you could see one while your election with joy and another while Gods everlasting love with joy and another while the death of Christ and another while your union with him another while your Redemption and Reconciliation and Gods Love sealed in all these Nay in every creature you could taste the Love of God in your cloathes and your meat and every thing But let the Spirit of God be gone and all these are gone Take all Promises and Mercies and Sacraments they seal not one spark of the Love of God but they are all dead speechless things that signifie and speak no comfort at the best and it may be horror that a man may read I had almost said his Reprobation in that which a few hours before he could have read his election in and those Scriptures all along that he could sweetly have seen the Will of God in and could say that which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor hath entred into the hart of man that I have seen he can shut his Bible and say and almost swear that he understands not one tittle in it That soul that when he had the Spirit could spring with joy unspeakable and full of glory when he came before the Lord to call upon him either in publick or in private and could pour his soul into his fathers bosom that could have prayed a whole year if he had had time and strength to continue he is not able now to speak one word to the Lord. And more then so he is not now deprived only of all light of all Knowledg of all assurance of all comfort of all strength either to do good or to resist evil but there is positive horror in the heart positive fear and terror and darkness a bondage to unbelief seizing upon him That as our Lord saith The Spirit is like winde that no man knows whence it comes or whither it goes So he feels a misery in his soul that he knows not whence it comes or where it will end As it was said of the Powder plot the Powder Treason that there should be a blow given that none should know whence it was so he sees a blow given to his soul and the life of it and all that is good and excellent in it and he knows not whence it is he can say that his soul is no other then a plain hell for there is no positive evil in hell but it is there and there is no privative evil no evil of deprivation of any thing that is good but he feels it there so that in all our Religion our Graces and Duties and Assurances and Evidences the Spirit of Iesus Christ is the life of all Therefore no wonder that David who was a Type of a Gospel Christian should say Create in me O Lord a new heart andrenew and restore thy holy Spirit as if he had said since thy holy Spirit went away there is an annihilation all that is in me is annihilated He doth not say mend and repair but create I see not so much as a stump of Grace a root or a habit or any thing but all is pulled up and thou must create in me a right spirit Therefore learn that the life of all your Comfort and Assurance and Profession and Graces and Duties and all is the Spirit of God It is but the turning of Gods hand to say Come back my holy Spirit from such a soul leave him but one three hours and then he will be according as I have told you therefore saith the Apostle we are not debtors to the flesh but to the Spirit If ever you finde comfort in an Ordinance you owe thanks to the Spirit if ever you have a little assurance of Gods love whom will ye thank for it Ye are no debtors to the flesh he doth not mean you are not debtors to sin there is no man but he knows that he owes nothing to sin but saith he not to the flesh that is principally to any thing that is not the Spirit to fleshly wisdom to natural parts to our best abilities and endeavours If ever you have gotten any thing by Sabbaths or Sermons or the company of the Saints it was not from your own wisdom or pains but you are debtors to the Spirit of God it is the Spirit that wrought it therefore prize the Spirit of God you that have it O if you could but borrow the eyes of poor souls that had it once and have it not O how happy creatures would you think you are notwithstanding all outward miseries because Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit dwels in your hearts but we know not the worth of it till we want it and then we can prize it and would give a world for it And then labor to please the blessed Spirit take heed of provoking and grieving of him the Spirit is a more dainty Spirit then you are aware of you may easily vex and grieve and fret it do not dally with sin Christians