Wine when it is red and giveth its colour in the Cup or glass when it moveth it self upright i. e. when it springs or sparkles Prov. 23.31 Look not on it when it is red c. i.e. do not fix thine eye upon it do not continue looking on it for so the word looking oft imports his meaning is not that a man should not simply see or cast his eye upon it as if there would be danger in such a case for then he could not tell when or how to observe this Precept but his meaning is if a man will fix his eye upon it there is danger of being inflamed with inordinate love unto it So our Saviour Mat. 5.28 Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her i. e. until he lusts after her or after any such manner that he comes to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart Now this sheweth when and how this lusting cometh to be propagated in the heart if there be any loveliness in the Creature this may draw our hearts forth as it were of course unto such covetings The reason why men and women hate not sin with a more vehement vigorous and perfect hatred than generally they do is partly because they do not frequently and with intenseness of mind consider the abundance of evil that is in it that violent and virulent Antipathy or contrariety that is in it to their comfort and peace in many kinds For certain it is that sin hath enough in it to set all the World on fire with enmity to it Yea as the Devil when he had sinned had that in him and upon him which being looked upon by God was sufficient to throw him down from Heaven into the bottom of Hell So likewise hath sin that in it which being clearly seen and diligently considered by men is sufficient to cast it down out of the heavens of mens love and desires into the deepest hell of their hatred and indignation So on the other hand it is as true concerning righteousness in general which Plato the Philosopher had a glimmering of And as it is with Righteousness in general so it is with and also concerning that excellent peece or member of it whereof we speak A being filled with the Spirit This is such a Master-peece of humane felicity it hath so much worth and goodness and desirableness in it that was it thoroughly known and frequently whetted upon the thoughts and minds of men and women they need take no further care how to come by such covetings after it as those now prescribed unto you as a means in the first place to obtain it unless happily it be to satisfie themselves in this that it is nothing but what is attainable For if indeed you shall look upon it as a thing absolutely out of your reach your souls will hardly put forth in coveting or desiring after it But this scruple being removed you would soon find your hearts full of those covetings and desires so full that they would not be long able to contain themselves but that they would break forth and utter themselves in such other waies and means which they shall understand to be proper and likely to obtain it If you ask me But what is there so excellent Sect. 8 so greatly desirable in this being filled with the Spirit which being known and narrowly considered by us must needs as you say set us on coveting after it and so put us into a nearer capacity of obtaining it I reply first in the general the desirableness of it is such so exceeding great that neither the Tongue of men or Angels are sufficient to express it it is of kin to the peace of God and partakes herewith in that property that it passeth all understanding so that when we shall travel many dales yea many years with our minds and understandings to search out and discover the riches of it we shall leave much hereof undiscovered and unknown But more particulary First Such a filling with the Spirit as we speak of will leave no place for foolish and hurtful lusts in one kind or other to play their parts within us which as Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.11 Fight against the soul that is against the peace comfort and prosperity of it As upon the bringing in of the Ark into the Tabernacle the Tabernacle was filled with smoak Exod. 40.34 And so in the Dedication of the Temple the Priests could not enter because of the glory there 1 Kings 8.10 11. even so when the soul when the inner Temple of the heart of a man or woman shall be filled with the Spirit of God there will be such a glory of holiness there that there will be no standing or abode for those base Companions unclean impure carnal and sensual desires and inclinations No but they will all be scattered as the Mist is scattered before the Sun when it ariseth in its might These Companions which have haunted your souls and inner man hitherto Pride Envy and Malice and inordinate love of the World Pleasure Ease and all such kind of things as these they will be sensible of the glorious presence of this Spirit of God in you they will not be able to abide it his presence will fright away all those Aliens and strangers that are contrary to him It is true the greatest filling with the Spirit that flesh and bloud is at lâ—ast ordinarily capable of obtaining will not wholly overwhelm or drown the flesh as to extinguish the motions or stirrings of it in men This is clear from many Scriptures and particularly from that of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 .. For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit When by reason of the contrary lustings between the Flesh and the Spirit he saith they cannot do the things they would he speaks not so much indeed not at all of the species kind or substance of the Action but of the spiritual and exact manner of performing it Yea cannot do the things ye would his meaning is not that though they were willing to pray yet because of the lusting of the flesh they could not pray or though they were willing to hear the word yet they could not hear but thus ye cannot pray ye cannot hear or ye cannot give Alms as ye would that is with as much Faith with as much Fervency with as much Freedom and enlargement of Heart and Soul as ye desire The Flesh will be still interrupting and mingling it self with your actions and in preciseness and strictness of speech that which a servant of God or spiritual man properly would do is not simply to pray or simply to hear or to give Alms or the like But to do these and all other services and actions after the best and purest manner without any reluctancy or gainsayingness or interruption so that when men pray and do not pray thus when they hear and give Alms and do not both the one and the other upon such terms as these they
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 Page 463 CHAP. XVIII The Eighth and last Motive That a being filled with the Spirit will render the Condition of men and women most desirable in this World and in that which is to come That no other course will do it but this or none without this Four things a concurrence whereof will render a man's Condition in this life most desirable 1. A freedom from all troublesome distracting and tormenting fears and cares 2. A heart and conscience abounding in Joy and Peace 3. A large and free Communion with God 4. And lastly A rich and large interest in God to be able to carry great Matters in Prayer with him Three of these insisted on 1. A being filled with the Spirit will discharge men from all troublesome and distracting fears and cares 2. The Peace and Joy of men will abound by a being filled with the Spirit 3. A third particular which renders mens Condition so desirable in the World is a free and large Communion with God 1. What is meant by Communion with God 2. What by a free Communion 3. What is meant by a large and full Communion with God 4. How this Communion renders man's Condition very desirable in the World 5. That this Priviledge must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit What it is for God to dwell or abide in man How a man may know that God dwelleth in him by the Spirit which is given him How perfect love casteth out fear In what respect the Spirit may be said to witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God A well-grounded Confidence The Causes of a false Confidence enquired into A good Conscience a ground of Assurance Page 482 CHAP. XIX The Eighth Motive further opened in the fourth particular a being filled with the Spirit doth interest men with a rich and large Interest in God How this Interest doth arise by being filled with the Spirit of God Reasons why so little is done by Prayer now in comparison of what was done in the Primitive times Without being filled with the Spirit none of the great blessings formerly mentioned and which render a mans Condition so desirable in this World are to be obtained The Reasons whence it comes to pass And the equitableness of God's proceeding with men therein The difference between a fearless and dreadless frame of spirit that is counterfeit and that which is raised upon good Grounds A being filled with the Spirit is the only way to cause the Crown of glory to flourish on the head of a man And that with a greater measure of glory in the World which is to come Page 522 ERRATA PAge 8. Line 22. for te read to p. 14. l. 28. for of r. as p. 16. l. 23. for never r. ever p. 18. l. 23. for the inspiration thereof r. his inspiration p. 24. l. 20. for men r. man p. 60. l. 34. after on r. of p. 61. l. 8 for effecting r. affecting p. 63. l. 21 dele or doth Ibid. l. 4 r. for and r. of the. Ibid. l. 42. for of the r. and. p. 66. l. 11. for Princes r. Prophets p. 77. l. 16. for heavenly r. lovely p. 84. l 5. for it r. them p. 87. l. 10. for maniture r. manuducture p. 107. l. 2. for leaving r. left p. 109 l. 36. for of 1. as p. 121. l. last for most r. not p. 146. l. 2 for that r. though p. 162. l. 18. after whci r. it Ibid. l. 40. for in r. into p. 163. l. 41. for apparence r. appearance p. 165. l. 8. for it r. he p. 181. l. 24. for interest r. request p. 186. l. 2. r. it is the first born lb. dele it is p. 190. l. 18 for consent r. conceit p. 191. l. 10. for zealoufly r. jealously p. 213. l. 26. for or r. but. p. 216 l. 19. for undeceivedness r. underivedness p. 228. l. r. after Believer r. But. lb. 18. dele But p. 231. l. 19. for any r. an p. 236. l. 15. dele that p. 248. l. 28. add whereby p. 254. l. 34. for exhibiting r. excitings p. 268. l. 21. dele because p. 284. l. 23. for by r. for p. 289. l. 26. for having r. have p. 300. l. 21. for I r. A. p. 311. l. 25. for obtain r. attain p. 323. l. 6. dele of p. 346. l. 10. for grateful r. graceful p. 348. l. 17. for absolute r. obsolete p. 352. l. 24. for to r. who p. 354. l. 19. for picking r. higgling p. 364. l. 28. dele that p. 366. l. 25. for suits r. fruits p. 374. l. 27. dele judgeth that he p. 385. l. 8. for who r. we p. 396. l. 18. after seen r. in p. 397. l. 8 dele that p. 400. l. 24. dele of p. 423. l. 19. for chose r. choose p. 430. l. 41. for of r. for p. 445. l. 43. after yea r. there are p. 456. l. 6. for if r. which p. 375. l. 15. after sums r. are p. 484. l. 1. for where to be r. to be where p. 490. l. 11. for be r. he p. 506. l. 5. for as r. so as p. 538. l. 37. dele was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A being filled with the Spirit Ephes 5. the latter part of the 18 verse But be filled with the SPIRIT CHAP. I. The coherence and sense of the words opened What it is to be filled with the Spirit Four Doctrines raised from the words Proved from the Scriptures that it is the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit THe tenour of the former part of the verse is this Sect. 1 And be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit The Apostle having in the former part of this Epistle as his usual method was declared and laid down foundation-wise that great Doctrine of the Christian Religion namely justification by or through faith in Jesus Christ In the latter part thereof he builds upon this foundation Precepts and Exhortations to such duties and behaviours which may very justly and equitably be expected upon the account of such rich grace from God vouchsafed unto sinful men in their free justification by Christ Now in Precepts and Exhortations unto Christian duties there is not alwaies a dependence or relation of coherence between duty and duty or between that which goeth before and that which followeth after But Exhortations are many times like unto Solomons Proverbs which resemble Jewels or precious stones not set together in order
〈◊〉 be ye filled in or with or through the Spirit For to be filled with the Spirit or through the Spirit is one and the same Now fulness or filling in the Scripture Language do not alwaies indeed very seldom if at all signifie an absolute or exact fulness or a filling up to the brim as we use to say or as great a quantity or proportion of a thing as the subject or vessel is any waies able to contain or receive for in this sense no man was ever filled with the Holy Ghost except it was he that was more than a man the Lord Christ himself to whom God is said to have given the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without measure or not by measure Joh. 3.34 But things or persons in Scripture Phrase are said to be full or filled with a thing when they have a good rich and plentiful proportion of it Thus Acts 9.36 Dorcas is said to be full of good works when she had done or performed many and been fruitful in well doing In this sense of the word the Heathen of whom Paul speaketh Rom. 1.29 are said to be filled with all unrighteousness Not as if the meaning was that they had as much wickedness as they were capable of or as it was possible for them to be filled withall But that there was a great degree of wickedness amongst them and some doubtless were more vile unworthy and abominable than others But it is said that they were full that is There was abundance of unrighteousness in them or amongst them Besides other like instances So then when the Apostle wills them to be filled with the Spirit or with the Holy Ghost his meaning is that he would have them have the Holy Ghost very actuous and operative within them or more plainly That he would have them take such a course go so to work as we use to say and so behave themselves that the Holy Ghost might be very actuous operative and vigorous and put forth himself or his power abundantly in them Or if we shall urge the strict litteral sense Then the meaning will be to this effect Be ye filled with the Spirit that is Let the Spirit advance his presence and power in you as far and to what degree and height himself pleaseth Do not distaste check or grieve him in his way by any neglect or rejection of any of his motions by any unworthiness whatsoever Do not obstruct him in his Progress but comport with him in all his applications unto you and do not think you have enough of him untill you be filled with him even to the brim and the receptacles of your Souls will hold no more This Exposition supposeth that Christians should desire and labour to obtain as much or as great and as rich a presence of the Spirit of God as they are capable of and as the heart and soul and nature of man is able to bear This sense of the word may very well stand And then his meaniag is not as if the Apostle did impose a necessity upon them to reach and attain unto such a fulness as we speak of in the highest degree but only that they should not content themselves with or pitch upon any degree inferiour unto or beneath the highest enjoyment of the Spirit of God they are capable of As when a man bids his child to shoot at the Sun he doth not intend or imagine that his child should hit the Sun His meaning is that he would have him put forth his strength in shooting as high as he is able So when the Apostle layeth and imposeth this upon the Ephesians by way of duty that they should be filled with the Spirit his meaning is That they should behave themselves with all wisdom and understanding in the use of all means within the reach of their own arm as if their design and resolution was to be filled with the Spirit as full as possibly they could If it be demanded by way of Objection Sect. 5 But is the Holy Ghost in the power of men Or can men do any thing to fill themselves with the Holy Ghost Is he obnoxious unto men or within the compass of their wisdom and endeavours Have men any thing in their hands to do whereby or by the means whereof they may fill themselves with the Spirit of God We shall hereafter have occasion fully to answer to this question only by the way reserving that till God shall give opportunity for men to do such and such things upon the doing whereof they shall have the Spirit of God more operative and active more intensive and more raised in their hearts and souls I say If the Apostle maketh the doing of such things a means whereby they may be filled with the Spirit and cause him to delight in them and withal supposeth men to be capable of doing such things or using such means whereby this blessed end may be accomplished As it is evident he doth by the Exhortations and Injunctions which he layeth upon them Then men in this sense may be truly said to be capable of filling themselves or of being filled with the Spirit when they shall be faithful in the use of such means which will certainly accomplish this most desirable effect Yet doth it not follow from hence or from what hath been spoken That the Spirit of God is subject unto men or that men have any power to speak properly over him or that he is any way obnoxious unto them This indeed follows from what hath been spoken viz. That the Spirit of God hath graciously subjected himself unto his own Laws and Rules and Will in this case and hath been pleased to make such gracious promises unto men that if they will go along with him and follow his leading and ducture they shall have as much of his presence and company as their hearts can desire I say If men will but give up themsElves to his leading yea and shall love to be moved unto and acted in things that are excellent and to be carried or transported this way or that way by Him Such a demeanour of men towards the Spirit of God will put him into a holy and honourable capacity to advance in his presence in them and towards them I had almost said to what degree they please and so to work them up from one degree of holiness unto another and consequently of joy comfort and peace untill he hath as it were brought them up into the Heavens So then the Premises considered the reason why men by doing thus shall be filled with the Spirit is not simply or meerly because men do such and such things or as if there were any thing considerable in what men do in order to their being filled with the Spirit as if there were any thing either of merit or desert in them No nor yet as if there were any thing in what men do in a natural way able or tending to produce such an effect as
Treatise is gravely and with solidity penned and worthy the perusal of those whose feer are taken in the snare of that Error or others remaining in any measure dis-satisfied about the Point Though the truth is they have as much reason to be dis-satisfied about their Christianity it self and whether Salvation is to be obtained by Jesus Christ and Faith in his bloud as to be dis-satisfied about the Holy Ghost being God We might argue the Deity of the Holy Ghost from other particulars observable Sect. 10 upon such an account from the said passages of Scripture lying yet before us As 1. That Christ saith of him that he should teach them all things 2. That he should bring to their remembrance all things that he had spake to them 3. That he proceedeth from God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall but only glance at them First our Saviour undertakes for the Holy Ghost that when he comes he shall teach his Disciples all truth To be able to teach all truth is a Royalty too rich to be vested in any Creature it is most worthy God himself and meet only for him The Eph. 3.9 10. Angels learn many things from the Church and from the Min stry and Dispensation of the Gospel there And the Apostle Paul himself professeth of himself and the rest of his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 13.9 who knew more than all the World besides of the mystery of Christ and of God that they knew but in part Therefore no Angel was in a capacity to teach them all things when as they themselves were in a condition to learn some things of them If it be demanded But how can these two stand together 1. That Christ should say unto the Apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them all things and lead them into the way of all truth And yet 2. That Paul should say notwithstanding that they knew but in part Can he be said to know but in part who hath been taught all things or led into the way of all Truth I answer 1. That the all things which the Holy Ghost according to our Saviours Promise here was to teach the Disciples is to be restrained to the business in hand which is very frequent in Scripture and so such things as were necessary and meet for them to know in order to the performance of their Apostolical Office as well in teaching as in planting Churches and ordering the Government hereof For it was not for them to know the times and seasons which God had reserved in his own hand Nor doth it follow from hence either that the Holy Ghost was not able to teach them that restrained all things or that the teaching of this restrained all things should be no sufficient proof of the Holy Ghosts being God The former of these is evident enough from the common principle in reason God and Nature as they are not defective in things that be necessary so neither do they abound in things that be superfluous And therefore if the Apostles had no need of any further knowledge of any thing which did any waies conduce to the performance of their great Office as they were Apostles It is not to be conceived that the Holy Ghost should impart such things unto them which were not expedient for them to know The latter viz. That the teaching of that limited all things we speak of especially taken with that Clause that goeth along with it and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 14.26 is an Argument no waies defective in proof that the Holy Ghost who was to do all these things is truly God this I say is evident from hence For 1. He that shall be able to teach all that was necessary for the Apostles to know for the discharge of their great Office must be supposed to know all the heights and depths of the Scriptures all things that are contained and comprehended there For doubtless there is nothing in the Word of God but what was fitting and necessary for the Apostles to know and understand As namely the sitting and applying of all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies under the Law to and with the Gospel and so likewise to know and understand all obscure Prophesies for otherwise they might have been foyled and intangled by their Adversaries which would have been matter of prejudice to them in the fulfilling of their Office Now then to be able to do this certainly doth prove sufficiently that he must needs be God For 1 Cor. 2.1 1. saith the Apostle what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him It is the Spirit within a man who knoweth all the motions of the heart all the Purposes Counsels Hopes Sorrows c. No man knows all these things but the spirit of a man which is within him which is intimous to him and upon the matter himself Even so after the same manner we may say no man knows the things of God but the spirit of God The Spirit God searcheth the deep things of God As the Spirit of a man is privy to the most secret things of a man even so the Spirit of God is privy to the secrets of God So there is no man and consequently no Spirit besides no Creature no Angel though never so great and near unto God in point of Office and Ministry that is able to search the deep things of God but only the Spirit of God which is intimately acquainted with the deep things of God 2. He that was able to bring so the Apostles remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them must neds be God because he must know their hearts and their thoughts and what of themselves they did remember without him and withall to know what was worn or blotted out of their memories For I suppose the meaning is not that when the Spirit comes he should be a Remembrancer unto them of such things which they remembred already and therefore it supposes that the Holy Ghost of whom it is said he should remember them of all things that Christ had formerly spoken unto them did know the state of their minds and inward parts and that he knew what things they had or did remember and what things they had forgotten and lost and accordingly shouldsupply them Which is another consideration that doth argue that certainly this Spirit of God this samje great Remembrancer of the Apostles can be no other but God 3. We might also argue from that other Clause where our Saviour describes the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God there being no plurality of Holy Ghosts to be one individual Spirit of Truth And then denotes his Process which proceeds from or out of the Father For both words should be put in from the Father and proceeds out of the Father after an ineffable and inconceivable manner Now if any such Character as this or any near to it can be found to be given of
This is a second thing by the way Thirdly We may add that likewise by the way that in reference to many persons the question now under consideration is Sect. 3 upon the matter no question at all I mean in this respect because they are so manifestly and so apparently filled with an unclean Spirit one or more that there is no place left for any considerable enquiry whether they be filled with the Spirit of God or no The reason is because they do plainly discover themselves to be filled with the spirit of the World Of this sort of persons are all those who live whether in the secret or open practice of those sins whether one or more which the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures expresly declares to be inconsistent with an estate of Grace and with Salvation and for which the Holy Ghost excludeth them out of heaven We have a list of several of these kinds of persons drawn up by the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Idolaters nor Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Railers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God meaning if they continue such But you are washed c. Some of these with a clause of enlargement which taketh in more than are here named we have elsewhere mentioned by the same Apostle Eph. 5 5 6. For this ye know that no Whoremonger nor Vnclean person nor the Covetous man who is an Idolater hath any c. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience It seemeth that there was in the Apostles daies such a Generation of men like unto which we have in these daies who are called Rantors who bear men in hand being first deceived themselves they labour to deceive others also that for such things as these are even all manner of abominations though they commit them yet there is no such thing as the wrath of God coming upon them no but they can follow these wicked practices with the greatest liberty and that they understand their liberty to be such that they may do such things as these without any regret So that concerning such persons as these we need not spend time in debating the case whether they be filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit contrary unto him The case is evident enough without debate As a man needs not a touchstone for a Chip or a piece of brown Paper to try whether these be good Gold or no these plainly enough discover themselves to be no Gold without the Touchstone every mans sense will inform him of it So that the Question propounded lately is chiefly or only to be managed between persons that have some colourable or plausible pretense to a being filled with the Spirit of God and such who have a real and substantial ground for such a claim Fourthly Sect. 4 That also is to be premised and remembred by the way that we do not intend to sift or examine the difference between a regenerate and an unregenerate estate nor make a discovery of those who have the sanctifying Spirit of God in any degree from amongst those who totally want it but only to search after and if it may be find out who they are that are really filled with the Spirit of God amongst those who pretend to such a fulness and how these may be manifested from the other Fifthly and lastly This also would be taken along with us Sect. 5 that the Spirit of God being a voluntary Agent doth not utter himself in all or every person whom he filleth with his presence in all the variety of his gifts And from hence it followeth that men may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of some one of his operations and yet make no appearance of the fulness of the Spirit in some other 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit c. Here we may clearly see that one and the self same Spirit of God is able to fill several men with variety of gifts with several kinds of filling One may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of Knowledge another may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of Wisdom and yet may not be filled with him in some other consideration But if you ask me the difference between Wisdom and Knowledge you may conceive it thus Wisdom implieth a heavenly dexterity a faculty and ability to apply general Rules or Sayings to particular Cases to be able to find out Rules whereby to resolve Questions and Cases which another man who wanteth the Spirit of Wisdom will not be able to see As for instance Our Saviour when he was put to it by the Scribes and Pharisees to justifie the Fact of his Disciples in plucking the Ears of Corn against their unjust Clamours if he had not had a rich anointing of this gift of the Spirit of Wisdom he would not have been able to find out a passage of Scripture to have justified this Practice of theirs but you know where he findeth it and to prove the lawfulness of what his Disciples did Have ye not read saith he Mat. 12.3 4. what David did and those with him when they were hungry how that they went to the House of God and eat the Shew-bread which was not lawful for them to do And so he gives another instance of the Priests Circumcising on the Sabbath day and yet they pollute not the Sabbath Here he by the Spirit of Wisdom findeth the grounds that are contained in these passages of Scriptures laid up somewhat close out of the way of the ordinary thoughts of men It is like not any of the Apostles had been able to make use of these to plead their own cause but the Lord Jesus Christ by reason of that Spirit of Wisdom did it effectually There is the like gift of the Spirit to a degree which is discernable to those that have eyes to discern Men that are but of competent Judgments may clearly see that in some men the Spirit of God doth put forth himself in this great and happy gift of Wisdom making them able to find out grounds and passages of Scripture for the clearing and unfolding of such questions and difficulties which other men and men that are more excellent in their way in some other gifts of the Spirit are not able to do Now Knowledge noteth an understanding of the general Rules themselves and the things themselves which are delivered and asserted in the Scriptures A man may have all Knowledge as the Scriptures speak he may be able to repeat the whole Scriptures from first to last by heart and give an account of the sense and meaning of
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
any such terms which had set limits and bounds unto it and told them that it was good to such and such a degree but not further this had been apt to have diminished the esteem and reputation of it and consequently to have interrupted and checked the desires of it in the hearts of men Even so we may say concerning this great Priviledge of being filled with the Spirit if we could measure out unto you and were able to say that it is thus much and no more this were neither for your benefit or profit neither should we be found faithful or true Witnesses of those excellent and glorious things of God There is no question but that the Apostles in their daies did make large discoveries of the peace of God and spake many glorious things of it so much that might have enflamed the hearts of men to have desired it but yet there was more than all this in that Character whereby it is described viz. A peace that passeth all understanding So questionless many great and excellent things and that according to sobriety and truth may be spoken concerning this great and happy Priviledge yet if we should attempt any thing in this kind without giving knowledge that we do not speak limitedly or to confine your apprehensions as if there were nothing further or greater in it besides and above or beyond what we can express without some such intimation or â—aution as this is we should rather prejudice you and set you off than quicken you and set you up to look after it We have formerly as I remember acquainted you with several Royalties and blessed Contentments which do attend the state of a person that is filled with the Spirit 〈◊〉 God One thing was that they that are filled with the Spirit of God are like to be much imployed and set on work by God he deâ—ghteth not to imploy such persons about any great services which he hath 〈◊〉 do in the World that are streightened in their spirits whose anointing 〈◊〉 but scanty narrow and low God doth not care that much of his Work should pass thorough their hands because they will not quit themselves so as to answer the Majesty of God nor the excellency of such Services Whereas those that are filled with the Spirit look whatsoever they go about or put forth their hearts unto they will carry it on with the greatest authority and highest hand neither will they baulk this or that Truth of God nor in the least give in for any opposition or contradiction of Men. Now this is a great Priviledge if we had hearts to conceive aright of it for a man or woman to be much imployed or much set on work by God the Angels are as it were proud of his service Christ speaking of his little ones saith Their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Mat. 18.10 They stand waiting to see if there be any service or imployment they strive who shall be most set on work and who shall have most put into their hands for this is their honour and their glory And doubtless my Brethren if we had but the true sense and resentment of the transcendent worth and desirableness of serving God and of being imployed by him in the world we should account of it and esteem it after another manner of rate than I fear generally we do Another thing was this they that are partakers of that blessedness are upon the matter out of the reach of all sorrows or troubles about any thing that can befall them in this present World those things which cut other men to the very heart and soul these men are secured from when the World riseth up and lieth down by them they know not they are in an heavenly extasie or a spiritual kind of drunkenness As Lot being drunk knew not when his Daughters rose up from him nor lay down by him men that are full of the Spirit are lifted up they are in the upper Region where no storms no tempests nor troublesome things come there is a perpetual serenity clearness and peaceableness of mind whilest the World generally and those that are strangers to this fulness of the Spirit are tossed to and fro tumbling up and down their thoughts disquieting and tormenting them continually And so again we shewed that they that are filled with the Spirit are to a degree freed from Temptations It is said of God He cannot be tempted with evil Jam. 1.13 Now such men are partakers of that blessedness of God himself as far as flesh and bloud is capable of drawing near unto him Resist the Devil and he will flee from you saith the Apostle James c. 4.7 Brethren Why should the Devil flee from him that resisteth him and giveth him a peremptory denial It is because that he hath much to do and but little time to do it in and he will not lose his time when he hath no hope to speed he is then as if he stood upon thorns as we use to say if he get no profit or advantage by his Suggestions it is so much out of the way of his miserable comfort and that solace which he is capable of during his present state and condition all his solace being this to draw men into communion and fellowship with himself in his misery and knowing by his own experience that the way thereunto lieth by the way of sin and doing wickedly therefore he laboureth to entice men to walk in such waies knowing if he can but draw men into these paths he will presently meet with them and that they will arrive at that place of endless misery and torment which he is gone unto But now this great and blessed Priviledge of being filled with the Spirit of God will make all the enticements and allurements all the baits and temptations to evil of no force they will be as Arrows shot against a brazen Wall that will recoyl and turn upon him that shooteth them So that we need not ask a question What the fulness of the Spirit meaneth You see it is worthy all your labours all your endeavours and layings out of your selves in one kind or other though you should prejudice your flesh never so much upon the account of it yet nevertheless there is no cause for you to complain for the Priviledge is so great that it will do a thousand times more than bear its own charge and it will recompense a thousand fold into your bosome whatsoever you expend of your pleasures and enjoyments in the World for the attaining of it Sixthly Sect. 6 To promote the interest of the Exhortation propounded in your hearts and souls and to make you desirous indeed to be filled with the Spirit of God you may please yet further to consider that your Minds Reasons and Understandings with whatsoever besides shall be necessary for you to imploy or lay out about this great and blessed undertaking cannot be disposed of or imployed by
Exhortation delivered and the Duty recommended therein you may please to consider this one thing farther which was lately touched on by the by that you may rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of much carefulness you may spend the strength of your minds and understandings to procure other accommodations and enjoyments such I mean which relate to the outer man only aad yet never eat the labour of your hand nor see the fruit of the travel of your souls or that which is little better if not rather worse ye may only taste of what you seek after in this kind that which you shall take in hunting and yet not be able to continue the enjoyment of it for any considerable space of time A day an hour yea possibly a moment may bereave you of what the care and labour of many years advanced you unto whereas first it hath been already shewed and proved unto you that whoever shall lay out themselves for this spiritual and heavenly accommodation of being filled with the Spirit shall most certainly obtain it Secondly In persevering in this course unto the end your attainments shall stand by you in glory and blessedness for ever But as the Prophet David saith Psal 34.10 The young Lions shall suffer hunger c. so it is with those that seek the glory and great things of this World that pursue the Honours and Wealth and Pleasures thereof these many times suffer hunger and want He that seeketh after Honour and Riches falleth short and so he that seeketh after Pleasures is disappointed But he that shall seek to be filled with the Spirit of God shall be filled therewith neither shall any thing be able to separate between him and it And as the Apostle reasoneth concerning the love of God Rom. 8. Even so it is in the case in hand neither life nor death nor any other thing neither Trouble nor Persecution nor Angels no nor Devils shall be able to separate and step in between those who shall engage themselves in a consciencious manner to be filled with the Spirit and the actual accomplishment and enjoyment of this felicity The Spirit of Ambition may work in you as the Grace of God did in Paul mightily and yet of this Spirit you may reap nothing but dishonour and disgrace and covering of the face with shame and confusion Absolom as we lately intimated ran with all his might and with all his strength for the Prize of a Kingdom but that which he got by his running was an ignominious and untimely death being hung by the hair of his head on the bough of a great Oak 2 Sam. 18.9 as he fled to save his life from the pursuit of Davids men in which posture three Darts were thrust through his heart by Joab Many ambitious Climers in all Ages have met with the like disasters and disappointments All Histories almost fill the World with examples in this kind that men before they come at the top of the Ladder fall down and are broken and crushed to pieces they wholly miscarry and get nothing but a covering of darkness instead of that grandeur or greatness which they lift up their hearts unto and many who did compass the grandeur and greatness in the World which they sought after were soon dispossessed The like may be said concerning Riches and of those that in the sweat of their brows and burning of their hearts have sought to sit down and rest themselves under the shadow of a great Estate As Paul said of his Country-men the Jews that following after the Law of Righteousness they attained not the Law of Righteousness so we may say of many that following after Riches they have not attained to be rich But whosoever follow after this being filled with the Spirit have and shall most certainly attain it Those carnal designs are meerly accidental and casual attempts which men often miscarry in The Scriptures are full of such Expressions which sufficiently confirm the truth of what we say I returned and saw an evil under the Sun saith Solomon Eccl. 9.11 the Race is not to the swift nor the Bâ—ttel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet Riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill but time and chance happens to all So elsewhere Prov. 28.22 11.24 you shall find that those who are great designers of Wealth many times are disappointed and senâ— empty away He that maketh haste to be rich hath an evil eye and knoweth not doth not consider that poverty is coming upon him And so There is that withholdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty many times their Projects fail them and they come to poverty So that we see there is great uncertainty in all these things we do not know whether our design will prosper in our hand or no for God hath not made any such connexion between these carnal projects and their ends but that he can forbid their coming together But we have the Word of the Living God the security of Heaven that if any man will build a spiritual house carry on a heavenly design if they will lay out their hearts and spirits upon it God will stand by such men their labour shall not be in vain God hath established a Law that shall not be broken a Law like unto the Law of the Sun and Moon which shall be kept inviolable that he that desireth to eat of this bread shall have to eat abundantly he that shall run the course of this Design shall obtain He that giveth to every Seed his own body ordinarily in things natural will never fail here he hath put a Law upon himself neither will his nature give him leave to separate and divide between the means that are spiritual and the end to be attained by them He that soweth the Seed shall reap the Fruit whosoever shall ask in this kind shall receive and whosoever knocketh it shall be opened unto him Now if you please but to consider in a word the weight and import of this Motive you know that men do not love to sow their Seed in vain to part with their Silver and Gold for things that are of no use It is every mans case and they are accounted the wisest of men that can prevent such things the interposure whereof is apt to deprive them of that for which they have given their money Now then this is the case as to the business we have been exhorting you unto viz. A being filled with the Spirit it is a Commodity which if you will lay out your selves for it will most certainly be made good unto you it is not obnoxious to any disappointment either by God Angels or Men. Now then Why should any man bestow his time upon that which he may possibly not enjoy or in case he may enjoy it it will be but for a short season or if he should enjoy it for any long season yet at last it
or in any form of special aspect one upon another but as it were laid together in great heaps Yet there is I confess a relative opposition between the words read and the former part of the verse plainly intimated by this adversative Particle But And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess But be filled with the Spirit Which Particle clearly implies that to be drunken with wine as we have it or as the word elsewhere frequently signifieth To drink wine freely or to be given inordinately unto it to sit upon the brink of the pit of drunkenness though possibly you may not fall into it Is a thing inconsistent with your being filled with the Spirit For wine being freely drank as it inflames a man or the body of a man So on the contrary it quencheth the Spirit in him and causeth that to abate its fervency by degrees and to withdraw more and more from the Soul or else obstructeth his entrance into a man For the clearing the sense and meaning of the words there are three things briefly to be opened First Sect. 2 What is here meant by the Spirit Secondly What it is to be filled with the Spirit Thirdly why the Apostle exhorts and perswades to a being filled or to a filling of themselves with the Spirit by occasion of the preceding dehortation viz. from being drunken with or from being given to much wine For the first There are several significations of the word Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet it is as clear as the Sun that the Apostle hath nothing to do with in this place 1. It sometimes signifieth the wind Joh. 3.8 2. Sometimes it signifieth courage or such a frame of heart which is opposite to despondency or extremity of fear Josh 5.1 Neither was there Spirit in them any more 3. It sometimes signifieth the mind disposition or inclination of a man Pro. 14.29 But he that is hasty or rather according to the original short of Spirit i. e. that is of a Cholerick or rash temper or disposition being not able to contain himself or hold out in patience for a little season under temptations exalteth folly 4. It sometimes signifieth the soul of a man and this is a frequent acceptation of this word in the Scripture I need not cite any instances for this places of this import are obvious and frequent Sometimes the understanding or discerning powers or faculties of the soul are signified thereby Exod. 35.21 Every one whom his Spirit made willing i. e. whose judgment and understanding in artificial work inclined him to a willingness in that kind viz. for the work of the Sanctuary There are these and several other significations of the word Spirit which by comparing the place in hand with the particularities of them it will be found as clear as the Sun at noon day that they are none of them to be understood or meant in this place and therefore for expedition sake I shall omit them Neither shall I argue against any of those several senses of the word Spirit even now mentioned That by the Spirit Sect. 3 here is meant the holy blessed and incomprehensible Spirit of God the third of the three Persons in the divine Being or Essence Besides the concurrent judgment of the best Expositors upon the place It may be evinced from the Antithesis or opposition the words read have unto the former part of the verse As also from the comportance and perfect agreement in the next verse with this signification of the word Spirit For the first the Apostle opposeth their being filled with the Spirit to their being drunken or filled with wine Now take the word Spirit in any other signification whatsoever besides that we have pitched upon viz. for the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and you will not find any such emphatical liveliness in opposition between being drunken with wine and being filled with the Spirit you may make trial and take an account of particulars at your leisure But now between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God there is such a strong clear and pregnant opposition that the one fighteth against and excludeth the other For he that is drunk with wine is full of the spirit of sin and of the devil and during either the act or the habit but especially the act of such a drunkenness such a person is utterly uncapable for that time in sensu composito so long as he is under the power of his drunkenness of being filled with the Spirit of God As on the contrary he that is filled with the Spirit of God is in no capacity during this his fulness of being made drunk with wine wherein is excess But Secondly That by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God is further evident from what the Apostle immediately subjoyns in the next verse Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs making Melody in your hearts unto the Lord. As men that are drunken or enflamed with wine are apt to speak to themselves and to entertain one another with light vain and unsavoury mirth and Songs of carnal and sinful jollity In like manner if ye be filled with the Spirit of God you will be apt and able to speak to your selves and solace and delight your selves and be in a steady posture to teach and admonish one another with matters of a spiritual and heavenly import So that God himself will take a holy contentment in your mirth and rejoyce with you Whereas the vain and sinful mirth of the others namely of those that are drunken with wine is the hatred and abhorring of his soul But now there is no filling with the Spirit in any other sense of the word Spirit that only excepted which is pleaded for that is proper or likely to qualifie men or women for these spiritual exercises of an heavenly mirth It is only a being filled with the Spirit of God that is like to act or work the heart and soul of a man into such a posture or frame of spiritual rejoycing We might further confirm this exposition by taking into consideration all those instances in the Scriptures which are many where men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by comparing them in their respective context with the Scripture in hand we might shew that the Holy Ghost there and the Spirit here are one and the same See Acts 2.4 c. 4.31 c. 9.17 c. 13.52 We read likewise of persons full of the Holy Spirit Luke 4.1 Acts 6.3 5. c. 7.55 c. 11.24 c. thus you see what is meant by the Spirit Secondly Sect. 4 What is it to be filled with the Spirit Or What is it that the Apostle means or what is the nature or property of the duty he requireth of them and which is imposed upon them when he chargeth them to be filled with the Spirit or as in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the being filled with the Spirit But the reason of this Connexion and Conjunction of these two things namely that upon the use of such means as we speak of this great effect shall be produced or end attained unto viz. a being filled with the Spirit The reason I say of this Connexion is the eternall Counsel the gracious Law and Decree of God and so of the Spirit of God himself He having set it down and determined it and accordingly revealed it That thus it shall be so that the effect of being filled with the Spirit of God is not the result of the means but the proper product of that Eternal Law and Decree which God himself hath made For otherwise if we shall suppose that there were no such Law or Decree of God in being if men should use never so much means do the same things a thousand times over it would never be accomplished so that the reason why men come to be filled with the Spirit of God upon the using such and such means is not because of the means but it ariseth from the mighty force and irresistible power of the Decree of God this is that which triumpheth over all the use of means The Decrees of God are so full of grace and bounty that they do not stand to measure inches as we use to speak in the things of men so that unless they find so much worth or goodness in them they shall never pass with God neither the performers of them be made partakers of any rich anoynting from him No This is not the tenour of the Decrees of God in general nor of that of which we are speaking particularly but it hath a more favourable aspect upon his Creature man and importeth such a thing as this I know the nature of my Creatures Men and Women and the utmost of what they are able to do their weaknesses and frailties being considered Yet let them but do what they can let them shew their willingness to comply with me and they shall have as much assistance from me and from my Spirit to help them on in this blessed design of being filled with my Spirit as their hearts can desire And indeed this is one of the highest and greatest vouchsafements of God unto the children of men that he hath opened unto them such an effectual door or way whereby they may fill themselves or be filled with the Spirit All other means which God by his providence hath vouchsafed unto men of another nature as to make them great rich honourable c. amongst them all there is none greater Nay none so great and of so sacred an import unto them as this which we are speaking of viz. That God hath shewed them a way and vouchsafed unto them means to be filled with the Spirit which hath this blessed tendency in it to raise them to the highest pitch they are capable of in the love and favour of God When men are filled with the Spirit they are no more like unto other men They are more excellent than their neighbours Prov. 12.26 For by this means as we shall hereafter shew more at large they shall be enabled to act in a peculiar Sphere by themselves leaving the world yea and the Saints themselves who have but a little or small proportion of the Spirit to move in a lower and more inferiour Region Whereas they shall mount up on high and be carried as it were on Eagles wings enabled to do worthily Great and excellent things shall put forth themselves in them things that shall have more of heaven more of glory more of beauty more matter for admiration than can be found in or raised from the stirrings movings and doings in the world round about them So that by this you may easily judge of what a blessed consequence it is unto men to be filled with the Spirit of God 3. The third and last particular Sect. 6 proposed for the opening of the words was to shew why the Apostle subjoyns this positive Exhortation or Precept concerning their being filled with the Spirit by way of Antithesis or opposition to the negative dehortation not to be drunken with wine I answer this seems to be the reason thereof because that which invites men to drunkenness is a certain kind of jollity lightness or freeness of spirit that is occasioned by the drinking of wine according to the judgments of many who write concerning the tempers of men who say that there is a kind of lightness and frenziness of Spirit which is occasioned by the drinking wine wherein some men take more content and satisfaction than they do in any other thing And therefore the Holy Ghost doth direct them to such a course wherein they shall have far better contentments not indeed of the same kind or flowing from the same cause but however they shall be satisfied in that which they so much desire they shall have jollity lightness and chearfulness of Spirit indeed of a far better nature and upon far better and more excellent terms than what they could expect from their being filled or drunken with wine That jollity or mirth of spirit which men please and solace themselves in when they are under the influence of wine is but melancholy and dull or dead in comparison of that mirth and rejoycing that pleasantness of mind and spirit which they shall certainly attain unto and be made partakers of if they would but take the same course to be filled with the Spirit which they do to be filled with Wine So that this is the reason as I conceive why the Apostle subjoyns this affirmative Precept unto the negative Dehortation The Doctrines which we shall raise from the words thus opened Sect. 7 are only these four First from the adversative Particle But which as hath been said notes an opposition between the latter part of the verse and the former Doctrine 1 This Doctrine springeth forth viz. That drunkenness with Wine or inordinate drinking is altogether inconsistent with a being filled with the Spirit Or if you will we may phrase it thus That inordinateness in drinking is inconsistent with a filling with the Spirit Secondly From the Phrase here used Be ye filled with the Spirit The Apostle's meaning only being as was shewed that he would have them use the means take such a course that they might be filled with the Spirit Doctr. 2 The Doctrine is That in matters of Religion and things appertaining unto Salvation to use the means and to obtain the end are interpretatively and in effect one and the same Or thus That in spiritual concernments a regular use of means and the obtaining the end are by the Counsel and Decree of God inseperably joyned together The Apostle had in vain exhorted the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit if having used the best means they were able thus to be filled they might notwithstanding remain empty The Counsels and Exhortations of God in the Gospel are not like unto
a Lottery into which a man may cast his money and yet be far enough from drawing a Prize Thirdly Doctr. 3 Whereas the Apostle layeth it upon them by way of duty to be filled with the Spirit this Doctrine ariseth That neither men nor women can expect I mean upon any sufficient yea or tolerable grounds te be filled with the Spirit of God but by the use of such means as are proper and appointed by God thereunto If the Ephesians had had any reason or ground to have expected this blessed accommodation here spoken of viz. a being filled with the Spirit of God without their endeavours for the obtaining of it it had been impertinent and needless for him to have imposed it upon them by way of duty Fourthly and lastly From the plain express and full import of the Precept or Exhortation we may observe Doctr. 4 That it is the duty of all persons especially of all the Professors of the Gospel or of Christianity to be filled with the Holy Ghost or spirit of God This being the Point that lieth most clear and large in the words read Contenting our selves with the bare mentioning the other three unless something relating unto them shall occasionally fall in in our intended discourse we shall proceed only with it First Sect. 8 for the truth of the Doctrine had we no other proofs for it from the Scriptures but the Text in hand this alone by reason of the evidence and expressness of it were sufficient to carry it But there are other Scriptures also which being well understood and throughly searched into speak and import the same thing as viz. that it is matter of duty lying upon all men especially those who do profess Christianity to be filled with the Spirit Jude v. 19. Sensual not having the Spirit namely of God as is clear from the Character he gives of the persons here spoken of unto the Christians that he writeth unto For what should be the reason why the Apostle taketh this notice of them Namely that whereas they separated themselves from the Congregation of the Saints yet were they sensual not having the Spirit who though they did pretend to a greater degree of light and more familiarity and acquaintance with the Spirit of God than other Christians did yet the Apostle tells those Christians to whom he wrote that they should not believe them because they were sensual only talking and boasting of the Spirit which conceit and confident presumption in them of their having the Spirit was the ground or occasion of their separation and dividing from the Assemblies of other Christians But the truth is saith our Apostle they are sensual not having the Spirit Nay they take a course not to have the Spirit which is by their giving themselves up to sensuality They indeed pretend to the Spirit that so they might the better satisfie themselves and others concerning the liberty which they take in the waies of the flesh such as other Christians did not take bearing themselves and others in hand that they had the warrant for their practice by special revelation And they understood their liberty better than other Christians and that they came to this priviledge by the super-Evangelical Communion which they had with the Spirit of God And yet notwithstanding all these pretences the Apostle positively concludes that these men had not the Spirit clearly implying withal that this was their sin not to have him yea and futther that their not having of him did interess them in the guilt of many other sins That it was sinful in these and is so in all others not to have the Spirit is evident from hence because they might have had and enjoyed him would they but have complied with God in the use of such means as he had vouchsafed unto them for that end And that it was nothing but sin and iniquity committed by them that kept the Spirit of God from them this may be gathered from the testimony of God himself by his Prophet Your iniquities have turned away these things and your sins have withholden good things from you Jer. 5.25 And that the Spirit of God is withheld from none but only from those that do refuse or neglect to ask him of God by prayer is somewhat more than affirmed by Christ in this high assertive Interrogation If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that aske him Luke 11.13 So also Joh. 4.10 compared with Chap. 7.38 39. and Acts 5.32 God is said to give the Holy Ghost to them that obey him So that it was unquestionably sinful in these sensual Separatists in Jude that they had not the Spirit Now then if this was matter of sin in them not to have the Spirit It clearly follows that it was their duty and a thing that they ought to have sought after to possess and invest themselves with him And if it were a matter of duty incumbent upon them simply to have the Spirit to have him in any measure or degree then it followeth by a streight line in reason or by a necessary consequence That it was matter of duty also unto them to have him in the greatest measure and in the highest degree or proportion that they were capable of attaining unto For this is clear in reason that whatsoever is our duty simply to do if the duty or the doing of it will admit of degrees that it may be done more or loss perfectly which is the condition of most duties if not of all then it is our duty to do it in the highest degree and with the greatest perfection If it be our duty to love God simply then certainly to love him to a greater degree yea to the greatest degree of all is our duty also namely to love him with all our hearts Mark 12.30 souls mind and strength So likewise if it be our duty to love our neighbour Then is it our duty also to love him with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 which is the highest pitch or degree of this affection The case is the same in all other duties whatsoever and therefore we ought to endeavour and stir up our selves unto the most perfect manner of performance A duty is more our duty and nearer to the intent of the Precept or Exhortation enjoyning it when performed with much intensness of mind and spirit and when it drinketh up much of the heart and soul of him that performeth it and consequently more acceptable unto God than when it is only simply barely and cursorily performed So that this Scripture doth prove plainly enough the truth of the Doctrine in hand viz. That it is the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit And if any man do fail of this grace of God and become sensual it is because he doth not comport with the Spirit in his motions and applications
of himself unto him for by this means the Spirit withdraweth his former influences from such a person and affordeth him but a faint and scanty presence of himself afterwards Again Sect. 9 from the Apostles Exhortation 1 Thes 5.19 Quench not the Spirit the truth of the Doctrine may be further argued even to a demonstration For if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to quench the Spirit i. e. Not to do any thing that may justly occasion him to cease from his wonted activity within them stirring their hearts and causing them to burn with inflamed desires after God and Jesus Christ and the things of their eternal peace I say If it be a duty to take heed of quenching the Spirit in such a way as this Then must it needs be a duty lying upon them to be filled with the Spirit the fulness of whose presence as was formerly more than hinted will cause their hearts to burn within them and as it were to mount up unto heaven in a flame It is an approved Rule frequently made use of by learned Ministers for the right understanding of the Decalogue or Moral Law That every Negative Commandment includeth the Affirmative contrary unto it As that which forbiddeth the destroying or the taking away the life of a man enjoyneth withal the preservation of his life with all tenderness and care There is another Rule delivered by some worthy Expositors of the Scriptures very necessary to acquaint us with the emphatical import of some expressions here The Rule is to this effect Adverbs of denying do very frequently import the contrary unto that word unto which they are joyned Many instances of this Rule might readily be given but this may be done upon some other occasion only for the present take notice that this Scripture agreeth to that which is imported in both these Rules This Negative dehortation Quench not the Spirit carrieth in it some such Affirmative and commanding Precept as this See that you be prudently industrious and careful with all diligence to nourish and advance the life and vigour of the Spirit of God within you entertain him with all worthy and honourable respects in your souls let him have all the obedience that he desireth or requireth of you By this means you shall be so far from quenching him in his motions and operations that he will burn like a bright flame of heavenly fire within you and work wonderfully in your souls That some such sense as this was intended by the Apostle in the said Dehortation is not obscurely intimated by that negative Precept not to despise Prophecying immediately subjoyned unto that of not quenching the Spirit especially if it be interpreted by one or both the Rules given for the interpretation of the former passage For then Not to despise Prophecying will signifie to put an high esteem upon Prophecying that is in the Ministry or Preaching of the Gospel which is done partly by a constant or frequent attendance upon it as with reverence and fear so with a lively and steady expectation of meeting with God and much good in it partly also by a consciencious subjecting all a mans waies words and works unto the authority and guidance of it Now not to despise that is to honour Prophecying upon such terms as these and duly honoured it cannot be upon any other is a direct and pregnant course to cause the Spirit to take pleasure in us and to be as fire in our breasts and bones not suffering us to be in the dark concerning any such spiritual things which are necessary or meet for us to know nor yet to be remiss negligent or cold as to waies and works that are truly honourable and worthy our high calling And what doth all this signifie being interpreted but to be filled with the Spirit Nor is there any way more dangerous unto men or more threatening the great evil and misery of being emptied of the Spirit than to despise Prophecying or the Ministry of the Gospel which is called The ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 And the Ministers of it The Ministers not of the Letter that is Not so much of the words matter or contents of the Gospel but of the Spirit Because the Spirit of God according to the counsel and good pleasure of God in this behalf is wont to joyn himself with the glorious truths of the Gospel published and proclaimed by his Messengers when he hath an intent or desire to go forth into the world and to visit the hearts and consciences of the Sons and Daughters of men See upon this account Acts 10.44 Gal. 3.2 5. And as the Spirit ordinarily cometh unto the souls of men in a golden shower of Evangelical truths rained down upon them from the mouth of a Church Angel So doth he not only continue but increase and inlarge his presence in them proportionably to that honour and obedience which is given by them unto those truths by which he was brought into their souls Therefore as the despising of Prophecying whether it be by undervaluing or neglecting the Ordinance or dispensation of it or whether it be by disobeying and casting behind their backs the holy Counsels and divine Injunctions of it is a ready way to quench the Spirit So on the contrary to have this heavenly Ordinance in high esteem and with constancy in attending upon it to joyn a reverential and awful subjection unto the voice of it in our lives and conversations is a method or means sealed by God whereby to obtain that inestimable treasure of being filled with the Spirit Thus you see how the Apostles charge of not quenching the Spirit leadeth us directly and by a clear light to the acknowledgment of this That it is every mans duty to be filled with the Spirit That other Dehortation of the same Apostle Sect. 10 Parallel in Expression and partly in sense unto the former Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 being rightly argued and searched into will give us the light of the same truth at the bottom of it But let us first consider what it is to grieve the Spirit and then we shall see by the light of the two rules mentioned in the opening of the former proof how it doth follow from hence That it is the duty of Christians to be filled with the Spirit The Spirit here spoken of is neither the Spirit of Man nor Angel as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter but the eternal Spirit of God the third Person in the Trinity Now to speak properly this Spirit is not subject unto grief nor any other Passion whatsoever But men are said to grieve the Spirit when they cause him to do and act towards them that which men are used to do under the Passion of grief Now you know that men whilst they are under the guidance of that Passion are listless and indisposed unto action Grief contracts and straightens it is of a wasting and consuming nature unto the
heart and spirit Psal 31.9 10. It makes men heavy lumpish and sad averse unto all action as if they had neither life nor soul as we use to say being like unto Davids Images That have hands and handle not feet and walk not c. Psal 115.7 And Jobs three Friends Job 2.13 cast themselves down with him upon the ground and for seven daies and seven nights together none of them speaking so much as a word unto him the reason is given because they saw that his grief was very great Meaning as Junius well interprets it That the greatness of that grief which they perceived had taken hold of the spirit and soul of their Friend so afflicted them and because that sympathy commiseration had wrought such a grief in them that they sate all this while as persons astonished and were not able to stir up themselves to comfort him by these instances you may see it is the nature of grief to contract the heart and to make men listless unto action In like manner the Spirit through the ungrateful disobedient and unworthy behaviour of men towards him is said to be grieved when by such means men have wrought him if we may so speak to the like listlessness of acting and putting forth the excellencie of his power in their hearts and souls as formerly he did and doth sometime in others On the other hand a man is never in a right posture for action or for the doing of any thing that is of any good or great concernment unto others but when he enjoyeth himself upon the highest and richest terms of satisfaction and contentment So then the Spirit of God is said to be grieved by men when they shall deal so unkindly with or by him as to reject and neglect his heavenly motions and inspirations by giving over such and such waies of honour Christian excellency and worth which they had sometime lift up their hearts and hands unto and walked with delight in them When men I say shall cease to go on in such waies as these and prefer the ignoble and base motions of the Flesh or of the World before those that come from him and which are all honourable and heavenly such a demeanour of men towards the Spirit of God grieveth him that is Maketh him listless unto action and causeth him to abate and to fall lower in his operations and to give out himself more faintly than before Whereas he had been active and ever and anon stirring and provoking them and this with efficacie and power unto this and that good way and work now he withdraweth by degrees and declineth these motions and operations upon which the soul of man becomes listless and dull to any thing of a spiritual concernment like a Ship becalmed on the Seas whose Sails a little before were filled with fresh and pleasant gales of wind carrying her amain to her desired Port. Now then if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to grieve the Spirit Then by the authority of both the Rules by which we found out the true sense of our former proof both of them being as proper and useful here it is their duty also to chear and delight the Spirit I mean to keep themselves in such a frame or posture both inwardly in heart and soul and outwardly in life and conversation that he may take delight in them And if it be the duty of Christians to be pleasing unto and compliant with the Spirit simply indefinitely and in any degree Then upon the grounds formerly argued and made good it is more their duty to endeavour with their whole heart and soul to please him in the highest Now when he taketh delight and pleasure in any man in more than an ordinary degree he will signifie not only his contentment in this kind but even the measure and degree of it also by a proportionable advancement of his gracious activity upon all occasions This is that we intend and hold forth in the Doctrine from the Apostles expression of being filled with the Spirit which also by warrant of the same authority we affirm to be a duty lying upon all Christians We shall insist only upon one proof more to confirm the truth of the Doctrine Sect. 11 Be kindly affectioned saith the Apostle one unto another c. Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.10 11. To be fervent in Spirit especially in the Service of God or of Christ requires a great presence or fulness of the Spirit of God in a man For the Spirit of a man acted only by it self or by its own strength wisdom or goodness will never rise so high in any true and real Service of god as fervency of spirit doth import Neither will an ordinary presence or assistance of the Spirit of God himself carry the heart of a man up unto any such pitch of devotion He that will have an ear to hearken to the voice of this Exhortation of being fervent in spirit in the Service of the Lord must find out a way how to engage and how to comport with the Spirit of God that he may vouchsafe unto him a measure of his presence heaped up to make him capable of so great and worthy an undertaking Yea men I suppose cannot be fervent in spirit in doing any thing which they call or judge to be the Service of God although it be a Service of their own fansie or genius or of some worse deity unless they be acted therein by a spirit more active than their own So then if it be a duty lying upon all Christians to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord then is it a duty that beareth with the same weight upon them to be filled with the Spirit Inasmuch as the performance of the former of these duties cannot stand but by the performance of the latter so that from hence it is evident that it is a duty incumbent upon all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Besides these Scriptures now argued we might if need were increase their number for the proof of our Doctrine by arguing in like manner all those Scriptures which require such things of men that cannot be performed by men without a being filled with the Spirit such passages of these which are not a few do clearly import that it is a duty yea a duty of duties such a duty without the performance whereof great numbers of other duties will suffer and never appear in their glory Texts of this import are these with their fellows Rom 8.13 Joh. 16.24 Luke 21.36 CHAP. II. The first Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued viz That it is the duty of all persons especially of all the Professors of the Gospel or Christianity to be filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God Because if men be not filled or in a way of being filled with the Spirit of God they will be filled with some evil Spirit one or other IT is
therefore the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Sect. 1 because if they be not filled Reason 1 or do not endeavour to be filled with the Spirit of God they will certainly be filled with some one or other worse Spirit which will lead them aside into the waies of sin and vanity and of darkness and death And most certain it is the duty of all Christians to do all things that are requisite and necessary for the preventing of so great an evil and misery coming upon them as this namely of being filled with any spirit contrary to the Spirit of God and spirit of sin and wickedness whatsoever That it is simply necessary to prevent such a polution or defilement so miserable a state and condition as this is not or at least ought not to be a question unto any man who minds but to any degree the things of his peace Now that it is a duty lying upon all c. to be filled with the Spirit is evident if we shall consider that there are many other Spirits abroad in the world every one of which hath a direct antipathy to the holy Spirit of God That which the Apostle John speaketh more particularly of Doctrines Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4.1 may be said of Spirits in general For there are many Spirits walking up and down in the World Isa 19 3. a spirit of perverseness Deut. 32.5 a spirit of whoredom Hos 4.12 a spirit of covetousness Ezek. 33.31 a spirit of slumber Rom. 11.8 a spirit of fear 2 Tim. 1.7 Now when principles or dispositions in men whether they be disposions unto vertue and holiness or unto sin and vice are grown up unto any fulness so that they put forth themselves with force and are vigorous and active in them It is usual in the Scripture language dialect or manner of speaking to express such or such principles or dispositions by the name of Spirit As when love acteth vigorously in men to express it by the name of the spirit of love So a meek and humble frame of heart by a spirit of meekness So on the other hand a perverse and froward spirit by a spirit of perverseness an inordinate love of money or inordinate coveting after riches by a spirit of covetousness Sect. 2 Now the reason of this denomination to call covetousness where it is strong and raised in men and when they favour strongly of it by the name of a spirit of covetousness and so of fear when it is active and vigorous in men by a spirit of fear There is the same consideration to be had of love meekness holiness c. for these principles or dispositions when they are active and vigorous are as well denominated unto us by the name of spirit as those which are of a contrary nature and import The reason hereof is First to shew that when principles and dispositions in men are raised to any great degree of strength and become vigorous and active and have gotten any considerable power in or over men if I may so speak they are hard to be resisted Even as Spirits or Angels who as the Psalmist saith excell or according to the Hebrew reading in the Margin are mighty in strength Psal 103.20 they are yery potent and powerful not easie to be resisted in their operations Even so it is with principles and dispositions when they are grown to any considerable height in men and become strong and potent they are hard to be resisted and therefore called by the Holy Ghost by the name of Spirit Or else happily the reason may be which I chiefly eye because all dispositions in men and principles of action whether good or evil when ever they are raised any whit high and have gotten strength within them there is some spirit or other good or evil that mingleth it self with them and by this means doth add vigour and strength unto them and doth raise them above that measure and pitch of strength and activity which they would never be raised unto without the interposure of some such Spirit good or evil properly so called It is true When holy dispositions in men are in their greatest strength and glory there is but one Spirit by which they are acted and that is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost who through the infiniteness of his power doth answer yea more than anwer yea even far surpass in power the innumerable company of unclean Spirits and therefore when holy dispositions and inclinations are raised in men though they be many and various and spring from different principles in the heart and soul of a man Yet this one and indivisible spirit is able through or by means of his concurrence with them and influencing of them to add strength power and energie unto them and enable every one of them to fructifie and bring forth genuine fruit according unto its respective kind But now as concerning evil and sinful principles and dispositions it is very probable that the case is far otherwise For as there is a vast number and company of devils and unclean spirits so is it no waies dissonant unto reason to conceive that they have their distinct imployments and offices One sort of them may be employed to raise stir up and strengthen a spirit of uncleanness in men Another a spirit of covetousness A third a spirit of malice and revenge A fourth a spirit of gluttony and excess c. The * Eph. 1.21 Col. 2.15 Mat. 12.25 26. Scripture and that not obscurely seems to countenance this notion viz. that they are ranged into orders and are under a kind of regiment and that they are in a straight band league and confederacy to carry on one and the same grand design And if so their nature considered viz. their wisdom and subtilty it is most probable that every one of them is imployed according to his proper genius Some because they are of a more bloudy and cruel nature than others may be employed to stir up and to strengthen in men a spirit of malice and persecution Others that are otherwaies disposed may be imployed to stir up and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness A third sort of them whose genius lyeth that way to strengthen and increase a spirit of error But we may have occasion to speak more of this afterwards In the mean season this is that which we say in the reason in hand Sect. 3 That unless men shall take a course to be filled with the Spirit of God they will by degrees at least and perhaps sooner than they are aware be filled with some evil and contrary spirit a spirit of some sin and wickedness one or other The reason hereof is plain and near at hand because the evil and unclean Spirit that is the old Serpent Job 1.7 commonly called the Devil who walketh up and down the world compassing the earth too and fro
as his own expression is seeking whom he may devour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. whom he may devour at once 1 Pet. 5.8 and with as much haste as possible may be meaning by filling them with all unrighteousness with uncleanness love of this world fearlesness of God and of his Laws Precepts and Commands For he namely Satan hath no other weapons to destroy men and women withal but these And in these and in these only lye his murthering and devouring attempts So that where he meets not with one that is greater and stronger than himself to oppose him And there is but one to stand in his way of whom the Apostle John gives this testimony That he that is in you namely the Saints is greater than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 I say When he meets not and is not encountred by this Spirit of God that is stronger than he Yea if this Spirit have not advanced in his strength and assistance by the means before spoken of to some good degree in the hearts and souls of men He namely the evil one is very likely to prevail yea and questionless will prevail over men and fill the hearts and inward parts of men with all unrighteousness covetousness love of the world c. and with all manner of sinful inclinations dispositions and propentions which will be their ruine For sin as the Apostle James testifieth when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam 1.15 When it is finished i. e. impenitently persisted in unto the last it certainly bringeth damnation or eternal destruction upon men Or if you will thus Sin when it is finished or perfected that is when it is raised hath much of strength and power in the heart and soul of a man and when they are full of sin Then it is apt and likely to bring forth death the workings and operations thereof incline and tend strongly that way yea and will certainly issue in Death as was even now hinted if it be not stopped in its way by a more than ordinary care and diligence to make resistance against it Now that Satan or the evil Spirit will certainly prevail with men and women to fill themselves with him or with his fruits unless they be filled or in a way of filling themselves with the Spirit of God is evident upon these two gradual considerations taken together First Sect. 4 If men shall be found to be wholly destitute and devoid of the Spirit of God and as it were altogether flesh so that they have not wherewith to oppose or to make any resistance against the devil or evil Spirit in any kind or at least to any considerable degree Then is it no marvel if he prevail over men For that which is flesh in men whether we take it for that which is properly so called the body or outward man considered simply as such or whether by flesh we mean that which is born of the flesh according to our Saviours expression Joh. 3.6 i.e. inordinate desires sinful inclinations and lusts that are ingendred and occasioned by the flesh I say in both these considerations whether we take the flesh either litterally or metaphorically it is wholly confederate with Satan against the soul and spiritual life of man ready to open unto him and comport with him in all his dangerous and destructive applications of himself unto them and consequently such men that are only flesh or full of it receive the Laws of their minds from the inspiration thereof and are not furnished with any principles wherewith to oppose him and as it is said concerning John the Baptist That they that persecuted him did unto him whatsoever they listed (a) Mat. 17.12 Mar. 9.13 Even so the Scriptures speak of or concerning such persons as we are now treating of That Sathan carrieth them captive at his will (b) 2 Tim. 2.26 and filleth them with what kind of lusts and uncleanness he pleaseth yea and to what degree he pleaseth When men are filled with the Holy Spirit so that it acteth with much strength and vigour in them and that they are subdued and brought under the power thereof the Scripture is used to speak of them as wholly diabled and debilitated to sin So the Apostle Paul speaketh concerning himself and of such others that were made partakers of the same anointing with him For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 So on the contrary they that are filled with the spirit of the devil have nothing in them but what is born of the flesh and therefore they can do nothing for but against the truth no not in their own souls judgments and consciences still comporting with Sathan against the truth and their own peace and comfort But It is a Question perhaps of no easie resolution Whether there be any person man or woman under heaven who is wholly destitute of the Spirit of God unless it be those which have blasphemed the Spirit of God and have stumbled at that stumbling stone which will certainly not only break but grind all to powder which shall fall under it That sin which is the seed of immortal eternal and irreconcileable hatred and alienation between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of him whosoever he be that hath committed it I mean the sin against the Holy Ghost I rather at present incline to the affirmative part of the Question and do conceive That there is no person of mankind who from or after his first enlightening by the Spirit of God upon and after his coming into the world under the guilt of any sin or sins whatsoever except that sin only before excepted that is at any time untill the day and hour of his death wholly bereaved of the presence and assistance of the Spirit of God with him Of which my apprehensions I have as I remember heretofore given some account and may possibly have occasion to speak more largely unto it hereafter But for the present Whereas some in the Scripture are said not to have the Spirit Jude the 19 verse sennsual not having the Spirit a Scripture formerly made use of upon another occasion I answer the meaning is not as if they had no degree or presence Sect. 5 or no assistance of or from the Spirit of God within them But this by not having the Spirit is meant That there was no appearance of the exercise of the Spirit is meant That there was no appearance of the exercise of the Spirit of God in them They appeared unto the judgments of men as such who had not the Spirit their lives and conversations were such which did not shew forth any presence of the Spirit of God in them A person in the Scripture Phrase is said not to have that which he doth not make use of or improve or that which he doth not seem to have For unto every one that hath saith our Saviour Mat. 25.29 shall be given and he shall
Disciples did is because they did not see him neither know him Though he be near unto them yea though he be in their hearts by his word yet they not minding nor contemplating this word of his nor regarding his motions in their souls but suffering the eyes of their minds to be fixed upon this present world and the sins and vanities thereof do not see him though he be near unto them and ready to do great things for them had they a mind to imploy him But their thoughts and mind being otherwise engaged and entangled they do by this means and during the Regency of such principles render themseles upon the matter in an utter incapacity of receiving the Spirit because they favour so much of the Spirit of this world and render themselves such a kind of sinners and such an unworthy generation that the Spirit of God can have no will or lust can take no pleasure or content to manifest himself unto them This is the second consideration by which you may perceive that unless men shall take a course to be filled with the Spirit of God they will lay themselves open and obnoxious to be filled with some unclean spirit or other If it be here objected Sect. 7 and said Is not the Spirit of God a gracious and free-working Spirit Objection And will he not doth he not for his own name sake as the Scriptures often speak put forth his might and strength to aide and assist men and women against Sathan and his evil practices towards them when and where he pleaseth without any motive or inducement from them by way of compliance with him or any goodness of behaviour in one kind or other towards him How then can we say that it doth depend upon any compliance of the creature Man with him or any kind of behaviour of his towards him I answer Answer most true it is That the Spirit of God is a most gracious and free-working Spirit exerting and putting forth himself rising up in his might and heavenly vigour where when and in whom he pleaseth Nor doth he receive Laws Terms or Directions from men for any of his motions or actions in the world but from himself his own grace and wisdom only Secondly I answer further That though the Spirit of God be most gracious and free in all his operations and workings Yet as the Apostle Peter speaking of the Promise of the Lord Christ concerning his coming saith The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count stackness 2 Pet. 3.9 Even so say I of the Spirit of Christ That he is neither gracious nor free-working as some men count gracious and free-working he is neither the one nor the other in any way of contrariety unto himself I mean either to his own holiness or his love of holiness in men nor yet to his wisdom or the interest of his glory but only in a direct and clear consistency with these Some mens imagination or notion concerning the gracious and free working disposition of the Spirit of God is 1. That there have been and are some men to whom he never hath nor ever will vouchsafe his gracious presence to the least degree and meerly out of his freedom hath willed never to have to do with them little or much not because of any peculiar strain of wickedness in them but meerly and only as I even now said from his own will and pleasure 2. On the other hand they conceive That God vouchsafeth such a presence unto some others so powerful and effectual that they are not able to resist the motions influences and workings of it but are necessitated thereby to repent believe and work righteousness 3. And lastly Others notion of this grace and working of the Spirit is such as if no course or strain of sin and wickedness whatsoever in men though still persisted in no impenitency no neglect or contempt whether precedent or present of the Gospel and of the great Salvation offered therein were or are any way considerable as to the obstructing or hindering the Spirit of God from vouchsafing even the richest highest and fullest measure of himself and his gracious presence unto them Now that Neither the grace of God nor the freedom of the Spirit in working is to be estimated measured or computed by any such notions or principles as these hath been already sufficiently evinced and proved and might here be done again would it not occasion too long a digression That graciousness and freedom of working which the Scripture any where yea and sound reason it self asserts unto the Spirit of God consists and shews it self in these particulars First All men without exception having sinned in Adam and thereby justly deprived themselves of all friendly converse and communion with God yea and justly incurred his high displeasure hatred and indignation There was nothing of any engaging or inviting much less of any obliging import in man to move or encline the God of Heaven to have any thing more to do with him in any way of love favour mercy goodness or the like to the daies of Eternity So that God having been pleased notwithanding this low and despicable condition of his Creature man to comport with him again upon terms of grace and reconciliation and to offer himself unto him namely to be re-enjoyed upon terms and these very possible to be performed by him and to put him into a capacity of blessedness and glory his former provocations notwithstanding must needs be matter of pure and meer grace and consequently of free grace so far as it was matter of grace at all If any shall say The misery and sad extremity of the Creature man Sect. 8 in the condition wherein he had now plunged himself Objection might be some moving cause unto God or upon God to look back again in mercy towards him And so in this respect there might be somewhat in man inviting him unto that merciful compliance with him which now he hath vouchsafed and consequently his grace in this vouchsafement is not so absolutely and purely free To this I answer Answers That no man as I suppose ever oppoed misery unto grace or freeness of grace in him that sheweth mercy or relieveth It is not repugnant to the greatest freeness of grace that can be imagined that a man should be induced to vouchsafe help shew mercy and relieve a person that is in misery yea upon the occasion thereof or that his misery should be an inducement thereunto 2. That compliance which God vouchsafed unto his Creature man considered as now misrable is not properly matter of grace or an act of grace but of mercy so that though the mercy of God out of which he hath vouchsafed means of relief unto man may be said to have been invited or wrought upon by his misery and in this respect not so absolutely free Yet this hinders not but that the grace of God properly so called out of which he hath been
watch their opportunity and sooner or later will break out and shew themselves in the world Or if they should not break out into action yet they will greatly incumber and break the very heart and cut the sinews of the motions and excitations of the Spirit of God in men The motions of the Spirit of God where these inmates are hardly thrive or come to any maturity but will be as the untimely fruit of a woman which never comes to see the Sun There are some actions so necessary to be atchieved for the honour of Christ that this is like to suffer much unless they be performed And these are of such a contrariety to the flesh that unless men be filled with the Spirit of God the flesh will never give way for the performance of them because they have such a desperate antipathy to it and to the works thereof But when a man is full of the Holy Ghost he is now so full of the sense of the goodness of those honourable purposes that are conceived in his soul and of all high atchievements in the service of God which he judgeth will be both for the glory of God the advancement of the Gospel and for the good of mankind as also for his own peace and comfort that there is no place left within him for the flesh to suggest any thing to the contrary either to take him him off from or to retard him in the prosecution thereof He is as full of such occasions and ingagements as these as ever he can hold which keep out the motions and insinuations of the flesh Whereas if there were room for them to interpose it is a thousand to one but they would strangle or stifle all good purposes and resolutions within him You may the better understand what it is to be filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 2 in reference to the matter in hand by considering the contrary namely what it is to be filled with an evil spirit Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle to Annanias Acts 5.3 The Apostle supposes that Satan had filled his heart upon this ground because he had reason and grounds in abundance to speak the truth in as much as he saw and knew that Peter was indued with a miraculous and extraordinary presence of the Spirit of God whereby he could discern whether he spake the truth or not but Satan had filled his heart with foolish imaginations and vain conceits about the profit or benefit that he presumed would accrue unto him by his lye that there was no room for the consideration of those grounds and reasons as were before him to speak the truth though these were pregnant and near at hand So on the contrary when a man is so full of the consideration of the high services of God and of purposes and resolutions to quit himself worthily therein that there is no place left in his soul to encertain any contrary thoughts or suggestions that might insnare him and turn him aside now is he full of the Spirit and in a meet frame and posture to lift up his heart and his hands to the great and high Commandments of Jesus Christ It is said Acts 4 8. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them ye Rulers of the people and Elders of Israel c And Acts 13.9 10. Then Paul filled with the Holy Ghost sit his eyes on him viz. Elimas the Sorcerer and said O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right waies of the Lord The reason why here is mention made of the Apostles being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was ingaged in such a notable service for Jesus Christ as to reprove a man of that great authority and esteem which Elimas was of amongst them the reason hereof I say was to shew that he was not like to have performed such a work as this had he not been so full of the Spirit of God that there was no room in his heart for any fearful apprehensions nor thoughts of danger or reward to obstruct him herein So elsewhere the Apostle in a Phrase a little differing saith Behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem Acts 20.22 To be bound in the Spirit is upon the matter to be filled with the Spirit As a man that is bound hand and foot may be ordered any way he can make no resistance any man may carry him whither he will So saith Paul I go bound in the Spirit or by means of the Spirit He hath brought me into these bonds having filled me with satisfaction touching the excellency of the service that I shall do unto Christ by going to Jerusalem in the face of all those great Enemies I shall there meet with Yet saith he notwithstanding any danger that may befall me I go bound in the Spirit so filled with what the Spirit hath put into my judgment and conscience and soul touching the acceptableness of the service that I can give no audience to any reasons or proposals against it I cannot resist the motion carrying me to it And 2 Cor. 5.13 The same Apostle speaks of being besides themselves For whether we be besides our selves it is unto God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Constraineth us namely to both kinds of practices those wherein they should seem unto many to be besides themselves and those also wherein they should seem to be sober wherein he supposeth that there are many turns wherein the honour of Jesus Christ cannot be provided for as it ought but some men must act like unto men besides themselves to make the provision And of all kind of actions and services these are the highest and most spiritual and of the greatest consequence unto the interest of Jesus Christ and his affairs And the truth is that setting a very few persons aside that are more spiritually wise than the common sort of men yea of Christians themselves there are not sufficient witnesses of the worthiness of such actions but Jesus Christ himself because the grounds and reasons by which such actions must be promoted are so high and have so much of God in them that persons of an ordinary understanding have no skill of them they cannot cast it or conceive in their minds but that such a man might have done better might have been wiser and might have kept a good conscience though he had not run such an hazard and exposed himself to such or such a trouble or loss c. Sect. 3 Now it is only the Holy Ghost that can enable men to do that can inlarge their hearts unto such actions and services as those wherein they shall be looked upon as men besides themselves And when the Holy Ghost shall come and fill the heart and display the worthiness and glory of such
a service that seems vain rash or needless in the eyes of most men then the glory of it shall shine round about him and he shall see as in a vision of the noon day this conveniency and that this consequence and that attending upon it all great and excellent and worthy and by this means the heart comes to be full of it full of the greatness and the goodness and the worthiness of it full of the sense of the benefit and blessing which it will bring along with it So that though all the world should rise up against him to disswade him from it they could not do it For in such a case there would be no opportunity no roomth in his heart or soul for any carnal disswading interposure to enter or to intermeddle about taking him off from it As when the glory of the Lord had filled the Temple the Priests could not enter into it to do their Office or any work belonging to them here 2 Chron. 7.2 In like manner when the Holy Ghost hath filled the Temple of the soul with the glory of great and high ingagements for God and for the Gospel such reasonings and conceits which are wont to purvey for the flesh and to sacrifice all that comes to net pleasures and profits unto it cannot now find entrance hither to inveigle or intice the hearts or consciences of men to hearken unto them So that we see the truth of this reason That unless men and women be filled with the Spirit of God they will never be able to advance in such waies and courses and to hold out in many practices and services without which the honour of God the reputation and credit of the Gospel of Christ cannot be maintained like unto themselves in the world The Gospel will suffer loss and lose ground unless it be held up and the present interest of it maintained by some such worthy practices and undertakings of the Saints as those we have now spoken of and which we have shewed will hardly be attempted much less performed and carried through with that height of courage and resolution which will make the face of the Gospel to shine unless they that shall be called to be Actors of them shall be so emptied of themselves as to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by this means be lifted up above themselves CHAP. IV. The Doctrine demonstrated by a third ground viz. That we are never like to be any great Benefactors unto the world which yet we stand bound in duty to be unless we be filled with the Spirit He is a great Benefactor unto the world that gives a real account of his believing in Christ Why Abraham called the Father of Believers The force of Example A mans keeping the Commandments of Jesus a great benefit and accommodation unto the world in two respects Gal. 6.2 in part opened 2 Tim. 3.8 in part opened So Eph. 3.14 15 16. The Saints praying for any good thing frequently in their prayer mention the means by which God is wont to give or effect it THe third Reason of the Doctrine is this Sect. 1 Every man stands bound upon this account to be filled with the Spirit of God Because otherwise a man will never become any great and signal benefactor unto the world He will never bless or serve his Generation at any worthy rate or as becomeâ—h an heir apparent to life and immortality to do There are two things in this Reason the one supposed or taken for granted as clear and evident enough in it self the other plainly affirmed That which is supposed is this That it is every mans duty to become a Benefactor and this in some degree considerable unto the world This is nothing but what every man stands charged with by God I mean to be singularly and signally active for the real and crue interest of the world whilst he continueth and abideth in it That which is plainly laid down and affirmed is That a man without being filled with the Spirit will never be in any rich or competent capacity to perform his duty in this kind Now concerning the former though it be a truth shining clear enough with its own light yet because every mans eyes haply are not sufficiently opened to see it let us make a little eye-salve of the Word of God to anoint them with that they may be opened to see it First then that all men are bound to believe in Jesus Christ at least all men that have the Gospel preached unto them though there be little question indeed of others Secondly That they are bound to do the best they can to make the world believe this concerning them I mean that they do indeed believe on him As will the one as the other of these is I suppose every mans apprehension and no mans question or doubt Now if this be true Full that every man and woman of us stands bound to believe in Jesus Christ And secondly to do that which is proper and sufficient to convince the world that we do thus believe it evidently followeth That every man stands bound to do some great and worthy thing for the World and to be a Blessing to his Generation For there is nothing lies within the sphere of humane activity of more worthy or higher accommodation or concernment unto the World than to present it with a clear Vision of the sight of a man Believing with his whole heart in Jesus Christ or else to shew unto men the sight of the World it self Conquered and Overcome by a man With both these sights every such man or woman presenteth the World who telleth the World with authority and power that is by a manifest contempt of the World in all that it can either do for him or against him that he believeth in Jesus Christ There is not a greater sight to be shewed or seen in the world than to shew it plainly and cause it to see distinctly the heart of a throughout Believer in Christ or to shew it in like manner the World Overcome by a weak and mortal man Now both these sights a man doth shew when he doth cast contempt upon the World Such a man presents the World with both these with a man really believing in Jesus Christ and with a man having the World under his feet Most men when they pretend or go about to let the World know that they believe in Jesus Christ speak like unto the Spirits of Divination the manner of whose speaking the Pophet Isaiah describeth by peeping and muttering Isa 8.19 as if they were afraid to speak out or plainly lest they should be taken tardy with speaking a lye being conscious to themselves of their inability positively to declare the truth concerning the things which are inquired about at their hands by their Proselites and Customes In like manner the generality of Professors amongst us who pretend to give the world to know that they believe in Jesus Christ do but peep and
mutter their lives and doings speak their Faith but brokenly and indistinctly they do but whisper so that the generality of men can understand but little of what they say in this kind They speak in their way as men that were jealous and half afraid least in time they should or might be discovered to speak untruth when they say they believe in Jesus Christ Such a broken intricate and uncertain account as this given by men unto the World that they believe in Jesus Christ doth no great service unto the World For all such a restimony or assertion of these mens believing in Christ the World will be at liberty and find it self loose enough from being perswaded or convinced that such men do in deed and in truth believe in him And whilst they remain at liberty in this kind they are but where they were the Faith of a person made known but by halves hath but a weak influence but a faint operation upon men being like unto a Trumpet that gives an uncertain sound upon which no man prepares unto the battel as the Apostle speaketh But now he that shall speak out shall speak plainly and without a Parable that shall with authority give or rather make the World to know that he doth really and in truth believe on Christ he will do some worthy execution upon them he will make work to some purpose in the hearts and consciences of men Such a testimony will cause men to awake out of their sleep and stand up from the dead and so prepare and put them in an immediate capacity of receiving the light of life from Christ Eph. 5.14 We know there is an attracting an encouraging Sect. 2 and provoking force in Example to the similitude and likeness of actions yea and sometimes to the similitude of passions or of sufferings also at least to the adventure making of like suffering as Paul said Many waxed confident by his bonds and suffering Phil. 1.14 and were hereby much more bold to speak the Word without fear For seeing Paul make no more of his bonds than he did they began to think that suffering persecution for the Gospel was no very great matter Therefore now they also would preach the Word confidently and with all boldness as he had done In like manner when men shall see the World neglected trodden and trampled upon by a person believing in Jesus Christ by means of this his believing and shall behold this person raised in his spirit enlarged in his comforts and enjoyments with the World under his feet the sight of such an example as this will provoke them also to trample the World under their feet likewise Your Zeal saith the Apostle speaking of their great forwardness and alacrity in contributing towards the necessities of the poor Saints 2 Cor. 9.2 hath provoked very many viz. in the same kind to the like bounty and liberality And yet we know men are as hard as unlikely to be provoked by examples in this kind I mean to part with their money as by any other kind of example whatsoever In like manner the zeal of any man in believing in Jesus Christ being made visible unto men by such deportments and actions which can in reason or in the judgment of conscience have no other root to bear them but this the zeal I say of such a Believer may set the whole World on fire round about him and provoke many to do likewise Abraham may very probably be thought to have the spirit of this glory cast upon him to be stiled the Father of Believers because his notable Example was in the nature and proper tendency of it so generative so apt and likely to replenish and fill the World with a generation of Believers And the Apostle Heb. 12.1 brings a cloud of Witnesses to this very end unto those to whom he writes viz. to encourage strengthen and provoke them to believing yet more and more and to continue believing unto the end So then this is one Reason which plainly demonstrates an Obligation lying upon every man to be a signal Benefactor unto the world viz. That he stands obliged by command from God to believe in Jesus Christ and not only this but to compel the World to know that he deth indeed thus believe He that shall do this shall lift up his hand on high to bless the Generation of the Sons and Daughters of men amongst whom he converseth and shall take a course to open a door unto them to become the Sons and Daughters of God by believing likewise and consequently to become happy and blessed for ever And because of this notable efficacy and potent tendency which a man's Faith in Christ demonstratively asserted by life and waies appropriate to it hath to bless the World by drawing men into Communion in the same course of engagement with him the Lord Christ hath I conceive imposed it in the nature of a spiritual Assessment on every man and woman in the World that believeth namely that they make Profession of this their Belief in the Face of the World that so the World may be made to know that they believe yea and hath included it in the same act by which Salvation it self is granted unto believers Thus Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart c. Now because Confession is one way by which the Faith of men may be made known to the World therefore doth he impose by way of Tax the Confession of the mouth his meaning is as Expositors generally understand it the whole life and conversation He that believes and is baptized shall be saved Here he joyns faith or believing and profession together and insures Salvation upon both Baptism or to be baptized in those daies especially was as it were the first born of their profession of Faith in Jesus Christ And therefore I take it to be an assertion that is to be understood figuratively or syneedochically viz. for a solemn or serious Profession of their Faith He that believeth and is baptized that is he that believeth and shall let the World know that he believeth such a man shall be saved So Mat. 10.32 He that confesseth me before men him will I confess c. So that we still find that upon mens Believing or upon their Conversion they have had some such spiritual imposition as this laid upon them viz. to be helpful to others When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethreu So behave thy self that this Conversion of thine may efficaciously tend unto the Conversion or Confirmation of others And so David knew what his duty was what was imposed upon him when as God should restore unto him the joy of his salvation Psal 51 13. Then saith he shall I teach transgressers the way and sinners shall be converted unto thee As if he had said I know the task that is laid by the hand of the Righteousness of Heaven upon me namely that
of recovering them to any degree of health and soundness of mind had need be one of a thousand as the present stature and constitution of the World generally now is I mean had need be a person as like unto an Angel of God as flesh and bloud is capable of the assimilation a person so deeply baptized into the hope of life and immortality so acted and carried out of himself by the Spirit of the World to come that he hath left the know ledge both of persons and of things after the flesh and knoweth nothing neither the one nor the other but according to the Spirit only that is how they relate unto the honour and glory of God and how they may be made serviceable unto the peace and comfort of men The Apostles being made by the Lord Christ Feoffees in trust for the World in the managing and ordering the invaluable Treasure of the Gospel to the best profit and advantage for the Inhabitants of it yet as concerning the preaching of this Gospel were directed by him to stay at Jerusalem untill they were endued with strength from on high untill they were baptized with the Holy Ghost Luke 24.49 The reason hereof was least in case they should go forth into the World no better provided with Wisdom Knowledge Faith and Courage c. than they were at present and before the golden shower had rained upon them the work and service they had to do for the World in preaching to Gospel and otherwise would have been found too hard for them and to overcharge them and have been unto them as New wine in old bottles which by reason of the strength and high working of the Spirit of it it being yet new is like to rent and break them in peices and so to make both them and it self useless And indeed men had need be endued with strength and power from on high to do such things as will reach the necessities of the World with any likelihood to relieve them For these the necessities of the World are very many and some of them very great and hard and difficult to come at yea there is nothing more difficult than to make the men themselves willing to receive a Cure Therefore he upon whose hand it lyeth to relieve the deep poverty of the World as it lyeth upon all our hands to bear a part and this as large as may be in so great and blessed a work had need be endued with special strength and power from on high And what is this but to be filled with the Spirit these being desirous to let the World know and cause men to understand he was their Messiah without which knowledge he could not bless them this I say being his design and desire he was necessitated upon this account to do such things among them which no man ever did nor indeed could do Joh. 15.24 otherwise they had been in no capacity of receiving any benefit or soul-accommodation by his heavenly Doctrine nor by any work that he should have done among them unless they had had this distinguishing and peculiar Character whereby to have been known from all the works in the World besides and that they were such that no other man could do For if they had been no other than what others could do as well as he it is like they would have proved but like to the former works of Moses which wrought not at all upon Pharaoh or the Aegyptians because Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers did the like whilst their hand held out with Moses all that he did was to no purpose as to any conviction upon Pharaoh or his people that Moses was sent by God The Sorcerers by doing things like unto those which Moses did are said to have resisted or withstood him 2 Tim. 3.8 viz. in his attempt and endeavours by working miracles to convince Pharaoh that he was sent unto him by God to require of him the dismission of his People out of his Land For as long as his Inchanters were able to vie Miracles with Moses at least as name of God But now when Moses came to do such works which neither Jannes nor Jambres nor their Master himself the Devil could do nor any like to them then Pharaoh and his Aegyptians began to look about them and the Magicians themselves acknowledged in these the finger of God Exod. 8.19 So if we intend to bless the World or do any great things for our Generation so long as our waies and course and Spirit that works in us are but like the waies and spirits of other men that do not declare stoutly and aloud for Jesus Christ whose live and doings have no peculiar relation to him so long I say as we go but their pace and act at their rate alas the World will despise us and all our sayings and doings For whilst natural and carnal mens works will hold out with the works of Professors all this while the World stirs not but keeps its wonted posture of security and obduration whilst those that pretend to Faith in Jesus Christ shall not rise up in Acts of Christianity above the Line and Level of all that can be done by any other hand or spirit whatsoever but only that same most glorious spirit of Faith all this while they minister little or nothing to the necessities of the World My Brethren our arrows will fall short of the mark and we shall do little more than beat the air if we think to do any worthy service unto the World unless we shall quit our selves as a peculiar People a Royal Priesthood and a chosen Generation We must be a Generation by our selves and in all heavenly worth and excellency above the World before we can have any power over it to work and fashion it into any shape or form that God may take pleasure in And if we shall do works distinguished by a Character of such excellency and beauty in them like unto which there is none found amongst the Children of men excepting such who are eminently the Children of God also this is that which will reach the World and make the foundations of the unbelief and wickedness thereof to quake and tremble Then and not till then are we like to stand the World in some considerable stead but consider we a little the particular in hand We gave instance of three things in general which all persons stand bound to do and by the performance whereof they shall approve themselves signal Benefactors to the World and occasion many to say unto them these or like words Blessed are the Wombs that bare you and the Paps that gave you suck The first was to believe with the Centurions Faith Mat. 8.10 I mean with a Faith so great that there is none to be found like unto it no not in Israel to believe above the Faith of ordinary Believers Yea doubtless it is the duty of every soul of us to believe above the present degree of
the Faith of the greatest and best resolved Believers amongst the Children of men The second thing was this to display manage and act this Faith before the World that they may see it as it were face to face and that the fruit evidence testimony and account of it may be fully adaequate and Commensurable to the truth and all the degrees of the reality of it The third and last thing whereunto all men stand bound and by the performance whereof they must needs bless the World was the keeping of the Commands of God How and in what respects the performance of all these must needs stand the World in eminent stead was shewed formerly We have now only to shew how they cannot be performed without their being filled with the Spirit of God who shall perform them First Sect. 8 For that notable strain and generous kind of believing we spake of As no Faith no kind or degree of believing can be attained or raised in the soul but by the Holy Ghost so much less can any excellent or worthy strain hereof be raised or exerted in men but by the glorious might of the same Holy Ghost Doubtless there is no man believeth upon any other terms than those did who are said Acts 18.27 to have believed through grace that is through the gracious operation and assistance of the Holy Ghost So likewise 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your hearts or souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit c. implying that neither had they obeyed the truth meaning the Gospel that is believed it the Gospel being there under the notion of truth as elsewhere made the Object of Faith had not the Spirit of God done very graciously by them in awaking and exciting them hereunto They would never in any serious manner have so much as though upon this believing had not the Holy Ghost put them upon it The Gospel and mens hearts are commonly strangers the World and their sensuality and folly make them so They have little knowledge one of another and doubtless would never have been brought together but by the mediation of that most gracious and blessed Spirit Now the Spirit of God bringeth the hearts of men and the Gospel together by causing a kind of enterview to be between them for a while upon which if there be not an extream frowardness and desperateness of folly in the hearts of men the glory and beauty of the things to be believed being presented unto them by the Holy Ghost will overcome them and so there will follow a blessed union and agreement between them Now as the first and lowest greeting between the Souls and consciences of men and the Gospel was procured by the simple interposure of the Spirit of God so must that glorious and more near interview between them which we call face to face viz. such a Faith which giveth presentiality or real subsistence unto the great things of the Gospel in the spirits and souls of men which alone is the Faith that will bless the World by amazing it with its glory breaking forth in semblable actions this say we must be obtained not simply by the Holy Ghost but by him in his more sublime and raised actings Eph. 3.14 16. For this cause faith the Apostle bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward man c. The Apostle travelling in birth with a great matter of grace and spiritual blessing for this people and Church of God he telleth them he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named c. meaning by this Character and Consideration that he is the Root of all that Family that is worthy to be put into account that is of all that are holy and righteous where ever they be and that they take their denomination as well as their spiritual and happy being from him But for what did he bow his knees to the Father of c It was That he would grant them according to the riches of his glory see how he laboureth and toyleth to be delivered of what he had conceived to ask of God for them to be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. But why doth he insert this clause according to the riches of his glory Doubtless his meaning is to inform them that though the request which he was now making unto God for them was exceeding great viz. that they might be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. yet there was good ground of hope that he should obtain it because the grant of it was but according to the riches of his glory that is proportionable or sutable to that glorious abundance of Grace Love Bounty Power c. which reside in him and are his Glory So that he knew that God could very well afford it notwithstanding the greatness of it being so richly furnished with all things necessary for the performance of it So that it is as if he had said I know it were in vain for me to how my knees to God for any such benefit for you as your strengthening with might by his Spirit did not I know he is exceeding rich in Glory in Bounty in Grace in Love c. Therefore in this you may be comforted that I do not beg this heavenly bread for you out of any desolate place or at such a hand where it was not to be had or from any such heart which is shut up against you no but from him who is both able and willing to give unto all that ask Good measure heaped up pressed down and running over Luke 6.8 Yea and this in things of greatest consequence and value well knowing that it is his glory thus to do Now to be strengthened with might in the inner man signifies more than simply to believe Yea more than simply to be strengthened in or by believing it imports a powerful strengthening or an excellent and high degree of corroboration or stoutness in their spirits hearts and souls by means whereof they should be able both to do and to suffer and this without much regret or trouble greater things for God and for the Gospel than the common sort of Believers can But why doth pray that this mighty strengthening in the inner man might be wrought by the Spirit I answer Because it is the appropriate work of the Spirit thus to elevate and raise the hearts and spirits of men above fears and doubtings God never conferring this high Priviledge upon Believers themselves without his interposure And besides it is considerable that it is the manner of the Saints throughout the Scriptures and so it was observed by Christ himself in his Prayer Joh. 17.11 17 19 20. that whenever they make any great request unto
God they do not simply mention or insist upon what they desire but they desire it in Gods way and by that means by which they knew God was wont or likely to confer it Thus when Christ prayed for the Sanctification of his Apostles he prayed not simply that God would sanctifie them but that he would sanctifie them by his truth because he knew that that was Gods standing way and method by which he was wont to sanctifie men So the Apostle here knowing that God would not do that great thing for the Ephesians which he prayed for on their behalf viz. that they might be strengthened with might in their inner man be made glorious in their Faith and believe like Princes but by the interposure of his spirit He frameth his prayer for it accordingly And this is further to be considered that to be strengthened with might in the inner man supposeth that the Spirit of God must advance above his ordinary degree of acting to effect it He must not only act or interpose in men to work it but at such a rate of energy and power which is proportionable to such an effect And that is another Rule to be minded when any thing is prescribed or mentioned by way of means in order to such or such an end though the proportion of the means be not expressed yet it is to be estimated and judged of by the nature and quality of the end to be obtained thereby But we have not time to stand upon this So that the Apostle we see plainly supposeth this that there is no strengthening with might in the inner man which in plain English is that there is no believing at any high rate but by the interposure of the Spirit yea and of such an interposure wherein he must give out himself at another manner of rate than it is requisite that he should do in making men simply to believe Secondly Sect. 9 Concerning the second particular which was when this Faith doth triumph in the soul when a man is full of the glory and power of it to give an adaequate and Commensurable account of it to shew men this Faith in its just magnitude by works and not simply so but by such a Systeme of works such a constant tenour of Conversation which according to the interpretation of a man comparing Causes with effects it may be rationally said that such a series of actions such a strain of life and conversation cannot proceed from cannot call any other Faith or Belief Father or Mother but only such a Faith which lifts up its head unto the Heavens For unless such a thing as this be done we shall not fill up the deep pit of the poverty of the World nor repair the sad breaches which ignorance security and unbelief have made upon the safety of it For this is the case of the World as before was signified it is very low the vanity sloathfulness and folly of it have brought it to a morsel of bread Now as when the visive faculty or sight is dim or any waies maimed or weak the object had need be very visible or to have many degrees of visibility or lightsomness in it to produce or cause an Act of Sensation In like manner the capacity and principle in the World whereby it is in any degree apprehensive or sensible of the things of its own recovery welfare and peace being depressed scant and low they who desire to work effectually upon it and make it serviceable unto the World notwithstanding must present it with such things which are very notorious and next to miraculous in their awakening effecting and restoring property Or as when the stone or wood is hard or very resistive against the incission or impression that is desired to be made upon it the Tool or Instrument used for this purpose had need be sharp and keen So the temper of the World being very obdurate and stubborn against such impressions that are like to benefit and accommodate them in their miserable condition that which is any waies probable or hopeful to work a cure upon them or to bring them to an effectual and lively remembrance of themselves must have so much the more of the Spirit and of the life of the vigour and power of Faith in it Therefore if mens waies and works shall be but low and ordinary and but level with those of the common sort of men in the World yea if they shall not be much above them and magnifie themselves beyond them though it were supposed that the Faith of the persons we speak of were very Royal and Prince-like yet will they not come at the World nor reach the obdurate Consciences and besotted Judgments of men by the mediation or interposure of such works and waies The Faith which is in men though it be of never so large a growth and stature yet will it not reach the sore and sad malady of the World but only by an outstretched arm of Works For let me say this though haply the thing may seem otherwise unto you that a mans works do not alwaies hold out weight and measure with his Faith nor are the greatest Believers alwaies the greatest Doers A full fountain indeed alwaies sends forth a stream of water answerable to the fulness of it But this is because a fountain is a natural cause and so alwaies gives out it self to the uttermost of its power whereas a Believer being a voluntary Agent may moderate and temper himself as he pleaseth in the exercise of those principles out of which he acteth Hence it cometh to pass that some men though they be large in believing yet are they strait in giving testimony to their own Faith We know many have the gift of wisdom who have not the gift of utterance many that are very excellent in wisdom and deep in understanding yet they are flow of utterance and so under a great disadvantage to get forth their wisdom so many having an excellent and a glorious work of Faith yet may they suffer through an ineptitude or backwardness of spirit to assert that high degree of Faith by Works proportionable thereunto or any waies competent to evince what manner of Faith it is that reigneth The frequent and fervent exhortations unto good works and fruitfulness in well-doing given by the Lord Christ himself and by his Apostles unto Believers sufficiently prove that the Faith of men doth not necessarily or alwaies give out its strength in good works For what need he to press and importune men to such things which they cannot refrain or forbear whether they be perswaded or pressed unto them or no Yea perswasions and exhortations are most proper if not only proper where there is some degree at least of a backwardness or indisposition unto the things exhorted or perswaded unto in those who are perswaded and exhorted unto them When the Apostle Paul writeth thus to Titus Tit. 3.14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for
necessary uses that they be not unfruitful he clearly supposeth that they who truly believe in God are in danger notwithstanding their Faith of being unfruitful and that to maintain the honour and necessity of good works by an exemplariness in the practice of them requireth a peculiar strain of wisdom and care over and besides a mans believing But this only by the way to shew that mens Works do not alwaies keep pace with their Faith but are very frequently much behind it Thirdly Sect. 10 There is the same consideration of the third thing mentioned which is the keeping of the Commands of God If we do this we shall do something like unto the Children of God and worthy the heirs Apparent of Heaven and of the glory of the world to come And indeed it becomes these to quit themselves like Princes in the World and to be Soveraign Benefactors to the Community of men For wherefore are they called the Sons of God more than other men if they be not like unto god in blessing the World in their capacity as he doth in his And yet neither shall they be in any capacity for this so honourable a work or imployment I mean to bless the World by keeping the Commands of God unless they be filled with the Spirit of God For my Brethren the Commands of God and so of Christ we know are spiritual The Law faith the Apostle is spiritual Rom. 7.14 and Believers themselves even they that believe in the highest the worthiest Believers under Heaven are carnal in a very great measure whilest they carry about them the body of flesh that will still be importuning them to take care and make provision for it yea for the inordinate desires and lusts of it in several kinds It will ever and anon be putting even the best men upon projecting and contriving its gratification in this pleasure and in that in this enjoyment and in that without end As the dunghil sendeth forth noysome and offensive vapours and stenches continually So the Flesh all the day long ceaseth nor to breath upon us in many unsavoury foolish troublesome and importune suggestions and motions still lusting as the Apostle expresseth it against the Spirit And doubtless it was an obnoxiousness in this kind that drew from him that sad complaint not only of his being carnal but even sold under sin Rom. 7.14 meaning that he was a man seldom free from some sinful insinuations or other from his flesh yea and that pathetical lamentation also Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Ver. 24. Now these continual workings and movings of the flesh are of a strong antipathy against and next to an utter inconsistency with the keeping of the Commands of Jesus Christ For as we lately heard it lusteth against the Spirit and so fighteth against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 And therefore the Apostle himself was fain to take order with his body to keep it under and teach it subjecton to the Spirit and Word of God 1 Cor. 9.27 So we should nurture it likewise and teach it to demand and require of us only things that are regular and agreeable to the mind of God and to be content with things that are requisite needful and comely for it And if the Flesh would but contain it self within this compass and not exceed in craving and desiring the bounds of that Law which God hath prescribed unto it it would not much interrupt us in our course of obedience unto Christ But now there is no mans flesh so well taught or nurtured or brought into any such subjection but that it will be importuning him for things that are inconvenient and be unreasonable in its motions as it alwaies is when it lusteth against the Spirit Sometimes and in some things it lusteth with the Spirit as when it requires I mean or doth without impatience or frowardness only such things as are convenient and meet for it as such meats and drinks such cloathing and harbour such rest c. which is for the support of it and without which the health and strength and serviceable activity and vigour of it cannot in a natural or ordinary way be maintained All this while it lusteth with the Spirit for the Spirit demands and requires such things of us for the flesh and outward man But now for the most part it lusteth against the Spirit as in seeking to be gratified in things contrary to the Spirit and the dictates hereof to those Laws of holiness and righteousness which God himself hath judged meet to prescribe unto it So that unless we be in a great measure spiritual which must be by being filled with the Spirit of God certain it is we shall ever and anon faulter and be broken in the course of our obedience and not carry on the great design of observing the Commands of God with that throughness with that evenness of tenour with that authority life and power which are very requisite and necessary to be found in those whose worth and goodness have ingaged them to attempt the Blessing of the World For if there shall be any breaches and empty places found in our obedience if we shall ever and anon fall foul upon any of the more remarkable Commands of Jesus Christ alas we shall endanger the repute and worth of the goodness of those other things wherein we shall obey and walk regularly they will lose much of their virtue and authority in the hearts and consciences of men if they shall be mated and coupled with actions and practices that are ignoble and base yea though it be but with omissions and neglects of such duties which the World knows we stand bound to perform as well as those which we do in their sight Therefore there is an eminent and clear necessity for the interposure of the Spirit of God both to enable and make us willing to nurture and keep under the flesh that it moves orderly and regularly so as not to be troublesome unto us with craving any thing that is sinful and inordinate or which intrencheth upon the glory of God and honour of the great Law-giver Jesus Christ or at least to make us resolute and peremptory to reject with indignation all dishonourable and unseemly motions that it shall make unto us and to hearken unto it in nothing in our condescension whereunto any of our great interests or spiritual concernments are like to suffer in the least Even this is an high and holy priviledge and not to be obtained or enjoyed by men without the high exertions and workings of the Spirit of God in them And by the careful and constant exercise and use hereof we spin such an even and strong thread of obedience to the Commands of God whereby we shall be able to draw the world unto him For as Christ said long since unto the Jews Joh. 4.48 Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe So the truth is that men
that capacity we speak of I mean of being filled with these heavenly Consolations This is that which we said was directly laid down and affirmed in the Reason given For the proof hereof we shall not need to add much to what hath been already delivered upon the same account For we have shewed and proved from that of the Apostle Rom. 8.13 That the deeds of the body cannot be mortified but by the Spirit yea and by the Spirit acting and working at some excellent and very considerable rate which imports a mans being filled with the Spirit in the sense first declared Again from that of the same Apostle Eph. 3.16 we proved that no person could be mightily strengthened in the inner man but by the Spirit of God And this as we said in the former case advancing himself to some worthy degree in his operation and working upon the heart and consciences of men So then he that is not filled with the Spirit is like to be a man of this present World addicted to the waies pleasures or profits of it and consequently in an incapacity of those Soveraign Consolations of the Gospel we speak of according to what was lately proved For inordinacy of addiction to this present World and the things thereof is a lust of the flesh and consequently will not cannot be effectually subdued or mortified but by the assisting efficacy of the Spirit of God For it is the Spirit as the Apostle informs us that lusts against the flesh Gal. 5.17 And indeed it is the Spirit only that lusts against it as being contrary to it as the Apostle there speaks and nothing else contrary at least nothing so vigorously so perfectly contrary unto it as the Spirit If you ask me In what sense or consideration is the Spirit of God said to lust against the Flesh I answer First The nature or native and proper Genius of the Spirit of God is to desire and to delight in and to act such things as are of a contrary nature and tendency to the Flesh and to the things which that desireth and delighteth in and in this respect may be said to lust against the Flesh viz because it desireth and this very strenuously things opposite to the things desired by the Flesh Secondly The Spirit may be said to lust against the Flesh because he stirs up motions and desires in men contrary unto those which are occasioned by the flesh As the flesh inwardly provokes unto and causeth men to desire things that are unjust unholy and things displeasing unto God c. The Spirit secretly exciteth to all things contrary hereunto as to things which are just and righteous and holy Or Thirdly and lastly the Spirit may be said to lust against the flesh or the unregenerate or corrupt part of the soul or rather that weakness or aptness unto sin which cleaveth unto the soul because it seeketh the utter abolition and destruction of it or because it admonisheth the Saints to desire and endeavour this abolition of it yea the utter extirpation and rooting of it out of their Kingdom Now then as no man is slain or ruined by any person unless it be casually or against his will which is no common or ordinary case but only by him who lusteth against his life and this at an high tate of lusting for every motion of envy and hatred or wishing that a man were dead will not lead a man so far as violently to take away his life so neither is the flesh like to be abolished crucified and destroyed by any but only by such or by that which lusteth against the very life and being of it and this with some potency and strength of lusting And this must needs be the Spirit of God because there is nothing that lusteth against the life and being and continuance of it but the Spirit of God If it be objected and said Sect. 11 That Reason and Conscience in men may lust against the Flesh as well as the Spirit And consequently may attempt the crucifying and destroying of it as they did in some Philosophers and moral men amongst the Heathen and so men may be put into a capacity of the first-born Consolations of the Gospel without being filled with the Spirit viz. by being filled with Reason or Conscience at least if the crucifying of the flesh be sufficient to invest men with this capacity To this I answer First That if Reason or Conscience do at any time lust against the flesh oppose or stop the lustings or movings of it they do it by vertue of a certain superintendency and instigation of the Spirit of God It is the Spirit of God which puts them upon it For in him that is to say through or by means of him saith the Apostle speaking of God and more particularly and appropriately of the Spirit of God we live move and have our being Acts 17.28 When he saith in him we live he doth not mean we Saints we Believers as if none lived in God or through the Spirit of God but such men But we men for it was spoken by a Heathen Poet and the Apostle doth justifie the saying by incorporating it with the Word of God by using it as or instead of a saying from God himself For so it was though it passed through a corrupt hand yet it came from God In him we live we move we men all men in the World Saints or others we live in God that is by God or through God for so the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in often signifieth that is by means of his supporting us If men do not only live in by or through Gods supporting of us but move also and this as well morally as naturally with our hearts and wills as well as with our bodies or the members hereof Certainly when we move regularly and as becometh us as we do when either Reason or Conscience within us do their office in any kind and when they do not regard the flesh within us when ever I say we act or move thus regularly we do it by somewhat more at least by nothing less than an ordinary exertion or putting forth of his gracious presence in us If we move one way or other morally or naturally sinfully or righteously yet every of these motions that proceed from us proceeds also from or by the Spirit of God though the sinfulness of no motion proceeds from him much more when we move according to Rule then certainly this is by means at least of his ordinary if not to a degree more than an ordinary putting forth of himself and his gracious presence with us Thus then in the first place if Reason or Conscience do at any time or in any particular case lust against or oppose the flesh or corruption in man they do it by means of the Spirit of God within them For as there is an inhabitation and consequently an operation of the Spirit appropriate to the Saints or Believers so there is an
inhabitation though of another kind or upon other terms of the same Spirit which is common to all those that are not yet in the number of Believers Sect. 12 But Secondly When Reason or Conscience lusts against the Flesh only by such an instigation or incitement hereunto of the Spirit of God which is wont to proceed from him when and whilst his dwelling is with men unregenerate and according to the manner of his presence here this lusting against it is first but particular only against some of the desires motions and waies of it others being dispensed with as Herod's case was Mar. 6.20 who did many things at the preaching of John Baptist but some things it seems he would not do By the maniture and help of the Spirit he layed many channels of the flesh dry and turned the waters running there out of their course but he suffered them to run elsewhere and to have a vent or issue another way and as it is often seen that a Tree which is too luxuriant in branches prospers and flourisheth more and bears more fruit when some of those branches are lopt off So the Flesh many times being abridged of some of the wonted haunts and eruptions of it runs with the fuller and higher stream and tide and rageth more some other way This appears by several things upon record to have been the case of many Heathen who by some Authors in respect of many things commendable in them are reported to have been very vertuous and worthy men who yet are known by the observations and relations of others to have been vicious otherwise So that the Flesh careth not for such lusters against it as Reason and Conscience are And concerning those Heathen men we speak of many of them by what is extant upon good Record though in respect of sundry of their waies and courses they were very excellent and worthy praise yet they had their secret issues and vents for the flesh and those corruptions which wrought effectually in them and in a most notorious kind and fuller measure than in ordinary men So that as I say the Flesh suffers not much is not in danger of being crucified by Reason and Conscience although these in a sense and in respect of some of the beloved waies thereof lust against it When they are put upon this lusting and backed therein only by the lighter and weaker puttings on by the Spirit wherein he is wont to appear in persons who have not attained an effectual or saving knowledge of God it is not that body of the flesh as the Apostle calls it but some members of it only upon which execution is done Whereas the lustings of the Spirit against the Flesh in persons that are regenerate especially when he is in his advance and they filled with his presence are comprehensive and extend themselves to all the avenues of the flesh yea and seek and attempt the very life of it by stifling it and stopping all the breathing passages and spirations of it provoking and engaging such men universally to an utter abolition to a through mortification of it That of the Apostle Rom. 6.6 imports as much Knowing this that the old man is crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin This is that which the Spirit lusteth after in the Saints that is according to a Rule not long since delivered which he stirreth up in them and prevails with them to lust after at least when he fills the Temple of their Soul with the Glory of his Presence even to have the body the whole and entire body of sin destroyed and not only here and there a member of this body maimed or disabled other members in the mean time remaining sound and serviceable that so the Saints might not serve sin meaning in any of the services thereof or in any thing tending to the establishing or advancement of the Kingdom or power of it in the World Again Thirdly Sect. 13 Those lustings against the Flesh which are found in Reason and Conscience being only occasioned and conceived in them by such an inspection or influence which the Spirit of God hath over or upon the hearts and consciences of men yet in a state of unbelief are but faint and low spirited easily check'd quenched and conjured down again by temptations if they come in the way like the goodness of the Jews of old as it is in several places described in the Scriptures Hos 6.4 Judg. 2. Joh. 5.35 to be like the morning cloud and early dew We know the morning cloud hath nothing but a kind of light substance in it hath no body of rain in it Thus it was with the Jews as the early dew doth not continue but is soon licked up with the Sun because it is but thin and hath no root so their goodness was but superficial and slight it had no depth in their hearts like the Seed in the stony ground It had no root in them and so in a short time came to nothing We read in several places that they could speak of great matters that they would do they would do all that the Lord would have them to do they would serve the Lord c. and you shall find that when any new Calamity came upon them they were full of repentance they would humble themselves and never provoke God more But all this notwithstanding they soon forgat God For as soon as deliverance from their present trouble came their goodness left them they presently returned again to their former folly And in the fifth of John John being as our Saviour here describeth him a burning and shining light their goodness held out in hearkening unto him for a season yea and thus far they rejoyced in his light But why did they not continue and hold out so to do John's light was as burning and shining when they withdrew and declined him as before How came it then to pass that they did not continue to delight and rejoyce in him The word they received from him had but little or no root in them it lay but shallow in their judgments and souls It is said of the stony ground that the seed which fell upon it withered away because it had no root and the reason why it had no root or none to any purpose was because it had not much earth upon it Mark 4.5 6.16 compared By which is signified that the reason why the Gospel or Word of God hath no faster hold upon the judgments and consciences of men than commonly it hath is because when they have heard it preached unto them they do not as it were bury it under many serious thoughts and much meditation bestowed on it but presently betake themselves to some worldly business or else fall upon some impertinent discourse and so what they heard is never thought of more How then should it settle or sink to any great depth in their souls And if men be
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
to the Argument last propounded That the Saints at least a great part of them do verily judge or think that all things considered as the weakness of their Faith their undergrowth in knowledge the unruliness and unsubduedness of their flesh and the intolerable burthen it would be unto it to be compelled to keep them company in the severe Exercises of Mortification and high acts of Self-denial c. which must be performed by those that look to lift up their heads in glory above other their Brethren the Saints in Heaven and withal how full of joy and blessed contentment it will be unto them if they shall be counted meet to enjoy be it the meanest place amongst those that are saved these things I say haply with many more considered they may conclude that it is best for them to content themselves with designing nothing higher than Salvation simply or the scantest entrance into Heaven and not to lift up their desires unto the heights of glory there Therefore the consideration mentioned doth not put them to rebuke although they do not desire part and fellowship in the highest advancements in Heaven To this I answer That it is an Objection or Plea savouring of the Flesh though it may express the case of persons in some degree spiriritual It is somewhat of kin to that award of the sluggard who as Solomon informeth us is wont to be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.16 between one handful and two when one may be had with ease and quietness but two not without labour and trouble Better saith the Wiseman speaking of the spirit of such a fool as he here calls him is an handful with quietness than both the hands full with travel and vexation of spirit Eccles 4.6 For he that judgeth it best for him to pitch his desires upon getting into Heaven only and not to strain or raise them to the best and greatest of the enjoyments here let this his judgment proceed upon what Reasons or Considerations soever yet will it be found Erronious and therefore cannot acquit him from sin that shall build or act upon it For the Circumstances mentioned in the Objection weakness in Faith under-growth in Knowledge unsubduedness of the Flesh c. these being all sinful defects and imperfections cannot justifie such an act which under due Circumstances would be sinful But enough if not more than so hath been argued to evince it not simply lawful but even necessary as Duty makes Actions necessary for the Saints and Servants of God to kindle a spirit of this holy and heavenly Ambition even to desire to be as great in the Kingdom of Heaven as the greatest of them all I mean of the greatest of those whom the Grace and Spirit of Jesus Christ shall bring thither And thus I trust we have made good the second thing supposed in the fift and last reason of our Doctrine viz. That the Saints are under an Obligation of Duty to put themselves into a capacity of the most sublime investitures with glory which God hath prepared for the Children of men That which was assertively laid down Sect. 20 and affirmed in this Reason was that unless men shall be filled with the Spirit in the sense declared towards the beginning they are never like to be in any capacity of putting themselves into a capacity of such investitures or of sitting in any of the uppermost seats at that Table at which the Saints shall eat bread with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God But for the proof and confirmation of this we shall not need to add any thing to what we have so largely argued from the Scriptures in our demonstration of the fourth ground and reason of the Doctrine It must not be a sparing or a thin but a very rich anointing with the Spirit that will prepare and strengthen men so to wrestle against principalities against powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places or heavenly things yea and against their own flesh and bloud also for thâ—se are their enemies likewise in their spiritual warfare that God may judge their Victories and Conquest over them worthy the greatest Triumphs in Heaven that are designed and granted here to the chief of the Worthies of Christ But for your satisfaction in this if you desire more than you have you are desired to repair with your minds and memories to what hath been upon the same or like account formerly delivered We shall now proceed to the Use and Application of the Doctrine Only there are two or three Questions relating to the Doctrine delivered that being cleared will I conceive give some further light into it CHAP. VII Three Questions propounded to give further light into the Doctrine The first of them enquired into namely who or what this Spirit mentioned in the Tex is viz. Whether he be an increated Spirit even God blessed for ever or whether a created Spirit Several Scriptures opened and argued both from the Old and New Testament proving that the Spirit spoken of in the Text is none other than Jehovah or the most high God The several Pleas brought against these Scriptures by persons contrary minded taken off and rendered invalid As also some Grounds in Reason propounded and argued to prove that the Holy Ghost is very God THe first of these Questions being occasioned by some unhappy importune spirits of Error lately gotten abroad amongst us shall be this Sect. 1 Who or what this Spirit mentioned in the Text and much spoken of in the Doctrine is Or more particularly whether he be an infinite and increated Spirit one of the Three which the Apostle John saith are one 1 Joh. 5.7 commonly known amongst us by the name of Three Persons some weaker Judgments do not like the expression Or whether he be some excellent Creature some high-born Angel or the like who is near unto God This is the first Question which we shall a little search into Whether the Spirit of God sometimes yea oft in Scripture called the Holy Ghost be truly God or a Creature The second shall be this How or in what respect and when a person man or woman may be said to be filled with the Spirit and so may be said to have obeyed the voice of the Exhortation of the Apostle The third and last shall be How a man or woman that is indeed filled with the Spirit of God may be known from a person which is filled with another spirit viz. a spirit of Vanity and Delusion There is a fourth Question every whit as necessary and edifying as any of these which we shall have occasion to speak somewhat unto afterwards when we come to the Exhortation The Tenour of which Question will be this How and by what means men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit Concerning the Question first propounded Who or what this Spirit or the Spirit of God should be whether God an
increated Spirit or whether a created Spirit Many of you that are present I suppose know that there is an Antitrinitarian Spirit that hath broken prison of late and gotten abroad amongst as very busie in making Proselytes And as in the daies of Old this Spirit laboured to fill the World with this Doctrine That only one of the Three which John as you heard saith are one viz. He that is known unto us by the name of the Father is truly God And that the other two the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Spirit are but the Father's Creatures receiving though very excellent yet only finite and limited Being from him Wherefore as Moses said unto Aaron Num. 16.46 There is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun and hereupon wisheth him to go quickly unto the Congregation to make attonement for them Even so the Plague of this most dangerous Errour we speak of being begun amongst us already and several being intangled and insnared by it It therefore concerns those who are in a special manner intrusted with the great concernments both of God and men and upon whose shoulders it lieth more especially to contend for the truth I say it concerns them to lay about them with all wisdom and faithfulness in order to the convincing gainsayers or the Adversaries of this Truth We do not intend at present to speak any thing directly and particularly for the vindication of the God-head of the Second Person The Name by which he is best known unto us is Christ But only to plead the cause of him whom we with the ancient Christians call the Third Person in the Trinity or the Holy Ghost and briefly from the Scriptures to demonstrate him to be an infinite and uncreated Spirit and truly God Amongst very many passages as well in the Old as in the New Testament which with greatest evidence demonstrate the Holy Ghost to be God we shall only insist upon some few which we judge to be most clear and convincing Exod. 4.12 Jehovah translated Lord speaketh thus to Moses Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say From hence it appears that it is only proper for Jehovah or him that is God to be in the mouth of the Prophets and to teach them what to say Add hereunto that which we have Num. 12.6 And he said hear now my words If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord or I Jehovah will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream Now most evident it is from hence that he who spake by the Prophets and other Holy men of God as the Apostles was true Jehovah true God And hence it was that when the Prophets were about to deliver any Message to the People in the Name of God they commonly used this Preface Thus saith Jehovah or the word of Jehovah that Jehovah spake unto them or appeared unto them or the like places of this kind are without number in the Writings of the Prophets And the Apostle himself Heb. 1.1 expresly saith That God in times past spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets Now the Lord Christ himself affirmeth That it is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost that thus speaketh in men Take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father speaketh in you Mat. 10.19 Therefore now if it was God that spake by the Prophets then and is interpreted by Christ to be the Holy Ghost then Jehovah or the Lord in the Old Testament is the Spirit or the Holy Ghost in the New And the Apostle Peter expresly affirmeth that it was the Spirit of Christ that spake in the Prophets 1 Pet. 1.11 And elsewhere he saith that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 Thus David also a little before his departure The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me 2 Sam. 23.2 And so Ezek. 2.2 And the Spirit entred into me when he spake unto me So that evident it is from these Scriptures diligently compared and laid together that the Holy Ghost who is from place to place said to have spoke unto the Prophets and Holy men of God was none other but Jehovah God himself Another place may be Lev 19.1 2. where Jehovah is said to have spake unto Moses saying Speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel and say unto them Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy Now he that spake these words unto Moses and ordered all these Ceremonies is in the New Testament said to be the Holy Ghost Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying c. Yet again Lev. 26.12 And I will walk among you and be your God and ye shall be my people compared with 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Cor. 3.16 In all these places you shall find that the Saints in their Holy Assemblies are said to be the Temple of God and that God is said to be there and to walk amongst them Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 So again ver 17. For the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 6.19 What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost c 2 Cor. 6.16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God c. Now these persons you see in whom God is said to dwell are said to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost And that God that dwelleth amongst them is the Holy Ghost Deut. 9.8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord so that the Lord was angry with you compared with Isa 63.10 But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit That which in the former place is termed a provoking the Lord unto wrath so that he was angry Is in the latter by the Evangelical Prophet termed a vexing of his holy Spirit Psal 95.7 8. The Psalm begins thus Come let us rejoyce unto Jehovah And soon after ver 7. To day if ye will hear his voice c. He that contested with and complained of the People in the Wilderness was true Jehovah as appears also from several other Scriptures And they tempted God in the Desart Psal 106.14 and Psal 78.18 Yet the Apostle Heb. 3.7 plainly affirms that it was the Holy Ghost that was tempted wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. So that you see by these and many other such like places which might be readily produced if need were that he called Jehovah the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament is called the Holy Ghost in the New Yet again Isa 6.9 10. The Prophet in the beginning of
to have come down upon Christ upon his being baptized may be clearly evinced First the opening renting or cleaving of the Heavens expresly mentioned in all these places plainly prove the Holy Ghost that is said to have come down upon Christ to be no Creature no created Angel but true God Let the Scriptures be searched from first to last we shall no where find the rending cleaving opening or bowing of the Heavens to be mentioned upon occasion of any created Angel coming down but very frequently upon any solemn or more than ordinary appearance or coming down of God himself unto men Bow the Heavens O Lord and come down Psal 144.5 2 Sam. 22.10 saith David in his affectionate addressment of himself by Prayer unto God Bow the heavens and come down i. e. Shew some Majestick and Godlike token or sign of thy Presence shew thy self like unto thy self like a God indeed in Umpiring the Affairs of the World between upright and wicked men In like manner the Prophet Isaiah or the Church of God personated by him Isa 64.1 O that thou wouldest rent the Heavens and come down Doubtless his meaning was not to desire of God that he would display the Ensign of an Angel before him and so come down to help his Church and People no but as was said before that he would appear in his appropriate and God-like Majesty It came to pass saith the Prophet Ezekiel that the Heavens were opened and I saw Visions of God Ezek. 1.1 The Heavens are never said to open or be opened but upon the account of some immediate or extraordinary appearance of God as Steven is said to have seen the Heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 As for that of our Saviour in John Verily verily I say unto you that hereafter you shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Joh. 1.51 Whether we understand the place Metaphorically with some concerning more full and manifest discoveries of his Divinity that should shortly be made in the World by a more clear preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles or more literally with others of the Day of the general Judgment of the World when the Angels shall accompany him from Heaven and minister unto him during the continuance of the Judgment it no waies contradicts that Principle of truth on which we build viz. That the Heavens are never said to be opened rent or bowed down but upon some extraordinary appearance of God This is one consideration from the place cited to evince and prove the Holy Ghost coming down upon Christ to have been truly God viz. That the Heavens are said to have been opened rent or cleft at or immediately before his coming down 2. Another thing in the same passage evidently evincing the same Truth is that this Spirit of God is said to have descended and lighted upon him John adds that this Spirit abode upon him I saw saith John the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove and it abode on him Joh. 1.32 33. First if this Spirit were but a meer Creature a created Angel he must be supposed to have been locally and essentially absent from or out of the World some space at least before his coming down upon Christ for John saith as we heard expresly that he saw him not simply descending but descending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from or our of Heaven therefore he was in Heaven some while at least immediately before his coming down If then he were a created Angel he could not be at the same instant of time in Heaven and in Earth too and consequently the World must needs Universally and in all and every the members of it have been utterly destitute of the Holy Ghost some while before Christ was baptized yea the Lord Christ himself must be supposed to have been wholly without the Holy Ghost untill now whereas the Scriptures make it an unquestionable Character of an ungodly man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to have the Spirit Jude v. 19. So that it clearly follows that in case the Spirit of God which descended on Christ upon his baptism was but a meer Creature or a created Angel that there was never a holy and good man in the World for some time before no nor that the Lord Christ himself was such which I know not how any man that desireth to be counted a Christian can own without trembling 2. This Spirit is not only said to have descended or come down upon Christ but also as we beard from John to have continued or remained on him Now no created Angel whatsoever is said or reasonably can be said to remain upon him Created Angels are said to minister unto him to stand by him to ascend and descend upon him are commanded to worship him c. but are no where said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to remain in him By the way this expression of the Holy Ghost's remaining on Christ signifies his uniform and equitable presence with him in the fullest or highest measure that he was capable of and that he was not subject to ebbing and flowing to rising or falling as he is in the best of men and besides it may import that this Spirit is not communicable unto any other person of mankind but only from through or by means of Christ Sed hoc obiter Again Were this Spirit of God a finite or created Angel in case he shall rest or abide upon Christ the rest of the World and all mankind besides must needs perpetually want him For nothing that is finite or that hath bounds and limits of essence and being can be or abide with one person in one place and yet be present with another person though at never such a distance form him 3. When the Evangelists report that Christ soon after his Baptism was led of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil in the wilderness they speak doubtless of the same Spirit which came down from Heaven upon him immediately upon his Baptizing Now it is marvellous improbable at least that He whom all the Angels of God are streightly commanded to worship should be acted and led by one of them into the Wilderness and this for such an end and purpose as to be tempted by the devil That Jesus Christ is God is I suppose evident enough from hence not only that one or some few but that all the Angels of God without exception of any are commanded to worship him Heb. 1.6 Certainly God would not command one Creature to worship another no not the Inferiour to worship the Superiour much less the Superiour to worship the Inseriour Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Luke 4.8 Now then if Jesus Christ be the Lord of all the Angels it is not like that he should be led or acted or prevailed with by any of them one or more especially into an engagement or undertaking of such a
is here plainly and in expressness of words attributed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God So Tit. 3.5 we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost And 1 Cor. 6 11. we are said to be washed sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God The parts likewise of Regeneration the several graces or holy dispositions of which the body of Regeneration is made up is attributed to the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. From the Scripture then propounded with the rest consorting as ye have heard with it I reason thus If the work of Regeneration be the appropriate work of God appropriate I mean so that it cannot be effected by any meer Creature without him then must the Holy Ghost to whom this work is attributed needs be God But such is the work of Regeneration Ergo. This latter Proposition I suppose will not be denied because evident it is both from the Scriptures and from the consideration of the nature of the work it self which we call Regeneration that it is not cannot be effected without the interposure of the hand and power of God True it is God may use Creature instruments about the raising and production of it as he commonly useth men his Ministers and their gifts together with his Word I mean his written Word but yet all these without his interposure will not do the deed will not reach the blessed effect of Regeneration The Scripture is very express and clear in this I have planted saith Paul and Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.6 7. When he saith that neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing he speaks not absolutely as if their agency in the business were simply nothing for he had said of himself and Apollo a little before that they were Ministers by whom they believed but he speaks this comparatively meaning that that which they did in the work of their conversion to the Faith was nothing in comparison of that which God did in it God could have effected it if he had so pleased without them but all that they did or were in a capacity of doing was nothing unless his hand had been with them Elsewhere those that are regenerate or born again are said to be born of God Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And again ver 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World c. to omit many other places So that evident it is from the Scriptures that Regeneration is a work which is appropriate unto God and cannot take place without him The Minor Proposition then in the Argument last propounded is unquestionable But to the Major Proposition it is like it will be replied that though the work of Regeneration be attributed to the Holy Ghost and withal cannot be effected but by God himself yet it doth not necessarily follow from hence that the Holy Ghost should be God because the Holy Ghost may have an agency or efficacie in it in conjunction with and subordination unto God as Ministers of the Gospel and the Persons themselves who are regenerated have To this I reply If the operation or efficacy of the Holy Ghost in and about the work of Regeneration were subordinate or instrumental we could not be said to be begotten or born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirit but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit as we are not said nor can in any tolerable propriety of speech be said to be begotten of men as of the Ministers of God though they be instrumental in our Regeneration but only by men according to the Apostles expression lately mentioned 1 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul who is Apollo but Ministers BY whom ye believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So as the Word of God is instrumental or subordinate to our Regeneration we are said to be begotten by it 1 Pet. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Word of the living God And elsewhere Jam. 1.18 God is said to have begotten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with or through the Word of truth The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still notes either the principle efficient cause or else the material cause of things produced but seldom or never the instrumental efficient cause Thus men are said to be begotten of their Parents You saith Christ to the wicked Jews are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Angel to Joseph concerning Mary Mat. 1.20 That which is begotten in her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to omit instances of this kind without number Therefore there is little question but that in the same sense wherein men are said to be born or born again of God they are said to be regenerate or born again of the Spirit It is true sometimes the Spirit is spoken of as instrumental or subservient in the works of believing mortification c. Peter tells the Saints unto whom he writes 1 Pet. 1.22 that they had purified their souls in obeying the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spirit i.e. by means or by the help of the Spirit So Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live But first it is to be considered that that subserviency which in these or the like passages seems to be attributed to the Holy Ghost is attributed unto him in reference unto men not unto God and the reason of the attribution is not to imply that He the Holy Ghost is not the principal or prime cause both of our believing and so of our mortification but only that with his agency or interposure about these works he never effects them without the consent and compliance of men themselves therewith So that in this respect men are said to purifie their hearts in believing the Truth through the Spirit and so to mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit when they fall in and comport with the preventing motions of the Spirit in order to these great and blessed works which may well and with clearness of apprehension stand with the Spirits being the first Author of yea and the principal Actor in them only it implies that He works none of these spiritual or heavenly things within us irresistibly or whether we will or no. And therefore Secondly Such attributions of subserviency unto men as these do no waies prove or so much
furnished and endued them with such properties and qualities as now he hath done That so there might be fit resemblances to train and nurture up the Minds Understandings and Reasons of men in the knowledge and apprehension of the mysteries of Christ and the great things of Eternity And I make no question but that God in Nature hath contrived and ordered the matter so with that Creature which we call the Wind that it poseth and troubles all the Philosophers that though they hear the sound of it yet not any one of them can give an account of it what it should be and whence it should come and when once it is up in motion why it should Fall Nay God hath so ordered the original of the wind and things appertaining to it at least to the Vnderstandings of men that they should not be able to give so steady an account of the rising and falling of it as they are to do of the rising and setting of the Sun that so there might be a kind of rising advantage administred unto men to conceive the better of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and of his Transactions and manner in doing matters with the Creatures So that now we see the Holy Ghost himself is resembled with the wind and very aptly so may be but the gifts of the Holy Ghost neither are in Scripture nor with any commodiousness of resemblance can be resembled by breathing or by wind therefore by the Holy Ghost in the place in hand cannot be meant the Gifts of the Holy Ghost but the Person of the Holy Ghost himself Again this might be made to appear further by comparing herewith several other places of Scripture by which it is evident that it was the Holy Ghost himself that was to be given unto the Apostles and to be and to abide with them Mar. 13.11 Joh. 14.16 17. So grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit Eph. 4.30 1 Thes 5.19 besides other places Now then if Christ said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost there is no question but they did receive him they I mean all those to whom he thusspake Now if he were a created Angel or meer Creature how could more than one receive him at once Especially how could he be in and remain with many at the same time when these shall be dispersed and scattered up and down the World in Nations and places far distant as the Apostles we know soon after were We never read nor heard of any more than one Holy Ghost as was observed therefore the Argument in hand cannot be put off with common Evasions viz. That the Holy Ghost might be in the Apostles though never so remote at one and the same time by his Deputies or Vicegerents other inferiour Angels under his command or the like For 1. we have no ground in Scripture to conceive any such power given unto one Angel over another as that any one should be at the command or disposal of his Fellows Besides when Christ said to his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost if it be supposed that there is but only one Holy Ghost and certain I am that the Scripture supposeth no more and that this Holy Ghost could be but only in one of them at the precise time of Christ's so speaking unto them which must likewise be supposed if the Holy Ghost be a finite and created Angel then it undeniably follows that though Christ indifferently said to all his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost and indifferently breathed upon them all yet that he gave him unto one only and that the rest had some other Angel given unto them not the Holy Ghost We might likewise reinforce it from the words following touching the power of remitting and retaining sin conferred at the same time upon the Disciples when they received the Holy Ghost from hence I say we might re-assert our former Argument for the Divinity of the Holy Ghost viz. His power to forgive sins For the power of forgiving and retaining sins being given unto the Apostles upon their receiving of the Holy Ghost plainly sheweth that Primarily and Authoritatively it resideth in the Holy Ghost himself and that it was derived unto them only in a Ministerial way and as they were to be acted and guided by him in the administration and exercise of it And if the case were so with the Holy Ghost as our Adversaries conceit it to be viz. The Holy Ghost himself should only have a power by way of Commission from God and ministerially to forgive sins and that he is or must be regulated and bound up in the exercise of this power by his Commission as well as the Disciples were by theirs Then why might not they baptize in their own Names as well as his Besides if the Holy Ghost were Commissionated by God to forgive sins he had no power to give Commission either to the Apostles or any other to transact the same work it being a general and known Rule and this very equitable that he that is Deputed or Commissionated by another having a lawful Authority so to depute to transact any business hath no power to depute or substitute others in his stead for the transacting the business committed unto him Another Scripture or pair of Scriptures evincing the same great Truth with the former that without controversie the Holy Ghost is truly God is Acts 1.16 compared with Acts 4.24 In the former place Peter speakech thus Men and Brethren this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas c. In the latter place the Disciples express themselves thus And when they heard that they life up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy Servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c He who in the former place is termed the Holy Ghost is styled in the latter Lord and God who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea c To say that God may be said to speak by the mouth of David because he gave order unto the Holy Ghost to move David so or so to speak is to oppose the direct and clear Letter of the Scripture with a man 's own thoughts and these weak and groundless If it had been said that God by the mediate or intervening motions of the Holy Ghost spake so or so by the mouth of David it had been somewhat colourable for our Adversaries purpose and indeed no more or if there were any such expression to be found in all the Scripture that God spake so or so one thing or other to any person by the mediation of the Holy Ghost this had been somewhat though less than the other But now the constant tenour of the Scripture speaking as to the point in hand being either that God spake or the Lord spake or
else that the Holy Ghost spake so or so but never that God by the Holy Ghost spake either so or so it is a plain case that all these Expressions are synonymous and equivalent and that he that is in one place called God in another Lord is the same God and the same Lord with him that in other places is called the Holy Ghost It is indeed said of the Lord Christ in regard that he was man as well as God that he gave Commandments unto his Apostles by the Holy Ghost Acts 1.2 to shew that though he spake unto them in the Humane Nature and as a man yet was directed by the Holy Ghost in what he said But if it should be supposed that the Holy Ghost by whom he is said to give Commands to his Apostles were a Creature or a created Angel it had rathet been a disparagement than any manner of reverence or advantage unto them in this kind that they should be given by him and this according to the Principles of our Adversaries themselves who hold and teach that the Holy Ghost is inferiour howsoever unto Jesus Christ be he man only as they or God and man both as we say Now for one that is superiour in Gifts Wisdom and Understanding c. to be acted or directed in what he speaketh by him that is beneath him in these abilities is rather detractive from the weight and worth of what he so speaketh than any waies adding thereunto Thus we see that the Scripture seldom hath any occasion to mention or speak of the Holy Ghost but there is somewhat or other near at hand which bewrayeth him to be that which indeed he is God blessed for ever We might further argue Sect. 13 and prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost from Acts 5.3 compared with v. 4. 9. But Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost and to keep back c. That which he calls Lying to the Holy Ghost in this verse he calls lying unto God in the next Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God The Adversary finding himself somewhat hard beset with this passage after his wonted manner casts about and bestirs himself to espy how he may break loose from hence also So hard a thing is it for a man that hath an opinion of his own to establish to submit unto the Word of God though speaking plainly and without Parable One while he cavils at the Translation ver 3. and tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should not be translated to lye to the Holy Ghost but to counterfeit the Holy Ghost I think it not worthy your time to stand upon the exception or to shew the lightness of it especially it having been done substantially already in a discourse published in English upon the Subject we are now upon somewhile since entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or A Treatise of the Holy Ghost p. 3 4 5 6. Only by the way you may please to take notice of this that there is nothing more clear than that the Apostle Peter having charged Ananias ver 3. with suffering Satan to fill his heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether we translate it to lye unto the Holy Ghost or to belye or counterfeit the Holy Ghost interprets his meaning therein ver 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God For there is no colour or ground to think that here he chargeth him with a new sin And ver 9. he expostulateth with Sapphira his Wife Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Now to speak an untruth unto persons in whom there was so manifest and great a presence of the Holy Ghost as was in Peter and the rest of the Apostles was more properly a tempting him viz. whether he were Omnipotent or no and could tell when or whether men spake untruth or not and again whether he were so severe to discover it in case he knew it c. in these respects I say to lye unto the Holy Ghost is more properly a tempting him than to pretend a motion from the Holy Ghost which was not from him Besides it no waies appears that either Ananias or Sapphira did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Adversaries sense i.e. counterfeit the Holy Ghost or pretend that what they did in denying they sold their Possession for so much they did it by motion from the Holy Ghost neither is there the least probability of such a thing Besides some Greek Copies have the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the clause contended about reading it thus Why hath Satan filled your heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cuts off all Pretext against the Translation But the Adversary as one while he pleaseth himself with signifying his displeasure against the Translation so otherwhile he attempts to come off from the said Contexture of Scripture which frowns so terribly upon his opinion by that trivial and common shift viz. That men may be said to lye unto God when they lye unto his Messengers and that upon this Principle because that which is done to an Embassadour or Messenger redounds to him that sent him Therefore that Ananias is said to lye unto God because he lyed unto the Holy Ghost proves no more saith he but only this that the Holy Ghost is the Messenger of God and sent by him not that he is God himself This Fig-leaf also might easily be rent and torn but that it hath been done already by the former hand we spake of For though that which is done to a Messenger Embassadour or the like whether in a way of honour or dishonour may be said to redound or in a general sense and consideration to be done to the King or Prince that sends him yet the particularity of what is done in this kind to a Messenger cannot with truth in custom of speaking be said to be done unto any other but himself It is a common saying that what measure is measured out unto Embassadours it is done unto the Person himself that is the sender of them But now this is to be understood of the general nature of that which is done Be it good or evil which is measured to an Embassadour it doth I say redound in a general way unto the King or Prince that sends him But as for the particularity of discredit which is done to the Embassadour this cannot in reason or in truth be attributed unto the Prince If the Embassadour be killed it cannot be said that the Prince is killed only that he had a very great affront offered unto him So if the Embassadour had a high reward a Chain of Gold or the like it cannot be said that the King had one only that this was done in honour to the King Take an instance or two from the Scriptures Hanun we read 2 Sam. 10.4 shaved off the one half of the beards of David's Messengers
Prophets who Prophesied in Ezra's and Nehemiah's times under and a while after the building of their second Temple they were wont I say to mourn as the generality of them or at least some of the learned amongst them do at this day as if with those their Prophets the Holy Ghost had forsaken them and refused to manifest his presence amongst them any more according to that in Psal 74 9. We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any amongst us that knoweth how long According to this Notion the Disciples we are now speaking of might say to Paul that they had not so much as heard the least inkling of those blessed tidings that the Holy Ghost was again returned unto the World But then again Thirdly as to the Argument it self Whereas the Author of it saith That to take the Holy Spirit not for his Person but for his Gifts is to speak without example he most palpably contradicts himself within two or three lines after where he grants that Paul's question to them Whether they had received the Holy Ghost or no might be understood of the gifts of the Holy Ghost Fourthly and lastly Because I would not stand any longer upon this Argument whereas he would infer that the Holy Ghost should not be God from hence that the Apostle upon the occasion here offered did not declare him to be so whereas upon a lesser occasion he instructed the Heathen at Athens in the nature of the true God We reply First It is not unreasonable to demand of him who thus reasoneth What Oracle he consults with which informs him that Paul did not do that which he thinketh fit he should have done in case the Holy Ghost be God viz. Inform these Disciples accordingly And certain I am here is not the least ground administred unto him to judge the contrary It is said in the progress of the story that for three Months together publickly and afterwards for two years together more privately he argued and disputed things appertaining to the Kingdom of God It is an old rule and a true that Argumentum ab Authoritate ductum negativâ non valet That Arguments drawn from Authority negatively have no force nor value in them Secondly Whether the Apostle formally Totidens verbis taught the Disciples that the Holy Ghost was God or no certainly he did that which was as good or better for them than such a Doctrine formally delivered would have been yea and haply that which being interpreted amounted to as much as a declaring of him to have been God and so may be said eminently though not formally to have declared him to be God For by laying his hands upon them he obtained the gift of the Holy Ghost for them by whom they were miraculously acted speaking with strange Tongues and Prophesying which motions and actings of the Holy Ghost at one and the same time in them all with the like in other Christians up and down the World might be to them a convincing Argument of his Godhead though it be not such unto him who opposeth in the question in hand However that which the Apostle did for these Disciples in procuring the Holy Ghost to be given them argueth every whit as much or more care and zeal for their spiritual accommodation as his preaching that God to the Athenians whom they ignorantly worshipped did towards theirs So that this Act of the Apostle was very impertinently insisted upon for such a purpose as that pleaded here This for reply to this Argument Concerning his Eleventh Argument Sect. 17 the heart thereof is already broken in our answers to the fourth and fifth Arguments where we shewed and proved how the Holy Ghost might both hear from another and receive from another without any prejudice or impeachment of his Godhead Nevertheless let us give this Argument also the hearing and if there be any farther strain of reason beyond what was presented in the former Arguments we will weigh it in the balance of the Sanctuary This eleventh Argument then proceedeth thus He that hath any understanding distinct from God is not God the holy Spirit hath an understanding distinct from God Ergo c. The two passages of Scripture which are the strength and sinews of this Argument viz. Joh. 16.13 14 15. and Joh. 8.26 compared with ver 28. We have formerly had in consideration and found nothing there to support that cause for which they were produced and if there was nothing in them then for such a purpose certainly there is nothing since added unto them nor is there the least jot or title in either of these places that the Holy Ghost heareth from God that whereof he was ignorant before In what sense he is said not to speak of himself to take of the things of Christ to reveal them unto men hath been formerly opened and whatever there appears in the said passages to prove that the understanding or learning of the Holy Ghost is distinct from the understanding of God teaching relates only unto the humane understanding of Christ not of the Holy Ghost But of these things formerly Concerning that new place 1 Cor. 2.10 From whence he seeks to evince the understanding of the Holy Ghost to be another distinct from the understanding of God because it is here said that the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God and the same understanding cannot be conceived or said to search it self or its own deep things We reply briefly and plainly First That the Spirit is said to search the deep things of God because he is able to guide or lead the understandings of men in a rational and discoursive way into the knowledge or discerning of the deep things of God It being a method proper and natural unto this kind of understanding I mean the understanding of men by certain steps and degrees to be led on to the knowledge of things that be more mysterious and remote It is a thing familiar and frequent in Scripture to ascribe an Action as well unto that which assists qualifies or enables unto it whether it be person or thing as unto the immediate and Proper Agent himself when the Action is such that the proper Agent who doth it could not have done it without such an assistance yea sometimes which is yet more in such case as we speak of the Action is denied to be done by the Agent who yet properly doth it and is attributed unto that whether person or thing which only assisteth or enableth to it Mat. 10.20 Mar. 13.11 Our Saviour encourageth his Disciples not to be troubled when they should be called before Rulers for his sake For saith he it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Now we know it was not the Holy Ghost that uttered these words but because the Apostles had not wisdom enough of themselves to make such Apologies without the assistance of the Holy Ghost
for us with God and then what kind of help should we receive from him But then Secondly The Spirit is said to make intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered Now though we should grant that groaning may in a metaphorical sense and unproperly be attributed unto the Spirit yet how any groans or groaning of his should be unutterable unto him who is the Lord of all Language and Speech is not easie to conceive Thirdly Whereas the Argument insisteth so rigidly upon these words in the end of ver 27. The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us according to the will of God As if they argued a distinct will of the Spirit from the will of God I reply that the words do not signifie according to the Will of God here is no word which signifieth Will But according unto God and they answer these words by way of Antithesis in the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we ought Thus the Apostle had there granted that the Saints did not indeed of themselves know how to pray as they ought here he tells them for their comfort that the Spirit will enable them to pray as they ought i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto God or the mind or will of God i. e. as they ought and as it becometh them to pray And here is a direct answer relating to those infirmities which our Apostle had expresly affirmed to be in the Saints Fourthly That the work of the Spirit on the behalf of the Saints doth not lie in this to pray for the Saints a part in heaven which is the sense of the Author of this Argument is evident from Joh. 14.16 where our Saviour saith that when he should go away he would pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth c. So that the work which the Spirit hath to do for the Saints is not in heaven since the Ascension of Christ into Heaven Heaven is not the Stage or Theatre where the Holy Ghost acteth and bestirs himself on the behalf of the Saints but now he is come down upon the earth and his great business which he hath to do lieth in the earth even with the hearts minds understandings and wills of men stirring and moving there But Fifthly and lastly Remember the Rule that we delivered unto you in the former Argument which will fully give you the sense wherein the Holy Ghost is said to intercede with groans we gave you many instances when we delivered this for a Rule that in 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 So here the Holy Ghost doth intercede with groans because he doth fill the Saints with his Wisdom and Power and so putteth them into a posture to conceive inward groans and secret motions and desires in the Soul which the Creature indeed is not able to utter or come to God withal in his lips the Creature cannot utter it self when the heart is full of the Spirit of God yet such persons are acted beyond their own ability and very well may be because the Spirit is directing guiding and strengthening unto this work And this is the property of an Intercessor To intercede doth not alwaies signifie to plead for us but sometimes to plead with us against any Enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word in the rigour of the Grammatical signification of it is not alwaies used for interceding for another which he seemeth to catch at as I judge from the Latine word which signifieth to go between two but sometimes to go in opposition to an Enemy and sometimes it signifieth to expostulate and debate things with another Acts 25. So that all things being considered it is a clear case that this Argument is wholly defective And it may be seen further Rom. 8.15 it is expresly said that by means of the Spirit we cry Abba Father meaning that by the assistance and impulse of the Spirit we are able to call God Father which implieth the whole duty and management of this great service of Prayer and Invocation on the name of God And in the last place Jam. 16. speaking of the Prayer of the righteous man we translate it the effectual Prayer but the word properly signifieth that which is acted within a person by a power which is superiour to that which is natural in it We call those persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are acted by an unclean Spirit as when any person is made to speak a Language which he never understood we use to say such a person is inspired acted and carried out by a power superiour to his own And so that Prayer which can do so much with God The effectual fervent prayer of the Righteous it properly signifieth such a Prayer which is full of the Holy Ghost which is inspired into man or whereunto a man is carried out and thrust forward by a Divine Power greater than his own So that these things considered it is a clear case that the true sense and meaning of the place is only this That the Spirit of God relieveth our infirmities in Prayer that when as we know not how to pray as we ought and when the flesh sometimes cometh in and directeth and leadeth into such a method of Prayer which we ought not the Spirit now interposing and directing and leading us to such a method and way that now we pray according to the mind and will of God Now concerning the business it self Sect. 19 I mean the Controversie I would only say this before I leave it that if you mind it or shall please to go round about the matters in Controversie and weigh both these Doctrines First that which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God go I say round it and take all the Arguments and grounds which the Maintainers thereof are pleased to bring forth and weigh and consider their tendencies and operations upon the hearts and consciences of men and you shall find them altogether barren and flat and no waies calculated for the nourishment of men neither is there any thing in it that is any waies apt to quicken the hearts of men to the Service of God comparable to that Doctrine which doth oppose it viz. That the Holy Ghost is God truly God In this Doctrine and in the Arguments by which it is proved there is spirit and life there is as it were great strength which cometh forth from it which bears upon the Judgments and Consciences of men It rules like a King upon his Throne Whereas those other Doctrines viz. that deny the Spirit and so likewise Christ to be God are but of a dull and flat import there is no manner of spiritual power and vigour in them It may possibly be the sense of some that the time wherein we have been
Spirit the Holy Spirit so much spoken of in the Scriptures to be God The debate of this Question we have already finished Another of the three Questions was How or what course a Christian or any other Person Man or Woman may and ought to take to be filled with the Spirit i.e. How or after what manner the Exhortation imposed in the Text is to be obeyed or put in execution The third and last Question was How a man or woman may either come to discern and know themselves or how others may come to the like knowledge of them whether they be filled with the Spirit I mean the Spirit of God or some other Spirit of another nature and contrary to it I suppose much light will be given by the examination of the truth in the Former of the two Questions for the decision of the Latter so that we may be somewhat the briefer here To begin then with the former of these Questions Sect. 2 how a Christian or a Believer yea or any other person may be filled with the Spirit which the Text and Doctrine mention for it will appear by the way that any other Person as well as a Believer is in a capacity though somewhat more remote of being filled with the Spirit likewise What it is to be filled with the Spirit hath been formerly declared in the opening of the Doctrine notwithstanding I conceive it is necessary for the resolution of the Question in hand that we briefly remind you of what we delivered in that kind we signified unto you that to be filled with the Spirit doth not note and import an absolute and precise fulness that is a having of the Spirit in such a precise fulness and height that there is no capacity left of having more of him No but as in Scripture Phrase a Vessel is said to be full when there is a good and sufficient and competent proportion in it and so in ordinary discourse we say a Cup is full of drink not when it is full to the brim but if there be a good quantity and proportion in it just so a fulness with the Spirit doth not suppose or imply such a uniform kind of fulness as if no man could be said to be full of the Spirit but only he that is fullest of all But if any person be acted by the Spirit or doth quit himself like unto a man he in whom the Spirit hath any considerable power of command may be truly said to be filled with the Spirit as David had many Worthies in his Army and yet they did not reach or attain unto the three first though they were worthy in their way so there may be many Christians of several sizes and degrees who yet may be said to be filled with the Spirit of God So that in propriety of Phrase it signifieth to have an actuous vigorous and operative presence of the Holy Ghost in you to enjoy his grace love and favour upon such terms as to receive from him and from the glory of his power ever and anon upon all occasions excellent quicknings incitements impulses enlargements strengthnings of heart and soul unto every worthy way and every good work to have all contrary workings motions and risings of the flesh borne down with a strong hand and swallowed up in victory so that a man or woman shall find no great no considerable opposition or turmoile as formerly from any weakness or corruption within him in his way of well-doing but only such which he shall be enabled and this at a very good rate to overcome I say when this is found to be the case and condition of any Christian it is a sign of such a presence or fulness of the Spirit of God I here describe unto you only that kind of filling with the Spirit which is the duty of all Christians as of other persons also in their way to mind look after and be industriously careful to obtain and which only I conceive is intended by the Apostle in the Text. For I do not conceive that he doth admonish and exhort the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit as if his meaning should be that he would have them be filled with such a kind of filling by which some were enabled to work miracles or reveal things secret and unrevealed in the Scriptures being yet future and to come Although I can easily believe that even such a filling with the Spirit as this at least to a considerable degree was within the reach of Christians in the Apostles daies yea and that the Apostle did exhort the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12.31 to seek after some such kind of filling as this in these words but covet earnestly after the best gifts Doubtless he would not have had them to lay out themselves with any desire after these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as speaking with Tongues and Prophecying but that there was a means for the attaining of them But that filling with the Spirit which he commendeth to the Ephesians by way of duty in the words before us is only or at least principally such a filling as we have both formerly and even now described unto you which respecteth the effectual stirring up and strengthening of the hearts and souls of men unto waies and works of righteousness and these of the worthiest and most excellent kind and strain And yet it is not unlike but that if men and women should quit themselves worthily and with faithfulness in this Race I mean in their endeavours to be filled with the Spirit in that kind or sense we speak of there would be cast in unto them by way of heaped measure somewhat of that kind of filling also they should have a kind of first fruits of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit also as of healing of the sick declaring things to come c. I could give an account of my apprehension in this kind and this in more particulars than one were it not for fear of lengthening out this Discourse in hand beyond what you are willing to bear Notwithstanding Sect. 3 there is one thing more necessary I conceive to be touched here also in order to your better satisfaction about the Question in hand though something as I remember hath been spoken to it formerly that is How it can stand with the weakness and unworthiness of the Creature man on the one hand and the incomprehensible Majesty and Glory of the Holy Ghost on the other hand that it should be in the power of man to procure or draw into himself i.e. into his heart and soul such a rich or glorious presence of the Spirit as that wherein our being filled with him consists Or whether in this case the Spirit may not be conceived to be obnoxious unto or in the power of man I am the rather desirous to remove this stumbling block out of the way before we go forward to give reply to the principal Question propounded because I conceive it must needs be
Spirit is in the Apostle's words in a like case 1 Cor. 12.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. zealously to cover or desire it to have a man's soul break within him as David's expression is with a longing desire after it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate the best gifts the better gifts saith the Original the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated covet earnestly signifieth to desire with a zeal or emulation i. e. to desire after such a manner or upon such terms that we resolve that nothing shall interpose as far as we are able to prevent and hinder it between our desire and the thing desired viz. so as to bereave our desires of their object or cause them to cease from it Now evident it is that the Apostle in the place now cited prescribeth this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This earnest or zealous coveting after the better gifts in order to the obtaining of them at the hand of God otherwise To what end or purpose should he enjoyn such a thing It is not to be imagined that he should exhort them zealously to covet such things which were not possible for them to obtain and enjoy No nor yet such things the enjoyment whereof were not to be obtained or procured by such their earnest coveting Now if this earnest or zealous coveting of those gifts of the Spirit which the Apostle there means and of which he had particularly spoken immediately before were a means either in whole or in part to attain them doubtless the same course the like zealous coveting is a proper means also though not an adequate or compleat means for the obtaining of such a fulness of the Spirit of which we speak For if God be enclined to hearken unto to accommodate the earnest desires of men when they are lifted up unto such objects such things that are of a perishing nature be they never so well used or managed for of this kind were those gifts of the Spirit of which the Apostle speaks in the place mentioned as himself also expresly testifieth and confesseth 1 Cor. 13.8 And consequently are of affinity with the outward perishable things of this World as Silver Gold Meats Drinks c. if then I say God were so far indulgent or respectful to the zealous desires of men after the transient gifts of the Spirit such whereof Persons who did not truly love God were capable that he was very propense to gratifie them much more have we reason to judge that he will look towards such desires of men especially if they be raised to any fervency or height when they are bent upon such a filling with the Spirit that will commend them in his sight and which being maintained and persevered in will make them great in the Kingdom of Heaven for ever Our Saviour speaking of things of a transient nature in reference to mens seeking of things that are permanent and enduring expresly informs the world that if men shall be diligent in seeking these latter those other shall collaterally and as it were on the by be cast upon them Mat. 6.33 First seek the Kingdom of God c. Indeed men and women generally go so to work as if the tenour of our Saviours Counsel ran counter and was quite contrary to what now it is That in case men would seek in the first place the things of this World and the conveniences thereof what they should eat or what they should drink or wherewith they should be cloathed that then all things appertaining to the Kingdom of God should be cast in unto them For there is an high seeking after these things almost on every hand as if God were so far from casting them in unto men upon the account our Saviour speaks of that men must deny themselves in the things of God and of their eternal peace to lay out themselves whole and entire with all their might and all their strength for the wresting of them out of his hand But whatsoever men think or do in this kind the word of the faithful Witness of Heaven remaineth firm and stedfast nor hath God made the least tittle or iota of any promise or overture of casting in spiritual things unto men upon their desires or endeavours after outward things but ever and anon labours to reduce men to sobriety and moderation in both these that so they may be found in a better capacity to receive spiritual things from him If you ask me Sect. 6 But what may be the reason that God should so graciously and highly esteem the zealous desires or covetings of men after spiritual things above the like desires in them after earthly things Or why considering that both kinds of things are good and from himself yet zealous covetings after the former take his heart and soul the like after these are an offence unto him and separate between him and his Creature To this I reply first Negatively the reason is not precisely because the former desires are commanded by him I mean zealous desires after spiritual things and the latter not commanded but forbidden The commanding of the former by God in conjunction with a prohibition of the latter is sufficient proof that he doth indeed accept the one and not the other but it is not the reason at least not the Adequate nor the principal reason why he doth so accept them 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 A stumbling as it were at unawares upon the Letter of commands is of no great acceptance with God which yet it would and must be if it were simply the Command of God that rendered an Act done according to the tenour of the Letter of it acceptable unto him Again some things commanded by God may accidentally fall in with mens carnal ends and desires and upon such an account as this they may do them As Children that have rich Parents from whom they expect great matters at their death or otherwise in the mean time to accommodate their hopes and expectations in this kind they may honour and obey them many the like cases might be readily put But now that which Children do in such cases though it be commanded at least in the Letter by God yet this renders it of a very slender acceptation with him Therefore most certain it is that the primary reason at least why any mans doing the Command of God is accepted with him is not this because he doth that which God hath commanded for then in what case soever men should do that which God hath commanded there would be acceptance which we have shewed is not true Therefore Secondly in the Affirmative the true reason or reasons for they are rather two than one why mens zealous desires after spiritual things and especially after a being filled with the Spirit are of such a high and soveraign acceptation with God as hath
cannot properly be said to do the things they would For that kind of Prayer which they would pray is one thing and the prayer which they do make or pray is another the Prayer which they would pray is such a prayer which in all points answereth the holiness and perfection of the Commandment given by God in that behalf that Prayer which they do pray is a Prayer many waies defective having many infirmities cleaving unto it so likewise the hearing and the giving Alms c. And in this sense it is most true that the best of men and women cannot do the things they would And in this sense also the Apostle is to be understood speaking of himself Rom. 7.18 19. How to perform that which is good I find not And again The good that I would I do not How to perform that which is good I find not i. e. I cannot find any course way or means how I may be enabled to perform that which is simply and perfectly good that which in all points answereth the holiness and spiritualness of the Law of God which is the good that I would do the object of my will and desire is not to do any thing weakly and defectively but all things after the most perfect manner and such things as these I find not i.e. by all the care that I can take nor by all the diligence that I can use I cannot find how to perform By the way the Apostle saying unto the Galatians So that ye cannot do the things that ye would is as a Sword passing through the soul of those who are called perfectionists amongst us casting down the Crown of their conceit of perfection to the ground unless they dally with the word and by perfection mean that which all understanding and sober Christians admit of and hold as well as themselves such a perfection as sometimes passeth in the Scriptures under that name and is ascribed unto the Saints viz. A comparative perfection i. e. such an excellency whether in faith or knowledge or manners or tenour of life and conversation which is in persons termed spiritual above what is found in those termed Babes in Christ and carnal there is no man that understandeth any thing in the Scriptures but acknowledgeth thus much very attainable in this life but if by perfection they mean that which is strictly and properly such viz. such a state wherein men and women sin not offend not at all the Scripture hath given express Sentence against them and their conceit of perfection over and over saying in one place Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all In another Ye cannot do the thing ye would In a third Who liveth and sinneth not In a fourth Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin To omit other places as full of enmity against the Doctrine of perfection as these but this only by the way But To the Point before us when we affirm Sect. 9 that a being filled with the Spirit will leave no space nor room in the heart or soul of a man or woman for any unclean worldly or sinful lusts to stand and act their parts there Our meaning is that such lusts as these will have no opportunity to magnifie themselves there to make head or gather strength whereby to be much troublesome unto us they will not be able to conceive as James speaketh Jam. 1.15 Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death As you have some Plants and Trees that with much a do will grow and live for a while in the Earth or Soyl or Air but will not thrive or flourish or bear fruit according to their kind but may be resembled to the Widow the Apostle speaketh of living in pleasure They are dead even whilst they live So likewise when ye are filled with the Spirit though the flesh will be flesh still and be ever and anon attempting and putting forth yet there will be no great heart or strength in these attempts they will be but faint and weak as despairing of any gratification or fulfilling this is evident from the Scriptures and particularly from that Gal. 5. from whence we even now heard that by reason of the contrary lustings of the Flesh against the Spirit men cannot do the things they would in the sense lately opened by reason of the interruption and opposition of the Flesh to the Spirit yet saith the Apostle in the next preceding verse Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh or as the original hath it somewhat more emphatically ye shall at no hand or in no wise fulfil the lusts of the Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a double negation Now to walk in the Spirit or by the Spirit is the same thing which the Apostle calls elsewhere a being led by the Spirit i. e. an uniform subjecting himself to the motions and holy suggestions or overtures of the Spirit of God in him And to walk in the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit supposeth some degree at least of being filled with the Spirit because if the Spirit do not bear and beat somewhat strong in the Souls and Consciences of men they will not be led uniformly by him because where he I mean the Spirit doth not bear to some considerable degree of strength the Flesh will overbear his motions even as a strong Tide or stream will carry a Ship down against the Wind unless it blow a stiff Gale But if men be filled with the Spirit so that the exhibitings and quicknings thereof be pregnant and lively and the impulses and bearings thereof upon the Conscience and Soul be stiff and strong and with power the inclinations motions and lustings of the Flesh will be overborne and stifled even as a Vessel upon the water meeting a stout Ship running before a strong gale of wind is easily overset and run under water by her If you be full of the Spirit these lusts themselves will fly from you and there will be no abiding for them in you they will take no pleasure at all in such a soul neither will such a Soul find much to do with them there will be an agreement on both Parties to divide and separate they are contrary one unto another and they cannot dwell together because they are not agreed and in this case the strong must keep possession and the weaker must give place And he that is in you saith John speaking of the Spirit of God is greater than he that is against you Now the World and the things of it are the Devils black Retinue and Regiment that attend upon him that promote the Affairs of his Kingdom and when the case is come to this that the Soul must be possest and inhabited by one Spirit either by him that is greater or him that is lesser and his Retinue in this case
if you bring in the Spirit of God into your Soul you shall by one and the same Act as it were expel and drive out all that Retinue Even as Christ coming into the Temple drove out those that bought and sold and the Money Changers just thus will be the coming of the Spirit of God in Power and in Glory in your Souls he will chase away from before his face all that rabble of evil doers your unclean lusts and desires your foolish froward and proud dispositions and distempers of Soul Now consider a little of how great and sacred a consequence such a thing as this is to have the Temples of your hearts of your inner man thus purged and rid of such Polluters and Prophaners of their dignity excellency and peace My Brethren Men and women live as it were by the fulfilling and satisfying of their lusts and unclean desires they are afraid that they should not make a life of their continuance in the World and being in the body unless they take pleasure in such things and in such waies unless they satisfie such and such desires whereas alas were they but free from the inordinacy of their desires their satisfying and gratifications would be rather matter of burthen trouble and cumber to them than any otherwise As persons that have the itch it is a pleasure to them to scratch but when the distemper in the skin is taken away no man complains that he wanteth his former pleasure of scratching Even so whilst men and women are laden with Lusts Pride Covetousness Uncleaness and given to pleasure it is little less than a death to them to be kept from the fulfilling and gratifying these lusts and distempers but if these lusts were but healed and separated as they may be for they are not of the Essence of their souls they are no part of their Nature or Being no they are but strangers and aliens unto their souls If these I say were but separated from them if they were but mortified and gone these kind of waies whereby they were to be gratified would be altogether unsatisfying unto them and would have no tafte or relish at all The truth is they would not only find no relish nor any savour in them but they would be troublesome they would be matter of shame and confusion unto them And therefore it must needs be conceived as a matter of excellent high and blessed concernment unto men and women to be invested with such a heavenly priviledge as this is to have the inner man healed of all that unclean Retinue of Lusts and sinful distempers to have these removed and thrown out of the Soul There is a great deal more to be said to make these things very desirable in your eyes but we may have occasion to speak of this Point in the Progress of this Discourse Thus then you see that where men are filled with the Spirit of God the lusts of the flesh are like to have but small trading they are there but as if they were not they have no joy in such souls nor these souls much sorrow and trouble with them and the serious consideration of this we teach to be a very effectual means to raise such Covetings such earnest Desires such Longings and Breathings of heart after it as have been mentioned So great and excellent is that heavenly accommodation of being delivered from the troublesome and dangerous impotunity of fleshly and worldly lusts by being filled with the Spirit Secondly Sect. 10 Another thing that will attend and must needs be the consequence of a mans being filled with the Spirit is this viz. That a man hereby will become little sensible of impressions of Sorrow Grief and Trouble from the World and the cross workings and dealings of things unto him there His soul by means of being filled with the Spirit will be able to dwell amongst Lions even as Daniel did without fear or danger of being destroyed and devoured with them Those Afflictions Pressures and Trials which will grind the faces and break the bones of other men will not create any Grief Pain or Trouble unto him For to be filled with the Spirit is a kind of spiritual drunkenness as the Apostle implieth in the Text and indeed hath effects in its kind in a spiritual way answerable unto those of drunkenness litterally and proprerly so called such as those mentioned by Solomon Prov. 23.34 35. Thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the Sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a Mast They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not Meaning that in fits of Drunkenness men are not sensible either of any danger though never so imminent and threatning whereunto they are exposed nor of pain or smart by blows or wounds given them In like manner when men or women are filled with the Spirit of God and so are in an intimous serious and affectionate converse with those glorious overtures of Comfort Peace and Joy and with those strong and high impulses and bearings upon their hearts and spirits unto waies and actions that are truly honourable and excellent and which take hold of Eternal Life which must be the portion of those that are filled with the Spirit they are not so much sensible of nor liable to much sorrow or trouble from the sad or hard occurrences of the World For when the strength of the heart and mind and soul of a man are drunk up with matters of a more sublime and glorious nature and consequence there is nothing left of him wherewith to become much capable or sensible of other things especially of those that are but of an inferiour concernment unto him For that Principle in man which renders him sensible or apprehensive of any thing relating unto him whether on the right hand or on the left whether good or evil is the native vigour of his mind and understanding Now then if this be intirely or intensly drawn forth busied and taken up with minding and considering things of one kind especially such whereon the mind is much set and delighted with a man is as it were in a Trance or half dead in respect of things of another nature and though they be of a very troublesome and afflicting nature in themselves yet do they little affect such a man As it was with our Saviour Joh. 4.8 31 32 c. His mind and soul being intensly bent and set upon the work he came about into the World which he calleth the doing of his Fathers Will meaning his Preaching of the Gospel he was not sensible of his corporal hunger or want of natural sustenance under which he was as appeareth verse 8. and 31. compared So the Apostle Paul being full of the Spirit though he was in sufferings abundantly yea I presume one of the greatest sufferers in the World for a long time together yet the things that he suffered took little hold
of him I mean they made very little breach upon his comfort or peace he was upon the matter as well apaid in himself even when the pains of hell as David speaketh i. e. fear or apprehensions of Death or the Grave compassed him about as when the Sun of outward peace and prosperity shone with the greatest brightness upon him This might be made to appear from the many passages in his own writings as 2 Cor. 4.16 6.10 Now how lovely and above measure desirable a priviledge is it to have an heart that cannot be pierced that cannot be wounded by the sharpest Arrows that can be drawn out of the Quiver of this World I shall not need to teach or inform you I make no question but that you have a very vigorous and lively notion or impression of it within you however something may be added to this Point hereafter So then you see another thing very considerable in a being filled with the Spirit the diligent working of which upon your hearts and souls must needs make you covetous after it Thirdly Your being filled with the Spirit Sect. 11 will be unto you as an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 1.11 And this in these three respects highly desirable First In respect of an excellent measure and degree of righteousness and true holiness Secondly In respect of a like measure or degree of inward and sound peace Thirdly and lastly in respect of that measure of joy also wherewith the heart and soul must needs be filled thereby The Apostle Paul we know Rom. 14.17 placeth the Kingdom of God in these three Righteousness Peace and Joy in or through the Holy Ghost The Kingdom of God saith he is not meat and drink but Righteousness c. By the Kingdom of God he means nothing else but the same thing the same Kingdom which Peter calls the Everlasting Kingdom c. Only Paul seemeth to speak as well of it in respect of the manner and behaviour as of the Priviledges and Happiness of the Subjects thereof the Apostle Peter either only or chiefly mentions it in respect of the latter This then is that we say that in respect of both as well in respect of that heavenly deportment or behaviour which is Universally used and practiced in this Kingdom expressed by the Apostle Paul in the word Righteousness as in respect of the Priviledges and great Felicity signified in the other two words Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost In respect I say of both your being filled with the Spirit will give you an entrance in abundance into this Kingdom i. e. will put you into such a state and condition wherein you shall have a rich taste or rather plentiful first Fruits of the glory and blessedness of that Kingdom This entrance in abundance which we speak of into the Everlasting Kingdom shall by your being filled with the Spirit be given unto you First In respect of that Righteousness or Excellency of Conversation whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom maintain themselves in the felicity and enjoyment of it and whereby they are discernable from other persons For when and whilest the Spirit of God dwelleth richly and plentifully in you he will kindle and raise up strong and excellent Inclinations Potent and Prince like Resolutions within you unto waies and works of Righteousness and true Holiness Inclinations and Resolutions in this kind that will not be baffled or turned out of the way by every gust of Temptation as the Purposes and Resolutions of the same Denomination in the generality of Professours in whom the Spirit dwelleth in a lower degree only are subject to be but will hold on their course in waies of Righteousness As a good Ship running with all her Sails displayed before a stiff Gale of Wind will cut through the waves and troublesome workings of the Seas taking no notice of them Even so when a man is filled with the Spirit he is as it were tied and bound hand and foot that he cannot lightly move or stir out of the waies which the Spirit it self commendeth unto him and seeketh to guide his feet unto As Paul being filled with the Spirit Acts 20.22 Behold saith he I now go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I go bound in the Spirit That is the Spirit of God hath wrought such a mighty Desire and Resolution in me to go to Jerusalem that my Mind and Conscience will not serve me so much as to deliberate or argue the case within me whether I had best to go or no. As a man that is bound hand and foot where and in what posture you leave him there you shall find him especially if his bands be strong and close drawn and fast tied they will keep him from motion In like manner he that is filled with the Spirit is much in the same case or condition spiritually he cannot act or move but only as the Spirit acteth and moveth him When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost as they were in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.4 they could not speak what they pleased or listed but saith the Text they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they were bound in the Spirit from speaking viz. from speaking any thing but what the Spirit pleased As Paul was not bound in the Spirit from doing any thing or going any where at all but from going any whither but to Jerusalem which was the place the Spirit moved him to go unto In like manner when men and women are filled with the Spirit in the sense of the Text in hand they are inwardly bound and straitned from walking or moving in all other waies save only those wherein they are guided by himself which are only waies of Rigteousness and Holiness Now then to walk in waies of Righteousness to walk uniformly constantly and only in these waies I mean without any scandalous or self-allowed deviation this must needs be conceived to be an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the Righteousness of it Now to be at this pass that we shall not only walk in waies of Righteousness but to do it without any manner of regret nay without much noise striving or reluctancy from our hearts or from our flesh within us This is one of the first born of Priviledges and my Brethren if there were nothing else in being filled with the Spirit but this only viz. that you shall be enabled hereby to walk after an excellent rate to keep the very Battlements of Heaven to walk holily and humbly with your God by excellency of righteousness and to shine in the beauty of Holiness whilst you live is a matter that would make it worthy your labour and of all that can be required of you to possess your souls
being saved it is so full that we are already saved by it And so Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance or rather the subsistence for so Hypostasis signifies of things hoped for Faith is said to be the subsistence or existence of things hoped for because the belief of those grounds or of those Promises of God or declarations that come from Heaven That These and these things shall be given to those that believe this I say doth give a kind of existency and presentiality unto the things themselves in the minds and spirits and souls of men For it is Faith that is the ground work or that which giveth a subsistence to these things in the soul for Hope floweth from Faith and by it the heart is carried out to the expectation of them Hope doth dilate and open the heart as a man doth his hand to receive that which is ready to be given unto him But that which giveth life breath and being unto Hope that is Faith It is Faith that giveth Being unto the Truth and Faithfulness of God in his Promises and Declarations by which they are settled and secured that they are all valid and that God will make them good unto his Sons and Daughters those who shall believe And in this respect the Language or manner of the Scripture speaking is very remarkable That they who are enabled by God by being anointed with a Spirit of Revelation to put men into a steady and substantial hope of possessing and enjoying such and such things are said to give them the things themselves So Isa 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted c. So again ver 3. To give them beauty for ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. So that according to this manner of Scripture speaking because the Prophet offered by a spirit of Prophecy to fill theis hearts with the hope and expectations of these things he is said to give them the things themselves So again he that shall be an instrument in the hand of God to preach the Word of God with such evidence of truth and demonstration as that he fills the hearts of men full of the hope of Salvation is said actually to save them Take heed unto thy self saith Paul to Timothy and unto the Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim. 4.16 Fourthly Sect. 14 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause God to take a holy pleasure and delight in you and to imploy you about many actions and services of his which will be very honourable unto you and turn to a bleffed account in due time in his Kingdom Wherefore saith the Apostle to the Church at Jerusalem look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost c. Which doth imply that the men that God seeketh for the acting and doing his business here in the World are such who are full of the Holy Ghost such who have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God Men that are filled with the Spirit will be vigorous active and free in their work they will do what they do with all their might As men delight to be served by such Servants who are diligent and will go through stitch with their business that will not be baffled or turned out of their way by every toy or trivial occasion that shall present it self but will go on with their business not with trifling Even so it is a special Principle in the living God to desire servants that will be faithful and fervent in their business This indeed is the very Nature and Being of God and therefore he putteth that Character of his Being upon men which he judgeth meet to be chosen as instruments to serve him and which are as I may say made for him fitly qualified for any work or employment that shall be put into their hands Who counted me faithful saith Paul putting me into the Ministry If Paul had not been the man he was a man of mettle courage and resolution God would not have delighted in his service so as to have put him into the Ministry Now where we do not see men that are in the Ministry of the same Spirit it is a sign they are not put here by God for God taketh no delight or pleasure but only in such who are fitted for his work We read 2 Tim. 2.21 of Vessels prepared and made fit for the Masters use so that there is a certain fitness as well in Persons as in Vessels which maketh them meet for such or such respective uses Now that Generation of men in the World that are filled with the Spirit are only meet for the Masters use viz. the Great Master of the World the Lord of Hosts Such men as these men who are through-hearted zealous and lovers of his Work and that take delight in being employed in his Service are Vessels of pleasure and delight unto him Seest thou a man saith Solomon diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings Prov. 22.29 Shall stand before Kings namely to minister unto them Men of this Character are only meet for their Service Even so none are fit for the Service of the Great God of Heaven and Earth but such men who are of active and vigorous spirits and that know how to manage his Affairs with diligence and faithfulness for his interest in the World These men shall not stand idle but God will take delight to make use of them in his Service Whereas men that are unqualified for his Service to any confiderable degree as all men are who art not filled with the Spirit who have no activity nor edge in them are unto God as a bottle in the smoak And as men do not love to put what they drink into bottles that are smoaky because that will destroy all the goodness and pleasantness of the taste of that which shall be put into them Even so as was but now hinted men that are unqualified that have no dexterity for his business these are persons in whom God taketh no pleasure but are unto him as a bottle in the smoak because the management of his Affairs by such men as these will rather be a disparagement unto him than any matter of glory by rendring his Sacred Things common and consequently rendring them despicable in the eyes of men But on the contrary men that are richly anointed and filled with his Spirit these are Agents and Instruments for him as the Sword of Goliah was unto David there was none like unto it There is no Generation of men under Heaven that he taketh such pleasure in to commit and intrust his Affairs withal as with these who are filled with the Spirit Who maketh his Angels Spirits or wind
and his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1.7 Some by the way understand the meaning of the place to be only this That the Apostle would hereby shew or prove that there is no great matter in the name of an Angel because that God sometimes calleth the wind by the name of an Angel and that the Argument in hand was not to prove the transcendent excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ above the Angels and their dignity but because that the name of Angel is a term of no great dignity because sometimes God calleth the Wind Angel or Minister Whether this their Notion will stand or no it is not much material as to that which I shall commend unto you for our purpose For if God call the Wind by name of Angel or the Fire his Angel it is a sign that he doth delight to make those his Messengers that are most active and full of Spirit in their way for so are the Winds and Flames of Fire And so are Angels strong and swift like unto the Wind and zealous in their way like Fire and consequently every way meet and accommodated for the Service of the Great God In like manner by your being filled with the Spirit this high Priviledge will certainly accrue unto you That your standing on Earth will be much like the standing of the Angels in Heaven who continually stand before God and attend upon him for a beck to be appointed to their several services and to be sent one one way and another another way and happy are they to whom the favour is vouchsafed to have the first charge and direction from God about his business And such shall be your posture and standing before the God of all the Earth if you be men and women filled with the Spirit It will not be long ere you shall have some great and high imployment put into your hands that will be very beneficial and honourable unto you and in which you will take abundance of pleasure and satisfaction Fifthly Sect. 15 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause the offensiveness of good waies and works especially in some of the most excellent Services of God and of men and that which seemeth hard and troublesome to the flesh in them to cease It will reconcile the disproportion between your hearts and such services and imployments both for God and men We all know that there is a kind of natural averseness and indisposedness in the flesh of men unto many Services of God especially unto those which are most honourable and most worthy of Christians I say there is a kind of listlessness and hanging back of the Flesh unto such duties as these we are speaking of which is occasioned by nothing else but only by their disproportion which they have with men There is something in the heart of a man which doth not answer to something in the Work and Service Now then by your being filled with the Spirit this disproportion which lieth between your hearts and this Service of God will be taken out of the way You know the saying of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would in the Original it is that ye may not do the things that ye would The Spirit lusteth and by means of the Spirits lusting you are put into a strait so that now ye cannot or ye may not do what ye would This lusting of the Spirit against the Flesh will be a means to weaken the Lustings of the Flesh so that you will have no desire to do those things which you are naturally enclined unto And if the Spirit be strong in the soul of a man these Lustings of the Spirit will be strong also yea they will if they be not obstructed in their way advance and grow stronger until all the Lustings of the flesh be subdued and all dispositions and inclinations unto sin upon the matter wholly cut off so that you will not find your selves under any Obligations to walk in any such waies wherein the flesh may be gratified Your being filled with the Spirit will free you from all incumbrances in the waies of holiness And you shall come forth unto such waies as these Like the Sun which as David saith is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a Race Psal 19.5 Why is the Sun said to rejoyce and to come forth as a Bridegroom and as a Gyant to run his course but because though his Course be long above what will easily be believed should be accomplished by him in the space of twenty four hours he is if I may so speak naturally conscious that he hath abundantly wherewich to perform it Such a Course or Race to him is natural and delightsome If another Creature not so qualified either with figure swiftness Propensity unto Circular motion or the like were to run I mean appointed or commanded by God as the Sun is to run the same Course and were to set forth out of the same Chamber with the Sun this Creature would not come forth to his work like a Bridegroom but rather like unto him that mourneth and whose Countenance is cast down unto the Earth In like manner when men and women are filled with the Holy Ghost they come forth unto the greatest actions or highest Services whether for God or men like unto so many Bride-grooms out of their Chambers full of alacrity and with an heavenly pleasantness of heart and face as it is said of Stephen who is noted to have been a man filled with the Spirit that all the Council that looked stedfastly or narrowly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Acts 6.25 i.e. did discern a more than ordinary a kind of supernatural Visage or composure of Countenance in him wherein an awful gravity with an heavenly kind of Lustre or pleasantness were in conjunction and by the light of this his Angelical and heavenly Countenance a like heavenly complexion or constitution of heart and soul within might easily have been discerned also Stephen had a great piece of work a difficult service upon his hand he was to give Testimony unto Jesus Christ before the Powers of this World a great Council of men that were desperate Opposers of him and maliciously bent against all those that professed him and to abide all hazards and dangers likely to attend such an engagement But being filled with the Holy Ghost his heart sweetly and readily comported with the work as if it had been but like the going to a Feast So also the Apostle Paul Acts 20.22 23 24. 21.11 13. compared In the former And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these
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
generality of the Saints will enjoy besides that of being filled with the Spirit of God and being drawn out accordingly into waies and works of excellency and well-doing unless it be by suffering Persecution for the Gospels sake although it might be doubted too whether some good degree of being filled with the Spirit be not requisite even to put men into this capacity also For they who have not some competent anointing in this kind will hardly hold out in suffering That which maketh men constant and persevering under temptations and great tribulations to the end is a certain hope and expectation of a great recompense of reward from God as the Scriptures witness in many places which we shall not now insist upon Now such a hope which will make a man stand upright under great Afflictions cannot be raised and gotten up into the soul but by the reflection of a mans Conscience upon him and witnessing unto him that he hath walked in waies of a worthy life and excellent deportment in the World if then there shall be no place for such things as these in the soul without a being filled with the Spirit of God which hath been formerly and largely proved then evident it is that neither men nor women are likely to be capable of that best Resurrection and consequently not of the best Eternity upon one account or other without being filled with the Spirit of God But be it granted or supposed that men may be able deeply to be baptized into suffering for righteousness sake and so become capable of a greater reward in Heaven as our Saviour speaketh without being filled with the Spirit of God Yet as I was saying unto you this method or way to obtain an eternal greatness is more uncertain as to any particular person one or other and less within his liberty or power than by an abundant fruitfulness in well-doing which as hath been shewed will not be found in any man without a being filled with the Spirit nor any man found to be filled with the Spirit without that For to be called forth and strengthened by God to suffer for Christ's or the Gospels sake is matter of peculiar Grace and gift from God and so not in the power of any man himself to chuse according to that of the Apostle to the Philippians Phil. 1.29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake This Argumentative Particle also clearly implieth that to suffer for Christ's sake is not so generally granted unto men as to believe on him is I mean is not granted unto all those unto whom it is granted to believe By suffering in this place I suppose is meant a suffering deeply and to a more than ordinary degree Nor is that of the same Apostle 2 Tim. 3.12 contrary hereunto Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution i. e. shall be obnoxious and liable to suffer persecution or to some degree or other actually suffer So then there being no way at least no way of certainty to heap up these Treasures in Heaven to lift up your heads on high and that to Eternity amongst those that shall be partakers of the same glory with you to enlarge your capacities respectively for blessedness and glory but by being filled with the Spirit â—â—is must needs highly commend such a qualification or priviledge 〈◊〉 this unto you and cause your hearts to burn in longing desires â—â—â—er it The two Sons of Zebedeus James and John made this reâ—â—est unto Christ that the one of them might sit at the right hand c. Mar. 10.35 that they might be next unto him in greatness and in glory The motion our Saviour seemeth to have distasted as in considerately made and accordingly gave the makers of it this check You know not what you ask meaning that they did not understand nor consider how great and excellent how transcendent above measure the matter or priviledge was which they desired nor yet considered upon what terms and on what kind of persons according to the righteous purpose and intent of God it was to be conferred It is not mine to give but to those or those only for whom it is prepared But now though he checked them in respect of their inconsiderateness in making the motion because they understood not what they asked nor knew upon what terms they asked it for they asked it upon the account of favour and partiality in God because related unto him as Friends and Followers Yet otherwise he doth not blame them simply for desiring it but for desiring it after such a manner viz. carnally But when he saith ver 40. it is for them for whom it is prepared He doth imply that it is not for two persons only but for such persons that are so and so qualified As if Christ should have said this on purpose to draw and wind up the hearts of his Creatures men and women to waies of excellent righteousness and holiness There shall be some places of glory higher than other and they whose hearts will serve them to come up to my Fathers terms and quit themselves like men in what he expects from them in righteousness faithfulness and holiness these shall be the persons He doth not blame them simply for desiring these high accommodations in heaven but rather enciteth and encourageth them to quit themselves at such a rate of worth and excellency whilst they lived that they might be found those persons indeed for whom they were prepared and so be invested with them My Brethren the right hand and the left hand of Jesus Christ in his Kingdom of all desirable things they are most desirable The Ministration of the Law the Apostle plainly informeth us was glorious and yet affirms withal the Ministration of the Gospel to be much more glorious Yea though the former Ministration of the Law in simple consideration be glorious yet comparatively it was not glorious So my Brethren we might very well have some such kind of notion that all Believers are blessed all are glorious yet nevertheless in respect of those that shall be superabundantly blessed and glorious the others glory shall be but little in comparison There is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars and these differ one from another in glory even so shall it be in respect of the glory of the Saints Now Who is there but would be willing especially by waies that be honourable and worthy and withal are not difficult to better his estate and condition in the World that now is though what improvement soever he shall make in this kind he is not like to enjoy but for a short season here being no enduring substance Suppose he be in a competent way of subsistence at present as suppose he be worth a hundred pounds or two or three per Annum if there were a way opened to
own inability for this work we are about 1 Chron. 22.16 Arise saith David to his Son Solomon therefore and be doing and the Lord be with thee He doth not say stay untill the Lord doth come unto thee but arise and be doing So that this is the first thing to be done we must lay all thoughts of Confidence aside of any sufficiency as of our selves Secondly We must turn our selves towards the Holy Ghost with the like serious and thorough and unfeigned acknowledgment of a sufficiency in him that strength which we disclaimed in our selves we must ascribe unto him We know that the Lord Christ still requireth this acknowledgment from those who obtain any great Request as to any great matters Believe ye that I am able to do this Saith he to the blind men that came to him to be healed Mat. 9.28 So again Mar. 9.23 24. If thou canst believe all these things are possible c. The Father of the Child answered Lord I believe help my unbelief So then here is another thing whereby to interest the Holy Ghost in what we go about namely that we do acknowledge a sufficiency in the Holy Ghost But then Thirdly Sect. 4 We must acknowledge a readiness and willingness and a gracious inclinableness in the Holy Ghost to help and assist us in those things wherein it is any waies meet for him to interpose on our behalf He who doth unfeignedly acknowledge his own weakness and doth address himself unto him shall be sure to find his assistance Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities c. There is a very rich and compassionate inclination in the Holy Ghost towards the Saints in respect of the great infirmities which he discerneth in them to assist stand by and relieve them in their holy endeavours To help them to perform things in an holy and humble manner upon terms of acceptation It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed by the means or course that usually is taken to effect it As Joh. 1.9 Christ is said to enlighten every man that cometh into the World because he affordeth them such means and taketh such a course with them which is proper to enlighten them Even so the Spirit helpeth our infirmities that is he is ready to help our infirmities toties quoties as oft as ever he is sought unto as if he should say The Spirit knoweth how unable men are for such Actions and Services and therefore out of a kind of compassion and Sympathy in respect of their weakness he is ready to help them These gracious inclinations in him are apt to advance and express themselves in their might and power when the Creature is under a full knowledge and sense of its own weakness and a full acknowledgement of this readiness and willingness of the Spirit of God to help and to relieve The poor committeth himself unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherless Psal 10.14 Meaning that when the poor do commit themselves unto God then he is ready to help them there is a Synechdoche of the Species for the Genius By Fatherless he doth mean those that be not in any capacity to help themselves Now they that are under a sense that they are not able to help themselves by reason of their Poverty God is wont to come in to their relief and succour So when a man or a woman is smitten with the sense of their weakness in being not able to hold out in these services if they shall have recourse to the Spirit of God as their helper this is a Signal given unto the Spirit and he taketh the Alarm and he cometh and sheweth himself in his strength unto the Creature All these three means for the interessing of the Spirit in our Services I conceive our Saviour himself Joh. 14.16 17. chiefly pointeth at and asserteth I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him c. The World cannot receive the Holy Ghost because it seeth him not neither knoweth him that is because they have no manner of sense or discerning of him in any such property wherein he desireth to be known For we should have given notice of that though there be a presence of the Spirit of God in men in the state of Nature or Unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do nor speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of a mans receiving the Spirit untill they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him and as he is when he doth advance his presence in an excellent degree in them to put them upon Actions of an excellent concernment But that only by the way The World cannot receive the Holy Ghost because it seeth him not neither knoweth him that is because it hath no manner of discerning of him or at least no distinct or clear knowledge of him A man may have the sight of a Person but that deserveth not the name of the knowledge of him But when a man cometh to understand of what temper or frame he is either in respect of wisdom or goodness or as to matter of Estate or the like then he is properly said to know a man when he knoweth such things as these of him It is the manner of the Scripture to express Gradations after such a manner as this so He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth so here the World neither seeth him nor knoweth him that is they have not seen him much less have they any considerate knowledge of him And when our Saviour giveth the true reason why the World did not or cannot receive him meaning that they cannot according to that Principle by which the Spirit of God is resolved to give out himself i. e. they cannot go beyond God's Declaration they cannot break the Bars of Gods Decree nor the Method by which he is purposed to dispose of his own Spirit This deep ignorance which the men of the World have concerning the Holy Ghost is the reason why they cannot receive him in any supernatural or in any saving manner they cannot receive the indwellings or the inhabitation of him so as to receive strength to perform services in any spiritual or acceptable manner before God for otherwise they are capable of receiving of the Spirit in a way of common illumination They are capable of receiving of him in another sense though they are not capable of receiving him in such a manner as he is to be received so as to be led by him into the waies of life By the light of this Discourse we see that they who are not convinced of the necessity both of the presence of the Spirit of God to help them and likewise of his sufficiency and readiness and willingness to afford his presence with them are under a kind of incapacity
with men in the Scripture and Gospel by such Principles and Rules which are written in the Tables of their hearts by the Finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their common and Civil Affairs Thus because amongst men an Oath is the end of all strife Heb. 6.16 Therefore God will swear too and treate with men by the mediation of an Oath and so in abundance of other particulars God still applieth himself unto men and treateth with them by the same Rules and Principles which men walk by in transactions amongst themselves Now because one man is ignorant of what is in the heart of another and knoweth not how they will prove whether diligent or negligent faithful or unfaithful in matters of trust committed unto them therefore those whom they have occasion to trust they will first try them with a little that in case they should miscarry and prove unfaithful the loss may be the less and easier to be born if they approve themselves with wisdom and faithfulness in managing that little then they are encouraged to trust them yet deeper And as men are wont sometimes to try Casks or Vessels that are new made and never had Liquor put into them whether they be tight or leaky not by putting Wine or Liquor of value but water into them if they will hold water men have so much the better ground to trust them with Wine also In like manner though God as is said of Christ Joh. 2.25 needed not that any man should testifie of man Because he knew what was in man and consequently what would come out from him and what he would do So I say though God knoweth before hand how men will prove whether faithful or unfaithful in any thing committed unto them and in this respect needeth make no experiment and trial of them in reference to any trust yet because it is the manner and according to the Principles of wisdom in men to take such a course he also will do it though he hath other ends and reasons likewise for the doing of it which it is not necessary now to speak of Thus also it is in matters of reward more properly and commonly so called though he knoweth from the beginning the uprightness integrity of mens hearts and what such men in time will do all the good work all that righteousness and suffer all those things for righteousness sake which afterwards they do and suffer yet until they have given an account both unto himself Angels and men of that their integrity by waies of righteousness and well-doing he will do no great things for them he will reward men only according to their works according to what they shall do or suffer nor according to what they purposed to do or suffer unless happily they be prevented of an opportunity for that by the way least there should be mistake not as if God should have no consideration or regard of any mans faithful intentions that is not the meaning of it as many times you may find persons whose hearts are full of fruitfulness that notwithstanding are taken away by death Now it is not imaginable that God should deprive them of the reward of such services when as God himself denieth men the opportunity to do them it is not reasonable nor like unto the waies of God or his proceedings that he should deprive them of their reward in such a case or under such circumstances But the meaning is that the good things which men have done whether they be few or more these shall be rewarded accordingly So that men and women who have given testimony unto the World of their own integrity uprightness and faithfulness unto God God will give them rewards answerable hereunto We speak this for this end to shew that God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it until that they have given an account unto men that they are persons fearing God I say God will not take any knowledge of them until they having given some Testimony unto the World of the integrity and uprightness of their hearts a Testimony of the truth of their Faith and of the soundness of their Love that the World cannot deny but that certainly these are very worthy men then as in Scripture Phrase God is not ashamed of them but they are in an immediate capacity for him to own and to reward and do great things for As it is said of Enoch he was translated Heb. 11.6 of whom it was reported that he walked with God Gen. 6.22 Now God could suffer no disparagement in point of honour by owning of him And so 1 Pet. 1.7 That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of Gold c. might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory It is not said that your Faith being more precious than Gold but that the trial of your Faith this is that which will turn to an account of Praise and Honour and Glory unto men in the great day c. That the trial of your Faith might be a Testimony in abundance given unto men yea unto God himself namely when their Faith shall have been tried whether it be by their constant sufferings for righteousness take or whether it hath been by a holy and blameless Conversation it is not much material if this trial of it be the making of it known and bringing it to light in the World that so it may be known and observed by men In such a case it is a thing but equal and just and well becoming God to be found rewarding of them with great and wonderful things Thirdly Sect. 8 Another means whereby we may come to be filled with the Spirit of God is to sow unto the Spirit Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption But he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Everlasting Life If the Question be What is it to sow to the Spirit I answer according to the usual import of that Metaphorical Expression of sowing to sow to the Spirit is to do such things which will redound to the praise of the Spirit of God to manage Actions so that the benefit of them may accrue to another This the Apostle calleth a sowing to others If we have sown unto you in spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things 1 Cor. 9.11 To sow unto the Spirit is to imploy a mans self about such things such waies and works whereby the Spirit may receive honour and praise which is all the harvest which the Spirit of God and so God himself is capable of receiving from men Only we may add this That when men do such things which are for the honour and praise of the Spirit they must do them with an intent that they may turn to his praise we must not do such things only which may accidentally
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
him that hath shall be given Man who shall nourish and cherish the motions of the Spirit of God when they are in him as it were in swadling cloaths and little and shall be a good Foster-Father unto them shall certainly have a greater and greater presence of this Spirit untill it shall enable him to do great and glorious things and so shall delight in him daily more and more and stir and raise up other and more excellent motions which never came into his mind or heart before Fifthly Sect. 10 Another means whereby the Temple of your souls may be filled with the glory of the Spirit of God is to be led by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 You know there are some Horses will not be led but a man must pull and haule them after him but there are other Horses that are obedient and tractable in your hand So where there is a tractableness and teachableness in men that the Spirit of God leadeth them as it were by the hand this way and that way when men are easie to be taught by him this is another ready and pregnant means whereby to be filled with the Spirit My Brethren you may be said to be led by the Spirit when you go along with him or are willing to go that way wherein he would lead you by every good motion The Spirit doth take as it were every man and woman by the hand and doth upon the matter desire them to be willing to be lead Now when men and women are willing to accept of the Spirit of God for their Leader and Guider in such waies and courses as he doth like to lead them unto these are they that are led by the Spirit of God It is no great difficulty no great Master-piece to know when and in what cases we are led by the Spirit of God and when not for if we know but so much as to be able to distinguish between good and evil if we can but distinguish such motions that be good from those that be evil we may know by this alone when we are led by the Spirit of God and when not For most certain it is that all motions to good which are either mediate or immediate are from the Spirit of God therefore if it be a good motion it is easie to know what Parent it hath namely God So now if by any motions which are at any time stirring or working within us we find our hearts drawn out unto such and such a good way and work in this case if we shall seek for or consult with the dark part of our souls to find out Arguments to disparage them as if they were not the motions of God or of the Spirit of God but were from some other Principle there may be much danger in it But if men shall not seek to draw back upon any such pretenses as these only because they would not go along with the motion it being contrary to some unruly lust or unworthy design which they are carrying on in the World but shall be willing to be led by the Spirit If they need not to be pulled and hauled but shall come on freely and readily and shall be willing to go along with the motions of the Spirit without asking any question for conscience sake or rather for lusts sake this is another great advantage that will turn to an happy account in order to a compleating this great design of your being filled with the Spirit of God For there is nothing that giveth a more demonstrative proof that a man is a true born Son of God than that he is willing to be led by the Spirit in the sense declared It was a saying amongst the Romans He is an ill Souldier that followeth his Captain groaning and sighing Even so he is not a reconciled person with his own peace and comfort who studies and casteth about and would fain be excused from the service of God By the way that we may not discourage any to comply at any time with the motions of the Spirit when any person man or woman shall make a long work of finding out pretenses before they will go along with these motions nevertheless if they do comply and go along with them at last though it be late yet better so than wholly to reject and cast them off but this is not the way of wisdom there is a far better and more excellent way than this in order to the great blessedness we speak of of being filled with the Spirit which is to be freely willing to go along with the Spirit of God in his leading and guidance And so we have briefly done with this means also Only the reason or ground of this direction we shall illustrate a little further viz. He that hath shall have more abundantly Sect. 11 They that comport with the Holy Ghost in his motions who are willing to go along with him in works of Holiness and goodness they do by him as a man doth by his friend whom he symbolizeth with in Disposition Genius and Temper his waies are his waies his delight his delight his sorrows his sorrows this strengthens Friendship between man and man Just so when a man shall symbolize and fall in at every turn with the Spirit of God and shall be like unto him in his waies and shall follow him in his motions and shall own them such a deportment as this is will cause the Spirit of God to delight in a man and to rejoyce in him For if the Spirit of God be capable of being grieved as it appears he is by what the Apostle saith concerning him Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God c. Then certainly he may be pleased and delighted he may be so used and entreated by men so that he will take pleasure and delight in them We have opened this Metaphor unto you heretofore therefore we shall only touch it by the way Grief when it is applied unto the Spirit of God doth not suppose or imply any such thing as if the Holy Ghost may be grieved in a true or proper sense No but the meaning is this that such a course may be taken by men that the Spirit of God may be provoked to do as men use to do under grief As for instance when men are under the Passion of grief they are indisposed unto action they are listless unto any expression of themselves in one kind or other grief and sorrow straitens and contracts the hearts of men that they become half dead having no life no lust no spirit to any thing out of themselves So likewise the Spirit may be said to be grieved when he keepeth silence in men and doth not act as he was wont to do When there is a deadness in the Soul when there are no lustings therein unto that which is good it is a sign that the Spirit is grieved because he stirreth not he moveth not he cometh not forth as he was wont
to do but leaveth the soul solitary and to it self And when there is such a calm no breathing of the Spirit upon the soul there will be no lust no motion nor desire to do any thing that is spiritual or heavenly and then it is with the soul as it is with a quantity of Wine when the Spirits are extracted out of it that which remaineth is but as a little water Just so are the Spirits and hearts and souls of men when the Spirit of God is grieved within them when he withdraweth Their very life and all that vigour of spirit which at other times is found in them all is under hatches and doth not appear On the contrary when the Spirit of God is pleased and delighted in men he is like unto men when they are under greatest contentment and satisfaction of mind they are now in a posture and readiness to do all the good they can to please and gratifie every man This we have opened unto you formerly and have shewed you how the Scriptures run much upon it As saith Mephibosheth to David Let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace 2 Sam. 19.30 And so Gal. 4.15 Where is then the blessedness you speak of For I bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes c. And so again Bless and curse not bless I say for thereunto you are called as who should say Christians by means of that rich portion of contentment and joy which they are interessed in by the Gospel are in a posture to do good unto the World under all the cursings and prosecutings of it Even so it is with the Spirit of God when he taketh delight and pleasure in a man then is he enlarged towards him he is then active stirring and vigorous in the heart and soul These motions quicknings and encitements unto waies that are good these beat strong upon a man Now the Spirit of God the more he is pleased the more he doth enlarge and give out himself unto men So then if we desire to be filled with the Spirit here is another means proper to obtain it namely if you will be led by the Spirit There is nothing more pleasing unto a man especially unto a man of wisdom than to see his Counsel followed This very impression being found in the hearts of men argueth that there is a like strain of this in the nature of God for we have often signified unto you that God made man after his own Image endued him with the same Principles of Wisdom and Understanding namely for nature or kind which were in himself he drew a kind of Copy of his own Wisdom in the Nature of man And this by the way is the reason of another thing also viz. That in his Treaties with men about the great and important business of their everlasting Peace he still goeth by such Rules which men go by and manage the things of their highest concernments But now the reason why God doth deal with men in very many cases by their own Principles is not simply because he will thus fall in with them but because these are the Rules of God himself according to the excellency of his Nature by which he ruleth and governeth the World Sixthly Sect. 12 It must needs be of good consequence unto you in order to your being filled with the Spirit to take and keep all things out of the way which are contrary hereunto I mean which are like to hinder and will hinder your being filled with the Spirit in case they be not taken and kept out of the way to see that we do not lay any obstruction in his way but that it may be plain and smooth before him Now those things in the general which are like to be an offense unto the Spirit of God and so obstructive to your being filled with him are all such things which are gratifactory and pleasing unto the flesh and tend to the encouragement and strengthening of the hand thereof The reason hereof is because the Apostle informeth us Gal. 5.17 that the Spirit and the Flesh are contrary one to the other and lust one against the other one lusteth after that or after the doing of that i.e. secretly inclineth and perswadeth men and women to the doing of that which being done is contrary to the interest of the other it discourageth weakens and disableth the force or moving power of the other in the soul Therefore a course is to be taken and something done that may restrain the motions of the Flesh or at least break the heart or strength of it It is not like the Spirit will advance to the filling of the soul with his presence so long as lust remains in heart and strength in men for this is to be remembred and taken along by way of caution at this turn that though there be a contrariety in all the lusts of the Flesh unto the Spirit yet all kinds or degrees of these lustings are not so or upon such terms repugnant and contrary to the Spirit and his growth in men but that this may proceed and go forward some of them notwithstanding For as it is in the comings in of the Tide and flowings of the waters whilst the Waters are encreasing and the banks filling there are some smaller refluxes or fallings back of the water which are presently recovered and this with advantage by the next reflux and bearing up of the Tide so that the Tide holdeth on its way maketh good its course untill it cometh to its height and fulness these lesser refluxes notwithstanding In like manner though there be at times some lesser yieldings and givings back of the Spirit in the soul meeting with the current or stream of the Flesh yet he may be brought on again toties quoties and that with power to the over-bearing and breaking the motions and current of the Flesh and so keep still upon the advance and be filling of his channels and banks daily There are two kinds or degrees of the lustings of the Flesh Sect. 13 though they be both contrary to the Spirit and his motions and advance in the soul yet one of them doth little or nothing to interrupt him in his course the other is that which grieveth him and obstructeth him in his way The former kind of these lustings are such which for distinction sake we may call natural though the word be not altogether so proper to express the thing intended the Greek hath somewhat a more significant term wherein to express them calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sudden rushing or inconsiderate risings or startings up of nature or the natural faculties in the soul which-they compare to the winking or shutting of the eye-lids when any thing threatneth the eye or so to the lifting up of the hands to the head for safeguard when a blow is coming upon the head these are Natures motions by
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
and that in opposition unto others Secondly A second Property of the Spirit mentioned was his grace We read Heb. 10.29 of despighting the Spirit of grace And so God is called 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace meaning that he is a gracious Spirit Now grace as we have formerly opened the nature of it unto you importeth a readiness or great propenseness in the will and soul of a man to shew kindness or to do good where no engagement is from without from him unto whom kindness is shewn it differeth from mercy For the object of mercy alwaies is misery or persons in misery But the object of grace may as well be persons in a good condition and free from misery as those that are in misery for Grace only respects as it were an absence of all motives or engagements from those to whom we intend good and reacheth no further So then when the Spirit is called the Spirit of grace it doth import a freeness a readiness a willingness and propenseness of mind to do good unto such persons who never laid any engagement upon him to whom he is no waies Debtor by one Law or other When there is a propenseness in any person thus freely without engagement to deal courteously or kindly with others this is Grace truly so called Now the Spirit is said to be a gracious Spirit because he vouchsafeth to come unto men and to dwell with them and to couple and joyn himself with men whilest they are strangers unto him even whilest as yet he hath received to no kindness from them he is pleased to come unto them and to invite them Nay the truth is there is a more excellent degree of grace than this in the Spirits dealing with men when kindness is shewed not only where no engagement hath gone before but contrary to engagements on the other hand This is grace in abundance and in its exaltation when a person hath done us wrong or disgraced us unjustly and offered us injury and we notwithstanding such hard measure received from him shall yet be ready to stand by him and accommodate him then are we gracious in an excellent and eminent degree Now such lusts and sinful dispositions in men which are contrary to this Character or property of Grace in the Spirit are very distasteful unto him apt to grieve and obstruct him in his course as well as the former viz. uncleanness c. In that former place Eph. 4.30 where the Apostle had added And greive not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption meaning by corrupt communication He immediately addeth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice c. The motive lieth in the middle between the two Exhortations and it enforceth them both it is a motive both to that which went before Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth and unto that which followeth namely that all wrath and malice and the like should be put away Therefore this clearly shews that these kind of corruptions and distempers bitterness and malice c. are contrary to the Spirit of Grace and those gracious dispositions and inclinations of his to do good and to shew kindness and love where there is no merit yea even unto those men who have rather merited sorrow and hard measure from him But much more when men without any provocations shall be in bitterness of Spirit and full of wrath and anger and shall entertain and admit malice evil thoughts and intentions of hardness cruelty and bloud into their hearts this being so extremely contrary to that gracious and sweet property of the Spirit of God in reason must needs be signally obstructive unto him in his way of filling men with himself A third Property was the heavenliness of the Spirit of God Sect. 18 Joh. 3.31 He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth He that cometh from heaven is above all Therefore that Lust that is contrary to this property in the Spirit of God heavenliness or heavenly mindedness this must in a way of reason be offensive unto the Spirit of God Of this kind are all lusts of Covetonsness inordinate Love unto this present World earthly mindedness when mens hearts savour the things of the earth only or mainly when the matters of this life eat out the very heart and sinews of a Man Such Lusting as these must needs likewise be of a very offensive nature unto the Spirit of God When the Holy Ghost shall come unto men and offer them life and shall be ready to lead them into the Faith Knowledge and Love of God when he shall talk and discourse with men and women about heavenly things and they answer him with their carnal and their sensual things when he discourseth unto them of Faith and Holiness and the things of their Eternal Peace and blessedness and they shall have cars only to hear of Silver and Gold and Wealth and Grandeur and Power and Honour and the like certainly if lusts of this nature be made much of and harboured in the soul of a man there can be no expectation that ever the Spirit of God should take pleasure or delight to put forth or to give out himself in his glory in such a soul A fourth and last particular was a disposition aptness Sect. 19 or readiness of mind to communicate the things of God matters of a spiritual import the Secrets of God unto the minds and consciences of men Therefore such kind of Lusts in men which are opposite to this property in the Spirit of God must needs be offensive unto him and obstruct him in this blessed work we are speaking of Which lusts and distempers are these and such like viz. such lusts by which men are invited tempted and carried away from the Ministry of the Spirit and those waies whereby the Spirit is wont to utter himself which are the Ordinances of God and especially that of the Ministry of the Gospel and more especially such a kind of Ministry which is prepared as it were by God on purpose to bring forth the mind of God unto men For as God of old appointed Moses and the People to meet at the door of the Tabernacle So now hath he appointed the World the Sons and Daughters of men to meet with him in these Ministrations of his House and to treat with him there about the great business and things of their peace If men and women therefore shall suffer the great Enemy of their peace so to bewitch them that they fall in their esteem of these appointments of his and look upon them as if there were no great matter in them this is another thing which hath a direct opposition unto and is a ready way to quench the Spirit of God Mind and compare these two verses together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit But how or which way should
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
it was the manner amongst the Jews in our Saviours daies to ask their Parents such things as they desired or stood in need of before they gave them unto them And as God shews no unwillingness as hath been said to give his holy Spirit unto men but rather a readiness and propenseness in him in this kind to give him by enjoyning men to pray for him So neither doth his requiring righteousness and holiness in men to render them capable of happiness and blessedness from him any waies prove or intimate in the least any unwillingness in him to make them blessed but the contrary rather I mean a great desire in him to make them blessed according to that of the Prophet David Psal 81.13 14 15. Oh that my people would have hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my waies I should soon have subdued their Enemies c. We see evidently in this place that God had an ardent and even a longing desire in him to make Israel an happy and blessed people and that in order to the obtaining of his desire herein he had prescribed unto them Laws and waies of righteousness for them to observe and walk in For that is to be considered and taken knowledge of that the great and ardent desire of God here expressed was not so much that Israel should have hearkened unto his voice that they should be a holy people But he would have them a holy righteous and worthy people in order to their being a happy people it is still the end not the means that is principally desired Now the end which God principally desired and projected in his giving righteous Laws and Statutes unto Israel to observe and do was not their obedience unto these Laws but the making of them a happy people by means of this their obedience in such a way which might not be repugnant to his infinite wisdom This Moses had clearly informed them of long before saith he Deut. 30.15 16. I have set before thee life and death good and evil c. You shall find that God doth expresly profess unto them Deut. 10.13 Chap. 12.25 28. Chap. 26.18 19. that all that he doth require of them in rendering such obedience unto him was for their own comfort and for the comfort of their Posterity that they might live and possess that good Land and that they might enjoy it And as Gods requiring of men Faith Love and Obedience unto his Commands to put them into a capacity of Salvation and as his threatning them with the loss of Salvation unless these things should be found in them do not argue any the least degree of unwillingness in God that men should not be saved but the contrary even the great desire of his soul that way In like manner Gods requiring men to pray unto him for his holy Spirit to make them capable of receiving him doth not at all prove or so much as intimate the least unwillingness in him to give him unto men but rather the longing desire of his soul to give him This for Reply to the first thing in the difficulty propounded But Secondly Whereas it was demanded Sect. 23 How can such persons pray for the Spirit that are not in the state of Grace I mean pray so as to be accepted with God in their Prayer and to obtain what they pray for in this kind without the Spirit first had and obtained To this also I reply First By Concession that no man doubtless can pray for the Spirit so as to obtain what he prayeth for but he that hath the Spirit viz. in some degree and measure or other for it is the Spirit of God in men that enlightneth them to see and discern things that are just and good and meet for them to do and so likewise which admonisheth and exciteth them to do them Now therefore if any persons do pray unto God for his Spirit such persons are quickned moved and stirred up hereunto by the Spirit of God himself Secondly I answer by way of Exception two things First The Spirit is in some measure or degree graciously vouchsafed unto every man coming into the World in as much as every man is enlightned at least to some degree to see and discern the things mentioned and so likewise is secretly minded and put upon it to do things that are apprehended just and good and meet to be done for that which mens Consciences do or are said to do in this kind they do by the help and motion of the Spirit of God within them Therefore from hence it followeth Secondly That whosoever shall pray for the Spirit doth not pray for it simply without the Spirit though possibly he may pray for it without any such presence or assistance of the Spirit which is found in true Believers I mean in those who believe to Justification If it be here replied and said That without faith it is impossible to please God therefore no presence of the Spirit without Faith can enable men to pray any Prayer unto â—od with acceptation and consequently not any Prayer upon which the Holy Ghost can be attained I Reply First That as the Apostle affirms it to be in the case of contributing to good works That if there be first a willing mind it is accepted or rather he or the man is accepted according to that which he hath and not according to that which he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 Meaning that if he be willing in his way and doth that which he is well able to do God doth accept him and doth not reject him or disapprove him because he doth not more than he is able to do So it is in any other kind of endeavours or engagements of a man whatsoever for there is the same reason of others which there is of this If a man doth that or be willing to do that which he is able to do I mean well able humane infirmities considered this is accepted with God though it comes not up to the perfection or degree of worth which is found in the same kind of action performed by other men Therefore he that prayeth unto God suppose it be for the Holy Ghost according to the ability of praying which God hath given him he is accepted with him Secondly Concerning that saying of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God I Reply If we understand him to speak of Justifying Faith then we must understand him likewise to speak of pleasing God unto Salvation and thus the meaning of the saying will be only this It is impossible without a true Faith such a Faith which worketh by love for any man to please God so as to be saved by him But otherwise that God may be pleased in a sense or to an inferiour degree without that Faith which is justifying and saving is evident from many places in Scripture Ahab pleased God to a degree and to the obtaining of the removal of a sore Judgment both from himself and
his House 1 Kings 21.29 Yet evident it is by the tenour of the place that he was far from being a person truly believing or a person justified in the sight of God In like manner John was not a man endued with Justifying Faith as appears by the Character which the Holy Ghost gives of him 2 Kings 10.29 30. yet was God well pleased with him not only to do as great matters for him as he did for Ahab viz. To establish the Kingdom to him But likewise to continue this Kingdom unto his Posterity for four Generations howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam Jehu did not depart This is Character enough to shew that he was not a true Believe and yet the Lord said unto him Because thou hast done well c. Men may do well though they may be without justifying Faith It is no way probable that all of the Family of the Rechabites were Persons so justified in the sight of God and in favour with him yet was God well pleased with them Jer. 35.14 18.19 So the men of Niniveh were not all and every one of them in the favour and love of God they were not in the state of Justification The like may be said of the young man in the Gospel Mar. 10.21 22. It appeareth from that sad parting between the Lord Christ and him when he went away sorrowful from him you know upon what words speaking that he was not in the state of Justification in the sight of God yet nevertheless he did many things well and was in very great favour with Christ as man for it is said that Jesus beholding him loved him So then men that pray unto God for the gift of his Spirit may be accepted with God as to the obtaining of what they pray for though they be not in an estate of Justification Again secondly If we understand the Saying of the Apostle mentioned Without Faith it is impossible to please God of such a Faith which only importeth a knowledge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what we do or intend to do in which sense the word is sometimes used in the Scriptures And particularly thus it is twice used Rom. 14.23 He eateth not of Faith here the word Faith is taken for knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth I say if we understand such a kind of Faith as this then it imports no more but this that without a belief or knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth he cannot please God in the doing of it Now that men may know the lawfulness of praying unto God for his Spirit without Justifying Faith and consequently please God in the Action so far as to obtain what is prayed for needeth I suppose be no mans question at least if we grant or suppose that a man may believe or know and that without Justifying Faith that God hath a Spirit to give unto them that ask him Now though it be somewhat hard to conceive how a man without Justifying Faith yea and somewhat more should distinctly know or believe that God hath a Spirit to give coessential or of the same infinite being with himself yea possibly many that have Justifying Faith may be ignorant or doubtful of this as we read of some in Acts 19. that they did not know as they professed whether there were any Holy Ghost or no yet that God is able inwardly to enlighten quicken stir up and strengthen to that which is good men may know and believe without such a Faith which justifieth and to know this I mean that God is able to enlighten c. is interpretatively or constructively to know that he hath a Spirit to give because these things are proper for him to do by his Spirit and doubtless God out of his abundant Grace and Condescention unto his Creature Man will construe his Prayer as a Prayer made unto him for his Spirit who shall pray for illumination and quickning unto waies and works of well doing This for the seventh and last means we shall insist upon at present by which men and women may be filled with the Spirit of God viz. Prayer And thus much likewise for resolution of the Second Question propounded viz. How men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit and what is to be done by them in order hereunto CHAP. XI A third Question propounded viz. How a man or woman may know whether himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but is indeed a Spirit contrary to it Wherein are several Rules laid down in order to a clear understanding thereof Prov. 6.9 10. 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. Jam. 3.17 Prov 2.22 Chap. 9.6 Rom. 8.13 Psal 145 17. 1 Cor. 2.10 11. in part opened THe Third and last Question was this Sect. 1 How a man may know or judge whether either himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but indeed is a Spirit far differing from it For reply hereunto these five things are necessary in a few words to be premised by the way First That there are a Generation of men and women in the World who cannot properly be said to be filled with any Spirit at all in one kind or other unless haply it be with that which the Scripture calleth in Rom. 11.8 a spirit of slumber or rather a spirit of sloath such as the Wiseman describeth Prov. 6.9 10. How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the arms together Some there are that are of a dull heavy and of a stupified temper little active or stirring in one kind or other somewhat like unto the men of Laish Judges 18.7 who are said to have been quiet and secure and to have had no business with any man We know there are some such in the World who seem to have little sense either of the one World or of the other yea scarce to know whether they be alive or in being or no. Now though these kind of persons we speak of be as good as dead unto all manner of activeness yet if this be come upon them by any Judgment of God by reason of any preceding sin or provocation they may truly and properly enough be said to be filled with the Spirit of slumber drowsiness or floth because God hath left them in the hand and to the power of some evil spirit or other who dismantles and bereavs their nature bodies and souls of that activeness or disposition unto Action in one kind or other which is natural unto them and otherwise would be found in them But if that such a kind of temper be found in any person simply by way of Nature and not by a just recompense of reward for some former sinful miscarriages then the case is far differing I
and the same also of the same hot temper in his own private Concernments his heat in matters of Religion may be but of the same account with other mens coldness I mean may be nothing else but his natural temper and so argue no fulness of the Spirit of God I confess it is possible that he that is somewhat warm and somewhat apt to be stirred in his spirit about his Worldly Affairs and withal is zealously affected with and about the things of God may be filled with the Spirit of God But however the Judgment of this latter heat is taken away by the former though such a mans zeal in the things of God may proceed from a fulness of the Spirit of God in him yet his heat otherwise drowns the Argument of it This heat we speak of in his Worldly Affairs though it doth not contradict the reality or truth of his being filled with the Spirit yet it contradicteth and destroyeth the evidence proof or manifestation of it The reason why I conceive that some fervour of spirit in a mans own occasions may possibly consist with a fulness of the Spirit of God in which case a mans zeal for God must needs proceed from such a fulness is because the Spirit of God even when the heart and soul is to a good degree filled with him doth not alwaies dissolve the natural frame of the heart in such dispositions which are not sinful or not apprehended to be sinful And many times we find men who are flames of fire in their own occasions yet like so many dul clods of earth in the things of Jesus Christ yea this is the ordinary temper of the generality of men even of Professors themselves according to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.21 All men seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ In this case when he that seeketh or hitherto hath sought his own things with zeal and diligence but hath been remiss and cold in the things of Jesus Christ shall be reduced to greater zeal for the things of Jesus Christ than for his own this change in him must needs proceed from the Spirit of God yea from a great work of this Spirit in him and consequently such a Person continuing thus zealous for Christ may well be conceived to be full of the Spirit of Christ notwithstanding he be somewhat zealous of his own Cause and Affairs also Now the reason hereof is because his heat in his own Affairs is but somewhat of the natural frame of his heart which is not dissolved by the Spirit of God it not being apprehended to be sinful I confess there is a kind of zeal in a mans secular and worldly Affairs which is found in too many which is hardly if at all consistent with a being filled with the Spirit this is that which the Apostle calleth A warring after the flesh Now What is this same warring after the flesh It is to be importunely troublesome unto the World to quarrel almost with every man that comes in our way and with whom we have to do about these outward things and accommodations When men fight they lay out their strength and all they have as Souldiers they do it with all their might and power So when men are zealous to such a degree for their own Affairs that the managing and providing for them is a kind of Warfare wherein they are acted by the flesh and by the desires lusts and unreasonable motions of it so as to quarrel and contend with every man that stands in their way such a kind of zeal in men which appeareth in thus warring according to the flesh testifieth unto their Faces that certainly they are not filled with the Spirit of God There is indeed another kind of zeal which you may conceive better of and this is a kind of diligence in your Affairs which is worthy of commendation For men being diligent in their Callings by this means declare themselves to be Loyal Servants of Jesus Christ if he set them about their own work then they will serve him there if he set them on work for himself there they will serve him also In such a kind of heat as this there is somewhat that answers unto and is consistent with a fulness of the Spirit of God But when men are hot fiery and fierce in their own things and likewise fierce in the things of God their being hot in the things of God is an Argument of no weight no way convincing that they are filled with the Spirit A second Rule for discovery of those who are filled with the Spirit of God from those who are not filled with him but with a contrary Spirit Sect. 7 may be this when men and women have the command of their Spirits so as to keep them in and let them out to cause them to rise and to fall to go and to come according to the true exigency of the affairs of Jesus Christ and of the real benefit of men For when men are alwaies and in all cases alike hot and fiery or else alike cold and heartless and put no difference between times and times occasions and occasions persons and persons it is an argument or sign of great probability and which seldom faileth that there is no great presence of the Spirit of God with them and that that zeal and heat wherein some men upon all occasions and without any difference made between any circumstances appear is but either a kind of natural temper or which is worse some affected strain of hypocrisie It is a Promise made by God unto those that will cause their ear to hearken unto Wisdom And encline their heart to understanding c. Prov. 2.2 compared with ver 9. That they shall understand righteousness and judgment c. by understanding of judgment c. I conceive he means these two things First A discerning and understanding what is meet and worthy to be done upon all occasions according to the regular and due exigency and requirements of every of them respectively And secondly An heart and inward disposition to do every thing accordingly Now when men and women thus and in this sense understand judgment that is know how to rise and fall in their spirits how to change and temper their behaviour and speech when to be authoritative stout and resolute and again familiar gentle and submissive according as the persons are with whom and according to the nature of the occasions and affairs wherein they have to do and this in order to the glorifying of God and the justifying of his Wisdom it is an Argument of much weight to prove that they have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God We find Paul a man very excellent and active in all the variety of these spiritual postures we speak of 1 Cor. 9.19 20 c. For though saith he I be free from all men yet have I made my self a Servant unto all To the Jew I became a Jew unto them that
find persons so filled with the Spirit of God that they do not give some such sign or testimony as now we speak of something to discover their temper humour and such kind of Principles within them that make them stiff that they cannot bow nor comply Their Iron Sinew is not yet broken they have not taken the course they have not dealt effectually with their hearts to bring them into subjection they have not chastened their Souls every morning as David did who had disciplined and nurtured his heart to some kind of order and compliance with God in all his occasions and affairs And so much for this Direction or the second Rule given by which we may know whether men be filled with the Spirit of God namely if they understand judgment as the Scriptures speak and then be ready in their hearts and affections to concur and to measure out to every case and business according to the exigency and requirements of it this now doth declare an excellent degree of the fulness of the Spirit of God with them And Thirdly Sect. 11 A deep degree of Mortification especially when the work is uniform spreading and stretching it self with an equal force and power unto all a mans Affections Disposition and Desires which ought to be mortified with the Deeds Fruits and Works of them This I say is another great Argument or sign of a man or womans being filled with the Spirit of God The work of Mortification is performable only by the Spirit of God and therefore where it is performed and wrought thoroughly where it appears in any degree of glory it must needs argue a great presence of the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh saith the Apostle ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If you ask me But why doth the Apostle place the great work of Mortification in the deeds of the body in having these mortified and not rather in those sinful affections and inward dispositions from whence they proceed I reply That he placeth it here in the deeds of the body because it is principally seen and the reality and truth of it found there though the work it self lieth most in the heart and inward man yet the energy and force chiefly appeareth in the abolishing or cessation of the deeds of the flesh or of the body When such sinful and unworthy actions cease to be found in men and women whereunto others are tempted by the flesh or by the occasions of the flesh and ever and anon are practicing of them it is a sign that the work of Mortification is real and in truth yet elsewhere the same Apostle placeth it in the affections and lusts of the flesh in having these crucified or moâ—tified Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. they that are Christs i. e. that are his Disciples or that have resigned up themselves unto him or are subject unto him have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. have pierced the flesh or outer man thorough and thorough with such sharp and effectual considerations that the strength and vigour of it as to sinful demands or actions is much spent and wasted and as the natural strength and vigour of a man that is nailed to a Cross breatheth out by degrees in that bloud that cometh from him by his wounds so have ye crucified the flesh with the affections or passions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the passions i. e. with all those affections which belong to the irascible part of the soul as both Philosophers and Divines call it Anger Wrath Hatred Envy Revenge c. they have crucified these i.e. they have taken a course to break the strength and to suppress the motions and breakings out of these And the lusts i.e. all those affections also which belong to the other part of the soul which they call the Concupiscible such as are Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Gluttony Covetousness c. So then we say that when the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and Deeds thereof are so crucified or mortified so handled that men and women are become Meek Patient Humble Gentle long-suffering c. And again Chaste Pure Sober Temperate free from Covetousness and all this to an excellent degree it is a sign that they are full of the Spirit of God the reason is because First If these things be in any weak and imperfect degree in men Sect. 12 they proceed from the Spirit of God and must be wrought by him Secondly A being filled with the Spirit is no waies to be estimated and discerned but by a proportionable excellency or fulness of his operations and effects Now the work of mortification as hath been in part described is one of the most signal works of the Spirit and therefore where it is full or any thing rich and deep it argues a great presence of the Spirit but the truth is it is very hard to be found in any such degree as that we speak of even amongst Professours yea or Believers themselves Men and women have generally some sinful humours and dispositions or other unbroken and unsubdued either they are Cholerick Hasty Froward easily Provoked Revengeful and the like or else they are given to Pleasures Ease Voluptuousness of life desires of Riches Honour Power the great things of the World And though many keep within some tolerable compass in respect of the breaking out of these and such like unmortified affections whilst the Tempter keepeth at a distance from them and some few it may be whilst the Temptations runs somewhat low and are but ordinary yet the greatest part of the persons we speak of Professors I mean are apt to be overcome and led away Captive unto Sin by every touch of Temptation any Temptation almost that will may serve it self upon them Even as some mens Judgments are so weak that they are apt to be carried about with every wind of Doctrine as the Apostle speaks apt to take impressions of any thing that is presented unto them with the lightest appearance of truth but to find a man or woman that is able to stand their ground of innocency when any strong temptations beare hard upon them is exceeding rare which argues the work of Mortification to be very imperfect and slight in the greatest part of men and consequently that they are far from being filled with the Spirit of God If it be here demanded Sect. 13 But are not all the works of the Spirit of God perfect If he work Mortification in any person must it not needs be perfect Can any thing proceed from that which is perfect yea most perfect as the Spirit of God is but that which is perfect indeed I reply The perfection of a work may be estimated or considered two waies First Absolutely or in reference only to it self
is much of the Spirit of God in him The reason of this is because the Spirit of God came down from heaven on purpose to make men heavenly minded and to negotiate the interest and affairs of his own Country much after the manner of Agents and Embassadours who come to treat about the things of their own Country So the Spirit doth come down from heaven he is the great Prince that doth negotiate the affairs thereof with men 1 Pet. 1.12 By them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven The Holy Ghost is come to preach the Gospel and the effect he desireth may be produced by it is that of earthly and carnal he might transform persons into heavenly and spiritual Now in whomsoever this is carried on to any sensible and notable degree insomuch that it is perceived by those that have to do with them that their minds are questionless much taken up much set upon the things of the World which is to come the things of heaven and that in comparison thereof the things of this World and the concernments hereof are undervalued and made to stand by when the other are in place that these are made to give way when the interest of the other requires it I say when any man is discerned by those with whom he converseth to be of such a frame and temper of spirit as this is it is a very promising sign and Character that this person is full of the Spirit of God Seventhly If we sow plentifully to the Spirit Sect. 17 this is another sign of a good import and very promising that men are filled with the Spirit What it is to sow to the Spirit we shewed you formerly when we prescribed a sowing unto the Spirit as a means whereby to be filled with the Spirit To sow to the Spirit we signified unto you was to live in such waies to perform such Actions and these frequently and constantly which the Spirit may reap i. e. from whence the Spirit of God may have acknowledgement honour and praise amongst men in the world In the same phrase of speech the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 9.11 calls the preaching of the Gospel unto men the sowing of spiritual things unto them If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter for us to reap your carnal things The faithful Ministers of the Gospel are said to sow spiritual things unto men when they preach the Gospel truly and effectually unto them because they may reap spiritual benefit and advantage from what they sow it being the proper tendency of those things which they preach unto men to yield an encrease and harvest according to the nature and excellency of the Seed In like manner men may be said to sow unto the Spirit of God when they walk in such waies and in the performance of such Actions which are like to turn to an account of praise and glory or contentment unto the Spirit of God As on the contrary when men and women go so to work behave themselves so unworthily in the World that the Spirit is like to suffer prejudice or disparagement by them viz. when men shall be occasioned or tempted to think or say that the Spirit of God never regarded never looked graciously upon such a person that walketh and acteth so unworthily so wickedly in such cases as this men are said to grieve the Spirit of God they sow the seeds of Gall and Wormwood unto him If you ask me What are these waies or actions more particularly by which men and women may be said to sow unto the Spirit I reply They are such which give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit of God in them and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit Such as are waies of Righteousness Love Humility Patience Mercy Bounty c. such waies and actions as these may therefore be said to give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit in men and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit because first If he were not in men perswading unto aiding and assisting in such waies and actions as these they would never proceed from them but on the contrary the Flesh would prevail and bring forth fruits in its kind Again secondly If this Spirit were not a Spirit of Goodness he would not move and stir up men and women to such good and worthy waies and actions as these but to the contrary as the unclean Spirit Satan stirreth up many in his kind Now it is a worthy Testimony given to the Spirit not only when men testifie or assert his goodness unto the World but also when they assert his presence with men or in men this argues the exceeding graciousness and condescension of his nature So then Sect. 18 they who abound in such waies and works as these mentioned and walk with an high hand in them are hereby plainly discovered to be full of the Spirit of God The reason hereof is because as the lowest proportion of the fruits we speak of and the least and least considerable of them do argue that men have some kind or degree of the Spirit in them otherwise they would be wholly and totally barren in this kind So doth it argue a worthy and excellent proportion of the Spirit in men when they are full of such fruits especially when the fruits they bear in this kind are any thing more large or fair than ordinary As when a fruit bearing tree in one kind or other as suppose a Fig-tree or a Pear-tree c. beareth any proportion though never so small of the fruit that is proper to it this argues that there is a lively sap and moysture in the Tree in some degree or other but if this Tree shall be seen with boughs laden with Fruit and that of the largest and goodliest that is to be found this is a sign not simply that the Tree hath sap and moisture in it But that it is full of sap as the Psalmist speaks of the trees of the Lord Psal 104.16 i. e. according to the Hebrew Dialect Trees that are excellently thriving and flourishing in their kind In like manner when men and women shall sow plentifully unto the Spirit in the sense declared especially if the Seed which they sow in this kind shall be goodly fair and large this is an unquestionable demonstration that they are filled with the Spirit of God When men and women shall quit themselves above the ordinary rate of Professours and Believers in works of Love Faith Humility and Self-denial c. shall truly and without any tincture of ill will or hard thoughts forgive and pass by some great injury done unto them by men If thou beest able to pass by an eminent wrong and if thou canst upon the next opportunity as the next day or the like kindly intreat him that hath done it If thou canst deal freely and lovingly with him and this injury hath not at all weakened
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
those Motives which were he intent upon would do the deed would amount to such a holy and sacred anointing as now we speak of your being filled with the Spirit of God whereby you would be made Priests of the Living God So much for the First Use of the Doctrine the Use of Instruction CHAP. XIII A Second Vse of the Doctrine being a Vse of Reproof unto all those who are Enemies unto this heavenly Exhortation and Counsel of the Holy Ghost administred unto men namely to be filled with the Spirit and who by any means obstruct the course of it A first sort are such who scoff at such a thing as a being filled with the Spirit of God A second sort of Offenders are such who perswade men that the Spirit which they are exhorted to be filled with is but a finite Spirit an Angel and not God Wherein many things are further argued proving the Holy Ghost to be the most High God THe second Use was a Use of Reproof Sect. 1 and this in the general of all those who are Enemies to this heavenly Exhortation this blessed Counsel administred by the Holy Ghost unto men of being filled with the Spirit of God who either by word or by deed or by both obstruct the course of it that it doth not run is not glorified in the World as it ought to be Of these kind of Offenders there are several Species or sorts highly censurable by the Divine Authority of the Doctrine and truth delivered The first are they who being strangers altogether to the Spirit of God the Spirit of which both the Text and and the Doctrine speaketh are full of the Spirit of the World or rather of the God of the World Sathan who instead of being full of the Spirit of God laugh at all Discourses of mens being filled with him yea or of so much as having the Spirit of God in them to scorn hearing from the mouths of faithful Ministers of God sometimes and it may be from the discourse of other Christians that the Saints and Servants of God such who truly believe in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit of God and taught by him how to pray how to walk holily and soberly and righteously in the World they make a mock at it as some of the more ignorant and prophane Jews did at the Apostles being filled with the Spirit we speak of Acts 2.13 When they spake with strange Tongues Others mocking saith the Text said these men are full of New-wine When any thing of God or of the Spirit of God more than ordinary in one kind or other appeareth in any of the Saints or Servants of God they that are ignorant of God and of his waies will never own or acknowledge the procedure of it to be from God if they can but imagine any other cause though with never so slight appearance from whence there is the least probability that it may proceed yea if they can imagine any cause in this case which is worse than other and which is more disparaging unto the persons in whom that grace and power of God we speak of doth appear this shall be the cause unto which the excellent work of God in his Saints shall be imputed and ascribed How little reason or colour of reason was there to pretend or think that New Wine over-freely drank or taken by men should put them into a capacity of speaking with Tongues strange Tongues such as they never understood or were able to speak before They knew well enough many of the Company that were there or amongst them that every one that spake had a distinct knowledge of the Tongue of their own Nation We hear them speak all in our own Language said they Now I say let any sober and considering man think but a little of the business how impossible a thing it is that New Wine should invest men with a capacity and an ability to speak with strange Tongues in a strange language yet rather than they would acknowledge that the Spirit was the Author thereof they attribute it to New Wine New Wine may cause them to speak freely and at random but not in other Tongues they may indeed speak none-sense and not distinctly or else that which no man can understand but that it should enable and qualifie men for the speaking in strange Tongues distinctly and sensibly to the understanding of other men there is not the least colour or the lightest pretense thus to argue But ignorant persons and such as are prophane what will they not do to harden themselves though in the most irrational and senseless manner that may be And besides the things which the Apostles here spake and uttered and which were understood by those who so imputed the speaking of them in variety of Languages were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Magnalia the great and wonderful things of God If New Wine had been the inspirer these could not have been the great things of God that they had spoken but the great things of the Devil and of the World So when the Lord Christ cast out the unclean Spirit out of him that was possessed Mat. 12.24 it is said that the Pharisees presently charged this upon Sathan and upon his having to do with him because the Devil is a supernatural Agent in that sense which we usually take supernatural That is he is able to do things which are strange and out of the course of Nature therefore he is a kind of reserve for ignorant and wicked men when they meet with any thing of God and of the Spirit of God in the Saints they have the Devil in readiness to impute all these things unto As I remember I have read in the Story of Martyrs when any of the Martyrs shewed any invincible courage or patience in the midst of their torments the Priests that stood by would still perswade the People that the Devil had bereaved them of their senses and had distracted them before the fire came at them and by this kind of colour and feigned pretense they thought to way-lay and to stop the course of the apprehension of the common sort of People lest they should think that there was any great appearance of God in them So when the Lord Christ taught the People with so much wisdom and understanding that they were astonished and the greatest part of them began to admire how he that had not known a Letter should speak at such a rate as he did it is said they were offended at him Mat. 13.57 implying they thought that he came not by it lawfully but by the help of the Devil they could not make it out that he was a good man because they were ignorant of his gifts therefore they fall foul upon the Lord Christ So Paul in those high strains whether in teaching or rather in practice or acting in the World which the Corinthians could not comprehend nor reconcile with such Principles as they were acted by was
by the generality of them thought to be little better than crazed in his brain 2 Cor. 5.13 or head-shaken and that too much Learning had made him mad Whether we be beside our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your sakes Now when he saith whether we be besides our selves he doth not mean that he acted any thing out of madness or distemper nay certainly he was never himself more than when he did act these things for which they thought him besides himself and a man singular and engaged with some odd kind of Speculations and Notions and therefore saith the Apostle as for such things as these if we be besides our selves and like men distempered we are this unto God we have our eyes upon and approve our selves unto him in these things we easily believe you cannot tell what to make of them you cannot make wisdom nor obedience nor subjection unto God in them you do not understand nor comprehend those Laws nor those Rules nor Principles by which we act and move in such waies but saith he we look unto God and he understands it though we speak as it were in an unknown Tongue unto you yet in a Language which God well knows and understands But now saith he if we be sober it is for your sakes in these things he had respect unto them for their Edification In like manner when persons are carried and lifted up by the power of the Spirit of God above the ordinary Line of men either in speaking or acting for the glory of God or advantage of the Gospel Men that do not know and believe that there is any such Spirit at least acting or working in men are ready to blaspheme him in his Saints and to impute the things that are wrought by the power of his Presence in men to some dishonourable and untoward Principle or other as that they pretend to be led by the Spirit of God whereas they do such things upon their own fansie and upon some such suggestion which Sathan hath put into them As the Roman Historian speaking of Nero the Monster of men reporteth his conceit to be which he did express publickly that there was no man in the World but was as vicious as himself only herein was the difference between him and them he was open and would act above board and other men were more afraid But he did not believe that there was any such thing as Temperance and Sobriety Even so this is the very strain and temper and inward thoughts of ignorant persons in the World that have no heart nor spirit for God nor for waies of excellency that are lovely and honourable When they see that there are other men and women of their Ranke that do such things which they cannot do They cannot go along with them they cannot fast and pray they cannot follow such and such Religious Duties or Exercises they think that these men do but dissemble they love their money as well as we they love their ease as well as we only the Devil tempteth them and putteth them upon these waies that so they may have credit and repute and be thought more holy and greater lovers of God than other men and by this means they judge themselves better because they know they are plain and have no reserves in their breasts but what they are in the frame of their hearts and spirits and affections they act and utter themselves accordingly Whereas those persons that are externally so godly and would be so judged are every whit as bad or worse than we because they seek to cover and hide and to dissemble those wicked and vile thoughts which are in them by an external shew of holiness they can take their turns privately and secretly to do the very self same thing or things that are worse and more sinful than any that we do This is I say an express strain of the Spirit of that Monster Nero This is the reason that such persons fall foul upon the Saints especially when the Spirit shall draw them forth unto waies that are so excellent in their kind Now they that shall thus impute this to Sathan or unto the vile hearts of men these are they who do obstruct the force of this Exhortation of mens being filled with the Spirit of God and do what in them lie to make mens hearts to sink and to discourage them from seeking after such a Royal Priviledge A second sort to be reproved upon the former account Sect. 2 viz. as Enemies unto the heavenly Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit discouraging mens hearts from pursuing the blessed Counsel given unto them by God himself in it are they who labour to perswade men that the Spirit wherewith God exhorteth men to be filled is but a Finite a Created Spirit an Angel and not God Evil words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 So do erroneous and lying conceits and imaginations infused into the minds of men obstruct many holy and worthy endeavours and layings out of mens selves which otherwise in all likelihood they would not refrain and which undertaken and put forth by them would turn to a blessed account unto them Instances might readily be given in many particulars in this kind we shall consider the truth of the Observation at present only in the Point in hand For what doth such a Doctrine or Notion as this That the Spirit the Holy Ghost is not God but only a finite Spirit being interpreted signifie but that it is but in vain for men and women so much as to think of ever being filled with him and consequently of ever being excellent For fust the Created Spirits the good Angels are Ministers and Servants even all of them without exception of any unto the Saints as they are Members of that body whereof their Lord and Master Christ is the head We know that place Heb. 1.14 Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation So then Angels however in respect of the excellency and dignity of their natures they be superiour unto men yet in respect of that Ministry and Service unto men whereunto they are deputed and set forth by God they are inferiour unto them Now the heart and soul of man cannot frame and bring it self to expect or look for from its fellow Creatures especially such a Creature which God in respect of Ministry and Service hath subjected unto it any thing so excellent or so desirable as it reasonably may work and prevail with its self to expect or promise unto it self from its Creator from a Spirit that is infinite in his being and an inexhaust Abyss of all excellency My Brethren it is repugnant to the inbred nature and innate Principles of the heart and soul of a man to go forth with a like courage alacrity or confidence to seek its desires or supplies where either he knows not whether they are to
the work of Redemption Sathans chief work lies to undermine the Godhead of those persons to whom that work is most appropriate and who are most engaged therein For the Son of God is his great Enemy and the Person who threateneth his undoing and the Ruine of all that he hath gotten by drawing men aside from God And then likewise the Holy Ghost hath put to his supreme hand all his work being bent against the Devil and his Temptations Now in reason it cannot be thought but that he Satan will be more engaged against these to bring their Godhead if it be possible into question and to destroy the belief of it out of the World He that doth but know the nature of him as that he is full of malice mischief and bloud and that he is ready to rise up against God himself as far as he is able I say they that do but know the Devil so far cannot wonder at it or think it strange that he should labour to fill the World in all the quarters of it with such kind of Notions and Opinions that shall make the greatest breaches upon the honour and reverence that is gotten up into the hearts of men both towards the Lord Christ God blessed for ever and the Holy Ghost that Spirit of God by whom the Children of God are sealed to the day of their Redemption But as the Prophet Jeremiah in a case not much unlike demands What is the Chaff to the Wheat So may we say What is finite to that which is infinite What is a Creature for the carrying on of the Salvation of the World in comparison of the great Creator Secondly Whereas there are a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands Saints upon the Earth and these in places far distant from one another to be filled at the same time with the Spirit of God or that may be engaged with their hearts and souls in waies and means to be thus filled with the Spirit if the Spirit which should fill them in this kind be a created a finite Spirit limited and confined to one and the same place at one and the same time for this must be his condition if he be finite How can these be raised to any ground of hope that ever they should be filled with the Spirit For if he be a finite Spirit it is impossible that he should fill any more than one person at a time and so must depart and withdraw thence to fill another And As Andrew said Joh. 6.9 of that slender provision which was to be had in comparison of the great multitude that were to be fed There is saith he a Lad here which hath five barley Loaves and two small Fishes but what are these amongst so many So may we well demand and ask in the case before us there being such vast numbers and multitudes to be filled with the Spirit What is a limited a finite a created Spirit to fill them all What is such a Spirit as this amongst so many thousands such an infinite number of men and women who all are labouring to be filled with the Spirit How is it possible he should accommodate such a numberless number of Saints so as to make them all glad Therefore they who teach men that the Holy Ghost the Spirit that shall fill them is but a Creature like unto themselves in limitedness and fuâ—iteness of being do by these whom it concerns to be filled with the Spirit and in order hereunto advance in their endeavours accordingly much as those Spies of old did by the Israelites Num. 13.32 who by bringing an evil report upon the good Land of Canaan and telling them that it was a Land that did eat up the Inhabitants of it discouraged the hearts of the People from attempting the Conquest and possession of it if it had not been for Caleb and Joshuah whose hearts were more upright In like manner they that bring up such a report as this upon the Spirit as that he is but a finite Spirit a created Spirit a straitned Spirit what do they do else but discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of those who have given out themselves and have their hands lifted up to such an exercise and make Treasure of such an heavenly advice and piece of Counsel as this is of being filled with the Spirit of the ever blessed God And besides if the Spirit we speak of with which the Saints are to be filled be a finite Spirit suppose he could at any time mind and attend them all all over the World from the East to the West and from the North to the South in their several applications of themselves to obtain such a filling yet he could actually fill but one person one heart or one soul at once and therefore when he hath filled one he must empty him again by withdrawing himself from him before he can fill another because it is impossible that he should fill them all with himself at one and the same time If it be replied Sect. 4 but he may be said to fill the Saints with himself although he doth not abide alwaies personally present with them viz. by leaving strong impressions of himself his grace and power upon their hearts and spirits though in person he be withdrawn from them as those Saints or Christians amongst whom Paul had been preaching the Gospel and had not only prevailed with them to believe but had put them into a zealous posture of profession and made them like unto himself these may be said to be filled with Paul or with Pauls spirit I reply That holy and zealous impressions upon the hearts and spirits of men may be declarative of their being filled with the Spirit of God but they are not properly and formally their filling or their being filled with this Spirit they are but the suites symptoms or signs of their being filled therewith as the Grapes that grow upon the Vine are not the Vine it self A being filled with the Spirit implies an actual residence or abode of the Spirit himself in men according to that of our Saviour Joh. 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever he in person not in his gifts or operations only So in the next verse And he shall be in you And the Apostle maketh a plain and express difference between the Person of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.5 Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit So verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit And the Scripture from place to place speaketh of the Holy Ghost as personally inhabiting or residing in the Saints as in these and the like expressions and passages 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee saith Paul to Timothy keep by the Holy Ghost which or who dwelleth in us the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost
and drawn forth by the Spirit of God in them Hence you see that that which is supposed or taken for granted in the Objection in hand viz. that the Devil is said to tempt all the World over at one and the same time is an airy and loose supposition and hath no stable Basis or Foundation to support it neither doth it hold parallel with the Holy Ghost because it is possible that men and women may be tempted and yet not by the Devil It is true the Devil doth compass the Earth to and fro but we see it cannot be concluded that every temptation to sin and wickedness is from the Devil because the Apostle James saith expresly that a man when he is tempted he is drawn away with his own Lust and enticed so that if there were no Devils men might be drawn away with their own Lusts Seventhly Concerning those that are tempted Sect. 8 or said to be tempted by the Devil there is no such emphatical punctual or precise limitation or appropriation of their temptations to one unclean Spirit or Devil as there is of all the variety of spiritual gifts unto one holy spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 Now there are diversities of gifts saith the Apostle but the same Spirit It is no where said that there are varieties of temptations but the same Tempter or the same tempting Spirit Again To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the interpretation of Tongues but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Ver. 8 9 10 11. A man would think by these expressions especially by the last but all these worketh one and the self-same Spirit that the Apostle had foreseen that there would in time rise up such a Generation of men in the Christian World whom he meant to way-lay in their errour viz. such who would deny the Divinity of the Spirit yea and would pretend and plead by way of countenance for their errour that there are many Spirits and that these amongst them perform all those operations dispense all those gifts the performance and dispensation whereof are the peculiar and appropriate praise of one and the self-same Spirit viz. that Spirit which is infinite increated and God himself Eighthly The Apostle a little before the passages now cited viz. ver 4 5. compared plainly enough teacheth or supposeth that as there are no more Lords than one notwithstanding the variety of Administrations so there are no more Spirits but one notwithstanding the great variety and diversity of gifts Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord the same Spirit and the same Lord. Is it not rational to infer from hence that the Apostle did not own or acknowledge any more Spirits interessed in giving or bestowing the great multiplicity and diversity of spiritual gifts which in these times especially of which the Apostle here speaketh did abound in all Christian Churches Than he did acknowledge Lords in the disposing of the several Administrations of those gifts Now those Enemies of the Spirit of God I mean to the Divinity of this Spirit with whom we have now to do do confess and acknowledge that there is but one Lord i. e. but one Jesus Christ though they count it no Sacriledge to rob him also of his equality with God they confess him indeed to be God the Scriptures in plain and express words affirming this but what manner or kind of God they would make him neither do I nor I suppose themselves well know For they deny him to be the most High God and so they seem to make him some demy-God But this only by the way By the consideration now insisted upon and suggested by the Apostle it plainly appeareth that however there be Legions of Tempters or of Devils who may tempt at the same time in several places of the World and all these temptations be ascribed to the Devil or to the Prince of Devils because of their subordination unto him in such actions yet there is no such number of these holy Spirits who fill the Saints with their presence all over the World at the same time No But that this is one and the same Spirit who upon this account must needs be God Ninthly Whereas the Apostle verse 11 of the late mentioned Chapter ascribeth such a liberty to the Spirit as to divide to every man as he pleaseth But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Is not this also of like pregnant intimation that he looked upon him as God For hath God vested any such Prerogative in any Angel or created Spirit to govern the World to Umpire or administer the Affairs of the Children of men after their own will and pleasure Or is not the disposing and bestowing of those excellent gifts and endowments of which the Apostle speaks so much in that Contexture of Scripture mentioned a considerable vein and piece of the Government of the World For what other thing almost can we look upon that is so considerable in the Government and Ministration of the Affairs of the World as the disposing of those excellent gifts and endowments Now then he that gives out and dispenses these as he will and pleaseth is no Creature No Creature hath the Government of these Master dispensations in his own hand and at his own disposure none but God himself 10ly Comparing the said ver 11. now cited with ver 6. Sect. 9 of the Chapter we may have a light clear enough to see that the Apostle supposeth the Spirit of which he all along speaketh to be God Verse 6. He had said There are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all And ver 11. He saith thus But all these things worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Therefore the same God of which he spake in the former verse and the same Spirit of which he speaks in the latter verse are one and the same God the working of the same things being respectively ascribed to him Nor can it with any colour of reason here be pretended that the same actions may be and frequently are in Scripture ascribed unto God and unto the Creature God is often said to save men and so Timothy is said to save men 1 Tim. 4.16 So here God may be said to work all these things and the Spirit may be said to work all these things also although it be supposed that the Spirit is a Creature The reason why this pretense will not serve here is First Because though the same attribution here in the same Contexture of Scripture he made unto God and then unto the Spirit of God yet there is not the least intimation
unto persons of both opinions whose waies otherwise are worthy the Gospel and Profession thereof yet the truth is that partly the nature and partly the consequence of the two Opinions compared together their distance being so great as it is and they so contrary one unto the other it is not a matter of easie conception how they both should be saved unless with the men against whom we now argue and have under reproof who are in this respect the off-spring of the old Hereticks called the Origenlans who hold that after a certain time all men without exception as well bad as good shall be saved yea the very truth is that the entire Systeme and body of that Religion and Doctrine some few common and general Principles only excepted and these also corruptly understood which the men we now speak of own is scarce any thing else but a Rapsody or Fardle of old abhorrid Errors and Heresies of the Anthropomorphits Arians Macedonians Origenists with several others who were the greatest troublers of the Gospel in the course of it and Enemies and Opposers of the Truth in their times Sixthly and lastly All the premised particulars duly weighed Sect. 18 and considered methinks any sober and considering Christian should require and stand up every whit as much for his satisfaction and conviction in this opinion that the Holy Ghost is but a meer Creature and to bring over his Judgment thereunto as the Jews did to perswade them that Christ was the Son of God who as our Saviour himself told the Nobleman at Capernaum Joh. 4.48 were at such a distance from believing it that exept they saw signs and wonders they would not believe they were resolved not to believe it upon any inferiour or lower account In like manner considering what the Scriptures speak in way of oppesition and how matters have gone all along from Age to Age in the Christian Churches in reference to this Doctrine and Opinion that the Holy Ghost is a Creature and not God It is strange to me that any sober or well advised persons professing Christianity should entertain it upon terms of any weak or less convincing demonstration than of Miracles and Signs and Wonders or of the Testimony of an Angel from heaven to assert it and therefore they that do subject unto it are of that Generation of men which the Wiseman speaketh of Pro. 14.15 They are of the House and Linage of that simple man who will believe every thing any thing let the nature of it be never so inconsistent and the connexion between things never so loose and groundless I had not insisted upon this branch of our Use of Reproof so largely but that the delinquent spirit is so rampant in the World and busily acting his part near unto us and amongst us and the Apostles direction to Titus is Tit. 1.9 10. That a Bishop or Pastor of a Church should hold fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught viz. by the Apostles that he may be able by sound Doctrine to exhort and convince the gain-sayer for there are many unruly and vain talkers especially they of the Circumcision whose mouths must be stopped There are men and still have been whose mouths must be stopped but not as some would interpret it by Prisons or by Sword No but stopped they must be i. e. way-laid in their Judgments Consciences and Understandings by the Scriptures This is that which the Apostle requireth in a Bishop that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince And by the way take notice of this that he must exhort by sound Doctrine the truth is that many Bishops in the World do exhort many times very soundly but not by sound Doctrine For their Doctrine standeth at West and their Exhortation standeth South Now a faithful Bishop every man in that Office and Place must exhort with sound Doctrine his Exhortation must be comportant with the spirit and soul and tendency of his Doctrine the one must not be a Samaritan and the other a Jew But this by the way I shall leave this sort of Offenders at present only with reminding them of that passage of our Saviour Mat. 5.19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven My Brethren to break any of the least of the Commands of Christ knowingly when a man doth understand and is convinced that it is the Command of Christ is a sin of high provocation unto God but especially to teach men so to do i. e. to teach such a Doctrine which may strengthen any mans hand to despise neglect and disregard any Commandment of Christ this is provoking in the sight of God and that in the highest and of such a demerit that such a man deserves no place in the Kingdom of God Therefore whosoever they be who shall first weaken their own hands before they weaken anothers they that teach themselves to break the Commands of God and then shall spread abroad such Opinions and Notions that shall animate and encourage men so to do they shall be least in the Kingdom of God they shall have no respect there they shall not be numbred amongst the Servants of Jesus Christ therefore such persons as these who bring in and set on foot any such Doctrine which doth break and quench the endeavours of the spirit of men from following any piece or strain of that heavenly Counsel which the Holy Ghost hath given unto men certainly they fall under this heavy Sentence and Censure of Jesus Christ to be least in the Kingdom of Heaven CHAP. XIV A third sort of Offenders reproved are such who instead of following the Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit take a course to be emptied of the Spirit of God Who make it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit Wherein the several Scriptures and Reasons by which they strengthen themselves in their evil way are examined and found bent against them And likewise the necessity of the Ministry of the Gospel and the great benefit thereof largely asserted and vindicated A Third sort of Offenders to be reproved upon the former general account viz. as Enemies to that subjection Sect. 1 and observation which ought to be given to the Apostles Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit are such who take a course rather to be emptied of the Spirit of God than to be filled with him and of losing all that presence and Communion with the Spirit which sometimes they had received and yet may partake of to some degree and that by falling upon such practices and engaging in such courses which are of a direct tendency to dispossess them of all Communion with him and to make an absolute separation of the Spirit of God from them These are of two sorts The first are those who make
it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which as the Apostle calleth it is the Ministration of the Spirit Secondly They who though they do not make it matter of Conscience to neglect or despise this Ministry yet make it no matter of Couscience diligently to attend upon it when they know otherwise how to bestow their time whether in the pursuit of their pleasures or recreation or in the service of Mammon and attending upon the World between these we might insert a third sort viz. such who though they have not turned their backs upon the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel but seem to make it some matter of Conscience to attend upon it yet have itching ears and cannot long together endure wholsome and sound Doctrine but run from Mountain to Hill from one Minister to another For the first We all know that of late years there is a strange spirit of Error and Ungodliness gone out into the World and walks up and down the Streets of your City and hath taken the heads or hearts rather of many who sometimes greatly loved or at least seemed thus to love the Assemblies of the Saints and those discoveries of himself which God is wont by his Word and the Ministry thereof to make from day to day unto them The Spirit we now speak of is a Spirit which teacheth men to say that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts are vile and for the Ministry of the Gospel and the opening the Mysteries thereof by those that have an Anointing from heaven to do it Wherein is it to be esteemed This Spirit also reacheth and perswadeth those men to fortifie and strengthen or harden themselves in their way not only by Reasons and Arguments such as they are but by the Scriptures themselves also as if they were divided in themselves and destroyed with one hand what they build up with the other Do not men who suffer themselves to be lead by this superordinancing Spirit rather consult the emptying of themselves of the Spirit of God than their filling with him and take a course by degrees wholly to bereave and dispossess themselves of that presence of his in them which at present they do enjoy or have enjoyed formerly Where no wood is saith Solomon or as the Hebrew hath it Prov. 26.20 without wood the fire goeth out In like manner except the Spirit of God in men be fed and nourished with the fresh and new comings in of the light of the knowledge of God and of Christ his presence will languish and sink and die in a manner Hence it is that the Apostle having admonished the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 He immediately subjoyneth by way of caution ver 20. and presignification how they might and must prevent it Despise not Prophesying or as our last Translation with more agreeableness to the Original rendreth it Despise not Prophesyings in the plural number Prophesyings i.e. the opening and interpreting the Word of God by a proper gift of the Spirit for the work if this be despised i. e. made nothing of as the word signifieth then the Spirit in men and women will be quenched i. e. the vigour and activeness of his presence in men will abate and if the neglect and disesteem be long continued in will by degrees wholly cease The word Prophesyings in the Plural number seems to imply that not only or simply to despise Prophesying i. e. the Work or Ordinance it self in the general of Preaching or opening the Scriptures is the ready way to quench the Spirit but to despise the frequency of the opportunities vouchsafed by God in that kind viz. when the bountiful providence of God affordeth unto men and women frequent opportunities of attending upon the Spirit of God in the exercise of Prophesyings and when they may be diligence and wise ordering and disposing of their secular and worldly occasions without any considerable inconveniency frequently attend the openings of the mouth of God which we spake of and yet they shall frequently neglect to do it pleasing themselves with a conceipt that to attend on Prophesying on the Lord's day only is sufficient If the persons with whom we have to do in the reproof in hand Sect. 2 should ask me But why should the despising or neglecting of Prophesying or of the Ministry of the Word be the quenching of the Spirit or a way to empty us of the Spirit I reply First Suppose we could give no other reason of the thing now enquired into but only the Will and pleasure of God and could say no more in the case but this that it is the Counsel of the Will of God to make the attendance of the Creature man upon the Ministry of the Gospel where he vouchsafeth it the condition of the Spirits presence or abiding with him so that in case he doth neglect it his Spirit shall withdraw from him If there were nothing else but this Were not this enough to satisfie any man of Conscience But now the truth is that the reasons of this Counsel of the Will of God that the attendence upon the Ministry of the Gospel should be a standing means to preserve and maintain the presence of the Spirit of God the reasons I say are not so hard to come at in this case but that if the Minds Judgments and Understandings of men were impartially engaged in the enquiry after what the Scriptures speak as to matters of this nature they might be clearly discerned The reasons therefore why God hath made such a Connexion between the attending upon the Ministry of the Word and the presence of his Spirit are first because the word of God is as it were the materials or proper matter for the Holy Ghost to work on to work all his excellent and heavenly works in the hearts and souls of men As for example to work Faith Peace Joy and Righteousness and Holiness and Love c. The Holy Ghost produceth all these excellent works in the hearts of men by the truths of God in the Gospel As an Artificer worketh upon his materials and by his Art and Skil produceth his Artificial piece as a Carpenter upon his Timber or a Goldsmith upon his Metal so that if you do not furnish them with these materials they can do nothing As the Carpenter cannot work when he hath no Timber the Holy Ghost in like manner if there be no Vision no Truth no New Light coming in for him to work on he will take no pleasure nor delight to inhabit or continue there He shall saith our Saviour speaking to his Disciples of the Holy Ghost He shall receive or take of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 What things of his doth our Saviour mean the Holy shall take and shew Doubtless they are such things of his or relating unto him which are contained and asserted in the Gospel As his Divine Nature Humane Nature his Incarnation Conception
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
Restauration shall be or that there shall be some or some considerable numbers of them to whom this excellency of knowledge shall be vouchsafed by God But that the generality of this People or the common sort of them shall be thus enriched by him The earth saith the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Land of Judeah and the Inhabitants of it when the time spoken of shall come shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Isa 11.9 There shall be an universal deluge or overflowing of the knowledge of God over all the Land And elsewhere Thy people also shall be all righteous Isa 60.21 So then the Promise of the abundance of knowledge in the Scripture before us respecteth the Jews only in the sense which hath been declared there is no thing can be inferred from it by those that are not of this Nation but Gentiles as that they shall have the like abundance of knowledge given unto them But Secondly Suppose it should not be appropriable only to the Jews but equally appliable unto the Gentiles also yet neither upon this supposition will it follow that the time of the accomplishment of it either to the Jews or to the Gentiles is yet come First That the Jews have not yet attained the blessing promised therein who yet in all reason shall be first served though it should be supposed that the Gentiles shall sit down at the same Table with them is evident in that the generality of that Nation remaineth to this day in that blindness and ignorance which the Apostle Paul bewailed in them in his daies Secondly For the Gentiles the said Promises neither have been nor are performed as yet unto them is altogether as evident as the former the generality of these being so far from such a knowledge that they have no need that any should teach them that we know they stand in need to be taught the very first Principles or Foundations of Christian Religion Nor can it reasonably be here replied or said Sect. 7 that though the said Promise be not as yet fulfilled in the generality of the Gentiles yet it may be begun to be fulfilled in some of them and the fuller accomplishment of it may by degrees take place untill the times of the plenary and perfect fulfilling of it shall come for against this there are several Considerations 1. As you heard lately that the Promise is not made to the Gentiles but to the Jews 2. It hath not been made good no not in the sense now pleaded for unto the Jews themselves not so much as to a handful of them they generally remaining still in the hardness of thâ—â— hearts and in that blindness of their minds wherein they were in the Apostles daies they are so far from the knowledge of God and of the Gospel of his Son as ever they were and yet all or the most part of them will be first served and have the preeminency and first fruits of this glory 3. The Scriptures intimate as if this Promise were to be fulfilled suddenly and at once when it beginneth to be fulfilled Isa 66.7 8. It is made matter of high admiration Before she travelled she brought forth c. Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day Or shall a Nation be born at once c. The travel of Sion seemeth to note some such change and alteration in her condition which withall intimateth a strange and unexpected expedition and that she shall be raised and built up in a very short time unto a very glorious State and Nation and therefore the Prophet calls it the bringing forth of a Nation in one day So again Isa 60.22 I the Lord will hasten it in his time meaning that when the time should come then he would hasten it and would bring it into perfection very suddenly 4. If a few mens excelling in knowledge were the fulfilling of the said Prophesie and Promise then was it fulfilled in the Apostles daies for there were many 1 Cor. 1.5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge It seemeth that in this one Church there was a great floud of light insomuch that they had nothing now to learn but did wait for the full appearance of the Lord Christ and yet that these Promises of Christ were not fulfilled in those daies in the sense declared is evident because the Apostle pressed the duty of Preaching upon others and layeth a heavy curse upon himself Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel How many passages may we find in his Epistles of the same import 5. And lastly The persons themselves who do pretend this Promise and passage of Scripture to justifie them in their way do make use of somewhat like the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel they have certain Methods which they pretend to edifie themselves by so that they do offer an affront to themselves and do condemn themselves in those things which they do allow And if they judge themselves capable of any benefit by these their meetings certainly there is a thousand times more reason why we should expect and look for more from the publick Ministry of the Gospel by such who have a competent anointing of the Spirit of God If they do interpret and give a sense of what they speak or affirm and produce from the Scriptures then as I say why should we not rather hearken unto the judgment and sense of them that attend upon the Word and Prayer as the Apostle speaks who are set apart as it were and who do separate themselves unto God and to his Service and of the Tabernacle That they should be likely to give out the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures above others is reasonable to conceive The Eunuch was in all likelihood a great man and surely a man of more than ordinary parts and abilities and yet he professeth plainly unto Philip Acts 8.31 when he asked him if he understood what he read How saith he can I except some man should guide me or I have some one to interpret It is true it is one thing what the Spirit of God is able to do for men but it is another what he himself judgeth meet for him to do And certainly he doth not judge it meet to build with one hand and to pull down with the other hand which yet he should do having erected an Ordinance as he hath done giving some to be Pastors and Teachers for the work of the Ministry if these things might be gained otherwise I mean in an ordinary way and where the Ministry which Christ hath set on foot may be had and enjoyed But Thirdly and lastly To the Scripture before us although it should be granted to be already fulfilled yet it is not necessary to understand these Expressions They shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother literally but figuratively by an Hyperbole A figure
wherein the Holy Ghost much delighteth as Isa 60.6 22. For the other Scripture mentioned Sect. 8 1 Joh. 2.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him remaineth or abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you c. implying that the former things which he had written to them concerning those that seduced them that is those men who went about to seduce them according to the Language of the Scripture wherein when any Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded are not actually seduced As these Christians were not actually seduced and yet he writeth to them concerning those that seduced them and then he closeth his Admonition thus But saith he the anointing which ye have received of him meaning Christ abideth in you As if he had said it is true that which I have written is in order to fortifie and to strengthen you against those who go about to ensnare and entangle you but saith he you have another means and help in your selves by which to preserve your selves from them and from their snares Now by this anointing I suppose he means not properly the Holy Ghost though he was in them and according to Scripture-phrase may be very properly said to abide in them But by anointing I conceive he rather means the work of the Spirit which he had wrought in them that is the impressions of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness their love to God and Men. This is that anointing which they had received and saith he you need not that any man teach you but as this anointing teacheth you meaning that they needed not that any thing should be offered unto them but that whereof they might be competent Judges by means of those holy Principles of Righteousness and Love which the Holy Ghost had wrought and raised in them For the Gospel in the whole compass or circumference of it being a Doctrine according unto godliness men that have a Principle of Godliness rich and full and any whit raised may sent any Doctrine and if they will but consult with the Oracles in their own breasts they may find out and come to understand whether it be according unto Godliness yea or no. If it carrieth any repugnancy unto Godliness or unto Holiness then saith he you have no need of it you are better without it This anointing is truth and it is no lie As if he had said they themselves could not but know it for Godliness is a real Propensity of heart and soul unto that which is Good Just and Righteous and which maketh for the glory of God and well-being of men these are the Royal things of God not liable to any dispute whether they be true or whether they be false delusions therefore saith he having such an anointing within you you need not that any man should teach you any thing lying above the reach of this For let any Doctrine or Practice whatsoever come to you if it comport and fall in with this Principle then you may receive it And he plainly implieth here that though the same anointing teacheth all things yet they that had this anointing had need that men should teach them according as this teacheth them And the truth is that men and women that are godly and have this anointing in the fullest measure have need to be taught those things which are consonant and agreeable to this anointing and which will nourish enlarge quicken and revive it So that this place is so far from countenancing that Notion or Practice by which men turn aside from the Ministry of the Gospel that it proveth and that very clear that they indeed ought to attend upon it The persons now under reproof Sect. 9 besides what they pretend and plead directly and immediately from the Scriptures have other Arguments and Pleas to harden themselves in their Practice Let us therefore deal with them as sober men use to deal with them that are frantick and mad when they have gotten Knives or Swords wherewith they are like to do either themselves or others a mischief they wrest them out of their hands In like manner let us try by evidence and strength of reason and of truth to take away those weapons at least the chief of them wherein they put their trust One thing they pretend why they should not attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies are not infallible We cannot safely depend upon them in what they teach us they may lead us into error as well as truth Is not this a Consideration sufficient to justifie us in our taking our selves off from hearing them To this I reply First By putting the question to them Whether they judge themselves to be infallible or no If they answer Affirmatively that they do judge themselves infallible which I suppose they will not then Why should not the Ministers of the Gospel be as infallible as they Besides if they be infallible What need they fear of being led aside into Error by the Ministers of the Gospel But it is like they will reply Negatively and grant that they are not infallible If so why then do they depend upon themselves or upon their own Notions or Apprehensions or upon their own senses and interpretations of Scripture May they not as well be mistaken and deceived by leaning unto these as unto such things which shall be by the Ministers of the Gospel delivered unto them Or will these persons themselves be only Sceptiques and profess that they are absolute Neutralists in all manner of Tenents and Opinions in matters of Religion or that they doubt of every thing and firmly believe nothing If they profess this they are more degenerate from men than the generality of the Heathen They firmly believe that there is one God and that he is good c. yea they are worse than the devils of whom James saith That they believe there is one God and tremble Besides such a Profession as this that men believe nothing in matters of Religion interfeers with it self for he that saith he believes nothing certainly pretends herein to know certainly that all things are doubtful yea and to know certainly that it is best for him to be of this Judgement that all things are uncertain and therefore nothing for him to believe Otherwise Why is he thus minded why doth he not rather submit to the contrary But this last Scepticism is a strain of folly not worth the contending against But to the Reason propounded Sect. 10 by which the seekers of superordinancers do make attempt to justifie their practice in giving over the Ministry of the Gospel I reply Secondly That the Scribes and Pharisees were doubtless every whit as far from being infallible as the Ministers of the Gospel now are yet our Saviour himself Mat. 23.2 3. counselled the people and his own Disciples too to hear them yea and
it is appointed to Umpire in the hearts and consciences of men if it were not able to make good those things which it threatneth and promiseth that they are Realities and not only Notions and faint Speculations it would do no great things it would be but a powerless and faint thing As we see all the devised and fained Stories that are abroad in the World though they may please the fansies of some that hear them yet they have no great work upon them they do not move or encline them to any great undertaking And as no man will go to the charge of building a Ship to travel to the Lands of Vtopia because it is only a fained Land of pleasure and delight but no man was ever able to make good the being thereof So for the glorious and great things of the World to come which are spoken of in the Gospel unless you can get it into mens hearts to believe that these things are really so you may treate with them by this and adjure them by that and yet the Conscience not move at all upon any such account but when it shall be made known to them demonstratively that these great things are not words only nor fansies or devised Fables but that they are the same in nature and reality which they are in terms and names now the Consciences of men and women are over-awed and overcome at this point there is no standing out but only in such cases wherein men are bewitched and have their eyes blinded by the God of this World Thirdly and lastly The efficacy of the Ministry we speak of is seen in that Sect. 22 that it communicateth and deriveth the Spirit of God unto men who receive and believe it It is to be considered in this case that it is not simply appointed by God to convey the Spirit of God into the hearts and souls of men and women but that it is an Ordinance of such a nature that it is most proper for such a service for the great God as this viz. the giving forth of the Spirit into the Consciences and Souls of men 2 cor 3.6 Who also hath made us Ministers c. not of the Letter but of the Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So that this is unquestionably true that the Ministry of the Gospel is erected by God for the communication of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of men Even as a Conduit Pipe is a means to convey the water into our Cisterns which before were empty so the hearts souls and inward parts of the Sons and Daughters of men being to a great degree empty of the Spirit of God God hath as it were made and framed these golden Pipes of the Ministry of the Gospel to convey the Holy Ghost into the hearts and souls of men that so together with him there may be life and power and strength and all manner of divine excellencies This the Ministry of the Gospel will certainly do when it is managed like it self and where the Wisdom and gracious Counsel of God is embraced and entertained and men have done homage and have bowed the knee of their Understanding and Judgement unto it and have owned the things contained in it as from God And meet it is that such a service and subjection of the Creature unto God as this is should be immediately and out of hand rewarded by him with so great a gift as his own Spirit As if God should say Where my Advice is received and where my Counsel goeth there shall my Spirit go also This saith the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive We have done at present with the first of the second sort of Offenders who were lately designed to Reproof upon the account of this general Delinquency against the said Doctrine viz. That instead of being filled with the Spirit they take a direct course to be emptied of the Spirit altogether The particular Delinquency of these Persons is that they wholly withdraw themselves from the Ministration of the Gospel which according to the intent and declaration of the Great Founder of it God is the Ministration of the Spirit according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith We have taken away the Weapons from them wherein they trust and have evinced those Texts and places of Scripture upon which they bear themselves for the justification of their practice to have no manner of compliance herewith but rather being rightly understood to stand bent a contrary way We have likewise detected the insufficiency and impertinency of such other Grounds and Reasons for their Practice on which they chiefly insist and wherein their foot is taken and held in a snare of Death The Lord break the snare in sunder and deliver their souls and shew mercy to those that are yet at liberty that they be not led aside into the same Error CHAP. XV. Five sorts of Offenders more under the Second Head reproved First Such who are chill and cool in their respects unto the Ministry of the Gospel An account of the Causes thereof The danger of false Notions concerning God A second sort reproved for withdrawing from a lively and powerful Ministry Reasons of such miscarriages Legal and Evangelical Ministry distinguished What renders Persons duly fitted for the Ministry of the Gospel The third sort justly reprovable are such who neglect to be led by the Spirit of God How and when the Spirit of God is neglected A fourth sort justly reprovable also are such that do resist the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God The fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who refuse to sow unto the Spirit of God WE proceed to a second sort under this Head of Offenders against our Doctrine Sect. 1 who together with the former are summoned to hear what the Spirit of God will please to say unto them in a way of reproof to their practice also and these are of several sorts First Such who though they do not with the former make it matter of conscience wholly to desert the Ministry of the Gospel nor rise up to plead in words against the blessing of it yet are they chill and cool in their respect unto it they do not esteem it as their appointed food they are not zealous in their attendance on it their hearts are not perfect with it when they come to it they come as if they came not or cared not much whether they came or no and so they hear as if they heard not Sathan with a very slender and slight temptation may interpose at any time and separate between them and their attendance upon it We know there are many thousands amongst us of that lukewarm and unworthy temper we speak of who think it enough to wait upon God when he is speaking the
we call the in-bread is given into the Dozen there is nothing properly paid or given for it bat only for the Dozen The Kingdom of God the salvation of the soul the World which is to come are like the Dozen he that will have this must pay for it I mean in labour and endeavours and in looking after it Whereas this present World is like unto the in-bread which will be given in by God to better the bargain So likewise when our Saviour adviseth thus Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life he plainly gives us to understand that the World which is to come requires labour of men to come by Now our Saviour was not of a light and unsavoury Spirit he did not jest with men he did not exhort men to strain and toyl at the lifting of a Feather no he was most grave and most sober and serious and weighty in all his Counsels therefore when he counselleth men not to labour for that which perisheth but for that which endureth for ever he doth consequently intimate unto them that unless there be industry used and much solicitousness of mind things of this nature will not be obtained The Son of man who hath these things to give will not give them unto men who look not after them And withal our Saviour doth plainly and clearly imply that this World doth not require a like labour and diligence at least comparatively Labour not for the meat which perisheth as if he should say You may have such meat which will suffice you if you will but labour for the other Therefore that Generation of men and women we speak of greatly erre in their thoughts about the terms of the two Worlds judging the World which is to come to be like the Fig-trees spoken of by the Prophet Nahum c. 3.12 with their first-ripe Figs which if they be but a little shaken fall into the mouth of the Eater So these conceit that the Golden Gates of Heaven if they be but touched with the least of a mans fingers will fly open and give him entrance that the great things of Eternity will come upon them before they be aware that a little time spent now and then when their ease and their profits will give way will cause heaven and happiness to bow down unto them whereas their Judgment of this present World is that both the inner and outer man with their highest contendings sweatings and strainings of themselves are all little enough or rather too little to prevail with it to bless them or give out its strength unto them It is not unlike but that the conceipt we now speak of within them may be sed with another Notion or Conceipt viz. that the World which is to come goeth by an unchangeable Decree of Predestination and Election and that Heaven is conferred upon men by virtue of a Deed of Gift of as ancient a Date as Eternity upon which account they act with a remiss and cool spirit for the obtaining of this expecting that the Decree of God from Eternity shall bring Salvation and the blessedness of the World to come upon them with an high hand though they themselves should do nothing whereas they have a contrary conceipt as if God had made no Decree concerning mens being wealthy and great in this World but that all these things do come about by diligence and industry and by a wise contrivement of their own in this behalf it is very likely that there is some touch or other of such a poyson that lieth near the root of the hearts of some But to the Persons now under reproof we shall at present say no more but this That if Mary chose the better part in chusing to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ to hear the words of Eternal Life from his lips in comparison of Martha's choice which was to be imployed about other things though otherwise as appears a worthy woman Certainly such persons who neglect the opening of the Heavens and the Visions of the Almighty when they descend upon the World to gratifie the Flesh with ease pleasure getting of money c. chuse the far worser part which will in the end turn to a portion of everlasting shame and contempt unto them if they perish in their choice Mary chose a being filled with the Spirit this was a blessed choice indeed these men chose a being emptied of the Spirit of God The Day is coming like an armed man upon them when the words which are now spoken in their ears will become a Sword which will pass through their souls A second sort of Persons against whom the face of the Doctrine delivered is set to reprove them are such who though they have not as yet Sect. 3 with the First of the Three wholly forsaken the Ministry of the Gospel nor seem with the second to be but loosely and indifferently affected to it yet they do take a course in a short time to be emptied of the Spirit as well as either of the former and this is by turning aside from the Ministry where it is lively and powerful teaching wholsome Doctrine as Faith towards God and Repentance from Dead Works where it promoteth Godliness with an high hand and consequently is like to fill men and women with the Spirit of God And turning unto and following a Ministry that is like to fill them with wind and flatulent humours with fond Notions and Conceipts either above or besides or contrary unto that which is written The Apostle speaketh of some Col. 2.18 Vainly puft up in their fleshly minds or irregularly puffed up Even as it is with some bodies that seem to be very fat and full and fair and yet their fat is but a loose kind of flesh or it may be it is nothing else but some dropsical humours which any kind of sickness will quite cancell and commonly such persons fall into the most desperate Consumptions of all when that loose fat forsaketh them Even so there are many loose Professors amongst us and have been in all Ages who have swollen in their minds and conceipts into a great bulâ— They judge themselves to be like the Children of Anack in spiritual matters and other Professors about them but as Grashoppers as men and women of low and weak and inconsiderable stature in respect of themselves Now there is and for the most part alwaies hath been such a Ministry of the Gospel so called which is apt to work this way Though to speak properly it is no Ministry of the Gospel but only a kind of counterfeit of it which seeks to commend it self unto the World for such yea and to disparage that which is truly and indeed such in comparison of it self But of that Generation of men and women which forsake such a Ministry of the Gospel which is savoury wholsome and sound where the Mind and Counsel of God concerning the peace and salvation of
for a reason or some short time only in the Ministry of John notwithstanding he was a light both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burning and shining He was a burning and a shining light and ye were willing to rejoyce in his light John is here by our Saviour described or commended by two properties which in a Minister are most like to retain and keep as well as to procure and gain the affections and approbations of men The first is That he was a burning light secondly That he was a shining light Zeal accompanied with an excellency of knowledge are two most excellent and worthy qualifications in the Ministers of the Gospel and a man would think a Minister who is provided with these should so endear the hearts of men and women whom he serveth in the work of the Ministry that he should so captivate their hearts and affections that neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come should be able to separate or to estrange such a man from the affections of his people Yet nevertheless this we see was John's case with the Jews he was a burning and shining light he had all the advantages that lightly could be found in a man to retain what he had gotten in the hearts and affections of his people and yet they who did mightly rejoyce in him for a season after a while saw no such matter in him John who was as an Angel of God for a season was but like another man soon after not that there was any alteration or change in John for doubtless he did not decline neither in his burning nor in his shining until the very day and hour of his death And therefore that there was such a change in the minds of the Jews towards him it proceeded from the levity of spirit and affection which was so incident unto them Ye were willing to rejoyce saith our Saviour the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth an excellent degree of rejoycing to dance and leap or spring for joy he doth not simply say that they did rejoyce but that they were willing to do it that they did it freely and of their own accord they were not importuned by any perswasion or prompting by any other man yet they had enough of John in a short time when once they had gone round about him and saw his gifts and abilities and what he was able to do when they had tasted thoroughly of his Doctrine they could as freely turn their backs upon him as upon any other man they would see whether there were any other Teacher that was of another spirit or of another method of Teaching or whose Doctrine or matter was of a higher and more sublime nature or consideration than his And so likewise it fared with the great Apostle Paul amongst the Corinthians and especially amongst the Galathians to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 9.2 He saith that though it were supposed that unto others he was not an Apostle yet to them he was meaning that however they might think that he did not acquit or approve himself as an Apostle amongst other people where he preached the Gospel as either by working signs or miracles amongst them or by the efficacy and success of his Doctrine in the Consciences of many yet certainly he had approved himself both these waies and every other way an Apostle unto them For saith he in the latter part of the verse the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord meaning that their being in Christ their conversion to the Faith was a seal i. e. a sure testimony and confirmation unto them that he had the Commission of an Apostle from Christ And elsewhere he saith 2 Cor. 12.12 that the signs of an Apostle were wrought amongst them meaning by himself As in all patience so in signs and wonders and mighty deeds Elsewhere he saith 1 Cor. 4.15 That in Christ Jesus he had begotten them through the Gospel In another place 2 Cor. 11.2 That he had espoused them to one Husband to present them a chaste Virgin unto Christ To pass by much more of like import Such things as these by which this people could not but be lifted up unto heaven as our Saviour speaks in the like case were sufficient in all likelihood of reason so to have endeared this Apostle unto them and to have engaged them unto him that he should have been in their hearts as he professeth they were in his even to die and to live together notwithstanding How soon was this Son of the Morning this glorious Apostle and heavenly Benefactor of this people fallen in their hearts and respects Other teachers who were not worthy to loose the lachets of his shooes coming in the way carried away the prize of their affections and esteem from him these were the men that were all in all with them Paul was but an underling in their thoughts a sorry fellow in comparison After al the Signs annd Wonders and mighty Works that he had wrought amongst them after all those gifts and heavenly endowments as of Wisdom Knowledge Utterance Tongues yet they sought a proof of Christ speaking in him 1 Cor. 13.3 They could not tell whether he was so much as a true Minister of Christ or no unless he should give them a good account of it It is somewhat strange to think how the generality of this People having such rational foundations to build themselves stable and steady upon should yet sink so low in their esteem of him But neither did this most worthy Person and Apostle speed any whit better amongst the Galatians than he had done amongst the Cerinthians he gained high respects and large affections he telleth them that at his first coming amongst them he was received by them as an Angel of God and as Jesus Christ they had such strong impressions upon them that they could have plucked out their eyes for him Gal. 4.14 15. but very quickly he became out of credit with them and his reputation was fallen in the dust they cared not they were Kings and reigned without Paul they knew how to want his Ministry and his counsel and direction they had found out men that pleased them better they had heaped up Teachers according to their humours they had itching ears and therefore they must have some that would scratch them and fall in with them and please their fansies and thus when they had met with such Preachers and Doctors Gal. 1.6 which were commensurable to their Notions or unto that Spirit which had now taken them these were the men now and the Heirs of Paul's Inheritance in their affections and in the respects which he received from them Yea the Lord Christ notwithstanding that as his Adversaries themselves bear him witness he spake as never man spake yea though for a time he so marvelously affected the People partly with his Miracles partly with his Doctrine that they were about to take him by force and make him a King Joh. 6.15 yet
that her Father Laban might not find his Images that she had stoln but not being willing that this Reason of her Posture should be known she pretends another viz. That the Custome of women was upon her So the Scribes and Pharisees though the devouring of Widows houses was the real and true end they proposed in making long Prayers yet being loath to own this being so foul and so unworthy they pretended Zeal and largeness of Devotion in its stead Thus the Persons we speak of being ashamed to own the Reason we last discovered and opened from the Scriptures for the ground or reason of their shifting Ministries upon the terms mentioned are wont to pretend others of a more fair and Christian import viz. That the Ministry which they give over is legal and low at least comparatively less spiritual and less edifying at least to them Or else that some Doctrines or Opinions are held forth and maintained in this Ministry which are contrary to their Judgments and Consciences and therefore they judge themselves bound both in Wisdom and Conscience to withdraw from it and attend upon that which is both more edifying and raising men up nearer unto God and also more Orthodox and sound These are common colours and pretenses that are frequently alledged by men and women when their hearts tempt them away from a worthy Ministry to that which is unworthy To speak somewhat to them both For the first Whereas they impute legalness as they call it lowness Sect. 8 and ordinariness and want of spiritfulness to the Ministry under which they have no mind to continue by reason whereof they cannot they say edifie or profit it may be not unworthy consideration that such a Doctrine or Ministry which some count legal and low is far more spiritful and raised than that wherein they pretend to find these high qualifications For you know some call that Ministry legal which uregeth and presseth upon the Consciences of men with all earnestness and zeal those great Duties of Mortification and Self-denial and a thoroughness of subjection and obedience unto the whole Will of God though otherwise upon occasion and as oft as it judgeth it necessary and meet it effectually openeth the whole Counsel of God unto men concerning the freeness of his Grace as well in their Justification as Salvation together with all the secret strains and all the turnings and windings and carriages of his Wisdom in the Gospel as far as they are ordinarily reached and discovered by men whereas this is the most Evangelical Ministry and most likely to bring men to a true faith and belief of the Gospel If you would know what a legal Ministry is to speak properly it is such which teacheth Justification by the Law and such is the Doctrine of the Papists But to charge and to press the Commandments of Jesus Christ and to call upon men with the greatest affection and zeal and withall to handle such great and glorious motives and encouragements which the Gospel affordeth unto men to strengthen their hands in the waies of holiness and withall to lay before men the heavy Judgments which shall abide those who shall be disobedient this is far from being legal for it hath more of the Spirit of the Gospel in it than any other On the other hand they call that a spiritual Ministry which seldom or never chargeth the Souls or Consciences of men with any Moral dutie nor threatens these with exclusion out of the Kingdom of God who either are Thieves Adulterers Covetous c. But spendeth it self from time to time in venting certain airy and windy Notions and Speculations such as have no sufficient footing or foundation either in the Scripture or in good Reason And these for the most part cloathed with a kind of uncouth and antique Language and Expression This Ministry when it hath entertained those that repair unto it for an hour or two may for the most part truly say unto them concerning what hath been delivered by it as Aristotle is reported to have said when some blamed him for publishing and making common his Philosophical Notions and Secrets Edidi saith he non edidi meaning I have and I have not so may it be truly said of such a Ministry as we speak of it preacheth and it preacheth not it teacheth and it teacheth not for it preacheth and teacheth after such a manner that they who have heard are little the wiser can give no reasonable account of any thing they hear to any sober or intelligent man And it is an unworthy humour or property in some both men and women to have only such teachings in admiration and in high esteem which they understand not and to undervalue that as low and ordinary which they are able to make any thing of with sense and understanding On the other hand It is a property of the opposite extreme in some others not to value or regard any Ministry which requireth the use and exercise of their understandings to make them thorougly capable or apprehensive of the things delivered but that only which yieldeth nothing but milk meet only for Babes in Christ or such things which they knew before and have heard ten times over Some care for nothing that is new though it be never so agreeable to their old things I mean to what they knew already and believed and some again care for nothing but what is new whether it be consonant and consistent with their old things or no Novelty and strangeness in one kind or other are sufficient commendations of a Ministry in the eyes of some That passage of our Saviour is very considerable Sect. 9 as in part relating to the business in hand Then said he unto them Therefore every Scribe which is instructed unto or for the Kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasury things new and old Mat. 13.52 Note the occasion upon which Christ spake thus unto his Disciples which is expressed ver 51. immediately preceding when he had delivered himself in several Parables unto them he demands of them whether they had understood all that he had spoken they say unto him yea Lord Therefore saith he again unto them every Scribe which is instructed c. As if he had said look as I have done so must ye As I have made you to understand things which are new and which you understood not before by means of those things which ye did know before for all acquired knowledge is obtained by the advantage and help of things formerly known In like manner every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven i.e. every Minister or Teacher or Preacher of the Gospel as the Scribes were Teachers and Ministers of the Law which is instructed i.e. which is duly accomplished and furnished with knowledge and understanding for the Kingdom of heaven i.e. to promote and advance the interest and affairs of the Kingdom of
of the Consciences of men unto holiness and unto the observation of the Law And Chap. 16.27 he declares that he will reward every man according to his works And Chap. 23. he pronounceth woe upon woe and heaps of woes against the Scribes and Pharisees for their misdemeanours and transgression of the Law in their Places and Calling Yea after his Resurrection being now ready to leave the World and to ascend up into heaven when he delivered the sum and substance of the Gospel unto the Apostles as that which was to be the subject matter of their Preaching one part of it was Minatory and answering the Curse of the Law yea it containeth a sorer and far more grievous curse than that which the Law denounceth He that believeth not saith he shall be damned Mar. 16.16 This damnation of the Gospel is a thousand times more dreadful than the Curse or damnation of the Law and this in two respects First It is irreversible when once it hath seized upon a person whereas the Curse of the Law when a man hath incurred it may be taken from him by the grace of the Gospel Every man that doth not at present believe is under the Curse of the Law but under the Curse of the Gospel he only is that dieth in his unbelief For when it is said But he that believeth not shall be damned The meaning cannot be that whosoever is not at present an actual believer shall be damned but he that dieth in unbelief Again secondly The Curse of the Gospel is much more grievous than the Curse of the Law in respect of the great weight or degree of misery which accompanieth it when it falls upon the Creature The Curse of the Law where it falls it will break in pieces but the Curse of the Gospel will grind all to powder The Apostle implyeth such a difference as this Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation c. And as the Ministry of the Lord Christ was most purely and exemplarily Evangelical Sect. 12 and therefore far from Legal yet pressed the observation of the Moral Law in all points with the greatest exactness and severity that might be yea and threatned the vengeance of hell fire in case of neglect and disobedience Such was the Ministry of the Apostle Paul also How frequent and fervent is he in all his Epistles in perswading and pressing and urging men unto every good way and work Yea how district and terrible is he in his threatnings of the loss of the Kingdom of Heaven and Salvation it self 1 Cor. 6.9 10. We see there how close he bindeth the duties of the Law Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherite the Kingdom of God Be not deceived c My Brethren what Minister if you call that legal in a Minister did ever urge and press the duties of the Law upon higher terms than this Apostle did If you make but observation you shall find throughout all his Writings this was a frequent vein of his Ministry Gal. 5.19 20 21. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication c. So Ephes 5.3 4 5 6. But Fornication and all Vncleanness c. let it not be so much as once named amongst you know you not that no Whoremonger nor Idolater nor Adulterer nor Unclean person shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Let no man deceive you with vain words making you believe that you shall come off at last Why For or because of these things cometh the wrath of God i. e. cometh in the Present Tense as if it were ready to fall on them the same hour and moment And again the like place Phil. 3.18 19. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are Enemies of the Cross of Christ c. So that it is evident from these Passages out of this Apostle that his Writings are full of this Spirit namely to press the duties of the Law of God upon the Consciences of men to fill if it were possible their hearts and so their lives with the observation of them The Ministry of the Apostle Peter also was of the same strain with the two former strongly bent to fill the hearts and lives of men with righteousness and true holiness and this by threatning Judgments and Wrath against the Disobedient 1 Pet. 4.17 18. If Judgment begin at the House of God What shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear It is a very terrible kind of expression and representeth the state of the ungodly and wicked to be such as that no wit of man no nor all the Angels of Heaven were capable of casting up all the horrour or terrour which will befall them And so again 2 Pet. 2.4 5 6. For if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness c. and made them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly If God had only threatned these namely the Angels and those wicked men the Inhabitants of the Old World c. but had never done execution according to the tenour of his threatnings men might have thought that he had only threatned men to keep them in awe and no more But such examples as these shew that when God doth threaten he doubtless doth it not in vain only to threaten but will do execution according to his threatning in case men continue in their sinful waies So that there is no ground to judge and determine a Ministry to be legal because the bent and face of it is set as it were to press men to the keeping of the Commands of God contained in the Moral Law nor because it threatneth with the greatest severity and with the vengeance of hell fire them that shall neglect any of his Commands it may be excellent and highly Evangelical notwithstanding That which is pretended that it namely the Law should not be pressed upon men because they are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 6.14 8.2 is of no force For the natural conscience in men doth dictate unto them and urge upon them the performance of those very duties which the Law of God doth require and therefore it is not material to insist here upon this question Whether Believers are bound to observe the Moral Law as it was delivered unto the Jews for it is unquestionable that the things contained in this Law are binding upon them otherwise as the Apostle doth distinguish very accurately and carefully in that case Rom. 2.14 15. He doth not say that the Gentiles did subject themselves to Moses Law as it was delivered unto the Jews but they did the things contained in the Law So if Believers be bound to do those duties in every respect which the Law requireth This we may call a
Condemnation than the Gospel doth viz. They who shall determine the state of those men who hold that Christ died for all men that these cannot be in a state of Grace though this be a most plain and direct Doctrine of the Scripture and so they that teach and threaten men and women that they shall never receive Remission of sins and consequently shall not be saved unless they be twice baptized now herein they bind men over unto death upon such terms that the Gospel doth not allow of therefore such a Ministry which teacheth such things as these is a legal Ministry Again Sect. 14 Whereas the persons yet under reproof are wont to pretend likewise lowness and ordinariness of matter or of teaching in the Ministry which they have a mind to quit as one Reason of their withdrawing from it It is more than to be feared that they know not what the deficiency in a Ministry which they call lowness meaneth this being a more palpable pretense than either of the other For by lowness I suppose they mean the pressing and teaching of common and ordinary and known duties as of Love Mercy Patience Faith Temperance c. whereas the truth is that the teaching and pressing of these duties upon such terms as they may and ought to be taught and pressed upon the Consciences of men argues an excellency of power and of faithfulness in a Ministry yea is the glory of it For wherein can it reasonably be conceived that the worth and glory of a Ministry should consist but in repairing the decayed Image of God in men and in preparing and making men meet for a heavenly Kingdom Now wherein doth the Image of God we speak of in men stand but in the accomplishing and perfecting the Creature for all actions and services relating unto it and proper for it to perform As God is most absolutely and every way accomplished and that upon the highest terms of perfection for the acting of all things which are proper for him to do So likewise to put men into a rich and divine-like capacity this way that is to furnish them with all principles and dispositions and knowledge of all things fit for them to do so that nothing may lie between them and the performance of their duty but their own will this is to raise up the Image of God in men Or if you place this Image of God in men in righteousness and true holiness it cometh but to the same for that is a right Ministry indeed which hath force to raise men up unto these especially in such measures and degrees as they ought to be found in men and can qualifie men fully for their duty and service as the performance of these do for their reward and glory Therefore that Ministry which preacheth and presseth the duties of Faith Love Mercy Humility c. upon men so as really to enrich and fill the hearts and souls of men and women with them is no low Ministry but a Ministry of power and great glory And thus we have done with the second sort of Offenders against the Doctrine delivered under the second Head The folly of their Delinquency was that they turned their backs upon wholsome and sound teaching such wherein the Spirit of God delights to go forth and sate down under such teachings which do little more than beat the Air and which the Spirit of God knoweth not There is yet a third sort of Offenders against the Apostles Exhortation Sect. 15 and the Doctrine delivered from it who may be ranged also under the Second Head as being persons running a course not to be filled with the Spirit but on the contrary to be emptied of him These are such who refuse or neglect to be led by the Spirit who either do not mind or take knowledge of the leadings or motions of the Spirit do not bend the ear of the inward man to him when he secretly speaketh or else that which is as bad or rather worse when they do hear him or are sensible of his motions or leadings within them yet turn aside from him and go their own way Such undue and unworthy carriages as these in men towards the Spirit of God must of necessity grieve him and consequently occasion him to depart or withdraw himself from them For the former Are not the generality or far greater part of men and women altogether neglective of all that is acted or done by the Spirit of God within them Yea Are there not many that are ignorant whether there be any Holy Ghost any Spirit of God within them yea or no Yea many that have some belief it may be that the Spirit we now speak of may be in them who yet are ignorant and know not whether he doth any thing in one kind or other within them whether he moveth enclineth leadeth or perswadeth one way or other in them or no If you ask me But can the Spirit move or encline any person and yet this person not be moved or enclined by him Or if they be moved or enclined by him can they be ignorant of it must they not needs know it I reply First To the former of these questions That a Person may be said to be moved or enclined two waies or in a twofold sense First He 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. Secondly He may be said and that in the more obvious sense of the two to be moved when that force which is put to him to move and encline him prospereth to that end for which it is employed that is when the person moved doth as it were fall before the enclination and doth yield unto that which he is stirred and moved and enclined unto In the former sense a man or woman may be said to be moved perswaded or led by the Spirit this way or that unto this course or that and yet not be brought or prevailed with to walk in those waies Thus the goodness of God is said to lead men unto Repentance Rom. 2.4 who yet are not prevailed with to repent So when the Scriptures speaking of the Jews saith That they resisted the Holy Ghost it is plainly implied First That they were in a sense which must needs be the sense we now speak of led by the Spirit of God i. e. were perswaded moved and enclined by him unto waies and practices that were holy and good for otherwise how could they be said to have resisted him Resistance cannot be but only where there is some attempt or assault made therefore certainly when they did resist the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost did attempt upon their hearts and consciences to perswade them unto that which was right and pleasing in the sight of God Again Secondly It implies that they were not perswaded I mean with success or so as
ordinarily it is uttered by the Mouth of the Conscience which is not wont to be wide opened unless it be in some broader or more known duties of the Second Table what the reason hereof is is not so proper for present consideration Secondly The Cares Lusts Thoughts Desires Fears and Apprehensions of things relating to this present World make a continual noise and hubbub in the hearts and inward parts of men and women generally So that in case any thing were spoken to the heart or inner man especially with a soft voice whilest these things are stirring in him it will not be heard or minded And therefore Thirdly The Holy Ghost being a Spirit of Wisdom will not speak at least ordinarily unto hearts so full of distractions and confusions Neither fourthly Do men that voluntarily make noise or suffer noises to be made about them desire to hear any man speak unto them Therefore fifthly and lastly It follows from these Premises that such persons who are earthly minded and continually filled with the Cares Lusts or Desires of this World are either in no capacity at all to hear or not at all care to hear any thing that the Spirit shall speak unto them Men that desire to hear the Spirit of God speaking in them must sequester and abstract themselves from the noise and tumults of this World For the voice of the Spirit of God in men that voice by which he suggests things in the Conscience is a still and low voice and therefore when men are in a hurry in their thoughts whilest the World is lifting up its voice within them there is no opportunity for him to speak When persons are full of the Cares of this Life and are making provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof there is no opportunity for the Spirit to declare himself to them or to shew them his secrets I will hearken what the Lord will speak saith the Psalmist Psal 85.8 They that will listen to this still voice of the Spirit must muse must have all quiet within them lay their ears close unto what shall be spoken They that do not thus hearken unto the Spirit of God that do not thus listen and keep a perfect calm in their Spirits are not likely to hear what the Spirit speaketh in them And yet in the fourth place there are another sort of men and women worse than these and these are they that resist the Spirit Ye have resisted the Holy Ghost c. Acts 7. where Stephen chargeth them with that grievous charge that they resisted the Holy Ghost when he was striving to do them good and to acquaint them with the mind of God with true holiness and waies leading to Salvation They resisted him i. e. fortified themselves against him cast about with their Minds and Reasons and Understandings how they might discover and take hold of any pretense why they should not submit unto such and such Counsels such Doctrines such Truths wherein the Holy Ghost did from time to time speak unto them By this means men are said to resist the Holy Ghost and there is a Generation of men and women amongst us who dash their foot at this stone of death who when the Spirit of God either in the Word or in the Counsel or Application of Christian Friends unto them or otherwise presenteth them with such and such truths of God which bear upon their Consciences making it evident that it is for their good that they should submit themselves in the course of their lives and waies unto them and perswading them to abandon such and such waies to cast from them all such works which are contrary to those truths and sayings of God They I say who are well aware of these motions and suggestions of the Spirit to them and yet turn their backs upon them are of this second or worser sort who because they are desperately unwilling to be led out of their old waies loth to drink New Wine saying the Old is better therefore they withstand the Spirit of God even when he cometh with power and is about to bind the Understandings of men that they might not be able to move Now he is not to be resisted in such cases but with a high hand of rebellion and there must be abundance of enmity and disobedience against him otherwise men would be led away in a blessed captivity unto Jesus Christ This is the reason why men whom God hath had much to do with who have lived under a mighty and powerful Ministry either they are overcome and prove the best and holiest of men or otherwise they must arm themselves with such weapons of Rebellion which will prove them to be the most vile and most desperate sinners in the World A fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who neglect to sow unto the Spirit Sect. 17 we use the Phrase of the Apostle Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting We have opened heretofore what it is to sow to the Spirit It is to do such things to go forth in such waies and to be found frequent in such Actions and Practices which will turn to the praise and honour and glory of the Spirit of God and not only so but to do such things with an eye and intention that the Spirit of God should receive honour and reap praise by such their waies Now he properly soweth unto a man who doth intend that the man to whom he soweth should reap benefit thereby Even so a person is said to sow unto the Spirit of God 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 Now if men and women shall rise up in their obedience unto God above the line and common road of the World if they shall walk in a more excellent way than their Neighbours more excellent than the common sort of Professors about them This must needs turn to the praise of the Spirit of God for the means by which they are advanced and gotten above their Neighbours and become more excellent than they this of course falleth and is ascribed by all to the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Men will conclude that surely the Spirit of God acteth and operateth in these men and teacheth them more excellent works and more heavenly curiosity than is found in the ordinary sort of men in the World Therefore they who refuse thus to sow unto the Spirit when the Spirit first soweth unto them that is when the Spirit suggesteth unto them and graciously stirreth up and tempteth their hearts and Consciences to do such Heroick Acts wherein there is a more than ordinary strain of goodness to be seen they do not consult the honour of the Spirit of God nor their own peace and enriching but on the contrary their own sorrow and poverty They I say that shall refuse thus to sow
fruit whereas if they were taken off from such corruptions as these they would conceive other manner of births births that are spiritual that would make you glad when they are born It cannot but be to any considering Christian matter of offence and grievance to find himself continually annoyed and that he should have troublesome Guests from day to day and there should be no end no remedy against it I beseech you consider How can men lay out themselves upon more desirable terms than to benefit themselves than to make themselves truly happy in this World and likewise in the World to come Now the greatest things must in reason be conceived to proceed from that which is most noble the Spring and Fountain of all commendable things Now this Fountain is the Mind Understanding and Judgment of a man these must do it otherwise men will never do any thing either for themselves or others to any purpose Therefore it is a thing worthy of us to hearken and learn how we may keep our hearts from running out their strength upon such things which defile us that they may attend only upon such which are sweet and rich such as are pleasant both unto God and unto Angels and unto men and shall be most pleasant unto our selves and our own souls when our taste is but come to us when we shall be able judiciously to taste and discern the true worth and value of spiritual things Fifthly Sect. 4 To promote the word of Exhortation propounded in your hearts and souls you may please further to consider that if you will do that for the gaining of this Treasure of being filled with the Spirit which God hath enabled you or shall enable you further to do in order thereunto the enterprize shall most certainly prosper in your hands and you shall be filled with the Spirit of God your Seed shall not rot under the Clod but shall yield an harvest God doth not put men to run for Prizes which are not to be obtained by running So run saith he that you may obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 Doubtless if it be true of God in the course of nature that he giveth to every Seed it s own Body It is much more true in spiritual cases and in the Affairs of Heaven he will reward every mans labour every mans endeavour Whatsoever a man soweth in this kind he shall reap and if he shall sow plentifully i.e. if he shall shew so much care and diligence as is requisite to bring about this great blessing he shall eat of the labour of his hands yea happy shall he be Indeed sometimes God suffers the natural Seed which is sown in the Earth to miscarry and never to yield any fruit or encrease according to that of Jeremiah Jer. 12.13 Ye shall sow Wheat and reap thorns Deut. 28.38 And that also in Lev. 26.20 And your strength shall be spent in vain and your Land shall not yield her encrease Thus sometimes it cometh to pass but you see God threatneth it as a matter out of course which would never come to pass were it not that God did this for the punishment of them that are wicked and have mach provoked him He sometimes withdraweth himself from nature and second causes But for the Promises of God in the course of spiritual waies and means there is never any exception here for if a man sow wickedness If he sow to the flesh he shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6.7 8. On the other hand whatsoever good thing a man doth the same shall he receive viz. in the reward of it God hath put himself in strict Bonds and Obligations that if men shall do that which he hath given them in charge to do if men shall study and use the means of Grace with that diligence care faithfulness and goodness of Conscience which he hath prescribed and enjoyned them look whatsoever this means is proper to produce this they shall be sure to enjoy God is not wont to provoke men to such things which are not attainable he doth not deal so with his Creature he only promiseth such things which are very feasible and attainable by those Methods and means which he hath appointed them to use by doing those things which they may very well do quitting themselves but like men It is true indeed though the prize of being filled with the Spirit be never so rich though it will cause a mans face to shine like the face of an Angel or like God himself yet if it lie not within any mans reach if a man might lay out himself after the most effectual manner and yet notwithstanding come short in the end this would stifle all inclinations and dispositions this way yea and to stir up men and women by any other Motive though never so potent would be to very little purpose Let this be another Motive to stir you up to fall-in with the Exhortation proposed unto you you shall not lose your labour you shall not sow your Seed in vain but shall have a goodly and blessed recompense of reward for whatsoever you shall do faithfully and conscienciously herein you may be assured that though to be filled with the Spirit be an exceeding great and high priviledge and hath much of God and of glory in it yet are you in a capacity to come at it and enjoy it My Brethren Sect. 5 we speak great things unto you of this being filled with the Spirit But it may be you will say Wherein doth the greatness of it lie What great or excellent things are there in it that we should be willing to consent unto you to lay out our selves for the obtaining it And it seems we must do it throughly and not be remiss or half-hearted in the work but must quit our selves like men with the best of our might and strength and therefore What is this great thing which you call A being filled with the Spirit Or upon what account shall we be more happy and blessed in our Conditions when we have compassed it than whilest we are without it I answer That though men had the Tongues of Angels and the Understandings and Wisdom of Angels too yet they could not declare fully the glory nor the blessedness of such a state the heights depths and the lengths and breadths of this high Priviledge or Prerogative of being filled with the Spirit If the thing could fall within the virge of humane Understanding and could be uttered if you could rightly conceive of the worth or excellency of it this would make you call it the Priviledge of a man or something that a man can reach or understand The Apostle Paul when he would express the transcendency of that Priviledge which he calls the peace of God Phil. 4.7 he describes it to be such a thing which passeth all understanding This Character of it gives it high honour and double esteem in the hearts and minds of men but if he should have expressed it in
must go all the pain and labour all the care and travel of soul will perish together Oh how happy then above all worldly Projectors and Designers are they whose hearts are perswaded to hearken to the Counsel of God concerning a being filled with the Spirit even in this respect also besides many others that they are certain of a good reward for their labour They that run this Race shall certainly attain they that seek to be filled with the Spirit shall be filled whereas as I said all endeavours about worldly accommodations are but lost labour in comparison of this CHAP. XVIII The eighth and last Motive That a being filled with the Spirit will render the Condition of men and women most desirable in this World and in that which is to come That no other course will do it but this or none without this Four things a concurrence whereof will render a man's Condition in this life most desirable 1. A freedom from all troublesome distracting and tormenting fears and cares 2. A heart and conscience abounding in Joy and Peace 3. A large and free Communion with God 4. And lastly A rich and large interest in God to be able to carry great Matters in Prayer with him Three of these insisted on 1. A being filled with the Spirit will discharge men from all troublesome and distracting fears and cares 2. The Peace and Joy of men will abound by a being filled with the Spirit 3. A third particular which renders mens Condition so desirable in the World is a free and large Communion with God 1. What is meant by Commu-with God 2. What by a free Communion 3. What is meant by a large and full Communion with God 4. How this Communion renders man's Condition very desirable in the World 5. That this Priviledge must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit What it is for God to dwell or abide in man How a man may know that God dwelleth in him by the Spirit which is given him How perfect love casteth out fear In what respest the Spirit may be said to witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God A well-grounded Confidence The Causes of a false Confidence enquired into A good Conscience a ground of Assurance EIghtly and lastly To promote the interest of the Exhortation delivered in your Judgments and Consciences Sect. 1 in your Hearts and Affections yet one degree further you may add to to all the former Motives laid before you to perswade you to yield Obedience unto it this one more which amounteth to more than all the rest That to be filled with the Spirit must needs render your Conditions as well in this World as in that which is to come the most blessed and desirable that Creatures made of flesh and bloud are capable of enjoying and that there is no other course will do but this only In this Motive there are three things contained First That a being filled with the Spirit will render the Condition of a man or woman in this life most desirable happy and blessed in the highest Secondly That it will do the like for them in the World which is to come it will render their Conditions and Beings here the best that this World also can afford unto the Sons and Daughters of Men. Thirdly and lastly That there is no other course no other engagement or employment that a man or woman can lay out themselves and their time and strength in that will do either First For the blessedness or desirableness of the Condition in the World that now is there are are four things a concurrent enjoyment of which must needs be conceived to make the State and Condition of a man or woman in the World very happy and desirable The first is A well-grounded Vacuity or freedom from all troublesome distracting and tormenting fears and cares Secondly An Heart and Conscience abounding in Peace and Joy upon the like terms The third A large and free Communion with God The fourth and last A large and rich and considerable interest in God that can carry all matters of request with him upon all occasions I suppose if any man were in the actual enjoyment of all these four particulars his Condition and State would be as desirable as the heart and soul of a man can reasonably or with a true understanding desire in this World Now he that is filled with the Spirit of God will be invested with these four great blessings First For a man or woman in this Vale of mortality and tears to be out of the reach of troublesome and tormenting fears and cares to enjoy a constant serenity and tranquillity of mind without being afraid either of what man can or God will do unto him How great and happy must such a mans condition be Surely it is one of the special ingredients in the felicity and blessedness of God himself as David taketh notice in Psal 2.4 He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision meaning his Enemies My Brethre For poor Creatures who dwell in houses of clay and are compassed about with mortality to be in respect of their inner man in reference to any troubles or things formidable that may assault them for them I say to have Communion with God in this heavenly priviledge to laugh all troubles to scorn to be like unto a Mountain or a great Rock before Storms and Tempests and Whirlwinds How glorious above measure must such a State and Condition be To have the heart and soul like the upper Region of the Air where there are no disturbances or commotions where to be as I said even now they may be able to laugh all Enemies to scorn Not to be afraid of what either men can or what God will do unto them this is a most Divine Priviledge especially the obnoxiousness and weakness in this kind of the generality of the hearts of men considered it must needs be a very rare and high attainment for any to live out of the reach of fears Fear as John saith hath torment and indeed upon the matter nothing else hath torment but fear neither is it simply any present sorrow or suffering though very grievous even as sharp as nature it self is well able to stand under that hath any torment in it but fear proceeding from the apprehension of the danger of some misery approaching in the future Now if we were but armed in our hearts by the fulness of the Spirit no fear would enter in there we should have no cause to fear any danger for the future and consequently sorrows and suffering would not much offend us they would be but of a very light and passable consideration we should not suffer any great matter upon the account of them Our Saviour Mat. 6.34 adviseth those that believe in him not to care for to morrow telling them the morrow shall care for it self c. if we would but cut asunder from us
our cares we should ease our selves of much trouble For this is that by which men and women spoile themselves in that they take up the care of many daies at once Men will care for to morrow and for forty daies together whereas the care of one day the evil and trouble that doth attend it is sufficient unto it but the effect of this care for the time to come is to fill with trouble and feare There is indeed a fear of which Solomon speaks Prov. 28.14 when he saith Happy is the man that feareth alwaies and it is rather an evil or a misery to be freed from this fear than any matter of profit But this we say a being filled with the Spirit of God a rich anointing with this oyl will reduce the heart and soul of a man to such a pass to such a temper and frame that it shall be impenetrable invulnerable by such Arrows of cares and fears which are wont to pierce and strike thorough the hearts of other men and to slay all their comforts and peace As there are some kinds of Oyls or Oyntments as some have affirmed which are so sovereign against the impressions of hot boyling Lead or the like that they will secure men from receiving any harm by them if timely applied Whether this be true or not yet in the business before us the Scripture it self taketh notice of that great and marvellous effect of a rich anointing of the Spirit of God we speak of Psal 27.1 2 3. compared with Psal 46.1 2 3. And Psal 112.6 7 8. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom then shall I be afraid When the wicked even mine Enemies and my Foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell Psal 46. God is my refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea c. And so again Though an host of men should compass me about yet herein will I be confident Now we may easily perceive that these are very high expressions of a fearless and dreadless spirit though the Earth be moved out of its place The moving of the Earth and tossing to and fro of Mountains represent unto us things that are of a most terrible and formidable nature and very astonishing to the World We know the shaking of Mount Sinai was so terrible that Moses himself is said to fear exceedingly And so an Host of men is a thing which is most terrible yet saith he in this case though an host of men shall come marching against me yet herein will I be confident And Psal 112.6 7 8. Surely he shall not be removed for ever The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance he shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord c. That which will cause the hearts of other men to fear namely evil tydings and cause them to shake and tremble like the Trees of the Forrest when they are shaken with a mighty wind will have no operation at least comparatively upon the men and women of this Character which we are now speaking of viz. which are filled with the Spirit Now the Reason why a rich anointing with the Spirit of God must fortifie the spirit and soul of a man Sect. 2 to make it inaccessible unto troublesome cares and fears is because it is a kind of spiritual intoxication answering a drunkenness with Wine to which it is opposed Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit I conceive that by the opposition in this Comparison the Apostles intent is to shew that there is a likeness between a being filled with the Spirit and being drunk with Wine For as Drunkenness doth stupifie the natural senses doth bereave a man of the use and exercise of them so that for the time he is not capable of minding his own Concernments he is not affected with any thing that doth concern his state or health or any thing that is before him Even so or after such a manner a being filled with the Spirit doth as it were bereave a man of his carnal senses it doth reduce a man in his mind and understanding to such a state that the Flesh and the things thereof have little or no place in him it casteth him into a kind of heavenly extasie in which he is taken up with matters of another nature of a more high and excellent concernment so that the things which concern him here in the World either matters of trouble or sorrow or any other thing or concernment whatsoever little move or affect him whilest he is as it were in this heavenly extasie it doth as I said bereave him of those senses principles and thoughts which other men abound withal who are accounted sober men and wise in their Generation in the matters of this present World If we be besides our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.13 it is to God There is no man that is filled with the Spirit of God but he is apt to do as one that is besides himself he doth not take knowledge doth not mind is not so much affected with such kind of things as relate to himself which other men as it were make their All in All and according to the giving out of which whether on the right hand or on the left they stand or fall they live or die they live if the World stand by them if their Silver and Gold their Health and Strength and other enjoyments continue with them but if these fail them they are dead in the Nest But it is not so with him that is filled with the Spirit of God For as it was with Lot in his fit of Drunkenness he neither perceived when his Daughters lay down by him nor yet when they rose up from him so when a man is in his heavenly rapture of a fulness of the Spirit of God he doth not much mind nor is much affected when the World lieth down by him and beareth him company nor when it riseth up and taketh its leave and departeth from him in one kind of enjoyment or other Now this being the proper nature and tendency of being filled with the Spirit to stupifie and turn the edge of natural affections which occasion trouble and sorrow in the World it must needs follow that they who are in this state must needs be under an heavenly security and their hearts like unto the upper Region where there is no impressions of any fiery Meteors but a constant and uniform serenity and tranquillity In like manner is it with the heart and inward part of a man that is filled with the Spirit of God there is no impression of any sadness or cares or tormenting fears I speak only of the usual habitual and standing frame and
notice before-hand that he was a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost lâ—st otherwise the greatness of the Actions might prejudice the belief of them in those that should read them Whereas the Reader taking notice that Stephen was a man endued with more than ordinary Power and Wisdom from on High full of the Holy Ghost they might upon this account look upon it as a thing no waies incredible that Stephen should do and speak and suffer for both 〈◊〉 did So likewise when Paul Acts 13.9 in the Condition of a stranger undertook the bold and high Contest against Elimas the Sorcerer as he is called a false Prophet being a great Favourite as it seemeth to Sergiue Paulus the chief Ruler of the Country in the Isle of Cyprus there is express mention made before-hand of his being full of the Holy Ghost Then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes upon him and said c. Implying that such a thing as this would hardly have been undertaken by Paul unless he had been carried on by the Spirit of God within him and that by some considerable fulness of him And this Paul we now speak of laboured we know in the work of the Lord more abundantly than they all he was as we may say the Lord Christ's right hand upon the Earth he drove Sathan the God of this World before him from place to place and triumphed over him every where where he came he was too hard for him and cast him down from heaven like lightning and turned the affairs of his Kingdom upside down and laid wast his power made havock and desolation in all the Territories which he had amongst the generality of men But how came it about what was the reason why this Apostle so much and to such an high degree over acted the Line of the Labours Zeal and Faithfulness of all his Follows Questionless the reason was he had a richer and fuller anointing of the Spirit than they the Sails of his soul were filled with a stronger gale of the Spirit of God than theirs himself doth in effect give this account of his heroick and high Actings for Jesus Christ in the World Col. 1.28 29. Whom we preach saith he warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily he laboured for this very purpose to present every man perfect in Christ and he did it according to his working namely the Spirit of Christ which did work in him mightily or with power Where observe by the way that the Apostle saith that he did labour in conformity unto the mighty working of the grace of God or of the Spirit of God in him the meaning seems to be this that the Spirit of God that put him on and Paul were both agreed Paul as ready to go as the Spirit was to send By this means Paul went on in all those Heroick Actions which he did and made great havock and desolation among the powers of sin and darkness and unbelief in the World By means I say of the Spirit Paul submitting himself unto him and receiving his impressions and going along with them he was enabled to many great atchievements and to labour more abundantly in the Gospel and for the interest of God and his glory in the World and the good of men also than any nay all the rest of the Apostles though they were men who were also very serviceable in their Generation To instance no father the Lord Christ himself who was the Worthy of all Worthies that ever the great God of Heaven and Earth imployed in any service upon Earth who was the first-born Servant of God and Elder Brother to Paul himself who kindled a fire that never was yet quenched nor ever shall be until it hath consumed all his Enemies and laid a foundation in his own bloud to build up the Name of God in the greatest glory amongst Angels and Men to the daies of Eternity He I say was a man of these high and most transcendent Atchievements by the advantage he had of all other men in being filled with the Spirit above them all according to that of Joh. 3.34 where it is said that God gave him the Spirit without measure he was not only filled with the Spirit but had the over flowing of the Spirit never did any man attain unto his pitch of zeal and faithfulness to the service of God So that there is no question but that he that is filled with the Spirit is in a capacity to Act and cannot lightly but Act at a very high rate for God if be do but follow the motions of the Spirit of God and will go along with them then he cannot I say but be great in the sight of God great in the services of Christ and of his Saints If you desire to know the reason hereof it is because as the higher the wind bloweth that Ship whose Sails are duly trimmed runneth so much the faster and riddeth the more way upon the Seas Even so when the heart and soul of a man shall be full of the Spirit of God such a person must needs be acted and carried on with more power and vigour in a swifter manner or course and be enabled to do twice as much as another in the same compass of time who hath but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God with him You know it is our Saviours Expression Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit I suppose he maketh mention of being born of the flesh only to shew and make things more passable to the understanding of Nicodomus to make way for that which he spake in the latter Now saith he that which is born of the flesh is flesh that thou and every man knows as the Parent that begetteth a Child is of a fleshly nature so that which is born must needs be flesh also And dost thou not know how a man shall be born again of the Spirit It is even as it is with those that be born of the flesh they partake of the same nature and receive the impressions of the flesh So it is with the Spirit that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Such as is the nature of the Spirit of God such also is that which is born or begotten of it that is those Principles whatsoever they are that he who is born of the Spirit doth receive by means of the Spirit of God must answer and be like unto those which the Spirit of God himself hath of which he is born or begotten Now you know that the Spirit of God is full of the Love of God and full of Zeal for God and set upon the magnifying of him in the World and promoting his Interest in the
hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men Now he that is born of the Spirit must needs act and be enclined after the same manner he will be zealous for God bestirring himself in his way as the Spirit of God doth in his way So then this is the first thing we were to shew in order to a demonstration or proof that a being filled with the Spirit must needs be accompanied with abundance of peace and joy viz. that he that is filled with the Spirit must needs be large hearted and highly active for God The second thing which upon the same account we have to prove is Sect. 5 that such men and women whose waies are thus on high as Solomon saith are not much obnoxious to temptations by Sathan or however not like to be overcome by them First We say that persons filled with the Spirit and consequently acting with an high hand and great resolution for God and for Jesus Christ are not in this respect so obnoxious unto temptations I mean are not so like to be assaulted to be tempted by the Tempter Sathan hath no such encouragements from these men they do not stand on purpose to be tempted by him as the far greatest part of men and women in the World do who go so to work in the things of God with so much deadness and lasiness that they do upon the matter invite the Tempter As we use to say Opportunity makes a Thief so the opportunity that men offer the Tempter who is carrying on his interest in the World to render it as miserable as he can at present and as miserable as may be for Eternity maketh him so busie with them Whereas those who are filled with the Spirit do upon the matter cut him off of all opportunity in this kind and consequently make him less careful or solicitous to spend his temptations upon such as these The Reason hereof is because he hath less hope to make any earnings upon such men the excellent Spirit for waies and works of righteousness and holiness which he continually discovers in these men breaks the heart of his hopes of doing any good upon them of prevailing over them This observing of the wind keeps him from sowing his temptations in those fields As a man though he hath a Quiver never so full of Arrows careth not to shoot them against a brazen Wall So neither will Sathan the Devil care to throw his fiery Darts against those who are so hard to come at who are alwaies up and out in the heighth of their spirits for God For as the Scripture saith 1 Cor. 9.10 he that ploweth or soweth ploweth and soweth in hope meaning that no man would either plow or sow but in hope to reap So neither will Sathan care to plow or sow but when he hath a hope of an harvest Now his Harvest is nothing else but the sin and wickedness of men and unless it were for this he would not care to tempt men God of old gave this by way of motive and encouragement unto the Jews to cause all their male children to appear three times a year in Jerusalem viz. that he would cast out the Nations before them and enlarge their borders and as a fruit and consequence of this he adds Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Exod. 34.24 When I have taken such a course by magnifying thee by enlarging thy quarters then no mans heart shall desire or think of conquering of thee So when God hath filled men and women with his Spirit and by means hereof hath raised and enlarged their hearts to any Heroick kind of acting and conversing in the World and hath removed sin and wickedness far from them there is no desire of ensnaring or foyling them like to come up into the heart of Sathan And therefore it was that the Lord Christ was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted by the Devil Mat. 4.1 Mar. 1.12 Luke 4.1 He had an anointing of the Spirit of God above all his Fellows and therefore the Devil had no mind to set upon him with any of his Temptations unless it were upon some special advantage and therefore he was led aside into a very desolate and howling Wilderness amongst the wild Beasts as Mark saith there were some Wildernesses amongst them that had Towns but this was altogether without Inhabitants All which clearly implieth that the Devil had no mind to Duel with him but upon special advantages as his being ready to suffer thorough hunger his being amongst wild Beasts in a place remote from men altogether without Inhabitants for otherwise what necessity was there that the Lord Christ should be led aside into the Wilderness but only in order hereunto He continued fasting forty daies and afterwards when he was an hungry then he fell upon him So likewise the Devil observing how mightily the Grace and Spirit of God wrought in Paul had questionless the less edge to bestow time upon him in tempting of him and Paul was little other in Sathan's eye than a brazen Wall against which he cared not to shoot It is true the Apostle reports 2 Cor. 12.7 how there was given unto him a Messenger of Sathan a thorne in the flesh lest he should be exalted above measure But first That which is here termed a Messenger of Sathan and described to be a thorn in the flesh is said to have been given him meaning by God i. e. to have been by a special interposure of God disposed to him not in order to a perpetration of any sin which the greatest part of the Devils temptations are but to the preventing of it From whence by the way it clearly enough appears that the thorne in the flesh here spoken of was no last of uncleanness nor any sensual concupiscence because then Paul would not have said that it had been given unto him But doubtless it is rather meant of some false Apostle that endeavoured to undermine him Haply it may be it was some Christian Friend that did Paul a displeasure that did undermine his credit in one kind or other but however the very end for which the Messenger of Sathan was given him it was not to draw him into sin but for the preventing of sin as he saith lest I should be exalted above measure or lest he should conceive an opinion of himself above that which was meet for him to conceive Secondly It appears that Sathan was in one kind or other over-acted by God in sending such a Messenger and that the Temptation was over-ruled by some hand of God also Thus it appears in the second place why those that are filled with the Spirit of God are not obnoxious to be tempted by the Devil and that the Devil is not much enclined to tempt such persons as we speak of This appeareth further from Jam. 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you
What is the meaning of the Apostle but this viz. Give him a short and sharp and absolute answer and you shall not long be troubled with him for the Dâ—â—â— knows his time is but short it is shorter by many degrees now than it was then the Devil hath no time to spare nor to trifle away and therefore it is like he will not lose his labour nor time where he is resisted But in case such persons who are filled with the Spirit shall at any time be tempted they are not subject or likely to yield unto the Temptations The reason of this is as the Apostle informeth us Gal. 5.16 17. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh c. That is go along with the Spirit of God hearken to his motions and they that be filled with him cannot lightly but go along with him The Spirit resisteth the Flesh and being in his might he is able to overcome the flesh whilest the Tide of the Spirit runneth strong it beareth the stream and current of the Flesh down before it 1 Joh. 4.4 He that is in you is greater than he that is in the World the Spirit coming in with the fulness of his Power though the Flesh should attempt to carry men into waies of unworthiness yea though the Devil should by his temptations strengthen the flesh yet nevertheless he that is in them the Spirit of God is greater and more mighty than corruptions are or than the Devil himself is This is the second thing propounded viz. that they that are filled with the Spirit are not obnoxious to be tempted unto sin or however not so obnoxious to be overcome by temptations as others are who have but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God in them The third and last follows which is Sect. 6 that they who are not so obnoxious unto temptations or unto sinning by temptation are like to enjoy much peace much of the peace of God which passeth all understanding and of that blessed state of inward joy which is unspeakable and full of glory Now this is that which we are to prove unto you from the Scripture and likewise sound reason will stand by us in it That joy and peace which is raised by the Holy Ghost is far greater than the joy that men can take in silver and gold these kind of objects affect the heart but little comparatively or if the hearts of men should be so affected with these things that they run over with that peace and joy which can be drawn from them yet this then joy is but groundless a joy that hath no substantial ground it is such as wâ—ll nor stand by you it will ere long be gone and the end of that joy will be sorrow But that which properly is the joy of the Lord is when that passion of joy riseth and springs up in men and women from the root of holiness and by means of such objects which they converse withal which are great and excellent and of a spiritual nature and will bear them out in any measure or degree of rejoycing And as spiritual objects work upon and move mens affections to an excellent height so will men also be constant and uniform in their joy and peace which is thus raised in them unless the working of this their joy and peace be interrupted by men themselves by behaving themselves unworthily towards God and Jeâ—us Christ all the things in the World besides cannot do it When the Conscience testifieth with a loud voice that a man hath lived holily and walked humbly with his God hath been obedient unto him in all his waies and commands it cannot be but that upon such a testimony a man must like unto Jordan in the time of harvest overflow with joy and peace Mercy as the Apostle James saith Jam. 2.13 rejoyceth against Judgment a Conscience testifying to a man that he hath been merciful that he hath done much good that hath ministred like unto himself according to the ability which God hath given him such a conscience as this doth make a man to rejoyce against Judgment Now then if this one course of worthiness be so great an advantage unto men and women how much greater is it when there is not only this particular way of worthiness but when this shall be strengthened with another excellent way and another and another to that when a man shall have this Testimony in his conscience that he hath not only been a merciful man but also that in other things he hath walked uprightly and perfectly before his God that he hath not corrupted himself neither by any unmercifulness of Spirit nor with any of the waies and practices of this World When there is such a consort of heavenly practices met together these will enable men to magnifie themselves against the fears of death and make men stand like Princes before God undaunted and unapaled This then is the second of the four particulars a concurrent enjoyment whereof cannot lightly be conceived but that they must needs render a mans state and condition of life in this World excellent and desirable The third thing Sect. 7 which we told you must needs render a mans state and condition in the World desirable was a free and large Communion with God Now first that such a priviledge and enjoyment as this must needs contribute richly towards the rendring a mans state and condition in this World for of this only we speak at present excellently contentful satisfactory and desirable in the highest unto him Secondly That this priviledge must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit and be possessed and enjoyed by all those who are thus filled may be made to appear by a little consideration But by the way give me leave to shew you first What I mean by Communion with God Secondly What I mean by a free Communion Thirdly What I mean by a large or full Communion with God Fourthly To make it good that this must needs render a mans condition desirable in the World And then fifthly To shew that this Priviledge must needs accompany our being filled with the Spirit First Then by a Communion with God I mean an inward and spiritual converse or intercourse of the soul with God or a recourse making unto God upon all occasions for direction help or comfort from hiâ— together with a readiness in God to correspond in all such occasions â—s these I confess Communion with God taking the word Communion in a large sense extendeth farther than any thing now expressed and comprehends somewhat more viz. a mutual or reciprocal propensness between God and the Creature to sympathize the one with the other according to the condition of their mutual affairs respectively whether prosperous or adverse and true it is that this Communion also intercedes between God and him that is filled with his Spirit But in the Point before us we chiefly intend the other viz. a capacity or
liberty of recoursing unto God for solace help and direction together with a willingness or readiness in God to correspond or maintain intelligence with a person accordingly Secondly By a free Communion in this kind I mean a recoursing unto God from time to time for the ends and occasions specified as Paul did with a liberty and freedom of Spirit with a Princelike boldness without any mixture or touch of fear of that kind of fear which hath torment in it when a man hath no stand in his faith but is able to cry or to cry out aloud as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth without any faultring or fainting Abba Father Rom. 8.15 or when a man in another expression of the same Apostle is able to come boldly to the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 fearing no colours as our common saying is when a man can have part and fellowship with those holy Angels who behold the face of God continually though with fear yet with peace and joy also Now this we mean by a free Communion when a mans heart is so settled and so composed that he hath no incumbrance upon his faith Thirdly By a large Communion with God I mean when a man or woman hath further dealing with God than ordinary when by reason of the largeness of a mans knowledge of him and of his nature and Counsels he hath the opportunity of treating with him about more particulars and receiving answers from him touching more particulars likewise and consequently as his knowledge of God encreaseth and advanceth so his Communion with God is enlarged and advanced accordingly Thus you see what we mean in the business in hand by Communion with God and by a free and large Communion with him Now then we are to shew and make good unto you Sect. 8 that they who are filled with the Spirit are in an immediate and ready capacity of enjoying both both a free and full and large Communion with God For the first of these that which must needs afford an opportunity for a free Communion with God is First an assurance of the attonement and peace made with God by Christ or by the bloud of Christ Secondly The testimony of a good Conscience upon good grounds that humane frailties only excepted which come not into an account in the case we now speak of a man hath walked and resolveth still to walk in sincerity and simplicity of heart before him in his whole course â—â—ow then if he that is filled with the Spirit be possessed with both these or liveth under the sweet influence of them he must needs be in a good capacity of a free Communion with God Now that persons who are filled with the Spirit must needs be possessed of such an assurance of their attonement and peace made with God by the bloud of Jesus Christ appeareth thus First He that is filled with the Spirit must needs know that God dwelleth or abideth in him as the Scriptures speak Secondly That he truly and really loves God and from both these he cannot lightly but conclude his actual attonement with God by Jesus Christ And thirdly and lastly besides these the Spirit himself dwelling richly in him strongly testifies and witnesseth as much in a direct manner unto him or unto his Spirit First He that is filled with the Spirit must needs know that God dwelleth or abideth in him 1 Joh. 3.24 And he saith John that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him and he in him And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us But first What is it for God to abide and dwell in a man And secondly How or upon what account do men or may men know that God doth dwell in them by the Spirit which he hath given unto them I answer first God may be said to abide or dwell in a man or woman when they are ever and anon acted and drawn forth upon all occasions which lie in their way to serve him and to do business for him and this with the same readiness of mind delight and faithfulness as himself could be supposed to do if he were in their places and conditions so that what a man or woman doth in this case for God a stander by may reasonably think that God himself did it as in a sense it is true that he doth do it and not they for he stands at their right hand assisting of them I conceive the meaning of the Scriptures when they speak of Gods dwellng in men it may be conceived after some such manner as this Two Friends live in two Countries far remote many a hundred miles perfonally distant one from the other now it must be supposed that these two Friends knew one another and each of them must also believe that the other is in being by which means these two Friends have a dwelling one in the heart of another And in this sense Christ is said to dwell in men by faith which is making way to the other dwelling As suppose a man that is in a remote Country beyond the Sea hath a very good Friend dwelling here and he hath much business to be looked after in this Country where his Friend lives Now if this Friend beyond the Seas dwell in his Friend here in his heart and soul this man will be drawn by means of his Friend that dwelleth in 〈◊〉 to look after what is for his benefit and advantage And so likewise if he dwell in his Friends mind and soul who is beyond the Seas he will act there upon the same account for the benefit and advantage of this Friend also Now what is the reason why a man is drawn forth with so much diligence and carefulness to mind his own business but because every man dwells in himself every man has an indwelling in his own heart and soul Sometimes indeed and in some cases men dwell out of themselves and depart from themselves as we use to say a man dwells where he freely and heartily loves because he doth not so much mind his own affairs being gone out of himself to that which is beloved In such a Sense as this God is said to dwell in a man when a man for Gods sake or by means of that indwelling of God in him is acted and drawn forth to mind and look after the occasions and affairs of God in the World to look after the concernments of his Kingdom and glory and of his truth and of his servants and the like So on the other hand a man may be said to dwell in God when God out of that love which he beareth unto him will act and give out himself freely for his satisfaction and peace and for the reducing his condition unto a desirable posture I say in such a case a Believer is said to dwell in God Now that it is a duty lying upon us both to abide or dwell in Christ or God and so to have God dwelling in us
dumpishness c. and so that which is begotten by the Spirit of God doth resemble that Spirit which doth produce it Now as the Spirit of God that begetteth this Spirit in a man is holy and pure a Spirit of Love and Meekness and Gentleness c. Even so is that Spirit which is begotten a Spirit of Meekness Love Holiness Humility c. The reason why I rather thus understand the word Spirit in the place before us is first because this spirit I mean the spirit of a man wrought and new framed within him by the Spirit of God is the more immediate principle of a mans actions and the Spirit of God in this respect the more remote because he produceth and worketh all our good works by the mediation of that Spirit or new frame of heart which he hath raised in us Now then that Spirit which hath the more immediate conjunction with or influence upon our actions is more easily discernable by us and consequently more proper to discover or make known that which is discoverable by it as the dwelling of God in us in this place Secondly The Holy Ghost doth not discover himself or his presence in a man at least not his sanctifying presence of which we now speak but only by that spirit which he begetteth in his own likeness as hath been said and by the Fruits or Works of the Spirit For who can say upon any competent grounds I have the Spirit of God in me unless he find the frame of his heart and the temper of his former spirit changed within him and this for the better He that saith he hath the Spirit of God in him upon any other ground or account speaketh he knows not what nor hath any man reason to believe him Now then if the Holy Ghost be not manifestive of himself or of his own presence in men but only by that spirit which he begets or creates in men and by the works which this Spirit produceth in them but this Spirit especially by the works which it produceth is plainly manifestive of it self and consequently of all other things which must of necessity accompany it amongst which the dwelling of God in men is one It clearly follows that this is the Spirit by which the Holy Ghost himself here saith that we know that God abideth or dwelleth in us Thirdly That Spirit in a man which must declare and evidence Gods dwelling or abiding in him must be a Spirit constantly or habitually abiding in him Now the constant and habitual abiding of the Spirit of God in those who have received him cannot be known but only by that habitual frame of heart out of which they act for otherwise there is a remaining of the Spirit of God in them which is not sanctifying many had the Holy Ghost in them to work Miracles but the sanctifying presence of the Holy Ghost in men cannot be known but only by the habitual and blessed frame of heart out of which they act in the waies of God and therefore in this respect also it is most likely that the Holy Ghost meaneth the spirit which is begotten in the hearts by this Spirit Fourthly and lastly This Spirit we speak of which is begotten in men by the Spirit of God may be said to be given unto us by God as well as the Holy Ghost himself For as God when he gave Christ unto men may be said to have given them all things appertaining unto life and bleâ—â—edness He that hath given the Fountain may be said to have given the streams So he that hath given the sanctifying Spirit may be also said to have given all other things and blessings that depend upon the same Thus then we see this clear before us that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that God dwelleth and abideth in him and this was the first thing mentioned which must needs possess and fill men with a rich assurance that their attonement and peace is made with God by the bloud of Christ For most assuredly God dwells in no man but in him who believeth in him And secondly Whosoever believeth in him his attonement is compleat with God Thirdly and lastly the man or woman in whom God dwelleth either knoweth or readily may know that God dwelleth in him The second thing propounded Sect. 11 whereby a man or woman may know that their attonement or peace is made with God and they accepted was if they love God they that truly love God and know they love him may from hence readily conclude and take hold of an assurance that they have peace with God This is evident from that known passage 1 Joh. 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love There is no fear in love i. e. with love or where love is found The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with as 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith or with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus So again Mat. 16.27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory that is with the glory of his Father There is no fear in love meaning the love of God and the fear of God i. e. the fear of being hurt by God or of receiving evil from him as he explaineth himself immediately cannot stand together But saith he perfect love casteth out fear First It is evident that he speaks here principally and more particularly of the love of God in men Secondly By perfect love he means love grown to a good maturity and strength in the heart and soul of a man when it is active and bringeth forth a considerable proportion of fruit By perfect love here he cannot mean love which is absolutely and compleatly perfect which is not capable of any more intenseness or further enlargement for there is no such love of God to be found amongst men that dwell in houses of clay no not among the greatest of the Saints yea it is a question whether the love of the Angels themselves be perfect in this sense or no. The word perfect and perfection are most frequently used when applied to man or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but a limited and diminutive sense Things are said to be perfect when they are grown to any good degree of perfection So he that offendeth not in word is said to be a perfect man Jam. 3.2 that is it is a sign that he is an able Christian so love to God when it is grown to a considerable strength in a man that it yieldeth forth fruit in abundance then it is called perfect love and I do not remember where the word is otherwise used when applied to the Creature or things relating to it Indeed when applied to God it is to be taken in the strictest sense but when applied
it it hath by Commission from God And the very truth is that if we would examine the business we should find that as fear hath torment so there is nothing that hath torment in it but fear or nothing without fear all sicknesses and pains in the body if you could but divide fear from them they would not torment at all if a man did not fear the continuance of them they would not disquiet nor trouble him Now it is the effect of love that it doth remove from the hearts and souls of men whatsoever is of a disquieting import unto them The truth is that love would do so amongst men were it perfectly known or understood If I knew that this man did know that my heart was perfect with him and that I did entirely love him I would not fear that that man would willingly do me any harm So then this is one reason why love to God casteth out fear because that a man by this means is mightily perswaded concerning God that he is so good and gracious that he will not fall heavy upon his Friends those that love him Yea it is impossible that any such thought of God should enter into the heart of such a man to think that God should destroy any that do love him and seek his honour and glory or that he should not do them good and seek their peace and safety The Apostle takes this for a Principle that no man will gainsay That all things shall work together for good to those that love God Rom. 8.8 This is a Principle which we all agree in that Gods love is such to those that we cannot think but that all his Creatures and all his Providences shall be Tributaries to them In the second place then it is evident from the Premisses both latter and former that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that he loves God Thirdly and lastly The third thing mentioned Sect. 13 which especially in conjunction with the two former must needs satisfie any man of his attonement with God is the direct and immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God himself in man testifying together with a mans own spirit i.e. with his heart soul and conscience that this attonement is made and he accepted by God this is the Apostles express Doctrine Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God The Spirit it self or the Spirit himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle by this Emphatical expression the Spirit himself seemeth To imply that the thing or act which he speaketh of is of a most worthy nature and import of a sacred consequence and such as well becometh him who is the Agent or Actor of it the Spirit of God himself But what is that worthy thing which the Apostle here attributes to so great an Agent as the Spirit of God It is a witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God which signifies as much as that our Attonement is made and that we are at peace with him it signifies this I say and somewhat more Well out how are we to conceive of that act here ascribed unto the Holy Ghost his witnessing this to and with our Spirits that we are the Children of God The Expression of witnessing with our spirit plainly implies that it is but one and the same Act of witnessing or witness-bearing which is here joyntly or in common ascribed unto the Spirit of God and the spirit of men and that the Spirit of God doth not bear any such witness as that here mentioned apart from the Spirit of men or when this doth not witness also From whence it appears that the witnessing or joynt-witnessing of the Spirit here spoken of is only a fortifying strengthening raising and enriching of the Witness or Testimony of a mans own spirit So when the heart and soul and conscience of a man shall with more than ordinary strength power and authority testifie unto or perswade him that he is the Child of God Or rather thus when a man shall find himself perswaded and possessed upon these high terms with such an apprehension it is a sign that the Spirit is in this perswasion and that it is he that giveth the vigour and all that which is more than ordinary unto it As the stream and current of a River is doubled and trebbled in the swiftness of the motion and in the depth and breadth of it when the rain-water or the waters of a Land-floud joyn themselves in the same motion with it making together one and the same stream In like manner when the apprehension or perswasion in a man of his being a Child of God magnifies it self at a high rate against fears and doubtings and jealousies in every kind it argues a Conjunction of both Spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of man himself and that which is so over bearing and over-ruling in this perswasion is appropriately from the Spirit of God according to that of our Apostle immediately preceding the words in hand But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption by which or whereby we cry Abba Father We cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. cry aloud or with all our might as we lately noted the proper import of the word Now to cry aloud Abba Father signifies the inner man calling of God Father or a mans addressing himself unto God as unto a Father with a good courage or Princelike confidence A mans own spirit I mean with such an assistance of the Spirit of God as the weakest Christian hath may whisper or secretly mutter Abba Father But by the way this is to be remembred First That when the Apostle saith that by the Spirit Sect. 14 which we have received by the Gospel we cry Abba Father he is not so to be understood as if he meant that every one who hath received of the Spirit of Adoption in any measure were in a capacity hereby to cry much less actually did cry aloud Abba Father upon the terms lately expressed but he means that that Spirit which was sent down from heaven to accompany the Gospel and the Ministry of it might be received entertained and entreated by men and women as that they might become enlarged and enabled by him to cry Abba Father Things use to be described and especially commended by the best and richest of their fruits and by what they are serviceable for when they are in their perfection and not by their mean or less considerable fruits and services As the Apostle commending and setting forth the excellency of love or Christian Charity saith 1 Cor. 13.5 7. among other things Charity doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil And again Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things c. His meaning in these descriptions and commendations of Charity is not to imply that Charity in any degree qualifies men for
these high and excellent deportments of themselves in the World or as if persons in any degree charitable did perform all these worthy things in their perfection But that the nature of charity is such and that the means vouchsafed by God to advance this grace in their souls are such that men and women may be raised and enlarged in it to such a perfection or degree as to be in a capacity of doing all these great and excellent things formerly mentioned So when Paul saith We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father his meaning is not that every one who received this Spirit in any measure or degree doth actually thus cry or is in a present and immediate capacity to do it but that this Spirit being once received may be so comported with and entreated by men as that he will advance his presence to such a fulness or degree that they shall be able by means of that strong testimony to cry Alba Father This is the first thing to be remembred by the way A second thing Sect. 15 is that when the Apostle saith That the Spirit speaking of the Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits that we are the Children of God i.e. as we expounded mightily fortifies and strengthens that Testimony of our own spirit in this behalf He doth not suppose that every man and woman who are more than ordinarily raised in this perswasion or apprehension of themselves I mean that they are the Children of God receive the abundance of this testimony or perswasion from the Spirit of God For very possible it is that men and women who are not the Children of God but far from it may be very strongly and confidently perswaded that they stand in this relation unto God But certain it is that such a perswasion as this in such persons cometh not either in whole or in part from the Spirit of God because he never joyneth in any Testimony whereby an untruth is confirmed There may be another Spirit a Spirit of delusion that standeth at their right hand ready to fall in with them at such a turn as this and it is like will make their perswasion great within them Our Saviour Joh. 16.2 giveth an account of some that would think that they did God good service when they put to death the Disciples of Christ one of the most horrid Acts of Impiety which could lightly be committed And the Jews themselves with whom the Lord Christ had to do in the daies of his flesh were as high and as confident as confidence it self could make them that they were the Children of God yea the first-born Children of God and if there were no more Children of God in the World yet they must needs be of this Generation Now most true it is that this confidence in such persons is in a sense supernatural too for certainly the Spirit of Error and Delusion which standeth at the right hand of sinful and unworthy persons doth suggest this unto them that they are the Children and Saints of God and falleth in with them after the manner of the Spirit of God and if he finds but the least mutterings or whisperings this way in such persons whose spiritual estate and condition he knows much better than themselves do he will fall in with might and main according to his manner of working and operation to help to raise and fortifie this perswasion in them he will give them of this Wine to drink until their senses be bewitched and besotted and by this means their Judgments and understandings bear them in hand with the highest confidence that they are the only Sons and Daughters of God and therefore we must take heed and learn to distinguish and not believe the confident testimony and assurance which some will pretend unto of being the Sons and Daughters of God we must carefully distinguish between the Spirit of God himself and the Spirit of Error and Delusion who as I said doth but lie in wait to hear the Spirit of a man whisper whom he knows not to be a Child of God but to be a wicked proud formal and hypocritical person and then he will fall in amain with him to strengthen his confidence And therefore in respect of the degree and measure of his confidence haply it may be as well with him that is deluded by Sathan as it is with him that is strengthened and raised by the Spirit of God himself Yet in respect of the manner of it and several circumstances that do attend this false perswasion and confidence it may easily be discerned from that which is true The Apostles speaks Col. 2.18 of some persons that were vainly puft up with their fleshly minds whose hearts were not established with grace but with meats meaning that these carnal observations had puffed them up with swelling thoughts of themselves Therefore it is to be considered and remembred that the persons with whose Spirits the Holy Ghost joyns in Testimony that they are the Children of God are only such who are the Children of God indeed i.e. who approve themselves for such by an innocent blameless and fruitful Conversation and particularly who reverence the Counsel and Appointments of God in the Ministry of the Gospel by attending hereupon from day to day If we had time we might give this Item unto you Sect. 16 that the Spirit of God which doth bear up the heart and conscience against all fears and doubtings and contrary apprehensions and the like this Spirit I say is received by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Ministry of it even as it was in the daies of the Apostles Received ye the Spirit saith the Apostle Paul Gal. 3.2 by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith It was the hearing of the Doctrine of the Gospel by which the Spirit of Adoption entred into them and this Spirit came down together with the Gospel from heaven to attend and accompany that in the Ministry and the Preaching of it by the Apostles and others that had part and fellowship with them in that work Even as the Spirit of fear or bondage which the Apostle speaketh of went forth or issued into the World by the Ministry of the Law and upon the giving of it upon Mount Sinai unto which the Apostle alludes when he saith Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear meaning that they had received it namely in their Fore Fathers when they were in their loyns But now saith he you have received namely by the Gospel and the Ministry thereof the Spirit of Adoption by which you cry Alba Father Now then when you shall find men and women that are full of confidence and assurance that they are the Children of God if this Spirit have entred into them upon the hearing of a false Gospel or upon the Preaching of another Jesus and not the Christ of God this is a dangerous sign that it is a Spirit of Delusion
that possesseth and filleth them with a windy confidence that they are the Children of God when indeed they are not because the Spirit of God is not wont to go forth nor to enter into the hearts and consciences of men but where the glorious Gospel of God is received in the truth of it We could instance in some particulars for there are as the Apostle telleth us 1 Cor. 8.5 in his daies in respect of Gods and Lords many that were Gods and Lords so called but saith he unto us there is but one c. So the truth is at this day there are amongst us and round about in this City and near to us Gospels many and Preachers many but in the mean time there is but one Gospel for us for those that know the truth as it is in Jesus And yet many of these Gospels we speak of have their spirits that do attend upon them and for the most part they do wait upon these very Gospels and Ministries that are the rankest of all others filling the Receivers of them with the greatest assurance and confidence that they are the Children of God and in the right way of worshipping and serving of him There is a Gospel which joyns Baptism with Faith in Christ by way of necessity to Justification and so to Salvation even as the Jewish Converts did Circumcision in the Apostles days of which Paul saith unto them Gal. 5.2 I say unto you if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing meaning if ye be Circumcised with an opinion of being justified thereby Christ shall profit you nothing There is another Gospel preached amongst us which teacheth you in effect and underhand yea by express and near-hand consequence that if you be elected how loosely wickedly prophanely and desperately soever ye shall live yet you are in no danger of perishing yea and that however you shall go to work God will bring you in one time or other and that he will so far change the state of affairs with you that you shall neither will nor chuse but to repent and so be saved together with several other Doctrines and Notions of like dangerous consequence and import Again thirdly Another Gospel so called ye have preached amongst you which calleth you from the Scriptures and the light of life which shineth there unto that which they call a light within them though that light be never so dark As if the Scriptures and the light within men so far as it is light and not darkness were at odds Or as if the conveying of Scripture light into the hearts and Judgments of men were like to obscure darken or obstruct and not rather to encrease brighten and perfect that light in men This kind of Gospel is of as dangerous consequence as any of the other A fourth Gospel preached abroad in the World is that all that ever will or shall be justified were justified from Eternity and that upon this account God seeth no sin in them Yea there is a Gospel which preacheth down all Preaching and denieth the usefulness thereof Many other Gospels there are so called in the World which though they be at great variance amongst themselves yet they all agree in enmity and opposition to the true Gospel of Christ like Sampson's Foxes But there is no end of enumerating these high and by kind of strains which men run into from day to day thinking thereby still to better their condition Godward As you find many in a lingring condition with sickness that think if they should but change into such a Room or into such a Bed they should be better So when men have not made a serious and consciencious improvement of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ whilest they did attend and live under the Ministry and Preaching of it but find themselves dissatisfied in their hearts and souls and not enjoying themselves upon terms of that content which they desire they think now that if they do but go forth into such other waies and walk in such other paths that then they shall be made great then they shall reign like Kings and Princes in the Profession of Jesus Christ Now the great Enemy of their Peace and of the Salvation of their souls lies in wait to meet with such occasions and advantages as these are and therefore if such Notions do but begin to bud and put forth in their first conceptions or that the hearts of men do but begin to hanker that way the Devil helps them with his perswasions to go on and then men are very apt to be perswaded that now the Spirit of God is come to them and that he doth procure them that great peace of God which they could never attain nor find from his hand before I cannot pass by that Expression though but lately handled in the Scriptures now opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it carrieth in it so pregnant a Testimony against that dangerous Doctrine which of late hath began to make head amongst us viz That the Holy Ghost is not God Now if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit himself and not any other inferiour spirit subservient unto him who bears witness with the Spirits of the Saints all the World over that they are the Children of God then can he be no other than God himself who filleth all places with his presence Thus then we see a third thing Sect. 17 by means of which they that are filled with the Spirit must needs be possessed with an assurance of their attonement and peace made with God by Jesus Christ viz. they have the Spirit of Adoption within them testifying aloud and with authority with their spirits that they are the Children of God and consequently that their sins are fully attoned in his sight And this was the former particular of the two propounded by which men and women must needs be prepared and put into a rich capacity of enjoying free Communion with God We shall not need I suppose to add any thing to prove or shew that a clear assurance of a mans Attonement made with God opens an effectual door unto him for a free Communion with God This is lightsome and evident enough of it self especially if we take the word Attonement in a compleat signification I mean as it includes and carrieth with it grace and acceptation of a mans person with God For when God is actually reconciled unto a Creature and hath accepted an attonement for his sin He doth not only cease to be an Enemy unto him remaining still as a Stranger or as one from whose anger or displeasure the Person reconciled and attoned is indeed free but hath no further interest in him but upon this said reconciliation unto this Creature he becometh a most real Friend unto him and admits him into his special grace and favour Amongst men it is oft times otherwise a man doth not remain an Enemy after Attonement for that properly is imported in the word Attonement But
to be Errors Heresies Blasphemies c. and by riding over the heads of all those whom he calls Sectaries he shall set God upon the Throne and put an Iron Scepter into the hand of Jesus Christ wherewith to break all his Enemies in pieces like a Potters Vessel making full account that God will never have a Temple upon Earth unless it be of his building The Seeker whilest he throws the House of God out of the Windows as we use to say and makes an utter desolation in the Courts thereof casting out all the Ordinances and Ministrations of it as Menstruous and polluted Rags and makes an headless heartless and confused meeting of a few to speak what any Spirit one or other shall prompt them withall he conceipts and this with confidence enough too that he acts according to the heart of Jesus Christ and that persons of all other forms and waies do rather great disservice to Jesus Christ and the truth than otherwise and that he and men of his inspiration are the only persons that understand aright what makes for the lifting up of the Throne of Christ amongst men Yea the Rantor himself whose Principles and waies have no more Communion with the glory of God or of Jesus Christ than Light hath with Darkness or Christ himself with Belial yet he in his own conceipt is the first-born amongst the Friends of God and of Jesus Christ He alone it is that spreads abroad the sweet savour of Jesus Christ in the World whilest he pours out himself in all manner of abominations and sentenceth men of other Principles and Practices as strangers unto God and to the Gospel and obscurers and darkeners of the Grace of God and the fulness of Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ Yea there is another sort who is the last-born Son of Sathan that I know amongst us he finds false fire in the Zeal of all the former and therefore hath set up a new form or way for the worshipping and serving of God and though Sathan be more palpably visible in it than in any of the former yet he is confident that all other waies ought to cast down their Crowns to the ground at the feet of it yea and that they shall be made to do it Thus God hath many in the World that pretend high in Friendship to him and in Zeal for his glory who yet indeed trouble and disturbe the World And many of them labour in the very sire and some of them do as little spare their flesh as the Servants of Baal did who cut themselves with Knives and Lances which they needed not to do in case they were real Friends indeed unto God and worthy Imitators of the true Zeal and Christian fervour of Spirit which uttered themselves in the Primitive Christians So that as Solomon observing the common pretenses and professions of men one to another expresseth himself thus Prov 20.6 Mâ—st men will boast every man of his own goodness But who can find a faithful man That is a Friend indeed and indeed So may God altogether as truly say that there are many in the World men of this way and men of that way men of a third of a fourth and of a fifth who all boast of their goodness who pretend love to me and zeal for my glory but I can hardly find a faithful man amongst them a man who naturally careth for the things of my glory As the Apostle speaks concerning Timothy that did naturally mind his Affairs it is one of the hardest things in the World to find men especially any publick Society of men that do naturally mind the things of Jesus Christ But the thing I was saying unto you is that the reason why the interest of Prayer in the World I mean amongst Professors of Christianity is fallen so low as it is and is in a manner sunk in comparison of that which it was and appeared to be in the Christians of old is because that the Spirit of love to God that Heroick and vigorous Spirit is sunk in the Christian World It was upon the Wing in the times of the Apostles and some Ages after them but now among all pretenders to God certain it is that God amongst them all finds not many faithful Friends not many of that integrity and uprightness of heart and soul which was found in the Primitive Christians For as God reasoned the case with the Jews long since Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortened c. neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear So then this is a thing which needs be no mans doubt or question that to be great in the sight of God and to have his ear continually open unto a mans Prayer must needs be a treasure of comfort and peace unto him and so in consort with those three other Priviledges formerly opened renders a mans life and condition in the World as desirable as God judgeth meet to permit it to be here We further added Sect. 7 in the proposal of the Motive yet in hand that as a being filled with the Spirit would render a mans life in this World comfortable in respect of the four particulars mentioned yea most desirable So there is no other course that a man can take without this nothing that he can do besides or with a neglect of this will do it will interest a person man or woman in any or however not in all the particulars mentioned without a joynt concurrence of which there will be somewhat material and of moment wanting to the compleating of their condition in the World Let us speak a few words to this also and prove unto you that without a being filled with the Spirit none of the four particulars can be enjoyed or possessed by you at least upon any such terms on which they may be and are enjoyed by those that are filled with the Spirit and on which the desirableness of a mans life in the World is raised and maintained by them Now the reason briefly why none of the great Priviledges mentioned can be enjoyed like themselves by any other course taken or means used without a being filled with the Spirit is this because they all depend upon these cordial and high engagements for God and for the advancement of his interest in the World of which we have lately spoken and these are not likely to be found in any person or persons but in those only who are filled with the Spirit So that we have these two things to open and shew unto you First That the four particulars wherein as we have proved the life of a man in this World as to the greatest desirableness of it consists are not to be had or to be enjoyed either devisim but especially not conjunctim but only by a signal course of righteousness or a very considerable degree of activeness for God Secondly That no mans heart will ever be lifted up to such a course of righteousness as this to such
spend and be spent upon the interest of God in the World certainly if there be any Crowns of Glorie in the World to come more weighty than others they are the persons that shall receive them from Christ Now it only remains that we weigh the Motive and for that I shall refer you to the consideration of what hath already been delivered in this Motive FINIS A Table of such Texts of Scripture unto which light is given in the foregoing Discourse ABraham will command his Children Gen. 18.9 and his House after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Page 512 Now therefore go Exod. 4.12 and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Page 143 If there be a Prophet among you Num. 12.6 I the Lord or I Jehovah will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream Page 143 I said indeed that thy Fathers House shall walk before me for ever 1 Sam. 2.30 Page 30 The Lord hath heard my Supplication Psal 6.9 10. and he will receive my Prayer let all mine Enemies be ashamed and sore vexed Page 529 I will call on the Lord Psal 18.3 who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine Enemies Page 529 The sorrows of Hell compassed me about Ver. 5 6. He heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears Page 529 The eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous Ver. 34.15 17. and his ears are open to their cry the Righteous cry and the Lord heareth Page 525 Then shall I teach Transgressors the way Ver. 51.13 and Sinners shall be converted unto thee Page 48 They are all plain to him that will understand Prov. 8.9 Page 517 Wherefore is there a Price in the hand of a Fool to get wisdom Prov. 17.16 seeing he hath not a heart Page 474 He that despiseth his way Prov. 19.16 Page 83 84 Labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Cease from thine own wisdom Page 474 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Ver. 5. For riches certainly make themselves wings they fly away Page 474 Awake thou North wind Cant. 4.16 and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Page 183 184 Make the heart of this people fat Isa 6.9 10. Page 145 And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me Isa 48.16 Page 145 Neither lift up a cry for this People Jer. 11.14 for if they pray I will not hear them Page 530 Behold the daies come Jer. 30.31 saith Jehovah that I will make a new Covenant Page 145 They should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness Ezek. 14.14 Page 530 When I say unto the righteous man he shall surely live Ezek. 33.13 if he shall trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity in his iniquity he shall die Page 30 The morning cloud Hos 6.4 and early dew Page 88 Rejoyce not against me Mic. 7.8 O mine Enemy Page 83 Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5.48 Page 127 And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you Mat. 7.7 8. 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 Page 309 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 Page 122 123 Therefore every Scribe Ver. 52. which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasury things new and old Page 435 And they likewise received every man a Peny Ver. 20.9 Page 93 94 119 120 Grant these my two Sons may sit the one on thy right hand Ver. 21 23. and the other on thy left in thy Kingdom It is not mine to give but unto them for whom it is prepared of my Father Page 124 125 For unto every one that hath Ver. 25.29 shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Page 19 27 28 29 c. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Ver. 28.19 baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Page 135 c. He saw the Heavens opened Mar. 1.10 and the Spirit like a Dove descending upon him Page 151 152 Why doth the man thus speak blasphemies Mar. 2.7 Who can forgive sins but God only Page 155 156 Ye know not what you ask Mar. 10.35 Page 27 c. For it shall be given to whom it is prepared Ver. 40. Page 27 That he would grant unto us Luke 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear Page 68 69 And ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the Wedding Luke 12.36 37. that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Page 350 Which of you having a Servant plowing or feeding Cattel will say to him by and by when he is come from the field Luk. 17.7 8. 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 which were commanded him I trow not Page 350 c. That was the true light Joh. 1.9 which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Page 284 I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove Joh. 1.32 and it abode upon him Page 153 Jesus answered verily Joh. 3.5 verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Page 156 That which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Page 18 The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth Page 174 Except you see signs and wonders you will not believe Joh. 4.48 Page 408 I am come that they might have life Joh. 10.10 and that they might have it more abundantly Page 68 But if I do Ver. 38. though ye believe not me believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him Page 516 Even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not Ver. 14.17 neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Page 21.22 But the Comforter Ver. 26. which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father
will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Page 164 Abide in me Ver. 15.4 5. and I in you he that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit Page 197 198 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Ver. 15.26 even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me Page 164 c. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Ver. 16.14 Page 216 217 218 And now Father Ver. 17.5 glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Page 136 c. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Ver. 8. and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they believed that thou didst send me Page 516 c. And when he had said this Ver. 20.22 23. he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Page 173 c. Men and Brethren Acts 1.16 this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas Page 176 And when they heard that Acts 4.24 they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c. Page 176 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Page 42 177 Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Ver. 9. Page 177 For in him we live Ver. 17.28 and move and have our being Page 86 We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Ver. 19.2 Page 228 Behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Ver. 20.22 Page 43. c Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1.21 Page 68 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.18 Page 105 Giving glory to God Ver. 20. Page 105 c. For I know that in me Ver. 7.18 that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Page 299 But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind Ver. 23. and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Page 299 For as many as are led by the Spirit Ver. 8.14 c. Page 295 We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Ver. 15. Abba Father Page 505 c. The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Ver. 16. Page 504 c. And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came Ver. 9.5 who is over all God blessed for ever Page 189 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Ver. 10.9 c. Page 48 But fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Ver. 12.11 Page 14 Rulers are not a terror to good works Ver. 13.3 but to evil Page 68 Attending continually upon this very thing Ver. 6. Page 68 For the Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Page 171 231 232 233 For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Page 171 For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 for necessity is laid upon me yea woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel Page 353 354 Wherefore Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe 1 Cor. 14.22 but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them that believe Page 406 c. Therefore 1 Cor. 15.38 my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord for asmuch as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord Page 112 113 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 but our sufficiency is of God Page 242 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5.13 or whether we be sober it is for your cause Page 43 44 Having therefore these Promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord Page 133 134 Your Zeal hath provoked very many 2 Cor. 9.2 Page 47 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Page 544 For the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal 2 Cor. 10.4 but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Page 430 431 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 the Messenger of Sathan Page 492 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Page 252 269 Bear ye on anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 Page 50 51 For he that soweth to the Spirit Gal. 6.8 c. Page 290 Which is his body Eph. 1.23 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Page 131 For this cause I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 16. Of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Page 58 59 60 That ye might being rooted and grounded in love Ver. 17 18. may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and breadth and depth and height c. Page 71 72 73 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth Ver. 4.29 30. c. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Page 12 13 304 305 Knowing whatsoever good thing any man doth Ver. 6.8 the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Page 112 Many waxed confident by my bonds Phil. 1.14 Page 47 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 13. for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Page 158 Who shall change our vile body Phil. 3.21 c. Page 122 123 That in all things he might have the preeminence Col. 1.18 Page 122 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Page 10 11 12 God who counted me faithful 1 Tim. 1.12 putting me into the Ministry Page 35 36 I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern Page 33 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.3 but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts
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
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