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
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
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
to propose unto himself and unto his Spirit for his dealing with the world And for exceptions it is a common saying and true that an exception from a general Rule strengthens and confirms the Rule in all particulars not excepted for there is no general Rule as the saying is that hath not some exceptions Now these exceptions that are to be found from the general Rule we speak of are so far from taking it away or making any breach upon it that indeed they give great confirmation and authority unto it By that standing Rule we speak of God doth explain himself to this effect that men should not expect any extraordinary coming of the Holy Ghost upon them but wait for him in his ordinary way And the truth is those standing Laws and Rules of which we have spoken may be the result of the choisest and most excellent wisdom of the Holy Ghost and of God in ordaining them and yet it may be a point of the same wisdom likewise in some cases to act contrary to them There is a time saith the wise man to build and a time to pull down though these be contrary actions yet according to the exigency of differing times and seasons and occasions both may be done with a like wisdom So that the Holy Ghost may ordinarily walk by one rule and yet in extraordinary cases may walk by another Rule and both with uniformity unto his grace and goodness towards the world But it will be still objected That the Holy Ghost doth not move or act by any determinate Law prescribed unto himself no Sect. 17 not in his ordinary proceedings with men For doth he not many times ever and anon shew himself in his might and in the glory of his strength and power in working effectually upon the hearts and consciences of men that have been loose and vain and a long time wicked and prophane In answer hereunto we might commend unto you those particulars which we have formerly delivered upon this account to consider of But in the sixth place we shall add this to the five preceding which we will not stand now to name that persons that have been loose prophane despisers of God and the Gospel c. may on the sudden and at once seem to be truly converted and brought home unto God when that which is wrought in or upon them in this kind is but either that which some call a Sermon-sickness when the Conscience of a man is only troubled or wounded with the dreadful concernment of the things he hears but soon after recovers himself out of this fit and is the same man he was or worse than before As when Paul before Felix was reasoning of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come it is said that Felix trembled Acts 24.25 But this was but like an earthquake under which the earth is much troubled and shaken as if it would be removed out of its place but soon after recovers and returns to its wonted stability Or else the work we speak of suddenly wrought in loose sensual and prophane persons may possibly not vanish and come to nothing and yet not be a real work of Conversion yet doth it not follow that the Holy Ghost should be found therein to recede from his own Law mentioned To him that hath shall be given because possibly a man may have more in him by way of improvement within the space of one hour and perhaps in a far shorter time than another in the space of several hours yea or years and yet be an Haver too in the sense formerly declared my meaning is this That a man or woman may possibly with a less assistance of the Spirit more effectually provoke and stir up themselves and advance their minds and attentions to the hearing and considering of the Gospel the words of eternal life when they are speaking unto them than another man with a greater measure of assistance of the same Spirit may do within the space of a far longer time and yet be doing somewhat all the while As in matters of a Civil concernment one man with a lesser stock only with more diligence and wisdom may advance his estate more within the space of one year than another with a greater stock being less industrious and provident may do in three and this man may not go backward neither That hath been heretofore signified unto you that the Holy Ghost seldom or never withdraws from any man so low unless it be in the case of the unpardonable sin but that a person may by means of his gracious presence with him if he will provoke and stir up himself accordingly he may consider the things of his eternal peace and act and behave himself accordingly That God is said to open the heart of Lydia Acts 16.14 So that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul doth not prove that Lydia had a greater presence or assistance of the Spirit of God than any other that were present at the preaching of the Gospel whereby she was converted But only notes the happy event and success which that assistance she had had in and upon her heart like unto which there was none wrought or produced in any other there present by any presence or assistance of the Spirit which they had This is a Principle or Rule according to which many things are spoken and are to be taken and understood in the Scriptures viz. that when one and the same action is raised and produced by a joynt concurrence of two different causes one principal and independent in its efficacy or working the other subordinate and dependent in the acting thereof the effect or work produced between them is sometimes as in good propriety of speech it may be ascribed to the one and sometimes to the other but more commonly to the former that which is the principal So that act of opening Lydia's heart because God was the principal agent in it and cause independent in working it though this was not could not be without Lydia's act in consenting God opened and she opened too for she repented and believed see Rev. 3.20 yet the work is ascribed only unto God But this by the way Seventhly Sect. 18 and lastly When there is any such example in reality and truth as the objection mentioneth viz. a person on the sudden converted and brought home unto God which hath formerly been loose vain and prophane there may be somewhat more than an ordinary presence of the Holy Ghost in and about the work without any declining of that Law or Rule before mentioned from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath For it is to be supposed and not at all to be doubted that even he that hath not in our Saviours sense of the word have that hath not any thing upon improvement of his original stock yet may have somewhat commodious and advantageous unto him at this turn upon the account of some other one or
the hard hearts and consciences of sinful and unbelieving men The words of God in the mouths of such men are as Arrows in the hand of a Giant as David speaketh Psal 127.4 they pierce deep and do execution afar off Other men that for matters appertaining unto God are but like the rest of the World and have nothing singular in their lives and conversations though using and uttering the same words with the former are yet but as sounding Brass or tinkling Cymbals in comparison of them Yea when men shall be found or known to be as it were rent and torn or broken in their obedience unto the Gospel alas they know or may know that when they shall preach the Doctrine of Faith Repentance Mortification or the like men will have wherewith to answer all that shall be spoken unto them by such men from their own mouths For who regards words and sayings where actions and works are of a contrary import As he that speaks Contradictions one while affirming one thing and at another time the quite contrary this man edifies no man by such a kind of discourse no man can tell whether he speaketh truth in the former Proposition or whether in the latter and so they go away as if nothing had been spoken they who speak at no better a rare destroying one saying with the other In like manner they whose lives and actions rise up against their teachings or speakings are of kin to those dumb Dogs of which the Scripture speaks Isa 56.10 For what they teach or affirm in words they deny in works and so in effect teach nothing at all The reason why Christ is said to have taught with authority and not as the Scribes and Pharisees is given by some to be this and I conceive it very pertinent viz. because he did what he said and taught and they said and did not So when they that keep the holy Commandment and walk up to the Rule of the Gospel shall teach admonish and instruct they shall do it with power and authority the Conscience and Judgments of men will give them reverence and do homage unto them As it is said of Herod that he feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things Mar. 6.20 And our Saviour taketh notice else-where of his righteousness and holy life as making his Doctrine much more commendable and of force upon the Consciences of men and withal chargeth such persons very high who did not embrace and submit unto his Doctrine John faith he came unto you in a way of righteousness and yet you believed him not Mat. 21.32 as who should say You declared your selves a Generation of Vipers indeed when as having such a man as John come among you a person so innocent and holy that you could lay nothing to his charge yet you reject his Doctrine you believe him not which is contrary to the light of Reason and argues a preposterous and perverse spirit frowardly bent against the Truth So that if men be not of this Generation men of a viperous spirit and desperately set upon their own ruine and destruction it cannot lightly be but the Gospel coming from the mouthes of just and holy men will do great execution upon them and make the powers of sin and darkness to fly before it Thus we have made good that in the Reason given which was supposed being this That every man standeth bound in duty towards God to act the part of a worthy Benefactor unto the World round about him and as far as in him lieth to bless his Generation The other thing which is affirmed in the Reason Sect. 7 was That no man or woman can be in any good or indeed tolerable capacity to discharge this Obligation unless they be filled with the Spirit of God And this we have in part made good already in what was delivered in opening the former Reason There we shewed That men and women will never do any great any singular thing for God and the interest of the Gospel unless they take a regular and due course to be filled with the Spirit There is the same consideration of doing great things for the World Men and women will fall extremely short of their duty herein also and with-hold that from the World which is its due unless they take an effectual course to strengthen their hand and their heart to the work which must be by filling themselves with the Spirit of God For as they who give munificently and like Princes had need be Princes or at least have the the Estate and Revenues of Princes So such men and women who shall cast in any thing considerable into the Treasury of the World to cover the nakedness and feed the hunger and heal the poverty of it had need be full of the Divine Nature and have a special Magazine within them of Faith and Love of Wisdom and Knowledge of Patience and Humility of Mortification and elf-denial and many other heavenly endowments Otherwise they shall never be able to rejoyce over mankind to do it much good nor to sow liberally and plentifully unto it As the Lord Christ had he not been Rich as the Apostle faith 2 Cor. 8.9 the making of himself Poor would not have extended to the making of many Rich so in case that a person hath but a little inward worth in him if he be scanted in true excellency and nobleness of spirit though he should empty and pour out himself to the World the poverty of it is such and the necessity of it so extreme craving and so devouring above measure that such an estate would do little more towards the relief of it than the seven fat Kine in Pharaohs dream did toward the seven that were lean and ill favoured the Text faith when they had devoured them they were not seen upon them but they were as lean and starven and as evil favoured as before the fat had need it seems to have been seven and seven and twenty times seven times fatter than they were to have wrought a Cure upon the leanness and hard-favouredness of the other And as Andrew Simon Peters Brother informed Christ of a Lad that had five barly loaves and two small fishes but viewing the multitude that were to be fed demanded but what are they amongst so many Joh. 6.9 And the truth is without the miraculous interposure of a Divine Power for their multiplication they had been very little indeed amongst the multitude that was to be relieved by them In like manner he that shall diligently consider and compute not so much the numberless multitude of souls or of men and women in the World round about him as the numberless multitude of their spiritual necessities and those very sad and threatning with open mouth eternal ruine and destruction on every side cannot lightly but confess upon the view that he that shall minister unto them with any likelihood
of me but according to mine own labour diligence and faithfulness in his service that is according to what my labour c. shall by the standard of his grace and bounty amount unto If I have laboured more abundantly than they all I shall be rewarded above them all So Ephes 6.8 compared with Gal. 6.7 Knowing this speaking unto and encouraging Servants to shew all faithfulness unto their Masters to adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same he shall receive that is shall be punctually and particularly considered by God for it And so Gal. 6.7 For whatsoever a man sows the same shall he also reap It cannot reasonably be understood only of the sameness of the Seed as if his meaning was that he should reap the same kind of seed with that which he soweth as when for instance he that soweth wheat reapeth wheat so he that soweth the seed of Sanctification or of good works shall reap a harvest of Sanctification or of good works this cannot I say reasonably be judged to be the meaning of the Apostle but thus whatever a man sows that is whatever seed either for quantity or proportion or of nature and quality any man soweth as whether it be the seed of life and glory or of shame and punishment he shall reap in life and glory and so in shame and punishment accordingly Whatsoever a man soweth it doth not only import the species or kind but the degree also or the proportion of the goodness or badness of the Seed that shall be sown in any kind And so in the other place Eph. 6.8 knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free The Particle whatsoever must needs be comprehensive and distributive of all a mans good actions whether they have been hundreds or thousands or millions of thousands together with all the degrees of their several goodnesses respectively which are all exactly known unto weighed and estimated by God Now these good actions of men be they never so many for number or so excellent in worth and goodness yet the doers of them shall receive the same things of the Lord that is shall have in their reward a particular and appropriate consideration which shall answer not in strictness of justice for God doth not reward according to such a Rule but in the most gracious and bountiful esteem of God both every one of their said actions and every degree of goodness found in any of them and in them all Suppose a person who from his youth up until old age and the hour of his death should continue diligent and faithful fervent in spirit serving the Lord should receive no better or greater reward from him than he who amongst Believers shall have brought forth least fruit unto God and been coldest in his service this person could not in this case be said to receive whatsoever good thing he had done but only some few of these things viz. so many of them as shall answer in number and worth the services of the other who is supposed to have done little unless we shall say that this other shall receive of the Lord not only whatsoever good thing himself hath done but whatsoever any other hath done in this kind But this word whatsoever is as was said comprehensive and includes the whole body of a mans service and obedience or laying out of a mans self for God and for righteousness sake and implieth so many particular services so many particular rewards upon the matter For that very reward whatever it be which such a man shall receive will have all his worthy actions and services in it there will be a Crown calculated and framed by God as it were on purpose for him and fitted to his head wherein every thing that he hath done for God and upon the account of Jesus Christ will be found in a sutable weight of glory I shall insist only upon one place more at presenâ— 1 Cor. 15.38 Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. You see he enforceth this point of advice or exhortation to them alwaies to abound in the work of the Lord upon this motive or ground because they knew namely in their continual abounding in the work of the Lord that their labour should not be in vain in the Lord. But if we shall suppose that they that abound most of all in the labour and work of the Lord shall receive no more upon the account of such their abundant labour than they that should labour least of all being the most unprofitable of all Believers and whose Faith should be little better than an empty Vine in this case their labour namely in the excellent degree or abundance of it would be in vain that is it would turn to no account of profit or recompense of reward to him that should undergo the burthen of it For certainly the Apostle reminding them that their labour in the Lord how abundant soever should not be in vain doth not speak of the fruit or success of such their labour in the world as that they might or should do good unto or convert many by such their example or the like but of the bettering their own accounts at the Great Day giving them to understand that if they should nor slack their hand in so great and blessed a business they should consult honour and glory in abundance for themselves in the day of Christ Now if you please let us add to the Scriptures opened and argued a few reasons to strengthen your Faith yet further in the Point in hand First Such a dispensation of God as his conferring of rewards with an equal inequality giving greater things to those that do more and be more faithful Such a dispensation I say as this being proclaimed in the midst of the World hath more spirit and life in it to provoke and strengthen every mans heart and hand unto Godliness and this in the highest degree than to declare that they that sow most sparingly shall notwithstanding reap as plentifully as they who sow most liberally For such a declaration as this in effect they ascribe unto God who make him a distributor of rewards without any distinction of the services rewarded by him But doubtless such a Notion or Doctrine as this That all Believers shall fare alike is of a dangerous and quashing import to the spirit of all signal excellency and of a destructive antipathy to all heroick conceptions of Christianity When men have an opportunity to raise an estate and get wealth for themselves How will they rise early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness They will be more industrious by far than when they work only for stinted wages which they know they shall have whether they work little
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
cannot say that this is a spirit of slumber or sloth that is upon them But if it be upon some other account if it come upon them in a way of Judgment from God for some sinful abuse of mercies then they may be said to be filled with a spirit of slumber and this heavy temper that renders them thus unactive every way and in all respects seems to be the effect of some evil spirit unto which God hath given Commission or Permission thus to punish or abase the Creature for his sin For it is very probable to add this only by the way that as in Commonwealths or Kingdoms Politique the Inhabitants for the accommodation and conveniency of the whole betake themselves to several Callings Occupations or Trades some are Husbandmen some Carpenters some Chirurgions c. For the body of a Commonwealth as it was the saying of a Philosopher doth not consist of a Husbandman and a Husbandman but of variety of Trades wherein respectively by means of an Appropriation or Confinement of themselves to one and the same imployment they become more expert and dexterous every man in his way and so the whole is the better accommodated and provided for In like manner I say it is very probable that these wicked and unclean Spirits the Devils who have a Politie such as it is to manage and uphold for the accommodation of their affairs and the advantage of their Kingdom and the greatness thereof that they do betake themselves to several Trades and Occupations in their way and that some of them apply themselves to one kind of Action or imployment for the better managing and maintaining of their Kingdom and some unto another All the variety of imployments which are practiced amongst them or is indeed any waies necessary for the welfare such as it is capable of of their Kingdom being reduceable to these two general Heads First The tempting men unto sin Secondly The troubling and tormenting them when he hath overcome them by temptation Now under these two Heads may be reduced all that they have to do And in both these there is a kind of Appropriation or Assignment of Methods and things sutable unto particular Spirits We know there are several kinds and great varieties of sins which the Sons and Daughters of men may act and perpetrate and are subject to be tempted unto And so again there are great varieties of Punishments and Judgments which are inflicted by God upon Men. Now as there are great varieties of sins whereunto men and women may be tempted as sins of Uncleanness Adultery Covetousness Idolatry and the like So is it very probable from the Scriptures that there are several Devils that do attend upon all these sins there is one kind of Devil that attends upon this kind of sin another upon that some that do tempt men unto Uncleanness others to Covetousness another to Murder another sort of them tempt to Pride for there are Devils in abundance and whole troops that do manage one kind of sin And so likewise in matters of Judgments and Punishments there are some that God maketh use of as men are wont in their way to use and employ men according to their Capacities to afflict in one kind and then he sets other Devils on work who are of another Occupation and who know how to afflict men and women such persons who have offended whom he judgeth worthy to be chastised in another kind Methinks the Scriptures give a little hint of this where we read of some Devils that were dumb and deaf Mar. 9.17 25 26. Mat. 9.32 compared with Luke 11.14 The Devil may be called dumb because he doth inflict that kind of punishment or affliction which we call dumbness and so likewise of others If then any persons be reduced to such a kind of Lethargie that they neither feel the one World or the other nor are enclined to labour after the concernments of the one nor of the other Such persons as these may be said to be filled with the spirit of heaviness flumber or drowsiness This by the way In the first place then take notice that there are a Generation of men and women which we can hardly say that they be filled with any Spirit unless it be a spirit of drowsiness or flumber A second thing to be taken knowledge of by the way Sect. 2 is that the same persons at several times and in different cases may be filled with the Spirit of God and with the Spirit of Sathan or which is the same with a contrary spirit and this not only under the two different Estates of Regeneracy and Unregeneracy which was Paul's case but even under one and the same state and condition of Regeneration yea and possibly of Unregeneracy also A good man that is full of the Spirit of God if we speak of him in his habitual estate and condition ordinarily may yet at sometimes be filled with the spirit of Sathan From this last particular it followeth that there are two kinds of being filled with the spirit of God and proportionably two kinds of being filled with an unclean Spirit the one actual and for a time only the other habitual and standing Now though it be this habitual and standing fulness of the Spirit of God that we chiefly intend to enquire after and to propound some Characters of yet something may fall in relating to the other also He then that is filled with the Spirit of God ordinarily and this in the standing course of his life yet is it very possible that at some time Satan may get into him and fill him with himself with a lusting of his Spirit And so on the contrary A person that is filled with an unclean spirit ordinarily may at several times be prevented with the Spirit of God that is God may do by him as sometimes he did by Balaam the Spirit of God did so fill him that he spake and prophesied of great and excellent things yet the truth is that the habitual frame of Balaam was a being filled with the spirit of the Devil He had familiar converse with the Devil yet nevertheless at that turn he was filled with the Spirit of God which put to silence that spirit of the Devil So is it likewise possible that upon him that is filled with the Spirit of God the Devil may break in with a gust of temptation as doubtless Peter himself was a regenerate man and a Disciple of Christ yet when he denied his Lord and Master Christ and not only so but forswore him with an Oath of Execration upon himself that he knew him not certainly Satan was in him For what could he have done more if he had been filled with that unclean spirit Yea and after that when he dissembled at Antioch when he complied with the Jews and so endangered the truth of the Gospel and that liberty which was now brought unto the World here also he was touched at least with this unclean spirit
how many pretenders have we to little less than a Prophetick Unction to mystical discoveries to a deep and further insight into the mind of God in the Scriptures and to the understanding of things there whose Notions notwithstanding the pretended fruits of such their high Anointings and Revelations being weighed in the Balance of the Sanctuary are found light and to have nothing of the mind of God or of Christ in them Therefore in the first place unless these discoveries which are pretended unto and held forth with the greatest confidence shall commend themselves for truth unto the judgments and understandings of sober and judicious men much versed and exercised in the Scriptures either from their own light or evidence or else shall be made out by light of Argument and Demonstation Whether from the Scriptures or clear Principles in reason to be real truths and such things that are every waies worthy the Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness of God they are not to be looked upon as proceeding from any fulness of the Spirit in their Authors but as the exertions and puttings forth of a Spirit of vanity and delusion in men For certainly God would not have sent Christ Jesus in the end of the World to seal vp Revelations and Prophesies and to set bounds unto the Children of men and afterward send these men to gather up what Jesus Christ hath scattered and to make perfect what he hath left imperfect Wko knoweth not that the New Testament is sealed with a Curse with dread and terrour unto the man or woman that shall either make any breach upon that which is there delivered by diminishing ought thereof and so likewise unto any that shall bring any new or further Revelation than what is already brought in there Secondly In case by the opportunity and advantage of Education Sect. 21 liberty for Study and searching into Authors and Writers or the advantage of pregnancy of Wit quickness of Apprehensions or the like any man shall attain unto a greater dexterity or ability to unfold the Scriptures and to bring many of the secrets thereof to light which have been hidden from the eyes of others this doth not necessarily argue a fulness of or a being filled with the Spirit at least in the sense wherein we have prosecuted the Doctrine hitherto i. e. a filling with the Spirit as sanctifying unless it shall appear by their lives and waies that they are really and throughly perswaded of the truth and certainty of these things which they hold forth from the Scriptures It is true many men may do great Services for the Christian World and for the Saints and that by opening the great Deeps or Fountains of the Scriptures and may cause many beams of light and Spiritual understanding to break forth and many waies of Wisdom there to appear and yet may not believe As it is with a fained Story though there may be some kind of rationality in it yet the rationality of it doth not therefore argue its truth and verity just so men may maintain the reasonableness of the Scriptures and consequently many great truths therein contained they may argue excellently and shew how one thing giveth light unto another and yet nevertheless at the bottom there may be nothing else but uncertainties and doubtings of the truth of all the Story and this hollowness and defection at the bottom and core and root of the heart is like to break out and bewray it self in such a kind of life and conversation which is unsutable unto the tenour of Scripture and unto the Genius Nature and light of the glorious Gospel which they declare or preach unto men The Reason of the Character or sign last mentioned Sect. 22 whereby to judge of any mans being filled with the Spirit is because it is the proper work of the Spirit to open and reveal unto men the Scriptures and the mind of God there so that when any person man or woman shall be found to excell in such a way upon the terms and with the cautions lately specified I mean to be richly acquainted with the mind of God in the Scripture it must needs argue a great measure of the Spirit of God in them For it is I say the property of the Spirit of God to reveal the mind of God in the Scriptures and to reveal such and such truths which have lain dormant in the bodies of the Scriptures wound up and unpublished For the Spirit of God hath reserved and set apart some particular portion of truth which is appropriate to every Age and Generation that cometh over the World which is to be opened unto it Some conceive that the seven Seals do respect several Ages and times wherein several truths are to be revealed as that in such an Age and Time when one Seal was broken up there was such a part of the mind of God let out and so at the breaking up of a second then cometh forth another part of the mind of God This is clear and experience teacheth us that every Generation and every Age have had some sealed or fallow ground of Scripture broken up unto them some considerable passage of Scripture that hath never seen the Sun that hath never been so generally understood or known by men as in the present Generation so that it being the proper work of the Spirit of God to take away the vail and covering which hath been upon the Scriptures when he findeth some person whom he doth much delight in he will single him out for this service 1 Cor. 2.10 11 c. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God That is according to Scripture Language teacheth men to search and to find out by searching the deep things of God i. e. such Counsels of his which do not lie in the surface of the Scriptures such things which cannot be seen at the first cast of a mans eye For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now the Notions which are bred in the Mind and in the Nature of God are of another sort of a quite different nature from those which are ingendred and conceived in the mind of men even as those impressions in bruit beasts are of a far other nature and kind from those which are in men and being of another nature and kind and also inferiour to those Notions or Impressions which are in man they cannot understand or comprehend those Notions or Impressions and those Principles of Action that are in men and by which they order and steere their course The Reason is because these Notions or Impressions that are in Men are of a superiour kind to those in Beasts and out of the reach of them or any other created being especially beneath themselves So that though it should be supposed that
kind of service which shall receive grace and thanks from the hands of God For God estimateth the works of men much after the manner that men do the services of their Children if they perform such services after the manner of Sons not as if they were a burthen unto them they shall not simply have the reward of a Servant but they shall have a further reward the reward of a Son The Parable Luke 12. implieth that Christ did thank such a Servant Why Because though in a simple consideration he did not act above what he was commanded yet he did more and above what he was commanded upon the penalty of Damnation We read Luke 17.12 of Ten Lepers that were cleansed and we know that there was an express Injunction in the Law that when they were healed they should shew themselves to the Priest and probable it is that all the Ten did according to the Law in this case only here is mention of one that did return and give the Lord Christ thanks Now though this person did no more in that Act of Thanksgiving than was a duty lying upon him in a special consideration to do and though the Nine did fulfill the Letter of the Law and so did that whereby they might escape punishment yet they did not rise up to that grace and acceptation which the other person did who did not only go to the High Priest but returned and gave thanks to his Physician also and did hereby obtain favour and high acceptation from the hands of God and Jesus Christ upon the account of such a behaviour he was as a Son of a Son-like and ingenuous frame of heart Consider that passage of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 9.16 Sect. 5 For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of For a necessity is laid upon me and woe is me if I preach not the Gospel For though I preach the Gospel c. Meaning that this is nothing by way of special acceptation at the hands of God because he had a necessity lying upon him in respect of the Command of God yea under the Penalty of a Woe Woe is unto me c. But if I preach the Gospel willingly and with freeness of heart and soul so as if there were no express and particular Law lying upon me to necessitate me thereunto then I have somewhat to boast of for this Service I know my Lord and Master will give me a peculiarity of reward The Apostle in this place clearly distinguisheth the preaching of the Gospel when necessitated thereunto by a Command of God from the preaching of it willingly If I preach the Gospel I have nothing whereof to boast for a necessity is laid upon me c. A man that hath nothing to engage him to an Action or Service but meerly to be delivered from punishment hath nothing to boast of But saith he if I do this thing willingly I have my reward c. Therefore to preach the Gospel and to preach it willingly are two different Services by doing the one a man shall escape punishment it being obedience to a necessity lying upon him But if I preach it willingly then saith he I know I shall have consideration in abundance from the hand of my great Lord and Master It follows ver 18. What is my reward then The word is taken two waies sometimes more largely sometimes more strictly It is sometimes translated Wages sometimes Reward or that consideration which doth precisely answer in value to the work which is done and for which it is given But sometimes a reward as when it exceeds in value the work done and doth in a transcendent degree rise above the strict worthiness of the Service so then What is my reward That is How must I go to work in this great Commission which is given unto me to preach the Gospel to make my self capable of my reward Why thus saith he when I preach the Gospel that I make it without charge This noble excellent and worthy strain of the Apostle in performing the Service which was committed to him this was the ground-work of his rejoycing and that which filled him with so much confidence and boldness in the presence of God and this you will all find if you will but stir up your hearts and be ingenuous and noble towards God and not stand picking and huckstering with your hearts to know how you must do to escape hell fire under such a frame of heart you shall still be full of fears and doubtings you will not be like those that are genuine and noble and high spirited in the Service of God My Brethren we shall all find if we stir up our hearts and strengthen our hands to those excellent Commands which are apt when they are obeyed to enoble our Spirits the obedience unto them is that which will give us confidence and boldness before God When as your obedience to the other will possibly give you some kind of faint hope that you shall be saved and that you shall escape the wrath and vengeance that is to come but will hardly carry you up further but that your confidence will ever and anon be full of stands and your Enemy the Devil will be ready to triumph over you Whereas those that have given up themselves to obey their heavenly Father in those great Commands these are the men who are likely to have the Spirit of Adoption to be able to come with boldness unto God and to call God Father with a good courage Thirdly Sect. 6 For Instruction If it be the Will of God that all men especially Believers should be filled with the Spirit of God then take knowledge from hence that a being filled with the Spirit is no impossible attainment is an estate of happiness which is accessible to the endeavours and engagements of men why else should God call men unto it or impose it as a duty upon them Doth he invite or exhort the Saints to impossibilities those whom he desireth to put beauty and excellency upon doth he invite these to do things absolutely and altogether out of their reach Doth he perswade men to purchase the wind or to lay out themselves for that which can never be had or enjoyed Surely he doth not because it is not a thing that doth any waies answer the infinite grace and wisdom of God Some men indeed strive to perswade themselves and others that God commandeth many things which he intendeth not that any man should perform yea and which he knoweth are impossible for any man to perform But I trust none of us know these depths of Satan I mean are spiritually adulterous with them in our minds or thoughts or practically know them To be perswaded to think that God intends not desires not our obedience unto whatsoever he demands of us what is it but to break the very heart and to cut in sunder the very sinews of our obedience and weaken the hand of our preparations
that way and to tempt our selves to a neglect of the Commandments of God yea and to dishearten and discourage men from so much as the knowledge of what is commanded them of God For if they shall know their Masters Will and yet not do it and do it they cannot if the intention of God stand in opposition hereunto or if they want ability to do it I say to know the Will of God and not to do it is to incur the danger of being beaten with many stripes and to bring the sorer condemnation upon themselves Therefore we need not demur upon this Point or doubt but that whatsoever God hath commanded us to do yea or shall exhort us unto he hath put us into a capacity of doing it at least into a mediate or remote capacity from which we may thorough the grace of God that is never wanting unto us in this kind advance unto that which is immediate and within reach of the duty or performance it self Let us therefore comfort our selves over this gracious Advice and Exhortation given unto us by God of being filled with the Spirit and know that though it be an Estate or Priviledge very high and glorious as we have declared formerly yet it lieth within the reach of our faithful and zealous endeavours for the obtaining it there is nothing that can hinder us from the obtaining of it but our voluntary neglect and our slothfulness which as it is the impoverishing and beggaring many thousand in the World in respect of outward things so is it universally the spiritual beggary and poverty of Christians There is no man suffers the want of any thing for his peace and for the accommodation of his soul but his own slothfulness and his own carelesness in this kind is accessary unto and the occasion of it Fourthly and lastly for Instruction If the Doctrine be true Sect. 7 take we notice from hence yet further that it is the Will and Desire of God we should be excellent that we should be a Royal Priesthood indeed unto him that we should live the life of Angels both in point of HOliness and of Happiness For such a life as this in both these high accommodations is comprehended in a being filled with the Spirit as we have formerly at large made known unto you when we set before you the transcendent Priviledges and great glory of such a state or accomplishment How rich and blessed a Contemplation is it to feed upon and to nourish our hearts withal that God would not have us live at any low under or pedling rate as not of Action Service or Employment so neither of Contentment Joy or Satisfaction But his mind and desire is to make us to live like Princes for the greatness and nobleness of our Imployments on the one hand and like Princes also for the desirableness of our state and condition on the other hand It is said of Chirst that he hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Rev. 1.6 First Kings then Priests Kings in order to their Priesthood for the truth is there is none fit or meet to be Priests unto God but those that are Kings i.e. that enjoy themselves upon the richest and highest terms of contentment and joy that may be Those that minister unto him in his holy things do not answer the nature and dignity of the Service or of the things about which and wherein they minister but especially they do not answer the infinite goodness and bounty of him whom they serve who minister unto him either with dejected and sad hearts and spirits on the one hand or with remiss or indifferent hearts on the other hand Priests of a right Consecration had need partake of the anointing of the great High Priest himself I mean they had need be anointed with the oyl of joy and gladness above their Fellows above other men Now that the Heart of God is with the Sons and Daughters of men to put them into the honourable capacity we speak of as far as is meet for him to promote the thing appears as hath been said by that most gracious advice he gives them in requiring them to be filled with the Spirit This is that which will make them Kings indeed and Priests indeed He that is filled with the Spirit is fit to stand before the God of all the Earth and to minister unto him so that if any person be not a King and so in the fullest capacity of being a Priest unto God the reason of his defectiveness in this kind is not God The reason why he is not a King or Priest of this Royal Consecration is not because God would not have him to be such or because he is unwilling to confer such things upon him such an anointing which would make him a Priest of this Consecration We see that God would have us all filled with the Spirit which being interpreted as we have heard is to make us a Royal or Kingly Priesthood But the reason of every mans defectiveness or falling short in this kind is his own Oscitancy willing negligence and unworthiness of spirit We cannot say as Balak the King said unto Balaam the Prophet Num. 24.11 Now the Lord hath kept the back from honour No it is not the Lord who hath kept us from this honour but we our selves He is so far from keeping us from it that he calls upon us and counsels us and tells us what we have to do in order to the obtaining of it And as I said before it is not meet for him to go on any farther in this work his Spirit is free unto it his Spirit is near unto you it would fill your heart and soul it would make you all Princes and make you all a Royal Priesthood unto God but it is not meet for God to force such a thing as this upon you to make you do it whether you will or no to make you Kings and Priets whether you will or no But now that you might do this he delivers out himself unto you and he expecteth that there should be a consent on both hands though otherwise there is as much importunity and force to encline and carry you that way as can be in a way of Argument yea and as much force in respect of secret Impulse and Excitation by the Spirit of God as may be only reserving unto you the Liberty of consenting unto it So that this is another Instruction of rich concernment unto your souls even to consider that there is nothing between us and such an unspeakable dignity of being Kings and Priests unto the Eternal God There is nothing on Gods part wanting the Heavens are open they bow down themselves unto you on this behalf If any man doth fall short let him know that there is nothing but only his Unworthiness of spirit which whilest he doth harbour and doth nor overcome he cannot lay out his heart and soul so free in the consideration of
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
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
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