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
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 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
stand for such actions Now all Actions which are sutable to a strong Propensity in a man are actions of joy and great delight unto him so that to do justly and righteously when the heart is full of this disposition must needs be matter of joy and of high contentment it must needs ease the heart and soul that is filled with this fulness And so God taketh a pleasure in mercy mercy is his delight because he is full of mercy his Nature and Essence is full of these gracious Principles these sweet and blessed affections and so likewise Righeousness is his delight as on the contrary because there is planted in his Nature a deep and unspeakable detestation and abhorrence of that which is sinful and unrighteous therefore he cannot come near any such Action Now the reason why I make a worthy or considerable degree in holiness an Argument or sign of a mans being filled with the Spirit of God is because the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Holiness And according to the common Maxime in Reason and in Natural Philosophy Omne Agens assimilat sibi patiens c. Every Agent endeavoureth to make the Patient like himself as fire would make all hot So water doth moysten and soften all that doth come near unto it and that will mingle with it The Spirit we know is from place to place in the Scriptures stiled the Holy Spirit this is his proper Name or Character by which he is distinguished Eph. 1.13 In whom or by whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise He is here distinguished from all other Spirits and termed the holy Spirit In whom saith he after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise that is the Spirit promised by God or by Jesus Christ unto Believers Only this is to be remembred by way of Caution when any person is wont to appear in the Form of holiness in respect of any great and solemn detestation of some things or waies that are evil as it is observable in some that they have a great fierceness and as it were a fierce keen edge of Spirit against some kind of sins but are remiss lukewarm and neutral in respect of others being manifest and generally known or acknowledged to be sins This is no Argument of persons being filled with the Spirit of God Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge So when men shall abhor one kind of sin or abomination but yet either practice or pass by or connive at and are not troubled at the practice of another this is a sign that it is not from the Spirit of God or from any fulness with this Spirit that that abhorrence and detestation of that particular sin doth proceed and consequently this is no Argument of any great worth or value to prove that a man is filled with the Spirit of God And thus you have many great pretenders unto holiness and consequently to a being filled with the Spirit by this touchstone of truth discovered to be nothing so There may be indeed other reasons and other motives that may put them forth in a detestation of some sins but if there be other sins that they can suffer without any trouble or regret of soul certainly this is not the Spirit of God that worketh For he never teacheth men to put any such difference between abomination and abomination A fifth Particular Sect. 15 by which a man or woman may be discerned to be filled with the Spirit of God is if they be eminently godly if Godliness hath its perfect work in them i. e. if they be all really and in good earnest solicitous and careful that their waies and actions may have a direct clear and proper tendency to the glorifying or manifesting of God in the World when men without much regret or reluctancy or much pain unto the Flesh can accommodate all their occasions and affairs to the interest of God and his glory This is a great sign of their being filled with the Spirit of God For as we have formerly shewed unto you that as the heaviness of a Stone carries it downwards to its Center just so Godliness maketh the Soul hang Godward and consequently disposeth a man to a kind of solicitousness in all his waies that these may all lead in a straite Line unto the magnifying of God and the advancing of his glory The reason why we deliver this as a Property or Character of a mans being filled with the Spirit is first because the Spirit who is said to be of God or from God cannot but be conceived to be for God also i. e. perswade and encline men to make God and his Glory their Soveraign end and to set him up and his Interest here as the highest and supreme end of all their undertakings and of all their Counsels and dealings in the World And secondly The motions and workings of the Spirit in the hearts and souls of men being every way concurrent with the Gospel for the Spirit moveth not stirreth not doth not encline any mans heart or soul but in consort and in a full and express concurrence with the Gospel with the Sayings Precepts and Exhortations hereof And the Gospel being calculated as it were on purpose with the most exact and best Skill and Wisdom and Understanding to promote Godliness being a Doctrine according unto Godliness i. e. a Doctrine framed and made on purpose to promote Godliness in the World a Doctrine of such a nature and import as if God had a desire by means hereof to set up himself and to draw men unto himself Now then I say the Spirit never working but with a full concurrence with the Gospel and the Gospel being set for Godliness and for the advancement of it in the World it cannot be but that the Spirit of God must set the heart on work in order to the same end also and therefore when it appears that men are to a considerable degree industrious and earnest for the advancing of Godliness it is an indubitable sign or Character that the Spirit of God is present that he is there with a great presence with an abundance of himself and of his power Sixthly Sect. 16 Another sign of persons being filled with the Spirit of God is a like worthy degree of heavenly mindedness When mens minds and thoughts are much intent upon and taken up with heavenly things when the daily converse of the heart and soul is with things of another World when a man can sacrifice his greatest earthly accommodations and conveniences upon his spiritual and heavenly interest and when notwithstanding any state of blessedness doth accrue unto us as unto the things of this World yet a mans heart is daily in heaven when by our Faith we can rent the Vail I say when the mind and thoughts of a man are much exercised and acted about these things this is a great sign likewise that there
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
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
be a great piece of wordly Felicity But alas What is such an interest in the greatest or mightiest King or Prince under the Heavens being compared with that interest which such a person as we have spoken of hath in God The gleanings of him that hath the Ear of the Great God of all the Earth open to his Prayer are better than the Vintage of him that hath the Ear of the greatest Monarch in the World open unto him They who have the Ear of God open upon such terms as persons filled with the Spirit have it are in a capacity hereby not only to provide or procure for themselves as oft as they desire all accommodations regularly necessary to render their lives full of peace comfort and contentment but likewise to Umpire and order the great Affairs of the World round about them yea and to give Laws unto Nations and to rule them with a Rod of Iron For such persons as we now speak of are a first fruits of that World to come which in Scriptures is called the new Heavens and the new Earth the Kingdom of Christ and of the Saints and is much discoursed amongst us under the name of the Fifth Monarchy a Name and Notion proper enough for it and have a first-fruit granted unto them by God of those glorious Priviledges of that Interest of Power and Grandeur which shall be vested in the great Body or whole Community of the Saints in that day of which we may have occasion ere long to speak more particularly So as this shall be the Priviledge and Prerogative of all the Saints in that day that they shall rule the Nations as it were with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel meaning that the whole Earth shall be given unto them as it is in Daniel Dan. 7.18.27 Even so shall the persons we speak of before the Dawning of that Day before the New Heaven and the New Earth taste of the great happiness and felicity of the Chosen of God in those daies and they shall Umpire and Rule and carry and sway the great Affairs of the World as we have it in Rev. 2.26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end that man that standeth it out in my Cause and fights it out unto death to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule with a Rod of Iron c. meaning that he shall have part in the great felicity of that day You know that passage in Jam. 5.17 where it is said that Elijah who was a man subject to the like passions and the like infirmities with other men I suppose he means not so much if at all sinful infirmities as corporal he was a man subject to sorrow and sickness and death as well as we or any of us are and yet he did thus by Prayer he prayed and he shut the Heavens and again he prayed and he opened the Heavens and provided rain for the Earth by his Prayer Now I suppose the Apostle inserts these words A man subject to like passions as we are to remove that great stumbling stone which might be in the minds and thoughts of ordinary Christians that are weak and poor that carry about with them a body of sickness and death and are despised in the World and not regarded and set by by the great men in the World How then should they expect that a God of that infinite Majesty which he is to whom they should pray and make their requests should regard them Especially in the gratifying of them upon any such terms that he should do any great or excellent thing more than ordinary for them Now to such the Holy Ghost here saith do not be troubled let no such thought as this arise within you upon such an occasion for I tell you that Elijah was a man as weak as you cloathed with the same flesh subject to sicknesses and pain and to be contemned and slighted by men as he was by Ahab and others yet this did not at all obstruct his interest with God his Prayer was potent and powerful with him for he did very great things as you know by his Prayer he shut the Heaven being highly offended with the wickedness of the People and their Idolatry He interceded as it were against them and sought to draw down Judgments upon them indeed he sought hereby to humble them and to bring them to the sight of their sins as it seems he did and accordingly when he saw that they did repent and were reformed in their waies he did by another Prayer turn the course of the Displeasure of God another way and drew down the love and favour of God out of Heaven upon them And Sect. 6 my Brethren doubtless the reason why the interest of Prayer is fallen so low and sunk as it were in the Christian World in comparison of what it was in the Primitive times in the daies of the Apostles and in the Ages next after them the reason I say why so little is done in the World by means of Prayer is because the Generation of those who in the Primitive times were wont to be filled with the Spirit and to be large hearted towards God is in a manner extinct and that heavenly vigour which possessed the hearts and reins and brake forth and shewed it self in the lives and waies of the First and Second Ages of Primitive Christians was not lookt after in the Generations afterwards but instead thereof many of them suffered a Spirit of ignorance and blind zeal to enter into them and to possess them which under a pretense of bestirring it self and acting for God and Jesus Christ made wrack and havock of their interest in the World And there is more than enough of this kind of spirit and vigour that is gotten into the the hearts and inward parts of many Professors amongst us who like to the Jews of old have a great zeal for God but not according to knowledge yea there is a great variety of several shapes and forms of this kind of zeal amongst us The Antinomian he laies out himself effectually for the advancement of his Opinion and waies and thinks he doth God and his Gospel the only service in the World A second sort of Professor he is as a flame of fire he is content to spend and to be spent in the Service of his way being full of confidence that even whilest he treads and tramples under foot the peace and comforts of the Children and dear Servants of Christ yet he is the only Benefactor to his Throne and Kingdom amongst men A third Party abominating the Zeal of the former riseth up early and goeth to bed late and eats the bread of much carefulness to mount upon the back of Secular Authority and if he get but his foot fast and sure upon this ground he makes account that by turning the edge of the Magistrates Sword against all that he conceipts
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