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
or in any form of special aspect one upon another but as it were laid together in great heaps Yet there is I confess a relative opposition between the words read and the former part of the verse plainly intimated by this adversative Particle But And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess But be filled with the Spirit Which Particle clearly implies that to be drunken with wine as we have it or as the word elsewhere frequently signifieth To drink wine freely or to be given inordinately unto it to sit upon the brink of the pit of drunkenness though possibly you may not fall into it Is a thing inconsistent with your being filled with the Spirit For wine being freely drank as it inflames a man or the body of a man So on the contrary it quencheth the Spirit in him and causeth that to abate its fervency by degrees and to withdraw more and more from the Soul or else obstructeth his entrance into a man For the clearing the sense and meaning of the words there are three things briefly to be opened First Sect. 2 What is here meant by the Spirit Secondly What it is to be filled with the Spirit Thirdly why the Apostle exhorts and perswades to a being filled or to a filling of themselves with the Spirit by occasion of the preceding dehortation viz. from being drunken with or from being given to much wine For the first There are several significations of the word Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet it is as clear as the Sun that the Apostle hath nothing to do with in this place 1. It sometimes signifieth the wind Joh. 3.8 2. Sometimes it signifieth courage or such a frame of heart which is opposite to despondency or extremity of fear Josh 5.1 Neither was there Spirit in them any more 3. It sometimes signifieth the mind disposition or inclination of a man Pro. 14.29 But he that is hasty or rather according to the original short of Spirit i. e. that is of a Cholerick or rash temper or disposition being not able to contain himself or hold out in patience for a little season under temptations exalteth folly 4. It sometimes signifieth the soul of a man and this is a frequent acceptation of this word in the Scripture I need not cite any instances for this places of this import are obvious and frequent Sometimes the understanding or discerning powers or faculties of the soul are signified thereby Exod. 35.21 Every one whom his Spirit made willing i. e. whose judgment and understanding in artificial work inclined him to a willingness in that kind viz. for the work of the Sanctuary There are these and several other significations of the word Spirit which by comparing the place in hand with the particularities of them it will be found as clear as the Sun at noon day that they are none of them to be understood or meant in this place and therefore for expedition sake I shall omit them Neither shall I argue against any of those several senses of the word Spirit even now mentioned That by the Spirit Sect. 3 here is meant the holy blessed and incomprehensible Spirit of God the third of the three Persons in the divine Being or Essence Besides the concurrent judgment of the best Expositors upon the place It may be evinced from the Antithesis or opposition the words read have unto the former part of the verse As also from the comportance and perfect agreement in the next verse with this signification of the word Spirit For the first the Apostle opposeth their being filled with the Spirit to their being drunken or filled with wine Now take the word Spirit in any other signification whatsoever besides that we have pitched upon viz. for the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and you will not find any such emphatical liveliness in opposition between being drunken with wine and being filled with the Spirit you may make trial and take an account of particulars at your leisure But now between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God there is such a strong clear and pregnant opposition that the one fighteth against and excludeth the other For he that is drunk with wine is full of the spirit of sin and of the devil and during either the act or the habit but especially the act of such a drunkenness such a person is utterly uncapable for that time in sensu composito so long as he is under the power of his drunkenness of being filled with the Spirit of God As on the contrary he that is filled with the Spirit of God is in no capacity during this his fulness of being made drunk with wine wherein is excess But Secondly That by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God is further evident from what the Apostle immediately subjoyns in the next verse Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs making Melody in your hearts unto the Lord. As men that are drunken or enflamed with wine are apt to speak to themselves and to entertain one another with light vain and unsavoury mirth and Songs of carnal and sinful jollity In like manner if ye be filled with the Spirit of God you will be apt and able to speak to your selves and solace and delight your selves and be in a steady posture to teach and admonish one another with matters of a spiritual and heavenly import So that God himself will take a holy contentment in your mirth and rejoyce with you Whereas the vain and sinful mirth of the others namely of those that are drunken with wine is the hatred and abhorring of his soul But now there is no filling with the Spirit in any other sense of the word Spirit that only excepted which is pleaded for that is proper or likely to qualifie men or women for these spiritual exercises of an heavenly mirth It is only a being filled with the Spirit of God that is like to act or work the heart and soul of a man into such a posture or frame of spiritual rejoycing We might further confirm this exposition by taking into consideration all those instances in the Scriptures which are many where men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by comparing them in their respective context with the Scripture in hand we might shew that the Holy Ghost there and the Spirit here are one and the same See Acts 2.4 c. 4.31 c. 9.17 c. 13.52 We read likewise of persons full of the Holy Spirit Luke 4.1 Acts 6.3 5. c. 7.55 c. 11.24 c. thus you see what is meant by the Spirit Secondly Sect. 4 What is it to be filled with the Spirit Or What is it that the Apostle means or what is the nature or property of the duty he requireth of them and which is imposed upon them when he chargeth them to be filled with the Spirit or as in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
That from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath understand it of the Spirits withdrawing of himself from men and falling lower and lower in his presence and motions proportionably to mens unthankfulness neglect and opposition to him we do not conceive either of the one or the other of these Lawsor Rules as if the Holy Ghost would universally and in all cases whatsoever bind himself unto them especially to that in either of them which beareth hard upon the Creature but that our Saviours meaning was only to declare unto the world what the Common Laws or terms of the Spirits proceedings and dealings with men would be and what men were to trust to and expect ordinarily from him and so bethink themselves of behaving themselves accordingly If you ask me what I mean by that which beareth hard upon the Creature in each of the Laws or Rules mentioned I answer concerning the former Rule to him that hath shall be given if it should be meant that the Holy Ghost will give unto none but unto him that hath that is that improveth and maketh use of what he hath received this would bear hard upon the Creature By bearing hard I do not mean any manner of injustice or unrighteousness or hard dealing of the Holy Ghost towards men but only such a thing which if it should take place and be done would turn to the damage or loss of the Creature as it must needs do unto many if that the Holy Ghost should give only unto those and to none other but those that are said to have because the greatest part of men have not in the sense of this saying but the Holy Ghost may walk by this Rule that is may give to every one that hath in the sense declared and yet may give to many also that have not as a rich man may give relief to all his poor neighbours and yet sometimes give an alms to him that is a stranger also As to the latter Law From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath it is not necessary to suppose neither that this should import that the Holy Ghost should universally or in all cases without exception wholly desert or forsake him that hath not that is doth not alwaies entertain his motions respectfully and apply himself unto them Nay I suppose that in the rigour of this sense this Law is never observed by him For according to this sense it would follow that if a man should for never so short a time were it but for a day or an hour deal unkindly by the Holy Ghost neglect or reject his motions that he would out of hand totally and finally withdraw himself from him But as to this point the Scriptures frequently shew the case to be far otherwise and that the Spirit of God is full of patience and long-suffering towards men even towards froward and gain-saying men waiting a long time upon them if yet they will consider and bethink themselves of compliance with him How long ye simple ones saith the Spirit of wisdom Pro. 1.22 to foolish and froward men will ye love simplicity c. which shews that this Spirit had for a long time attended upon them And so 2 Chron. 36.15 The Lord God of their Fathers sent unto them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place And they mocked the messengers of God and despised his Prophets and misused his messengers untill the wrath of God rose upon them and there was no remedy This passage plainly sheweth that the Spirit of God fought as it were a pitched battel with them or rather with their wickedness endeavouring to overcome it He had them under his hand and was perswading and instructing them for a long time before he withdrew himself wholly from them And therefore when our Saviour threatens from him that hath not shall be taken away c. the meaning first must needs be this From him that hath not viz. within some considerable time after that the Spirit of God hath graciously intreated him and lovingly stroven with him He that doth not within the time of a man as we may say that is in which men may very well and as we use to say at leisure bethink themselves of the grand concernments of their souls and within which usually such men as do ever repent are wont to repent and return unto God from such a man the Spirit of God will withdraw Secondly Concerning that clause shall be taken away even that he hath the meaning is not as if all that such a man hath all the presence or gifts or gracious workings of the Spirit shall be withdrawn from him suddenly or at once but shall be taken away viz. by degrees and in time Such a man shall still be on the losing and declining hand as long as he is amongst the number of those that have not and at last will be stripped of all and left utterly naked Thirdly and lastly That which I would have especially to be considered in this Minatory or Penal Law asserted by the Scripture From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath is not so to be understood either as if in no case or for no accommodation either of the Gospel or of Men or of the Glory of God or the like it were dispensable or as if the Holy Ghost had so obliged himself by it that upon no occasion whatsoever he would vary from it but this Law is enacted in Heaven upon these terms that it should be the express the usual and ordinary course which the Holy Ghost would observe in treating with men about the great matters of their peace and that no man shall expect other dealings from him the said Law being most equitable and just meetest indeed to be the standing Law of his transactions with men however in some special cases a strict observance of it might not be so expedient It is very frequent in the Scriptures Sect. 12 for God to deliver and express as well threatnings as promises absolutely in respect of the tenour or form of words wherein they are delivered without the least whisper or noyse of any exception or clause of restriction when as notwithstanding both the one and the other are conditional and were by him intended for none other Instances of Conditional Promises delivered in words absolute and without mention of any Condition we may find 1 Sam 2.30 I said indeed speaking unto Ely that thy Fathers house should walk before me for ever there was no Condition expressed in this Promise of God unto Ely his Fathers house But yet it is clear in Ely his own case and the instance of his own person that God in this promise intended a Condition which he had reserved to himself which was that in case his Father and those of his Posterity should walk uprightly and serve him in the
the Faith of the greatest and best resolved Believers amongst the Children of men The second thing was this to display manage and act this Faith before the World that they may see it as it were face to face and that the fruit evidence testimony and account of it may be fully adaequate and Commensurable to the truth and all the degrees of the reality of it The third and last thing whereunto all men stand bound and by the performance whereof they must needs bless the World was the keeping of the Commands of God How and in what respects the performance of all these must needs stand the World in eminent stead was shewed formerly We have now only to shew how they cannot be performed without their being filled with the Spirit of God who shall perform them First Sect. 8 For that notable strain and generous kind of believing we spake of As no Faith no kind or degree of believing can be attained or raised in the soul but by the Holy Ghost so much less can any excellent or worthy strain hereof be raised or exerted in men but by the glorious might of the same Holy Ghost Doubtless there is no man believeth upon any other terms than those did who are said Acts 18.27 to have believed through grace that is through the gracious operation and assistance of the Holy Ghost So likewise 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your hearts or souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit c. implying that neither had they obeyed the truth meaning the Gospel that is believed it the Gospel being there under the notion of truth as elsewhere made the Object of Faith had not the Spirit of God done very graciously by them in awaking and exciting them hereunto They would never in any serious manner have so much as though upon this believing had not the Holy Ghost put them upon it The Gospel and mens hearts are commonly strangers the World and their sensuality and folly make them so They have little knowledge one of another and doubtless would never have been brought together but by the mediation of that most gracious and blessed Spirit Now the Spirit of God bringeth the hearts of men and the Gospel together by causing a kind of enterview to be between them for a while upon which if there be not an extream frowardness and desperateness of folly in the hearts of men the glory and beauty of the things to be believed being presented unto them by the Holy Ghost will overcome them and so there will follow a blessed union and agreement between them Now as the first and lowest greeting between the Souls and consciences of men and the Gospel was procured by the simple interposure of the Spirit of God so must that glorious and more near interview between them which we call face to face viz. such a Faith which giveth presentiality or real subsistence unto the great things of the Gospel in the spirits and souls of men which alone is the Faith that will bless the World by amazing it with its glory breaking forth in semblable actions this say we must be obtained not simply by the Holy Ghost but by him in his more sublime and raised actings Eph. 3.14 16. For this cause faith the Apostle bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward man c. The Apostle travelling in birth with a great matter of grace and spiritual blessing for this people and Church of God he telleth them he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named c. meaning by this Character and Consideration that he is the Root of all that Family that is worthy to be put into account that is of all that are holy and righteous where ever they be and that they take their denomination as well as their spiritual and happy being from him But for what did he bow his knees to the Father of c It was That he would grant them according to the riches of his glory see how he laboureth and toyleth to be delivered of what he had conceived to ask of God for them to be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. But why doth he insert this clause according to the riches of his glory Doubtless his meaning is to inform them that though the request which he was now making unto God for them was exceeding great viz. that they might be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. yet there was good ground of hope that he should obtain it because the grant of it was but according to the riches of his glory that is proportionable or sutable to that glorious abundance of Grace Love Bounty Power c. which reside in him and are his Glory So that he knew that God could very well afford it notwithstanding the greatness of it being so richly furnished with all things necessary for the performance of it So that it is as if he had said I know it were in vain for me to how my knees to God for any such benefit for you as your strengthening with might by his Spirit did not I know he is exceeding rich in Glory in Bounty in Grace in Love c. Therefore in this you may be comforted that I do not beg this heavenly bread for you out of any desolate place or at such a hand where it was not to be had or from any such heart which is shut up against you no but from him who is both able and willing to give unto all that ask Good measure heaped up pressed down and running over Luke 6.8 Yea and this in things of greatest consequence and value well knowing that it is his glory thus to do Now to be strengthened with might in the inner man signifies more than simply to believe Yea more than simply to be strengthened in or by believing it imports a powerful strengthening or an excellent and high degree of corroboration or stoutness in their spirits hearts and souls by means whereof they should be able both to do and to suffer and this without much regret or trouble greater things for God and for the Gospel than the common sort of Believers can But why doth pray that this mighty strengthening in the inner man might be wrought by the Spirit I answer Because it is the appropriate work of the Spirit thus to elevate and raise the hearts and spirits of men above fears and doubtings God never conferring this high Priviledge upon Believers themselves without his interposure And besides it is considerable that it is the manner of the Saints throughout the Scriptures and so it was observed by Christ himself in his Prayer Joh. 17.11 17 19 20. that whenever they make any great request unto
search and dive into the deep things of God in the Gospel which deep things are very emphatically and significantly expressed by what the eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man c. meaning that they are things so transcendently wonderful for the excellency and ravishing import of them that nothing like unto them in such a consideration ever came within the apprehension either of any of the senses or of the understanding or imagination or discoveries of men Amongst the deep things of God there are none deeper or more profoundly wonderful none more remote from the ordinary thoughts and apprehensions of men than the dimensions of the love of Christ specified the breadth and length and depth and height of this love Now as God is said to have prepared things of so mysterious and glorious an import to impart in a way of friendship or friendly retribution unto those that love him so doubtless he is more free and large-hearted in these Communications unto those that are rooted and grounded in this affection that is who have expressed most love to him and hereupon are most likely to continue herein unto the end Thus then we see that men are not like ever to know what the rich and glorious Consolations of the Gospel mean unless they take a regular and due course to interess themselves in so high a priviledge and more particularly unless they shall be rooted and grounded in love as hath been shewed The third and last particular of the three mentioned Sect. 6 was this that they who are not children of the richest and highest Consolations of the Gospel are not in any competent posture or worthy capacity for shewing forth the vertues or lovely things of God which yet is every man's duty to do as hath been declared For the proof of this it is to be considered First That a competent posture as I call it or richness of capacity for any worthy service or employment especially relating unto God requireth these two things First That a mans heart be full of the work that he hath a strong propension to be active in it Secondly This is required also that he hath skill or strength dexterity and abilities otherwise for the worthy and due performance of it For if either of these be wanting viz. either a good will to the service or else skill and dexterity to manage it the work will suffer either in the performance or by the non-performance of it First It is clear that no man's heart will be full of the service we speak of unless the strength of the Gospel-Consolations hath taken his heart kindly and made it in a sense like unto the heart of God himself Secondly As evident likewise it is that he that hath not been made drunk with the New Wine of the Gospel that hath not drank deep of the sweet and rich Consolations of it must needs be defective in point of dexterity and skill how to manage such a work For first That the heart of a man will never be full of the excellency of the work or service unless it hath had intimate and familiar converse with those rich Consolations of the Gospel we may conceive upon this account Such a frame and temper of heart and soul as we now speak of that is carried out with strength of desire to be shewing forth the vertues of God in the World cannot reasonably but be supposed and judged such a frame and complexion of soul which is morally distant by many degrees from that which we call though not so truly or properly the natural frame of it or that frame which at first commonly it worketh or reduceth it self unto For take the heart of a man in the natural frame and temper of it that is wherein it was found before the Gospel came at it and made an alteration in it and compare it with the frame of the heart we now speak of the distance between them will be found as great as that betwixt Heaven and Earth the heart before the Gospel touched it was a dull heart full of it self of its own thoughts of its own interest of its own lusts no thought stirring or moving in it of the least contriving or intendment to bestead the name of the great God of Heaven and Earth upon such terms not the least impulse or inclination to bring forth the vertues and heavenly things of God into the World The Soul until it be Evangelically inspired is at as great a distance from such a constitution or frame wherein it should be active for God and zealously addicted to the declaring of his Name unto the World as lightly can be imagined Now then consider that as the Heavens and the Earth being at so great a distance the one from the other and so fixed to their respective Centers as they are can never greet or kiss one another nor touch one another nor ever change places or situation but it must be by a strong and mighty and out-stretched arm So likewise in case we shall suppose so great and wonderful an alteration in the heart and spirit of a man that whereas it was full of it self and no place found in it for any thought concerning God for the magnifying of him or for the doing any great thing for him it is now altered and changed in such a strange manner that it comes to be filled to the brim with zeal for the glory of God and with a desire to have him great in the World and to have his Name exalted upon a high Throne amongst men this change I say must needs be supposed to be brought to pass by the intervening of some means or other of an admirable and transcendent vertue of such an efficiency which is proper and likely to effect it This must of necessity be supposed For Reason will not endure to think of Effects brought to pass without proportionable Causes great Effects without great and weighty Causes answerable unto them Now the change of the heart mentioned being so wonderful and incredible a change it is next to that which is impossible to conceive or for the understanding of Men or Angels to imagine how such a Change as this should be brought to pass as namely that a man should be wholly driven out of himself and out of his own heart and soul that all his foolish and unworthy desires to advance and seek himself should be cast out of him And that desires of glorifying God in the World like unto himself should spring up in their stead Nothing I say lightly imaginable that should alter the property of the heart of a man upon such terms as these but the soul-ravishing Consolations of the Gospel and that joy in the Holy Ghost which is unspeakable and full of glory These being all spirit and life and of an heavenly activity are a means rationally promising even as great and strange a turn in the soul of a man as this As
part it will be so So again where he saith There are last that shall be first and there are first that shall be last Luke 13.30 he implyeth that there may be some last who shall not be first and so that there may be some first that shall not be last The reason hereof we shall shew presently This caution premised the equity of Gods proceedings in making the last-called of his Saints the first in their reward ordinarily may be demonstrated upon these four grounds First Those that have been great sinners and have stood out long in rebellion against God when their great evil is overcome by the goodness of God in the Gospel and they notwithstanding all their wretched and fierce Provocations are received into grace and favour with him only upon their repentance and believing commonly prove the greatest and most cordial friends unto him amongst all his Saints become most naturally and genuinely affected towards him are most free and willing to spend and to be spent upon the service of his name and glory Whereas old disciples and those that of a long time and from their youth have been accustomed to the yoke of Religion are apt in process of time to grow drowsie and next unto formal and customary in their performances and seldom have that courage that spirit and life in them to act any thing or suffer any thing out of course or upon any extraordinary account for the interest of God and of Jesus Christ in the World which are found in late Converts and those that come off from many and great abominations unto God The longer and harder the Earth hath been bound by a Frost the mellower and more tender and capable of any impression it is found when a through thaw cometh No heart so pliable under the Word Spirit or Interest of God as that which is made soft by him after the greatest hardness The Scripture beareth witness unto this as a truth in many instances and places He who by his own confession 1 Tim. 1.15 was the greatest of sinners whilst unconverted when the evil property of his heart was altered by the Grace of God Laboured in his service more abundantly than they all than all his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 15.10 That which is recorded of Zacheus Luke 19.7.8 and of Mary Magdalen though her name be not mentioned Luke 7. from ver 37 to 48. gives a lightsome evidence of truth in the Notion in hand and that Saying of Christ To whom little is forgiven he loveth little with his discourse preceding doth abundantly confirm it Secondly They who have long and even unto weariness and to the brink of despair walked in the vanity of their minds and waies of wickedness being upon repentance received unto mercy commonly prove more Evangelical in the frame of their minds and temper of their spirits and cleave unto God with a more pure and entire dependence upon his grace in Christ for their Justification and Salvation than they that are Professors of a long standing and were early at work in the Vineyard It is very incident unto these after some years continuance in a religious course to be insensibly corrupted in their minds from the simplicity of the Gospel and to warp towards a spirit of legality associating as it were their own Righteousness with the Grace of God in Christ to keep up their hearts in hope of Justification by him This difference between the one and the other in the spirit of their minds was doubtless intimated by Christ in the different behaviours or expressions of the Prodigal or younger Brother who personates the late Convert or the person that after much wickedness returns unto God and upon his Conversion and of the Elder Brother who seems to represent the Genius and temper of those that have been old servants in the House of God The former the younger at his return discovereth the frame of his heart end Spirit to his Father thus Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15.21 As he had no temptation upon him to plead any thing he had done for his Father to render him worthy in the least degree of his favour so was he far from looking this way with the least of his thoughts his hope of acceptance with his Father depended wholly upon his Fathers goodness and readiness to receive him upon his return Whereas the Elder Brother in a Contest with his Father claims a kind of right and title to more of his love than as he thought he had yet at any time shewed unto him And he answering said unto his Father Lo these many years do I serve thee neither transgressed I at any time thy Commandment and yet thou never gavest me a Kid that I might make merry with my friends But c. Ver. 29. David hath this Saying Psal 62.10 If riches encrease set not your heart upon them As it is an hard matter for those that are rich in this present World to keep off their hearts from trusting in their uncertain riches or to keep them in trust or dependence upon the living God 1 Tim. 6.17 whereas afflicted and poor people and the widow that is desolate do as it were of course and by a kind of necessity trust in the name of the Lord Zeph. 3.12 compared with 1 Tim. 5.5 In like manner when men have wrought righteousness for many years together and have heaped up Prayers upon Prayers and hearings upon hearings with great constancy intermixing it may be now and then Fasting with some Alms-deeds or other works of Charity without making any scandalous digression from the waies of God all their daies it requires more spiritual strength and wisdom than are found in ordinary Believers for a man not to look upon so much beauty with an adulterous eye and not in secret at least to think that God in consideration of so much such long and faithful service done unto him may well forgive him his sins and trespasses and so not to wear somewhat flat and superficial in their esteem of and dependence upon the meer grace of God in Christ Whereas they whose course of life hath been nothing but sin and wickedness and enmity against God when they are converted and reconciled unto God cannot lightly but be pure end chaste in their dependence upon his grace and goodness for all the good they expect from him their conscience plainly telling them that they have no self-righteousness nor are in a capacity of having any whereon to build or wherewith to feed the least hope or expectation in that kind Now it is but reasonable that God who hath designed the Salvation of men according to the terms of that Gospel which himself hath conceived and communicated unto the World for that end in the exact and precise model whereof himself also is infinitely delighted should be more intent upon rewarding those with salvation who expect it from him with
greatest rewards assigned by God unto righteousness and Christian worth in any kind their hearts will never serve them to fly that high pitch of righteousness and true holiness which without controversie they stand engaged in duty to do nor yet to suffer those things from the World which their Christian Profession may very possibly require at their hands This I might clearly shew you by the light of Nature and grounds of Reason but I shall content my self to demonstrate it by the clearer light of the Scriptures only First It is evident from many passages here Sect. 16 that men are not wont to undertake any thing of difficulty trouble or charge at least if they so apprehend it but upon hope of reaping some advantage or benefit in one kind or other by it Who planteth a Vineyard saith the Apostle and eateth not of the fruit thereof Meaning that no man would be at the cost and trouble of planting a Vineyard did he not desire and hope to eat of the fruit thereof that is to accommodate himself in one kind or other by it So again Who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Milk of the Flock 1 Cor. 9 7. Soon after For our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope he supposeth that no man thresheth upon any other terms should be partaker of his hope Afterwards towards the end of the same Chapter And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it for a corruptible Crown c. meaning out of a desire and hope to obtain such a Crown It is repugnant to the very nature and frame of a rational being to be drawn forth into action in one kind or other but by a desire and hope of compassing some end But of this there is little question Secondly Mens ingagements and actings are never like to rise higher than the level of that good which is desired and hoped to be obtained by them I mean if they understand the just value and worth of it Men will not as our common Proverb is buy Gold too dear If they put themselves to any hardship to knowingly expose themselves to any danger they must be inspired hereunto both by a desire and hope of some purchase proportionably considerable in their eye They that strove for Masteries would not have been so districtly and austerely abstemious as the Apostle intimates as we lately heard they were had it not been for a Crown which however corruptible as he there speaketh was notwithstanding in their apprehensions highly valuable David indeed endeavouring to render himself as a person inconsiderable unto Saul expressed himself to him thus For the King of Israel is come out to seek a Flea as when one hunteth a Partridge in the mountains 1 Sam. 26.20 But if Saul had not looked upon the suppressing of David as a matter of a thousand times greater consequence unto him than the catching of many Fleas or the taking of many Partridges he would not have put himself to the trouble and charge of coming out with an Army of men to pursue him And if the life of Sampson had not been judged a great Prize by the Philistines of Azzah they would not have lost their sleep and watched all night to have made themselves Masters of it Yea God himself knowing that men would never take the Yoke of his Son Jesus Christ upon them nor submit unto the holy Discipline of the Gospel in the exercises of Repentance Mortification Self-denial c. nor expose themselves to the bloudy hatred and malice of the World for righteousness sake unless their spirits were raised and heightned to such great engagements as these by hopes of very signal and glorious recompenses and rewards he applieth himself unto and treateth with them accordingly giving them assured hopes of life and immortality and blessedness for evermore upon their obedience He doubtless considered that lesser or lighter encouragements or retributions than these though in Conjunction with the most prevailing Arguments and Motives otherwise as Ingenuity Goodness of Nature Love of Righteousness Love of God c. yet would not do that holy and happy execution upon the hearts and spirits of men which must be done to make them Proselytes unto true godliness and persons after his own heart to fulfil all his pleasure This the Holy Ghost himself plainly teacheth in several places By which saith Peter that is by which glory and power of God or according to some Copies which read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom viz. Christ are given unto us most great for so the Original and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Clearly implying that God had no other way agreeable to his Wisdom and meet to be taken with such a Creature as man to reduce men from their sensual vain and wicked dispositions and practices wherein they were deeply habituated and engaged with the rest of the World unto a conformity to himself in holiness but only by promises and these no whit less for the matter and good things contained in them nor less precious in respect of the abundant assurance given for the performance of them than those that he hath now given unto them in the Gospel The express tenour of the words if they be diligently minded give out this Notion Men would never have been wooed from Sin and Vanity to espouse Righteousness and true Holiness by any other means motives or perswasions whatsoever without being invested with an hope and this pregnant and lively of as great things as the Gospel promiseth to be possessed and enjoyed in due time Of the same import is this also of the Apostle John And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 The Particle and Pronoun this is emphatical intimating that it is the Prerogative or signal priviledge of that hope which he had immediately before mentioned ver 2. to set men on work to purifie themselves according to that great Exemplar of all purity and holiness Jesus Christ and that none other hope but this either formally or materially nor any nor all other means without it are able to engage the Sons or Daughters of men about so heroick and heavenly a work Now this hope of which he speaks this glorious thing that it puts every man that hath it upon purifying himself by the best pattern and as near unto it as he is able humane infirmity considered he signifies to be an hope of being like or of being made like unto Christ himself in respect of his glorified and blessed estate which by a near-hand interpretation amounteth to as much as is contained in all those great and precious Promises of the Gospel lately spoken of I shall upon this
to the Argument last propounded That the Saints at least a great part of them do verily judge or think that all things considered as the weakness of their Faith their undergrowth in knowledge the unruliness and unsubduedness of their flesh and the intolerable burthen it would be unto it to be compelled to keep them company in the severe Exercises of Mortification and high acts of Self-denial c. which must be performed by those that look to lift up their heads in glory above other their Brethren the Saints in Heaven and withal how full of joy and blessed contentment it will be unto them if they shall be counted meet to enjoy be it the meanest place amongst those that are saved these things I say haply with many more considered they may conclude that it is best for them to content themselves with designing nothing higher than Salvation simply or the scantest entrance into Heaven and not to lift up their desires unto the heights of glory there Therefore the consideration mentioned doth not put them to rebuke although they do not desire part and fellowship in the highest advancements in Heaven To this I answer That it is an Objection or Plea savouring of the Flesh though it may express the case of persons in some degree spiriritual It is somewhat of kin to that award of the sluggard who as Solomon informeth us is wont to be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.16 between one handful and two when one may be had with ease and quietness but two not without labour and trouble Better saith the Wiseman speaking of the spirit of such a fool as he here calls him is an handful with quietness than both the hands full with travel and vexation of spirit Eccles 4.6 For he that judgeth it best for him to pitch his desires upon getting into Heaven only and not to strain or raise them to the best and greatest of the enjoyments here let this his judgment proceed upon what Reasons or Considerations soever yet will it be found Erronious and therefore cannot acquit him from sin that shall build or act upon it For the Circumstances mentioned in the Objection weakness in Faith under-growth in Knowledge unsubduedness of the Flesh c. these being all sinful defects and imperfections cannot justifie such an act which under due Circumstances would be sinful But enough if not more than so hath been argued to evince it not simply lawful but even necessary as Duty makes Actions necessary for the Saints and Servants of God to kindle a spirit of this holy and heavenly Ambition even to desire to be as great in the Kingdom of Heaven as the greatest of them all I mean of the greatest of those whom the Grace and Spirit of Jesus Christ shall bring thither And thus I trust we have made good the second thing supposed in the fift and last reason of our Doctrine viz. That the Saints are under an Obligation of Duty to put themselves into a capacity of the most sublime investitures with glory which God hath prepared for the Children of men That which was assertively laid down Sect. 20 and affirmed in this Reason was that unless men shall be filled with the Spirit in the sense declared towards the beginning they are never like to be in any capacity of putting themselves into a capacity of such investitures or of sitting in any of the uppermost seats at that Table at which the Saints shall eat bread with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God But for the proof and confirmation of this we shall not need to add any thing to what we have so largely argued from the Scriptures in our demonstration of the fourth ground and reason of the Doctrine It must not be a sparing or a thin but a very rich anointing with the Spirit that will prepare and strengthen men so to wrestle against principalities against powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places or heavenly things yea and against their own flesh and bloud also for thâ—se are their enemies likewise in their spiritual warfare that God may judge their Victories and Conquest over them worthy the greatest Triumphs in Heaven that are designed and granted here to the chief of the Worthies of Christ But for your satisfaction in this if you desire more than you have you are desired to repair with your minds and memories to what hath been upon the same or like account formerly delivered We shall now proceed to the Use and Application of the Doctrine Only there are two or three Questions relating to the Doctrine delivered that being cleared will I conceive give some further light into it CHAP. VII Three Questions propounded to give further light into the Doctrine The first of them enquired into namely who or what this Spirit mentioned in the Tex is viz. Whether he be an increated Spirit even God blessed for ever or whether a created Spirit Several Scriptures opened and argued both from the Old and New Testament proving that the Spirit spoken of in the Text is none other than Jehovah or the most high God The several Pleas brought against these Scriptures by persons contrary minded taken off and rendered invalid As also some Grounds in Reason propounded and argued to prove that the Holy Ghost is very God THe first of these Questions being occasioned by some unhappy importune spirits of Error lately gotten abroad amongst us shall be this Sect. 1 Who or what this Spirit mentioned in the Text and much spoken of in the Doctrine is Or more particularly whether he be an infinite and increated Spirit one of the Three which the Apostle John saith are one 1 Joh. 5.7 commonly known amongst us by the name of Three Persons some weaker Judgments do not like the expression Or whether he be some excellent Creature some high-born Angel or the like who is near unto God This is the first Question which we shall a little search into Whether the Spirit of God sometimes yea oft in Scripture called the Holy Ghost be truly God or a Creature The second shall be this How or in what respect and when a person man or woman may be said to be filled with the Spirit and so may be said to have obeyed the voice of the Exhortation of the Apostle The third and last shall be How a man or woman that is indeed filled with the Spirit of God may be known from a person which is filled with another spirit viz. a spirit of Vanity and Delusion There is a fourth Question every whit as necessary and edifying as any of these which we shall have occasion to speak somewhat unto afterwards when we come to the Exhortation The Tenour of which Question will be this How and by what means men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit Concerning the Question first propounded Who or what this Spirit or the Spirit of God should be whether God an
increated Spirit or whether a created Spirit Many of you that are present I suppose know that there is an Antitrinitarian Spirit that hath broken prison of late and gotten abroad amongst as very busie in making Proselytes And as in the daies of Old this Spirit laboured to fill the World with this Doctrine That only one of the Three which John as you heard saith are one viz. He that is known unto us by the name of the Father is truly God And that the other two the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Spirit are but the Father's Creatures receiving though very excellent yet only finite and limited Being from him Wherefore as Moses said unto Aaron Num. 16.46 There is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun and hereupon wisheth him to go quickly unto the Congregation to make attonement for them Even so the Plague of this most dangerous Errour we speak of being begun amongst us already and several being intangled and insnared by it It therefore concerns those who are in a special manner intrusted with the great concernments both of God and men and upon whose shoulders it lieth more especially to contend for the truth I say it concerns them to lay about them with all wisdom and faithfulness in order to the convincing gainsayers or the Adversaries of this Truth We do not intend at present to speak any thing directly and particularly for the vindication of the God-head of the Second Person The Name by which he is best known unto us is Christ But only to plead the cause of him whom we with the ancient Christians call the Third Person in the Trinity or the Holy Ghost and briefly from the Scriptures to demonstrate him to be an infinite and uncreated Spirit and truly God Amongst very many passages as well in the Old as in the New Testament which with greatest evidence demonstrate the Holy Ghost to be God we shall only insist upon some few which we judge to be most clear and convincing Exod. 4.12 Jehovah translated Lord speaketh thus to Moses Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say From hence it appears that it is only proper for Jehovah or him that is God to be in the mouth of the Prophets and to teach them what to say Add hereunto that which we have Num. 12.6 And he said hear now my words If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord or I Jehovah will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream Now most evident it is from hence that he who spake by the Prophets and other Holy men of God as the Apostles was true Jehovah true God And hence it was that when the Prophets were about to deliver any Message to the People in the Name of God they commonly used this Preface Thus saith Jehovah or the word of Jehovah that Jehovah spake unto them or appeared unto them or the like places of this kind are without number in the Writings of the Prophets And the Apostle himself Heb. 1.1 expresly saith That God in times past spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets Now the Lord Christ himself affirmeth That it is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost that thus speaketh in men Take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father speaketh in you Mat. 10.19 Therefore now if it was God that spake by the Prophets then and is interpreted by Christ to be the Holy Ghost then Jehovah or the Lord in the Old Testament is the Spirit or the Holy Ghost in the New And the Apostle Peter expresly affirmeth that it was the Spirit of Christ that spake in the Prophets 1 Pet. 1.11 And elsewhere he saith that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 Thus David also a little before his departure The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me 2 Sam. 23.2 And so Ezek. 2.2 And the Spirit entred into me when he spake unto me So that evident it is from these Scriptures diligently compared and laid together that the Holy Ghost who is from place to place said to have spoke unto the Prophets and Holy men of God was none other but Jehovah God himself Another place may be Lev 19.1 2. where Jehovah is said to have spake unto Moses saying Speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel and say unto them Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy Now he that spake these words unto Moses and ordered all these Ceremonies is in the New Testament said to be the Holy Ghost Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying c. Yet again Lev. 26.12 And I will walk among you and be your God and ye shall be my people compared with 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Cor. 3.16 In all these places you shall find that the Saints in their Holy Assemblies are said to be the Temple of God and that God is said to be there and to walk amongst them Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 So again ver 17. For the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 6.19 What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost c 2 Cor. 6.16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God c. Now these persons you see in whom God is said to dwell are said to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost And that God that dwelleth amongst them is the Holy Ghost Deut. 9.8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord so that the Lord was angry with you compared with Isa 63.10 But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit That which in the former place is termed a provoking the Lord unto wrath so that he was angry Is in the latter by the Evangelical Prophet termed a vexing of his holy Spirit Psal 95.7 8. The Psalm begins thus Come let us rejoyce unto Jehovah And soon after ver 7. To day if ye will hear his voice c. He that contested with and complained of the People in the Wilderness was true Jehovah as appears also from several other Scriptures And they tempted God in the Desart Psal 106.14 and Psal 78.18 Yet the Apostle Heb. 3.7 plainly affirms that it was the Holy Ghost that was tempted wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. So that you see by these and many other such like places which might be readily produced if need were that he called Jehovah the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament is called the Holy Ghost in the New Yet again Isa 6.9 10. The Prophet in the beginning of
change upon experience turns to no account at all unto him in this kind But 3. And lastly his faulting of the Translation in the particular under debate doth not at all commend his skill in the Original or his acquaintance with the frequent use and signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived For this word almost constantly at least very frequently signifies to comfort sometimes to exhort which is of near affinity with the other but never at least to my present remembrance to plead a cause or to perform the part of an Advocate It is said of Rachel mourning for her children that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she would not be comforted Mat. 2.18 to translate it she would not be Advocated would be uncouth and next to ridiculous So our Saviour Mat. 5.4 speaking of those that mourn pronounceth them blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they shall be comforted not because they shall be Advocated And to pass by other instances without number the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Verbal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are no less than six times within the compass of three Verses and four times in one verse used by the Apostle Paul in the sense of comforting 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who comforteth us in all our tribulation so that we are able or that we may be able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to comfort those in tribulation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherewith we are comforted by God because as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so through Christ our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consolation aboundeth It is thrice more used in the same signification in the verse immediately following and once again in the verse after that so that there is no ground or just occasion to quarrel with the Translation we have of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor any thing gained to the cause of our Adversaries by the change But 2. To the main objection I answer Sect. 9 that however Temptations and other Actions proper to the Devil as the catching away the seed sown by filling mens hearts with wicked ness c. which are done in the World in a thousand different or distant places at one and the same time are or may be attributed to Satan or the Devil in the singular number yet our Adversaries themselves will confess that all these actions are not done in one and the same instant of time by one and the same Devil but though they may be acted by many subordinate Devils yet according to the Scripture Dialect they are or may be ascribed to him that is the head or chief of the Corporation For that is frequent in the Scriptures to attribute that unto one which is joyntly transacted by many Num. 36.2 5. There was but one of the Fachers of the Children of Gilead that spake unto Moses yet that which this one said is attributed also unto many of them I might spend time in multiplying instances in this kind but they that desire satisfaction in this may receive it abundantly by perusing a few lines in Mr. Ainsworth's Preface before his Notes on Genesis well towards the middle of the said Preface where he hath collected many such passages wherein that is ascribed unto one which yet is done by many Besides the word Devil or Sathan may be understood specifically or if you will generally for the whole species or kind of Devils or indefinitely for Devils be they fewer or more The Scripture likewise admits this construction Gen. 13.7 But we make hast Bat now those actions which are appropriate to the Holy Ghost and are done by him at one and the same time in a thousand different places in the World As the inspiring inhabiting and comforting the Saints c. are not attributed unto him as directing or commissionating other subordinate Angels to assist him in the work or as performing of them partly by them he only owning the name of them Bur saith the Text 1 Cor. 12.4 13. they are performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. by the self-same one Spirit There are saith he diversity of gifts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Spirit is the self-same Now this Spirit in the words immediately preceding he had called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost And ver 13. For we have all been baptized into one body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through one Spririt and in the end of the verse have been all made to drink 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in the Scripture elsewhere he is more particularly expressed and his individuality circumscribed by our Saviour Joh 15.26 and 11.26 who styleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from or out of the Father If our Adversaries could find the Devil who as they say performs one and the same Action at one and the same time in a thousand different places in the World to be thus individuated as the Holy Ghost from place to place is and all the particulars of that Action which is supposed to be done at one and the same time in remote places attributed unto one particular Devil so or by any such Characters or expressions distinguished from all other Devils as the Holy Ghost as we have heard is from all other Spirits there had been some colour of an Evasion from the Argument in hand Otherwise they do but like Jannes and Jambres resist the truth as they did by pretended likeness of Moses real Miracles And as those Sorceries and counterfeit Miracles which Jannes and Jambres wrought being the same in appearance to the true Miracles wrought by Moses prevailed over Pharaoh and the Aegyptians to the hardening of their hearts against God and this to their own destruction and ruine in the end So it is much to be feared that by such likenesses and Colours by which men do resist the Truth setting fair glosses upon foul faces that this will harden the hearts of men and entangle and corrupt their Judgments and God grant that it be not to their own destruction But we must hasten because the blasphemy of that error which we now oppose and which most presumptuously daringly and desperately in the face of God Angels and men strikes off the Crown of increated glory from the head of the Holy Ghost God blessed for ever hath been heretofore broken to pieces stamped and ground to powder by the learning zeal and faithfulness of many famous lights burning and shining in the Church of God of old and by some of latter times and particularly by a late Treatise published in the English Tongue by way of Answer to those twelve Arguments levied by him who hath of late revived the said Error The
furnished and endued them with such properties and qualities as now he hath done That so there might be fit resemblances to train and nurture up the Minds Understandings and Reasons of men in the knowledge and apprehension of the mysteries of Christ and the great things of Eternity And I make no question but that God in Nature hath contrived and ordered the matter so with that Creature which we call the Wind that it poseth and troubles all the Philosophers that though they hear the sound of it yet not any one of them can give an account of it what it should be and whence it should come and when once it is up in motion why it should Fall Nay God hath so ordered the original of the wind and things appertaining to it at least to the Vnderstandings of men that they should not be able to give so steady an account of the rising and falling of it as they are to do of the rising and setting of the Sun that so there might be a kind of rising advantage administred unto men to conceive the better of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and of his Transactions and manner in doing matters with the Creatures So that now we see the Holy Ghost himself is resembled with the wind and very aptly so may be but the gifts of the Holy Ghost neither are in Scripture nor with any commodiousness of resemblance can be resembled by breathing or by wind therefore by the Holy Ghost in the place in hand cannot be meant the Gifts of the Holy Ghost but the Person of the Holy Ghost himself Again this might be made to appear further by comparing herewith several other places of Scripture by which it is evident that it was the Holy Ghost himself that was to be given unto the Apostles and to be and to abide with them Mar. 13.11 Joh. 14.16 17. So grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit Eph. 4.30 1 Thes 5.19 besides other places Now then if Christ said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost there is no question but they did receive him they I mean all those to whom he thusspake Now if he were a created Angel or meer Creature how could more than one receive him at once Especially how could he be in and remain with many at the same time when these shall be dispersed and scattered up and down the World in Nations and places far distant as the Apostles we know soon after were We never read nor heard of any more than one Holy Ghost as was observed therefore the Argument in hand cannot be put off with common Evasions viz. That the Holy Ghost might be in the Apostles though never so remote at one and the same time by his Deputies or Vicegerents other inferiour Angels under his command or the like For 1. we have no ground in Scripture to conceive any such power given unto one Angel over another as that any one should be at the command or disposal of his Fellows Besides when Christ said to his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost if it be supposed that there is but only one Holy Ghost and certain I am that the Scripture supposeth no more and that this Holy Ghost could be but only in one of them at the precise time of Christ's so speaking unto them which must likewise be supposed if the Holy Ghost be a finite and created Angel then it undeniably follows that though Christ indifferently said to all his Disciples Receive ye the Holy Ghost and indifferently breathed upon them all yet that he gave him unto one only and that the rest had some other Angel given unto them not the Holy Ghost We might likewise reinforce it from the words following touching the power of remitting and retaining sin conferred at the same time upon the Disciples when they received the Holy Ghost from hence I say we might re-assert our former Argument for the Divinity of the Holy Ghost viz. His power to forgive sins For the power of forgiving and retaining sins being given unto the Apostles upon their receiving of the Holy Ghost plainly sheweth that Primarily and Authoritatively it resideth in the Holy Ghost himself and that it was derived unto them only in a Ministerial way and as they were to be acted and guided by him in the administration and exercise of it And if the case were so with the Holy Ghost as our Adversaries conceit it to be viz. The Holy Ghost himself should only have a power by way of Commission from God and ministerially to forgive sins and that he is or must be regulated and bound up in the exercise of this power by his Commission as well as the Disciples were by theirs Then why might not they baptize in their own Names as well as his Besides if the Holy Ghost were Commissionated by God to forgive sins he had no power to give Commission either to the Apostles or any other to transact the same work it being a general and known Rule and this very equitable that he that is Deputed or Commissionated by another having a lawful Authority so to depute to transact any business hath no power to depute or substitute others in his stead for the transacting the business committed unto him Another Scripture or pair of Scriptures evincing the same great Truth with the former that without controversie the Holy Ghost is truly God is Acts 1.16 compared with Acts 4.24 In the former place Peter speakech thus Men and Brethren this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas c. In the latter place the Disciples express themselves thus And when they heard that they life up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is Who by the mouth of thy Servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c He who in the former place is termed the Holy Ghost is styled in the latter Lord and God who made Heaven and Earth and the Sea c To say that God may be said to speak by the mouth of David because he gave order unto the Holy Ghost to move David so or so to speak is to oppose the direct and clear Letter of the Scripture with a man 's own thoughts and these weak and groundless If it had been said that God by the mediate or intervening motions of the Holy Ghost spake so or so by the mouth of David it had been somewhat colourable for our Adversaries purpose and indeed no more or if there were any such expression to be found in all the Scripture that God spake so or so one thing or other to any person by the mediation of the Holy Ghost this had been somewhat though less than the other But now the constant tenour of the Scripture speaking as to the point in hand being either that God spake or the Lord spake or
who are sent unto us by God to preach the Gospel it is so much the more reasonable that we should hearken unto God in them and we deserve and have cause accordingly to expect to meet with so much the greater punishment from God if we do it not The reason hereof is because the more holy the Messengers which God sendeth unto us are and the more they have of himself in them so much the nearer they are unto him and proportionably so much the more honourable Hence it is that our Saviour insists upon it as an aggravation of the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees that they did not repent and believe under the Ministry of John when as he came unto them in a way of righteousness Mat. 21.32 which also he mentioneth as contributing towards the repentance and believing of the Publicans and Harlots upon his Preaching Much more might be added from the Scriptures for the confirmation of the Principle and ground you are now upon But let us work the business we have in hand by the Rule we have now explained and found straight The Question is Sect. 19 which Opinion of the two either that which affirmeth the Holy Ghost to be God truly and essentially God Or that which denieth him to be so and affirmeth him to be a Creature be of the truest and most effectual calculation for the advancement of Godliness in the World Examine them as to this Point and try them by the Rule now specified and you will easily discern to which of the two the preheminence in this kind belongeth It hath been manifest unto us by the Scripture that the greater and more honourable Agent God shall send unto men to perswade them unto Godliness to transact Affairs of any such kind or import with them especially the greatness of this Agent being made known and apprehended by men he is so much the more likely to prevail Men being naturally more inclined and disposed to mind and consider what is spoken unto them by Persons of Eminency and greatest worth than what is spoken by those of an inferiour Line Now then whether he that is really naturally and substantially God be greater in Wisdom Worth and Dignity than a Creature take it where the glory of Creation shineth with the greatest brightness is I presume no man's question every man without any hesitancy or debate in himself or doubtfulness of disputation subscribing the preheminence of Divine Being in all manner of perfection of dignity and worth above the Creature If it be thus then it is a clear case that that Opinion or Doctrine which affirmeth the Holy Ghost sent by God the Father abroad into the World unto and into the hearts and consciences of men to negotiate with them about the great business of Godliness to be truly and substantially God equal with God the Father who sendeth him is a Doctrine of a far richer and of a more glorious tendency hath ten times more spirit and life in it to promote and carry on the cause and interest of Godliness in the World than the contrary Doctrine hath I mean that which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God and affirmeth him to be a Creature only We might in the second place justifie and make good the same tenour of the comparison between the two Doctrines by another Principle and ground also which upon such an Argument as this might be framed That Doctrine which rendreth the encouragement countenance or reward promised by God unto those that shall live godly greater and more desirable is a Doctrine of a more forceable and effectual tendency towards the promotion of Godliness than that which maketh all these less and less desirable This Proposition I suppose needeth no further proof or clearing being built upon this unquestionable Principle That a great reward promised upon the same or like terms of security is a greater encouragement a more effectual motive unto action or work than a lesser Therefore I go on and assume thus But that Doctrine which affirmeth the Holy Ghost to be God rendereth the encouragement countenance and reward promised by God unto those that shall live godly much greater and more desirable than that which denieth him to be God therefore that is the Doctrine that hath the most effectual tendency for the advancement of Godliness The Reason of this latter Proposition is likewise near at hand and is this viz. Because God hath promised the gift of the Holy Ghost or at least the encrease or enlargement of this gift which is the same as to our purpose by way of encouragement and reward unto those that live godlily or that shall believe which we know is the entrance upon or the beginning of a godly life This is evident from many places of Scripture which we shall not need upon this account at present to insist upon Now it is I presume no manner of doubt but as the gift of Jesus Christ the natural Son of God unto men was and is a greater gift a greater encouragement unto men to believe in him for Justification than the gift of a meaner person would have been So likewise is the gift of such a Spirit to quicken enlighten teach comfort and support the hearts and souls of men who is naturally and substantially God himself a greater gift a far higher and greater encouragement to perswade men to believe and live holily and godlily than the gift of any inferiour or created Spirit would have been So that it appeareth by the light shining in at this window also that the Doctrine maintained by us in the Question yet depending and which asserteth the Holy Ghost to be God is far more sympathizing with the interest of Godliness in the World than the other To this we might add a third Argument to prove the Opinion which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God not to be a Doctrine according unto Godliness comparable with that which affirmeth it And that is this That doctrine which rendereth the threatnings against ungodliness lighter less considerable or more easie to be born is not a Doctrine so effectual for the advancement of Godliness as that which holdeth forth these to be more terrible but so does that Doctrine contended against CHAP. VIII The most material Arguments that are generally insisted on by those who deny the Divinity of the Holy Ghost are weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary Wherein also those Scriptures which are generally insisted on by those who perswade themselves and would also perswade others that he that is the Searcher of hearts is but of a finite extraction Or the Holy Spirit of God is but a Creature are all discharged from bearing that burthen which is laid upon them As also the great profitableness yea the great necessity of this Discourse though somewhat large is asserted LEt us hear now what our Adversaries are wont to plead for the supporting of their Cause Sect. 1 we shall find their Arguments generally to be empty subtilties built
therefore he is not God This Argument is drawn up in many swelling words after the manner of some of the rest but the sinews and strength of it lyeth in this that the Holy Ghost in the Scripture is said to hear from another that which he speaks or reveals unto men or which he did reveal unto the Apostles and that from hence it follows according to our Saviours supposition Joh. 8.26 compared with ver 28. that he is taught by another and consequently cannot be God The life and soul of this Argument is bound up in this small bundle of words therefore we reply briefly to it First That the very bottom and foundation upon which this Argument standeth is crasie and loose viz. That he that heareth from another what he should speak is taught if by being taught he means the receiving of new knowledge or of the knowledge of things which we knew not of before which he must mean if he means any thing with sense For many may hear from another what they are or ought to speak without being taught in such a sense as when a Jury of men give in a Verdict upon Oath it doth not follow that he that speaks or gives in his Testimony in the second or third place is taught by him that speaks the same thing before him in his hearing for he may speak the same thing out of his own Judgment and Conscience and which he was otherwise resolved to speak though he had not heard it spoken by another before he utters it and so they who spend their time in the study of the Scriptures and in the searching after truth may find that spoken or written which is equivalent to hearing and is hearing in a sense by another which yet falls in with their own thoughts and apprehensions formerly conceived in this case they may be said to hear that from another which they speak and yet not be taught Therefore Secondly Whereas he labours to prove the truth of that assertion from these two passages of the Scriptures Joh. 8.26 28. compared together his labour is in vain for his proof is notoriously defective and weak and this upon a double account For first he takes that for granted which he should have proved as being no waies evident in it self And secondly He supposeth that if it be true in one case that he that heareth from another what he shall speak is taught that therefore it must be true in all cases which is very ridiculous First That which he takes for granted in his proof from these passages is That our Saviour in the latter of the places expoundeth himself in the former or that he speaketh one and the same thing for substance of Notion in them both This I say no way appears nor indeed is much probable For when in the former place he speaks thus But he that sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him very probable it is that he speaks of the ineffable and unconceivable hearing whereby all the three Persons hear one another speaking the same things according to that of the same Apostle 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one If they all bear record in Heaven doubtless they hear one another or one from another Or else our Saviour in the words mentioned may be conceived to speak of the Eternal hearing from the Father which is appropriate to him as being his Son by Eternal Generation for the Father communicating one and the same Divine Nature or Essence with himself unto the Son by Eternal Generation must needs communicate all the Divine Attributes and Perfections together with it being indeed but one and the same thing with it and amongst the rest that infinite knowledge and understanding which is proper to it which communication of knowledge may properly enough be termed Christ's hearing of the Father Again When he saith in the latter place Joh. 8.28 he saith According as the Father hath taught me these things I speak He speaks of his teaching or being taught as man or as Mediator in which respect he is elsewhere â—ermed the servant of God and his Father said to be greater than he And consequently he must be inferiour to the Father and so may properly enough be said to be taught by him And that indeed he speaks here of his being taught as man appeareth from the next Verse but that we must not stand to scan all things Thus you see our Adversary in the main proof of his Argument takes that for granted which is not only questionable and uncertain but improbable also in the highest Again Secondly Suppose that which he taketh for granted without proof or probability in the case before us should be granted unto him viz. That our Saviour by hearing of the Father and by being taught by the Father meaneth one and the same thing or explaineth the one by the other yet it no way followeth that therefore all hearing and all teaching should be the same or that every one that heareth of another what he shall speak should be taught by him We gave a sufficient account of this lately it is a weak kind of arguing to reason thus Such and such words or Phrases are to be taken in such and such a sense in this or in that place of Scripture therefore they are to be so taken in all others So that this Argument also is of the same House and Linage with the former only before we dismiss it it may not be unworthy of your observation how strangely God blindeth the eyes of him that composed the Argument when towards the beginning of it to prove that the Holy Spirit is taught and heareth from another what he shall speak he refers us to Isa 40.13 14. which place expresly teacheth the quite contrary viz. That the Spirit of God hath none to teach or direct him the tenour of the place is this Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his Counsellor hath taught him With whom took he counsel or who instructed him and taught him in the path of Judgment and taught him knowledge and shewed to him the way of understanding I know not what words can with more pregnant and express emphaticalness assert the undeceivedness of the wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Ghost than these The Prophet David maketh this an Argument or sign of the departure of men from the Tents of such persons who are secret Enemies unto God viz. making their Tongues to fall upon themselves that is their uttering and speaking such things which apparently make against their own interest and designs Psal 64.8 So they shall make their own Tongues to fall upon themselves all that see them viz. thus ensnared and entangled shall fly away that is shall forsake their party shall no longer be confederate with them This for his fourth Argument The fifth Argument
which produceth the same effects in and about and with relation unto all men viz. their sustentation or continuation of their Beings but where he worketh variously or differently we hold a proportional difference of his personal presence with men so that our Adversary is quite besides his business at this turn also His Eighth Argument appears in the World with this face Sect. 14 He that changeth place is not God the Holy Spirit changeth place therefore he is not God To prove this he sendeth us to the third of Luke where it is said that the Holy Ghost descended like a Dove upon Christ at the time of his Baptism From this motion or descending ascribed unto the Holy Ghost he would needs infer and conclude that certainly the Holy Ghost cannot be God And why Because saith he God cannot change his place by reason of his Immensity which the Adversaries themselves do hold though the truth is he himself doth not hold it Now who can be said to change and alter his place saith he such a person whoever he be or such a thing cannot be God The Breviate of his Argument cometh only to this That the Holy Ghost changeth his place I suppose he would have said that he is capable of changing his place and therefore cannot be God because changing of place is repugnant to the Omnipresence of God which is God himself To this therefore we briefly reply That the Holy Ghost changeth not his place nor is capable of changing it nor doth his proof from Luke 3.21 22. hold out with his Conclusion For the descending of the Holy Ghost upon Christ in a bodily shape like a Dove doth no waies prove any local motion or shifting of place by the Holy Ghost but only the Doves changing place by the visible symbole whereof the Holy Ghost gave Testimony unto Christ or sealed him for the great Office of Mediatorship which he was now ready to enter upon even as God the Father gave testimony unto him of being his beloved Son by a voice from Heaven But whereas he saith that in the place cited We have the Holy Spirit in a bodily shape descending from heaven which is termiâ—â—â— a quo he affirms that which is not Here is no mention made of the Holy Ghost's descending from heaven in a bodily shape but only of the Holy Ghost descending upon Christ in a bodily shape like unto a Dove without any terminus a quo at all of which he speaketh It is indeed said concerning the voice that was now heard that this came from Heaven but as this Phrase of coming from heaven spoken of the voice doth not suppose the voice was first in the Heaven and then by a change of place came so near the earth as where it was heard but only as if he that spake it had been in the air above those who heard it In like manner if it had been said that the Holy Ghost had descended from heaven in the visible shape of a Dove it would not have implied that therefore the Holy Ghost was in heaven before and now by a local motion or remove came unto Christ but only that the Dove in which he is said to have descended came for some space down through the air And as touching the Metaphor of the Holy Ghost descending it imports nothing but what the Scriptures very frequently speak concerning God himself expressing this variation or change of dispensation or acting by such Phrases which in the Letter of them import change of place Nor do those Texts of Scripture which he citeth to prove that it was not God himself but an Angel who is said Gen. 18.21 to have gone down either divisim or conjunctim prove any such thing As for the rest of those places Acts 7.53 Gal. 3.19 Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 2.13 these have not so much as a colour of such proof nor indeed have these Texts themselves which are likeliest to serve his turn of all other Acts 7.30 35 38. much more For what though he that appeared in the Bush unto Moses be termed sometimes an Angel or the Angel of the Lord or otherwise the Lord God himself Yet First Neither followeth it that therefore he was a created Angel as because Angels are sometimes termed men as Gen. 18.22 besides other places without number it doth not follow that therefore they were natural and true men But only that they then appeared in the shapes of men they were men by dispensation and for a time only Neither Secondly Doth it follow That in case it be granted that an Angel in one place is therefore termed Jehovah Lord or God because he sustaines the Person or speaks in the name of God that therefore where any thing is attributed unto God as spoken in the name of God it must needs be meant of an Angel these are wild kind of Inferences or Proofs By the way I do not conceive that any Angel properly so called i.e. any created Angel ever stiled himself by the name Jehovah or God but that when he that thus stileth himself is any where called an Angel it is meant of that increated Angel who is called Angelus foederis the Angel of the Covenant and in respect of his frequent appearances unto men and transactings of things aftter the manner of Angels may properly enough be termed the Angel of the Lord. But suppose we should cast in that Text Gen. 18.21 into the Treasury of our Adversaries demands and grant that the Lord who then said that he would go down signifies a created Angel and not Jehovah himself yet this would not much enrich him For there are other places of Scripture where local motion and change of place is upon the account mentioned ascribed unto God see 2 Chron. 30.6 Jer. 12.15 Joel 2.14 Mal. 3.7 Acts 15.16 Zach. 1.16 8.3 and possibly in many other places besides all these God is said to return which as plainly imports local motion as descending doth Yea who knows not that coming and coming forth coming out of his place are frequently attributed unth God see Isa 26.21 Mic. 1.3 where the very expression now contended about viz. descending or coming down is expresly affirmed of God as it is likewise Exod. 19.20 Num. 11.25 Psal 18 9. And who knoweth how oft besides So that from the Holy Ghost's descending an Argument levied against his Godhead is but a vapour or smoak His Ninth Argument is not made of much better materials Sect. 15 however the form and matter of it together produceth this He that prayeth unto Christ to come to Judgment is not God the Holy Spirit doth so Ergo c. The Fabrick of this Argument is built as you may see upon this foundation that the Spirit of God cannot be God because saith he that he prayeth unto Christ to come to Judgment which he proveth from Rev. 22.17 I reply That Text Rev. 22.17 doth no way prove that the Holy Ghost prayeth unto Christ to come to Judgment
so that this is an errour in the foundation For first Though it be here said And the Spirit and the Bride say come yet it is not said that the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the bride say come It is the sense of some learned men that by the Spirit in this place is not meant the Holy Ghost but the Angel or Spirit which Christ is said Chap. 1.1 to have sent to signifie this Revelation unto John and who conversed with him all along hitherto Angels we know are of a spiritual nature and frequently in Scriptures termed Spirits Now to reason either a genere or a specie ad individuum from a general to a particular affirmatively is an Argument fitter for a child than for a man As thus It was a man that did such or such a thing therefore it was William or Thomas that did it such a reasoning as this is that before us The Spirit saith come therefore such or such a Spirit by name as the holiest Spirit of all saith come But grant we the Adversary that which his Argument demands that by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost Yet Secondly It is not necessary to conceive that the Holy Ghost spake thus saith unto Christ come as being without the Bride but as speaking in and by the Bride Nay it cannot reasonably be conceived otherwise For if the Holy Ghost separated from and without the Bride shall say come then the Bride must be supposed to say come of her self and without the presence and assistance of the Holy Ghost In which case were she able to conceive such a Prayer as this of her self which yet she is not yet would it not be acceptable unto God no Prayer being accepted with him but that which is prayed in or by the Holy Ghost Thirdly Though here be two Agents or two Speakers I beseech you mind it mentioned the Spirit and the Bride yet here is but one Action or speaking asserted to them both here is but one Come And the Spirit and the Bride say come it is not and the Spirit saith come and again the Bride saith come No but the Spirit and the Bride together make one lip as it were between them and together they say as it were with one voice come So that this passage or expression wherein the Spirit of God and the Spouse are made joynt Agents or joynt Speakers in one and the same Action or Speech perfectly agreeth with that Notion which runs throughout the Scriptures from place to place according unto which God and the Creature are made Co-workers or joynt Agents in all that the Creature doth worthily and according to the will of God in which respect also the Act produced between them is sometimes ascribed to the one and otherwhile to the other Many Instances hereof we have heretofore given you from the Scriptures if you please let us touch one instead of many at present in this kind not formerly observed and which hath a special affinity with the place in hand Acts 15.28 The Apostles Elders and Brethren assembled at Jerusalem write thus among other things to the Church of the Gentiles For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and unto us to lay no other c. Here the Apostles and the rest with them ascribe that Act of apprehension unto themselves as well as unto the Holy Ghost though to the Holy Ghost in the first place which was raised in them by the assistance and motion of the Holy Ghost though not without the joynt concurrence of their Understandings and Wills also the meaning is not that the things spoken of seemed good unto the Apostles and the rest apart from the Holy Ghost or without the dictating of the Notion or apprehension by the Holy Ghost nor again that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost simply considered or apart and extrinsical unto them For how then could they have told them that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and them But it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and us the meaning is that the Holy Ghost did enlighten and reveal the thing unto them and gave them directions and put them upon it to send this Counsel unto the Gentiles Namely to impose upon them by way of burthen and charge no other thing but that they abstain from such and such things so that here the Holy Ghost and the Apostles are joyned together in the same Act of apprehension so in the place in hand the Spirit and the Bride they make one and the same voice together the Spirit he dictates and the Bride she uttereth Thirdly suppose it had been so expressed And the Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come That there had been two distinct Actions mentioned the one ascribed unto the Holy Ghost the other unto the Bride or Church of Christ yet neither would it have followed from hence that therefore the Holy Ghost had prayed unto Christ to come to Judgment When a Judge prescribes or dictates the form of an Oath to be taken by a Jury or any Person thereof he doth not swear or take an Oath though the other that speaketh the same words after him doth formally and properly swear In like manner the Holy Ghost may teach the Bride what she should say and put words into her mouth and say thus within the Conscience and Soul of the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Now though the Holy Ghost spake these words and dictated unto the Bride what she should say and pray it doth not follow that therefore he should pray himself When Christ taught his Disciples to pray Our Father c. it doth not follow that therefore he himself did pray but he did put words into the mouths of his Disciples which when they came to utter would be a Prayer properly and truly so called c. Mr Brightman understandeth the place thus The Tenth Argument levied against the Deity of the Holy Ghost is this He in whom men have not believed Sect. 16 and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God Men have not believed in the Holy Spirit and yet have been so viz. Disciples Believers Ergo. The sum and substance of this Argument which spreads much Paper in the Author's words is this because we read in the Scriptures of some called Disciples who yet did not believe in the Holy Ghost Nor had so much as heard or known whether there were any Holy Ghost or no and withal that the Apostle Paul did not take any occasion thereupon to declare the Holy Ghost to be God Therefore certainly he is not God To this I answer and affirm by the way that from the Crown of the head unto the sole of the Foot of this Argument there is no sound part in it For first The Major Proposition which is the head of this Argument He in whom men have not believed and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God This Proposition I say
is unsound because it is ambiguous and so is apt to abuse mens Judgments and deceive them and not to instruct them For however there is a sense wherein it is good and will hold yet there is another sense which lieth more obnoxious to mens apprehensions which is not true For he may be God the word God taken Personally on whom though men have not believed viz. Explicitely yet they may be Disciples and Believers Though it be true also on the other hand that he that believeth not in God Essentially taken cannot be a Disciple or a Believer He that believeth not that there is one God cannot be a Disciple or true Believer as the case may be But he that believes not the distinct manner of the subsistence of this one God viz. that he subsists in three which we call Persons Or that doth not believe especially explicitely and by name and under relation of any of all the three such an one may notwithstanding be a Disciple and Believer in the Scripture sense I would be loath to pronounce the hard Sentence of non-Disciple or non-Believer against all those that professedly deny the Godhead of Christ or of the Holy Ghost though there are many that are not at all tender in doing it because though explicitely and in terms they deny him yet believing there is one God and this one God being Father Son and Holy Ghost they do implicitely virtually and constructively own and acknowledge them As he that carries a Box sealed up about him wherein he thinketh there is but one Jewel he knoweth of no more yet in case there be three more he carrieth them all by carrying the Box or Case wherein they are contained In like manner he that believeth one God doth virtually believe in the Three Persons though I would not by this extenuate the greatness of the sin and dangerousness of the error of those who in words profess against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost and so of Christ though implicitely and by way of consequence they acknowledge it The ancient Jews such I mean who were Abraham's Seed were true Disciples and Believers yet did not they at least all of them explicitely believe Christ to have been or that he was the Son of God but the Proposition we are now upon is not indeed worthy the labour already bestowed upon the examination of it Vanitate suâ translucet A man may see through it Secondly That which is the Basis and main Foundation of the whole discourse of the Argument is an absolute mistake and misapprehension For the meaning of the words spoken by those who are called Disciples Acts 19.2 We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost is not that they had never heard of the name or simple being of the Holy Ghost we shall manifest the contrary hereunto presently but that they had not as yet heard whether the Holy Ghost was in actu secundo as the School-men speak i.e. whether he was abroad again in the World as formerly he was in the daies of their Fore-fathers and Prophets This to be the true and plain meaning of the words appeareth by several considerations First The Verb Substantive here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies the simple and absolute being or existence of a thing is oft used in the Scriptures for the being of a thing in Act Exercise or Manifestation in this sense it is used more than once by our Saviour himself The Evangelist John useth it concerning the Holy Ghost himself Joh. 7.39 This he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet the word given inserted in our English Translation is not in the Original the Holy Ghost was not yet because that Jesus was not yet glorified was not yet i.e. was not yet abroad in the World amongst Believers in the discovery of himself by those miraculous and extraordinary gifts which afterwards he conferred upon many so when these Disciples the Argument speaketh of said that they had not so much as heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether the Holy Ghost be The meaning is that they had not heard whether he had been yet given or no viz. upon a new account the ancient account upon which as they conceived He was formerly given being expired and out of date long since Our English Translators might as well have inserted the word given in this place as in that of John mentioned and then the Clause would have run thus We have not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost be given We have heretofore given you many instances from the Scriptures of such an Adjective sense of the Verb Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that is now contended for viz. From Mat. 5.45 Rom. 7.13 c. This sense in the second place is confirmed against that given or supposed by our Adversaries in the Argument before us from hence because these Disciples had certainly heard of the being of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit For first Being Jews which appears by their having been baptized by John's or some of his Disciples Baptism in those daies not having been carried out amongst the Gentiles and after it was come abroad unto other Gentiles they in Asia where Ephesus stood were for a time denied it Acts 16.6 being Jews I say they could not but have heard of the being of the Holy Ghost or of the Spirit of God mention hereof being so plainly and frequently made in the Scriptures I need not I suppose to cite places for this but whether they were Jews or Gentiles having been baptized with the Baptism of John it cannot be imagined but that they had heard of the being of the Holy Ghost For John when he baptized men with water admonished them to believe on him Mat. 3.11 that should come after him who he told them should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire And there is little question to be made but that John's Disciples taught the same Doctrine in this Point with their Master Again thirdly That sense of the words which we have given makes the answer of the Disciples every whit as congruous and pertinent to Paul's question put to them if not more than that sense which the Argument supposeth Paul said unto them or demanded of them have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed They answer him according to the sense we plead We have not so much as heard whether there be any receiving of him or no or whether any other Believers have received him And fourthly and lastly for this there is this reason why these Disciples being Jews as we argued might probably say or mean than they had not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost were now abroad in the World or no because from the time of Antiochus who miserably afflicted and wasted their Church and State the Jews were wont greatly to mourn and lament as if together with their last
Spirit is in the Apostle's words in a like case 1 Cor. 12.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. zealously to cover or desire it to have a man's soul break within him as David's expression is with a longing desire after it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate the best gifts the better gifts saith the Original the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated covet earnestly signifieth to desire with a zeal or emulation i. e. to desire after such a manner or upon such terms that we resolve that nothing shall interpose as far as we are able to prevent and hinder it between our desire and the thing desired viz. so as to bereave our desires of their object or cause them to cease from it Now evident it is that the Apostle in the place now cited prescribeth this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This earnest or zealous coveting after the better gifts in order to the obtaining of them at the hand of God otherwise To what end or purpose should he enjoyn such a thing It is not to be imagined that he should exhort them zealously to covet such things which were not possible for them to obtain and enjoy No nor yet such things the enjoyment whereof were not to be obtained or procured by such their earnest coveting Now if this earnest or zealous coveting of those gifts of the Spirit which the Apostle there means and of which he had particularly spoken immediately before were a means either in whole or in part to attain them doubtless the same course the like zealous coveting is a proper means also though not an adequate or compleat means for the obtaining of such a fulness of the Spirit of which we speak For if God be enclined to hearken unto to accommodate the earnest desires of men when they are lifted up unto such objects such things that are of a perishing nature be they never so well used or managed for of this kind were those gifts of the Spirit of which the Apostle speaks in the place mentioned as himself also expresly testifieth and confesseth 1 Cor. 13.8 And consequently are of affinity with the outward perishable things of this World as Silver Gold Meats Drinks c. if then I say God were so far indulgent or respectful to the zealous desires of men after the transient gifts of the Spirit such whereof Persons who did not truly love God were capable that he was very propense to gratifie them much more have we reason to judge that he will look towards such desires of men especially if they be raised to any fervency or height when they are bent upon such a filling with the Spirit that will commend them in his sight and which being maintained and persevered in will make them great in the Kingdom of Heaven for ever Our Saviour speaking of things of a transient nature in reference to mens seeking of things that are permanent and enduring expresly informs the world that if men shall be diligent in seeking these latter those other shall collaterally and as it were on the by be cast upon them Mat. 6.33 First seek the Kingdom of God c. Indeed men and women generally go so to work as if the tenour of our Saviours Counsel ran counter and was quite contrary to what now it is That in case men would seek in the first place the things of this World and the conveniences thereof what they should eat or what they should drink or wherewith they should be cloathed that then all things appertaining to the Kingdom of God should be cast in unto them For there is an high seeking after these things almost on every hand as if God were so far from casting them in unto men upon the account our Saviour speaks of that men must deny themselves in the things of God and of their eternal peace to lay out themselves whole and entire with all their might and all their strength for the wresting of them out of his hand But whatsoever men think or do in this kind the word of the faithful Witness of Heaven remaineth firm and stedfast nor hath God made the least tittle or iota of any promise or overture of casting in spiritual things unto men upon their desires or endeavours after outward things but ever and anon labours to reduce men to sobriety and moderation in both these that so they may be found in a better capacity to receive spiritual things from him If you ask me Sect. 6 But what may be the reason that God should so graciously and highly esteem the zealous desires or covetings of men after spiritual things above the like desires in them after earthly things Or why considering that both kinds of things are good and from himself yet zealous covetings after the former take his heart and soul the like after these are an offence unto him and separate between him and his Creature To this I reply first Negatively the reason is not precisely because the former desires are commanded by him I mean zealous desires after spiritual things and the latter not commanded but forbidden The commanding of the former by God in conjunction with a prohibition of the latter is sufficient proof that he doth indeed accept the one and not the other but it is not the reason at least not the Adequate nor the principal reason why he doth so accept them A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him A stumbling as it were at unawares upon the Letter of commands is of no great acceptance with God which yet it would and must be if it were simply the Command of God that rendered an Act done according to the tenour of the Letter of it acceptable unto him Again some things commanded by God may accidentally fall in with mens carnal ends and desires and upon such an account as this they may do them As Children that have rich Parents from whom they expect great matters at their death or otherwise in the mean time to accommodate their hopes and expectations in this kind they may honour and obey them many the like cases might be readily put But now that which Children do in such cases though it be commanded at least in the Letter by God yet this renders it of a very slender acceptation with him Therefore most certain it is that the primary reason at least why any mans doing the Command of God is accepted with him is not this because he doth that which God hath commanded for then in what case soever men should do that which God hath commanded there would be acceptance which we have shewed is not true Therefore Secondly in the Affirmative the true reason or reasons for they are rather two than one why mens zealous desires after spiritual things and especially after a being filled with the Spirit are of such a high and soveraign acceptation with God as hath
Wine when it is red and giveth its colour in the Cup or glass when it moveth it self upright i. e. when it springs or sparkles Prov. 23.31 Look not on it when it is red c. i.e. do not fix thine eye upon it do not continue looking on it for so the word looking oft imports his meaning is not that a man should not simply see or cast his eye upon it as if there would be danger in such a case for then he could not tell when or how to observe this Precept but his meaning is if a man will fix his eye upon it there is danger of being inflamed with inordinate love unto it So our Saviour Mat. 5.28 Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her i. e. until he lusts after her or after any such manner that he comes to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart Now this sheweth when and how this lusting cometh to be propagated in the heart if there be any loveliness in the Creature this may draw our hearts forth as it were of course unto such covetings The reason why men and women hate not sin with a more vehement vigorous and perfect hatred than generally they do is partly because they do not frequently and with intenseness of mind consider the abundance of evil that is in it that violent and virulent Antipathy or contrariety that is in it to their comfort and peace in many kinds For certain it is that sin hath enough in it to set all the World on fire with enmity to it Yea as the Devil when he had sinned had that in him and upon him which being looked upon by God was sufficient to throw him down from Heaven into the bottom of Hell So likewise hath sin that in it which being clearly seen and diligently considered by men is sufficient to cast it down out of the heavens of mens love and desires into the deepest hell of their hatred and indignation So on the other hand it is as true concerning righteousness in general which Plato the Philosopher had a glimmering of And as it is with Righteousness in general so it is with and also concerning that excellent peece or member of it whereof we speak A being filled with the Spirit This is such a Master-peece of humane felicity it hath so much worth and goodness and desirableness in it that was it thoroughly known and frequently whetted upon the thoughts and minds of men and women they need take no further care how to come by such covetings after it as those now prescribed unto you as a means in the first place to obtain it unless happily it be to satisfie themselves in this that it is nothing but what is attainable For if indeed you shall look upon it as a thing absolutely out of your reach your souls will hardly put forth in coveting or desiring after it But this scruple being removed you would soon find your hearts full of those covetings and desires so full that they would not be long able to contain themselves but that they would break forth and utter themselves in such other waies and means which they shall understand to be proper and likely to obtain it If you ask me But what is there so excellent Sect. 8 so greatly desirable in this being filled with the Spirit which being known and narrowly considered by us must needs as you say set us on coveting after it and so put us into a nearer capacity of obtaining it I reply first in the general the desirableness of it is such so exceeding great that neither the Tongue of men or Angels are sufficient to express it it is of kin to the peace of God and partakes herewith in that property that it passeth all understanding so that when we shall travel many dales yea many years with our minds and understandings to search out and discover the riches of it we shall leave much hereof undiscovered and unknown But more particulary First Such a filling with the Spirit as we speak of will leave no place for foolish and hurtful lusts in one kind or other to play their parts within us which as Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.11 Fight against the soul that is against the peace comfort and prosperity of it As upon the bringing in of the Ark into the Tabernacle the Tabernacle was filled with smoak Exod. 40.34 And so in the Dedication of the Temple the Priests could not enter because of the glory there 1 Kings 8.10 11. even so when the soul when the inner Temple of the heart of a man or woman shall be filled with the Spirit of God there will be such a glory of holiness there that there will be no standing or abode for those base Companions unclean impure carnal and sensual desires and inclinations No but they will all be scattered as the Mist is scattered before the Sun when it ariseth in its might These Companions which have haunted your souls and inner man hitherto Pride Envy and Malice and inordinate love of the World Pleasure Ease and all such kind of things as these they will be sensible of the glorious presence of this Spirit of God in you they will not be able to abide it his presence will fright away all those Aliens and strangers that are contrary to him It is true the greatest filling with the Spirit that flesh and bloud is at lâ—ast ordinarily capable of obtaining will not wholly overwhelm or drown the flesh as to extinguish the motions or stirrings of it in men This is clear from many Scriptures and particularly from that of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 .. For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit When by reason of the contrary lustings between the Flesh and the Spirit he saith they cannot do the things they would he speaks not so much indeed not at all of the species kind or substance of the Action but of the spiritual and exact manner of performing it Yea cannot do the things ye would his meaning is not that though they were willing to pray yet because of the lusting of the flesh they could not pray or though they were willing to hear the word yet they could not hear but thus ye cannot pray ye cannot hear or ye cannot give Alms as ye would that is with as much Faith with as much Fervency with as much Freedom and enlargement of Heart and Soul as ye desire The Flesh will be still interrupting and mingling it self with your actions and in preciseness and strictness of speech that which a servant of God or spiritual man properly would do is not simply to pray or simply to hear or to give Alms or the like But to do these and all other services and actions after the best and purest manner without any reluctancy or gainsayingness or interruption so that when men pray and do not pray thus when they hear and give Alms and do not both the one and the other upon such terms as these they
of him I mean they made very little breach upon his comfort or peace he was upon the matter as well apaid in himself even when the pains of hell as David speaketh i. e. fear or apprehensions of Death or the Grave compassed him about as when the Sun of outward peace and prosperity shone with the greatest brightness upon him This might be made to appear from the many passages in his own writings as 2 Cor. 4.16 6.10 Now how lovely and above measure desirable a priviledge is it to have an heart that cannot be pierced that cannot be wounded by the sharpest Arrows that can be drawn out of the Quiver of this World I shall not need to teach or inform you I make no question but that you have a very vigorous and lively notion or impression of it within you however something may be added to this Point hereafter So then you see another thing very considerable in a being filled with the Spirit the diligent working of which upon your hearts and souls must needs make you covetous after it Thirdly Your being filled with the Spirit Sect. 11 will be unto you as an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 1.11 And this in these three respects highly desirable First In respect of an excellent measure and degree of righteousness and true holiness Secondly In respect of a like measure or degree of inward and sound peace Thirdly and lastly in respect of that measure of joy also wherewith the heart and soul must needs be filled thereby The Apostle Paul we know Rom. 14.17 placeth the Kingdom of God in these three Righteousness Peace and Joy in or through the Holy Ghost The Kingdom of God saith he is not meat and drink but Righteousness c. By the Kingdom of God he means nothing else but the same thing the same Kingdom which Peter calls the Everlasting Kingdom c. Only Paul seemeth to speak as well of it in respect of the manner and behaviour as of the Priviledges and Happiness of the Subjects thereof the Apostle Peter either only or chiefly mentions it in respect of the latter This then is that we say that in respect of both as well in respect of that heavenly deportment or behaviour which is Universally used and practiced in this Kingdom expressed by the Apostle Paul in the word Righteousness as in respect of the Priviledges and great Felicity signified in the other two words Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost In respect I say of both your being filled with the Spirit will give you an entrance in abundance into this Kingdom i. e. will put you into such a state and condition wherein you shall have a rich taste or rather plentiful first Fruits of the glory and blessedness of that Kingdom This entrance in abundance which we speak of into the Everlasting Kingdom shall by your being filled with the Spirit be given unto you First In respect of that Righteousness or Excellency of Conversation whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom maintain themselves in the felicity and enjoyment of it and whereby they are discernable from other persons For when and whilest the Spirit of God dwelleth richly and plentifully in you he will kindle and raise up strong and excellent Inclinations Potent and Prince like Resolutions within you unto waies and works of Righteousness and true Holiness Inclinations and Resolutions in this kind that will not be baffled or turned out of the way by every gust of Temptation as the Purposes and Resolutions of the same Denomination in the generality of Professours in whom the Spirit dwelleth in a lower degree only are subject to be but will hold on their course in waies of Righteousness As a good Ship running with all her Sails displayed before a stiff Gale of Wind will cut through the waves and troublesome workings of the Seas taking no notice of them Even so when a man is filled with the Spirit he is as it were tied and bound hand and foot that he cannot lightly move or stir out of the waies which the Spirit it self commendeth unto him and seeketh to guide his feet unto As Paul being filled with the Spirit Acts 20.22 Behold saith he I now go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I go bound in the Spirit That is the Spirit of God hath wrought such a mighty Desire and Resolution in me to go to Jerusalem that my Mind and Conscience will not serve me so much as to deliberate or argue the case within me whether I had best to go or no. As a man that is bound hand and foot where and in what posture you leave him there you shall find him especially if his bands be strong and close drawn and fast tied they will keep him from motion In like manner he that is filled with the Spirit is much in the same case or condition spiritually he cannot act or move but only as the Spirit acteth and moveth him When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost as they were in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.4 they could not speak what they pleased or listed but saith the Text they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they were bound in the Spirit from speaking viz. from speaking any thing but what the Spirit pleased As Paul was not bound in the Spirit from doing any thing or going any where at all but from going any whither but to Jerusalem which was the place the Spirit moved him to go unto In like manner when men and women are filled with the Spirit in the sense of the Text in hand they are inwardly bound and straitned from walking or moving in all other waies save only those wherein they are guided by himself which are only waies of Rigteousness and Holiness Now then to walk in waies of Righteousness to walk uniformly constantly and only in these waies I mean without any scandalous or self-allowed deviation this must needs be conceived to be an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the Righteousness of it Now to be at this pass that we shall not only walk in waies of Righteousness but to do it without any manner of regret nay without much noise striving or reluctancy from our hearts or from our flesh within us This is one of the first born of Priviledges and my Brethren if there were nothing else in being filled with the Spirit but this only viz. that you shall be enabled hereby to walk after an excellent rate to keep the very Battlements of Heaven to walk holily and humbly with your God by excellency of righteousness and to shine in the beauty of Holiness whilst you live is a matter that would make it worthy your labour and of all that can be required of you to possess your souls
with it Secondly Sect. 12 By your being filled with the Spirit in the sense declared you shall find an entrance in abundance into the said Kingdom in respect of the peace thereof in this Kingdom of Christ as there is and shall be an abundance of Righteousness so shall there be an abundance of Peace also Abundance of Peace saith David speaking of this Kingdom Psal 72.7 As long as the Moon endureth there shall be abundance of Peace i. e. there shall be no interruption no breaches at all greater or lesser made upon the tranquillity and peace of the Subjects of this Kingdom according to that Prophesie Isa 65.25 They shall not hurt nor destroy i. e none shall hurt neither men nor any other Creature shall so much as hurt or offer the least disturbance unto any much less shall they destroy in all my holy mountain he speaks of that Mountain which shall fill the whole earth when the time cometh Dan. 2.35 This is that everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ Now that abundance of peace which David Prophesied should be enjoyed in this Kingdom comprehendeth as well yea and chiefly that inward peace which shall be established ratified and confirmed between God and them and enjoyed accordingly by them as also the external peace which they shall enjoy too So then when we undertake to say unto you that if you shall be filled with the Spirit you shall have by this means an entrance in abundance into the everlasting Kingdom of the Lord Christ in respect of the peace hereof our meaning is that you shall enjoy an excellent degree of heavenly and inward tranquillity you shall be delivered from those secret wringings and gripings and gnawings of Conscience for fear of the wrath that is to come whereunto they who neglect to steer this course we speak of to be filled with the Spirit and whose enjoyments in this kind are but low are ever and anon subject unto you shall not lye under any Jealousie of God as if his heart and soul were not perfect with you or as if there were some Item given of displeasure against you The peace of God as the Apostle saith passeth all understanding that is the worth and value the riches of it amounteth to more in the true nature and estimate of it than any mans understanding is able to sum or cast up or to comprehend or conceive A man's understanding can go a great way and what it can conceive is of a vast extension yet saith he peace with God is such a thing the richness of it is so unsearchable that the understanding of a man cannot value it though it should strain it self and make a work of it yet this peace of God cannot be conceived by it Now I say this peace of God shall be vested in your souls and though this peace will not it may be so reconcile the World unto you but that you may have wars and troubles from it yet it will do that which will be upon the matter equivalent hereunto it will bring it so to pass with you that as Paul saith 2 Cor. 12.9 10. you shall be able to rejoyce in your infirmities i. e. in such things which you shall suffer from the World and to do as James adviseth Christians To count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations Jam. 1.2 Now wars and troubles upon these terms are every whit as good as desirable as peace it self but we spake more largely in the former particular But now that by being filled with the Spirit your peace with God must needs advance and become glorious may be made to appear from these two Considerations both of them near at hand First By this means by being filled with the Spirit those things which are apt and likely to interrupt and disturbe your peace with God yea which only according to ordinary experience are able to bring this inconveniency or misery upon you will be taken out of the way Secondly Those things which are apt and proper to nourish to add growth and strength to your peace with God will abundantly succeed in their place and by both these you shall have your peace with God in abundance First I say by your being filled with the Spirit those things which are like to interrupt or make any breach upon your peace with God will be cut off and taken out of the way this we know is sin and unworthiness of Life and Conversation There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa 57.21 48.22 And again Your iniquities have separated between you nnd your God and your sins have hid his face from you When God saith There is no peace to the wicked And again That mens Iniquities separate between him and them he plainly enough implieth that there is peace to all that are not wicked and that there is nothing of a separating and dividing nature between God and his Creature Man but Iniquity that nothing will cause God to hide his face from man but sin The reason hereof is plain viz. because there is nothing that hath any contrariety to the nature of God nothing that is provoking to him but Iniquity only All other things have a perfect sympathy and agreement with his nature as being made by him Therefore there is nothing in the World that can provoke God unto Anger or that can make him to come out in any warlike manner against his Creature but only sin Who will make War with his Friends Or will suffer it to come into all his thoughts to have any hard or cruel device against them Will a man quarrel and fight with his own Child whilst he is dutiful to him and gives him no cause of trouble So then those things which cause Iniquity to cease from the Creature that which separates between sin and it must needs cause all that to be taken out of the way which is any waies interruptive of our peace with God It hath been been formerly shewed and proved in the management of this Doctrine and was even now briefly hinted repetitionwise that a being filled with the Spirit will leave no place in the heart or soul of a man for the Lusts of the Flesh for vile and sinful Lusts to lodge there And if these be dissolved and abolished out of the soul the fruits of them i.e. sinful and wicked actions and waies must needs be cut off also because as the rush cannot grow without water So neither can the fruits of the flesh grow but from the Lusts of the flesh So that this will be the consequence of being filled with the Spirit That all those things which make any breach between God and you shall be removed Where no fuell is the fire goeth out So where there is no tale-bearer strife ceaseth Now that which fuel is to the fire and a talebearer to cause strife the same is sinfulness in the Creature it is obstructive to its peace with God and kindles the fire of his
things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self c. Now do but compare the latter And when he Agabus was come unto us he took Paul's Girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Upon the hearing of these things they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem and ver 13. Then answered Paul what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart For I am not only ready to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus As who should say Are you aware how blessed a business I have in hand and of how evil a tendency this your advice and this your weeping is Why saith he do ye break my heart I am all thoughts made in my felf I have no regret within me as to this service of going to Jerusalem and therefore why do you by your weeping as you do go about to dissolve and scatter that blessed and composed frame of heart which I have wrought my self unto For saith he I have not only a light willingness but I am set upon the work whatever it cost me I am not only ready to suffer such things as Bonds Imprisonment c. but I am even ready to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus I have reasons in abundance to balance against all the counter-arguings of my Flesh my Friends and Relations I have trampled them all under my feet so that I have no more to think of or to debate what to do in this case but am in an actual readiness as to this business So then you see that being filled with the Spirit of God how it removeth all obstructions out of the way of men and women in the Service of God It causeth every thing to cease from being burthensome or hard unto them It is with a man or woman that is filled with the Spirit of God in respect of their natural indispositions or aversness to the high and difficult Services of God as it is between the inferiour Orbs or Spheres in the Heavens and that utmost Sphere which Philosophers call Primum Mobile the First Mover the motion of this Sphere according to the notion they have of it and probable it is true in reason however it is very apt and proper to represent the business which we desire to possess you with is so incredible swift and strong that it carries about all the other with it notwithstanding their propensions and these very strong too in their kind unto different yea contrary motions but that same Primum Mobile carries them along with it in its own motion and course taking no notice viz. of any repugnancy in them to such a motion or comportance with it but carries them about as if they were all agreed and naturally consenting to go along with it Much after the same manner it is between a great presence or fulness of the Holy Ghost in the soul and that natural indisposition or averseness of the Flesh to waies and services of a difficult and excellent import The Holy Ghost being gloriously potent and mighty in his motions and way overbears and oversets the natural Propensions and the repugnant and cross inclinations of the Flesh to such services and works and carries these along with him in his course by reason whereof they seem willing also and consenting to what is done or to be done in that kind Or look as it is between the Tide or flowing in of the Sea and the course of the River or fresh waters upon which it comes we know the natural course of the River and the waters thereof is contrary to the course of the Sea and the waters thereof when it flows yet because the Sea moves with more authority viz. with more strength and irresistibleness of motion than the River doth it takes along the waters of the River with it in its course and these seem to be as willing with the motion as the Sea it self and the waters thereof nor is there any contrariety or averseness or reluctancy to the motion discerned in these fresh waters whilst they are under the authority and conduct of the Salt After such a manner it is between the flesh of a man and the averseness that is there unto things that are of a spiritual nature When a man is filled with the Spirit of God this carrieth all down before him and that after such a manner as that the Flesh forgetteth all hardness and difficulty that is in its way in the Service of God and so forbears all swelling or rising up against it This then in the fifth place is another worthy Priviledge that doth attend your being filled with the Spirit Sixthly Your being filled with the Spirit will enlarge your hearts mightily unto waies and works that are excellent Sect. 16 It will make you like unto Jesus Christ in true Nobleness and Prince-like disposition of Spirit and cause you to fall in travel with the World until the peace comfort and prosperity of it be provided for and established round about you This accommodation and benefit differs from the former and carrieth somewhat in it above that That consisted in a reconciling or healing the disproportion which commonly is between the hearts or natural dispositions of men and the waies especially the more high and excellent waies of God This consists in an effectual drawing out of the heart and soul unto such waies and services in setting an edge of zeal upon the Spirits of men to be like unto the Vine in Jotham's Parable Judg. 9.13 which is there said to chear both God and man A man may possibly be free from any great averseness or indisposedness to such or such an action or course and yet be but of a kind of neutral and indifferent frame of heart have no great or zealous propension towards them But he that is zealous of good works as the Scripture speaks hath not only the contrariety and averseness of his nature unto such works subdued and broken within him but hath an inclination unto them stirred up and wrought in him so that as a strong Bias in a Boule his heart leaneth and longeth that way So then this is that which I hold forth unto you in the particular now in hand If you shall be filled with the Spirit you will hereby be enriched with many noble excellent and worthy dispositions of heart and soul which will lead and carry you forth with a strong hand upon all occasions to works and actions of an high and sacred import It will relieve you against the natural scantness and narrowness of your hearts in this kind and cause you with Abraham to be numbred amongst the Friends of God and Benefactors to the World and no opportunity of doing good shall escape you It will cause you to look upon your selves with
Paul as Debtors to the Greeks and Barbarians to the wise and to the unwise Rom. 1.14 i.e. unto all persons of mankind without exception and will give you no rest in your Spirits but only whilst you are paying what you owe in this kind or at least preparing and putting your selves into a condition to pay accordingly I began to say unto you that it would make you like unto Jesus Christ himself in Prince-likeness and true greatness of Spirit it will draw you into part and fellowship and this in abundance in the same design and prevail with you to make one purse and to cast in your lot with him It will give you the considence and courage to say unto him as Jehosaphat said to King Ahab 1 Kings 22.4 I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses you will joyn with him with all the strength you have and all the friends and power you can make in the World in that great and blessed work and engagement which is now upon his hand and which he is carrying on day and night I mean the advancement of the peace and happiness of the World For though particular men and women and these not many enjoy the rich benefit and fruit of his most gracious interposures and actings in that kind we speak of yet the compass of his design to do good and bless and save and the nature and proper tendency of his actings are as large as the World or generality of mankind Hence it is that in Scripture Language things of general and publick concernment are called the things of Jesus Christ in opposition to the concernments of particular men All seek their own not the things that are Jesus Christ's Phil. 2.21 meaning that generally mens hearts were straight and narrow extending themselves only to their own particular interest and concernments not caring for things of a general and publick concernment which are properly the Affairs and Concernment of Jesus Christ who is the Great Providor for the World who doth good and blesseth particulars as they are members of the Universal and come in his way i. e. as they walk in those wares of Righteousness and true Holiness whereunto his Desires and Endeavours are to bring the World and this in order to their Peace and Happiness Now this great and glorious design of blessing the World from the one end of it unto the other was raised in the soul of Jesus Christ by his being filled with the Spirit His anointing in this kind was not by measure Hence it came to pass that the complexion of his heart and soul for doing good was so large and comprehensive to go round about the whole Creation as is witnessed of him Acts 10.38 that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went thout doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil For God was with him Look then to what degree you shall be filled with the same Spirit wâ—◠〈…〉 Christ was filled withal your hearts will be proportionably filled 〈◊〉 the same resolution as Jesus Christ was You will be enlarged in tâ—â—â— kind your endeavours and engagements to do good will be very vast and comprehensive You will not endure to see the miserable and deplorable condition of men and women in the World in one kind or other but that you will find or feel something or other in you that will provoke you yea and after a manner will compel you to minister unto them of what you have in your hand As whilst Paul staid at Athens waiting for Silas and Timotheus His spirit was stirred in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Acts 17.16 How or unto what was his spirit stirred within him Doubtless it was to relieve them by endeavouring to break asunder if it were possible that snare of death this humour of Idolatry wherewith these poor people were taken and so to deliver them as appeareth by that which followeth in vers 17. Therefore disputed he in the Synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the Market daily with them that met with him Thus then you see here is another great and worthy accommodation which a being filled with the Spirit is accompanied with which will make you like unto Princes yea like unto Jesus Christ himself You will be willing to go along with him and not so much mind or manage your own things as the things of his interest and glory You will be willing to take Christ's design along with you and still watch over that great business which he is carrying on with an high hand in the World Now who is able to estimate or compute the blessedness of such a state and frame of heart and soul as this is which we now speak of and which with the Scripture and evidence of reason otherwise we ascribe to a being filled with the Spirit The loud rejoycing of Conscience which doth accrue unto men is the natural result of such a frame of heart so enlarged and endeavours sutable unto it This great and mighty Testimony of a man's Conscience is sweeter and more desirable than life it self And we shall find the Apostle Paul make an estimate or value of it accordingly For it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void 1 Cor. 9.15 From whence this glorying of his did spring we are particularly informed from his hand 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World c. He had tasted of that sweetness and incomparable satisfaction which did flow in unto him upon the account of the enlargedness of his heart and soul in the great concernments of the Gospel which made him conclude that it were better for him to die than that any man should make void his glorying in this kind How mightily did he magnifie and glory in this great Treasure viz. his rejoycing in the Testimony of his Conscience that he had served God and men with all sincerity and simplicity This he thought was enough to make the World go and do likewise Seventhly Sect. 17 By being filled with the Spirit of God you shall be enabled to pray unto God and this more effectually and with greater acceptation and upon far better terms than any other way see that known place Rom. 8.26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God If this be proper to the Spirit simply and where he is in a lower and lesser degree then certainly where there is
a greater presence of God and where he filleth the hearts and souls of men with his presence there he riseth and advanceth in a more excellent manner with greater accommodations teaching them how to pray meaning the manner how they should pray Now in that he is said to relieve our infirmities and to help our ignorances when we pray and so to teach the Saints to pray as they ought by making Intercession for them the meaning is that he teacheth them a prayer of a more excellent and of a more spiritual import and teacheth them how to present this Prayer of theirs upon terms of a richer and more high acceptation unto God And Gal. 4.6 it is said God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Alba Father This is a Phrase or Figure of speakking wherein Actions are ascribed unto those who are the means or cause of them and not to the Actors themselves As for instance Charity is said to believe all things and to hope all things because it doth qualifie and dispose the Person where it is found thus to believe all things and to hope all things So here the Spirit is said to cry Abba Father and so to make intercession for the Saints because he doth teach enable and dispose them both to the one and to the other You had a taste of that formerly in Jude ver 20. praying in the Holy Ghost that is by or through the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost According to the same figure our Saviour's Saying unto his Apostles is to be understood Mar. 10.20 For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you When they should come before Rulers and Governours he saith it was not they that should speak but the Holy Ghost that was within them his meaning is not that the Holy Ghost did speak the words but only because the Holy Ghost did furnish them with such and such things which they should speak So now they that be filled with the Spirit of God there is as it were a characteristical difference between the same kind of actions in them and that which proceedeth from other men who have not the same edge of spirit and life in them these are full of power and authority and heavenly lustre and beauty in their actions and doings whereas the like actions and performances of persons that do them without the Spirit have nothing of excellency in them Now of how great and blessed a consequence is it unto you to be enabled to pray effectually to carry things in Heaven richly and upon terms of highest acceptation If we could but weigh this one priviledge or advantage alone in the balance we should find it to weigh more than all the Silver and Gold in the World What To be able to pray yea to pray unto God with acceptation to pray so as to be able to prevail with God and that about great matters for States and Kingdoms as they may that have an interest in Heaven as such persons we speak of have Such men might carry the World before them they might pluck up States and Kingdoms they might be as great in Heaven as Nâ—buchadnezzar was here upon Earth whom he would he set up and whom he would he pulled down so had we interest in Heaven as we might have we might do likewise It is like we are at such a pass as the Disciples were at when it is said that they believed not for joy when Christ came first amongst them the consideration of his being rose again from the dead was a business of such a mighty consequence such a matter of joy that it became a stumbling-block in the way of their faith They believed not for joy i. e. they were not capable of the most demonstrative Arguments and Convictions as when he shewed them his hands and his feet and talked with them This is the case of this great Priviledge I speak of viz. of carrying matters in Heaven we are conscious to our selves that we are poor and weak men and women whom the men of this World are generally ready to to be treading and trampling under foot and to despise Oh my Brethren the things we speak of How incredible above measure are they Yet it is a most certain and an undoubted truth that if we be filled with the Spirit of God we might pray at such a rate and after such a manner that we might carry our Petitions in Heaven and even whatsoever we should ask in the Name of Jesus Christ according to the will of God And we need have no larger Rule than this we need not desire a larger Commission than the compass of the Will of God For all things are according to the Will of God which are necessary for the comforts and accommodation of men and women in the World round about Jâ—m 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all Greek Authors give out the proper signification of it is this It noteth a Person that is possessed or acted by a supernatural power whether it be of an holy or an unclean Spirit above their Sphere so now that prayer viz. the effectual fervent prayer c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is acted wrought and raised by a Spirit which is greater than the spirit of man and therefore of necessity by no other than the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost himself who thus raised and lifted up himself in might and power to enable them hereunto Eighthly and lastly By being filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 18 you shall by the mediation of the fruit and consequence of the particular last mentioned consult to your selves so much the better Resurrection and consequently the better Eternity I allude to that place in the latter end of Heb. 11. where the Author speaking of the Servants of God saith that they might obtain a better Resurrection where the Antecedent is put for the Consequent a better Resurrection for a better State in the Resurrection There are other waies and practices or at least may be upon which men may obtain the fatness of Heaven the best of the glory and great things of the World to come But there is none so certain or regular none within the reach of the Wisdom or Providence of men that a man may rely and reckon upon whereby to consult to himself a better Heaven but only that we speak of A being filled with the Spirit of God If you be made great in the Kingdom of Heaven in any other way or by any other means than that we speak of you must as well be beholding to the sin and wickedness of other men as to your own worth grace or faithfulness and there must be more than an ordinary hand in the Providence of God to bring it to pass For what other waies or means are there of obtaining a greater preeminence in glory than the
the Spirit of God was in men before they believed for otherwise they neither could or would ever have believed yea and a long time before they believed otherwise there would have been no workings of Conscience or movings unto things either morally or spiritually good When men are prevailed with by him to believe he advanceth his presence in their souls and now moveth them to things Actions and waies of a more worthy and blessed consequence and import and of a nearer and stronger Connexion with their supreme good and happiness as to love God with all their hearts with all their souls to embrace waies of Excellency waies of Righteousness and true Holiness to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh c. By the way When I say that the Spirit of God moveth the hearts of men when they believe I do not say or suppose withal that Believers alwaies are prevailed with by these movings of the Spirit to do the things or effectually to consent to the doing of the things whereunto they are thus moved For though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert or put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth and we have heretofore I remember upon occasion shewed and proved unto you that the Spirit of God is not pleased to work either compulsively or necessitatingly upon the hearts and wills of men but only so as to leave them at liberty at least a possibility of going their own way contrary to that whereunto he moveth To plead that God is Omnipotent and from hence to conclude that therefore he should not fail of any or all things which he intendeth to do it clearly sheweth that men do not understand the true nature of God For though God be Omnipotent yet God useth his Omnipotency according to Rules of Wisdom and Counsel Now therefore he putteth forth his Omnipotency only in putting men into a capacity of doing such things upon which he will reward them which capacity would be utterly destroyed in case men should be necessitated to do any thing pleasing unto God Only this by the way Now this is one thing why the Spirit of God is not an under Agent because that men covld never have called for nor sought for his assistance did not the Spirit first move them thereunto Therefore hence it is evident that he is the principal Agent and yet this notwithstanding he may truly and properly be said to be drawn into our assistance by us Secondly This is by God himself Enacted and established for a Law between his Spirit and his Saints That when they having any spiritual Work services or Exercise to perform shall apply themselves unto the Spirit now at hand and dwelling in them after such a manner and upon such terms as we shall presently declare unto you If they shall seek for his help and assistance herein that then he will aid and assist accordingly he will not deny them but will condescend graciously unto them and assist them Now by the knowledge and consideration of this Law and confidence that there will be no failing on the Spirits part all which too are preventing wise wrought in men by the Spirit they are encouraged to make their recourse unto him and to depend upon him for his assistance at all times of need In this case the application of the Creature to the Spirit of God being submissive and obediential and not authoritative there is no reason or ground to judge or call the Creature the principal Actor or Mover in what is done by the assistance of the Spirit though the Creature may properly enough be said to engage the Spirit to assist in such and such Actions As when David being to encounter with his Enemies calling upon God for his help and his presence with him in the Battle may properly and truly enough be said hereby by his Prayer to engage God to him in his Battel yet it doth not follow from hence that David was the principal chief or first Actor in the Battel Because first It is God that freely maketh that gracious Covenant with David as with other Saints that if they call upon him in time of trouble Psal 50.15 or danger he will hear and deliver Secondly Because that it was God that put it into David's heart and stirred up David's spirit to go and apply himself by Prayer for his help in such a case Thirdly and lastly That which David did in this case to draw in God to his assistance he-did it in subordination to the will and good pleasure of God in that kind who had encouraged him to call upon him in a day of trouble There is a like consideration in Believers engaging the Spirit of God and his aid in all our spiritual occasions works and employments For first the Spirit of God hath made a Law that if we will call upon him upon the Spirit in the time of our need he will be present with us and help us But then secondly Because we are engaged hereunto I mean to call upon him for his assistance by his instigation hereunto Thirdly and lastly All that you do in this kind it is in subjection to his will and pleasure These things being considered it is clear that the Creature Man though he have a power to obtain the Spirit yet he is not principal Actor but the Spirit of God is the principal Agent Thus much for answer to the first Question A second Question was How Sect. 3 and by what means we may engage or prevail with the Holy Ghost to Act with us and to assist us in such occasions of our spiritual Concernments as have been mentioned To this I answer This may and ought to be done by these four means First By disclaiming when we go about any thing any spiritual duty or service our own strength and sufficiency as to the performance of it in an holy and acceptable manner as of our selves without the presence and assistance of God I say when men and women shall present themselves in all their works and services as weak and impotent unless they be endued with strength from on high this is one special strain that doth marvelously comport with the Spirit and that which is in the first place to be done by us if we desire to do any thing if we desire his help and assistance at any time Now to present our selves altogether weak without some such presence and assistance we speak of this is that which will awaken us to do things by the Spirit For the way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves or not to perform any services I say it is not to forbear the doing of things until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us But to go about that which is our duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgment and deep sense of our
to receive the Spirit But on the other hand those who have the knowledge of him they are in a capacity of receiving him upon the most desirable terms and are capable of making use of him as hath been in effect said unto you In the fourth place you must pray unto God Sect. 5 or unto the Spirit of God for Prayer it self is a means which we are to make use of in order to our being filled with the Spirit We do here mention it as a part of that Method which should be observed by him who is engaged in the drawing in of the Spirit in order to a being acted by him Now then if this be agreeable to the Will of God viz. that men should pray for the gift of the Spirit and that in the lowest measure then there is no question to be made but that Prayer is as profitable means to effect it in the highest in the one as well as the other and that there is no more unlawfulness in the one than in other This then in the fourth place by way of direction how you may engage the Spirit and set him on work within you to perform what you are not like to perform by your own strength without such a presence of him to assist in your work The third and last Question was Sect. 6 In case we be able and shall actually engage the Spirit of God to assist us how the things done by him or by his assistance can be attributed unto us as the Scriptures frequently do or we be looked upon as the doers of them as we must be if ever we be rewarded for them by God To this Question we gave answer in effect formerly when we opened this unto you namely how notwithstanding men do draw in or engage the Spirit to their assistance in spiritual works and services yet they are not to be looked upon as principal Agents and the Spirit as the subordinate Agent Where we explained unto you the Agency or Efficiency of man in such works in respect of which being truly and really such as the Scriptures every where suppose them to be the said Actions and Services may truly and properly be called ours For whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily and freely consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Which is clearly the case in hand for whatsoever a man doth by the Spirit or by his assistance is done not only with or by means of the consent of his Will but by the more active desire and application of the Will unto the Spirit for the doing of it as we have heard yea that which is yet more and entituleth a man more clearly unto such Acts as we speak of is the contriving and studying and plotting how they may and ought to be done by the man who doth them If a man did not consider how and by what means to bring in the Spirit to his assistance the great work we speak of would not be done therefore there is no great difficulty in the question only that is to be remembred as we pass from it that they who make the Creature either meerly Passive in such Works or Services or which little easeth the business willing as we say by or from a necessitation they despoile the Creature of all capacity of being rewarded by God for such services and thus whilst they importunely pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God they do indeed and in truth reduce it to a morsel of bread as the Scriptures speak and make nothing of it so that in them the Latine Proverb is fulfilled Stultorum gratia ingrata The grace or favour of inconsiderate persons is unacceptable or such as there is no reason why they should be thanked for it But this only by the way If you ask But why should the imploying of the Spirit of God Sect. 7 in such a manner as you have taught us be a means for a Believer to be filled with the Spirit Or how should it conduce any thing towards such a blessed effect as this is I answer That such an imploying of the Spirit as that we have described unto you is a regular use of that great Gift of the Spirit given unto us by God for the Spirit is given of God unto the Saints for this end and purpose viz. that by him and by his assistance they should do all their works which he commandeth them to do I do not say that it is the sole end but that this is one great and material end why the Holy Ghost is given unto men and why he dwelleth in the Saints 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received saith the Apostle not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God That is for this end amongst others and for others depending upon this that by his help duly sought and obtained by us we might be able to know and rightly to conceive apprehend and understand and likewise firmly to believe the Gospel i. e. the particular things revealed in the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ and the mind and Counsels of God concerning our salvation which things are said to be given or freely given unto us by God beeause they are there exhibited and lie in a readiness for all men to receive and know that are willing to take the course which God hath prescribed unto them for such an end There is the same consideration of other spiritual Actions and Services as these Mortification Prayer c. The Holy Ghost is given for this end and purpose that by his assistance and strength they may be able to perform these things after a worthy manner and with highest acceptation unto God If so then to answer the gracious intentions of God in giving him which is by imploying him as we have heard This must need be a direct and proper means to abound with him to have an anointing more rich and full of his presence For it is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them or bestowed upon them that these should no other circumstance hindering be intrusted with a greater Upon this Foundation are these and the like Sayings in Scripture built Mat. 13.12 for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath So again Luke 16 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much Meaning it is meet that such a person who hath approved himself faithful in a less proportion of any good thing committed unto him should upon the account of his approved faithfulness therein be intrusted with more for God as hath been observed upon the like occasion usually walketh
external Act it self of sin This is done when the heart or will of man or woman falleth in with the Lust and taketh her to Wife and couple themselves with her i. e. when men approve and like of the Lust or Desire we speak of and begin to take care as the Apostle elsewhere speaks to make provision for it or to bethink themselves how they may gratifie it and fulfil it By the way when James saith as we have heard Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin The meaning is not as if this alwaies proved so viz. that every Lust consented unto produceth the external or complete Act of sinning there are many times Conceptions where there are no Births or bringing forth of Children many things may interpose to occasion an abortion or a consumption of that which is conceived in the womb And thus it may be and often is in the case of Lusts in their conceptions many men have for a time intended and purposed to do many things that are evil whose purposes and intentions notwithstanding have been dissolved or turned out of their way so that they never come to be put in execution This is apparent in Davids case when by Abigail's wise behaviour and advice he was taken off from his hard and bloudy intentions against Nabal and his House Therefore the Apostles meaning in saying that when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin is not to shew what is alwaies done in the case he speaks of but what is frequently done and alwaies likely or probable to be done of which kind of sayings there are very many in the Scriptures Joh. 11.9 10. If any man walk in the day saith our Saviour he stumbleth not but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth his meaning is neither to affirm that no man that walketh in the day ever stumbleth nor that every man that walketh in the night doth stumble but only that there is a probability both of the one and of the other and that they are likely either to stumble or not to stumble So likewise the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 7.32 33. The unmarried careth for the things of the Lord c. But this only by the way The business we have in hand is to give you to understand and know that that kind of lusting which hindreth your being filled with the Spirit yea and will hinder it untill it be taken away is that which is owned accepted and approved of by the will and judgement of a man or woman and for the gratifying and fulfilling whereof care is taken by men Such lusts as these are they which grieve and quench the Spirit and consequently hinder his progress motion or advance in the soul When with the Scriptures we say the Spirit is grieved we do not mean nor doth the Holy Ghost in this expression mean any thing else but only that he is turned out of the way he doth retire himself and is quiet and still men shall hear but very little from him so that there will be but very weak and faint motions and suggestions from him But we were saying unto you that all fleshly lusts in the general are obstructive to the course of the Spirit Sect. 15 in his advance or growth in the soul Now as all Lusts in the general entertained and countenanced as hath been declared in the heart and soul are malignant against and opposite unto the growth and coming on of the Spirit in the Soul so the Scriptures seem to cast an eye upon some as being of a more virulent and express antipathy in this kind than others and obstruct that blessedness of the soul we speak of with an higher hand than their fellows These are such lusts which carry in them a direct contrariety to those signal characters or properties which the Scriptures take notice of and ascribe unto the Holy Ghost We shall take notice of at present and briefly insist upon only four of these and the like number of lusts in men more directly opposite unto them First The Spirit of God is famously known throughout the Scriptures by the great attribute of holiness he is more frequently termed the holy Spirit than spoken of under any other name or expressed by any other Character whatsoever We shall not need to cite places for this The thing I presume is sufficiently known unto you all A second property which the Scriptures attribute unto the Spirit of God is Grace or a gracious disposition Heb. 10.29 He is termed The Spirit of grace And God is termed The God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 A third property taken notice of in the Holy Ghost by the Scriptures is his heavenliness he is said in 1 Pet. 1.12 to have been sent down from heaven which implies that his coming or sending into the World is about the affairs of heaven and that he only mindeth these so elsewhere he is said to be the Spirit which is of God 1 Cor. 2.12 14. So also in Joh. 15.26 Christ promiseth to send him from the Father all which imply him to be an heavenly and heavenly minded Spirit A fourth property and the last we shall now take notice of which the Scriptures mind in the Holy Ghost is a disposition and propensness of mind in him to be communicating and revealing the Counsels and secret things of God unto the minds and consciences of men This property of the Spirit of God which is of some assinity with the last named and gives testimony unto it is oft mentioned in the Scriptures 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12 13. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him c. So again ver 12 13. Now we have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know viz. by his discovering it unto our Judgments and Consciences the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And so in Joh. 16.13 Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come speaking of the Comforter he will guide you into all truth c. and he will shew you things to come c. This is another heavenly property of him who cometh from the Father to communicate and acquaint men with the great mysteries of the Counsels of God so far as it doth concern the souls of men to know them Now all such lusts and sinful dispositions being indulged and nourished which are contrary to and fight against these properties and dispositions of the Spirit are and must in reason needs be most distasteful unto him and consequently most obstructive to him in his way of advancing his blessed presence in the souls of men The first of the four Particulars attributed unto the Holy Ghost in Scripture was holiness Sect.
and that in opposition unto others Secondly A second Property of the Spirit mentioned was his grace We read Heb. 10.29 of despighting the Spirit of grace And so God is called 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace meaning that he is a gracious Spirit Now grace as we have formerly opened the nature of it unto you importeth a readiness or great propenseness in the will and soul of a man to shew kindness or to do good where no engagement is from without from him unto whom kindness is shewn it differeth from mercy For the object of mercy alwaies is misery or persons in misery But the object of grace may as well be persons in a good condition and free from misery as those that are in misery for Grace only respects as it were an absence of all motives or engagements from those to whom we intend good and reacheth no further So then when the Spirit is called the Spirit of grace it doth import a freeness a readiness a willingness and propenseness of mind to do good unto such persons who never laid any engagement upon him to whom he is no waies Debtor by one Law or other When there is a propenseness in any person thus freely without engagement to deal courteously or kindly with others this is Grace truly so called Now the Spirit is said to be a gracious Spirit because he vouchsafeth to come unto men and to dwell with them and to couple and joyn himself with men whilest they are strangers unto him even whilest as yet he hath received to no kindness from them he is pleased to come unto them and to invite them Nay the truth is there is a more excellent degree of grace than this in the Spirits dealing with men when kindness is shewed not only where no engagement hath gone before but contrary to engagements on the other hand This is grace in abundance and in its exaltation when a person hath done us wrong or disgraced us unjustly and offered us injury and we notwithstanding such hard measure received from him shall yet be ready to stand by him and accommodate him then are we gracious in an excellent and eminent degree Now such lusts and sinful dispositions in men which are contrary to this Character or property of Grace in the Spirit are very distasteful unto him apt to grieve and obstruct him in his course as well as the former viz. uncleanness c. In that former place Eph. 4.30 where the Apostle had added And greive not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption meaning by corrupt communication He immediately addeth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice c. The motive lieth in the middle between the two Exhortations and it enforceth them both it is a motive both to that which went before Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth and unto that which followeth namely that all wrath and malice and the like should be put away Therefore this clearly shews that these kind of corruptions and distempers bitterness and malice c. are contrary to the Spirit of Grace and those gracious dispositions and inclinations of his to do good and to shew kindness and love where there is no merit yea even unto those men who have rather merited sorrow and hard measure from him But much more when men without any provocations shall be in bitterness of Spirit and full of wrath and anger and shall entertain and admit malice evil thoughts and intentions of hardness cruelty and bloud into their hearts this being so extremely contrary to that gracious and sweet property of the Spirit of God in reason must needs be signally obstructive unto him in his way of filling men with himself A third Property was the heavenliness of the Spirit of God Sect. 18 Joh. 3.31 He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth He that cometh from heaven is above all Therefore that Lust that is contrary to this property in the Spirit of God heavenliness or heavenly mindedness this must in a way of reason be offensive unto the Spirit of God Of this kind are all lusts of Covetonsness inordinate Love unto this present World earthly mindedness when mens hearts savour the things of the earth only or mainly when the matters of this life eat out the very heart and sinews of a Man Such Lusting as these must needs likewise be of a very offensive nature unto the Spirit of God When the Holy Ghost shall come unto men and offer them life and shall be ready to lead them into the Faith Knowledge and Love of God when he shall talk and discourse with men and women about heavenly things and they answer him with their carnal and their sensual things when he discourseth unto them of Faith and Holiness and the things of their Eternal Peace and blessedness and they shall have cars only to hear of Silver and Gold and Wealth and Grandeur and Power and Honour and the like certainly if lusts of this nature be made much of and harboured in the soul of a man there can be no expectation that ever the Spirit of God should take pleasure or delight to put forth or to give out himself in his glory in such a soul A fourth and last particular was a disposition aptness Sect. 19 or readiness of mind to communicate the things of God matters of a spiritual import the Secrets of God unto the minds and consciences of men Therefore such kind of Lusts in men which are opposite to this property in the Spirit of God must needs be offensive unto him and obstruct him in this blessed work we are speaking of Which lusts and distempers are these and such like viz. such lusts by which men are invited tempted and carried away from the Ministry of the Spirit and those waies whereby the Spirit is wont to utter himself which are the Ordinances of God and especially that of the Ministry of the Gospel and more especially such a kind of Ministry which is prepared as it were by God on purpose to bring forth the mind of God unto men For as God of old appointed Moses and the People to meet at the door of the Tabernacle So now hath he appointed the World the Sons and Daughters of men to meet with him in these Ministrations of his House and to treat with him there about the great business and things of their peace If men and women therefore shall suffer the great Enemy of their peace so to bewitch them that they fall in their esteem of these appointments of his and look upon them as if there were no great matter in them this is another thing which hath a direct opposition unto and is a ready way to quench the Spirit of God Mind and compare these two verses together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit But how or which way should
they prevent it Ver. 20. he informeth them Despise not Prophesying As fire by laying on and throwing combustible matter upon it may be made greater and greater and the flame to wax and grow more and more So the Spirit of God is like a fire in the Spirits of men he may be nourished after such a manner that he will flame out as fire doth when more wood is laid on it but as fire will go out if you withdraw the Fuel or throw Water upon it So saith the Apostle you will quench the Spirit if you shall despise Prophesying for that is the fuel or nourishment by which the Spirit of God is fed therished and maintained in the soul and conscience and heart of a man if you will withdraw this fuel and despise Prophesie neglect the Ordinances of God and Ministrations of his House he will soon be gone and leave his place He cannot live in the soul without this kind of nourishment and food administred unto him from day to day and time to time And thus you see as all kind of fleshly Lusts in general fight against the soul and are obstructive unto the peace thereof being as so many bars in the way of the Spirit so there are some Lusts which do more appropriately and in a more particular manner oppose his progress So that if you desire to be Possessours of such an invaluable Treasure as a being filled with the Spirit of God you must not make a light matter of it so as to suffer such words and directions as tend thereunto to come in at one ear and go out at the other No but you must make Treasure of them and be very serious in a business of this nature And if you will prosper in this design you must be sure to remove out of the way as these four kinds especially so also all other Lusts of the flesh which else will hinder you in so blessed an enjoyment But it may be you will say Sect. 20 How shall we keep our selves from the lusts of the flesh in order to our being filled with the Spirit To this I answer and say You may do it yea the doing of it may without any presumption be attributed unto you as done by you especially in their first rise and before they are grown to any great strength or maturity within you without any special presence of the Spirit of God I mean a full and rich presence of him For there is a kind of standing presence of the Spirit of God with every man which we call his preventing Grace which every man hath if he hath not consumed it and made aâ—spoyl of it which will keep men from these kinds of Lusts in case men shall but comply with it For my Brethren these kind of Lusts have no power in them to compel or to necessitate any man or woman unto subjection to them No they do but only offer or present themselves to see if you will entertain or own them and nourish and bring them up If you will take pleasure in them and go with them whither they will lead you you may otherwise they have no inssuence of power and authority over you neither have they any Commission from God and Sathan can give them none any way to compel you to open the door of your hearts unto them to give them room and entertainment there No but if you shall be true and faithful unto your own souls and their itnerest and be in love with that blessedness of being filled with the Spirit you may keep your selves free from vanity and fleshly lusts For to abstain from them is but to let them alone to let them go as they come do but you keep on your course and follow the light which is set up within you do but abstain and keep from an inward converse and communion with them and they shall never do you any harm nor ever prejudice you in the carrying on your work and in the prospering of your souls as to your being filled with the Spirit There is only one means or direction more The seventh and last means which I shall prescribe unto you Sect. 21 or rather remind you of being prescribed by God himself for your being filled with the Spirit is Prayer unto God for it If you desire that your anointing should be rich and full you must imploy your Angel which God hath given to serve you in this and all other your spiritual occasions about it I mean the Spirit of Prayer which you have received from God Many great and excellent things you well know are spoken of Prayer in the Scriptures that it is a Key to open Heaven as oft as we desire a Messenger that if his dispatch be thereafter will fetch us any thing out of the Treasury of God that we stand in need of You know also that heap of Promises and Encouragements which the Lord Christ himself hath heaped upon the head of Prayer Mat. 7.7 8. compared with Luke 11.9 10. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened First these words And I say unto you c. seem to imply that what he was now about to say unto them concerning the marvelous efficacy and acceptation of Prayer with God if another one should have said it it might reasonably seem doubtful or questionable in point of truth unto you But I would have you to take knowledge that it is I that say it you may believe it upon the account of my authority though it be indeed a great and strange saying and hath a world of grace in it yet saith he this is enough sufficiently to balance this I say it Now by asking seeking knocking our Saviour questionless meaneth all kinds or variety of Prayer intending to declare and signifie some such thing as this unto us that if men be sincere and upright hearted in their praying unto God whether the manner or form of their Prayer be of this kind or of that whether it be asking socking or knocking it shall be of like acceptance with God and shall obtain what is desired If any man will please to adventure upon any narrow distinguishing of asking seeking and knocking he may do it after some such manner as this is though I would not have too much to be given to the Notion Asking very probably may be such a kind of Prayer which is right down where there is little or no Argument or little or no Scripture Rhetorick but only a right down and direct and immediate asking signifying unto God what it is that a man would have without any more ado And secondly Seeking seemeth to be a more exact or enlarged kind of Prayer wherein a man goeth about to fortifie his heart to believe that he shall receive the things that he prayeth for by
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
find persons so filled with the Spirit of God that they do not give some such sign or testimony as now we speak of something to discover their temper humour and such kind of Principles within them that make them stiff that they cannot bow nor comply Their Iron Sinew is not yet broken they have not taken the course they have not dealt effectually with their hearts to bring them into subjection they have not chastened their Souls every morning as David did who had disciplined and nurtured his heart to some kind of order and compliance with God in all his occasions and affairs And so much for this Direction or the second Rule given by which we may know whether men be filled with the Spirit of God namely if they understand judgment as the Scriptures speak and then be ready in their hearts and affections to concur and to measure out to every case and business according to the exigency and requirements of it this now doth declare an excellent degree of the fulness of the Spirit of God with them And Thirdly Sect. 11 A deep degree of Mortification especially when the work is uniform spreading and stretching it self with an equal force and power unto all a mans Affections Disposition and Desires which ought to be mortified with the Deeds Fruits and Works of them This I say is another great Argument or sign of a man or womans being filled with the Spirit of God The work of Mortification is performable only by the Spirit of God and therefore where it is performed and wrought thoroughly where it appears in any degree of glory it must needs argue a great presence of the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh saith the Apostle ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If you ask me But why doth the Apostle place the great work of Mortification in the deeds of the body in having these mortified and not rather in those sinful affections and inward dispositions from whence they proceed I reply That he placeth it here in the deeds of the body because it is principally seen and the reality and truth of it found there though the work it self lieth most in the heart and inward man yet the energy and force chiefly appeareth in the abolishing or cessation of the deeds of the flesh or of the body When such sinful and unworthy actions cease to be found in men and women whereunto others are tempted by the flesh or by the occasions of the flesh and ever and anon are practicing of them it is a sign that the work of Mortification is real and in truth yet elsewhere the same Apostle placeth it in the affections and lusts of the flesh in having these crucified or moâ—tified Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. they that are Christs i. e. that are his Disciples or that have resigned up themselves unto him or are subject unto him have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. have pierced the flesh or outer man thorough and thorough with such sharp and effectual considerations that the strength and vigour of it as to sinful demands or actions is much spent and wasted and as the natural strength and vigour of a man that is nailed to a Cross breatheth out by degrees in that bloud that cometh from him by his wounds so have ye crucified the flesh with the affections or passions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the passions i. e. with all those affections which belong to the irascible part of the soul as both Philosophers and Divines call it Anger Wrath Hatred Envy Revenge c. they have crucified these i.e. they have taken a course to break the strength and to suppress the motions and breakings out of these And the lusts i.e. all those affections also which belong to the other part of the soul which they call the Concupiscible such as are Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Gluttony Covetousness c. So then we say that when the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and Deeds thereof are so crucified or mortified so handled that men and women are become Meek Patient Humble Gentle long-suffering c. And again Chaste Pure Sober Temperate free from Covetousness and all this to an excellent degree it is a sign that they are full of the Spirit of God the reason is because First If these things be in any weak and imperfect degree in men Sect. 12 they proceed from the Spirit of God and must be wrought by him Secondly A being filled with the Spirit is no waies to be estimated and discerned but by a proportionable excellency or fulness of his operations and effects Now the work of mortification as hath been in part described is one of the most signal works of the Spirit and therefore where it is full or any thing rich and deep it argues a great presence of the Spirit but the truth is it is very hard to be found in any such degree as that we speak of even amongst Professours yea or Believers themselves Men and women have generally some sinful humours and dispositions or other unbroken and unsubdued either they are Cholerick Hasty Froward easily Provoked Revengeful and the like or else they are given to Pleasures Ease Voluptuousness of life desires of Riches Honour Power the great things of the World And though many keep within some tolerable compass in respect of the breaking out of these and such like unmortified affections whilst the Tempter keepeth at a distance from them and some few it may be whilst the Temptations runs somewhat low and are but ordinary yet the greatest part of the persons we speak of Professors I mean are apt to be overcome and led away Captive unto Sin by every touch of Temptation any Temptation almost that will may serve it self upon them Even as some mens Judgments are so weak that they are apt to be carried about with every wind of Doctrine as the Apostle speaks apt to take impressions of any thing that is presented unto them with the lightest appearance of truth but to find a man or woman that is able to stand their ground of innocency when any strong temptations beare hard upon them is exceeding rare which argues the work of Mortification to be very imperfect and slight in the greatest part of men and consequently that they are far from being filled with the Spirit of God If it be here demanded Sect. 13 But are not all the works of the Spirit of God perfect If he work Mortification in any person must it not needs be perfect Can any thing proceed from that which is perfect yea most perfect as the Spirit of God is but that which is perfect indeed I reply The perfection of a work may be estimated or considered two waies First Absolutely or in reference only to it self
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
the Creature man by reason of the excellency of his Nature above other Creatures were able perfectly to understand those several Impressions c. that are in their beings respectively yet could they never comprehend those in man for the reason even now hinted In like manner though God be able to comprehend all the Notions and Principles and all the Projections that are incident to the hearts and spirits of men yet men are not able without the Spirit to apprehend and conceive what his Thoughts Notions Counsels and Projections are But now saith he the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God otherwise without this Spirit no man knoweth what are the things of God and thoughts of his heart no more than any other Creature knoweth or is able to comprehend what is in the hearts of men So again ver 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given unto us of God Meaning the things of the Gospel those terms and conditions upon which life and salvation is promised and secured unto the World This sheweth that where there is any considerable degree of the knowledge of the things of God especially of the deep things of God that have been kept secret from Age to Age. This argueth an excellent presence of the Spirit of God ver 13. Which things we also speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth c. for the natural man receiveth not the things of God c. By the natural man in this place is not meant the unregenerate or the carnal man but the Babe in Christ I could not speak unto you saith that Apostle Chap. 3. ver 1. of the same Epistle as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even babes in Christ So that evident it is from this Scripture that these natural men who could not receive the things of God were not unregenerate men or carnal in the sense which we generally take the word carnal but babes in Christ Now these could not understand any thing but what was plain the things here spoken of the deep things of God such things which lie above the apprehensions of ordinary men these things are too strong for such mens stomacks they cannot bear them they cannot see how they should be agreeable to the Goodness Wisdom and Love of God neither can they receive them viz. whilst they are Babes or Children Yea though in their state of Childhood they are not capable of them they are capable of growing and coming to manhood A man that hath not had to do with Jewels he knows them not nor of what value or worth they are Even so it is with the deep and excellent things of the Gospel if these be set before those that are weak in judgment and Children in understanding alas they know not what to make of them they can make no nourishment of them but in time they may grow to such a capacity that such meat as this will be the most desirable unto them and they will say as the Jews Lord evermore give us this bread Men that are grown will call for strong meat such as will sort and sute with their stomacks And thus much for this Character And so we have done with our Reply to the third and last of the three Questions long since propounded for the further clearing and opening of the Doctrine we are now come to the Use and Application This Doctrine is useful three several waies For Instruction for Reproof and for Exhortation CHAP. XII The first Vse of the Doctrine by way of Instruction in four main Points First Shewing how comely a thing it is for men and women to be found obedient to the Commands of God in general and particularly how beautiful and honourable a thhing it is for men and women to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be found acting accordingly Secondly An account given what strangers the Saints themselves are unto many great Duties and more especially unto this great Duty of being filled with the Spirit insomuch that even this Generation are as it were asleep thereunto Thirdly That this great blessedness of being filled with the Spirit is no impossible thing but is attainable by the endeavours and engagements of men Fourthly and lastly That it is the will and design of God that Believers should be a Royal Generation of Kings and Priests unto himself and that they should live accordingly FIrst For Instruction Sect. 1 if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men and more especially upon all Believers to be filled with the Spirit then take we knowledge from hence That it is a comely and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to act and declare themselves accordingly I mean so to behave and demean themselves in all things that it may be known to the World that they are filled with the Spirit their Actions and Waies should be all Heroick and Princelike and have a lustre and beauty and brightness in them above the Actions Waies and Conversations of other men Even as the Lord Christ was known to be the only begotten Son of God Joh. 1.14 by that excellent glory wherein he appeared We saw saith the Evangelist his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God meaning that his glory whatsoever it was was so glorious and so excellent for the kind of it that they that saw it could not but conceive and judge that it was too full and too Majestick for any Creature whatsoever too excellent for any of the Angels themselves and much more for man and by this they perceived him to be the only begotten of God those Robes of glory were too rich for any Creature to be attired and adorned withal though they did indeed become the glory and dignity of his Person In like manner it would be exceeding comely for the Sons and Daughters of God to have such a glory of life and conversation still to accompany them as they walk up and down the World and where-ever they become which may distinguish them from all others to be persons of that rank and such a Generation that are filled with the Spirit of God My Brethren there is a strain of Action and Conversation that is apt and able to convince the World even against their minds and wills and will make them confess and acknowledge that these are a Generation of men and women by themselves for God enjoyns nothing by any of his Precepts or Laws unto men but what is comely grateful and lovely for them to do and that which will commend them both in his eyes and in the eyes of all his Angels yea of all truly judicious and understanding men Even as Parents are wont to teach their Children a good carriage of themselves and comliness of behaviour that may render them acceptable on all hands So doth God by his Precepts
those Motives which were he intent upon would do the deed would amount to such a holy and sacred anointing as now we speak of your being filled with the Spirit of God whereby you would be made Priests of the Living God So much for the First Use of the Doctrine the Use of Instruction CHAP. XIII A Second Vse of the Doctrine being a Vse of Reproof unto all those who are Enemies unto this heavenly Exhortation and Counsel of the Holy Ghost administred unto men namely to be filled with the Spirit and who by any means obstruct the course of it A first sort are such who scoff at such a thing as a being filled with the Spirit of God A second sort of Offenders are such who perswade men that the Spirit which they are exhorted to be filled with is but a finite Spirit an Angel and not God Wherein many things are further argued proving the Holy Ghost to be the most High God THe second Use was a Use of Reproof Sect. 1 and this in the general of all those who are Enemies to this heavenly Exhortation this blessed Counsel administred by the Holy Ghost unto men of being filled with the Spirit of God who either by word or by deed or by both obstruct the course of it that it doth not run is not glorified in the World as it ought to be Of these kind of Offenders there are several Species or sorts highly censurable by the Divine Authority of the Doctrine and truth delivered The first are they who being strangers altogether to the Spirit of God the Spirit of which both the Text and and the Doctrine speaketh are full of the Spirit of the World or rather of the God of the World Sathan who instead of being full of the Spirit of God laugh at all Discourses of mens being filled with him yea or of so much as having the Spirit of God in them to scorn hearing from the mouths of faithful Ministers of God sometimes and it may be from the discourse of other Christians that the Saints and Servants of God such who truly believe in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit of God and taught by him how to pray how to walk holily and soberly and righteously in the World they make a mock at it as some of the more ignorant and prophane Jews did at the Apostles being filled with the Spirit we speak of Acts 2.13 When they spake with strange Tongues Others mocking saith the Text said these men are full of New-wine When any thing of God or of the Spirit of God more than ordinary in one kind or other appeareth in any of the Saints or Servants of God they that are ignorant of God and of his waies will never own or acknowledge the procedure of it to be from God if they can but imagine any other cause though with never so slight appearance from whence there is the least probability that it may proceed yea if they can imagine any cause in this case which is worse than other and which is more disparaging unto the persons in whom that grace and power of God we speak of doth appear this shall be the cause unto which the excellent work of God in his Saints shall be imputed and ascribed How little reason or colour of reason was there to pretend or think that New Wine over-freely drank or taken by men should put them into a capacity of speaking with Tongues strange Tongues such as they never understood or were able to speak before They knew well enough many of the Company that were there or amongst them that every one that spake had a distinct knowledge of the Tongue of their own Nation We hear them speak all in our own Language said they Now I say let any sober and considering man think but a little of the business how impossible a thing it is that New Wine should invest men with a capacity and an ability to speak with strange Tongues in a strange language yet rather than they would acknowledge that the Spirit was the Author thereof they attribute it to New Wine New Wine may cause them to speak freely and at random but not in other Tongues they may indeed speak none-sense and not distinctly or else that which no man can understand but that it should enable and qualifie men for the speaking in strange Tongues distinctly and sensibly to the understanding of other men there is not the least colour or the lightest pretense thus to argue But ignorant persons and such as are prophane what will they not do to harden themselves though in the most irrational and senseless manner that may be And besides the things which the Apostles here spake and uttered and which were understood by those who so imputed the speaking of them in variety of Languages were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Magnalia the great and wonderful things of God If New Wine had been the inspirer these could not have been the great things of God that they had spoken but the great things of the Devil and of the World So when the Lord Christ cast out the unclean Spirit out of him that was possessed Mat. 12.24 it is said that the Pharisees presently charged this upon Sathan and upon his having to do with him because the Devil is a supernatural Agent in that sense which we usually take supernatural That is he is able to do things which are strange and out of the course of Nature therefore he is a kind of reserve for ignorant and wicked men when they meet with any thing of God and of the Spirit of God in the Saints they have the Devil in readiness to impute all these things unto As I remember I have read in the Story of Martyrs when any of the Martyrs shewed any invincible courage or patience in the midst of their torments the Priests that stood by would still perswade the People that the Devil had bereaved them of their senses and had distracted them before the fire came at them and by this kind of colour and feigned pretense they thought to way-lay and to stop the course of the apprehension of the common sort of People lest they should think that there was any great appearance of God in them So when the Lord Christ taught the People with so much wisdom and understanding that they were astonished and the greatest part of them began to admire how he that had not known a Letter should speak at such a rate as he did it is said they were offended at him Mat. 13.57 implying they thought that he came not by it lawfully but by the help of the Devil they could not make it out that he was a good man because they were ignorant of his gifts therefore they fall foul upon the Lord Christ So Paul in those high strains whether in teaching or rather in practice or acting in the World which the Corinthians could not comprehend nor reconcile with such Principles as they were acted by was
by the generality of them thought to be little better than crazed in his brain 2 Cor. 5.13 or head-shaken and that too much Learning had made him mad Whether we be beside our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your sakes Now when he saith whether we be besides our selves he doth not mean that he acted any thing out of madness or distemper nay certainly he was never himself more than when he did act these things for which they thought him besides himself and a man singular and engaged with some odd kind of Speculations and Notions and therefore saith the Apostle as for such things as these if we be besides our selves and like men distempered we are this unto God we have our eyes upon and approve our selves unto him in these things we easily believe you cannot tell what to make of them you cannot make wisdom nor obedience nor subjection unto God in them you do not understand nor comprehend those Laws nor those Rules nor Principles by which we act and move in such waies but saith he we look unto God and he understands it though we speak as it were in an unknown Tongue unto you yet in a Language which God well knows and understands But now saith he if we be sober it is for your sakes in these things he had respect unto them for their Edification In like manner when persons are carried and lifted up by the power of the Spirit of God above the ordinary Line of men either in speaking or acting for the glory of God or advantage of the Gospel Men that do not know and believe that there is any such Spirit at least acting or working in men are ready to blaspheme him in his Saints and to impute the things that are wrought by the power of his Presence in men to some dishonourable and untoward Principle or other as that they pretend to be led by the Spirit of God whereas they do such things upon their own fansie and upon some such suggestion which Sathan hath put into them As the Roman Historian speaking of Nero the Monster of men reporteth his conceit to be which he did express publickly that there was no man in the World but was as vicious as himself only herein was the difference between him and them he was open and would act above board and other men were more afraid But he did not believe that there was any such thing as Temperance and Sobriety Even so this is the very strain and temper and inward thoughts of ignorant persons in the World that have no heart nor spirit for God nor for waies of excellency that are lovely and honourable When they see that there are other men and women of their Ranke that do such things which they cannot do They cannot go along with them they cannot fast and pray they cannot follow such and such Religious Duties or Exercises they think that these men do but dissemble they love their money as well as we they love their ease as well as we only the Devil tempteth them and putteth them upon these waies that so they may have credit and repute and be thought more holy and greater lovers of God than other men and by this means they judge themselves better because they know they are plain and have no reserves in their breasts but what they are in the frame of their hearts and spirits and affections they act and utter themselves accordingly Whereas those persons that are externally so godly and would be so judged are every whit as bad or worse than we because they seek to cover and hide and to dissemble those wicked and vile thoughts which are in them by an external shew of holiness they can take their turns privately and secretly to do the very self same thing or things that are worse and more sinful than any that we do This is I say an express strain of the Spirit of that Monster Nero This is the reason that such persons fall foul upon the Saints especially when the Spirit shall draw them forth unto waies that are so excellent in their kind Now they that shall thus impute this to Sathan or unto the vile hearts of men these are they who do obstruct the force of this Exhortation of mens being filled with the Spirit of God and do what in them lie to make mens hearts to sink and to discourage them from seeking after such a Royal Priviledge A second sort to be reproved upon the former account Sect. 2 viz. as Enemies unto the heavenly Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit discouraging mens hearts from pursuing the blessed Counsel given unto them by God himself in it are they who labour to perswade men that the Spirit wherewith God exhorteth men to be filled is but a Finite a Created Spirit an Angel and not God Evil words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 So do erroneous and lying conceits and imaginations infused into the minds of men obstruct many holy and worthy endeavours and layings out of mens selves which otherwise in all likelihood they would not refrain and which undertaken and put forth by them would turn to a blessed account unto them Instances might readily be given in many particulars in this kind we shall consider the truth of the Observation at present only in the Point in hand For what doth such a Doctrine or Notion as this That the Spirit the Holy Ghost is not God but only a finite Spirit being interpreted signifie but that it is but in vain for men and women so much as to think of ever being filled with him and consequently of ever being excellent For fust the Created Spirits the good Angels are Ministers and Servants even all of them without exception of any unto the Saints as they are Members of that body whereof their Lord and Master Christ is the head We know that place Heb. 1.14 Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation So then Angels however in respect of the excellency and dignity of their natures they be superiour unto men yet in respect of that Ministry and Service unto men whereunto they are deputed and set forth by God they are inferiour unto them Now the heart and soul of man cannot frame and bring it self to expect or look for from its fellow Creatures especially such a Creature which God in respect of Ministry and Service hath subjected unto it any thing so excellent or so desirable as it reasonably may work and prevail with its self to expect or promise unto it self from its Creator from a Spirit that is infinite in his being and an inexhaust Abyss of all excellency My Brethren it is repugnant to the inbred nature and innate Principles of the heart and soul of a man to go forth with a like courage alacrity or confidence to seek its desires or supplies where either he knows not whether they are to
the work of Redemption Sathans chief work lies to undermine the Godhead of those persons to whom that work is most appropriate and who are most engaged therein For the Son of God is his great Enemy and the Person who threateneth his undoing and the Ruine of all that he hath gotten by drawing men aside from God And then likewise the Holy Ghost hath put to his supreme hand all his work being bent against the Devil and his Temptations Now in reason it cannot be thought but that he Satan will be more engaged against these to bring their Godhead if it be possible into question and to destroy the belief of it out of the World He that doth but know the nature of him as that he is full of malice mischief and bloud and that he is ready to rise up against God himself as far as he is able I say they that do but know the Devil so far cannot wonder at it or think it strange that he should labour to fill the World in all the quarters of it with such kind of Notions and Opinions that shall make the greatest breaches upon the honour and reverence that is gotten up into the hearts of men both towards the Lord Christ God blessed for ever and the Holy Ghost that Spirit of God by whom the Children of God are sealed to the day of their Redemption But as the Prophet Jeremiah in a case not much unlike demands What is the Chaff to the Wheat So may we say What is finite to that which is infinite What is a Creature for the carrying on of the Salvation of the World in comparison of the great Creator Secondly Whereas there are a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands Saints upon the Earth and these in places far distant from one another to be filled at the same time with the Spirit of God or that may be engaged with their hearts and souls in waies and means to be thus filled with the Spirit if the Spirit which should fill them in this kind be a created a finite Spirit limited and confined to one and the same place at one and the same time for this must be his condition if he be finite How can these be raised to any ground of hope that ever they should be filled with the Spirit For if he be a finite Spirit it is impossible that he should fill any more than one person at a time and so must depart and withdraw thence to fill another And As Andrew said Joh. 6.9 of that slender provision which was to be had in comparison of the great multitude that were to be fed There is saith he a Lad here which hath five barley Loaves and two small Fishes but what are these amongst so many So may we well demand and ask in the case before us there being such vast numbers and multitudes to be filled with the Spirit What is a limited a finite a created Spirit to fill them all What is such a Spirit as this amongst so many thousands such an infinite number of men and women who all are labouring to be filled with the Spirit How is it possible he should accommodate such a numberless number of Saints so as to make them all glad Therefore they who teach men that the Holy Ghost the Spirit that shall fill them is but a Creature like unto themselves in limitedness and fuâ—iteness of being do by these whom it concerns to be filled with the Spirit and in order hereunto advance in their endeavours accordingly much as those Spies of old did by the Israelites Num. 13.32 who by bringing an evil report upon the good Land of Canaan and telling them that it was a Land that did eat up the Inhabitants of it discouraged the hearts of the People from attempting the Conquest and possession of it if it had not been for Caleb and Joshuah whose hearts were more upright In like manner they that bring up such a report as this upon the Spirit as that he is but a finite Spirit a created Spirit a straitned Spirit what do they do else but discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of those who have given out themselves and have their hands lifted up to such an exercise and make Treasure of such an heavenly advice and piece of Counsel as this is of being filled with the Spirit of the ever blessed God And besides if the Spirit we speak of with which the Saints are to be filled be a finite Spirit suppose he could at any time mind and attend them all all over the World from the East to the West and from the North to the South in their several applications of themselves to obtain such a filling yet he could actually fill but one person one heart or one soul at once and therefore when he hath filled one he must empty him again by withdrawing himself from him before he can fill another because it is impossible that he should fill them all with himself at one and the same time If it be replied Sect. 4 but he may be said to fill the Saints with himself although he doth not abide alwaies personally present with them viz. by leaving strong impressions of himself his grace and power upon their hearts and spirits though in person he be withdrawn from them as those Saints or Christians amongst whom Paul had been preaching the Gospel and had not only prevailed with them to believe but had put them into a zealous posture of profession and made them like unto himself these may be said to be filled with Paul or with Pauls spirit I reply That holy and zealous impressions upon the hearts and spirits of men may be declarative of their being filled with the Spirit of God but they are not properly and formally their filling or their being filled with this Spirit they are but the suites symptoms or signs of their being filled therewith as the Grapes that grow upon the Vine are not the Vine it self A being filled with the Spirit implies an actual residence or abode of the Spirit himself in men according to that of our Saviour Joh. 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever he in person not in his gifts or operations only So in the next verse And he shall be in you And the Apostle maketh a plain and express difference between the Person of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.5 Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit So verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit And the Scripture from place to place speaketh of the Holy Ghost as personally inhabiting or residing in the Saints as in these and the like expressions and passages 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee saith Paul to Timothy keep by the Holy Ghost which or who dwelleth in us the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost
though they may in a metaphorical and improper sense be said to dwell in men as Timothies Faith is said first to have dwelt in his Grand-mother Lois and in his Mother Eunice ver 5. yet in a direct or proper sense it cannot so be said of them Now where there is no necessity enforcing a Metaphorical sense a proper sense is still to be preferred besides an unproper sense here viz. by the Holy Ghost to understand the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost would be very incongruous and hard as thus The good thing committed unto thee keep by the gifts of the Holy Ghost which dwell in us or by the Holy Ghost which in or by his gifts dwelleth in us So again Grieve not the Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 So Isa 63.10 So it is said of the Jews of old that they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Luk. 12.12 Acts 2.3 4. 10.44 19.6 It would be very incongruous and harsh to understand these Scriptures and many others of the like Character and import only of the gifts of the Holy Ghost Nor will it at all relieve that most dangerous Notion and Conceit which we now oppose to pretend and say Sect. 5 that though there be but one Holy Ghost or one Holy Spirit to whom the Attribute of Holiness is appropriately ascribed and he termed the Holy Spirit yet there are many other Spirits multitude of angels which are assistant unto him who may possibly be as many in number as there are Saints in the World at one time yea and possibly more so that these Spirits amongst them may attend the Saints in all places and parts of the World at one and the same time and inasmuch as there is one Supreme amongst them by whom all the rest are directed and employed in their way all that is done by them all may be ascribed unto him as because there is one head or one Principal amongst the Devils who is said to be the Prince of the Devils who is termed sometimes Sathan sometimes Beelzebub and Prince of the Devils therefore all that is done all the temptations that are managed in the World by all that are amongst them are in Scripture ascribed unto Sathan or unto the Devil indefinitely and in the Singular number and if the Devil who is confessed on all hands to be a created and finite Spirit be said in Scripture to tempt men though in never so remote places one from another at the same time why may not the Holy Ghost be said to fill men with himself upon the like terms viz. in all the places of the Earth at the same time though he be supposed to be a finite Spirit also If we had time we should plainly shew unto you that this is nothing but a piece of Sackcloath spun on purpose and devized to spread over the face of the Sun It is nothing but a vain flourish to hide this great and worthy truth of God from the eyes of the World to take off the minds and hearts of men from looking after such a worthy and blessed enjoyment as a being filled with the Spirit of God For first We shall shew you that there is not any ground in Scripture or Reason to suppose that any one Angel should have the superintendency or disposing of all the rest of the Angels to order them to their several Employments Works or Actions I say there is no word nor the least breathing or whisper of any such thing as this but the Scriptures rather look another way namely to shew that all the good and holy Angels who are employed on the behalf of the Saints receive their Commission immediately from God himself or from the Lord Christ who is represented in the Scripture as their great Lord and Master They stand charged there with Loyalty and Homage to him Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in the first begotten in the World he saith and Tet all the Angels of God worship him And ver 14. Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth c They are sent forth by him whose Angels they are about their several Ministries And that is the reason too I suppose of that Expression of our Saviour Mat. 18.10 who speaking of the little ones who did believe in him saith I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Meaning that they do stand continually in the presence of God and there behold his face looking and waiting to receive some Commission or other longing for service and employment from him it is their life it is their glory and felicity to attend the services that shall be commanded them by God and therefore they do stand as Servants of a King who saith to one do this and to another do that to one go this way and to another go that way So do all the Angels in heaven stand round about the Throne of the Great God every one of them being greedy of Service to have some Message and Intimation from God what to do This therefore argueth that they do not receive their Commissien from any created Angel as they themselves are but that they have it directly and immediately from God himself or from Jesus Christ as Joh. 1.51 And he saith unto him verily verily I say unto you hereafter ye shall see the heavens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man they do not ascend and descend upon one of themselves the Inferiour upon the Superiour Angels no but on the Son of man meaning himself as they did and were to be seen soon after for they did attend upon him at his Resurrection they removed the Stone off from the Grave and they went to give notice of his rising again unto those who came to seek after him and so in his Ascension he went up with a mighty noise and is to descend again with the sound of a Trumpet Now this he calls the opening of Heaven viz. the full discovery of those heavenly things which as yet had not been made known or manifested unto the World as namely that he is the great orderer or great Lord and Master of the Angels and that they were all his Servants so that this very Notion of one Angel having the superiour command and dominion over all the rest of the Angels is contrary to Scriptures and cannot be proved from them There is no ground to conceive that whatever the Angels do throughout their whole body and in all places of the earth should be ascribed to such an Angel Sathan indeed hath a Kingdom ascribed in the Scriptures unto him Mat. 12.26 and he is said to be the Prince of the Devils as we heard but the Angels are no where said to be a Kingdom neither have they any head or chief Angel amongst them nor can it be proved that any one Angel hath a superiority over another the
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
it is appointed to Umpire in the hearts and consciences of men if it were not able to make good those things which it threatneth and promiseth that they are Realities and not only Notions and faint Speculations it would do no great things it would be but a powerless and faint thing As we see all the devised and fained Stories that are abroad in the World though they may please the fansies of some that hear them yet they have no great work upon them they do not move or encline them to any great undertaking And as no man will go to the charge of building a Ship to travel to the Lands of Vtopia because it is only a fained Land of pleasure and delight but no man was ever able to make good the being thereof So for the glorious and great things of the World to come which are spoken of in the Gospel unless you can get it into mens hearts to believe that these things are really so you may treate with them by this and adjure them by that and yet the Conscience not move at all upon any such account but when it shall be made known to them demonstratively that these great things are not words only nor fansies or devised Fables but that they are the same in nature and reality which they are in terms and names now the Consciences of men and women are over-awed and overcome at this point there is no standing out but only in such cases wherein men are bewitched and have their eyes blinded by the God of this World Thirdly and lastly The efficacy of the Ministry we speak of is seen in that Sect. 22 that it communicateth and deriveth the Spirit of God unto men who receive and believe it It is to be considered in this case that it is not simply appointed by God to convey the Spirit of God into the hearts and souls of men and women but that it is an Ordinance of such a nature that it is most proper for such a service for the great God as this viz. the giving forth of the Spirit into the Consciences and Souls of men 2 cor 3.6 Who also hath made us Ministers c. not of the Letter but of the Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So that this is unquestionably true that the Ministry of the Gospel is erected by God for the communication of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of men Even as a Conduit Pipe is a means to convey the water into our Cisterns which before were empty so the hearts souls and inward parts of the Sons and Daughters of men being to a great degree empty of the Spirit of God God hath as it were made and framed these golden Pipes of the Ministry of the Gospel to convey the Holy Ghost into the hearts and souls of men that so together with him there may be life and power and strength and all manner of divine excellencies This the Ministry of the Gospel will certainly do when it is managed like it self and where the Wisdom and gracious Counsel of God is embraced and entertained and men have done homage and have bowed the knee of their Understanding and Judgement unto it and have owned the things contained in it as from God And meet it is that such a service and subjection of the Creature unto God as this is should be immediately and out of hand rewarded by him with so great a gift as his own Spirit As if God should say Where my Advice is received and where my Counsel goeth there shall my Spirit go also This saith the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive We have done at present with the first of the second sort of Offenders who were lately designed to Reproof upon the account of this general Delinquency against the said Doctrine viz. That instead of being filled with the Spirit they take a direct course to be emptied of the Spirit altogether The particular Delinquency of these Persons is that they wholly withdraw themselves from the Ministration of the Gospel which according to the intent and declaration of the Great Founder of it God is the Ministration of the Spirit according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith We have taken away the Weapons from them wherein they trust and have evinced those Texts and places of Scripture upon which they bear themselves for the justification of their practice to have no manner of compliance herewith but rather being rightly understood to stand bent a contrary way We have likewise detected the insufficiency and impertinency of such other Grounds and Reasons for their Practice on which they chiefly insist and wherein their foot is taken and held in a snare of Death The Lord break the snare in sunder and deliver their souls and shew mercy to those that are yet at liberty that they be not led aside into the same Error CHAP. XV. Five sorts of Offenders more under the Second Head reproved First Such who are chill and cool in their respects unto the Ministry of the Gospel An account of the Causes thereof The danger of false Notions concerning God A second sort reproved for withdrawing from a lively and powerful Ministry Reasons of such miscarriages Legal and Evangelical Ministry distinguished What renders Persons duly fitted for the Ministry of the Gospel The third sort justly reprovable are such who neglect to be led by the Spirit of God How and when the Spirit of God is neglected A fourth sort justly reprovable also are such that do resist the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God The fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who refuse to sow unto the Spirit of God WE proceed to a second sort under this Head of Offenders against our Doctrine Sect. 1 who together with the former are summoned to hear what the Spirit of God will please to say unto them in a way of reproof to their practice also and these are of several sorts First Such who though they do not with the former make it matter of conscience wholly to desert the Ministry of the Gospel nor rise up to plead in words against the blessing of it yet are they chill and cool in their respect unto it they do not esteem it as their appointed food they are not zealous in their attendance on it their hearts are not perfect with it when they come to it they come as if they came not or cared not much whether they came or no and so they hear as if they heard not Sathan with a very slender and slight temptation may interpose at any time and separate between them and their attendance upon it We know there are many thousands amongst us of that lukewarm and unworthy temper we speak of who think it enough to wait upon God when he is speaking the
ordinarily it is uttered by the Mouth of the Conscience which is not wont to be wide opened unless it be in some broader or more known duties of the Second Table what the reason hereof is is not so proper for present consideration Secondly The Cares Lusts Thoughts Desires Fears and Apprehensions of things relating to this present World make a continual noise and hubbub in the hearts and inward parts of men and women generally So that in case any thing were spoken to the heart or inner man especially with a soft voice whilest these things are stirring in him it will not be heard or minded And therefore Thirdly The Holy Ghost being a Spirit of Wisdom will not speak at least ordinarily unto hearts so full of distractions and confusions Neither fourthly Do men that voluntarily make noise or suffer noises to be made about them desire to hear any man speak unto them Therefore fifthly and lastly It follows from these Premises that such persons who are earthly minded and continually filled with the Cares Lusts or Desires of this World are either in no capacity at all to hear or not at all care to hear any thing that the Spirit shall speak unto them Men that desire to hear the Spirit of God speaking in them must sequester and abstract themselves from the noise and tumults of this World For the voice of the Spirit of God in men that voice by which he suggests things in the Conscience is a still and low voice and therefore when men are in a hurry in their thoughts whilest the World is lifting up its voice within them there is no opportunity for him to speak When persons are full of the Cares of this Life and are making provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof there is no opportunity for the Spirit to declare himself to them or to shew them his secrets I will hearken what the Lord will speak saith the Psalmist Psal 85.8 They that will listen to this still voice of the Spirit must muse must have all quiet within them lay their ears close unto what shall be spoken They that do not thus hearken unto the Spirit of God that do not thus listen and keep a perfect calm in their Spirits are not likely to hear what the Spirit speaketh in them And yet in the fourth place there are another sort of men and women worse than these and these are they that resist the Spirit Ye have resisted the Holy Ghost c. Acts 7. where Stephen chargeth them with that grievous charge that they resisted the Holy Ghost when he was striving to do them good and to acquaint them with the mind of God with true holiness and waies leading to Salvation They resisted him i. e. fortified themselves against him cast about with their Minds and Reasons and Understandings how they might discover and take hold of any pretense why they should not submit unto such and such Counsels such Doctrines such Truths wherein the Holy Ghost did from time to time speak unto them By this means men are said to resist the Holy Ghost and there is a Generation of men and women amongst us who dash their foot at this stone of death who when the Spirit of God either in the Word or in the Counsel or Application of Christian Friends unto them or otherwise presenteth them with such and such truths of God which bear upon their Consciences making it evident that it is for their good that they should submit themselves in the course of their lives and waies unto them and perswading them to abandon such and such waies to cast from them all such works which are contrary to those truths and sayings of God They I say who are well aware of these motions and suggestions of the Spirit to them and yet turn their backs upon them are of this second or worser sort who because they are desperately unwilling to be led out of their old waies loth to drink New Wine saying the Old is better therefore they withstand the Spirit of God even when he cometh with power and is about to bind the Understandings of men that they might not be able to move Now he is not to be resisted in such cases but with a high hand of rebellion and there must be abundance of enmity and disobedience against him otherwise men would be led away in a blessed captivity unto Jesus Christ This is the reason why men whom God hath had much to do with who have lived under a mighty and powerful Ministry either they are overcome and prove the best and holiest of men or otherwise they must arm themselves with such weapons of Rebellion which will prove them to be the most vile and most desperate sinners in the World A fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who neglect to sow unto the Spirit Sect. 17 we use the Phrase of the Apostle Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting We have opened heretofore what it is to sow to the Spirit It is to do such things to go forth in such waies and to be found frequent in such Actions and Practices which will turn to the praise and honour and glory of the Spirit of God and not only so but to do such things with an eye and intention that the Spirit of God should receive honour and reap praise by such their waies Now he properly soweth unto a man who doth intend that the man to whom he soweth should reap benefit thereby Even so a person is said to sow unto the Spirit of God who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Now if men and women shall rise up in their obedience unto God above the line and common road of the World if they shall walk in a more excellent way than their Neighbours more excellent than the common sort of Professors about them This must needs turn to the praise of the Spirit of God for the means by which they are advanced and gotten above their Neighbours and become more excellent than they this of course falleth and is ascribed by all to the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Men will conclude that surely the Spirit of God acteth and operateth in these men and teacheth them more excellent works and more heavenly curiosity than is found in the ordinary sort of men in the World Therefore they who refuse thus to sow unto the Spirit when the Spirit first soweth unto them that is when the Spirit suggesteth unto them and graciously stirreth up and tempteth their hearts and Consciences to do such Heroick Acts wherein there is a more than ordinary strain of goodness to be seen they do not consult the honour of the Spirit of God nor their own peace and enriching but on the contrary their own sorrow and poverty They I say that shall refuse thus to sow
you upon the like terms of benefit comfort and advantage unto you in every kind in any other way Suppose you shall totally lay aside and cut off from your minds and thoughts that engagement we speak of as the far greatest part of the World seem to do and pitch upon some other end and projection besides to bestow your time and opportunities upon and to exercise and imploy your Reasons and Understandings about whatsoever you shall pitch upon in this kind you will make a losing bargain by the hand you will but sow the wind in comparison Put case you should wave and decline the great business of being filled with the Spirit and should lay out your money give the Price that is in your hand to purchase Honour or some great place of Preferment in the World One thing is you may be defeated and disappointed in what you lift up your heart unto in this kind many have strained themselves and crackt the best vain in their hearts to catch at this shadow and yet have missed it As Absolom laboured in the very fire to make himself King but his device was too great for him to perform whilest he put forth his hand to reach a Crown he took hold of nothing but death and ruine Again secondly Suppose a man should be able to make his nest amongst the Stars and to walk up and down in the midst of Stoves of fire as it is said of the King of Tyre Ezek. 28.14 in respect of grandeur in the World yet even this would be but a faint and heartless condition in comparison A Nest amongst the Stars is in continual danger of being pulled down as all that have been made there since the beginning of the World have been and he that walketh up and down with the greatest confidence and security amongst the Stoves of fire as the King of Tyre did will be sooner at the end of his walk than he is aware of Whereas he that is filled with the Spirit the very taste and relish of his condition is rich above measure heart-taking and soul-pleasing He knows that unless he himself shall pull down voluntarily and with both his hands what he hath built up for himself in peace and happiness his Mountain is too strong ever to be removed either by Angels or men There is the same consideration of all other ends or designs whatsoever which may be conceived to be Competitors with the great work we have so much spoken of and with so much affection and importunity commended unto you If you shall cause your minds and understandings to serve you in raising your selves to great Estates in the World and gathering in Riches and making your Families great on Earth or in making provision of pleasures and delights for the flesh in one kind or other any of these will be but like the pilling of straws as we use to say in comparison they will be loss unto you Those Noble and Princelike Faculties of Reason Judgment and Understanding were created and formed by God and vested in the Natures or Souls of men with a regular proportion and as it were on purpose to make after designs truly honourable and high such as a being filled with the Spirit of God is together with others of like nature and worth with it and not at all to project or make provision for the flesh or for the outward man save only in due subordination unto these As on the other hand these spiritual and heavenly designs these high enjoyments are in their Natures and Constitutions suited to the said Faculties and as it were made and devised by God to be sought after compassed and obtained by them Much after the same manner as the Apostle observeth the reciprocal proportion in Nature and the Providence of God between the belly and meats Meats saith he for the belly and the belly for meats meaning the belly with the Appurtenances of it in the natural body of a man and so of other Creatures is so ordered and tempered by the natural constitution that it is apt to receive and concoct meat and convert it to the nourishment strength and health of the body As on the other hand meats are of such a nature and constitution as that they are sutable to the belly and apt to be digested there and turned into nourishment and therefore as it would be an unnatural kind of handling the mouth stomach and belly an abuse of them contrary to Nature to put stones and dirt into them or any thing that is contrary to the nourishment and good habit and state of the body or outward man In like manner for men and women to compel their Minds Reasons and Understandings to labour and travel either only or principally about things of an inferiour worth and perishable nature is a kind of unnatural dealing with them when as they are naturally endowed and made capable of higher engagements and attainments It is to reproach their excellency and to change their natural use into that which is against nature The Scripture it self from place to place urgeth and presseth upon men the Notion and Import of the Motive in hand Sect. 7 holding it forth with great emphaticalness and weight of Words and Phrases how great a matter of disparagement and shame and other while what an unspeakable loss is it unto men to make those Princes we speak of to go on foot I mean those divine Endowments of their Souls to travel for the wind of the slight Accommodations of this present World being capable of such imployments by the Law of their Creation by which the face of the Creature Man may shine for evermore Consider we briefly some few passages in this kind instead of many Labor not to be rich cease from thine own wisdom c. Prov. 23.4 5. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool to get Wisdom seeing he hath not a heart to it Pro. 17.16 He speaketh here as if Wisdom were in a great passion to see men enriched by God for great attainments and yet it should so fall out that they imployed these abilities and faculties about things that were but meer Toyes By Wisdom he means such things whereby he shall proclaim himself to be wise if he shall seek after them namely all the blessed conequences of Wisdom as Happiness Blessedness Glory c. in the general and every particular contained in these generals which any way may serve to advance the Creature man in true joy or felicity Now Wisdom as was noted before speaks with great indignation interrogative wise Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool c. a standing advantage to make his face to shine and yet he not have a heart to improve it but turns the means which God hath put into his hand quite another way Let us also consider that other place Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not For Riches certainly make themselves wings they
our cares we should ease our selves of much trouble For this is that by which men and women spoile themselves in that they take up the care of many daies at once Men will care for to morrow and for forty daies together whereas the care of one day the evil and trouble that doth attend it is sufficient unto it but the effect of this care for the time to come is to fill with trouble and feare There is indeed a fear of which Solomon speaks Prov. 28.14 when he saith Happy is the man that feareth alwaies and it is rather an evil or a misery to be freed from this fear than any matter of profit But this we say a being filled with the Spirit of God a rich anointing with this oyl will reduce the heart and soul of a man to such a pass to such a temper and frame that it shall be impenetrable invulnerable by such Arrows of cares and fears which are wont to pierce and strike thorough the hearts of other men and to slay all their comforts and peace As there are some kinds of Oyls or Oyntments as some have affirmed which are so sovereign against the impressions of hot boyling Lead or the like that they will secure men from receiving any harm by them if timely applied Whether this be true or not yet in the business before us the Scripture it self taketh notice of that great and marvellous effect of a rich anointing of the Spirit of God we speak of Psal 27.1 2 3. compared with Psal 46.1 2 3. And Psal 112.6 7 8. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom then shall I be afraid When the wicked even mine Enemies and my Foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell Psal 46. God is my refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea c. And so again Though an host of men should compass me about yet herein will I be confident Now we may easily perceive that these are very high expressions of a fearless and dreadless spirit though the Earth be moved out of its place The moving of the Earth and tossing to and fro of Mountains represent unto us things that are of a most terrible and formidable nature and very astonishing to the World We know the shaking of Mount Sinai was so terrible that Moses himself is said to fear exceedingly And so an Host of men is a thing which is most terrible yet saith he in this case though an host of men shall come marching against me yet herein will I be confident And Psal 112.6 7 8. Surely he shall not be removed for ever The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance he shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord c. That which will cause the hearts of other men to fear namely evil tydings and cause them to shake and tremble like the Trees of the Forrest when they are shaken with a mighty wind will have no operation at least comparatively upon the men and women of this Character which we are now speaking of viz. which are filled with the Spirit Now the Reason why a rich anointing with the Spirit of God must fortifie the spirit and soul of a man Sect. 2 to make it inaccessible unto troublesome cares and fears is because it is a kind of spiritual intoxication answering a drunkenness with Wine to which it is opposed Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the Spirit I conceive that by the opposition in this Comparison the Apostles intent is to shew that there is a likeness between a being filled with the Spirit and being drunk with Wine For as Drunkenness doth stupifie the natural senses doth bereave a man of the use and exercise of them so that for the time he is not capable of minding his own Concernments he is not affected with any thing that doth concern his state or health or any thing that is before him Even so or after such a manner a being filled with the Spirit doth as it were bereave a man of his carnal senses it doth reduce a man in his mind and understanding to such a state that the Flesh and the things thereof have little or no place in him it casteth him into a kind of heavenly extasie in which he is taken up with matters of another nature of a more high and excellent concernment so that the things which concern him here in the World either matters of trouble or sorrow or any other thing or concernment whatsoever little move or affect him whilest he is as it were in this heavenly extasie it doth as I said bereave him of those senses principles and thoughts which other men abound withal who are accounted sober men and wise in their Generation in the matters of this present World If we be besides our selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.13 it is to God There is no man that is filled with the Spirit of God but he is apt to do as one that is besides himself he doth not take knowledge doth not mind is not so much affected with such kind of things as relate to himself which other men as it were make their All in All and according to the giving out of which whether on the right hand or on the left they stand or fall they live or die they live if the World stand by them if their Silver and Gold their Health and Strength and other enjoyments continue with them but if these fail them they are dead in the Nest But it is not so with him that is filled with the Spirit of God For as it was with Lot in his fit of Drunkenness he neither perceived when his Daughters lay down by him nor yet when they rose up from him so when a man is in his heavenly rapture of a fulness of the Spirit of God he doth not much mind nor is much affected when the World lieth down by him and beareth him company nor when it riseth up and taketh its leave and departeth from him in one kind of enjoyment or other Now this being the proper nature and tendency of being filled with the Spirit to stupifie and turn the edge of natural affections which occasion trouble and sorrow in the World it must needs follow that they who are in this state must needs be under an heavenly security and their hearts like unto the upper Region where there is no impressions of any fiery Meteors but a constant and uniform serenity and tranquillity In like manner is it with the heart and inward part of a man that is filled with the Spirit of God there is no impression of any sadness or cares or tormenting fears I speak only of the usual habitual and standing frame and
condition of such a mans soul and spirit it is one thing what God may do or suffer to be done in a case not ordinary and in reference to some extraordinary end and purpose of his in the World He may give way and his Spirit may suspend his own actings though the heart and soul be full of him and so there may be some weakness and impressions of fear and sadness or the like But we speak not of what such a person may suffer at times and in cases not ordinary but we speak of the standing and habitual frame of his heart and soul and what this fulness of the Spirit doth for him and what state it putteth him in ordinarily And doubtless if it were not so God would want one great Engine to draw and work up the hearts and spirits of men and women unto the heighth of holiness For if he would have men to be Noahs and Jobs and Daniels I mean to be signally excellent in faith and holiness if he would have men like unto the tall Cedars in Lebanon he must accordingly propound and hold forth something by way of reward and recompense that shall as it were draw and work them up above the common line and the ordinary strain of the World round about them For if he should have no great priviledge to invest those withal whose labours and endeavours and diligence should surpass the labour and diligence of other men in waies of holiness and righteousness the World would be all of a level and of the same pitch the whole World of Christians and Believers would be but men of a low stature But now God as he hath gone to work having variety of considerations and rewards some rich and glorious above others to propound unto men he hath taken an effectual course to have the waies of excellency in holiness and righteousness often frequented and walked in which otherwise would have been unoccupied by the Sons and Daughters of men if he had not provided encouragements to excite or stir them up thereunto Therefore it is very reasonable to conceive that a being filled with the Spirit should be rewarded by God with some signal Priviledge namely by rendring them that are so filled free from troublesome cares and fears above the Rate and Line of those whose hearts will not serve them to rise up unto it Secondly Where there is a fulness a rich anointing of the Spirit Sect. 3 there must needs be an abundance of Peace and Joy This was a second particular of the Four a concurrence whereof must needs be conceived to make a mans Condition in the World as desirable as flesh and bloud is capable of Freedom from care and trouble is a kind of Negative Peace but it is but such a Peace whereof irrational Creatures yea Inanimate Creatures are capable as well as mene yea those that are dead have part and fellow ship in this Peace according to that of Job 3.18 19. There the Servant is free from his Master c. But that Peace which we now speak of is somewhat positive and hath a true and real existence in the soul it is a sweet composedness of the mind and spirit and conscience of a man and this well built upon grounds of knowledge by means whereof a man is whole and entire himself and at perfect liberty to serve God and men and himself in every good way and work this is that Peace which we call a positive Peac which hath Joy alwaies accompanying it We shall not upon the occasion in hand stand to scan the description according to the several parts of it this would cause too great a digression it shall suffice at present to know that the Peace which we affirm to be a fruit or effect of a being filled with the Spirit is a very blessed and desirable thing such a state or constitution of the Spirit or soul of a man which is a principal member or part of that happiness which a Creature whilst he is cloathed with flesh and bloud is capable of attaining or enjoying Now that such a Peace as that now briefly represented unto you must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit is fully evident from the consideration of these three things one consequentially following and depending on another First He that is filled with the Spirit must needs act for God at an excellent and high rate of zeal and faithfulness Secondly He that acteth for God at such a rate as this is not much subject to be tempted and yet much less to be overcome or drawn into waies or works of sin by temptation Thirdly and lastly He that is not overcome by temptation nor drawn to provoke God by sinning cannot but enjoy much of that Peace of God which as the Apostle saith passeth all understanding To open this a little by the way A man who is of a large understanding may go on very far to conceive of the blessedness of a peaceable estate and condition he may form to himself abundance of felicity and set some kind of value thereon and may compass much ground and travel very far into this Land yet it passeth all understanding for when men have sailed with their intellectual abilities very far yet this Peace of God hath more in it more for the comfort and accommodation of the Creature than ever will be put to account than ever will be drawn out by any understanding in men But this only by the way But to return First Sect. 4 He that is filled with the Spirit whilest he is careful to maintain so blessed a priviledge must needs act at some high and more than ordinary rate of zeal and faithfulness for God For what difference else can we reasonably imagine to be between these that are filled with the Spirit and those who are not And the Scripture it self from place to place maketh it evident that persons filled with the Spirit of God have still acted and done very much as hath been said have promoted and carried on the interest of God and of Christ with a high hand in the World Yea when any persons did any thing above the ordinary Line of men for God or Christ the holy Pen-men who report and record these things to make their report in this behalf the more passable and worthy of credit in the mind and thoughts of men give notice before-hand that the persons thus acting were men full of the Holy Ghost Thus Luke Act. 6.9 10 being about to relate the Heroick Acts of Stephen First In arguing and disputing down the Synagogue of the Libertines and other Sects and then in his high Contest with the High Priests and Elders and Scribes and others present at the Council where he reproved them all sharply to their faces saying Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears c. Chap. 7.51 exposing his life hereby to their malice and rage Luke I say the Sacred Historian of these magnifick Acts of Stephen giveth special
dumpishness c. and so that which is begotten by the Spirit of God doth resemble that Spirit which doth produce it Now as the Spirit of God that begetteth this Spirit in a man is holy and pure a Spirit of Love and Meekness and Gentleness c. Even so is that Spirit which is begotten a Spirit of Meekness Love Holiness Humility c. The reason why I rather thus understand the word Spirit in the place before us is first because this spirit I mean the spirit of a man wrought and new framed within him by the Spirit of God is the more immediate principle of a mans actions and the Spirit of God in this respect the more remote because he produceth and worketh all our good works by the mediation of that Spirit or new frame of heart which he hath raised in us Now then that Spirit which hath the more immediate conjunction with or influence upon our actions is more easily discernable by us and consequently more proper to discover or make known that which is discoverable by it as the dwelling of God in us in this place Secondly The Holy Ghost doth not discover himself or his presence in a man at least not his sanctifying presence of which we now speak but only by that spirit which he begetteth in his own likeness as hath been said and by the Fruits or Works of the Spirit For who can say upon any competent grounds I have the Spirit of God in me unless he find the frame of his heart and the temper of his former spirit changed within him and this for the better He that saith he hath the Spirit of God in him upon any other ground or account speaketh he knows not what nor hath any man reason to believe him Now then if the Holy Ghost be not manifestive of himself or of his own presence in men but only by that spirit which he begets or creates in men and by the works which this Spirit produceth in them but this Spirit especially by the works which it produceth is plainly manifestive of it self and consequently of all other things which must of necessity accompany it amongst which the dwelling of God in men is one It clearly follows that this is the Spirit by which the Holy Ghost himself here saith that we know that God abideth or dwelleth in us Thirdly That Spirit in a man which must declare and evidence Gods dwelling or abiding in him must be a Spirit constantly or habitually abiding in him Now the constant and habitual abiding of the Spirit of God in those who have received him cannot be known but only by that habitual frame of heart out of which they act for otherwise there is a remaining of the Spirit of God in them which is not sanctifying many had the Holy Ghost in them to work Miracles but the sanctifying presence of the Holy Ghost in men cannot be known but only by the habitual and blessed frame of heart out of which they act in the waies of God and therefore in this respect also it is most likely that the Holy Ghost meaneth the spirit which is begotten in the hearts by this Spirit Fourthly and lastly This Spirit we speak of which is begotten in men by the Spirit of God may be said to be given unto us by God as well as the Holy Ghost himself For as God when he gave Christ unto men may be said to have given them all things appertaining unto life and bleâ—â—edness He that hath given the Fountain may be said to have given the streams So he that hath given the sanctifying Spirit may be also said to have given all other things and blessings that depend upon the same Thus then we see this clear before us that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that God dwelleth and abideth in him and this was the first thing mentioned which must needs possess and fill men with a rich assurance that their attonement and peace is made with God by the bloud of Christ For most assuredly God dwells in no man but in him who believeth in him And secondly Whosoever believeth in him his attonement is compleat with God Thirdly and lastly the man or woman in whom God dwelleth either knoweth or readily may know that God dwelleth in him The second thing propounded Sect. 11 whereby a man or woman may know that their attonement or peace is made with God and they accepted was if they love God they that truly love God and know they love him may from hence readily conclude and take hold of an assurance that they have peace with God This is evident from that known passage 1 Joh. 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love There is no fear in love i. e. with love or where love is found The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with as 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith or with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus So again Mat. 16.27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory that is with the glory of his Father There is no fear in love meaning the love of God and the fear of God i. e. the fear of being hurt by God or of receiving evil from him as he explaineth himself immediately cannot stand together But saith he perfect love casteth out fear First It is evident that he speaks here principally and more particularly of the love of God in men Secondly By perfect love he means love grown to a good maturity and strength in the heart and soul of a man when it is active and bringeth forth a considerable proportion of fruit By perfect love here he cannot mean love which is absolutely and compleatly perfect which is not capable of any more intenseness or further enlargement for there is no such love of God to be found amongst men that dwell in houses of clay no not among the greatest of the Saints yea it is a question whether the love of the Angels themselves be perfect in this sense or no. The word perfect and perfection are most frequently used when applied to man or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but a limited and diminutive sense Things are said to be perfect when they are grown to any good degree of perfection So he that offendeth not in word is said to be a perfect man Jam. 3.2 that is it is a sign that he is an able Christian so love to God when it is grown to a considerable strength in a man that it yieldeth forth fruit in abundance then it is called perfect love and I do not remember where the word is otherwise used when applied to the Creature or things relating to it Indeed when applied to God it is to be taken in the strictest sense but when applied
that possesseth and filleth them with a windy confidence that they are the Children of God when indeed they are not because the Spirit of God is not wont to go forth nor to enter into the hearts and consciences of men but where the glorious Gospel of God is received in the truth of it We could instance in some particulars for there are as the Apostle telleth us 1 Cor. 8.5 in his daies in respect of Gods and Lords many that were Gods and Lords so called but saith he unto us there is but one c. So the truth is at this day there are amongst us and round about in this City and near to us Gospels many and Preachers many but in the mean time there is but one Gospel for us for those that know the truth as it is in Jesus And yet many of these Gospels we speak of have their spirits that do attend upon them and for the most part they do wait upon these very Gospels and Ministries that are the rankest of all others filling the Receivers of them with the greatest assurance and confidence that they are the Children of God and in the right way of worshipping and serving of him There is a Gospel which joyns Baptism with Faith in Christ by way of necessity to Justification and so to Salvation even as the Jewish Converts did Circumcision in the Apostles days of which Paul saith unto them Gal. 5.2 I say unto you if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing meaning if ye be Circumcised with an opinion of being justified thereby Christ shall profit you nothing There is another Gospel preached amongst us which teacheth you in effect and underhand yea by express and near-hand consequence that if you be elected how loosely wickedly prophanely and desperately soever ye shall live yet you are in no danger of perishing yea and that however you shall go to work God will bring you in one time or other and that he will so far change the state of affairs with you that you shall neither will nor chuse but to repent and so be saved together with several other Doctrines and Notions of like dangerous consequence and import Again thirdly Another Gospel so called ye have preached amongst you which calleth you from the Scriptures and the light of life which shineth there unto that which they call a light within them though that light be never so dark As if the Scriptures and the light within men so far as it is light and not darkness were at odds Or as if the conveying of Scripture light into the hearts and Judgments of men were like to obscure darken or obstruct and not rather to encrease brighten and perfect that light in men This kind of Gospel is of as dangerous consequence as any of the other A fourth Gospel preached abroad in the World is that all that ever will or shall be justified were justified from Eternity and that upon this account God seeth no sin in them Yea there is a Gospel which preacheth down all Preaching and denieth the usefulness thereof Many other Gospels there are so called in the World which though they be at great variance amongst themselves yet they all agree in enmity and opposition to the true Gospel of Christ like Sampson's Foxes But there is no end of enumerating these high and by kind of strains which men run into from day to day thinking thereby still to better their condition Godward As you find many in a lingring condition with sickness that think if they should but change into such a Room or into such a Bed they should be better So when men have not made a serious and consciencious improvement of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ whilest they did attend and live under the Ministry and Preaching of it but find themselves dissatisfied in their hearts and souls and not enjoying themselves upon terms of that content which they desire they think now that if they do but go forth into such other waies and walk in such other paths that then they shall be made great then they shall reign like Kings and Princes in the Profession of Jesus Christ Now the great Enemy of their Peace and of the Salvation of their souls lies in wait to meet with such occasions and advantages as these are and therefore if such Notions do but begin to bud and put forth in their first conceptions or that the hearts of men do but begin to hanker that way the Devil helps them with his perswasions to go on and then men are very apt to be perswaded that now the Spirit of God is come to them and that he doth procure them that great peace of God which they could never attain nor find from his hand before I cannot pass by that Expression though but lately handled in the Scriptures now opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it carrieth in it so pregnant a Testimony against that dangerous Doctrine which of late hath began to make head amongst us viz That the Holy Ghost is not God Now if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit himself and not any other inferiour spirit subservient unto him who bears witness with the Spirits of the Saints all the World over that they are the Children of God then can he be no other than God himself who filleth all places with his presence Thus then we see a third thing Sect. 17 by means of which they that are filled with the Spirit must needs be possessed with an assurance of their attonement and peace made with God by Jesus Christ viz. they have the Spirit of Adoption within them testifying aloud and with authority with their spirits that they are the Children of God and consequently that their sins are fully attoned in his sight And this was the former particular of the two propounded by which men and women must needs be prepared and put into a rich capacity of enjoying free Communion with God We shall not need I suppose to add any thing to prove or shew that a clear assurance of a mans Attonement made with God opens an effectual door unto him for a free Communion with God This is lightsome and evident enough of it self especially if we take the word Attonement in a compleat signification I mean as it includes and carrieth with it grace and acceptation of a mans person with God For when God is actually reconciled unto a Creature and hath accepted an attonement for his sin He doth not only cease to be an Enemy unto him remaining still as a Stranger or as one from whose anger or displeasure the Person reconciled and attoned is indeed free but hath no further interest in him but upon this said reconciliation unto this Creature he becometh a most real Friend unto him and admits him into his special grace and favour Amongst men it is oft times otherwise a man doth not remain an Enemy after Attonement for that properly is imported in the word Attonement But
Holy Ghost may be said to receive that which is Christs which is so far from impairing his Divinity or Godhead that it fully asserts and confirms it But this being somewhat mysterious and requiring some larger Explication we shall not at present dive into it that which hath been given is more obvious and agreeable to the words and scope of the place and sufficient to detect the vanity of the Argument built upon it in opposition to the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost And this for the fifth Argument The sixth Argument riseth thus He that is sent by another is not God Sect. 12 the Holy Spirit is sent by another therefore He is not God The Minor is proved from Joh. 16.26 The Major he that ministreth is not God this is the whole compass of the sixth Argument The substance and strength of this Argument is That to be sent forth by another to minister and to receive commands are things incompatible to the Soveraign Majesty of God and that these are in Scripture affirmed of the Holy Ghost therefore he cannot be God To this we reply First That the man being a perfect Anthropomorphite notioning and conceiving that all those things which are attributed unto God in the Scriptures after the manner of men as bodily members humane passions a circumscriptiveness unto place c. are in the litteral and proper nature and formality of them to be found in him builds his Arguments upon this sandy and rotten foundation And because it is so with men that he that is sent or sent forth by another is inferiour to him that sends him though this be not alwaies so neither as we shall see presently he therefore conceiveth that when these things are spoken of Christ or of the Holy Ghost they must be understood litterally and formally of them also whereas if we do but own and acknowledge the infinity and incomprehensibleness of God we must of necessity admit of and own that Rule delivered long since by Austin and the ancient Fathers and ever and anon remembred by all learned men that have written of these things Quando humana transferuntur ad Deum c. When things properly belonging unto men are transferred over unto God they are to be understood so that no dishonour nor disparagement be offered unto the Divine Nature and whatsoever in them imports imperfection is to be separated and left behind and only that to be conceived to be meant of God which implieth perfection for whatsoever proceeds from God so far as it cometh from him hath no imperfection in it therefore nothing which includes imperfection in it so far as it includes it can be with truth attributed unto him Secondly When the Holy Ghost and there is the same consideration of the Son in this respect is in Scripture said to be sent whether by the Son as Joh. 16.26 or by the Father as Joh. 14.26 it doth not imply either subjection or inferiority to either of the Persons sending because subjection savoureth of imperfection Nor secondly doth it imply any removal from place to place for this also savoureth of Creature-like imperfection not to be present every where at once Nor thirdly doth it imply Ministery or Service properly so called i. e. The doing of any thing in the fruit and benefit whereof he that is sent hath not an equal interest or share with him that sendeth him For this also implies some kind of imperfection If you ask me What then doth it imply I answer first It implies the plurality of beings or subsistencies which we call persons in the Divine Essence for the sender and he that is sent must needs be more than one Secondly It implies another thing as namely the order of the persons between themselves For he that is sent must in order though not in nature or dignity be after him that sendeth Though there be not a superiority and inferiority one to command and another to be subject Yet notwithstanding there is an order amongst them and the order is this the Father is as the Schoolmens Expression frequently is Fons Deitatis the Fountain of the Godhead because the Son though he doth partake of the same Divine Nature and Essence with him and is every way God with him yet he hath the Sonship or Divine Person communicated unto him by God the Father So the third Person hath a divine Nature and Essence communicated unto him by a joynt spiration as they express it or by way of Procession he hath it joyntly from the Father and the Son And hence it is that you never find in Scripture that the Father is said to be sent either by the Son or by the Holy Ghost But you find concerning both the Son and the Holy Spirit sometimes the Son is said to be sent into the World by the Father and so the Spirit is said to be sent This therefore sheweth indeed the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence and so likewise the order of subsistence between them that there is one as it were before who hath a priority of order though not of excellency or dignity nor of greatness nor any such thing And then again that which I suppose is the principle thing meant by it viz. the Phrase of sending is that the work mode or manner of working which is proper for the Holy Ghost that this is to be performed by him according to the order that we lately shewed First the Father then the Son then the Holy Ghost So that now every one of these though as indeed they have one and the same Essence and Nature so they alwaies joyn in one and the same operation and working ad extra without yet notwithstanding they have every one of them a peculiar and an appropriate and distinct manner of working answerable to that order wherein they subsist among themselves As for example The Father beginneth the work which is proper for the Original Author of the Work and then the Son he doth something but in a mediate kind of way between the beginning and consummation or finishing of it and the Holy Ghost according to his place in his order being the third and last He worketh after the manner of him that perfecteth or finisheth or consummates the work The Father he hath laid the Counsel and Platform of Salvation for men The Son he hath carried on the work so far as to make the attonement for them And yet there remaineth something to be done for the Salvation of the World and that is the reducing and bringing men to believe in this Saviour and to accept of that Attonement which he hath made for them and this being the consummating work about the salvation of the World although the Father and the Son both have a hand in it and it is doubtless their work as well as his yet the manner of the accomplishing of it concluding wise this is appropriate unto the Holy Spirit And now because his work importeth such a thing
as this is therefore he is said to be sent sometimes by the Father sometimes by the Son And yet the same sending as I said before doth not imply as the Argument would have it as if he changed his place because he is said to be sent from heaven as if he were not resident and present there still But he is said to come from Heaven to shew that the work which he doth accomplish and bring to pass from day to day is a divine work And it is the manner of the Hebrew Dialect and Language to say that that is spoken from heaven or revealed from Heaven which is done with a high hand and in a wonderful and more than ordinary manner As when there is the unbared Arm of God then the work is said to be done from Heaven The Holy Ghost when he was sent down upon the Apostles was as much in heaven as before So much for answer to this Argument we will God willing be briefer in the rest The seventh Argument He that is the gift of God is not God Sect. 13 the Holy Ghost is the gift of God therefore he is not God The sum and substance of this Argument being contracted is this The Holy Ghost cannot be God because he is given God being himself the giver of all things and so not capable of being given and a gift or that which is given being at the disposal of him that giveth which is unworthy to conceive of God viz. that he should be at the disposal of another These three Propositions laid before us in this Argument which are Pillars and supporters of it are all weak and unsound As first That he that is the gift of God is not God or cannot be God Secondly That he that is the gift of God cannot be the giver of all things Thirdly and lastly That a gift is in the power and at the disposal of another For To the first of these God being sui Juris at the absolute disposal of himself for who shall deny him this liberty may give himself unto whom he pleaseth so that God may be both the Gift and the Giver As when the Husband or Bridegroom giveth himself to his Bride he is both Gift and Giver And thus Christ gave himself to his Church in respect of which Act of Donation he is both the Giver and the Gift And the truth is that God in giving his Spirit unto us yea though we should grant the Adversary his blasphemous Supposition viz. That the Spirit is not truly God may yet be said to give himself unto us how much more when we according to the Scriptures which teach us that the Spirit of the Lord and the Lord the Spirit are all one 2 Cor. 1.11 do believe this Spirit is God and consequently giveth himself For what is it for God to give himself unto men but by a free and voluntary disposing himself by Covenant or Promise to become theirs Did he not establish his Covenant between himself and Abraham and his seed after him for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto him and to his seed after him Gen. 17.7 And so afterwards unto Israel this Seed of Abraham did he not say by the mouth of David Hear oh my People c. I am God even thy God Psal 50.7 What is that which is given us more than ours Or what can it be more So that the first Proposition mentioned is notoriously untrue He that is the gift of God is not God or cannot be God From the errour of this Proposition thus evicted as you have heard the weakness of the second fully appeareth many words I shall not need for confutation of it The Proposition was this He that is the gift of God is not cannot be the giver of all things If God be the giver of all things which our Adversary with the Scriptures granteth and affirmeth and withal be his own gift It is a clear case that he that is the gift of God may be yea and is the giver of all things And concerning the Spirit of God it is expresly said 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these things worketh one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will these words as he will clearly prove that those Administrations and gifts of the Holy Ghost there spoken of are not only distributed and given immediately by him but that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at full liberty of and from himself to order and make this distribution as he pleaseth which is a Character not of a derived and commissionated power but of that which is soveraign and absolute which in this case must needs be divine and appropriate unto God for it is not only said that he worketh all these things and giveth all these gifts but that he giveth and maketh distribution even as himself pleaseth Certainly there was no Commission so large as this ever given out by God for any Creature whatsoever to do by the great things of Jesus Christ and such as concern the Salvation of men to dispose and distribute of them to whom and where and to what degree he pleaseth And accordingly he that in the place last cited is termed the Spirit but all these things worketh one and the self same Spirit He is in the sixth verse expresly said to be God And there are diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all therefore certainly the Spirit of God and God himself they are one and the same these things duly considered they are impregnably express for the proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost For the third and last Proposition of the three specified viz. That a gift is in the power and at the disposal of another neither is this necessary and universally true For God as we have proved is a gift viz. of his own giving and yet is not hereby proved to be at the disposal of another but only and solely of himself so that this Argument is crazie and loose all over As for that which he adds towards the close of it it is altogether as inconsiderable as the rest viz. That if the Person of the Holy Ghost be given unto certain men then he was not Personally with them before and consequently cannot be God by the concession of his Adversaries themselves who deny not that God is alwaies personally present with all alike For the Holy Ghost is noted to be given unto some certain men in respect not simply of his Personal presence with them but in respect of the fruition and enjoyment of his Personal presence or in respect of such a presence of his Person with them which sheddeth or poureth out the love of God abroad in their hearts i. e. perswades men effectually and with power to believe the love of God towards them stirs up many holy thoughts and motions in them from time to time We do acknowledge indeed such a personal presence of his with all men alike
being saved it is so full that we are already saved by it And so Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance or rather the subsistence for so Hypostasis signifies of things hoped for Faith is said to be the subsistence or existence of things hoped for because the belief of those grounds or of those Promises of God or declarations that come from Heaven That These and these things shall be given to those that believe this I say doth give a kind of existency and presentiality unto the things themselves in the minds and spirits and souls of men For it is Faith that is the ground work or that which giveth a subsistence to these things in the soul for Hope floweth from Faith and by it the heart is carried out to the expectation of them Hope doth dilate and open the heart as a man doth his hand to receive that which is ready to be given unto him But that which giveth life breath and being unto Hope that is Faith It is Faith that giveth Being unto the Truth and Faithfulness of God in his Promises and Declarations by which they are settled and secured that they are all valid and that God will make them good unto his Sons and Daughters those who shall believe And in this respect the Language or manner of the Scripture speaking is very remarkable That they who are enabled by God by being anointed with a Spirit of Revelation to put men into a steady and substantial hope of possessing and enjoying such and such things are said to give them the things themselves So Isa 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted c. So again ver 3. To give them beauty for ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. So that according to this manner of Scripture speaking because the Prophet offered by a spirit of Prophecy to fill theis hearts with the hope and expectations of these things he is said to give them the things themselves So again he that shall be an instrument in the hand of God to preach the Word of God with such evidence of truth and demonstration as that he fills the hearts of men full of the hope of Salvation is said actually to save them Take heed unto thy self saith Paul to Timothy and unto the Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim. 4.16 Fourthly Sect. 14 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause God to take a holy pleasure and delight in you and to imploy you about many actions and services of his which will be very honourable unto you and turn to a bleffed account in due time in his Kingdom Wherefore saith the Apostle to the Church at Jerusalem look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost c. Which doth imply that the men that God seeketh for the acting and doing his business here in the World are such who are full of the Holy Ghost such who have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God Men that are filled with the Spirit will be vigorous active and free in their work they will do what they do with all their might As men delight to be served by such Servants who are diligent and will go through stitch with their business that will not be baffled or turned out of their way by every toy or trivial occasion that shall present it self but will go on with their business not with trifling Even so it is a special Principle in the living God to desire servants that will be faithful and fervent in their business This indeed is the very Nature and Being of God and therefore he putteth that Character of his Being upon men which he judgeth meet to be chosen as instruments to serve him and which are as I may say made for him fitly qualified for any work or employment that shall be put into their hands Who counted me faithful saith Paul putting me into the Ministry If Paul had not been the man he was a man of mettle courage and resolution God would not have delighted in his service so as to have put him into the Ministry Now where we do not see men that are in the Ministry of the same Spirit it is a sign they are not put here by God for God taketh no delight or pleasure but only in such who are fitted for his work We read 2 Tim. 2.21 of Vessels prepared and made fit for the Masters use so that there is a certain fitness as well in Persons as in Vessels which maketh them meet for such or such respective uses Now that Generation of men in the World that are filled with the Spirit are only meet for the Masters use viz. the Great Master of the World the Lord of Hosts Such men as these men who are through-hearted zealous and lovers of his Work and that take delight in being employed in his Service are Vessels of pleasure and delight unto him Seest thou a man saith Solomon diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings Prov. 22.29 Shall stand before Kings namely to minister unto them Men of this Character are only meet for their Service Even so none are fit for the Service of the Great God of Heaven and Earth but such men who are of active and vigorous spirits and that know how to manage his Affairs with diligence and faithfulness for his interest in the World These men shall not stand idle but God will take delight to make use of them in his Service Whereas men that are unqualified for his Service to any confiderable degree as all men are who art not filled with the Spirit who have no activity nor edge in them are unto God as a bottle in the smoak And as men do not love to put what they drink into bottles that are smoaky because that will destroy all the goodness and pleasantness of the taste of that which shall be put into them Even so as was but now hinted men that are unqualified that have no dexterity for his business these are persons in whom God taketh no pleasure but are unto him as a bottle in the smoak because the management of his Affairs by such men as these will rather be a disparagement unto him than any matter of glory by rendring his Sacred Things common and consequently rendring them despicable in the eyes of men But on the contrary men that are richly anointed and filled with his Spirit these are Agents and Instruments for him as the Sword of Goliah was unto David there was none like unto it There is no Generation of men under Heaven that he taketh such pleasure in to commit and intrust his Affairs withal as with these who are filled with the Spirit Who maketh his Angels Spirits or wind
and his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1.7 Some by the way understand the meaning of the place to be only this That the Apostle would hereby shew or prove that there is no great matter in the name of an Angel because that God sometimes calleth the wind by the name of an Angel and that the Argument in hand was not to prove the transcendent excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ above the Angels and their dignity but because that the name of Angel is a term of no great dignity because sometimes God calleth the Wind Angel or Minister Whether this their Notion will stand or no it is not much material as to that which I shall commend unto you for our purpose For if God call the Wind by name of Angel or the Fire his Angel it is a sign that he doth delight to make those his Messengers that are most active and full of Spirit in their way for so are the Winds and Flames of Fire And so are Angels strong and swift like unto the Wind and zealous in their way like Fire and consequently every way meet and accommodated for the Service of the Great God In like manner by your being filled with the Spirit this high Priviledge will certainly accrue unto you That your standing on Earth will be much like the standing of the Angels in Heaven who continually stand before God and attend upon him for a beck to be appointed to their several services and to be sent one one way and another another way and happy are they to whom the favour is vouchsafed to have the first charge and direction from God about his business And such shall be your posture and standing before the God of all the Earth if you be men and women filled with the Spirit It will not be long ere you shall have some great and high imployment put into your hands that will be very beneficial and honourable unto you and in which you will take abundance of pleasure and satisfaction Fifthly Sect. 15 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause the offensiveness of good waies and works especially in some of the most excellent Services of God and of men and that which seemeth hard and troublesome to the flesh in them to cease It will reconcile the disproportion between your hearts and such services and imployments both for God and men We all know that there is a kind of natural averseness and indisposedness in the flesh of men unto many Services of God especially unto those which are most honourable and most worthy of Christians I say there is a kind of listlessness and hanging back of the Flesh unto such duties as these we are speaking of which is occasioned by nothing else but only by their disproportion which they have with men There is something in the heart of a man which doth not answer to something in the Work and Service Now then by your being filled with the Spirit this disproportion which lieth between your hearts and this Service of God will be taken out of the way You know the saying of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would in the Original it is that ye may not do the things that ye would The Spirit lusteth and by means of the Spirits lusting you are put into a strait so that now ye cannot or ye may not do what ye would This lusting of the Spirit against the Flesh will be a means to weaken the Lustings of the Flesh so that you will have no desire to do those things which you are naturally enclined unto And if the Spirit be strong in the soul of a man these Lustings of the Spirit will be strong also yea they will if they be not obstructed in their way advance and grow stronger until all the Lustings of the flesh be subdued and all dispositions and inclinations unto sin upon the matter wholly cut off so that you will not find your selves under any Obligations to walk in any such waies wherein the flesh may be gratified Your being filled with the Spirit will free you from all incumbrances in the waies of holiness And you shall come forth unto such waies as these Like the Sun which as David saith is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a Race Psal 19.5 Why is the Sun said to rejoyce and to come forth as a Bridegroom and as a Gyant to run his course but because though his Course be long above what will easily be believed should be accomplished by him in the space of twenty four hours he is if I may so speak naturally conscious that he hath abundantly wherewich to perform it Such a Course or Race to him is natural and delightsome If another Creature not so qualified either with figure swiftness Propensity unto Circular motion or the like were to run I mean appointed or commanded by God as the Sun is to run the same Course and were to set forth out of the same Chamber with the Sun this Creature would not come forth to his work like a Bridegroom but rather like unto him that mourneth and whose Countenance is cast down unto the Earth In like manner when men and women are filled with the Holy Ghost they come forth unto the greatest actions or highest Services whether for God or men like unto so many Bride-grooms out of their Chambers full of alacrity and with an heavenly pleasantness of heart and face as it is said of Stephen who is noted to have been a man filled with the Spirit that all the Council that looked stedfastly or narrowly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Acts 6.25 i.e. did discern a more than ordinary a kind of supernatural Visage or composure of Countenance in him wherein an awful gravity with an heavenly kind of Lustre or pleasantness were in conjunction and by the light of this his Angelical and heavenly Countenance a like heavenly complexion or constitution of heart and soul within might easily have been discerned also Stephen had a great piece of work a difficult service upon his hand he was to give Testimony unto Jesus Christ before the Powers of this World a great Council of men that were desperate Opposers of him and maliciously bent against all those that professed him and to abide all hazards and dangers likely to attend such an engagement But being filled with the Holy Ghost his heart sweetly and readily comported with the work as if it had been but like the going to a Feast So also the Apostle Paul Acts 20.22 23 24. 21.11 13. compared In the former And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these