Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	able_a	holy_a	zion_n	22	3	9.2199	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43607	Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ...	Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae.	1662 (1662)	Wing H1793; ESTC R2845	709,920	522

Picture can express foolish Creatures that confine him within the narrow lines of any Image 1 Kings 8.27 2 Chron. 2.6 Isa 66.1 Jer. 23.24 Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee The Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footsto●l Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Of Gods Omnipotency Such is Gods Omnipotency and Infiniteness of power as that to him nothing is impossible Psal 103.20 Other Spirits are Potent Angels excell in strength but he is Omnipotent The Almighty power of this Spirit distinguisheth him from all other spirits Dicitur omnitotens quia omnium tenet potestatem Isidor Thus 1. In that it is Essential for whatsoever God doth is in and by his own Essence but there is a quality 2. In him it is Original in them derived for this is that beginning of all power in the Creature 3. In him it is Absolute whereby he can do whatsoever he will in them it is limited that they can do but what he will 4. In him it is Infinite not only in regard of his infinite Being nor only in regard of infinite Objects which he hath done and can do but also in regard of the powerful manner of effecting things for he never did any thing so powerfully but he could have done it more powerfully he never made any thing so good but he could have made it better In the Creatures there is an Essence and a Paculty whereby they work as in fire the substance and the quality of heat between these God can sunder Dr. Preston and so hinder their working as in the Babylonish fire In the Angels there is an Essence and an executive power God comes between these often and hinders them for doing what they would But now it s otherwise in God he is most simple and entire without mixture or composition Hence his Almightiness is his Essence and his whole Essence is Almighty He is not mighty in respect of some part or faculty as the Creature is but all in God is Mighty There is the 1. Absolute Power of God And 2. Actual Power of God By the former he can do whatsoever he pleaseth make Iron swim Rocks stream forth water stones to yield children unto Abraham Of this when I have spoken my utmost I must intreat the Reader as one the Oratour did his when he spake of Socrates and Lucius Crassus Cicer. 3. ●s Oratore Vt magis quiddam de ●is quàm quae scripta sunt suspicarentur That they should imagine some greater matter than here they find written For well did Gratianus the Emperour observe in his Epistle to Ambrose Loquimur de Deo non quantum debemus sed quantum possumus In speaking of God also of his power we speak not what we ought but what we are able But it is his actual power that men must look to and in this he hath tyed the end and the means together in which respect there are things he cannot say Divines because he will not that is he will not bring man to the end without their using those means which tend thereunto In a word He can do all things possible and honourable he cannot lye dye deny himself for that implieth impotency He can do more than he will but whatsoever he will that he doth in Heaven and Earth and none can say What dost thou Let us therefore tremble before this Mighty God who can with as much ease as Caesar once threatned Metellus in a Bravado and in as little time undo us as bid it be done If the breath of God blow man to destruction and we are but Dust-heaps if he can frown us to death with the rebuke of his countenance What is the weight of his hand that Mighty hand as James calls it wherewith he spans the Heavens and weigheth the Earth in a Ballance Trust we also in his power for performing his promises Deo confisi nunquam confusi He that believeth shall not be ashamed he need no more but stand and see the salvation of the Lord. And let Gods people be comforted in consideration of his power Contemno minutos istos Deos modo Jovem habeam propitium said that Heathen If God be for us What need we fear what Man or Devil can do unto us Yea let us commit our selves unto him who is able to do for us above all we can ask or think and to keep for us what we commit unto him for howsoever the power of all Creatures may be letted by impediments from doing us good yet nothing can be an impediment to hinder his power for our good Gen. 17.1 Cap. 18.14 Dan. 4.37 Luke 1.37 Rev. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Almighty God Is any thing too hard for the Lord Those that walk in pride he is able to abase With God nothing shall be unpossible Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Of Gods Omnipresence God is a Spirit everywhere included Deus ubique semper est nowhere excluded He is purely and simply by his Essence and Presence everywhere A God within all things but contained of nothing a God without all things but sustained of nothing a Spirit dwelling everywhere but without sense or motion In respect of his Essence he is everywhere but in regard of the bright manifestation of his grace and glory he is said to dwell in Heaven Thus also he is said to be far from the wicked not in respect of Essence but the manifestation of his favour and grace Again when God is said to depart and return we must not understand it by motion of Essence but of effect nor by change of place but by change of his action and declaration of some mercy where he is said to return and of his justice where he is said to depart A man in a Boat thinketh the Bank moves though that be unmoveable and all the motions in the Boat so God moveth in regard of his effect in us himself abiding unmoveable he moveth and changeth all things without any motion or change in himself Empedocles could say that God is a Circle whose Center is everywhere whose circumference is nowhere Other Heathens that God is the Soul of the World and that as the Soul is tota in toto and tota in qualibet parte so is he that his eye is in every Corner c. To which purpose they so pourtraied their Goddess Minerva that which way soever one cast his eye she alwayes beheld him Let us therefore in every place fear his presence and avoid sin the Judge is present even to the thoughts Sub Jove s●mper er●s c. Jovis omnia plena set thy self ever in his sight as David walk with God as Enoch and be sincere in all thy course he filleth all places either to comfort or confound God saith a late Writer is not so far from us as the Bark is from the

Faith and Repentance in his Church when by his powerful operation he converteth the souls of sinners from the errors of their way in an outward apparition then is he said to be sent visibly the Dove appearing at Christs Baptism did intimate the presence and the efficacy of the holy Ghost the cloven tongues like fire in the Primitive Church in the times of the Apostles were a demonstration of his presence and power The manifestation of his graces in Christ and his Apostles at those times discovered his presence But he is not sent thus alwayes but at appointed times and upon special occasions thus that Prophesie of Joel 2.28 was fulfilled He is sent invisibly when no signes are used to declare his presence in our hearts only he that hath him knows he is there Thus was he in the Prophets for he spake by them And every Christian that belongs to the election of grace hath the Spirit sent him thus invisibly he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8.9 And cum gratia Spiritus sancti datur hominibus profecto mittitur Spiritus à Patre when the grace of the Spirit is confer'd on men of a truth the Spirit of grace is sent then of the Father Christ's Spirit comes not to us by a temporal motion but by the temporal motion of the creature is signified the spiritual and invisible sending of Christ's Spirit Again he is sent unto us by the Ministry of the Word the power of God to our salvation and by the administration of the Sacraments By the Word illuminating our understandings before darkned enabling us to judge of spiritual things our judgment before restrained to carnal working saith love hope peace patience temperance with a reformation of our lives and all other vertues in our hearts By administration of the Sacraments confirming our faith in the promises sealing unto us our adoption perfecting in us the assurance of our reconciliation with God and assuring us that we shall be made partakers with the Saints in glory of the full fruition of the presence of God and be put into the possession of that immortal and eternal inheritance in the highest heavens prepared for Gods children before the foundations of the world were laid This sending of the Spirit of the Son either visibly or invisibly by the Word or Sacraments is not a local motion a going from one place to another descending from heaven to earth but his operation and effectual working in the hearts of Gods Saints He is every where filling heaven and earth and therefore not movable from heaven to earth but ubi operatur ibi est where he works there he is and is said to be sent thither Let us now learn how to conceive of God and be assured of his love had he not loved us he had not sent his Spirit to us He sends his Spirit to us and gives us the best things we must not deny any thing unto him thanklesse creatures then we should be And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption And prepare we our hearts to entertain and receive him sweeping clean the secret chambers of our souls making our bodies also fit temples for the holy Ghost to dwell in The firm ground of all Christian comfort and stedfast foundation of all the heirs of eternal blisse is to be the sons of God Men of this world are ever ambitious of honorable titles and use all means to insinuate themselves into the favor of their Prince aiming hereby at a worldly happinesse Thus men of the world to come so I may term the faithful for they are not of this world are ever in action and the bent of their endeavours ever tending to obtain the honorable title of the sons of God What means God hath ordained for them to win his favour by as obedient children use aiming hereby at an eternal inheritance and at the crown of immortality that never fades away which that as sons they by the grace of God their heavenly Father may compasse they cry and pray without ceasing unto him who is willing to hear and able to fulfil their holy desires to the utmost even above what they ask And that they may be the better able to hold out unto the end and to profecute their earnest intentions in righteous things God because they are sons sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts whereby they cry Abba Father There remains now these three Parts to be treated of The place whither the Spirit is sent the effect of the Spirit there and the reason of all this Now that you may receive with pure hearts and blamelesse affection the sincere truth of Gods holy word whil'st ye are reading these lines sequester your sences and your souls from all wandring and evil thoughts and cast away from you all misdeeming conceits as Elias did his Mantle to the earth when he ascended into heaven or as Moses took off his shoes when he trod on holy ground The next Subject of our Meditation is the place whither God sends forth the Spirit of his Son which is our hearts God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts The estate of every true Christian and child of God in this life is partly carnal partly spiritual they have flesh they have spirit the first state comes by nature call'd the state of nature the second by the free and undeserved grace of God Non habeo domine quodignosc●s Donatus call'd the state of grace Hence we may consider them two wayes conditioned 1. They are carnally minded 2. Spiritually minded Their purity is not totally and fully unblemisht he that saith he hath no sinne is a lydr and there is no truth in him 1 John 1.8 For they are subject to a twofold Law 1. To a Law in the members which none can put off until they put off their flesh and thus far they are unregenerate 2. To the Law of the mind which is the Law of God call'd the Law of the mind regenerate and illuminated converted unto God by the Spirit wherein the godly do delight Hence ariseth a mortal warre and an unsppeased enmity within man I see faith Paul another law in my members warring against the law of my mind the good that I would do I do not but the evil which I would not do that do I Rom. 7. The flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other and draw like Sampsons Foxes contrary-wayes The Maxime grounded then upon these words to which my former discourse hath relation is that by nature we are destitute of the Spirit of God and by consequence prone to all evil Had there not been a reflection of Gods goodnesse and mercy upon us did he not by sup●rlour causes and transcendent means work our regeneration and caused us by a second birth which

Quia exercitiis stultitiae delectatur Pro. 10.23 5. Quia stultitiam suam spargere aliis communicare amat Pro. 12.23.13.16 6. Quia contemnit opponit sese mediis instructionis Pro. 15.5 7. Mediis illis quae maximè faciunt ad sapientiam abutitur Pro. 26.9 8. Omnes suas facultates applicat ad nequitiam exercendam manifestandam Pro. 6.12.13.14 Thus Sin and Folly are more than like one another for they are the same He is a fool who hath not wisdom to direct himself but he is the fool who will not follow the counsel and direction of the wise He is a fool that hath no knowledge and he is a fool who makes no use of the knowledge which he hath A fool is not able to judge of the nature of things and therefore he is angry with every thing that hits not his nature or his humour Hence Solomon Eccl. 7.9 Be not hasty in thy Spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools They that are emptiest of understanding are fullest of will and usually so full that we call them wilful And surely those men are more foolish than others inasmuch as they think themselves wiser than all Stustorum plena sunt omnia Wisdom like the Rayl flyes alone but foolishness Partridge-like by covies Mr. Adams There is the 1. Sad fool 2. Glad fool 3. Haughty fool 4. Naughty fool The sad fool that 's the envious man an enemy to all Gods favours if they fall from him he dies languishing The glad foll or rather mad fooll the dissolute man ready with a jest to put goodnesse out of fashion he dies laughing The haughty fool the ambitious man ever climbing towers though he never looks how to get down he forsakes peace at home to seek war abroad The naughty fool the coveteous man the very fool of all losing his friend time body soul and yet having no pleasure for it Jer. 17.11 He wasts him self to preserve his meanes Christ calls him fool which might best do it Luk. 12.20 As for the Atheistical fool he is that meer animal that hath no more than a reasonable soul and for little other purpose than as salt to keep his body from putrefying When an heire is impleaded for an Ideot the Judge commands an apple or a counter with a peece of gold to be set before him to try which he will take if he takes the apple or the counter and leaves the gold he is then cast for a fool and unable to mannage his estate for he knows not the value of things or how to make a true election Wicked men are thus foolish and more for when which is infinitely more sottish Heaven and hell life and death are set before them they chuse hell rather than heaven and death rather than life They take the mean transitory trifling things of the world before the favour of God Pardon of sin a part in Jesus Christ and an inheritance among the Saints in light Fools make a mock at sin Prov. 14.9 Shame shall be the promotion of fools Cap. 3.35 Sèe then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wìse Eph. 5.15 Sincerity It is the bottome grace especially commending us to God It is conceived not to be so properly a distinct grace as the perfection of every grace It s the filling up of all our duties without this they are as empty sounds A sincere man is like a Chrystal-Glass with a light in the midst which appeareth through every part thereof so as that truth within breaketh out in every parcel of his life There is in his obedience to God 1. An universality 2. Uniformity 3 Ubiquity He hath respect unto all Gods Commandments so far as he knows them without prejudice or partiality and is the same at home as abroad in the closet as in the Congregation His faith is unfained his love cordial his wisdom undissembled his repentance a renting of the heart he truly aims at pleasing God and not at by-respects Christ is said to be girt about the paps with a golden girdle Rev. 1.13 So the Angels are brought in girded there Cap. 15.6 to signifie the best estate of their Pastours coming nearest then in sincerity to Christ In the first age of the Church they wore their girdle about their middle but the more spiritual they became their girdle went the more upward To this the Apostle may seem to allude Eph. 6.14 And truely here as one saith well if ever unbelt unblest he is a loose man that wants this girdle of sincerity There is a devilish proverb passeth amongst men That plain dealing is a Jewel but he that useth it shall die a beggar But the contrary may be asserted that it is both a means formally enabling to outward happinesse and also a special qualification that hath in a peculiar manner the promises annexed to it Pro. 14.11 Cap. 11.3.2 Chro. 16.9 And whereas it may be said that it often falls out that uprightness is oppressed This is easily answered if we consider 1. That many of the outward calamities that befal godly persons are not simply evils as the world judgeth but rather markes of special honour God puts upon them Jobs body was full of ulcers but his heart was pure and those tribulations he grapled with were onely probatory to trie his strength to draw out his graces and increase his glory 2. We must not limit God to every moment of time when he will honour and cleer his people The world at first was a confused Chaos but at the end of six dayes it was a curious work So God hath his time and we should not desire God should break off his work before he hath made an end of it Jam. 5.11 And David calls upon us to mark the upright man Psal 33.37 The beginning may be trouble but the end is peace Qualis Majorisreatus minoris infamia es tali● appare For secret sins 1. They are as visible to God as the most open 2. As damnable to the soul 3. And what they want in number they have in nature and frequently in delight Encouragements to sincerity 1. It s the onely perfection we attain here Deut. 30.6 2. It makes us acceptable to God Eph. 6. ult 3. Where it is God passeth by many infirmities 2 Chro. 30.19 4. It is the best policy Psal 101.1 Pro. 11.3 5. It brings wonderful comfort and support under all afflictions and temptations 2 King 20.3 2 Cor. 1.12 That sincerity is most opposed by Satan is plain Job 2.3 As if the Holy Ghost would intimate this unto us that Satan pulled more at that than at his estate Satan did not care at all to pull Jobs Oxen c. from him but to pull his grace and sincerity from him As this gotten and improved is the joy of Angels so could it be stoln away or destroyed it would be the joy of Devils Sinceritas quasi sine carâ pure honey without the wax

quia meliores esse debemus Men are therefore the worse because they ought to be better And shall be deeper in Hell because Heaven was offered unto them and they would not Mitiùs punietur Cicero quàm Catalina non quòd bonus sed quòd minùs malus Heavy is the doom that abides Gospel-contemners If Heathens shall be damned then such shall be double-damned Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for I say unto you Mat. 11.21 22. it shall be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon and the land of Sodom at the day of judgement than for you Hearing The Jewish Rabbins have observed amongst their hearers 1. Bernard ever when he came to the Church door used to say stay here all my worldly thoughts and all vanity that I may entertain heavenly meditations Some like spunges that wanting judgement took all for truth that was taught them 2. Others like an hour-glass once out of the Church and turned to some worldly imployments they forget all they heard before 3. A third sort like a streiner that in hearing let go any thing that may be for their souls good and keep onely that which is of least account and to as little use 4. And lastly others like unto a fine sieve hearing the Word with an honest heart retaining what might be for their souls good and letting go that which might hurt either themselves or others There be four things to hold the Word from slipping from us 1. Meditation 2. Conference 3. Prayer 4. Practice They say there is a way of castration by cutting off the eares Dr. Donn by reason there are certain veines behind the ears which if they be cut disable a man from generation Certain it is if we intermit our ordinary course of hearing there will follow a castration of the soul and the soul will become an Eunuch and we grow to a barrennesse without any further fruit of good works Vbi non est auditus verbi Luth. ibi non est domus Dei Hear Isa 55.3 and your souls shall live Reading Ad Dionysium demissa è Coelo vox Apud Euseb l. 7 Hist cap. 6. lege omnia quaecunque in manus tuas venerint quò probare quaeque singula discernere potes Read all whatsoever cometh into thine hands for thou shalt be able to weigh to prove and to try all It s said the Word read converted Cyprian Yet as milk from the breasts is more nutritive than when it hath stood and the spirits are gone out of it so the Word preached rather than read furthereth the souls growth 1 Pet. 2.2 1 Tim. 4.13 Thomas à Kempis was wont to say he could find rest no where Nisi in angulo cum libello Father Latimer notwithstanding both his years and constant pains in preaching was at his book most diligently about two of the clock every morning And Jerom exorted some godly women to whom he wrote not to lay the Bible out of their hands until being overcome with sleep and not able any longer to hold up their heads they bowed them down as it were to salute the leaves below them with a kisse Give attendance to reading Prayer As in a ship which is ready to sail so soon as the sailes are hoised up presently some skilful Mariner starteth to the Rudder so every morning wherein we rise from our rest and make our selves ready to go on in our pilgrimage let us first of all take heed unto our heart for it is the Rudder of the whole body let us knit it unto God Our tears onely and prayers being poured out abundantly can quench the fiery indignation of Gods wrath Our eyes therefore with David's and Jeremiah's should be a fountain of tears We should desire that our words in prayer Plus valet unus sanctus orando quàm innumeri p●ca●●●es praeliando may not be like the way of a ship in the sea where there is no impression Ethilfrid King of Northumberland making war against the bordering Brittons and hearing some Moncks did assist his enemies swords with their devout Orizons commands their spoil with these words if they pray to their God against us Arma Ecclesiae praec●s Reliqua arma parum prosunt then plainly they fight against us Moses prayer prevailed more against Amaleck than Israels sword Sometimes God hears slight prayers to encourage sometimes not the strongest to teach us we may not depend upon them As a Lawyer can make good sense out of his clyents confused instructions and a Parent knows what the childe meaneth when yet cannot speak perfectly even so 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 God will not hear the prayers even of his own children Mald●nat in Mat. 7.7 when they ask either Mala or Malè either things in their own nature bad or not good for them or good things for bad ends Mat. 7.11 James 4.2 3. Take these rules for Prayer 1. See there be due preparation Consider thy self that prayest a vile man sinful dust and ashes The Lord with whom thou hast to do a most wise holy and powerful Majesty And meditate of the things thou art to beg lest thy minde wander and be distracted Multi enim dum ore loqu●ntur coelestia Innocent 3. l. 2. c. 51. de sacr Altar myst corde meditantur terrena 2. Pray for lawful things We oft pray for mercies as children for knives which when they have they know not how to use 3. Pray in the name of Jesus Christ 4. Pray in faith Quod à nobis avidiùs desideratur ●o de nobis saaviùs laetatur Greg. else we are like the waves of the sea and shall obtain nothing 5. Pray in fervency A bird cannot stay in the air without a continual motion of the wings neither can we persist in prayer without constant work and labour Precatio sine intentione est sicut corpus sine anima so that the Jews wrote about the doors of their Synagogues But Austins father said of Monica praying for her son Dig●ior sequetur affectus qu●m serventior praecedit affectus Epist 121. Omnis rogatio humilitate aget Diu d●siderata dulciùs obtin●ntur Impossibile est filium tantarum lachrymarum perire And certainly if that of Austin be true then that prayer shall have the greatest efficacy which hath the greatest fervency 6. Pray in humility This poor man cried and the Lord heard him thou prayest and art not heard quia dives es because thou art rich in thy own conceit Austin in Psal 34.6 He sends the rich empty away 7. Pray with importunity A kinde of godly impudency saith Nazianzene is to be used in prayer 8. Pray perseveringly And I adde endeavour to walk up to prayers Austin said while he was unregenerate he prayed but it was tanquam nolens for fashion but I desired to

fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattel Deut. 28. the increase of your kine and flocks of your sheep blessed shall be your basket and your store And in heavenly places ye shall be blessed with those joyes which are at Gods right hand world without end And thus much concerning the first peace wrought for Believers by Christs coming into the world The peace of Reconciliation unto God The second peace which the God of peace grants us by our Saviours coming in the flesh is peace with our selves called The peace of a good Conscience For sin that did at first put God and us at variance continues in the children of wrath not yet reconciled to God a perpetual disquiet Their conscience finding no rest brings in despair and ruine But the apprehension of Gods favour and sense of reconciliation by Christ calms the conscience of the child of God and stops the passage to despair and ruine The ground of this peace is Justification whereby we have peace with God Condemnation is a terror to the heart and the thought of it able to shake the very foundations of the soul But when a man by the demonstration of the Spirit finds himself to be in Christ Jesus and so free from condemnation having his conscience washt in his blood from the guilt of sin and the saving benefits of his unvalued Passion attributed unto him then he takes his rest no turbulent passion shall disturb his quiet condition but will lay him down in peace and dwell for ever in safety This leavenly tranquillity of the Christian heart is excited and effected in us by Gods Spirit rightly informing our understandings of the glad tidings of peace and assuring us of the adoption of sons by the remission of all our sins Phil. 4.7 Hence it is called The peace of God that passeth all understanding The peace of God 1. Because none can confer it upon us but God alone it is his proper gift and his alone work My peace I give unto you Joh. 14. saith our Saviour 2. Because it is not carnal nor humane but divine not consisting in external matters but in the heart the mind the conscience and Gods graces in them which are all internal Again it is said to pass all understanding that is all created understanding because that no created understanding can express it no not conceive it if it be destitute of the Spirit of Christ if it receive no Divine spiritual illumination from above No wonder then that being it is ens transcendens of a transcendent nature it is hid from the world I assure you it is out of the sphere of the worlds activity and too too remote from the compass of worldlings capacity 'T is a secret which the glimmering light of nature cannot discover but is made apparent in Converts and to Converts by the refulgent rays of the Spirit of grace I will briefly describe it for better satisfaction from the Agents and operations or effects of it in man From the Agents Then is the Conscience truly possest of peace saith one Quando caro animo judici regitur animus Deo praesidi gubernatur when the Mind as Judge ruleth the flesh and when God as President or chief Ruler ruleth the mind God ruling the mind and the mind the flesh cometh to work this peace in man For the Conscience by the perfect operation of God and the good mind is as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 13.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 24.16 Pure good or without blemish void of offence which is the glory and the consolation of the Saints whereby an entry is made for peace there to take up an abode for ever for ever to stay because it cannot be taken from them For it is not possible that that conscience which is purified with the blood of Christ and wholly practised in the works of Gods commandments can be customarily subject to the infestuous distractions of a troubled spirit From the operations or effects of it in man The peace of conscience produceth in a Christian these four things Viz. 1. Confidence 2. Security 3. Liberty 4. Joy This peace maketh us confident in going to the Throne of grace of obtaining our requests and fearless of the assaults of our greatest adversaries 'T is the wise mans judgment of the righteous man that he is as bold as a lyon and righteousness is never without peace where righteousness and peace kissing each other at their joyful meeting augments and strengthens the confidence of the just man No power shall block up his passage but upon all urgent occasions he will unto his God Sin the greatest impediment bringing shame and confusion is quite removed from reigning in him and the guilt thereof taken away from condemning of him Satan the principal and malicious tempter is troden under foot the world is overcome the strong-holds of Satan demolished so that no perplexed evils shall alter his resolutions in the ways of holiness or make him falter in the solemn services of God This peace secures us He that keeps within distance of his enemies reach and lies open without good guard may find that his enemies malice and revenge straight take the advantage and ply their parts making the Act tragical and the Scene bloody But that man that is at peace with God and himself may stand upon terms of greatest defiance against his opposites For as he comes not within the list of their reach nor is destitute of safest protection so neither can their malice or revengeful minds gain the least advantage against him for their greatest power is ever curbed by the awful power of the Omnipotent What can Satan do what can sin what can the world They may thwart us and that 's all Phil. 4.7 Sat mediis tranquillus and all that in vain too for as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall keep like a warlike garrison for that 's the emphasis of the word with watch and ward that the enemies shall not invade or surprise the soul and through Christ that neither impatience against God on one side not diffidence and despair of Gods favour on the other side shall make us fall from him but we shall persevere unto the end Quis usqnam excidit quem Deus pacis custodit Tell me what man hath ever perished to whom the God of peace vouchsafed protection The third work of this peace is Christian liberty Liberty from the yoke of the Moral law and that in a double regard In regard of the perfect fulfilling of the Law an exact obedience without any error or obliquity is not of absolute necessity but to be proportion'd according to the measure of grace which he that accepts the will for the deed gives unto us Joh.

should have been taken from him but left all other thoughts and did cleave to his masters side with an inseparable resolution As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee So must we be to Christ in whom God hath manifested his good will to us and say as Peter did To whom should we go thou hast the words of eternal life Gods Mercy is like Daniels goodly tree Dan. 4. whose height reacheth unto the heavens and the sight thereof to all the earth whose pleasant fruit all mortal men do taste and eat and under the shadow of whose fair leaves they take rest and comfort To the defence and succour of this tree must we run in storms and extremity and not then only but at all times lest with ungrateful Popelings we go about in the fairest sunshine to lop the branches Of pions memory is that last speech uttered with the fierce zeal of a dying Martyr burnt in a Tun in Smithfield in the presence of Henry the Fourth King of England Mercy Lord Jesus Christ mercy And of him that with lifted-up hands and singers flaming with fire cried to the people None but Christ none but Christ for ever Cry then ye braving Merit-mongers and say not with the Laodicean Church We are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing when as your consciences tell you as theirs did Ye are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Learn with the Prophet Jeremy to say It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Make it the height of your ambition with the Apostle to be found in Christ Lam. 3.22 not having your own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith And since the bowels of Gods compassion and good will to us do yearn upon us and the merits of our blessed Saviour are so effectual as to justifie in his sight let all the world conclude with David Thy loving kindness is better than life Psal 63.3 And with the Angels here acknowledge our salvation to proceed from Gods good will Our Justification thus effected a main work of Gods goodness towards man there follows upon the very neck of it our Sanctification And here we find the Well of Gods Mercy to be like Jacob's deep to which whosoever cometh with a thirsting soul may freely drink of the water of life Since then O God thy Mercy and thy Goodness is of that depth that no Mortal is able to found it and it able to satiate all with thy good Spirit that as by thy Son we are justified in thy sight so by thy Spirit we may be sanctified for Holiness becometh that house wherein thou dwellest O Lord. Know then that by an eternal constitution of Gods predestinating will some were ordained to be vessels of dishonor some of honor Those of dishonor are Reprobates and c●st-aways who spend their days in prophaneness and end in never-ending pains But those of honor are the Elect who being made to be perpetually glorified among the blessed Angels that kept their first station have here their conversation tanquam in coelo as in heaven and following the conduct of that sanctisying Spirit that makes them holy and acceptable to the most Holy end in never-ending happiness The first are passed in silence our speech must be of the latter whom God by special grace vouchsafes to grace with such endowments as fit them for glory There are none begotten by a natural generation exempted from the contagion of sin neither can any in truth glory of a pious conformity of their wills Papists presume upon a natural ability to gain acceptation at the hands of God and Pelagians have given that goodness to remain in our wills which doth not both which whilst the wheel is turning and the sum of all their misfortunes is cast up sleep supinely in carelesness and boast vainly in security Divine truth hath discovered our nakedness and shame so that the naked truth without all contradiction is that what characters of goodness were imprinted in our nature by the hand of our Creator were by the hand of man that catcht hold of the forbidden fruit quite obliterated and blotted out insomuch that unless the same power take us in hand again and put upon us the stamp of a new creation we shall never alter those crooked and wry dispositions which by our offending disobedience we have contracted The life of a Christian doth challenge an higher parentage than from earth when the beauty thereof is marred and the emoluments departed And here the Lords good will hath not been deficient but superabundant above what we are able to ask or think for out of the plentiful treasures of his grace hath he supplied our defects First he sent his Son and behold now he sends his Spirit His Son to free us from condemnation from which otherwise we cannot be free his Spirit for our regeneration which is an act of Divine power whereby being born of God we are reduced to the obedience of his Name Isa 63.18 1 Pet. 2.9 and made like unto him Holy as he is holy hereby becoming the people of his holiness as saith the Prophet and as that Saint of God the Apostle Peter speaks A chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people What was written upon the plate of the holy Crown of pure gold belonging to the Priest in the Levitical law is by the singer of God engraven in Capital letters in the hearts of his Saints HOLINESS TO THE LORD Exod. 99.30 Which inward holiness makes them zealous of good works that are like to Pearls as one saith found here below but carry a resemblance of Heaven in their brightness and orient colours To which end our Saviour gave this precept Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good works may glorifie your Father which is in heaven Those sacred actions of obedience that have their original dependencie upon the Divine operation of Gods Spirit in the heart please God wonderfully He is glorified by them and in them his soul takes great pleasure Cui prius non beneplacitum erat in hominibus Theophil nunc pro beneficiis refocillationibus hominum habet opera in quibus quietem habet faith Theophilact on these words God who at first was highly offended with men for their apostacy accepts the good deeds of men though himself be the Author of their good for favours and refreshings wherein he is well pleased As I breathe Christians I cannot but admire the good will of God who dwelling in that light unto which there can be no access would vouchsafe to shine upon us who are darkness in the very abstract or would lift up the light of his countenance upon us whom sin had made so contemptible In good earnest I am transported much more

enemies God in Christ Jesus his Son hath adopted us to be his sons And because thus sons behold a further pledge of his never failing-favour to us he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts Crying Abba Father So that upon the Spirit of God confer'd is confer'd the gift of prayer for in whose hearts he dwels he is not idle neither is he as that spirit that Christ did cast out of the man in the Gospel dumbe a dumbe spirit but a crying spirit not that the spirit properly cryes Abba Father for God the Father is not the Father of the spirit but of the Son and the beginning or fountain from whom as also from the Son the Spirit doth proceed but that it makes them in whom he ever is to be ever crying Abba Father Wherein is to be observed 1. An act Crying 2. The Object Abba Father This crying is praying and not every kind of praying but a vehement and ardent praying with all the affections and powers of the soul assembled together whereby the desires of our hearts are made known unto the God of heaven the soules voice is drawn up to the height Thus our Saviour in the dayes of his flesh is said to have offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Conqueror tibi lachrymis Jesu Christi said one unto him that was able to save him from death Hebr. 5.7 We read how Jacob wrestlest with the Angel and would not let him go untill he had blest him Even so the spirit of prayer makes us to strive and wrestle with God and never cease crying until he hear us untill he grant us our requests It is so with us as it is with children that cannot relieve themselves without the aid of others they raise the strong cry and so continue without intermission untill their wants be contented and supplied so do we who are the children of God cry continually unto him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift until our desires be accomplished And forasmuch as we are compassed about with a world of infirmities so that sometimes we have not the heart to cry or at least cry not with all our hearts Quom do enim non exauditur spiritus à Patre qui exaudit cum Patre Aug. then the Spirit helpeth our infirmities And seeing our ignorance is so great as that wee know not what we should pray for as we ought the Spirit it self makes intercession for us informs us what we should ask for or ●od knowing the spirits intentions grant us what indistinctly and indirectly we beg by the Spirit Hence he is called the Spirit of Supplications Zech. 12.10 I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Hierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications Hence he is called again an Intercessor for he makes continual intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Rom. 8.27 and in the 15. vers of that chapter the Apostle certifies the Romanes that they have received the spirit of adoption whereby they cry Abba Father Wherefore when the sons of God perceive the fiery darts of Satan flying about their eares on every side and themselves subject to infinite perills they fall a praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Eph. 6.18 and watching thereunto with all perseverance When the children of Israel as is reported in the book of Judges were in the heat of Gods anger sold unto their enemies many a time opprest many a time in desperate cases many a time vanquished for their revolting from God and forgetting his loving kindness they are said then to cry for life unto God whose eares were ever open to receive their hearty prayers Psal 40.1 Thus saith David I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry This crying is either mental only conceived in the heart or mind alone and only or vocal published by the mouth alone The mental cry onely conceived in the heart by the spirit is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that confidence and assurance which the Sons of God have that they are the Sons of God and that all things are theirs in Christ Jesus or more plainly it is the elevation of the heart to God in a secret manner preferring their petitions unto him with confidence that he will grant them what they humbly and earnestly sue for according to his will altogether this crying is internal Moses egit vacis silentium ut corde clamaret yet God to whom all hearts are open hears it as a cry when Moses spake not a word to God but onely desired in the secret cogitations of his heart his aid and protection at the red sea against the Egyptians the Lord sard unto him Wherefore cryest thou unto me Exod. 14.15 When Hannah prayed unto God for a manchild she spake with her heart onely her lips moved but her voice was not heard 1 Sam. 1.13 When Nehemiah made request unto King Artaxerxes concerning the City which was the place of his fathers sepulchres he had not at that instant any time to pray to God with his voice to prosper his suit yet saith the texts he prayed to the God of heaven Such indeed may be the sorrow and anguish of the heart as that the tongue shall not be able to utter the intentions of the soul and this doubtlesse was the case wherein Moses Nehem. 2.4 Curae leves loquuntur tngentes stupent Hannah and Nehemiah were David profest as much Psal 77.4 I am so troubled that I cannot speak bodily infirmities may cause this silence for we see that men at the last gasp when the soul is ready to flie out of the body and they in a manner by reason of the weaknesse of the Organ of speech not able to utter one syllable they lift up their eyes to heaven thereby signifying the hearts raising of this crying unto God Hence proceed those groanes in the children of God when their speech fails them which are the onely messengers of their thoughts and they are said to be the spirits groanings in their hearts whereby intercession is made for them They are called unspeakable groans unspeakable say some for their greatness and so indeed they are great in the ears of God unspeakable say others by reason of their weakness caused either by outward crosses or inward pressures of the soul expressions they are certainly of a good heart listed up to God and though weak proceeding from the special instinct and proper motion of the Spirit of prayer And albeit they be weak and confused in the hearts of Gods children so that they themselves can hardly discern or utter them in themselves Rom. 8.27 yet God who is the searcher of the hidden things of the heart knows the mind and meaning of the Spirit so that by the cryes sigh's or sobs to God never so small and in a manner insensible and seeble

suffered for me We are all as an unclean thing Isa 64.6 Luk. 17.10 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants Rom. 3.20 We have done that which was our duty to do Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight The Church true and false Ecclesia WHen the Original world was overwhelmed with waters Ecclesia Coetus est hominum è turbâ reliquorum mortatium ●vocatus advitam aeternam none were saved but such as were in the Ark when Sodom was burnt with sire none were saved but those of the family of Lot when Jericho was destroyed none were preserved but those which were in the family of Rahab These are figures shadowing to us that when the Lord comes to cut down the wicked to cast them for ever into the wine-presse of his wrath Salvation shall belong to the houshold of faith even that family whereof God in Christ Jesus is the Father Ecclesia 1. Invisibilis 2. Visibilis But when we say Extra Ecclesiam non est salus it is not ment of a visible but of the invisible or universal Church which is the whole company of the elect in heaven in earth and not yet born for the visible Church or particular Congregations it may be said there are many Wolves within and Sheep without Therefore it is not satisfactory to us to be gathered out of the general masse of mankind into the fellowship of the Church visible but we must examine how we are in the Lords floor whether as Chaffe or Corne for a day of winnowing will assuredly come wherein the Lord shall gather his good Corne into his Garner and the cast Chaffe into unquenchable fire Many would deal with the Church as Amnon with his sister Tamar first ravish her then defile her and then turn her out of doors The Church of God in this world is like a man of war at sea whose Master is Christ whose Mast his Crosse whose Sails his Sanctimony whose tackle patience and perseverance whose cast-peeces the Prophets Apostles Preachers Premuntur justi ut pressi clament clamentes exaudiantur exauditi glorificent Deum Quint. Cur● 1.8 whose Mariners the Angels whose Fraught is the souls of just men whose Rudder is Charity whose Anchor is hope whose Flag in the top of her is Faith and the word written in it is this Premimur non opprimimur we are cast down but we perish not 2 Cor. 4.8 The Church Militant is sometime fluctuant as the Ark of Noah sometime movable as the Ark in the Wildernesse sometime at rest as the Ark in the Temple In persecution in removes in peace What is the colour of the Church saith one but black her armes but the Crosse her song but the note the oppressed servant in Aristophanes sung I suffer affliction For the world is a Sea a threshing-floore a Presse a Furnace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church the Ship the Wheat the Grape the Gold and afflictions the winds the waves the flaile the fire O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted Isa 54.11 Yet Built upon the rock that the gates of Hell shall not prevail aaginst Mat. 16.18 And Glorious things are spoken of thee dicta praedicta O City of God Psal 87.3 Saints The word signifies a thing or person separated or set a part from common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dedicated to a special especially a holy use Holinesse in the general nature of it is nothing else but a seperation from common and dedication to a divine service such are the Saints persons separated from the world and set apart unto God The Church in general which is a company of Saints is taken out of and severed from the world The Church is a fountain sealed and a Garden inclosed so also every particular Saint is a person severed and inclosed from the common throng and multitude of the world 2 Cor. 6.17 Or thus A Saint is an holy one or a person called to holinesse having the perfect holinesse of Christ put upon him by imputation of faith and the quality of imperfect holinesse poured into his heart by the spirit of sanctification Unless even ancient professors saith a Divine look very well to themselves they may take a great deal of p●ins and when all com● to all after all their praying fasting hearing c. they may be found to be nothing in the world but men that walk after the flesh that is according to the refined and well educated Principles of old Adam Men may be Ishmaels brought up in Isaach's family and yet be built upon Mount Sinai when all is done Now the way that God judgeth of all men is as they are the Children either of the old or of the new Adam and not as men do according to such a proportion of strictness in their lives for the Pharisees went beyond many weak Professours in common righteousness Saints therefore are not to be judged according to some kind of holinesse they may come up to but according to the Principles they walk by either as they walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit And thus Paul distinguisheth Saints and others 2 Cor. 5.16 Saints are called Eagles for their 1. Delight in high flying 2. Sharp-sightednes and stedfast looking into the sun of righttousness 3. Singular sagacity in smelling out Christ and resenting things above 4. Feeding upon the bloody sacrifice of Christ Mat. 24.28 Saints must walk in a divers way to a world of wicked people as Noah did really reproving their darkness by his light Solus ipse diversâ ambulavit viâ Chrys their pride by his lowliness their vain-glory by his modesty their ostentation by his secret devotion Not onely Planet-like keeping a constant counter-motion to the corrupt manners of the most but also shining forth fair with a singularity of heavenly light spiritual goodness and Gods sincere service in the darkest mid-night of damned impiety True Saints of God are earthly Angels So Chrysostom calleth Paul Angelum terrestrem And Dr. Taylor Martyr blessed God that ever he came in company with that Angel of God John Bradford A●● Mon. Saints may be called Heaven and that in a double respect 1. Because God is said to dwell in the Saints they are his habitation And wheresoever God dwells he makes a Heaven 2. Because the Saints not onely those of Heaven but they on earth have their conversation in heaven Phil. 3.20 So that as carnal and earthly minded men are called earth because their hearts and conversations are fixed to the earth so spiritual and heavenly-minded men may be called Heaven because their hearts and conversations are fixed in heaven Thus Saints are glorious wonderful magnificent Princes in all lands of an excellent spirit more excellent than their neighbours A Crown of glory a

royal Diadem higher than the Kings of the earth greater than the four famous Monarchies c. And yet these worthies of whom the world is not worthy these precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold these Jewels of Jesus Christ which are his very glory 2 Cor. 8.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forti animo mala fer nec his miser esto dolore Are counted the off-scouring of all things esteemed as earthen Pitchers shamefully slighted and trampled upon with the feet of insolency and cruelty Howbeit as stars though we see them sometimes in a puddle though they reflect there yet have their scituation in Heaven so Gods Saints though in a low condition yet they are fixed in the Region of happinesse The Saints that are in the earth Psal 16.3 The excellent Foundation There is 1. Fundamentum fundatum Eph. 2.20 2. Fundamentum fundans 1 Cor. 3.11 The first is a scriptural foundation the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles the other is a personal foundation Christ himself Be sure to adde practice to these Mat. 7.24 Fundamentals are few in number Certa semper sunt in pu●is Tertul. but many in vertue Small in sight but great in weight Every particle of truth is precious as the filings of gold neither may we alter or exchange a letter or syllable in Fundamentals Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2.20 Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Rome Rome hath left her seaven mountains to plant her self in Campo Martio Lips de Mag. Rom. lib. 3. Cap. 11. who lyes as it were entombed in her own ruines Lipsius cannot so much as trace the ancient tract of he● walls So in respect of her state Ecclesiastical that which was the garden of Eden is now over-grown with weeds and the Daughter of Zion is now become the Whore of Babylon Rome of Christs Spouse is become the strumpet of Sathan of the school of Simon Peter whose being there is yet questionable the school of Simon Magus of the Temple of the Holy Ghost a cage of impure spirits She calls her self Queen but Hierom the purple Whore Once the Church of Rome wrote her lawes in milk but now she writes them in Sunday letters Prayers and teares were once her weapons but now fire and sword And if in shew of peace she turn he● destructive instruments into mattocks it is but to play the Pioner and make way for death Roma radix omnium malorum It is the City that is mounted on seven hills and cannot be hid but is apparently discerned and described to be the great City Babylon the seat of Antichrist The sweetest wine turns into the sowrest vineger the whitest ivory burnt into the blackest coale So about the year 1414. Theodoricus Vrias in Germany Iohn Man● lo● com 226. an Augustine Fryar complained not without cause Ecclesiam Romanam ex aureâ factam argenteam ex argenteâ ferream ex ferreâ terream superesse ut in stercus abiret Yea Diput de Rep. l. 1. c. ●● Matchiavel observed that there was no where lesse piety than in those that dwelt neerest Rome If Franciscus de sanctâ clara and his fa●tors were the wisest men under heaven and should live to the worlds end they would be brought to their wits end before they could accomplish this works end to make a reconciliation betwixt Christ and Antichrist betwixt Rome and us for what concord hath Christ with Belial They can never fall in or make musick in one Quire For grosse Idolatry or for fundamental errours onely must we seperate Corruption grew so great in the Church of Rome that it justly occasioned first the Seperation of the Greek Churches from the Latine and then of the Reformed Churches from the Roman And Bellarmine bewails it that ever since we cryed up the Pope for Antichrist his Kingdom hath not onely not increased but hath greatly decreased Dent. on Apoc. 9.11 Certainly the date of her reign is almost out and the time draweth on apace wherein both she and her King Abaddon shall be laid in the dust Esto procul Romà qui cupis esse pius Roma vale vidi satis est vidisse c. Rome hath fallen culpably and shall fall penally Sibylla long since foretold this Tota eris in Cineres quasinunquam Romà faisses in the eight book of her Oracles The ruine of Rome must be like the ruine of Jericho which can never be re-edefied There was something surely in that which we have read that when the warres began in Germany Anno 1619. A great brass image of the Apostle Peter that had Tu es petrus c. fairly embossed upon it standing in St Peters Church in Rome there was a great and massie stone fell down upon it and so shattered it to pieces that not a letter of all that sentence whereon Rome founds her claim was left whole so as to be read saving that one peece of the sentence Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam I will build my Church which was lest fair and entire True it is no easy thing to overturn the Kingdom of Antichrist which like an huge tree hath taken deep root in the earth for many ages and men need not marvel that it is so long a cutting down Especially if we consider that the Lord will still have his Church in combate here in this world to shake it from security Again the Lord for the sins of the Church and want of care of through Reformation in those to whom the Lord hath detected their abominations stayeth the good speed of this glorious deliverance Besides the Lord will have the destruction of Antichrist and his Kingdom wrought by leisure that so man may make due regard and consider of so great a work Yet let us cast our eyes upon Gods word and promise and firmly beleeve if Agag be to be slain God is raising up some Samuel to do it Yea let us cast our eyes on Gods work already and we shall see him gone a great way in the accomplishing of his word Whereby we may strengthen our saith in that which remaineth For how hath the word preached discovered him to be that man of sin detecting his fraudes and impostures with which for many ages he deluded the blind world How are his Bulls and Excommunications which in former ages seemed to shake the Kingdomes of the earth esteemed but as wind Moreover how have all the reformed Churches shaken off with detestation his Antichristian yoke and usurped power over the Scripture Church mens Consciences c. And how have many Princes already disclaimed and despised his clawes over them Keeping from him those summes which were wont to warm his holinesse kitchin c. I might also adde how weak all their endeavours and meanes are to prevent finall ●uine viz. Sophistry Knotty distinctions to hide and delude the plain sense of Scripture threatnings treacheries Machivilian contrivances warres treasons murders Massacres Powder-plots