therefore the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Sect. 1 because if they be not filled Reason 1 or do not endeavour to be filled with the Spirit of God they will certainly be filled with some one or other worse Spirit which will lead them aside into the waies of sin and vanity and of darkness and death And most certain it is the duty of all Christians to do all things that are requisite and necessary for the preventing of so great an evil and misery coming upon them as this namely of being filled with any spirit contrary to the Spirit of God and spirit of sin and wickedness whatsoever That it is simply necessary to prevent such a polution or defilement so miserable a state and condition as this is not or at least ought not to be a question unto any man who minds but to any degree the things of his peace Now that it is a duty lying upon all c. to be filled with the Spirit is evident if we shall consider that there are many other Spirits abroad in the world every one of which hath a direct antipathy to the holy Spirit of God That which the Apostle John speaketh more particularly of Doctrines Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4.1 may be said of Spirits in general For there are many Spirits walking up and down in the World Isa 19 3. a spirit of perverseness Deut. 32.5 a spirit of whoredom Hos 4.12 a spirit of covetousness Ezek. 33.31 a spirit of slumber Rom. 11.8 a spirit of fear 2 Tim. 1.7 Now when principles or dispositions in men whether they be disposions unto vertue and holiness or unto sin and vice are grown up unto any fulness so that they put forth themselves with force and are vigorous and active in them It is usual in the Scripture language dialect or manner of speaking to express such or such principles or dispositions by the name of Spirit As when love acteth vigorously in men to express it by the name of the spirit of love So a meek and humble frame of heart by a spirit of meekness So on the other hand a perverse and froward spirit by a spirit of perverseness an inordinate love of money or inordinate coveting after riches by a spirit of covetousness Sect. 2 Now the reason of this denomination to call covetousness where it is strong and raised in men and when they favour strongly of it by the name of a spirit of covetousness and so of fear when it is active and vigorous in men by a spirit of fear There is the same consideration to be had of love meekness holiness c. for these principles or dispositions when they are active and vigorous are as well denominated unto us by the name of spirit as those which are of a contrary nature and import The reason hereof is First to shew that when principles and dispositions in men are raised to any great degree of strength and become vigorous and active and have gotten any considerable power in or over men if I may so speak they are hard to be resisted Even as Spirits or Angels who as the Psalmist saith excell or according to the Hebrew reading in the Margin are mighty in strength Psal 103.20 they are yery potent and powerful not easie to be resisted in their operations Even so it is with principles and dispositions when they are grown to any considerable height in men and become strong and potent they are hard to be resisted and therefore called by the Holy Ghost by the name of Spirit Or else happily the reason may be which I chiefly eye because all dispositions in men and principles of action whether good or evil when ever they are raised any whit high and have gotten strength within them there is some spirit or other good or evil that mingleth it self with them and by this means doth add vigour and strength unto them and doth raise them above that measure and pitch of strength and activity which they would never be raised unto without the interposure of some such Spirit good or evil properly so called It is true When holy dispositions in men are in their greatest strength and glory there is but one Spirit by which they are acted and that is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost who through the infiniteness of his power doth answer yea more than anwer yea even far surpass in power the innumerable company of unclean Spirits and therefore when holy dispositions and inclinations are raised in men though they be many and various and spring from different principles in the heart and soul of a man Yet this one and indivisible spirit is able through or by means of his concurrence with them and influencing of them to add strength power and energie unto them and enable every one of them to fructifie and bring forth genuine fruit according unto its respective kind But now as concerning evil and sinful principles and dispositions it is very probable that the case is far otherwise For as there is a vast number and company of devils and unclean spirits so is it no waies dissonant unto reason to conceive that they have their distinct imployments and offices One sort of them may be employed to raise stir up and strengthen a spirit of uncleanness in men Another a spirit of covetousness A third a spirit of malice and revenge A fourth a spirit of gluttony and excess c. The * Eph. 1.21 Col. 2.15 Mat. 12.25 26. Scripture and that not obscurely seems to countenance this notion viz. that they are ranged into orders and are under a kind of regiment and that they are in a straight band league and confederacy to carry on one and the same grand design And if so their nature considered viz. their wisdom and subtilty it is most probable that every one of them is imployed according to his proper genius Some because they are of a more bloudy and cruel nature than others may be employed to stir up and to strengthen in men a spirit of malice and persecution Others that are otherwaies disposed may be imployed to stir up and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness A third sort of them whose genius lyeth that way to strengthen and increase a spirit of error But we may have occasion to speak more of this afterwards In the mean season this is that which we say in the reason in hand Sect. 3 That unless men shall take a course to be filled with the Spirit of God they will by degrees at least and perhaps sooner than they are aware be filled with some evil and contrary spirit a spirit of some sin and wickedness one or other The reason hereof is plain and near at hand because the evil and unclean Spirit that is the old Serpent Job 1.7 commonly called the Devil who walketh up and down the world compassing the earth too and fro
of recovering them to any degree of health and soundness of mind had need be one of a thousand as the present stature and constitution of the World generally now is I mean had need be a person as like unto an Angel of God as flesh and bloud is capable of the assimilation a person so deeply baptized into the hope of life and immortality so acted and carried out of himself by the Spirit of the World to come that he hath left the know ledge both of persons and of things after the flesh and knoweth nothing neither the one nor the other but according to the Spirit only that is how they relate unto the honour and glory of God and how they may be made serviceable unto the peace and comfort of men The Apostles being made by the Lord Christ Feoffees in trust for the World in the managing and ordering the invaluable Treasure of the Gospel to the best profit and advantage for the Inhabitants of it yet as concerning the preaching of this Gospel were directed by him to stay at Jerusalem untill they were endued with strength from on high untill they were baptized with the Holy Ghost Luke 24.49 The reason hereof was least in case they should go forth into the World no better provided with Wisdom Knowledge Faith and Courage c. than they were at present and before the golden shower had rained upon them the work and service they had to do for the World in preaching to Gospel and otherwise would have been found too hard for them and to overcharge them and have been unto them as New wine in old bottles which by reason of the strength and high working of the Spirit of it it being yet new is like to rent and break them in peices and so to make both them and it self useless And indeed men had need be endued with strength and power from on high to do such things as will reach the necessities of the World with any likelihood to relieve them For these the necessities of the World are very many and some of them very great and hard and difficult to come at yea there is nothing more difficult than to make the men themselves willing to receive a Cure Therefore he upon whose hand it lyeth to relieve the deep poverty of the World as it lyeth upon all our hands to bear a part and this as large as may be in so great and blessed a work had need be endued with special strength and power from on high And what is this but to be filled with the Spirit these being desirous to let the World know and cause men to understand he was their Messiah without which knowledge he could not bless them this I say being his design and desire he was necessitated upon this account to do such things among them which no man ever did nor indeed could do Joh. 15.24 otherwise they had been in no capacity of receiving any benefit or soul-accommodation by his heavenly Doctrine nor by any work that he should have done among them unless they had had this distinguishing and peculiar Character whereby to have been known from all the works in the World besides and that they were such that no other man could do For if they had been no other than what others could do as well as he it is like they would have proved but like to the former works of Moses which wrought not at all upon Pharaoh or the Aegyptians because Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers did the like whilst their hand held out with Moses all that he did was to no purpose as to any conviction upon Pharaoh or his people that Moses was sent by God The Sorcerers by doing things like unto those which Moses did are said to have resisted or withstood him 2 Tim. 3.8 viz. in his attempt and endeavours by working miracles to convince Pharaoh that he was sent unto him by God to require of him the dismission of his People out of his Land For as long as his Inchanters were able to vie Miracles with Moses at least as name of God But now when Moses came to do such works which neither Jannes nor Jambres nor their Master himself the Devil could do nor any like to them then Pharaoh and his Aegyptians began to look about them and the Magicians themselves acknowledged in these the finger of God Exod. 8.19 So if we intend to bless the World or do any great things for our Generation so long as our waies and course and Spirit that works in us are but like the waies and spirits of other men that do not declare stoutly and aloud for Jesus Christ whose live and doings have no peculiar relation to him so long I say as we go but their pace and act at their rate alas the World will despise us and all our sayings and doings For whilst natural and carnal mens works will hold out with the works of Professors all this while the World stirs not but keeps its wonted posture of security and obduration whilst those that pretend to Faith in Jesus Christ shall not rise up in Acts of Christianity above the Line and Level of all that can be done by any other hand or spirit whatsoever but only that same most glorious spirit of Faith all this while they minister little or nothing to the necessities of the World My Brethren our arrows will fall short of the mark and we shall do little more than beat the air if we think to do any worthy service unto the World unless we shall quit our selves as a peculiar People a Royal Priesthood and a chosen Generation We must be a Generation by our selves and in all heavenly worth and excellency above the World before we can have any power over it to work and fashion it into any shape or form that God may take pleasure in And if we shall do works distinguished by a Character of such excellency and beauty in them like unto which there is none found amongst the Children of men excepting such who are eminently the Children of God also this is that which will reach the World and make the foundations of the unbelief and wickedness thereof to quake and tremble Then and not till then are we like to stand the World in some considerable stead but consider we a little the particular in hand We gave instance of three things in general which all persons stand bound to do and by the performance whereof they shall approve themselves signal Benefactors to the World and occasion many to say unto them these or like words Blessed are the Wombs that bare you and the Paps that gave you suck The first was to believe with the Centurions Faith Mat. 8.10 I mean with a Faith so great that there is none to be found like unto it no not in Israel to believe above the Faith of ordinary Believers Yea doubtless it is the duty of every soul of us to believe above the present degree of
or much Alas working under such a Notion weakeneth the hand and enfeebleth the arm of any man But on the contrary when there are rewards held forth and promised according to that which any man shall lift up his hand unto in working Do more and have more Do more and receive more this raiseth incites and quickens the spirit to its utmost activity Were it so that all should be equal that they that wrought least should have as much from God as they that laboured most such a disposition of things as this must needs be of this tendency namely to debase the Spirit and unnoble the hearts of the Saints themselves to plant the Lebanon of the Church with shrubs instead of Cedars to produce a generation of Dwarf-Christians We see many that pass for Christians and possibly they may be such indeed that study and cast about and enquire as narrowly as they can what is the lowest degree of Faith and obedience under which it is possible for men to be saved because they desire to do as little of the will of God and as much of their own as will any waies stand with the saving of the great Stake of their Souls Whether the minds of such men as these be touched with the evil spirit of that Doctrine which confounds infima cum summis the lowest and highest services together in their reward I know not but certain I am that such a Doctrine as this is of a most clear and manifest tendency to work the hearts and spirits and consciences of men to such a pass For if there be no more for the greatest Servants of God than for those of the least faithfulness of all alas men as we know being apt to be guided or rather hurried on in their way by principles sutable unto their flesh they will presently cast about and reason with themselves after some such manner as this Since it is so that our portion in the World to come is fixed and we cannot add to it nor lay up any more treasure for our selves there than only that which will accrue to us meerly upon our believing therefore we will make our selves as wise for this present World as we can we will treasure up riches and live at ease and take our comforts and contentments freely in the World and go as near the brink of hell and destruction as we can without falling into it And the truth is that the conceit we speak of I mean of an equality of reward is a dangerous snare unto men not simply to beat down as it were the price of their salvation as low as they can and to keep out of the way of all excellency as far as they dare but also never to advance so far in a course of godliness and obedience as whereby or wherein to be saved My Brethren let me say this unto you and consider it well That he that will be intent and wary of doing any thing more than what is simply necessary to Salvation it is ten thousand to one that he will never do so much He is like to shoot short of his mark that is afraid of over-shooting it So he that is loath to do any thing upon a religious account or for Christ or the Gospel without the doing of which he may be saved is in eminent danger of not doing that without the doing of which he shall never be saved Secondly Such a dispensation as that for which we plead excellently commends and sets off unto the World the great love that God bears unto righteousness and well-doing For if he should recompense and reward the less excellent and the more excellent waies of men alike would it not argue that he did not bear any great affection unto holiness or Christian worth at least in their exaltation and where they advance flesh and bloud to the nearest proximity unto the holy Angels Or would it not rather import some such thing as this which is very unworthy of him namely as if he did not care to have men singularly holy or that any man amongst his Saints should be more excellent than another or out-shine him in good works For if he doth so highly approve of and take delight in those that strive to out-run their fellows in the waies of his Commandments why doth he not encourage men of this strain and temper Or why doth he not take a course to propagate such a Generation in the World Or is there any means so natural and proper to do it as to distinguish and sever persons of this honourable Character from those of a more vulgar and ordinary allay by promises of greater and more honourable rewards to be conferred on them As Caleb by that generous promise of giving Achsa his daughter to Wife unto him that should smite Kiriath Sâ—pher and take it sprang valour and courage in the breast of Othniel to undertake the enterprize and perform it with success Josh 15.16 17. In like manner God by raising his Promises higher unto those that shall quit themselves at an high and worthy rate in his service than unto persons that shall move in a more common Sphere of Christianity declareth that he seeketh a Generation of such as will excel in holiness and that he delighteth to be served with Prince-like strains of zeal and faithfulness Yea if God did not regard righteousness and true holiness where they are found in greater perfection more than where he findeth them in less only he could not reasonably be thought to regard them at all For those degrees of the one and of the other which in persons highly qualified with them do super-exceed that measure or degree of them which are found in Christians of a lower pitch and stature are true righteousness and true holiness as well as they Therefore unless it be granted that God regardeth them I mean those super-exceeding degrees of righteousness and holiness of which we speak it cannot in congruity of reason be said that he regardeth them righteousness and holiness at all Thirdly Such a dispensation or disposition as that for which we plead a Collation of Rewards an inequality answering the inequality of the services of men commends that manifoldness of the wisdom of God of which the Scripture speaketh which a contrary dispensation would not do nor afford any opportunity for the doing it For if there be but one and the same degree of glory one and the same reward for all the Saints here is no matter for choiceness of wisdom to shew it self in finding out and setting forth every mans reward in a true and exquisite proportion to his works and labour to his love and faithfulness But now if we shall suppose this to be the case as doubtless it is that God hath an innumerable company of Saints to be rewarded in glory and to receive Crowns of blessedness from him proportionable to the endless variety and difference of their waies and doings in the World Now for him perfectly to
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
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
are under the Law as under the Law to them that are without the Law as without the Law to the weak I became weak I became all things to all that by all means I might win some Paul had gone so to work with himself that he had brought himself to a conformity to all occasions and kinds of services and could comply with all for their benefit When men shall see the carriage and deportment of a man and shall not be able to see what the natural temper and genius of the man is when they shall see him in such variety of action and all that which he doth to become him to have beauty and reason in it this is a sign that the man thus endued hath a very rich and glorious anointing of the Spirit of God in him But when mens natural tempers do encrease in them so as that these will have part and share in their actings it is a sign that Nature is not thoroughly broken nor wholly subdued but that there is somewhat yet more for the Spirit of God to do Elsewhere he demandeth of these Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.21 What will you Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the Spirit of meekness From whence it appears that Paul could upon occasion both use the rod of Apostolical Authority where he saw cause and take vengeance on disobedience as he speaketh elsewhere And could likewise demean himself with gentleness towards Christians even as a Nurse cherisheth and is tender over her Children as he speaketh of himself 1 Thes 2.7 In matters of outward estate he knew as he saith both how to be abased i. e. to want and how to abound Phil. 4.12 Meaning that he was able and knew how to manage both estates Adversity and Prosperity according to such Rules by which these conditions ought to be managed respectively yea and may be managed to the glory of God and likewise to the comfort and contentment of men that partake in either And as he saith he knew how to be abased and how to abound so likewise in his deportment he knew how to stoop to the ground and to sit upon a Dunghil with those that were Poor and weak and of Low degree in the Church of Christ And he knew likewise how to be a Companion for Princes and to stand up with the highest and greatest of all with persons of greatest esteem Paul we know had a spirit that was able to resist even Peter himself one of the greatest Pillars of the Christian Faith then in the World and to withstand him to his face when there was just occasion so to do My Brethren He that knew how to do this must needs have a mighty command of himself For take him at another turn when the state of businesses was altered and when he was in the presence of poor and weak Saints he could act another part and quit himself like a poor and weak man as if he had nothing of the carriage or of the resolution of a man in him Thus Jesus Christ himself to whom the Spirit was given not by measure as John speaketh Joh. 3.34 is compared in Scripture as well to a Lamb as to a Lion and is presented unto the World under both these Denominations one while he is called the Lamb of God another while he is called The Lion of the Tribe of Judah to shew that he knows how to act the properties of both according as he judgeth seasonable and meet When he cometh to those who are poor in Spirit he blesseth and speaketh in a still voice unto them and when he hath to do with the Scribes and Pharisees then he pronounceth with a loud voice Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees hyppocrites Now his Spirit was up on high and full of courage and undaunted resolution Yea now he is in heaven and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 Yet doth he still retain the same qualifications or dispositions To many Persons he doth behave himself like a Lamb with much sweetness and great condescention and otherwhile he can roar like a Lion upon others and appear in judgment when he seeth his time and when the exigencies of the business which is before him requireth it Now the reason Sect. 8 why I conceive that such a sweet consorting of a mans spirit and behaviour to all variety of occasions which he can meet with from time to time must needs be a great Argument of a rich anointing of the Spirit is this partly because to distinguish exactly between the Exigencies of Occasions requireth a very excellent degree of Wisdom a much refined Understanding and partly also because it requireth a great command of a mans spirit a depressing or dissolution of a mans natural temper whatever it was to be able to apply himself only and conscienciously to all variety of occasions respectively both which argue a large and liberal presence of the Spirit of God in men partly also because it is so rare a sight to see a Person man or woman even amongst Believers themselves in whose Conversations and Deportments that savory wise and consciencious comportment with the various natures and Exigencies of occasions is to be found First I say to understand judgment as the Scripture Phrase is to know what is comely and worthy for a Christian to do at all times and cases requires a great spiritualness of understanding to apprehend how the feries and tenour of all a mans actions may be made spiritually harmonious when to rise and when to fall and when to keep a middle strain between high and low as every of these respective carriages may best accommodate the interest of God in the World I mean his honour and praise and the interest likewise of men this requireth an heart in some degree like unto Solomons which the Scriptures compare to the sands that are upon the Sea-shore 1 Kings 4.29 Now the heart of Solomon is said to be large like unto the sands of the Sea-shore which are not to be numbred because he had a world of notions and apprehensions in his mind or understanding by reason whereof he was able to understand most exactly how he ought to behave himself upon all occasions and how to sute himself with the Exigency of every affair he had all circumstances before him and he turned them and weighed them in his hand and therefore saith he Eccl. 3.1 2 c. There is a time for every purpose under the Sun A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted a time to build and a time to break down a time to weep and a time to rejoyce a time to cast away stones and a time to gather c. Now he must be a wise man indeed as he speaketh Chap. 8.5 6. Whose heart discerneth time and judgment i. e. that is able to discern the time and season for one Action or one kind of deportment from that which is proper
given of any different consideration wherein the action is ascribed unto God and wherein it is ascribed unto the Holy Ghost whereas for all those other Scriptures the very tenour of the words and many of the Phrases do give light sufficient whereby to discern when God is said to do such and such a thing and when the same action is attributed to the Creature and in what sense it is ascribed unto the one and unto the other Secondly The clause formerly taken notice of dividing unto every man as he will speaking of the Spirit plainly sheweth that the Spirit in working and giving the gifts here spoken of acteth in the capacity of God or of an independent being who hath power to order and manage all things according to the counsel of his will and not as a Creature for it is the Character of every Creature and second Agent or instrument not to act any thing according to his own will but according to the will of the Principal Agent 11ly That Spirit which is to fill all the Saints had need to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a searcher of the reins or knower of the heards of the Children of men otherwise how should he know when and upon what account to fill them with his presence and how to fall in with such a creature as man is in order to such an end Now we know that this Prerogative of searching the hearts and trying the reins the Scripture appropriates unto God yea and all Interpreters have acknowledged it as one of his incommunicable properties To make this therefore a universal and standing Priviledge to any created being whatsoever What is this but to rob God of that which is incommunicable and to transfer upon the Creature that which is beyond its Line a priviledge only commensurable unto him that is God himself and appropriate unto his own transcendent glory 12ly Sect. 10 Let me add one thing more which I have had occasion given me to think of and consider since I last spake unto you by means of a little book which came to my hand lately I suppose published by that importune Spirit which laboureth might and main to fill the World with dishonourable thoughts at least comparatively concerning the Holy Ghost unweariedly propagating and spreading abroad this dangerous Opinion which we oppose As it is said of some who have itching ears heaping up Teachers after their own Lusts so there are Teachers who have itching heads and are restless in drawing Disciples after them Now in this little Book in a short Epistle directed to the Christian Reader prefixed by the Author unto this Book he conjures his Reader as he tenders his own salvation that he would thoroughly examine his disputation and discourse plainly enough intimating hereby that without being of his opinion and judgment which according to the sense of those who understand the Scripture yea and sound Principles of Reason better than he judgeth that he breatheth no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost yet by the said conjurement of his Reader he plainly enough declares his sense to be that without being of his mind in denying the Godhead of the Holy Ghost there is no salvation Now I cannot but look upon this as little less than or next to a demonstrative Argument against that opinion which is obtruded upon the World upon those terms and that the opinion it self is erronious and of a dangerous consequence unto men For it is matter of ready observation that when men take up any new or by opinion which they desire for the honour of their names and glory of their parts and abilities to propagate in the World and being not furnished to their minds with grounds and reasons otherwise to convince and satisfie the judgments of men about them they are still wont to attempt the amusing and stumbling the Consciences and Judgments of men by a confident and importune bearing them in hand that the opinion which they commend unto them is no less than matter of eternal Life and eternal Death Thus the Jewish Doctors in the Apostles times would bear the Christians in hand Acts 15.1 That except they were circumcized after the Law of Moses they could not be saved We see here they made Circumcision a matter of life and death and that not Circumcision only or simply but Circumcision after that manner and mode But the Apostle knew better what did belong unto Circumcision and taught them a contrary Doctrine I Paul saith he say unto you if you be circumcized Christ shall profit you nothing And the truth is that such Notions and Doctrines for the most part which are thrust upon men or violently urged upon their Judgments and Consciences upon such an account as this as they stand charged as they love their Souls or desire Salvation to entertain this or that for truth these are more contrary and destructive than other to the salvation of the Promoters and Abettors of them As particularly I believe with the consent of all the ancient Fathers that this Opinion or Notion which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God is destructive unto the salvation of men destructive certainly it is whether destruction alwaies follows actually or no The tendency and course of it if it be not otherwise hindered will lead men to destruction but it may be hampered with other cross Doctrines in Christian Religion and so eternal ruine haply may be prevented The Christian Learning that was in the World in those Fathers daies could not tell how to frame and build up the body of Christian Religion nor how to make head or foot of the Gospel without this Doctrine that the Holy Ghost was one and the same God with the Father and with the Son and yet now we have a quite contrary commended unto us and thrust upon us and that upon such terms as that we hazard the loss of salvation unless we be of the same mind with them that deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost But to let you see how inconsistent men of this mind are with themselves there is another that is full of the same opinion denying both the Godhead of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that yet find faults with those that are opposite unto him for handling and writing so particularly and fully concerning the great Mysterie of the Trinity and he maketh this his pretense That however the case be if it should be so sure as we say yet we trouble and intangle the thoughts and minds of the Common people And the reason is because the Doctrine of the Trinity is no waies necessary unto salvation This is the sense of another as great a Master in his way and one who was able to say as much or more to this Opinion than they that are troublesome to us herein 13ly and lastly For this suppose we that there be some yet unsatisfied Sect. 11 that cannot tell which way to turn themselves because it may be there is so much said
or in any form of special aspect one upon another but as it were laid together in great heaps Yet there is I confess a relative opposition between the words read and the former part of the verse plainly intimated by this adversative Particle But And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess But be filled with the Spirit Which Particle clearly implies that to be drunken with wine as we have it or as the word elsewhere frequently signifieth To drink wine freely or to be given inordinately unto it to sit upon the brink of the pit of drunkenness though possibly you may not fall into it Is a thing inconsistent with your being filled with the Spirit For wine being freely drank as it inflames a man or the body of a man So on the contrary it quencheth the Spirit in him and causeth that to abate its fervency by degrees and to withdraw more and more from the Soul or else obstructeth his entrance into a man For the clearing the sense and meaning of the words there are three things briefly to be opened First Sect. 2 What is here meant by the Spirit Secondly What it is to be filled with the Spirit Thirdly why the Apostle exhorts and perswades to a being filled or to a filling of themselves with the Spirit by occasion of the preceding dehortation viz. from being drunken with or from being given to much wine For the first There are several significations of the word Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet it is as clear as the Sun that the Apostle hath nothing to do with in this place 1. It sometimes signifieth the wind Joh. 3.8 2. Sometimes it signifieth courage or such a frame of heart which is opposite to despondency or extremity of fear Josh 5.1 Neither was there Spirit in them any more 3. It sometimes signifieth the mind disposition or inclination of a man Pro. 14.29 But he that is hasty or rather according to the original short of Spirit i. e. that is of a Cholerick or rash temper or disposition being not able to contain himself or hold out in patience for a little season under temptations exalteth folly 4. It sometimes signifieth the soul of a man and this is a frequent acceptation of this word in the Scripture I need not cite any instances for this places of this import are obvious and frequent Sometimes the understanding or discerning powers or faculties of the soul are signified thereby Exod. 35.21 Every one whom his Spirit made willing i. e. whose judgment and understanding in artificial work inclined him to a willingness in that kind viz. for the work of the Sanctuary There are these and several other significations of the word Spirit which by comparing the place in hand with the particularities of them it will be found as clear as the Sun at noon day that they are none of them to be understood or meant in this place and therefore for expedition sake I shall omit them Neither shall I argue against any of those several senses of the word Spirit even now mentioned That by the Spirit Sect. 3 here is meant the holy blessed and incomprehensible Spirit of God the third of the three Persons in the divine Being or Essence Besides the concurrent judgment of the best Expositors upon the place It may be evinced from the Antithesis or opposition the words read have unto the former part of the verse As also from the comportance and perfect agreement in the next verse with this signification of the word Spirit For the first the Apostle opposeth their being filled with the Spirit to their being drunken or filled with wine Now take the word Spirit in any other signification whatsoever besides that we have pitched upon viz. for the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and you will not find any such emphatical liveliness in opposition between being drunken with wine and being filled with the Spirit you may make trial and take an account of particulars at your leisure But now between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God there is such a strong clear and pregnant opposition that the one fighteth against and excludeth the other For he that is drunk with wine is full of the spirit of sin and of the devil and during either the act or the habit but especially the act of such a drunkenness such a person is utterly uncapable for that time in sensu composito so long as he is under the power of his drunkenness of being filled with the Spirit of God As on the contrary he that is filled with the Spirit of God is in no capacity during this his fulness of being made drunk with wine wherein is excess But Secondly That by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God is further evident from what the Apostle immediately subjoyns in the next verse Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs making Melody in your hearts unto the Lord. As men that are drunken or enflamed with wine are apt to speak to themselves and to entertain one another with light vain and unsavoury mirth and Songs of carnal and sinful jollity In like manner if ye be filled with the Spirit of God you will be apt and able to speak to your selves and solace and delight your selves and be in a steady posture to teach and admonish one another with matters of a spiritual and heavenly import So that God himself will take a holy contentment in your mirth and rejoyce with you Whereas the vain and sinful mirth of the others namely of those that are drunken with wine is the hatred and abhorring of his soul But now there is no filling with the Spirit in any other sense of the word Spirit that only excepted which is pleaded for that is proper or likely to qualifie men or women for these spiritual exercises of an heavenly mirth It is only a being filled with the Spirit of God that is like to act or work the heart and soul of a man into such a posture or frame of spiritual rejoycing We might further confirm this exposition by taking into consideration all those instances in the Scriptures which are many where men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by comparing them in their respective context with the Scripture in hand we might shew that the Holy Ghost there and the Spirit here are one and the same See Acts 2.4 c. 4.31 c. 9.17 c. 13.52 We read likewise of persons full of the Holy Spirit Luke 4.1 Acts 6.3 5. c. 7.55 c. 11.24 c. thus you see what is meant by the Spirit Secondly Sect. 4 What is it to be filled with the Spirit Or What is it that the Apostle means or what is the nature or property of the duty he requireth of them and which is imposed upon them when he chargeth them to be filled with the Spirit or as in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the being filled with the Spirit But the reason of this Connexion and Conjunction of these two things namely that upon the use of such means as we speak of this great effect shall be produced or end attained unto viz. a being filled with the Spirit The reason I say of this Connexion is the eternall Counsel the gracious Law and Decree of God and so of the Spirit of God himself He having set it down and determined it and accordingly revealed it That thus it shall be so that the effect of being filled with the Spirit of God is not the result of the means but the proper product of that Eternal Law and Decree which God himself hath made For otherwise if we shall suppose that there were no such Law or Decree of God in being if men should use never so much means do the same things a thousand times over it would never be accomplished so that the reason why men come to be filled with the Spirit of God upon the using such and such means is not because of the means but it ariseth from the mighty force and irresistible power of the Decree of God this is that which triumpheth over all the use of means The Decrees of God are so full of grace and bounty that they do not stand to measure inches as we use to speak in the things of men so that unless they find so much worth or goodness in them they shall never pass with God neither the performers of them be made partakers of any rich anoynting from him No This is not the tenour of the Decrees of God in general nor of that of which we are speaking particularly but it hath a more favourable aspect upon his Creature man and importeth such a thing as this I know the nature of my Creatures Men and Women and the utmost of what they are able to do their weaknesses and frailties being considered Yet let them but do what they can let them shew their willingness to comply with me and they shall have as much assistance from me and from my Spirit to help them on in this blessed design of being filled with my Spirit as their hearts can desire And indeed this is one of the highest and greatest vouchsafements of God unto the children of men that he hath opened unto them such an effectual door or way whereby they may fill themselves or be filled with the Spirit All other means which God by his providence hath vouchsafed unto men of another nature as to make them great rich honourable c. amongst them all there is none greater Nay none so great and of so sacred an import unto them as this which we are speaking of viz. That God hath shewed them a way and vouchsafed unto them means to be filled with the Spirit which hath this blessed tendency in it to raise them to the highest pitch they are capable of in the love and favour of God When men are filled with the Spirit they are no more like unto other men They are more excellent than their neighbours Prov. 12.26 For by this means as we shall hereafter shew more at large they shall be enabled to act in a peculiar Sphere by themselves leaving the world yea and the Saints themselves who have but a little or small proportion of the Spirit to move in a lower and more inferiour Region Whereas they shall mount up on high and be carried as it were on Eagles wings enabled to do worthily Great and excellent things shall put forth themselves in them things that shall have more of heaven more of glory more of beauty more matter for admiration than can be found in or raised from the stirrings movings and doings in the world round about them So that by this you may easily judge of what a blessed consequence it is unto men to be filled with the Spirit of God 3. The third and last particular Sect. 6 proposed for the opening of the words was to shew why the Apostle subjoyns this positive Exhortation or Precept concerning their being filled with the Spirit by way of Antithesis or opposition to the negative dehortation not to be drunken with wine I answer this seems to be the reason thereof because that which invites men to drunkenness is a certain kind of jollity lightness or freeness of spirit that is occasioned by the drinking of wine according to the judgments of many who write concerning the tempers of men who say that there is a kind of lightness and frenziness of Spirit which is occasioned by the drinking wine wherein some men take more content and satisfaction than they do in any other thing And therefore the Holy Ghost doth direct them to such a course wherein they shall have far better contentments not indeed of the same kind or flowing from the same cause but however they shall be satisfied in that which they so much desire they shall have jollity lightness and chearfulness of Spirit indeed of a far better nature and upon far better and more excellent terms than what they could expect from their being filled or drunken with wine That jollity or mirth of spirit which men please and solace themselves in when they are under the influence of wine is but melancholy and dull or dead in comparison of that mirth and rejoycing that pleasantness of mind and spirit which they shall certainly attain unto and be made partakers of if they would but take the same course to be filled with the Spirit which they do to be filled with Wine So that this is the reason as I conceive why the Apostle subjoyns this affirmative Precept unto the negative Dehortation The Doctrines which we shall raise from the words thus opened Sect. 7 are only these four First from the adversative Particle But which as hath been said notes an opposition between the latter part of the verse and the former Doctrine 1 This Doctrine springeth forth viz. That drunkenness with Wine or inordinate drinking is altogether inconsistent with a being filled with the Spirit Or if you will we may phrase it thus That inordinateness in drinking is inconsistent with a filling with the Spirit Secondly From the Phrase here used Be ye filled with the Spirit The Apostle's meaning only being as was shewed that he would have them use the means take such a course that they might be filled with the Spirit Doctr. 2 The Doctrine is That in matters of Religion and things appertaining unto Salvation to use the means and to obtain the end are interpretatively and in effect one and the same Or thus That in spiritual concernments a regular use of means and the obtaining the end are by the Counsel and Decree of God inseperably joyned together The Apostle had in vain exhorted the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit if having used the best means they were able thus to be filled they might notwithstanding remain empty The Counsels and Exhortations of God in the Gospel are not like unto
of himself unto him for by this means the Spirit withdraweth his former influences from such a person and affordeth him but a faint and scanty presence of himself afterwards Again Sect. 9 from the Apostles Exhortation 1 Thes 5.19 Quench not the Spirit the truth of the Doctrine may be further argued even to a demonstration For if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to quench the Spirit i. e. Not to do any thing that may justly occasion him to cease from his wonted activity within them stirring their hearts and causing them to burn with inflamed desires after God and Jesus Christ and the things of their eternal peace I say If it be a duty to take heed of quenching the Spirit in such a way as this Then must it needs be a duty lying upon them to be filled with the Spirit the fulness of whose presence as was formerly more than hinted will cause their hearts to burn within them and as it were to mount up unto heaven in a flame It is an approved Rule frequently made use of by learned Ministers for the right understanding of the Decalogue or Moral Law That every Negative Commandment includeth the Affirmative contrary unto it As that which forbiddeth the destroying or the taking away the life of a man enjoyneth withal the preservation of his life with all tenderness and care There is another Rule delivered by some worthy Expositors of the Scriptures very necessary to acquaint us with the emphatical import of some expressions here The Rule is to this effect Adverbs of denying do very frequently import the contrary unto that word unto which they are joyned Many instances of this Rule might readily be given but this may be done upon some other occasion only for the present take notice that this Scripture agreeth to that which is imported in both these Rules This Negative dehortation Quench not the Spirit carrieth in it some such Affirmative and commanding Precept as this See that you be prudently industrious and careful with all diligence to nourish and advance the life and vigour of the Spirit of God within you entertain him with all worthy and honourable respects in your souls let him have all the obedience that he desireth or requireth of you By this means you shall be so far from quenching him in his motions and operations that he will burn like a bright flame of heavenly fire within you and work wonderfully in your souls That some such sense as this was intended by the Apostle in the said Dehortation is not obscurely intimated by that negative Precept not to despise Prophecying immediately subjoyned unto that of not quenching the Spirit especially if it be interpreted by one or both the Rules given for the interpretation of the former passage For then Not to despise Prophecying will signifie to put an high esteem upon Prophecying that is in the Ministry or Preaching of the Gospel which is done partly by a constant or frequent attendance upon it as with reverence and fear so with a lively and steady expectation of meeting with God and much good in it partly also by a consciencious subjecting all a mans waies words and works unto the authority and guidance of it Now not to despise that is to honour Prophecying upon such terms as these and duly honoured it cannot be upon any other is a direct and pregnant course to cause the Spirit to take pleasure in us and to be as fire in our breasts and bones not suffering us to be in the dark concerning any such spiritual things which are necessary or meet for us to know nor yet to be remiss negligent or cold as to waies and works that are truly honourable and worthy our high calling And what doth all this signifie being interpreted but to be filled with the Spirit Nor is there any way more dangerous unto men or more threatening the great evil and misery of being emptied of the Spirit than to despise Prophecying or the Ministry of the Gospel which is called The ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 And the Ministers of it The Ministers not of the Letter that is Not so much of the words matter or contents of the Gospel but of the Spirit Because the Spirit of God according to the counsel and good pleasure of God in this behalf is wont to joyn himself with the glorious truths of the Gospel published and proclaimed by his Messengers when he hath an intent or desire to go forth into the world and to visit the hearts and consciences of the Sons and Daughters of men See upon this account Acts 10.44 Gal. 3.2 5. And as the Spirit ordinarily cometh unto the souls of men in a golden shower of Evangelical truths rained down upon them from the mouth of a Church Angel So doth he not only continue but increase and inlarge his presence in them proportionably to that honour and obedience which is given by them unto those truths by which he was brought into their souls Therefore as the despising of Prophecying whether it be by undervaluing or neglecting the Ordinance or dispensation of it or whether it be by disobeying and casting behind their backs the holy Counsels and divine Injunctions of it is a ready way to quench the Spirit So on the contrary to have this heavenly Ordinance in high esteem and with constancy in attending upon it to joyn a reverential and awful subjection unto the voice of it in our lives and conversations is a method or means sealed by God whereby to obtain that inestimable treasure of being filled with the Spirit Thus you see how the Apostles charge of not quenching the Spirit leadeth us directly and by a clear light to the acknowledgment of this That it is every mans duty to be filled with the Spirit That other Dehortation of the same Apostle Sect. 10 Parallel in Expression and partly in sense unto the former Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 being rightly argued and searched into will give us the light of the same truth at the bottom of it But let us first consider what it is to grieve the Spirit and then we shall see by the light of the two rules mentioned in the opening of the former proof how it doth follow from hence That it is the duty of Christians to be filled with the Spirit The Spirit here spoken of is neither the Spirit of Man nor Angel as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter but the eternal Spirit of God the third Person in the Trinity Now to speak properly this Spirit is not subject unto grief nor any other Passion whatsoever But men are said to grieve the Spirit when they cause him to do and act towards them that which men are used to do under the Passion of grief Now you know that men whilst they are under the guidance of that Passion are listless and indisposed unto action Grief contracts and straightens it is of a wasting and consuming nature unto the
his beloved Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and compounds it with a Verb which without it signified somewhat more than simply an abundance and so calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace superabounding or rather grace superredounding But where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth or abounded much more Rom. 5.20 Thirdly Sect. 10 A third thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of the Spirit consists Huge Grot. in Rom. 5.20 is that in all that he acts and moves and works in men according to all that variety and manifoldness of working which proceeds from him at any time he doth proceed by his own Laws and these every waies gracious full of equity and sweetness and not by any thing any Law engagement or terms imposed upon him by men When men by having as the Scripture expression is that is by imploying and improving what they have viz. from the Spirit for men have nothing of any spiritual or gracious import but from him come to have more given viz. by this gracious Spirit more light more knowledge more wisdom love zeal courage faithfulness c. they come by this means to have in abundance Now they that have in this sense according to our Saviours promise this advance of his presence and growing tenour of his operation do not procure or draw it from him by any vertue or engagement of merit nor by any terms imposed upon him by the endeavours actings or improvements of their own but only the rich efficacy and vertue of his most gracious good pleasure and will who was pleased to prescribe the Law of this grace and goodness unto himself As when God justifies and saves those that believe he doth it freely of himself and from himself because he hath made this Law unto himself and established it he hath published and declared That whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall be justified and consequently saved he doth it freely and of meer grace not by judging himself obliged to do it by any worth or merit found in mens believing and yet he doth it constantly toties quoties and without failing as oft as he meets with believers in Jesus Christ he justifieth them he saveth them And indeed it is impossible he should do otherwise because as the A postle informeth us he cannot lie neither can he deny himself in his truth and faithfulness In like manner the Spirit of God hath prescribed unto himself the like Laws and terms for all his transactions dealings and proceedings with men according to the tenour whereof he will inlarge and advance his presence in the hearts and souls and spirits of men and will not walk contrary to them nor advance or put forth himself in any eminency of working but only where his lower or former motions have been obeyed and consented unto Yet he doth not this because men regard his presence but because he regards his own righteous counsels and purposes That which the Creature doth in this case is but a weak and inconsiderable thing to ingage such an infinite Spirit as the Spirit of God is to do such great things as those in men And as God will not save those that believe because of any merit that is in their Faith but because the counsel of his will is so to do So the Spirit of God will not do as hath been said because of any worthiness in mens compliance with him but he hath made this for a Law unto himself and honoureth his own Law and himself too by observing it To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Now we shall prove from that very passage that it is a Law which the Holy Ghost hath made and declares that he would walk by it towards the Sons and Daughters of men in all their succeeding Generations to the worlds end To him that hath that is that shews that he hath that declares that he hath that improves and imploys that which he hath namely that which is given originally to him by way of stock from the Spirit of God to him that thus hath shall be given namely by way of addition he shall have more abundantly he shall still be going on and be having and having and having he shall have and have still At last he shall have abundance he shall have a full and glorious estate in Spiritual riches in wisdom in knowledge in understanding in Faith in humility in love in zeal in temperance in patience and whatever else is necessary to enrich the soul of a man and to prepare him and put him into a capacity of the richest and highest glory So that we see this is a clear and declared method by which the Holy Ghost will proceed with men and women in his communications of himself unto them And though their be nothing in the creature to invite and move him in this kind yet nevertheless there is his own wisdom his own righteousuess and goodness by which he made this Law and imposed it upon himself these are sacred ingagements upon him to do all that he doth in the case we speak of And doubtless there was abundance of reason which did induce him to it whereof though we be not so capable for his Counsels are very deep yet something in the business may with good probability be conceived by us But for the thing it self he it seems will do it as constantly as universally at least in his ordinary dispensations as if it were the greatest injustice in him and most inconsistent with the rectitude and purity of his nature not to do it It may be here objected Sect. 11 and said that the Holy Ghost doth not observe any such Law or Rule in his actings or workings in men as now you ascribe unto him or at least tell us that he hath prescribed unto himself For doth he not sometimes come upon such men that have been formerly prophane vain and sinful above measure Doth he not sometimes come upon such men after some such manner as he came upon the A postles at the time of Pentecost like a mighty rushing wind I mean with an high hand of power and conviction and so in short time works the great work of Conversion and Repentance in them Was not Paul a stiff-necked Pharisee and Blasphemer a Persecutor of the Gospel and of the Saints all his daies before Yea as himself saith the chiefest of sinners And did not the Spirit of God come upon him as a whirlwind with a strong and high hand in an irresistible and miraculous manner to effect his Conversion To this I answer First That when with the Holy Ghost himself we say that unto him that hath shall be given and interpret this to be meant of the Holy Ghost advancing his presence and operations in men even as they hearken unto him and respectively comport with him in his preventing and lower motions And so again on the other hand
great Office and Dignities of the Priesthood as became the Honour and Holiness and Majesty of it then the Priesthood should never have been translated from him And so Acts 27.24 Paul saith that an Angel of God appeared unto him bidding him to be of a good courage God had given him the lives of all that were in the Ship with him Now though this was absolutely delivered unto Paul by the Angel yet in the 31 verse it appears that it was a conditional promise for saith Paul to those in the Ship concerning the Mariners except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved And so Ezek. 33.13 When I shall say unto the righteous man he shall surely live that is when I shall declare it as my positive and real purpose and intention yet if he shall trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity notwithstanding this promise of mine in his iniquity he shall dye And indeed more generally all the threatnings of destruction denounced by God against wicked and ungodly persons you shall find them more generally I say if not constantly delivered in positive and absolute forms of speech 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherite the Kingdom of God Here you see that this threatning against wicked men is deliver'd absolutly And yet we all know that there is a Condition of repentance included which intervening keepeth off the threatning from being executed upon the offender If a man be a covetous person or an unclean person the threatning goeth forth against him absolutely and yet through the grace of the Gospel if this person shall repent and turn him from the evil of his ways he shall not be excluded from the Kingdom of God Jonah 3.4 Yet forty daies and Nineveh shall be destroyed yet we know that forty and twice forty daies passed over their heads and yet the City not destroyed The reason was because the threatning was but Conditional though not a letter or tittle of it did appear unto Jonah untill the event declared it So that when by authority of our Saviour his declaration of that great Law of heaven mentioned touching the Holy Ghosts proceedings and treatings with men in and about the great matters of their Salvation we teach and affirm that the Holy Ghost still advanceth or retreateth in the souls of men as his entertainment is either kind or unkind We do not intend to affirm either that there never was or that there never will be any case wherein he will not take liberty to act above the line of that grace which is stretched over the world in that Law But only thus as hath been already touched that the Law mentioned so understood as has been opened is the common Law it is all the Law God would have the world to take notice of in particular and according unto which he would have men expect measure from him and from his Spirit If sometimes he acts by another Law this is but Lex horae as the Jewish Doctors are wont to call a Precept or Law given man in an extraordinary Case the Law of an hour whereas the other is Lex seculi the Law of an Age and this doth not reflect any error falshood or disparagement upon the general Law Secondly Sect. 13 We have oft signified upon occasion that God in Scripture treatie frequently applies himself unto men in such usages and forms of transactions as are ordinarily found amongst men themselves and used by them in their occasions yea and walking with them by the same principles and notions of reason and equity which are in request amongst them and generally owned by them and practised by those of them that deal any thing regularly Thus because amongst men a Covenant or Deed in writing is made good in Law by a Seal regularly affixed to it therefore God will seal his Covenant likewise And so because amongst men an Oath for confirmation is an end of all strife therefore God also because he would put an end to all doubtings jealousies and troublesome debates in the minds of men concerning his truth and faithfulness in his Word and great Promises of the Gospel he swears too So likewise in Laws enacted by men this being a common and standing principle Lex non curat particularia the Law doth not regard and take notice of particular or extraordinary Cases Laws are made and ought to be made only for ordinary Cases for Cases of ordinary and frequent occurrence or concernment amongst men There may be a Constellation or meeting together of such Circumstances once or at some one time which are not like to be found in the same Position again for many Ages after And so may constitute a case extraordinary like unto which another may not fall out in many Generations Therefore men do not nor indeed well can make Laws for the regulating of such Cases but leave all such to be regulated by the known and general principles of common Equity together with the Soveraign Law the good and benefit and welfare of the Publick for which the ordinary and standing Law was made So that in case the benefit of a variation or digression from the standing Law be manifestly expedient for the good and safety of the Publick the standing Law is not thereby violated or broken And doubtless it was the very intention of the Law-makers themselves that their Law calculated for the regulating ordinary cases only in such cases as these I mean extraordinaries should be waved So that now upon the account of the benefit and safety of the Publick men may walk contrary to the Letter of the Law and yet be blameless and no transgressours of the Law In like manner when God maketh general Laws and Rules and declares them unto the world that these are they by which he will move and act and treat with the children of men his intent is notwithstanding to leave these Laws to be regulated by himself according to the exigency and requirement of the general good and publick benefit of mankind which by his wisdom he is able to estimate and judge of knowing how to regulate all his proceedings with men as well in extraordinary as ordinary cases for their profit in conjunction with his own glory Thirdly Sect. 14 As there is nothing ought to cause a suspension of or variation from any general Law justly and equitably made and established amongst men but only that soveraign or supreme Law of Laws the good and benefit of the Society of men for which the Law it self was established So neither doth God or the Spirit of God at any time or in any case take liberty to digress or vary from his common and standing Law but only when some grand necessity either of the glory of God or the benefit and accommodation of men intervene And as in case those who are Law-givers amongst men could have
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
that capacity we speak of I mean of being filled with these heavenly Consolations This is that which we said was directly laid down and affirmed in the Reason given For the proof hereof we shall not need to add much to what hath been already delivered upon the same account For we have shewed and proved from that of the Apostle Rom. 8.13 That the deeds of the body cannot be mortified but by the Spirit yea and by the Spirit acting and working at some excellent and very considerable rate which imports a mans being filled with the Spirit in the sense first declared Again from that of the same Apostle Eph. 3.16 we proved that no person could be mightily strengthened in the inner man but by the Spirit of God And this as we said in the former case advancing himself to some worthy degree in his operation and working upon the heart and consciences of men So then he that is not filled with the Spirit is like to be a man of this present World addicted to the waies pleasures or profits of it and consequently in an incapacity of those Soveraign Consolations of the Gospel we speak of according to what was lately proved For inordinacy of addiction to this present World and the things thereof is a lust of the flesh and consequently will not cannot be effectually subdued or mortified but by the assisting efficacy of the Spirit of God For it is the Spirit as the Apostle informs us that lusts against the flesh Gal. 5.17 And indeed it is the Spirit only that lusts against it as being contrary to it as the Apostle there speaks and nothing else contrary at least nothing so vigorously so perfectly contrary unto it as the Spirit If you ask me In what sense or consideration is the Spirit of God said to lust against the Flesh I answer First The nature or native and proper Genius of the Spirit of God is to desire and to delight in and to act such things as are of a contrary nature and tendency to the Flesh and to the things which that desireth and delighteth in and in this respect may be said to lust against the Flesh viz because it desireth and this very strenuously things opposite to the things desired by the Flesh Secondly The Spirit may be said to lust against the Flesh because he stirs up motions and desires in men contrary unto those which are occasioned by the flesh As the flesh inwardly provokes unto and causeth men to desire things that are unjust unholy and things displeasing unto God c. The Spirit secretly exciteth to all things contrary hereunto as to things which are just and righteous and holy Or Thirdly and lastly the Spirit may be said to lust against the flesh or the unregenerate or corrupt part of the soul or rather that weakness or aptness unto sin which cleaveth unto the soul because it seeketh the utter abolition and destruction of it or because it admonisheth the Saints to desire and endeavour this abolition of it yea the utter extirpation and rooting of it out of their Kingdom Now then as no man is slain or ruined by any person unless it be casually or against his will which is no common or ordinary case but only by him who lusteth against his life and this at an high tate of lusting for every motion of envy and hatred or wishing that a man were dead will not lead a man so far as violently to take away his life so neither is the flesh like to be abolished crucified and destroyed by any but only by such or by that which lusteth against the very life and being of it and this with some potency and strength of lusting And this must needs be the Spirit of God because there is nothing that lusteth against the life and being and continuance of it but the Spirit of God If it be objected and said Sect. 11 That Reason and Conscience in men may lust against the Flesh as well as the Spirit And consequently may attempt the crucifying and destroying of it as they did in some Philosophers and moral men amongst the Heathen and so men may be put into a capacity of the first-born Consolations of the Gospel without being filled with the Spirit viz. by being filled with Reason or Conscience at least if the crucifying of the flesh be sufficient to invest men with this capacity To this I answer First That if Reason or Conscience do at any time lust against the flesh oppose or stop the lustings or movings of it they do it by vertue of a certain superintendency and instigation of the Spirit of God It is the Spirit of God which puts them upon it For in him that is to say through or by means of him saith the Apostle speaking of God and more particularly and appropriately of the Spirit of God we live move and have our being Acts 17.28 When he saith in him we live he doth not mean we Saints we Believers as if none lived in God or through the Spirit of God but such men But we men for it was spoken by a Heathen Poet and the Apostle doth justifie the saying by incorporating it with the Word of God by using it as or instead of a saying from God himself For so it was though it passed through a corrupt hand yet it came from God In him we live we move we men all men in the World Saints or others we live in God that is by God or through God for so the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in often signifieth that is by means of his supporting us If men do not only live in by or through Gods supporting of us but move also and this as well morally as naturally with our hearts and wills as well as with our bodies or the members hereof Certainly when we move regularly and as becometh us as we do when either Reason or Conscience within us do their office in any kind and when they do not regard the flesh within us when ever I say we act or move thus regularly we do it by somewhat more at least by nothing less than an ordinary exertion or putting forth of his gracious presence in us If we move one way or other morally or naturally sinfully or righteously yet every of these motions that proceed from us proceeds also from or by the Spirit of God though the sinfulness of no motion proceeds from him much more when we move according to Rule then certainly this is by means at least of his ordinary if not to a degree more than an ordinary putting forth of himself and his gracious presence with us Thus then in the first place if Reason or Conscience do at any time or in any particular case lust against or oppose the flesh or corruption in man they do it by means of the Spirit of God within them For as there is an inhabitation and consequently an operation of the Spirit appropriate to the Saints or Believers so there is an
upon and to give the spiritual sense and signification of all the Types and Figures under the Levitical Law argues an excellency of knowledge in the whole mystery of Christ Whereas the Apostle Paul speaking of the Gospel in his daies calls it a mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God Eph. 3.9 10. And that we should not interpret this concealment or hiding of it in God with limitation unto men only as if it had been revealed unto Angels long before though not unto men He immediately adds in the next verse To the intent that now unto the Principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God therefore questionless no Creature nor Angel whatsoever had any such particularity of knowledge of the mystery of the Gospel as the clear understanding of the Types of the Law import until the coming of Christ in the flesh yea untill the coming down of that golden shower of the the Holy Ghost in that visible manner upon the Apostles in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 2. And that the Angels were little other than strangers to the mysteries of the Gospel in Peter's daies seems clear from that Passage 1 Pet. 1.12 where speaking of the great and excellent mysteries of the Gospel he calleth them things into which the Angels themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire by bowing or bending of themselves to look or prie into Where observe it is very remarkable to our present purpose that the Apostle makes a plain opposition or distinction between the Holy Ghost and Angels Unto whom saith he it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with or by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into If the Holy Ghost which he here saith was sent down from Heaven had been an Angel he would in reason not have said which things the Angels desire to look into but rather into which the other Angels or the rest of the Angels desire to look This had been an intimation indeed that the Holy Ghost had been an Angel If it be here pretended by way of reply that when the Holy Ghost is said to have signified such and such Evangelical mysteries by such and such types and shadows of the Law it is not necessarily implied that therefore he must needs understand these significations or relations between the type and the spiritual thing typified but only and simply that he imparted unto Moses these types and figures by which were signified such and such mysteries c. To this I answer Then according to this supposition it must be conceived that the Holy Ghost learned his Lesson by rote from God and received wisdom or instructions from him to deliver unto Moses the sense or meaning whereof he understood not whereas the Apostle Paul speaking of the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God saith of him that he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 search out all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 i. e. qualifie or enable men to search out and understand even the deep things of God as elsewhere he is said to cry and groan and make intercession for men Rom. 8.26 Gal. 4.6 Psal 94.10 Now if he enableth men to discover and understand the deep things of God certainly he must needs be conceived to know and understand them himself He that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know 2. If the Holy Ghost in the Scripture in hand be a created Angel and not Jehovah true or truly God then doth it plainly follow from hence that the Angels one or more should be the Architects Founders and Framers of the whole Mosaical Oeconomy and Levitical Dispensation For he that gave these types and figures these respective significations and appointed that Ceremony to signifie one thing and this another was doubtless the Author and Founder of them as he that gives such properties or parts unto things that are natural and essential to them is certainly the Creator of them As he that gives such properties and qualities and parts to the natural bodies which are intrinsical and essential unto them must be their Maker and Creator In like manner he that gives types and shadows to their substance must needs be their Author and Founder If it be said But might not Moses himself be said to signifie such and such things by such and such Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies administred by him in case these Ordinances and Rites do indeed and in truth signifie such things And if so Why may not the Angel also that revealed or imparted these things unto him I reply Though the things or Types themselves may in a sense be said to signifie such or such things yet he that only administers these Types by order from another cannot in any tolerable construction be said to signifie such a thing especially if it be supposed that he understand not their signification Now if the Holy Ghost were an Angel then he did not understand the signification and substance and relation between the Type and the Evangelical things typified or imparted by them and then in no tolerable construction of words can be said to signifie them 3. And lastly If by the Holy Ghost in the place before us shall be meant an Angel the Tenour of the words will be low uncouth and poor in comparison of that height and lip of excellency wherewith he spake To say that the Holy Ghost should thus signifie whereas it was only an Angel that did thus signifie this would not look like one of the Sayings of the living God therefore the sense of the place cannot be understood to be any other but Jehovah God himself Having evinced from several Testimonies in the Old Testament whereunto many more of like import might readily have been added the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost Sect. 4 And having vindicated the sufficiency of proof lying in those Testimonies against such objections as those that are contrary minded either are wont or able to raise against the same we now proceed to the New Testament for a more full and satisfactory evidencing of the same truth The first place we shall insist upon for this purpose shall be that of the Evangelist Mat. 3.16 And Jesus when he was baptized went straightway out of the water and loe the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending and lighting on him and loe a voice from heaven c. In Mark 1.10 it is said that he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heavens rent or cloven and the Spirit like a Dove descending on him Luke also mentioneth the opening of the Heavens and the coming down of the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Chap. 3.21 From these passages compared together the Divinity of the Holy Ghost who is said
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
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
an incumbrance upon the mind and spirit of a man and so an hindrance unto him from attending chearfully to any thing given by way of satisfaction touching the manner and means of obtaining a thing when the thought of his heart is that the thing is impossible to be obtained Therefore as to the Question propounded about this how such a thing can be or is likely to be that the Holy Ghost and much more a fulness with the Holy Ghost should be obtained by the endeavours of men I reply First That he is not to be obtained by the endeavours of men upon any such terms as if men were stronger than he or could compel or necessitate him by any force or strength properly so called to turn in unto them or the like but this I suppose is the thought of no mans heart Are we stronger than he saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.22 therefore certainly it is not to be obtained upon any such terms Secondly Neither is the Holy Ghost nor a fulness with him to be obtained by the endeavours of men upon any such terms or in any such consideration as if there were any thing of any worth goodness or the like in the endeavours of men in one kind or other which might in a way of merit challenge the gift of the Holy Ghost from God much less such a measure of the Spirit as the being filled with him importeth No the obtaining of the gift of the Holy Ghost upon such terms as these is like the redeeming of the Life or Soul of a man's Brother from the Grave Psal 49.7 which as the Prophet saith must cease for ever and such a thought of heart in any man is not much better than that of Simon Magus when as Peter chargeth him he thought the gift of the Holy Ghost might be purchased with money Therefore there is no such thing as this any waies implied in the Doctrine in hand Thirdly Neither is the Holy Ghost or any fulness with him to be obtained by any endeavours of men which originally spring from themselves or whereof they are the Authors Not saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.5 that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing or to reason any thing as the word signifieth meaning in the Ministry of the Gospel as of our selves i. e. as originally or radically of our selves He doth not deny but plainly supposeth and granteth that in a sense and in some consideration we are sufficient of our selves viz. by vertue of those abilities which are properly our own being given us by God to reason or think after such a manner as he speaketh of Only he denies that in such a sense or consideration as this we have any sufficiency in this kind viz. As if we our selves were the Authors of that sufficiency that is in us either by way of nature or of any meritorious procurement because as he immediately adds our sufficiency is of God namely originally fundamentally and radically not only by way of Creation as he that raiseth or worketh it in us but also as he that worketh it graciously or freely without any meritorious engagement laid upon him by us to work it in us or give it unto us For that in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any either meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon him by the Creature As for example in case either Adam or Abraham or any other person had continued in all things that are written in the Law to do them I mean had perfectly fulfilled the Law God would have justified them or declared them righteous upon it yet had not this their justification in strictness or propriety of Scripture Phrase been of God but of themselves though he had justified them because they had wrought for it and God in strictness and rigour of justice could not have denied it them And so that of our Apostle concerning Abraham is I conceive to be understood Rom. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should not be translated but not before God as we have it but thus rather he hath whereof to glory but not concerning God concerning any grace or favour received from God in his Justification If his Justification had been by works it had not been from God but from himself Upon the account of that Principle which we now plead the condemnation and destruction of wicked and impenitent men though the execution be done by God yet in emphaticalness of Scripture Phrase it is said to be procured from themselves and is disowned by God viz. because there is a demeritorious engagement layed upon God by the Creature to inflict it Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self So that neither in this respect or sense is it a truth that the Holy Ghost or a being filled with him is procured by the endeavours of men in a meritorious way or as if any thing that men can do did any waies oblige God in way of justice to fill any man with the Spirit Therefore Fourthly When we teach and affirm that men may take a course or use means to be filled with the Spirit we do not make the Spirit obnoxious unto men or unto their endeavours but unto his own most gracious and free promise unto his infinite goodness unto poor Creatures only lead and guided by his infinite wisdom Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Psal 138.2 that is he had subjected all his Attributes unto his Promise and unto the Word that is gone out of his mouth so that they shall serve the World and bless the Sons and daughters of men according to what he hath declared in his Word So that the reason why any man by taking such or such a course Sect. 4 or by using such or such endeavours comes to be filled with the Spirit is not because he doth these things there is no such vertue vigour or strength in them in any thing that men can do or are in a capacity of doing in this kind which is able to produce an effect so glorious as the filling of the heart or soul of a man with the Spirit of the living God But only because the Will of God and Word of God which are potent and wonderful in their operation do here interpose therefore doth it so come to pass And if God will give his Spirit or a fulness of his Spirit unto men and women upon their observation of such and such directions from his mouth who shall ask him Why dost thou so That which men do for the obtaining of that fulness with the Spirit which we speak of is little other than Sacramental Now such causes which work and contribute towards their effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is litteral or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all causes being of
that kind of causes which Logicians call Causa sinè quâ non the cause without which the effect is not cannot be produced which because it contributeth little or nothing at all to the effect unless it be its bare presence therefore they call it Causa fatua the foolish cause or the fools cause I suppose for this reason because none but weak and simple Persons will insist upon this kind of cause in reasoning about effects and the Causes and Reasons of them viz. if a Question were moved Why such a man runs so swiftly He that should answer Because his head stands on his shoulders or because his heart is in his body or the like should shew himself very weak because though these be causes Sinè quibus non such causes as without which the effect of running would not or could not be performed A man could not run unless his head stood on his shoulders yet his head standing on his shoulders contributes nothing unless it be in a very remote and inconsiderable manner towards it and besides takes place in many in whom no such effect as swiftness of runing is to be found If a man should ask the reason why the Waters of the red Sea were divided when time was and stood upon heaps like a Wall on the right hand and on the left hand of the Children of Israel as they passed through He that shall say this was the reason or cause of it Moses smote these waters with the Rod in his hand should quit himself very weakly in so saying though it be probable that without this without Moses his so smiting them they would not have been so divided There is the like consideration of the falling down of the Walls of Jericho upon the Israelites compassing them about seven daies and blowing with Trumpets made of Rams horns of Naaman's cleansing from his Leprosie by washing seven times in Jordan This is an Essential or distinguishing property or Character of Sacramental causes that though there be very little or nothing in them I mean in that which is litteral natural and external in them any waies apt or likely to produce their effects as there is in natural causes to produce theirs yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand The reason is because the power of God is pleased to interpose and mingle it self with these more constantly and with a higher advance for the most part than with natural causes The reason of this good pleasure of his probably may be not because Sacraments or Sacramental causes are more appropriate and peculiar Institutions or Ordinances of his than Nature or natural Causes are But because they are weak and of no strength in themselves to do that which they have to do Upon this account as he hath taught men by the light of Nature in ordering the habit of their bodies Upon their uncomely parts to put more comeliness according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power might i.e. might clearly appear to be of God and not of us So because Sacraments and Sacramental Causes are in themselves weak and without honour in respect of what Natural Causes have therefore God honours them so much the more abundantly with his strength and presence in them Sed hoc obiter Now to draw the substance of this Discourse close to the business in hand when we teach that men by hearkening unto the Counsel of God and doing that which he hath commanded in order to the obtaining of such a blessedness as a being filled with his Spirit may obtain it we neither make the Spirit obnoxious unto men but unto himself and unto his own good pleasure Nor do we attribute any thing more unto those Actions or Endeavours of men by which they obtain a being filled with him than a kind of Sacramental Efficacy and this depending only upon the gracious will and good pleasure of God God having instituted such and such means in order to this blessed end upon occasion hereof he standeth engaged to his truth and faithfulness in giving out his abundance of Grace Fifthly and lastly When we do affirm that the Spirit and so a fulness with him is attainable by men in the use of means as we do exclude all things by way of merit and likewise all such endeavours in this kind which are originally in men themselves So we do suppose that without the Spirit that is without a being prevented and without some measure of the Spirit already given no man is able to put forth his hand unto any of those works or actions whereby this same filling with the Spirit is to be obtained So that if we search the spring of these actions and waies of men whereby we affirm that the Spirit may be attained we do not find the Root in man but in something that is Extrinsical For though it be in a man yet is it not of the heart and soul of a man co-substantial with it but the root of these actions by which men are capable of filling themselves with the Spirit of God is not in themselves nor in their nature but it is in an External Agent who is God or rather indeed the Spirit of God himself as we shall shew you in the traversing of this great business For it is likely we shall have occasion to dive into that Question Whether all the men and women in the World are not prevented according to the general course of the Providence of God in governing of the World and setting forth men and women upon the Theatre of the Earth Whether they be not all prevented without asking or without any means used with so much of the Spirit of God and with such a presence of his as that thereby they are enabled to have more of him and to be filled more with him Having thus with as much brevity and plainness Sect. 5 as through the grace of God we were able to do removed that stumbling stone as we called it out of the way A conceit incident as we conceived unto some that there is no possibility for men or women to be filled with the Spirit of God by any course they can take by any means they can use We proceed now to enquire into the Scriptures what course it is that men ought to take to possess themselves of such a blessedness as a being filled with the Spirit of God imports yea and which they must take if ever they desire to be made great in the sight of God or men by being filled with the Spirit of God The first thing to be done by us in order to a being filled with the Spirit it being supposed we are clear and thoroughly satisfied about the possibility of the thing for otherwise this Corner-stone were to be laid for the building but this I say supposed the first thing to be done in direct order to a being filled with the
cannot properly be said to do the things they would For that kind of Prayer which they would pray is one thing and the prayer which they do make or pray is another the Prayer which they would pray is such a prayer which in all points answereth the holiness and perfection of the Commandment given by God in that behalf that Prayer which they do pray is a Prayer many waies defective having many infirmities cleaving unto it so likewise the hearing and the giving Alms c. And in this sense it is most true that the best of men and women cannot do the things they would And in this sense also the Apostle is to be understood speaking of himself Rom. 7.18 19. How to perform that which is good I find not And again The good that I would I do not How to perform that which is good I find not i. e. I cannot find any course way or means how I may be enabled to perform that which is simply and perfectly good that which in all points answereth the holiness and spiritualness of the Law of God which is the good that I would do the object of my will and desire is not to do any thing weakly and defectively but all things after the most perfect manner and such things as these I find not i.e. by all the care that I can take nor by all the diligence that I can use I cannot find how to perform By the way the Apostle saying unto the Galatians So that ye cannot do the things that ye would is as a Sword passing through the soul of those who are called perfectionists amongst us casting down the Crown of their conceit of perfection to the ground unless they dally with the word and by perfection mean that which all understanding and sober Christians admit of and hold as well as themselves such a perfection as sometimes passeth in the Scriptures under that name and is ascribed unto the Saints viz. A comparative perfection i. e. such an excellency whether in faith or knowledge or manners or tenour of life and conversation which is in persons termed spiritual above what is found in those termed Babes in Christ and carnal there is no man that understandeth any thing in the Scriptures but acknowledgeth thus much very attainable in this life but if by perfection they mean that which is strictly and properly such viz. such a state wherein men and women sin not offend not at all the Scripture hath given express Sentence against them and their conceit of perfection over and over saying in one place Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all In another Ye cannot do the thing ye would In a third Who liveth and sinneth not In a fourth Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin To omit other places as full of enmity against the Doctrine of perfection as these but this only by the way But To the Point before us when we affirm Sect. 9 that a being filled with the Spirit will leave no space nor room in the heart or soul of a man or woman for any unclean worldly or sinful lusts to stand and act their parts there Our meaning is that such lusts as these will have no opportunity to magnifie themselves there to make head or gather strength whereby to be much troublesome unto us they will not be able to conceive as James speaketh Jam. 1.15 Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death As you have some Plants and Trees that with much a do will grow and live for a while in the Earth or Soyl or Air but will not thrive or flourish or bear fruit according to their kind but may be resembled to the Widow the Apostle speaketh of living in pleasure They are dead even whilst they live So likewise when ye are filled with the Spirit though the flesh will be flesh still and be ever and anon attempting and putting forth yet there will be no great heart or strength in these attempts they will be but faint and weak as despairing of any gratification or fulfilling this is evident from the Scriptures and particularly from that Gal. 5. from whence we even now heard that by reason of the contrary lustings of the Flesh against the Spirit men cannot do the things they would in the sense lately opened by reason of the interruption and opposition of the Flesh to the Spirit yet saith the Apostle in the next preceding verse Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh or as the original hath it somewhat more emphatically ye shall at no hand or in no wise fulfil the lusts of the Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a double negation Now to walk in the Spirit or by the Spirit is the same thing which the Apostle calls elsewhere a being led by the Spirit i. e. an uniform subjecting himself to the motions and holy suggestions or overtures of the Spirit of God in him And to walk in the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit supposeth some degree at least of being filled with the Spirit because if the Spirit do not bear and beat somewhat strong in the Souls and Consciences of men they will not be led uniformly by him because where he I mean the Spirit doth not bear to some considerable degree of strength the Flesh will overbear his motions even as a strong Tide or stream will carry a Ship down against the Wind unless it blow a stiff Gale But if men be filled with the Spirit so that the exhibitings and quicknings thereof be pregnant and lively and the impulses and bearings thereof upon the Conscience and Soul be stiff and strong and with power the inclinations motions and lustings of the Flesh will be overborne and stifled even as a Vessel upon the water meeting a stout Ship running before a strong gale of wind is easily overset and run under water by her If you be full of the Spirit these lusts themselves will fly from you and there will be no abiding for them in you they will take no pleasure at all in such a soul neither will such a Soul find much to do with them there will be an agreement on both Parties to divide and separate they are contrary one unto another and they cannot dwell together because they are not agreed and in this case the strong must keep possession and the weaker must give place And he that is in you saith John speaking of the Spirit of God is greater than he that is against you Now the World and the things of it are the Devils black Retinue and Regiment that attend upon him that promote the Affairs of his Kingdom and when the case is come to this that the Soul must be possest and inhabited by one Spirit either by him that is greater or him that is lesser and his Retinue in this case
displeasure against it Withdraw the fuel from the fire and it will go out of it self Even so do but remove sin from the sight of God and the fire of his Displeasure and Anger will go out and extinguish of themselves Where sin and unrighteousness tell no tales unto God and make no complaint in his ears there strife ceaseth and all his thoughts towards you will be love and peace Secondly By your being filled with the Spirit as all things hereby will be taken out of the way which are likely to obstruct your peace with God So likewise all those things which are most proper to nourish and advance your peace with him will abound in you If you shall ask me What are these I answer They are the fruits of righteousness and true holiness especially when they shall abound and advance in the Lives and Conversations of men Like the Waves of the Sea when one Wave drives on another So when one Act of righteousness and holiness shall follow in the neck of another and when they shall encrease and rise higher and higher there will be all things in being that are apt and proper to feed nourish and maintain the most solid peace in the breast of men towards God And these things are most apt and proper to create peace perfect peace for men in the breast of God and suffer no touch or tincture of any displeasure to rest there For as the Apostle saith 1 Joh. 4.18 that perfect love casteth out fear namely out of the hearts of men So doth an excellent strein of righteousness or perfection in men cast all thoughts of War Enmity or Opposition unto men out of the heart of God In the second place As these things being in men viz. waies and works of righteousness especially as was even now said when they abound clear and rid the heart and soul of God from all Enmity and hard intentions towards his Creatures men or women So doth the sense and consciousness of these things in men themselves introduce and bring into their souls the sense and fruits of this blessed posture of soul towards them This createth a clear and strong apprehension in them that things are so and so according to their hearts desire they know there is no touch of any fire of displeasure against them The clear pregnant and lively testimony of a man's Conscience that he doth work righteousness especially that he abounds therein cannot lightly but make him to be a man of a serene Spirit and one that fears no colours from heaven And if one strein of righteousness only viz. Mercy as James saith Chap. 2.13 rejoyceth against Judgment i. e. magnifieth it self doth not fear is not subject to fear that God should set himself at any time against the merciful man the very nature of this Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment Now then if it be so that one vein of righteousness hath such a mighty Spirit in this kind to enable a man to rejoyce against judgment How much more when there shall be a confluence or meeting together of all the waies and streins of righteousness in the whole course of a mans life and conversation If righteousness with the little finger be able to do so much how much more can the whole body do when it is in all its strength and glory This must needs advance the Soul of a man in assurance that all is well between God and him as John saith in the place even now hinted at upon a like occasion Perfect love casteth out fear because Love is of that nature that a man cannot when he doth love another and withal knoweth that such a man knows that he loves him be under any fear of receiving any hurt from him Upon this ground it is that the Apostle saith that perfect love casteth out fear because a man knows that God is privy to the state of his heart and knoweth whether he love him or no. If I know certainly that I love such or such a man and withal know that he knows that I do love him and wish well unto him it is impossible that I should be afraid of this man in as much as I know that he hath a full assurance of my good real and cordial affection unto him Now how can I fear or be jealous that he should seek my hurt or ruine A man's Friend is part of himself and a man cannot but seek his own good and peace As no man ever hated his own flesh So certainly no man ever yet hated his Friend whom he certainly knew to be his Friend for as I said he is even as himself In like manner it is impossible but that a lively sense and consciousness of that love which a man beareth unto God must needs raise a mighty glorious and triumphant confidence in the soul that all things are right and straight between God and him that his interest is perfect whole and entire with him and that there remaineth not so much as the least spark of the fire of anger there Thirdly and lastly by being filled with the Spirit Sect. 13 you will have an entrance also in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the joy thereof Peace importeth freedom or exemption from troubles and disturbances But joy importeth the inward and high satisfaction pleasure or contentment of mind which is created or raised in the Soul by the apprehension and consideration of the excellent goodness of this peace together with the sweet Priviledges and Enjoyments of this Kingdom Now this joy we speak of the joy of the Everlasting Kingdom of Christ must needs be according to that Character which the Apostle Peter gives of it which is a taste or first fruits of that Kingdom unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 The reason hereof is because there shall be such a mighty and such an incredible abundance of all desirable and precious things both to raise and to maintain this joy which will certainly meet together in this Kingdom in that state and condition which the Saints shall be brought unto when the Kingdom of Christ shall be set up in the World All Lebanon saith the Prophet Isaiah Isa 40.16 is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering If all the wood that grew in Lebanon at least that did grow in his daies were cut down and one fire made of it all How exceeding great above measure would this fire and flame and burning be Now God will summon as it were the whole Creation together He will call to the Heavens to the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Hosts of them He will call to the North and to the South to the East and to the West He will call to the Seas and to the deep places He will call to the Beasts of the Field and to the Fowls of Heaven to bring in whatsoever they have in their Treasure or keeping and which will
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
double or treble it will he not do it If this be counted wisdom to advance a perishing and contemptible state who would not amongst us all labour to advance in such a glorious and durable state as we speak of This then is the first thing requisite to be done in order to your being filled with the Spirit of God namely to fill your Judgments and Understandings with the knowledge of all the excellent and desirable things of it together with a frequent and an effectual consideration of these most worthy and rich accommodations which must needs accrue or grow unto you by your being filled with the Spirit of God CHAP. X. The Resolution of the Second Question further prosecuted And six Directions more given to shew how men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit of God and what is to be done by them in order hereunto A Second thing to be done Sect. 1 to fill your hearts and souls with the Spirit of God is to employ and make use of him upon all your spiritual occasions and for the performance of duties When you shall at any time apply your selves unto God to do it by him as in your Prayers unto God and so your mortifying the deeds of the flesh and in searching out the deep things of God and in keeping in mind the things of God and of your own peace Now as touching these four particulars mentioned viz. Prayer Mortification understanding great Mysteries and keeping in mind these things c. The Scriptures do plainly hold forth the use and necessity of the Spirits being employed in all these chiefly and more especially than in other spiritual Services But here three Questions may be propounded First Whether we can or whether it be in our power to engage the Spirit of God in this kind Whether it be in the reach or power of a man to draw him into part or fellowship with us in such spiritual works as lie upon our hands to do Secondly How or by what means we may engage him Thirdly and lastly In case we shall be able to engage him and shall actually do it how the things that shall be thus done by the Spirit in us so engaged can be attributed unto us or we looked upon as the doers of them For the first of these Whether it be in our power thus to draw in the Spirit of God to stand by us to stand at our right hand and to be helpful unto us in our spiritual Services To this we answer in the Affirmative We are able and may do it otherwise himself would not so frequently have admonished and called upon us to do it I mean to engage him or to do things of several kinds by him Rom. 8.13 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live This Clause but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body containeth and implieth more than an Exhortation or Charge to set the Spirit on work to mortifie the deeds of the body For it containeth a Reason to press such an Exhortation drawn from the excellent benefit and advantage that doth attend it Life Eternal you shall live if you do it Seneca hath a Saying Rogat quidem efficacissimè qui profert rogandi causas He asketh and that most effectually who expresseth reasons why he should ask so we may truly and pertinently say when the Holy Chost delivereth unto us reasons or motives whether one or more why we should be exhorted to such and such duties he doth inclusively exhort us hereunto and this after the most peircing and effectual manner Telling and promising us that if we shall mortifie the deeds of the flesh we shall live doth he not most affectionately excite and stir us up to mortifie them accordingly Now we cannot mortifie them by the Spirit but by prevailing with the Spirit in one kind or other to mortifie them Thus also Jude ver 20. But ye Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost that is in or by or through the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost meaning that they should do that which they well enough understood and knew would prevail with the Holy Ghost to assist and help them in praying So again 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee speaking of that Pattern of wholsome words and sayings of the Doctrine of the Gospel keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us He addeth these last words which dwelleth in us to put Timothy in mind that the Holy Ghost was near at hand ready and offering himself to be imployed by Christians in all the great difficult and worthy occasions of their souls and consequently to encourage him to address himself unto him I mean the Holy Ghost that he would enable him to keep i. e. to preserve in memory and mind the good things he speaketh of To these places I shall only add Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Walk in the Spirit I suppose his meaning is not in this Phrase that they should walk according to the direction and guidance of the Spirit which in ver 18 and elsewhere he calleth a being led by the Spirit but that they should walk thus by the strength or by the excitations and quicknings or actuations of the Spirit that they should walk as it were on the Legs of the Spirit so that he may carry them out to all they do and so interpose likewise in their doing it that the burthen and stress of the work may lie chiefly upon him and that men themselves may taste little of the difficulty bardness or offensiveness if any such thing be in it This or some such thing as this the Apostle I suppose meaneth by walking in the Spirit and by putting Christians upon it to walk in or by the Spirit he supposeth such a thing that may be done or attained by them if they will take a course thereafter But then it may be objected If we may engage the Spirit Sect. 2 and set him on work about any of those spiritual employments that have been mentioned or the like Must not we be looked upon as principal or first Movers in every such work and the Spirit as the subordinate Agent only and subservient unto men and dependent upon them in his workings To this I reply no First Because when any man doth awaken the Spirit and engage him to his assistance he is first awakened by the Spirit hereunto yea and engaged too by which the Spirit himself becometh engaged by himself for we are thus or after some such manner as this to conceive of the spiritual treaty or entercourse and of the state of affairs between the Holy Ghost and the soul of a Christian in whom he dwelleth in reference to the business now in hand First
with men in the Scripture and Gospel by such Principles and Rules which are written in the Tables of their hearts by the Finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their common and Civil Affairs Thus because amongst men an Oath is the end of all strife Heb. 6.16 Therefore God will swear too and treate with men by the mediation of an Oath and so in abundance of other particulars God still applieth himself unto men and treateth with them by the same Rules and Principles which men walk by in transactions amongst themselves Now because one man is ignorant of what is in the heart of another and knoweth not how they will prove whether diligent or negligent faithful or unfaithful in matters of trust committed unto them therefore those whom they have occasion to trust they will first try them with a little that in case they should miscarry and prove unfaithful the loss may be the less and easier to be born if they approve themselves with wisdom and faithfulness in managing that little then they are encouraged to trust them yet deeper And as men are wont sometimes to try Casks or Vessels that are new made and never had Liquor put into them whether they be tight or leaky not by putting Wine or Liquor of value but water into them if they will hold water men have so much the better ground to trust them with Wine also In like manner though God as is said of Christ Joh. 2.25 needed not that any man should testifie of man Because he knew what was in man and consequently what would come out from him and what he would do So I say though God knoweth before hand how men will prove whether faithful or unfaithful in any thing committed unto them and in this respect needeth make no experiment and trial of them in reference to any trust yet because it is the manner and according to the Principles of wisdom in men to take such a course he also will do it though he hath other ends and reasons likewise for the doing of it which it is not necessary now to speak of Thus also it is in matters of reward more properly and commonly so called though he knoweth from the beginning the uprightness integrity of mens hearts and what such men in time will do all the good work all that righteousness and suffer all those things for righteousness sake which afterwards they do and suffer yet until they have given an account both unto himself Angels and men of that their integrity by waies of righteousness and well-doing he will do no great things for them he will reward men only according to their works according to what they shall do or suffer nor according to what they purposed to do or suffer unless happily they be prevented of an opportunity for that by the way least there should be mistake not as if God should have no consideration or regard of any mans faithful intentions that is not the meaning of it as many times you may find persons whose hearts are full of fruitfulness that notwithstanding are taken away by death Now it is not imaginable that God should deprive them of the reward of such services when as God himself denieth men the opportunity to do them it is not reasonable nor like unto the waies of God or his proceedings that he should deprive them of their reward in such a case or under such circumstances But the meaning is that the good things which men have done whether they be few or more these shall be rewarded accordingly So that men and women who have given testimony unto the World of their own integrity uprightness and faithfulness unto God God will give them rewards answerable hereunto We speak this for this end to shew that God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it until that they have given an account unto men that they are persons fearing God I say God will not take any knowledge of them until they having given some Testimony unto the World of the integrity and uprightness of their hearts a Testimony of the truth of their Faith and of the soundness of their Love that the World cannot deny but that certainly these are very worthy men then as in Scripture Phrase God is not ashamed of them but they are in an immediate capacity for him to own and to reward and do great things for As it is said of Enoch he was translated Heb. 11.6 of whom it was reported that he walked with God Gen. 6.22 Now God could suffer no disparagement in point of honour by owning of him And so 1 Pet. 1.7 That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of Gold c. might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory It is not said that your Faith being more precious than Gold but that the trial of your Faith this is that which will turn to an account of Praise and Honour and Glory unto men in the great day c. That the trial of your Faith might be a Testimony in abundance given unto men yea unto God himself namely when their Faith shall have been tried whether it be by their constant sufferings for righteousness take or whether it hath been by a holy and blameless Conversation it is not much material if this trial of it be the making of it known and bringing it to light in the World that so it may be known and observed by men In such a case it is a thing but equal and just and well becoming God to be found rewarding of them with great and wonderful things Thirdly Sect. 8 Another means whereby we may come to be filled with the Spirit of God is to sow unto the Spirit Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption But he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Everlasting Life If the Question be What is it to sow to the Spirit I answer according to the usual import of that Metaphorical Expression of sowing to sow to the Spirit is to do such things which will redound to the praise of the Spirit of God to manage Actions so that the benefit of them may accrue to another This the Apostle calleth a sowing to others If we have sown unto you in spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things 1 Cor. 9.11 To sow unto the Spirit is to imploy a mans self about such things such waies and works whereby the Spirit may receive honour and praise which is all the harvest which the Spirit of God and so God himself is capable of receiving from men Only we may add this That when men do such things which are for the honour and praise of the Spirit they must do them with an intent that they may turn to his praise we must not do such things only which may accidentally
to do but leaveth the soul solitary and to it self And when there is such a calm no breathing of the Spirit upon the soul there will be no lust no motion nor desire to do any thing that is spiritual or heavenly and then it is with the soul as it is with a quantity of Wine when the Spirits are extracted out of it that which remaineth is but as a little water Just so are the Spirits and hearts and souls of men when the Spirit of God is grieved within them when he withdraweth Their very life and all that vigour of spirit which at other times is found in them all is under hatches and doth not appear On the contrary when the Spirit of God is pleased and delighted in men he is like unto men when they are under greatest contentment and satisfaction of mind they are now in a posture and readiness to do all the good they can to please and gratifie every man This we have opened unto you formerly and have shewed you how the Scriptures run much upon it As saith Mephibosheth to David Let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace 2 Sam. 19.30 And so Gal. 4.15 Where is then the blessedness you speak of For I bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes c. And so again Bless and curse not bless I say for thereunto you are called as who should say Christians by means of that rich portion of contentment and joy which they are interessed in by the Gospel are in a posture to do good unto the World under all the cursings and prosecutings of it Even so it is with the Spirit of God when he taketh delight and pleasure in a man then is he enlarged towards him he is then active stirring and vigorous in the heart and soul These motions quicknings and encitements unto waies that are good these beat strong upon a man Now the Spirit of God the more he is pleased the more he doth enlarge and give out himself unto men So then if we desire to be filled with the Spirit here is another means proper to obtain it namely if you will be led by the Spirit There is nothing more pleasing unto a man especially unto a man of wisdom than to see his Counsel followed This very impression being found in the hearts of men argueth that there is a like strain of this in the nature of God for we have often signified unto you that God made man after his own Image endued him with the same Principles of Wisdom and Understanding namely for nature or kind which were in himself he drew a kind of Copy of his own Wisdom in the Nature of man And this by the way is the reason of another thing also viz. That in his Treaties with men about the great and important business of their everlasting Peace he still goeth by such Rules which men go by and manage the things of their highest concernments But now the reason why God doth deal with men in very many cases by their own Principles is not simply because he will thus fall in with them but because these are the Rules of God himself according to the excellency of his Nature by which he ruleth and governeth the World Sixthly Sect. 12 It must needs be of good consequence unto you in order to your being filled with the Spirit to take and keep all things out of the way which are contrary hereunto I mean which are like to hinder and will hinder your being filled with the Spirit in case they be not taken and kept out of the way to see that we do not lay any obstruction in his way but that it may be plain and smooth before him Now those things in the general which are like to be an offense unto the Spirit of God and so obstructive to your being filled with him are all such things which are gratifactory and pleasing unto the flesh and tend to the encouragement and strengthening of the hand thereof The reason hereof is because the Apostle informeth us Gal. 5.17 that the Spirit and the Flesh are contrary one to the other and lust one against the other one lusteth after that or after the doing of that i.e. secretly inclineth and perswadeth men and women to the doing of that which being done is contrary to the interest of the other it discourageth weakens and disableth the force or moving power of the other in the soul Therefore a course is to be taken and something done that may restrain the motions of the Flesh or at least break the heart or strength of it It is not like the Spirit will advance to the filling of the soul with his presence so long as lust remains in heart and strength in men for this is to be remembred and taken along by way of caution at this turn that though there be a contrariety in all the lusts of the Flesh unto the Spirit yet all kinds or degrees of these lustings are not so or upon such terms repugnant and contrary to the Spirit and his growth in men but that this may proceed and go forward some of them notwithstanding For as it is in the comings in of the Tide and flowings of the waters whilst the Waters are encreasing and the banks filling there are some smaller refluxes or fallings back of the water which are presently recovered and this with advantage by the next reflux and bearing up of the Tide so that the Tide holdeth on its way maketh good its course untill it cometh to its height and fulness these lesser refluxes notwithstanding In like manner though there be at times some lesser yieldings and givings back of the Spirit in the soul meeting with the current or stream of the Flesh yet he may be brought on again toties quoties and that with power to the over-bearing and breaking the motions and current of the Flesh and so keep still upon the advance and be filling of his channels and banks daily There are two kinds or degrees of the lustings of the Flesh Sect. 13 though they be both contrary to the Spirit and his motions and advance in the soul yet one of them doth little or nothing to interrupt him in his course the other is that which grieveth him and obstructeth him in his way The former kind of these lustings are such which for distinction sake we may call natural though the word be not altogether so proper to express the thing intended the Greek hath somewhat a more significant term wherein to express them calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sudden rushing or inconsiderate risings or startings up of nature or the natural faculties in the soul which-they compare to the winking or shutting of the eye-lids when any thing threatneth the eye or so to the lifting up of the hands to the head for safeguard when a blow is coming upon the head these are Natures motions by
and the same also of the same hot temper in his own private Concernments his heat in matters of Religion may be but of the same account with other mens coldness I mean may be nothing else but his natural temper and so argue no fulness of the Spirit of God I confess it is possible that he that is somewhat warm and somewhat apt to be stirred in his spirit about his Worldly Affairs and withal is zealously affected with and about the things of God may be filled with the Spirit of God But however the Judgment of this latter heat is taken away by the former though such a mans zeal in the things of God may proceed from a fulness of the Spirit of God in him yet his heat otherwise drowns the Argument of it This heat we speak of in his Worldly Affairs though it doth not contradict the reality or truth of his being filled with the Spirit yet it contradicteth and destroyeth the evidence proof or manifestation of it The reason why I conceive that some fervour of spirit in a mans own occasions may possibly consist with a fulness of the Spirit of God in which case a mans zeal for God must needs proceed from such a fulness is because the Spirit of God even when the heart and soul is to a good degree filled with him doth not alwaies dissolve the natural frame of the heart in such dispositions which are not sinful or not apprehended to be sinful And many times we find men who are flames of fire in their own occasions yet like so many dul clods of earth in the things of Jesus Christ yea this is the ordinary temper of the generality of men even of Professors themselves according to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.21 All men seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ In this case when he that seeketh or hitherto hath sought his own things with zeal and diligence but hath been remiss and cold in the things of Jesus Christ shall be reduced to greater zeal for the things of Jesus Christ than for his own this change in him must needs proceed from the Spirit of God yea from a great work of this Spirit in him and consequently such a Person continuing thus zealous for Christ may well be conceived to be full of the Spirit of Christ notwithstanding he be somewhat zealous of his own Cause and Affairs also Now the reason hereof is because his heat in his own Affairs is but somewhat of the natural frame of his heart which is not dissolved by the Spirit of God it not being apprehended to be sinful I confess there is a kind of zeal in a mans secular and worldly Affairs which is found in too many which is hardly if at all consistent with a being filled with the Spirit this is that which the Apostle calleth A warring after the flesh Now What is this same warring after the flesh It is to be importunely troublesome unto the World to quarrel almost with every man that comes in our way and with whom we have to do about these outward things and accommodations When men fight they lay out their strength and all they have as Souldiers they do it with all their might and power So when men are zealous to such a degree for their own Affairs that the managing and providing for them is a kind of Warfare wherein they are acted by the flesh and by the desires lusts and unreasonable motions of it so as to quarrel and contend with every man that stands in their way such a kind of zeal in men which appeareth in thus warring according to the flesh testifieth unto their Faces that certainly they are not filled with the Spirit of God There is indeed another kind of zeal which you may conceive better of and this is a kind of diligence in your Affairs which is worthy of commendation For men being diligent in their Callings by this means declare themselves to be Loyal Servants of Jesus Christ if he set them about their own work then they will serve him there if he set them on work for himself there they will serve him also In such a kind of heat as this there is somewhat that answers unto and is consistent with a fulness of the Spirit of God But when men are hot fiery and fierce in their own things and likewise fierce in the things of God their being hot in the things of God is an Argument of no weight no way convincing that they are filled with the Spirit A second Rule for discovery of those who are filled with the Spirit of God from those who are not filled with him but with a contrary Spirit Sect. 7 may be this when men and women have the command of their Spirits so as to keep them in and let them out to cause them to rise and to fall to go and to come according to the true exigency of the affairs of Jesus Christ and of the real benefit of men For when men are alwaies and in all cases alike hot and fiery or else alike cold and heartless and put no difference between times and times occasions and occasions persons and persons it is an argument or sign of great probability and which seldom faileth that there is no great presence of the Spirit of God with them and that that zeal and heat wherein some men upon all occasions and without any difference made between any circumstances appear is but either a kind of natural temper or which is worse some affected strain of hypocrisie It is a Promise made by God unto those that will cause their ear to hearken unto Wisdom And encline their heart to understanding c. Prov. 2.2 compared with ver 9. That they shall understand righteousness and judgment c. by understanding of judgment c. I conceive he means these two things First A discerning and understanding what is meet and worthy to be done upon all occasions according to the regular and due exigency and requirements of every of them respectively And secondly An heart and inward disposition to do every thing accordingly Now when men and women thus and in this sense understand judgment that is know how to rise and fall in their spirits how to change and temper their behaviour and speech when to be authoritative stout and resolute and again familiar gentle and submissive according as the persons are with whom and according to the nature of the occasions and affairs wherein they have to do and this in order to the glorifying of God and the justifying of his Wisdom it is an Argument of much weight to prove that they have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God We find Paul a man very excellent and active in all the variety of these spiritual postures we speak of 1 Cor. 9.19 20 c. For though saith he I be free from all men yet have I made my self a Servant unto all To the Jew I became a Jew unto them that
find persons so filled with the Spirit of God that they do not give some such sign or testimony as now we speak of something to discover their temper humour and such kind of Principles within them that make them stiff that they cannot bow nor comply Their Iron Sinew is not yet broken they have not taken the course they have not dealt effectually with their hearts to bring them into subjection they have not chastened their Souls every morning as David did who had disciplined and nurtured his heart to some kind of order and compliance with God in all his occasions and affairs And so much for this Direction or the second Rule given by which we may know whether men be filled with the Spirit of God namely if they understand judgment as the Scriptures speak and then be ready in their hearts and affections to concur and to measure out to every case and business according to the exigency and requirements of it this now doth declare an excellent degree of the fulness of the Spirit of God with them And Thirdly Sect. 11 A deep degree of Mortification especially when the work is uniform spreading and stretching it self with an equal force and power unto all a mans Affections Disposition and Desires which ought to be mortified with the Deeds Fruits and Works of them This I say is another great Argument or sign of a man or womans being filled with the Spirit of God The work of Mortification is performable only by the Spirit of God and therefore where it is performed and wrought thoroughly where it appears in any degree of glory it must needs argue a great presence of the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh saith the Apostle ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If you ask me But why doth the Apostle place the great work of Mortification in the deeds of the body in having these mortified and not rather in those sinful affections and inward dispositions from whence they proceed I reply That he placeth it here in the deeds of the body because it is principally seen and the reality and truth of it found there though the work it self lieth most in the heart and inward man yet the energy and force chiefly appeareth in the abolishing or cessation of the deeds of the flesh or of the body When such sinful and unworthy actions cease to be found in men and women whereunto others are tempted by the flesh or by the occasions of the flesh and ever and anon are practicing of them it is a sign that the work of Mortification is real and in truth yet elsewhere the same Apostle placeth it in the affections and lusts of the flesh in having these crucified or moâ—tified Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. they that are Christs i. e. that are his Disciples or that have resigned up themselves unto him or are subject unto him have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. have pierced the flesh or outer man thorough and thorough with such sharp and effectual considerations that the strength and vigour of it as to sinful demands or actions is much spent and wasted and as the natural strength and vigour of a man that is nailed to a Cross breatheth out by degrees in that bloud that cometh from him by his wounds so have ye crucified the flesh with the affections or passions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the passions i. e. with all those affections which belong to the irascible part of the soul as both Philosophers and Divines call it Anger Wrath Hatred Envy Revenge c. they have crucified these i.e. they have taken a course to break the strength and to suppress the motions and breakings out of these And the lusts i.e. all those affections also which belong to the other part of the soul which they call the Concupiscible such as are Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Gluttony Covetousness c. So then we say that when the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and Deeds thereof are so crucified or mortified so handled that men and women are become Meek Patient Humble Gentle long-suffering c. And again Chaste Pure Sober Temperate free from Covetousness and all this to an excellent degree it is a sign that they are full of the Spirit of God the reason is because First If these things be in any weak and imperfect degree in men Sect. 12 they proceed from the Spirit of God and must be wrought by him Secondly A being filled with the Spirit is no waies to be estimated and discerned but by a proportionable excellency or fulness of his operations and effects Now the work of mortification as hath been in part described is one of the most signal works of the Spirit and therefore where it is full or any thing rich and deep it argues a great presence of the Spirit but the truth is it is very hard to be found in any such degree as that we speak of even amongst Professours yea or Believers themselves Men and women have generally some sinful humours and dispositions or other unbroken and unsubdued either they are Cholerick Hasty Froward easily Provoked Revengeful and the like or else they are given to Pleasures Ease Voluptuousness of life desires of Riches Honour Power the great things of the World And though many keep within some tolerable compass in respect of the breaking out of these and such like unmortified affections whilst the Tempter keepeth at a distance from them and some few it may be whilst the Temptations runs somewhat low and are but ordinary yet the greatest part of the persons we speak of Professors I mean are apt to be overcome and led away Captive unto Sin by every touch of Temptation any Temptation almost that will may serve it self upon them Even as some mens Judgments are so weak that they are apt to be carried about with every wind of Doctrine as the Apostle speaks apt to take impressions of any thing that is presented unto them with the lightest appearance of truth but to find a man or woman that is able to stand their ground of innocency when any strong temptations beare hard upon them is exceeding rare which argues the work of Mortification to be very imperfect and slight in the greatest part of men and consequently that they are far from being filled with the Spirit of God If it be here demanded Sect. 13 But are not all the works of the Spirit of God perfect If he work Mortification in any person must it not needs be perfect Can any thing proceed from that which is perfect yea most perfect as the Spirit of God is but that which is perfect indeed I reply The perfection of a work may be estimated or considered two waies First Absolutely or in reference only to it self
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
is much of the Spirit of God in him The reason of this is because the Spirit of God came down from heaven on purpose to make men heavenly minded and to negotiate the interest and affairs of his own Country much after the manner of Agents and Embassadours who come to treat about the things of their own Country So the Spirit doth come down from heaven he is the great Prince that doth negotiate the affairs thereof with men 1 Pet. 1.12 By them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven The Holy Ghost is come to preach the Gospel and the effect he desireth may be produced by it is that of earthly and carnal he might transform persons into heavenly and spiritual Now in whomsoever this is carried on to any sensible and notable degree insomuch that it is perceived by those that have to do with them that their minds are questionless much taken up much set upon the things of the World which is to come the things of heaven and that in comparison thereof the things of this World and the concernments hereof are undervalued and made to stand by when the other are in place that these are made to give way when the interest of the other requires it I say when any man is discerned by those with whom he converseth to be of such a frame and temper of spirit as this is it is a very promising sign and Character that this person is full of the Spirit of God Seventhly If we sow plentifully to the Spirit Sect. 17 this is another sign of a good import and very promising that men are filled with the Spirit What it is to sow to the Spirit we shewed you formerly when we prescribed a sowing unto the Spirit as a means whereby to be filled with the Spirit To sow to the Spirit we signified unto you was to live in such waies to perform such Actions and these frequently and constantly which the Spirit may reap i. e. from whence the Spirit of God may have acknowledgement honour and praise amongst men in the world In the same phrase of speech the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 9.11 calls the preaching of the Gospel unto men the sowing of spiritual things unto them If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter for us to reap your carnal things The faithful Ministers of the Gospel are said to sow spiritual things unto men when they preach the Gospel truly and effectually unto them because they may reap spiritual benefit and advantage from what they sow it being the proper tendency of those things which they preach unto men to yield an encrease and harvest according to the nature and excellency of the Seed In like manner men may be said to sow unto the Spirit of God when they walk in such waies and in the performance of such Actions which are like to turn to an account of praise and glory or contentment unto the Spirit of God As on the contrary when men and women go so to work behave themselves so unworthily in the World that the Spirit is like to suffer prejudice or disparagement by them viz. when men shall be occasioned or tempted to think or say that the Spirit of God never regarded never looked graciously upon such a person that walketh and acteth so unworthily so wickedly in such cases as this men are said to grieve the Spirit of God they sow the seeds of Gall and Wormwood unto him If you ask me What are these waies or actions more particularly by which men and women may be said to sow unto the Spirit I reply They are such which give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit of God in them and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit Such as are waies of Righteousness Love Humility Patience Mercy Bounty c. such waies and actions as these may therefore be said to give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit in men and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit because first If he were not in men perswading unto aiding and assisting in such waies and actions as these they would never proceed from them but on the contrary the Flesh would prevail and bring forth fruits in its kind Again secondly If this Spirit were not a Spirit of Goodness he would not move and stir up men and women to such good and worthy waies and actions as these but to the contrary as the unclean Spirit Satan stirreth up many in his kind Now it is a worthy Testimony given to the Spirit not only when men testifie or assert his goodness unto the World but also when they assert his presence with men or in men this argues the exceeding graciousness and condescension of his nature So then Sect. 18 they who abound in such waies and works as these mentioned and walk with an high hand in them are hereby plainly discovered to be full of the Spirit of God The reason hereof is because as the lowest proportion of the fruits we speak of and the least and least considerable of them do argue that men have some kind or degree of the Spirit in them otherwise they would be wholly and totally barren in this kind So doth it argue a worthy and excellent proportion of the Spirit in men when they are full of such fruits especially when the fruits they bear in this kind are any thing more large or fair than ordinary As when a fruit bearing tree in one kind or other as suppose a Fig-tree or a Pear-tree c. beareth any proportion though never so small of the fruit that is proper to it this argues that there is a lively sap and moysture in the Tree in some degree or other but if this Tree shall be seen with boughs laden with Fruit and that of the largest and goodliest that is to be found this is a sign not simply that the Tree hath sap and moisture in it But that it is full of sap as the Psalmist speaks of the trees of the Lord Psal 104.16 i. e. according to the Hebrew Dialect Trees that are excellently thriving and flourishing in their kind In like manner when men and women shall sow plentifully unto the Spirit in the sense declared especially if the Seed which they sow in this kind shall be goodly fair and large this is an unquestionable demonstration that they are filled with the Spirit of God When men and women shall quit themselves above the ordinary rate of Professours and Believers in works of Love Faith Humility and Self-denial c. shall truly and without any tincture of ill will or hard thoughts forgive and pass by some great injury done unto them by men If thou beest able to pass by an eminent wrong and if thou canst upon the next opportunity as the next day or the like kindly intreat him that hath done it If thou canst deal freely and lovingly with him and this injury hath not at all weakened
influence or blessing But then he shall be all in all that is there shall be nothing in meats and drinks nothing in this Creature nothing in that Creature no but he will as it were contract and withdraw life out of all these and he will give out and utter himself intirely in and by himself only He will be the life and joy and blessedness his infinite fulness shall be the felicity of his Creature So that this is one reason why it is agreeable to the Wisdom of God to put men upon it that they should depend upon such persons as he shall have prepared for them from time to time to furnish them with the knowledge of his Will and indeed the very Method and Contrivance of the Gospel is such that if things be narrowly viewed weighed and considered by men they cannot but perceive that God hath made the Gospel and put it into such Phrases that the things of it should not be understood but by the interposure of some such person whom he shall raise up and invest with abilities to be according to that of Job Job 33.23 an Interpreter one among a thousand Now it is an easie matter to find difference between men Those men who are called Preachers and those who are Preachers indeed for Ministers there be many and Preachers many but there are but few who are Teachers indeed We may see by the very Inditing of the Scriptures in such words and Phrases wherein they are conveyed unto us that the state and condition of the generality of men and women considered and their occasions otherwise to lay out the strength of their understandings it is not lightly possible that without an Interpreter they should come to understand them Secondly Sect. 4 By this course we now speak of God gives an opportunity to try the Spirits of men in several kinds 1. By ministring an opportunity unto those who are endowed with gifts and abilities for the work of the Ministry to shew how they will behave themselves in the exercise of the variety of gifts and graces wherewith they are enriched and how they will manage a Work of such a nature as this of the Ministry is with what care and faithfulness and labour of mind and laying out of themselves for the discharging of that trust that is reposed in them 2. To try the people also How they will behave themselves in their attendance upon this great Ordinance of God and whether they will submit unto the Counsel and good Pleasure of God towards them in such a way as this is by attending diligently upon him in this appointment of his and whether they will be faithful and careful in their attendance hereupon And it is a competent trial to the spirit of some men to be put upon the attending upon especially with diligence and a giving reverence unto such an Ordinance of God which wise and prudent men of this World call foolishness For the Apostle we know borrowing the Dialect of the thoughts and speeches of the World calls it The foolishness of Preaching This in the second place Thirdly and lastly for the present There would be one or rather several Administrations lost in the World if the Holy Ghost should furnish men and women immediately by or from himself with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the things of their Eternal Peace whereas by setting on foot such an Ordinance as that of the Ministry of the Gospel he affords the World a great variety of Administrations which as it is a means of much good unto them so doth it tend to the beautifying and adorning the World and it is a thing marvelously declaring the Wisdom the manifold Wisdom of God that he knows how to furnish it with such almost incredible variety in every kind For instance If we look to the Flowers of the Field Herbs Plants and all kind of Vegetables what great variety is there amongst them Now what doth this but declare the infinite Wisdom of God in that he gives such variety of shapes and colours c. unto them and withal hath given men wisdom and skill how to order them for their good according to their several and respective Natures and Operations So if we look into the Sea What an infinite number and various kinds are there both of great and small Fishes So on the Earth What great variety of Creatures are there And of Fouls in the Air there is the like Again If we look into the Firmament What an infinite number of Stars are there also and that of several Magnitudes And in all these Creatures What various Natures Motions Colours and Properties are there amongst them So likewise in the great business of Salvation God by erecting a Ministry amongst men and putting them upon it to have recourse unto this Ordinance to come by the knowledge of the things of their eternal peace doth as it were beautifie the World in this great Ordinance of Preaching the Gospel with many dispensations wherein there are many strains of his Wisdom to be seen which if any one of these should be wanting or missing it would occasion an Hiatus or empty place in the Dispensations of God And as one compared the taking away the Ministry of the Gospel out of the World unto the taking the Sun out of the Firmament of Heaven which would cause a vacuity or emptiness in respect of light and consequently render the whole Creation of God less lovely or desirable In like manner the taking away of this Ordinance of the Ministry of the Gospel would cause a great darkness in respect of all other the Dispensations of God and there would be an empty place in the World As it is said of David when he was absent that his place was empty at Sauls Table Even so it would be in this case if this great Ordinance of the Ministry should be laid aside there would be a great separation of space between the rest of the Members which would occasion a great disparagement and unpleasantness in the World and in the rest of the Ministrations of God and would render them uncomely and less desirable Thus then we plainly see that to despise Prophesying to turn the back upon the Ministry of the Gospel and other Ordinances Appendixes thereof must be a direct means for men and women to empty themselves of the Holy Ghost insteed of filling themselves with him The knowledge of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel rightly understood is that upon which the Spirit doth as it were feed in the souls of men as the flame of fire doth upon oyl cast upon it And this knowledge is not according to the Ordinary Providence and Dispensation of God in the World to be otherwise had than by attending upon the Ministry of the Spirit which is the Preaching of the Gospel What those Quenchers of the Spirit in themselves Sect. 5 by the course we now speak of are wont to plead for themselves and to set a face of
wherein the Holy Ghost much delighteth as Isa 60.6 22. For the other Scripture mentioned Sect. 8 1 Joh. 2.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him remaineth or abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you c. implying that the former things which he had written to them concerning those that seduced them that is those men who went about to seduce them according to the Language of the Scripture wherein when any Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded are not actually seduced As these Christians were not actually seduced and yet he writeth to them concerning those that seduced them and then he closeth his Admonition thus But saith he the anointing which ye have received of him meaning Christ abideth in you As if he had said it is true that which I have written is in order to fortifie and to strengthen you against those who go about to ensnare and entangle you but saith he you have another means and help in your selves by which to preserve your selves from them and from their snares Now by this anointing I suppose he means not properly the Holy Ghost though he was in them and according to Scripture-phrase may be very properly said to abide in them But by anointing I conceive he rather means the work of the Spirit which he had wrought in them that is the impressions of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness their love to God and Men. This is that anointing which they had received and saith he you need not that any man teach you but as this anointing teacheth you meaning that they needed not that any thing should be offered unto them but that whereof they might be competent Judges by means of those holy Principles of Righteousness and Love which the Holy Ghost had wrought and raised in them For the Gospel in the whole compass or circumference of it being a Doctrine according unto godliness men that have a Principle of Godliness rich and full and any whit raised may sent any Doctrine and if they will but consult with the Oracles in their own breasts they may find out and come to understand whether it be according unto Godliness yea or no. If it carrieth any repugnancy unto Godliness or unto Holiness then saith he you have no need of it you are better without it This anointing is truth and it is no lie As if he had said they themselves could not but know it for Godliness is a real Propensity of heart and soul unto that which is Good Just and Righteous and which maketh for the glory of God and well-being of men these are the Royal things of God not liable to any dispute whether they be true or whether they be false delusions therefore saith he having such an anointing within you you need not that any man should teach you any thing lying above the reach of this For let any Doctrine or Practice whatsoever come to you if it comport and fall in with this Principle then you may receive it And he plainly implieth here that though the same anointing teacheth all things yet they that had this anointing had need that men should teach them according as this teacheth them And the truth is that men and women that are godly and have this anointing in the fullest measure have need to be taught those things which are consonant and agreeable to this anointing and which will nourish enlarge quicken and revive it So that this place is so far from countenancing that Notion or Practice by which men turn aside from the Ministry of the Gospel that it proveth and that very clear that they indeed ought to attend upon it The persons now under reproof Sect. 9 besides what they pretend and plead directly and immediately from the Scriptures have other Arguments and Pleas to harden themselves in their Practice Let us therefore deal with them as sober men use to deal with them that are frantick and mad when they have gotten Knives or Swords wherewith they are like to do either themselves or others a mischief they wrest them out of their hands In like manner let us try by evidence and strength of reason and of truth to take away those weapons at least the chief of them wherein they put their trust One thing they pretend why they should not attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies are not infallible We cannot safely depend upon them in what they teach us they may lead us into error as well as truth Is not this a Consideration sufficient to justifie us in our taking our selves off from hearing them To this I reply First By putting the question to them Whether they judge themselves to be infallible or no If they answer Affirmatively that they do judge themselves infallible which I suppose they will not then Why should not the Ministers of the Gospel be as infallible as they Besides if they be infallible What need they fear of being led aside into Error by the Ministers of the Gospel But it is like they will reply Negatively and grant that they are not infallible If so why then do they depend upon themselves or upon their own Notions or Apprehensions or upon their own senses and interpretations of Scripture May they not as well be mistaken and deceived by leaning unto these as unto such things which shall be by the Ministers of the Gospel delivered unto them Or will these persons themselves be only Sceptiques and profess that they are absolute Neutralists in all manner of Tenents and Opinions in matters of Religion or that they doubt of every thing and firmly believe nothing If they profess this they are more degenerate from men than the generality of the Heathen They firmly believe that there is one God and that he is good c. yea they are worse than the devils of whom James saith That they believe there is one God and tremble Besides such a Profession as this that men believe nothing in matters of Religion interfeers with it self for he that saith he believes nothing certainly pretends herein to know certainly that all things are doubtful yea and to know certainly that it is best for him to be of this Judgement that all things are uncertain and therefore nothing for him to believe Otherwise Why is he thus minded why doth he not rather submit to the contrary But this last Scepticism is a strain of folly not worth the contending against But to the Reason propounded Sect. 10 by which the seekers of superordinancers do make attempt to justifie their practice in giving over the Ministry of the Gospel I reply Secondly That the Scribes and Pharisees were doubtless every whit as far from being infallible as the Ministers of the Gospel now are yet our Saviour himself Mat. 23.2 3. counselled the people and his own Disciples too to hear them yea and
it is appointed to Umpire in the hearts and consciences of men if it were not able to make good those things which it threatneth and promiseth that they are Realities and not only Notions and faint Speculations it would do no great things it would be but a powerless and faint thing As we see all the devised and fained Stories that are abroad in the World though they may please the fansies of some that hear them yet they have no great work upon them they do not move or encline them to any great undertaking And as no man will go to the charge of building a Ship to travel to the Lands of Vtopia because it is only a fained Land of pleasure and delight but no man was ever able to make good the being thereof So for the glorious and great things of the World to come which are spoken of in the Gospel unless you can get it into mens hearts to believe that these things are really so you may treate with them by this and adjure them by that and yet the Conscience not move at all upon any such account but when it shall be made known to them demonstratively that these great things are not words only nor fansies or devised Fables but that they are the same in nature and reality which they are in terms and names now the Consciences of men and women are over-awed and overcome at this point there is no standing out but only in such cases wherein men are bewitched and have their eyes blinded by the God of this World Thirdly and lastly The efficacy of the Ministry we speak of is seen in that Sect. 22 that it communicateth and deriveth the Spirit of God unto men who receive and believe it It is to be considered in this case that it is not simply appointed by God to convey the Spirit of God into the hearts and souls of men and women but that it is an Ordinance of such a nature that it is most proper for such a service for the great God as this viz. the giving forth of the Spirit into the Consciences and Souls of men 2 cor 3.6 Who also hath made us Ministers c. not of the Letter but of the Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So that this is unquestionably true that the Ministry of the Gospel is erected by God for the communication of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of men Even as a Conduit Pipe is a means to convey the water into our Cisterns which before were empty so the hearts souls and inward parts of the Sons and Daughters of men being to a great degree empty of the Spirit of God God hath as it were made and framed these golden Pipes of the Ministry of the Gospel to convey the Holy Ghost into the hearts and souls of men that so together with him there may be life and power and strength and all manner of divine excellencies This the Ministry of the Gospel will certainly do when it is managed like it self and where the Wisdom and gracious Counsel of God is embraced and entertained and men have done homage and have bowed the knee of their Understanding and Judgement unto it and have owned the things contained in it as from God And meet it is that such a service and subjection of the Creature unto God as this is should be immediately and out of hand rewarded by him with so great a gift as his own Spirit As if God should say Where my Advice is received and where my Counsel goeth there shall my Spirit go also This saith the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive We have done at present with the first of the second sort of Offenders who were lately designed to Reproof upon the account of this general Delinquency against the said Doctrine viz. That instead of being filled with the Spirit they take a direct course to be emptied of the Spirit altogether The particular Delinquency of these Persons is that they wholly withdraw themselves from the Ministration of the Gospel which according to the intent and declaration of the Great Founder of it God is the Ministration of the Spirit according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith We have taken away the Weapons from them wherein they trust and have evinced those Texts and places of Scripture upon which they bear themselves for the justification of their practice to have no manner of compliance herewith but rather being rightly understood to stand bent a contrary way We have likewise detected the insufficiency and impertinency of such other Grounds and Reasons for their Practice on which they chiefly insist and wherein their foot is taken and held in a snare of Death The Lord break the snare in sunder and deliver their souls and shew mercy to those that are yet at liberty that they be not led aside into the same Error CHAP. XV. Five sorts of Offenders more under the Second Head reproved First Such who are chill and cool in their respects unto the Ministry of the Gospel An account of the Causes thereof The danger of false Notions concerning God A second sort reproved for withdrawing from a lively and powerful Ministry Reasons of such miscarriages Legal and Evangelical Ministry distinguished What renders Persons duly fitted for the Ministry of the Gospel The third sort justly reprovable are such who neglect to be led by the Spirit of God How and when the Spirit of God is neglected A fourth sort justly reprovable also are such that do resist the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God The fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who refuse to sow unto the Spirit of God WE proceed to a second sort under this Head of Offenders against our Doctrine Sect. 1 who together with the former are summoned to hear what the Spirit of God will please to say unto them in a way of reproof to their practice also and these are of several sorts First Such who though they do not with the former make it matter of conscience wholly to desert the Ministry of the Gospel nor rise up to plead in words against the blessing of it yet are they chill and cool in their respect unto it they do not esteem it as their appointed food they are not zealous in their attendance on it their hearts are not perfect with it when they come to it they come as if they came not or cared not much whether they came or no and so they hear as if they heard not Sathan with a very slender and slight temptation may interpose at any time and separate between them and their attendance upon it We know there are many thousands amongst us of that lukewarm and unworthy temper we speak of who think it enough to wait upon God when he is speaking the
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
was he in a short time forsaken by all the great multitude of his Hearers and Followers none continuing with him but the Twelve only ver 66 67. the rest of them forsook the Fountain of Living Waters to drink out of narrow maddy Cisterns they left him who had grace powred into his Lips who taught with authority whose words were Spirit and Life and went to these foolish blind Guides as Christ terms them the Scribes and Pharisees to be built up unto ruine and destruction by them Even as many Professours amongst us in these daies after they have rejoyced for a time in the light and lively Ministry of some able and worthy Teachers raised up and sent to them by God they wax weary and grow wanton and they must have change of Teachers although those they leave and turn their backs upon be as shining Stars and those they betake themselves unto are but as snuffs of Candles in Comparison This then is another reason of this unworthy and unwise practice of many Professours which oft times sorts to a sad issue an affection of Noveley or an itching ear as the Apostle calleth it A third Reason of the same inconsiderateness and miscarrying is insinuated by the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.3 Sect. 6 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts It is somewhat more significant in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. according to those lusts which are proper and peculiar unto them The manner of the Expression intimates a variety or diversity of fond humours and sinful distempers that will be found amongst Professours one mans conceipt running one way another mans another way and that every man according to his own proper humour and distemper i. e. to gratifie please and feed his own particular lust or humour whatever it should be would heap up Teachers to themselves i. e. I conceive would taste the Spirit or Doctrine of all the Teachers they could come at untill they could meet with such who were for their purpose the tenour of whose teachings and preachings they should find to be such which would not disturbe them in their sinful way Or else heap up Teachers c. i. e. to cover their impatience or dislike of sound Doctrine which will give no quarter to their Lusts and that it may not be thought but that notwithstanding they give over hearing of such or such men yet they are devout and good Christians and love the Ministry of the Word of God they will commend and follow heaps i. e. multitudes of other Teachers whose Doctrines are more plausible less penetrating and searching under which they can enjoy their lusts whatever they be in peace The passage clearly implies yet further that there hath been is and alwaies will be an heap of Teachers found amongst Christians whose Doctrine and Ministry will accommodate mens Lusts what ever they be they will put a bridle of some gloss or interpretation or other into the lips of such passages of the Gospel which frown with severity upon their lusts that they should not fall upon them These are of that sort of Teachers of whom the Apostle Peter likewise Prophesyeth Who he saith to these to whom he writeth and in them to all other Christians thorough covetousness should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with fained words make merchandize of them It is not so properly translated fained words as formed or fashioned words meaning with words chosen on purpose to comport or comply with you in all your exorbitant humours and practices such as will perswade and make you believe that you are all holy and good men and accepted with God although you indulge your selves in such courses As Corah Dathan and Abiram would perswade the People that they were all the whole Congregation of them every one of them holy Num. 16.3 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated feigned being an Adjective comes of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth the act of the Potter forming or fashioning the Vessel under his hand according to the requirement of that use or service for which he intendeth it So many Teachers do form and fashion their words in proportion to such unworthy ends as they propose to themselves in their work of Teaching which as the Apostle in the passage before us implies is ordinarily matter of profit or gain from their hearers Thorough Covetousness with fained words they shall make merchandize of you i.e. out of a desire and design to get money or matter of advantage out of you they will preach smooth and pleasing things unto you though never so dangerous and destructive unto your souls Baals Priests who eat bread at Jezebels Table 1 Kings 18.19 alwaies as it seems Prophesyed good unto Ahab and Jezebel whereas as he complains Micaiah the true Prophet of the Lord never Prophesied good but evil to or concerning him Chap. 22.8 If they had not Prophesied good to Ahab and Jezebel there had been no bread on Jezebels Table for them to eat And the truth is that the generality of Professours are not like to be so bountiful or free in any other case for any other kind of service done unto them as in the strengthening their hand in the way of their lusts and sinful humours by a Ministry of the Gospel this they look upon as an encouragement or dispensation at least from God himself to hold on their way On the other hand they are not more unwilling or loth to part so much as with their old Shooes or with a morsel of bread unto any sort of men than unto such Ministers whose Doctrine they either know or suspect to be at a strong or irreconcileable defiance with their Lusts alwaies troublesome unto and fighting against those Principles and Imaginations within them upon which they bear themselves with peace and comfort in their evil waies They look upon such Ministers as these with such an eye as Ahab looked upon Elijah 1 Kings 21.20 when he judged him his Enemy Hast thou found me O mine Enemy And men are not apt to be liberal to their Enemies nor unto those whom they judge their Enemies By this Argument the Apostle Paul vindicated himself from that aspersion which some false Teachers laid to his charge Sect. 7 viz. That he was a man that warred after the flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 4. i. e. sought himself with all his might in carnal or fleshly accommodations From this charge he vindicateth himself as I say by this Argument viz. That his Weapons or the Weapons of his Warfare were not carnal What doth he mean by the Weapons of his Warfare Doubtless he means those Principles as well intellectual as moral by the active management and use whereof he kept that stir in the World where-ever he came These Weapons saith he of his Warfare were not carnal i. e. were not of such a nature property or kind were not formed of such a
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
notice before-hand that he was a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost lâ—st otherwise the greatness of the Actions might prejudice the belief of them in those that should read them Whereas the Reader taking notice that Stephen was a man endued with more than ordinary Power and Wisdom from on High full of the Holy Ghost they might upon this account look upon it as a thing no waies incredible that Stephen should do and speak and suffer for both 〈◊〉 did So likewise when Paul Acts 13.9 in the Condition of a stranger undertook the bold and high Contest against Elimas the Sorcerer as he is called a false Prophet being a great Favourite as it seemeth to Sergiue Paulus the chief Ruler of the Country in the Isle of Cyprus there is express mention made before-hand of his being full of the Holy Ghost Then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes upon him and said c. Implying that such a thing as this would hardly have been undertaken by Paul unless he had been carried on by the Spirit of God within him and that by some considerable fulness of him And this Paul we now speak of laboured we know in the work of the Lord more abundantly than they all he was as we may say the Lord Christ's right hand upon the Earth he drove Sathan the God of this World before him from place to place and triumphed over him every where where he came he was too hard for him and cast him down from heaven like lightning and turned the affairs of his Kingdom upside down and laid wast his power made havock and desolation in all the Territories which he had amongst the generality of men But how came it about what was the reason why this Apostle so much and to such an high degree over acted the Line of the Labours Zeal and Faithfulness of all his Follows Questionless the reason was he had a richer and fuller anointing of the Spirit than they the Sails of his soul were filled with a stronger gale of the Spirit of God than theirs himself doth in effect give this account of his heroick and high Actings for Jesus Christ in the World Col. 1.28 29. Whom we preach saith he warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily he laboured for this very purpose to present every man perfect in Christ and he did it according to his working namely the Spirit of Christ which did work in him mightily or with power Where observe by the way that the Apostle saith that he did labour in conformity unto the mighty working of the grace of God or of the Spirit of God in him the meaning seems to be this that the Spirit of God that put him on and Paul were both agreed Paul as ready to go as the Spirit was to send By this means Paul went on in all those Heroick Actions which he did and made great havock and desolation among the powers of sin and darkness and unbelief in the World By means I say of the Spirit Paul submitting himself unto him and receiving his impressions and going along with them he was enabled to many great atchievements and to labour more abundantly in the Gospel and for the interest of God and his glory in the World and the good of men also than any nay all the rest of the Apostles though they were men who were also very serviceable in their Generation To instance no father the Lord Christ himself who was the Worthy of all Worthies that ever the great God of Heaven and Earth imployed in any service upon Earth who was the first-born Servant of God and Elder Brother to Paul himself who kindled a fire that never was yet quenched nor ever shall be until it hath consumed all his Enemies and laid a foundation in his own bloud to build up the Name of God in the greatest glory amongst Angels and Men to the daies of Eternity He I say was a man of these high and most transcendent Atchievements by the advantage he had of all other men in being filled with the Spirit above them all according to that of Joh. 3.34 where it is said that God gave him the Spirit without measure he was not only filled with the Spirit but had the over flowing of the Spirit never did any man attain unto his pitch of zeal and faithfulness to the service of God So that there is no question but that he that is filled with the Spirit is in a capacity to Act and cannot lightly but Act at a very high rate for God if be do but follow the motions of the Spirit of God and will go along with them then he cannot I say but be great in the sight of God great in the services of Christ and of his Saints If you desire to know the reason hereof it is because as the higher the wind bloweth that Ship whose Sails are duly trimmed runneth so much the faster and riddeth the more way upon the Seas Even so when the heart and soul of a man shall be full of the Spirit of God such a person must needs be acted and carried on with more power and vigour in a swifter manner or course and be enabled to do twice as much as another in the same compass of time who hath but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God with him You know it is our Saviours Expression Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit I suppose he maketh mention of being born of the flesh only to shew and make things more passable to the understanding of Nicodomus to make way for that which he spake in the latter Now saith he that which is born of the flesh is flesh that thou and every man knows as the Parent that begetteth a Child is of a fleshly nature so that which is born must needs be flesh also And dost thou not know how a man shall be born again of the Spirit It is even as it is with those that be born of the flesh they partake of the same nature and receive the impressions of the flesh So it is with the Spirit that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Such as is the nature of the Spirit of God such also is that which is born or begotten of it that is those Principles whatsoever they are that he who is born of the Spirit doth receive by means of the Spirit of God must answer and be like unto those which the Spirit of God himself hath of which he is born or begotten Now you know that the Spirit of God is full of the Love of God and full of Zeal for God and set upon the magnifying of him in the World and promoting his Interest in the
What is the meaning of the Apostle but this viz. Give him a short and sharp and absolute answer and you shall not long be troubled with him for the Dâ—â—â— knows his time is but short it is shorter by many degrees now than it was then the Devil hath no time to spare nor to trifle away and therefore it is like he will not lose his labour nor time where he is resisted But in case such persons who are filled with the Spirit shall at any time be tempted they are not subject or likely to yield unto the Temptations The reason of this is as the Apostle informeth us Gal. 5.16 17. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh c. That is go along with the Spirit of God hearken to his motions and they that be filled with him cannot lightly but go along with him The Spirit resisteth the Flesh and being in his might he is able to overcome the flesh whilest the Tide of the Spirit runneth strong it beareth the stream and current of the Flesh down before it 1 Joh. 4.4 He that is in you is greater than he that is in the World the Spirit coming in with the fulness of his Power though the Flesh should attempt to carry men into waies of unworthiness yea though the Devil should by his temptations strengthen the flesh yet nevertheless he that is in them the Spirit of God is greater and more mighty than corruptions are or than the Devil himself is This is the second thing propounded viz. that they that are filled with the Spirit are not obnoxious to be tempted unto sin or however not so obnoxious to be overcome by temptations as others are who have but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God in them The third and last follows which is Sect. 6 that they who are not so obnoxious unto temptations or unto sinning by temptation are like to enjoy much peace much of the peace of God which passeth all understanding and of that blessed state of inward joy which is unspeakable and full of glory Now this is that which we are to prove unto you from the Scripture and likewise sound reason will stand by us in it That joy and peace which is raised by the Holy Ghost is far greater than the joy that men can take in silver and gold these kind of objects affect the heart but little comparatively or if the hearts of men should be so affected with these things that they run over with that peace and joy which can be drawn from them yet this then joy is but groundless a joy that hath no substantial ground it is such as wâ—ll nor stand by you it will ere long be gone and the end of that joy will be sorrow But that which properly is the joy of the Lord is when that passion of joy riseth and springs up in men and women from the root of holiness and by means of such objects which they converse withal which are great and excellent and of a spiritual nature and will bear them out in any measure or degree of rejoycing And as spiritual objects work upon and move mens affections to an excellent height so will men also be constant and uniform in their joy and peace which is thus raised in them unless the working of this their joy and peace be interrupted by men themselves by behaving themselves unworthily towards God and Jeâ—us Christ all the things in the World besides cannot do it When the Conscience testifieth with a loud voice that a man hath lived holily and walked humbly with his God hath been obedient unto him in all his waies and commands it cannot be but that upon such a testimony a man must like unto Jordan in the time of harvest overflow with joy and peace Mercy as the Apostle James saith Jam. 2.13 rejoyceth against Judgment a Conscience testifying to a man that he hath been merciful that he hath done much good that hath ministred like unto himself according to the ability which God hath given him such a conscience as this doth make a man to rejoyce against Judgment Now then if this one course of worthiness be so great an advantage unto men and women how much greater is it when there is not only this particular way of worthiness but when this shall be strengthened with another excellent way and another and another to that when a man shall have this Testimony in his conscience that he hath not only been a merciful man but also that in other things he hath walked uprightly and perfectly before his God that he hath not corrupted himself neither by any unmercifulness of Spirit nor with any of the waies and practices of this World When there is such a consort of heavenly practices met together these will enable men to magnifie themselves against the fears of death and make men stand like Princes before God undaunted and unapaled This then is the second of the four particulars a concurrent enjoyment whereof cannot lightly be conceived but that they must needs render a mans state and condition of life in this World excellent and desirable The third thing Sect. 7 which we told you must needs render a mans state and condition in the World desirable was a free and large Communion with God Now first that such a priviledge and enjoyment as this must needs contribute richly towards the rendring a mans state and condition in this World for of this only we speak at present excellently contentful satisfactory and desirable in the highest unto him Secondly That this priviledge must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit and be possessed and enjoyed by all those who are thus filled may be made to appear by a little consideration But by the way give me leave to shew you first What I mean by Communion with God Secondly What I mean by a free Communion Thirdly What I mean by a large or full Communion with God Fourthly To make it good that this must needs render a mans condition desirable in the World And then fifthly To shew that this Priviledge must needs accompany our being filled with the Spirit First Then by a Communion with God I mean an inward and spiritual converse or intercourse of the soul with God or a recourse making unto God upon all occasions for direction help or comfort from hiâ— together with a readiness in God to correspond in all such occasions â—s these I confess Communion with God taking the word Communion in a large sense extendeth farther than any thing now expressed and comprehends somewhat more viz. a mutual or reciprocal propensness between God and the Creature to sympathize the one with the other according to the condition of their mutual affairs respectively whether prosperous or adverse and true it is that this Communion also intercedes between God and him that is filled with his Spirit But in the Point before us we chiefly intend the other viz. a capacity or
there is the same reason of Gods abiding in us and of our abiding or dwelling in him That these I say are things to be provided for and procured by men themselves I still mean by those means and helps which are vouchsafed by God in order hereunto appears from that admonition of Christ from Joh. 15.4 5. Abide in me saith Christ and I in you i. e. Let me abide in you or and I will abide in you Abide in me take such a course remember your selves consider what you have to do that you may abide in me And in the next verse He that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit But what doth Christ mean Sect. 9 when he admonisheth his Disciples to abide in him What is it that he prescribes them to do for their abiding in him For it is not to be supposed or thought that they could abide in him by doing nothing no nor yet that they should abide in him simply by abiding in him as if their abiding in him could or should be a means of their abiding in him Therefore when he doth admonish them to abide in him his meaning is as we now said that they should take such a course and use such means whereby they might abide in him What this course or means is by which men may abide in God and Christ is laid down by the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3.24 He that kâ—epeth his Commandments abideth in him and he in him and hereby we know c. So that when Christ exhorteth his Disciples to abide in him his meaning is nothing else but that he would have them keep his Commandments and by that means they should manage their own occasions by his love and by his power and wisdom and he would manage his ocâ—â—â—ons with their hands and with their hearts and with their affections Abide in me and I in you if we take it Provisory Abide in me and know that I shall then abide in you or let me abide in you or that I may abide in you I confess this is a good and proper sense For the latter Clause and I in you implieth that there is no man hath any dwelling in Christ but that first Christ hath his dwelling in him For it is not man that standeth and knocketh at the door of Christ's heart but it is Christ that first standeth and knocketh at the hearts of men If any man openeth unto him then Christ cometh in and dwelleth there as soon as the Creature doth but open the door and give him entertainment Jesus Christ cometh in and taketh up his abode and then giveth him who openeth unto him place in his heart also And so there are two Friends looking after and minding the affairs one of another It is true the Creature hath the advantage of it For such a Friend as Jesus Christ is of ten thousand times greater concernment and advantage unto him than he can be unto Jesus Christ yet nevertheless as he hath many great and weighty occasions which cannot be transacted or managed by any other hand but only by Jesus Christ I say cannot be managed by himself alone nor unless he abide in Christ and have suffcient place in his heart and soul So on the other hand Jesus Christ as the Design of God is now laid hath much business that cannot be managed nor carried on but by such a kind of Agent or Instrument as the weak and contemptible Creature man is I say Jesus Christ hath much to do in the World which cannot be transacted according to his mind and desire without the hand and heart of the Saints be in it to carry on the Enterprize He hath the World to convince of sin his Enemies to be confounded and their mouths stopped He hath Patterns and Examples of Righteousness and true Holiness to be held forth and exhibited unto the World He hath his Gospel to be preached carried on and propagated in the World so long as the foundation of it shall stand Now these are his Engines which he must make use of to carry on his interest in the World and as it was said concerning the Ass that silly Creature the Lord had need of him and therefore his Owner must let him go to fulfil a great Prediction that was before of him Even so Christ continually stands in need of the helping hand and of the hearts and affections of the Children of men therefore he doth exhort his Disciples that they should take such a course that they might dwell in him and that he might dwell in them and that he might not be put out of them Now when men shall cool and decline in their affections unto Ghrist and unto the truths of the Gospel when they shall take in any other Inmate or Indweller whose interest shall command the interest of Jesus Christ and whom they shall be more ready to serve and obey this is to discharge and not suffer Jesus Christ to dwell any longer in them But on the other hand when men shall give this Inmate or indweller Jesus Christ good entertainment in their hearts and souls by bringing forth much fruit unto him this will strengthen his hand to make his abode there Now where Christ thus dwelleth in a man that he seriously minds his interest and affairs Christ on the other hand by means of this mutual cohabitation dwelling or abiding of a man in him will alwaies be ready to mind his occasions to do him good to project his peace comfort and advantage in every kind Now then inasmuch as it is a matter of very great consequence to the Believer that he should be active and operative for God so it cannot be thought but that Jesus Christ will put him on and be his remembrancer from day to day of that which is his duty to do he hath not only an advantage of being fruitful that way but to be fruitful according to that degree of interest that Jesus Christ hath in him So that he that dwelleth in Christ must needs bring forth much fruit because Christ will not be wanting unto him to quicken and to strengthen him and to give him wisdom to do all things which he is called to do Secondly Sect. 10 How do we come to know that God dwelleth in us by the Spirit which God hath given us I reply first By the Spirit which God is here said to have given us is not meant I conceive directly and immediately the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God but rather that Spirit which is begotten or born in us of or by the Spirit for the Spirit of God is wont to beget another Spirit in man in his own Image and Likeness according to that of the Gospel of John That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit as we lately interpreted that which is born of the flesh is of a fleshly nature and hath all the properties of the flesh heaviness and
it it hath by Commission from God And the very truth is that if we would examine the business we should find that as fear hath torment so there is nothing that hath torment in it but fear or nothing without fear all sicknesses and pains in the body if you could but divide fear from them they would not torment at all if a man did not fear the continuance of them they would not disquiet nor trouble him Now it is the effect of love that it doth remove from the hearts and souls of men whatsoever is of a disquieting import unto them The truth is that love would do so amongst men were it perfectly known or understood If I knew that this man did know that my heart was perfect with him and that I did entirely love him I would not fear that that man would willingly do me any harm So then this is one reason why love to God casteth out fear because that a man by this means is mightily perswaded concerning God that he is so good and gracious that he will not fall heavy upon his Friends those that love him Yea it is impossible that any such thought of God should enter into the heart of such a man to think that God should destroy any that do love him and seek his honour and glory or that he should not do them good and seek their peace and safety The Apostle takes this for a Principle that no man will gainsay That all things shall work together for good to those that love God Rom. 8.8 This is a Principle which we all agree in that Gods love is such to those that we cannot think but that all his Creatures and all his Providences shall be Tributaries to them In the second place then it is evident from the Premisses both latter and former that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that he loves God Thirdly and lastly The third thing mentioned Sect. 13 which especially in conjunction with the two former must needs satisfie any man of his attonement with God is the direct and immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God himself in man testifying together with a mans own spirit i.e. with his heart soul and conscience that this attonement is made and he accepted by God this is the Apostles express Doctrine Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God The Spirit it self or the Spirit himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle by this Emphatical expression the Spirit himself seemeth To imply that the thing or act which he speaketh of is of a most worthy nature and import of a sacred consequence and such as well becometh him who is the Agent or Actor of it the Spirit of God himself But what is that worthy thing which the Apostle here attributes to so great an Agent as the Spirit of God It is a witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God which signifies as much as that our Attonement is made and that we are at peace with him it signifies this I say and somewhat more Well out how are we to conceive of that act here ascribed unto the Holy Ghost his witnessing this to and with our Spirits that we are the Children of God The Expression of witnessing with our spirit plainly implies that it is but one and the same Act of witnessing or witness-bearing which is here joyntly or in common ascribed unto the Spirit of God and the spirit of men and that the Spirit of God doth not bear any such witness as that here mentioned apart from the Spirit of men or when this doth not witness also From whence it appears that the witnessing or joynt-witnessing of the Spirit here spoken of is only a fortifying strengthening raising and enriching of the Witness or Testimony of a mans own spirit So when the heart and soul and conscience of a man shall with more than ordinary strength power and authority testifie unto or perswade him that he is the Child of God Or rather thus when a man shall find himself perswaded and possessed upon these high terms with such an apprehension it is a sign that the Spirit is in this perswasion and that it is he that giveth the vigour and all that which is more than ordinary unto it As the stream and current of a River is doubled and trebbled in the swiftness of the motion and in the depth and breadth of it when the rain-water or the waters of a Land-floud joyn themselves in the same motion with it making together one and the same stream In like manner when the apprehension or perswasion in a man of his being a Child of God magnifies it self at a high rate against fears and doubtings and jealousies in every kind it argues a Conjunction of both Spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of man himself and that which is so over bearing and over-ruling in this perswasion is appropriately from the Spirit of God according to that of our Apostle immediately preceding the words in hand But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption by which or whereby we cry Abba Father We cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. cry aloud or with all our might as we lately noted the proper import of the word Now to cry aloud Abba Father signifies the inner man calling of God Father or a mans addressing himself unto God as unto a Father with a good courage or Princelike confidence A mans own spirit I mean with such an assistance of the Spirit of God as the weakest Christian hath may whisper or secretly mutter Abba Father But by the way this is to be remembred First That when the Apostle saith that by the Spirit Sect. 14 which we have received by the Gospel we cry Abba Father he is not so to be understood as if he meant that every one who hath received of the Spirit of Adoption in any measure were in a capacity hereby to cry much less actually did cry aloud Abba Father upon the terms lately expressed but he means that that Spirit which was sent down from heaven to accompany the Gospel and the Ministry of it might be received entertained and entreated by men and women as that they might become enlarged and enabled by him to cry Abba Father Things use to be described and especially commended by the best and richest of their fruits and by what they are serviceable for when they are in their perfection and not by their mean or less considerable fruits and services As the Apostle commending and setting forth the excellency of love or Christian Charity saith 1 Cor. 13.5 7. among other things Charity doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil And again Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things c. His meaning in these descriptions and commendations of Charity is not to imply that Charity in any degree qualifies men for
filled with the Spirit must needs have a rich and large interest with God in respect of prevailing with him by Prayer and carrying matters of greatest and highest importance at the Throne of Grace First then to shew and prove this That Persons filled with the Spirit of God cannot but be great in their interest with God Secondly That such a greatness of Interest in God especially being accompanied with the other three Priviledges formerly opened and asserted cannot but compleat the felicity and desirableness of the life of a man or woman in this World First The Reason why they who are filled with the Spirit must needs be great in the sight of God and carry things with an high hand at the Throne of Grace is that which heretofore we have proved at large viz. because such persons are men after Gods own heart the Character which God himself gave of David i. e. as himself explaineth the said Character persons that will fulfill all his pleasure meaning as concerning themselves or so far as it concerns them or as they are in a capacity to fulfil it they will make the most that can be made by men in their Cloaths as we use to say of the Interest of God and of Jesus Christ in the World This same activeness and spiritfulness in the service of God is one of the most natural constant and visible fruits and effects of any man or womans being filled with the Spirit of God For when the soul or inward part of a man is filled with the Spirit it cannot contain it self and the issuings and breathings of it out are nothing else but excellent and high actings for God a fruitfulness of life and conversation This is as natural and genuine fruit of mens being filled with the Spirit as the Fig is the natural fruit of the Fig-tree and the Grape the natural fruit of the Vine For the nature of the Spirit of God is to glorifie God that is to be serviceable unto his ends purposes and desires in the World And therefore according to that true Rule in Philosophy every Agent seeketh to assimilate his Patient unto himself So the Spirit of God where he is in his fulness he maketh men lively and vigorous he putteth it into them and draweth them on unto waies of Excellency and giveth them no rest but is still exciting of them unto the serving of God But this Point we have argued formerly and evinced the truth of the thing from the Scriptures above all contradictions That which we have now to do is to shew and prove that those who are diligent and faithful and zealous observers of the Precepts of God and are free in laying out themselves upon the account of his interest and glory are Persons that have his ear as we use to say and who for the asking may obtain any thing with reason and with righteousness at his hands and the Persons we now speak of are not apt or wont to ask any thing upon other terms But that which we now deliver is abundantly delivered by God himself unto you in the Scriptures namely that Persons who are full of action for God have large quarter at the Throne of Grace and carry matters of high import with God and that with an high hand We have several passages in Scriptures to consult with 1 Joh. 3.22 Sect. 2 And whatsoever we ask we receive of him c. It is put in the Present Tense as it is very usual after the manner of Prophetical Dialect to speak of things that be Future in the Present Tense or as being present by reason of the truth and certainty of the things that are spoken So here Whatsoever we ask we receive i. e. are as certain that we shall receive it as if we had it already whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandments Here is the ground-work because they observed them The word is very emphatical signifying both the inward respect that men have of them in their minds memories and consciences and also the external action arising out of this not only because we keep his Commandments but likewise because we do those things that are pleasing in his sight He implies that men may keep the Commandments of God and yet may not do the things that are pleasing in his sight For there is as we have had occasion heretofore to distinguish a difference between the keeping of the Letter of the Precepts or Commands of God and the carrying on of those Commands to such an observance of them which include many particulars which indeed commends our obedience unto God yet are not in the Letter or surface of the Command Now Prayer though it should be with the greatest earnestness performed or with the greatest Faith and Confidence yet if it be not the Prayer of a righteous man the Promise of prevailing much would not belong to it So here to ask a thing according to the Will of God doth not only include a praying righteously in respect of the matter and also in the manner but also such Conditions and Qualifications which according to the Will of God ought to be found in those that should pray amongst which Qualifications this is one that they be men and women ready and free to do such things which are pleasing to God not simply and barely to do his Commands but to do those things which are pleasing unto him Mat. 21.22 All things whatsoever ye shall ask in Prayer believing ye shall receive This word believing is very comprehensive and it doth include in it all things that are requisite and necessary for the reducing of this Prayer unto this posture that is unto a receiving posture Now certain it is no man can have that confidence which John speaks of towards God or that believing to receive whatsoever he shall ask in Prayer which our Saviour speaks of but only he who is conscious to himself of his faithfulness to God and of his integrity and uprightness in his waies For my Brethren if the Consciences of men and women shall reprove them of any looseness or lightness of spirit or that they have served God by halves that they have been off and on with him in their practice and negligent in making use of such advantages and opportunities for the glorifying of his name which he hath put into their hands this will be like a Bridle in the Lips of mens Faith there will be fears and jealousies and inward doubtings within them Whereas if our hearts shall bear a rich Testimony unto us which they will never do unless we shall be under such a frame of spirit to do the things that are pleasing in his sight that we have walked before him in all uprightness then will our Faith and Confidence be steady and we may pray with the greatest assurance that we shall receive whatsoever we ask of God And so again Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock
hired in the Morning and then with the rest that came later and then with the last that came at the Eleventh hour When the first saw that there was as much given unto those that had laboured but one hour of the day as there was unto them that had borne the heat and burthen of the day this caused them to break out against the Housholder that had hired them as if he were unequal unreasonable and unjust in giving more unto such as had laboured less as they judged it and less to them who had laboured more the proportion of their labour considered Now Christ shews that this might very well be in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the business of the Gospel and preaching of that in the World that God may justly and upon his own terms though he would not account with such Murmurers and Quarrellers about his terms yet that God was at liberty to make what Law or Terms he pleased for the disposal of his own and to walk by this Rule accordingly that this was just and equal and there was no cause to contend with him or to murmur against him for so doing But it may be some mans Question Sect. 20 But how could any such Terms or Rules be equal for God to proceed by to make these equal in reward who laboured but one hour with those that laboured many and as themselves pleaded their own cause that had borne the heat and burthen of the day To this I answer That God doth not simply and barely estimate the external Actions and Services of men but doth lay together and puts into the balance whatsoever it may be the inward frame of the heart and soul And so we find in Scripture that when mention is made of the righteousness of God in judging of men it is said that he will judge men according to their works and bring forth every secret thing to judgment That which will bear special weight in the judgment of God is the frame of the heart and spirit which it may be some had not the opportunity fully and thoroughly to express in their outward deportments and service in the World but when God comes to pass Sentence and to give Judgment then he will estimate things according to the strictest and accuratest terms of reason But our Saviour in this Parable sets forth the high presuming nature of the Jews in opposition to the Gentiles whom they despised and who at the Eleventh hour of the day were called into the Service of God He there sets forth their Genius and Disposition who because they had done so much and had been so laborious above others in the Works of the Law and in the Ceremonies and Sacrifices and in the legal Rites and Observations therefore they thought they should have double and trebble and a thousand-fold above the Gentiles that came in so late Now the Lord Christ declares unto the Jews Parabolically that he knew the frames of their hearts how they were much expecting and looking for rewards from him for what they did upon the account of themselves but intimates that the Gentiles were content to submit to the good will and pleasure of God that they came in to serve him freely without indenting or any particular contracting with him after the manner which it seems the Jews did Upon this account he makes equal the performance and Services of the Gentiles though it was not of so long a continuance The Gentiles had not been so long in his Vineyard as they had been yet the Gentiles served him with a better heart and more ingenious mind and affections than the Jews did which they ought to have considered and not so much to have stood upon their ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl their Sacrifices and Legal Observations as to contend with God for a reward in rigour of Justice That by the Peny is not here meant Eternal life Chrysostome of old and sundry later Interpreters have sufficiently proved from hence namely that they who come in at the first hour of the day that is the murmurers and those whose eyes were evil because God was good that envied at the bounty and magnificence of God towards the poor Gentiles that such persons are not like to receive the Kingdom of Heaven Salvation from the hand of God Or if we should in the last place understand by the Peny here the Kingdom of Heaven or Salvation it self yet would it not follow from thence that therefore all these workmen had all the same part and the same portion there or the same degrees in glory Because as when it is said that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father though they shall be all equal in this that they shall all shine as the Sun yet it doth not follow that they shall all shine with the same lustre and splendor and brightness but that there may be different degrees of shining So it may be said that all those persons even they that were men of an evil eye and were apt to murmur and grudge at them who they thought were inferiour unto themselves and had not been so long in the Service of God as they supposing I say that those persons should be saved as well as the other yet it doth not follow that therefore there should be no difference between the one and the other for every one may have his Peny if we understand Salvation by it for all the Saints and all Believers that have the least Faith and the lowest degree in Grace as well as the highest they shall all be saved But it doth in no wise follow from hence because they shall receive every man a Peny that therefore they shall each one receive no greater proportion than the other I say it hinders not but that there may be degrees and greater proportions and shares in this Salvation to be conferred upon some above what shall be given or conferred upon other So that the truth is though this Parable be very hard and obscure and accordingly hath tried the Judgments and Understandings of men and divided them to purpose Yet there is nothing can reasonably be brought from it which hath any clear or pregnant Argument against that inequality of rewards which we have been arguing until now So that we shall take this for a ground or Basis of that Discourse which we are upon That certainly there is a variety and difference of Rewards in Heaven there are Crowns some greater and more weightier than others Now this we should have added in the close that the Crowns of greatest weight and glory are prepared for the heads of those who are filled with the Spirit of God these are the persons that shall be highest and nearest unto Jesus Christ in his glory they that shall most abound in the work of the Lord they that are fullest of Zeal and Faithfulness they that will make the greatest disposure of themselves that shall be content to
will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Page 164 Abide in me Ver. 15.4 5. and I in you he that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit Page 197 198 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Ver. 15.26 even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me Page 164 c. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Ver. 16.14 Page 216 217 218 And now Father Ver. 17.5 glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Page 136 c. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Ver. 8. and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they believed that thou didst send me Page 516 c. And when he had said this Ver. 20.22 23. he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Page 173 c. Men and Brethren Acts 1.16 this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas Page 176 And when they heard that Acts 4.24 they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c. Page 176 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Page 42 177 Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Ver. 9. Page 177 For in him we live Ver. 17.28 and move and have our being Page 86 We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Ver. 19.2 Page 228 Behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Ver. 20.22 Page 43. c Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1.21 Page 68 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.18 Page 105 Giving glory to God Ver. 20. Page 105 c. For I know that in me Ver. 7.18 that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Page 299 But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind Ver. 23. and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Page 299 For as many as are led by the Spirit Ver. 8.14 c. Page 295 We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Ver. 15. Abba Father Page 505 c. The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Ver. 16. Page 504 c. And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came Ver. 9.5 who is over all God blessed for ever Page 189 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Ver. 10.9 c. Page 48 But fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Ver. 12.11 Page 14 Rulers are not a terror to good works Ver. 13.3 but to evil Page 68 Attending continually upon this very thing Ver. 6. Page 68 For the Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Page 171 231 232 233 For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Page 171 For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 for necessity is laid upon me yea woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel Page 353 354 Wherefore Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe 1 Cor. 14.22 but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them that believe Page 406 c. Therefore 1 Cor. 15.38 my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord for asmuch as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord Page 112 113 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 but our sufficiency is of God Page 242 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5.13 or whether we be sober it is for your cause Page 43 44 Having therefore these Promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord Page 133 134 Your Zeal hath provoked very many 2 Cor. 9.2 Page 47 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Page 544 For the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal 2 Cor. 10.4 but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Page 430 431 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 the Messenger of Sathan Page 492 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Page 252 269 Bear ye on anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 Page 50 51 For he that soweth to the Spirit Gal. 6.8 c. Page 290 Which is his body Eph. 1.23 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Page 131 For this cause I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 16. Of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Page 58 59 60 That ye might being rooted and grounded in love Ver. 17 18. may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and breadth and depth and height c. Page 71 72 73 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth Ver. 4.29 30. c. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Page 12 13 304 305 Knowing whatsoever good thing any man doth Ver. 6.8 the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Page 112 Many waxed confident by my bonds Phil. 1.14 Page 47 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 13. for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Page 158 Who shall change our vile body Phil. 3.21 c. Page 122 123 That in all things he might have the preeminence Col. 1.18 Page 122 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Page 10 11 12 God who counted me faithful 1 Tim. 1.12 putting me into the Ministry Page 35 36 I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern Page 33 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.3 but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts
many places Actions are ascribed unto him that doth assist and direct and help men in the performance of them and not unto him that is the formal and immediate Agent Page 232 235 XVII That in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon by the Creature Page 242 XVIII Such Causes which work and contribute towards their Effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is literal or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all Causes 244. Yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand Page ibid. XIX A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him Page 248 XX. God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and Waies of Men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and faller Connexion they have with their peace and happiness Pag. 248 XXI Though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert and put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth Page 281 XXII The way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us but to go about that which is our Duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgement and deep sense of our inability Page 283 XXIII It is a usual Dialect in Scripture when the Act is expressed for the means or course that is usually taken to effect it Page 284 XXIV Though there be a presence of the Spirit of God with men in the state of Nature or unregeneracy yet the Scriptures do not speak of the Spirits dwelling in men nor of their receiving him until they receive him in a greater measure or after the manner in which Believers receive him Page 285 XXV Whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Page 286 XXVI Whosoever makes the Creature either meerly Passive in its Works or Services or willing as they say by or from a necessitation they despoil it of all capacity of being rewarded by God and so while they pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God indeed and in truth make nothing of it Page 287 XXVII It is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them should no other circumstance hindring be intrusted with a greater Page 288 XXVIII God usually walketh with Men by such Principles and Rules which are written on their hearts by the finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their Civil and Common Affairs Page 31 32 288 297 XXIX God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it Page 289 XXX The Hebrew Dialect many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Consequent Page 299 XXXI That is sometimes said to be dâ—ne which is done frequently or isal waies probable or likely to be done Page 301 XXXII The Connexive Particle and sometimes implieth a Motive enforcing a preceding Exhortation Page 304 XXXIII God hath built and framed the body of his Laws and Precepts given unto men upon like terms by such Principles and Rules of Wisdom and 〈◊〉 according to which prudent Law makers amongst men me went to compile and 〈◊〉 the body of those Civil or Politick Laws which they make for the benefit or use of their States or Communities respectively Pag. 348 349 XXXIV The Gospel being a Doctrine according to Godliness every limbe and vein of it must have a tendency the same way Page 363 XXXV When an Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded be not actually seduced Page 399 XXXVI Comparative senses or meanings are frequently expressed in absolute and positive terms Page 407 XXXVII When Men are greatly averse from believing or repenting they are not like to bestow any serious or intense consideration upon the means by which they should be brought to do either especially if they can find out any colour or pretense to disparage them and so to arm their Consciences and Judgments against them Page 407 XXXVIII Whether Words or Works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there Page 408 XXXIX When a man is unwilling to do a thing he may according to Scripture Dialect or manner of speaking be said to be unable to do it Page 20 21 413 XL. There is no ground to judge and determine a Ministry to be legal because the face of it is set and bent as it were to press men to the keeping of the Commands of God contained in the Moral Law Page 441 XLI A person may be said to be moved or enclined when that is done unto him which is apt and proper and sufficient to cause him to be moved and enclined whether he be actually moved or enclined or no Page 446 XLII Such a person is said to sow unto the Spirit who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Page 450 XLIII That which is delivered unto the World in the New Testament by the mouth of Jesus Christ himself or upon the account of his coming from Heaven as all that which the Holy Ghost hath further revealed by the Apostles is is more obliging and binding upon the Consciences of men and more severely punishable by God when neglected or despised than the things delivered in the Old Testament or before Christ's coming into the World were or are Page 459 XLIV It is not unusual in Emphatical Discourses to speak of one and the same person in different considerations as of two Page 459 It is usual in the Scriptures when things are more fully done or after a more rich and bountiful manner discovered to represent them as newly done Page 462 XLV It is frequent in Scripture when the Holy Ghost would reprove Men in things that be irrational to interrogate them as to the reason or ground of what they do Page 476 XLVI The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Page 501 XLVII The words Perfect and Perfection are most frequently used when applied to Men or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but in a limited and diminutive sense but when applied to God in the strictest sense Page 501 XLVIII Verbs properly signifying action many times declare the Natures and Properties of things and what they are able apt and likely to do Page 502 XLIX Many things in Scripture are said to be done by men when it is meet they should do them or have a good ground or reason for the doing of them Page 512 L. The Verb Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which properly signifies the simple and absolute Being on Existence of a thing is oft used in the Scriptures for the Being of a thing in Act Exercise or manifestation Page 228 The End