soul whether our own or others is capable of being vexed in a proper sense but this sense seems not here intended yet this I must tell you that God interprets all that is done against his children as done against himself and therefore do you beware how you grieve the Lords holy ones either by saying or doing any thing which you know their souls cannot but abhor perhaps it grieveth not some of your souls nor grateth on some of your ears to hear the name of God taken in vain or blasphemed or the good ways of God spoken against but true Believers are of another temper Psal 42.10 As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me While they say dayly unto me where is thy God 2 Pet. 2.8 Lot vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds which he saw and heard in Sodom and Gomorrah Wherefore Sirs be not ambitious to strike father and sons at one blow let it suffice that you dishonour God but do not dishonour him at such times and places when and where his Saints may stand by and see and hear the wrong and dishonour that is reflected on their heavenly Father 2. We may be said to grieve him when we do that which would grieve him were he capable of grief The Scripture calls not things according to success and event he that looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart though he never act that brutish lust Matt. 5.28 He that hateth his brother is a Murtherer 1 John 3.15 not that every one that hateth doth properly kill but that he who hateth his brother had undoubtedly killed his brother could his brother have been thought to death his hatred would have brought forth murder had not something strangled it in the womb So we do by the Spirit we do that against him which would grieve him and more then grieve him were he capable of being grieved or any way altered for the worse O man take it from me every time thou sinnest presumptuously thou dost what in thee lieth to annihilate the fountain of all essences thou dost what thou canst to leave the world without a God He will be in heaven maugre all the malice of men and devils no thanks to them were he capable of being deprived of life they by their sins had deprived him of life long since Hence he complains that he was broken in pieces by the whorish heart of Israel Ezek. 6.9 So true is that of the Schoolmen that omne peccatum is deicidium 3. We are said to grieve the Spirit of God when we make the Spirit of God so to carry it towards us as persons do towards those that have grieved them If by any unworthy carriage I have vexed my friend he intermits all acts of friendship and familiarity So doth the Spirit when any thing is committed contrary to his nature or offices withdraw his benigne influences and consolations which are better then life I judge as do the generality of Reformed Divines that the Spirit of God doth never forsake those totally whom hee hath once chosen for his temple In this we know we are not deceived nor can we deceive you when wee teach that the faith whereby yee are sanctified cannot fail it did not in the Prophet it shall not in you They which are born of God do not sin any such sin as doth quite extinguish grace clean cut them off from Christ Jesus because the seed of God abideth in them and doth shield them from receiving any irremediable wound saith the judicious Mr. Richard Hooker Sermon of the Certainty c. pag. 545 546. But de non existentibus et non apparentibus eadem est ratio the Spirit may when greived so dwell in a man as if he did not dwell in him he may be quite gone as to any present sense and feeling he was so as to David which made him pray Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit Quest 2. Why are we rather said to greive the Holy Ghost then the Father or the Son Answ No question we do by sin grieve the Father and the Son as well as by every Renewed act of repentance we do minister joy to them Every wilfull sin is an high affront to the thrice blessed and glorious Trinity Psal 78. v. 40. How oft did they provoke him in the Wilderness and grieve him in the desert Psal 95. vers 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation But the Divine Persons though agreeing in their common essence are distinguished by relations and operations or rather by their manner of operation the father being unbegotten worketh of himself the Son from the Father the Holy Ghost from both Father and Son hence though all works terminated on the creature are common to all three Persons yet each work is most commonly ascribed to that person whose manner of subsistence doth most eminently appear in that work It is the appropiate work of the holy Ghost to reveal unto us the mistery of godliness to make application of the death and resurrection of God the Son and therefore when we do any thing contrary to the doctrine which is according to godliness or unworthy of the death of Jesus we cross the Spirit in his work and so are said to grieve him Quest 3. What are the special sinnes by which we do more eminently grieve the Spirit Answ If the question were put concerning the general nature of the sins by which the Spirit is grieved soon might it be resolved for it seems to be past all controversie that we grieve him not by sins of dayly incursion not by meer unavoideable infirmities such as by the measure of grace vouchsafed on this side heaven we cannot escape but by sins that are in some degree deliberate and wilfull but seeing it is put concerning the special kinds of deliberate sins which are most grievous to the Spirit it will deserve a larger answer I say therefore the sins that are more then ordinarily grievous to the Spirit are such as these 1. All the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All those lusts of uncleanness whether natural or unnatural the living in these is called walking according to the flesh which we know is made diametrically opposite to walking according to the Spirit by whose help we are to mortifie the deeds of the flesh This kind of sin hath something in it peculiar for whereas all other sins that a man doth are without the body he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body 1 Cor. 6.18 A Graecis sexcentae dantur huic loco interpretationes Vid. Dr. Feaâ—ly in lecum saith Clarius that interpretation which seems most proper is that other sins though acted by the body and leaving an ill impression on the body yet have not that force over mans body as to enslave it to another which yet fornication hath for by fornication the fornicator is made a member of the
God for those enjoyments they have of him in this earthly Tabernacle but yet not be so satisfied with any such enjoyments as not to desire it may be dissolved and so they put into the possession of that house in heavens not made with hands We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon 2 Cor. 5.4 I confess in this I look on St. Paul as our Pattern rather then as our Standard I dare not say that all who are partakers of the Spirit do thus earnestly groan after absence from the body and presence with the Lord but all have reason so to do else had not all by Christ been taught to pray Thy Kingdom come As for you who live in sin I cannot exhort you to desire this day rather you may pray as did the Primitive Christians though on a better account Pro morâ finis for to you this Day of the Lord shal not be a day of Redemption but of Confinement to the darkest dungeon it shal burn as an Oven it shall burn you up and leave you neither root nor branch The Devils who believe it do tremble at the thoughts of it and if you tremble not at it it is because you believe it not The best and most seasonable advice I can give you is to kiss the Redeemer and to follow God with sighs and groans till he hath given you hearts soft as wax then shall you also be sealed to the day of Redemption Of this Sealing of the Spirit I am now to speak and that somewhat largely being therefore to build high it is good to dig deep and lay the foundation sure The expression is undoubtedly Metaphorical and must betoken something that bears proportion to Sealing properly so called What that is we should the rather enquire because the Metaphor is so frequently used here and Chap. 1.13 and 2 Cor. 1.22 He that shall read the Learned Zanchy on Chap. 1. vers 13. will not lose his labour nay will think nothing can be added unto what he hath said I shall from him and others in a few words lend light enough to elucidate this matter to those that have a mind to understand Two things among us go by the name of a Seal 1. The Signet that makes the Impression 2. The Impression that is made by the Signet And sealing if considered in its nature is nothing else but the imparting of the Image of the Signet to that which is sealed But then the uses of sealing are divers 1. For secresie or security 2. For ratification or confirmation 3. For distinction or separation Now the question is Whether in allusion to the nature of some or all uses of sealing we are said to be sealed Doubtless the Spirit doth work in us so as to communicate unto us the likeness of God in holiness and righteousness By him we are changed into the Image of God from glory to glory 1 Cor. 3. last According to his mercy he saveth us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 We are born again of water and the Holy Ghost Joh. 3.3 We are washed we are sanctified we are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 But seeing the sealing here intended is in order of nature after believing Ephes 1.13 I humbly conceive it is not the making of the Elect to partake of the Divine Nature but the assuring of them that they do partake of it the perswading our hearts that we have Gods mark on us God seals us with his Spirit not that he may know us to be his but that we may know our selves to be his and rest satisfied that we are his and that he will own us for his when to others he shall say Depart from me I know you not I deny not but we may be said to be sealed by the Spirit when we are by him regenerated and made new creatures but I think Regeneration is rather the Spirits writing the law in our hearts and making us the Epistle of God and that the sealing in the Text intended is the Spirits testifying unto us that we are of the number of Gods redeemed ones and have a right to the priviledges of Gods redeemed ones Now there are five things of which the Spirit may be thought to give assurance 1. Election 2. Vocation 3. Justification 4. Perseverance 5. Eternal life but because of some of these there is dispute and because it is by all sober persons granted that effectual vocation regeneration conversion are the evidences of the other of that chiefly and well nigh onely I shall speak and cast all I have to say about it into an Answer to these six Questions 1. Whether such Assurance may be had 2. Whether the nature of Faith consist in it and whether it may not be separated from Faith 3. How the Spirit works it 4. Why so many Christians are so long without it 5. What motives there be to perswade us to labour after it 6. What means are to be used 1. to gain it if we have it not 2. to keep it if we have it 3. to regain it if we have lost it 1. In answer to the Question Whether such assurance may be had I say it may which I prove 1. By arguing ab esse ad posse Assurance hath by many been attained therefore it may be attained That it hath been attained is so evident that scarce any thing can be more evident there is not one Saint almost in all the Scriptures concerning whom much is said of whom something is not said from which it may be collected that he had sometime or other good assurance of Gods love Was Job think we without assurance who maintained his integrity against the devil and his uncharitable friends clubbing their wits to prove him an Hypocrite Was not that the voice of assurance I know that my redeemer liveth Was not the Spouse assured when she said I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Was not St. Paul assured when he so triumphed in Christ Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither life nor death nor Angels nor principalities c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus The Papists do not much deny but that these persons and sundry others mentioned in Scriptures had assurance onely they say they came to it in an extraordinary way by immediate revelation which must needs be looked on as a meer evasion and shift there is not in Scripture the least hint that these came to their assurance in any extraordinary way but many things there be in Scripture which make manifest that they attained their certainty in a discursive way arguing from the effect to the cause from the fruits to the root from their mortifying the deeds of the flesh and walking according to the Spirit to the Spirits dwelling in them St. Paul
THE BELIEVERS DUTY Towards the SPIRIT And the SPIRITS OFFICE Towards BELIEVERS OR A Discourse concerning Believers not Grieving the Spirit AND The Spirits sealing up Believers to the day of Redemption Grounded on Ephes 4.30 Hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is in us Rom. 5.5 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 LONDON Printed for SA GELLIBRAND at the Ball in S. Pauls Church-yard 1665. A PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader HOw needfull it is to have a right belief of the Holy Ghost appears not only from the Ancient Creeds which in how few words soever comprehended did alway make mention of Him but also from the wretched Socinians who blasphemously denying his not onely Deity but also Personality and in their Catechism roundly asserting the no-necessity of any operation of his in order to our assenting to the Gospel have been so filled with a Spirit of Delusion that they retain not truth enough to denominate them either Christians or Hereticks The text upon which the ensuing discourse is founded afforded very fair opportunity of proving the Personality and Deity of this blessed Spirit and of shewing that our natural corruption cannot be cured but by his inhabitation But contenting my self to wave or slightly to touch these matters I mainly insist on our being by this Spirit sealed to the day of redemption a phrase which as most others that are metaphorical hath had the hap to be many ways interpreted Bellarmine who seems to have read holy writ onely to serve a design applies it to that indeleble character supposed by the Romanists to be imprinted on all that are baptized but how vainly appeareth 1. By his own Cajetan who saith Sacramenta imprimere characterem ex scriptura non habetur sed ex Ecclesiae authoritate non multum antiquâ 2. By the miserable shift he is put to before he can find any imaginable foundation for this Chymaera in the words He is fain to read with the vulgar Latine in the day though against the Greek and Syriack yea and against sundry latine Manuscript copies as Estius tells us yet this very writer Ephes 1.13 when he thought it would be more for his turn forsaking the vulgar Latine which readeth in whom believing flyeth to the Greek after ye believed 3. Besides how absurd is it that any indeleble character or cognizance of Christianity should be imprinted on all in Baptisme when as we see that many after Baptisme do utterly and maliciously renounce Baptisme and all the Principles of Christianity Other Pontifician writers do refer the phrase not to the Sacrament of Baptisme but Confirmation So Estius so our Country-men the Rhemists who have this note on Ephes 1.13 Some refer this to the grace of Baptisme but to many learned it seemeth that the Apostle alludeth to the giving of the Holy Ghost in the Sacrament of Confirmation by signing the Baptized with the sign of the Cross and holy Chrisme But they are well told by the judicious Dr. Fulk That rhe learned men they speak of must needs be Masters of the new learning for the ancient learning had no such interpretation instancing in Chrysostome Ambrose Theodoret Augustine Primasius Hierome Oecumenius Theophylact who carry the text quite another way All Protestant Writers are not agreed what may be intended by this Sealing of the Spirit sure it is for our credit that we can allow our selves to differ one from another in expounding a place of Scripture I refer it not to the Holy Ghosts regenerating or renewing us but to his assuring us of the adoption of sons his creating in us a sense of Gods Paternal love towards us and of our filial love towards him in so doing I follow not onely sundry learned sons of our own Church but also Cornelius a Lapide whose comment on Ephes 1.13 being translated is this As by the impression of a Seal the Letters of Kings and publick tables are sealed that those which are authentick may be distinguished from doubtful those that are genuine from false and it may be certainly manifest that these are the Letters and Tables of the King So ye Christian Ephesians as it were The Epistle of Christ written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of your heart are signed with the Holy Ghost as it were with a Seal that it may be manifested that ye are the not feigned but authentick Epistle of Christ that ye are truly the people and Church of the true and high God Having thus descanted on the text he frames against himself this objection If this be so then may Believers be certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God and for answer denieth the consequence because this Seal is not altogether and physically certain and evident to them for who certainly knows who dares swear that he is sealed with the Holy Ghost as with a seal but onely probable and morally as it were certain from signs and conjectures so in like manner it is not to them clear and certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God For the further clearing of this doubt He refers us to what he had said on Rom. 8.16 Consulting him on that place I find him to give this note That the testimony of the Spirit by which he witnesseth that we are the sons of God is not certain with certainty of Faith nor certain with infallible certainty as Catharinus and Cajetan would have it but onely with a conjectural certainty which certainty yet increaseth with Holiness so that Vega and Ruard and Pererius following them think that some men very holy without the special revelation of God from the signs and effects of the Holy Ghost which they find in themselves very frequent clear and efficacious have a certainty not indeed infallible so as they dare swear that they are in the grace of God but yet such and so great as excludes all fear of the contrary not onely from the affection and confidence but also from the understanding and perswasion so as such do as certainly know and believe that they are in the grace of God as we certainly know and believe that there is such a place as Constantinople or Alexandria Let the Papists read this and if they have not lost all ingenuity acknowledge that some eminent Writers of their own go as high or higher then we do For we do not say that we are certain with a certainty of faith that we are sanctified or pardoned or if any do so say it is onely a Philosophical mistake for they do not intend that it is to any one revealed by any vocal or written testimony that he is sanctified or pardoned but onely that seeing these Conclusions do arise from Premises the one whereof is Scripture though the other be known onely
waters and when he had so done put it on his own head he had a talent for his pains but lost his life for setting it upon any head but his Soveraignes so they shall have honour for contending for the truth but their souls shall God require of them because they gave not him the glory of all their zeal Wherefore as you would not grieve the Spirit when you see a drunkard say Who made me to differ or say as the Holy Martyr Bradford was wont to say God be mercifull to me a miserable sinner When you hear of one denying the Divinity of our Saviour say Nor could I have said that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit of God If either men or devil suggest that thou hast done well say It was not I but the grace of God in me I have nothing but what I have received and must not boast as if I had not received but ascribe all to him who worketh in me both to will and do of his own good pleasure 5. Fathering on him the ugly and monstrous brats of the spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience How much was the mother in Solomons time grieved when her living child was taken away and a dead one laid in room of it More must the Spirit be grieved when Humility Obedience Subjection to higher powers his natural issue are taken away and instead of these disobedience and rebellion laid at his door To do wickedly and to say that we do it by the impulse of the Spirit is to make God such a one as our selves and what a provocation that is you may learn from Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee Nor shall they fare better who do not father their impieties on the immediate impulses of the Spirit but yet on the Word revealed by the Spirit For causa causae est causa causati whatever is found in Scripture is conceived of the Holy Ghost if we do wrest and torture Scripture to salve our Phaenomena we do thereby injure and lie against the Holy Ghost This is the honour of Christian Religion that it can wound all other religions with their own weapons and principles They rob it of this honor who go about to fight against is also with its own Sword quoting texts of Scripture to authorize such actions as are perfectly destructive of Christianity No sin so hainous as theirs who pretend to sinne by authority from God 6. The ascribing that to the devil and his instruments which is the work of the Spirit This is not onely to grieve him but also to blaspheme him What was the unpardonable blasphemy against the Holy Ghost mentioned Mark 3. but the Pharisees ascribing that to the Prince of Devils which was done by the finger of God Every work of the Spirit hath not so clear an impression of the Spirit on it as had the miracles of Christ and therefore to mis-call them renders not ones case so desperate as was the Pharisees But yet sure after God hath by the conversion of so many discovered himself to be in the ministers of the Gospel of a truth for any to say that they were all literal legal antichristian which was the language of the late times was a blasphemy of a very high nature and I have observed that such men mostly have waxed worse and worse deceiving and being deceived nor can I conceive much hopes of their repentance who do so far wrong the Spirit as to ascribe all his works of conviction and contrition to the predominance of the melancholy humor or to a cracked brain and all the fervent importunate expostulations of Gods devoutest supplicants to sauciness such speeches do greatly dispose tot he unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost We may hence inferr against the * I say the Judaizing Socinians because this seemeth to have been the opinion of the Jews that the Holy Ghost was nothing but the afflatus or energy of God and therefore Lactantius who denied the substantiality of the Spirit is said by Hierome to symbolize with Jews Epist 55. Yet the ancient Doctors of the Jews acknowledged and believed the Son to be an eternal person of the Divine essence and worthy to be called Jehovah as they who want other books may see proved by Julius Conradus Ouho lib. 1. Gul. Razia cap. 4. Judaizing Socinian the personality of the Holy Ghost Grief is a personal affection How a person should be grieved we can understand how a Divine person should have that done against him which would grieve him were he capable of griefe is not inexplicable but how a quality a power or an operation should be grieved is unconceivable 2. Hence may be inferred the love and tender care the Spirit hath for us and of us Had he not graciously condescended to take on him the offices of Advocate Intercessor Comforter he would not have so far concerned himself in our miscarriages as to be grieved for or by them 3. If we are not to grieve the Spirit then sure we are not to blaspheme or offer despight unto him which cannot be done but by sinnes of the greatest and most hellish malignity and in the highest degree wilfull 4. This will also inform us what to think of them who take up their pleasures in sin which grieves the Holy Spirit of God we may think that either they never were partakers of the Holy Ghost or if ever partakers that now he hath quite forsaken them and an evil Spirit from the Lord hath seised on them If Christ at his second coming would spare all other sinners yet doubtless he will damn all those that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2 Thes 2.12 But the main I intend to dwell on is the counsell of the Text propounded indeed negatively but yet must be supposed to include in it many affirmative duties indeed all by which that good Spirit can be pleased and delighted I will first propound some motives to perswade men to abstain from all sins by which the Spirit is grieved they shall be drawn from the person and office of him whom they grieve from their own estate who do grieve him from the sad and wofull effects of greiving him I. Consider who it is you grieve Were he but some created Angel you ought so farr to respect his ministry as not to grieve him The woman is to keep a covering on her head because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 lest the contrary indecency should offend those pure Spirits Nay were He but a Saint compassed with flesh and blood we must not no not by the use of a lawful thing grieve him unless we will walk uncharitably Rom. 14.15 which would be to break the bond of perfection But he is greater then any holy man or Angel even an uncreated divine person I know this
is denyed by Socinians nor do I purpose fully to refute their blasphemy onely I shall take notice of one Scripture because it not onely proves the Deity of the Holy Ghost but also sheweth the exceeding sinfulness of doing any thing against him seeing he is God Wend. p. 248. Posteriora haec exaggerant declarant priora ut quando mentitus est Spiritui sancto intelligeret peccati magnitudinem quod Deo esset mentitus siquidem Sp. S. est deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadem sensu dicitur Synonymum in eodem loco est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 5.3 4. Why hath Sathan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost thou hast not lied to men but to God There are here three assertions 1. Ananias lied to the Holy Ghost 2. That in so lying he did not lye unto man 3. That he lyed unto God Our argument lies in the opposition of which no fair account can be given if the Deity of the Holy Ghost be not supposed for if so be the Spirit had been an Essence distinct from God the Apostle after he had said Thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost would not have said Thou hast lied not to men but to God but thus Thou hast lied neither to men nor to the Spirit but to God Nor will this argument be evaded by saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the third verse is joyned with an Accusative case and should be translated to counterfeit the Holy Ghost for besides that in some Copies 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the propositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make it all one as if a Dative did follow besides this 't is most certain that sometimes with an Accusative it signifieth to deceive or cheat and it must here so signifie because this sin is called a tempting the Spirit of the Lord How violent would it be to expound that phrase by counterfeiting of the Spirit of the Lord every time we grieve the Spirit of God we grieve God And is that a small matter in our eyes Can there be a greater aggravation of sin If one man sin against another the judg shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2.25 but this would also further be considered by us that though there be no difference as to the Essence of the Persons yet there is a difference in the oeconomy he that grieveth the Spirit grieveth that divine person against whom alone such a sin can be committed as is unpardonable Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this life nor in that which is to come Mat. 12.32 To sin against Father or Son is not so dangerous as to sin against the Spirit because he acting not in his own name but in the name of Father and Son from both of whom he is sent to sin against him is to sin against all the authority of God all the love of the Trinity the lowest condescention that divine goodness ever did or can make II. Consider we how little the Spirit hath deserved to be thus grieved by us Many good works saith Christ John 10.32 have I shewed you from my Father for which of them do ye stone me Many good works hath the Spirit from the Father and the Son done you O Christians for which of them do ye grieve him Did I say many I might have said all there is no good gift that is either wrought in you or for you or by you but it is to be ascribed to this Spirit Is Christ precious to you he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary he descended upon him in his Baptism and anointed him to all his offices raised him from the dead bears witness of him and pleads his cause against the unbelieving sinful world Is there any sweetness in the Scriptures why these are all from this Spirit Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 Are you taken with those admirable gifts that you see in your Ministers All that diversity of gifts is from the same Spirit 2 Cor. 12.4 called all therefore the manifestation of the Spirit vers 7. Or are you more affected with the works of God in you they are all the fruits and effects of the Spirit whether conviction or contrition or humiliation or regeneration or consolation they are all wrought by the Spirit this is the argument made use of in the Text Grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which ye are sealed to the day of redemption In calling him the holy Spirit of God he meaneth not onely that he is of essential original indefectible sanctity but also because he worketh all the holiness that is in any of Gods servants And when we are said to be by him seaed up unto the day of our redemption by that phrase is signified that he doth all that which answereth to the nature and various ends and uses of Sealing But with that phrase I am not to meddle as yet nor list I to run over all his works but pitch on that of comforting and press that to keep men from grieving him The Spirit is the Comforter sent from the Father upon the prayer of his Son to supply the absence of his corporeal presence to open those wells of Salvation that were hid and did lie under ground in the days that the Messiah did dwell among men In some Churches they have an officer who is called Consolator Aegrorum whose work is to put the brests of consolation into the mouths of those who have received within themselves the sentence of death should any whilst this Officer is at his bed-side labouring to take out the sting of death vex him with untoward language and not to give over till he had forced him to depart his room would not all say that this man were either in a phrensie or else in the very gall and bitterness of spiritual death The wickedness of those who do grieve the Spirit of God is far greater For 1. This sick Comforter cannot alway be with those whom he visits but is now discoursing with them and anon gone either to some other languishing person or to his own relations But the Spirit is a Comforter alway abiding with you John 14.16 Not that he actually comforts at all times but that he always preserves the root of comfort alway tenders comfort were not Christians either so sullen or so stupid as not to receive it 2. The Comforter of the sick may endeavour to comfort and not be able to comfort Men may not be so wise as to open to him the root of their
fears or if they do he may not be able to reach them or if to reach them not to pull them out There are perplexities of conscience which will puzzle and non-plus the most experienced Christian or Teacher But so strong are the Consolations of the Spirit that they break through all opposition of contrary grief and trouble whether arising from afflictions or guilt of sin 3. The sick Comforter may apply comfort unseasonably and nothing is more usual then to lose clave errante to speak peace where God speaks no peace but the consolations of the Spirit are never misplaced or mistimed he pours not the oil of gladness but into broken hearts he puts not the garments of praise upon any but those in whom hath been the Spirit of heaviness he applieth not his strong consolations to any but the heirs of the Promise nor to them neither but onely when they fly for refuge and lay hold of the hope that is set before them Heb. 6.18 19. When they flie as men pursued by the Revenger of blood did to the Cities of refuge or to the horns of the Altar 4. In the absence of the sick Comforter another may do the work as well perhaps as he but the Spirit is so a Comforter as none can comfort without him all consolation therefore is called the consolation of the holy Ghost Acts 9.31 Whilest the Spirit of the Lord did rest on Sampson he could break wit hs and cords but the Spirit being departed Sampson may go out and shake himself and think to do as at other times but he shall soon find a difference the Philistines shall prevail lead him away captive and put out his eyes So those who by the help of the Spirit have in former tribulations been made to rejoice and glorie may think when assaulted afresh to shew like chearfulness but if by any sin they have made the Spirit depart they shall find a little thing too heavy to bear the loss of a child which is but a common temptation shall make them cry and take on more like men then like Christians yea more like children then men Now put all these considerations together and when corruption next stirs say What! shall I grieve my Comforter my abiding my strong my wise my onely Comforter This question will strangle it in the womb if any ingenuity be left in the soul if is be grown hard and carnal through the deceitfulness of sin then nothing but arguments drawn from wrath will work on it III. Let it be pondred who they be that thus grieve the Spirit all men are not in a capacity so to do they that are have of all men least reason to do it Amyraldus in his Theses about the sin against the Holy Spirit hath well observed that a man may be considered under a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or relation one meerly natural or legall having knowledg of duty but no revelation of any mercy or pardon in case he sin he that in this case sins sinneth rather against the Father then against Son or Holy Ghost or else he may be considered as under an evangelical dispensation and that again two ways either so as onely to have heard of remission of sins but not at all to believe it or be affected with it he that sins in this state sins rather against the Son then against the Holy Ghost or so as not onely to have seen the marvellous light of the Gospel but also to have been refreshed with its beams and made to rejoice in it if in this state he sin wilfully he must needs grieve the Spirit but thus to sin is to sin at a very high rate when a man hath been made partaker of the holy Ghost and tasted of the powers of the world to come and of the heavenly gift the Spirit may say What could I have done more to endear religion and inodiate sin that I have not done To grieve the Spirit after all this by returning to folly and vanity is an affront and disingenuity not to be suffered and which shall be most severely punished either in this world or in the other or in both This leads to the Fourth Motive drawn from the sad effects and consequents of grieving the Spirit I will not say with Luther that it may make God ro carry it towards men tanquam si non esset Deus ipsorum sed Diabolus nor dare I so much as adventure to English so harsh an expression but I shall direct to one place of Scripture in which enough is said to terrifie us from grieving the Spirit They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them so far was he from assisting them against their enemies and he raised up enemies against them and caused Rebels to fall before them God's punishments under the Gospel are more spiritual not less severe As for the temporary beleever the Spirit being grieved by him may so forsake him as that the unclean Spirit may return with seven unclean spirits worse then that which was cast out he may be suffred so to fall as that it shall be impossible to renew him by repentance As for such as by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost are consecrated and made Temples of God I am so strongly perswaded of the doctrine of perseverance that I do not think they ever again become of the Synagogue of Sathan but their grieving of the Spirit may be so punished as that 1. They may be permitted to fall into very foul and dishonourable lusts He that complieth with the motions of the Spirit is changed into the image of God from glory to glory he renews his strength as doth the Eagle but give me a man that grieves the Spirit he shall in a short time fall into abominable either opinions or practises and when we do consider how ugly have been the carriages and how scandalous the Apostasies of some that doubtless were enlightned and made the highest profession of Religion we cannot rest in any other cause of them then Gods judiciall blinding and hardening of them for vexing his Spirit of truth and holiness 2. All ordinances become unprofitable to them Promises sometimes sweeter then the honey and the honey-comb have no relish in them Commands and threatnings of which their hearts were wont to stand in awe now affect them no more then dreadful tales of men in another world Were it not for shame had they but any handsom excuse they would not come at ordinances at all the Disciples are told John 14.26 that the Spirit shall bring things to their remembrance by which I would not understand a bare calling them to mind but a bringing them to mind in their full vigor authority evidence 'T is the Spirit alone that sets home doctrines with demonstration and power the Spirit grieved the most weighty truths are no more regarded then so many idle dreams at least no more then do the enticing
do receive the Holy Ghost therefore they ought to be honoured and had in esteem for their office and work sake Obj. But doth not the anointing teach us all things and so teach us as that we need not that man should teach us at all Answ So indeed it is said and that by some pretending so much to the Spirit as that their usual compellation to others is Flesh but we are not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits whether they be of God and I heartily wish the spirit from whence this Objection ariseth did not too manifestly discover it self not to be of God The Spirit that Christ promised was to be sent from the Father in the name of Christ and was not to speak of himself but whatsoever he had heard he was to receive of Christ and glorifie Christ John 16.13.14 But the men who make this objection do dishonour and decrey Christ setting up Christ within them in opposition to him that suffered at Jerusalem the Spirit inspired Prophets Apostles Evangelists to deliver down unto us a rule of faith and life but these men do vilifie this written word and ministration of the Spirit and call on their proselytes to follow that light within them and make that sufficient for salvation For my part I am so far from desiring that any should envy for our sakes that I could heartily wish that all the Lords people were prophets and that his Spirit were on them Were there a Seculum Spiritus to be expectted I hope I should as sincerely pray for it and as much rejoyce in the approaches of it as another but so farr am I form finding in the Scriptures any time in which the Ministry shall cease and be useless that I rather find the Spirit is to be received by the hearing of faith and that it is one great work of the Spirit to quicken and give life to the publick Ordinances as dispensed by the Ministers of the Gospel 't is the Holy Ghost that maketh them overseers of the flock Acts. 20.28 As for that place 1 John 2.29 it carrieth it's answer in its own bowels You shall not need that any one teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you i. e. not other things nor in another way then the same anointing teacheth you but do any ministers pretend to teach other things or in another way then this anointing teacheth If they do not as it is most certaine they do not why is this Scripture so frequently urged against ministerial teaching For ever let us abhor those who cry up the Spirit so as to justle out that forme of found words which hath been delivered unto us by menguided by the Spirit Be sure you quench not the Spirit but have a care you despise not prophecyings God having put those two counsels together let no man put them asunder The Spirits Office towards Believers Whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption THe old Interpreter reads in the day of Redemption and by it Oecumenius and some others understand the day of Baptisme but because in the Greek t is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we have no reason to think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall by this day understand the day of Judgment as most Interpreters do and as we are led to do by that twin-place Chap. 1 13.14 where the Holy Spirit of promise is said to be the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession The price of a Believers Redemption is already paid and accepted by God and they are redeemed from their vain conversation but their day of redemption cannot be said to be fully come till this corruptible have put on incorruption at least not till this life be ended for till then 1. Their Redemption from the power and dominion of sin hath not its full effect even a Paul as long as he is in the body hath occasion to complain that he is sold under sin and that the law in the members warreth against the law of the mind and leadeth him captive to the commission of Sin and omission of Duty II. Till then our Redemption the forgiveness of sin Ephes 1.7 is not perfect I know that upon our first closing with Christ our transgressions are blotted out as a mist and as a thick cloud and our iniquities thrown into the bottome of the Sea there is no condemnation to us no obligation to Eternal wrath but yet I am also sure that we are bid repent that our sins may be blotted out when the daies of refreshing shall come from the Lord Acts. 3.19 Whence it may be inferred that a Penitents sins are not so blotted out as then they shall be blotted out indeed upon the first conversion a man is put into a state of justification which is inconsistent with obligation to Eternal death yet is he not freed from all punishment nor from all obligation to punishment for where there is no obligation to punishment there is no justice in punishing The want of the Spirit is one of the punishments we have brought on our selves by sin this punishment is not taken away but by restoring of the Spirit now though the Spirit be so restored as to prevent the dominion of Sin and damnation for the time to come yet is it not given in such a measure as to prevent all sin nor the contracting of new guilt nor shall He be so given in this world III. As to the Redemption of the Body that is so far from being compleat before the Great Day that till then it may seem not to begin While it is joyned to an imperfect soul 't is vile and mortal when separated from it then it becomes yet viler is thrown into a grave and preyed upon by worms and maggots at the Resurrection it begins to be spiritual incorruptible powerfull and like to the glorious body of Christ Jesus The Adoption the Redemption of the Body we do not now enjoy but by Faith and Hope we do wait for it Rom. 8.23 On all these accounts there is reason why that Day should be called as it is The manifestation of the sons of God Rom. 8.19 For though we be now the sons of God it appears not what we shall be 1 Joh. 3.1 The best use that can be made of this Appellation is that which is made of it by the whole Creation The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for this manifestation that it may be delivered from that bondage and vanity unto which it is subject and under which it groaneth much more should you who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within your selves waiting for the adoption 'T is utterly a fault among Christians that they groan so much under the burden of a few Taxes and Impositions and so little under the burden and body of Sin which they carry about with them They should much and frequently bless
can give any ground of Faith Would the Papists but as freely censure the errors of their former Writers as we do the errors of ours soon would all the controversies about Assurance come to an end but that being an happiness rather to be wished then hoped for let all less judicious Christians satisfie themselves to know 1. It is the receiving of Christ that gives us a right to be the sons of God 2. That he who receives Christ shall be by God owned as a son whether he know himself to have received Christ or no. The promises run clear Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have eternal life Joh. 3. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are those those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied Matth. 5. The condition of these promises being fulfilled the promises themselves must be fulfilled else God should be unfaithful and deny himself For shall the too hard thoughts the too humble conceit of a man concerning himself wake void the faith of God God forbid scarcely among ingenuous men doth any one fare the worse for an excess of modesty and can the Father of Mercies shut a good man out of Heaven because that conscious to himself of daily weaknesses and manifold passions warting within him and frequently prevailing he cannot be firmly perswaded of his own goodness 3. That it is the office of the Spirit to make us to know the things that are freely given us of God 4. That as he is ready to witness to carnal persons that their ways are ways of sin and wrath and that they are the men who except they become new creatures are marked out for damnation so he is ready to witness to those who are spiritually minded the truth of their graces and by that their interest in the promises of Justification Adoption Glorification 5. That our work lieth in making our selves which yet we cannot do but by the almighty power of the same Spirit fit and meet to receive this testimony of the Spirit which meetness we shall then come to if 1. We well inform our selves about the terms of the Covenant of grace 2. Have frequent serious abiding thoughts about the fulness and freeness of its promises 3. Giving all diligence add to faith vertue and to vertue knowledg and to knowledg temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity 4. By reflex acts often compare the frame of our heart and course of our lives with the rule 5. Watch and pray that we may be free from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pride and prejudice which make us though so sharp-sighted as to see a mote in our brothers eyes yet so blind as not to see a beam in our own eyes That thou mayest Christian Reader have some small help in all these matters was the end aimed at in making the following Treatise thus publick The Authors name could not make it more acceptable and is therefore concealed but his prayers are that it may be effectual to beget in all those into whose hands it shall fall 1. A tender care not to grieve the Spirit of promise by which they who believe are sealed up to the day of Redemption 2. A cordial respect to all those upon whom the Spirit of the Lord is and who are by the Lord anointed to Preach good tidings to the meek and sent to bind up the broken hearted to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Jan. 25. 1664. Farewell The Printer to the Reader THough great care hath been used in publishing these Papers yet by reason of an ill-written Copy and the Authors absence some faults have escaped There is in some Pages a change of Persons which though it might be defended yet was not by the Author intended Those few Errata's that can be thought to disturb the sense thus amend PAg. 26. lin 15. r. Praeposition p. 28. l. 26. r. also that He. p. 30. l. 23. r. loose p. 32. l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 35. l. 21. r. are the enticing p. 36. l. 7. r. more glorious p. 44. l. 28. r. yet is He. p. 86. l. 13. r. speaks but to p. 88. l. 10. r. did not they sometimes p. 152. l. 25. r. till he feel p. 157. l. 9. r. and not heard of Ephes 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption THese words are by some conceived to contain an absolute Independent counsel but the Greek Scholia's suppose them to be brought in as an argument to enforce the immediately preceding dehortation Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth as if the Apostle had said If you think it a small matter to allow your selves in such speeches as have no tendency to edification as are no way fit to minister grace unto the hearers If you have no respect to your own souls nor to the souls of others which must needs be offended by such unprofitable communication yet you will have some regard for the Spirit of God who is himself holy and the author of all holiness and he being as he is grieved by all unprofitable discourse you will account your selves ingaged to abstain therefrom If we receive this connexion as why may we not sith it offers no violence to the context and is backed with so good authority then may we observe in the Text 1. A reason by which the Ephesians are taken off from idle words lest they should grieve the spirit 2. A description of this Spirit from his Nature Office Grieve not the holy spirit of God The form of speech seems to be borrowed from the Old Testament Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them But notwithstanding we have found out a parallel place yet must we still inquire Quest 1. How the Spirit can be said to be grieved for seeing he is God and so infinitely perfect how can we conceive him capable of grief which is not onely a passion but also of all passions the meanest and lowest as arising from the sense of some present evil which we cannot master And this objection is the more considerable because of the emphaticalness of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which saith Aretius complectitur omnis generis dolores and is therefore used to set out that anguish and sadness of mind which our blessed Saviour did feel in the Garden Math. 26.37 But all this notwithstanding we may give a very fair account of the phrase for 1. There are who by the spirit of God do understand the renewed part of man and indeed it is not unusual in Scripture for God to call his own work by his own name now the renewed
words of mans wisdom unto which the demonstration of the Spirit is opposed 1 Cor. 2.4 the probable discourses of Orators and Philosophers which at the utmost engender but opinion perhaps it is so perhaps it is otherwise Be it so that the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit of the joints and marrow Heb. 4.12 yet is it thus vital and operative onely as it is the Sword of the Spirit Ephes 6. out of his hand it will pierce no deeper then would the sword of Gideon in the hand of an youth Be it so that the ministration of the Gospel is more then that of the Law yet it 's greater glory lies onely in this that it is the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 The Spirit withdrawing himself as it may well be thought he will do if grieved even the Gospel quickneth no more then the killing Letter did Moses put avail over his face that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished But their minds were blinded for untill this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.13 14 We think this vail is taken away in the Gospel and indeed it cannot be denied but that the Pen-men of the new Testament have used great plainness of speech but there is still a vail on the hearts of men and if the Spirit of the Lord do not take away that vail as if he be displeased usually he doth not even the Gospel may be hid as much as ever the Law was to the carnal Israelites 3. Upon the grieving of the Spirit usually follow sad heart-distressing doubts and fears in reference to our present and eternal condition 'T is the Spirits office to make us know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 to witness to our Spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.15 16. to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts Rom. 5.5 he is the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession Eph. 1.14 If we grieve him we are lest in the dark and see no light and know not whether we go And how sad is this to be at such a loss as to say It may be I shall sit down with Abraham Isaac Jacob but it may also be that I shall make my bed in Hell with the Devil and his Angels where there is weeping wailing gnashing of teeth but upon our grieving of the Spirit we are not onely left under doubts but also under positive apprehensions that the wrath to come shall be our portion How many have been heard to roar out I am damned I am damned which crys though they maybe acknowledged somtimes to proceed from Melancholy or other bodily distemper yet do they more frequently proceed from the grieved Spirit 's withdrawing of himself You see whether you are acted from ingenuity or from fear there 's great reason you should cease from grieving the Spirit and no less reason is there why you should not only not grieve him but also rejoice and please him the which you shall do if I. You grieve when he is grieved and vex your righteous souls at every thing that vexeth him This is an act of friendship we all owe to all those that are of the same body with us Rom. 12.15 much more to him by whom we are all baptised into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 II. If you bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit i. e. all manner of holiness but more especially those mentioned Gal. 5.22 23. Love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance When we bring forth these we not onely live in the Spirit but walk in the Spirit which whoever do fulfill not the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5.26 are not desirous of vain glory provoking one another envying one another And let it be observed that the Apostle reckoning up the fruits of the Spirit doth not instance in prayers and supplications though they when made with faith and humility are undoubted evidences of the Spirits dwelling in us but in meekness gentleness love and such other 〈◊〉 as are opposite to sinfull passions for by goodness we are to understand in this place kindness and friendliness or a readiness on all occasions to do good to others And by Faith not that which is called faith on our Lord Jesus Christ but fidelity or faithfulness towards men opposed to treachery and inconstancy Believe it to take all opportunities of doing our brethren good to be punctual in performing our promises patiently to bear all the injuries and provocations that are offred us by others and studying as much as in us lieth to preserve peace with all men are greater evidences that a man is spiritual then are long prayers or any thing of that nature by which some of late have been so much puffed up Believers have the Spirit in them and they are said to be in the Spirit Rom. 8.9 As he that is born of the flesh is flesh so he that is born of the Spirit is Spirit and therefore as they who are in the flesh do in nothing please God do in all times and places mind the things of the flesh so they that are in the Spirit they should do all things to please the Father they should spiritualize their very natural and civil actions doing them unto the glory of God So shall nature as it were be adopted into grace and every meals meat become an holy and acceptable sacrifice III. If we pray to him and for him and bless God for all the good things wrought in us by him We should pray to Him else how do we acknowledg his Deity how do we stick to our baptism in which we were baptised into his name We should pray for Him else how do we look upon him as the great gift and promise of the new Covenant We should bless God for Him or else how do we prize the benefits bestowed on us and wrought in us by him Shall we blesse God for some single good things and not for the Spirit who is every good thing as appears by comparing Mat. 7.11 with Luke 11.13 that were an high indignity offered to this divine person That we may do all these the more enlargedly it were good often to meditate how great a condescention it is in the Spirit to dwell where he hath the Flesh alway lusting against him to help us in all our infirmities to make intercession for us with groans that cannot be expressed to apply unto us the redemption purchased and make us meet for the inheritance of Saints in glory IV. If we honour his gifts in others especially those which are bestowed for the work of the Ministry T is the Holy Ghost which separates men to the office of the Ministry and when men are put into that Office they
concerning particular remission of sin pag. 1158. he had given the adversary less advantage for my part I do not make it any Article of my Faith that my sins are pardoned 4. We argue the attainableness of Assurance from the weakness and rottenness of the grounds on which the Papists the greatest adversaries to this truth do proceed in the denying of it 1. 'T is not unlike that the covetousness of the Pope and his Clergy is one reason why the doctrine of Assurance is so denyed For this sect of men is somewhat a kin to Judas who was a Thief and carried the Bag. Were the Pope to pay as much for redeeming a Soul out of Purgatory as he commonly gets by it I dare say Purgatory before this had been reckoned amongst things that are not were they to loose as much gold and silver by keeping men in doubts and fears as commonly they get certainty had not been made so impossible as now it is 2. Their own Hypocrisie and formality makes them and that justly to question their own state present and to come and therefore they think that none how sincere and upright soever can be assured of these matters Very apt we be to measure other mens cloth by our own ells to make our own hearts and experiences a standard and pattern to our fellow Christians Many eminent Reformers who had perhaps the candle of the Lord mostly shining on them and lived perpetually under the beams of his countenance did place Faith in Assurance and so discouraged some weak Christians The Papists on the other hand being alway void of assurance would needs perswade us that no Faith did ever rise up to assurance being continually tormented with shivering fears they envy all others who have more serenity and calmness then themselves But doth it follow that if an house built on the sands cannot stand that it cannot stand neither though built on the rock A Papist as a Papist holdeth no one doctrine by faith for seeing as Papist he must needs take the Popes infallibility in causes of faith for his foundation which foundation being not onely untrue but also heretical cannot be apprehended by faith it follows that he neither doth nor can believe any point of saith unless perhaps the conclusion can be of faith when the premises or cause of assent to that conclusion is contrary to Faith Nor can they have any certainty of their salvation for that depends with them on their having the Sacrament of penance truly administred and this on his being a Priest that doth administer it now that any one is a Priest is that of which there can be no certainty for for ought any one knows to the contrary he that ordained him had not intent to ordain him or he that baptised him had no intent to baptise him or if both could be known to have directed their intentions aright yet twenty other things might happen that would nullifie his priesthood But no necessity is there that Protestants should be uncertain of their right to or meetness for heaven who reject all these errors and are taught to believe that no man shall ever fare the worse for what never was in his power to prevent 3. Papists much object the multitude of Professors who have much boasted and talked of assurance and yet neither had it nor could have it as by their manifold miscarriages inordinate walkings they have most manifestly discovered This no doubt they may have observed and it hath been of late years especially a great stumbling block to some to see and hear persons of very slight and frothy spirits tell so many and so high stories of their enjoyments and experiences But shall we say that a man may not be certain of that about which multitudes have been mistaken Who sees not then that we must bring Pirrhonisme into the World put our selves under a necessity of turning Scepticks Because some have phansied their chambers to be full of company when no person was nigh them cannot I be sure that sometimes I see people sitting in their seats to hear me Because some have imagined that they sat about richly furnished tables when no meat was nigh them cannot I therefore be sure that my meat is before me and give God thanks for it There is no such great likeness betwixt Assurance and Presumption that a man if he will be sincere need mistake the one for the other The rules given by Divines to distinguish them are such that a man cannot be mistaken about them unless he have a mind to be mistaken 1. Presumption is the daughter of Ignorance so is not Assurance 2. Presumption is got and maintained without any difficulty or pains so is not Assurance 3. Presumption unless in great extremities when usually it turns into despair is alway uniform and like unto it self so is not assurance which is higher or lower according to the influences of the Spirit growth and exercise of the habit of Faith 4. Presumption is unwilling to be examined so is not Assurance but most gladly joyns with the most lively and searching Ministry by these and many other characters which shall be after suggested Assurance may as easily be discerned from Presumption as may the true metal from that which doth but counterfeit it 4. It is much urged that Assurance would breed Pride security carelesness the bane of all our graces and pious endeavours but to this many answers may be returned 1. By concession it will not be denied but that if God should pour this wine into old bottles there might be danger of their breaking if he should give these apples to those who were never sick of love they might breed wind but God never gives the new name but where he gives the new nature He sets not his Seal on a flint but on the wax In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the Spirit of promise Ephes 1.13 As for unbelievers they are uncapable of it and could they have it they would turn it into wantonness as they do all Grace they receive nay nor doth God set his Seal on every vessel of Honour He doth not feed every child with hidden Manna but onely such as he findes to hunger after it and to be ready to faint and perish without it 2. I say our Assurance is not perfect or free from all doubts but hath alway mixed with it some either actual or habitual fear Perfect Assurance might such is the corruption remaining in us be abused to security and occasion Pride but our wine is mixed with water on purpose that it might not intoxicate us With such a measure of Assurance we are trusted as keeps under doubts and fears not with such as quite expels doubts and fears They go too far who say That the assurance we have of the pardon of our sins and right to Eternal Life is equal to the assurance we have of the common objects of Faith Christs Resurrection or Gods Omnipotence That Christ is
hateth his brother is a murderer and hath not eternal life I hate my Brother Therefore I am a Murderer and have not eternal life These are all of them conclusions quite contradictory to the vain principles that did dwell in the secure sinner which being set home by the Spirit must needs make him fear what shal become of him In like manner doth the Spirit bring the heirs of the promise to the assurance of hope by some such practical Syllogisms as these He that loves the Brethren is passed from death to life I love the Brethren Therefore I am passed from death to life Or He that repents and believes shall be saved I repent and believe Therefore I shall be saved Now the Spirit hath revealed and inspired holy men to leave upon record to us the Propositions in these two Syllogisms the same Spirit also works in us that Faith by which we are enabled to believe those Scripture Propositions to be divine infallible truths he also worketh in us every gracious habit and exciteth those gracious acts which be the evidences and marks of our conversion justification and title to glory he also helpeth to feel and discover those acts in our selves and by comparing them with the rule to find their sincerity which is his concurrence with Conscience in making the assumption and lastly he helpeth sanctified reason from the premises to inferr the Conclusion whatever is beyond this is not essential to assurance but something separable from it Sometimes our assent to the premises and conclusion is stronger sometimes weaker hence the different degrees of assurance sometimes upon this assurance peace of Conscience we are marvellously enlarged with consolations called joy in the holy Ghost sometimes nor Obj. Some may say Is there no other way of working assurance but this doth not God sometimes testifie without any such discourse and ratiocination hath he confined himself to Syllogisms doth he not sometimes make some impressions on us by which we are assured that we are the children of God without the help or use of any argumentation Answ I have been alway apt to think that there is no other ordinary way of assuring the soul partly because the Scripture no where encourageth us to look for assurance in any other way and partly because to grant an immediate testimony seemed to me to open such a gap to Euthusiasme as it was impossible well to shut and I am somewhat imboldned in that sentiment by the concurrent judgment of a sober judicious Divine Mr. Tho. Blake who in his Treatise of the Covenant thus expresseth himself They that go about to assert an immediate testimony in any will never secure the soul from delusion Sathan will soon find an artifice to counterfeit this testimony and bear witness in the Spirits stead and when we think that we have the Spirit of truth to assure us we shall have the father of lies to deceive But in regard many of eminent piety and learning do assert an immediate testimony it may not be amiss to enquire a little what they mean by it and how they do bound it and then to shew what may be thought of it By this immediate Testimony they tell us that they do not mean any proper whisper or voice such as young Converts mistaking such Scripture phrases as Say unto my soul thou art my salvation are apt to wait for but they say it is a perswasion impressed upon a man suddenly and he knows not how quieting all his doubts and fears and making him chearfull and comfortable If you ask them How a Child of God who is to try all things dare adventure to take any such comfort how he knows it not to be a delusion of Satan they tell us that as there is in the eye a certain in-bred light to make it discern light and colours without a sound and air within the ear to make it discerne the sounds without So there is in a godly man grace a new nature and habitual instinct of heaven whereby it discernes the consolations of Gods Spirit testifying that he is the Son of God some secret and inexpressible lineaments of the fathers countenance in the child that the renewed soul at the very first blush knows and owns it Moreover they tell us 1. That although the Spirit thus testifie without application of any particular word yet he never testifies contrary to the word he never speaks to those who are regenerate though they do not know themselves to be such 2. That the Spirit doth not ordinarily thus testifie but after or in attendance on some ordinance or performance of some duty or after some very great abasement of a mans Spirit and more then ordinary soul-humiliation or after some very hard adventure for God or after some great combat and conflict with temptation 3. That such of the Testimonies of the Spirit do beget but an actual assurance during the present exigence or in order to some present design that God is working thereby Now to give my sense of this opinion 1. The Authors of it seem so to bound it as that it would be uncharitableness to think that they have any ill or pernicious design in it 2. The things which they say are done by impression are not without ratiocination only the ratiocination is not so distinct and explicite as when a man comes to his assurance by that difficult work of examination Philosophers say that what is done by beasts through instinct and impulse is not done without something analogous to ratiocination they commonly give us the examples of such Syllogisms as they suppose to be made by beasts as namely lambs when they come to their dams and flie away from the wolves So I conceive that in all the impressions made on the soul whether they be by way of comfort or incitation to duty there be some characters either in the matter or manner of them either in their holiness or greatness or vehemence or unusualness by which a Christian knows them to be from God and so accordingly rests in them the which characters did he not find he would either not regard them or reject them with abhorrence 3. I would not have any one lay the stress of his hope of heaven on any such impression nor upon the account of any such impression alter his opinion in reference to any point of Doctrine or adventure upon any practice that is in the least questionable unto him If he should I take it he would give the devil great advantage against him and subject himself to infinite delusions as will soon be manifest to him that will be at the pains to read over the discourses of Dr. Casaubon and Dr. Moore concerning Enthusiasme Mr. John Fox our holy and learned Martyrologist had many impressions some of which are taken notice of by his son in the History of his life but did they not sometimes fail him and discover themselves to be neither Divine nor True Let any one judge
Heman to do Psal 88.14 15. Lord why hidest thou thy face from me I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up whilst I suffer thy terrors I am distracted God may suffer soul-trouble to end in distraction and it hath sometime so ended but this is his strange work and it will not displease him that any in whom his arrows do stick should pray to have them pulled out lest they should drink up their spirits yea lest the horror of them should deprive them of sense and reason 3. Deserted Souls may remember God of his former gracious dealings with them The multitude of the Jews cried aloud to Pilate desiring him to do as he had ever done unto them Mark 15.8 They thought it would be unworthy of a man in authority to leave off to do acts of grace yet men sometimes think they are not engaged to do more because they have already done so much But God doth do good that he may do good his former loving kindnesses may be pleaded with him as arguments to move him to renew his mercies Can any one that is distressed remember the time when God did wipe off the tears from his eyes and bid him be of good chear because his sins were forgiven him thence let his faith plead as doth the Church Isa 63.15 Where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained That tender affection and ability to do me good of which I had formerly so many evident signs and conspicuous proofs how come I now to hear nothing of it How comes it about that those breasts so some read and not bowels of consolation that I was wont to suck at so freely till I was satisfied are now quite put up though I need them more then ever I did And to strengthen our faith yet more we may mind God that he hath done greater things for us then that we ask for he hath given us his Son to die for us when we were enemies and will he not now give us the fruits of his suffering Did he not stick at letting his onely begotten pay the dear price for our Redemption and will he think much to let us onely have our share in it 4. We may in desertion plead our own readiness to remit unto others their offences against us This plea Christ supposing us to lift up pure hands void of wrath hath put into our mouths in that most compleat form of Prayer Luk. 11.4 Forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us Can we who have a spirit in us lusting to envy revenge fury bring our hearts to forgive our offending brethren to seventy times seven and wilt not thou O God who challengest us to shew any God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Mic. 7.18 blot out our sins as a mist and our iniquities as a thick cloud 5. We may also plead the compassion and prayers of others for us Thus Do all the Lords Ministers bowels yern towards me and shall Gods bowels be restrained towards me Do they declare themselves ready to loose all my sins and shall God retain them Will the Stewards shew pity and will the Lord who gave them their commission shew none It is lawful to plead our own Prayers much more the Prayers of others Psal 80.4 O Lord God of Hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the prayers of thy people If thine anger be kindled against me yet sith all the Church prayeth for me without ceasing wilt thou not accept her Didst thou ever say to the whole house of Jacob Seek ye my face in vain Papists speak much of a treasure of the Church made up of the satisfactions purchased by the death of Christ and of the Passions of the Saints who in the days of their flesh suffered more then their sins required the sufferings and satisfactions of these Saints may be applied to others say they and Church Officers have power to dispense them and grant indulgences Such a treasure we all reject with abhorrence but yet according to the Creed we acknowledg a communion of Saints consisting in the mutual help and assistance of one another by prayer Doubtless it may somewhat quiet and stay our troublesome spirits to call to remembrance that when we dare scarce speak for our selves there are of our fellow Christians that are crying for us some making particular mention of us a favour often desired by St. Paul Rom. 15.30 Ephes 6.18 19. Col. 4 3. 2 Thes 3.1 2. others mentioning us as members of the same body with themselves known to God though unknown to themselves 6. We may plead the ill use like to be made of our desertions by others whether they be good or bad This Plea if we be sincere in it is like to be very effectual because it ariseth from a love to Religion a fear lest it should suffer in our sufferings God can so order it and sometimes doth that his servants soul-straights do benefit those without and those within When the Spouse had caused her beloved to withdraw He put in his hand by the hole of the door and her bowels were moved for him Cant. 5.4 she starts and follows after him and enquires of all she met concerning him Now what was the effect of this The Daughters of Jerusalem ask ver 9. What is thy beloved more then another beloved that thou dost so charge us And chap. 6.1 enquire whither he is gone whither turned aside that they might seek him with the spouse And indeed in reason one would think this should be the language of by-standers If a lost Christ be so precious what is an enjoyed Christ If a frowning Saviour be so desireable what is a smiling Saviour But oh how seldom is it so Do we not rather observe that hereby 1. The good are much discouraged apt they be to faint at those tribulations which do befall others though for their sakes Ephes 3.13 How much more for those tribulations that seem brought on their fellow Christians by Gods own immediate hand In this case there is room for that ingeminated plea of David Psal 69.6 Let not them that wait on thee O Lord be ashamed for my sake let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake O God of Israel 2. The bad are much hardned and made to rejoyce Hence they say in a sense quite contrary to Solomons sense He that increaseth knowledg increaseth sorrow and resolve to get no more Religion then what they can easily master and never to put Faith or any other grace on the trial yea hence they rise to hellish and most accursed insultations Where is now your God your Religion From this Topick David doth often argue in his Psalms Psal 27.11 Lead me in a plain path wherein I may not scandalize my self because of mine enemies 38.16 I said Hear me lest