heart and spirit Psal 31.9 10. It makes men heavy lumpish and sad averse unto all action as if they had neither life nor soul as we use to say being like unto Davids Images That have hands and handle not feet and walk not c. Psal 115.7 And Jobs three Friends Job 2.13 cast themselves down with him upon the ground and for seven daies and seven nights together none of them speaking so much as a word unto him the reason is given because they saw that his grief was very great Meaning as Junius well interprets it That the greatness of that grief which they perceived had taken hold of the spirit and soul of their Friend so afflicted them and because that sympathy commiseration had wrought such a grief in them that they sate all this while as persons astonished and were not able to stir up themselves to comfort him by these instances you may see it is the nature of grief to contract the heart and to make men listless unto action In like manner the Spirit through the ungrateful disobedient and unworthy behaviour of men towards him is said to be grieved when by such means men have wrought him if we may so speak to the like listlessness of acting and putting forth the excellencie of his power in their hearts and souls as formerly he did and doth sometime in others On the other hand a man is never in a right posture for action or for the doing of any thing that is of any good or great concernment unto others but when he enjoyeth himself upon the highest and richest terms of satisfaction and contentment So then the Spirit of God is said to be grieved by men when they shall deal so unkindly with or by him as to reject and neglect his heavenly motions and inspirations by giving over such and such waies of honour Christian excellency and worth which they had sometime lift up their hearts and hands unto and walked with delight in them When men I say shall cease to go on in such waies as these and prefer the ignoble and base motions of the Flesh or of the World before those that come from him and which are all honourable and heavenly such a demeanour of men towards the Spirit of God grieveth him that is Maketh him listless unto action and causeth him to abate and to fall lower in his operations and to give out himself more faintly than before Whereas he had been active and ever and anon stirring and provoking them and this with efficacie and power unto this and that good way and work now he withdraweth by degrees and declineth these motions and operations upon which the soul of man becomes listless and dull to any thing of a spiritual concernment like a Ship becalmed on the Seas whose Sails a little before were filled with fresh and pleasant gales of wind carrying her amain to her desired Port. Now then if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to grieve the Spirit Then by the authority of both the Rules by which we found out the true sense of our former proof both of them being as proper and useful here it is their duty also to chear and delight the Spirit I mean to keep themselves in such a frame or posture both inwardly in heart and soul and outwardly in life and conversation that he may take delight in them And if it be the duty of Christians to be pleasing unto and compliant with the Spirit simply indefinitely and in any degree Then upon the grounds formerly argued and made good it is more their duty to endeavour with their whole heart and soul to please him in the highest Now when he taketh delight and pleasure in any man in more than an ordinary degree he will signifie not only his contentment in this kind but even the measure and degree of it also by a proportionable advancement of his gracious activity upon all occasions This is that we intend and hold forth in the Doctrine from the Apostles expression of being filled with the Spirit which also by warrant of the same authority we affirm to be a duty lying upon all Christians We shall insist only upon one proof more to confirm the truth of the Doctrine Sect. 11 Be kindly affectioned saith the Apostle one unto another c. Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.10 11. To be fervent in Spirit especially in the Service of God or of Christ requires a great presence or fulness of the Spirit of God in a man For the Spirit of a man acted only by it self or by its own strength wisdom or goodness will never rise so high in any true and real Service of god as fervency of spirit doth import Neither will an ordinary presence or assistance of the Spirit of God himself carry the heart of a man up unto any such pitch of devotion He that will have an ear to hearken to the voice of this Exhortation of being fervent in spirit in the Service of the Lord must find out a way how to engage and how to comport with the Spirit of God that he may vouchsafe unto him a measure of his presence heaped up to make him capable of so great and worthy an undertaking Yea men I suppose cannot be fervent in spirit in doing any thing which they call or judge to be the Service of God although it be a Service of their own fansie or genius or of some worse deity unless they be acted therein by a spirit more active than their own So then if it be a duty lying upon all Christians to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord then is it a duty that beareth with the same weight upon them to be filled with the Spirit Inasmuch as the performance of the former of these duties cannot stand but by the performance of the latter so that from hence it is evident that it is a duty incumbent upon all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Besides these Scriptures now argued we might if need were increase their number for the proof of our Doctrine by arguing in like manner all those Scriptures which require such things of men that cannot be performed by men without a being filled with the Spirit such passages of these which are not a few do clearly import that it is a duty yea a duty of duties such a duty without the performance whereof great numbers of other duties will suffer and never appear in their glory Texts of this import are these with their fellows Rom 8.13 Joh. 16.24 Luke 21.36 CHAP. II. The first Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued viz That it is the duty of all persons especially of all the Professors of the Gospel or Christianity to be filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God Because if men be not filled or in a way of being filled with the Spirit of God they will be filled with some evil Spirit one or other IT is
〈◊〉 be ye filled in or with or through the Spirit For to be filled with the Spirit or through the Spirit is one and the same Now fulness or filling in the Scripture Language do not alwaies indeed very seldom if at all signifie an absolute or exact fulness or a filling up to the brim as we use to say or as great a quantity or proportion of a thing as the subject or vessel is any waies able to contain or receive for in this sense no man was ever filled with the Holy Ghost except it was he that was more than a man the Lord Christ himself to whom God is said to have given the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without measure or not by measure Joh. 3.34 But things or persons in Scripture Phrase are said to be full or filled with a thing when they have a good rich and plentiful proportion of it Thus Acts 9.36 Dorcas is said to be full of good works when she had done or performed many and been fruitful in well doing In this sense of the word the Heathen of whom Paul speaketh Rom. 1.29 are said to be filled with all unrighteousness Not as if the meaning was that they had as much wickedness as they were capable of or as it was possible for them to be filled withall But that there was a great degree of wickedness amongst them and some doubtless were more vile unworthy and abominable than others But it is said that they were full that is There was abundance of unrighteousness in them or amongst them Besides other like instances So then when the Apostle wills them to be filled with the Spirit or with the Holy Ghost his meaning is that he would have them have the Holy Ghost very actuous and operative within them or more plainly That he would have them take such a course go so to work as we use to say and so behave themselves that the Holy Ghost might be very actuous operative and vigorous and put forth himself or his power abundantly in them Or if we shall urge the strict litteral sense Then the meaning will be to this effect Be ye filled with the Spirit that is Let the Spirit advance his presence and power in you as far and to what degree and height himself pleaseth Do not distaste check or grieve him in his way by any neglect or rejection of any of his motions by any unworthiness whatsoever Do not obstruct him in his Progress but comport with him in all his applications unto you and do not think you have enough of him untill you be filled with him even to the brim and the receptacles of your Souls will hold no more This Exposition supposeth that Christians should desire and labour to obtain as much or as great and as rich a presence of the Spirit of God as they are capable of and as the heart and soul and nature of man is able to bear This sense of the word may very well stand And then his meaniag is not as if the Apostle did impose a necessity upon them to reach and attain unto such a fulness as we speak of in the highest degree but only that they should not content themselves with or pitch upon any degree inferiour unto or beneath the highest enjoyment of the Spirit of God they are capable of As when a man bids his child to shoot at the Sun he doth not intend or imagine that his child should hit the Sun His meaning is that he would have him put forth his strength in shooting as high as he is able So when the Apostle layeth and imposeth this upon the Ephesians by way of duty that they should be filled with the Spirit his meaning is That they should behave themselves with all wisdom and understanding in the use of all means within the reach of their own arm as if their design and resolution was to be filled with the Spirit as full as possibly they could If it be demanded by way of Objection Sect. 5 But is the Holy Ghost in the power of men Or can men do any thing to fill themselves with the Holy Ghost Is he obnoxious unto men or within the compass of their wisdom and endeavours Have men any thing in their hands to do whereby or by the means whereof they may fill themselves with the Spirit of God We shall hereafter have occasion fully to answer to this question only by the way reserving that till God shall give opportunity for men to do such and such things upon the doing whereof they shall have the Spirit of God more operative and active more intensive and more raised in their hearts and souls I say If the Apostle maketh the doing of such things a means whereby they may be filled with the Spirit and cause him to delight in them and withal supposeth men to be capable of doing such things or using such means whereby this blessed end may be accomplished As it is evident he doth by the Exhortations and Injunctions which he layeth upon them Then men in this sense may be truly said to be capable of filling themselves or of being filled with the Spirit when they shall be faithful in the use of such means which will certainly accomplish this most desirable effect Yet doth it not follow from hence or from what hath been spoken That the Spirit of God is subject unto men or that men have any power to speak properly over him or that he is any way obnoxious unto them This indeed follows from what hath been spoken viz. That the Spirit of God hath graciously subjected himself unto his own Laws and Rules and Will in this case and hath been pleased to make such gracious promises unto men that if they will go along with him and follow his leading and ducture they shall have as much of his presence and company as their hearts can desire I say If men will but give up themsElves to his leading yea and shall love to be moved unto and acted in things that are excellent and to be carried or transported this way or that way by Him Such a demeanour of men towards the Spirit of God will put him into a holy and honourable capacity to advance in his presence in them and towards them I had almost said to what degree they please and so to work them up from one degree of holiness unto another and consequently of joy comfort and peace untill he hath as it were brought them up into the Heavens So then the Premises considered the reason why men by doing thus shall be filled with the Spirit is not simply or meerly because men do such and such things or as if there were any thing considerable in what men do in order to their being filled with the Spirit as if there were any thing either of merit or desert in them No nor yet as if there were any thing in what men do in a natural way able or tending to produce such an effect as
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
to receive the Spirit But on the other hand those who have the knowledge of him they are in a capacity of receiving him upon the most desirable terms and are capable of making use of him as hath been in effect said unto you In the fourth place you must pray unto God Sect. 5 or unto the Spirit of God for Prayer it self is a means which we are to make use of in order to our being filled with the Spirit We do here mention it as a part of that Method which should be observed by him who is engaged in the drawing in of the Spirit in order to a being acted by him Now then if this be agreeable to the Will of God viz. that men should pray for the gift of the Spirit and that in the lowest measure then there is no question to be made but that Prayer is as profitable means to effect it in the highest in the one as well as the other and that there is no more unlawfulness in the one than in other This then in the fourth place by way of direction how you may engage the Spirit and set him on work within you to perform what you are not like to perform by your own strength without such a presence of him to assist in your work The third and last Question was Sect. 6 In case we be able and shall actually engage the Spirit of God to assist us how the things done by him or by his assistance can be attributed unto us as the Scriptures frequently do or we be looked upon as the doers of them as we must be if ever we be rewarded for them by God To this Question we gave answer in effect formerly when we opened this unto you namely how notwithstanding men do draw in or engage the Spirit to their assistance in spiritual works and services yet they are not to be looked upon as principal Agents and the Spirit as the subordinate Agent Where we explained unto you the Agency or Efficiency of man in such works in respect of which being truly and really such as the Scriptures every where suppose them to be the said Actions and Services may truly and properly be called ours For whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily and freely consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Which is clearly the case in hand for whatsoever a man doth by the Spirit or by his assistance is done not only with or by means of the consent of his Will but by the more active desire and application of the Will unto the Spirit for the doing of it as we have heard yea that which is yet more and entituleth a man more clearly unto such Acts as we speak of is the contriving and studying and plotting how they may and ought to be done by the man who doth them If a man did not consider how and by what means to bring in the Spirit to his assistance the great work we speak of would not be done therefore there is no great difficulty in the question only that is to be remembred as we pass from it that they who make the Creature either meerly Passive in such Works or Services or which little easeth the business willing as we say by or from a necessitation they despoile the Creature of all capacity of being rewarded by God for such services and thus whilst they importunely pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God they do indeed and in truth reduce it to a morsel of bread as the Scriptures speak and make nothing of it so that in them the Latine Proverb is fulfilled Stultorum gratia ingrata The grace or favour of inconsiderate persons is unacceptable or such as there is no reason why they should be thanked for it But this only by the way If you ask But why should the imploying of the Spirit of God Sect. 7 in such a manner as you have taught us be a means for a Believer to be filled with the Spirit Or how should it conduce any thing towards such a blessed effect as this is I answer That such an imploying of the Spirit as that we have described unto you is a regular use of that great Gift of the Spirit given unto us by God for the Spirit is given of God unto the Saints for this end and purpose viz. that by him and by his assistance they should do all their works which he commandeth them to do I do not say that it is the sole end but that this is one great and material end why the Holy Ghost is given unto men and why he dwelleth in the Saints 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received saith the Apostle not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God That is for this end amongst others and for others depending upon this that by his help duly sought and obtained by us we might be able to know and rightly to conceive apprehend and understand and likewise firmly to believe the Gospel i. e. the particular things revealed in the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ and the mind and Counsels of God concerning our salvation which things are said to be given or freely given unto us by God beeause they are there exhibited and lie in a readiness for all men to receive and know that are willing to take the course which God hath prescribed unto them for such an end There is the same consideration of other spiritual Actions and Services as these Mortification Prayer c. The Holy Ghost is given for this end and purpose that by his assistance and strength they may be able to perform these things after a worthy manner and with highest acceptation unto God If so then to answer the gracious intentions of God in giving him which is by imploying him as we have heard This must need be a direct and proper means to abound with him to have an anointing more rich and full of his presence For it is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them or bestowed upon them that these should no other circumstance hindering be intrusted with a greater Upon this Foundation are these and the like Sayings in Scripture built Mat. 13.12 for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath So again Luke 16 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much Meaning it is meet that such a person who hath approved himself faithful in a less proportion of any good thing committed unto him should upon the account of his approved faithfulness therein be intrusted with more for God as hath been observed upon the like occasion usually walketh
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
hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men Now he that is born of the Spirit must needs act and be enclined after the same manner he will be zealous for God bestirring himself in his way as the Spirit of God doth in his way So then this is the first thing we were to shew in order to a demonstration or proof that a being filled with the Spirit must needs be accompanied with abundance of peace and joy viz. that he that is filled with the Spirit must needs be large hearted and highly active for God The second thing which upon the same account we have to prove is Sect. 5 that such men and women whose waies are thus on high as Solomon saith are not much obnoxious to temptations by Sathan or however not like to be overcome by them First We say that persons filled with the Spirit and consequently acting with an high hand and great resolution for God and for Jesus Christ are not in this respect so obnoxious unto temptations I mean are not so like to be assaulted to be tempted by the Tempter Sathan hath no such encouragements from these men they do not stand on purpose to be tempted by him as the far greatest part of men and women in the World do who go so to work in the things of God with so much deadness and lasiness that they do upon the matter invite the Tempter As we use to say Opportunity makes a Thief so the opportunity that men offer the Tempter who is carrying on his interest in the World to render it as miserable as he can at present and as miserable as may be for Eternity maketh him so busie with them Whereas those who are filled with the Spirit do upon the matter cut him off of all opportunity in this kind and consequently make him less careful or solicitous to spend his temptations upon such as these The Reason hereof is because he hath less hope to make any earnings upon such men the excellent Spirit for waies and works of righteousness and holiness which he continually discovers in these men breaks the heart of his hopes of doing any good upon them of prevailing over them This observing of the wind keeps him from sowing his temptations in those fields As a man though he hath a Quiver never so full of Arrows careth not to shoot them against a brazen Wall So neither will Sathan the Devil care to throw his fiery Darts against those who are so hard to come at who are alwaies up and out in the heighth of their spirits for God For as the Scripture saith 1 Cor. 9.10 he that ploweth or soweth ploweth and soweth in hope meaning that no man would either plow or sow but in hope to reap So neither will Sathan care to plow or sow but when he hath a hope of an harvest Now his Harvest is nothing else but the sin and wickedness of men and unless it were for this he would not care to tempt men God of old gave this by way of motive and encouragement unto the Jews to cause all their male children to appear three times a year in Jerusalem viz. that he would cast out the Nations before them and enlarge their borders and as a fruit and consequence of this he adds Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Exod. 34.24 When I have taken such a course by magnifying thee by enlarging thy quarters then no mans heart shall desire or think of conquering of thee So when God hath filled men and women with his Spirit and by means hereof hath raised and enlarged their hearts to any Heroick kind of acting and conversing in the World and hath removed sin and wickedness far from them there is no desire of ensnaring or foyling them like to come up into the heart of Sathan And therefore it was that the Lord Christ was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted by the Devil Mat. 4.1 Mar. 1.12 Luke 4.1 He had an anointing of the Spirit of God above all his Fellows and therefore the Devil had no mind to set upon him with any of his Temptations unless it were upon some special advantage and therefore he was led aside into a very desolate and howling Wilderness amongst the wild Beasts as Mark saith there were some Wildernesses amongst them that had Towns but this was altogether without Inhabitants All which clearly implieth that the Devil had no mind to Duel with him but upon special advantages as his being ready to suffer thorough hunger his being amongst wild Beasts in a place remote from men altogether without Inhabitants for otherwise what necessity was there that the Lord Christ should be led aside into the Wilderness but only in order hereunto He continued fasting forty daies and afterwards when he was an hungry then he fell upon him So likewise the Devil observing how mightily the Grace and Spirit of God wrought in Paul had questionless the less edge to bestow time upon him in tempting of him and Paul was little other in Sathan's eye than a brazen Wall against which he cared not to shoot It is true the Apostle reports 2 Cor. 12.7 how there was given unto him a Messenger of Sathan a thorne in the flesh lest he should be exalted above measure But first That which is here termed a Messenger of Sathan and described to be a thorn in the flesh is said to have been given him meaning by God i. e. to have been by a special interposure of God disposed to him not in order to a perpetration of any sin which the greatest part of the Devils temptations are but to the preventing of it From whence by the way it clearly enough appears that the thorne in the flesh here spoken of was no last of uncleanness nor any sensual concupiscence because then Paul would not have said that it had been given unto him But doubtless it is rather meant of some false Apostle that endeavoured to undermine him Haply it may be it was some Christian Friend that did Paul a displeasure that did undermine his credit in one kind or other but however the very end for which the Messenger of Sathan was given him it was not to draw him into sin but for the preventing of sin as he saith lest I should be exalted above measure or lest he should conceive an opinion of himself above that which was meet for him to conceive Secondly It appears that Sathan was in one kind or other over-acted by God in sending such a Messenger and that the Temptation was over-ruled by some hand of God also Thus it appears in the second place why those that are filled with the Spirit of God are not obnoxious to be tempted by the Devil and that the Devil is not much enclined to tempt such persons as we speak of This appeareth further from Jam. 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you
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
moved to do any thing for the good of this Creature of his may be absolute and in all respects every way free For the object or opportunity for grace to shew it self or for to act is not in strictness of consideration misery or extremity these are the appropriate objects and opportunities of mercy But the proper opportunity for grace to shew it self is either 1. A flat or dead irrelativeness in point of merit in him to whom grace is shewn or to be shewn in reference unto him that is supposed to shew grace so that the person is no waies beholding no waies debtor unto him to whom he is willing to shew himself gracious Or else 2. A relation of demerit injury or provocation in him to whom grace is shewed towards him that sheweth grace or dealeth graciously by him So that he that sheweth grace hath not only no tye or ingagement at all upon him to shew any such thing but on the other hand hath much before him to disswade and take him off from it Now if he shall be pleased to overlook all these injuries and shall these notwithstanding deal graciously and shew kindness this is properly an act of grace 3. Neither was it simply or only the misery wherein men lay plunged that wrought upon the mercy of God so far as to move and prevail with him to open that door of relief and deliverance unto him which now he hath done but it was his misery so and so circumstantiated in one respect or other as is evident from hence because otherwise the misery whereinto those more excellent Creatures of his the lapsed Angels are fallen being every whit as great if not far greater than that of man would have had the same motive or operation upon the mercy of God to do the like for them which the misery of man had and so have prevailed with him to have provided deliverance for them also But this only by the way 4. And lastly for this That which was properly matter of grace in God towards man being fallen was not procured or drawn from him by any thing in man any waies obliging him thereunto or by any consideration whatsoever relating unto man or his condition But was every way free meerly intirely and absolutely from himself And this is one thing and the first thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of acting in the Spirit of God consists viz. That without any moving or obliging cause whatsoever from without or on mans part He is pleased to intreat him sweetly and lovingly and to come unto him as it were from heaven to visit him to converse with the Children of men in the secret of their hearts and souls to instruct and teach them the things of their eternal peace to admonish and excite them to the imbracing and prosecuting of them yea and to follow them with his Promise to look after them and assist them And these things he doth to all men without exception to a certain degree when they first come by the use of their judgments and understanding and by the putting forth of their consciences to be capable of them yea and doth increase and advance these his gracious workings in them untill either by a long continued neglect of his presence with them or by some higher hand of sin and wickedness practiced in opposition to such gracious motions and transactions of his within them they weary him and quench those gracious operations which his presence affordeth unto them and bring it so to pass that he taketh no pleasure or delight in them Secondly Sect. 9 Another thing and that which already in part hath been mentioned wherein the graciousness and freedom of the Spirit of God in his working consists is this viz. That he is pleased sweetly and graciously to intreat men not only without any cause on their part moving or obliging him thereunto But against many provocations that might in reason have perswaded him to the contrary I mean to have absented himself from them and to have abandoned and abhorred them for ever and left them to have perished in their sin eternally Who can number all that variety of sins and provocations which centred and met together in and about that first and great transgression of Adam What strain of sin and wickedness was there wanting There was unthankfulness pride unbelief contempt of God sensuality murther of Posterity and that without end and what not almost of all that the soul of God abhorreth And all this great concourse and assembly of all sorts of Impieties and Provocations from the greatest to the least of them were as so many Orators and Pleaders against man before God and disswaders of him from ever respecting or taking the least care or thought what became of him and yet the grace of God and of the good Spirit as we have both heard and known to our comfort hath through that abundant freeness thereof magnified it self against them all It had been grace yea freeness of grace in the strictest consideration of both words if God or the Spirit of God should have moved in mercy or love towards his creature Man upon a level or plain ground I mean without any worthiness or desert or any inviting consideration in man But that the Spirit of God should be in his visiting of men like a river of water running up a steep hill my meaning is should vouchsafe to make applications of himself unto them in order to their eternal peace against such height and fierceness of demerit injury and provocation is indeed somewhat more than simply and meerly free grace if we had a word of more excellent signification to express it by and the truth is we want words to express it For that grace which God hath vouchsafed unto men in their salvation and in the means thereof and in the great condescension of the Spirit of God unto men is more and somewhat of a higher nature it carries a richer and more glorious notion in it than simply of grace of meer grace or of free grace because this free grace might have been shewed unto men in case they had never sinned It was the grace of God to create man upon those terms that he did to put him in a capacity of continuing in that honour and happiness wherein he was created and to adorn him with such rich and excellent qualifications because the Creature could deserve none of these things it could deserve nothing before it was But having sinned for God to exhibit such terms of love and goodness and bounty as he hath done this is somewhat more if we know what to call it than meer grace or free grace The Apostle Paul makes it more than so and an higher expression of it than his I think could not have been given down from Heaven at least 2 Amat compositiones Paulus cum Prepositione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that should in any degree have been intelligible by men a For he takes
to propose unto himself and unto his Spirit for his dealing with the world And for exceptions it is a common saying and true that an exception from a general Rule strengthens and confirms the Rule in all particulars not excepted for there is no general Rule as the saying is that hath not some exceptions Now these exceptions that are to be found from the general Rule we speak of are so far from taking it away or making any breach upon it that indeed they give great confirmation and authority unto it By that standing Rule we speak of God doth explain himself to this effect that men should not expect any extraordinary coming of the Holy Ghost upon them but wait for him in his ordinary way And the truth is those standing Laws and Rules of which we have spoken may be the result of the choisest and most excellent wisdom of the Holy Ghost and of God in ordaining them and yet it may be a point of the same wisdom likewise in some cases to act contrary to them There is a time saith the wise man to build and a time to pull down though these be contrary actions yet according to the exigency of differing times and seasons and occasions both may be done with a like wisdom So that the Holy Ghost may ordinarily walk by one rule and yet in extraordinary cases may walk by another Rule and both with uniformity unto his grace and goodness towards the world But it will be still objected That the Holy Ghost doth not move or act by any determinate Law prescribed unto himself no Sect. 17 not in his ordinary proceedings with men For doth he not many times ever and anon shew himself in his might and in the glory of his strength and power in working effectually upon the hearts and consciences of men that have been loose and vain and a long time wicked and prophane In answer hereunto we might commend unto you those particulars which we have formerly delivered upon this account to consider of But in the sixth place we shall add this to the five preceding which we will not stand now to name that persons that have been loose prophane despisers of God and the Gospel c. may on the sudden and at once seem to be truly converted and brought home unto God when that which is wrought in or upon them in this kind is but either that which some call a Sermon-sickness when the Conscience of a man is only troubled or wounded with the dreadful concernment of the things he hears but soon after recovers himself out of this fit and is the same man he was or worse than before As when Paul before Felix was reasoning of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come it is said that Felix trembled Acts 24.25 But this was but like an earthquake under which the earth is much troubled and shaken as if it would be removed out of its place but soon after recovers and returns to its wonted stability Or else the work we speak of suddenly wrought in loose sensual and prophane persons may possibly not vanish and come to nothing and yet not be a real work of Conversion yet doth it not follow that the Holy Ghost should be found therein to recede from his own Law mentioned To him that hath shall be given because possibly a man may have more in him by way of improvement within the space of one hour and perhaps in a far shorter time than another in the space of several hours yea or years and yet be an Haver too in the sense formerly declared my meaning is this That a man or woman may possibly with a less assistance of the Spirit more effectually provoke and stir up themselves and advance their minds and attentions to the hearing and considering of the Gospel the words of eternal life when they are speaking unto them than another man with a greater measure of assistance of the same Spirit may do within the space of a far longer time and yet be doing somewhat all the while As in matters of a Civil concernment one man with a lesser stock only with more diligence and wisdom may advance his estate more within the space of one year than another with a greater stock being less industrious and provident may do in three and this man may not go backward neither That hath been heretofore signified unto you that the Holy Ghost seldom or never withdraws from any man so low unless it be in the case of the unpardonable sin but that a person may by means of his gracious presence with him if he will provoke and stir up himself accordingly he may consider the things of his eternal peace and act and behave himself accordingly That God is said to open the heart of Lydia Acts 16.14 So that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul doth not prove that Lydia had a greater presence or assistance of the Spirit of God than any other that were present at the preaching of the Gospel whereby she was converted But only notes the happy event and success which that assistance she had had in and upon her heart like unto which there was none wrought or produced in any other there present by any presence or assistance of the Spirit which they had This is a Principle or Rule according to which many things are spoken and are to be taken and understood in the Scriptures viz. that when one and the same action is raised and produced by a joynt concurrence of two different causes one principal and independent in its efficacy or working the other subordinate and dependent in the acting thereof the effect or work produced between them is sometimes as in good propriety of speech it may be ascribed to the one and sometimes to the other but more commonly to the former that which is the principal So that act of opening Lydia's heart because God was the principal agent in it and cause independent in working it though this was not could not be without Lydia's act in consenting God opened and she opened too for she repented and believed see Rev. 3.20 yet the work is ascribed only unto God But this by the way Seventhly Sect. 18 and lastly When there is any such example in reality and truth as the objection mentioneth viz. a person on the sudden converted and brought home unto God which hath formerly been loose vain and prophane there may be somewhat more than an ordinary presence of the Holy Ghost in and about the work without any declining of that Law or Rule before mentioned from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath For it is to be supposed and not at all to be doubted that even he that hath not in our Saviours sense of the word have that hath not any thing upon improvement of his original stock yet may have somewhat commodious and advantageous unto him at this turn upon the account of some other one or
more that hath laboured with God in prayer for him I mean for his repentance or conversion Neither do I conceive it incident to any of your thoughts that the Holy Ghost should act or move by any such rule which should render the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man much less the effectual fervent prayers of many righteous men on the behalf of another of none effect It must needs I conceive grate upon any mans understanding to think so For God hath commanded men to pray one for another And Parents especially are bound to lay up in Prayers for their Children as well as in Lands or money and that which is laid up or if you will laid out by worthy Parents for their Children in Prayers is like to turn to a more certain account in benefit and good unto them than that which is laid up or out for them otherwise And to this purpose Ambrose that saying of Jerome unto Monica Austins Mother who wept and prayed for her Sons Conversion night and day for a long time together whilst he like a lost sheep was going astray in the errour and vain practices of the Manichees this woman I say making her moan to Jerome about this her Son received this answer from him full of comfort Non potest perire filius tot lacrymarum A Child that hath so many tears bestowed on him by a Parent could not perish meaning could not lightly perish As when we express any great hope concerning the obtaining or coming to pass of a thing we often express our selves by such a kind of Hyperbole and say It cannot be otherwise For it is worthy our taking notice of by the way that when we pray for the repentance or the conversion of a child or friend or whoever if we pray regularly and agreeable to the mind and will of God we do neither pray simply or absolutely for his repentance as if in case he should not be brought to repentance then God cannot be said to have heard or granted our Prayers nor yet conditionally neither in such a sense as if we should or in duty ought to leave him at liberty whether he would grant our Prayers in this kind or no for he hath not left himself at liberty in such cases neither would he have us leave him at such a liberty but when we pray for the conversion of a Child Husband Wife or any other person our Prayers ought to be absolute in this kind that he would be pleased to vouchsafe to intreat the person for whom we pray very graciously and effectually by his Spirit in order to the bringing him to repentance that he will move and encline his Will with a high hand of perswasive power that if it be possible he may not any longer remain impenitent This is the tenour or effect of any Prayer that can be made advisedly and regularly according to the will of God for the repentance or conversion of any But if this be the sense of our Prayers that God would compel men to repent or which is the same though there hath been much beating of the air to find or rather to make a difference that he would incline his will by an irresistible power hereunto this is not according to the will of God nor doth he convert any man nor will he upon the Prayers of an Angel in Heaven bring any man to repentance upon such terms as these Nor doth it stand with his wisdom nor with the great end of his glory which he hath on foot and carrieth on from day to day in his Government and Administration of the World Yea and though the repentance of the person for whom we pray for upon such terms should follow yet it is not to be imputed to our Prayers as if they obtained it though haply that good and Christian intention out of which we may pray in such a case may prevail with God for that grace to be given unto him who is prayed for by which he is brought to repentance So then that which I say is this That though a person hath been a long time loose careless and prophane a despiser of God and of his Grace yet if his condition hath been frequently and fervently commended unto God by Prayer and this by persons of any considerable interest in God such as Noah Daniel and Job all their Prayers may possibly meet together in one and center in some more than ordinary excitation of the heart and soul of such a person by the Holy Ghost as in the hearing of a Sermon or some other like opportunity by the advantage whereof he may possibly be brought to repent and believe And in such interposures of the Holy Ghost as these he is not to be conceived to make any digression from the standing and common Rule To him that hath shall be given c. For the person we speak of though all this while wicked and prophane yet may be said to have upon the account of that which hath been put up to God for him the prayers and intercessions the cries and tears that have been presented by any person or persons who have been in favour with God this hath been given unto him and is of the same consideration in Heaven and with God in relation to his case and condition as if he himself had made such an improvement of what he had which is wont to bring men under the blessing of the Promise To him that hath shall be given c. And thus much for answer and satisfaction to that objection concerning the sudden conversion of men formerly ungodly and prophane and for the first reason of the Doctrine If men be not filled or in the way of being filled with the Spirit of God they are in danger of being filled with some other spirit CHAP. III. The second Reason of the Doctrine without being filled with the Spirit the hearts of men and women will never serve them to do excellent things for God Acts 5.3 Ch. 13.9 10. Ch. 20.22 2 Cor. 5.13 in part opened THe second Reason of the Doctrine is this Sect. 1 Every man and woman is bound to be filled with the Spirit of God Because without such a filling the hearts of men and women will never serve them to do any excellent things for God their hands will never bestrong enough to be lift up to the high Commandments of God which yet doubtless is the duty of every Servant of God I mean upon occasion to lift up his hands even to the highest of the Commandments of God Men and women without some competent fulness of the Spirit will ever and anon be apt to stumble and betray the honour of God and the peace and comfort of their own souls For where there is not such a fulness of the Spirit of God there must needs be space left in the hearts and souls of men for foolish apprehensions vain desires and carnal projections to lodge there and these will
watch their opportunity and sooner or later will break out and shew themselves in the world Or if they should not break out into action yet they will greatly incumber and break the very heart and cut the sinews of the motions and excitations of the Spirit of God in men The motions of the Spirit of God where these inmates are hardly thrive or come to any maturity but will be as the untimely fruit of a woman which never comes to see the Sun There are some actions so necessary to be atchieved for the honour of Christ that this is like to suffer much unless they be performed And these are of such a contrariety to the flesh that unless men be filled with the Spirit of God the flesh will never give way for the performance of them because they have such a desperate antipathy to it and to the works thereof But when a man is full of the Holy Ghost he is now so full of the sense of the goodness of those honourable purposes that are conceived in his soul and of all high atchievements in the service of God which he judgeth will be both for the glory of God the advancement of the Gospel and for the good of mankind as also for his own peace and comfort that there is no place left within him for the flesh to suggest any thing to the contrary either to take him him off from or to retard him in the prosecution thereof He is as full of such occasions and ingagements as these as ever he can hold which keep out the motions and insinuations of the flesh Whereas if there were room for them to interpose it is a thousand to one but they would strangle or stifle all good purposes and resolutions within him You may the better understand what it is to be filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 2 in reference to the matter in hand by considering the contrary namely what it is to be filled with an evil spirit Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle to Annanias Acts 5.3 The Apostle supposes that Satan had filled his heart upon this ground because he had reason and grounds in abundance to speak the truth in as much as he saw and knew that Peter was indued with a miraculous and extraordinary presence of the Spirit of God whereby he could discern whether he spake the truth or not but Satan had filled his heart with foolish imaginations and vain conceits about the profit or benefit that he presumed would accrue unto him by his lye that there was no room for the consideration of those grounds and reasons as were before him to speak the truth though these were pregnant and near at hand So on the contrary when a man is so full of the consideration of the high services of God and of purposes and resolutions to quit himself worthily therein that there is no place left in his soul to encertain any contrary thoughts or suggestions that might insnare him and turn him aside now is he full of the Spirit and in a meet frame and posture to lift up his heart and his hands to the great and high Commandments of Jesus Christ It is said Acts 4 8. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them ye Rulers of the people and Elders of Israel c And Acts 13.9 10. Then Paul filled with the Holy Ghost sit his eyes on him viz. Elimas the Sorcerer and said O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right waies of the Lord The reason why here is mention made of the Apostles being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was ingaged in such a notable service for Jesus Christ as to reprove a man of that great authority and esteem which Elimas was of amongst them the reason hereof I say was to shew that he was not like to have performed such a work as this had he not been so full of the Spirit of God that there was no room in his heart for any fearful apprehensions nor thoughts of danger or reward to obstruct him herein So elsewhere the Apostle in a Phrase a little differing saith Behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem Acts 20.22 To be bound in the Spirit is upon the matter to be filled with the Spirit As a man that is bound hand and foot may be ordered any way he can make no resistance any man may carry him whither he will So saith Paul I go bound in the Spirit or by means of the Spirit He hath brought me into these bonds having filled me with satisfaction touching the excellency of the service that I shall do unto Christ by going to Jerusalem in the face of all those great Enemies I shall there meet with Yet saith he notwithstanding any danger that may befall me I go bound in the Spirit so filled with what the Spirit hath put into my judgment and conscience and soul touching the acceptableness of the service that I can give no audience to any reasons or proposals against it I cannot resist the motion carrying me to it And 2 Cor. 5.13 The same Apostle speaks of being besides themselves For whether we be besides our selves it is unto God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Constraineth us namely to both kinds of practices those wherein they should seem unto many to be besides themselves and those also wherein they should seem to be sober wherein he supposeth that there are many turns wherein the honour of Jesus Christ cannot be provided for as it ought but some men must act like unto men besides themselves to make the provision And of all kind of actions and services these are the highest and most spiritual and of the greatest consequence unto the interest of Jesus Christ and his affairs And the truth is that setting a very few persons aside that are more spiritually wise than the common sort of men yea of Christians themselves there are not sufficient witnesses of the worthiness of such actions but Jesus Christ himself because the grounds and reasons by which such actions must be promoted are so high and have so much of God in them that persons of an ordinary understanding have no skill of them they cannot cast it or conceive in their minds but that such a man might have done better might have been wiser and might have kept a good conscience though he had not run such an hazard and exposed himself to such or such a trouble or loss c. Sect. 3 Now it is only the Holy Ghost that can enable men to do that can inlarge their hearts unto such actions and services as those wherein they shall be looked upon as men besides themselves And when the Holy Ghost shall come and fill the heart and display the worthiness and glory of such
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
with the water of life and not filled up to the brim they will never be upon such terms of advantage to do that great Service for God whereunto the Law of their high and heavenly calling obligeth them First That the Consolations of the Gospel Sect. 2 especially where they have most of God and of the Gospel in them are very rich and glorious need not be any mans doubt or question if he considers a little what the Holy Ghost speaketh of them in the Gospel Wherein God saith the Apostle willing more abundantly to shew the Heirs of the Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things by which it was impossible for God to lye we might have valid or strong Consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.17 18. We see God hath raised the Pin of the Gospel to such a height that it is not only able to furnish men and women with a good proportion of comfort and peace but he hath put so much of himself of his grace and love bounty and magnificence into it that it powreth out unto men abundantly of the highest and strongest Consolations although there be very few that understand how or where to hold their hearts that these pourings out of the Gospel may run or fall into them Now the Consolation which is strong and potent indeed is able not only to suppress and subdue its enemies discouragements doubts fears c. and withal to maintain it self in peace against them but also to discourage as it were and dishearten these Enemies from ever attempting any thing against it For he properly is strong whose strength being known maketh an enemy to have no mind to meddle with him but causeth him to fear to rise up in opposition against him by means whereof be enjoyes himself with little or no trouble or disturbance Such is the Consolation of the Gospel and is accordingly found by men when it is received in the power and glory of it It is not only able to suppress and keep under fears and doubtings and sad apprehensions in every kind which are enemeies to it But to enjoy it self in fulness of peace and security without any danger of being infested or annoyed by them This is the height of the Consolation of the Gospel he that is baptized into the Spirit of it enjoyeth himself with a divine security in the frailty of a weak and mortal man To this we may add that of Peter 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Now in telling them that believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory I suppose his meaning was not that they did now at this time actually enjoyce at the rate he speaks of however at other times they may be pensive and said But that they were in such a state or condition and had such a Gospel preach'd known and believed amongst them whereby they might and ought to rejoyce habitually and as oft as they should set their hearts about it For in Scripture Phrase Persons many times are said to do that not only which they actually or at present do but which they may or have opportunity and means and are like to do And sometimes it speaketh of men as doing that which is their duty and what they ought to do whether they actually and indeed do it or no. Thus Rom. 1.21 it is said of the Heathens when they knew God that is when they had opportunity and means to know him they stood upon account to him as men that did know God so that if they did not walk and act and glorifie him as became men and women that did really and truly know God they were as deep in condemnation as such persons would be who did know him and yet refuse or neglect to glorifie him So 1 Joh. 4.2 Hereby know ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of God c. that is you may at any time know and discern this Spirit Thus Rom. 13.3 Rulers are said to be not a terrour to good works but to the evil not that they are actually or alwaies are either the one or other I mean no terrour to good works but unto evil too frequent experience proves the contrary viz. That they are a terrour to good works and not to evil but because they ought to be so so Verse 8. they are said to attend continually upon this very thing the Service of God in the due execution of their places not that they do thus attend but because the Law of their Institution binds them unto it they ought to attend continually hereupon This kind of expression occurs frequently in the Scripture We might add that of our Saviour Joh. 10.10 I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly I am come upon such terms unto the World and have brought along with me such a Gospel out of the bosome of my Father and opened unto men such Counsels and gracious intendments of his touching his love and favour and that affection towards the world that they may have life in what measure or proportion they please They may have life that is comfort and peace joy happiness c. for life in Scripture frequently imports a being with much contentment death the contrary more abundantly viz. than ever they will seek or endeavour to have and enjoy or more abundantly that is that they may have it with all the variety of pleasures and delights they can desire So likewise Luke 1.14 That he would grant to us that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear c. To serve God without fear my Brethren this also doth amount to matter of strong Consolation For what can a man or woman desire more for their comfort than to be exalted above fears sorrows troubles and every thing that is of a discouraging and disconsolating nature in or from the World The horn of Salvation is lift up to such an height in the Gospel that by beholding of it in its Elevation we may serve God without fear of any enemy or evil whatsoever and that not only for such a time day or year as when or whilst we are or may be extraordinarily acted or superacted by a spirit of joy but even all the daies of our lives This horn of Salvation is so raised in the Gospel that peace and joy may flow in the hearts and souls of men uniformly as a great River whose waters fail not Secondly We added this that they whose hearts do not serve them Sect. 3 to quit themselves like men indeed for obtaining that incomparable prize we speak of the first born of the Consolations of the Gospel are not like to obtain it It was the saying of an Heathen man Deus omnia labore vendit God
this affection as the Earth is to give unto the Trees fixedness and fastness of standing where its place at present is of standing when it hath once shot its roots into it and wrapped them about the stones of it as Job 8.17 When a tree is thus rooted it will bear a strong gust of wind without being borne down or overturned by it So when a man hath had his soul judgment and conscience much exercised with interessed and ingaged in when he hath throughly pondered and kindly digested those great and blessed truths which have a kind of imperious and commanding influence upon men to cause them to love God and men he will become one spirit with this heavenly affection and so as it were incorporated in soul with it that the strength of death it self will hardly be able to separate him from it much less is he in any great danger of being overcome by other temptations For the other Metaphor of being grounded or rather as the word signifies founded in love this I conceive notes the constant exercise or practice of the affection as the former of rooting pointed at the method or means of introducing and setting it in the soul And as an house or building for from these it is borrowed stands firm and fast upon its foundation and is not removed of and on at any time So he prayes for the Ephesians That in order to the end mentioned they may be and continue as uniform and constant in shewing love both unto God and men as well in doings as in sufferings without interruption or declining at any time But to come to the latter Question propounded how Sect. 5 or why a being rooted and grounded in love should make men capable or able to comprehend the love of Christ in the four Dimensions specified There are two things to be considered in the business First Love is of a dilating and enlarging nature it opens the heart to a greater wideness and makes it capacious to receive many things which otherwise it would not Charity or Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle believeth all things hopeth all things 1 Cor. 13.7 meaning that it disposeth and inclineth men to believe and hope the best in all things concerning others viz. where there is no apparent ground to judge otherwise Whilst the heart of a man is destitute of the love of God and men it is scant and narrow and as it were clung together there is no room in it for things of any great extent or compass to be received or entertained there Men that love none but themselves their hearts are shut up against God and men and they think that all other hearts are so likewise Whereas if a man be sensible that he himself hath a large heart can do and suffer thus and thus can spend and be spent upon the Service of God and the Generation of men round about him such a man will be ready to say of others it may very well be that they likewise are the same or rather greater in goodness with my self That men find themselves inclined by nature to give good things unto their Children that ask them is as Christ plainly intimateth Mat. 7.11 a rise and advantage unto their Faith to believe that God much more is ready and willing to give good things unto those that shall by prayer ask them of him Therefore when a man shall find his heart drawn out in this heavenly affection of Love far beyond his Children even unto God his Father and unto all his Brethren descending from the same Progenitors and partakers of the same flesh and bloud with him and shall for some space of time have had the experience of the real genuine and constant working of this affection in him this must needs facilitate and prepare the way of his Faith throughly to believe all that immense love which Christ bare and yet beareth unto the World as it is held forth and asserted in the Gospel And this is in the Apostles Phrase before us to comprehend the love of Christ in all the Dimensions of it This then is one Consideration in which to be rooted and grounded in love must needs be conceived to enable men to the said comprehension Or else another thing may be that God considering how highly he doth honour and prize this heavenly affection of Love where he findeth it how greatly he delighteth in it in his Creature therefore hath reserved such a great and excellent reward as that comprehension we speak of to stir up the hearts of men to desire and possess themselves of it And haply this may be the meaning 1 Cor. 2.9 As it is written eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The place hath formerly been understood as if it were meant of the enjoyments in Heaven but now men more generally and more truly understand that by the things here spoken of are meant the hidden and secret things of the Gospel the several strains and contrivances of the manifold wisdom and counsel of the righteousness and love of God that are couched there Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things c. Some understand the heart of a natural man or of a person not yet converted But I conceive he means as well the heart of a man converted but meanly and weakly furnished with the Love of God as unconverted God is said to have prepared in the Gospel things of most rare and wonderful consideration for those that love him meaning those that love him like himself that love him as Peter speaketh with a pure heart fervently because he reserveth for and intendeth the discovery and revelation of His most wise and profound Counsels here unto such persons judging them the only meet and worthily qualified subjects for such Communications Love and true Friendship are the most reasonable and equitable grounds of imparting secrets unto men according to that of our Saviour to his Disciples Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Master doth but I have called you Friends that is have dealt with you as with Friends knowing that you truly love me for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you Joh. 15.15 The Gospel consists of the plain and easie things of God and of the deep things of God as the Apostle distinguisheth 1 Cor. 3.10 Now the spirit of a man by the ordinary assistance only of the Spirit of God may search and comprehend the easie and plain things of God in the Gospel but it must be the Spirit of God which he is wont in special manner to give to those that obey him Acts 5.32 that is who express their love to him by obeying him Joh. 14.21.23 which Spirit is called the Spirit of Revelation Eph. 1.17 that searcheth that enableth men to
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
Cor. 15.8 but certain it is that he was born an Apostle and came into the work of God some considerable space of time after all his fellows yet we know he laboured more abundantly there than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 In like manner they that were called at the eleventh hour might do as much good and acceptable service as those that were called early And therefore no marvel if they received equal consideration for their work with these Besides God represented by the Lord of the Vineyard estimateth as we know the frame of the heart and inward disposition of the mind into the outward works and services of men So that the body and bulk as it were of their services may be fair and large when as the spirit of their value and acceptation with God may not answer by much and yet their persons nor services be wholly rejected neither As on the other hand where the hidden man of the heart is beautiful and lovely in his sight a performance or service which is but slender and ordinary in appearance may be highly prized and accepted of by him and this according to the most exact Rules of Justice Reason and Equity Christ pronounced a just and true Sentence when he said that the poor Widow who cast in only two Mites into the Treasury had cast in more than all the rich men who yet are said to have cast in much Mar. 12.41 43. Now it is not improbable but that by the early-called into the Vineyard may be set forth such a kind of Christian or Believer who savours much of the justiciary and legal spirit and is commonly active and zealous enough in his way for God but inclined to a rugged harsh and peremptory temper which unpleasant complexion and frame of heart though it doth not make void their Faith nor exclude them from the saving love of God yet it much abates and brings down the value and esteem of their outward services and performances with him So that Believers of a more Evangelical sweet and Christian constitution and frame of soul may equalize them in acceptance with God although they have not had time or opportunity to equalize them in the one half of their external services If it be yet urged and said But the Lord of the Vineyard doth not alledge against the early-called either any defect in them or in their work or labour nor any thing more commendable in those called at the eleventh hour as any reason why he should make these equal in reward unto them but only his will and pleasure I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. ver 14. From whence it seems that the will and good pleasure of God is the only Rule by which the Saints are rewarded and that by this Rule they shall be rewarded equally whether their works have been more or fewer more or less excellent according to any computation I answer These words from the Lord of the Vineyard to one of the first-called in the name of them all I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. do not at all prove either that the Will of God is the sole Rule by which the Saints shall be rewarded or that no consideration to the difference of their works whether they have been more or fewer more or less excellent shall be had therein They only prove that God typified in the Lord of the Vineyard will not acquaint proud quarrelsome or high minded persons with the Counsels of his Will or Reasons of his Doings especially with such as are more secret but will put them off with telling them what his peremptory Will is and an asserting the justness and lawfulness of it even as men likewise are wont to do by persons of a like evil temper whereas they are willing and free to give account of matters unto those that are ingenuous and of good spirits And this disposition is found in God himself according to these sayings of David The meek he will guide in judgment that is he will acquaint him with the grounds and reasons of all that he requires of him to do the meek he will teach his way viz. by shewing him the goodness and desirableness of it Psal 25.9 So again The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. And Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous God is most wont to communicate things of a more spiritual and mysterious cognizance but only unto those that are of meek and yielding spirits and reverently affected towards him So that it is no marvel if the Lord of the Vineyard would give no other reason but his will unto persons that were evil-spirited and contentious of such a dispensation as seemed hard unto them although he was able and ready to give reason enough thereof otherwise This for answer to the second Objection The third and last Objection Sect. 12 which pleads against all preheminence amongst the Saints in glory is taken from such Scriptures which intitle the Saints indefinitely taken or the whole species of them not only unto the same glory but unto such glory greater than which none can lightly be imagined The places of this import are these with others Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 So where it is said of Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Phil. 3.21 So again to mention no more where the Apostle Paul having said Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that last day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 All these Texts of Scripture speak of the Saints in general and without any differencing some from others by way of greater excellency and yet they promise unto them all shining like the Sun in their Fathers Kingdom and having their vile bodies changed by Christ and fashioned like unto his own glorious body the receiving Crowns of righteousness from God as well as Paul himself Which all seem to be expressions of as great glory as the greatest of Saints are capable of Therefore it is not to be conceived that one Saint shall differ from another in glory But To this also I answer That these and the like places only prove an identity or sameness in the species or kind of that glory whereof all the Saints shall be partakers not that they shall all partake of this glory in the same degree They shall all shine with a Sun-like lustre and brightness and yet some out-shine others The Sun it self doth not alwaies shine forth with the same lustre and glory Debora Judg. 5.31 prayeth that those that love God may be as the Sun when he riseth or goeth forth in his might which supposeth that sometimes he riseth with a weaker and less glorious splendour Yea it is said that
is termed the Lord of Hosts by Isaiah is by the Apostle Paul's interpretation the Holy Ghost And if he was worshipped by the Angels certainly he was no Angel no created Angel himself but truly God Neither can our Adversaries take Sanctuary under the wing of their common Evasion viz. by pretending that it might be the Lord of Hosts or the most High God that put the words specified into the mouth of Isaiah and yet do it too by an Angel For 1. here is no ground at all no touch or breathing of any circumstance to build such a conceit or pretense upon 2. That which the Lord of Hosts did unto Isaiah by the Ministery of an Angel in his Vision is expresly ascribed to the Angel who did minister unto him in this kind Isa 6.6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon my mouth and said Lo this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged What God did by an Angel unto Isaiah is as we hear expresly attributed to the Angel that did it And if it had been an Angel that by order and Commission from God dictated that Prophesie unto Isaiah which here he is commanded to utter unto the People why should not this have been mentioned and the act of dictation we speak of ascribed unto the Angel as well as that other Especially considering that the Angel which is pretended to have been ministerial unto God in the latter I mean in suggesting the words of the Prophesie unto the Prophet is supposed to be an Angel of far greater worth and dignity than the other for such the Holy Ghost is supposed to be by our Adversaries viz. the supreme Angel in dignity Now it is no waies reasonable to suppose that the Act of an inferiour Agent or Instrument should be recorded and the act of a far greater Instrument in and about the same business should be buried in silence Nay 3. And lastly for this the Prophet Isaiah is expresly said ver 11. to have called him Lord who had said unto him Go tell this people c. Then said I Lord how long If men had though but a competent anoynting with that wisdom which is from above as James speaketh Jam. 3.17 and so were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 easie to be perswaded indeed possible to be perswaded by the truth or to the truth these things might satisfie and perswade them For what greater proof or argument can there be to evince the Holy Ghost to be truly God or God by Nature as the Apostle distinguisheth than that he should be worshipped or adored by the Angels who very well know to whom worship belongeth Yea as Christ the Son of God is directly prayed unto by Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and again by John Rev. 22.20 Even so come Lord Jesus So is the Holy Ghost by the Church or Spouse of Christ Cant. 4.16 Awake thou North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out q.d. O Spirit of God breath upon my heart and soul be thou operative by thy grace and power upon me that so my Graces my holy Dispositions and Affections may freely utter themselves in the World with sutable actions and deportments Some I know understand this as if it were rather spoken by Christ to the Holy Ghost in reference to his Church whom they conceive he calleth his Garden than by the Spouse in respect of her self but the words in the latter end of the verse seem to evince the contrary for they must needs be understood as spoken by the Spouse Let my Beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits Here she styles her self his Garden because of the pleasure and delight she knew he took in her and invites him into his Garden to eat his pleasant fruits i. e. Desires him to take contentment in her Graces and Services We heard not long since that the Spirit of God is in the Scriptures resembled by the wind and why Yet more plainly than this Sect. 16 John prays for mercy and peace for the seven Churches of Asia not only from God the Father and from Jesus Christ but also from the Holy Ghost Rev. 1.4 signified by the seven Spirits before the Throne of the Father for the multiplicity of his distributions and gifts given unto men And here it may be noted that the Holy Ghost is not only joyned together with the Father and the Son by John as with them constituting one and the same object of Divine Worship but is likewise mentioned out of the order wherein they are more usually named when all three are mentioned together viz. not in the last place but in the middle between the Father and the Son which is I suppose occasioned from hence because John had more to say in the immediate sequel of the Context concerning Christ and therefore according to the usual manner of the Scriptures in like case reserved the last place in the enumeration for him though his proper place were before If any man shall here object and say That John doth not properly or directly pray in the passage mentioned to the Holy Ghost no nor yet to the Father or the Son but only wisheth Grace and Peace unto the seven Churches from them joyntly To this I answer 1. If it be conceived that John only wisheth or desireth Grace and Peace unto the Churches yet it is plain that he wisheth them equally and indifferently from the Spirit of God as well as from the Father and the Son therefore he supposeth him to be a joynt Donour with the other two of these Blessings Doubtless he would not have wished or desired them from one that had no power or right of interest to confer them and if the Holy Ghost hath power to confer them what can either God the Father or the Son have more If it be said God the Father may have an original power and the Holy Ghost a derivative or communicated power only I reply 1. Here as not the least intimation of any such difference between the power of the one and of the other in the sense at least of him that objecteth For there is a sense indeed wherein it may be admitted without any prejudice to the Deity of the Holy Ghost that he hath only a derived or communicated right or power to give Grace and Peace and the Father alone the power Original in this kind As his Personality or Subsistence in the Divine Nature or Essence is communicated unto him by and from the Father together with the Son so may all Rights and Powers belonging hereunto and founded in such a Subsistence be said to be derived and communicated unto him also But as he partakes of or subsists in the same Divine Essence with the Father and the Son so his Right
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
Spirit the Holy Spirit so much spoken of in the Scriptures to be God The debate of this Question we have already finished Another of the three Questions was How or what course a Christian or any other Person Man or Woman may and ought to take to be filled with the Spirit i.e. How or after what manner the Exhortation imposed in the Text is to be obeyed or put in execution The third and last Question was How a man or woman may either come to discern and know themselves or how others may come to the like knowledge of them whether they be filled with the Spirit I mean the Spirit of God or some other Spirit of another nature and contrary to it I suppose much light will be given by the examination of the truth in the Former of the two Questions for the decision of the Latter so that we may be somewhat the briefer here To begin then with the former of these Questions Sect. 2 how a Christian or a Believer yea or any other person may be filled with the Spirit which the Text and Doctrine mention for it will appear by the way that any other Person as well as a Believer is in a capacity though somewhat more remote of being filled with the Spirit likewise What it is to be filled with the Spirit hath been formerly declared in the opening of the Doctrine notwithstanding I conceive it is necessary for the resolution of the Question in hand that we briefly remind you of what we delivered in that kind we signified unto you that to be filled with the Spirit doth not note and import an absolute and precise fulness that is a having of the Spirit in such a precise fulness and height that there is no capacity left of having more of him No but as in Scripture Phrase a Vessel is said to be full when there is a good and sufficient and competent proportion in it and so in ordinary discourse we say a Cup is full of drink not when it is full to the brim but if there be a good quantity and proportion in it just so a fulness with the Spirit doth not suppose or imply such a uniform kind of fulness as if no man could be said to be full of the Spirit but only he that is fullest of all But if any person be acted by the Spirit or doth quit himself like unto a man he in whom the Spirit hath any considerable power of command may be truly said to be filled with the Spirit as David had many Worthies in his Army and yet they did not reach or attain unto the three first though they were worthy in their way so there may be many Christians of several sizes and degrees who yet may be said to be filled with the Spirit of God So that in propriety of Phrase it signifieth to have an actuous vigorous and operative presence of the Holy Ghost in you to enjoy his grace love and favour upon such terms as to receive from him and from the glory of his power ever and anon upon all occasions excellent quicknings incitements impulses enlargements strengthnings of heart and soul unto every worthy way and every good work to have all contrary workings motions and risings of the flesh borne down with a strong hand and swallowed up in victory so that a man or woman shall find no great no considerable opposition or turmoile as formerly from any weakness or corruption within him in his way of well-doing but only such which he shall be enabled and this at a very good rate to overcome I say when this is found to be the case and condition of any Christian it is a sign of such a presence or fulness of the Spirit of God I here describe unto you only that kind of filling with the Spirit which is the duty of all Christians as of other persons also in their way to mind look after and be industriously careful to obtain and which only I conceive is intended by the Apostle in the Text. For I do not conceive that he doth admonish and exhort the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit as if his meaning should be that he would have them be filled with such a kind of filling by which some were enabled to work miracles or reveal things secret and unrevealed in the Scriptures being yet future and to come Although I can easily believe that even such a filling with the Spirit as this at least to a considerable degree was within the reach of Christians in the Apostles daies yea and that the Apostle did exhort the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12.31 to seek after some such kind of filling as this in these words but covet earnestly after the best gifts Doubtless he would not have had them to lay out themselves with any desire after these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as speaking with Tongues and Prophecying but that there was a means for the attaining of them But that filling with the Spirit which he commendeth to the Ephesians by way of duty in the words before us is only or at least principally such a filling as we have both formerly and even now described unto you which respecteth the effectual stirring up and strengthening of the hearts and souls of men unto waies and works of righteousness and these of the worthiest and most excellent kind and strain And yet it is not unlike but that if men and women should quit themselves worthily and with faithfulness in this Race I mean in their endeavours to be filled with the Spirit in that kind or sense we speak of there would be cast in unto them by way of heaped measure somewhat of that kind of filling also they should have a kind of first fruits of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit also as of healing of the sick declaring things to come c. I could give an account of my apprehension in this kind and this in more particulars than one were it not for fear of lengthening out this Discourse in hand beyond what you are willing to bear Notwithstanding Sect. 3 there is one thing more necessary I conceive to be touched here also in order to your better satisfaction about the Question in hand though something as I remember hath been spoken to it formerly that is How it can stand with the weakness and unworthiness of the Creature man on the one hand and the incomprehensible Majesty and Glory of the Holy Ghost on the other hand that it should be in the power of man to procure or draw into himself i.e. into his heart and soul such a rich or glorious presence of the Spirit as that wherein our being filled with him consists Or whether in this case the Spirit may not be conceived to be obnoxious unto or in the power of man I am the rather desirous to remove this stumbling block out of the way before we go forward to give reply to the principal Question propounded because I conceive it must needs be
of him I mean they made very little breach upon his comfort or peace he was upon the matter as well apaid in himself even when the pains of hell as David speaketh i. e. fear or apprehensions of Death or the Grave compassed him about as when the Sun of outward peace and prosperity shone with the greatest brightness upon him This might be made to appear from the many passages in his own writings as 2 Cor. 4.16 6.10 Now how lovely and above measure desirable a priviledge is it to have an heart that cannot be pierced that cannot be wounded by the sharpest Arrows that can be drawn out of the Quiver of this World I shall not need to teach or inform you I make no question but that you have a very vigorous and lively notion or impression of it within you however something may be added to this Point hereafter So then you see another thing very considerable in a being filled with the Spirit the diligent working of which upon your hearts and souls must needs make you covetous after it Thirdly Your being filled with the Spirit Sect. 11 will be unto you as an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 1.11 And this in these three respects highly desirable First In respect of an excellent measure and degree of righteousness and true holiness Secondly In respect of a like measure or degree of inward and sound peace Thirdly and lastly in respect of that measure of joy also wherewith the heart and soul must needs be filled thereby The Apostle Paul we know Rom. 14.17 placeth the Kingdom of God in these three Righteousness Peace and Joy in or through the Holy Ghost The Kingdom of God saith he is not meat and drink but Righteousness c. By the Kingdom of God he means nothing else but the same thing the same Kingdom which Peter calls the Everlasting Kingdom c. Only Paul seemeth to speak as well of it in respect of the manner and behaviour as of the Priviledges and Happiness of the Subjects thereof the Apostle Peter either only or chiefly mentions it in respect of the latter This then is that we say that in respect of both as well in respect of that heavenly deportment or behaviour which is Universally used and practiced in this Kingdom expressed by the Apostle Paul in the word Righteousness as in respect of the Priviledges and great Felicity signified in the other two words Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost In respect I say of both your being filled with the Spirit will give you an entrance in abundance into this Kingdom i. e. will put you into such a state and condition wherein you shall have a rich taste or rather plentiful first Fruits of the glory and blessedness of that Kingdom This entrance in abundance which we speak of into the Everlasting Kingdom shall by your being filled with the Spirit be given unto you First In respect of that Righteousness or Excellency of Conversation whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom maintain themselves in the felicity and enjoyment of it and whereby they are discernable from other persons For when and whilest the Spirit of God dwelleth richly and plentifully in you he will kindle and raise up strong and excellent Inclinations Potent and Prince like Resolutions within you unto waies and works of Righteousness and true Holiness Inclinations and Resolutions in this kind that will not be baffled or turned out of the way by every gust of Temptation as the Purposes and Resolutions of the same Denomination in the generality of Professours in whom the Spirit dwelleth in a lower degree only are subject to be but will hold on their course in waies of Righteousness As a good Ship running with all her Sails displayed before a stiff Gale of Wind will cut through the waves and troublesome workings of the Seas taking no notice of them Even so when a man is filled with the Spirit he is as it were tied and bound hand and foot that he cannot lightly move or stir out of the waies which the Spirit it self commendeth unto him and seeketh to guide his feet unto As Paul being filled with the Spirit Acts 20.22 Behold saith he I now go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I go bound in the Spirit That is the Spirit of God hath wrought such a mighty Desire and Resolution in me to go to Jerusalem that my Mind and Conscience will not serve me so much as to deliberate or argue the case within me whether I had best to go or no. As a man that is bound hand and foot where and in what posture you leave him there you shall find him especially if his bands be strong and close drawn and fast tied they will keep him from motion In like manner he that is filled with the Spirit is much in the same case or condition spiritually he cannot act or move but only as the Spirit acteth and moveth him When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost as they were in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.4 they could not speak what they pleased or listed but saith the Text they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they were bound in the Spirit from speaking viz. from speaking any thing but what the Spirit pleased As Paul was not bound in the Spirit from doing any thing or going any where at all but from going any whither but to Jerusalem which was the place the Spirit moved him to go unto In like manner when men and women are filled with the Spirit in the sense of the Text in hand they are inwardly bound and straitned from walking or moving in all other waies save only those wherein they are guided by himself which are only waies of Rigteousness and Holiness Now then to walk in waies of Righteousness to walk uniformly constantly and only in these waies I mean without any scandalous or self-allowed deviation this must needs be conceived to be an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the Righteousness of it Now to be at this pass that we shall not only walk in waies of Righteousness but to do it without any manner of regret nay without much noise striving or reluctancy from our hearts or from our flesh within us This is one of the first born of Priviledges and my Brethren if there were nothing else in being filled with the Spirit but this only viz. that you shall be enabled hereby to walk after an excellent rate to keep the very Battlements of Heaven to walk holily and humbly with your God by excellency of righteousness and to shine in the beauty of Holiness whilst you live is a matter that would make it worthy your labour and of all that can be required of you to possess your souls
being saved it is so full that we are already saved by it And so Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance or rather the subsistence for so Hypostasis signifies of things hoped for Faith is said to be the subsistence or existence of things hoped for because the belief of those grounds or of those Promises of God or declarations that come from Heaven That These and these things shall be given to those that believe this I say doth give a kind of existency and presentiality unto the things themselves in the minds and spirits and souls of men For it is Faith that is the ground work or that which giveth a subsistence to these things in the soul for Hope floweth from Faith and by it the heart is carried out to the expectation of them Hope doth dilate and open the heart as a man doth his hand to receive that which is ready to be given unto him But that which giveth life breath and being unto Hope that is Faith It is Faith that giveth Being unto the Truth and Faithfulness of God in his Promises and Declarations by which they are settled and secured that they are all valid and that God will make them good unto his Sons and Daughters those who shall believe And in this respect the Language or manner of the Scripture speaking is very remarkable That they who are enabled by God by being anointed with a Spirit of Revelation to put men into a steady and substantial hope of possessing and enjoying such and such things are said to give them the things themselves So Isa 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted c. So again ver 3. To give them beauty for ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. So that according to this manner of Scripture speaking because the Prophet offered by a spirit of Prophecy to fill theis hearts with the hope and expectations of these things he is said to give them the things themselves So again he that shall be an instrument in the hand of God to preach the Word of God with such evidence of truth and demonstration as that he fills the hearts of men full of the hope of Salvation is said actually to save them Take heed unto thy self saith Paul to Timothy and unto the Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim. 4.16 Fourthly Sect. 14 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause God to take a holy pleasure and delight in you and to imploy you about many actions and services of his which will be very honourable unto you and turn to a bleffed account in due time in his Kingdom Wherefore saith the Apostle to the Church at Jerusalem look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost c. Which doth imply that the men that God seeketh for the acting and doing his business here in the World are such who are full of the Holy Ghost such who have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God Men that are filled with the Spirit will be vigorous active and free in their work they will do what they do with all their might As men delight to be served by such Servants who are diligent and will go through stitch with their business that will not be baffled or turned out of their way by every toy or trivial occasion that shall present it self but will go on with their business not with trifling Even so it is a special Principle in the living God to desire servants that will be faithful and fervent in their business This indeed is the very Nature and Being of God and therefore he putteth that Character of his Being upon men which he judgeth meet to be chosen as instruments to serve him and which are as I may say made for him fitly qualified for any work or employment that shall be put into their hands Who counted me faithful saith Paul putting me into the Ministry If Paul had not been the man he was a man of mettle courage and resolution God would not have delighted in his service so as to have put him into the Ministry Now where we do not see men that are in the Ministry of the same Spirit it is a sign they are not put here by God for God taketh no delight or pleasure but only in such who are fitted for his work We read 2 Tim. 2.21 of Vessels prepared and made fit for the Masters use so that there is a certain fitness as well in Persons as in Vessels which maketh them meet for such or such respective uses Now that Generation of men in the World that are filled with the Spirit are only meet for the Masters use viz. the Great Master of the World the Lord of Hosts Such men as these men who are through-hearted zealous and lovers of his Work and that take delight in being employed in his Service are Vessels of pleasure and delight unto him Seest thou a man saith Solomon diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings Prov. 22.29 Shall stand before Kings namely to minister unto them Men of this Character are only meet for their Service Even so none are fit for the Service of the Great God of Heaven and Earth but such men who are of active and vigorous spirits and that know how to manage his Affairs with diligence and faithfulness for his interest in the World These men shall not stand idle but God will take delight to make use of them in his Service Whereas men that are unqualified for his Service to any confiderable degree as all men are who art not filled with the Spirit who have no activity nor edge in them are unto God as a bottle in the smoak And as men do not love to put what they drink into bottles that are smoaky because that will destroy all the goodness and pleasantness of the taste of that which shall be put into them Even so as was but now hinted men that are unqualified that have no dexterity for his business these are persons in whom God taketh no pleasure but are unto him as a bottle in the smoak because the management of his Affairs by such men as these will rather be a disparagement unto him than any matter of glory by rendring his Sacred Things common and consequently rendring them despicable in the eyes of men But on the contrary men that are richly anointed and filled with his Spirit these are Agents and Instruments for him as the Sword of Goliah was unto David there was none like unto it There is no Generation of men under Heaven that he taketh such pleasure in to commit and intrust his Affairs withal as with these who are filled with the Spirit Who maketh his Angels Spirits or wind
and his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1.7 Some by the way understand the meaning of the place to be only this That the Apostle would hereby shew or prove that there is no great matter in the name of an Angel because that God sometimes calleth the wind by the name of an Angel and that the Argument in hand was not to prove the transcendent excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ above the Angels and their dignity but because that the name of Angel is a term of no great dignity because sometimes God calleth the Wind Angel or Minister Whether this their Notion will stand or no it is not much material as to that which I shall commend unto you for our purpose For if God call the Wind by name of Angel or the Fire his Angel it is a sign that he doth delight to make those his Messengers that are most active and full of Spirit in their way for so are the Winds and Flames of Fire And so are Angels strong and swift like unto the Wind and zealous in their way like Fire and consequently every way meet and accommodated for the Service of the Great God In like manner by your being filled with the Spirit this high Priviledge will certainly accrue unto you That your standing on Earth will be much like the standing of the Angels in Heaven who continually stand before God and attend upon him for a beck to be appointed to their several services and to be sent one one way and another another way and happy are they to whom the favour is vouchsafed to have the first charge and direction from God about his business And such shall be your posture and standing before the God of all the Earth if you be men and women filled with the Spirit It will not be long ere you shall have some great and high imployment put into your hands that will be very beneficial and honourable unto you and in which you will take abundance of pleasure and satisfaction Fifthly Sect. 15 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause the offensiveness of good waies and works especially in some of the most excellent Services of God and of men and that which seemeth hard and troublesome to the flesh in them to cease It will reconcile the disproportion between your hearts and such services and imployments both for God and men We all know that there is a kind of natural averseness and indisposedness in the flesh of men unto many Services of God especially unto those which are most honourable and most worthy of Christians I say there is a kind of listlessness and hanging back of the Flesh unto such duties as these we are speaking of which is occasioned by nothing else but only by their disproportion which they have with men There is something in the heart of a man which doth not answer to something in the Work and Service Now then by your being filled with the Spirit this disproportion which lieth between your hearts and this Service of God will be taken out of the way You know the saying of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would in the Original it is that ye may not do the things that ye would The Spirit lusteth and by means of the Spirits lusting you are put into a strait so that now ye cannot or ye may not do what ye would This lusting of the Spirit against the Flesh will be a means to weaken the Lustings of the Flesh so that you will have no desire to do those things which you are naturally enclined unto And if the Spirit be strong in the soul of a man these Lustings of the Spirit will be strong also yea they will if they be not obstructed in their way advance and grow stronger until all the Lustings of the flesh be subdued and all dispositions and inclinations unto sin upon the matter wholly cut off so that you will not find your selves under any Obligations to walk in any such waies wherein the flesh may be gratified Your being filled with the Spirit will free you from all incumbrances in the waies of holiness And you shall come forth unto such waies as these Like the Sun which as David saith is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a Race Psal 19.5 Why is the Sun said to rejoyce and to come forth as a Bridegroom and as a Gyant to run his course but because though his Course be long above what will easily be believed should be accomplished by him in the space of twenty four hours he is if I may so speak naturally conscious that he hath abundantly wherewich to perform it Such a Course or Race to him is natural and delightsome If another Creature not so qualified either with figure swiftness Propensity unto Circular motion or the like were to run I mean appointed or commanded by God as the Sun is to run the same Course and were to set forth out of the same Chamber with the Sun this Creature would not come forth to his work like a Bridegroom but rather like unto him that mourneth and whose Countenance is cast down unto the Earth In like manner when men and women are filled with the Holy Ghost they come forth unto the greatest actions or highest Services whether for God or men like unto so many Bride-grooms out of their Chambers full of alacrity and with an heavenly pleasantness of heart and face as it is said of Stephen who is noted to have been a man filled with the Spirit that all the Council that looked stedfastly or narrowly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Acts 6.25 i.e. did discern a more than ordinary a kind of supernatural Visage or composure of Countenance in him wherein an awful gravity with an heavenly kind of Lustre or pleasantness were in conjunction and by the light of this his Angelical and heavenly Countenance a like heavenly complexion or constitution of heart and soul within might easily have been discerned also Stephen had a great piece of work a difficult service upon his hand he was to give Testimony unto Jesus Christ before the Powers of this World a great Council of men that were desperate Opposers of him and maliciously bent against all those that professed him and to abide all hazards and dangers likely to attend such an engagement But being filled with the Holy Ghost his heart sweetly and readily comported with the work as if it had been but like the going to a Feast So also the Apostle Paul Acts 20.22 23 24. 21.11 13. compared In the former And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these
Paul as Debtors to the Greeks and Barbarians to the wise and to the unwise Rom. 1.14 i.e. unto all persons of mankind without exception and will give you no rest in your Spirits but only whilst you are paying what you owe in this kind or at least preparing and putting your selves into a condition to pay accordingly I began to say unto you that it would make you like unto Jesus Christ himself in Prince-likeness and true greatness of Spirit it will draw you into part and fellowship and this in abundance in the same design and prevail with you to make one purse and to cast in your lot with him It will give you the considence and courage to say unto him as Jehosaphat said to King Ahab 1 Kings 22.4 I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses you will joyn with him with all the strength you have and all the friends and power you can make in the World in that great and blessed work and engagement which is now upon his hand and which he is carrying on day and night I mean the advancement of the peace and happiness of the World For though particular men and women and these not many enjoy the rich benefit and fruit of his most gracious interposures and actings in that kind we speak of yet the compass of his design to do good and bless and save and the nature and proper tendency of his actings are as large as the World or generality of mankind Hence it is that in Scripture Language things of general and publick concernment are called the things of Jesus Christ in opposition to the concernments of particular men All seek their own not the things that are Jesus Christ's Phil. 2.21 meaning that generally mens hearts were straight and narrow extending themselves only to their own particular interest and concernments not caring for things of a general and publick concernment which are properly the Affairs and Concernment of Jesus Christ who is the Great Providor for the World who doth good and blesseth particulars as they are members of the Universal and come in his way i. e. as they walk in those wares of Righteousness and true Holiness whereunto his Desires and Endeavours are to bring the World and this in order to their Peace and Happiness Now this great and glorious design of blessing the World from the one end of it unto the other was raised in the soul of Jesus Christ by his being filled with the Spirit His anointing in this kind was not by measure Hence it came to pass that the complexion of his heart and soul for doing good was so large and comprehensive to go round about the whole Creation as is witnessed of him Acts 10.38 that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went thout doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil For God was with him Look then to what degree you shall be filled with the same Spirit wâ—◠〈…〉 Christ was filled withal your hearts will be proportionably filled 〈◊〉 the same resolution as Jesus Christ was You will be enlarged in tâ—â—â— kind your endeavours and engagements to do good will be very vast and comprehensive You will not endure to see the miserable and deplorable condition of men and women in the World in one kind or other but that you will find or feel something or other in you that will provoke you yea and after a manner will compel you to minister unto them of what you have in your hand As whilst Paul staid at Athens waiting for Silas and Timotheus His spirit was stirred in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Acts 17.16 How or unto what was his spirit stirred within him Doubtless it was to relieve them by endeavouring to break asunder if it were possible that snare of death this humour of Idolatry wherewith these poor people were taken and so to deliver them as appeareth by that which followeth in vers 17. Therefore disputed he in the Synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the Market daily with them that met with him Thus then you see here is another great and worthy accommodation which a being filled with the Spirit is accompanied with which will make you like unto Princes yea like unto Jesus Christ himself You will be willing to go along with him and not so much mind or manage your own things as the things of his interest and glory You will be willing to take Christ's design along with you and still watch over that great business which he is carrying on with an high hand in the World Now who is able to estimate or compute the blessedness of such a state and frame of heart and soul as this is which we now speak of and which with the Scripture and evidence of reason otherwise we ascribe to a being filled with the Spirit The loud rejoycing of Conscience which doth accrue unto men is the natural result of such a frame of heart so enlarged and endeavours sutable unto it This great and mighty Testimony of a man's Conscience is sweeter and more desirable than life it self And we shall find the Apostle Paul make an estimate or value of it accordingly For it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void 1 Cor. 9.15 From whence this glorying of his did spring we are particularly informed from his hand 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World c. He had tasted of that sweetness and incomparable satisfaction which did flow in unto him upon the account of the enlargedness of his heart and soul in the great concernments of the Gospel which made him conclude that it were better for him to die than that any man should make void his glorying in this kind How mightily did he magnifie and glory in this great Treasure viz. his rejoycing in the Testimony of his Conscience that he had served God and men with all sincerity and simplicity This he thought was enough to make the World go and do likewise Seventhly Sect. 17 By being filled with the Spirit of God you shall be enabled to pray unto God and this more effectually and with greater acceptation and upon far better terms than any other way see that known place Rom. 8.26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God If this be proper to the Spirit simply and where he is in a lower and lesser degree then certainly where there is
a greater presence of God and where he filleth the hearts and souls of men with his presence there he riseth and advanceth in a more excellent manner with greater accommodations teaching them how to pray meaning the manner how they should pray Now in that he is said to relieve our infirmities and to help our ignorances when we pray and so to teach the Saints to pray as they ought by making Intercession for them the meaning is that he teacheth them a prayer of a more excellent and of a more spiritual import and teacheth them how to present this Prayer of theirs upon terms of a richer and more high acceptation unto God And Gal. 4.6 it is said God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Alba Father This is a Phrase or Figure of speakking wherein Actions are ascribed unto those who are the means or cause of them and not to the Actors themselves As for instance Charity is said to believe all things and to hope all things because it doth qualifie and dispose the Person where it is found thus to believe all things and to hope all things So here the Spirit is said to cry Abba Father and so to make intercession for the Saints because he doth teach enable and dispose them both to the one and to the other You had a taste of that formerly in Jude ver 20. praying in the Holy Ghost that is by or through the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost According to the same figure our Saviour's Saying unto his Apostles is to be understood Mar. 10.20 For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you When they should come before Rulers and Governours he saith it was not they that should speak but the Holy Ghost that was within them his meaning is not that the Holy Ghost did speak the words but only because the Holy Ghost did furnish them with such and such things which they should speak So now they that be filled with the Spirit of God there is as it were a characteristical difference between the same kind of actions in them and that which proceedeth from other men who have not the same edge of spirit and life in them these are full of power and authority and heavenly lustre and beauty in their actions and doings whereas the like actions and performances of persons that do them without the Spirit have nothing of excellency in them Now of how great and blessed a consequence is it unto you to be enabled to pray effectually to carry things in Heaven richly and upon terms of highest acceptation If we could but weigh this one priviledge or advantage alone in the balance we should find it to weigh more than all the Silver and Gold in the World What To be able to pray yea to pray unto God with acceptation to pray so as to be able to prevail with God and that about great matters for States and Kingdoms as they may that have an interest in Heaven as such persons we speak of have Such men might carry the World before them they might pluck up States and Kingdoms they might be as great in Heaven as Nâ—buchadnezzar was here upon Earth whom he would he set up and whom he would he pulled down so had we interest in Heaven as we might have we might do likewise It is like we are at such a pass as the Disciples were at when it is said that they believed not for joy when Christ came first amongst them the consideration of his being rose again from the dead was a business of such a mighty consequence such a matter of joy that it became a stumbling-block in the way of their faith They believed not for joy i. e. they were not capable of the most demonstrative Arguments and Convictions as when he shewed them his hands and his feet and talked with them This is the case of this great Priviledge I speak of viz. of carrying matters in Heaven we are conscious to our selves that we are poor and weak men and women whom the men of this World are generally ready to to be treading and trampling under foot and to despise Oh my Brethren the things we speak of How incredible above measure are they Yet it is a most certain and an undoubted truth that if we be filled with the Spirit of God we might pray at such a rate and after such a manner that we might carry our Petitions in Heaven and even whatsoever we should ask in the Name of Jesus Christ according to the will of God And we need have no larger Rule than this we need not desire a larger Commission than the compass of the Will of God For all things are according to the Will of God which are necessary for the comforts and accommodation of men and women in the World round about Jâ—m 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all Greek Authors give out the proper signification of it is this It noteth a Person that is possessed or acted by a supernatural power whether it be of an holy or an unclean Spirit above their Sphere so now that prayer viz. the effectual fervent prayer c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is acted wrought and raised by a Spirit which is greater than the spirit of man and therefore of necessity by no other than the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost himself who thus raised and lifted up himself in might and power to enable them hereunto Eighthly and lastly By being filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 18 you shall by the mediation of the fruit and consequence of the particular last mentioned consult to your selves so much the better Resurrection and consequently the better Eternity I allude to that place in the latter end of Heb. 11. where the Author speaking of the Servants of God saith that they might obtain a better Resurrection where the Antecedent is put for the Consequent a better Resurrection for a better State in the Resurrection There are other waies and practices or at least may be upon which men may obtain the fatness of Heaven the best of the glory and great things of the World to come But there is none so certain or regular none within the reach of the Wisdom or Providence of men that a man may rely and reckon upon whereby to consult to himself a better Heaven but only that we speak of A being filled with the Spirit of God If you be made great in the Kingdom of Heaven in any other way or by any other means than that we speak of you must as well be beholding to the sin and wickedness of other men as to your own worth grace or faithfulness and there must be more than an ordinary hand in the Providence of God to bring it to pass For what other waies or means are there of obtaining a greater preeminence in glory than the
him that hath shall be given Man who shall nourish and cherish the motions of the Spirit of God when they are in him as it were in swadling cloaths and little and shall be a good Foster-Father unto them shall certainly have a greater and greater presence of this Spirit untill it shall enable him to do great and glorious things and so shall delight in him daily more and more and stir and raise up other and more excellent motions which never came into his mind or heart before Fifthly Sect. 10 Another means whereby the Temple of your souls may be filled with the glory of the Spirit of God is to be led by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 You know there are some Horses will not be led but a man must pull and haule them after him but there are other Horses that are obedient and tractable in your hand So where there is a tractableness and teachableness in men that the Spirit of God leadeth them as it were by the hand this way and that way when men are easie to be taught by him this is another ready and pregnant means whereby to be filled with the Spirit My Brethren you may be said to be led by the Spirit when you go along with him or are willing to go that way wherein he would lead you by every good motion The Spirit doth take as it were every man and woman by the hand and doth upon the matter desire them to be willing to be lead Now when men and women are willing to accept of the Spirit of God for their Leader and Guider in such waies and courses as he doth like to lead them unto these are they that are led by the Spirit of God It is no great difficulty no great Master-piece to know when and in what cases we are led by the Spirit of God and when not for if we know but so much as to be able to distinguish between good and evil if we can but distinguish such motions that be good from those that be evil we may know by this alone when we are led by the Spirit of God and when not For most certain it is that all motions to good which are either mediate or immediate are from the Spirit of God therefore if it be a good motion it is easie to know what Parent it hath namely God So now if by any motions which are at any time stirring or working within us we find our hearts drawn out unto such and such a good way and work in this case if we shall seek for or consult with the dark part of our souls to find out Arguments to disparage them as if they were not the motions of God or of the Spirit of God but were from some other Principle there may be much danger in it But if men shall not seek to draw back upon any such pretenses as these only because they would not go along with the motion it being contrary to some unruly lust or unworthy design which they are carrying on in the World but shall be willing to be led by the Spirit If they need not to be pulled and hauled but shall come on freely and readily and shall be willing to go along with the motions of the Spirit without asking any question for conscience sake or rather for lusts sake this is another great advantage that will turn to an happy account in order to a compleating this great design of your being filled with the Spirit of God For there is nothing that giveth a more demonstrative proof that a man is a true born Son of God than that he is willing to be led by the Spirit in the sense declared It was a saying amongst the Romans He is an ill Souldier that followeth his Captain groaning and sighing Even so he is not a reconciled person with his own peace and comfort who studies and casteth about and would fain be excused from the service of God By the way that we may not discourage any to comply at any time with the motions of the Spirit when any person man or woman shall make a long work of finding out pretenses before they will go along with these motions nevertheless if they do comply and go along with them at last though it be late yet better so than wholly to reject and cast them off but this is not the way of wisdom there is a far better and more excellent way than this in order to the great blessedness we speak of of being filled with the Spirit which is to be freely willing to go along with the Spirit of God in his leading and guidance And so we have briefly done with this means also Only the reason or ground of this direction we shall illustrate a little further viz. He that hath shall have more abundantly Sect. 11 They that comport with the Holy Ghost in his motions who are willing to go along with him in works of Holiness and goodness they do by him as a man doth by his friend whom he symbolizeth with in Disposition Genius and Temper his waies are his waies his delight his delight his sorrows his sorrows this strengthens Friendship between man and man Just so when a man shall symbolize and fall in at every turn with the Spirit of God and shall be like unto him in his waies and shall follow him in his motions and shall own them such a deportment as this is will cause the Spirit of God to delight in a man and to rejoyce in him For if the Spirit of God be capable of being grieved as it appears he is by what the Apostle saith concerning him Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God c. Then certainly he may be pleased and delighted he may be so used and entreated by men so that he will take pleasure and delight in them We have opened this Metaphor unto you heretofore therefore we shall only touch it by the way Grief when it is applied unto the Spirit of God doth not suppose or imply any such thing as if the Holy Ghost may be grieved in a true or proper sense No but the meaning is this that such a course may be taken by men that the Spirit of God may be provoked to do as men use to do under grief As for instance when men are under the Passion of grief they are indisposed unto action they are listless unto any expression of themselves in one kind or other grief and sorrow straitens and contracts the hearts of men that they become half dead having no life no lust no spirit to any thing out of themselves So likewise the Spirit may be said to be grieved when he keepeth silence in men and doth not act as he was wont to do When there is a deadness in the Soul when there are no lustings therein unto that which is good it is a sign that the Spirit is grieved because he stirreth not he moveth not he cometh not forth as he was wont
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
every obscure and knotty passage Such a man as can do this is an excellent man too and full of the Spirit of God in respect of Knowledge and yet this man possibly may not be able or dexterous to apply or bring those things and general Principles that he knows and sute them with particular cases and questions which are brought to him and laid before him whereas another that hath not half his knowlege may be able to do it and to give a plainer and fuller satisfaction unto him that shall propound a Case or difficulty unto him So that this we would have you take notice of by the way that the Spirit of God hath variety of gifts and therefore we are not to estimate a man as not filled with the Spirit because he is not dexterous at every turn These things being premised we now proceed to the Question Now then whether a person man or woman Sect. 6 who pretendeth to be filled with the Spirit of God be indeed filled with this or any other Spirit contrary unto it may be discerned or discovered for the most part by these considerations First When a man is of a cool calm and yielding temper and deportment in his own matters his own proper and personal concernments in the World and upon occasion shall be apt to be raised and stirred in his spirit about the things of God this is a sign of very great probability at least that such a person is full of the Spirit of God For First The genius and property of the Spirit of God may be discerned and judged of by the nature and property of that Wisdom which as James saith Jam. 3.17 is from above and this as he informs us is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy c. meaning that it disposeth men and women to those worthy properties that where it is received it works their hearts and souls to these gracious dispositions it makes men first pure it disposeth and enclines men and women to avoid all pollution with sin above any other thing whatsoever it perswadeth men not to meddle not to have to do with sin upon any terms whether of Pleasure Profit Honour or whatsoever And then next to this it teacheth men to be peaceable gentle easie to be entreated c. which is to be understood chiefly in a mans own Affairs and Concernments and in his ordinary Converse with men for otherwise this Wisdom teacheth men to be as stiff and resolute in the Affairs of Jesus Christ and the Gospel as Paul was Gal. 2.5 when he yielded not gave not place no not for an hour as he saith to certain false Brethren who went about to incumber the Gospel with matters of Judaism And again when he withstood another to his face who was not a false Brother but equal to himself a great Apostle I mean Peter in a business of the Gospel wherein as he saith he was to be blamed Verse 11. and yet again when he fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men 1 Cor. 15.32 Now then as it is the genius and property of that Wisdom we speak of that Wisdom which is from above thus to mould and fashion the minds and manners of men So is it the property of the Spirit of God also to do the like because this Spirit worketh not upon men but by the mediation of this Wisdom and works only such dispositions and inclinations which this Wisdom worketh This then is that we say that when men and women are very peaceably disposed and of a yielding and quiet spirit in their own worldly Affairs and yet when occasions require are apt to quit themselves like men of courage and resolution this argues that they have a very rich anointing of the Spirit of God I add this latter particular viz. That they are apt to be zealous and stirred in Spirit in and about the things of God because otherwise a softness or quietness of disposition about their own Affairs may be rather the result of their own natural complexion or constitution than any effect of the Wisdom from above or of the Spirit of God working in and by this Wisdom For though peaceableness of spirit gentleness easiness to be entreated c. be the fruits or effects of the wisdom from above viz. in the most of those in whom they are found yet it doth not follow from thence but that there may be in some persons impressions or qualities like unto these from another original or cause The Woods Pastures and Fields produce of their own accord some kind of Herbs and Fruits like unto those and of the same name or denomination with those which grow in our Gardens by sowing setting and planting yet are they but of a wild kind and nature neither so fair nor fit for use as these every palate will be able to distinguish between the one and the other As it is between those two sorts of of Eunuches which our Saviour distingusheth in the Gospel thus that some are such from their mothers wombs others have made themselves such Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.12 Meaning that they have been perswaded and prevailed with by the Gospel to embrace a single life that so they might with more freedom of mind and with less distraction and incumbrance of secular Affairs attend the Service of God and of his Gospel intimating withal that the former kind of Eunuch was little considerable with God little set by in comparison of this latter In like manner some have a kind of goodness and facileness of disposition with some other impressions of morality commendable in their kind and commodious to a degree both unto the persons themselves who are endued with them and unto others which yet spring naturally in them but these are not like unto those of the same name or denomination that are begotten and planted in the hearts and inward parts of men and women by the Gospel and Ministry of it The Gospel is termed the incorruptible Seed of the Word which liveth for evermore There is a kind of excellency and glory which goes along with the Word of God which leaves a lively Impression or Character of it self upon those holy dispositions and qualifications which are planted or begotten by it in the hearts and souls of men which doth distinguish them from those moral qualifications planted in men and women by the hand of Nature But this only by the way The sum of what we laid down in the Character or Rule of Dijudication now in hand whereby to judge of men and women that be filled with the Spirit of God is this He that is as a weaned Child in his own Matters but is strong and active as a Giant in the Affairs of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel he I say is like to be a person so filled with the Holy Ghost But if a man be forward and full of heat in the matters of Religion
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
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
or enfeebled thine hand now this doth argue a rich presence of the Spirit of God especially in conjunction with the other things mentioned And so again when the fruits and expressions of their love to Jesus Christ or his Saints and Followers shall be very large and fair such as shall be found in none but themselves and perhaps in here one and there one besides as when either with the poor Widow in the Gospel they shall cast in their whole substance or livelihood into the Treasury of God or else shall sacrifice some great and notable opportunity of worldly advantage upon the Service of God and of the People of God especially if they shall do this once and again and as often as any opportunity affords it self unto them this cannot but argue an excellent fulness of the Spirit of God The Tree saith our Saviour is known by the Fruit and this not only in respect of the kind or property of it which is the knowledge spoken of by our Saviour But likewise in the degree of it not only good in the kind and of the same nature but also the best of the kind for goodness Eighthly Sect. 19 Another discovering Character of a persons being filled with the Spirit of God is when he is able and willing they are both one in this case to take up any Cross though never so heavy that he shall meet withal in the way of Righteousness and of God without any declining or turning aside out of his way to avoid it This is a great sign and argument of conviction that certainly he is filled with the Spirit of God especially when he shall suffer Patience to have its perfect work as James speaks i. e. shall be content chearfully and without muttering or complaint to suffer all that God shall call him to suffer though the Iniquity of those who persecute in one kind or other abound never so much yet he will not so much as stoop or step out of the way for it but shall keep strait course in the waies of God in the view of the World there cannot be a more promising sign or symptome of a person being filled with the Spirit of God than this The reason of this is because all kinds of sufferings are contrary to the Flesh and destructive to the interest thereof and unless it be to accommodate the Flesh at some other turn and in some other way no man that can decline them will expose himself unto them but only such who are strengthened by the Spirit of God in the inward man The Apostle Paul in laying down the signs of his Apostleship 2 Cor. 12.12 presents patience under trouble a willingness to suffer all and all manner of afflictions for the Gospels sake For one among the rest If a man have a proportionable aid and assistance of the Spirit of God though he do put his shoulder under the burthen of affliction yet being acted and assisted by this Spirit the Flesh will not feel any bitterness or trouble in it Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all long suffering and patience with joyfulness 1 Thes 3.3 That no man should be moved by their afflictions He acquaints them in the precedent Verse that he had sent Timothy unto them to confirm and establish them in the Faith and in the things which they now had believed And that for this end that no man should be moved by any of those things which they suffered Therefore saith the Apostle I sent him unto you to hear of your faith lest that by any means you should be tempted implying that persecution is a sore kind of temptation this is like the Axe that is laid to the root of the Tree This he knew would put them to it and be a means even to endanger the shaking of their Faith and to tell the World that they did only make a shew of believing but were not established in the truth So again 1 Thes 1.3 5 6. Remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and your patience of hope c. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost c. As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost Now this is that I say had they not had the Holy Ghost to stand by them as they would never have received the Gospel so neither without a rich presence of him would they ever have persevered therein in a day of persecution This then is the reason of the Character or sign in the eighth place Ninthly and lastly A fulness with the Spirit of God is discernable by a rich and inward acquaintance with the mind and will of God and of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures Sect. 20 When a man or woman knows more understands more of the mind of Christ in the Gospel hath more of things secret and hidden unto others discovered and made known unto them this argues that the Spirit dwelleth plentifully in them only there are two particulars to be considered and remembred First That for men and women to pretend to a knowledge of the mind of God in the Scriptures above other persons and to be confident of their own apprehensions and conceits in this kind is nothing is no Argument or proof at all that therefore they do know the mind of Christ in the Scriptures more or better than other men or consequently that they are persons filled with the Spirit of God For all this may be men and women may see the Visions of their own hearts as the Scripture speaketh and be as confident as confidence it self can make them that they are Visions of God and verily think as Paul himself sometimes did in like case that they see the Visions of God The false Prophets of old who walked in the Spirit of falshood or as some read the words in the wind of falshood Mic. 2.11 These were as confident of their Visions as the Prophets of God could be See an instance in Zedekiah the Son of Chenaanah 1 Kings 22.11 He was so confident that he would needs make himself two Iron horns to push the Syrians withal until they were consumed Michaiah the true Prophet of God was not more confident of the Vision which he had seen And so the Pharisees in the Gospel Joh. 9.40 Are we blind also As who should say If any men in all the World doth see and know and understand the mind of God we do we can well bear that thou shouldst look upon the rest of the World the ordinary sort of people as blind but we pray thee do not make us blind also clearly implying and that with the greatest indignation that whatsoever he should speak that should intimate in the least that they should not know the mind of God that that must be most false And in these daies
the Creature man by reason of the excellency of his Nature above other Creatures were able perfectly to understand those several Impressions c. that are in their beings respectively yet could they never comprehend those in man for the reason even now hinted In like manner though God be able to comprehend all the Notions and Principles and all the Projections that are incident to the hearts and spirits of men yet men are not able without the Spirit to apprehend and conceive what his Thoughts Notions Counsels and Projections are But now saith he the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God otherwise without this Spirit no man knoweth what are the things of God and thoughts of his heart no more than any other Creature knoweth or is able to comprehend what is in the hearts of men So again ver 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given unto us of God Meaning the things of the Gospel those terms and conditions upon which life and salvation is promised and secured unto the World This sheweth that where there is any considerable degree of the knowledge of the things of God especially of the deep things of God that have been kept secret from Age to Age. This argueth an excellent presence of the Spirit of God ver 13. Which things we also speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth c. for the natural man receiveth not the things of God c. By the natural man in this place is not meant the unregenerate or the carnal man but the Babe in Christ I could not speak unto you saith that Apostle Chap. 3. ver 1. of the same Epistle as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even babes in Christ So that evident it is from this Scripture that these natural men who could not receive the things of God were not unregenerate men or carnal in the sense which we generally take the word carnal but babes in Christ Now these could not understand any thing but what was plain the things here spoken of the deep things of God such things which lie above the apprehensions of ordinary men these things are too strong for such mens stomacks they cannot bear them they cannot see how they should be agreeable to the Goodness Wisdom and Love of God neither can they receive them viz. whilst they are Babes or Children Yea though in their state of Childhood they are not capable of them they are capable of growing and coming to manhood A man that hath not had to do with Jewels he knows them not nor of what value or worth they are Even so it is with the deep and excellent things of the Gospel if these be set before those that are weak in judgment and Children in understanding alas they know not what to make of them they can make no nourishment of them but in time they may grow to such a capacity that such meat as this will be the most desirable unto them and they will say as the Jews Lord evermore give us this bread Men that are grown will call for strong meat such as will sort and sute with their stomacks And thus much for this Character And so we have done with our Reply to the third and last of the three Questions long since propounded for the further clearing and opening of the Doctrine we are now come to the Use and Application This Doctrine is useful three several waies For Instruction for Reproof and for Exhortation CHAP. XII The first Vse of the Doctrine by way of Instruction in four main Points First Shewing how comely a thing it is for men and women to be found obedient to the Commands of God in general and particularly how beautiful and honourable a thhing it is for men and women to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be found acting accordingly Secondly An account given what strangers the Saints themselves are unto many great Duties and more especially unto this great Duty of being filled with the Spirit insomuch that even this Generation are as it were asleep thereunto Thirdly That this great blessedness of being filled with the Spirit is no impossible thing but is attainable by the endeavours and engagements of men Fourthly and lastly That it is the will and design of God that Believers should be a Royal Generation of Kings and Priests unto himself and that they should live accordingly FIrst For Instruction Sect. 1 if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men and more especially upon all Believers to be filled with the Spirit then take we knowledge from hence That it is a comely and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to act and declare themselves accordingly I mean so to behave and demean themselves in all things that it may be known to the World that they are filled with the Spirit their Actions and Waies should be all Heroick and Princelike and have a lustre and beauty and brightness in them above the Actions Waies and Conversations of other men Even as the Lord Christ was known to be the only begotten Son of God Joh. 1.14 by that excellent glory wherein he appeared We saw saith the Evangelist his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God meaning that his glory whatsoever it was was so glorious and so excellent for the kind of it that they that saw it could not but conceive and judge that it was too full and too Majestick for any Creature whatsoever too excellent for any of the Angels themselves and much more for man and by this they perceived him to be the only begotten of God those Robes of glory were too rich for any Creature to be attired and adorned withal though they did indeed become the glory and dignity of his Person In like manner it would be exceeding comely for the Sons and Daughters of God to have such a glory of life and conversation still to accompany them as they walk up and down the World and where-ever they become which may distinguish them from all others to be persons of that rank and such a Generation that are filled with the Spirit of God My Brethren there is a strain of Action and Conversation that is apt and able to convince the World even against their minds and wills and will make them confess and acknowledge that these are a Generation of men and women by themselves for God enjoyns nothing by any of his Precepts or Laws unto men but what is comely grateful and lovely for them to do and that which will commend them both in his eyes and in the eyes of all his Angels yea of all truly judicious and understanding men Even as Parents are wont to teach their Children a good carriage of themselves and comliness of behaviour that may render them acceptable on all hands So doth God by his Precepts
those Motives which were he intent upon would do the deed would amount to such a holy and sacred anointing as now we speak of your being filled with the Spirit of God whereby you would be made Priests of the Living God So much for the First Use of the Doctrine the Use of Instruction CHAP. XIII A Second Vse of the Doctrine being a Vse of Reproof unto all those who are Enemies unto this heavenly Exhortation and Counsel of the Holy Ghost administred unto men namely to be filled with the Spirit and who by any means obstruct the course of it A first sort are such who scoff at such a thing as a being filled with the Spirit of God A second sort of Offenders are such who perswade men that the Spirit which they are exhorted to be filled with is but a finite Spirit an Angel and not God Wherein many things are further argued proving the Holy Ghost to be the most High God THe second Use was a Use of Reproof Sect. 1 and this in the general of all those who are Enemies to this heavenly Exhortation this blessed Counsel administred by the Holy Ghost unto men of being filled with the Spirit of God who either by word or by deed or by both obstruct the course of it that it doth not run is not glorified in the World as it ought to be Of these kind of Offenders there are several Species or sorts highly censurable by the Divine Authority of the Doctrine and truth delivered The first are they who being strangers altogether to the Spirit of God the Spirit of which both the Text and and the Doctrine speaketh are full of the Spirit of the World or rather of the God of the World Sathan who instead of being full of the Spirit of God laugh at all Discourses of mens being filled with him yea or of so much as having the Spirit of God in them to scorn hearing from the mouths of faithful Ministers of God sometimes and it may be from the discourse of other Christians that the Saints and Servants of God such who truly believe in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit of God and taught by him how to pray how to walk holily and soberly and righteously in the World they make a mock at it as some of the more ignorant and prophane Jews did at the Apostles being filled with the Spirit we speak of Acts 2.13 When they spake with strange Tongues Others mocking saith the Text said these men are full of New-wine When any thing of God or of the Spirit of God more than ordinary in one kind or other appeareth in any of the Saints or Servants of God they that are ignorant of God and of his waies will never own or acknowledge the procedure of it to be from God if they can but imagine any other cause though with never so slight appearance from whence there is the least probability that it may proceed yea if they can imagine any cause in this case which is worse than other and which is more disparaging unto the persons in whom that grace and power of God we speak of doth appear this shall be the cause unto which the excellent work of God in his Saints shall be imputed and ascribed How little reason or colour of reason was there to pretend or think that New Wine over-freely drank or taken by men should put them into a capacity of speaking with Tongues strange Tongues such as they never understood or were able to speak before They knew well enough many of the Company that were there or amongst them that every one that spake had a distinct knowledge of the Tongue of their own Nation We hear them speak all in our own Language said they Now I say let any sober and considering man think but a little of the business how impossible a thing it is that New Wine should invest men with a capacity and an ability to speak with strange Tongues in a strange language yet rather than they would acknowledge that the Spirit was the Author thereof they attribute it to New Wine New Wine may cause them to speak freely and at random but not in other Tongues they may indeed speak none-sense and not distinctly or else that which no man can understand but that it should enable and qualifie men for the speaking in strange Tongues distinctly and sensibly to the understanding of other men there is not the least colour or the lightest pretense thus to argue But ignorant persons and such as are prophane what will they not do to harden themselves though in the most irrational and senseless manner that may be And besides the things which the Apostles here spake and uttered and which were understood by those who so imputed the speaking of them in variety of Languages were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Magnalia the great and wonderful things of God If New Wine had been the inspirer these could not have been the great things of God that they had spoken but the great things of the Devil and of the World So when the Lord Christ cast out the unclean Spirit out of him that was possessed Mat. 12.24 it is said that the Pharisees presently charged this upon Sathan and upon his having to do with him because the Devil is a supernatural Agent in that sense which we usually take supernatural That is he is able to do things which are strange and out of the course of Nature therefore he is a kind of reserve for ignorant and wicked men when they meet with any thing of God and of the Spirit of God in the Saints they have the Devil in readiness to impute all these things unto As I remember I have read in the Story of Martyrs when any of the Martyrs shewed any invincible courage or patience in the midst of their torments the Priests that stood by would still perswade the People that the Devil had bereaved them of their senses and had distracted them before the fire came at them and by this kind of colour and feigned pretense they thought to way-lay and to stop the course of the apprehension of the common sort of People lest they should think that there was any great appearance of God in them So when the Lord Christ taught the People with so much wisdom and understanding that they were astonished and the greatest part of them began to admire how he that had not known a Letter should speak at such a rate as he did it is said they were offended at him Mat. 13.57 implying they thought that he came not by it lawfully but by the help of the Devil they could not make it out that he was a good man because they were ignorant of his gifts therefore they fall foul upon the Lord Christ So Paul in those high strains whether in teaching or rather in practice or acting in the World which the Corinthians could not comprehend nor reconcile with such Principles as they were acted by was
by the generality of them thought to be little better than crazed in his brain 2 Cor. 5.13 or head-shaken and that too much Learning had made him mad Whether we be beside our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your sakes Now when he saith whether we be besides our selves he doth not mean that he acted any thing out of madness or distemper nay certainly he was never himself more than when he did act these things for which they thought him besides himself and a man singular and engaged with some odd kind of Speculations and Notions and therefore saith the Apostle as for such things as these if we be besides our selves and like men distempered we are this unto God we have our eyes upon and approve our selves unto him in these things we easily believe you cannot tell what to make of them you cannot make wisdom nor obedience nor subjection unto God in them you do not understand nor comprehend those Laws nor those Rules nor Principles by which we act and move in such waies but saith he we look unto God and he understands it though we speak as it were in an unknown Tongue unto you yet in a Language which God well knows and understands But now saith he if we be sober it is for your sakes in these things he had respect unto them for their Edification In like manner when persons are carried and lifted up by the power of the Spirit of God above the ordinary Line of men either in speaking or acting for the glory of God or advantage of the Gospel Men that do not know and believe that there is any such Spirit at least acting or working in men are ready to blaspheme him in his Saints and to impute the things that are wrought by the power of his Presence in men to some dishonourable and untoward Principle or other as that they pretend to be led by the Spirit of God whereas they do such things upon their own fansie and upon some such suggestion which Sathan hath put into them As the Roman Historian speaking of Nero the Monster of men reporteth his conceit to be which he did express publickly that there was no man in the World but was as vicious as himself only herein was the difference between him and them he was open and would act above board and other men were more afraid But he did not believe that there was any such thing as Temperance and Sobriety Even so this is the very strain and temper and inward thoughts of ignorant persons in the World that have no heart nor spirit for God nor for waies of excellency that are lovely and honourable When they see that there are other men and women of their Ranke that do such things which they cannot do They cannot go along with them they cannot fast and pray they cannot follow such and such Religious Duties or Exercises they think that these men do but dissemble they love their money as well as we they love their ease as well as we only the Devil tempteth them and putteth them upon these waies that so they may have credit and repute and be thought more holy and greater lovers of God than other men and by this means they judge themselves better because they know they are plain and have no reserves in their breasts but what they are in the frame of their hearts and spirits and affections they act and utter themselves accordingly Whereas those persons that are externally so godly and would be so judged are every whit as bad or worse than we because they seek to cover and hide and to dissemble those wicked and vile thoughts which are in them by an external shew of holiness they can take their turns privately and secretly to do the very self same thing or things that are worse and more sinful than any that we do This is I say an express strain of the Spirit of that Monster Nero This is the reason that such persons fall foul upon the Saints especially when the Spirit shall draw them forth unto waies that are so excellent in their kind Now they that shall thus impute this to Sathan or unto the vile hearts of men these are they who do obstruct the force of this Exhortation of mens being filled with the Spirit of God and do what in them lie to make mens hearts to sink and to discourage them from seeking after such a Royal Priviledge A second sort to be reproved upon the former account Sect. 2 viz. as Enemies unto the heavenly Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit discouraging mens hearts from pursuing the blessed Counsel given unto them by God himself in it are they who labour to perswade men that the Spirit wherewith God exhorteth men to be filled is but a Finite a Created Spirit an Angel and not God Evil words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 So do erroneous and lying conceits and imaginations infused into the minds of men obstruct many holy and worthy endeavours and layings out of mens selves which otherwise in all likelihood they would not refrain and which undertaken and put forth by them would turn to a blessed account unto them Instances might readily be given in many particulars in this kind we shall consider the truth of the Observation at present only in the Point in hand For what doth such a Doctrine or Notion as this That the Spirit the Holy Ghost is not God but only a finite Spirit being interpreted signifie but that it is but in vain for men and women so much as to think of ever being filled with him and consequently of ever being excellent For fust the Created Spirits the good Angels are Ministers and Servants even all of them without exception of any unto the Saints as they are Members of that body whereof their Lord and Master Christ is the head We know that place Heb. 1.14 Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation So then Angels however in respect of the excellency and dignity of their natures they be superiour unto men yet in respect of that Ministry and Service unto men whereunto they are deputed and set forth by God they are inferiour unto them Now the heart and soul of man cannot frame and bring it self to expect or look for from its fellow Creatures especially such a Creature which God in respect of Ministry and Service hath subjected unto it any thing so excellent or so desirable as it reasonably may work and prevail with its self to expect or promise unto it self from its Creator from a Spirit that is infinite in his being and an inexhaust Abyss of all excellency My Brethren it is repugnant to the inbred nature and innate Principles of the heart and soul of a man to go forth with a like courage alacrity or confidence to seek its desires or supplies where either he knows not whether they are to
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
Restauration shall be or that there shall be some or some considerable numbers of them to whom this excellency of knowledge shall be vouchsafed by God But that the generality of this People or the common sort of them shall be thus enriched by him The earth saith the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Land of Judeah and the Inhabitants of it when the time spoken of shall come shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea Isa 11.9 There shall be an universal deluge or overflowing of the knowledge of God over all the Land And elsewhere Thy people also shall be all righteous Isa 60.21 So then the Promise of the abundance of knowledge in the Scripture before us respecteth the Jews only in the sense which hath been declared there is no thing can be inferred from it by those that are not of this Nation but Gentiles as that they shall have the like abundance of knowledge given unto them But Secondly Suppose it should not be appropriable only to the Jews but equally appliable unto the Gentiles also yet neither upon this supposition will it follow that the time of the accomplishment of it either to the Jews or to the Gentiles is yet come First That the Jews have not yet attained the blessing promised therein who yet in all reason shall be first served though it should be supposed that the Gentiles shall sit down at the same Table with them is evident in that the generality of that Nation remaineth to this day in that blindness and ignorance which the Apostle Paul bewailed in them in his daies Secondly For the Gentiles the said Promises neither have been nor are performed as yet unto them is altogether as evident as the former the generality of these being so far from such a knowledge that they have no need that any should teach them that we know they stand in need to be taught the very first Principles or Foundations of Christian Religion Nor can it reasonably be here replied or said Sect. 7 that though the said Promise be not as yet fulfilled in the generality of the Gentiles yet it may be begun to be fulfilled in some of them and the fuller accomplishment of it may by degrees take place untill the times of the plenary and perfect fulfilling of it shall come for against this there are several Considerations 1. As you heard lately that the Promise is not made to the Gentiles but to the Jews 2. It hath not been made good no not in the sense now pleaded for unto the Jews themselves not so much as to a handful of them they generally remaining still in the hardness of thâ—â— hearts and in that blindness of their minds wherein they were in the Apostles daies they are so far from the knowledge of God and of the Gospel of his Son as ever they were and yet all or the most part of them will be first served and have the preeminency and first fruits of this glory 3. The Scriptures intimate as if this Promise were to be fulfilled suddenly and at once when it beginneth to be fulfilled Isa 66.7 8. It is made matter of high admiration Before she travelled she brought forth c. Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day Or shall a Nation be born at once c. The travel of Sion seemeth to note some such change and alteration in her condition which withall intimateth a strange and unexpected expedition and that she shall be raised and built up in a very short time unto a very glorious State and Nation and therefore the Prophet calls it the bringing forth of a Nation in one day So again Isa 60.22 I the Lord will hasten it in his time meaning that when the time should come then he would hasten it and would bring it into perfection very suddenly 4. If a few mens excelling in knowledge were the fulfilling of the said Prophesie and Promise then was it fulfilled in the Apostles daies for there were many 1 Cor. 1.5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge It seemeth that in this one Church there was a great floud of light insomuch that they had nothing now to learn but did wait for the full appearance of the Lord Christ and yet that these Promises of Christ were not fulfilled in those daies in the sense declared is evident because the Apostle pressed the duty of Preaching upon others and layeth a heavy curse upon himself Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel How many passages may we find in his Epistles of the same import 5. And lastly The persons themselves who do pretend this Promise and passage of Scripture to justifie them in their way do make use of somewhat like the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel they have certain Methods which they pretend to edifie themselves by so that they do offer an affront to themselves and do condemn themselves in those things which they do allow And if they judge themselves capable of any benefit by these their meetings certainly there is a thousand times more reason why we should expect and look for more from the publick Ministry of the Gospel by such who have a competent anointing of the Spirit of God If they do interpret and give a sense of what they speak or affirm and produce from the Scriptures then as I say why should we not rather hearken unto the judgment and sense of them that attend upon the Word and Prayer as the Apostle speaks who are set apart as it were and who do separate themselves unto God and to his Service and of the Tabernacle That they should be likely to give out the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures above others is reasonable to conceive The Eunuch was in all likelihood a great man and surely a man of more than ordinary parts and abilities and yet he professeth plainly unto Philip Acts 8.31 when he asked him if he understood what he read How saith he can I except some man should guide me or I have some one to interpret It is true it is one thing what the Spirit of God is able to do for men but it is another what he himself judgeth meet for him to do And certainly he doth not judge it meet to build with one hand and to pull down with the other hand which yet he should do having erected an Ordinance as he hath done giving some to be Pastors and Teachers for the work of the Ministry if these things might be gained otherwise I mean in an ordinary way and where the Ministry which Christ hath set on foot may be had and enjoyed But Thirdly and lastly To the Scripture before us although it should be granted to be already fulfilled yet it is not necessary to understand these Expressions They shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother literally but figuratively by an Hyperbole A figure
the World by making of the Stones of the Earth Children unto Abraham This needs no other proof but only the Testimony of so many thousands that do acknowledge themselves to be brought into Captivity unto Jesus Christ by the Ministry The Trophies of the Gospel are hung up in the sight of the World in all the parts and quarters of it it hath cast down in men and women many a strong hold many high thoughts have been thrown down by the efficacy and power of it it is of an undermining nature and of the Wisdom of the Flesh and of the World which are the Enemies that it meeteth with and hath to encounter in the course of it alas it maketh straw and stubble and rotten wood it doth detect and demonstrate the vanity and emptiness of this Wisdom and maketh it evident to the Consciences of men that if they will follow such and such Principles Notions and Apprehensions as they bring with them to the Gospel they are lost men they mistake the way of life and peace and shall most certainly come to the Chambers of death and Eternal destruction in the end And as for such things which it commendeth for truth it doth so fortifie the truth of them upon such terms of excellent demonstration conviction and power that except men be desperately bent and set upon their own ruine and destruction they cannot but give place to it and fall down before it and say of a truth this is indeed no other but the wisdom of God Thirdly That it might have been or yet may be as effectual unto the men we speak of if they would but remove that which obstructeth the efficacy and power of it is evident from many places Joh. 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another As if he had said that if they had not resolved that they would retain and not cast out from them that wicked and crooked humour and disposition of theirs viz. to seek honour one of another to seek the great things of this World and so to strengthen themselves in thier fleshly interest this way they might have believed as others did This therefore was the only thing that stood in the way of these people and was as walls and bars in the way of believing they did divide and give out their strength in seeking after honour and wealth c. and as Theives use to do divide parts amongst themselves Now so long as they were thus resolved to stick together they kept one another in their way and course upon such terms that they could not believe For by this means as the Artificers said of their Craft they had their living much of their wealth and honour came in upon the account of the credit and opinion men had of them Now when Jesus Christ did preach Doctrines contrary to the waies and policies of these men which did detect their nakedness and discover their wickedness and unworthiness they resolved to stand one by another and defend one another so that it was all one what he should say unto them they were bent upon their course For there is nothing but if men will be wilful they may withstand even the efficacy of the Gospel it self If it be here demanded Sect. 19 But is the Ministry you speak of no more efficacious or powerful than to be obnoxious unto the resistance of men Are men able by one means or other to hinder the efficacy and power of it Or is it not reasonable to conceive that the efficacy of the Ministry should consist as well in removing that out of the hearts and minds of men whatsoever it be that obstructs the efficacy of it otherwise the saving efficacy of it as in any other vertue property and power of it whatsoever Or if it be not efficacious enough to remove that out of mens waies which hindereth the saving efficacy of it wherein is it to be esteemed for any efficacy in it at all If it be not effectual to save men all the efficacy otherwise is not to be regarded I reply First That the Ministry of the Gospel cannot be conceived to be more effectual than the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God now that the Holy Ghost may be and is resisted by men appeareth Acts 7.51 where it is said that they had alwaies resisted the Holy Ghost therefore it is very clear that the Ministry of the Gospel may be resisted we know that the Arm of Christ was the mighty Arm of God his out-stretched Arm yet the Scripture saith that the unworthiness of the people was such that he could do there namely in his own Country no mighty works Mat. 13.58 Mar. 6.5 And the reason of this again was because they did not set their hearts upon the consideration of such things as he did nor upon the words which he spake therefore he could do no great works that is he had no mind or will to do them Now when a man is unwilling to do a thing he may according to Scripture Dialect and manner of speaking Gen. 39.9 2 Cor. 13.8 1 Joh. 3.9 be said to be unable to do it That Christ could not do any great work there was because it did circumstances being as they were not stand with the Wisdom by which his Will was steered nor with those Rules of Righteousness Holiness Justice and Mercy by which he was acted in his whole course So it is in the Ministry of the Gospel if men shall behave themselves at any such desperate rate of unworthiness or of slothfulness and oscitancy or especially stubbornness and stoutness of spirit that they still take hold of any pretense to oppose the truth that is coming upon them like an Armed man if men I say do suffer themselves in any such strain of Impiety and opposition against God the Ministry of the Gospel is not like to have its effect upon them in respect of the beneficial end of it it is true the Holy Ghost even when he was resisted was full of power and did vindicate himself very gloriously in the Consciences of those that did resist him and yet it is said he was resisted because he was put by from that blessed work those saving effects which otherwise he was purposed to have done and to have accomplished Even so the Ministry of the Gospel let men oppose it and let men seek Pleas and Pretenses to decline it yet nevertheless it is full of power and authority even over those who shall rebel with the highest hand against it it doth act with terrible power and conviction even upon the hearts and souls and consciences of them and leaves deep impressions of the power and glory of it Secondly The efficacy of the Ministry of the Gospel doth not stand in the actual conversion of men or in the actual edification of men nor in making of men actually willing to be converted or turned unto God for if it were to be estimated or measured by this Rule it might
we call the in-bread is given into the Dozen there is nothing properly paid or given for it bat only for the Dozen The Kingdom of God the salvation of the soul the World which is to come are like the Dozen he that will have this must pay for it I mean in labour and endeavours and in looking after it Whereas this present World is like unto the in-bread which will be given in by God to better the bargain So likewise when our Saviour adviseth thus Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life he plainly gives us to understand that the World which is to come requires labour of men to come by Now our Saviour was not of a light and unsavoury Spirit he did not jest with men he did not exhort men to strain and toyl at the lifting of a Feather no he was most grave and most sober and serious and weighty in all his Counsels therefore when he counselleth men not to labour for that which perisheth but for that which endureth for ever he doth consequently intimate unto them that unless there be industry used and much solicitousness of mind things of this nature will not be obtained The Son of man who hath these things to give will not give them unto men who look not after them And withal our Saviour doth plainly and clearly imply that this World doth not require a like labour and diligence at least comparatively Labour not for the meat which perisheth as if he should say You may have such meat which will suffice you if you will but labour for the other Therefore that Generation of men and women we speak of greatly erre in their thoughts about the terms of the two Worlds judging the World which is to come to be like the Fig-trees spoken of by the Prophet Nahum c. 3.12 with their first-ripe Figs which if they be but a little shaken fall into the mouth of the Eater So these conceit that the Golden Gates of Heaven if they be but touched with the least of a mans fingers will fly open and give him entrance that the great things of Eternity will come upon them before they be aware that a little time spent now and then when their ease and their profits will give way will cause heaven and happiness to bow down unto them whereas their Judgment of this present World is that both the inner and outer man with their highest contendings sweatings and strainings of themselves are all little enough or rather too little to prevail with it to bless them or give out its strength unto them It is not unlike but that the conceipt we now speak of within them may be sed with another Notion or Conceipt viz. that the World which is to come goeth by an unchangeable Decree of Predestination and Election and that Heaven is conferred upon men by virtue of a Deed of Gift of as ancient a Date as Eternity upon which account they act with a remiss and cool spirit for the obtaining of this expecting that the Decree of God from Eternity shall bring Salvation and the blessedness of the World to come upon them with an high hand though they themselves should do nothing whereas they have a contrary conceipt as if God had made no Decree concerning mens being wealthy and great in this World but that all these things do come about by diligence and industry and by a wise contrivement of their own in this behalf it is very likely that there is some touch or other of such a poyson that lieth near the root of the hearts of some But to the Persons now under reproof we shall at present say no more but this That if Mary chose the better part in chusing to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ to hear the words of Eternal Life from his lips in comparison of Martha's choice which was to be imployed about other things though otherwise as appears a worthy woman Certainly such persons who neglect the opening of the Heavens and the Visions of the Almighty when they descend upon the World to gratifie the Flesh with ease pleasure getting of money c. chuse the far worser part which will in the end turn to a portion of everlasting shame and contempt unto them if they perish in their choice Mary chose a being filled with the Spirit this was a blessed choice indeed these men chose a being emptied of the Spirit of God The Day is coming like an armed man upon them when the words which are now spoken in their ears will become a Sword which will pass through their souls A second sort of Persons against whom the face of the Doctrine delivered is set to reprove them are such who though they have not as yet Sect. 3 with the First of the Three wholly forsaken the Ministry of the Gospel nor seem with the second to be but loosely and indifferently affected to it yet they do take a course in a short time to be emptied of the Spirit as well as either of the former and this is by turning aside from the Ministry where it is lively and powerful teaching wholsome Doctrine as Faith towards God and Repentance from Dead Works where it promoteth Godliness with an high hand and consequently is like to fill men and women with the Spirit of God And turning unto and following a Ministry that is like to fill them with wind and flatulent humours with fond Notions and Conceipts either above or besides or contrary unto that which is written The Apostle speaketh of some Col. 2.18 Vainly puft up in their fleshly minds or irregularly puffed up Even as it is with some bodies that seem to be very fat and full and fair and yet their fat is but a loose kind of flesh or it may be it is nothing else but some dropsical humours which any kind of sickness will quite cancell and commonly such persons fall into the most desperate Consumptions of all when that loose fat forsaketh them Even so there are many loose Professors amongst us and have been in all Ages who have swollen in their minds and conceipts into a great bulâ— They judge themselves to be like the Children of Anack in spiritual matters and other Professors about them but as Grashoppers as men and women of low and weak and inconsiderable stature in respect of themselves Now there is and for the most part alwaies hath been such a Ministry of the Gospel so called which is apt to work this way Though to speak properly it is no Ministry of the Gospel but only a kind of counterfeit of it which seeks to commend it self unto the World for such yea and to disparage that which is truly and indeed such in comparison of it self But of that Generation of men and women which forsake such a Ministry of the Gospel which is savoury wholsome and sound where the Mind and Counsel of God concerning the peace and salvation of
Condemnation than the Gospel doth viz. They who shall determine the state of those men who hold that Christ died for all men that these cannot be in a state of Grace though this be a most plain and direct Doctrine of the Scripture and so they that teach and threaten men and women that they shall never receive Remission of sins and consequently shall not be saved unless they be twice baptized now herein they bind men over unto death upon such terms that the Gospel doth not allow of therefore such a Ministry which teacheth such things as these is a legal Ministry Again Sect. 14 Whereas the persons yet under reproof are wont to pretend likewise lowness and ordinariness of matter or of teaching in the Ministry which they have a mind to quit as one Reason of their withdrawing from it It is more than to be feared that they know not what the deficiency in a Ministry which they call lowness meaneth this being a more palpable pretense than either of the other For by lowness I suppose they mean the pressing and teaching of common and ordinary and known duties as of Love Mercy Patience Faith Temperance c. whereas the truth is that the teaching and pressing of these duties upon such terms as they may and ought to be taught and pressed upon the Consciences of men argues an excellency of power and of faithfulness in a Ministry yea is the glory of it For wherein can it reasonably be conceived that the worth and glory of a Ministry should consist but in repairing the decayed Image of God in men and in preparing and making men meet for a heavenly Kingdom Now wherein doth the Image of God we speak of in men stand but in the accomplishing and perfecting the Creature for all actions and services relating unto it and proper for it to perform As God is most absolutely and every way accomplished and that upon the highest terms of perfection for the acting of all things which are proper for him to do So likewise to put men into a rich and divine-like capacity this way that is to furnish them with all principles and dispositions and knowledge of all things fit for them to do so that nothing may lie between them and the performance of their duty but their own will this is to raise up the Image of God in men Or if you place this Image of God in men in righteousness and true holiness it cometh but to the same for that is a right Ministry indeed which hath force to raise men up unto these especially in such measures and degrees as they ought to be found in men and can qualifie men fully for their duty and service as the performance of these do for their reward and glory Therefore that Ministry which preacheth and presseth the duties of Faith Love Mercy Humility c. upon men so as really to enrich and fill the hearts and souls of men and women with them is no low Ministry but a Ministry of power and great glory And thus we have done with the second sort of Offenders against the Doctrine delivered under the second Head The folly of their Delinquency was that they turned their backs upon wholsome and sound teaching such wherein the Spirit of God delights to go forth and sate down under such teachings which do little more than beat the Air and which the Spirit of God knoweth not There is yet a third sort of Offenders against the Apostles Exhortation Sect. 15 and the Doctrine delivered from it who may be ranged also under the Second Head as being persons running a course not to be filled with the Spirit but on the contrary to be emptied of him These are such who refuse or neglect to be led by the Spirit who either do not mind or take knowledge of the leadings or motions of the Spirit do not bend the ear of the inward man to him when he secretly speaketh or else that which is as bad or rather worse when they do hear him or are sensible of his motions or leadings within them yet turn aside from him and go their own way Such undue and unworthy carriages as these in men towards the Spirit of God must of necessity grieve him and consequently occasion him to depart or withdraw himself from them For the former Are not the generality or far greater part of men and women altogether neglective of all that is acted or done by the Spirit of God within them Yea Are there not many that are ignorant whether there be any Holy Ghost any Spirit of God within them yea or no Yea many that have some belief it may be that the Spirit we now speak of may be in them who yet are ignorant and know not whether he doth any thing in one kind or other within them whether he moveth enclineth leadeth or perswadeth one way or other in them or no If you ask me But can the Spirit move or encline any person and yet this person not be moved or enclined by him Or if they be moved or enclined by him can they be ignorant of it must they not needs know it I reply First To the former of these questions That a Person may be said to be moved or enclined two waies or in a twofold sense First He 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. Secondly He may be said and that in the more obvious sense of the two to be moved when that force which is put to him to move and encline him prospereth to that end for which it is employed that is when the person moved doth as it were fall before the enclination and doth yield unto that which he is stirred and moved and enclined unto In the former sense a man or woman may be said to be moved perswaded or led by the Spirit this way or that unto this course or that and yet not be brought or prevailed with to walk in those waies Thus the goodness of God is said to lead men unto Repentance Rom. 2.4 who yet are not prevailed with to repent So when the Scriptures speaking of the Jews saith That they resisted the Holy Ghost it is plainly implied First That they were in a sense which must needs be the sense we now speak of led by the Spirit of God i. e. were perswaded moved and enclined by him unto waies and practices that were holy and good for otherwise how could they be said to have resisted him Resistance cannot be but only where there is some attempt or assault made therefore certainly when they did resist the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost did attempt upon their hearts and consciences to perswade them unto that which was right and pleasing in the sight of God Again Secondly It implies that they were not perswaded I mean with success or so as
ordinarily it is uttered by the Mouth of the Conscience which is not wont to be wide opened unless it be in some broader or more known duties of the Second Table what the reason hereof is is not so proper for present consideration Secondly The Cares Lusts Thoughts Desires Fears and Apprehensions of things relating to this present World make a continual noise and hubbub in the hearts and inward parts of men and women generally So that in case any thing were spoken to the heart or inner man especially with a soft voice whilest these things are stirring in him it will not be heard or minded And therefore Thirdly The Holy Ghost being a Spirit of Wisdom will not speak at least ordinarily unto hearts so full of distractions and confusions Neither fourthly Do men that voluntarily make noise or suffer noises to be made about them desire to hear any man speak unto them Therefore fifthly and lastly It follows from these Premises that such persons who are earthly minded and continually filled with the Cares Lusts or Desires of this World are either in no capacity at all to hear or not at all care to hear any thing that the Spirit shall speak unto them Men that desire to hear the Spirit of God speaking in them must sequester and abstract themselves from the noise and tumults of this World For the voice of the Spirit of God in men that voice by which he suggests things in the Conscience is a still and low voice and therefore when men are in a hurry in their thoughts whilest the World is lifting up its voice within them there is no opportunity for him to speak When persons are full of the Cares of this Life and are making provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof there is no opportunity for the Spirit to declare himself to them or to shew them his secrets I will hearken what the Lord will speak saith the Psalmist Psal 85.8 They that will listen to this still voice of the Spirit must muse must have all quiet within them lay their ears close unto what shall be spoken They that do not thus hearken unto the Spirit of God that do not thus listen and keep a perfect calm in their Spirits are not likely to hear what the Spirit speaketh in them And yet in the fourth place there are another sort of men and women worse than these and these are they that resist the Spirit Ye have resisted the Holy Ghost c. Acts 7. where Stephen chargeth them with that grievous charge that they resisted the Holy Ghost when he was striving to do them good and to acquaint them with the mind of God with true holiness and waies leading to Salvation They resisted him i. e. fortified themselves against him cast about with their Minds and Reasons and Understandings how they might discover and take hold of any pretense why they should not submit unto such and such Counsels such Doctrines such Truths wherein the Holy Ghost did from time to time speak unto them By this means men are said to resist the Holy Ghost and there is a Generation of men and women amongst us who dash their foot at this stone of death who when the Spirit of God either in the Word or in the Counsel or Application of Christian Friends unto them or otherwise presenteth them with such and such truths of God which bear upon their Consciences making it evident that it is for their good that they should submit themselves in the course of their lives and waies unto them and perswading them to abandon such and such waies to cast from them all such works which are contrary to those truths and sayings of God They I say who are well aware of these motions and suggestions of the Spirit to them and yet turn their backs upon them are of this second or worser sort who because they are desperately unwilling to be led out of their old waies loth to drink New Wine saying the Old is better therefore they withstand the Spirit of God even when he cometh with power and is about to bind the Understandings of men that they might not be able to move Now he is not to be resisted in such cases but with a high hand of rebellion and there must be abundance of enmity and disobedience against him otherwise men would be led away in a blessed captivity unto Jesus Christ This is the reason why men whom God hath had much to do with who have lived under a mighty and powerful Ministry either they are overcome and prove the best and holiest of men or otherwise they must arm themselves with such weapons of Rebellion which will prove them to be the most vile and most desperate sinners in the World A fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who neglect to sow unto the Spirit Sect. 17 we use the Phrase of the Apostle Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting We have opened heretofore what it is to sow to the Spirit It is to do such things to go forth in such waies and to be found frequent in such Actions and Practices which will turn to the praise and honour and glory of the Spirit of God and not only so but to do such things with an eye and intention that the Spirit of God should receive honour and reap praise by such their waies Now he properly soweth unto a man who doth intend that the man to whom he soweth should reap benefit thereby Even so a person is said to sow unto the Spirit of God who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Now if men and women shall rise up in their obedience unto God above the line and common road of the World if they shall walk in a more excellent way than their Neighbours more excellent than the common sort of Professors about them This must needs turn to the praise of the Spirit of God for the means by which they are advanced and gotten above their Neighbours and become more excellent than they this of course falleth and is ascribed by all to the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Men will conclude that surely the Spirit of God acteth and operateth in these men and teacheth them more excellent works and more heavenly curiosity than is found in the ordinary sort of men in the World Therefore they who refuse thus to sow unto the Spirit when the Spirit first soweth unto them that is when the Spirit suggesteth unto them and graciously stirreth up and tempteth their hearts and Consciences to do such Heroick Acts wherein there is a more than ordinary strain of goodness to be seen they do not consult the honour of the Spirit of God nor their own peace and enriching but on the contrary their own sorrow and poverty They I say that shall refuse thus to sow
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
be a great piece of wordly Felicity But alas What is such an interest in the greatest or mightiest King or Prince under the Heavens being compared with that interest which such a person as we have spoken of hath in God The gleanings of him that hath the Ear of the Great God of all the Earth open to his Prayer are better than the Vintage of him that hath the Ear of the greatest Monarch in the World open unto him They who have the Ear of God open upon such terms as persons filled with the Spirit have it are in a capacity hereby not only to provide or procure for themselves as oft as they desire all accommodations regularly necessary to render their lives full of peace comfort and contentment but likewise to Umpire and order the great Affairs of the World round about them yea and to give Laws unto Nations and to rule them with a Rod of Iron For such persons as we now speak of are a first fruits of that World to come which in Scriptures is called the new Heavens and the new Earth the Kingdom of Christ and of the Saints and is much discoursed amongst us under the name of the Fifth Monarchy a Name and Notion proper enough for it and have a first-fruit granted unto them by God of those glorious Priviledges of that Interest of Power and Grandeur which shall be vested in the great Body or whole Community of the Saints in that day of which we may have occasion ere long to speak more particularly So as this shall be the Priviledge and Prerogative of all the Saints in that day that they shall rule the Nations as it were with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel meaning that the whole Earth shall be given unto them as it is in Daniel Dan. 7.18.27 Even so shall the persons we speak of before the Dawning of that Day before the New Heaven and the New Earth taste of the great happiness and felicity of the Chosen of God in those daies and they shall Umpire and Rule and carry and sway the great Affairs of the World as we have it in Rev. 2.26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end that man that standeth it out in my Cause and fights it out unto death to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule with a Rod of Iron c. meaning that he shall have part in the great felicity of that day You know that passage in Jam. 5.17 where it is said that Elijah who was a man subject to the like passions and the like infirmities with other men I suppose he means not so much if at all sinful infirmities as corporal he was a man subject to sorrow and sickness and death as well as we or any of us are and yet he did thus by Prayer he prayed and he shut the Heavens and again he prayed and he opened the Heavens and provided rain for the Earth by his Prayer Now I suppose the Apostle inserts these words A man subject to like passions as we are to remove that great stumbling stone which might be in the minds and thoughts of ordinary Christians that are weak and poor that carry about with them a body of sickness and death and are despised in the World and not regarded and set by by the great men in the World How then should they expect that a God of that infinite Majesty which he is to whom they should pray and make their requests should regard them Especially in the gratifying of them upon any such terms that he should do any great or excellent thing more than ordinary for them Now to such the Holy Ghost here saith do not be troubled let no such thought as this arise within you upon such an occasion for I tell you that Elijah was a man as weak as you cloathed with the same flesh subject to sicknesses and pain and to be contemned and slighted by men as he was by Ahab and others yet this did not at all obstruct his interest with God his Prayer was potent and powerful with him for he did very great things as you know by his Prayer he shut the Heaven being highly offended with the wickedness of the People and their Idolatry He interceded as it were against them and sought to draw down Judgments upon them indeed he sought hereby to humble them and to bring them to the sight of their sins as it seems he did and accordingly when he saw that they did repent and were reformed in their waies he did by another Prayer turn the course of the Displeasure of God another way and drew down the love and favour of God out of Heaven upon them And Sect. 6 my Brethren doubtless the reason why the interest of Prayer is fallen so low and sunk as it were in the Christian World in comparison of what it was in the Primitive times in the daies of the Apostles and in the Ages next after them the reason I say why so little is done in the World by means of Prayer is because the Generation of those who in the Primitive times were wont to be filled with the Spirit and to be large hearted towards God is in a manner extinct and that heavenly vigour which possessed the hearts and reins and brake forth and shewed it self in the lives and waies of the First and Second Ages of Primitive Christians was not lookt after in the Generations afterwards but instead thereof many of them suffered a Spirit of ignorance and blind zeal to enter into them and to possess them which under a pretense of bestirring it self and acting for God and Jesus Christ made wrack and havock of their interest in the World And there is more than enough of this kind of spirit and vigour that is gotten into the the hearts and inward parts of many Professors amongst us who like to the Jews of old have a great zeal for God but not according to knowledge yea there is a great variety of several shapes and forms of this kind of zeal amongst us The Antinomian he laies out himself effectually for the advancement of his Opinion and waies and thinks he doth God and his Gospel the only service in the World A second sort of Professor he is as a flame of fire he is content to spend and to be spent in the Service of his way being full of confidence that even whilest he treads and tramples under foot the peace and comforts of the Children and dear Servants of Christ yet he is the only Benefactor to his Throne and Kingdom amongst men A third Party abominating the Zeal of the former riseth up early and goeth to bed late and eats the bread of much carefulness to mount upon the back of Secular Authority and if he get but his foot fast and sure upon this ground he makes account that by turning the edge of the Magistrates Sword against all that he conceipts
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