Acts 2.46 that is in their private oratories or upper rooms set apart for holy occasions of which there was no use when Churches were built except for devotion of the private family Another meeting you find Acts 4.23 where God shook the place where they were assembled and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Another meeting you find Acts 6.2 about choosing the seven Deacons of whom Stephen was one who was the first Martyr that suffered death for Christ Acts 7.58 Then began persecution to wax hot by reason of Sauls being too zealous for the Law of Moses Acts 8.4 and so the Church was scattered but he was converted Acts 9. Then had the Church rest and multiplied exceedingly ver 31. and spread very farre and at Antioch they were first called Christians Acts 11.26 Then Herod Agrippa to curry favor with the Jewes Acts 12.2 killed James and imprisoned Peter but God smote him in the midst of his vain glory Acts 12.23 The next speciall meeting of the Apostles was Acts 15.16 the first Councill that ever was who determined the great Question of circumcision negatively that it should not be imposed on the Gentiles Other meetings there were in divers places according as the Church increased and was transplanted in divers regions as Acts 20.7 at Troas Mathe. But had they any publick meeting places called Churches in those times Phila. The first they had were those oratories which the Jewes had on tops of their houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the upper rooms which though the Romans called caenaculum or a banquetting room because it was like their feasting rooms on the tops of their houses yet neither the Jewes nor Christians used it but in religious devotions And therefore where Christ eat the Passeover and celebrated his last supper was held a place sacred though appertaining to some private house of some of the disciples In this place some say that Christ appeared to his disciples on the day of his Resurrection Nicepho Bed de locis Sanct. to 3. c. 3. and on the eighth day after to Thomas with the rest and that here James was made Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles and the seven Deacons elected and the first Councill held Cyr. Hieros cat 16. Acts 15. And Saint Cyril cals it the upper Church of the Apostles where the Holy Ghost descended also upon them Acts 2. And it may possibly be the place prophecied of as being neer to mount Sion Psalm 50.2 out of Sion God appeared in perfect beauty in which Psalm the spirit also seems to refuse carnall facrifices which was Gospel-like doctrine Also it is prophecied that out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of God out of Jerusalem to which many people shall flock and so they did Acts 2. And thus his foundations were laid in the holy mountains and he hath shewed that he loved the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob Vide Hier in Epitap Paulae epi. 27. because he i. Christ was there produced by the Gospels promulgation which never came from the Temple though divulged from a place neer to Sion which place was enclosed afterward if we may beleeve antiquity with a faire Church called the Church of Sion In process of time as the Church Christian increased no doubt they built places of recess for the worship of God as well as the Jewes had Synagogues whose religion was estranged as much from the religion of the Roman Empire as the Christians was and in these places they did ordinarily assemble to perform divine duties unlesse they were hindred by necessity Mathe. I pray give me some instances of these Phila. We read that as at first they had their upper rooms for oratories so afterward they had places of worship built in fields Euseb eccles hist lib. 2. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they heard the Scriptures interpreted and had severall classes for men and women and sung Psalms and had distinctions of Bishops and Deacons We see also in Pauls Epistles that he salutes some with their houshold only as Aristobulus and Narcissus Assyncritus Rom. 16. Oecume in in Rom. 16. and Col. 4. and Phlegon But others he saluteth with the Church at their house i. all those that there commonly assembled So he salutes Nymphas Col. 4.15 and Philemon and Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16. which sheweth their houses or part of them dedicated to pious uses in common So Theophilus to whom St Luke dedicates his Gospel Hiero. in ep 2. ad Galat. Clem. in Recog lib. 10. and Acts of the Apostles did dedicate his house at Antioch to this purpose this was about thirty eight years after Christ And Eusebius reports that St Mark had divers Churches in Alexandria in his history lib. 2. cap. 16. So St Paul at Corinth as we may collect from 1 Cor. 11.22 saying have ye not houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God So Joseph of Arimathea and his Colony of Christians built the Church of Glassenbury in England Hist Angli which being burnt was built again by King Henry the second his Letters Patents So Crescens caused a Church to be built at Vienna So in 79. Eus l. 3. c. 4. there was a great Church built at Ephesus by St John saith Eusebius lib. 3. cap. 20. And many were built also in Rome by the Apostles means Euseb l. 2. c. 25 And surely the reason of this dedicating places to holy worship was because Christians being taught by Scriptures that the majesty of God is most sacred and incommunicable so those things by which they worshipped should not be made common And indeed therefore Christians were well admonished by an ancient holy Writer Clem. in epist ad Corinth that we ought to do all things as God had expressed them to be done in regard both of times when and persons whereby and places wherein that so we may be accepted of him all these we find in the first hundred years after Christ Mathe. I pray go on and give me a further light Phila. We find Ignatius reproving Trajan in a Church lib. 3. cap. 19. as Nicephorus reports And 117. the Emperor Adrian commands Christian Churches to be built Dion in Adri. and forbade to place the Images of the Romane Gods therein And Ignatius writing to the Magnesians Vid. Epist ad ad Philad chargeth them to meet in one place to use one common praier with one heart as coming to one Temple of God one Altar and one Christ So we find Polycarpus receiving the Communion in a Church at Rome in the year 169. And Theophylus Antiochenus Eus l. 5. c. 25. in his Epistle to Autolycum saith that as the sea hath Ilands that are fruitfull so the world hath Synagogues called Churches wherein truth was preserved whereby men might be saved And Clemens Alexandrinus distinguisheth the Church
blind Mathe. What be their errors Phila. 1. That the morall Law is of no use to beleevers not so much as a rule of life or examination and yet Christ preacheth it and presseth it Mat. 5. and more closely then ever it was before even to rectifie the spirit and passions as well as the outward manners So they say that it is as possible for Christ to sin as a child of God But as Christ did never sin so now being glorified it is impossible he should but we have sinned and though regenerate yet so long as we carry about this body of flesh in some things we shall offend but not to condemnation So they say that a child of God ought not to ask pardon for sin and it is blasphemy so to do But I will trust Christ before them who taught us to say Forgive us our trespasses Vid. Cypr. in Dom. Orat. and will imitate David who did ask God forgivenesse as you find Psal 25. and Psal 51. So they say God doth not chasten any of his children for sin but yet sin is the moving cause and subject of Gods punishments though not alwaies the finall cause of Gods chastisements but rather for probation of faith and patience If these doctrins were true these men may sin by authority and no conscience being made of sin who would deal with them but upon good security These doctrins opening so easie a way to heaven it is no wonder but they have many followers For they say that in conversion a mans soule hath no operations but the spirit of God only instead of them yet Christ opened his disciples understandings to apprehend the Scriptures Luk. 24.45 So they say that the soul may be united with Christ and yet he an hypocrite yet he that hath the new man is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.24 So they say that a man must take no notiee of sin or repentance yet David doth Psal 51. Also that it is a damnable error to make sanctification an evidence of justification yet St Paul saith otherwise Rom. 8.1.30 namely Vid. Mr. Wels his tract that such walk after the spirit and those that are justified are glorified i. sanctified which is the inchoation of glory Mathe. How may one farther discover them Phila. As a Familist is best discovered by trying whether he will abjure Henry Nicolas and his doctrine so may Antinomians by certain phrases which they commonly use and by other teners which they hold very strange and dangerous which I have not yet told you Mathe. I pray what are they Phila. 1. That the Law or preaching of it is of no use to drive us to Christ yet Paul cals it a Schoolmaster to that purpose 2. That a man is justified without faith and that from eternity yet Paul saith we are justified by faith and so have peace with God Rom. 8.1 We know God justifieth his people in his purpose from all eternity but it is conveied to them in time actually by their faith 3. That we are united to Christ by the work of the spirit without any act of ours yet Paul exhorts us to give up our selves to God Rom. 12.1 and saith that we work together with God 4. That a man is not Christs till he have full assurance yet David sometime was beside the rock Psal 41. and Paul was buffeted 2 Cor. 12. And 5. That the witnesse of the spirit is without any respect to the word or concurrence with it But then how shall I try the spirit whether it be good or bad Paul saith beleeve not every spirit then I must trie it or else beleeve it or censure it without triall and if I must try it I must have a rule to try it by and that must be the word or nothing 6. When a man hath this witnesse of the spirit he never doubts yet David did Psal 37. Psal 71. And 7. Assurance must not be questioned though one commit murder or adultery yet David praied for the spirit after those sins committed Psal 51. This doctrine will make a bold sinner and a presumptuous insurer of himselfe So 8. They say that sanctification is no evidence of a mans good estate yet Paul saith that holinesse is the end of our calling and if so then holinesse is an evidence that I am effectually called 9. They say that to see I have no grace will give me comfort yet St Paul finds no comfort seeing in his flesh he found no good thing but rather crieth out upon himselfe O miserable man Rom. 7. yea they say to take comfort at the sight of any grace is legall and yet grace came not by the Law John 1. but by Jesus Christ and so it is evangelicall to find Gospell grace in us and to take comfort in it 10. They say that an hypocrite may have the same grace that Adam had in his innocency yet most conclude that Adam was created in Gods image which consisted in righteousnesse and true holinesse which two qualities no hypocrite can have So 11. They say there is no difference between the graces of the Saints and hypocrites yet Iob saith the hope of the hypocrite is like the web of the spider spun out of their own phantasie and easily removed so is not the hope of the Saints for it is woven out of Gods promises which makes the Saints so settle upon an everlasting foundation So 12. They say that all grace is in Christ as in the proper subject of it and that we have none in us as if Christ beleeves and Christ loves for us 2 Tim. 1.5 yet Paul finds faith in Timothy and Christ supposeth love to be in his disciples when he said if you love me keep my Commandements Iohn 14.15 So 13. They say Christ is the new creature yet Paul saith 2 Cor. 5.17 he that is in Christ is a new creature So 14. They hold that God loveth a man never the more for his holinesse nor the lesse for his wickednesse but Moses tels us otherwise saying God had respect to Abels offering not to Cains So 15. That sin in a child of God must not trouble him but surely then David might have saved much sorrow expressed in his penitential Psalms and Christs affirmation of the Angels rejoycing at a sinners repenting may be dis-believed for they rejoyce not at our doing amiss So 16. Trouble of conscience for sin shews one under the covenant of works yet Paul commends godly sorrow in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.9 who were believers But what if such trouble of minde do argue one sometimes under the spirit of bondage or the law of works yet this may be a means to make us sigh the more after freedome and doth commonly bring his children to Sion by Sinai to freedome by bondage Rom. 8.15 So 17. They say a Christian is not bound to take the Law as a rule of his conversation But why did not then Christ abolish the Law as well as
Constantinople and he was chosen by the full consent of the Clergy and Laietie yet none of them laied hands on him but Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria Socrat. lib. â— cap. 12. nor doth the fourteenth of the Acts from the Greek word prove any such thing for the word though by some strained will not properly signifie the holding up of hands in election but rather an institution of one to an office or if it did yet is there no mention made in that Chapter of such gesture used by any except Paul and Barnabas Acts 14.23 nor doth that place of Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 which only text nameth Presbyterie in the New Testament where it is said Timothy had the hands of the Presbyterie laied upon him prove any such association of Presbyters and Lay-men with the Apostle For first 2 Tim. 1.6 if Timothy were at that time made an Elder or Bishop sure it was not by Lay-Elders for the lesse cannot blesse the greater If preaching Elders shall be understood in the word Presbyterie then Presbyters ordained Presbyters or Bishops which we cannot find exemplified in the new Testament What then was the Presbyterie here Chrysostome tels us they were not Elders Chrys hom 13. in 1. Tim. 4. Hieron in 1 Tim. 4. but Bishops And for the word Presbyterie Jerome expounds it for the office that Timothy was called to viz. of a Bishop So doth Primasius and Haymo and Lyra say that Presbyterium is the dignity of an Elder or Bishop yea Calvin saith as much upon that place of Timothy Theodor. in 1 Tim. Theoph. in 1 Tim. Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 3. S. 16. yea Ambrose Theodoret and Theophylact before him and if so the sense must be thus as Calvin gives it Stir up the gift of God that is in thee by laying on of my hands not of others as if he had said look that the grace be not in vain which thou receivedst by imposition of hands when I created thee an Elder and so confesseth that he understandeth not 1 Tim. 4.14 to intend by Presbyterie the Colledge of Presbyters but only the ordering of Timothy to become an Elder Indeed that the Presbyterie laied hands on Timothy together with St Paul no place doth evidently shew and in that very place 1 Tim. 4.14 the word hath you see a divers signification but that St Paul himselfe alone did it that place of 2 Tim. 1.6 clearly sheweth whose hands alone were sufficient without the hands of the others to give one a degree above themselves namely to make Timothy an Evangelist to accompany Paul in his travelling or to make him a Bishop which was of no effect and of as little to make him an Elder or Presbyter because the lesse must be blessed of the greater namely such as had the grace of imposition of hands committed to them which Presbyters had not Therefore the Presbyterie spoken of 1 Tim. 4.14 if a number of men yet must be such as had Apostolike grace Theodor. in 1 Tim. 4. as saith Theodoret and if they had Apostolike grace yet could they not convey it without the Apostles hands for though God bestowed the spirit upon others as well as upon them as on the 70 disciples Aug. in Epist Joh. tract 2. and the rest Acts 1.15 as St Aug. witnesseth yet we read not any of them gave the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands but the Apostles Therefore we read of the seven Deacons were men full of the Holy Ghost before they were chosen Acts â— 3 and yet after that the Apostles had laied hands on them and that Philip preached and baptized at Samaria Chrys hom 18. in cap. 8. yet he laied hands on none of them but they received the Holy Ghost afterward by Peter and John Acts 8.15 because this was peculiar to the Apostles Mathe. Why did the Apostles use imposition of hands in their instituting Pastours and Teachers in the Church being it was an old ceremony among the Jewes Phil. It was an old ceremony indeed used in making praiers for any As Jacob did Gen. 48. in blessing the children of Joseph So Moses on Ioshua Num. 27. So on the heads of their sacrifices Levit. 13.4 So in accusation the Elders laid their hands upon Susanna And Christ did not reject it Mark 10. he laied his hands on children when he blessed them and Mark 6. on the sick when he cured them Now the Apostle Mark 16. receiving it from their masters example and warrant use the same ceremony in their dispensations as Paul on the father of Publius Acts 28. Ananias on Paul that he might receive sight Acts 9. So when the seven were chosen Acts 6. and Paul and Barnabas separated Acts 13. they had the hands of the Prophets laid on them So Paul on the Disciples that had not experience of the Holy Ghost Acts 19. laied his hands and made them Ministers of Ephesus Beza in Annot. act cap. 19. whereas yet were no godly assemblies to elect them nor Presbytery to join with him Mathe. What was the generall rule for elections and ordinations in the Apostles time Phila. We find three sorts 1. By the spirit 2. By lots 3. By voices Matthias was chosen by lot Acts 1. Paul and Barnabas by the spirit speaking by himselfe immediatly Acts 13. Timothy was designed by the spirit speaking in the Prophets who after received imposition of hands from St Paul By voices and suffrages I find some propounded Acts 6. but not ordained save by the Apostles and such to whom they gave Apostolike power as to Timothy and Titus Mathe. What need was there then of imposition of hands if chosen by the spirit or by lot guided by the spirit Phila. As a testimony that they were so ordained as the spirit had appointed So Barnabas and Saul Acts 13. with fasting and prayer were separated to convert the Gentiles not upon their own heads but by a solemn way they were commended to the grace of God for prospering the work For imposition of hands is not alwaies taken for ordination to be an Elder but also for a commending of a man by praier to the work propounded and so the Prophets might well join with St Paul in praier over Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 Mathe. But we find others joined with the Apostles in deciding doubts of faith as Acts 15.6 So in delivering some up to Satan 1 Cor. 5. Phila. For the doubts in a point of faith of that concernment the Apostles no doubt were content that the professors in Jerusalem should come together but for the determination we find none medling in that Councill but Peter by way of advice ver 7. and James the Bishop of Jerusalem giving the definitive sentence ver 19. my sentence is that you trouble not the Gentiles about circumcision c. And for delivering up to Satan you may see it was done by decree of St Paul upon the incestuous person 1 Cor 5. I have determined as if present
spirit of judgement and burning Esa 4.4 both to condemn our selves and to consume our drosse therefore it continually lusteth against the flesh and makes our hearts to rise against sin Gal. 3. as it doth against any thing we hate and if at any time we yeeld to the flesh this good spirit becomes like a voice behind calling to us that we are out of the way Esa 30.21 by daily good motions and checks of conscience and by baptizing us with fire Mat. 3.11 inflaming our hearts with an holy revenge upon sin and with a love to all goodnesse righteousnesse and truth Then next he doth infuse divine graces into the heart which are like so many letters commendatory of us to God as faith to beleeve above reason naturall as Abraham did Rom. 4.17 and without any visible means Heb. 11.1 so also he worketh in us love to God by which we tender the pleasure of God above all things in doing and suffering of which we are never ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by this holy spirit which he hath given us Rom. 5.5 and makes us wait by hope for the righteousnesse to be revealed Gal. 5.5 with longing and sighing Rom. 8.23 and praying by the spirit of supplication poured by him upon us Zac. 12.11 and never leaves till he hath made us partakers of the divine nature resembling God in selfe-contentment though we be shut out of the worlds society and in being in love with good men that are begotten of God 1 John 5.1 therefore he is called the spirit of love Rom. 15.30 and in wisedome Mar. 13.11 whereby the elect discern those mysteries which none knoweth but God and they for they are not discerned by others 1 Cor. 2.14 and also in transforming them into the practise of those things they hear and beleeve by this spirit from one glorious grace to another 2 Cor. 3.18 and this through the sanctification of obedience 1 Pet. 1.2 by which he gives us comfort by giving us peace of conscience and joy in assurance of remission and freedome from the guilt of sin in which respect he is called the comforter John 16.7 and so he is but especially in the times of affliction wherein he gives them such tastes of heavenly glory as makes them to contemn all earthly things and rejoice in tribulations Rom. 5.4 because this spirit of glory resteth upon them 1 Pet. 4.14 Thus he goeth alwaies with the elect working in them a spirituall strength to persevere though sometimes they be like smoking flax almost choked in their sad melancholy fumes or like bruised reeds that have no strength then doth he establish the inward man Eph. 3.16 by nourishing the seeds of grace sown in our drie ground by his sweet dew from above Esa 44.3 and by his secret and powerfull assistance in the times of triall 2 Cor. 12.9 bearing witnesse to them that they are the sons of God for all their crosses in this world Rom. 8.15 which he sealeth to them by the promises beleeved concerning Christ and himselfe Eph. 1.13 All which considered we should make much of this spirit and not grieve it nor quench it Not grieve it by acting without it by our own sensuall desires and separating our selves from the societies where he doth affoord his gracious dispensations Jud. 19. or do not acknowledge his power in giving them skill and abilities to perform their severall places and callings nor asking counsell of him or direction from him Esa 30.1 but rather despise it even in his ordinances 1 Thes 4.8 and turn their ear from it as Neh. 9.20 30. and harden their hearts against it Zac. 7.12 and rebell against his doctrine and so grieve him in his ministers Esa 63.10 and Acts 7.51 as St Stephen told the Jewes yea to tempt him by venturing to try whether he will punish them or no as Ananias and Saphira did Acts 5.9 by all which they shew that whatsoever portion of the spirit they have received yet it is in vain Also we must not quench it as some do fire by casting on water or withdrawing that which should feed it â— Tim. 1.6 or lose it as we do springs for want of endeavor to draw or pump them And this men do when after they have had some taste of heavenly gifts in remorse for sin or some joifull apprehensions of Gods promises yet they fall away and having begun in the spirit yet end in the flesh Gal. 3. So when they fall into grosse sins after calling to grace they cause the Holy one to cease from them in his operation for a time and so lose the joy which formerly they found in Gods service So do they discourage the spirit of their Teachers so that they cannot do their work with joy but griefe Heb. 13.17 Thus by living in known sins they sad the spirit which would seale them to the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 which may possibly conduce to the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost if these be not repented of Mathe. I pray declare to me that sin as plain as you can Phila. It is a wilfull and totall falling away from the grounds and true beginnings of Christ and from that spirituall fellowship which one hath had with the people of God therein after ones illumination and outward sanctification contemning the Gospell and despighting the methods and operations of the Holy Ghost without repentance even to death All this may be gathered from Heb. 6.4 5 6. and Heb. 10.25 26 27. But this must be rightly understood As first that he must be one inlightned with some competent knowledge in true religion and sanctified by outward calling at least to the covenant of grace Heb. 10.29 and the seals thereof though not sanctified by saving grace which shewes it selfe by true repentance from all sin and by relying on Christ by faith for his salvation So next he must wilfully apostate Heb. 10.26 as it were without temptation not as David by lust or Peter by feare yea it must be a totall falling from all parts of truth which may possibly over-power his nature by the terrors of the law Also he must despise the Gospell and even loath the way of salvation by Christ and scorne the Gospel which is the meanes of sanctification and hath in some manner worked formerly upon himselfe some change of mind and manners Besides he must offer some despight by blasphemie and persecution and that not of ignorance as Paul did but of desperate malice and that not only to the person of the holy as many have done to the person of the Father and Son by many presumptuous sins but to the work of grace and operating power of the Holy Ghost in us by which God commeth more neer to us then in other things or to his power shewed outwardly for approving Gospel-truth So the Pharisees blasphemed the miracles of Christ saying that they were wrought by Beelzebub Mat. 12.24 whereas be did them
received and that is 1. Civility or common honesty and the next is restraining grace by which they may be said to be sanctified sacramentally or putatively Heb. 10.26 or disposed toward it Heb. 6.4 5. but this is but to have it fieri but non in facto esse i. in a way toward it but not in throughly or truly and therefore men must distinguish between civility which is wrought meerly by morall education according to naturall principles without any knowledge or desire of knowing Gods word but they are carefull to maintain equity and common honesty for the keeping up of trade and commendation of themselves upon which ground also they keep themselves from drunkennesse whoredome and enormous crimes without relation to Gods word Now sanctification though it incline to the same things or duties yet it doth it by the true medium of heavenly light which is the word of God and they that do not so are as far from sanctification as the heathen morallists Now their civility and all meer naturall mens honesty stands principally in the duties of the second table where the light of nature is most clear but for matters of piety in the first table they observe it but ceremoniously and so far as they conduce to preserve their credit among those they live withall but true sanctification hath an eie to both to give to Caesar and to God their severall duties Mat. 22.21 So the morall holy man rests only in negatives and thinks it charity enough not to do hurt but true holinesse doth both eschew evill and do good 1 Pet. 3.11 So the morall man thinks it holinesse enough to professe a dislike of popery and to quarrell with a Bishops dignity though they be utterly ignorant of the orthodox faith and the grounds of the true worship of God Again civility never goeth beyond the outward man Mat. because it takes hold only of the outward letter of the law but passeth over the spirituall sense of it So he that hath restraining grace which he takes for sanctification is much deceived for the difference between them is that restraining grace hath painfulnesse and discontentment at the bridle that God puts upon them and at the bands wherewith they are bound at which they rage Psal 2.1 3. as horses that some upon the bit by which they are guided whereas a man that is truly sanctified desireth that his very inclinations to evill were utterly abolished that it might not rebell against the law of the mind Rom. 7.23 Again they desire to extend their Christian liberty to the utmost without enquiring after the bounds of liberty or the expedience of putting it in practice but a man sanctified desireth to subsist within his bounds 1 Cor. 6.12 and had rather live where nothing is lawfull then where all things are lawful Beside there is great difference in their absteining from sin for restraining grace makes one abstaine from sin for fear or shame because they would give the greater liberty to some sin which they desire to nourish Aug. de civit dei l. 5. c. 12. as some heathens abstained from injustice intemperance and covetousnesse by that unbounded desire which they had after glory and dominion but he that is sanctified escheweth evill because it is evill and displeasing to God of whose love he hath had so large experience that he trembles to offend him Psal 130.4 Again they that have only restraining grace when the means of that straint is removed grow licentious as Israel when they had no King Judg. 17.6 and the 18.19 but they that are sanctified are a law to themselves 1 Tim. 1.9 they need none of the terrors of it though they are willing to be led by the doctrine of it By these rules thou maist know whether thou art sanctified or not and from these marks arise an assured hope of eternall glory because we carry about us the ground of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen of which at the first it may be we have but a conjecture i. a light inclination to the probability of Gospell truths next an opinion wherein the mind is more strongly swaied to think it true Next comes faith which makes a firm and undoubtfull perswasion of the truth of it Now in this case some have a little faith some a full assurance of it which is peculiar to Gods people and they may know they have it by the comfort that it affords to one under the pressures of sin and Gods justice Psal 73.23 24. and also by the ravishing of the affections to the love of those truths which is very strange and supernaturall for there is no greater antipathy in the world then there is between mans heart and Gods word and yet by faith is bred such affection to it that a man will give his life rather then one tittle of this truth should faile and beside it worketh a strange change in the whole man from sin to righteousnesse that one can hardly know him to be the same man Lact. de falsa sapient l. 3. c. 27 Non abscindit sed abscondit vitia This Philosophy could never attain to but rather hides sin then removes it but the word of God is so powerfull in operation that it not only removes sin but also all doubtfulnesse of the truth of Gospel-truth more then the authority of the Church can do which is variable and possibly erroneous So much of the rules of sanctification and hope of glory Mathe. Whereunto doth sanctification advance us more then common Christians Phila. To a true repentance and a communion with God and his Saints in the Catholick Church Mathe. I desire to know what these things are truly in themselves for I fear some do as much mistake true repentance as the Sectaries do the communion of Saints and the Papists do the Catholick Church Phila. You say true but repentance which is holy and sanctified is not a fretting griefe which some take at sin because it hath brought them into a dangerous condition for which they wish the sin undone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no place being left for other advice and counsell This hurts the mind and casts it from the hinges of deliberation except God turn it to a change of mind whereby one becomes more wise afterward to amend what he hath done amisse and to make amends for his error 2 Cor. 7.9 10. The cause of the one is the spirit of adoption whereby we are sealed the sons of God The cause of the other is the spirit of servitude the one arising from the Gospel-promises the other from the threatnings of the law for fear of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both are well distinguished by St Luke The godly repentance Acts 2.37 they were pricked in their hearts for their unkindnesse to Christ but Acts 7.54 is described the very spirit of remorse not the remorse of spirit by saying they were cut to the heart by