But when once the person to who many such promise is made shall really and firmly believe his promise it is but natural and as it were matter of course for him to hope for all the good contained in such a promise And if he that shall at first or for a time believe such a promise as we speak of but before the time wherein the promise is to be performed shall upon any suggestion or occurrence cast away or let go such his believing his hope must needs at the same time and by means of the failing of his belief fall to the ground Only this would be here mentioned by way of caution that although a promise of good things be made unto such or such a particular person in common with many others and as well and with equall intention of good unto him in him that maketh this promise as unto any of the rest yet if this person shall either be ignorant that or doubtful whether this promise be made unto him as well as unto others he may believe the said promise with the greatest certainty and stedfastnesse of Faith and yet remain without all hope of the good things contained in this promise Quest 35. You have shewed how and wherein Faith and Hope differ Can you shew likewise how or wherein they agree Answ Their Agreement standeth chiefly in these three things First in the Causes or Means producing them Secondly in the Effects produced by them Thirdly in the Subjects in which they are found Quest 36. What are the Causes or means producing them wherein they agree Answ They are chiefly these three First the word of God or the great and precious promises of the Gospel together with the Arguments and grounds here hinted or delivered why they should be believed Secondly the hearing of this word as it includeth the understanding and consideration of it Thirdly and lastly the gracious operation or interposure of the Holy Ghost opening the hearts of men to attend unto this word when it is preached or otherwise presented or set before them Act. 16 14. It is expresly said Rom. 10.17 that Faith commeth or is by hearing and hearing that hearing by which Faith cometh by the Word of God If Faith cometh by hearing and Hope as hath been shewed proceedeth from Faith then must hope also proceed from or come by the word of God and Hearing as the remote Causes at least or means thereof Quest 37. What are the effects which are common unto Faith and Hope and wherein they agree Answ They are principally four Quest 38. What is the first of them Answ A cleansing and purifying of the heart and consequently of the lives and waies of Men. That Faith or which is the same God by Faith purifieth the heart appears Act. 15.9 And because of this property or effect of it it is elsewhere called Holy yea most Holy Jud. v. 20. See also 1 Pet. 1.22 Again the same or the like property of cleansing or purging is ascribed unto Hope also 1 Joh. 3.3 where it is said And every man that hath this hope in him purgeth himself even as He is pure See 2 Cor. 7.1 Quest 39. What is a second effect wherein they agree Answ The inabling working or disposing of the heart to a patient and humble waiting upon God for such help or supplies from him in every kind whereof men stand in need See and compare Esa 28.16 Rom. 8.25 Psal 119.81 27.13 14. Lamen 3.26 1 Thess 1.3 Quest 40. What way be a third effect wherein Faith and Hope agree Answ They are both Joy-makers in the hearts and souls of men See and compare Rom. 15.13 2 Cor. 1.24 Philip. 1.25 1 Pet. 1.8 1 Thess 2.19 Rom. 5.2 Heb. 3.6 Rom. 12.12 Quest 41. What is the fourth and last property or effect wherein they communicate Answ They each of them never fail to deliver their respective Subjects from disappointment in their greatest expectations and consequently from such shame confusion which are wont to accompany frustratiōs especially in matters of moment great concernment Concerning Faith it is thus conteyned in the Scripture Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone elect preacious He that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 Concerning Hope it speaketh And hope maketh not ashamed See further and compare Psal 22.4 5. Jer. 17.7.8 Heb. 6.19 Phil. 1.20 Psal 33.20.21 Quest 42. How do they agree in their Subject Answ Hope as hath been said being a kind of naturall result from Faith where this is that must needs be also And the Scripture frequently placeth them in the same person 1 Pet. 1.21 Rom. 4.18 5.2 with some other He that believeth a promise of good things made unto him if he knows or believeth this promise to have been indeed made to him cannot but hope for all the good things conteined in this promise Review the case proposed towards the latter end of the Answer to the 34 Question in this Chapter Quest 43. You have declared many things concerning Faith Can you yet further declare what the first great priviledge or benefit is which floweth from this grace or work of Faith more immediately and upon which many others depend Answ This priviledg is the great and high dignity of Adoption or being made the Sons of God The wisdome goodnesse and love of God to the Children of men have together consulted and decreed this great honour and happinesse unto them that as many of them as shall joyn themselves by an unfeigned Faith unto his Natural and in that respect only Begotten Son Jesus Christ shall partake with him in his glorious relation of Son-ship unto God as farre as their nature and line of creation will admit This the Scripture declareth in several places But as many as received him meaning by Faith as it is explained in the end of the verse to them he gave power or prerogative as the former translation had it or else right priviledg as the margent of the last hath it to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name Joh. 1.12 For ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 See also Rom. 8.14 15 16. Gal. 4.4 5 6 7. 1 Ioh. 3.1 2. Quest 44. What is the great benefit of Adoption or of Son-ship unto God Answ By vertue hereof there accrueth unto us a right and title unto that immortal and undefiled inheritance which fadeth not away and which is reserved in the Heavens for those who believe 1 Pet. 1.4 Yea Believers by vertue of their Adoption become joynt-heirs with Christ But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witnesse with our Spirit that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heires Heires of God and joynt-Heires with Christ Rom. 8.15 16 17. But when the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem
those that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Crying Abba Father Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God through Christ Gal. 4.4 5 6 7 Concerning the Sons of men and earthly inheritances it is no good consequence to argue If a Son then an Heir but speaking of the Sons of God and the inheritance promised uuto them the Argument is rational and valid The reason of the difference lieth chiefly in rhe different natures or conditions of that inheritance which God intendeth to conferre upon his Sons and those earthly inheritances which men have to bestow upon theirs An earthly inheritance hath that imperfection in it that it cannot be at once enjoyed whole and entire by many nor yet given unto or setled upon a plurality of Children but that every one will have the lesse because there are more to share with him Were it otherwise and so that an earthly estate or inheritance could be given unto many upon such termes that the whole might be possessed and enjoyed by every one of them respectively ordinarily and in most cases at least the consequence would be good even amongst the Children of men If a Son then an Heir For there is scarce any Father but would give his whole Estate unto all his Children respectively had he never so many if it could be given by him and enjoyed by them upon such termes Now that heavenly Inheritance which is reserved by God for his Children is so happily conditioned that the Collation of it upon never so many and the Enjoyment of it likewise by never so many and this together and at the same time prejudiceth none in the least of those to whom it is given or by whom it is enjoyed but every one of them respectively and apart enjoieth it as fully as intirely at as great a rate and height of contentment joy and glory as if he were the sole possessour and enjoyer or proprietour of it And for this reason I suppose it may be called by the Apostle the inheritance of the Saints in Light Coloss 1.12 Namely because as no man sustain's the least loss or inconvenience in his injoyment of the Light by the vast multitude of persons in the world that share with him therein so neither is the joy or glory of the inheritance of the Saints in any degree the less unto any one amongst them because the number is so great that are partakers with him therein CHAP. VI. Of Sanctification Regeneration Mortification and Self-denial Quest 1. OF what consideration are these in the practice or Profession of Christian Religion and how come they to have place here Answ They may be considered either in their several and respective natures or in their introductions or first raisings in the hearts and souls of men or else in their exercises and actings In respect of their natures God judged it reasonable and meet to require them in both the other considerations of men as simply necessary to render them capable of Salvation Quest 2. VVhat is the nature common unto all the four that because of this it should seem equitable good in the sight of God to impose upon men and women both the planting of them in their hearts and the practise of them in their lives and both upon the highest termes that may be I mean as such conditions without the performance of which there is no Salvation to be expected from him Answ They are respectively a kind of Holy impression qualification habitude or disposition which excellently well become and adorn the Sons and Daughters of men rendring them lovely both in the eyes of their heavenly Father Angells and Men as on the contrary under the neglect or want of them their conversations behaviours and doings in the world must needs be unworthy the Gospel and such which become not the Sons or Daughters of God Quest 3. But are men and women able to raise such great works as these in themselves or in their inward parts Or lyeth it within the reach of their abilities or power either to sanctifie or regenerate themselves or to mortifie the deeds of the body or to create that High and Heavenly principle of Self-denial in their hearts or souls Answ They are not able to do any of these things by any abilities or power that are properly and originally their own I mean which remained and were left unto them of the stock and store of their first Creation after their Fall in Adam and of which they did not sinfully devest and deprive themselves as being in his loines when he sinned but by that re-investiture with grace and strength and those new supplies of the presence and help of the Spirit of God for all spiritual and saving purposes which accrue unto them of the free and unspeakable gift of God in their Restauration by Iesus Christ they are inabled to do all those things with many others like unto them Quest 4. But how can you prove that men and women generally do receive from Christ or from God upon the account of Christ a sufficiency of power to raise or work in themselves the works mentioned or the like For there are many that judg otherwise Answ The truth of that Tenent may be sufficiently cleared both by the light of the Scriptures and of reason A ready account likewise might be given if it were needful or here cohvenient how the judgments of many came to be turned into the way of the contrary opinion Quest 5. How can you prove from the Scriptures the truth of what you now affirm Or by what places or passages here can you make it appear to conviction that men or the generality of men are inabled by him or by the means by him vouchsafed unto them to sanctifie or regenerate themselves or to do any other thing that accompanieth Salvation For there seems to be the same consideration of all things of this kind Answ The Testimonies and Texts of Scripture which make for the proof you demand are not a few Only for brevity sake and inasmuch as the Scripture it self saith that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established 2 Cor. 13.1 I shall not exceed this number Quest 6. What then are the places on which you build your belief of what you now undertake to prove Answ They are these three Ier. 4.3 4. unto which Deut. 10.16 is parallel Ezekiel 18.30 31 32. with which may be compared Ezek. 33.11 Esa 1.16 17. with others The third and last is Mar. 6 6. of like notion whereunto are these places Ioh. 12.37 Mat. 11.20 21 23. 2 Cor. 4.3 4. with some others Quest 7. What are the words of the first of these places and how do you argue from them Answ The words are these For thus saith the Lord to the men
hath no intent to fulfill After a third request made by the Apostle Paul that the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him might be made to depart from him he received an express from God by which he plainly understood that it was not his pleasure therein to hearken unto him 2 Cor. 12.8 9. Affirmative Answers many times are long in coming and must be waited for and sought by crying unto God night and day for a large season Luk. 18.7 Yea their coming as is probable may be obstructed and prevented by a cessation of Prayer before we have a sufficient ground to despair of their coming at all which the longest delay of all is not whilest their coming will be beneficial unto us as appears from the Scripture last cited Therefore we should arm our selves with David's resolution Psal 123.2 to cause our Eyes to wait in Prayer upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us how long soever the time may be See Luk. 18 1 c. Luk. 11.8 9 c. Quest 66. What is a fourth thing requisite to be done by us when we have made our requests known unto God that our hope of obtaining may be the more lively and comforting Answ If what we have sought of him by Prayer be such a thing towards the bringing to pass whereof we may and ought to contribute more then our Prayers we must remember and be diligent to second and assist our Prayers in their way by doing it God doth not love to be put upon the unbaring of his Arm by his creatures when they have a covering in their hand to cast over it Moses commanded Joshua to choose out men that were to go out and fight against Amaleck notwithstanding the lifting up of his hands in Prayer against them Exod. 17.9 When men have been as earnest with God in Prayer for the obtaining of any thing as they know how to be it concerns them to be as diligent in the use of all other means which are proper to effect it and within their reach and power as if they had not by Prayer interessed God at all in or about the effecting of it They shall but build Castles in the Air as our common Proverb is who having need of an House to be built for them shall neglect to provide convenient materials and to imploy a workman made of flesh and bloud about the building of it thinking by importunity of Prayer to get it built without hands by the invisible Architect of the World Quest 67. What is the fift and last thing that becometh and concerneth us to do when we havelodged our Prayer and Supplications with God that we may be counted worthy to receive a gracious answer unto them in due time Answ To allow unto God with all patience and contentedness of mind and with cheerfulness of submission His just liberty of choosing his time and season for giving answer unto our Prayers and to judge that it is or will be every whit as expedient and profitable yea more for us that such his answer should be respited until His time though this time of his be never so much longer or further off then ours as it it would be in case he should in the giving of it anticipate his own time by applying himself unto ours which is always that which is present It is indeed wel-pleasing unto him to be importuned with the Prayers and Cries of his Saints night and day and to have no rest given him until he giveth them an answer from Heaven unto their Prayers But then this importunity must not proceed from a spirit of impatience discontentedness or unbelief or from a conceit that they receive damage or hurt by being so long delayed in the return of their Prayers from God but either from a desire to strengthen the hand of God to give them so much the better measure in the return of their Prayer when it comes or from an apprehension of the greatness of the things for which they pray which very possibly may be such that God judgeth it not meet to give or bestow them but upon long waiting and many Applications made by fervency of Prayer unto him Or thirdly and lastly from a desire of hastning their Answer from God as much as may be in a regular and equitable way as namely by praying as much and with as much zeal and ardency of soul in a short time as according to the usual and accustomed rate of praying even amongst the Saints themselves men are wont to pray and pray with in a long time For as when Summer-seasons prove extraordinarily hot the Fruits of the Earth come to their maturity and ripeness and are fit to be gathered before their wonted seasons in ordinary years In like manner when men shall double and treble the spiritual heat and fervency of their souls in holy addressments unto God for the obtaining of such good things as they desire above what is ordinarily and at other times done either by themselves or others they hereby become so much the sooner sanctified and are made the more early yet regularly capable of receiving those good things from the hand of God Yea and God shall walk by the same rule of Righteousnesse and equity towards men when he shall open speedily to those that knock vehemently and witoute intermission and when he makes them stay longer before he opens unto them who do but knock now and then and this more faintly Quest 68. What are the things of which heed must be taken and which are to be avoided when we have laboured in Prayer with God lest this labour should be in vain or lesse successful Answ As they are equall in number unto the particulars mentioned as necessary to be observed and done that our prayers may not be obstructed in their way so are they in their natures opposite unto them respectively Quest 69. What then is the first of them Answ That when we have prayed we do not neglect or make leight of our Prayers turning our backs upon them as if they were only matters of course and words beating the air or like unto the natural lives of men as the Scripture describeth them Vapours that appear for a little time and then vanish away Jam. 4.14 He who when he hath once presented his supplications and prayers unto God taketh his leave of them as if he never expected to see or hear of them more doth not so much under-value or neglect his own act or that which is from himself in his Prayer as that which is from God in the ordinance it self and in all those great and precious promises which he hath made unto the due performance of it It is one thing for a man to take shame and humble himself for all his own weaknesses and the interposures of his flesh in his Prayer this is meet and necessary to be done but quite another thing and of a contrary import to despise or not to regard or