Sanctification must needs precede Justification But if we may call that work of the spirit which infuseth the principle of life or holiness into the soul Sanctification then sanctification must needs go before faith For faith in the habit is part of that principle and faith in the act is a fruit of it Gods order is clearly set down in Acts 26.18 He first opens mens eyes and turnes them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God and if they be yet unholy I know not what holiness is that they may receive remission of sins there 's their Justification and inheritance among the sanctified that which before was called opening their eyes and turning them is here called Sanctifying by faith that is in me the words by Faith is related to the Receiving of Remission of Sins and the Inheritance but not to the word Sanctified so also 2 Thes. 2.13 God hath before chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience obeying the Gospel is faith and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ there 's Justification so that you see to make faith precede sanctification and to bring in the habits of all other graces and for Justification to go between faith and them is quite against the Scripture order Indeed if Grevinchovius say true that there 's no Habits infused and the spirit work only as the Arminians affirm by an internal and external Swasion and no real physical alteration or infusing of new powers and habits then all this must be otherwise ordered In ascribing this Regeneration to the Spirit I do not intend to exclude the word yet I cannot allow it to be properly the Instrumental cause as the common opinion is Were it an instrument the Energy or Influx of the principal efficient must be first received into it and by it conveyed to the soul but that is an impossibility in Nature The voyce of the Preacher or Letters of the Book are not subjects capable of receiving Spiritual Life to convey to us the like also may be said of Sacraments None of the conditions of an Instrumental efficient cause are found in them The Principal and Instrumental produce one and the same effect But the word works not in the same way of causality with the Spirit yet doth it not follow that it is therefore useless or doth nothing to the work for both kindes of causality are necessary The Spirit works as the principal and onely efficient and hath no intervening instrument that can reach the soul but doth all his work immediately seeing it self alone can touch its object and so work by proper efficiency But the Word and Sacraments work morally onely by propounding the object in its qualifications as a man draws a Horse by shewing him his Provender And though there be some difficulty in resolving whether the propounding the object to the understanding by instruction and to the will and affections by perswasion do work under the efficient or under the final cause yet according to the common Judgment we here take the last for granted The Word then doth sanctifie by exciting of former principles to action which is a preparation to the receiving of the principle of Life and also by present exciting of the newly infused gracious principle and so producing our Actual converting and believing But how it can otherways concur to the infusing of that principle I yet understand not Indeed if no such principle be infused then the Word doth all and the Spirit onely enable the speaker or if any more its hard to discover what it is For whether there be any internal swasion of the Spirit immediately distinct from the external swasion of the Word and also from the Spirits efficacious changing Physical operation is a very great question and worth the considering But I have run on too far in this already This Spiritual Regeneration then is the first and great qualification of these People of God which though Habits are more for their Acts then themselves and are onely perceived in their Acts yet by its causes and effects we should chiefly enquire after To be the people of God without Regeneration is as impossible as to be the natural children of men without Generation seeing we are born Gods enemies we must be new-born his sons or else remain enemies still O that the unregenerate world did know or believe this In whose ears the new birth sounds as a Paradox and the great change which God works upon the soul is a strange thing Who because they never felt any such supernatural work upon themselves do therefore believe that there is no such thing but that it is the conceit and fantasie of idle brains Who make the terms of Regeneration Sanctification Holiness and Conversion a matter of common reproach and scorn though they are the words of the Spirit of God himself and Christ hath spoke it with his own mouth That except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Alas how preposterous and vain is it to perswade these poor people to change some actions while their hearts are unchanged and to amend their ways while their natures are the same The greatest Reformation of Life that can be attained to without this new Life wrought in the Soul may procure their further Delusion but never their Salvation That general conceit that they were regenerated in their Baptism is it which furthers the deceit of many When there is an utter impossibility that Baptism should either principally or instrumentally work any Grace on the Soul of an Infant without a miracle for if it do it is either by a Physical and proper efficiency or else morally Not Physically which is more perhaps then the Papists say Because then first the water must be capable of receiving the Grace secondly And of approaching the soul in the application and conveyance both which are impossibilities in Nature Nor can it work morally where there is not the use of Reason to understand and consider of its signification The common shift is apparently vain to say That it works neither Physically nor Morally but Hyperphysically for though it may proceed from a supernatural cause and the work be such as nature cannot produce yet the kinde of operation is still either by a proper and real efficiency which is the meaning of the phrase of Physical operation or else improper and moral So that their Hyperphysical working is no third member nor overthrows that long received distinction if it were yet is not the water the capable instrument of this Hyperphysical operation God is a free agent and by meer concomitancy may make Baptism the season of Regenerating whom he please but that he never intended that Regeneration should be the end of Baptism I think may be easily proved and those two empty Treatises of Baptismal Regeneration as easily answered For men of age the matter
thou risest off thy knees when thou openest thy Bible or other Books let it be with this hope to meet with some passage of Divine truth and some such blessing of the Spirit with it as may raise thine affections neerer Heaven and give thee a fuller taste thereof when thou art setting thy foot out at thy door to go to the publike Ordinance and Worship say I hope to meet with somewhat from God that may raise my affections before I returne I hope the Spirit will give me the meeting and sweeten my heart with those celestial delights I hope that Christ will appear to me in that way and shine about me with light from heaven and let me hear his instructing and reviving voyce and causa the scales to fall from mine eyes that I may see more of that glory then I ever yet saw I hope before I return to my house my Lord will take my heart in hand and bring it within the view of Rest and set it before his Fathers presence that I may return as the Shepherds from the heavenly Vision glorifying and praising God for all the things that I have heard and seen Luke 2.20 and say as those that behold his Miracles We have seen strange things to day Luke 5.26 Remember also to pray for thy Teacher that God would put some Divine Message into his mouth which may leave a heavenly relish on thy spirit If these were our ends and this our course when we set to duty we should not be so strange as we are to heaven When the Indian first saw the use of Letters by our English they thought there was sure some spirit in them that men could so converse together by a paper If Christians would take this course in their duties they might come to such holy fellowship with God and see so much of the Mysteries of the Kingdom that it would make the standers by admire what is in those Lines what is in that Sermon what is in this praying that fils his heart so full of joy and that so transports him above himself Certainly God would not fail us in our duties if we did not fail our selves and then experience would make them sweeter to us SECT VI. 6. ANother help is this Make an advantage of every object thou seest and of every passage of Divine providence and of every thing that befals in thy labor and calling to minde thy soul of its approaching Rest. As all providences and creatures are means to our Rest so do they point us to that as their end Every creature hath the name of God and of our final Rest written upon it which a considerate believer may as truly discern as he can read upon a post or hand in a cross way the name of the Town or City which it points to This spiritual use of creatures and providences is Gods great End in bestowing them on man And he that overlooks this End must needs rob God of his chiefest praise and deny him the greatest part of his thanks The Relation that our present mercies have to our great Eternal mercies is the very quintessence and spirits of all these mercies Therefore do they loose the very spirits of their mercies and take nothing but the huskes and bran who do overlook this Relation and draw not forth the sweetness of it in their contemplations Gods sweetest dealings with us at the present would not be half so sweet as they are if they did not intimate some further sweetness As our selves have a fleshly and a spiritual substance so have our mercies a fleshly and spiritual use and are fitted to the nourishing of both our parts He that receives the carnal part and no more may have his body comforted by them but not his soul. It is not all one to receive six pence meerly as six pence and to receive it in earnest of a thousand pound though the sum be the same yet I trow the relation makes a wide difference Thou takest but the bear earnest and overlookest the maine sum when thou receivest thy mercies and forgettest thy crown O therefore that Christians were skilled in this Art You can open your Bibles and read there of God and of Glory O learn to open the creatures and to open the several passages of providence and to read of God and Glory there Certainly by such a skilful industrious improvement we might have a fuller tast of Christ and Heaven in every bit of bread that we eat and in every draught of Beer that we drink then most men have in the use of the Sacrament If thou prosper in the world and thy labor succeed let it make thee more sensible of thy perpetual prosperity If thou be weary of thy labors let it make thy thoughts of Rest more sweet If things go cross hard with thee in the world let it make thee the more earnestly desire that day when all thy sorrows and sufferings shall cease Is thy body refreshed with food or sleep Remember thy unconceivable refreshings with Christ. Dost thou hear any news that makes the glad Remember what glad tydings it will be to hear the sound of the trump of God and the absolving sentence of Christ our Judg. Art thou delighting thy self in the society of the Saints Remember the Everlasting amiable fraternity thou shalt have with perfected Saints in Rest. Is God communicating himself to thy spirit Why remember that time of thy highest advancement when thy Joy shall be full as thy communion is full Dost thou hear the raging noise of the wicked and the disorders of the vulgar and the confusions in the world like the noise in a crowd or the roaring of the waters Why think of the blessed agreement in Heaven and the melodious harmony in that Quire of God Dost thou hear or feel the tempest of wars or see any cloud of blood arising Remember the day when thou shalt be housed with Christ where there is nothing but calmness and amiable union and where we shall solace our selves in perfect Peace under the wings of the Prince of Peace for ever Thus you may see what advantages to a Heavenly Life every condition and creature doth afford us if we had but hearts to apprehend and improve them As it s said of the Turkes that they 'l make bridges of the dead bodyes of their men to passe over the trenches or ditches in their way So might Christians of the very ruines and calamities of the times and of every dead body or misery that they see make a bridge for the passage of their thoughts to their Rest. And as they have taught their Pigeons which they call carriers in divers places to bear letters of entercourse from friend to friend at a very great distance so might a wise industrious Christian get his thoughts carried into Heaven and receive as it were returns from thence again by creatures of slower wing then Doves by the assistance of the Spirit the Dove of God
the goats on the left and so on as you may read in the Text. But why tremblest thou Oh humble gracious Soul Cannot the enemies and slighters of Christ be foretold their doom but Thou must quake Do I make sad the Soul that God would not have sad Doth not thy Lord know his own sheep who have heard his voyce and followed him He that would not lose the family of one Noah in a common deluge when him onely he had found faithful in all the earth He that would not over-look one Lot in Sodom nay that could do nothing till he were forth Will he forget thee at that day Thy Lord knoweth now to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust to the day of Judgment to be punished He knoweth how to make the same day the greatest for terror to his foes and yet the greatest for joy to his people He ever intended it for the great distinguishing and separating day wherein both Love and Fury should be manifested to the highest Oh then let the Heavens rejoyce the Sea the Earth the Floods the Hills for the Lord cometh to judg the Earth With Righteousness shall he judg the World and the People with Equity But especially let Sion hear and be glad and her children rejoyce For when God ariseth to judgment it is to save the meek of the Earth They have judged and condemned themselves many a day in heart-breaking confession and therefore shall not be judged to condemnation by the Lord For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Shall the Law Why whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law but we are not under the Law but under Grace For the Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the Law of sin and death Or shall Conscience Why we were long ago justified by faith and so have peace with God and have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God It is God that justifieth who shall condemn If our Judg condemn us not who shall He that said to the Adulterous woman Hath no man condemned thee neither do I condemn thee He will say to us more faithfully then Peter to him Though all men deny thee or condemn thee I will not Thou hast confessed me before men and I will confess thee before my Father and the Angels of Heaven He whose first coming was not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved I am sure intends not his second coming to condemn his people but that they through him might be saved He hath given us Eternal Life in Charter and Title already yea and partly in possession and will he after that condemn us When he gave us the knowledg of his Father and himself he gave us Eternal Life And he hath verily told us That he that heareth his word and beleeveth on him that sent him hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Indeed if our Judg were our enemy as he is to the world then we might well fear If the Devil were our Judg or the Ungodly were our Judg then we should be condemned as Hypocrites as Heretiques as Schisinatiques as proud or covetous or what not But our Judg is Christ who dyed yea rather who is risen again and maketh request for us For all power is given him in Heaven and in Earth and all things delivered into his hands and the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man For though God judg the world yet the Father immediately without his Vicegerent Christ judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father Oh what inexpressible joy may this afford to a Beleever That our Dear Lord who loveth our Souls and whom our Souls love shall be our Judg Will a man fear to be judged by his dearest friend By a Brother By a Father Or a Wife by her own Husband Christian Did he come down and suffer and weep and bleed and dye for thee and will he now condemn thee Was he judged and condemned and executed in thy stead and now will he condemn thee himself Did he make a Bath of his blood for thy sins and a garment of his own Righteousness for thy nakedness and will he now open them to thy shame Is he the undertaker for thy Salvation and will he be against thee Hath it cost him so dear to save thee and will he now himself destroy thee Hath he done the most of the work already in Redeeming Regenerating and Sanctifying Justifying preserving and perfecting thee and will he now undo all again Nay hath he begun and will he not finish Hath he interceded so long for thee to the Father and will he cast thee away himself If all these be likely then fear and then rejoyce not Oh what an unreasonable sin is unbelief that will charge our Lord with such unmercifulness and absurdities Well then fellow Christians let the terror of that day be never so great surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all Let it make the Devils tremble and the wicked tremble but it shall make us to leap for Joy Let Satan accuse us we have our answer at hand our surety hath discharged the debt If he have not fulfilled the Law then let us be charged as breakers of it If he have not suffered then let us suffer but if he have we are free Nay our Lord will make answer for us himself These are mine and shall be made up with my Jewels for their transgressions was I stricken and cut off from the earth for them was I bruised and put to grief my Soul was made an offering for their sin and I bore their transgressions They are my seed and the travel of my Soul I have healed them by my stripes I have justified them by my knowledg They are my sheep who shall take them out of my hands Yea though the humble Soul be ready to speak against it self Lord when did we see thee hungry and feed thee c. yet will not Christ do so This is the day of the Beleevers full Justification They were before made just and esteemed Just and by Faith justified in Law and this evidenced to their consciences But now they shall both by Apology be maintained Just and by Sentence pronounced Just actually by the lively voyce of the Judg himself which is the most perfect Justification Their Justification by Faith is a giving them Title in Law to that Apology and Absolving
souls Did I not let passe my time and forget my God and soul as well as they And was I not born in sin and wrath as well as they Oh who made me to differ Was my heart naturally any readier for Christ then theirs Or any whit better affected to the Spirits perswasions Should I ever have begun to love if God had not begun to me or ever been willing if he had not made me willing or ever differed if he had not made me to differ Had I not now been in those flames if I had had mine own way and been let alone to mine own will Did I not resist as powerful means and lose as fair advantages as they And should I not have lingered in Sodom tâ—ll the flames had seized on me if God had not in mercy carryed me out Oh how free was all this Love and how free is this enjoyed Glory Doubtless this will be our everlasting admiration That so Rich a Crown should fit the head of so vile a Sinner That such high advancement and such long unfruitfulness and unkindness can be the state of the same person and that such vile rebellions can conclude in such most precious Joys But no thanks to us nor to any of our duties and labors much less to our neglects and laziness we know to whom the praise is due and must be given for ever And indeed to this very end it was that infinite Wisdom did cast the whole design of Mans Salvation into this mould of PVRCHASE and FREENES that the Love and Joy of man might be perfected and the Honor of Grace most highly advanced that the thought of Merit might neither cloud the one nor obstruct the other and that on these two hinges the gates of Heaven might turn So then let DESERVED be written on the door of Hell but on the door of Heaven and Life THE FREE GIFT SECT III. THirdly The third comfortable Attribute of this Rest is That it is the Saints prop and peculiar possession It belongs to no other of all the sons of men not that it would have detracted from the greatness or freeness of the gift if God had so pleased that all the world should have enjoyed it But when God hath resolved otherwise that it must be enjoyed but by few to finde our names among that number must needs make us the more to value our enjoyment If all Egypt had been light the Israelites should not have had the less but yet to enjoy that light alone while their neighbors live in thick darkness must make them more sensible of their priviledg Distinguishing separating Mercy affecteth more then any Mercy If it should rain on our grounds alone or the Sun shine upon our alone habitations or the blessing of Heaven divide between our flocks and other mens as between Jacobs and Labans we should more feelingly acknowledg Mercy then now while we possess the same in common Ordinariness dulleth our sense and if Miracles were common they would be slighted If Pharoah had passed as safely as Israel the Red Sea would have been less remembred If the first-born of Egypt had not been slain the first-born of Israel had not been the Lords peculiar If the rest of the World had not been drowned and the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah burned the saving of Noah had been no wonder nor Lots deliverance so much talked of The lower the weighty end of the ballance descends the higher is the other lifted up and the falling of one of the sails of the Wind-Mill is the occasion of the rising of the other It would be no extenuation of the Mercies of the Saints here if all the world were as holy as they and the communication of their Happiness is their greatest desire yet it might perhaps dull their thankfulness and differencing grace would not be known But when one shall be illightened and another left in darkness one reformed and another by his lusts enslaved it makes them cry out with the Disciple Lord what is it that thou wilt reveal thy self to us and not unto the world When the Prophet shall be sent to one Widow onely of all that were in Samaria and to cleanse one Naaman of all the Lepers the Mercy is more observable O that will sure be a day of passionate sense on both sides when two shall be in a Bed and two in the field the one taken and the other forsaken For a Christian who is conscious of his own undeserving and il-deserving to see his companion in sin perish his Neighbor Kinsman Father Mother Wife Childe for ever in Hell while he is preferred among the Blessed To see other mens sins eternally plagued while his are all pardoned To see those that were wont to sit with us in the same seat and eat with us at the same Table and joyn with us in the same Duties now to lie tormented in those flames while we are triumphing in Divine Praises That Lot must leave his sons in law in the flames of Sodom and the wife of his bosom as a Monument of Divine Vengeance and escape with his two Daughters alone Here is chusing distinguishing Mercy Therefore the Scripture seems to affirm That as the damned souls shall from Hell see the Saints Happiness to increase their own torments so shall the Blessed from Heaven behold the wickeds misery to the increase of their own Joy And as they looked on the dead bodies of Christs two Witnesses slain in their streets and they that dwell on the Earth rejoyced over them and made merry and as the wicked here behold the calamities of Gods people with gladness so shall the Saints look down upon them in the burning lake and in the sense of their own happiness and in the approbation of Gods just proceedings they shall rejoyce and sing Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast thus judged For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy Alleluja Salvation and Glory and Honor and Power to our God for true and righteous are his Judgments And as the command is over Babylon so will it be over all the condemned souls Rejoyce over her thou Heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her By this time the impenitent World will see a reason for the Saints singularity while they were on Earth and will be able to answer their own demands Why must you be more holy then your neighbors even because they would fain be more happy then their neighbors And why cannot you do and live as the World about you Even because they are full loath to speed as those others or to be damned with the VVorld about them Sincere singularity in Holiness is by this time known to be neither Hypocrisie nor Folly If to be singular in that Glory be so desirable surely to be singular in godly
review of which intire work there is no doubt but his soul may take comfort And it is not to be made so light of as most do nor put by with a wet finger That Scripture doth so ordinarily put Repentance before Faith and make them joyntly conditions of the Gospel Which Repentance contains those acts of the Wills aversion from sin and Creatures before exprest It is true if we take Faith in the largest sense of all then it contains Repentance in it but if we take it strictly no doubt there is some acts of it go before Repentance and some follow after Yet is it not of much moment which of the acts before mentioned we shall judg to precede Whether our aversion from sin and renouncing our Idols or our right receiving Christ seeing it all composeth but one work which God doth ever perfect where he beginneth but one step and layeth but one stone in sincerity And the moments of time can be but few that interpose between the several acts Yet though the disposition to all gracious acts be given at once I conceive in our Actual turning the term from which in order of nature is considerable before the term to which we turn If any object That every Grace is received from Christ and therefore must follow our receiving him by Faith I answer There be receivings from Christ before believing and before our receiving of Christ himself Such is all that work of the Spirit that brings the soul to Christ There is a passive receiving before the active Both power and act of Faith are in order of Nature before Christ actually received and the power of all other gracious acts is as soon as that of Faith Though Christ give pardon and Salvation upon condition of believing yet he gives not a new heart a soft heart Faith it self nor the first true Repentance on that condition No more then he gives the Preaching of the Gospel the Spirits motions to believe c. upon a pre-requisite condition of believing SECT V. 4. ANd as the Will is thus averted from the fore-mentioned objects so at the same time doth it cleave to God the Father and to Christ. Its first acting in order of Nature is toward the whole Divine Essence and it consists especially in electing and desiring God for his portion and chief Good Having before been convinced That nothing else can be his happiness he now findes it is in God and there looks toward it But it is yet rather with desire then hope For alas the sinner hath already found himself to be a stranger and enemy to God under the guilt of sin and curse of his Law and knows there is no coming to him in peace till his case be altered And therefore having before been convinced also That onely Christ is able and willing to do this and having heard this mercy in the Gospel freely offered his next act is Secondly to accept most affectionately of Christ for Saviour and Lord. I put the former before this because the ultimate end is necessarily the first intended and the Divine Essence is principally that ultimate end yet not excluding the humane nature in the second person But Christ as Mediator is the way to that end and throughout the Gospel is offered to us in such terms as import his Being the means of making us happy in God And though that former act of the soul toward the Godhead do not justifie as this last doth yet is it I think as proper to the people of God as this nor can any man unregenerate truly chuse God for his Lord his portion and chief good Therefore do they both mistake They who onely mention our turning to Christ and they who onely mention our turning to God in this work of Conversion as is touched before Pauls preaching was Repentance toward God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. And life eternal consists first in knowing the onely true God and then Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 Though Repentance Assent Good works c. are required to our full Justification as subservient to or concurrent with Faith yet is the true nature of this justifying Faith it self contained in this most affectionate accepting of Christ for Saviour and Lord. And I think it necessarily contains all this in it Some plead it is the Assenting act some a Fiducial adherence or recumbency I call it Accepting it being principally an act of the Will but yet also of the whole soul. This Accepting being that which the Gospel presseth to and calleth the receiving of Christ I call it an Affectionate accepting though Love seem another act quite distinct from Faith and if you take Faith for any one single act so it is yet I take it as essential to that Faith which justifies To accept Christ without Love is not justifying Faith Nor doth Love follow as a Fruit but immediately concur nor concur as a meer concomitant but essential to a true accepting For this Faith is the receiving of Christ either with the whole soul or with part â—â—t with part onely for that is but a partial receiving And 〈◊〉 clear Divines of late conclude That justifying Faith resides â—â—rn in the Understanding and the Will therefore in the whole soul and so cannot be one single act All those Affections that are for the receiving and entertainment of Good called the concupiscible must receive and entertain Christ. I adde it is the most affectionate accepting of Christ because he that loves Father Mother or any thing more then him is not worthy of him nor can be his Disciple and consequently not justified by him And the truth of this Affection is not to be judged so much by feeling the pulse of it as by comparing it with our affection to other things He that loveth nothing so much as Christ doth love him truly though he finde cause still to bewail the coldness of his Affections I make Christ himself the Object of this Accepting it being not any Theological Axiom concerning himself but himself in person I call it an Accepting him for Saviour and Lord. For in both relations will he be received or not at all It is not onely to acknowledg his sufferings and accept of pardon and glory but to acknowledg his soveraignty and submit to his Government and way of saving and I take all this to be contained in justifying Faith The work which Christ thus accepted of is to perform is to bring the sinners to God that they may be happy in him and this both really by his Spirit and relatively in reconciling them and making them sons and to present them perfect before him at last and to possess them of the Kingdom This will Christ perform and the obtaining of these are the sinners lawful ends in receiving Christ And to these uses doth he offer himself unto us 5. To this end doth
called Christians so named from him do remain Thus far Josephus a Jew by Nation and Religion who wrote this about eighty six years after Christ and fourteen years before the death of St. John Himself being born about five or six years after Christ. 20. Consider also how that every Age hath afforded multitudes of VVitnesses who before were most bitter and violent enemies And divers of these men of note for Learning and place in the world How mad was Saul against the Truth Surely it could be no favour to the Cause nor over-much credulity that caused such men to witness to the death the truth of that for which they had persecuted others to the death but a little before Nor could childish Fables or common flying Tales have so mightily wrought with men of Learning and Understanding For some such were Christians in all Ages 21. Nay observe but the Confessions of these Adversaries when they came to believe How generally and ingenuously they acknowledg their former ignorance and prejudice to have been the cause of their unbelief 22. Consider also how unable all the enemies of the Gospel have been to abolish these sacred Records They could burn the Witnesses by thousands but yet they could never either hinder their succession or extinguish these Testimonies 23. Nay the most eminent Adversaries have had the most eminent ruine As Antiochus Herod Julian with multitudes more This stone having faln upon them hath ground them to powder 24 It were not difficult here to collect from unquestioned Authors a constant succession of VVonders at least to have in several Ages accompanied the Attestation of this Truth and notable judgments that have befaln the persecutors of it And though the Papists by their Fictions and Fabulous Legends have done more wrong to the Christian Cause then ever they are able to repair yet unquestionable History doth afford us very many Examples And even many of those actions which they have deformed with their fabulous additions might yet for the substance have much truth And God might even in times of Popery work some of these wonders though not to confirm their Religion as it was Popish yet to confirm it as the Christian Religion for as he had then his Church and then his Scripture so had he then his special Providences to confirm his Church in their belief and to silence the several enemies of the Faith And therefore I advise those who in their inconsiderate zeal are apt to reject all these Histories of Providences meerly because they were written by Papists or because some Witnesses to the Truth were a little leavened with some Popish errors that they would first view them and consider of their probability of Truth or Falshood that so they may pick out the Truth and not reject all together in the lump least otherwise in their zeal against Popery they should injure Christianity And now I leave any man to judg whether we have not had an infallible way of receiving these Records from the first VVitnesses Not that every of the particulars before mentioned are necessary to the proving or certain receiving the Authentick Records without depravation for you may perceive that almost any two or three of them might suffice and that divers of them are from abundance for fuller confirmation SECT IV. ANd thus I have done with this first Argument drawn from the Miracles which prove the Doctrine and VVritings to be of God But I must satisfie the Scruples of some before I proceed First Some will question whether this be not 1. To resolve our faith into the Testimony of man 2. And so to make it a Humane faith And so 3. To jump in this with the Papists who believe the Scripture for the Authority of the Church and to argue Circularly in this as they To this I Answer First I make in this Argument the last Resolution of my faith into the Miracles wrought to confirm the Doctrine If you ask why I believe the Doctrine to be of God I Answer because it was confirmed by many undeniable Miracles If you ask why I believe those Miracles to be from God I Answer because no created power can work a Miracle So that the Testimony of man is not the Reason of my believing but onely the means by which this matter of Fact is brought down to my Knowledg Again Our Faith cannot be said to be Resolved into that which we give in Answer to your last Interrogation except your Question be onely still of the proper grounds of Faith But if you change your Question from what is the Ground of my Faith to what is the means of conveying down the History to me Then my faith is not Resolved into this means Yet this means or some other equivalent I acknowledg so necessary that without it I had never been like to have believed 2. This shews you also that I argue not in the Popish Circle nor take my faith on their common Grounds For First When you ask them How know you the Testimony of the Church to be Infallible They prove it again by Scripture and ther 's their Circle But as I trust not on the Authority of the Romish Church onely as they do no nor properly to the Authority of any Church no nor onely to the Testimony of the Church but also to the Testimony of the enemies themselves So do I prove the validity of the Testimony I bring from Nature and well known Principles in Reason and not from Scripture it self as you may see before 3. There is a Humane Testimony which is also divine and so an Humane Faith which is also divine Few of Gods extraordinary Revelations have been immediate The best Schoolmen think none of all but either by Angels or by Jesus himself who was man as well as God You will acknowledg if God reveal it to an Angel and the Angel to Moses and Moses to Israel this is a divine Revelation to Israel For that is called a divine Revelation which we are certain that God doth any way Reveal Now I would fain know why that which God doth naturally and certainly Reveal to all men may not as properly be called a Divine Revelation as that which he Reveales by the Spirit to a few Is not this Truth from God That the Senses apprehension of their Object rightly stated s certain as well as this Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin c. Though a Saint or Angel be a fitter Messenger to Reveal the things of the Spirit yet any man may be a Messenger to reveal the things of the flesh An ungodly man if he have better Eyes and Ears may be a better Messenger or Witness of that matter of Fact which he seeth and heareth then a godlier man that is blinde or deaf especially in cases wherein that ungodly man hath no provocation to speak falsly and most of all if his Testimony be against himself I take that Revelation whereby I know
should be so it would be somewhat a sad uncomfortable doctrine to the godly at their death to think of being deprived of their glory till the resurrection and somewhat comfortable to the wicked to think of tarrying out of hell so long But I am in strong hopes that this doctrine is false yea very confident that it is so I do believe that as the soul separated from the body is not a perfect man so it doth not enjoy the Glory and happiness so fully and so perfectly as it shall do after the Resurrection when they are again conjoined What the difference is and what degree of Glory souls in the mean time enjoy are too high things for mortals particularly to discern For the great question what place the souls of those before Christ of Infants and of all others since Christ do remaine in till the Resurrection I think it is a vain enquiry of what is yet beyond our reach It is a great question what Place is But if it be only a circumstant body and if to be in a place be only to be in a circumstant bodâ— or in the superficies of an ambient body or in the concavity oâ— that superficies then it is doubtfull whether spirits can be properly said to be in place We can have yet no clear conceivings of these things But that separated souls of Believers do enjoy unconceivable Blessedness and Glory even while they remain thus separated from the body I prove as followeth Beside all those Arguments for the souls Immortality which you may read in Alex. Rosse his Philosophicall Touchstone part lâ—st 1. Those words of Paul 2 Corin. 5.8 Are so exceeding plain that I yet understand not what tolerable exception can be made agaiâ—st them Therefore we are alwayes confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord What can be spoken more plainly so also the 1 2 3 4. verses of the same Chapter 2. As plain is that in Philip. 1.23 For I am in a streight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better What sense were in these words if Paul had not expected to enjoy Christ till the Resurrection Why should he be in a streight Or desire to depart Should he be with Christ ever the sooner for that Nay should he not have been loath to depart upon the very same grounds For while he was in the flesh he enjoyed something of Christ but being departed according to the Socinians doctrine he should enjoy no thing of Christ till the day of Resurrection 3. And plain enough is that of Christ to the thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The dislocation of the word this day is but a gross evasion 4. And sure if it be but a Parable of the Rich man in hell and Lazarus yet it seemes unlikely to me that Christ would teach them by such a Parable as seemed evidently to intimate and suppose the souls happiness or misery presently after death if there were no such matter 5. Doth not his Argument against the Sadduces for the Resurrection run upon this supposition That God being not the God of the dead but of the living therefore Abraham Isaac and Jacob were then living i. e. in soul and consequently should have their bodies raised at the Resurrection 6. Plain also is that in the Revelations chap. 14. vers 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may Rest from their labors and their works do follow them i. e. close as the garments on a mans back follow him and not at such a distance as the resurrection For if the blessedness were only in Râ—sting in the Grave then a beast or a stone were as blessed Nay it were evidently a curse and not a blessing For was not life a great Mercy was it not a greater mercy to enjoy all the comforts of life to enjoy the fellowship of the Saints The comfort of the ordinances And much of Christ in all To be imployed in the delightfull work of God and to edifie his Church c. Is it not a curse to be so deprived of all these Do not these yeeld a great deal more sweetness then all the troubles of this life can yeeld us bitterness Though I think not as some that it is better to be most miserable even in hell then not to be at all yet it is undeniable that it is better to enjoy life and so much of the comforts of life and so much of God in comforts and afflictions as the Saints do though we have all this with persecution then to lye rotting in the grave if that were all we could expect Therefore it is some further blessedness that is there promised 7. How else is it said That we are come to the Mount Zion the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Sure at the Resurrection the body will be made perfect as well as the spirit To say as Lushington doth that they are said to be made perfect because they are sure of it as if they had it is an evasion to grosly contradicting the Text that by such commentaries he may as well deny any truth in Scripture To make good which he as much abuseth that of Philip. 3.12 8. Doth not Scripture tell us that Henoch and Elias are taken up already And shall we think they possess that Glory alone 9. Did not Peter and James and John see Moses also with Christ on the Mount Yet the Scripture saith Moses dyed And is it likely that Christ did delude their senses in shewing them Moses if he should not partake of that glory till the Resurrection 10. And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can desire Lord Jesus receive my spirit Sure if the Lord receive it it is neither asleep nor dead nor annihilated but it is where he is and beholds his Glory 11. The like may be said of that Eccles. 12.7 The spirit shall return to God who gave it 12. How else is it said that we have eternall life already John 6.54 and that the knowledg of God which is begun here is eternall life John 17.3 So 1. John 5.13 And he that believeth on Christ hath everlasting life John 3.36 John 6.47 He that eateth this bread shall not dye vers 50. For he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him vers 56. And as the Son liveth by the Father so he that eateth him shall live by him vers 57. How is the Kingdom of God and of heaven which
them begin to look about them Let them know that thou speak not to them of indifferent things not about childrens games or worldlings vanities or matters of a few days or years continuance nor yet about matters of uncertainty which perhaps may never come to pass But it is about the saving or damning of their Souls and bodies and whether they shall be Blessed with Christ or tormented with Devils and that for ever and ever without any change It is how to stand before God in Judgment and what answer to give and how they are like to speed And this Judgment and eternal state they shall very shortly see they are almost at it yet a few more nights and days and they shall presently be at that last day a few more breathes they have to breathe and they shall breathe out their last and then as certainly shall they see that mighty change as the Heaven is over their heads and the earth under their feet Oh labour to make men know that it is mad jesting about Salvation or Damnation and that Heaven and Hell be not matters to be playd with or passed over with a few careless thoughts Is it most certain that one of these days thou shalt be either in everlasting unchangeable Joy or Torments and doth it not awake thee Is there so few that find the way of life so many that go the way of death so hard to escape so easie to miscarry and that while we fear nothing but think all is well and yet do you fit still and trifle Why what do you mean what do you think on The world is passing away its pleasures are fading its honours are leaving you its profits will prove unprofitable to you Heaven or Hell are a little before you God is Just and Jealous his Threatenings are true the great day of his Judgment will be terrible your time runs on your lives are uncertain you are far behind hand you have loitered long your case is dangerous your Souls are far gone in sin you are strange to God you are hardened in evil customs you have no assurance of pardon to shew if you dye to morrow how unready are you and with what terror will your Souls go out of your bodies And do you yet loiter for all this Why consider with your selves God standeth all this while waiting your leasure his patience beareth his Justice forbeareth his Mercy intreateth you Christ standeth offering you his blood and merits you may have him freely and life with him the Spirit is perswading you Conscience is accusing and urging you Ministers are praying for you and calling upon you Satan stands waiting when Justice will cut off your lives that he may have you This is your time Now or Never What! had you rather lose Heaven then your profits or pleasures had you rather burn in Hell then repent on Earth had you rather howl and roar there then pray day and night for mercy here or to have Devils your Tormentors then to have Christ your Governor Will you renounce your part in God and Glory rather then renounce your cursed sins Do you think a holy life too much for Heaven or too dear a course to prevent an endless misery Oh friends What do you think of these things God hath made you men and endued you with Reason do not renounce your Reason where you should chiefly use it In this manner you must deal roundly and seriously with men Alas it is not a few dull words between Jest and earnest between sleep and waking as it were that will waken an ignorant dead-hearted sinner When a dull hearer and a dull speaker meet together a dead heart and a dead exhortation it is far unlike to have a lively effect If a man fall down in a Swoun you will not stand trifling with him but lay hands on him presently and snatch him up and rub him and call loud to him If a house be on fire you will not in a cold affected strain go tell your neighbor of it nor go make an oration of the nature and danger of fire but you will run out and cry Fire Fire Matters of moment must be seriously dealt with To tell a man of his sins so softly as Eli did his sons or reprove him so gently as Jehosaphat did Ahab Let not the King say so doth usually as much harm as good I am perswaded the very manner of some mens reproof and exhortations hath hardened many a sinner in the way of destruction To tell them of Sin or of Heaven or Hell in a dull easie careless language doth make men think you are not in good sadness nor do mean as you speak but either you scarce think your selves such things are true or else you take them for small indifferent matters or else sure you would never speak of them in such a slight indifferent manner Oh Sirs deal with Sin as Sin and speak of Heaven and Hell as they are and not as if you were in Jest. I confess I have failed much in this my self the Lord lay it not to my charge Loathness to displease men makes us undo them SECT IX 6. YEt lest you run into extreams I advise you to do it with Prudence and discretion Be as serious as you can but yet with Wisdom And especially you must be wise in these things following 1. In choosing the fittest season for your Exhortation not to deal with men when they are in passion or drunk or in publique where they will take it for a disgrace Mâ—n should observe when sinners are fittest to hear instructions Physick must not be given at all times but in season Opportunity advantageth every work It is an excellent example that Paul giveth us Gal. 2. â— He communicated the Gospel to them yet privately to them of reputation lest he should run in vain Some men would take this to be a sinful complying with their Corruption to yield so far to their pride and bashfulness as to teach them only in private because they would be ashamed to own the Truth in Publique But PAVL knew how great a hinderance mens reputation is to their entertaining of the Truth and that the remedy must not only be fitted to the disease but also to the strength of the Patient and that in so doing the Physician is not guilty of favoring the disease but is praise-worthy for taking the right way to cure and that learners and young-beginners must not be dealt with as open professors Moreover means will work easily if you take the opportunity when the Earth is soft the Plow will enter Take a man when he is under affliction or in the house of mourning or newly stirred by some moving Sermon and then set it home and you may do him good Christian Faithfulness doth require us not onely to do good when it falls in our way but to watch for opportunities of doing good 2 Be wise also in suiting your Exhortation to the quality and
Have you as oft and as earnestly begged of them to think on their wayes and to reform as you have taken on you to beg of God that they may do so What if you should see your neighbor faln into a pit and you should presently fall down on your knees and pray God to help him out but would neither put forth your hand to help nor once perswade or direct him to help himself would not any man censure you to be cruell and hypocriticall What the Holy Ghost saith of mens bodily miseries I may say much more of the misery of their souls If any man seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him Or what love hath he to his brothers soul Sure if you saw your friend in Hell you would perswade him hard to come thence if that would serve and why do you not now perswade him to prevent it The Charity of our ignorant forefathers may rise up in judgment against us and condemn us They would give all their estates almost for so many Masses or pardons to deliver the souls of their friends from a feigned Purgatory And we will not so much as importunately admonish and intreat them to save them from the certain flames of Hell though this may be effectuall to do them good and the other will do none 4. Another hinderance is A base man pleasing disposition that is in us We are so loath to displease men and so desirous to keep in credit and favor with them that it makes us most unconscionably neglect our known duty A foolish Physitian he is and a most unfaithful friend that will let a sick man dye for fear of troubling him And cruel wretches are we to our friends that will rather suffer them to go quietly to hell then we will anger them or hazard our reputation with them If they did but fall in a swoon we would rub them and pinch them and never stick at hurting them If they were distracted we would binde them with chains and we would please them in nothing that tended to their hurt And yet when they are besides themselves in point of salvation and in â—heir madness posting on to damnation we will not stop them for fear of displeasing them How can these men be Christians that love the praise and favour of men more then the favor of God John 12.43 For if they yet seek to please men they are no longer the servants of Christ Gal. 1.10 To winne them indeed they must become all things to all men but to please them to their destruction and let them perish that we may keep our credit with them is a course so base and barbarously cruel that he that hath the face of a Christian should abhorre it 5. Another common hinderance is A sinful Bashfulness When we should labor to make men ashamed of their sins we are our selves ashamed of our duties May not these sinners condemn us when they will not blush to swear or be drunk or neglect the worship of God and we will blush to tell them of it and perswade them from it Elisha looked on Hazael till he was ashamed and we are ashamed to look on or speak to the offender Sinners will rather boast of their sins and impudently shew them in the open streets and shall not we be as bold in drawing them from it Not that I approve of impudence in any For as one saith I take him for a lost man that hath lost his modesty Nor would I have inferiors forget their distance in admonishing their superiors but do it with all humility submission and respect But yet I would much less have them forget their duty to God and their friends be they never so much their superiors it is a thing that must be done Bashfulness is unseemly in cases of flat necessity And indeed it is not a work to be ashamed of to obey God in perswading men from their sins to Christ and helping to save their souls is not a business for a man to blush at And yet alas what abundance of souls have been neglected through the prevailing of this sin Even the most of us are hainously guilty in this point Reader is not this thy own case Hath not thy conscience told thee of thy duty many a time and put thee on to speak to poor sinners lest they perish and yet thou hast been ashamed to open thy mouth to them and so let them alone to sink or swim Believe me thou wilt ere long be ashamed of this shame O read those words of Christ and tremble He that is ashamed of me and of my words before this adulterous generation of him will the son of man be ashamed before his father and the Angels 5. Another hinderance is impatiency laziness and favouring of the flesh It is an ungrateful work and for the most part maketh those our enemies that were our friends And men cannot bear the reproaches and unthankful returns of sinners It may be they are their chief friends on whom is all their dependance so that it may be their undoing to displease them Besides it is a work that seldom succeedeth at the first except it be followed on with wisdom and unweariedness you must be a great while teaching an ignorant person before they will be brought to know the very fundamentals and a great while perswading an obstinate sinner before he will come to a full resolution to return Now this is a tedious course to the flesh and few will bear it Not considering what patience God used towards us when we were in our sins and how long he followed us with the importunities of his Spirit holding out Christ and life and beseeching us to accept them Wo to us if God had been as impatient with us as we are with others If Christ be not weary nor give over to invite them we have little reason to be weary of doing the message See 2 Timothy 2.24 25 6. Another hinderance is self-seeking and self-minding Men are all for themselves and all minde their own things but few the things of Christ and their brethren Hence is that Cainish voice Am I my brothers keeper Every man must answer for himself Hence also it is that a multitude of ignorant professors do think only where they may enjoy the purest ordinances and thither they will go over sea and land or what way of discipline will be sweetest to themselves and therefore are prone to groundless separation But where they have the fairest opportunity to win the souls of others or in what place or way they may do most good these things they little or nothing regard As if we had learned of the Monks and were setting up their principles and practice when we seem to oppose them If these men had tryed what some of their brethren have done they would know that all the purest ordinances and Churches will not
guilty of all the sin that he committeth in his drunkenness VVill you resolve therefore to set upon this duty and neglect it no longer Remember Eli your children are like Moses in the basket in the water ready to perish if they have not help As ever you would not be charged before God for murderers of their souls and as ever you would not have them cry out against you in everlasting fire see that you teach them how to escape it and bring them up in holiness and the fear of God You have heard that the God of heaven doth flatly command it you I charge every one of you therefore upon your allegiance to him and as you will very shortly answer the contrary at your peril that you neither refuse nor neglect this most necessary work If you are not willing now you know it to be so plain and so great a duty you are flat Rebels and no true subjects of Christ. If you are willing to do it but know not how I will adde a few words of direction to help you 1. Teach them by your own example as well as by your words Be your selves such as you would have them be practice is the most effectual teaching of children who are addicted to imitation especially of their parents Lead them the way to prayer and reading and other duties Be not like base Commanders that will put on their Soldiers but not go on themselves Can you expect your children should be wiser or better then you Let them not hear those words out of your mouths nor see those practices in your lives which you reprove in them No man shall be saved because his children are godly if he be ungodly himself Who should lead the way in holiness but the father and master of the family It is a sad time when he must be accounted a good master or father that will not hinder his family from serving God but will give them leave to go to heaven without him I will but name the rest for your direct dutie for your Family 1. You must help to inform their understandings 2. To store their memories 3. To rectifie their wills 4. To quicken their affections 5. To keep tender their consciences 6. To restrain their tongues and help them to skill in gracious Speech 7. And to reform and watch over their outward conversation To these ends First Be sure to keep them at least so long at School till they can read English It is a thousand pities that a reasonable Creature should look upon a Bible as upon a Stone or a piece of Wood. Secondly Get them Bibles and good Books and see that they read them Thirdly Examine them often what they learn Fourthly Especially bestow the Lords day in this work and see that they spend it not in sports or idleness Fiftly Shew them the meaning of what they read and learn Josh. 4 6 21 22. Psal. 78.4 5 6 34.11 Sixthly Acquaint them with the godly and keep them in good company where they may learn good and keep them out of that company that would teach them evil Seventhly Be sure to cause them to learn some Catechism containing the chief Heads of Divinity as those made by the Assembly of Divines or Master Balls SECT XVII THe Heads of Divinity which you must teach them first are these 1. That there is one onely God who is a Spirit invisible infinite eternal Almighty good merciful true just holy c. 2. That this God is one in three Father Son and holy Ghost 3. That he is the Maker Maintainer and Lord of all 4. That mans happiness consisteth in the enjoying of this God and not in fleshly pleasure profits or honors 5. That God made the first man upright and happy and gave him a Law to keep with Conditions that if he kept it perfectly he should live happy for ever but if he broke it he should die 6. That man broke this Law and so forfeited his welfare and became guilty of death as to himself and all his Posterity 7 That Christ the Son of God did here interpose and prevent the full execution undertaking to die in stead of man and so to Redeem him whereupon all things were delivered into his hands as the Redeemer and he is under that relation the Lord of all 8. That Christ hereupon did make with man a better Covenant or Law which proclaimed pardon of sin to all that did but repent and believe obey sincerely 9. That he revealed this Covenant and Mercy to the world by degrees first in darker Promises Prophecies and Sacrifices then in many Ceremonious Types and then by more plain foretellings by the Prophetâ— 10. That in the fulness of time Christ came and took our Nature into Union with his Godhead being conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary 11. That while he was on earth he lived a life of sorrows was crowned with Thorns and bore the pains that our sins deserved at last being Crucified to death and buried and so satisfied the Justice of God 12. That he also Preached himself to the Jews and by constant Miracles did prove the truth of his Doctrine and Mediatorship before thousands of Witnesses That he revealed more fully his New Law or Covenant That whosoever will believe in him and accept him for Saviour and Lord shall be pardoned and saved and have a far greater glory then they lost and they that will not shall lye under the curse and guilt and be condemned to the everlasting fire of hell 13. That he rose again from the dead having conquered death and took fuller possession of his Dominion over all and so ascended up into heaven and there reigneth in glory 14. That before his Ascention he gave charge to his Apostles to go Preach the foresaid Gospel to all Nations and persons and to offer Christ and Mercy and Life to every one without exception and to intreat and perswade them to receive him and that he gave them authority to send forth others on the same Message and to Baptise and to gather Churches and confirm and order them and to settle a course for a succeâ—â—â—on of Ministers and Ordinances to the end of the world 15. That he also gave them power to work frequent and evident Miracles for the confirmation of their Doctrine and the convincing of the world and to annex their writings to the rest of the Scriptures and so to finish and seal them up and deliver them to the world as his infallible Word and Laws which none must dare to alter and which all must observe 16. That for all this free Grace is offered to the world yet the heart is by Nature so desperately wicked that no man will believe and entertain Christ sincerely except by an Almighty power he be changed and born again and therefore doth Christ send forth his Spirâ—t with his Word which secretly and effectually worketh holiness in the hearts of the Elect drawing
carriage what exclaiming against pride what moanful self-accusing may stand with this divelish sin of pride O Christian if thou wouldest live continually in the presence of thy Lord lie in the dust and he will thence take thee up descend first with him into the grave and thence thou maist ascend with him to glory Learn of him to be meek and lowly and then thou maist taste of this Rest to thy soul. Thy soul else will be as the troubled Sea still casting out mire and dirt which cannot rest And in stead of these sweet delights in God thy pride will fill thee with perpetual disquietness It is the humble soul that forgets not God and God will not forget the humble Psal. 10.12 and 9.12 As he that humbleth himself as a little childe shall hereafter be greatest in the Kingdom of God Matth. 18.4 So shall he now be greatest in the forecastes of the Kingdom For as whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased so he that humbleth himself shall be in both these respects exalted Matth. 23.12 God therefore dwelleth with him that is humble and contrite to revive the Spirit of such with his presence Isai. 57.15 I conclude with that counsel of James and Peter Humble your selves therefore in the sight of the Lord and he shall now in the Spirit lift you up Jam. 4 10. and in due time shall perfectly exalt you 1 Pet. 5.6 And when others are cast down then shalt thou say There is lifting up and he shall save the humble person Job 22.29 SECT VI. 6. ANother impediment to this Heavenly Life is Wilful laziness and slothfulness of Spirit And I verily think for knowing men there is nothing hinders more then this O if it were onely the exercise of the Body the moving of the Lips the bending of the Knee then it were an easie work indeed and men would as commonly step to Heaven as they go a few miles to visit a friend yea if it were to spend most of our days in numbering Beads and repeating certain words and Prayers in voluntary humility and neglecting the body after the commandments and doctrines of men Col. 2.21 22 23. yea or in the outward part of duties commanded by God yet it were comparatively easie Further if it were onely in the exercise of parts and gifts though we made such performance our daily trade yet it were easie to be heavenly-minded But it is a work more difficult then all this To separate thoughts and affections from the world to force them to a work of so high a nature to draw forth all our graces in their order and exercise each on its proper object to hold them to this till they perceive success and till the work doth thrive and prosper in their hands This this is the difficult task Reader Heaven is above thee the way is upwards Dost thou think who art a feeble short-winded sinner to travel daily this steep ascent without a great deal of labor and resolution Canst thou get that earthly heart to Heaven and bring that backward minde to God while thou liest still and takest thine ease If lying down at the foot of the Hill and looking toward the top and wishing we were there would serve the turn then we should have daily travellers for Heaven But the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force There must be violence used to get these first fruits as well as to get the full possession Dost thou not feel it so though I should not tell thee Will thy heart get upwards except thou drive it Is it not like a dull and jadish horse that will go no longer then he feels the spur Dost thou finde it easie to dwell in the delights above It s true the work is exceeding sweet and no condition on Earth so desireable but therefore it is that our hearts are so backward especially in the beginning till we are acquainted with it O how many hundred Professors of Religion who can easily bring their hearts to ordinary duties as Reading Hearing Praying Conferring could never yet in all their lives bring them and keep them to a heavenly contemplation one half hour together Consider here Reader as before the Lord whether this be not thine own case Thou hast known that Heaven is all thy hopes thou knowest thou must shortly be turned hence and that nothing below can yield thee rest thou knowest also that a strange heart a seldom and careless thinking of Heaven can fetch but little comfort thence and dost thou not yet for all this let slip thy opportunities and lie below in dust or meer duties when thou shouldst walk above and live with God Dost thou not commend the sweetness of heavenly life and judg those the excellentest Christians that use it and yet didst never once try it thy self But as the sluggard that stretched himself on his bed and cryed O that this were working So dost thou talk and trifle and live at thy ease and say O that I could get my heart to Heaven This is to lie a bed and wish when thou shouldst be up and doing How many a hundred do read Books and hear Sermons in expectation to hear of some easie course or to meet with a shorter cut to comforts then ever they are like to finde in the Word And if they can hear of none from the Preachers of Truth they will snatch it with rejoycing from the Teachers of Falshood and presently applaud the excellency of the doctrine because it hath fitted their lazy temper and think there is no other doctrine will comfort the soul because it will not comfort it with hearing and looking on They think their Venison is best though accompanied with a lie because it is the easiest catched and next at hand and they think will procure the chiefest blessing and so it may if God be as subject to mistake as blinde Isaac And while they pretend enmity onely to the impossibilities of the Law they oppose the easier conditions of the Gospel and cast off the burden that is light also and which all must bear that will finde rest to their souls and in my judgment may as fitly be stiled enemies to the Gospel as enemies to the Law from whence they receive their common title The Lord of light and Spirit of comfort shew these men in time a surer way for lasting comfort The delusions of many of them are strong and ungrounded comforts they seem to have store I can judg it to be of no better a kinde because it comes not in the Scripture way They will some of them profess That when they meditate and labor for comfort themselves they either have none or at least but humane and of a lower kinde but all the comforts that they own and value are immediatly injected without their pains So do I expect my comforts to come in in Heaven but till then I am glad if they will come with labor
circumstances though to some they may seem small things doth much conduce to our hinderance or our help Christ himself thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of private duty Mat. 6.4 6 18 If in private prayer we must shut our door upon us that our Father may hear us in secret so is it also requisite in this Meditation How oft doth Christ himself depart to some mountain or wilderness or other solitary place For occasional Meditation I give thee not this advise but for this daily set and solemn duty I advise that thou withdraw thy self from all society yea though it were the society of godly men that thou mayest a while enjoy the society of Christ If a student cannot study in a crowd who exerciseth only his invention and memory much lesse when thou must exercise all the powers of thy soul and that upon an object so far above nature When thy eyes are filled with the persons and actions of men and thine ears with their discourse its hard then to have thy thoughts and affections free for this duty Though I would not perswade thee to Pythagoras his Cave nor to the Hermets Wilderness nor to the Monks Cell yet I would advise thee to frequent solitariness that thou mayest sometimes confer with Christ and with thy self as well as with others We are fled so far from the solitude of superstition that we have cast off the solitude of contemplative devotion Friends use to converse most familiarly in private and to open their Secrets and let out their affections most freely Publike converse is but common converse Use therefore as Christ himself did Mark 1.35 to depart sometimes into a solitary place that thou maist be wholly vacant for this great employment See Mat. 14.23 Mark 6.47 Luke 9.18 36. John 6.15 16. We seldom read of Gods appearing by himself or his Angels to any of his Prophets or Saints in a throng but frequently when they were alone And as I advise thee to a place of retiredness so also that thou observe more particularly what place and posture best agreeth with thy spirit Whether within doors or without whether siting still or walking I beleeve Isaacs example in this also will direct us to the place and posture which will best suit with most as it doth with me viz. His walking forth to meditate in the field at the eventide And Christs own example in the places forecited gives us the like direction Christ was used to a solitary Garden that even Judas when he came to betray him knew where to finde him John 18.1 2. And though he took his Disciples thither with him yet did he separate himself from them for more Secret devotions Luke 22.41 And though his meditation be not directly named but onely his praying yet it is very clearly implied Matth. 26.38 39. His soul is first made sorrowful with the bitter meditations on his death and sufferings and then he poureth it out in prayer Mark 14.34 So that Christ had his accustomed place and consequently accustomed duty and so must we Christ hath a place that is solitary whither he retireth himself even from his own Disciples and so must we Christs meditations do go further then his thought they affect and pâ—erce his heart and soul and so must ours Onely there is a wide difference in the object Christ meditates on the suffering that our sins had deserved that the wrath of his Father even passed through his thoughts upon all his soul But the meditation that we speak of is on the glory he hath purchased that the love of the Father and the joy of the Spirit might enter at our thoughts and revive our affections and overflow our souls So that as Christs meditation was the sluce or flood-gate to let in Hell to overflow his Affections so our meditation should be the sluce to let in Heaven into our affections SECT IX SO much concerning the Time and Place of this duty I am next to advise thee somewhat concerning the preparations of thy heart The success of the work doth much depend on the frame of thy heart When mans heart had nothing in it that might grieve the Spirit then was it the delightful habitation of his Maker God did not quit his residence there till man did expel him by unworthy provocations There grew no strangeness till the heart grew sinful and too loathsom a dungeon for God to delight in And were this soul reduced to its former innocency God would quickly return to his former habitation yea so far as it is renewed and repaired by the Spirit and purged of its lusts and beautified with his Image the Lord will yet acknowledg it his own and Christ will manifest himself unto it and the Spirit will take it for his Temple and Residence So far as the soul is qualified for conversing with God so far it doth actually for the most part enjoy him Therefore with all diligence keep thy heart for from thence are the issues of life Prov 4.23 More particularly when thou fettest on this duty First Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst wholly lay by the thoughts of thy business of thy troubles of thy enjoyments and of every thing that may take up any room in thy soul. Get thy soul as empty as possibly thou canst that so it may be the more capable of being filled with God It is a work as I have said that will require all the powers of thy soul if they were a thousand times more capacious and active then they are and therefore you have need to lay by all other thoughts and affections while you are busied here If thou couldst well perform some outward duty with a piece of thy heart while the other is absent yet this above all I am sure thou canst not Surely if thou once address thy self to the business indeed thou wilt be as the covetous man at the heap of Gold that when he might take as much as he could carry away lamented that he was able to bear no more So when thou shalt get into the Mount in contemplation thou wilt finde there as much of God and Glory as thy narrow heart is able to contain and almost nothing to hinder thy full possession but onely the uncapableness of thy own Spirit O then wilt thou think that this understanding were larger that I might conceive more that these affections were wider to contain more it is more my own unfitness then any thing else which is the cause that even this place is not my Heaven God is in this place and I know it not This Mount is full of the Angels of God but mine eyes are shut and cannot see them O the words of love that Christ hath to speak O the wonders of love that he hath to shew But alas I cannot bear them yet Heaven is here ready at hand for me but my uncapable heart is unready for Heaven Thus wouldst thou lament that the
your hope dieth your duties die yours endevors die your joyes die and your souls die And if your hope be not acted but lie asleep its next to dead both in likeness and preparation Therefore Christian Reader when thou art winding up thy affections to Heaven do not forget to give one lift at thy Hope remember to winde up this peg also The object of Hope hath four qualifications First It must be good secondly Future thirdly Difficult fourthly yet Possible For the goodness of thy Rest there is somewhat said before which thou maist transfer hither as thou findest it useful so also of the difficulty and futurity Let Faith then shew thee the truth of the Promise and Judgment the goodness of the thing promised and what then is wanting for the raising of thy hope Shew thy soul from the Word and from the Mercies and from the Nature of God what possibility yea what probability yea what certainty thou hast of possessing the Crown Think thus and reason thus with thine own heart Why should I not confidently and comfortably hope when my soul is in the hands of so compassionate a Saviour and when the Kingdom is at the disposal of so bounteous a God Did he ever manifest any backwardness to my good or discover the least inclination to my ruine Hath he not sworn the contrary to me in his Word that he delights not in the death of him that dieth but rather that he should repent and live Have not all his dealings with me witnessed the same Did he not minde me of my danger when I never feared it and why was this if he would not have me to escape it Did he not minde me of my happiness when I had no thoughts of it and why was this but that he would have me to enjoy it How oft hath he drawn me to himself and his Christ when I have drawn backward and would have broken from him What restless importunity hath he used in his suit how hath he followed me from place to place and his Spirit incessantly sollicited my heart with winning suggestions and perswasions for my good And would he have done all this if he had been willing that I should perish If my soul were in the hands of my mortal foes then indeed there were small hopes of my salvation yea if it were wholly in my own hands my flesh and my folly would betray it to damnation But have I as much cause to distrust God as to distrust my foes or to distrust my self Sure I have not Have I not a sure Promise to build and rest on and the Truth of God engaged to fulfil it Would I not hope if an honest man had made me a promise of any thing in his power And shall I not hope when I have the Covenant and the Oath of God It s true the glory is out of sight we have not beheld the Mansions of the Saints Who hath ascended up to discover it and descended to tell us what he had seen why but the Word is neer me Have I not Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles Is not the promise of God more certain then our sight it is not by sight but by hope that we must be saved and hope that is seen is not hope for if we see it why do we yet hope for it but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Rom. 8.24 25. I have been ashamed of my hope in the arm of flesh but hope in the promise of God maketh not ashamed Rom. 5.5 I will say therefore in my greatest sufferings with the Church Lam. 3.24 c. The Lord is my portion therefore will I hope in him The Lord is good to them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him It is good that I both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth I will sit alone and keep silence because I have born it upon me I will put my mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope For the Lord will not cast off for ever But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Though I languish and die yet will I hope for he hath said The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Though I must lie down in dust and darkness yet there my flesh shall rest in hope Psal. 16.9 And when my flesh hath nothing in which it may rejoyce yet will I keep the rejoycing of hope firm to the end Heb. 3.6 For he hath said The hope of the righteous shall be gladness Prov. 10.28 Indeed if I had lived still under the Covenant of Works and been put my self to the satisfying of that Justice then there had been no hope But Christ hath taken down those impossibilities and hath brought in a better hope by which we may now draw nigh to God Heb. 7.19 Or if I had to do with a feeble Creature there were small hope for how could he raise this Body from the dust and lift me up above the Sun But what is this to the A mighty Power who made the Heavens and Earth of nothing Cannot that same power that raised Christ raise me and that hath glorified the Head also glorifie the Members Doubtless by the blood of Christs Covenant will God send forth his prisoners from the pit wherein is no water therefore will I turn to this strong hold as a prisoner of hope Zach. 9.11 12. And thus you see how Meditation may excite your Hope SECT VIII 4. THe next Affection to be acted is Courage or Boldness which leadeth to Resolution and concludeth in Action When you have thus mounted your Love and Desire and Hope go on and think further thus with your selves And will God indeed dwell with men And is there such a glory within the reach of hope O why do I not then lay hold upon it where is the cheerful vigor of my spirit why do I not gird up the loyns of my minde and play the man for such a prize why do I not run with speed the race before me and set upon mine enemies on every side and valiantly break through all resistance why do I not take this Kingdom by force and my fervent soul catch at the place do I yet sit still and Heaven before me If my Beast do but see his Provender if my greedy senses perceive but their delightful objects I have much ado to stave them off And should not my soul be as eager for such a blessed Rest why then do I not undauntedly fall to work what should stop me or what should dismay me Is God with me or against me in the work will Christ stand by me or will he not If it were a way of sin that leads to death then I might expect that God should resist me and stand in my way with
death the next day that they might not change their resolution lest he should miss of his expectation What thanks then shall I give my Lord for removing me from this loathsome prison to his Glory and how loth should I be to be deprived thereof When Luther thought he should dye of an Apoplexy it comforted him and made him more willing because the good Duke of Saxony and before him the Apostle John had died of that disease how much more should I be willing to pass the way that Christ hath passed and come to the glory where Christ is gone If Luther could thereupon say Feri Domine feri clementer ipse paratus sum quia verbo tuo a peccatis absolutus Strike Lord strike gently I am ready because by thy Word I am absolved from my sins how much more cheerfully should I cry come Lord and advance me to this glory and repose my weary soul in Rest SECT XII 10. COmpare also the Glory of the Heavenly Kingdom with the glory of the imperfect Church on earth and with the Glory of Christ in his state of Humiliation And you may easily conclude If Christ under his fathers wrath and Christ standing in the room of sinners were so wonderful in excellencies what then is Christ at the Fathers right hand And if the Church under her sins and enemies have so much beauty something it will have at the marriage of the Lamb. How wonderful was the Son of God in the forme of a servant When he is born the Heavens must proclaime him by miracles A new Star must appear in the firmament and fetch men from remote parts of the world to worship him in a manger The Angels and Heavenly host must declare his Nativity and solemnize it with praising and glorifying God When he is but a childe he must dispute with the Doctors and confute them VVhen he sets upon his office his whole life is a wonder Water turned into wine thousands fed with five loaves and two fishes multitudes following him to see his miracles The lepers cleansed the sick healed the lame restored the blinde receive their sight the dead raised if we had seen all this should we not have thought it wonderful The most desperate diseases cured with a touch with a word speaking the blinde eyes with a little clay and spittle the Devil departing by Legions at his command the windes and the seas obeying his VVord are not all these wonderful Think then How wonderful is his Celestial Glory If there be such cutting down of boughs and spreading of Garments and crying Hosanna to one that comes into Jerusalem riding on an Asse what will there be when he comes with his Angels in his Glory If they that heard him preach the Gospel of the Kingdom have their hearts turned within them that they returne and say Never man spake like this Man Then sure they that behold his Majesty in his Kingdom will say There was never glory like this Glory If when his enemies come to apprehend him the word of his mouth doth cast them all to the ground if when he is dying the earth must tremble the vail of the Temple rent the sun in the firmament must hide its face and deny its light to the sinful world and the dead bodies of the Saints arise and the standers by be forced to acknowledge Verely this was the Son of God O then what a day will it be when he will once more shake not the Earth only but the Heavens also and remove the things that are shaken when this Sun shall be taken out of the firmament and be everlastingly darkened with the brightness of his Glory when the dead must all arise and stand before him and all shall acknowledge him to be the Son of God and every tongue confess him to be Lord and King If when he riseth again the Grave and Death have lost their power and the Angels of Heaven must roll away the stone and astonish the watchmen till they are as dead men and send the tidings to his dejected Disciples If the bolted doors cannot keep him forth If the sea be as firme ground for him to walk on If he can asend to Heaven in the sight of his Disciples and send the Angels to forbid them gazing after him O what Power and Dominion and Glory then is he now possessed of and must we for ever possess with him Yet think further Are his very servants enabled to do such miracles when he is gone from them Can a few poor fishermen and tent-makers and the like Mechanicks cure the lame and blinde and sick open their prisons destroy the disobedient raise the dead and astonish their adversaries O then what a world will that be where every one can do greater works then these and shall be highlier honoured then by the doing of wonders It were much to have the Devils subject to us but more to have our names written in the book of Life If the very preaching of the gospel be accompanied with such power that it will pierce the heart and discover its secrets bring down the proud and make the stony sinner tremble If it can make men burne their books sel their lands bring in the price and lay it down at the Preachers feet If it can make the spirits of Princes stoop and the Kings of the Earth resigne their Crownes and do their homage to Jesus Christ If it can subdue Kingdome and convert thousands and turn the world thus upside down If the very mention of the Judgment and Life to come can make the Judge on the bench to tremble when the prisoner at the bar doth preach this Doctrine O what then is the Glory of the Kingdom it self What an absolute Dominion hath Christ and his Saints And if they have this Power and Honour in the day of their abasement and in the time appointed for their suffering and disgrace what then will they have in their full advancement SECT XIII 11. COmpare thy mercies thou shalt have above with the mercies which Christ hath here bestowed on thy soul and the glorious change which thou shalt have at last with the gracious change which the Spirit hath wrought on thy heart Compare the comforts of thy glorification with the comforts of thy sanctification There is not the smallest grace in thee which is genuine and sincere but is of greater worth then the riches of the Indies not a hearty desire and groan after Christ but is more to be valued then the Kingdoms of the VVorld A renewed nature is the very Image of God Scripture calleth it by the name of Christ dwelling in us and the Spirit of God abiding in us It is as a beam from the face of God himself it is the Seed of God remaining in us it is the onely inherent beauty of the rational soul it innobleth man above all nobility it fitteth him to understand his Makers pleasure to do his VVill and to receive his
and Groans How then should I long for my finall full recovery There is no sickness nor pain nor weeping nor complaints O when shall I arrive at that safe and quiet Harbor where is none of these storms and waves and dangers when I shall never more have a weary restless night or day Then shall not my life be such a medley or mixture of hope and fear of joy and sorrow as now it is nor shall Flesh and Spirit be combating within me nor my soul be still as a pitched Field or a Stage of contention where Faith and Unbelief Affiance and Distrust Humility and Pride do maintain a continual distracting conflict then shall I not live a dying life for fear of dying nor my life be made uncomfortable with the fears of losing it O when shall I be past these soul-tormenting fears and cares and griefs and passions When shall I be out of this frail this corruptible ruinous body This soul contradicting ensnaring deceiving flesh When shall I be out of this vain vexatious World Whose pleasures are meer deluding dreams and shadows whose miseries are real numerous and uncessant How long shall I see the Church of Christ lie trodden under the feet of persecutors or else as a ship in the hands of foolish guides though the supream Master doth moderate all for the best Alas that I must stand by and see the Church and Cause of Christ like a Footbal in the midst of a crowd of Boyes tost about in contention from one to another every one running and sweating with foolish violence and laboring the downfal of all that are in his way and all to get it into his own power that he may have the managing of the work himself and may drive it before him which way he pleaseth and when all is done the best usage it may expect from them is But to be spurned about in the dirt till they have driven it on to the Goal of their private interests or deluded fancies There is none of this disorder in the Heavenly Jerusalem there shall I finde a Government without imperfection and obedience without the least unwillingness or rebellion even a harmonious concent of perfected Spirits in obeying and praising their Everlasting King O how much better is it to be a Door-keeper there and the least in that Kingdom then to be the Conqueror or Commander of this tumultuous World there will our Lord govern all immediatly by himself and not put the Reins in the hands of such ignorant Riders nor govern by such foolish and sinful deputies as the best of the sons of men now are Dost thou so mourn for these inferior disorders O my soul and yet wouldst thou not be out of it How long hast thou desired to be a Member of a more perfect reformed Church and to joyn with more holy humble sincere souls in the purest and most Heavenly worship Why dost thou not see that on Earth thy desires flie from thee Art thou not as a childe that thinketh to travel to the Sun when he seeth it rising or setting as it were close to the Earth but as he travelleth toward it it seems to go from him and when he hath long wearied himself it is as far off as ever for the thing he seeketh is in another world Even such hath been thy labor in seeking for so holy so pure so peaceable a Society as might afford thee a contented settlement here Those that have gone as far as America for satisfaction have confessed themselves unsatisfied still When wars and the calamities attending them have been over I have said Return now my soul unto thy Rest But how restless a condition hath next succeeded When God had given me the enjoyment of Peace and Friends and Liberty of the Gospel and had settled me even as my own heart desired I have been ready to say Soul take thy ease and rest But how quickly hath Providence called me Fool and taught me to call my state by another name When did I ever begin to congratulate my flesh its felicity but God did quickly turn my tune and made almost the same breath to end in groaning which did begin in laughter I have thoughts oft-times in the folly of my prosperity Now I will have one sweet draught of Solace and Content but God hath dropped in the Gall while the Cup was at my mouth We are still weary of the present condition and desire a change and when we have it it doth not answer our expectation but our discontent and restlesness is still unchanged In time of peace we thought that war would deliver us from our disquietments and when we saw the Iron red hot we catched it inconsiderately thinking that it was Gold till it burned us to the very bone and so stuck to our fingers that we scarce know yet whether we are rid of it or not In this our misery we long for peace and so long were we strangers to it that we had forgot its name and begun to call it REST or HEAVEN But as soon as we are again grown acquainted with it we shall better bethink us and perceive our mistake O why am I then no more weary of this weariness and why do I so forget my resting place Up then O my soul in thy most raised and fervent desires Stay not till this Flesh can desire with thee its Appetite hath a lower and baser object Thy Appetite is not sensitive but rational distinct from its and therefore look not that Sense should apprehend thy blessed object and tell thee what and when to desire Believing Reason in the Glass of Scripture may discern enough to raise the flame And though Sense apprehend not that which must draw thy desires yet that which may drive them it doth easily apprehend It can tell thee that thy present life is filled with distress and sorrows though it cannot tell thee what is in the world to come Thou needest not Scripture to tell thee nor Faith to discern that thy head aketh and thy stomack is sick thy bowels griped and thy heart grieved and some of these or such like are thy daily case Thy friends about thee are grieved to see thy griefs and to hear thy dolorous groans and lamentations and yet art thou loth to leave this woful life is this a state to be preferred before the Celestial glory or is it better to be thus miserable from Christ then to be happy with him or canst thou possibly be so unbelieving as to doubt whether that life be any better then this O my soul do not the dulness of thy desires after Rest accuse thee of most detestable ingratitude and folly Must thy Lord procure thee a Rest at so dear a rate and dost thou no more value it Must he purchase thy Rest by a life of labor and sorrow and by the pangs of a bitter cursed death and when all is done hadst thou rather be here without it Must he
Lightning without the Thunder which maketh it seem more dreadful then delightful And shouldst thou be loth then O my soul to leave this for the Eternal perfect Light and to change thy Candle for the glorious Sun and to change thy Studies and Preaching and Praying for the Harmonious Praises and fruition of the Blessed God Nor will thy loss be greater in the change of thy company then of thine imployment Thy friends here have been indeed thy delight And have they not been also thy vexation and thy grief They are gracious and are they not also sinful they are kinde and loving and are they not also peevish froward and soon displeased they are humble but withal alas how proud they will scarce endure to hear plainly of their disgraceful faults they cannot bear undervaluing or disrespect they itch after the good thoughts and applause of others they love those best that highliest esteem them The missing of a curtesie a supposed sleighting or disrepect the contradicting of their words or humors a difference in opinion yea the turning of a straw will quickly shew thee the pride and the uncertainty of thy friend Their graces are sweet to thee and their gifts are helpful but are not their corruptions bitter and their imperfections hurtful Though at a distance they seem to thee most Holy and Innocent yet when they come neerer thee and thou hast throughly tryed them alas what silly frail and froward pieces are the best of men Then the knowledg which thou didst admire appeareth clouded with ignorance and the vertues that so shined as a Glow-worm in the night are scarcely to be found when thou seekest them by day-light VVhen temptations are strong how quickly do they yield what wounds have they given to Religion by their shameful falls Those that have been famous for their Holiness have been as infamous for their notorious hainous wickedness those that have been thy dearest bosome friends that have prayed and conferred with thee and helped thee toward Heaven and by their fervor forwardness and heavenly lives have shamed thy coldness and earthliness and dulness whom thou hast singled out as the choicest from a world of professors whom thou madest the daily companions and delights of thy life are not some of them faln to Drunkenness and some to Whordome some to Pride Perfidiousness and Rebellion and some to the most damnable Heresies and Divisions And hath thy very heart received such wounds from thy friends and yet art thou so loth to go from them to thy God Thy friends that are weak are little useful or comfortable to thee and those that are strong are the abler to hurt thee and the best if not heedfully used will prove the worst The better and keener thy knife is the sooner and deeper will it cut thy fingers if thou take not heed Yea the very number of thy friends is a burden and trouble to thee every one supposeth he hath some interest in thee yea the interest of a friend which is not a little and how insufficient art thou to satisfie all their expectations When it is much if thou canst answer the expectations of one If thou were divided among so many as each could have but little of thee so thy self and God who should have most will have none And almost every one that hath not more of thee then thou canst spare for all is ready to censure thee as unfriendly and a neglecter of the duty or respects which thou owest them And shouldst thou please them all the gain will not be great nor art thou sure that they will again please thee Awake then O my drowsie soul and look above this world of sorrows Hast thou born the yoke of afflictions from thy youth and so long felt the smarting rod and yet canst no better understand its meaning Is not every stroke to drive thee hence and is not the voice of the rod like that to Elijah What dost thou here Up and away Dost thou forget that sure prediction of thy Lord In the world ye shall have trouble but in me ye shall have peace The first thou hast found true by long experience and of the later thou hast had a small foretaste but the perfect peace is yet before which till it be enjoyed cannot be clearly understood Ah my dear Lord I feel thy meaning it s written in my flesh it s engraven in my bones My heart thou aymest at thy rod doth drive thy silken cord of love doth draw and all to bring it to thy self And is that all Lord is that the worst Can such a heart be worth thy having Make it so Lord and then it is thine Take it to thy self and then take me I can but reach it toward thee and not unto thee I am too low and it is too dull This clod hath life to stir but not to rise Legs it hath but wings it wanteth As the feeble childe to the tender mother it looketh up to thee and stretcheth out the hands and faine would have thee take it up Though I cannot so freely say My heart is with thee my soul longeth after thee yet can I say I long for such a longing heart The twins are yet a striving in my bowels The spirit is willing the flesh is weak the spirit longs the flesh is loth The flesh is unwilling to lye rotting in the earth The soul desires to be with thee My spirit cryeth Let thy Kingdom come or else let me come unto thy Kingdom but the flesh is afraid least thou shouldest hear my prayer and take me at my word VVhat frequent contradictions dost thou finde in my requests because there is such contradiction in my self My prayers plead against my prayers and one part begs a denial to the other No wonder if thou give me such a dying life when I know not whether to ask for life or death With the same breath do I beg for a reprival and removal And the same groan doth utter my desires and my feares My soul would go my flesh would stay My soul would faine be out my flesh would have thee hold the door O blessed be thy Grace that makes advantage of my corruptions even to contradict and kill themselves For I fear my fears and sorrow for my sorrows and groan under my fleshly groans I loath my lothness and I long for greater longings And while my soul is thus tormented with fears and cares and with the tedious means for attaining my desires it addeth so much to the burden of my troubles that my wearyness thereby is much increased which makes me groan to be at Rest. Indeed Lord my soul it self also is in a straight and what to chuse I know not well but yet thou knowest what to give To depart and be with thee is Best but yet to be in the flesh seems needfull Thou knowest I am not weary of thy work but of sorrow and sin I must needs be weary I am willing to stay while
Prince of Darkness who having taken them in his snares did lead them captive at his will They were once within a step of Hell who must be now advanced as high as Heaven And though I mention their lost condition before their predestination yet I hereby intend not to signifie any precedency it hath either in it self or in the divine consideration Though I cannot see yet how Dr. Twisses Arguments against the corrupted mass being the object of predestination can be well Answered upon the common acknowledged grounds Yet that Question I dare not touch as being very suspicious that its high Arrogancy in us to dispute of precedency in the Divine Consideration and that we no more know what we talk of then this paper knows what I write of VVhen we confess that all these Acts in God are truly one and that there is no difference of time with him Its folly to dispute of priority or posteriority in nature 3. That they are but a small part of this lost Generation is too apparent in Scripture and experience It s the little flock to whom its the fathers good pleasure to give the Kingdom If the sanctified are few the saved must needs be few Fewer they are then the world imagines yet not so few as some drooping Spirits deem who are doubtful that God will cast off them who would not reject Him for all the world and are suspitious that God is unwilling to be their God when yet they know themselves willing to be his people 4. It is the design of Gods eternal decree to glorifie his Mercy and Grace to the highest in this their salvation and therfore needs must it be a great salvation Every step of mercy to it was great how much more this end of all those mercies which stands next to Gods ultimate end his Glory God cannot make any low or meane worke to be the great business of an eternal purpose 5. God hath given all things to his Son but not as he hath given his chosen to him The difference is clearly expressed by the Apostle He hath made him Head over all things to his Church Ephes. 1.21.22 And though Christ is in some sense A Ransome for All yet not in that special maner as for his people He hath brought others under the Conditional Gospel-Covenant but them under the Absolute He hath according to the tenor of his Covenant procured Salvation for All If they will believe but he hath procured for his Chosen even this Condition of believing 6. Nor is the Redeeming of them by death his whole task but also the effecting of their full Recovery He may send his Spirit to perswade others but he intends absolutely his prevailing only with his Chosen And as truly as he hath accomplished his part on the cross for them so truly will he accomplish his part in Heaven for them and his part by his Spirit also upon them And of all that the Father hath thus given him he will lose nothing SECT II. BUt this is but a piece of their description containing Gods work for them and on them Le ts see what they are also in regard of the working of their own Souls towards God and their Redeemer again These people of God then are that 2 part of the â— externally called 3 who being by the 4 Spirit of Christ 5 throughly though 6 imperfectly regenerate are hereupon 7 convinced and 8 sensible of that 9 evil in sin 10 that misery in themselves that 11 vanity in the creature and that 12 necessity 13 sufficiency and 14 excellency of Jesus Christ that they 15 abhor that evil 16 bewail that misery and 17 turn their hearts from that vanity and most 19 affectionately 18 accepting of Christ for their 20 Saviour and 21 Lord to bring them unto 22 God the chief Good and present them 23 perfectly just before him do accordingly enter into a 24 Cordial Covenant with him and so 25 deliver up themselves unto him and herein 26 persevere to their lives End I shall briefly explain to you the branches of this part of the description also 1. I say they are a part of the Externally Called because the Scripture hath yet shewed us no other way to the Internal call but by the external For how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher All divulging of the substance of the Gospel whether by Solemn Sermons by writing printing reading conference or any other meanes that have a rational sufficiency for information and conviction are this preaching though not all alike clear and excellent The knowledge of Christ is none of Natures principles The book of the Creatures is no meanes alone much less a sufficient means to teach the knowledge of Christ. It may discover mercy but gives not the least hint of the way of that mercy It speaks nothing of God incarnate of two natures in one person of Jesus the Son of Mary of Christs Suretiship and suffering for us rising ascending mediating returning of two Covenants and their several conditions and the reward of keeping them and penalty of breaking them c. It s utterly silent in these things And to affirm that the Spirit calls or teacheth men where the word is not and where the Creature or nature speaks not is I think a groundless fiction There is the light of the eye and the light of the Sun or some other substitute external light necessary to our seeing any object The Scripture and certain revelations from Heaven when and where such are is the sun or external light the understanding is our eye or internal light This eye is become blinde and this internal light in the best is imperfect but the external light of Scripture is now perfected Therefore the work of the Spirit now is not to perfect Scripture or to add any thing to its discovery or to be in stead of a Scripture where it is wanting much less where the Scripture is But to remove the darkness from our understanding that we may see clearly what the Scripture speaks clearly Before the Scripture was perfected the Spirit did enlighten the Prophets and penmen of Scripture both wayes But now I know no teaching of the Spirit save only by its illuminating or sanctifying work teaching men no new lesson nor the old without book but to read with understanding what Scripture Nature Creatures and providences teach The asserting of any more is proper to the Enthusiasts if the spirits teachings did without Scripture or tradition reveal Christ surely some of those millions of poor blinde Pagans would have before this believed and the Christian faith have been propagated among them Or if the Spirit did teach them any step toward Christ upon the receiving whereof he would teach them more and so more and more till they resist this teaching which is the evading doctrine of some then sure
some of those Kingdoms of Infidels would have harkened to the spirits teaching and being taught would have taught others especially if there be a sufficiency in that grace for the obtaining of its end Therefore how to apprehend a verity in their doctrine of universal sufficient grace to believe I know not Yet will I not affirm that the faith that is absolutely necessary among poor Indians is of the same extent in all its acts and dimensions with that required among us no more then that required of the world before Christs coming was Upon what tearmes then God will deal with those dark parts of the world I cannot yet reach to know The scripture speaks of no other way to life but Christ and of no way to Christ but faith But we are not their Judges they stand or fall to their own master But sure that great difference betwixt them and us must arise from Gods own pleasure For they have not abused Christ and Gospel which they never heard of nor can it be that they should be judged by that Gospel which neither before nor since the fall was taught them Christ himself saith plainly that if he had not come to them and spoke the words that no man else could speak and done the works that no man else could do they had not had sin He saith not as some would pervert the sense your sin had not been so great But none at all not speaking of their other sins but their unbelief which he had now in hand teaching us clearly That where there is not competent meanes to convince men of the truth of the Gospel there not believing is no sin For it was to them never forbidden nor the contrary duty ever required And the Apostle tells us those that have sinned without Law shall be judged without Law That place therefore Rom. 2.16 seemeth abused while they would make the sense to be that God will judg the secrets of all men according to the Gospel as the sentencing Law when the Apostle seems to intend but thus much According to my Gospel that is as I have in my preaching the Gospel taught you respecting the verity of what he speak Yet I think that they will be Judged according to Gospel-indulgence as they have been partakers of some mercies from Christ in this life 2. That these people of God are but a Part of those that are thus externally called is too evident in Scripture and experience Many are called but few chosen But the internally effectually called are all chosen For whom he called them he justified and whom he justified them he glorified The bare invitation of the Gospel and mens hearing the Word is so far from giving title to or being an evidence of Christianity and its priviledges that where it prevailes not to a through-Conversion it sinks deeper and casts under a double damnation 3. The first differencing work I affirm to be Regeneration by the Spirit of Christ taking it for granted that this Regeneration is the same with effectual Vocation with Conversion with Sanctification understanding Conversion and Sanctification of the first infusion of the principle of Spiritual life into the soul and not for the addition of degrees or the sanctifying of the conversation in which last sence its most frequently taken in Scripture It s a wonder to me that such a multitude of Learned Divines should so long proceed in that palpable mistake as to divide and mangle so groundlesly the Spirits work upon the soul to affirm that 1. precedes the work of vocation 2. this vocation infuseth faith only say some but faith and repentance say others 3. then must this faith by us be acted 4. by which act we apprehend Christs person and by that apprehension we are united to him 5. from which union proceeds the benefits 1. Of Justification 2. Of Sanctification 6. this Sanctification infuseth all other gracious Habits and hath two degrees 1. Regeneration 2. Renascentiam or the new birth What a multifarious division is here of that one single intire work which is called in Scripture the giving of the Spirit of holiness of the seed of God in us Which seed or life doth no more enter by piecemeal into the soul then the soul into the body And though to salve the Absurdity they tell us the difference is in nature and not in time yet that is impossible For there is mans act of believing intervenes who must have time for all his actions besides the division in order of nature is groundlesly asserted It much perplexeth them to resolve that doubt whether in sanctification faith and Repentance be infused over again which were before infused in vocation or whether all other graces are infused without them Dr. Ames seemes to resolve it in the Affirmative that they are infused again but with this difference 1. That faith in our vocation is not properly considered as a quality but in relation to Christ. 2. Nor is Repentance there looked at as a change of the disposition but as a change of the purpose and intent of the minde but in sanctification a reall change of qualities and dispositions is looked at Answer Strange doctrine for an Anti-Arminian However you consider it sure the habit or disposition is infused before those Acts are excited Act. 26.18 Or else what need we assert any habits at all If the spirit excites those holy acts of faith and repentance in an unholy Soul without any change of its disposition at the first why not ever after as well as then and so the soul be disposed one way and act another and so the Libertines doctrine be true That it is not we that believe and repent but the Spirit Or if these two solitary habits be infused in vocation why not the rest And why again in sanctification Doubtless that internal effectual Call of the spirit metaphorically so called is properly a real operation and that work hath the understanding and will for its object both being the Subject of faith in which the Habit is planted and faith now generally acknowledged to be an act of both And surely an unholy understanding and will cannot believe nor is faith an act of a dead but of a living soul Especially considering that a true spiritual knowledge is requisite either as a precedent act or essential part of true faith All which doth also warrant my putting of this Renewing work of the spirit in the first place and placing Sanctification in the sense before explained before justification The Apostle placeth clearly vocation before justification Rom. 8.30 Which vocation I have shewed is the same thing in a metaphorical term with this first Sanctification or Regeneration Though I know the stream of Interpreters do in explaining that Text make Sanctification to be included in Glorification when yet they can shew no real difference between it and effectual vocation before-named Certainly if Sanctification precede faith and faith precede Justification then