Insults instead thereof 't will more than support them that they have done their part been Friendly and Bountiful as they were able and not deserv'd such usage from any I say not only these Advantages attend Beneficence where Men are so loosned from Self and the World as to be able to procure them and be Possessors of them but one far greater is still behind our Minds are improv'd and gradually carry'd on by the proper Acts of this great Gospel-Affection of Charity to farther Attainments of the Habit thereof and so still can admit of freer Communications of God's good Spirit or Grace into them which if they can admit be sure they shall enjoy These Advantages questionless in all respects the first Christians experienc'd who so bravely surmounted the intanglements of Property the great Bane of most Vertues among Christians and resign'd it up among all their Brethren equally distributing or bequeathing their Estates as every one had need more to others than they left for their own share if those needed more This Christian Principle moves the Man upon the generous grounds of Value or Esteem of his own Kind and Friendship towards it and as its Instances are repeated continually promotes that happy Temper in him as free from all Suspicions as private Designs As to the behaviour of Heathens towards their Brethren or whose Actions proceed not on the Gospel-doctrines such a Principle in their Soul all their Politics and Morals in this respect are influenc'd from a Jealousie of Humane Nature to fence as well as they can against Insults and Injuries and offer less Hardships to other People on this alone slavish score that they return not greater or retaliate upon them Good Humour and Benignity towards their Creator's and their own Image which acts the Christian is no Motive with them This is the Spirit of the Leviathan and other Materialists as I may so call them of the Epicurean Herd who have writ of Governments and put their Systems of Ethics upon us that have their Foundations in Sense only viz. Reason hindred as to its true prospects and warp'd by it And as to the Duties respecting God the Man thus retriev'd into the freedom of his Reason from its Servitude to Sense and thus capable of the Influences of the Spirit of Grace and thus enliven'd or quickn'd thereby he can easily bafle all the attacks of Atheism carry his Faith and Assurance above the Region of Matter believe an eternal Omnipresent Spirit no ways liable to Bodily Eyes and other Immortal Spirits likewise created by him that can only be the subjects of Reason and Thought one whereof he knows is lodg'd or confin'd within his feeble outside his Tabernacle of Clay and performs all the intelligent Acts there Discerning their reasonableness the relation they bear to the Nature of Man he will readily observe every Rule of the Gospel the strictest Precepts of Righteousness and Vertue and having purify'd his Mind by that means brought down the stubborn Principle of Flesh the Seat of haughty Conceit and Pride and no Interest of his laying cross to the most comfortable Notion of an Almighty Good and Just Being he will not only entertain this great Doctrine without the least diffidence but extremely triumph in it build all his Trust or Affiances upon it and make it the support of his whole Life whatever Circumstances he be concern'd among giving up his Assent to whatever is reveal'd after his Conviction of the Revelation it self tho' he no ways comprehends the internal Reason or Mode thereof as not only that one Spirit existing from nothing or without any Cause pervades the Universe is present in every part thereof to observe and govern all Events but that there are three complete Subsistences distinguish'd every one by personal Acts in the strictest unity of a spiritual Being This he is fully persuaded of being plainly deliver'd in the inspir'd Books notwithstanding that he cannot account for it by any Faculties he has the Carnal Part being well subdu'd as I observ'd before in which Arrogance is founded there is nothing to oppose God but the Mind presently submits to whatever he declares even concerning the unconceivable Mysteries of his Nature as every Creature that must needs be finite in its Powers the highest Seraphin thinking wisely and understanding it self will certainly do Such a Person so acting above the Principle of Sense and he only can be duly Conversant in Spiritual Exercises with a just Intention address God offer up a more fervent Supplication to him entertain himself suitably in Contemplation of him the study of his All-perfect Being or Nature as as he 's more deliver'd from the importunity of the Fleshy Appetites that so obstruct these blissful Instances whence he will enlarge the Faculties of his Soul thro' this right determination this due use of them that they shall be able to discern more of God in their own mere act while they attain their native Aspirings more Yet nevertheless but a small part of this Sacred Knowledge is thus obtain'd in this happy Person being so qualify'd in his own Temper the holy Spirit will diffuse himself freely upon him and still by farther improv'd Beams as this Christian Habit is more advanc'd till his own weak Faculties be as it were absorpt in the Rays of this Comforter and he only see and act thro' Him as far as God can reveal himself to a Virtuous Soul a Saint of His or work by him and produce the Fruits of Holiness in him consistently with the Freedom of a voluntary Creature that must have its Behaviour reckoned to it self This blessed Spirit will then be another vital Form within him wholy over-ruling his own Spirit which being more recover'd into its pure Nature and less subject to the will of the Flesh the Root of Disobedience or Corrupt Desire must be more easily governable by him under his Conduct in all things more securely led thro' his clearer Suggestions to every Instance of a Gospel-Behaviour So that such a Person may say with St. Paul 'T is not he that lives but this blessed Inspirer this Spirit of Christ that lives in him Gal. 2.20 This would be the circumstance of all Men if this gently operating but invincible might where it is duly comply'd withal were not hindred mainly as to most People altogether in some by unmortify'd Carnal Desires For this Heavenly Advocate our Lord obtain'd for us acting conformably to our free Constitution in still small Voices gentle Whispers to our Souls or Breathings upon them such as leave the Compliance entirely at our Pleasure and the Action our own with the Retributions belonging to it his workings can no ways possibly be perceiv'd among reigning Affections Appetites set in their full Strength whether to sensual Delights or Profits nor he attain any of his blessed Effects in those Persons where these are after such a manner as our Saviour tells us most part of People being such that the world cannot receive him
A Description of the Unregenerate and the truly Christian Temper or State IN A SERMON PREACH'D before the University of Cambridge ON COMMENCEMENT SUNDAY In the Forenoon June 30. 1700. By JOHN GASKARTH D. D. Sometimes Fellow of Pembroke-Hall now Vicar of Alhallows Barking London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss Orat. Catechet 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paed. l. 3. c. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.14 CAMBRIDGE Printed at the UNIVERSITY PRESS for Edmund Jeffery Bookseller in Cambridge 1700. Ephes II. 1. And you hath he quickned who were dead in in trespasses and sins THE Apostle applies this as a general Doctrine not only to the Gentiles but even to the best of those Educated under the Mosaic Discipline himself and his other Fellow-Apostles ver 3. which he likewise declares Tit. 3.3 The word Quickned here is not in the original Greek but the parallel place Col. 2.13 plainly proves that our Author had it now in his mind likewise that 't is well supply'd by our Translators Indeed we find it expresly set down nearer hand even in a continu'd Sentence with the Text and as it were a Repetition of it ver 5. So that we may be sure of our English rendring of these words And as on the one part they belong to all whether in a mere State of Nature or under the Legal Dispensation or those that rest in a formal profession of the Gospel only not being enliven'd by the Grace and Spirit that Christ purchased or as they denote on the other that smaller number of true Christians who from a sinful course of Life according to the corrupt desires of Flesh are recover'd by the Spirit of holiness Rom. 1.4 the great Life-giving Gospel-principle into a Vertuous Demeanour the proper Exercises of our reasonable kind Justice Godliness Temperance Humility in their most exalted Christian degree as the Text has this Latitude or Comprehension in it I shall first explain both these Phrases Dead in sins and enlivened or quickned which divide the two Worlds of Mankind the Ungodly and the Righteous pretenders only and true Believers and then proceed on proper Heads of discourse from them First then dead in sins or thro' their effect cannot here refer to this Animal Life tho' Death often in this sense a shorter period of this Animal-Life than our natural Frame would otherwise arrive at is the consequence of a course of Sin but dead in this place must have another relation to a higher Life and Nature in us which Sin destroys And that is indeed a Spiritual Sensation a just Perception and relish of the Soul as to its proper Objects while it exercises its Faculties more separately from Body that portion of Matter with which it is vitally conjoyn'd not in pursuance of sensual Propensions or â—nder the influence of these but retaining its Liberty or Dominion over them with the true Apprehensions at first given it and by this means chusing or determining it self to right Moral Instances it becomes more capable of the displays of Grace and is more freely acted by them This is the true Life of Man when his Reasonable part lives in him he judges and tasts by his Mind alone and his best Faculties and then enjoys the plentiful effusions and beams of the Spirit and so in His Light sees Light that is knows things with the fullest evidence even in the demonstration of this blessed Agent as I may so speak This true Life is destroy'd by Sin or Men are dead to it thro' the habits thereof while the Mind thus descends from its pure Acts and forms its Judgments only with regard to the Ideas of Sense and in confusion with them and so must also be depriv'd of the freer influences of Divine Grace by that means Now Quickned is when from this sunk this liveless State by a true Repentance and thro' the Communications of the holy Spirit the privilege of Repentance and strength to perform it being both purchased for us by the meritorious Sacrifice of Christ quickned is when from this sunk this liveless State we are thus restor'd to an uncaptivated use of our Minds the true Apprehensions the right Judgments belonging to them and have the Rays of Grace more freely acting our Minds or Spirits to deliver them more from the straitness of Sense enlarge their Capacities beyond themselves and carry them to several advances of Knowledge in the way of Godliness that could be no proper Acquirements of theirs or result from them however honestly prepar'd and exercis'd Thus we attain the utmost advantages of reasonable Creatures or become Christians indeed Let us now see how these two Principles which define the Unregenerate and the Regenerate State Dead in sin and dead to sin so frequent Phrases in the New Testament how each of these will act or operate in the several Obligations Mankind are under with respect to themselves the other individuals of Humane Nature their Brethren and God as likewise take notice of the Fates and Consequences that attend these both And this lower Principle when it determines or governs the Man only prompts to the pleasures of Sense as corrupt Nature has the strongest Byass or stands most inclin'd in several Persons Some it drives on to the grossest Satisfactions an eager pursuance of the Affections of Flesh Lusts properly so call'd That most war against the Soul most hinder its native Aspirings and Powers and even degrade it from the eminency of its Nature its Spiritual Kind that it can employ none of its Faculties on its proper Objects not even on the eternal Being himself whose Image it is and in Communion with whom its truest its chiefest felicity consists but only use them with respect to the Body wherein 't is so immersed to invent some new sensual Entertainments or more enjoy the experienc'd Instances of this Brutish sort or Apologize for them And this the Heathen World who had the Rules of Morality of their own making not being bless'd with Revelation an inspir'd Law true Reason declar'd and enacted by God affords us a dismal example of even in some who were of the most refin'd Thoughts the most rais'd Philosophy among them And 't would be well if many enjoying the advantages of the Gospel in an utter rejection of these advantages and despite of the Spirit of Grace too that more largely accompanies this Dispensation did not still both pursue and defend or maintain such wicked Courses And the reason of these Men is not only thus warp'd to patronize Sin and imploy it self in Fruitless searches of still some new sensual Delights the lawful and allow'd Instances whereof that are without Remorses also ever affording the greatest I say the reason of these Men is not only thus warped but in a great measure defac'd and lost while they so far consent give themselves up to Carnal Relishes confus'd Satisfactions arising from Body as both to destroy those Relishes or Satisfactions thro' too vehement Indulgence of
the Deity whatsoever his sufferings may at any time be who has such dark Apprehensions thereof no grounds of a sure Faith in God so as to enjoy the mighty supports that even the notion of an infinite Being of such Moral Perfections affords Mankind and who is also under such opposite Habits so quite contrarily dispos'd to him that he can no ways partake of him in his blisful Emanations that so freely descend on every Individual of the reasonable World where they are not repuls'd or where a right temper and frame of Spirit can receive them These are the Miseries that accompany an Unregenerate State if they were not rather to be felt than describ'd even in this World But the dismal Scene commences after here are some intervals of a pleasurable Entertainment such as the sensual Faculties afford and compensate Men withal in this state where their alluring Objects are and they can exert their proper Acts tho' these Pleasures be of an inferiour kind below the great Enjoyments belonging to Men and engage such Fatigues in the purchase of them and ever defeat our Promises from them and are so short liv'd at the best But when we come into the spiritual World where the Objects are of a refined Nature and require such Faculties and tasts in us the sensitive Scene being over and finish'd with its whole delights we must then be capable of enjoying God and living upon him in the pure Exercises that refer to him or else we must needs be miserable for ever But it must be by a habit of rectify'd Reason thro' the privileges of the Gospel a spiritual Sensation advanc'd in our Minds by a due Observance of all the parts of a Christian Vertue that these viz. our Minds can be able to exert their own Powers and follow the Tendences that are born in them perceive and relish abstractedly and freely from the infection of Body 't is this alone that can render us qualify'd and truly prepare us for that great Imployment our utmost felicity of Conversing with God and his dwelling in us or we in him 1 John 3.24.4.12 13. But this Principle is dead in profligate Sinners the contrary temper a sensual Habit not slain in the opportunity allow'd for that purpose possessing their Souls and therefore unless this can be mortify'd and the other reviv'd in our after Mansions which the Scriptures afford us no hopes of they being only alive to the things of sense and this World as they went off hence must ever be coveting quite unattainable Satisfactions there with bitter Resentments eager Remorses among vain Desires and shall be able to partake of no blisful Entertainments even when they are in the proper Region where these chiefly are This is the spiritual Death or Death of Sin when the first Propension of the Soul towards God is diverted and lost thro' Foreign Desires promoted in it from its Commerce with this gross Body its habitual pursuance of the Delights of Sense and its Communion intercepted with that only true beatifying Object that it cannot imploy it self upon him in a pure Contemplation of his boundless Attributes which is one part of the great Happiness of Intelligent Creatures nor admit his gracious Influences into it but standing quite in another Inclination to a sensual State now dismiss'd and gone that only had its Reason for our Probation a little while it will ever be hankering after these poor Vanities like the Israelites when they were remov'd from Egypt except as was intimated before its present habit can be chang'd even here in this second Life which is a Dependance altogether groundless nay which has the greatest Argument against it when People have neglected the accepted Time the Day of Salvation graciously offer'd them or except God in the effect of his infinite Goodness would render us happy as it were forcibly without our selves which is impossible the nature of Happiness being such that it must ever proceed from a voluntary Spring and free Actions in a reasonable Being tho' God declaring even his infinite Goodness in other particulars all with relation to this World and our attainment of Holiness here we may be well satisfy'd that such a forcible change of Mens Tempers if it could be would be no proper Instance of his goodness and that no Reserves thereof are to be expected afterwards This is the sad dismal State with the Infelicities that attend Mankind in both Worlds without the Benefits of a Redeemer and being Born again or Renew'd in the Spirit of their Minds thro' him What positive Punishment and to what degree may be poured forth on such Rebels to their Maker nay who have not only contemn'd his Authority but insulted his Mercy in Christ Jesus trodden under foot the Son of God and the Ransom he purchas'd with his own Blood we cannot define however we may be certain from the Expressions of Scripture whether literally taken or to denote Sufferings by Metaphorical Language that these shall be very grievous ones tho' if they should be our own Portion we must confess such Offenders deserve Let us now see how our Redeemer has deliver'd us out of this State and what we must contribute towards our complete our entire Deliverance from our selves as likewise how the Redeemed viz. true Christians will behave themselves and what their Happiness redounding thence must be And as to the Benefits we partake of from Christ we are fully assur'd that he Mediated for us who were in a State of Enmity with God by his own Blood offer'd himself a Propitiation and Sacrifice on our behalf the Dignity of whose Person he being as far exalted above all the Orders or Degrees of Angels as the Creator of them is and the voluntariness of the Oblation entring into the Atonement and adding an infinite Merit to it he not only procur'd us the Favour of God Remission our Pardon of all our Offences on the only possible Term of our Happiness a true Repentance but likewise obtain'd such Communications of the Spirit to be even a preventing Influence and conferr'd upon us without any Preparedness in our Tempers for them as the first Graces are so conferred according to the manifold Testimonies of Scripture Phil. 2.13 Eph. 2.3 4. 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 3.5 John 15.16 or else we could never be partakers of them in our fallen State And we may even demonstrate these from Experience we often find such workings in our Minds as could not probably proceed from them in the use of their own Faculties as Checks of Conscience then pursuing us while we are just about engaging in any unwarrantable Act and the Animal Affections being afloat overcome Consideration and will not admit of any sober Thought as likewise immediate Instantaneous Enlightnings sudden Admonitions cast into us concerning some important Duty or Behaviour whereas the progress of Reason is in a Chain of Things by Deductions or Inferences and the Lessons it teaches in the just and due Exercise of it self not as
it were a flash in our Minds as also Thoughts often long detain'd or continu'd on our Spirits and press'd upon them these still pursuing us with great Importunity towards some Instance of Vertue or to heighten our Remorse for some ill Behaviour when as our Minds so beset with the Affections of Sense are roving and inconstant and especially not apt to fix on a Pious Meditation and least of all on such as causes Trouble to them these so haunting our Souls and overcoming all the Pastimes of the World to remove them nay sometimes mastering our utmost Contrivance the whole command we have of our Wills against them and at last obtaining their happy Effect These with the other particulars at least must be thankfully acknowledg'd to the loving Spirit of God preventing us and as Convictions thereof And this blessed Spirit with all his saving Gifts or Influences is the Procurement of our holy Redeemer who by his so highly Meritorious Sufferings besides the Pardon of our Trespasses on the only true Term thereof John 7.38 Tit. 3.6 obtain'd such liberal Measures of Grace on our account to attend our smallest Endeavours with them nay even excite these first of all as if we fail not our Compliance with those Heavenly Succours will rescue us from the Power of our past Offences secure our Christian Behaviour or Vertues against every Temptation that shall at any time be permitted to befal us and while we duly peruse the written Revelation vouchsafed to us replenish our Minds with all Sacred Knowledge influential on Godliness every necessary Article of a Saving Faith We have these Advantages this common Treasure thro' our Lord's Mediation for all Mankind as it were extraneous or without our selves but which may be brought into the Faculties of our Souls and rendred an inward might of theirs if we please The Graces of the Spirit if we hinder not their force will enable us for the highest Exercises of Piety every inveterate Appetite of our Natures all the Assaults of Sin upon us must submit to him being allow'd to possess our Minds and display his infinite Efficacy in them that can only be resisted by our selves or the obstinacy of our Wills against him God will exhibit the same invincible Strength in us and along with us for Moral Purposes that he wrought in Christ after a Physical manner when he rais'd him from the Dead Eph. 1.19 20. Hence then being thus throughly furnish'd unto all good Works we must be sure to reduce these Heavenly Vertues or Powers into Act Crucify the whole Body of Sin the old Man after the Image of the disobedient Adam with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 so that we pronounce not of our Satisfactions nor establish our Notions and Estimate of Things thro' the Instigations of these or with respect to them we must thro' these gracious supplies afforded us that are only effectual in our Endeavours with them repress and keep under the Appetites of Body rescue our Minds from the most unnatural subjection to them that they may be able to exert themselves freely possess a clear Reason retriev'd and set at liberty from sensual Byasses which so being a right Conduct of Life and discerning things truly as far as its natural Sphere reaches will easily submit to the farther Enlightnings of Divine Grace that always both prevents us contributes to the forming of such a just Habit of intelligent Creatures and then more plentifully comes in with it Now this true Christian Principle our reasonable Natures or Faculties recover'd into their free Estate and then attended with more liberal or less interrupted Influences of Grace where it informs or directs the Man in respect of himself it prompts to the strictest Temperance or Purity even with regard to the inmost Propensions or Motions of the Heart that these ever be repress'd where they are enormous and being brought into Act would be a Transgression of the Gospel-Law It inspires a Man with the truest Thoughts both of the Entertainments or Delights of Sense and those relating to Mind that the one are mere Brutal Instances if some kinds of Intemperance be not worse than those without any Example in inferiour Creatures quite unbecoming a reasonable Being and that when the Soul once consents to such or entertains it self with polluted Phansies the Resolution of this our thinking Part one way or other being that which determines the quality of our Actions the Trespass is over in a right account there laying no difference between our allowing the luscious and unlawful relishes of Sense within our selves and the acting there of but the Contagion of the Fact or the Injury reflecting and redounding on others in the latter case and 't will suggest to us that the use of our upper Natures as independently as we can of their gross Companions the pure and abstracted Exercises of our Spirits on their right Objects being our suitable Acts or proper to our kind must constitute all our unallay'd Pleasures our true Delights And with respect to our Brethren who partake with us in the same nature it will incite an equal regard the same common Offices where opportunity is afforded to all of these that it would insist on in the nearest Interest or Instance of Self It helps a Man as it delivers him from the confinements of Sense to a true notion of the Grounds and Reasons of a general Beneficence or undistinguish'd Advantage where he is capable thereof as well to others as his own Soul not only that every Person stands in the same Prerogatives both with regard to the parts he consists of and the Gospel-Promises or the Heavenly Bounties he may enjoy if he pleases so that according to an equitable Verdict no Preference lays but because the Benefits we confer on others are more so on our own account reflect larger and better Advantages to our selves when we supply the wants of any in any respect there not only springs up a great satisfaction in our own Breasts the Results of Love the sweet the most delightful Passion of Joy as we have defeated the Afflictions of our Brethren in some measure at least afforded them a present Relief if not mended their case for afterwards which must needs communicate the same comfort wherever the true Christian Temper and Sympathy is not to reckon the Pleasure that so belongs to beneficent Persons of their being in the favour as they may well suppose and better regard of all People which gives them the confidence of their own Kind that they can freely address any of them and affords all the benefits of Converse and Society that Men are so made for that is so necessary in Humane Life with one another Or if because of their other Vertues all which are link'd in a Chain together so that one cannot really and in truth be without the rest the Reproofs these are in a wicked World they be disappointed of the due Treatment they might reasonably expect and meet only with
John 14.17 Now when we have arriv'd at this as I may say Science of God thro' our honest Compliance with the first Motions of Divine Grace as also faithfully pursu'd a Vertuous Attainment in every respect to purchase farther Measures thereof and so have obtain'd in these Heavenly Enlightnings a more convictive Assurance of his infinite Goodness so abundantly exemplify'd to us-ward his Fatherly Providence or care of us here and the everlasting Joys the Rewards he has prepar'd for our Christian Obedience after this frail State is ended when by this means we have arriv'd at these more enlarg'd notices of God and more fully discover'd that he is Love we must needs be induc'd these certain Conclusions laid up in our Minds cannot but have a prevailing Efficacy on Humane Liberty to a more vigorous and earnest Endeavour of a Gospel-Holiness if it were only in Gratitude to our great Benefactor that we should not offend him and not a means of our own Bliss which Gospel-Holiness will ever draw down more plentiful Influxes of the blessed Comforter the Spirit of Truth into our Minds in the same degree that it self is and ever augment this Science of God a Gospel-Knowledge and Vertue or Piety being mutual Causes of one another Let us now observe what attends this Christian Habit how it recompences Men for their Pious Diligence their Honest Labours in acquiring it what its happy Effects are And when our Actions answer the true bent the first inclination stampt on our Souls are under the direction of free Reason and the more plentifully display'd Beams of the Spirit when our Behaviour is thus govern'd in all respects how secure shall we be from every thing that can interrupt our Happiness whether the Disturbances that always accompany a sinful Instance in any particular a pursuance of sensual Affection too far or Diseases of Body or Remorses of Mind that immediately follow the sinful Instance or will not long stay behind especially this latter and worse sort that at least will awaken in another World if perchance thro' the deceitfulness of sin they be stifl'd here when being stript of all sensitive Delights we shall have nothing to afford never so little interruption to them But we shall not only be thus negatively happy by this means but as far as our Natures are Purify'd and Capable enjoy all the positive Degrees of Happiness every sensual Extravagancy repress'd every Allurement or Temptation repell'd founds a Satisfaction much above what results from our shameful Compliance with it which will be no momentary transient Business but ever endure and be a comfortable Reflection in our Minds The subjecting of our inferiour Natures and the government of our selves according to our best our reasonable Faculties and the holy Spirit influencing these must needs afford us the most pleasurable Resentment one of the chiefest the truest Happiness belonging to Men. But when these best Faculties of ours in the light of Grace are determin'd on their proper their most suitable Object viz. God towards which they can never move with too much Transport what a Theatre of Heavenly Thoughts will this offer to them or they be then furnish'd withal such as answer our Natures and can satisfie all the Capacities of our Souls and which will ever entertain them with fresh wonders while they are fixt on a perfection that has no bounds and can never be comprehended by created Beings And as to the quiet enjoyment of our Lives these farther Discoveries into this vast Ocean where there is still an infinite Prospect or Sight beyond viz. God how will they establish our Affiance in him render us secure in our dependence on him not only advance a resign'd temper or submission in our Spirits with regard to his sundry Methods with us but a chearful Obedience to his hardest Precepts tho' we should not discern the Reasons of either the one or the other because being then more fully persuaded of his both immense Wisdom and Goodness we shall be certain that he can order nothing in our behalf but with relation to our true advantage our chiefest good And with reference to Prayer the indispensable Duty of our sort of Creatures so frail so indigent as we are these clearer and farther notices of God can only support a true Devotion enable us to pray with a due Attention considering his awful his tremendous Majesty and for Blessings in general without determining him or particularizing upon him which always proceeds from some unsubdu'd Carnal-Affections that are ever most eager for their proper Gratifications such as we should continually be restrain'd from and so these will place us indifferent as we should be in the disposals of Heaven the special distributions of the Divine Foresight with respect to any of us that God sees most convenient for us or our present state most requires As these enlarg'd Evidences of God will abundantly satisfie us that whatever he does in our private Concerns every particular Dispensation of his to us-ward is determin'd from Goodness and the kind working of a Fatherly Love So they alone can furnish us with the Reasons of Thankfulness at all times and beget that pious habit in our Souls Now these assur'd Doctrines of a Soveraign Being which can only be advanc'd from a due conquest of the Fleshly Affections and the freedom of Reason especially imploying it self on the Inspir'd Writings and the more liberal the less hindr'd Influences of Divine Grace by that means seeing the natural and proper Effects of the love and benignity of our Heavenly Father are again open'd and let loose towards sinful Men thro' Christ Jesus these assur'd Doctrines of a Soveraign Being what grounds of undisturb'd Contentment and Happiness must they be in every state of this present Pilgrimage 't will be impossible that any Events should discompose us when we are firmly possess'd of these several Articles of Faith in God But then still farther as we more put forth these proper Duties of Faith in him Prayer Affiance Resignation and the like we form our selves more into his Image or Similitude and become more capable of his pure Emanations the only true Light and Wisdom proceeding from him and he actually too displays these more in our Minds that we shall apprehend and know thro' them that is with respect to the reveal'd Truths which only are of true concernment to us much above the reach of our own Faculties or what they could attain in their best state by any Improvements they are capable of these reveal'd Truths being the most important Objects of our Knowledge will appear more evident and brighter to our Souls in the Beams of the Spirit more plentifully diffus'd or acting upon them when by means at least of some degree of a suitable frame a more advanc'd Gospel Temper there is less Impediment to those Heavenly Shinings Whence our principal Thoughts our main Desires the Themes of our Converse the delights we take in the Society of our Brethren will
being fully deliver'd by such Miraculous Testimony as cannot reasonably be deny'd so that those who will not be induc'd in the exercise of their Freedom to study this Revelation which God be thanked he has given us in Writing and observe or practice the Terms of their Happiness it proposes can never certainly be prevail'd upon by any other Courses that Heaven can design nor do I mean that this Spirit should dictate words to People which perhaps he never did either to Prophets or Apostles only presenting a Scheme of Divine Truths to their Minds but leaving the Language to themselves to be express'd according to their different ways of Education and the prevailing Temper in them as we may observe their Figures and Stile ever answer'd these I say I do not mean that the Spirit should dictate words to People enable them to speak even the known Doctrines or Rules of the Gospel after an Extempore manner which would supersede their own Faculties and probably be an occasion of their Neglects in Heavenly Knowledge as it would greatly administer to Spiritual Pride and Contempt of others both which we may see the example of in a sort of Men among us that only conceit these things of themselves But my meaning is that the Spirit communicates such Light and Grace such clearer Informations of all saving Truths with respect to the Understanding such stronger Motives towards the rectifying of the Will upon our compliance with the means afforded us our due perusal of the Sacred Volumes the Dictates of this Spirit our honest Endeavours in the ways of Godliness according to the Precepts deliver'd in those Volumes as will secure us from any dangerous Error in point of Doctrine and enable us against all our evil Affections for every Vertue of a Christian Life we ever obediently following his Guidance and comporting with him This I mean by the larger Gifts of the holy Spirit in a Gospel-state that being dispens'd on our due Concourse with his first Motions a Vertuous Temper by that means after some measure obtain'd in our Minds they are only in order to our farther attainment of that Temper to afford our infirm lapsed Natures proper Assistances for that end not to operate in fluent Discourses or particular Revelations when we already have a complete Book given forth by this Spirit of our Faith and Practice that is of our whole Duty what God enjoyns us or is requir'd of us in the nature of Things with regard to our eternal Bliss and especially we cannot suppose this holy Inspirer thus to operate after this manner where Men imploy not their main Industry do not diligently Meditate in this Heavenly Book which Moses with respect to the Old Testament commanded his Charge the Israelites to do Night and Day Deut. 6.7.11.19 nor prepare their Minds by a more eminent degree of Gospel-Morals or Holiness of Life as some People who must be Conscious of their Defects in both these Instances unreasonably maintain of themselves and others that they are enabl'd whether to Preach or to Pray and I am apt to think as much without Fore-thought or Study too as the Apostles were And then as to this Doctrine of Habits the establishing the Spiritual Life the Heavenly Felicities and Joys upon them which I all-along here do as I do likewise the more liberal Gifts of the blessed Comforter in our Souls tho' this may not possibly be admitted by all but a pure Obedience not as it any ways disposes us for them accounted the Term of those great Rewards yet this Doctrine I think however it may be rejected plainly appears to be the Import of the Gospel-Law as this is not satisfy'd with outward Performances Opus operatum bare Acts of Obedience but every where condemns such giving them their deserv'd Stile of Hypocrisie when they are alone and requiring a compliance of the reasonable part a reconcilement of the Heart to its several Precepts that these be observ'd or conform'd withal in our very Thoughts which would be quite a needless Discipline unless an inward frame thus attainable were necessary for the Graces our Lord purchased the Joys he proposes And besides our blessed Saviour expresly says he repeats it to us that we must be born again or else we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 1.13.3.3 5. that is as he explains it we are to obtain a new Nature quite in opposition to the Desires of Flesh have another Temper advanc'd in our Spirits according to the Mind and Will of God so as that we may be capable of his Heavenly Bliss And the Apostles frequently tell us in Emblematical Phrases with reference to Christ that we must put off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh be altogether dead to them buried with our blessed Redeemer in Baptism when taking upon us his holy Profession we are to renounce those abominable Practices and likewise thro' the Faith of the operation of God his Almighty Power declaring it self in our honest Endeavours We must be raised with him to righteousness of Life Col. 2.12 Rom. 6.3 That we must crucifie the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts whatever proceeds from that evil Principle Gal. 5.24 that we being Dead as Christians should be to these Worldly Enjoyments and our true Life hid with Christ in God we must mortifie the Members of our Unregenerate Man which are set upon the Earth Earthly Interests or Pleasures there recounted by that Apostle Col. 3.3 5. This old Man we are injoyn'd again to put off which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and to put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.22 24. Col. 3.9 10. we must be transform'd by the renewing of our Minds Rom. 12.2 All which places being so many Testimonies of the holy Spirit besides the plain Assertion of our Saviour evidently set forth that 't is something beyond a mere Obedience which duly distinguishing may be accounted the Effect thereof where sincerely perform'd from just Motives viz. a Habit of Piety as our Minds are recover'd from the Affections of Body a Spiritualiz'd Temper with such sort of Appetites or Desires in it that disposes Men for their eternal Bliss not the pure Instances of Obedience only which may possibly be perform'd even habitually too thro' a kind of Mechanism or for sinister Purposes without any amendment of Spirit or reformation in the Soul the sensual Nature with its proper Offspring still being the reigning Principle in such Persons And the Apostle expresly confirms this that it must be a Habit of Christian Purity a Triumph or Mastery over the Desires of Flesh that founds the Disposition for our true Happiness declaring likewise that an Indulgence of these lower Appetites is the Genuine Cause of our eternal Sufferings the fruitful Parent or Seed-plot of our Miseries whence they naturally spring To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and Peace And again if ye live