whole Society of Believers that he may present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and to beautifie and adorn them as a Bride for such a Husband as Jesus Christ is and will appear to be in the day of the manifestation of all his glory that he may not be ashamed to own them for such And thus we see another of the ends for which Christians receive a greater and more constant presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit after they believe than they did before is to fit and prepare them for greater glory and happiness than the lowest degree of performing the condition of the promise as at the first will make them capable of We will now a little consider in what or wherein the Holy Spirit doth assist the Believers when they grow up thereby unto more perfection in the Christian life One of the first things I conceive he does is to stir them up to and to assist them in making prayers and supplications unto Almighty God for the working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight For although God be ready to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ yet not without being sought unto to do it for them And accordingly they are promised but upon that condition Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Matth. 7.7 Otherwise it will fare with them as it did with those S. James speaks to James 4.2 Ye have not because ye ask not Now to the end therefore that Believers may receive such an increase and growth in all divine Vertues as by means whereof they may live as becomes the Gospel and be made meet for the celestial glory the Holy Spirit doth assist them to make requests according to the will of God and helpeth their infirmities when otherwise they know not how to pray as they ought Rom. 8.26 27. Almighty God poureth on them the Spirit of grace and supplication as the Prophet speaks Zech. 12.10 He helps them not onely to pray for such things as they ought but also in such a manner as they should to wit with a great sense of their own wants and of their own unworthiness to obtain and of the worth and excellency and defireableness of those spiritual blessings they pray for He helps them to pray with seriousness and devotion of soul and with an humble fervency accompanied with sighs and groans which cannot well be uttered by them many times He helps them also to pray in faith concerning the goodness of the nature of God and his readiness to give and to forgive and concerning the prevailing intercession of Jesus Christ our blessed Advocate God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba Father enabling them in their Addresses to God to depend upon him as their Father and humbly to expect to be used and dealt with by him in all respects as a Father while they resolve and endeavour to carry it toward him as his children And when the Holy Spirit enables them to pray thus they may be said to pray in the Holy Ghost as Jude 20. to make prayers and supplications in the Spirit as Ephes 6.18 And when the Holy Spirit hath thus holpen the Believers to seek those things of God which pertain to life and godliness grace strength and ability to overcome corruptions and temptations and to live a sober righteous and a godly life then the Holy Spirit in way of return to such prayers doth assist them in their endeavours in the use of means to attain those things they have begged of God This we are well assured of by our Saviour himself when we compare his saying as related by S. Matthew with the same as related by S. Luke In Mat. 7.11 he saith If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Or how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith S. Luke 11.13 From both which compared we learn that God is most ready and willing to give those that seriously ask them out of a sense of their want of them all graces or gracious qualifications and dispositions of soul necessary to their pleasing of God by giving them his Holy Spirit to work them in them Or that by giving them his Holy Spirit he gives them all those good things because when the Spirit is given unto men it is to work those good things in them by way of assistance This might be shewed in particular instances I shall mention some When we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts when weeleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit when we mortifie the deeds of the body it is still by the help and assisistance of Gods Spirit that it is done Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gods Spirit in his Servants lusteth against the flesh as the flesh doth against the Spirit it draws a contrary way and therein prevails against the flesh The flesh calls upon men to be gratified in this and that in things either unlawful in themselves or in that degree which is unlawful But the Spirit calls upon us by exciting thoughts in us to mind and regard our souls and by no means to wrong them by disturbing their peace or hazarding their safety to gratifie the flesh with momentary pleasures which will leave guilt and trouble upon the mind when they are vanished and gone themselves And the Spirit by frequent prevailing herein comes at last to kill this itch in the flesh Again when the Believers minds and wills become more and more reconciled to their duty and to be in love with it in all the instances of it both towards God and towards men it is still through the help of the Holy Spirit that they are so 1 Pet. 2.22 Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit That they obey the truth in what it requires it is through the Spirit strengthening and quickening them thereto by making the motives thereto present to their thoughts In 2 Chron. 30.12 it is said that in Juda the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. The hand of God upon the heart as well as the word of the Lord by the ministry of men is that by which mens wills are bowed and inclined to what God commands He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him saith the Apostle 1 John 3.24 Our keeping the commandments is an eviderce of Gods dwelling in us because it is the effect of his presence with us to assist us therein he argues from the effect to the cause Again it is the effect of the Holy Spirits presence with Believers and of
his operation in them when their minds and spirits become purified and refined from inordinateness of affection and unruliness of passion until by degrees they are brought in some good measure unto a likeness and conformity to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ whose Scholars they are They that are joined to the Lord are one spirit They mind love hate and design the same things which our Saviour doth They participate of that love gentleness benignity and goodness which was so eminent in him the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 by which means they come to be in the world as he was in the world as S. Johns phrase is Hereby saith S. John we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Joh. 3.24 It is so like him that it must needs come from him and if it be in us it is because he dwells in us If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 When we love one another as Christ hath loved us when we are merciful as our heavenly Father is mercciful his love and goodness is so resembled by us as that it is perfectly discernible in us Moreover the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be with them to strengthen them with resolution and courage to hold on their course of holy living and cleaving faithfully to Christ notwithstanding all opposition and discouragement they may meet with from the World in doing so To this end they are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 For God hath not given them the spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 And not onely so but the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be always with them to maintain and uphold in them a comfortable and chearful frame of spirit and so to keep them from fainting when they are called to suffer for the sake of our Saviour or his truth or doctrine And it is doubtless from this effect among others of the Spirits abiding with the Believers that he is stiled the Comforter And for the same reason principally the joy which they have amidst their sufferings for righteousness sake is called the joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.6 having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost And well may it be called the joy of the Holy Ghost because solid joy under such circumstances can proceed from no other cause but the Holy Spirits operation It is not the manner of the World as it is with Believers to rejoice in affliction in wrongs and injuries and hard usage from men but the contrary because they have no principle in them out of which such a thing should proceed And therefore our Savior saith to his Disciples My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Joh. 14.27 The Holy Spirit can raise joy yea great joy in the souls of the followers of Christ when they suffer never so hard measure from the hands of men so long as they know it is for their faithfulness to their blessed Lord and Master who hath suffered and done so much for them as he hath done The Spirit of God can so order their thoughts within them that they shall not look upon themselves as disgraced thereby but as highly honoured by their Master by giving them both opportunity and courage to do him that honour when his adversaries would cast reproach and shame upon him and his Cause and all that appear for it And thus the Apostles when they had been beaten departed from the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus their Lord Acts 5.41 The Holy Ghost can suggest to them also that a great deal of good by such sufferings may be done to others in causing them to think the more and the better of the Christian Religion when they see with what chearfulness the Professors of it can suffer for its sake When the Thessalonians received the Word in much affliction and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost they became thereby ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia and from them and their deportment in suffering for the Gospel the word of the Lord sounded out not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place their faith was spread abroad and talked of 1 Thess 1.6 7 8. It was this joyous deportment of the primitive Martyrs in their sufferings that tended so greatly to the increase and enlargement of the Church as History relates it did The Christians then were enabled to glory in tribulation of this kind in as much as they were guided to consider that this patient enduring without repining would give them experience of their sincerity and fidelity in cleaving to Christ and then this experience would give them hope such as should not make them ashamed through any disappointment but great confidence towards God of being accepted Rom. 5.3 4. And not onely so but also touching the greatness of the reward which is laid up in heaven for such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Upon account whereof our Saviour bids them to rejoice and to be exceeding glad yea to leap for joy in that day when they should be persecuted for righteousness sake and have their name cast out as evil and the like When the Christians were enabled to suffer the spoiling of their goods yea and of their lives too not onely with patience but also with joyfulness when they were as sorrowing and yet always rejoycing whence was this And how can it be imagined that they should ever be able to do and to be so but that they were strengthened with all might according to Gods glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness as S. Paul speaks Col. 1.11 The Spirit of God and of glory then rested upon them as the other Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.14 How came S. Stephen to stand with such an undaunted courage before the Council as if his face had been the face of an Angel Why it was because he was full of the Holy Ghost he had a mighty presence of the Spirit with him to enable him thereunto S. Paul learned by experience that as his sufferings did abound for Christ so his consolations by Christ did abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 that when he was weak then he was strong that he had a mightier presence a more powerful and comfortable influence of the Holy Spirit in times of great trials and sufferings for Christ than he had at other times And this experience of his made him so far from being afraid of suffering that for the sake of that wonderful comfort which was wont to come along with suffering he was rather glad when suffering came than any way dejected and cast down for it 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Most gladly therefore will I
hath carried us up to a good degree towards perfection He is still working in us to will and to do that is to will better and to do better by assisting us so to do and if we do but work too as he expects we should by making use of his assistances to work out our own salvation the great business of of our Salvation will go on prosperously This I doubt not is the truth which lies in the middle way between the two contrary extreams of Pelagianism on the one hand and the opinion of Irresistible Grace on the other into one of which men will be in great danger to fall if they do not understand the Nature and Terms of Divine Assistance The right understanding and due consideration of this Doctrine of Divine Assistance is very necessary also to make us all thoroughly sensible how much the work of grace from the beginning to its greatest growth and perfection depends upon the Divine aids Though it is not Gods Method to convert men without their own endeavours and use of the means appointed and vouchsafed by him yet the success of such endeavours depends upon the concurrent operation and influence of the Spirit of God Paul may plant and Apollos water and We likewise use our endeavours but yet it is God that gives the increase and causes them to prosper Nay it is God who by his Preventing Grace does first excite in us that from which all our endeavours of this nature do spring for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Whatever therefore our endeavours may be and how excellent soever the External means are which are vouchsafed us for the begetting or increasing of Grace yet it is not safe to depend upon these for either otherwise than as they are means by which God conveys his Grace to us but upon the gracious and powerful operation of God by those means And that is the reason why in the use of all means we are to seek unto God by Prayer for somewhat beyond what he hath put into the means or instruments of Grace onely as such Hence building up our selves in our most Holy Faith and praying in the Holy Ghost are joined together Jude 20. What made the Gospel to make so strange an alteration in the World on a sudden as it did in the minds and manners of men upon its first setting forth after our Saviours ascension but that mighty presence of the Spirit that accompanied it unto the minds of men We cannot say it was onely because of the Miracles that kept pace with it which yet were wrought by the power of the Spirit For how little did the numerous and marvelous Miracles of our Saviour prevail though he spake also as never man spake until the time came that the Spirit was poured out in greater abundance as well on the Hearers as on the Preachers of the Gospel The Apostles in their spiritual Warfare did indeed pluck down strong holds cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God but it was because the Weapons of their Warfare were mighty through God that is through the mightiness of his operation that went along with them 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And as the sense of how much the Work of Grace depends upon the Divine Assistance proceeds from the knowledge and consideration of the nature of it so our Application to God and Dependence upon him for it depends upon the same knowledge and sense also For unless men have some knowledge and sense as of their need of Grace and of the necessity of their performing the condition of the Promise in order to their obtaining the benefits promised so unless they have some sense also of the necessity of Divine Assistance to perform that condition and of the terms on which they may have it they will neither desire these things nor use Gods appointed means to obtain them nor depend upon him for them in the use of means But by how much the more sense they have of their need of these things and of Gods willingness to assist them in the use of means for the obtaining them and of his willingness to confer them upon such terms by so much will they apply themselves to God for them and to the use of the means by which he conveys them and in doing so depend upon him for them And by how much they do thus by so much they are likely to be filled with the Spirit and to be taken out of the spirit of the World and to be acted by another Spirit and to have their hearts lifted up in the way of the Lord. For the Holy Spirit will most certainly be given unto such who out of a sense of their great need of it and of its excellency and usefulness do earnestly beg it of God and depend upon him for it in a conscientious use of that assistance they have already received For our blessed Saviour hath assured us that the Heavenly Father will much more and much sooner give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it than earthly parents will give good gifts unto their children Luke 11.13 I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me saith the Wisdom of God and is truly applicable unto the Spirit of God Prov. 8.17 And by how much we are made sensible that all our Christian performances depend upon the Divine Assistance by so much the less we are in danger of trusting in our own strength or of attributing them to our selves and by so much we are likely also to ascribe them all to God and to say with David of thine own we have given thee and with the other Prophet Thou Lord hast wrought all our works in us and accordingly to love and to praise him for all his aids And lastly The knowledge of the Doctrine of Divine Assistance is of great use likewise to animate and hearten us in the way of our duty against the discouragements we meet with in it from the difficulties of performing it and oppositions against us in it For by the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning Divine Assistance we are assured that if we do but in good earnest set about our duty in performing the condition of the Promise our ability to perform it will increase upon our hands They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and to him that hath more shall be given and he shall have abundance And by how much our strength doth increase through the Divine Assistance by so much the work will grow more and more easie and the difficulty wear off That which is with difficulty done by one while he hath but the strength of a child will be done with ease and pleasure when he grows towards the strength of a man And although we meet with opposition and temptation to turn us back again after we have set out and usually the greatest
the Nations running in unto him it is because Almighty God hath glorified him exalted extolled and made him very high as the same Prophet speaks chap. 52.13 When men perceived that the God of Heaven so far approved of what Christ had taught done and suffered in the World as to reward him for it with such power and glory this procured from them a belief of his doctrine and put a great reputation upon it it raised in men also a great expectation from him as from one that was very well able to prefer and reward his friends and followers as he had promised he would We find that the sending of the Holy Ghost the pouring out of the Spirit in those greater measures foretold by the Prophets was deferred unto this time of the glorious exaltation of Christ So saith the Evangelist S. John 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified And the reason hereof was that he might have the honour of sending him and of dispensing the assistances and manifold gifts of the Spirit and thereby convince men that he was the same which he always declared himself to be the Son of God sent down from Heaven If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he shall convince the World of righteousness because I go to the Father and ye see me no more John 16.7 8 10. Convince the World of righteousness that is he should convince them that Christ was no deceiver as they accused him to be here on Earth but the true Messiah Son of God and Saviour of the World as he had declared himself to be while he was here in the World And this our Saviour says the Holy Ghost should convince the World of because of his going to the Father that is by the Fathers receiving him up into glory after his resurrection and placing him there in royal Majesty This our Saviour says the Spirit should convince the World of when he was come from him and the event plainly declares how For within a few days after our Saviours ascension into Heaven and his enthronation there he sends down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles that preached in his name and were his witness and upon others also that believed in his name enabling them by the Holy Ghost to speak and do such things as by hearing and seeing of which great multitudes were presently convinced that Jesus was the Christ the true Messiah and Saviour of the World about three thousand of them being baptized into this Faith the very same day in which the Holy Ghost was thus sent by Christ For S. Peter discoursed to them of this wonderful event thus Acts 2.32 33. This Jesus of whom he had been speaking hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear The end and design of all which was to convince men that Jesus is the Christ of God which was done by convincing them that God had thus exalted him and given this power of doing these wonders by the Spirit he had sent For that is the use S. Peter drew it to Verse 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Now this sending of the Holy Ghost was so necessary to qualifie the Apostles for the great work of converting the World by preaching Christ and his doctrine and for the procuring credit to be given to it that our Saviour would not have them so much as set upon it or go about it but commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with this power from on high Luke 24.49 And the preaching of the Gospel under this qualification was doubtless the preaching it in demonstration of the Spirit and of power which S. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 2.4 Now by this we see how those assistances which men receive in believing and so in performing the condition of the promise do depend upon the Fathers giving all things into the hands of the Son and how for that reason the Father gives such as have been preparatively assisted by him unto the Son to be compleatly assisted to perform the condition of the promise And indeed the reason why so many turned to God in so little a time after Christs exaltation than ever was known before was because those assistances then dispensed by him were more and greater than ever were vouchsafed the World before And lest any should be discouraged or think their condition worse than indeed it is for that we have no such external assistances by the sending of the Holy Ghost as men in those primitive times had let this one thing be considered That the Christians now are as really assisted by that sending of the Holy Ghost which was in those times as those were who lived then supposing the truth of the History of it of which there is no cause to doubt For we have the same Gospel as they had and that under the same evidence by which it was demonstrated to them to be from Heaven and that the then glorified Jesus was the author of it And we may as truly be said to have Christ and his Apostles now in respect of external assistance as the Jews in those times were to have Moses and the Prophets For we have the same doctrine which Christ and his Apostles preached and many of the same miracles which they wrought to confirm it transmitted down to us by their writings and unquestionable tradition and the Jews had Moses and the Prophets no otherwise in our Saviours time when he said they had Moses and the Prophets The miracles of the Apostles then wrought the same effect procured the same belief of their doctrine in many that onely heard of them by credible testimony as they did in them that saw them done We see our Saviour upbraided his Disciples for not believing matter of Fact when testified to them by credible eye-witnesses Mark 16.14 And he said to Thomas blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed And when S. John had written a History of some of the signs or miracles which our Saviour did he says these are written that men might believe John 20.30 31. By this he supposed his written testimony of what he had seen and heard to be a competent ground of faith in others and S. Paul saith Hold fast the tradition which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle 2 Thess 2.15 But although it is not necessary that the same miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit should be repeated in every Age to convince men that Christ who was first crucified is now advanced to the throne of his glory and hath the power of sending
the Holy Ghost to confirm the doctrine which was preached in his name by them who proved their mission from him by signs and wonders and mighty deeds which were done in his name though as I say the repetition of these be not necessary in every Age this having been done once for all in one Age as S. Jude speaks of the Faith once delivered to the Saints yet the inward assistance by the Spirit to cause the external assistances to operate the more effectually upon the mind is still necessary and is still continued in the Church For in this respect our Saviour by his Spirit as well as by his word is with his people always to the end of the World as he promised he would and as he promised his Spirit likewise should I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth John 14.16 It was this presence of Christ I conceive which S. Paul desired might be and continue with Timothies Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit In this part of my Discourse concerning Divine Assistance I have endeavoured to shew that our Lord and Saviour hath the power of dispensing Evangelical and Spiritual Assistances committed to him by the Father and that that is the reason why the Father is said to give such to the Son as have heard and learned of the Father And now this high advancement of the Son and his having all power in Heaven and Earth given to him leaves no place for us to doubt of his ability to assist those to the uttermost who do not make themselves uncapable of it by refusing to make use of it and of the Fathers preparatory assistance And truly all such have no more reason neither to doubt of our Saviours willingness to assist them than they have of his power if these few things following be but duly considered 1. That Kingdom Glory and Greatness forementioned and the power of dispensing aids and assistances is given by the Father to the Son for this very end among others that he might use and manage all for the bringing men such as the Father hath given him to perform the condition of the promise in repenting in believing and obeying the Gospel Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins The father advanced him to that high honour and dignity that he might be a publick good to mankind in assisting them to perform the condition of the promise as he had been before by his humiliation for the obtaining of the promise upon that condition that so he might be a compleat Saviour in saving us as well from sin in the power and pollution of it as from the guilt of it He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill or fulfil all things Ephes 4.10 That he might fully dispence and bestow whatever is necessary to the perfecting of the Saints and edification of the body of Christ The Apostle having said in chap. 1.20 21. that God having raised Christ from the dead set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this World but also in that which is to come and having put all things under his feet then in Verse 22 and 23. he says he gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He did not onely give him to be the Head of his Church but to be Head over all things to the Church to the use and benefit of the Church for the fulness of this power of his in the issue and benefit of it runs in to his Church for whom he received it and in respect whereof the Church is his fulness in a passive sense for it is he that filleth all in all as S. John saith of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace John 1.16 such a fulness as holds some proportion with the fulness of such a head all the fulness wherewith all and every one of his Church are filled is derived from him it is all of his silling and that as he is Head of the Church and Head over all things to the Church For he is not onely a political Head to the Church to govern it by Laws but such a Head also as resembles a natural head by way of influence conveying by his Spirit a vital and quickning power unto all the members to enable them to obey those Laws The whole body hath from this head nourishment ministred as S. Paul shews Col. 2.19 Upon which account S. Paul could say I am able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me But without him as our Saviour told his Disciples ye can do nothing Now if all this fulness all this power we have been speaking of was given to the Son was put into his hands for that end that he should use it and manage it in aiding and assisting those whom the Father hath given him to perform the condition on which pardon and eternal life are promised there is no question to be made of his willingness to use it to that end especially when we further consider that which follows 2. For in the second place he is as faithful as he is able faithful to use the fulness of his sufficiency for the ends and uses for which he received it He is faithful to him that appointed him in all his house Heb. 3.2 Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 All saith our Saviour that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 When he was leaving the World he could with all confidence say unto his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. And if he did thus in the day of his humiliation and temptation it cannot be thought but that he will likewise finish what the Father hath given him to do now in the day of his exaltation and power Why do the holy Angels sing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength but because he faithfully useth them for those noble and worthy ends for which he received them Rev. 5. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and received gifts for men saith the Psalmist Psal 68.18 he then gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 When upon his glorious exaltation he had received the promise of the Father to wit the power of sending the Holy Ghost he presently pours it out upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 what he receives for us he will be sure to communicate to us If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the
2.10 And so the Gospel hath proved to be especially to those who have been prepared to receive it by being concerned in their own minds how they should do to be saved Thus when our Saviour preached the Gospel first in Galilee it is said that then the People saw a great light and to them who sate in the region of the shadow of death light was sprung up Mat. 4. So such as were pricked in their hearts through a sense of guilt and danger gladly received the Word which brought them tidings of remission of sin through Christ upon Repentance Act. 2.37 42. Thus again when the Gospel was first preached in Samaria it is said there was great joy in that City Act. 8. The Gentiles also when they had the Gospel first preached unto them at Antioch they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord Act. 13.47 The Gospel was not so welcome to all where it came and what was the reason it was not as well as to others The reason was because they had not learned by the Fathers teaching as some had done but stifled the operations of natural light in their minds and had laboured to lay their Consciences asleep again after at any time they had been awakened by God They laboured to put thoughts about their future state out of their minds because they found them troublesom unto them They closed their eyes and stopped their ears against any thing that tended to awaken them But all did not so but remained thoughtful about their future state after death when God once had awakened them by strong impressions of natural Religion to be concerned in their own minds about it And they were such as these who were wont to receive the Gospel and believe it when it came among them As we see for instance in those Gentiles to whom Paul and Barnabas preached Acts 13.48 For it is said of them As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Or as others from the Greek read it As many as were disposed to or for eternal life believed that is as I after others understand it As many as were ordered or whose thoughts were ordered and minds disposed for eternal life that is to look after eternal life these were the People that believed And indeed the Gospel was design'd in chief as it should seem for those whose hearts and minds are bruised or broken with fears and cares about their Salvation For thus run the words of that Prophesie which was fulfilled in the Publication of the Gospel by Christ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Luke 4.18 19. Which is true not onely in respect of those that are bruised and broken in heart with godly sorrow for sin but also in respect of such whose hearts and minds are bruised and battered with fears and terrours in reference to that misery to which they stand exposed for sin And it is further considerable to our purpose that those which our Saviour invites to come to him and promiseth them rest if they do are such as labour and are heavy laden that labour under and are laden with anxious thoughts and cares about their future state for they are a wearisom burden to the mind Mat. 11.28 And again If any man thirst let him come to me and drink saith our Saviour John 7.37 and let him that is athirst come Rev. 22.17 to wit such as lack and long for some cooling and refreshing to their minds and spirits which are heated and inflamed with anxious thoughts and cares about the condition of their souls for the future when they shall leave the body For this Invitation is made to such as were not yet come to Christ had not yet truly believed in him For a true belief in him quencheth this kind of thirst And therefore our Saviour saith he that believeth in me shall never thirst John 6.35 And again Whosoever drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst John 4.14 This water when once well drunk of quencheth that flame which before burnt up the spirits Again to shew what preparation of mind is necessary to make us prize Christ when offered and willing to be governed by him in order to our cure and ease consider that saying of our Saviour Mat. 9.12 The Whole need not the Physician but the Sick to wit such as are ill at ease in their own minds for that is the meaning of the Metaphor I conceive Other than such have not a sense of their need of a Physician nor will care to be governed by his Methods of Physick Which was the reason why our Saviour chose rather to be among Publicans and Sinners than Pharisees for those being more sensible of their obnoxiousness to Gods displeasure than the Pharisees were who trusted in themselves that they were righteous were better prepared to receive the Gospel than the Pharisees were Which appears by that saying of Christ to them Mat. 21.31 Verily I say unto you that the Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before you Thus we see how the teaching of the Father by impressions of natural Religion upon the mind prepares men for a belief in Christ and a receiving his Gospel as they come thereby to be convinced of their guiltiness and of their obnoxiousness to the displeasure of God thereby and to be concerned in their own minds about their future state after death 2. I am now in the second place to shew how the teaching of the Father by natural Religion prepares Men for a belief of the Gospel as they come thereby to a sensible discerning of the nature and tendency of moral righteousness and goodness Men are taught by natural Religion that it is a thing good in it self and well becoming them to adore and worship God the author of their Being and to seek unto him in all their needs to be just and faithful and kind one to another And they know and find by experience that when they most observe to do so they have most ease in their own minds Their Consciences never trouble them for any thing of this nature these things when they do them do not make them afraid of God as things of a contrary nature do Such as these are things about which mens thoughts do excuse them as the Apostles phrase is Rom. 2.15 And men find a vast difference between excusing and accusing thoughts These do not draw men before the Judgment Seat of God before the Judgment Day does come as accusing thoughts do Now the stronger sense men have of the excellent nature of moral righteousness and goodness and of its peaceable and comfortable effects upon the mind the better prepared they must needs be to
him Rom. 7. By all this we may understand what S. Paul meant when he said that the Law entered that the offence might abound Rom. 5.20 that is that the offence in the evil nature and mischievous effects of it might be more abundantly known and men made more sensible of their sad condition by reason of it and that for this reason among others that grace might so much the more abound in the sight of men when the way and means of escaping that condition should be made known to them Where sin abounded grace did much more abound This state of theirs under the Law was that state of the spirit of bondage to fear whereof S. Paul speaks Rom. 8.15 But then this prepared the way of the Gospel by making that which tended to remove those fears the more acceptable To you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings saith the Lord speaking of his sending Christ among them Mal. 4.2 he came with healing to those souls which had been bruised and made sore before by fears and terrours that did arise in their minds out of that darker state of the Church wherein the way of salvation by Christ was more obscurely revealed But besides this by the promise they had of the Messiah and by the types and shadows of him in the Law and by the many predictions of the Prophets concerning him the Lord prepared them for the reception of him when he was come The Law in these respects was a Schoolmaster to bring them to Christ as the Apostle speaks Gal. 3.24 The many precepts of moral righteousness and goodness also wherein they were instructed out of the Law and the Prophets prepared them likewise to receive Christ for the true Messiah when he was come indeed for this reason viz. because of that harmony and good agreement that was between our Saviours precepts of living and what they had been taught before both by natural light and by revealed Religion superadded to it By this former teaching of the Father some of them became such Sheep as our Saviour said his Father had given him John 10.27 29. It was by vertue of this preparatory teaching of the Father that they knew the Shepherds voice when they heard it By this they could distinguish between the voice of the true Shepherd or Messias and the voice of Strangers the voice of hirelings Because the doctrine of our Saviour agreed with that way of righteousness which they had learned by the teaching of the Father as none others did that were but pretenders It was this that made such of them as had heard and learned of the Father to come to Christ to follow this Shepherd when they heard his voice that is to become his Disciples And yet more particularly John the Baptist was sent by the Almighty Father to prepare them by his Ministry for their reception of Christ and believing in him It was foretold by the Angel before his birth that he should make ready a People prepared for the Lord Luke 1.17 and by a spirit of Prophecy at his birth that he should go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way Vers 76. which he did by two things especially by awakening them to repentance and by giving them notice of the near approach and appearance of the Messiah He came into all the Countrey about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Luke 3.3 The People of the Jews were in great part become such a generation as Solomon speaks of that were pure in their own eyes and yet not washed from their filthiness Prov. 30.12 strict observers of the Ritual part of the Law but very immoral in their temper and in their lives full of a self-chosen righteousness their fear towards God taught by the precepts of men to wit the tradidition their Elders They were not sensible of the badness of their state their obnoxiousness to the wrath of God nor of their need of repentance in amending their lives And under these circumstances a Christ that should come to save them from their sins was not like to be very welcom unto them nor to answer their expectation who looked to be saved from the Roman Yoke by the Messiah but not from their sins Now that our Saviour might not lose the end of his coming amongst them John the Baptist was sent before him to convince them of their bad condition of their guilt of sin before God and of their liableness to his wrath That whereas thitherto the judgments upon their Nation even the worst that had befallen them had been but like the lopping of branches from off the trees that would grow again But now the Axe was laid to the root of the trees to cut them quite down never to grow again that the utter ruine of their State Nation and Temple was not far off if not prevented And that nothing could prevent it but confession of sin and bringing forth fruit meet for repentance Now this raised a spirit of fear in them of the wrath of Almighty God which hung over them for their sins which made such multitudes to come to his Baptism to confess their sins and by his Baptism to list themselves as Penitents And by this teaching of the Father they were the better prepared to receive Christ when he came especially when pointing to him he told them this is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World that sin of theirs which exposed them to such danger and that put them in such fear as aforesaid And who were the Ring leaders in opposing Christ when he was come but the Pharisees Lawyers and Scribes such as rejected the counsel of God against themselves and would not be baptized of John They were such as were never prepared by a sense of their sin and of the danger they were in thereby but trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others They were such as thought themselves so whole as to need no such soul-physician as Christ They did not believe as the Publicans and Harlots did that they were in any such danger by reason of sin as John told them they were and that was the reason why they kept themselves out of the Kingdom of God whilest the others entered in as our Saviour told them Mat. 21.31 32. Verily I say unto you that the Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you And he gives the reason of it in the next words For John came to you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and the Harlots believed him Those who did believe John and were awakened with a sense of their danger because of sin they crouded as it were into the Kingdom of God while that impression lasted From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force saith our Saviour Mat. 11.12 If
is need of a Divine Power to work some cure upon the Eye of the mind to discern aright concerning the things of the Gospel David had some sense of this upon his mind when he prayed thus unto God Open thou mine eyes that I may behold the wondrous things of thy Law Psal 119.18 The Disciples had not right notions of things revealed by the Scriptures concerning Christ until our Saviour opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures Luke 24.45 When the Veil is taken away so that men with open face behold the glorious things of the Lord in the Gospel it is by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Though the hope of the Christians calling and the riches of the glory of Gods inheritance in the Saints are revealed in the Gospel yet S. Paul knew for all that that there was need of having the eyes of the understanding inlightned to know and discern what those are and therefore prayed unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for it in the behalf of the Ephesians c. 1.17 18. And if these Christians after they believed stood in need to have the eyes of their understanding further enlightned by God in order to a more clear and full prospect of the gloriousness of the Hope set before them for the strengthening and encouraging them to persevere and hold out in their obedience to the Gospel then doubtless they much more stood in need of some enlightning by God in this kind to enable them at first to begin to be sincerely obedient In the dark men are apt to mistake one thing for another so before this illumination of the mind by the Spirit of God they are apt to call evil good and good evil to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter to chuse evil under the notion of good and to refuse good under the notion of evil But when the light of the Law and Gospel are let into the mind by which every thing is discovered and discerned in its true shape and colour then Sin and Vertue appear to be what they are in their own nature sin to be sin indeed and vertue and goodness to be vertue and goodness indeed Then sin appears in the turpitude deformity and malignity of its nature and in its tendency to the ruine of the subject in which it dwells and righteousness vertue and goodness appear in their beauty and usefulness and in their tendency to the happiness of such in whom they dwell For instance Before this illumination men are apt to mistake the doctrine of the grace of God which brings salvation and to think they shall be saved because Christ died for sinners and because they believe he did so especially if they be but now and then troubled in their minds and sorry for their sins and do pray God to pardon them though they still continue in them But when the eyes of their understanding are opened to see things as they are and are represented in the Gospel then they perceive none shall be saved by the death of Christ what ever their belief may be but such as shall be persuaded by the great motives of the Gospel to be reconciled to God by being reconciled to their Duty throwing down the weapons of their rebellion and becoming universally sincerely obedient to his government according to the Laws of Jesus Christ This illumination of the mind by God contributes so much towards mens performing the condition of the promise that the whole of their conversion is sometimes meant in Scripture when but this only is mentioned Heb. 10.32 3. Another part of the Divine Assistance afforded unto men in performing the condition of the promise is the Holy Spirits operation upon the will to assist it in what is proper to it in performing of the condition of the promise For what ever sense there is begot in men of the danger they are in by reason of sin or whatever illumination is wrought in the mind touching the way and method laid down by God of escaping that danger yet until the will be changed and wrought to a firm resotion of complying with the terms on which the promise of pardon and life through Christ is made the work is not done the person is not regenerate nor in a regular capacity of enjoying what is conditionally obtained by Christ and conditionally promised through him Men are not begotten of God nor born of God as the Scripture speaks of some that are they are not begotten by the word of truth nor born again of the immortal seed of the Word until the change be made in the will as well as in the understanding and when ever it is made it is the effect of a divine operation It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Now in that assistance which is vouchsafed unto men in renewing them in their wills in working in them to will several things are to be considered 1. The Holy Spirit disposeth the Will to be passive in reference to those notices given by the enlightned mind and understanding touching those things which have been discovered to it by the Gospel through the illuminating operation of the Spirit upon it The Will having been accustomed to busie and exercise it self about other objects such as the senses have presented to it things that concern onely this present world and life it will hardly suffer any passage for heavenly and divine things which are strangers to it without some divine operation of the Spirit to incline the will thereto or to open a passage for them Which is done I conceive by suspending the evil influence which the will had upon the understanding in keeping or with-holding it from considering with any seriousness and frequency the things that concern the soul and another life And if the understanding be but at liberty seriously and frequently to consider such things as well as those that concern onely this present life the will then cannot but see and taste them to be better because the mind and judgment in such case cannot but represent them to the will as much better and as things wherein the happiness of our nature is much more concerned than in any than in all the things of this world God in taking off the will from the foresaid bad influence it had upon the considerative faculty takes away the heart of stone the Scripture speaks of For the heart of stone which God said he would take away signifies the inflexible temper of the will and the resistance it makes against the understandings taking those things into serious consideration which tend to persuade the will to alter its purposes and to alter its choice of objects Mens not considering things that concern their souls and another life when yet they can and do consider things that relate to the animal life is justly imputed to the faultiness of their wills they do not consider them because they will not
towards their believing or by enabling them to believe at first Before men repent believe or begin to obey they have the Spirit at work in their minds indeed to suggest to their thoughts and considerations things of highest concernment to them and to incline them to look after them in time and before the day of grace and salvation is over and gone He then at times stands at the door and knocks and strives with every man and vouchsafes to such more and more of his assistance until they are enabled to believe who do not make fast the door against him but rather open to him and refuse not to be led on by degrees The more they attended to the teaching of the Father by his Spirit and the nearer they came to believe indeed the more frequent visits they had from him and the more assistance But after they have followed on so far and become so teachable as to believe indeed and sincerely to give up themselves to his conduct then he communicates himself more freely and more constantly to them than ever before in divine influence and assistance to root and establish them in the Christian Faith and Life and to carry them on further and further towards perfection This secondly is set out to us in another vein of Scriptures viz. such as speak of Gods dwelling in true Believers and sincere Christians and of their being the temple of the Holy Ghost of which nature are many texts Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 1 John 3.24 and 4.13 16. By all which is signified the more constant residence of the Holy Spirit in and with men after they believe and become true Christians to assist them in their great affairs for their souls and another World as one that is never long absent from them but ready at hand at all times to help them in doing their duty and to overcome temptations unless by grieving him they cause him to withdraw himself If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 This giving of the Holy Spirit to sincere Christians to be always with them as his dwelling in them implies is not onely to help and assist them to persevere in doing onely so much as will entitle them to pardon and life barely as their performing the condition of the promise though but in the lowest sense of performance will do But Gods design in giving his Spirit to them after they have perform'd the condition in the lowest sense is to fit and prepare them for greater degrees of blessedness and glory for a higher and more glorious exaltation therein than a bare performance of the condition of the promise in simple consideration and in the lowest degree of performance will well bear Our Saviour came as he says that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance John 10.10 not barely to save us but to exalt us to such a height of glory that the glory and blessedness of his Body the Church might hold some good proportion with his own glory and blessedness as Head of it And to encourage true Christians to endeavour to excel in holiness and goodness in order to this there are other conditional promises made besides that of pardon and life upon condition of faith and repentance simply considered To such as give all diligence in adding to their Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity so that these things be in them and abound the promise is of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 And he that humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.4 Besides the Vessels of Mercy will hold more or less glory according to their different capacities in grace and service as they are made larger or lesser By how much the more near Christians come to Christ in goodness by so much they are qualified to be the more near to him in happiness and glory But still as I say this greater and more constant presence of the Spirit is given to true Christians after they believe to carry on this great and glorious design of grace towards them to take them out of the spirit of this World and to lift them up in holiness and goodness thereby to make them capable of the greater glory and happiness To make this plain and familiar to our thoughts let it be considered that upon mens unfeigned believing follows immediately their adoption As many as received him to them he gave power right or priviledge to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 This is a very great advancement indeed and holds some proportion to that deep humiliation our Saviour underwent to prepare our way to it Now those whom God adopts to be sons those he adopts to be heirs also to his great inheritance and glorious estate so saith the Apostle if children then heirs heirs of God yea joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 This being their happy case the blessed God and Father who hath adopted the Believers for his children and heirs gives them his Holy Spirit to be always with them puts his Spirit within them to tutor and discipline them and to give them thereby such breeding as may sit and prepare them for so high a relation and for so glorious an inheritance as that is which he intends to settle upon them Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 Saint Paul having spoken of the happy state which he with other the Believers expect and long for after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle in which the soul now dwells 2 Cor. 5. saith in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit His giving them his Spirit to sit them for that inheritance is an earnest or pledge that he does really intend to bestow it upon them When he saith He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God we hereby see that it is the work of God by his Spirit to frame frame and fashion the Believers for that magnificent estate in the next World which is prepared for them and to which they are adopted This work of God upon them is to make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Gal. 1.12 These Believers are those Vessels of Mercy whom he thus afore prepares unto glory Rom. 9.23 It is the benevolent work and business of our Lord and Saviour by his Spirit so to sanctifie and cleanse the
rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong Their hope that God would make good to them his exceeding great and precious promises was at such time raised very high made lively vigorous and strong by the Spirit of God Rejoycing in hope saith S. Paul in one place abounding in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost in another Rom. 12.12 and 15.13 When the Holy Ghost did put forth himself did exert his power in raising the Christians hope it is no marvel then if they did abound therein that is that their expectations rose very high were vigorous and strong and very affecting filling them with such joy as over-topp'd and in a great measure swallowed up the sense of their sufferings And thus I have endeavoured to shew how the Spirit of God doth assist the Believers to do more than meerly to persevere and hold out in performing the condition of the promise under the sorest trials and greatest temptations to the contrary for it enables them to glory and rejoice under them and so to be more than conquerors to fight the good fight of Faith to finish their course to keep the Faith and all in order to their laying hold of eternal life To conclude then this matter all these and other like assistances influences and consolations of the good Spirit of God by which the Believers are prepared for glory are I conceive the things meant by S. Paul by that Communion or rather Communication of the Holy Ghost which he in his Apostolical benediction seriously desired and invoked in the behalf of the Christians when he dismissed them thus The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion or communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 For as he wished them the comfort and benefit that flows from the grace or charity of our Lord Jesus Christ expressed in his Mediatorial performance and from the love of God from which that did proceed So he did likewise the communication of those assistances and graces of the Holy Spirit by which they might be enabled to do their part in performing what was required of themselves in order thereunto CHAP. VIII Cautions against mens depriving themselves of Divine Assistance by running into two contrary extreams HAving thus far shewed as well as I could what assistance men receive from God in performing the condition of the promise of pardon and life it will be necessary now to add something by way of Caution 1. To take heed not to deprive our selves of those benefits for the attaining of which these assistances are granted nor of those assistances themselves by neglecting to do what God expects we should do towards the working out our own salvation as we shall if we neglect to fall in with these assistances by endeavouring to do those things for the accomplishing of which these assistances are afforded us The very notion of assistance implies in it that those who are assisted by God are not meerly passive in performing the condition of the promise for the performance whereof these assistances are vouchsafed us but some way active in that performance God doubtless does expect when he hath awakened in men a sense of their danger by reason of sin and hath set before them what he hath done and Christ hath done to rescue and deliver them from it and what must be done by themselves to make them capable of the blessed effects of our Saviours performance in obtaining pardon and life and what assistance they shall have to that end if they will but truly endeavour to do what they can do towards it I say when God hath set all this before them he expects that they should put forth themselves in endeavours tending towards the performance of the condition of the promise He expects they should think on and consider those things which he sets before them and at least out of regard to their own safety to be moved thereby to make use of the means tending to enable them to perform the condition of obtaining pardon and life and to be doing what they well can do towards that performance Doubtless such expressions in Scripture as I shall now set before you cannot signifie less than this Ezek. 14.6 Thus saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from your Idols Ezek. 18.30 Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Vers 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel Ver. 32. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live Can all these expressions can mens repenting and turning themselves and their making them a new heart possibly signifie less than real endeavours to do so Again Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves unto the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts Acts 2.40 Save your selves from this untoward generation And all the precepts exhortations and persuasions in Scripture to repent to believe to obey are of the same signification Such for instance as Acts 17.30 But now God commandeth all men every where to repent Chap. 2.38 Repent and be baptized Chap. 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted and the like These Scriptures imply and suppose that men can do something towards repenting towards turning themselves and making them a new heart or else we must suppose that God commandeth presseth and persuadeth men to do that towards which he knows they can do nothing The latter of which to suppose would be to suppose the Scriptures to make the same bad representation of God with the slothful servant in the Parable viz. that he is a hard Master expecting to reap where he hath not sown and to gather where he hath not scattered And who would not abhor to fasten that upon God which is not consistent with the goodness of a man We know what it signified in Pharaoh to require the full tale of Brick when he did not give the people Straw wherewith to make them And God forbid we should represent the good God to our selves in the likeness of Pharaoh Besides for any to say that men are wholly passive in performing the condition of the promise is to lay a temptation upon themselves and others not to endeavour to perform it nor to do any thing towards it For who will attempt to do or endeavour to do that which they believe impossible to be done by them And for men not to endeavor to do what they can towards the performance of that condition is the directest course they can take to deprive themselves of that assistance from God by which they might have performed it For from him that