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
Imprimatur Geo. Thorp Rever in Christo P. D. D ne Gulielmo Archiep Cant. Ã Sacr. Dom. Febr. 18. 1678 9. A DISCOURSE OF Divine Assistance AND THE METHOD thereof Shewing what Assistance Men receive from God in performing the Condition of the Promise of pardon of Sin and Eternal Life By W. A. Phil. 2.12 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Mat. 13.12 Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance LONDON Printed by M. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in S. Pauls Church-yard 1679. THE PREFACE TO THE READER MVch indeed hath been written of the Divine Assistance in parts and upon occasion of handling other doctrines such as Repentance Faith Regeneration c. But yet I cannot say that much hath been done by any entire and set Discourse upon this Subject especially not upon Gods preventing grace and preparatory assistance which yet is one branch of the whole and hugely necessary to be well understood and considered Vpon which account I cannot but think that something further of this nature though but vulgarly done may be of good use to Vulgar capacities who can better understand this great Doctrine when they see the parts put together and how they relate to and depend one upon another than otherwise they can And therefore the better to prepare the Reader for the ensuing Discourse I shall instance in some few things to shew the usefulness of a clear and distinct understanding of the Nature and Method of Divine Assistance and the terms on which it may be expected And first touching the Method of Gods assistance It is endeavoured in the following Discourse to shew that God by his preventing grace usually begins with men in assisting them towards performance of the condition of the promise by raising in them a sense of their guilt and danger and by awakening their fear and all to stir them up to apply themselves to the remedy For Fear being a most powerful principle and spring of Action when any thing strong will if any thing will put them upon endeavours to provide for their own safety But if men be ignorant and unacquainted with this Method of Gods assistance they will be in much danger of taking these first operations of God upon their minds to be but like other thoughts which come and go there without being much taken notice of or else but for a fit of Melancholy to be withstood and striven against and so unawares they may quench the Spirit under the notion of removing Melancholy thoughts Whereas if they were made sensible of the Nature of Gods Preparatory Assistance they would probably be more afraid to slight such working of their thoughts lest in doing so they should slight the warning of God himself and the safety of their own souls The knowledge of this Method of Gods Assistance serves also to direct those who labour the conversion of souls and to help on the Work of Repentance in men frequently to inculcate upon the minds of Vnreformed Sinners such arguments and considerations as are apt and proper to make them sensible of their guilt and danger and to awaken their fears For when by their doing so these applications from without by the Word meet with Gods applications to the mind by his Spirit within the operation will be so much the more powerful and the more likely to prevail And because men are too apt to discharge themselves of such fears as much as they can by some vain and delusive reasonings in their minds and because a resolution to become new men hereafter though they delay it for the present is one of them therefore to prevent this the greatness of the folly and the greatness of the danger of such a delay should be strenuously urged upon them as a Folly so great that the folly of those that see their whole Estates or their Lives in apparent danger and yet do not make all the haste they can to secure them is no folly in comparison of this For they are not onely in danger thereby of being eternally lost by being snatched away under such a delay but also of being deprived of all Divine Assistance for the future although they should live never so long For from him that hath not i. e. hath not used that which he first had shall be taken away that which he hath saith our Saviour Bad men are apt to flatter and deceive themselves with this opinion also viz. that they have no power to be better or to perform the condition of the promise nor never had and that they cannot be better till God give them of his grace to be so by giving them more power to that end than ever yet he gave them and that it is not consistent with his Mercy nor with his Justice neither to destroy men for not doing that which he never gave them power to do from both which together they are apt to conclude themselves in a safe condition especially considering that Christ died for them though otherwise they are apparently vicious in their lives But if they would but understand the Method and Order of Divine Assistance and the Nature and Terms of it they would find themselves under a great and dangerous mistake For the very Reason which they urge as part of the ground of their confidence of the safeness of their condition viz. that it is not consistent with the Mercy nor with the Justice of God to destroy men for not doing that which he never gave them power to do is a strong Argument to prove that he doth give such men whom he destroys before he destroys them power to do that for the not doing of which he doth destroy them and consequently that he hath given such bad men as reason as aforesaid power to have been better and that therefore the mercifulness of God can be no security to them of not being destroyed until they become better If this were not so it would follow that either none should perish or that it is inconsistent with the Mercy and Justice of God that they do according to the tenor of these mens reasoning Both which are equally false and the latter blasphemous also And therefore it is a deceitful and absurd way of reasoning for such men to conclude that the reason why they are no better is because God hath not given them power to be so It is true indeed God hath not given power unto men that are bad to have been better necessarily and unavoidably for if he had they could not have been so bad as now they are Nor do I say that God hath given such men an immediate power to do all that which belongs unto a compleat performance of the condition of the promise but he gives them a remote power to do it by giving them an immediate power to begin it And if they do
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
indeed they were prepared for their receiving of Christ against he should come by principles of natural and revealed Religion and some of the Gentiles by principles of natural Religion onely But how can this concern us Christians who have prevented the need of any such preparation for receiving Christ by having received him already as having been taught by our Parents from our Childhood to do so when they taught us all the Articles of the Christian Faith Yet we who live now after Christ is come are as much concerned to be prepared for a saving reception of Christ by the same temper of mind as they were who lived before his coming Our Saviour hath said it That no man can come to me except it be given unto him of my Father John 6.65 And again No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him ver 44. And if this be true with respect to all men then of us who live in these days as well as of those who lived when Christ first appeared in the World For our Saviours words we see contain an universal proposition No man to whom it is not given of my Father No man whom the Father which hath sent me draweth not can come unto me He does no more limit his assertion to those who did precede than to those who do succeed his coming There is no doubt but a sense of our obnoxiousness to the displeasure of God and the sad effects of it in another World upon the account of sin is as necessary now as ever it was to prepare and dispose men heartily to receive Christ because it is by this sense on our minds that Christ is looked upon as the most suitable good and consequently as the most desireable good as I shewed before It is by means of this sense when any thing strong and affecting that Christ becomes precious unto men as he is to every one that believes To you that believe he is precious saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.7 A true sense of the danger we are in by having provoked the great God against us gives great disquietness to the mind until we come to know that that displeasure is taken off and the danger we were in thereby removed And it is the sense of this danger that makes Christ precious to us when we come to understand that we cannot escape this danger but by him and when we find that pain removed by believing in him which the sense of danger before put us to And it is this sense that prepares the soul to receive Christ as Lord as well as Saviour by that time the Gospel is well opened to men And the reason is because they understand thereby that none can have the benefit of that Atonement and satisfaction made by his death but such as are content to be governed by him in their lives and to yield obedience to his precepts that none can be saved by him that refuse to become sincere Disciples to him And they will find it no unreasonable thing for them to obey his Precepts and to imitate his Example when they understand that to do so is in effect but to abandon those sins which created so much trouble in their mind before by making them liable to and by putting them in fear of the eternal wrath of Almighty God The sense of that danger their sins had exposed them to and of that anxiety of mind they were brought into thereby will prepare the mind and dispose the will to receive Christ as Lord and to obey him in forsaking those sins so long as they are well assured that then and not till then they shall be pardoned through his bloud and so be discharged from those fears of the wrath of God which had given them such uneasiness of mind before And when they have found the difference between the ease of mind and peace in the Spirit which they have by their knowledge of Christ so long as they obey him and the sad thoughts dark and doubtful apprehensions misgivings of mind and storms in the spirit which sin had wrought and raised in the soul before it will then make them out of love with sin and afraid to have any more to do with it And thus you see according to the reason and nature of the thing how useful and necessary such a sense is as I have oft mentioned to prepare and dispose men to go to or to receive Christ when he is made known to them by the Gospel and that as well now under the Gospel as before if by receiving Christ we understand such a receiving as is saving But otherwise men may and doubtless do without any such sense as is effectual to its end not onely profess belief in Christ but also really believe in him with an inoperative ineffectual and dead Faith And to the end we may yet farther see how necessary such a sense in men of their danger as I have been speaking of is to prepare and dispose them to come to Christ in good earnest and to believe in him with all their heart I shall shew it you by the method which our Saviour and his Apostles used in their preaching Both he and they insisted mainly in the first place in order to mens conversion upon such doctrines as tended to beget in them a great sense of their danger by reason of guilt upon them And this they did by preaching Repentance by which as I shall presently shew they laboured to beget such a sense in men Our Saviour began his Preaching with this Mat. 4.17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And so did his twelve Apostles when he sent them out by two and two They went out and preached that men should repent saith S. Mark 6.12 When the Author to the Hebrews gives a summary account of the first Principles or beginning Doctrines of Christ Repentance from Dead Works is not onely one of them but is the first of all in order Heb. 6.1 S. Paul gave this account to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus both of the method and substance of his preaching publickly and from house to house when he told them that he had testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ First Repentance then Faith Repentance for sin and from sin and then Remission of it through faith in Christ Now in thus preaching Repentance in the first place they laboured to possess men with a strong sense of the danger they were in until they did repent For that was the great Argument or motive by which they persuaded them to it We knowing the terrour of the Lord we persuade men saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 5.11 Thus our Saviour taught the People that so long as they did not repent and reform though it should cost them the cutting off their right hand and plucknig out their
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
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
did they must first fight the good sight of faith and then lay hold of eternal life It is he that overcometh that shall inherit all things Rev. 21.7 For men not to stir up themselves not to gird up the loins of their minds to sight their way through to Heaven but to resolve to be onely passive under pretence that the Captain of our salvation might have all the honour of the Victory would be much what as ridiculous as it would be for Souldiers in an Army to say they would leave it wholly to their Captain General to fight for them while they sit still that he might have all the honour of the Victory The ability of God and our Saviour to save hath no other limits save what his will directed by his infinite wisdom hath put upon it but the divine will hath so limited this power that the promise of Crowning is not made but to such as through striving overcome All the promises and assurances we have of Divine Assistance are to encourage our diligence and industry in working out and carrying quite through the business of our salvation and to overcome all that doth oppose us or which any way tends to hinder us in it Of this nature is that of S. Paul Phil. 2.12 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Gods working in us his readiness to assist us is given as the motive and argument to persuade us to work out our own salvation If we do but put forth our selves to do what we can in doing our duty though it be with fear and trembling when we consider our own weakness and the strength of the enemies we are to encounter and overcome in doing so we are assured of this for our encouragement that if we do so we shall find an inward and secret assistance from God to fortifie our resolutions and to bring the same to good effect so that all our spiritual enemies shall not be able to hinder us but that we shall still hold on our way and grow stronger and stronger as Job speaks of the righteous and he that hath clean hands God will not fail to add more strength to our willing and doing in carrying on the work of grace and so of salvation to a greater height and more perfection if we are but faithful in endeavouring it our selves Be of good courage and God shall strengthen thine heart saith the Psalmist Psal 27.14 The motive wherewith to persuade men to be of good courage and firm resolution in the way of their duty is we see because then God will strengthen their hearts that is will yield them more and further assistance and by that means make their duty more and more easie to them as it must needs be to the same degree their strength is increased by which it is to be done The Lord is so ready nay so certain to assist his servants in their faithful endeavours to do their duty that they may be as sure of it and as much depend upon it as if they had it in their own power And therefore St. Paul exhorted the Christians to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes 6.10 As if they might reckon themselves armed with his strength while they depend upon him for it in doing their duty Which made S. Paul speak so considently I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4.13 And again If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live He accounted that if they had any mind to mortifie the deeds of the body they might be sure of help from the Spirit wherewith to do it whenever in good earnest they went about it But when men think themselves so sure of being kept by the power of God as that they grow careless and remiss as to their own endeavours of doing their duty and standing upon their guard against temptations they many times slip into such ways and doings by which the Spirit of God is grieved and withdraws from them and with-holds his quickning influences and then they grow dry and flat and unsavoury too and fall even then when they thought they stood sure 2. And the like may be said touching the danger on the other hand also For when men have such an opinion of their own power and ability to perform the condition of the promise as that they are not mindful of the Holy Spirits assistance nor sensible of their need of it but are negligent in addressing to God for it and in their dependance upon him for the supplies of it it cannot be expected that the Holy Spirit should take any such pleasure in such men as to take up his residence and make his abode with them And if not the communication of his assistance to such men must needs be more rare and more sparing and his visits less frequent And when they are so it will be visible in the dulness dead-heartedness and barrenness of such Christians though then they may retain a form of godliness For the Holy Spirit will not vouchsafe to such his special presence and assistance who do not know their need of it nor how to prize it And accordingly our Saviour speaking of the Spirit of truth saith whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him John 14.17 So that it seems mens receiving the Spirit depends very much upon their knowing him in the usefulness and benefit of his communications and valuing him accordingly So that we see there is danger of running into extremes on both hands either in mens pretending so much dependance upon divine Assistance as to neglect to do what they can do towards performing the condition of the promise or else in having such an opinion of their own power and ability to perform it as to over-look and neglect the Divine Assistance as if they had little or no need of it Such as this latter sort are far from the mind of S. Paul who was still careful to attribute his after as well as his first Christian performances to Divine Assistance I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 I laboured more than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And again I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me Rom. 15.18 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And our Saviour taught his Disciples to be of the same mind when he said Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 And where Christians are full of the sense of their need of Divine Assistance and accordingly highly prize it seek it and depend on God for it and yet are withall as careful and diligent in their own endeavours as if all the