prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God Praying Vide Calvin and Oecumeâ—ius on these words Cornelius you see is remembred by God and visited sensibly and evidently by an Angel and assured that his prayers and good deeds are not onely anodor a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God but also that they shall be gloriously rewarded by God So when Peter was Vers 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 of Acts 1. praying he fell into a trance and saw Heaven opened and had his minde elevated and all the faculties of his soul filled with a Divine Revelation so when Paul was a praying he sees a Acts 9 11 12 13 14 15 19. vision Ananias a coming and laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight Paul had not been long at prayer before it was revealed to him that he was a chosen Vessel before he was filled with the voice and comforts of the Holy Ghost so our Saviour Luke 17. was transfigured as he was praying Thus you see that praying times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon his people and to cause his grace and favor his goodness and kindness to rest on them as the spirit of Elijah did rest on Elisha 2 Kings 2. 15. But some may object and say We have Object been at the door of mercy early and late for assurance and yet we have not obtained it we have prayed and waited and we have waited and prayed we have prayed and mourned and we have 〈…〉 ed and prayed and yet we cannot get a good word from God a smile from God he hath covered himself with a cloud and after all that we have done it is still night with our souls God seems not to â—e at home he seems not to value our prayers we call and cry and shout out for assurance and Lam. 3. 8. yet he shutteth out our prayer We are sure That we have not found praying times to be times of assurance to our souls c. Now to this Objection I shall give Answ I It is better to ask and not receive then to receive and noâ— ask Clâ—m these answers first that it may be you have been more earnest and vehement for assurance and the effects of it viz. Joy comfort and peâ—ce then you have been for grace and holiness for communion with God and conformity to God it may be your requests for assurance have been full of life and spirits when your request for grace and holiness for communion with God and conformity to God have been liveness and spiritless If so no wonder that assurance is denied you Assurance makes most for your comfort but holiness makes most for Gods honor mans holiness is now his greatest happiness and in Heaven mans greatest happiness will be his perfect holiness Assurance is the daughter of Holiness and he that shall more highly prize and more earnestly press after the enjoyment of the daughter then the mother it is not a wonder if God shuts the door upon him and crosses him in the thing he most desires The surest and the shortest way to assurance is to wrastle and contend with God for holiness as the Angel contended Judg. 2. 9. with the Devil about the body of Moses When the stream and cream of a mans spirit runs after holiness it will not be long night with that man the Sun of Righteousness will shine Mal. 4. 2. forth upon that man and turn his winter into summer and crown him with the Diadem of Assurance The more holy any person is the more excellent The Jews have a saying That those seventy souls that went down to Egypt were more worth then the seventy Nations of the world he is all corruptions are diminutions of excellency the more mixt any thing is the more it is abased as if Gold and Tin be mixed and the more pure it is as meer Gold the more glorious it is Now the more divinely excellent any man is the more fit he is to enjoy the choicest and the highest favors Assurance is a Jewel of that value that he will bestow Psal 16 3. Revel 3. 18. it upon none but his excellent ones Assurance is that tried gold that none can wear but those that win it in a way of grace and holiness It may be if thou hadst minded and endeavored more after communion with God and conformity to God thou mightest before this time have looked upward and seen God in Christ smiling upon thee and have looked inward into thy own soul and seen the Spirit of Grace witnessing to thy spirit Rom 8. 15 16 17. that thou wert a Son an Heir an Heir of God and a joynt heir with Christ But thou hast minded more thy own comfort then Christs honor thou hast minded the blossoms and the fruit Assurance and Peace more then Christ the Root thou hast minded the Springs of comfort more then Christ the Fountain of life thou hast minded the beams of the Sun more then the Sun of Righteousness and therefore it is but a righteous thing with God to leave thee to walk in a valley of darkness to hide his face from thee and to seem to be as an enemy to thee But secondly I answer It may be Answ 2 thou art not yet fit for so choice a mercy thou art not able to bear so great a favor many heads are not able to bear strong-waters why the very quintessence of all the strong consolations Job 15. 11. Divine comfort is a delicate thing and it is not given to him that admits of any other of God are wrung out into this golden cup of assurance and can you drink of this cup and not stammer nor stagger Believe it assurance is meat for strong men few babes if any are able to bear it and digest it The Apostle saith That strong meat belongeth Heb. 5. 12 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that are of full age or that are comparatively perfect or full grown even those who by reason of use Greek by reason of habit which is got by continual custom and long practice have their senses exercised to discorn both good and evil The Greek word properly signifies such an exercise as wrestlers or such as contend for victory do use which is with all their might and strength being trained up unto it by long exercise It may be O complaining 1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3. Christian that thou art but a scrub a babe in grace happily thou art not yet got beyond the brest or if thou art yet thou art not past the Spoon Ah Christian if it be thus Invalidum omne natura querulum Seneca Weak spirits are ever quarrelling and contending with thee cease complaining of the want of assurance and be up and growing be more aged in gracâ— and holiness and thou shalt finde assurance growing
acceptable to God as they are tendered to him by a hand of Faith Augustus when a poor man came to present a Petition to him with his hand shaking and trembling out of fear the Emperor was much displeased and said It is not fit that any should come with a Petition to a King as if a man were giving meat to an Elephant that is afraid to be destroyed by him Verily Iehovah loves to see every one of his Petitioners to come to him with a stedfast Faith and not with a trembling Hand Christ gets most glory and the Soul gets most good by those Prayers that are accompanied with the actings of Faith Thirdly To pray in a right manner is to pray intensly servently earnestly So Jam. 5. 16. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is an omniporent grace it works wonders in Heaven in the Heart and in Earth Such working-prayer as sets all the faculties of the soul and all the graces in the soul at work alwayes speeds it fails not of winning the day of carrying the Crown or as the Greek hath it The working Prayer that is such Prayer as sets the whole man a work the word signifies such a working as notes the liveliest activity that can be As Physick kills the body if it work not so doth Prayer the soul if it be not a working-prayer As a painted fire is no fire a dead man no man so a cold prayer is no prayer In a painted fire there is no heat in a dead man there is no life so in a cold prayer there is no omnipotency no devotion no blessing It is not cold but working-prayer that can lock up Heaven three years and open Heavens gate at pleasure and bring down the sweetest blessings upon our heads and the choicest favors into our hearts Cold Prayers are as Arrows without heads as Swords without edges as Birds without wings they peirce not they cut not they flie not up to Heaven Cold Prayers do always freeze before they reach to Heaven So Jacob was earnest in his wrestling with God Let Gen. 32. 24 25 26 27. me alone sayes God I will not let thee go except thou bless me sayes Jacob. Jacob though lamed and hard laid at will not let the Lord go without a blessing Jacob holds with his hands when his joynts were out of joynt and so as a Prince prevails with God Jacob prayes and weeps and weeps The Jews have a saying That since the destruction of Jerusalem the door of prayers hath been shut But the door of tears was never shut saith One. and prayes and so prevails with God Hos 12. 4. Yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him c. It is not the labor of the lips but the travel of the heart it is not the pouring forth a flood of words but the pouring out of the soul that makes a man a Prince a prevailer with God A man that would gain victory over God in Prayer must strain every string of his heart he Rom 15. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies to strive to the shedding of blood Luke 18. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Buffet me or beat me down with her blows as wrestlers beat down their adveâ—saries with their fists or clubs must in beseeching God besiedge him and so get the better of him he must strive in Prayer even to an agony he must be like importunate beggars that will not be put off with frowns or silence or sad answers Those that would be masters of their requests must with the importunate Widow press God so far as to put him to the blush they must with a holy impudence as Basil speaks make God ashamed to look them in the face if he should deny the importunity of their souls An importunate soul will never cease till he speed he will devour all discouragements yea he will turn discouragements into incouragements as the woman of Canaan did till Christ sayes Be it unto thee O Soul as thou wilt As a body without a soul much wood without fire a bullet in a gun without powder so are words in Prayer Oratio brevis penetrat câ—lum saith one without fervency of Spirit The hotest Springs send forth their waters by ebullitions I have read of one who being sensible of his own dulness and coldness in Prayer chid himself thus What The Jews write upon the walls of their Synagogues this sentence That Prayer without the intention of the minde is but as a body without a soul You know how to apply it doest thou think that Ionah prayed thus when he was in the belly of Hell or Daniel when he was in the Lyons den or the Thief when he was upon the cross And I may adde or the three Children when they were in the fiery furnace or the Apostles when they were in bonds and prisons O that Christians would chide themselves out of their cold Prayers and chide themselves into a better and a warmer frame of spirit when they make their Supplications before the Jerom speaks of certain holy women in his time That they seemed in their fervent affections to joyn with the holy company of Heaven Lord. An importunate Soul in Prayer is like the poor begger that prayes and knocks that prayes and waits that prayes and works that knocks and knits that begs and patches and will not stir from the door till he hath an alms And verily he that is good at this will not be long a begger in grace God will make his heart and his cup to overflow Fourthly To pray in a right manner is To pray aâ—â—iduously constantly as well as fervently Luke 18. 1. And he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought alwayes to pray and not so faint or as it is in the Greek not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est non deâ—atigati Cornel a Lap. To pray alwayes is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray in every opportunity shriâ—k back as sluggards in work or cowards in war Now men pray always first when their hearts are always prepared to pray or in a praying frame Secondly When they do not omit the duty when it is to be performed or when they take hold on every opportunity to pour out their souls before the Lord. 1 Thes 5. 17. Pray without ceasing A man must always pray habitually though not actually he must have his heart in a praying disposition Semper orat qui benè sâ—mpeâ— agit To pray always is to pray omni tempore in all estates and conditions in prosperity and adversity in health and sickness in strength and weakness in wealth and wants in life and death So in Ephes 6. 18. Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Our daily weaknesses our daily wants
compleat satisfaction if thou wilt cast thy eye upon the particulars I doubt not but thou wilt finde that profit and content that will recompence More to that point I cannot easily say thee for thy pains And this I thought more convenient to hint to thee then to write over the same things that there thou wilt finde to thy delight and settlement The fifth Impediment to Assurance 5. Impediment is their grieving and vexing the Spirit of grace by not harkning to his voice Nil nisi sanctum a sanct◠spiritu prodire potest Nothing can come from the holy Spirit but that which is holy by refusing his counsel by stopping the ear by throwing water upon that fire he kindles in their souls and by attributing that to the Spirit that is to be attributed to mens own passions and distempers and to the Prince of Smoak drives away Bees and an ill savor drives away Doves Sin is such a smoak such an ill savor as drives away this Dove-like spirit darkness and his associates By these and such like ways they sad that precious Spirit that alone can glad them they set him a mourning that alone can set them a rejoycing they set him a grieving that alone can set them a singing and therefore it is that they sigh it out with Jeremiah Lam. 1. 16. Behold he that should comfort our souls stands afar off Ah doubting souls if ever you would have Assurance you must observe the motions of the Spirit and give up your selves to his guidance you must live by his Laws and tread in his steps you must live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit you must let him be chief in your souls This is the way to have him to be a sealing Spirit a witnessing Spirit and an assuring Spirit to your hearts Believe it souls if this be not done you will be far off from quietness and settlement The word that in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soul will not quite leave wrangling till it be quiet in the bosom of Christ 1 John 3. 19. is rendred assure signifies to perswade to note to us that our hearts are very froward and peevish and apt to wrangle and raise objections against God against Christ against the Scripture against our own and others experiences and against the sweet hints and joyings of the Spirit and this they will do especially when we omit what the Spirit perswades us to omissions raises fears and doubts and makes work for Hell or for the Spirit and Physitian of souls or else when we do that which the Spirit disswades us from If you be kinde and obedient to the Spirit it will not be long night with your souls but if you rebel and vex him he will make your Isai 63. 10. life a hell by withholding his ordinary influences by denying to seal you to the day of redemption and by giving you up to conflict with horrors and terrors c. Therefore be at the Spirits beck and check and assurance and joy will ere long attend you The sixt Impediment to Assurance 6. Impediment is doubting souls making their Sense Reason and Feeling the judges of their Spiritual Conditions Now so long as they take this course they will never reach to Assurance Reasons arm is too short to reach this Jewel Assurance This Pearl of price is put into no hand but that hand of Faith that reaches from Earth to Heaven What tongue can express or heart conceive the fears the doubts the clouds the darkness the perplexities that will arise from the souls reasoning thus I finde not that the countenance Gen. 31. 5. of God is towards me as before therefore surely my condition is bad I feel not those warmings those quicknings those cheerings those meltings as before I am not sensible of those secret stirrings and actings of the Spirit and Grace in my soul as before I do not hear such good news from Heaven as before therefore certainly God is not my God I am not beloved I am not in the state of Grace I have but deceived my self and others and therefore the issue will be that I shall die in my sins c. To make Sense and Feeling the Judges of our Spiritual Conditions what is it but to make our selves happy and miserable righteous and unrighteous saved and damned in one day I in one hour when Sense and Reason sit as Judges upon the Bench Hath God made Sense and Feeling the Judges of your Conditions No. Why then will you Is your Reason Scripture is your Sense Scripture is your Feeling Scripture No. Why then will you make them Judges of your Spiritual Estate Is not the Word the Judge by which all men and their actions shall be judged at last The word that I have spoken John 12. 43. says Christ shall judge you in the last day To the Law and to the Testimony Isa 8. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light or no morning in them Why then O doubting souls will you make your Sense and Feeling the Judge not onely of your conditions but of the truth it self What is this but to dethrone God and to make a god of your Sense and Feeling What is this but to limit and binde up the Holy One of Israel What is this but to toss the soul to and fro and to expose it to a labyrinth of fears and scruples What is this but to cast a reproach upon Christ to gratifie Satan and to keep your selves upon the rack Well doubting souls the counsel that I shall give you is this Be much in believing and make only the Scripture the judge of your condition maintain the judgement Inclinavit Deus Scripturas ad infantium lactentium capacitatem saith one God hath bowed down the Scriptures to the capacity even of Babes and Sucklings Id agit tota Scriptura ut credamus Deum esse misericordem Luth. Psal 119. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Word against the judgement of Sense and Feeling and if upon a serious sincere and impartial comparing of thy heart and the Word together of thy ways and the Word together the Word speaks thee out to be sincere to be a Nathanael to be a new Creature to be born again to have an immortal seed in thee c. Cleave to the Testimony of the Word joy in it rest upon it and give no more way to Fears and Doubts Let thy countenance be no more sad for nothing can speak or make that soul miserable that the Word speaks out to be happy Constantine would have all differences and disputes in the Nicene Councel ended by the Bible O doubting souls look cheerfully to this That all differences and controversies that arise in your hearts be ended by the Word there is danger in looking beside the Scripture or beyond the Scripture or short of the Scripture or upon sense
Rom. 8. John 14. he is the great Comforter and the onely Sealer up of souls to the day of Redemption If you set him a mourning Eph. 1. 13. by your wilful sinnings that alone can glad you by whom will you be gladed Verily Christians when you turn your back upon the Spirit he will not turn his face upon your souls your vexing of the Spirit will Isai 63. 10. be but the disquieting of your selves Look as all lights cannot make up the want of the light of the Sun so all Creatures cannot make up the want of the testimony of the Spirit Let me speak to you as God once spake to his people in that of Exod. 23. 20 21 This Angel is the Lord Jesus as Expositors do generally agree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 22 23. Behold sayes God I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in thy way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will Malachi which Hebrew word is here rendered Angel is by transposition of letters Michael as some of the Rabbins have observed not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him â— So I say Behold the Spirit of the Lord that is your guide and guard he also is onely able to make a soul satisfying report of the love and favor of the Father to you therefore as ever you would have assurance beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for if you do by wilful transgressions he will neither comfort you nor counsel you he will neither be a sealing nor a witnessing spirit unto you nay he will raise storms and tempests in your souls he will present to you the Father frowning and your Saviour bleeding and himself as grieving and these sights will certainly rack and torture your doubting souls The Spirit of the Lord is a delicate thing a holy thing a blessed guest that makes every soul happy where he lodges Therefore Epâ—es 4. 30. This phrase is Tropically to be understood The Greek cannot be fully exprest in our tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Spirit the holy of that God To shew the transcendent excellency and glory of the Holy Spirit grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption You will not grieve your guests your friends but courteously and friendly entertain them Why then do you make so little conscience of grieving that holy Spirit that alone can stamp the Image of the Father upon you and seal you up to life and glory Ah Christians the way to assurance is Not to sit down sighing and complaining of the want of assurance but it lies in your eying of the Spirit in your complying with the Spirit in your cleaving to the Spirit in your following of the Spirit in your welcoming of the Spirit and in your honoring and obeying of the Spirit As he said of the sword of Galiah none like to that So I say no mans like to this to gain a wel-grounded Assurance of a mans Happiness and Blessedness And as he said If there be any way to Heaven on horse-back it is by Prayer So I say If there be any way in the world to assurance it is by being fearful to offend and careful to please the Spirit of the Lord whose office it is to witness to poor souls the remission of their sins and the salvation of their souls Fourthly If you would obtain Assurance Means 4. then be sincere be diligent and constant in assuring Ordinances He that will meet the King must wait Isai 64. 5. Revel 2. 1. on him in his walks Christs Ordinances are Christs walks and he that would see the beauty of Christ and taste of the sweetness of Christ and be ravished with the love of Christ must wait at Wisdoms door they Prov. 8. 34 35. must attend Christ in his own appointments and institutions that comfort and assurance that flowes not in thorow the Golden Pipes of the Sanctuary Hos 6. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 24. will not better the soul nor long abide with the soul it will be as the morning dew and as the flower of the field that soon fadeth away I have in the former Discourse shewed at large How the Lord is graciously pleased to cause his love and glory to beam forth upon souls in Ordinances and therefore I shall say no more unto this particular at this time The fifth Means to obtain Assurance Means 5. is wisely and seriously to observe What gift of God there is in thee that brings thee within the compass of the promises of eternal mercy Now let the gift be this or that if it be a gift that brings thee within the compass of the promise of Eternal Mercy that gift is an infallible evidence of thy Salvation For the better and further opening of this Truth premise with me these two things First No man can have any sure evidence to himself of his Happiness and Blessedness from absolute promises Absolute promises do not describe to whom Salvation and all Eternal Isai 42. 6. 49. 8. Joel 2. 28. Ezek. 36. 26 27. Jere. 32. 40. Heb. 8 10 11 12. Isai 23. 25. Blessings do belong the promise of giving Christ of giving the Spirit of giving a new heart and of pardoning and blotting out sin are all absolute promises Now God is free to make good these to whom he pleases therefore he often steps over the rich and chuses the poor the learned and chuses the ignorant the 1 Cor. 1. 25 26 27 28 29. strong and chuses the weak the noble and chuses the ignoble the sweet nature and chuses the rugged nature c. That no flesh may glory and that all may shout out Grace Grace Secondly Though no man can have any sure evidence of his Happiness and Blessedness from absolute promises because absolute promises do not describe the persons to whom Salvation and all Eternal Blessings do belong yet absolute promises are of most choice and singular use First In that they discover to us that our Salvation is onely from Free-grace and not from any thing in us or done by us Secondly They are a most sure and glorious foundation for the very worst of sinners to stay their filthy guilty wearied burdened perplexed souls upon seeing that God looks not for any peny or peniworth for Isai 55. 1 2. any portion or proportion in the Creature to draw his love but he will justifie pardon and save for his Name sake seeing all the Motives that moves God to shew mercy are in his Deut. 7. 7 8. Psal 68. 18 own bosom seeing they are all within doors there is no reason why the vilest of sinners should sit down and say There is no hope there is no help Thirdly Absolute promises may and doubtless often are choice Cordials to many precious souls who happily have lost the
presumption that works men to play with sin to be bold with sin to make light of sin to walk on in wayes of sin Such Assurance will never bring a man to Heaven it will never keep him from dropping into Hell yea it will double his damnation and make him the most miserable among all damned miserable forlorn spirits Ah Lord from This made Auselm say That he had rather be thrust into Hell without sin then go into Heaven with sin such an assurance deliver my Soul and give me more and more of that Divine Assurance that makes sin to be more hateful then Hell and that makes the Soul to be more careful to avoid the one then it is fearful of falling into the other Seventhly A wel-grounded Assurance is alwayes attended with three fair Handmaids or with three sweet Companions The first is Love O! the Assurance 1. Handmaid of Divine Favor doth mightily inflame a mans love to Christ Mary Magdalen Luke 7. loved much Christs love to her drew out her love very much to Christ Assurance makes the Soul sing it out with that sweet Singer of Israel I will dearly love thee O Lord my Psal 18. 1. strength Lovers know not how to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To love intimately and dearly as a tender mother loves the fruit of her womb keep silence lovers of Christ are full of gracious expressions Magnes amor is est amor Love is the attractive Loadstone of love It is impossible for a Soul not to love Christ that knows he is beloved of Christ Christs love constrains the Soul to love not by forcible but loving necessity Praxiteles exquisitly drew Love taking the pattern from that Passion which he felt in his own heart A Believer cannot finde the heart of Christ to be beating towards him but his heart will strongly beat towards Christ Divine love is like a rod of myrtle which as Pliny reports makes the Traveller that carries it in his hand that he shall never be faint or weary of walking or loving Love alone over-powereth all power Love is the Diadem none but the Queen must wear it Love is the Wedding Garment none but the Spouse can fit it Love is a Loadstone to draw as well as a fire to warm he that doth not love Christ was never assured of the love of Christ The second Handmaid or Companion 2. Handmaid that attends a wel-grounded Assurance is Humility David under Assurance Psal 22. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew word Tolagnah that is here rendred Worm signifies a very little worm which a man can hardly see or perceive cryes out I am a worm and no man Abraham under Assurance cryes out that he is but dust and ashes Jacob under Assurance crves out that he was less then the least of all mercies Job under Assurance abhors himself in dust and ashes Moses had the honor and the happiness to speak with God face to face he was very much in Gods books in Gods favor and yet a more humble Soul the earth did never bear The great Apostle Paul under all the revelations and glorious manifestations of God to him counts himself less then the least of all Saints Ephe. 3. 8. That is Presumption that is a delusion of the Devil and no sound Assurance that puffs and swels the Souls of men that makes men prize themselves above the market above the value that God hath put upon them The third Handmaid or Companion 3. Handmaid that attends Assurance is holy Joy Ah this Assurance causes the strong waters of Consolation to overflow the Soule Assurance raises the strongest joyes in the Soul Luk. 1. 46 47. And Mary said My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour When a man comes to be assured that God is his Savior presently his Spirit rejoyces in God this truth is held forth by three Parables in that of Luk. 15. So in that of 1 Pet. 1. 8 9. Whom having not seen ye love in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dance and leap for joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glorified already they have heavens happinesse before hand whom though now ye see him not yet bebeleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls O the Joy the Joy the inexpressible Joy that attends a wel-grounded Assurance Assurance raises a Paradise of delight in the soul In quibus operamur in ill is gaudemus saith Tertull. In what things or persons we act in those things we rejoyce a Christian under the power of Assurance works all his works in Christ in him therefore and in him alone he rejoyceth Eightly and lastly A wel-grounded Assurance sometimes springs from the Testimony and Witnesse of the Spirit of God The Spirit sometimes witnesses to a Beleevers spirit that he is born of God that he is beloved of God that he hath union and communion with God that he shal reign for ever with God Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That same spirit The Spirits work is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to witnesse together with our Spirit that is to confirme and ratifie what ou◠spirits have asserted concerning our Adoption c. spirit that we are the children of God The Spirit it self witnesseth not onely the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit but the Spirit it self witnesseth together with our own spirit that we are the children of God Sometimes the Saints have two Witnesses joyning their testimonies together to confirm and establish them in these blessed and glorious Truths that they are the Sons of God and Heirs of Glory And this is their honor as well as their comfort that the blessed Spirit should bear witness at the bar of their Consciences that they are the Sons of God 1 Cor. God sometimes assures his people of heaven aforehand 2. 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God That is that we may know our Election Vocation Justification Sanctification and Glorification A man may receive many things that are freely given of God and yet not know them till the Spirit comes and makes them known to the soul Quest But you may say to me how shall wee know the whispering of the holy Spirit from the hissing of the old Serpent how shall we know the report the witnesse and testimony of the Spirit of Christ from that report witnesle and testimony that the old Serpent deludes and deceives many by in these daies wherein he mostly appears in his Angelicall Robes I Answer you may know the whispering Answ of the Spirit from the hissing of the old Serpent c. by these following things which I desire that you
would seriously consider as you tender the peace and settlement the satisfaction consolation and salvation of your own souls First The Spirit of Christ doth not witnesse by any outward voice as God Matth 3. ult Luk. 1. 30 31 32 33 34. did from Heaven of Christ nor by an Angell as to the Virgin Mary but by an inward secret glorious and unspeakable way he bids Beleevers be of good chear their sins are forgiven Matth. 9. 2. them as Christ said to the palsie man in the Gospel And this truth is to be solemnly minded against those poor deceived and deluded souls in Quakers and Raâ—ters these daies that would make the world beleeve that they have had such and such glorious things made known by an outward audible voyce from Heaven It is much to be feared that they never found the inward the sweet the secret the powerful testimony and report of the Spirit of Christ that boast and brag and rest so much upon an outward testimony In 1 King 19. you read of a great strong wind that rent the Vers 11. Mountains and brake in peeces the Rocks but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake And after the earthquake a fire but the Vers 12. Lord was not in the fire And after the fire Vers 13. there was a still small voyce and the Lord spake to Elijah in that still small voice Ah Christians the Spirit of the Lord makes not a noise but he comes in a still small voice as I may say and makes a soft and secret report to the soul that it is beloved that it is pardoned and that it shall be for ever glorified Secondly The testimony and witnesse of the Spirit of Christ is onely gained enjoyed in holy and heavenly waies as you may clearly see by comparing Acts 10. 4. Dan. 9. 20. 21 22. Isa 64. 5. Act. 10. 44 c. the Scriptures in the margent together The Spirit of the Lord is a holy spirit he cannot he wil not make any report of the love of the Father to the soule out of a way of holinesse Verily all those glorious reports that many boast they have met with in sinfull waies in wretched and ungodly waies are from the hissing of the old Serpent and not from the whisperings of the Yet this age hath many such Monsters Spirit of Grace I think it is little less then blasphemy for any to affirm that the blessed Spirit of Christ doth make reports of the love and favour of God to persons walking in waies of wickednesse and basenesse Thirdly The testimony and witness of the Spirit of Christ is a clear a â—ul a satisfying testimony and witnesse the soul sits down under the home reports John 14 17. 1 John 3. 24. of the Spirit saith Lord it is enough the soul being full sits down and sweetly sings it out My beloved is mine and Cant. 2. 16. 7. 10. I am his I am my wel-beloveds and his desire is towards me The Lord is my portion Psal 16. 5. Psal 73. 25. and the lot of mine inheritance I have none in Heaven but thee neither is there any on earth that I desire in comparison of 2 Tim. 4 8. thee Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness Make haste my beloved Cant. 8. ult c. Such power majesty and glory attends the glorious testimony of the Spirit of Christ as scatters all clouds as resolves all doubts as answers all objections as silences the wrangling soul c. If the testimony of the Spirit of Christ were not a ful satisfying testimony it could never fill the soule with such joy as is unspeakable and full of glory and with such peace as passes understanding if the testimony were not satisfactory the soul would still be under fears and doubts the heart would still be a wrangling and quarrelling I may perish and I may be undone I may have the door of Mercy shut against me c. If you bring news to a condemned person that the King hath pardoned him and that he will receive him to favor and confer such and such dignity upon him yet this doth not quiet him nor satisfie him till he knows it is the Kings act till he is satisfied in that he cannot say it is enough he cannot be chearfull hee cannot be delightful c. But when hee is satisfied that it is the Kings act that the King hath certainly done this and that for him then he is satisfied and then sighing and mourning flies away and then he rejoyces with joy unspeakable So it is with a beleeving Soul under the testimony and witness of the Spirit of Christ Fourthly Though the Spirit be a witnessing Spirit yet he doth not alwaies witness to beleevers their adoption their interest in Christ c. There is a mighty difference between the working of the Spirit and the witness of the Spirit There are often times many glorious and efficacious works of the Spirit as Faith Love Repontance Isa 50. 10. Holinesse c. where there is not the witness of the Spirit David at that very time had the Spirit and Psa 50. 10 11 12 many sweet workings of the Spirit in him and upon him when he had by sin lost the witness and testimony of the Spirit Though the Spirit of the Lord be a witnessing and a sealing Spirit yet he doth not alwaies witness Job 23. 8 9. 1 Joh. 5. 13. Psa 88. Psa 77. Mich. 7. 8 9. Isa 8. 17. and seal up the love and favor of the Father to beleevers souls as you may see by the Scriptures in the Margent and as the experience of many precious Christians can abundantly evidence All beleevers do not see alike need of this testimony they doe not all alike prize this testimony they do not all alike observe it and improve it and therefore it is no wonder if the Spirit be a witnessing Spirit to some and not to others You do but gratifie Satan and wrong your owne soules when you argue that certainly you have not the Spirit because he is not a witnessing and a sealing Spirit to your soules Though it be the office of the Spirit to witness yet it is not his office alwayes to witness to beleevers their happiness and blessedness The Spirit may act one way in one room of the A man may be a doing in one Room when he is not in another So is the Spirit in the heart of a Saint soul when he doth not act in another sometimes the Spirit works upon the Understanding sometimes upon the Will sometimes upon the Affections sometimes upon Faith sometimes upon Fear sometimes upon Love sometimes upon Humility c. Our hearts are the Spirits Harps If a man should alwaies touch one string in an Instrument he should never play various tunes he
should never make pleasant musick no more would the Spirit it he should be alwaies a doing one thing in the soule therefore he acts variously sometimes he will shew himselfe a quickning Spirit sometimes an enlightning Spirit sometimes an humbling Spirit sometimes a rejoycing Spirit sometimes a sealing Spirit and alwayes a surporting Spirit c. Fifthly The testimony and witness of the Spirit is a sure testimony a Titus 1. 2. John 14. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 10 1 Joh. 4. 1 2 3 4 sure witness the Spirit is truth it self he is the great searcher of the deep things of God the Spirit of the Lord is the Discoverer the Confuter and Destroyer of all false spirits The Spirit is above all possibility of being deceived he is omnipotent he is omniscient he is omnipresent he is one of the Cabinet-Councel of Heaven he lies and lives in the bosome of the Father and can call them all by name upon whom the Father hath set his heart and therefore his testimony must needs be true It is a surer testimony then if a man should hear a voice from Heaven pronouncing him to be happy and blessed You may safely and securely lay the weight of your souls upon this testimony it never hath it never will deceive any that hath leaned upon it This testimony will be a rock that will bear up a soul When other false testimonies will be but a reed of Egypt that will deceive the soul that will undoe the soul As I am afraid many in this deluding age have found by sad experience Sixthly The testimony of Gods I do not say that the testimony of our spirits is always accompanied with the testimony of the Spirit No for a Beleever hath often the single testimony of his own spirit when he wants the testimony of the Spirit of Christ and the single testimony of his own conscience wil afford him much courage and comfort 2 Cor. 1. 12. Yea it wil make a paradise of delight in his soul c. Spirit is alwayes accompanied with the testimony of our own these may be distinguished but they can never be separated when the Spirit of God gives in witnesse for a man his own spirit doth not give in witnesse against him Look as face answers to face so doth the witness of a Beleevers spirit answer to the witness of the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit witnesseth together with our spirits that we be the Sons of God Now if our own Consciences do not testifie first that we are Sons and Heirs the Spirit doth not testifie for the Spirit beares witness together with our spirits St. John is very expresse in 1 Joh. 3. 21. But if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God But if our hearts condemn us God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 5. 8 9 10 11 12. And there are three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one The Spirit doth witness eminently and efficiently but Water and Blood materially and our spirits and Reason instrumentally By the Spirit we may understand the Holy Ghost by whose strength wee lay hold on Christ and all his benefits by Water we may understand our Regeneration our Sanctification and by Blood we may understand the blood and righteousness of Christ that is imputed and applyed by faith to us and these three agree in one that is they doe all three of one accord testifie the same thing Seventhly The witness of the Spirit is ever according to the Word there is a sweet harmony between the inward and outward testimony between the Spirit of God and the VVord of God The Scriptures were 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. all indicted by the Spirit and therefore the Spirit cannot contradict himselfe which he should do if he should give in any testimony contrary to the testimony of the word It is blasphemy to make the testimony of the â—pirit to contradict the testimony of the Word The Spirit hath revealed his whole mind in the Word and he will not give a contrary testimony to what he hath given in the Word The Word saith they that are born again that are new Creatures that beleeve and repent shall be saved But thou art born again thou art a new Creature thou beleevest and repentest therefore thou shalt be saved saith the Spirit The Spirit never looseth where the Word bindeth the Spirit never justifies where the Word condemnes the Spirit never approves where the Word disapproves the Spirit never blesses where the VVord curses In Deu. l 3. 1 2 3 4 the Old Testament all Revelations were to be examined by the VVord Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light or no morning in them So in that of John 16. We are not only blind but lame too therefore the Spirit shall lead us to the knowledge and practice of all necessary saving truths 13. The Spirit shall lead you into all truth for he shall not speak of himselfe but what he shall hear that shall he speak Here the Holy Ghost is brought in as some Messenger or Ambassador who onely relates things faithfully according to that he hath in charge Such as look and lean upon the hissing of the old Serpent may have a testimony that they are happy against the testimony of the VVord But where ever the Spirit of Christ gives in his â—estimony it is stil according to the VVord Look as Indenture answers to Indenture or as the Counterpaine exactly answers to the principall Conveyance there is Article for Article Clause for Clause Covenant for Covenant word for word So doth the testimony of the Spirit exactly answer to the testimony of the VVord Eighthly It is a Holy witness a holy Nil nisi sanctuÌ„ à sancto spiritu prodire potest Nothing can come from the Holy Spirit but that which is holy testimony it is formally holy it is originally holy it is effectually holy Nothing makes the heart more in the love study practise and growth of holines then the glorious testimony of the Holy Spirit and the more clear ful the testimony is the more holy and gracious it will make the Soule Nothing puts such golden Engagements upon the soul to holiness as the Spirit sealing a man up to the day of Redemption as the Spirits speaking and sealing Peace Love and pardon to the Soul Psal 85. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 31. 2 Cor. 5. 14. Nothing makes a man more careful to please Christ more fearful to offend Christ more studious to exalt Christ and more circumspect to walk with Christ then this testimony of the Spirit of Christ Verily that is not the blessed whispering of Christs Spirit but the hissing of the old Serpent that makes men bold with sin that makes men dally with sin that makes
HEAVEN ON EARTH OR A Serious Discourse touching a wel-grounded ASSURANCE of Mens Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness Discovering the Nature of Assurance the possibility of attaining it the Causes Springs and Degrees of it with the resolution of several weighty Questions By THOMAS BROOKS Preacher of the Gospel at Margarets Fishstreet-Hill That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full Assurance of understanding Col. 2. 2. Qui fidei suae sensum in corde habet hic scit Christum Iesum in se esse Ambros 2 ad Corinth c. 13. 5. London Printed by R. I. for John Hancock and are to be sold at the first Shop in Popes-head Alley in Corn-hill 1654. Mr. Brooks on Assurance To the Right Honorable The Generals of the Fleets OF THE Commonwealth of England And to those Gallant Worthies my much Honored Friends who with the Noble Generals have deeply jeoparded their Lives unto many deaths upon the Seas out of love to their Countreys good and out of respect to the Interest of Christ and the faithful people of this Commonwealth Such Honor and Happiness as is promised to all that Love and Honor the Lord Jesus Renowned Sirs THe better any thing is the more communicative it will be for bonum est sui communicativum There are two sorts of goods â—here are Bona Throni and there are Bona Scabelli Goods of the Throne as God Christ Grace Assurance c. Nihil bonum sine summo bono Aug Nothing is good without the chiefest good Omne bonum in summo bono All good is in the chiefest good And Goods of the Foot-stool as Honors Riches c. A man may have enough of the goods of the Footstool to sink him but he can never have enough to satisfie him Mans Happiness and Blessedness his Felicity and Glory lies in his possessing the Goods of the Throne which that you may I humbly desire you seriously to view over the ensuing Treatise It was an excellent saying of Lew is of Bavyer Emperor of Germany Hujusmodi comparandae sunt opes quae cum naufragio simul enatent Such goods are worth getting and owning as will not sink nor wash away if a shipwrack happen but will wade and swim out with us Such are the goods that are here presented in this following Discourse in all storms tempests and shipwracks they will abide with the Soul they will walk and lie down with the Soul yea they will to the Grave to Heaven with the Soul they will in the greatest storms be an Ark to the Soul I have observed in some A Philosopher could say in dâ—nger of shipwrack in a ligh starry night Surely I shall not perish there are so many eyes of providence â—ver me But these had neither so much faith nor courage these men of might had lost their hands and hearts Psa 76. 5. vide terrible storms that I have been in that the Mariners and the Passengers want of Assurance and of those other Pearls of price that in this Treatise are prepresented to publick view hath caused their countenance to change their hearts to melt it hath made them to stagger and reel to and fro like drunken men like men at their wits ends whereas others that have had Assurance and their pardon in their bosoms c. have bore up bravely and slept quietly and walkt cheerfully and practically have said as Alexander once did when he was in a great danger Now saith he here is a danger fit for the spirit of Alexander to encounter withal so they now here are storms and dangers fit for assured pardoned Souls to encounter withal c. Gentlemen This following Discourse I do not present to you as a thing that needs your protection for Veritas stat in aperto campo truth stands in the open Fields I and it will make the lovers of it to stand triumph and overcome Magna est veritas valebit Great is truth and shall prevail but upon these following grounds I tender it to you First You have honored the Almighty by helping him against the high and mighty and he hath honored you by owning of you by standing by 1 Sam. 2. 30. As it was saâ—d of Caesâ—r that while here stored the Statue of Pompey he estabâ—ished his own so while men honor God they preserve their own you by acting for you and by making of you prosperous and victorious over a near enemy a powerful enemy an enraged enemy a resolved enemy a subtil enemy a prepared enemy a lofty enemy and therefore I cannot but desire to honor you by dedicating the following Treatise to the service of your Souls Secondly Because you are my Magnes amoâ—is amor Love is the loadâ—â—oâ—e of love and therefore he said right Si vis ama i ama if thâ—n wilt love thou shalt be loved Friends and that cordial love and friendship which I have found from you hath stampt in my affections a very high valuation of you The Ancients painted Friendship a fair yong man bare headed in a poor garment at the bottom whereof was written Life and Death in the upper part Summer and Winter his bosom was open so that his heart might be seen whereupon was written longè propè a Friend at hand and a far off Verily your undeserved love and respects have made me willing to open my bosom to you in this Epistle and in the following Treatise as to Friends that I love and honor When one came to Alexander and desired him that he might see his Treasure he bid one of his servants take him and shew him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Money but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Friends It seems he put a higher value Secrates preferred the Kings countenance above his coyn upon them then he did upon all the wealth which he had Faithful Friends are an unvaluable Treasure and the rarity of them doth much inhaunce the price of them Thirdly Because of its exceeding usefulness and suitableness to your conditions I have been some years at Sea and through Grace I can say that I would not exchange my Sea Experiences Psal 107. 24. It is between Christian and Christian as between two Lute strings that are tuned one to another no sooner one is struck but the other trembles for Englands Riches I am not altogether ignorant of the troubles trials temptations dangers and deaths that do attend you And therefore I have been the more stirred in my spirit to present the following Discourse to you wherein is discovered the nature of Assurance the possibility of attaining Assurance the causes springs degrees excellencies and properties of Assurance also the special seasons and times of Gods giving Assurance with the resolution of several weighty Questions touching Assurance further in this Treatise as in a glass you may see these ten special things clearly and fully opened and manifested 1. What Knowledge that is that accompanies Salvation
unto the glory and praise of God Thirdly It is exceeding useful to the Saints at all times but especially in changing times in times wherein every one cals out Watchman what of the night Watchman what of the night Isa 21. 11 12. and the watchman answereth the morning cometh and also the night Ah Joel 3. 16. Hag. 26. Isa 23. 9. Isa 63. 2 3. Christians the Lord is a shaking heaven and earth he is a staining the pride of all glory he is a staining his garments with the blood of his enemies he is renting and tearing he is burning and breaking he is pulling up and throwing down Now in Jerm 45. 4 5. the midst of all these Concussions and Revolutions thrice happy are those souls that have gained a wel-grounded Assurance of Caelestial Heb. 10. 34. things such souls will not faint sink nor shrink in an hour of temptation Rev. 3. 4. 14. 4. such souls will keep their garments pure and white and will follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Assurance is a Beleevers Ark where he sits Noah-like quiet and still in the midst of all distractions Psal 23. 3 4. and destructions combustions and confusions Rev. 6. 12. ult They are doubly miserable that have neither Heaven nor Earth temporals nor eternals made sure to them in changing times The fourth ground of my presenting this Treatise to publick view is that little wel-grounded Assurance that is to be found among Christians most Christians living Every unsettled Christian is Magor missahib a terror to himself yea his life is a very hel fears and doubts are his chiefest companions and so he judges himself unfit and unworthy to live and yet he is afraid to die and verily this is the sad condition of most Christians between feares and hopes and hanging as it were between Heaven and Hell Sometimes they hope that their State is good at othertimes they fear that their state is bad Now they hope that all is well and that it shall go well with them for ever anon they fear that they shal perish by the hand of such or such a corruption or by the prevalency of such or such a temptation and so they are like a ship in a storme tost here and there c. Now that these weak soules may be strengthned that these unstable soules may be established that these disconsolate souls may be comforted c. I have presented this Tract to the world not doubting but that if the Lord shall draw out their spirits to a serious perusal of it they shall find through the blessing of Jehovah that it will contribute very much to their attaining of a full Assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness as also to the keeping and maintaining of that ful and blessed Assurance which that it may I shal follow it with my prayers Fifthly I have published this following Discours remembring that my life is Jam. 4. 14. Psal 39. 12. but a vanishing vapor and that the time of my sojourning in this world will be but short Mans life is so short that Austine doubteth whether to call it a dying life or a living death Mans life is but the shadow of smoke the dream of a shadow This present life is not vita sed via ad vitam Bernard life but a motion a journey towards life the life of a Christian is rather via then vita a step towards life then life Yet do I believe that that is not a death but life that joyns the dying man to Christ and that is not a life but death that separates the living man from Christ I know I shall not speak long to Friends Saints or Sinners therefore I was the more willing to take the opportunity of Preaching Heb. 11. 4. to you when I am dead As Abel by his faith he being dead yet speaketh So this Treatise may speak and live when I shall return to my long home and fall asleep Eccles 12. 5. Acts 7. 60. in the bosom of Christ Christ his Prophets and Apostles though they are now in Heaven yet by their Doctrines Examples and Writings they still Preach to the Saints on Earth Zisca desired his skin might serve the Bohemians in their Wars when his body could no more do it O that poor I that have been but a little serviceable to the Saints in my life might by this and my former weak Labors be much serviceable to them after my death Books may Preach when the Author cannot when the Author may not when the Author dares not yea and which is more when the Author iâ— not Sixthly To testifie my cordial love and affection to all the true lovers of Christ Phil. 4. 21. Col. 1. 4. 2 Thes 1. 3. Marcellinus a Heathen Historian taxeth the Christians of his time for their dissentions biting and devouring one another till they were even consumed one of another a sad thing that a Heathen should see such miscarriages among Christs followers and to let them know That they are all though under different forms precious in my eyes and very near and dear unto my heart I bless God I am and I desire more and more to be one with every one that is one with Christ I would fain have as free as large and as sweet a heart towards Saints as Christ hath For a Wolf to worry a Lamb is usual but for a Lamb to worry a Lamb is unnatural For Christs Lillies to be among Thorns is ordinary but for these Lillies to become Thorns to tear and fetch blood of one another is monstrous and strange Ah Christians can Turks and Pagans agree can Herod and Pilat agree can Moab and Ammon agree can Bears and Lyons can Wolves and Tygers agree yea which is more can a legion of Devils agree in one body and shall not the Saints whom one Heaven must hold at last agree Pancirollus Cap. 7. de Gâ—mmis tells us That the most precious Pearl the Romans had was called Unio O the union of the Saints is an unvaluable Pearl The Heathen man by the light of Nature could say That the thickest Wall of a City in Peace and the safest Rampire in War is Unity Verily all Saints are one in Christ all Saints partake of the same Spirit Promises Graces and Priviledges All Saints are Fellow-Members Fellow-Souldiers Fellow-Travellers Fellow Heirs Fellow-Sufferers and Fellow-Citizens and therefore I cannot I dare not but love them all and prize them all and to evidence it I have dedicated this Treatise to the service of all their Souls Seventhly and lastly To fence and fortifie the Souls of real serious Christians against those Brain-sick Notions and those Airy Speculations and imaginary Revelations and Enthusiastical fancies c. with which many are sadly deluded and deceived even to their eternal overthrow I had almost said Thus have I given you a brief account I had not thought to have prest into the Press had I
not been soundly prest thereunto of the Reasons that have prevailed with me to publish this Treatise to the World and to dedicate it to your selves Let your hearts dwell on Truth as the Bee doth upon the Flower every Truth being a Flower of Paradise that is more worth then a World Now the God of all Grace fill your Hearts and Souls with all the Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness that you may attain unto a full Assurance of your Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness which that you may is the sincere earnest and constant desire of him who is Your Souls Servant Thomas Brooks THE PREFACE touching the nature of Assurance TO be in a state of true Grace is to be miserable no more it Psal 144. 15. Mal. 3. 17. Rom. 8. 16 17. is to be happy for ever A Soul in this state is a Soul near and dear to God it is a Soul much beloved and very highly valued of God it is a Soul housed in God it is a Soul safe in everlasting Arms Deut. 33. 26 27. 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. it is a Soul fully and eminently interested in all the highest and noblest Priviledges The being A man may be Gods and yet not know it his estate may be good and yet he not see it Ephes 1. 13. 1 John 5. 13. Gal 4. 6. in a state of Grace makes a mans condition happy safe and sure but the seeing the knowing of himself to be in such a state is that which renders his life sweet and comfortable The being in a state of Grace will yeeld a man a Heaven hereafter but the seeing of himself in this state will yeeld him both a Heaven here and a Heaven hereafter it will render him doubly blest blest in Heaven and blest in his own Conscience Now Assurance is a reflex act of a gracious Soul whereby he clearly and evidently sees himself in a gracious blessed and happy state it is a sensible feeling and an experimental discerning of a mans being in a state of Grace and of his having a right to a Crown of Glory and this rises from the seeing A man cannot see the Sun but by the light of the Sun in himself the special peculiar and distinguishing Graces of Christ in the light of the Spirit of Christ or from the testimony and report of the Spirit of God the Spirit bearing witness with his Spirit that Rom. 8. 16 17. he is a Son and an Heir apparent to Glory It is one thing for me to have It is one thing to be an Heir and another thing to know that one is an Heir the childe in the Womb or in the Arms may be an Heir to a Crown and yet understands it not Grace it is another thing for me to see my Grace it is one thing for me to believe and another thing for me to believe that I do believe it is one thing for me to have Faith and another thing for me to know that I have Faith Now Assurance flows from a clear certain evident knowledge that I have Grace and that I do believe c. Now this Assurance is the beauty and top of a Christians glory in this life it is usually attended with the strongest joy with the sweetest comforts and with the greatest peace It is a Pearl that most want a Crown that few wear His state is safe and happy whose Soul is adorned with Grace though he sees it not though he knows it not Assurance is not of the essence of a Christian it is required to the bene esse to the wel-being to the comfortable and joyful Being of a Christian but it is not required to the esse to the being of a Christian A man may be a true Believer and yet would give all the World were it in his power to know that he is a Believer to have Grace and to be sure that we have Grace is glory upon the Throne it is Heaven a this side Heaven But more of these things you will finde in the following Discourse to which I refer you THE CONTENTS THe Preface touching the Nature of Assurance CHAP. I. PRoving by Ten Arguments that Persons may in this life attain to a wel-grounded Assurance of their Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness Page 1 to 30 This truth improved against Papists and Arminians P. 30. to p. 35. CHAP. II. COntaining several weighty Propositions about Assurance P. 35. to p. 77 Further in this Chapter is shewed Ten special Seasons and Times wherein the Lord is pleased to give to his people a sweet Assurance of his favor and love p. 77. to p. 155 CHAP. III. COntaining Ten Hinderances and Impediments that keep poor Souls from Assurance with the means and helps to remove those Impediments and Hinderances p. 155. to p. 207 Further in this Chapter is laid down Six Motives to provoke Christians to put out all their strength and might against bosom sins against the iniquity of their heels against the sins that do so easily beset them p. 207. to p. 218 Also Five Means to help on the Mortification and Destruction of bosom sins p. 218. to p. 224 CHAP. IV. COntaining Ten Motives or Incentives to provoke all that want Assurance to be restless in their spirits till they have obtained it p. 225. to p. 251 Also in this Chapter you have Ten Advantages that will redound to such Souls that get a wel-grounded Assurance of their Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness p. 251. to p. 270 CHAP. V. SHewing Nine Ways and Means of gaining a wel-grounded Assurance c. In the handling of which several considerable Questions are also resolved p. 272 to p. 320 Also in this Chapter Eight special things are discovered As first What knowledge that is that doth accompany Salvation p. 320. to p. 362 Secondly What Faith that is that accompanies Salvation that borders upon Salvation p. 362 to p. 399 Also several Hints are given both concerning strong and weak Faith p. 399 to p. 405 Thirdly What Repentance that is that accompanies Salvation p. 405. to p. 424 Fourthly What Obedience that is that accompanies Salvation p. 424. to p. 445 Fifthly What Love that is that accompanies Salvation p. 445. to p. 460 Fourteen wayes whereby that love that accompanies Salvation doth display and manifest it self p. 460. to p. 487 Sixthly What Prayer that is that doth accompany Salvation p. 487 to p. 504 Eight Differences betwixt the Prayers of Souls in Christ and Souls out of Christ betwixt the Prayers of Believers and Unbelievers p. 504 to p. 516 Seventhly What Perseverance that is that doth accompany Salvation p. 516 to p. 522 Eighthly What Hope that is that doth accompany Salvation p. 522 to p. 544 Two Cautions upon the whole p. 544 545 CHAP. VI. SHewing Eight notable Differences between a true and a counterfeit Assurance c. p. 546 to p. 565 Also in this Chapter is set forth in Nine special things the difference between the Whisperings of the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to know certainly we are as certain of it as we are certain that we live that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren hee that loveth not his brother abideth in death The Apostle doth not say we thinke we hope c. that we are translated from death to life but we know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Love to the brethren is not the cause of our passing from death to life that is from a natural state to a spiritual state from hell to heaven but an evidence thereof I confesse it is very sad to consider how this precious stream of love is even dried up in many It was wont to be a Proverb Homo homini Deus One man is a God to another But now it may bee truly said Homo homini Daemon One man is a Or Homo homini Leo one man is a Lion to another Devil to another Hee that wants love to his brethren wants one of the sweetest springs from whence Assurance flowes A greater hell I would not wish any man then to live and not to love the beloved of God Now is it not as easie a thing as it is pleasant for a man that hath severall sweet Springs in his Garden to sit Joh. 4. 14. down draw water and drinke O beleeving souls there are Springs there are Wels of living water not only near Gen. 21. 15. to the 19. ver you but in you why then doe you with Hagar sit down sorrowing and weeping when you should be a tasting or a drinking not only of the springs above you but also of the springs within you A man that hath Gal. 5. 22 23 fruit in his Garden may both delight his eye and refresh his spirit with tasting of it certainly we may both eye and taste the fruits of the Spirit in us they being the first fruits of eternall life I thinke none but mad souls will say that grace is that forbidden fruit that God would have us neither Col. 1 27 Solomons Song 1. 5. Solomons Song 4. 7. Psal 45. 13. see nor taste we ought not so to minde a Christ in heaven as not to minde Christ in us the hope of glory Christ would not have his Spouse so to minde her owne blacknesse as to forget that she is all faire and glorious within Sixthly The Holy Ghost exhorts us to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and presses us to looke to the obtaining of a full assurance therefore Beleevers may attaine unto an assurance of their everlasting happinesse and blessednesse Wherefore 2 Pet. 1. 10. the rather Brethren saith the Apostle give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you doe these things you shall never fall The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Beza and Jansen Luther saith he had rather obey then work Miracles translated give diligence signifieth two things 1. All possible haste and speed 2. All manner of seriousness and intention in doing make it your maine businesse your chiefest study your greatest care to make your calling and election sure saith the Apostle when this is done your all is done till this be done there is nothing done and to shew the necessity utility excellency and possibility of it the Apostle puts a rather upon it wherefore the rather give all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firme or stable God loves curristas not quaeristas the runner not the questioner he is taken most with them that are more for motion then notion for doing then talking diligence to make your calling and election sure or as it is in the Originall firme or stable it is the one thing necessary it is of an internal and eternal concernment to make firme and sure work for your souls Assurance is a jewel of that worth a pearle of that price that he that wil have it must work and sweat and weep and wait to obtaine it he must not only use diligence but he must use all diligence not only digge but he must dig deep before he can come to this golden Mine Assurance is that white stone that new name that hidden Manna that none can obtaine but such as labour for it as for life Assurance is such precious gold that a man must win it before he can wear it win gold and wear gold is the language both of heaven earth The Riches Honours Languages Psal 127. 1 2. Luk. 5. 5. Prov. 14. 23 and favours of this world cannot bee obtained without much trouble and travell without rising early and going to bed late c. and do you think that assurance which is more worth then heaven and earth can be obtained by cold lazie heart-lesse services if you doe you doe but deceive your own soules There are five things that God Qui fecit te sine te non salvabit tâ— sine te Aug. wil never sell at a cheap rate Christ Truth his Honour Heaven and Assurance he that wil have these must â—ay a good price for them or goe for ever without them And as Peter exhorts you to give all â—iligence to make your calling and election sure So Paul presseth you to looke to the obtaining of full assurance which does clearly evidence that there is a possibility of attaining unto a full assurance of our happinesse and blessednesse in this life And we desire saith Heb. 6. 11. 12 Vide Calvin and Piscator on the text Praecepta decent exempla movent Precepts may instruct but examples doe perswade See from the 13. vers to the 19 ver of this chapter the Apostle that every one of you doe shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that yee be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherite the Promises We must not only strive after assurance but we must strive and shew all diligence to the attaining of that rich and full assurance which wil scatter all feares and doubts which wil make a soule patient in waiting couragious in doing and cheerful in suffering and which wil make a heaven in a mans heart on this side heaven and make him goe singing into Paradise in despight of all calamities and miseries And certainly it can never stand with the holinesse righteousnesse faithfulnesse and goodnesse of God to put his people upon making their calling It was a good saying â—a quod juâ—es jube quod vis and election sure and upon obtaining full assurance if there were not a possibility of obtaining a full and well-grounded assurance of their happinesse and blessedness in this life and therefore it doth undeniably follow that they may attaine unto a blessed assurance of their felicity and glory whilst they are in this vale of misery The contrary opinion we make a mans life a hell here though he should escape a hel hereafter Seventhly
is this but to torment the weary soule to dis-dis-spirit the wounded spirit and to make them most sad whom God would have most glad Ah how sad is it for men to affirme that wounded souls may know That the Son of righteousnesse Mal. 4. 2. hath healing in his wings but they cannot be assured that they shall bee healed The hungry soule may Luke 15. 17. know that there is bread enough in his Fathers house but cannot know that he shall taste of that bread The naked soule may know that Christ hath Rev. 3. 18. Robes of righteousnes to cover al the spots sores defects and deformities of it but may not presume to know that Christ will put those royal Robes upon it The impoverished soule may know that there bee unsearchable Eph. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to b◠traced out riches in Christ but cannot be assured that ever it shall partake of those riches all that these men allow poore foules is guesses and conjectures that it may be well with them they will not allow soules to say with Thomas My Lord and my God nor with Job to say My Redeemer lives nor with Joh. 20 28. Job 19. 25. Can. 7. 10. the Church I am my beloveds and his desire is towards mee And so they leave soules in a cloudy questioning doubting hovering condition hanging like Mahomets Tomb at Mecha between two Load stones or like Erasmus as the Papists paint him hanging betwixt heaven and hell They make the poor soul a magor missabib a terrour to it selfe What more uncomfortable Doctrine then this what more soule-disquieting and soul-unsetling doctrine then this Thou art this moment in a state of life thou mayest the next moment bee in a state of death thou art now gracious thou mayest the next houre be gracelesse Thou art now in the promised Land yet thou mayest dye in the wildernesse Thou art to day a habitation for God thou mayest The heathens used to absolve men by giving them white stones and condemn them by giving them black ones tomorrow be a Synagogue of Satan Thou hast to day received the White-stone of absolution thou mayest tomorrow receive the Black-stone of condemnation Thou art now in thy Saviours Arms thou mayest tomorrow bee in Satans Paws Thou art now Christs free man thou mayest tomorrow bee Satans bond-man Thou art now a vessel of honour thou mayest suddenly become a vessel of wrath Thou art now greatly beloved thou mayest soon be as greatly loathed This day thy name is fairly written in the Book of life tomorrow the Book may be crost and thy name blotted out for ever This is the Arminians doctrine and if this bee not to keep soules in a doubting and trembling and shivering condition what is it Well Christians Remember this is your happinesse and blessednesse That none can plucke you out of your Fathers hand That you are kept as in a Garrison or as with a Guard by the power of God through faith unto salvation That the Mountains shall depart Ioh. 10. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kept safe and fast as in a strong Garrison Isa 54. 10. Heb. 7. 25. and the hils be removed but the kindnesse of the Lord shall not depart from you neither shall the Covenant of peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on you That Christ ever lives to make intercession for you And that men and devils are as able and shall as soon make a world dethrone God pluck the Sun out of the Firmament and Christ out of the bosom of the Father as they shall pluck a beleever out of the everlasting Arms of Christ or rob him of one of his precious Jewels I shall close up this Chapter with an Deut. 33. 26 27 Mal 3. 17. excellent saying of Luther The whole Scripture saith he doth principally aime at this thing that we should not doubt but that we should hope that we should trust that we should beleeve that God is a merciful a bountiful a gracious and a patient God to his people CHAP. II. Containing several weighty Propositions concerning Assurance THE first Proposition that I shall lay downe concerning Assurance is this That God denies Assurance for a time to his dearest and choysest ones and that upon many considerable grounds As first for the exercise of their grace a gracious soule would alwayes be upon Mount Tabor looking into Canaan he would alwayes bee in his Fathers arms and under his Fathers smiles hee would alwayes bee in the Sun-shine of divine favour hee would alwayes have the heavens open that Tam pater nemo tum pius nemo Tertul. he might alwayes see his Christ and his Crowne he would with Peter bee alwayes upon the Mount hee is loath to walke through the valley of darknesse through the valley of Baca. As Gen. 14. 21. If Saints should alwayes have Assurance they would be too apt to say bonum est esse hic it is good for us to be here the King of Sodome said once to Abraham Give me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe So gracious soules are apt to say Give mee joy give me peace give me Assurance and doe you take trials afflictions and temptations to your selves But pray what use would there be of the Starres if the Sunne did alwayes shine why none why no more use would there bee of your graces if Assurance should be alwayes continued therefore the Lord for the exercise of his childrens faith hope patience c. is pleased at least for a time to deny them Assurance though they seek it by earnest prayer and with a flood of penitent tears Secondly The Lord denies Assurance to his dearest ones that he may keep them in the exercise of those Religious duties that are most costly and contrary to flesh and blood as to mourning repenting selfe-judging selfe-loathing selfe-abhorring and selfe-searching As that 1 Sam. 16. For these things I weep mine eye mine eye runneth downe with water because the comforter that should relieve my soule is far from me Chap. 3. verse 2 3. Hee hath led me and brought me into darknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not into light Surely against me hee is Bring back my soule or fetch again my soule i. e. Comfort refresh and rejoyce me as in former times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned he turneth his hand against mee all the day verse 17. And thou hast removed my soule far off from peace I forgat prosperity Now what this sad dealings of God puts the Church upon you may see in verse 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turne again to the Lord And if you look throughout 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the book you shall finde the These two Hebrew words are joyned together to intimate to us that diligent narrow and accurate enquiry that they should make into their wayes to search as men do into the bowels of the
he can be assured of remission or salvation but this he cannot bee before he hath faith therefore there may bee grace where there is no assurance Christ went to heaven in a cloud and the Angel went up to heaven in the smoak and flame of the sacrifice and so I doubt not but many precious soules doe ascend to heaven in clouds Act. 1. 9. Judg. 13. 20. and darknesse Now a man may have grace and yet want assurance and that may arise from these causes First from his cavilling spirit and Cease cavilling thou weak soul and say Quod fui Demine ignosce quod sum corrige quod ero dirige O Lord forgive what I have been correct what I am direct what I shall be from his siding with the old man against the new with the flesh against the spirit with corruption against grace with the house of Saul against the house of David with the worke of Satan against the worke of God Sinne is Satans worke grace holiness is Gods yet such is the weaknesse yea madnesse of many poore soules that they will fall in and side with Satans worke rather then with Gods against their owne soules Ah Christians will you condemne that Judge for injustice and unrighteousnesse that shall open his eares to the complaints of the Plaintiffe but stop his ears against When John Prostiborski Baron of Schanow was laid on the racke he with an heroical indignation cut out his tongue and cast it away being demanded why he did so set down his answer with a quill on the wall I did it said he because I would not be brought by any tortures to say any thing that is false against my selfe or others Ah cavilling souls I had almost said that you were better cut out your tongues then suffer them to be still a cavilling against the grace of God the image of God that is stamped upon you the answers of the Defendant and will you not condemne your selves for that you doe with both ears heare what Sinne and Satan hath to say against the soule but have not one eare open to heare what the Spirit what grace what the New-man what the noble part of man what the regenerate man can say for the justification satisfaction and consolation of the soule Let mee tell thee O thou cavilling soule that it is thy wisdome and thy duty to remember that that command of God that doth prohibit thee from bearing false witnesse against thy neighbour that same command doth enjoyne thee not to beare false witnesse against the worke of grace upon thy owne heart against the precious and glorious things that God hath done for thy soul And thou shouldest make as much conscience of bearing false witnesse against any thing the Lord hath wrought in thee and for thee as thou doest make conscience of bearing false witnesse against thy neighbour It cannot but be sad with the soule but be night with the soule when it makes much conscience of the one and no conscience of the other Many heathens have been so loving and faithful one to another that they would rather dye then they would beare false witnesse one against another How dare you cavilling souls then to beare false witnesse against your owne soules and the gracious worke of the Lord upon them If this bee not the way to keep off assurance and keep the soule in darknesse yea in a hell I know nothing Againe a man may have grace and yet want assurance and that may arise in the second place from the exceeding littlenesse and weaknesse of Matth. 14. 30 31. Mark 9. 24. his grace A little Candle yeelds but a little light and a little grace yeelds but a little evidence Great measures of grace carries with them great and cleer evidences but little measures carries with them but little evidence Some Stars are so small that they are scarce discernable So some Saints Luke 13 18 19. Pythagoras saâ—th That Mustard-seed hath the preeminence among those things whose power is to ascend upwards Pliâ— in hâ—s Rhet. Hist lib. 20. cha 22. speaks more of this grain vide graces are so small that they can hardly see their graces to bee graces A little fire will yeeld but a little heat a little grace will yeeld but a little comfort a little evidence A little grace will yeeld a man a heaven hereafter but it is a great deale of grace that must yeeld us heaven here A little stock will bring in but a little profit a little grace will bring in but a little peace A little Jewel yeelds but a little lustre a little glory no more doth a little grace and therefore it is that Christians that have but a little grace have but a little of the shine and lustre of Assurance they have but little joy and comfort in this world Yet that the spirits of weake Christians may not utterly faint let mee give them this hint viz. That the weakest Christian The Babe in the arms as much propriety in the Father as hee that is growne up to ripe years though he cannot make such improvement of it as the other is as much justified as much pardoned as much adopted and as much united to Christ as the strongest and hath as much interest and propriety in Christ as the highest and noblest Christian that breaths though hee cannot make so much advantage and improvement of his interest and propriety as the strong Christian who hath a greater degree of grace Hierom observes upon the Beatitudes that there are many of the promises made to weake grace Mat. 5. A childs hand may receive a pearle as well as the hand of a Gyant so may a weak faith a Christ as well as a strong 3. 4. Blessed are the poore in spirit v. 4. Blessed are they that mourne and v. 5. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst Weake Saints remember this the promise is a ring of gold and Christ is the precious tried stone in that ring and upon that stone must you rest as you would have grace to thrive and your soules to bee safe and happy Weake soules remember this as Joseph sent Chariots to bring his Father Gen. 45. and his brethren to him so God would have your weake graces to bee as Chariots to bring you to himselfe who is the cherisher strengthner and increaser of grace Hee that makes his graces to be servants and handmaids to convey him to Christ the It would very much discomfort us and terrifie us to see one haunt us that was long since laid in the grave whose resurrection we did neither feare nor repent till the sounding of the last Trumpet fountaine of grace hee shall finde the greatest sweetnesse in grace and the greatest increase of grace Againe a man may have true grace and yet want assurance and this may arise from the resurrection of old sins Ah when those sinnes which were long since committed and long since lamented and long since
loathed and long since crucified when those old sins which hath cost a soule many prayers and many tears and many sighs and may groans and many complaints when those sinnes that have been long buried shall bee againe revived and meet the soule and stare upon the soule and say to the soule We are thine and wee will follow thee wee are thine and wee will haunt thee Ah how will this cause a mans countenance to bee changed his thoughts to be troubled his joynts to be loosed and his heart to be amazed David and Job meeting with the sins of their youth long after they were Psal 25. 7. Job 13 26. lamented and pardoned makes their hearts startle and tremble Upon the new risings of old sinnes the soule begins to question all and thus to expostulate the case Surely my estate is not good my pardon is not sealed if it be how comes these sinnes to bee revived to be remembred hath not God ingaged himselfe in the promises Isa 43. 25 Jer. 31. 34. of Grace that those sinnes that are pardoned shall never be remembred and surely if these sinnes be not pardoned I have reason to feare that others bee not pardoned and if my sins bee not pardoned how shall I escape being destroyed Surely my repentance was not sound my sorrow was not sincere the blow the wound I gave sinne was not mortall if it had how comes it to passe that it now meets mee like an armed enemy Thus these new risings of old sinnes keeps many a mans soule and assurance asunder Again a man may have grace and yet want assurance and this may arise Perfection is desireable on earth but shall be onely enjoyed in heaven It was a sweet saying of One In libro tâ—o scribuntur omnes qui quod possunt faciunt si quod debent non possunt They are surely written all in Gods Book that doe what they can though they cannot but under do from his falling short of that perfection that the word requires and that other Saints have attained to Ah sayes such a soul surely I have no grace Oh how short do I fall of such and such righteous rules and of such and such precious Christians Ah how cleer are they in their light how strong are they in their love how high are they in their attainments how are their hearts filled with grace and their lives with holinesse all their motions towards God and towards man speaks out Grace Grace they pray indeed like Saints and live indeed like Angels Now many poore soules comparing themselves with the perfect rule of righteousnesse and with those that are in the highest formes in Christs Schoole and that are the noblest and choicest patterns for purity and sanctity and finding such a vast disproportion between their hearts and the rule between their actions and lives and the lives and actions of others they are apt to fit downe sadded and discouraged Suetonius reports of Julius Caesar that seeing Alexanders statue hee fetched a deep sigh because hee at that age had none so little So many precious Remember this Though your consolation depends upon degrees of grace yet your salvation depends upon the truth of grace soules sit downe sighing and weeping that they have lived so long and done so little for God and for their owne internal and eternal good This wounds and sinkes their spirits that they are so unlike to those in Grace that they desire to be like unto in Glory and that they are so far below such and such in spirituals whom they are so far above in temporals 5 Again a man may have true grace and yet want assurance and this may arise from that smoak and clouds those feares and doubts that corruption raises in the soule so that the soule cannot see those excellent The being of grace is a different thing from the seeing of grace The blind man you know in the Gospel calls his faith unbeleef graces that otherwise might bee discerned though there may bee many precious gems and jewels in the house yet the smoak may hinder a man from seeing them sparkle and shine So though there be many precious graces in the soules of Saints yet corruption may raise such a dust such a smoak in the soule that the soule is not able to see them in the beauty and glory Gen. 21. 19 20 The Wel of water was neer Hagar but she saw it not till her eyes were opened by the Lord. So grace is neer the soul yea in the soul sometimes and yet the soul doth not see it till God opens the Gen. 28. eye and shews it The Lord was in this Yet a Saint at worst is not like him in Plutarch who would not bee resolved of his doubts because he would not lose the pleasure in seeking for resolution No he loves and looks and longs for resolution to all his doubts place said Jacob and I knew it not so many a precious soule may say Grace was in my heart and I knew it not I saw it not Blessed Bradford in one of his Epistles saith thus O Lord meethinks I feel it so with me sometimes as if there were no difference between my heart and the heart of the wicked my minde is as blinde as theirs my spirit as stout stubborne and rebellious as theirs and my thoughts as confused as theirs and my affections as disordered as theirs and sâ—rvices as formal as theirs c. Ah Christians have not many of your soules found it so Surely yes no wonder then that though you have grace yet you have not seen it sparkling and shining in your soules as some have thought that their fields have had no corne because they have been so full of weeds and that their heap hath no wheat because nothing hath appeared but chaffe that their pile hath no gold because it hath been covered with much dross So some have thought that their hearts have been void of grace because they have been so full of Matth. 14 30 Mat. 12. 15. Gen 20. Chap. fears and doubts Peter at one time beleeves and walkes at another time he doubts and sinkes Abraham beleeves and offers up Isaac at one time hee feares and falls at another time Say thou art my sister lest they kill mee So David and Job they had their shufflings tremblings faintings shakings Psal 116. 11. Psal 31. 22. and questionings It is not alwayes high water with Saints sometimes they are reduced to a very low ebbe The best of Saints are like the Rara hora brevis mora Ber. Arke tossed up and downe with waves with feares and doubts and so it will bee till they are quite in the bosome of Christ 6 Lastly a man may have grace and yet not see it yet not know it and this may arise from his non-searching his non-examining his non-ransacking of his owne soule there is gold in the Mine and men might finde it if they would
all lights When God is gone it is night with the soul cannot make up the want of the light of the Sun so all temporal comforts cannot make up the want of one spiritual comfort So Job sometimes sings Job 16. 19. 19. 25. Job 6. 4. it out My Witness is in Heaven and my Record is on high and my Redeemer lives c. At other times you have him complaining The Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me and their poyson drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me And in the 29 Chapter you have him sighing Job 29. 2 3 4 5. Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est The whole life of a good Christian is an holy wish saith One. it out thus O that I were as in moneths past as in the days when God preserved me when his candle shined up on my head and when by his light I walked thorow darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the secret of God was upon my Tabernacle when the Almighty was yet with me c. Now by all these clear instances and by many others Saints Experiences it is evident That the choicest Saints may loose their assurance and the lustre and glory of it may decay and wither What the Soul should do in such a case and how it should be recovered out of this sad state I shall shew you towards the close of this Discourse The sixth Proposition is this That The sixth Proposition the certainty and infallibility of a Christians assurance cannot be made known to any but his own heart He can say as the blinde man once said This I know John 9. 25. that once I was blinde but now I see once I was a slave but now I am a son once I was dead but now I am alive Rom. 8. 6. 11 13. once I was darkness but now I am light in the Lord once I was a childe of wrath Ephes 5. 8 2. 3. John 8. 36. an heir of Hell but now I am an heir of Heaven once I was Satans bondman but now I am Gods freeman once I 2 Cor. 3. 17. was under the spirit of bondage but Gal. 5. 1 13. Eph. 1. 13 14. now I am under the spirit of adoption that seals up to me the remission of my sins the justification of my person and the salvation of my soul All this I Can you compass the Heavens with a span or contain the Sea in a Nut-shel then may you fully evidence your assurance to others know says the assured Saint but I cannot make you know it certainly and infallibly if you would give me a thousand worlds What I have found and felt and what I do finde and feel is wonderfully beyond what I am able to express I am as well able to tell the Stars of Heaven and to number the Sand of the Sea as I am able to declare to you the joy the joy the unconceivable joy the assurance the glorious 1 Pet. 1. 8. So my yong Lord Harrington and Nazianzen and Vincentius and Faniâ—us an Italian Martyr with many more that might be named assurance that God hath given me Severinus the Indian Saint under the power of assurance was heard to say O my God do not for pity so ever joy me if I must still live and have such consolations take me to Heaven c. So say souls under the power of assurance Lord we are so filled with joy and comfort with delight and content that we are not able to express it here on Earth and therefore take us to Heaven that we may have that glory put upon us that may inable us to declare and manifest those glorious things that thou hast wrought in us Parents do by experience feel such soundings such meltings such rowlings such sweet workings of their affections and bowels towards their children that for their lives they cannot to the life describe to others what it is to be a Father to be a Mother what it is to have such rowlings of bowels towards children Assurance is that white stone that none knoweth Vide Beza Bullenger Pererius and Brightman on the words but he that hath it Revel 2. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it White stones were in great use among the Romans 1. In white stones they used to write the names of such as were victorious and Conquerors so in that Text To him that overcometh will I give a white stone 2. They used to acquit the innocent And they gave black stones to note their condemnation in Courts of Justice by giving them a white stone and so here the white stone points out absolution and remission 3. They used to give a white stone to those that were chosen to any places of honor so the white stone of assurance Heb. 12. 28. Matth. 6. 20. 1 Pet. 1. 4. is an evidence of our Election of our being chosen to a Kingdom that shakes not to riches that corrupt not and to a crown of glory that fades not And thus much for this sixt Proposition viz. That the certainty and infallabillity of a Christians assurance cannot be made known to any but his own heart The seventh Proposition is this That The seventh Proposition there are some special seasons and times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to give to his children a sweet assurance of his favor and love and they are these that follow First Sometimes I say not always at first conversion the Lord is pleased to make out sweet manifestations of his love to the penitent soul when the soul hath been long under guilt and wrath when the soul hath been long under the frowns and displeasure of God and hath long seen the gates of Heaven barred against him and the mouth of Hell open to receive him when the soul hath said surely there is no hope there is no help surely I shall loose God Christ and Heaven for ever Then God comes in and speaks peace to the soul then he says I will blot out thy iniquities for my name sake and will remember thy sins no more Hark soul hark says Christ My Isai 55. 8 9. thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my ways as your ways My thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace and thoughts of love Hark soul here is Mercy to pardon thee and here is Grace to adorn thee here is a Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. to justifie thee here is eye-salve to enlighten thee and gold to Revel 3. 18. enrich thee and rayment to cloath thee and balm to heal thee and bread to nourish thee and wine upon the lees to chear thee and happiness to Isai 25. 6. crown thee and my self to satisfie thee
loathsom Dungeon the pavement whereof was sharp shells and his bed to lie on a bundle of thorns All which this blessed Martyr received without so much as a groan breathing out his spirit in these words Vincentius is my name and by the grace of God I will be still Vincentius inspight of all your torments Persecution brings death in one hand and life in the other for while it kills the body it crowns the soul The most cruel Martyrdom is but a crafty trick to escape death to pass from life to life from the prison to paradise from the cross to the crown Justin Martyr says that when the Romans did immortalize their Emperors as they called it they brought one to swear that he see him go to Heaven out of the fire But we may see by an eye of Faith the blessed Souls of suffering Saints flie to Heaven like Elias in his fiery Judg. 13. 20. chariot like the Angel that appeared to Manoah in the flames John Hus Martyr had such choice discoveries of God and such sweet in-comes of the Spirit as made his patience and constancy A patient man under reproaches is like a man with a Sword in one hand and a Salve in the other he could wound but he will heal invincible When he was brought forth to be burned they put on his head a Triple Crown of Paper painted over with ugly Devils but when he saw it he said My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did were a Crown of Thorns why should not I then for his sake wear this light crown be it never so ignominious truly I will do it and that willingly And as they tied his neck with a chain to the stake smiling he said That he would willingly receive the The Motto of patient souls is plura pro Christo toleranda we must suffer more then so for Christ same chain for Jesus Christs sake who he knew was bound with a far worse chain for his sake Well remember this their names that by a patient suffering are written in Red Letters of blood in the Churches Calender are written in Golden Letters in Christs Register in the Book of Life A second Reason why the Lord Reas 2 lifts up the light of his countenance upon his people in suffering times and that is for the confirmation of some for the conversion of others and for the greater conviction and confusion of their adversaries who wonder and are like men amazed when they see the comfort and the courage of the Saints in suffering times Pauls choice carriage in his bonds was the Phil. 1. 14. vide Estius confirmation of many And many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the Word without fear And as the sufferings of the Saints do contribute to the confirmation of some so by the blessing of God they contribute to the conversion of others I beseech thee says Paul for Philem. v. 10. my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds It was a notable saying of Luther Ecclesia totum mundum convertâ—t sanguine oratione The Church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer Basil affirms That the They knew it could be but a days journey between the cross and paradise between that short storm and an eternal calm Primitive Saints shewed so much comfort and courage so much Heroick zeal and constancy that many of the Heathens turned Christians so that choice spirit that the Saints have shewed in their sufferings when Christ hath overshadowed them with his love and stayed them with flagons and comforted them with apples hath madded grieved vexed and extreamly It would be too tedious to give you an account of all particular persecutors in this case whom the courage faith and patience of the Saints have tyred out tormented and made weaty of their lives and also bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers tormented their tormentors Lactantius boasts of the braveness of the Martyrs in his time our children and women not to speak of men do in silence overcome their tormentors and the fire cannot so much as fetch a sigh from them Hegesippus reports an observation of Antoninus the Emperor viz. That the Christians were most couragious and confident always in Earth-quakes whilest his own Heathen Souldiers were at such accidents most fearful and dis-spirited Certainly no Earth-quakes can make any Heart-quakes among the suffering Saints so long as the countenance of God shines upon their face and his love lies warm upon their Hearts The suffering Saint may be assaulted but not vanquished he may be troubled but can never be conquered he may lose his head but he cannot lose his Crown which the 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. righteous Lord hath prepared and laid up for him The suffering Saint shall still be master of the day though they Mori posse vinci non posse kill him they cannot hurt him he may suffer death but never conquest And they overcame him by the blood of Rev. 12. 11. the Lamb and by the word of their testimony O Lord Jesus said one I love thee plusquam mea plusquam meos plusquam me more then all my goods more then all my friends yea more then my very life and they loved not their lives unto the death They love not their lives that love Christ and his truth more then their lives they that slight contemn and despise their lives when they stand in competition with Christ may be truly said not to love their lives In these words you see that the Saints by dying do overcome They may kill me said Socrates of his enemies but they cannot hurt me A Saint may say this and more The Herb Heliotropium doth turn about and open it self according to the motion of the Sun so do the Saints in their sufferings according to the internal motions of the Sun of Righteousness upon them A third Reason Why the Lord Reas 3 causes his goodness to pass before his people and his face to shine upon his people in suffering times and that is for the praise of his own Grace and for the glory of his own Name God would lose much of his own glory if he should not stand by his people and comfort them and strengthen them in the day of their sorrows Ah the dirt the scorn the contempt that Exod. 32. 12. Num. 14. 13. vain men would cast upon God Look as our greatest good comes thorow the sufferings of Christ so Gods greatest glory that he hath from his Saints comes thorow their sufferings If ye be reproached for the name of Christ. 1 Peâ— 4. 14. Vide Bezam happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified It makes much for the glory of God that his people are cleared and comforted quickned and raised spiritualized and elevated in
certainty bless him and will bless his blessing to him and in multiplying he would multiply his seed as the stars of Heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea shore Now the Angel of the Lord viz. the Lord Jesus as his own words shew Verse 12 15 16. calls unto Abraham out of Heaven not once but twice and now he shews his admirable love in countermanding of Abraham and in providing a Ram even to a miracle for a burnt-offering And thus you see that believing times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to reveal his love and make known his favor to his people and to look from Heaven upon them and to speak again and again in love and sweetness to them Fifthly Hearing and receiving Reas 5 times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to cause his face to shine upon his people when they are a hearing the Word of Life and a Psal 63. 3 4. breaking the Bread of Life then God comes in upon them and declares to them that love that is better then life Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word As Peter was Also by the Holy Ghost is meant the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit Vers 45 46. Acts 11. 15. Therefore says the Apostle do not leave the substance for a shadow the Sun for a Candle and speaking the Holy Ghost that is the graces of the Holy Ghost viz. the joy the comfort the love the peace c. of the Holy Ghost fell upon them So in that Gal. 3. 2. This onely would I learn of you received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By the Spirit here Calvin and Bullinger and other Expositors do understand the joy the peace the assurance that is wrought in the heart solid Meat for Milk which none would do except they were bewitched Gal. 3. 1. by the hearing of Faith that is by the Doctrine of the Gospel for in these words of the Apostle hearing is put for the thing heard and Faith for the Doctrine of the Gospel because the Gospel is the ordinary means of working Faith Faith comes by hearing saith the Apostle So in that 1 Thes 1. 5 6. By the Holy Ghost in this Text cannot be meant the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and that first because they were no evidences of Election secondly because many vessels of wrath have been partakers of them thirdly many of Gods choice and chosen ones have been destitute of those extraordinary gifts For our Gospel came not unto you in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost In these words you have a Divine Power attending Pauls Ministry a power convincing enlightning humbling raising delighting reforming renouncing and transforming of them that heard him Also you have the sweet and blessed testimony of the Spirit attending his Ministry and assuring those of their Effectual Calling and Election upon whom the Word came in power and raising up their spirits to joy in the midst of sorrow Ah you precious Sons and Daughters of Sion that have sate waiting and trembling at Wisdoms door tell me tell me Hath not God rained down Manna upon your souls whilest you have been hearing the Word Yes Hath not God come in with power upon you and by his Spirit sealed up to you your Election the Remission of your sins the Justification of your persons and the Salvation of your souls Yes Without controversie many Saints have found Christs lips in this Ordinance to drop honey and sweetness marrow and fatness And as Christ in hearing times when his people are a hearing the Word of Life does lift up the light of his countenance upon them so when they are a receiving the Bread of Life he makes known his love to them and their interest in him in this feast of fat This Ordinance is a Cabineâ— of Jewels in it are abundance of Spiritual Springs and rich Mines heavenly Treasures things the Master of the Feast the Lord Jesus comes in the midst of his guests saying Peace be here Here the beams of his glory do so shine as that they cause the hearts of his Children to burn within them and as scatters all that thick darkness and clouds that are gathered about them When Saints are in this Wine Celler Christs Banner over them is Love When they are in this Canaan then he feeds them with Milk and Honey When they are in this Paradise then they shall taste of Angels Food When they are at this Gate of Heaven then they shall see Christ at the right hand of the Father When they are before this Mercy Seat then they shall see the Bowels of Mercy rowling towards them In this Ordinance they see that and taste that and feel that of Christ that they are not able to declare and manifest to others In this Ordinance Saints shall see the truth of their graces and feel the increase of their graces and rejoyce in the clearness of their evidences In this Ordinance Christ will seal up the Promises and seal up the Covenant and seal up his Love and seal up their pardon sensibly to their souls Many precious souls there be that have found Christ in this Ordinance when they could not finde him in other Ordinances though they have sought him sorrowingly Many a cold soul hath been warmed in this Ordinance and many a hungry soul hath been fed with Every gracious soul may say not onely credo vitam aeternam edo vitam aeternam I believe life eternal but I receive I eat life eternal Manna in this Ordinance and many a thirsty soul hath been refreshed with Wine upon the Lees in this Ordinance and many a dull soul hath been quickned in this Ordinance * Every wicked soul that takes the cup may say Calix vitae calix mortis the Cup of Life is made my death 1 Cor. 11. 27. I do not say That ever a dead soul hath been in livened in this Ordinance this being an Ordinance appointed by Christ not to beget Spiritual Life where there was none but to increase it where the Spirit hath formerly begun it In this Ordinance weak hands and feeble knees have been strengthned and fainting hearts have been comforted and questioning souls have been resolved and staggering souls have been setled and falling souls have been supported Ah Christians if you will but stand up and speak out you must say That in this Ordinance there hath been between Christ and you such mutual smiles such mutual kisses such mutual embraces such mutual opening and shutting of hands such mutual opening and closing of hearts as hath made such a Heaven in your hearts
heap never so much fuel upon a fire it would not quench it but kindle it the more so nothing can satisfie the desires of a Saint but a full celestial enjoyment of God brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God When shall I come and appear before the presence of God So in that Psal 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary In these words you have Davids strong earnest and vehement desires here you have desire upon desire here you have the very flower and vigor of his spirit the strength and sinews of his soul the prime and top of his enflamed affections all strongly working after a fuller enjoyment of God Look as the espoused Maid longs for the marriage day the Apprentice for his freedom the Captive for his ransom the condemned man for his pardon the Traveller for his Inn and the Mariner for his Haven so doth a soul that hath met with God in his Ordinances long to meet with God in Heaven It is It is not drops but swimming in the Ocean that will satisfie a soul that hath looked into paradise not a drop it is not a lap and away a sip and away that will suffice such a soul No. This soul will never be quiet till it sees God face to face till it be quiet in the bosom of God The more a Saint tastes of God in an Ordinance the more are his desires raised and whetted and the more are his teeth set on edge for more and more of God Plutarch faith That Plutarch in vita Camilli when once the Gauls had tasted of the sweet Wine that was made of the Grapes of Italy nothing would satisfie them but Italy Italy So a soul A full enjoyment of God is the most sparkling Diamond in the Ring of Glory that hath tasted of the sweetness and goodness of God in Ordinances nothing will satisfie it but more of that goodness and sweetness a little mercy may save the soul but it must be a great deal of mercy that must satisfie the soul The least glimps of Gods countenance may be a staff to support the soul and a cordial to cherish and comfort the soul and an ark to secure the soul and a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide the soul but it must be much very much of God that must be enough to satisfie the soul The fifth and last Reason Why the Reas 5 Lord is graciously pleased to give his people some sense of his love and some assurance of his favor in Ordinances is That they may have wherewithal to silence and stop the mouths of wicked and ungodly men whose words are Mal. 3. 13 14. stout against the Lord who say it is in vain to serve God and what profit is there in keeping his Statutes and Ordinances and in walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts Now the The Saints by the gracious Experiences that they have of the sweet breathings of God upon them in Ordinances are able to confute muzzle halter or button up the mouths of vain and wicked men who say unto the Lord Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Lord causes his face to shine upon his people in Ordinances that they may stand up and bear him witness before the wicked world that he is no hard Master that he reaps not where he sows not In Ordinances he kisses them and there he gives them his love and makes known his goodness and glory that his Children may from their own experiences be able to confute all the lies and clamors of wicked men against God and his ways And blessed be God that hath not left himself without witness but hath many thousands that can stand up before all the What is the Almighty that we shouâ—d serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 14 15. world and declare That they have seen the beauty and glory of God in his Sanctuary that they have met with those joys and comforts in the ways of God that do as far surpass all other joys and comforts as light does darkness as Heaven does Hell That they have met with such heart meltings such heart humblings such heart revivings such heart cheerings as they never met with before in all their days Ah say these Souls One day in his Courts is better then a thousand years elswhere O! we had rather with Moses loose all and be whipped and stripped of all then lose the sweet enjoyments of God in Ordinances O! in them God hath been Light and Life a Joy and a Crown to our Souls God is tender of his own glory and of his Childrens comfort and therefore he gives them such choice aspects and such sweet visits in Ordinances that they may have Arguments at hand to stop the mouths of sinners and to declare from their own experience that all the ways of God are ways of pleasantness Prov 3. 17. Psal 65. 11. and that all his paths drops fatness And thus much for the Reasons Why God lifts up the light of his countenance upon his people in Ordinances before I pass to the next particular it will be necessary that I lay down these Cautions to prevent weak Saints from stumbling and doubting who have not yet found the Lord giving out his favors and making known his Grace and Love in such a sensible way to their souls in breaking the Bread of Life as others have found Now the first Caution I shall lay Caut. 1. down is this That even Believers may sometimes come and go from this Ordinance without that comfort that assurance that joy that refreshment that others have and may meet with And this may arise partly from their 2 Chro. 30. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 20. to ult unpreparedness and unfitness to meet with God in the Ordinance and partly from their playing and dallying with some bosom sin or else it may arise from their not stirring up themselves to lay hold on God as the Prophet Isaiah complains There is none Isa 64. 7. that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee or else it may arise from the Spirits standing at Sam. 1. 16. a distance from the Soul it may be O soul that thou hast set the Comforter the Spirit a mourning and therefore it is that he refuses to comfort thee and to be a sealing and witnessing spirit unto thee Thou hast grieved him with thy sins and he will now vex thee by his silence thou hast thrown his Cordials against the Psal 77. 2. wall thou hast trampled his Manna under thy feet and therefore it is that he
hath vailed his face and changed Gen. 31. 5. his countenance and carriage towards thee thou hast been unkinde to the Spirit and therefore he carries it towards thee as an enemy and not as a friend The second Caution is this That Caut. 2. The longer mercy is a coming the greater the sweeter and the better usually it is when it comeâ— Many a childe hath got a Benjamins portion a Hannahs portion a double potâ—ion by waiting so hath many a Saint got a worthy poâ—tion a double portion of comfort and assurance by waiting Ergo wait patiently and work heartily though God doth in this Ordinance withhold comfort and assurance from thee yet thou must hold on in thy duty thou must wait at Hopes hospital at this heavenly Pool thou must lie till the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus comes and breaths upon thee at theâ—e waters of the Sanctuary thou must lie till the Spirit moves upon thy soul thou must not neglect thy work though God delayes thy comfort thou must be as obedient in the want of assurance as thou art thankful under the enjoyment of assurance Laban often changed Jacobs wages yet Jacob never changed nor neglected his work though God should change thy wages thy comforts into discomforts thy Spring into an Autumn c. yet thou must never change nor neglect thy work which is obeying believing and waiting till God in his Ordinances shall lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and turn thy night into day and thy mourning into rejoycing God is the same and the commands of the Gospel are the same and therefore thy work is the same whether it be night or day with thy soul whether thou art under frowns or smiles in the Arms or at the Feet of God A third Caution is this Many of Caut. 3. the precious Sons and Daughters of Sion have had and may have so much comfort and sweetness so much life and heat so much reviving and quickning so much marrow and fatness in this Ordinance as may clearly evidence the special presence of God with their spirits and as they would not exchange for all the world and yet would give a world were it in their power for those strong comforts and full assurance that others enjoy in this Ordinance In this Ordinance King Cyrus gave a kiss to Chrysaâ—tes and a golden cup to Artabazus Christ looks upon one and kisses another he gives a nod to one and his hand to another Some in this Ordinance shall have but sips of mercy others shall have large draughts of mercy some in this Ordinance shall see but the back parts of Christ others shall see him face to face to one he gives silver to another he gives gold to one he gives but a glass of Cant 2. 5. consolation to another he gives flaggons of consolation some shall have The least star gives light the least drop moystens the least pearl sparkles and the least dram of special Grace saves but drops others shall swim in the Ocean some shall have a large harvest others shall have but a few gleanings and yet they if rightly valued are more worth then a world The Sun of Righteousness is a free Agent and he will work and shine forth as he pleases and when he pleases and on whom he pleases and who art thou that darest say to Christ why doest thou so Ah Christians you may not you must not say we have not met with Christ in the Sacrament because we have not met with joy and assurance in the Sacrament for you may enjoy very much of Christ in that Ordinance and yet not so much as may boyl up to full assurance and make you go a way singing My beloved is Cant. â— 16. mine and I am his We may enjoy the warmth and heat of the Sun when we cannot see the Sun so souls may enjoy much of Christ by holy influences in the Sacrament when they cannot see Christ in the Sacrament Seventhly Times of personal afflictions are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to vouchsafe to his people sweet manifestations of his love and favor when his hand is heavy on them then he lifts up the light of his countenance upon them Psal 71. 20 21. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Thou shalt increase my greatnessâ— and comfort me on every side So in that Psal 94. 19. In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multitude of my careful troubled thoughts My cogitations i. e. My careful troubled thoughts perplexed as the branches of a tree by a strong wind It comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Branch by interposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy comforts delight my soul Ah Christians hath not God by all afflictions lifted up your souls neerer Heaven as Noahs Ark was lifted up neerer and neerer Heaven by the rising of the water higher and higher The Ball in the Emblem says percussa surgo The harder you beat me down in affliction the higher I shall bound in affection towards Heaven and heavenly things so afflictions do but elevate and raise a Saints affections to Heaven and heavenly things When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how he did and how he felt himself he pointed to his sores and ulcers whereof he was full and said These are Gods gems and Qui non est crucianus non est Christianus saith Luther The Proverb is Smart makes wit and vexation gives understanding jewels wherewith he decketh his best friends and to me they are more precious then all the gold and silver in the world Afflictiones benedictiones Afflictions are blessings Gods corrections are our instructions his lashes our lessons his scourges our school-masters his chastisements our advertisements and to note this the Hebrews and Greeks both do express chastning and teaching by one and the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musar â—aideia because the latter is the true end of the former Ah I bless God I know several precious souls of whom this world is not worthy that have found more of God in afflictions then in any other gracious dispensation Manasses got more by his Iron chain then ever he got by his Golden Crown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oculos quos peccatum claudit poena apcrit Pâ—r issem nisi perâ—issem I had perished if I had not perished you afflicted Sons and Daughters of Zion have you not had such sweet discoveries of God such sensible demonstrations of his love such bowels of affections working in him towards you have you not had such gracious visits and such glorious visions that you would not exchange for all the world yes Have you not had the precious presence of God with you quieting and stilling your souls supporting and upholding your souls chearing and refreshing your souls yes And have you not had the Lord
applying precious promises and suitable remedies to all your maladies Have you not found God a bringing in unexpected mercy in the day of your adversity suitable to that promise Hosea 2. 14. I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her or I will earnestly speak to her heart as the Hebrew reads it yes Have you not found that God hath so sweetned and sanctified afflictions to you as to make them a means to discover many sins that lay hid and to purge you from many sins that cleaved close unto you and to prevent you from falling into many sins that would have been the breaking of your bones and the loss of your comfort yes Have you not found that you have Musk saith one when it hath lost its sweetness if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers it so doth afflictions recover and revive decayed graces been like the Walnut tree the better for beating and like the Vine the better for bleeding and like the ingenious childe the better for whiping yes Have you not found afflictions to revive quicken and recover your decayed graces have they not inflamed that love that hath been cold and put life into that Faith that hath been dying and quickned those hopes that have been withering and put spirits into those joyes and comforts that have been languishing yes O then stand up and declare to all the world That times of affliction have been the times wherein you have seen the face of God and heard the voice of God and sucked sweetness from the brests of God and fed upon the delicates of God and drunk deep of the consolations of God and have been most satisfied and delighted with the presence and in-comes of God When Hezekiah in his great affliction lamentingly said I shall go mourning Isai 38. 9. to 21. to my grave I shall not see the Lord in the Land of the living he will cut me off with pining sickness he will break all my bones Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove mine eyes fail with looking upward O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me So now God comes in a way of mercy to him and prints his love upon his heart Vers 17. Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption or rather as the Hebrew reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Thou hast loved my soul from the grave for thou hast cast all my sins behinde thy back Ah says Hezekiah I have now found that in my afflictions thy affections have been most strongly carried towards me as towards one whom thou art exceedingly taken with O now thou hast warmed me with thy love and visited me with thy grace thou hast made my darkness to be light and turned my sighing into singing and my mourning into rejoycing So when Habakkuks belly trembled Hab 3. 16 17 18. and his lips quivered and rottenness entered into his bones and all Creature comforts failed yet then had he such a sweet presence of God with his Spirit as makes him to rejoyce in the midst of sorrows Yet says he I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation And thus you see it clear That in times of affliction God makes sweet manifestations of his love and favor to his Childrens souls Eighthly Praying times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to give his people some sweet and comfortable assurance of his love and favor towards them Prayer crowns Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Bern. ep 116. O Lord saith he I never go away from thee without thee He was a man very much in prayer as some Writers observe God with the honor and glory that is due to his Name and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort usually the most praying souls are the most assured souls There is no service wherein souls have such a neer familiar and friendly entercourse with God as in this of prayer neither is there any service wherein God doth more delight to make known his grace and goodness his mercy and bounty his beauty and glory to poor souls then this of prayer The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees Prayer is Porta coeli clavis padisi the Gate of Heaven a Key to let us into paradise when John was weeping in prayer doubtless the Sealed Book was open to him Many Christians have found by experience praying times to be sealing times times wherein God hath sealed up to them the remission of their sins and the salvation of their souls They have found prayer to be a shelter to their souls a sacrifice to God a sweet savor to Christ a scourge to Satan and an in-let to assurance God loves to lade the wings of prayer with the choicest and chiefest blessings Ah! how often Christians hath God kist you at the beginning of prayer and spoke peace to you in the midst of prayer and filled you with joy and assurance upon the close of prayer That nineth of Daniel from the seventeenth to the four and twentieth verse is full to the point in hand I shall onely cite the words of the four last Verses And whilest I was speaking and praying Dan. 9. 20. and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the Holy Mountain of my God Yea whilest I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the begining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With weariness or flight tired as it were with his making speed being caused to flie swiftly touched me about the time of the Evening Oblation And he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth and I am come to shew thee for thou art greatly beloved therefore understand the Matter and consider the Vision In these words you see whilest Daniel was in prayer the Lord appears to him and gives him a Divine touch and tells him That he is a man greatly beloved or as the Hebrew hath it a man of desires So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chamudoth a man of desires that is one singularly beloved of God one that is very pleasing and delightful to God Act 10. 1 2 3 4. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the Band called the Italian Band a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God alway He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an Angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him Cornelius And when he looked on him he was afraid and said What is it Lord And he said unto him Thy
perfect in weakness which filled his heart with joy and gladness The hidden Manna the New name and the Revel 2. 17. White stone is given to the conqueror to him that hath fought with principalities Ephes 6. 12. and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places and is come off with his garments dipt in blood After the Roman Generals had gotten victory over their enemies the Senate did use not one way but many ways to express their loves to them So after our Faith hath gotten victory over Satan God usually takes the soul in his arms and courts it and shews much kindness to it Now the soul shall be carried in triumph now the Chariot of state attends the soul now White Revel 3. 5. 7. 9. rayment is put upon the soul now Palms are put into the Conquerors hands now the Garland is set upon the Conquerors head and now a Royal feast is provided where God will set the Conqueror at the upper end of the Table and speak kindly and carry it sweetly towards him as one much affected and taken with his victory over the Prince of darkness Conflicts with Satan are usually the As many have found by experience sharpest and the hottest they spend and waste most the vital and noble spirits of the Saints and therefore the Lord after such conflicts doth ordinarily give his people his choicest and his strongest Cordials And thus by Divine assistance we have shewed you the special times and seasons wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to give his people some tastes of his love some sweet assurance that they are his favorites that all is well and shall be for ever well between him and them and that though many things may trouble them yet nothing shall separate them from their God their Christ their Crown CHAP. III. Containing the several Hinderances and Impediments that keep poor souls from Assurance with the Means and Helps to remove those Impediments and Hinderances NOw the first impediment 1. Impediment and hinderance to Assurance that we shall instance in is Despairing thoughts of mercy O these imprison the Soul and make it always dark night with the Soul these shut the windows of the Soul that no light can come in to cheer it Despairing There is a threefold Despair 1. Worldly 2. Moral 3. Spiritual And this last is the worst and greatest thoughts make a man fight against God with his own weapons they make a man cast all the Cordials of the Spirit against the wall as things of no value they make a man suck poyson out of the sweetest promises they make a man eminent in nothing unless it be in having hard thoughts of God and in arguing against his own Soul and happiness and in turning his greatest advantages into disadvantages his greatest helps into his greatest hinderances Despairing It makes a man call good evil and evil good light darkness and darkness light sweet bitter and bitter sweet a Saviour a destroyer a Redeemer a revenger c. thoughts of mercy make a man a beast yea below the beast that perisheth Pliny speaks of the Scorpion that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting as being unwilling to lose any opportunity of doing mischief Such Scorpions are despairing souls they are still a putting out their sting a rangling with God or Christ or the Scripture or the Saints or Ordinances or their own Souls A despairing soul is Magor Missabib a terror to himself it cannot rest but like Noahs Ark is always tost here and there it is troubled on every side it is full of fears and fightings A despairing soul is a burden to others but the greatest burden to it self it is still a vexing terrifying tormenting condemning and perplexing it self Despair makes every sweet A despairing soul is like the spider that draws poyson out of the sweetest flowers bitter and every bitter exceeding bitter it puts Gall and Wormwood into the sweetest Wine and it puts a sting a cross into every cross Now whilest the soul is under these despairing thoughts of mercy how is it possible that it should attain to a well-grounded assurance therefore for the helping of the soul out of this despairing condition give me leave a little to expostulate with despairing souls Tell me O despairing souls is not despair an exceeding vile and contemptible sin is it not a dishonor to God a reproach to Christ and a murderer of souls is it not a belying of God a denying of Christ and a crowning of Satan it doth without doubt proclaim the Devil a Conqueror and lifts him up above Christ himself Despair is an evil that flows Despair is Satans master-piece it carries men he adlong to hell it makes a man twice told a childe of hell it is a Viper that hath stinged many a man to death from the greatest evil in the world it flows from unbelief from ignorance and mis-apprehensions of God and his Grace and from mistakes of Scripture and from Satan who being for ever cast out of paradise labors with all his art and might to work poor souls to despair of ever entring into paradise O despairing souls let the greatness of this sin effectually awaken you and provoke you to labor as for life to come out of this condition which is as sinful as it is doleful and as much to be hated as to be lamented Again tell me O despairing souls Acts 2. Plus peccavit Judas desperando quà m prodendo Christum saith one hath not despairing Judas perished when as the murderers of Christ believing on him were saved Did not Judas sin more hainously by despairing then by betraying of Christ Despairing Spira is damned when repentting Manasseh is saved O despairing souls the arms of mercy are open to receive a Manasseh a Monster a Devil incarnate he caused that Gospel Prophet Isaiah to be sawed in the midst with a Saw as some Rabbins say he turned aside from the Lord to commit 2 Chro 33. 1 to 15. Idolatry and caused his sons to pass thorow the fire and dealt with familiar spirits and made the streets of Jerusalem to overflow with innocent blood The soul of Mary Magdalen Mark 6. 9. was full of Devils and yet Christ casts them out and made her heart his house his presence Chamber why dost thou then say there is no hope for thee O despairing soul Paul was full Acts 1. 1 2. 26. 11. of rage and malice against Christ his people and ways and he was full of blasphemy and impiety and yet behold Paul is a chosen Vessel Paul is 1 Tim. 1. 13 15 16. caught up into the third Heaven and he is filled with the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost Why shouldst thou then say there is for thee no help O despairing soul Though the Prodigal Luke 15. 13 14. had run from his Father and spent and wasted all his estate in ways
of baseness and wickedness yet upon his resolution to return his Father meets him and instead of killing him he kisses him instead of kicking him Vers 22 23. he embraces him instead of shutting the door upon him he makes sumptuous provisions for him And how then dost thou dare to say O despairing soul that God will never cast an eye of love upon thee nor bestow a crumb of mercy on thee The Apostle tells you of some monstrous miscreants that were unrighteous fornicators idolaters 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. adulterers effeminate abusers of themselves with mankinde theeves covetous drunkards revilers extortioners and yet these monsters of mankinde thorow the instant goodness and free-grace of God are washed from the filth and guilt of their sins and justified by the Righteousness of Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and decked and adorned with the precious Graces of Christ Therefore O despairing souls are you good at burning that you have no mercy on your selves but to argue to your own undoing do not say O despairing soul that thou shalt die in thy sins and lie down at last in everlasting sorrow Did it make for the honor and glory of his free grace to pardon them and will it be a reproach to his free-grace to pardon thee Could God be just in justifying such ungodly ones and shall he be unjust in justifying of thee Did not their unworthiness and unfitness for mercy turn the stream of mercy from them No. Why then O despairing soul shouldst thou fear that thy unworthiness and unfitness for mercy will so stop and turn the stream of mercy as that thou must perish eternally for want of one drop of special Grace and Mercy Again tell me O despairing soul Is not the Grace of God free-grace is Sub laudibus naturae latent inimici gratiae Aug. The Patrons of mans freewil are enemies to Gods free-grace not mans salvation of free-grace By grace ye are saved Ephes 2. 8. Every link of this golden chain is Grace It is free-grace that chose us Rom. 11. 5. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of Grace It is free-grace that chuses some to be Jewels from all eternity that chuses some to life when others are left in darkness The Lord Jesus Christ is a gift of free-grace Christ is the greatest the sweetest the choicest the cheifest gift that ever God gave and yet this gift is given by a hand of love God so loved the John 3 16. Isa 9. 6. world that he gave his onely begotten Son c. Here is a sic without a sicut God Johâ— 4 10. But God O thou despâ—iâ—ing soul is Pater misâ—rationum he is al 's bâ—wels he will not stand upon giving his most lovely Son to most unlovely souls so loved the world so freely so vehemently so fully so admirably so unconceivably That he gave his onely Son His Son not his servant his begotten Son not his adopted son yea his onely begotten Son I have read of one that had four sons and in a Famine being sore opprest with hunger the Parents resolved to sell one for relief but then they considered with themselves which of the four they should sell they said The eldest was the first of their strength therefore loth they were to sell him the second was the very picture of the Father and therefore loth they were to part with him the third was like the Mother and therefore they were not willing to part with him the fourth and the yongest was the childe of their old age their Benjamin the dearly beloved of them both and therefore they were resolved not to part with any of them and so would rather suffer themselves to perish then to part with any of their children O but Gods heart is so strongly set upon sinners Heb. 1. 1 2 3. Matth. 3. ulâ— that he freely gives Jesus Christ who is his first-born who is his very picture who is his beloved Benjamin who is his cheifest joy who is his greatest delight as Solomon speaks Then I was Prov. 8. 30. by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his delights that is his greatest delight rejoycing always before him or sporting greatly before him as little ones do before their parents Why then O despairing soul dost thou sit down sighing and walk up and down mourning and sadly concluding that there is no mercy for thee Hold up thy head O despairing Christ is called the gift of God and the free gift of God five times together in Rom. 5. 15 16 17 18. soul Jesus Christ himself is a gift of free-grace the consideration of his free boundless bottomless and endless love may afford thee much matter of admiration and consolation but none of despairation And as Jesus Christ is a gift of free-grace or a free-grace gift so the precious Covenant of Grace is a gift of grace Gen. 17. 2. I will make my Covenant betwixt me and thee but in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is I will give thee my Covenant Here you see that the Covenant of Grace is a free gift of grace God gave the Covenant of the Priest-hood unto Phineas as a gift so God gives the Num 25. 12 Covenant of Grace as a gift of favor and grace to all that he takes into Covenant with himself from first to last all is from free-grace God loves Hosea 14 4. freely I will heal their back sliding I will love them freely c. So Moses The Lord saith he set his love upon you Deut 7. 7 8. to take you into Covenant with him not because you were more in number then other people but because he loved you and chose your Fathers The onely ground God will have all blessings and happiness to flow from free-grace 1. That the worst of sinners may have strong grounds for hope and comfort of Gods love is his love the ground of Gods love is onely and wholly in himself There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw his love there is no love nor loveliness in us that should cause a beam of his love to shine upon us there is that enmity that filthiness that treacherousness 2. For the praise of his own glory 3. That vain man may not boast 4. That our mercies and blessings may be sure to us unfaithfulness to be found in every mans bosom as might justly put God upon glorifying himself in their eternal ruine and to write their names in his black Book in characters of blood and wrath And as God loves freely so God justifies us freely Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ And as poor sinners are justified freely so they are pardoned freely Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted speaking of Christ
with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And as they are pardoned freely so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The gracious gift of God Charisma signifies a gift flowing from the free-grace and favor of God John 10. 28. they shall be saved freely Rom. 6. ult For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus you see O despairing souls that all is of free-grace from the lowest to the highest round in Jacobs Ladder all is of Grace Christ is a Donative the Covenant of grace is a Donative Pardon of sin is a Donative Heaven and Salvation is a Donative Why then O despairing souls should you sit down sighing under such black sad and dismal apprehensions of God and your own state and condition Verily seeing all happiness and blessedness comes in a way of free-grace and not in a way of doing not in a way of works you should arise Revel 21. 6. 22. 18. O despairing souls and cast off all despairing thoughts and drink of the waters of life freely What though thy heart be dead and hard and sad what though thy sins be many and thy fears great yet behold here is glorious grace rich grace wonderous grace matchless and incomparable riches of free-grace spread before thee O let this fire warm thee let these waters refresh thee let these Cordials strengthen thee that it may be day and no longer night with thee that thy mourning may be turned into rejoycing and that thy beautiful garments Isa 52. 1. may be put on that so the rest of thy days may be days of gladness and sweetness and free-grace may be an everlasting shade shelter and rest unto thee Again tell me O despairing souls do you understand and most seriously and frequently ponder upon those particular Scriptures that do most clearly sweetly and fully discover the mercies of God the bowels of God the grace and favor of God to poor sinners as that Psal 86. 5. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Gods mercies are above all his works and above all ours too his mercy is without measures and rules All the acts and attributes of God sit at the feet of mercy the weapons of Gods artillery are turned The Rainbow is signum gratiae foederis into the Rainbow a Bow indeed but without an Arrow bent but without a string The Rainbow is an emblem of mercy it is a sign of grace and favor and an assurance that God will remember his Covenant it is fresh and green to note to us that Gods mercy and grace to poot sinners is always fresh and green Again tell me O despairing souls have you seriously pondered upon Nehe. 9. 16 17. But they and our Fathers dealt proudly and hardned their necks and hearkned not to thy Commandments And refused to obey neither were mindful of the wonders that thou didst among them but hardned their necks and in their rebellion appointed a Captain to return to their bondage but thou art a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not Thou art a God says he ready to pardon or rather as it is in the Original and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou a God of pardons There is a very great emphasis in this Hebraism a God of pardons it shews us that mercy is essential unto God and that he is incomparable in forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Here Nehemiah sets Micah 7. 18. him forth as one made up all of pardoning grace and mercy as a circle begins every where but ends no where so do the mercies of God When Alexander did sit down before a City he did use to set up a light to give those within notice that if they came forth to him whilest that light lasted they might have quarter if otherwise no mercy was to be expected O but Luke 13. 7. Jere. 3 1. to 15. such is the mercy and patience of God to sinners that he sets up light after light and waits year after year upon them When they have done their worst against him yet then he comes with his heart full of love and his hands full of pardons and makes a proclamation of Grace that if now at last they will accept of mercy they shall have it Why then O despairing soul dost thou make thy life a hell by having such low and mean thoughts of Gods mercy and by measuring of the mercies and bowels of God by the narrow scantling of thy weak and dark understanding Again tell me O despairing souls have you seriously pondered upon those words in Isai 55. 7 8 9. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veish Aven The man of iniquity i. e. One that makes a trade of sin man or rather as it is in the Original the man of iniquity his thoughts And let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon or as it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will multiply to pardon or he will increase his pardons as the sinner increases his sins He will multiply to pardon For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher then the Earth so are my ways higher then your ways and my thoughts then your thoughts Turn O despairing souls to these Scriptures Numb 14. 19 20. Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isai 30. 18 19. Psalm 78. 34 to 40. 103. 8. to 13. Jere. 3. 1. to 12. Luke 15. 20. to 24. 1 Tim. 1. 13. to 17. and tell me whether you have seriously and frequently pondered upon them O how can you look so much grace and mercy so much love and favor and such tender bowels of compassion in the face as appears in these Scriptures and yet rack and tear your precious souls with despairing thoughts O there is so much grace and goodness so much love and favor so much mercy and glory sparkling and shining thorow these Scriptures as may allay the strongest fears and scatter the thickest darkness and chear up the saddest spirits c. Again tell me O despairing souls do you not do infinite wrong to the 1 Pet. 1. 19. precious blood of the Lord Jesus Three things are called precious in the Scripture the blood of Christ is called precious blood and faith is called precious 2 Pet. 1. 1 4. faith and the promises are called precious promises Now what a reproach is it to this precious blood that speaks better things then the blood of Abel Heb. 12. 24. for you to faint and sink under the power of delpair what doth this speak out O doth it not proclaim to all
is pleased to manifest his grace and favor to poor souls Well doubting souls remember this God will give Assurance in one Ordinance when he will deny it in another that you may seek his face in all God loves as well that you should wait on him as that you should wrestle with him He that will not give God the honor of attending him in every duty in every Ordinance may long enough complain of the want of Assurance before God will give him the white stone and the new name that none knows but he that hath it Many of the precious Sons of Zion have found God giving Assurance in one Ordinance others have found him giving Assurance in another Ordinance God speaks peace to some in such and such services and comfort to others in such and such duties Therefore as you would have Assurance O doubting souls seek the Lord in every way and service wherein he is pleased to make known his glory and goodness In hearing Christ opens his Box of Ointments to some and in praying and breaking of Bread he lets his sweet myrrhe fall upon the hearts of others Some have seen the glory of the Lord in the Sanctuary that have been clouded in their Closets others have heard a sweet still voice in their Closets that have sate long trembling in the Sanctuary Remember Deut. 23. 3 4. Here the Proverb is most false that says Modi cum non nocet A little hurts not Ah this or that little omission as you call it may expose men to a great deal of wrath Matth. 25. 41 ult doubting souls Moab and Ammon were banished the Sanctuary to the Tenth Generation for a meer omission because they met not Gods Israel in the Wilderness with Bread and Water And I verily believe that God doth banish as I may say many from his favorable presence as Absolom did David for their sinful omissions for their non-attendance upon him in all his ways Therefore if They did not rob the Saints but omitted the relieving of them which was their ruine ever you would have Assurance seek the Lord not onely while he may be found but also in every gracious dispensation where he may be found Then shall the joy of the Lord be your strength and his glory shall rest upon you The days of your mourning shall be ended and you shall lye down in peace and none shall make you afraid I would earnestly desire you O doubting souls seriously to consider That all the ways of Christ are ways of pleasantness as Solomon speaks not onely this Prov. 3. 17. way or that way but every way of Christ is a way of pleasantness every way is strowed with Roses every way is paved with Gold every way is attended with comfort and refreshing So the Psalmist Thy paths drop fatness Psal 65. 11 12. not onely this or that path but all the paths of God drops fatness O then walk in every way tread in every path of God as you would have your souls filled with marrow and fatness Psal 63. 5. and never forget that choice saying of the Prophet Isaiah Thou meetest him Isa 64. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness those that remember thee in thy ways To run and meet the soul as the father of the Prodigal run and met him afar off with bowels of love and pity They that would have God to meet with them in a way of Peace and Reconciliation in a way of Grace and Favor must remember God in all his ways not onely in this or that particular way but in every way wherein he is pleased to cause his glory to shine Therefore doubting souls Cease complaining and be more conscientious and ingenuous in waiting upon God in all his appointments and it will not be long night with you The ninth Impediment that keeps 9. Impediment Multi amando res noxias sunt miseri habendo miseriores Many are miserable by loving hurtful things but are more miserable by having them Christians from Assurance is An immoderate love of the World their thoughts and hearts are so busied about getting the World and keeping the World that they neither seek Assurance as they should nor prize Assurance as they should nor lament the want of Assurance as they should nor study the worth and excellency of Assurance as they should and therefore it is no wonder that such are without Assurance As it is very hard Matth. 19. 23 24. for a rich man to enter into Heaven so it is very hard for a worldly Christian Hab. 2. 6. Divitibus ideâ— pietas deest quia nihil deest Rich mens wealth proves an hinderance to their happiness to get Assurance of Heaven The thick clay of this world doth so affect him and take him so satisfie him and sink him that he is not able to pursue after Assurance with that life and love with that fervency and frequency as those must do that will obtain it It is said Gen. 13. 2. That Abraham was very rich in Cattle in Silver and in Gold according to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abraham was very heavy to shew saith one that riches are a heavy burden and a hinderance many times to a Christians comfort and confidence to his happiness and assurance Solomon got more hurt by his Diâ—â—â—ia corporales paupertatis plenâ— sunt Aug. Earth by riches are full of poverty wealth then he got good by his wisdom such a fire rise out of his worldly enjoyments as did even consume and burn up his choicest spirits and his noblest vertues under all his Royal Robes he had but a thred-bare soul Sicily saith one is so full of sweet Diodorus Siâ—ulus The same saith Aristotle flowers that dogs cannot hunt there the sent of the sweet flowers diverteth their smell And ah what doth all Quam sordet mihi terra cum â—lum intueor Adrian the sweet delights and contents of this world but make men lose the sent of Heaven but divert men from hunting after Assurance and from running after Christ in the sweetness of his ointments The Creature is all shadow and vanity of vanities vanity is the very quintessence of the Creature and all that can possibly be extracted out of it It is filia noctis like Jonahs gourd a man may sit under its shadow for a while but it soon decayes and dies Why shouldst thou set thy heart upon that Prov. 23. 5. which is not Were ever riches true Si tâ—rram am as terra es si deum amas quid vis ut diâ—am Deus es Aug. If thou lovest the Earth thou art earthly but if thou lovest God thou shalt have whatever thou wilt ask of God to them that trusted them as the Bird hops from twig to twig so doth riches hop from man to man c. Worldly Christians cease complaining of the want of Assurance and sincerely humble and abase your souls
that you would willingly do upon a dying day Ah how would you live and love upon a dying day how would you admire God rest upon God delight in God long for God and walk with God upon a dying day how would you hate loath and abhor your bosom sins upon a dying day how would you complain of your bosom sins and pray against your bosom sins and mourn over your bosom sins and watch against your bosom sins and flie from all occasions that should tend to draw you to close with your bosom sins upon a dying day Ah doubting souls would you not for all the world gratifie your bosom sins upon a dying day and will you gratifie them on other days which for any thing you know to the contrary may prove your dying days Thrice happy is that soul that labors with all his might to do that at first that he would fain do at last that doth that on every day that he would give a thousand worlds to do on a dying day No way to Assurance like this no way to joy and comfort like this no way to rest and peace like this no way to the Kingdom to the Crown like this I earnestly beseech you trembling souls when you finde your spirits running out to bosom sins that you would lay your hands upon your hearts and thus expostulate the case O our souls would you thus dally and play with sin upon a dying day would you thus stroke and hug sin upon a dying day would you not rather shew all the dislike and hatred that is imaginable against it would you not tremble at sin more then at Hell and abhor the very occasions of sin more then the most venomous Serpent in all the world would you not rather suffer the worst and greatest punishments then to smile upon a darling sin upon a dying day Yes O would you fain do this upon a dying day why not then every day why not then every day O our souls The sixt and last Motive to provoke Motive 6. One flaw in a Diamond doth not onely take away the beauty glory and price of it but it puts men to question whâ—ther it be a Diamond Psal 40. 12. you to fall with all your might upon bosom sins is Seriously to consider that till this be done fears and doubts will still haunt the soul the soul will still be fearing that surely all is naught and that that work that is wrought upon it is not a real but a counterfeit work that it is not a peculiar and special work but a common work that a man may have and perish Till 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this be done the soul can never be able I am not able to see sin had put out Davids eyes to see grace in its own native beauty and glory the hugging of sin in a corner will raise such a dust in the soul that it cannot be able to see those Pearls of glory sparkling and shining Till this be done doubting souls you will be but Babes and Shrubs and Dwarfs in Christianitie the hankering of the soul after sin is the casting of water upon the Spirit it is the laming of Grace it is the clipping the wings of Faith and Prayer so that the soul can neither be confident nor fervent frequent nor constant in religious services so that it will unavoidably follow such souls will be like Pharaohs Gideon had seventy sons and but one Bastard and yet that one Bastard destroyed all the rest you may easily apply it lean Kine poor and starveling Look as many men are kept low in their outward estates by having a back door to some Herodians so many doubting souls are kept low in spirituals by their hankering after some particular sin Remember Christians sin is the souls sickness the souls weakness if the body be weak and diseased it grows not sin is poyson that turns all nourishment into corruption and so hinders the growth of the soul in grace and holiness Ah Christians as ever you would be rid of your fears and doubts as ever you would see the beautie and glory of grace as ever you would be eminent and excellent in grace and holiness see that effectual justice be done upon that Achan that Jonah that darling sin that hath occasioned storms within and tempests without It was a grievous vexation If there be but one crack in the honey-glass there the Wasp will be buzzing and where there is but some one sin favored there Satan will be rempting and upbraiding to King Lysimachus that his staying to drink one draught of water lost him his Kingdom Ah Christians it will grievously vex you when you come to your selves and when you come to taste of the admirable pleasure that attends the conquest of sin to consider that your hankering after this or that particular sin hath been the loss of that joy and comfort that peace and assurance that is infinitelie more worth then all the Kingdoms of the world But you may say to me O! we would Quest fain have our bosom sins subdued we desire above all that they may be effectually mortified these sons of Zerviah we would have slain to chuse But what course must we take to bring under our darling sins to get off our Golden Fetters to get out of these Silken Snares To this Question I shall give these Answers First If ever thou wouldst have Means 1. masterie over this or that bosom sin then engage all thy power and might against thy bosom sin draw up thy spiritual forces and engage them wholly against the sin that doth so easilie beset thee As the King of Syria said to his Captains Fight neither 2 Chro. 8. 30. with small nor great save onely with the King of Israel So I say your wisdom and your work O doubting souls lieth not in skirmishing with this or that sin but in coming up to a close sharp fight with the King of Israel with that darling sin that hath a Kingly interest in you and a Kingly power over you Constantine the Great his Symbole was Immedicabile vulnus ense rescindendum est when there is no hope of curing men must fall a cutting Believe it souls you must fall a cutting your bosom sins in pieces by the Sword of the Spirit as Samuel cut Agag in 1 Sam. 15. 33. pieces in Gilgal before the Lord or else you will never obtain a perfect cure Slight skirmishes will not do it you must pursue your bosom sins to the death or they will be the death of your souls The second Means to bring under a Means 2. As when one Bucket of a Well goes up the other goes down as when one of the two Lawrels in Rome flourishes the other withers so when grace gets up sin goes down when grace flourishes sin withers bosom sin is To labor to be most eminent and excellent in that particular grace that is most opposite to a mans bosom sin
Sword in his hand ready to execute the vengeance written I have read I judge as in this world so in Hell the most self flattering souls will be the most miserable souls of a mad-man at Athens that laid claim to every rich ship that came into the Harbor when as he was poor and had no part in any Ah this age is full of such mad souls that lay claim to God and Christ and the Promises and Gospel Priviledges and all the glory of another world when they are poor and blinde and miserable and wretched and naked when they are Christless and Graceless c. Ah Christians doth it not therefore stand you much upon to labor for a wel-grounded Assurance that so you may not miscarry to all eternitie but may at last be found worthy to receive a Crown Matâ—h 25. 21 23. of glory and to enter into your Masters joy which is a joy too great and too glorious to enter into you and therefore you must enter into it The second Motive to provoke Motive 2. Christians to get a wel-grounded Assurance is this Consider that there be a great many soul-flatterers soul-deceivers and soul-cheaters in the world the Devil hath put his angelical Leo the Emperor used to say Occulti immici pessimâ— A close enemy is far worse then an open robes upon many of his cheif factors that they may the more easily and the more effectually deceive and delude the souls of men This age affords many sad testimonies of this Ah what multitudes be there that to some bleer-eies appear as Angels of light and yet in their principles and practises are but servants to the Prince Matth. 23. 15. of darkness laboring with all their might to make Proselytes for Hell and to draw men to those wilde notions opinions and conceits that will leave them short of Heaven yea bring them down to the hottest darkest and lowest place in Hell if God do not by a miracle prevent it therefore you had need look about you and see that you get a wel-grounded Assurance and suffer not Satan to put a cheat upon your immortal souls Christ hath foretold us That in the last days there shall arise false Matth. 24. 23 24. Christs and false Prophets that shall say Lo here is Christ and lo there is Christ Luke 4. 21. And verily this Scripture is this day fulfilled in your ears Ah how many blasphemous wretches have there been in these daies that have asserted themselves to be the very Christ and it is to me no little miracle that the very Earth hath not opened her mouth and swallowed up such monsters such firebrands of Hell The Apostle tells Ephes 4. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Cogging with a Dy. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you of some that lie in wait to deceive by such slights as cheaters and false gamesters use at Dice he tells you of cunning craftie men that do diligently watch all advantages to work draw and win weak and unstable souls to those opinions principles and practises that tend to drown them in everlasting perdition Satans disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and agents are notable methodmongers they have a method of deceiving they are Doctors in all the Arts of cousenage and they will leave no means unattempted whereby they may draw men to build upon hay 1 Cor. 3. 15. and stubble upon this opinion and that notion c. that so men and their works may burn for ever together It is reported of King Canutus that he promised to make him the highest man in England who should kill King Edmund Ironside his corrival which when one had performed and expected his reward he commanded him to be hung on the highest Tower in London So Satan and his factors they promise poor souls that such and such opinions and notions c. will thus and thus advantage them and advance them but in the close poor Valerians word was Non acerba sed blanda Not bitter but flattering words do all the mischâ—if This many have found true by woful experience souls shall finde the promised Crown turned into a halter the promised comfort turned into torment the promised glory turned into ignominy the promised exaltation turned into desolation the promised Heaven turned into a Hell This age is full of soul-flatterers of soul-undoers who like evil Chyrurgions skin over the wound but kill the patient Flattery undid Ahab and Herod and Nero and Alexander Those flatterers that told Dionysius that his Epistle was as sweet as Anastasius his Motto was Mellitum venenum blanda oratio Smooth talk often proves sweet poyson Many in these days have found it so Honey undid him and those flatterers that told Caesar that his freckles in his face were like the Stars in the Firmament ruined him And ah how many yong and old in these days have been lost and undone by those soul-flatterers that lie in wait to ensnare and deceive the souls of men Oh that this very consideration might be set home by the hand of the Spirit with that life and power upon your souls as effectually to stir and provoke you to get a wel-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness that so you may stand fast like the house built upon the Rock in the midst of all Matth 7. 24 25. tempests and storms that nothing may unsettle you nor disquiet you and that none may take away your Crown Revel 3. 11. The third Motive to stir you up to Motive 3. get a wel-grounded assurance is this Consider that a wel-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness will ease you and free you of a threefold burden It will free you first from a burden of cares secondly from a burden of fears thirdly from a burden of doubts Now the burden of cares Ah Christian causes thee to sit down sighing and groaning Matth. 13. 22. ah how doth the cares of getting this and that and the cares of keeping this and that worldly content disturb and distract vex and rack the souls of men that live under the power of carking cares Oh but now assurance of better things makes the soul sing care away as that Martyr said My John Careless in a Letter to Mr. Philpot. Acts Mon. fol. 1743. soul is turned to her rest I have taken a sweet nap in Christs lap and therefore I will now sing away care and will be careless according to my name Assurance of a Kingdom of a Crown is a fire that burns up all those cares that ordinarily fill the head and distract the heart There is no way to get off the burden of cares but by getting assurance Again Assurance will free you from the burden of fears as well as from the burden of cares Now your hearts are filled with fears of possessing the Creature with fears of wanting the Creature with fears of losing the Creature c. And these fears makes many
men turn like the Chamelion into all coulors forms and And men are apt to make Elephants of Flies and Gyants of Pigmies till men reach assurance they will still creaâ—e fears rather then want them Psal 23. 3. fashions yea they make their lives a Hell Oh but now assurance will scatter all these fears as the Sun doth the Clouds it will extinguish these fears as the Sun doth the Fire Assurance made David divinely fearless and divinely careless Yea though I walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Ah how full of fears and perplexities Gen. 21. 16 19. Vide. was Hagar till the Lord opened her eyes to see the Well of Water that was neer her So the soul will be full of fears and perplexities till it comes to see assurance to enjoy assurance Christians When all is said that can be this will be found at last a most certain truth That there is no way to be effectually rid of your fears but by obtaining a wel-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness Again Assurance will rid you of your burden of doubts now you are still a doubting sometimes you doubt whether that you are a thorow Christian and Remember Christians first that doubts are bred and fed by ignorance and unbelief and therefore are sinful Secondly that they rob the soul of all joy comfort and content Thirdly they render Men Babes in Christianity Fourthly they throw reproach upon God Christ and the Promises Fifthly they give Satan the greatest advantage against us not an Agrippa an almost-Christian an half-Christian as most Professors are sometimes you doubt of your Sonship and that leads you to doubt of your Heirship sometimes you doubt of your acquaintance with God and that leads you to doubt of your access to God and acceptance with God sometimes you doubt of your union with God and those doubts lead you to doubt of the truth of your communion with God c. The truth is your whole life is a life of doubting and so it will be till you reach to a wel-grounded assurance Though the two Disciples had Christ for their companion yet their hearts were full of fears and doubts whilest their eyes were held that they should not know him Luke 24. 14 15 c. Till a Christians eyes be open to see his assurance his heart will be full of doubts and perplexities Though John 20. 13 14 15 16. Mary Magdalen was very near to Christ yet she stands sighing mourning and complaining that they had stoln away her Lord because she did not see him Christians though you may be very near and dear to Christ yet till you come to see your assurance you wil spend your days in doubting mourning and complaining The sum of all is this As you would be rid of your burden of cares your burden of fears and your burden of doubts get a wel-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness but if you are in love with your burdens then neglect but the making of your Calling and Election sure and you shall certainly make sure your burdens they shall rise with you and walk with you and lie down with you till they make your lives a Hell The fourth Motive to provoke you Motive 4. to labor after a wel-grounded assurance is To consider that Satan will labor with all his art and craft with all his power and might to keep you from attaining a wel grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness Such is Satans envy and enmity against a Christians joy and comfort that he cannot but act to the utmost of his line to keep poor souls in doubts and darkness Satan knows that assurance is a Pearl of price that will make the soul happy for ever he knows that assurance makes a Christians wilderness to be a paradise he knows that assurance begets in Christians the most noble and generous spirits he knows that assurance is that which will make men strong to do exploits to shake his tottering Kingdom about his ears c. And therefore he is very studious and industrious to keep souls It is said of Marcellus the Roman General that he could not be quiet Nec victor nec victus neither conquered nor conqueror Satans envy is such against the joy and comfort of the Saints that he cannot rest nor cease from making use of all his wiles whereby poor souls may be kept off from assurance and their lives made a burden to them off from assurance as he was to cast Adam out of Paradise It is no wonder that Satan who envied the first seeds of Grace that divine Love sowed in thy soul that he should envy the increase of thy grace yea thy assurance which is the top and royaltie of grace When thou wast a Babe Satan cast water upon thy smoaking flax that it might not flame forth into assurance and now thou art grown up to some more maturity he is raised in his enmitie so that he cannot but put out his power and policy to keep thee from assurance of felicitie and glory Satan envies thy candle-light thy torch-light thy star-light how much more that the Sun should shine upon thee Satan envies thy eating of the crums of Mercy under the Table how much more that as a childe thou shouldst sit at Wisdoms Table and eat and drink abundantly of Wisdoms delicates Satan envies thy feeding upon Husks among the Swine how much more that thou shouldst eat of the fatted Calf Satan envies thy fitting with Mordecai at the Kings Gate how much more that thou shouldst wear the Kings Robes Satan envies thy tasting of the least drop of comfort how much more thy swimming in those pleasures that be at Gods right hand for evermore He envies thy sitting upon Gods knee how much more then thy lying in his bosom He envies thy being admitted into his service how much more that thou shouldst be of his Court and Counsel Some say of the Crystal that it hath such a vertue in it that the very touching of it quickens other stones and puts a lustre and beautie upon them Assurance is that Heavenly Crystal that quickens souls and that casts a beautie and a glory upon souls and this makes the Devil mad Satan knows that assurance is Manna in a Wilderness it is water out of a Rock it is a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night He knows that assurance is Salve for all sores and Physick for all diseases and a Remedy against every malady He knows that assurance is a Christians Anker at Sea and his Shield upon Land and that it is a Staff to support him and a Sword to defend him and a Pavillion to hide him and a Cordial to cheer him And therefore it is that he labors both as a Lion and as a Serpent to keep poor souls from a wel-grounded assurance This Son of the
cast water upon those Divine Motions that hath been 1 Thes 2. 18. kindled in you have you not often â—ound him a Lion and a Serpent a tempter and a deceiver a lyer and a murderer Yes O then never gratifie him any longer by living without assurance He that lives without assurance lives without a comfortable fruition of God and so gratifies Satan He that lives without assurance lives upon some Creature-enjoyment more then upon God and so gratifies Satan He that lives without assurance lives not like the beloved of God and so gratifies Satan He that lives without assurance is very apt to gratifie Satan sometimes by complying with him sometimes by following after him and sometimes by acting his part for him c. Verily Christians there is no way effectually to prevent this sore evil but by getting a wel-grounded assurance of your Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness Assurance will make a man stand upon terms of defiance with Satan it will make the soul constant in resisting and happy in over-coming the evil one And assured soul will fight it out to the death with Satan an assured soul will not flie like a coward but will stand and triumph like a David And as you gratifie Satan by living without Assurance so you wrong your own souls by living without assurance Rapit animam suaâ— He plundreth his own soul 1 In the point of comfort and joy you wrong your own souls 2 In the point of peace and content you wrong your own souls 3 In the point of boldness and confidence you wrong your own souls A man that lives without assurance lies his precious soul open to many blows and knocks to many frowns and wounds from God from the world from carnall friends from hypocrites and from Satan Therefore as you would not Christians gratify Satan and wrong your own soules and exercise over your selves spirituall cruelty and tyranny which is the very worst of all cruelty and tyranny give God no rest till hee hath made known to you the sweetnesse of his love and the secrets of his bosome till he hath gathered you up into himself till he hath set you as a seal upon Câ—nt 8. 6. his heart as a seal upon his arm The tenth Motive to provoke you Motive 10. to get a wel-grounded assurance is this consider the sweet profit and glorious advantage that will redown to you by gaining assurance and if the gain that will certainly redown to you by assurance will not provoke you to get assurance I know not what will First It will bring down Heaven into your bosomes it will give you a Heb. 11. 1 possession of Heaven on this side heaven an assured soul lives in Paradise and walks in Paradise and works in Paradise and eats in Paradise and rests in Paradise hee hath Heaven within him and Heaven about him and Heaven over him all his language is Heaven heaven Glory glory Secondly Assurance will exceedingly sweeten all the changes of this life this life is full of changes Assurance will sweeten sickness and health weakness 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. and strength wants and abundance disgrace and honour c. while a man lives in the sense of unchangeable loves no outward changes can make any considerable change in his spirit Let times change let men change leâ— powers change let Nations change yet a man under the power of assurance will not change his countenance nor change his Master nor change his work nor change his hopes though others under changes turn like the Camelion into all colours Souls that want assurance are like him in Aesop that blew hot and cold with the same breath The wind is not more subject to change and shift from one quarter to another from one corner to another then they are subject to change and shift in changing times to save their little all yet the assured soul under all changes is semper idem always the same Antistines a Philosopher to make his life happy desired onely that he might have the spirit of Socrates who was always in a quiet temper of spirit what ever wrongs injuries crosses losses c. befel him Let the trials be what they would that did attend him yet he continued one and the same Ah Christians the want of assurance hath made many changlings in these days but if ever you would be like Socrates if ever you would be like the Philosophers good man that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tetragonos Four-square that cast him where you will like a Dy he falls always sure and square then get assurance of Everlasting Happiness Assurance will make your souls like the Laws of the Medes and Persians that alters not it will sweeten the darkest day and the longest night under variety of changes it will Hab. 3. 17 8 19. make a man sit down with Habakkuk and rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of his Salvation Thirdly Assurance will keep the heart from an inordinate running out after the World and the glory thereof Moses having an assurance of the recompence of a reward and Heb 11. 24 25 26 27. of his love and favor that is invisible could not be drawn by all the honors pleasures and treasures of Egypt He slights all and tramples upon all the glory of the world as men trample upon things of no worth So after Paul had been in the 2 Cor. 12. 1 2 3. Rom. 8. Third Heaven and had assurance that no thing should separate him from the love of God in Christ he looks upon the world as a crucified thing The world is crucified to me saith Gal. 6. 14. he and I am crucified unto the world The world is dead to me and I am dead to it the world and I am well agreed the world cares not a pin for me and I care not a pin for the world The Loadstone cannot draw the Iron So when God gave Golâ—acius that Italian Maâ—quess an assurance of everlasting happiness he withstood many golden temptations and cryed out Cursed be he that prefers all the glory of the world to one days communion with Christ c. when the Diamond is in presence no more cannot the vanities of this world draw the soul after them when Assurance that choice Pearl of price is in presence I have read of Lazarus that after he was raised from the Grave he was never seen to smile the assurance that he had of more glorious things did deaden his heart to the things of this world he saw nothing in them worthy of a smile Ah were there more assurance among Christians there would not be such tugging for the world and such greedy hunting and pursuing after it as is in these days to the dishonor of God the reproach of Christ and the shame of the Gospel Justice would not be sold and bought as it is in these days were there more assurance in the world Get but more
this and live like this nothing will make a man humble and thankful contented and chearful like this nothing will make a man more serious in Prayer nor ingenuous in praises then this nothing will make â— man more chearful and joyful then this nothing will make a man fit to live and more willing to die then this Ah Christians if ever you would act as Angels in this world get an assurance of another world then you shall be dumb no more nor dull no more but be active and lively like those whose hopes and whose hearts are in Heaven Tenthly Assurance will sweeten Christ and all the precious things of Christ to thy soul Ah how sweet is Ipse Deus sufficit ad praemium Bern. It is Heaven enough to see your interest in Christ the Person of Christ the Natures of Christ the Names of Christ the Offices of Christ the Benefits of Christ the Blood of Christ the Word of Christ the Threatnings of Christ the Spirit of Christ the Ordinances of Christ the Smiles of Christ the Kisses of Christ to an assured soul Now thy Meditations on Christ will be no more a terror nor a horror to thee nay now thy heart will be always best when you are most in pondering upon the sweetness and goodness the kindness and loveliness of the Lord Jesus Now all the Institutions and Administrations of Christ will be precious to thee upon every thing where Christ hath set his Name there thou wilt set thy heart Now thou wilt call things as Christ calls them and count things as Christ counts them that shall not be little in thy eye that is great in the eye of Christ nor that shall not be great in thy eye that is but little in the eye of Christ Assurance will also exceedingly sweeten your carriage to all that bear the Image of Christ nothing Rom. 14. Assurance is like fire very operative Si non operatur non est if it do not work it is an argument it is not at all will make men bear with those weak Saints whose light is not so clear as yours whose parts are not so strong as yours whose enjoyments are not so high as yours whose judgements are not so well informed as yours whose consciences are not so well satisfied as yours and whose lives are not so amiable as yours Assurance We are united in the same Head and Hope Eodem sanguine Christi glutinati We are cemented with the same blood of Christ as Augustine said of his friend Alypius and himself makes men of a God-like disposition easie to pardon ready to forgive abundant in goodness admirable in patience It makes men to study the good of others and joy in all opportunities wherein they may strengthen the feeble and comfort the dejected and enrich the impoverished and recover the seduced and enlarge the straitned and build up the wasted Verily the reason why men are so bitter and sowre and censorious is Because God hath not given into their bosoms this sweet flower of delight Assurance Ah were their souls fully assured that God had loved them freely and received them graciously and justified them perfectly and pardoned them absolutely and would glorifie them everlastingly They could not but love where God loves and own where God owns and embrace where God embraces and be one with every one that is one with Jesus Were there Magnes amoris est amor Love is the attractive Loadstone of love more assurance among Christians there would be more of Davids and Jonathans spirit among Christians then there is this day were there more assurance among Christians there would be more life and more love more sweetness and more tenderness were there more assurance there would be less noise less contention less division less distraction less biting and less devouring among the Saints Assurance will make the Lion and the Calf the Wolf and Isai 11. 6 7 8. the Lamb the Leopard and the Kid the Bear and the Cow lie down together and feed together Men that want assurance love their Brethren as Flies love the Pot so long as there is any meat in the Pot the Flies love it so those men will love as long as there is an external motive to draw love but when that ceases their love ceases Dionysius loved his bottles when they were full but hurled them away when they were empty so many that want assurance love the Saints while their bags are full and their houses full of the good things of this life but when they are empty then they throw them away then they cast them off as Jobs friends did him Ah but assurance will make a man love as God loves and love as long as God loves The assured Christian will not cease to love so long as the least Buds and Blossoms of Grace appears Lazarus in his rags is as lovely to an assured Christian as Solomon in his robes Job is as delightful to him upon the dung-hil as David is upon his throne It is not the outward pomp and bravery but the inward beauty and glory of Saints that takes the assured Christian The last Motive to provoke you to Motive 11. get a wel-grounded assurance of your Everlasting Happiness is this Consider that as there is a great deal of counterfeit knowledge counterfeit faith counterfeit love counterfeit repentance c. in the world so there is a great deal of counterfeit assurance in the world Many there be that talk high and look big and bear it out bravely that they are thus and thus and that they have such and such glorious assurance whereas when their assurance comes to be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary it is found too light and when it comes to withstand temptations it is found too weak and when it should put the soul upon Divine action it is found to be but a lazy presumption Shall the counterfeit gold that is in the world make men active and diligent to get that which is currant and that will abide the Touchstone and the Fire and shall not that counterfeit assurance that is in the world provoke your hearts to be so much the more careful and active to get such a wel-grounded assurance that God accounts as currant and that will abide his Touchstone in the day of discovery and that will keep a man from shame and blushing when the Thrones shall be set and the Books shall be opened I have been the longer upon these Motives to provoke your souls to get a wel-grounded assurance because it is of an eternal concernment to you and a work to which mens he arts are too backward though assurance carries a reward in its own bosom yet few look out after it though the pains of getting it be nothing to the profit that accompanies it yet few will sweat to gain it If the inducements laid down will not awaken and provoke you to be restless till you have got the White stone and New
name till you have got the assurance of your pardon in your bosoms I know not what will CHAP. V. Shewing the several Ways and Means of gaining a wel-grounded Assurance FIrst if ever you will attain Means 1. to Assurance then be much in the Exercise and Actings of Grace as the believing Ephesians were Ephes 1 13. A Christian that would have assurance must never leave blowing his little spark till he hath blowed it into a flame in the very Exercise and Actings of Grace the Spirit of the Lord sealed them up to the day of Redemption Assurance flows in upon the actings of Grace assurance is bred and fed it is raised and maintained in the soul by the actings of Grace Grace is most discernable when it is most in action and Grace is made more and more perfect by acting Neglect of your Graces is the ground of their decrease Wells are the sweeter for drawing you get nothing by dead and useless Habits Talents hid in a Napkin gather rust the noblest faculties are imbased when not improved Grace in the habit is no more discernable then fire under the ashes then gold in the Ore then a dead man in the grave but Grace in its lively actings and operations is as a Prince upon his throne sparkling and shining Ah Christians were your grace more active it would be more visible and were your grace more visible your assurance would be more clear and full As Saint Paul once spake to Timothy Stir up the gift 2 Tim. 1. 6. The words are an allusion to the fire in the Temple which was always to be kept burning Vide Calvin upon the Text. of God that is in thee So I say to you if ever you would have assurance stir up the grace of God that is in you blow up that heavenly fire raise up those noble spirits never cease believing nor repenting till it be clearly given into your bosome that you are sure that you do believe and that you do repent as you are sure that you live as you are sure that God rules in Jacob and dwells in Zion Remember Christians all the honor that God hath from you in this life is from the actings and the exercise of your grace and not from the habits of grace Remember Christians that all your consolations flow not from the habits but from the acts of grace Remember Christians that the want of the exercise of grace is the reason why you do not discern your grace and why you have no more assurance of your future happiness He that will be rich must still be turning the peny and he that will attain unto the riches of assurance Col. 2. 2. must still be acting his graces there are none but lively active Christians that knows and feels those joys comforts and contents that attends the exercise of grace If thou wouldst not be always a Babe in Grace and a stranger to Assurance then see that thy Lamp be always burning see that the Golden Wheels of Grace be always going Secondly If you would Christians Means 2. attain unto assurance then you must minde your work more then your wages you must be better at obeying then at disputing at doing at walking then at talking and wrangling Assurance is heavenly wages that Christ gives not to loyterers but to holy laborers though no man merits assurance by his obedience yet God usually crowns obedience with assurance John 14. 21 22 23. He that Non enim passibus ad Deum sed affectibas currimus Ambulas si amas Thou walkest if thou lovest to walk hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Vers 22. Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the world Vers 23. Jesus answered and said unto him If any 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 In these words you see that doing Christians working Christians are the onely Christians that shall have most of the love of the Father and the Son and that shall have the choicest manifestations of grace and favor and that shall have most of their presence and company So in Psal 50. 23 Unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ordereth his conversation aright That disposeth his way as God haâ—h prescribed will I declare the salvation of God That is I will declare my self to be his Saviour I will shew him Salvation and I will shew him his interest iâ— Salvation I will save him and I will make him see that I have saved him he shall see the worth of Salvation and taste the sweetness of Salvation So in Gal. 6. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule that is the rule of the new Creature Peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God The Greek word that is here rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Bezam and Pareus on the Text. walk signifies not simply to walk but to walk by rule in order and measure without treading aside but making straight steps to our feet Now those choice souls that thus walks according to the Law of the new Creature shall have peace and mercy in them and peace and mercy with them and peace and mercy on them As many as walk according to this rule peace and mercy be on them Assurance is a jewel of too high a price to be cast into any of their bosoms that walk contrary to the Laws of the new Creature such may talk of assurance and make a stir and a noise about assurance but it is the close walking Christian that shall be crowned with assurance Assurance is a choice part of a Believers Vis nunquam esse tristis bene vive Wouldst thou never be fact then live well says Bernard happiness and therefore God will never give it out of a way of holiness The Lord hath set apart for himself the man that is godly Psal 4. 3. None are favorites in Gods Court nor none are admitted to be of his Counsel but those who are all glorious within and whose rayment is of imbroidered gold That is such whose principles are full of spiritual glory and whose practises are amiable and answerable in purity and sanctity These are the persons that shall have the honor to have Gods ear and the happiness to know his heart The third Means to gain assurance Means 3. is To be kinde to the Spirit hear his voice follow his counsel live up to his Laws The Spirit is the great Revealer of the Fathers secrets he lies in the bosom of the Father he knows every name that is written in the Book of Life he is best acquainted with the inward workings of the heart of God towards poor sinners
it Psal 119. 20. breatheth and breaketh for the longing it hath at all times after the Righteousness of Christ imputed and infuled The Greeks derive their word for desire from a Root that signifies to burn Ah Christians real desires are burning desires they set the soul all in a holy flame after God and Christ if they are not vehement if they do not put an edge upon thy affections if they do not make thee like a burning Seraphim Christ will take no pleasure in them they shall return into thy own bosom without working any wonders in Heaven as those desires do that flow from the souls being touched with a coal from the Altar Secondly Premise this with me Psal 63. 1 2 3 4 27 4. Cant. 1. 2. Phil 3 7 8 9 10. All real longings and hungerings in the soul after Righteousness arises from Spiritual and Heavenly Considerations they spring in the soul from some convictions some apprehensions some perswasions that the soul hath of a real worth of a real beauty glory and excellency that is in Christ and in his Righteousness imputed and imparâ—ed Such desires after Righteousness that flow from external considerations are of no worth weight or continuance but those desires after Righteousness that flow from Spiritual considerations are full of spirit life and glory they are such that Psal 145. 19. God will not onely observe but accept not onely record but reward Thirdly Real hungerings and thirstings after Christ and his Righteousness c. will put the soul upon lively endeavors If they are true born desires they will not make the soul idle but active not negligent but diligent in the use of all holy means whereby the soul may enjoy Christ and his Righteousness Isa 26. 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me wil I seâ—k thee early Real desires will make men earnest and early in seeking to obtain the thing desired as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports A thirsty man will not onely long for drink but labor for it the which signifies to seek in the morning when it is but dim and dusky scarce twilight for of duskiness it hath its name and it notes both an earnest and an early seeking condemned man will not onely desire his pardon but he will write and intreat and weep and set this friend and that to solicite for him the covetous man doth not onely wish for wealth but will rise early and go to bed late he will turn every stone and make attempts upon all hopeful opportunities whereby he may fill his bags and fill his Barns Even so all holy desires will put souls upon the use of the means whereby the mercy desired may be gained And thus to run is to attain thus to will is to work thus to desire is to do the will of our Father who accepts of pence for pounds of mites for millions The Persian Monarch was not so famous for accepting a little water from the hand of a loving Subject as our God is for accepting of a handful of Meal Levit 2. 2. Exâ—d 35 6 2 Cor. 8 12. for a Sacrifice and a gripe of Goats-hair for an oblation for accepting of that little we have and for accounting our little much Noahs Sacrifice could not be great and yet it was greatly accepted and highly accounted off by God Such is Gods condiscending love to weak worms that he looks more at their will then at their work he mindes more what they would do then what they do do he always prefer the willing minde before the worthiest work and where desires and endeavors are sincere there God judges such to be as good as they desire and endeavor to be Fourthly Spiritual hungerings and thirstings are onely satisfied with Spiritual things John 14. 8. Shew us the Father and it sufficâ—th us All the things in the world cannot suffice us but a sight of the Father that will satisfie us Psal 63. 5 6. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips When I remember thee upon my bed and Christus est mihi pro omnibus Saith one meditate on thee in the night watches Psal 65. 4. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple It is onely God and the precious things of his house that can satifie a thirsty soul It was a sweet sayof one As what I have if offered to thee pleaseth thee not O Lord without my self so the good things we have from thee though they may refresh us yet they cannot satisfie us without thy self The Rattle without the Brest will not satisfie the Childe the House without the Husband will not satisfie the Wife the Cabinet without the Jewel will not satisfie the Virgin nor the World without Christ will not satisfie the Soul Luther in a time of wants Valde protestatus sum me nolle fic satiari ab eo Luth. receiving unexpectedly a good sum of money from the Elector of Germany at which being some-what amazed he turned himself to God and protested That God should not put him off with such poor low things The hungry soul will not be put off with any Bread but with the Bread of Life The thirsty soul will not be put off with any Water but with the Well-springs of Life As the King of Sodom said once Gen 14. 21. Take you the goods give me the persons so sayes the hungry soul take you the goods take you honors and riches and the favor of Creatures take you the Corn the Oyl and the Wine give me Christ give me the light of his countenance give me the joy of his Spirit c. O the answering of Spiritual breathings is very sweet to the soul Prov. 13. 19. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul Returns from Heaven makes a paradise in the soul I have read of Darius that when he fled from his enemy and being in great thirst he met with a dirty puddle of water with Carrion lying in it and he sucked in and drunk very heartily of it and professed That it was the sweetest draught that ever he drunk in his life Ah how sweet then are those Waters of Life that be at Gods right hand how sweet are the droppings of Gods Hony-comb upon the hungry soul Water out of the Rock and Manna in the Wilderness was not so sweet to the hungry thirsty Israelites as Spiritual answers and Spiritual returns are to those that hunger and thirst after Spiritual things The sixth Means to obtain a wel-grounded Means 6. Many may be much in and for Church-Ordinances whose hearts are very carnal and whose livâ—s are very vain Ezek 24 21 22. You have seven expressions of carnal hearts prizing Church priviledges So Jer 7. 4. Ezek. 33. 30 31 32 33. Isa 1. 11 12 13 14. Zach
are by Faith united to him and that have a spiritual interest in him are subject to him as a head I shall open this particular thus unto you First The Members are willingly Every true Nathaniels motto is omnia â—x voluntate Dâ—i all must be as God will have it and sweetly subject to the head their subjection is voluntary not compulsory it is so with a believing soul Psal 27. 8. When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek So in Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness So â—aul cries Acts 9. 6. out What wilt thou have me to do And professes that he is willing not to be Acts 21. 13. bound onely but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of Christ A gracious soul is in some measure naturalized to the work of Christ and Christs work is in some measure naturalized to the soul Secondly The Members are subject Their obedience is universal First In respect of the act of eschâ—wing al evil doing all good Secondly In respect of the rule the whole Word of God Thirdly In respect of their general and particular callings to the head universally they do all the head enjoyneth so the real Members of Christ do in sincerity endeavor universally to subject to all that Christ their head requires without any exception or reservation Luke 1. 5 6. Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless They walked without halting or halving of it with God they fell in with every part and point of Gods revealed Will without prejudice or partiality without tilting the ballance on one side or another Acts 13. 22. I have found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart which shall fulfil all my will Or rather all my wills as the Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it to note the universality and sincerity of his obedience Thirdly The Members are subject to the head constantly unweariedly the Members are never weary of obeying the head they obey in all places cases and times so are the real Members of Christ Acts 24. 16. And herein do I exercise my self to have always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Always or throughout in all cases or at all times a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men I use all diligence skill cunning and conscience to be sincere and inoffensive in all my motions and actions towards God and towards men So David in Psal 119. 112. I have enclined my heart or rather as the Hebrew word signifies I have stretched 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out my heart as a man would do a peece of parchment to do thy statutes the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word signifies to do accurately exactly perfectly alway even unto the end A gracious soul is not like a deceitful bow nor like the morning dew but he is like the Sun that rejoyceth to run his race he is like the stone in Thracia that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water Now tell me pray tell me O you doubting souls whether you do not First Labor in all duties and services to approve your hearts to God Secondly Whether you do not endeavor to get up to the very top of holiness and to live up to your own principles Thirdly Whether it be not your greatest desire and endeavor that sin may be cured rather then covered Fourthly Whether you are not taken with Christ as cheif whether you do not in your judgements and affections lift up Christ above all as God the Father doth Fifthly Whether your greatest and hottest conflicts and combates be not against inward polutions against those secret stirrings and operations of sin which are onely obvious to the eye of God and your own souls Sixthly Whether you do not in respect of the general bent frame of your hearts subject to Christ as your Head 1. Freely and sweetly 2. Universally in one thing as well as another without any exception or reservation 3. Constantly and unwearily Yes we do these things we should belie the grace of God if we should say otherwise these things the Lord hath wrought in us and for Isa 26. 12. us Well then know first that your estate is good you have certainly a blessed interest in the Lord Jesus None can do these things but souls that have union with Christ that are interessed in Christ that are acted by the peculiar and special influences of Christ and that are highly beloved of Christ Verily If these things could be found in the most shining hypocrites or any others but reall Saints they could not possibly be either a first or second evidence though a man could see them in the light of the Spirit this is carefully to be observed against those that hold these good second evidences c. these are such flowers of Paradise that cannot be gathered in Natures Garden they are Pearles of that price that God bestows them upon none but those that are the price of Christs blood All the men in the world cannot prove by the Scripture that these Jewels can be found in any mens breasts but in theirs that have union and communion with Christ and that shall reign for ever with Christ Secondly Know that it is no iniquity but rather your duty for you to suck sweetnesse out of these hony-combs and to look upon these things as infallible pledges and evidences of divine favor and of your everlasting happinesse and blessednesse Some there be that make the witnesse of the Spirit of which I shall towards the close of this Discourse speake at large the only evidence of our interest in Christ and deny all other evidences from the fruit of the Spirit but this is to deny the fruit growing upon the tree to be an evedience that the tree is alive whereas all know that the fruit growing upon the tree is an infallible and undeniable evidence that there is life We have cause enough to keep off doubtings and distresse of Spirit upon the bare sight of our evidences this complaining cavilling soules will not understand in the tree Certainly it is one thing to judge by our Graces and another thing to rest upon our Graces or to put trust in our Graces When one argues from the beames of the Sun that there is a Sun one would thinke that the most cavilling spirit in the world should lye quiet and still Now the seventh Means to get a Means 7. Though our graces be our best Jewels yet they are imperfect and do not give out their ful lustre they are like the moon which when it shineth brightest hath a dark spot Therefore we should adde still grace to grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well-grounded Assurance of your everlasting happinesse and blessednesse is to grow and increase more and
more in grace 2 Pet. 1. 5. to 11. Add to your Faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. to v. 11. for so an enterance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ By enterance into the everlasting Kingdome of Christ is not meant a locall enterance into Heaven for Heaven is no where called the Kingdom of Christ but the Fathers Kingdome the opposition ver 9. sheweth clearly that it is meant of Assurance Now the way to full Assurance is by adding grace to grace The Greek word that is here rendred adde hath a greater emphasis it signifies to link our graces together as Virgins in a Dance doe link their hands together O we must be still a joyning grace to grace we must still be adding one grace to another We must still be a leading up the dance of graces Great measures of grace carry with them great evidence If moral vertue saith Plato could be seen with mortal eyes it would soon draw all hearts to it self O how much the more should our hearts be drawn out after the highest measures of grace the least dram of grace being more worth then all morall vertue of truth little measures carry with them but little evidence great measures of grace carries with them the greatest evidence of the soules union and communion with Christ and the more evident your union and communion with Christ is the more cleare and full will your Assurance be Great measures of grace carries with them the greatest and the clearest evidences of the glorious indwellings of the Spirit in you and the more you are perswaded of the reall indwellings of the Spirit in you The higher will your Assurance rise Great measures of grace will bee a fire that will consume and burn up the drosse the stubble the fears and doubts that perplex the soule and that causes darknesse to surround the soule Now the more you are rid of your fears doubts and darknesse the more easily and the more effectually will your hearts be perswaded that the thoughts of God towards you are thoughts of love that you are precious in his Jere. 32. 41. eies and that he will rejoyce over you to do you good for ever c. The eighth Means to gaine a wel-grounded Means 8. Assurance of your everlasting happinesse and blessednesse is to take your hearts when they are in the best and most spiritual frame and temper God-wards Heaven-wards and Holinesse-wards Times of temptation and desertion c. are praying times hearing times mourning times and beleeving times but they are not trying times they are not seasonable times for doubting soules to set themselves about so great and so solemn a worke as that is of searching and examining how things stand and are like to stand between God and them for ever Be diligent and constant be studious 2 Cor. 13 5. and consciencious in observing the frame and temper of your owne Our hearts are ponderous multum trahit de terra de carnum multum therefore we had need take them when they are in the best temper c. hearts and when you find them most plain most melting most yeelding most tender most humble most sweetly raised and most divinely composed then O then is the time to single out the most convenient place where thou mayst with greatest freedom open thy bosome to God and plead with him as for thy life that hee would shew thee how things stand between him and thee and how it must fare with thy soule for ever And when thou hast thus set thy selfe before God and opened thy bosome to God then wisely observe what report God and thy owne renewed conscience do make concerning thy eternall condition I wil hear what God the Lord wil speak saith Psal 85. 8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 David for he will speak peace unto his people and they shall not return to folly so the Hebrew may be read O so must thou stand still when thou hast sincerely unbowelled thy selfe before the Lord and listen and hearken what God will say unto thee Surely he will speak peace unto thee he will say Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee thy heart is upright with me my soul is set upon thee I have already blest thee and I will hereafter glorifie thee I have read of one who was kept A good conscience is mille testes a thousand witnesses therefore make much of its testimony from destroying of himself being much tempted by Satan thereunto by remembring that there was a time when he solemnly set himself in prayer and self-examination before the Lord and made a diligent enquiry into his spiritual condition and in the close of that work it was evidenced to him that his heart was upright with God and this kept him from laying of violent hands upon himself O a wise and serious observing what that testimony is that God Conscience and the Word gives in upon solemn Prayer and self-examination may beget strong consolation and support the soul under the greatest affliction and strengthen the soul against the most violent temptations and make the soul look and long for the day of desolution as Princes do for their day of Coronation Lastly The last Means to gain a Means 9. wel-grounded Assurance is To make a diligent enquiry whether thou hast those things that do accompany eternal salvation Heb. 6. 9. But beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation or as it is in the Greek that have salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were in the very bowels of them that comprehend salvation and that touch upon salvation O Beloved If you have those things that accompany salvation that comprehend salvation you may be abundantly assured of your salvation But you may say to me What are those things that accompany salvation To this Question I shall give this answer viz. That there are seven special things that accompany salvation and they are these First Knowledge Secondly Faith Thirdly Repentance Fourthly Obedience Fifthly Love Sixthly Prayer Seventhly Perseverance First Knowledge is one of those special things that accompanies salvation John 17. 3. And this is life eternal Vide Piscat on the words that they may know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Divine Knowledge is the begining of eternal life it is a spark of glory It is called Eternal life Quia radix erigo vitae In legend is libris non quaeramus scientiam sed saporum Bern. In reading Books let us not look so much for Science as a Savoriness of the tâ—uth upon our own hearts it works life in the soul it is a taste and pledge of eternal life 1 John 5. 20. And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true And we are in him that
for he hath found it so That Christ is the one Psal 27. 4. thing necessary for hee hath found him so That the favour of God is Psal 63. 3. better then life for he hath found it Psal 32. 1 2. so That pardoning mercy onely makes a man happy for he hath found it so a That wounded spirit is such Prov. 18. 14. a burthen that none can bear for he Psal 51. 17. hath found it so That an humble and a broken heart is an acceptable sacrifice to God for he hath found it so That the Promises are precious pearles for 2 Pet. 1. 4. hee hath found them so That the smiles of God will make up the want Psal 4. 6 7. of any outward mercy for he hath found it so that communion with Psal 48. 10. God can onely make a Heaven in a Beleevers heart for he hath found it so John 16. That if the Spirit be pleased and obeyed he will be a comforter to the soul for he hath found it so But if his motions and laws be slighted and neglected Lam. 1. 16. Isa 63. 10. 11. he will stand far off from the soul he will vex and gall the soule Well souls remember this That knowledge that is not experimental will never turn to your account it will only increase your guilt and torment as it did the Scribes and Pharisees What advantage had the men of the old world by their knowing that there was an Arke or by their clambering about the Arke when they were shut out and drowned in the flood What doth it profit a man to see heaps of Jewels and Pearles and mountains of Gold and Silver when he is monylesse and pennilesse It is rather a torment then a comfort to know that there is a pardon for other malefactors but none for me that there is bread for such and such hungry souls but none for me that there is water and wine to chear comfort and refresh such and such but not a sip a drop for me my bottle is empty and I may die for thirst whilst others are a drinking at the fountain head That there is houses and cloaths to shelter such and such from colds storms and tempests whilst I lie naked with Lazarus at Dives door exposed to the miseries of all weathers This kind of knowledge doth rather torment men then comfort them it does but adde fuell to the fire and make their hell the hotter the knowledge that Devils and Apostates have of God Christ and the Scriptures c. being onely notional is so far from being a comfort to them that it is their greatest torment James 2. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies so roars the Sea and to tremble and shake horribly it is a worm that is eternally gnawing them it makes them ten thousand times more miserable then otherwise they would be They are still a crying out O that our light our light were put out O that our knowledge our knowledge were extinguished O that we might but change rooms change places with the Heathens with the Barbarians that never knew what we have known O how happy would damned Devils and Apostates judge themselves in hell if they should escape with those dreadfull stripes that shall be eternally laid upon the backs of fools Remember Reader that a little heart knowledge a little experimental knowledge is of greater efficacy and worth then the highest notions of the most acutest wits He doth well that discourses of Christ but he doth infinitely better that by experimental knowledge feeds and lives on Christ It was not Adams seeing â—ut his tasting of forbidden fruit that made him miserable and it is not your seeing Psal 34. 8. of Christ but your experimentall tasting of Christ that will make you truly happy As no knowledge will save you but what is experimental so let no knowledge satisfie you but what is experimental Fourthly that Knowledge that accompanies salvation is a heart-affecting-knowledge it affects the heart with Christ and all spiritual things O it doth wonderfully 1 John 4. 7 8. indear Christ and the things of Christ to the soul Can. 2. 5. Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick of love O saith the Spouse my heart is taken with Christ it is raised and ravished with his love my soule is burning my soul is beating towards Christ O none but Christ none but Christ I cannot live in my selfe I Plusquam mea plusquam meos plusquam me Ber. cannot live in my Duties I cannot live in externall Priviledges I cannot live in outward Mercies I cannot live in common Providences I Col. 3. 3 4. Ignatius cryed out amor meus crucifixus my love my love is crucified c. can live onely in Christ who is my Life my Love my Joy my Crown my all in all O the hearing of Christ affects me the seeing of Christ affects me the taste of Christ affects mee the glimmerings of Christ affects me the more I come to know him in his Natures in his Names in his Offices in his discoveries in his appearances in his beauties the more I finde my heart and affections to prize Christ to Psal 73. 23 25 26. run after Christ to be affected with Christ and to be wonderfully indeared to Christ Cant. 5. 10. He is white and ruddy the cheifest of ten thousand The knowledge that she had of Christ did so affect and indear her heart to Christ that she cannot but make use of all her Rhetorick to set forth Christ in the most lovely and lively colours Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in Christ Jesus O God forbid that my heart should be affected or taken with any thing in comparison of Christ The more I know him the more I like him the more I know him the more I love him the more I know him the more I desire him the more I know him the more my heart is knit unto him His Beauty is taking his Love is ravishing his Goodnesse is drawing his Manifestations are inticing and his Person is inamoring His lovely Looks pleases me his pleasant Voice delights mee his precious Spirit comforts me his holy Word rules mee and these things make Christ to be a Heaven unto me O but now all that notionall knowledge that speculative knowledge that leaves a man on this side salvation never affects the heart it never draws it it never indears the heart to Christ or to the precious things of Christ Hence it is that such men under all their notions under all their light and knowledge have no affection to Christ no delight in Christ no workings of heart after Christ Well Reader remember this if thy knowledge doth not now affect thy heart it will at last with a witnesse afflict thy heart if it doth not now indear Christ to thee it will at last the more provoke Christ against thee if
Christ Pauls great light makes him very little though he was the greatest Apostle yet he looks upon himself a◠less then the least of all Saints Of all the Evangelists John was most sharp-sighted John in the Hebrew signifies The grace of God This Barbarian said the Philosopher hath comprised more in three lines then we have done in all our volumnious discourses Matth. 11. 9 10 11. Christ wonderfully extols John Sayes Christ he is a Prophet yea and more then a Prophet yea a greater is not born of women But the greatest wonder of all is that John is so low in his own eyes most Eagle-eyed he had the clearest sight of Christ he lay most in the bosom of Christ he knew most of the minde of Christ he had the fullest manifestations and revelations of Christ and yet O how little how low is John in his own eyes John 1. 26 27. John answered them saying I baptize with water but there standeth one among you whom ye know not He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shooes latchet I am not worthy to unloose In this phrase John alludes to the custom of the Hebrews those among them which were more noble then others had Boyes who carried their shooes and untied them when they laid them by O sayes John I am a poor weak worthless Creature I am not worthy to be admitted to the meanest to the lowest service under Christ I am not worthy to carry his shooes to unloose his shooes After Peter had been in the Mount and instructed and enlightned by Christ he cryes out Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man a sinner a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin of vileness and baseness as you may see in comparing Matth. 17. 1 2 3 4. with Luke 5. 8. Abraham under Gen. 18. 27. all his light and knowledge acknowledges himself to be but dust and ashes Jacob under all his knowledge Gen. 32. 10. acknowledges himself to be less then the least of all mercies David under Psal 22. 2. 73 22. all his knowledge acknowledges him self to be a worm and no man he acknowledges himself to be foolish and ignorant and as a beast before the Lord. Job under all his knowledge Job 42 1 2 3 4 5. acknowledges that he hath much reason to abhor himself in dust and ashes Agur was very good and his knowledge very great and yet under all his knowledge O how doth he villifie yea nullifie himself Surely saith he I am more bruitish then any man and Prov. 30. 1 2 3 4. have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy The Evangelical Prophet Isaiah under all his knowledge Isa 6. 1. to 8 c. and visions which were very great and glorious acknowledges himself to be a man of unclean lips and to dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Divine and heavenly knowledge brings a man The light that the Moon borrows from the Sun discovers her own spots and makes them the more conspicuous Isa 6. near to God it gives a man the clearest and the fullest fight of God and the nearer any man comes to God and the clearer visions he hath of God the more low and humble will that man lie before God None so humble as they that have nearest communion with God The Angels that are near unto him cover their faces with their wings in token of humility Divine knowledge makes a man look inwards it anatomizes a man to himself it is a glass that shews a man the spots of his own soul and this makes him little and low in his own eies In the beams of this heavenly When a beam of Divine light had shined upon Augustine he cryed out Teneo in memoria scribo in charta sed non habeo i◠vita Gal. 6 3. Many in these days are like the Chineses who use to say That they onely did see with two eyes all others but with one light a Christian comes to see his own pride ignorance impatience unworthiness conceitedness worthlesness frowardness and nothingness That knowledge that swells thee will undo thee that knowledge that puffs thee will sink thee that knowledge that makes thee delightful in thy own eyes will make thee despicable in God and good mens eyes 1 Cor. 8. 1 2. Knowledge puffeth up that is Notional knowledge Speculative knowledge Knowledge that ripens a man for destruction that will leave him short of salvation this knowledge puffs and swells a man and makes him think himself something when he is nothing And if any man thinketh that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know saith the Apostle Will not that Philosopher rise in judgement against many of our high-flown Professors who swell who look big and talk big under their notional knowledge who said under all his knowledge which was very great Hoc tantum scio quod nihil scio This onely do I know that I know nothing Well if that knowledge thou hast be that knowledge that accompanies salvation it is a soul humbling and a soule abasing knowledge if it bee otherwise then will thy knowledge make thee both a Prisoner and a Slave to the Devill at once Seventhly That Knowledge that accompanies salvation is an appropriating knowledge a knowledge that appropriates and applies spiritual and heavenly benefits to a mans own particular soul As you may see in Job my Job 19 25. and 16. 19. Redeemer lives and my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high So David the Lord is my portion in Psal Psal 16. 5. 18. 2. he useth this word of propriety eight times together The Lord is my rock and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high Tower So the Spouse my Beloved is mine and I am Cant. 2. 16. John 20. 28. his So Thomas My Lord and my God So Paul I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse This is the pith and power of heavenly knowledge to appropriate Christ to a mans selfe I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and gave himself for me Applicatory knowledge is the sweetest knowledge it revives the heart it chears the spirits it rejoyces the soul it makes a man go singing to duties and go singing to his grave and singing to Heaven Whereas others Those that have a blemish in their eie think the Skie to be ever cloudy and nothing is more common to weak spirits then to be criticizing and contending c. though gracious that want this applicatory knowledge have their hearts full of fears and their lives full of sorrows and so go sighing and mourning
out to his Father to help him to stand by him and to engage for him against his enemy so Faith being sensible of its own weakness and inability to get the victory over sin cries out to Christ and engages Christ who is stronger then the strong man and so Christ binds the strong man and casts him out Faith tells the soul That all purposes resolutions and endeavors without Christ be engaged will never set the soul above its sins they will never purifie the heart from sin Therefore Faith engages Christ and casts the main of the work upon Christ and so it purges the soul from sin Luther reports of Staupicius a German Divine that he acknowledged that before he came to understand the free and powerful grace of Christ that he vowed and resolved an hundred times against some particular sin and could never get power over it he could never get his heart purified from it till he came to see that he trusted too much to his own resolutions and too little to Jesus Christ But when his faith had engaged Christ against his sin he had the victory Again Faith purifies the heart from sin by the application of Christs Blood Faith makes a plaister It is the excellency of Faith that it can turn the Blood of Christ both into food and into Physick of Christs blessed Blood and layes it on upon the souls soars and so cures it Faith makes a heavenly vomit of this blessed Blood and gives it to the soul and so makes it cast up that poyson that it hath drunk in Faith tells the soul that it is not all the tears in the world nor all the water in the Sea that can wash away the uncleanness of the soul it is onely the Blood of Christ that can make a Blackmoor white it is onely the Blood of Christ that can cure a Leprous Naaman that can cure a Leprous soul This Fountain of Blood sayes Faith is the onely Fountain for Judah and Jerusalem to wash Zach 13. 1. themselves to wash their hearts from all uncleanness and filthiness of flesh and spirit Those spots a Christian findes in his own heart can onely be washed out in the Blood of the Lamb by a hand of Faith Again Faith purifieth the soul from sin by putting the soul upon heart-purifying Ordinances and by mixing and mingling it self with Ordinances The word profited Heb. 4 2. them not saith the Apostle because it was not mixt with faith in them that heard it Faith is such an excellent ingredient that it makes all potions work for the good of the soul for the purifying of the soul and for the bettering of the soul and no potion no means will profit the soul if this heavenly ingredient be not mixt with it Now Faith puts a man upon praying upon hearing upon the fellowship of the Saints upon publick duties upon family duties and upon Closet duties and Faith in these comes and joyns with the soul and mixes her self As Christ came and joyn'd himself to his Disciples with these soul-purifying Ordinances and so makes them effectual for the purifying of the soul more and more from all filthiness and uncleanness Faith puts out all her vertue and efficacy in Ordinances to the purging of Sin is like the wilde Fig-tree or Ivy in the Wall cut off stump body bough and branches yet some sprigs or other will sprout out again till the Wall be plucked down c. souls from their dross and Tin Not that Faith in this life shall wholly purifie the soul from the being of sin or from the motions or operations of sin no for then we should have our Heaven in this world and then we might bid Ordinances adue but that faith that accompanies Salvation doth naturally purifie and cleanse the heart from the remainders of sin by degrees Sound Faith is still a making the heart more and more neat and clean that the King of glory may delight in his habitation that he may not remove his Court but may abide with the soul for ever And thus you see that that Faith that accompanies Salvation is a heart-purifying Faith The fifth Property of that Faith that accompanies Salvation is this It is soul softning soul mollifying O nothing breaks the heart of a sinner like Faith Peter believes soundly and Matth. 26. ult Luke 7. weeps bitterly Mary Magdalen believes much and weeps much Faith sets a wounded Christ a bruised Christ a despised Christ a peirced Christ a bleeding Christ before the soul and this makes the soul sit down and weep bitterly I will pour upon the Zach. 12. 10 c. house of David the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications And they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him All Gospel-mourning flows from believing as one mourneth for his onely son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born O the sight of those wounds that their sins have made will wound their hearts thorow and thorow it will make them lament over Christ with a bitter lamentation They say nothing will dissolve the Adamant but the Blood of a Goat Ah nothing will kindly sweetly and effectually break the hardned heart of a sinner but Faiths beholding the Blood of Christ trickling down his sides Pliny reports of a Serpent That when it stings it fetches all the blood out of the body but it was never heard that ever any sweat blood but Christ and the very thoughts of this makes the believing soul to sit down sweating and weeping That Christ should love man when he was most unlovely that mans extream misery should but inflame Christs bowels of love and mercy This melts the believing soul that Christ should leave the eternal bosom of his Father that he tha was equal with God should come in the form of a servant that he that was cloathed with glory and born a King should be wrapped in raggs that he that the Heaven of Heavens could not contain should be cradled in a Manger that from his Cradle to his Cross his whole life should be a life of sorrows and sufferings that the Judge of all flesh should be condemned that the Lord of Life should be put to death that he that was his Fathers joy should in anguish of Spirit cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me That that head that was crowned with honor should be crowned with thorns that those eyes that were as a flame of fire that were clearer then the Sun should be closed up by the darkness of death that those ears which were wont to hear nothing but Hallelujahs should hear nothing but Blasphemies that that face that was white and ruddy should be spit upon by the beastly Jews that that tongue that spake as never man spake yea as never Angel spake should be accused of blasphemy that those hands which swayed both a Golden Scepter and an Iron Rod and
it the greatest mercy in the world to be still a mourning over sin sayes the Penitent soul The Penitent soul never ceases repenting till he ceases living He goes to Heaven with the joyful tears of Repentance in his eyes He knows that his whole life is but a day of sowing tears that he may at last reap everlasting joyes That Repentance that accompanies Salvatition is a final forsaking of sin It is a bidding sin an everlasting adieu it is a taking an eternal farwel of sin a never turning to folly more What have I to do any more with Idols says Ephraim Hos 14. 8. I have tasted of the bitterness that is in sin I have tasted of the sweetness of divine mercy in pardoning of sin therefore away sin I will never have to do with you more you have robbed Christ of his service and me of my comfort and crown Away away sin you shall never be courted nor countenanced by me more That man that onely puts off his sins in the day of adversity as he doth his garments at night when he goes to bed with an intent to put them on again in the morning of prosperity never yet truly repented He is a dog that returns to the vomit again he is a swine that returns to the wallowing in the mire such a dog was Judas such a swine was Demas It is an extraordinary vanity in some men to lay aside their sins before solemn duties but with a purpose to return to them again as the Serpent layeth aside his poyson when he goeth to drink and when he hath drunk he returns to it again as they fable it It is sad when men say to their lusts as Abraham said to his servants Abide you here and I will go and worship and return again to you Gen. 22. 5. Verily such souls are far off from that Repentance that accompanies Salvation for that makes a final and everlasting separation between sin and the soul it makes such a divorce between sin and the soul and puts them so far a sunder that all the world can never bring them to meet as two lovers together The Penitent Soul looks upon sin and deals with sin not as a friend but as an enemy it deals with sin as Amnon dealt with Tamar 2 Sam. 13. 15. And Amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater then the love wherewith he had loved her And Amnon said unto her Arise be gone Just thus doth the Penitent Soul carry it self towards sin And thus you see what Repentance that is that accompanies Salvation The fourth thing I am to shew is What Obedience that is that doth accompany Salvation That Obedience doth accompany Salvation I have formerly proved Now what this Obedience is that doth accompany or comprehend Salvation I shall shew you in these following particulars First That Obedience that accompanies Salvation is cordial and hearty the heart the inward man doth answer and eccho to the Word and Will of God The Believer knows That no Obedience but hearty Obedience is acceptable to Christ he knows Isa 29. 13. Matth. 15. 7 8 9. The heart is Camâ—ra omnipotentis regis i. e. The presence chamber of the King of Heaven and that upon which his eye his hand his heart is most set that nothing takes Christs heart but what comes from the heart Christ was hearty in his obedience for me sayes the Believer and shall not I be hearty in my obedience to him Christ will lay his hand of love his hand of acceptance upon no obedience but what flows from the heart Rom. 6. 9. Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you So in Rom. 7. ult So then with the minde I myself serve the Law of God My heart sayes Paul is in my obedience So in Rom. 1. 9. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son Many serve God with their bodies but I serve him with my spirit many serve him with the outward man but I serve him with my inward man God hath written his Law in Ezek. 36. 26 27. Believers hearts and therefore they cannot but obey it from the heart I delight to do thy will O my God how so why thy Law is within my heart or in the midst of my bowels as the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath it The heart within ecchoes and answers to the Commandments without as a Book written answers to his minde that writes it as face answers to face as the impression on the wax answers to the character engraven on the seal The Scribes and Pharisees were much in the outward obedience of the Law but their hearts were not in their obedience and therefore all they did signified nothing in the account of Christ who is onely taken with outward actions as they flow from the heart and affections their souls were not in their services and therefore all their services were lost services They were very glorious in Matth. 23. their outward profession but their hearts were as filthy Sepulchres their out-sides shined as the Sun but their in-sides were as black as Hell They were like the Egyptians Temples beautiful without but filthy within Well remember this No action no service goes for current in Heaven but that which is sealed up with integrity of heart God will not be put off with the shell when we give the Devil the Kernel Secondly That Obedience that accompanies Salvation is universal as well as cordial the soul falls in with every part and point of Gods will so far as he knows it without prejudice or partiality without tilting the ballance on one side or another A soul Non eligit mandata He doth not pick and chuse He obeyes all in respect of his sincere purpose desire and endeavor and this God accepts in Christ for perfect and compleat Obedience c. sincerely obedient will not pick and chuse what commands to obey and what to reject as Hypocrites do he hath an eye to see an ear to hear and a heart to obey the first Table as well as the second and the second as well as the first he doth not adhere to the first and neglect the second as Hypocrites do neither doth he adhere to the second and contemn the first as prophane men do he obeys not out of humor but out of duty he obeys not out of choice but out of conscience Psal 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments Look as Faith never singles out his object but layes hold on every object God holds forth for it to close with Faith doth not chuse this truth and reject that it doth not close with one and reject another Faith doth not say I will trust God in this case but not in that I will trust him for this mercy but not for that mercy I will trust him in this way but not in
9 13 14 17. Divine Love is not stinted nor limited to one sort of duty but is free to all He that loveth flieth he that loveth runneth he that loveth believeth he that loveth rejoyceth he that loveth mourneth he that loveth giveth he that loveth lendeth he that loveth beareth he that loveth waiteth he that loveth hopeth c. Heb. 6. 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love Love makes the soul laborious that Love that accompanies Salvation is very Active and Operative it is like the vertuous Woman in the Proverbs that sets all her Maidens on work it is never quiet but in doing the Will of God it will not suffer any Grace to sit idle in the Soul it will egg and put on all other Graces to act and operate Love sets Faith upon drawing from Christ and Patience upon waiting on Christ and Humility upon submitting to Christ and Godly-sorrow upon mourning over Christ and Self-denial upon forsaking of the nearest and dearest comforts for Christ c. As the Sun makes the Earth fertil so doth Divine love make the Soul fruitful in Works of Righteousness and Holiness He that loves cannot be idle nor barren Love makes the Soul constant and aboundant in wel-doing 2 Cor. 5. 14. The love of Christ constraineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loves property is to do eternally it is an eternal lasting principle and actions will last as long as principles its action is as abiding as it self us it doth urge us and put us forward it carries us on as men possessed with a vehemency of spirit or as a ship which is driven with strong winds towards the desired Haven Natural love makes the Childe the Servant the Wife obedient so doth Divine love make the soul better at obeying then at disputing A Soul that loves Christ will never cease to obey till he ceases to be That Love that accompanies Salvation is like the Sun the Sun you know casteth Beatus qui amat te amicos in te inimicos propter te Aug. Confess his beams upward and downward to the East and to the West to the North and to the South so the love of a Saint ascends to God above and descends to Men on Earth to our Friends on the right-hand to our Enemies on the left-hand to them that are in a state of Grace and to them that are in a state of Nature Divine love will still be a working one way or another Thirdly That Love that accompanies Salvation is a sincere and incorrupt love Eph. 6. 24. Grace be with all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Word for word in incorruption or with incorruption i. e. That love Christ in sincerity and not feignedly and hypocritically them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Amen The true bred Christian Amat Christum propter Christum loves Christ for Christ he loves Christ for that internal and eternal worth that is in him he loves him for his incomparable excellency and beauty for that transcendent sweetness loveliness holiness and goodness that is in him he is none of those that loves Christ for loaves neither will he with Judas kiss Christ and betray him nor yet will he with those in Matth. 21. 9 15. the Gospel cry out Hosanna Hosanna one day and Crucifie him crucifie him the next They love Christ with a Virgin love Cant. 1. 3. The Virgins love thee They love thee in much sincerity purity and integrity they love thee for that fragrant savor for that natural sweetness for that incomparable goodness that is in thee so in the fourth Verse The upright love thee or as it is in the Hebrew Uprightnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love thee Uprightnesses being put for upright ones the abstract for the concrete Judas was kin to the bag he was not kin to Christ and he in Clemens was not his but his riches Kinsman Christ hath many such Kinsmen A Christian cares not for any thing that hath not aliquid Christi something of Christ in it He sayes with him Sine Deo omnis copia est egâ—stas Without Christ all plenty is scarcity Austin prayes Lord saith he whatever thou hast given take all away onely give me thy self God gave him himself and cast in many other mercies as Paper and Packthred into the bargain or they love thee in uprightnesses that is most uprightly most intirely most sincerely and not as Hypocrites who love thee for base carnal respects who love thee in complements but not in realities who love thee in word and tongue but despise thee in heart and life who love the gift more then the giver That Love that accompanies Salvation is real and cordial Love it is sincere and upright love it makes the Soul love Christ the giver more then the gift it makes the Soul love the gift for the givers sake it will make the Soul to love the giver without his gifts And verily they shall not be long without good gifts from Christ that love Christ more then his gifts Vespasian commanded a liberal reward should be given to a woman that came and professed That she was in love with him and when his Steward asked him What item he should put to it in his Book of Accounts the Emperor answered Vespasiano adamato Item to her that loved Vespasian Ah Christians shall Vespasian an Heathen Prince reward her liberally that loved his person and will not the Lord Jesus much more reward them with his choicest gifts that love him more then his gifts Surely Christ will not be worse then a Heathen he will not act below a Heathen He shall never be a loser that loves Christ for that Spiritual sweetness and loveliness that is in Christ Christ will not live long in that mans debt Fourthly That Love that accompanies Salvation is a vehement Love an ardent Love it is a spark of heavenly fire and it puts all the affections into a holy flame Can. 1. 7. Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest c. This amiable amorous Pathetical Compellation O thou Anima est ubi amat non ubi animat The soul is where it loves not where it lives whom my soul loveth speaks the Spouses love to be hot and burning towards Christ So in Isa 26. 8 9. The desire of our souls is towards thee and to the remembrance of thy name With my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the midst of me it is an emphatical phrase soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early This affectionate this passionate form of Speech With my soul have I desired thee and that with my spirit within me will I seek thee does elegantly set forth the vehement and ardent love of the Church to Christ so doth that pathetical exclamation of the Church Stay me with flagons comfort Cant. 2. 5. me with apples for I am sick of love
when one would have struck at his Father the affection that he had to his Father broke the bars of his Speech and he cryed out Take heed of killing the King You know how to apply it Moses was as a dumb childe in his own cause yet when the Israelites by making and dancing about their Golden Calf had wounded the honor and glory of God he shews himself to be much affected and afflicted for the dishonor done to God The statue of Apollo is said to shed tears for the afflictions of the Grecians though he could not help them so a true lover of Christ will shed tears for those dishonors that are done to Christ though he knows not how to prevent them It is between Christ and his Lovers as it is between two Lute strings that are tuned one to another no sooner one is struck but the other trembles so no sooner is Christ struck but a Christian trembles and no sooner is a Christian struck but Christ trembles Saul Saul Acts 9. why persecutest thou me Seventhly That Love that accompanieâ— Salvation doth shew it self by working the Soul to observe with a curious critical eye Christs countenance Vbi amor ibi oculus As love came in by the eye so it delights by the same door to run out to Christ and carriage and by causing the soul to be sad or chearful as Christs carriage and countenance is towards the soul when Christ looks sad and carries it sadly then to be sad as Peter was Christ cast a sad look upon him and that made his heart sad he went forth and wept bitterly And when Christ looks sweetly and speaks kindly and carries it lovingly then to be chearful and joyful as the Church was in Cant. 3. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the Chamber of her that conceived me So the Church in Isai 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In rejoycing I will rejoyce That is I will exceedingly rejoyce the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with a robe of Righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with Ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels A true Lover of Christ hath still his eye upon Christ and as his countenance stands so is he glad or sad chearful or sorrowful Tigranes in Xenophon coming to redeem his Father and Friends with his Wife that were taken prisoners by King Cyrus was asked among other Questions this viz. What ransom he would give for his Wife he answered He would redeem her liberty with his own life But having prevailed for all their liberties as they returned together every one commended Cyrus for a goodly man and Tigranes would needs know of his Wife what she thought of him Truly said she I cannot tell for I did not so much as look on him or see him Whom then said he wondering did you look upon Whom should I look upon said she but him that would have redeemed my liberty with the loss of his own life So a Christian a true lover of Christ esteems nothing worth a looking upon but Christ who hath redeemed him with his own Blood Eighthly That Love that accompanies Salvation reaches forth a hand Jâ—rom professed how much he loved Christ in Augustine and Augustine in Christ of kindness to those that bear the Image of Christ 1 John 5. 1 2. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him By this we know that we love the Children of God when we love God and keep his Commandments He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Now because many mistake in their love to the Saints and the consequences that follow that mistake are very dangerous and pernicious to the souls of men I shall therefore briefly hint to you the properties of that love to the Saints that accompanies Salvation And The first is this True Love to the Saints is spiritual it is a love for the Image of God that is stamped upon the Soul Col. 1. 8. Epaphras hath declared to us your love in the Spirit A Soul that truly loves loves the Father for his own sake and the children for the Fathers sake Many there are that love Christians for their goods not for their good they love them for the money that is in their purse but not for the grace that is in their hearts Many like the Bohemian Cur fawn upon a good suit Love to the Saints for the Image of God stamped upon them is a flower that grows not in Natures Garden No man can love Grace in another mans heart but he that hath grace in his own Men doth not more Remember wicked men God himself is wroâ—ged by the injury that is done to his Image The contempt and despight is done to the King himself which is done to his Image or Coyn. naturally love their parents and love their children and love themselves then they do naturally hate the Image of God upon his people and ways True love is for what of the Divine Nature for what of Christ and Grace shines in a man It is one thing to love a godly man and another thing to love him for godliness Many love godly men as they are Politicians or Potent or Learned or of a sweet Nature but all this is but natural love but to love them because they are spiritually lovely because they are all Psal 45. 13. glorious within and their rayment is of imbroidered gold is to love them as becometh Saints it is to love them at so high and noble a rate that no Hypocrite in the world can reach to it Tho Wasps flie about the Tradesmans shop not out of love to him but the Honey and the Fruit that is there This age is full of such Wasps Ephes 1. 15. Col 1. 4. It was the glory of the Ephesians and Colossians that their Faith and Love reached to all the Saints It was not narrow and confined to some particulars but it was universal Secondly True Love to the Saints is universal to one Christian as well as another to all as well as any to poor Lazarus as well as to rich Abraham to a despised Job as well as to an admired David to an afflicted Joseph as well as to a raised Jacob to a despised Disciple as well as to an exalted Apostle Phil. 4. 21. Salute every Saint the meanest as well as the richest the weakest as well as the strongest the lowest as well as the highest They have all the same Spirit the same Jesus the same Faith they are all Fellow Members Fellow Travellers Fellow Souldiers Fellow Citizens Fellow Heirs and therefore must they
As the Publicans God be merciful to me a sinner Thirdly There is conceived prayer and prescribed prayer Fourthly There is publick or private prayer These hints may suffice as to this wherein we speak to God in Faith Humility Sincerity and Fervency of Spirit through the Mediation of Christ begging those good things that we and others want deprecating that we and others fear and giving thanks for that we and others have received Prayer is a speaking to God face to face it is Iacobs Ladder by which the soul climbs up to Heaven it is Noahs Dove that goes and returns not till it brings Assurance of Peace But not to please you with notions you must remember that that Prayer that accompanies Salvation is such Prayer as hath in it all the requisites of Prayer Now there are four requisites in Prayer First The person must be righteous Iam. 5. 16. The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much John 9. 31. God heareth not sinners The Jews urge it as a Proverb An unclean person polluteth his own Prayers Good motions from a bad heart make no musick in Heaven the sweet words that drop from a Lepers lips are but lies in the account of God Hosea 11. 12. I have read of a Jewel that being put in a dead mans mouth loseth all its vertue Prayer in the mouth of a wicked man that is dead God-wards Christ-wards Heaven-wards and Holiness-wards is a Jewel that loseth all its vertue Psal 50. 16 17. But unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou Quid prodest voce invocare quem operibus negas Jerom. What availeth it to invocate him with thy voice whom thou deniest in thy works shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth Seeing that thou hatest instruction and castest my words behinde thee Bias an Heathen being at Sea in a great storm and perceiving many wicked wretches with him in the ship calling upon the gods O saith he forbear Prayer hold your tongues I would not have the gods take notice that you are here they will sure drown us all if they should You are wise and know how to apply it The second requisite in Prayer is It was both a prophane and blasphemous Speech of that Atheistical wretch that told God he was no common beggar he never troubled him before with prayer and if he would hear him that time he would never trouble him again Heil Mic p. 376. this viz. The matter of your Prayer must be good 1 John 5. 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him That if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us The Favorits of Heaven have no further the ear of the King of Kings in Prayer then the matter of their Prayer is good and agreeable to his will Rom. 8. 27. The matter of your Prayer must fall under some particular or general precept or promise or else God will never own it nor honor it with acceptance You must not pray as Augustine prayed before his Conversion he prayed for continency with a Proviso Lord give me continency saith he but not yet Such Hypocrisie is double Iniquity and God will deal with such sinners accordingly Thirdly As the matter of your Prayer must be good so the manner of your Prayer must be right God regards not so much the matter as the manner of our Prayer God loves Adverbs better then Nowns not to Criton pray onely but to pray well Non bonum sed benè agere not to do good but to do it well Now for the better and further clearing of this truth I shall shew you by Divine Assistance what it is to pray in a right manner and that I shall do in the following particulars First To pray in a right manner is to pray understandingly to pray knowingly 1 Cor. 14. 15. I will pray with understanding He that doth not pray understandingly doth not pray but prate as that Parrot in Rome that could distinctly say over the whole Ignorat sanè improbus omnis saith Aristotle Ignorance is the source of all sin the very well-spring from which all wickedness doth issue Creed John 4. 22. Ye worship ye know not what sayes Christ So many pray they know not what Without knowledge the minde cannot be good Prov. 19. And can the Prayer be good when the minde is bad A blinde minde a blinde Sacrifice and a blinde Priest are abominable to God It was a good saying of one God heareth not the words of one that prayeth saith he unless he that prayeth heareth them first himself And verily God will never understand that Prayer that we do not understand our selves Secondly To pray in a right manner is to pray believingly Heb. 11. 6. He The Philosopher could say Qui timiâ—è rogat docet negare He that craveth fearfully draweth on a denial that cometh unto God must believe that he is that is that he is really as good as gracious as glorious as excellent as constant c. as his word reports him to be And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Mark 11. 24. Therefore I say unto you what things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye One of the Ancients describes Prayer thus It is saith he Ascensus mentis ad Deum a climbing up of the heart to God which cannot be done but by the power of Faith receive them and ye shall have them In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Present-tense Ye do receive them to shew the certainty of receiving them You shall as certainly receive the good things that believingly you ask in Prayer as if you had them already in your hand God will never let the hand of Faith go empty away in Prayer Faith is Gods darling and he never fails to give it a worthy portion a Benjamins portion a Hannahs portion a double portion Iam. 1. 5 6 7. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him But let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like Unbelief is virtually all ill therefore fight especially against it a wave of the Sea driven with the wind and tossed For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. He that prayeth doubtingly shuts the Gates of Heaven against his own Prayers It is reported in the life of Luther that when he prayed it was Tanta reverentia ut si Deo tanta fiducia ut si amico with so much reverence as if he were praying to God and with so much boldness as if he had been speaking to his friend Faith in Prayer makes a man divinely familiar and bold with God in Prayer That Prayer that hath not the image and stamp of Faith upon it is no Prayer in Divine account The sweetest flowers of Paradise are onely
bosom that are not directed to his glory The end must alwayes be as noble as the means or else a Christian acts below himself yea below his very Reason Ah Christians it is not a flood of words nor high strains of wit nor vehemency of affections in Prayer but holy and gracious ends that will render Prayer acceptable and honorable to God comfortable and profitable to your selves and others yea the directing of one Prayer to divine glory doth more torture and torment Satan then all the Prayers in the world that are directed to ends below divine glory It is not simply Prayer but the souls aiming at divine glory in Prayer that addes to Christs Crown and Satans Hell And thus I have shewed you all the Requisits of Prayer even of such Prayer as accompanies Salvation I shall now proceed to some other particulars for the further and fuller opening of this truth Secondly That Prayer that accompanies It was a sweet saying of one O Lord I never come to thee but by thee I never go from thee without thee Salvation betters the whole Man by it Faith is increased Hope strengthned the Spirit exhilarated the Heart pacified the Conscience purified Temptations vanquished Corruptions weakned the Affections inflamed the Will more renewed and the whole Man more advantaged Prayer is a Spiritual Chair wherein the soul siteth down at the feet of the Lord to receive the influences of his Grace Prayer is the Regal Gate by which the Lord entereth into the heart comforting quieting strengthning quickning and raising of it The Scripture affords us a cloud of witnesses to prove this truth but I appeal to praying Saints Ah tell me tell me praying Souls have not you do not you finde it so I know you have and do and that is it that makes Prayer a pleasure a paradise unto you Thirdly You may judge what Prayer that is that accompanies Salvation by considering the difference that is betwixt the Prayers of the godly and the wicked Now the difference between the Prayers of the one and the other I shall shew you in the following particulars First Gracious Souls do trade and deal with God in Prayer onely upon the account and credit of Christ They It is a notable saving Luther hath upon the 130 Psalm Often and willingly saith he do I inculcate this that you should shut your eyes and your ears and say You know no God out of Christ none but he that was in the lap of Mary and sucked her Brests He means none out of him beg mercy to pardon them and grace â—o purge them and balm to heal them and divine favor to comfort them and power to support them and wisdom to counsel them and goodness to satisfie them but all upon the account of Christs Blood of Christs Righteousness of Christs Satisfaction and of Christs Intercession at the right hand of the Father Revel 4. 10 11. They seek the Father in the Son they present their sutes always in Christs Name for so is the will of Christ John 14. 13 14. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it John 15. 16. Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name he will give it you Chap. 16. 23. Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek is pregnant and may be read not onely whatsoever but also how many things soever ye shall ask or beg of the Father in my Name he will give them to you There is no admission into Heaven except we bring Christ in our arms Ephes 2. 18. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As no access so no acceptance without Christ Eph. 1. 6. Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved the Father The Greek word signifies A leading by the hand it is an allusion to the custom of Princes to whom there is no passage unless we be brought in by one of their Favorites Plutarch reports That it was wont to be the way of some of the Heathens the Molossians when they would seek the favor of their Prince they took up the Kings Son in their Arms and so went and kneeled before the King Ah Christians Christ is near and dear unto the Father the Father hath determined to give out all his loves and favors through his Son if you bring As Jacob said See not my face except you bring Benjamin with you So sayes God See not my face except you bring Jesus with you Gen. 42. 20 to 34. And as David said to Abner 2 Sam. 3. 13. Christ in the arms of your Faith you gain the Fathers heart and in gaining his heart you gain all The Fathers Mercies melt his Bowels roul his Heart turns his Compassions are kindled upon the sight of his Sons Merits and Mediation As Joseph said to his Brethren Ye shall not see my face unless you bring your Brother Benjamin So sayes God you shall not see my face unless you bring the Lord Jesus with you Now gracious Souls in all their Prayers they present Jesus Christ before the Father and upon his account they desire those things that make for their external internal and eternal good Ah but vain men treat and trade with God in Prayer upon the account of their own worth righteousness worthiness and services Isa 58. 2 3. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God They ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching to me Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our souls and thou takest no knowledge Here you see they stand upon their own practises and services and expostulate the case with God in an angry manner because God did not answer their hypocritical performances So the proud Pharisee stands in Prayer upon his own worthiness and righteousness Luk. 18. 11 12. The Pharisee stood and prayed This Pharisee was like the Egyptian Temple painted without and spotted within varnish without and vermin within thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess So did those Hypocrites in the sixth Chapter and in the three and twentieth Chapter of Matthew stand very much upon their outward services and performances though they were but shining sins but filthy rags Secondly Souls truly gracious pray more to get off their sins then they do to get off their chains Though Bonds did attend Paul in every place as Acts 20. 23. himself speaks yet he never cries out O wretched man that I am who shall
deliver me from my Bonds but O Rom. 7. 23. wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from my sins from this body of death David cryes not Perii but Peccavi Psal 51. Not I am undone but I have done foolishly But wicked men strive in Prayer more to get off their chains then to get off their sins more to be delivered from enemies without then lusts within more to get out of the Furnace then to be delivered from their Spiritual Bondage as the Scriptures Psal 78. 34. Zach. 7. 5 6 7. Isai 26. 16 17. in the Margent do evidence Thirdly The Stream and Cream of a gracious Mans spirit runs most out in Prayer after Spiritual and Heavenly Psal 4. 6 7. 27 4. things as is abundantly evident by those Prayers of the Saints that are upon record throughout the Scripture But the Stream and Cream of vain mens spirits in Prayer runs most out after poor low carnal things as you may see in comparing the following Scriptures together Hos 7. 14. Zach. 7. 5 6 7. Jam. 4. 3 c. Fourthly A gracious Soul looks and lives more upon God in Prayer then upon his Prayer He knows though Prayer be his Chariot yet Christ is his food Prayer may be a staff to support him but Christ is that Manna that must nourish him and upon him he looks and lives Psal 5. 3. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee or Martial and set in order my Prayer as it is in the Hebrew and will look up or look out as it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pihil as a watchman looks out to dâ—scover the approaches of an enemy But vain men they live and look more upon their Prayers then they do upon God Nay usually they never look after their Prayers they never observe what returns they have from Heaven they are like those that shoot Arrows but do not minde where they fall Wicked men think it is Religion enough for them to pray and to look after their prayers to see how their prayers speed is no Article of their Faith But a gracious Soul is of a more noble spirit when he hath prayed he will stand upon his watch-tower and observe what God will speak Psal 85. 8. I will hear that God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints But let them not return to folly or as the Hebrew may be read And they shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will lissen and lay my obedient ear to what the Lord shall speak not return to folly Veal iashubu le Chislah Wicked men would have God to be all ear to hear what they desire when themselves have never an ear to hear what he speaks But deaf ears shall always be attended with dumb answers Justice always makes mercy dumb when sin hath made the sinner deaf Fifthly No discouragements can take gracious Souls off from Prayer but the least discouragements will Aristotle though a Heathen could say That in some cases a man had better lose his life then be cowardly Ethic. 3. c. 1. take off carnal hearts from Prayer as you may see in the following Scriptures compared together Psal 40. 1 2. 44. 10-23 Matth. 15. 21-29 Mal. 3. 14. Isai 58. 1 2 3. Amos 8. 3 4 5 c. When one of the Ancient Martyrs was terrified with the threatnings of his persecutors he replied There is nothing saith he of things visible nothing of things invisible that I fear I will stand to my profession of the name of Christ and contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints come on it what will It is neither the hope of life nor the fear of death that can take a real Christian off from Prayer He is rather raised then dejected he is rather quickned then discouraged by delays or denials he will hold up and hold on in a way and course of Prayer though men should rage and Lyons roar and the Furnace be heat seven times hotter c. But it is not so with carnal hearts Job 27 9 10. Sixthly When a gracious man In his course his heart is in his Prayer he findes by experience that the heart is the Primum mobile the great wheel that moves all other wheels It is the chief Monarch in the Isle of Man prayes he hath his heart in his Prayer when he falls upon the work he makes heart-work on it So David in Psal 42. 4. When I remember these things I pour out my heart So Hannah in 1 Sam. 1. 15. I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit saith she and have poured out my soul before the Lord. So the Israelites in 1 Sam. 7. 6. Poured out their souls like water before the Lord. So the Church in Isa 26. 8 9. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Gracious Souls know The voice of God is Da Mihi cor that no Prayer is acknowledged accepted and rewarded by God but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly It is not a piece it is not a corner of the heart that will satisfie the Maker of the heart The true Mother would not have the childe divided As God loves a broken and a contrite heart so he loaths a divided heart God neither loves halting nor halving he will be served truly and totally The Royal Law is Thou shalt The heart as a Prince gives Laws to all other Members The Heart is Christs Bed of Spices it is his Presence Chamber it is his Royal Throne it is one of those four Keys that God keeps under his own girdle love and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Among the Heathens when the Beasts were cut up for Sacrifice the first thing the Priest looked upon was the heart and if the heart was naught the Sacrifice was rejected Verily God rejects all those Sacrifices wherein the Heart is not Now wicked men are heartless in all their Services in all their Prayers as you may see in comparing the following Scriptures together I shall not transcribe the words because I must cut short the work Isai 29. 13. Matth. 15. 7 8 9. Ezek. 33. 30 31 32. Zach. 7. 4 5 6. 2 Chro. 25. 1 2. As the body without the soul is dead so Prayer Prayer without the heart is but an empty ring a tinckling symbal without the heart be in it is but dead Prayer in the eye and account of God Prayer is onely lovely and weighty as the heatt is in it and no otherwise It is not the lifting up of the voice nor the wringing of the hands nor the beating of the brests but the stirrings of the heart that God looks at in Prayer God hears no more then the
heart speaks if the heart be dumb God will certainly be deaf No Prayer takes with God but that which is the travel of the heart Seventhly Gracious Souls usually Dan 9. 9. Nehe. 10. compared Rom. 8. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Helpeth together or helps us as the nurse doth the little childe Prayer is the breath of the Spirit c. come off from Prayer with hearts more disengaged from sin and more vehemently set against it The precious communion that they have with God in Prayer the sweet breathings of God into their hearts whilest they are a breathing out their requests in his ears and the secret assistance stirrings and movings of the Spirit upon their souls in Prayer arm them more against sin and makes them stand upon the highest terms of defiance with sin How shall I do this or that wickedness against God Sayes the praying Soul O I cannot I will not do any thing unworthy of him that hath caused his glory to pass before me in Prayer Ah but wicked men come off from Prayer with hearts more encouraged to sin and more resolved to walk in ways of sin Prov. 7. 14 15-24 I have Peace-offerings with me saith the Harlot This day have I paid my vows Therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face and I have found thee Come let us take our fill of love until 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be drunken with loves which shews her unsatiable lusts the morning let us solace our selves with loves So in Jere. 7. 9 10. Will ye steal murder and commit adultery and swear falsly and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not And come and stand before me in this house which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations Wicked men are like Lewis King of France that would swear and then kiss the cross and then swear more bitterly and then kiss the cross So they sin and pray and pray Mr. Shepherd in his Sincere Convert speaks of such a monster yea this age is full of such Monsters that have no pity upon themselves and sin and the more they pray the more easily resolutely and impudently do they sin They make use of Prayer to charm their Consciences that so they may sin with more pleasure and less regreet Ah what pains do such sinners take to go to Hell and to arm their Consciences against themselves in that day wherein they shall say There is no help there is no hope Eighthly and lastly Gracious Souls do more eye and observe how their own hearts are wrought upon in Prayer Psal 35. 13. My Prayer returned into my own bosom Isa◠26. 8 9. then how others hearts are wrought upon When they pray they look with a curious eye upon their own spirits they look with a narrow eye upon their own hearts and observe how they are affected melted humbled quickned raised spiritualized and bettered by Prayer But vain men as they pray to be seen of men so they eye most how others like their prayers and Matth. 6. 23. The vertue of some lieth in the spectators eyes are affected and taken with their prayers they are most critical in observing what operations their prayers have upon others hearts but never minde to any purpose how they operate upon their own hearts a worse plague cannot befal them And thus I have endeavored to shew you what a wide difference there is betwixt the Prayers of the godly and the ungodly and by this as by the former particulars laid down you may see what Prayer that is that accompanies Salvation Now in the seventh place I shall The seventh thing that accompanies Salvation is Perseverance shew you what Perseverance that is that accompanies Salvation and that I shall do in these following particulars First That Perseverance that accompanies Salvation is Perseverance in a holy Profession Heb. 4. 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Let us hold fast our profession by a strong hand or by a hand of holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 violence So in Chap. 10. 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies A forcible holding a holding with both hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wavering or as it is in the Greek without tilting or tossing to one side or other for he is faithful that promised Therefore let no temptation affliction opposition or persecution take us off from our holy Profession but let us hold our Profession with a forcible hand yea with both hands in the face of all difficulties dangers and deaths As Cynaegirus the Athenian Captain did the ship that was laden with the rich spoil of his Country Secondly That Perseverance that accompanies Salvation is a Perseverance in holy and spiritual Principles It is an abiding in love John 15. 9 10. So in Col. 1. 23. 1 Tim. 2. 15. Heb. 13. 1. 11. 13. These all died in Faith or as it is in the Greek They all died according to Faith that is Persevering in Faith And an abiding in faith and hope 1 Cor. 13. 13 c. Perseverence is not a particular distinct Grace of it self but such a Vertue as crowns all vertue it is such a Grace as casts a general glory and beauty upon every grace It is a Grace that leads every grace on to perfection To persevere in holy and heavenly Principles is To persevere in Believing in Repenting in Mourning in Hoping It is to persevere in Love in Fear in Humility in Patience in Self-denial c. Now it is this perseverance It is a Rule in the Civil Law Nec videtur actum si quid superfit quod agatur that nothing seems to be done if there remain ought to be done Let a man do never so much if he do not persevere he will be found to have done nothing in holy and gracious Principles that accompaines Salvation that leads to Salvation No grace no not the most sparkling and shining grace can bring a man to Heaven of it self without Perseverance not Faith which is the Champion of Grace if it faint and fail not Love which is the Nurse of Grace if it decline and wax cold not Humility which is the adorner beautifier of Grace if it continue not to the end not Obedience not Repentance not Patience nor no other Grace except they have their perfect work It is Perseverance in Grace that crowns every Grace and every gracious Soul with a crown of glory at last Revel 2. 10. Be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a crown of life Such as As all Hypocrites onely do John 6 c. onely believe for a time and repent for a time and love for a time and repent for a time and love for a time and rejoyce for a time and hope for a
appear that Hope doth accompany Salvation it doth boarder upon eternal life The second thing that I am to shew you is What Hope that is that doth accompany Salvation that comprehends Salvation and that I shall do with as much brevity and perspicuity as I can in the following particulars First That Hope that accompanies Salvation is A grace of God whereby Spes est expectatio eorum quae verè à Deo promissa fides credidit Calvin 1 Tim. 6. 17. This very title The God of Hope may serve as a soveraign antidote against the blackest and horridest temptations for why should any despair of his mercy who hath proclaimed himself to be the God of Hope Spes est virtus qua inclinamâ—r ad expectationem eorum quae Deus nobis promisit Perkins we expect good to come patiently waiting till it come First I call it a Grace of God because he is the donor of it and therefore he is called the God of Hope Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Now God is called the God of Hope because he is objectivè the onely object of our Hope and he is effectivè the onely Author and Worker of Hope in the Soul Hope is no natural affection in men men are not born with hope in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouthes Hope is nobly descended it is from above it is a heavenly Babe that is formed in the soul of man by the power of the Holy Ghost And as Hope is no natural affection so Hope is no Moral vertue which men may attain by their frequent actions but Hope is a Theological vertue that none can give but God Secondly I say it is a Grace of God whereby we expect good to come I say good not evil for evil is rather feared then hoped for by any The object of this Hope hath four conditions 1. It must be Bonum good 2. Futurum future 3. Possibile possible 4. Arduum hard or difficult to obtain Thirdly I say Hope is a Grace of God whereby we expect good to come patiently waiting till it come Hope makes the Soul quiet and patient till it comes to possess the good desired and hoped for Rom. 8. 25. But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it The Hebrew word Kavah that is often translated Hope signifies a very vehement intention both of body and minde a stretching forth of the Spirit or Minde in waiting for a desired good 2 Cor. 4. ult Hope fates well it keeps a Princes Table it lives upon Honey and Milk Oyl and Wine it sives upon the sweet meats the delicates of Heaven as God Christ and Glory Psal 31. 24. 33. 22. 38. 15. 42. 5. 43. 5. 39. 7. 71. 5. 65. 5. Secondly That Hope that accompanies Salvation is alwayes conversant about holy and heavenly objects as about God and Christ 1 Tim. 1. 1. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ which is our Hope In these words Christ is set forth as the chief object of our Hope because by his merits and mercy we hope to obtain the remission of our sins and the eternal Salvation of our souls Sometimes Hope is exercised about the Righteousness of Christ Gal. 5. 5. For we through the Spirit wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith Sometimes Hope is exercised about God the Father 1 Pet. 1. 21. Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God Jere. 14. 8. O the Hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in time of trouble Chap. 17. 13. O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed Vers 17. Thou art my hope in the day of evil Sometimes Hope The Jewish Rabbins were wont to say That upon every Letter of the Law there hangs Mountains of profitable matter Ah then what abundance of comfort and sweetness may hope finde yea does hope finde in the Promises is exercised and busied about the Word and Promises Psal 119. 49. Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to Hope Vers 81. My soul fainteth for thy Salvation but I hope in thy Word Verse 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield I hope in thy Word Psal 130. 5. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait And in his Word do I hope Psal 119. 74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me Because I have hoped in thy Word Verse 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy Word Hope in the Promise will keep the head from aking and the heart from breaking it will keep both head and heart from sinking and drowning Hope exercised upon the promise brings Heaven down to the heart The Promises are the Ladder by which Hope gets up to Heaven Hope in the Promise will not onely keep life and soul together but it will also keep the soul and glory together Hope in Psal 4â— 5. 119. 49 50. compared Hol. 6. 1 2. the Promise will support distressed souls Hope in the Promise will settle perplexed souls Hope in the Promise will comfort dejected souls Hope in the Promise will reduce wandering souls Hope in the Promise will confirm staggering souls Hope in the Promise will save undone souls The Promise is the same to Hope that Rom. 8. 24. The Promises are Hopes rich Magazin Hope is to the Soul the Promise is the Anchor of Hope as Hope is the Anchor of the Soul Look what the Brests are to the Childe and Oyl is to the Lamp that are the Promises to Hope Hope lives and thrives as it feeds upon the Promises as it embraces the Promises The Promises are the sweet-meats of Heaven upon Heb. 11. 13. which Hope lives And every degree of Hope brings a degree of joy into the Soul which makes it cry out Heaven Heaven Again Hope is exercised about the glory and felicity the happiness Psal 16. ult Tit. 3. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Looking for Christs coming as earnestly as men look and long for the coming of some special friends or as Inn-keepers do for special guests and blessedness that is at Gods right hand Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Hope makes a man stretch out his neck and put forth his hand and look as earnestly for the glorious appearing of Christ as Sisera's Mother did for the happy return of her Son The hoping Soul is often a sighing it out Why are his Charriot Wheels so long a coming Col 1. 5. For the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven Hope in this place So in Rom. 8. 24 25. Col. 1. 27. Rom. 5. 2
and so it makes a Christian to stand and triumph over all afflictions oppositions and temptations A third property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It makes the Soul lively and active Psal 119. 166. Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments Hope puts the Soul upon doing upon obeying 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant or much mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much. hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead It is called a lively hope A mans duties and services usually are as his hopes are if his hopes are weak and low so will his services be but if his hopes are spiritual noble and high so will his motions and actions be Divine hope makes Saints as far excel all other men in their actings as the Angels do excel them Some say hope and fasting are the two wings of Prayer fasting is but as the wing of a bird but hope is as the wing of an Angel bearing our prayers to the throne of Grace because it brings life and comfort into the Soul and it is called a lively hope in opposition to the withering and dying hopes of Hypocrites and wicked men and it is called a lively hope because it flows from lively causes viz. The Spirit of Christ and the Souls union and communion with Christ but mainly it is called a lively hope because it puts the Soul upon lively endeavors Hope will make a man pray as for life hear as for life and mourn as for life and obey as for life and work and walk as for life Hope will not say this work is too hard and that work is too hot this work is too high and the other work is too low Hope will make a man put his hand to every work Hope makes a man more motion then notion it makes a man better at doing then at saying c. Hope gives life and strength to all religious duties and services 1 Cor. 9. 10. He that plougheth should plough in hope and he that thresheth in hope shall be partaker of his hope Hope will put a Christian upon ploughing and threshing that is upon the hardest and difficultest services for God and his glory If fleshly Fleshly hopes put the Romans upon doing very strange and wonderful exploits as you may see in Plutarch and other Historians hopes of gaining the honors riches and favors of this world made Absolom Ahitophel Jehu Haman and many Heathens full of life and activity full of motion and action Verily holy and heavenly hopes will make men much more lively and active by how much heavenly hopes are more excellent then earthly A man full of hope will be full of action a lively hope and a diligently hand are inseparable companions Hope will make a man do though he dies for doing A fourth property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It will make a man sit Noah like quiet and still in the midst of all storms and tempests in the midst of all combustions concussions and mutations when others are at their wits end then hope will house the Soul and lodge it safe and quiet in the bosom of God Job 11. 18. And thou shalt be secure because there is hope yea thou shalt dig about thee and thou shalt take thy rest in safety The Hebrew word that is here rendred rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rest as men rest in their beds or as the body rests in the grave is from a root that signifies to rest and sleep quietly as in ones bed Hope will bring the Soul to bed safely and sweetly in the darkest night in the longest storm and in the greatest tempest Heb. 6. 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the veil Hope is that Anchor of the Soul that keeps it quiet and still in all storms and tempests it keeps the soul from dashing Chrysostome saith that hope is not onely the Anchor but the Ship to that good Anchor upon the Rocks and from being swallowed up in the Sands Hope is an Anchor that is fastned above not below in Heaven not in Earth within the veil not without therefore the ship the Soul of a Believer must needs be safe and secure That ship will never be split upon the Rocks Hypoerites in stormy times are like ships without Anchors â—ost up and down with every wave and in danger of being split upon every Rock Job 27. 9 10. whose Anchor is in Heaven Hope enters within the veil and takes fast Anchor-hold on God himself and therefore blow high blow low rain or shine the soul of a Saint is safe Divine hope settles the heart he that cannot look for more then he hath can never be settled nor satisfied our best and greatest estate lies in invisibles our perfect and compleat estate here lies not in re but in spe it lies not in what we have in possession but in what we have in expectation in reversion A fift property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It will work the Soul to a quiet and patient Patience is nothing else but Hope spun out If you would lengthen Patience be sure to strenthen Hope waiting upon God for mercy though God should delay the giving in of mercy Rom. 8. 25. But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Psal 130. 5 6. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning I say more then they that watch for the morning Hope will make a man wait yea wait long for a mercy as it did Abraham Rom. 4. 18 19 20 21. Though the vision stay yet hope will Hab. 2. 1 2 3. Heb. 10. 36 37. Hopes Motto is Quod defertur non aufertur For bearâ—nce is no acquittance wait for it yet a little little while sayes hope and he that shall come will come and will not tarry The longer I wait for a mercy the greater better and sweeter at last the mercy will prove sayes Hope It is not mercy if it be not worth a waiting for sayes Hope and if it be mercy thou canst not wait too long for it sayes Hope The men of Bethulia resolved to wait upon God but five dayes longer but Deliverance stayed seven dayes and yet came at last So sayes Hope Pittacus one of the seven Sages used to say A wise man must recover that by patience which force cannot command though Deliverance stay though this and that mercy stayes as it were in the birth yet it will come at last therefore wait Hope is not hasty in prefixing the time when God shall shew mercy neither will it
man a servant to sin that breeds a contempt of Ordinances a neglect of holy Duties a carelesness in walking with God And from those hissings of the old Serpent O Lord deliver my Soul and the Souls of all thy servants that put their trust in thee Ninethly and lastly Assurance is a Jewel a Pearl of that price that God onely bestows it upon renued hearts The Spirit never sets his Seal upon any but upon those that Christ hath first Revel 2. 17. Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. compared printed his Image upon God gives to none the white stone but to those from whom he hath taken the heart of stone Christ never tells a man that his Name is written in the Book of Luke 10. 20. Life till he hath breathed into him Spiritual Life Christ never sayes Son be of good chear thy sin is pardoned Luke 5. 18 19 20. till he hath first said Be thou healed be thou cleansed Christ never gives a man a new name that is Isa 56. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 17. better then the names of Sons and Daughters till he hath made them new Creatures Of Slaves Christ first makes us Sons before we cry Abba Rom 8. 15. Ephes 2. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. Father Of Enemies he first makes us Friends before he will make us of his Court or Counsel Christ will never hang a Pearl in a Swines snout nor put new Wine into old Bottles nor his Royal Robes upon a leprous back nor his Golden Chain about a dead mans neck nor his glistering Crown upon a Ephes 1. 13. Traytors head The Spirit never sets his Seal upon any but upon those that Christ hath first seâ— as a Seal upon his Cant. 8. 6. heart The Spirit onely bears witness to such as hate sin as Christ hates it and that love Righteousness as Christ Psal 45 7. loves it that hate sin more then Hell and that love truth more then life A Soul sealed by the Spirit will pull out right eyes and cut off right hands for Christ such a Soul will part with a Benjamin and offer up an Isaac for Christ And this is to be seriously minded against those deceived and deluded Souls that remain yet in their blood and that wallow in their sins and yet boast and brag of the Seal and of the witness and testimony of the Spirit And thus I have shewed you the difference between the whisperings of the Spirit and the hissing of the old Serpent between a true testimony and a false CHAP. VII Containing Answers to several special Questions about Assurance BUt me thinks I hear some precious Souls saying Sir Quest 1 we have after much praying weeping and waiting gained this Pearl of price Assurance But O how shall we do to strengthen it How shall we do to keep it Satan will labor to weaken our Assurance and to rob us of this Jewel that is more worth than a world what means must we use to strengthen our Assurance and to secure it c. Now to this Question I shall give these following Answers First If you would have your Assurance strengthned and maintained then keep close to Soul-strengthning The old Rule was Hoc age ways be serious and sincere be diligent and constant in the use of those means and ways wherein you first gained Assurance as Prayer the Word breaking of Bread Communion of Saints c. A conscionable and cordial A cool spirit is always a losing spirit the doing heart the diligent heart turns the spark into a flame the mite into a million c. use of holy and heavenly means is blessed not onely with a preservation of Assurance but likewise with an addition and increase of it The ways of God and his goings in the Sanctuary have wrought wonders upon thee when thou wast dead how much more will they work upon thee and for thee now thou art by Grace made alive He that will not apply himself to Gods strengthning methods will quickly finde his Assurance weakned if not wholly wasted He that thinks himself too good for Ordinances will quickly grow weak in his Assurance The choicest Prophets and highest Apostles if I may so speak that had attained to the fullest Assurance kept close to the ways and precious institutions of Christ Verily those that pretend to live above Ordinances and yet live below them never knew by experience what a mercy it was to have a wel-grounded Assurance or else they have lost that blessed Assurance that once they had c. Secondly If you would strengthen and maintain your Assurance then dwell much upon your Spiritual and Eternal Priviledges viz. Your Adoption Holy and heavenly priviledges are the food by which Assurance is cherished and maintained Justification Reconciliation c. 1 Pet. 2. 9. This you will finde by experience will mightily tend to the strengthning and maintaining of your Assurance He that neglects this Rule will quickly finde his Sun to set in a cloud his Harp to be turned into mourning and his Organ into the voice Job 30. ult of them that weep Thirdly If you would strengthen and maintain your Assurance then look that your hearts and thoughts run more out to Christâ— then to Assurance to the Sun then to the Beams to the Fountain then to the Stream to the Root then to the Branch to the Cause then to the Effect Assurance is sweet Cant. 1. 13. but Christ is more sweet Assurance is lovely but Christ is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Prov 3. 15. Assurance is precious but Christ is most precious Though Assurance be a flower that yeelds much comfort and delight yet it is but a flower Though Assurance be a precious Box yet it is but a Box. Though Assurance be a Ring of Gold yet it is but a Ring of Gold And what is the flower to the Root what is the Box to the Oyntment what is the Ring to the Pearl No more is Assurance to Christ therefore let thy eye and heart first most and last be fixt upon Christ then will Assurance bed and board with thee otherwise thou wilt quickly finde thy Summer to be turned into Winter Fourthly If you would strengthen and maintain your Assurance then look that your hearts are more taken up with Christ then with your Graces Though Grace be a glorious Creature Christ is the pot of Manna the Cruse of Oyl the bortomless Ocean the most sparkling Diamond in the Ring of glory c. yet it is but a Creature therefore let Grace have your eye but be sure that Christ have your heart Christ will not allow your very Graces to be corrivals with him He that mindes his Graces more then Christ or that sets his Graces upon the Throne with Christ will quickly finde what it is to lose the face and favor of Christ Your Grace are but Christs Servants and Handmaids you may look upon them but you must not match with
are among the precious Sons and Daughters of Zion that have lost this Pearl of price and after waiting weeping and wrestling have found it again therefore be not discouraged O sighing losing Souls In the loss of emporals it is a great support to mens spirits that their loss may be made up and why should it not be so in spirituals also The fourth Support to keep their Support 4 hearts from sinking and breaking that have lost that sweet Assurance that once they had is seriously to consider that your loss is no greater nor no sadder then what the noblest and the choicest Saints have sustained as you may see by comparing the Scriptures Psal 30. 6 7. 51. 12. Job 23. 8 9. Isa 8. 17. in the Margent together Those that were once the Worthies of this world and are now triumphing in that other World among the Princes of glory have lost that sweet Assurance and sense of Divine love and favor that once they enjoyed therefore let not your spirits faint and fail In temporal Acts 16. trials it is a comfort and a support to have companions with us and why should it not much more be so in spirituals The fifth Support to bear up their Support 5 spirits that have lost that sweet Assurance that once they had is for them to remember and seriously minde that though they have lost Assurance yet they have not lost the blessed breathings and sweet influences of the Spirit Cant. 3. 5. Micah 7. 7 8 9. compared Isa 8. 17. Isa 50. 10. upon them witness their love to Christ their longing after Christ their fear of offending Christ their care to please Christ their high esteem of Christ and their mourning for the dishonors that by themselves or others are done to Christ c. A man may enjoy the warmth heat and influence of the Sun when he hath lost the sight of the Sun David had lost his Assurance he had lost the sight of the Sun and yet he enjoyed the warmth and influences of it upon his heart as is evident in the One and fiftieth Psalm Though thy Sun O Christian be set in a cloud yet it will rise again and in the interim thou hast and dost enjoy the warmth and influences of the Sun therefore sorrow not mourn not as one without hope Those warm influences that the Sun of Righteousness hath now upon thy heart are infallible evidences that he will shine Psal 42. 5 7 8 11. forth and smile upon thee as in the days of old therefore let thy Bowe still abide in strength The sixth Support to keep their Support 6 hearts from fainting and sinking that have lost that sweet Assurance that once they had is seriously to consider that it will be but as a day but as a short day before the loss of thy Assurance shall be made up with a more clear full perfect and compleat enjoyment of God ere long O mourning Soul thy Sun shall rise and never set thy joy and comfort shall be always Isa 57. 18 19 20. fresh and green God shall comfort thee on every side it shall be night with thee no more thou shalt be always in the bosom of God Psal 71. 20 21. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side The day is at hand O perplexed Soul when thou shalt have smiles without frowns light without darkness day without night wine without water sweet without bitter and joy without sorrow The year of Jubile is at hand thou Levit 25. Psal 126. 5. Isa 35. 2. now sowest in tears thou shalt shortly reap in joy yea Everlasting joy shall be upon thy head and sorrow and sighing shall flee away therefore faint not The third Question is this viz. Quest 3 What means must Souls use to recover Assurance when it is lost I shall give a few short Answers to this Question and so draw to a cloze First If thou wouldst recover Assurance Austin saith Humanum est peccare diabolicum perseverare Angelicum resurgere It is a humane thing to fall into sin a devilish to persevere therein and an Angelical or supernatural to rise from it then thou must labor diligently to finde out that sin that Achan that hath robbed thee of thy Wedg of Gold of thy Assurance surely it is not for infirmities but enormities that God hath put out thy candle and caused thy Sun to set at Noon surely thou hast been feeding I say not tasting of forbidden fruit that God hath stript thee of thy robes and taken the crown from off thy head and turned thee out of Paradise But this is not all Therefore in the second place weep Reve. 2. 4 5. When ancient Rome was Heathenish if the Malefactor brought to be whipped sell upon his knees at his feet whom he had offended it was held as a sin if he suffered him to be whipt much mourn much over the Achan over those wickednesses that have turned thy day into night thy rejoycing into sighing c. David doth thus in that One and fiftieth Psalm and God takes him up from his knees and restores to him the joy of his Salvation Though God be displeased with your sins yet he is wel-pleased with your tears The promise is that he will revive the spirit of the contrite Isa 51. 15. It is said of Adam that he turned his face towards the Garden of Eden and from his heart lamented his fall Ah losing Souls turn your faces towards Heaven and from your hearts lament your fall lament your loss nothing puts God to it like penitent tears No sooner doth Ephraim weep over his sins Jere 31. 18 19 20. It is an excellent expression of Basil It grieves it irks it is tediâ— is to our most munificient great glorious King If we ask any thing little of him he would have us ask great things of him but the bowels of God are stirring towards him and God cannot hold but he must proclaim to the world that mourning Ephraim bemoaning Ephraim is his dear son his pleasant childe and that he will surely have mercy on him or as the Hebrew hath it Rahhem arahhamenu I will having mercy have mercy on him or I will abundantly have mercy on him When our hearts are set to weep over our sins God will so act in ways of love towards us that it shall not be long night with our Souls God will never suffer them to be drowned in sorrow that are set upon drowning their sins in penitential tears The Jews have a saying That since the destruction of Jerusalem the door of Prayers hath been shut but the door of tears was Psal 39. 12. Job 16. 20. Mark 9. 24 25 c. never shut saith one God hath by promise engaged himself That those that sow in tears shall reap
Thus God dealt with Paul before he Acts 9. 1 to 23. put him upon that hard and dangerous service that he had cut out for him he takes him up into Heaven and sheds abroad his love into his heart and tells him That he is a chosen Vessel he appears to him in the way and fills him with the Holy Ghost that is with the gifts graces and comforts of the Holy Ghost And straightway he Chrysostom saith that he was Insatiabilis Dei cultor an unsatiable server of God falls upon Preaching of Christ upon exalting of Christ to the amazing and astonishing of all that heard him And as he had more clear full and glorious manifestations of Gods love and favor then others so he was more frequent more abundant and more constant in 2 Cor. 11. 21 ult the work and service of Christ then others And this hath been the constant It is sufficient to point at these instances they are so notoriously known to all that know any thing of the Scripture in power As he in Plutarch said of the Scythians that although they had no musick nor vines among them yet as better things they had gods so the Saints though they may want this and that outward encouragement in the service of God yet they shall injoy his presence that is better then all other things in the world dealing of God with the Patriarks as with Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. and with the Prophets as with Moses Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel c. when he hath put them upon weighty services he hath shed abroad his love into their hearts he hath set his seal upon their spirits and made them to know that he hath set them as a seal upon his hand he hath assured them of his countenance and of his presence and of his assistance he hath told them though others should desert them yet he will stand by them and strengthen them and support them and uphold them with the right hand of his Righteousness he hath told them that his power should be theirs to defend them and his wisdom should be theirs to direct them and his goodness should be theirs to supply them and his grace should be theirs to heal them and his mercy should be theirs to pardon them and his joy should be theirs to strengthen them and his promises should be theirs to chear them and his spirit should be theirs to lead them And this hath made them as bold as Lyons this hath made them stand fast and stand close to the work of God in the face of all dangers and difficulties this hath made them with stout Nehemiah scorn to desist or flie from the work of the Lord this hath made their Bows to abide in strength though the Archers have shot sore at them Now there are considerable Reasons why God is pleased to give his Children some sweet tastes of his love some assurance of his favor when he puts them upon some hard and difficult service and they are these that follow First That they may not faint nor Reas 1 faulter in his service but go thorow it Apollonius as Philostratus reports being asked if he did not tremble at the sight of the Tyrant made this answer God which hath given him a terrible countenance hath given also unto me an undaunted heart c. resolutely and bravely in the face of all difficulties and oppositions When God put Joshua upon that hard service of leading and governing his people Israel he assures him of his love and of his presence Fear not be of good courage I am with thee And this makes him hold on and hold out in the service of the Lord bravely and resolutely in the face of all discouragements Chuse you whom you will serve whether your fathers gods or the gods of the Amorites but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. So when the Lord put Paul upon such service that Acts 20. 23. occasioned bonds and afflictions to abide him in every City he gives him a taste of Heaven before hand and lifts up the light of his countenance upon him and this makes him resolute and bold in the work of the Lord. Now Paul will not consult with flesh and blood Gal. 1. 15 16 17. now it is not reproaches nor stripes nor prisons nor whips nor perils nor deaths that can make him look back having put his hand to the Lords plough O the beamings forth of Divine Love upon his soul filled him with that courage and resolution that with Shammah one of Davids worthies he stands and defends the field 2 Tim. 4. 16 17. when others fall and flie and quit the field Secondly God gives his people Reas 2 some tastes of his love some sense of his favor when he puts them upon hard and difficult services because else he should not onely act below himself as he is a wise God a faithful God a powerful God a merciful God a righteous God c. But also act below his poor weak Creatures For And to imagine that ever the great God will act below the wisdom of those that are foolishness in the very abstract is the greatest madness and blasphemy in the world what Husband will put his Wife what Father will put his childe what Master will put his Servant what Captain will put his Souldier what Prince will put his Ambassadors upon hard and difficult services but they will smile upon them and speak kindly to them and make large promises to honor their persons and kindly to accept and nobly to reward their services c. Surely none And will God Isa 42. 8. 48. 11. will God who will not give his glory to those that have the most glorious Beings suffer his glory to be clouded and eclipsed by the prudent actings of weak worms Surely no. Thirdly God lifts up the light of Reas 3 his countenance upon his people when Solus amor nesciâ— difficultates Love knows no difficulties he puts them upon hard and difficult services that they may never repent of listing themselves in his service Ah did not the Lord warm the hearts of his people with the glorious beams of his love when he puts them upon hard work they would be ready when they meet with oppositions and hazards to throw up all and to sit down lamenting and repenting that ever they were engaged in his service they would be as peevish and froward as Jonah and with him venter a drowning to shift off Gods service Ah Melancthon was such a man whom Luther encourages thus Why should we fear a conquered world that have Christ the Conqueror on our side c. but now the Lord by letting his goodness drop upon their hearts and by putting an earnest-penny into their hands he causes them to go chearfully on in his work without sighing or repenting The kisses and embraces of God do put such life such spirit such mettle into their
souls as makes them bid defiance to the greatest dangers and as Crowns them Conquerors of the greatest difficulties Ah says a soul that hath walked some turns in Paradise what is dross to gold what is darkness to light what is Hell to Heaven no more is all difficulties and oppositions to me who have found As they said once of the Grecians in the Epigramme whom they thought invulnerable we shoot at them but they fâ—ll not down we wound them and yet not kill them c. the sweetness of Divine Grace and have had the happiness to lie in the bosom of God Dioclesian the worst and last Persecutor in all the Ten Persecutions observed That the more he sought to blot out the name of Christ the more it became legible and to block up the way of Christ the more it became passible and whatever of Christ he thought to root out it rooted the deeper and rose the higher in the hearts and lives of the Saints among whom he had scattered the beams of his love and the rich pearls of his grace Such souls as have once been in the arms of God in the midst of all oppositions they are as men made all of fire walking in stubble they consume and overcome all oppositions all difficulties are but as whetstones to their Fortitude The Moon will run her course though the Dogs bark at it so will all those choice souls that have found warmth under Christs wings run their Christian race in spight of all difficulties and dangers The Horse neighs at the Trumpet the Leviathan laughs at the Spear so does a Saint under the power of assurance laugh at all hazards and dangers that he meets with in the Lords service The sense of Gods love and goodness makes him to triumph over the greatest difficulties Fourthly and lastly God gives his Reas 4 people some tastes of his love when he puts them upon hard and difficult services that the mouths of the wicked may be stopt should God lay heavy burdens upon his peoples shoulders and not put under his finger to give some ease should God double their tale of brick and yet deny them straw should God engage them against a potent enemy and then desert them should God send them upon some weighty embassage and not give proportionable encouragements to them what would the world say would Exod. 32. 12. Num. 14. 12 13 14 15 16. they not say That he is a hard Master and that his ways are not equal would they not say Verily they are lyers that say he is glorious in power and wonderful in counsel and infinite in mercy and admirable in goodness and rich in grace and unsearchable in his understanding for surely were he he could not he would not put his children upon such hard and dangerous services but he would own them and stand by them he would assist them and smile upon them he would be as careful to bring them bravely off as he hath been ready to bring them freely on O he could not see them in garments rouled in blood but his bowels would yern towards them and he would arise and have compassion on them Then thirdly Waiting times are times wherein God is pleased to give his people some sweet tastes of his love and to lift up the light of his countenance upon them I waited patiently Psal 40. 1 2 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord saith David and he inclined unto me and heard my cry Waiting I waited He brought me up also out of an horrible pit or out of a pit of noise out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings And he hath put a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God After God had exercised Davids patience in waiting he sweetly breaks in upon him and knocks off his bolts and opens the prison doors and takes him by the hand and leads him out of the pit of noise and confusion in which he was and causes his love and goodness so to beam forth upon him as causes his heart to rejoyce and his tongue to sing So after devout Simeon had waited for the consolation Luke 2. 25 to 33. of Israel that is for Christs coming the Holy Ghost falls upon him and leads him to a sight of Christ in the Temple and this makes the good old man sing nunc dimittas Now let thy servant depart in peace Ah says Simeon I have lived long enough now I have got Christ in my heart and Christ in my arms who is my light my life my love my joy my crown let me depart according to thy Word Ah Saints I appeal to you have not many of you found by experience the sweet breathings of Christ upon you even whilest you have been waiting at the door of Mercy while you have been weeping and waiting hath not the Lord Jesus come in and said Peace be to you waiting souls be of good cheer it is I be of good cheer your sins are pardoned surely you have Hath not God made that word good unto you Wait Psal 37. 14. on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart Wait I say on the Lord yes And hath he Isa 49. 23. These words Shall not be ashamed in the Hebrew Dialect do not simply import that such shall not be brought to shame or shall not perish but that he shall be advanced to great dignity and glory to everlasting happiness and blessedness Isai 30. 18. Lam 3. 25. not made that good to you They shall not be ashamed that wait for me that is they shall not be deceived or disappointed of their hopes and expectations that wait for me yes And have you not found that word made sweet to your souls Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious blessed are all they that wait for him Yes And hath not the Lord made that word good to you The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him Yes Waiting souls remember this assurance is yours but the time of giving it is the Lords the Jewel is yours but the season in which he will give it is in his own hand the Gold Chain is yours but he onely knows the hour wherein he will put it about your necks Well wait patiently and quietly wait expectingly wait believingly wait affectionately and wait diligently and you shall finde that Scripture made good in power upon your souls Yet a Heb. 10. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hab. 2. 3. Mal 3. 1. little little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry he will certainly come he will seasonably come he will suddenly come as the Prophet Malachi speaks Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he
to Heaven But lest any precious soule should turn this Truth into a sword to cut and wound himselfe let me desire him to remember that every Beleever that hath such knowledge that accompanies salvation hath not It is commonly said of knowledge non habet inimicum praeter ignorantem that it hath not a greater enemy then ignorance c. this applicatory knowledge that makes so much for the souls consolation and that doth accompany some mens salvation I say not all mens salvation if thou findest thy knowledge to be such a knowledge as is before described in the six former particulars though thou hast not attained to this applicatory knowledge yet hast thou attained to that knowledge that accompanies salvation and that will my soule for thine give thee a possession of salvation This applicatory knowledge that accompanies salvation is onely to bee found in such eminent Saints that are high in their communion with God and that have attained some considerable assurance of their interest in God Many mens salvation is accompanied with an applicatory knowledge but all mens salvation is not accompanied with an applicatory knowledge of a mans particular interest in Christ and those blessed favors and benefits that comes by him thy Soule may bee safe and thy salvation may bee sure though thou hast not attained unto this appropriating knowledge but thy life cannot A man doth not attain to health by reading Galen or Hippocrates his Aphorisms but by the practical application of them 〈◊〉 move his diseases You know how to apply it be comfortable without this appropriating knowledge Therefore if thou hast it not labor for it as for life it is a pearle of price and if thou findest it it will make thy soul amends for all thy digging seeking working sweating weeping c. Eightly and lastly that Knowledge that accompanies salvation is accompanied and attended with these things First that Knowledge that accompanies salvation is attended with holy indeavors and with heavenly desires thirstings and pantings after a further knowledge of God after clearer visions of God Prov. 15. 14. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowledge but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishnesse The Hebrew word that is here rendred seeketh â—ebakkesh is in pihil and signifâ—es an earnest and diligent seeking to seek as an hungry man seeks for meat or as a covetous man for gold the more he hath the more he desires or as a condemned man seeks for his pardon or as the diseased man seeks for his cure The word in the Text is from a root 〈…〉 ash that signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek studiously laboriously industriously to seek by sâ—ing praying enquiring and walking up and downe that we may find what we seek So in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Prov. 18. 15. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the eare of Seeketh as men do for hid treasure c. the wise seeketh knowledge A man that divinely knows will set his heart and his ear his inward and outward man to know more and more Divine knowledge is marvellous sweet pleasing comforting satisfying refreshing strengthening and supporting and soules that have found the sweetnesse and usefulness of it cannot but look and long breath and pant after more and more of it The new-born 1 Pet. 2. 2 3. Babe doth not more naturally and more earnestly long for the brests then a soul that hath tasted that the Lord is gracious doth long for further and further tastes of God David under all Psal 119. 18 19. his knowledge cryes out I am a stranger in the Land hide not thy Commandments from me Open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law Job under all his knowledge Job 34. 32. which was very great cryes out That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more A second thing that attends and accompanies that knowledge that accompanies salvation is holy endeavors The way to get more knowledge is to communicate that we have according to that Habenti dabitur to edifie others to instruct others to enlighten and inform others in the knowledge of spiritual and heavenly things Heavenly light cannot be hid under a bushel you may as easily hinder the Sun from shining as you may hinder a gracious soul from diffusing and spreading abroad that knowledge and light that God hath given him Divine light in the soul is like a light in a bright Lanthorn that shines forth every way or like a light in a room or on a Beacon that gives light to others A Christian that divinely knows is like the Lamp in the story that was always burning and shining and never went out So in Gen. 18. 17 Thus did Philip of Bethsaida John 1. 45. Thus did the woman of Samaria John 4. 28 29. Thus did the Spouse Cant. 5. 10. to ult Thus did that Scraphical Preacher St. Paul Acts 26. 29. 19. And the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that which I do for I know him that he will command his children and his houshould after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him He that communicates his knowledge to others shall be both of Gods court and council he shall lye in the bosome of God he shall know the secrets of God Prov. 15. 7. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge but the heart of the foolish doth not so The Hebrew word that is here rendred disperse is a metaphor taken from Seedsmens scattering abroad of their seed in the furrows of the field Heavenly Augustine accounted nothing his own that he did not communicate to others knowledge is very spreading and diffusive it is like the Sun the Sun casteth his beams upward and downward upon good and upon bad so divine light in a gracious soul will break forth for the advantage and profit of friends and enemies of those that be in a state of nature and of those that be in a state of grace Acts 4. 18 19 20. And they called them and Opposition is the black angel that dogs the Gospel at the heels Divine knowledge is like new wine it must have vent it is heavenly fire that will break forth Jer. 5. 14. 20. 9. commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the Name in Jesus But Peter and John answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye For we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard The Bee doth store her Hive out of all sorts of flowers for the common benefit so a heavenly Christian sucks sweetness out of every mercy and every duty out of every providence and out of every ordinance out of every promise