that of the Angel to the Mother of our Lord Luke 1.33 34. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end All agreeing that this Kingdom Government and Power should be administred by the Son of God in humane nature and because he is the Son of Man Now in this gift of the Father the giving such to his Son as he had prepared to become his Disciples and to be made so by him is included they are part of the all things which the Father hath put into his hand In giving him a Kingdom he gives him a people to be his Subjects whose good behaviour and whose happiness he is to provide for and to promote by his spiritual Government When the Prophet had spoken of Gods setting his Son upon his holy hill of Zion Psal 2.6 in verse 8. he brings in God speaking thus to him Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession These are prepared by the Father to become Subjects to the Son then when he gives them to him but are actually made subject to his Spiritual Government by the Son himself by his going forth conquering and to conquer by his Gospel it is by his arrows the people fall under him Now the Fathers thus committing to his Son the power of managing all matters that concern the forming and perfecting one Christian Church throughout the World and so of dispensing all aids and assistances to that end doth not imply or suppose the Fathers relinquishing this power but his doing all by his Son as designing to interess the Man Christ Jesus in all these great affairs And thus when the Father sends the Holy Spirit by whose influences we receive our assistances he then sends him in the name of the Son as being concerned with him in such sending John 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name saith our Saviour And on the other hand the Son when he sends the Holy Spirit he sends him as from the Father who is always concerned also in such sending John 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me But as I say the Father dispenseth the influences and assistances of the Spirit by the Son as God-man now in the time of this Kingdom of his which the Father hath given him S. Paul speaking of Gods saving us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which saith he he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.6 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every thing ye are enriched by him 1 Cor. 1.4 5. And because these aids are thus dispensed by the Son though from the Father and by the Holy Ghost they are called the supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 And it is God that supplies all our need according to his riches in glory but it is by Jesus Christ Phil. 4.19 And the Holy Spirit is stiled the Spirit of the Son even then when he is sent into our hearts by the Father for the reason aforesaid Gal. 4.6 And so for the gifts and graces of the Spirit they are all dispensed by Jesus Christ To every one of us saith S. Paul is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 All this I have noted that we might the better understand for what reason and in what respect those prepared to receive the Faith of the Gospel are said to be given by the Father to the Son to work that faith in them and it is because in giving him the Mediatory Kingdom he gives him the power of dispensing all those aids and assistances by which men are made true and sincere Christians But to proceed yet a little further in this matter the use of which as to the principal scope of this Chapter will be better discerned afterward the reason why the Father confers this Regal dignity and authority upon the Son and the power of sending the Spirit and of dispensing aids and gifts is not onely that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father which yet is one reason of it John 5.23 Nor yet onely as a reward of his deep humiliation suffering and obedience unto death which is another Phil. 2.9 10. but also that Gods great design of reforming the World by sending his Son into it and of converting sinners to the faith and obedience of the Gospel might by that means be facilitated as tending to render Christ the more glorious and the more attractive an object of Faith It is by his being thus exalted that men are more especially brought to believe in him It is by him that we do believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 So that we see this glorious advancement of Christ hath the nature of an aid in it to help us to believe The meanness of our Saviours appearance in the World while he was in it and his crucifixion at the last was that which prejudiced men against both him and his doctrine it was their stumbling block and that at which they were offended and all through a mistake of the nature of Christs Kingdom and Government so that he had but very few Disciples at last notwithstanding all his mighty miracles and gracious words But when he was raised from the dead and exalted in his kingdom and glory and had given a powerful demonstration of it by sending the Holy Ghost as he had promised he would to enable those that preached in his name and those that believed in his name to do so many wonderful things in his name as they did this proof of his exaltation in a short time filled a great part of the World with Disciples to him and made men flock by multitudes into his Church and Kingdom This effect of his glorious exaltation was foretold by the Prophets Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power more than the womb of the morning according to the marginal reading Psal 110.3 These words more than the womb of the morning seem to be hyperbolical to shew the vast numbers of Disciples and Subjects the day of Christs power and glorious exaltation should procure him even like the drops of the morning-dew for multitude The Prophet Isaiah speaking as it were to the Messiah of whom he prophesied said Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee Isa 55.5 That is the reason we see of
whole Society of Believers that he may present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and to beautifie and adorn them as a Bride for such a Husband as Jesus Christ is and will appear to be in the day of the manifestation of all his glory that he may not be ashamed to own them for such And thus we see another of the ends for which Christians receive a greater and more constant presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit after they believe than they did before is to fit and prepare them for greater glory and happiness than the lowest degree of performing the condition of the promise as at the first will make them capable of We will now a little consider in what or wherein the Holy Spirit doth assist the Believers when they grow up thereby unto more perfection in the Christian life One of the first things I conceive he does is to stir them up to and to assist them in making prayers and supplications unto Almighty God for the working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight For although God be ready to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ yet not without being sought unto to do it for them And accordingly they are promised but upon that condition Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Matth. 7.7 Otherwise it will fare with them as it did with those S. James speaks to James 4.2 Ye have not because ye ask not Now to the end therefore that Believers may receive such an increase and growth in all divine Vertues as by means whereof they may live as becomes the Gospel and be made meet for the celestial glory the Holy Spirit doth assist them to make requests according to the will of God and helpeth their infirmities when otherwise they know not how to pray as they ought Rom. 8.26 27. Almighty God poureth on them the Spirit of grace and supplication as the Prophet speaks Zech. 12.10 He helps them not onely to pray for such things as they ought but also in such a manner as they should to wit with a great sense of their own wants and of their own unworthiness to obtain and of the worth and excellency and defireableness of those spiritual blessings they pray for He helps them to pray with seriousness and devotion of soul and with an humble fervency accompanied with sighs and groans which cannot well be uttered by them many times He helps them also to pray in faith concerning the goodness of the nature of God and his readiness to give and to forgive and concerning the prevailing intercession of Jesus Christ our blessed Advocate God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba Father enabling them in their Addresses to God to depend upon him as their Father and humbly to expect to be used and dealt with by him in all respects as a Father while they resolve and endeavour to carry it toward him as his children And when the Holy Spirit enables them to pray thus they may be said to pray in the Holy Ghost as Jude 20. to make prayers and supplications in the Spirit as Ephes 6.18 And when the Holy Spirit hath thus holpen the Believers to seek those things of God which pertain to life and godliness grace strength and ability to overcome corruptions and temptations and to live a sober righteous and a godly life then the Holy Spirit in way of return to such prayers doth assist them in their endeavours in the use of means to attain those things they have begged of God This we are well assured of by our Saviour himself when we compare his saying as related by S. Matthew with the same as related by S. Luke In Mat. 7.11 he saith If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Or how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith S. Luke 11.13 From both which compared we learn that God is most ready and willing to give those that seriously ask them out of a sense of their want of them all graces or gracious qualifications and dispositions of soul necessary to their pleasing of God by giving them his Holy Spirit to work them in them Or that by giving them his Holy Spirit he gives them all those good things because when the Spirit is given unto men it is to work those good things in them by way of assistance This might be shewed in particular instances I shall mention some When we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts when weeleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit when we mortifie the deeds of the body it is still by the help and assisistance of Gods Spirit that it is done Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gods Spirit in his Servants lusteth against the flesh as the flesh doth against the Spirit it draws a contrary way and therein prevails against the flesh The flesh calls upon men to be gratified in this and that in things either unlawful in themselves or in that degree which is unlawful But the Spirit calls upon us by exciting thoughts in us to mind and regard our souls and by no means to wrong them by disturbing their peace or hazarding their safety to gratifie the flesh with momentary pleasures which will leave guilt and trouble upon the mind when they are vanished and gone themselves And the Spirit by frequent prevailing herein comes at last to kill this itch in the flesh Again when the Believers minds and wills become more and more reconciled to their duty and to be in love with it in all the instances of it both towards God and towards men it is still through the help of the Holy Spirit that they are so 1 Pet. 2.22 Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit That they obey the truth in what it requires it is through the Spirit strengthening and quickening them thereto by making the motives thereto present to their thoughts In 2 Chron. 30.12 it is said that in Juda the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. The hand of God upon the heart as well as the word of the Lord by the ministry of men is that by which mens wills are bowed and inclined to what God commands He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him saith the Apostle 1 John 3.24 Our keeping the commandments is an eviderce of Gods dwelling in us because it is the effect of his presence with us to assist us therein he argues from the effect to the cause Again it is the effect of the Holy Spirits presence with Believers and of
hath carried us up to a good degree towards perfection He is still working in us to will and to do that is to will better and to do better by assisting us so to do and if we do but work too as he expects we should by making use of his assistances to work out our own salvation the great business of of our Salvation will go on prosperously This I doubt not is the truth which lies in the middle way between the two contrary extreams of Pelagianism on the one hand and the opinion of Irresistible Grace on the other into one of which men will be in great danger to fall if they do not understand the Nature and Terms of Divine Assistance The right understanding and due consideration of this Doctrine of Divine Assistance is very necessary also to make us all thoroughly sensible how much the work of grace from the beginning to its greatest growth and perfection depends upon the Divine aids Though it is not Gods Method to convert men without their own endeavours and use of the means appointed and vouchsafed by him yet the success of such endeavours depends upon the concurrent operation and influence of the Spirit of God Paul may plant and Apollos water and We likewise use our endeavours but yet it is God that gives the increase and causes them to prosper Nay it is God who by his Preventing Grace does first excite in us that from which all our endeavours of this nature do spring for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Whatever therefore our endeavours may be and how excellent soever the External means are which are vouchsafed us for the begetting or increasing of Grace yet it is not safe to depend upon these for either otherwise than as they are means by which God conveys his Grace to us but upon the gracious and powerful operation of God by those means And that is the reason why in the use of all means we are to seek unto God by Prayer for somewhat beyond what he hath put into the means or instruments of Grace onely as such Hence building up our selves in our most Holy Faith and praying in the Holy Ghost are joined together Jude 20. What made the Gospel to make so strange an alteration in the World on a sudden as it did in the minds and manners of men upon its first setting forth after our Saviours ascension but that mighty presence of the Spirit that accompanied it unto the minds of men We cannot say it was onely because of the Miracles that kept pace with it which yet were wrought by the power of the Spirit For how little did the numerous and marvelous Miracles of our Saviour prevail though he spake also as never man spake until the time came that the Spirit was poured out in greater abundance as well on the Hearers as on the Preachers of the Gospel The Apostles in their spiritual Warfare did indeed pluck down strong holds cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God but it was because the Weapons of their Warfare were mighty through God that is through the mightiness of his operation that went along with them 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And as the sense of how much the Work of Grace depends upon the Divine Assistance proceeds from the knowledge and consideration of the nature of it so our Application to God and Dependence upon him for it depends upon the same knowledge and sense also For unless men have some knowledge and sense as of their need of Grace and of the necessity of their performing the condition of the Promise in order to their obtaining the benefits promised so unless they have some sense also of the necessity of Divine Assistance to perform that condition and of the terms on which they may have it they will neither desire these things nor use Gods appointed means to obtain them nor depend upon him for them in the use of means But by how much the more sense they have of their need of these things and of Gods willingness to assist them in the use of means for the obtaining them and of his willingness to confer them upon such terms by so much will they apply themselves to God for them and to the use of the means by which he conveys them and in doing so depend upon him for them And by how much they do thus by so much they are likely to be filled with the Spirit and to be taken out of the spirit of the World and to be acted by another Spirit and to have their hearts lifted up in the way of the Lord. For the Holy Spirit will most certainly be given unto such who out of a sense of their great need of it and of its excellency and usefulness do earnestly beg it of God and depend upon him for it in a conscientious use of that assistance they have already received For our blessed Saviour hath assured us that the Heavenly Father will much more and much sooner give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it than earthly parents will give good gifts unto their children Luke 11.13 I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me saith the Wisdom of God and is truly applicable unto the Spirit of God Prov. 8.17 And by how much we are made sensible that all our Christian performances depend upon the Divine Assistance by so much the less we are in danger of trusting in our own strength or of attributing them to our selves and by so much we are likely also to ascribe them all to God and to say with David of thine own we have given thee and with the other Prophet Thou Lord hast wrought all our works in us and accordingly to love and to praise him for all his aids And lastly The knowledge of the Doctrine of Divine Assistance is of great use likewise to animate and hearten us in the way of our duty against the discouragements we meet with in it from the difficulties of performing it and oppositions against us in it For by the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning Divine Assistance we are assured that if we do but in good earnest set about our duty in performing the condition of the Promise our ability to perform it will increase upon our hands They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and to him that hath more shall be given and he shall have abundance And by how much our strength doth increase through the Divine Assistance by so much the work will grow more and more easie and the difficulty wear off That which is with difficulty done by one while he hath but the strength of a child will be done with ease and pleasure when he grows towards the strength of a man And although we meet with opposition and temptation to turn us back again after we have set out and usually the greatest
difficulty is found in our entrance upon the work while we are unaccustomed to it while our corruptions are yet strong and our strength but little yet if we do but hold on our way and rally again as oft as we we receive any foils we shall be sure to overcome at last and come off with compleat Victory Because as S. John saith greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World And though our beginning be but small yet our latter end shall greatly increase It is said of our blessed Saviour that a bruised Reed he shall not break and smoaking Flax he shall not quench until he send forth judgment unto victory And thus we see how very much depends upon the due knowledge and understanding of the nature and method of Divine Assistance and of the terms on which we may expect it The better understanding and practical use of all which by such whose abilities do not set them above it is the design of the following Discourse THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. HOw God prepares men towards performing the Condition of the Promise by causing Principles of Natural Religion to operate on the mind pag. 1. CHAP. II. How God by adding Revealed Religion to that which is Natural prepared the Jews for the performance of the Condition of the Promise p. 36. CHAP. III. Of the necessity of those effects on the Mind which God sometimes works by Principles of Natural Religion to prepare all those for the performance of the Condition of the Promise which do at all perform it p. 54. CHAP. IV. How by the very nature of the Gospel God does assist men in performing the Condition of the Promise p. 71. CHAP. V. How by the Holy Spirits operation upon the Mind and Will men are assisted in performing the Condition of the Promise p. 91. CHAP. VI. Of Gods assisting those that perish towards their performing the Condition of the Promise of Salvation and of their refusing to make use of that assistance and of their perishing for that reason Of Gods not hindering men from refusing his assistance and of the reason why p. 130. CHAP. VII Of the After-Assistance of the Holy Spirit which those receive who have been assisted already to perform the Condition of the Promise as new beginners in doing so p. 177. CHAP. VIII Cautions against mens depriving themselves of Divine Assistance by running into two contrary extreams p. 206. CHAP. IX Something of the grounds of incouragement which such have to expect assistance fully to perform the Condition of the Promise as have not refused to make use of Gods preparatory assistance towards it p. 225. ERRATA Pag. 101. l. 17. for stony ground r. high-way side A DISCOURSE OF Divine Assistance CHAP. I. How God prepares men towards performing the condition of the Promise by causing Principles of Natural Religion to operate on the Mind ALmighty God and our Saviour have thus far prevented all endeavours of ours towards the bringing about our Salvation The Father hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and the Son hath given himself a Ransom for all and tasted Death for every man and upon account of his Death and Passion a Promise is made to all men of pardon of Sin and eternal Life upon condition of Repentance Faith and sincere Obedience And God the Father Son and Holy Spirit are not onely ready willing and desirous to assist us to perform this condition but do actually assist even those towards it to a degree and until that assistance is refused opposed and rejected who yet perish for want onely of performing that condition Now this Divine Assistance which men receive in performing the condition on which Pardon and Life are promised is intended to be the subject matter of this Discourse In the entrance upon which I shall suppose and take for granted that the promise of the pardon of Sin and eternal Life is conditional and that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience make up the whole of this condition And that we may the better come to understand the nature manner and method of this Divine Assistance I shall endeavour two things 1. To shew what is done by God by way of Preparation to prepare and dispose the minds of men to perform the condition of the Promise in Repenting Believing and in sincerely obeying the Gospel 2. To shew what is done by God to assist them in that performance being so prepared That something is done by God by way of Preparation without which no man does savingly believe in Christ I gather from our Saviours own words in John 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him And again Ver. 65. Therefore said I unto you that no man can come to me except it were given unto him of my Father And in Verse 45. thus Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me These sayings of our Saviour shew that something must be done upon men by God the Father before they can repair to Christ as to the great Master that hath the words of eternal life as resolving to be ruled and governed by his Doctrine and Precepts in seeking Salvation or which is the same before they can become his real and true Disciples or Scholars in learning practically of him the way to eternal life for that is it I understand by coming to Christ And this according to our Saviours doctrine no man can do that is not first prepared for it by the Father by hearing and learning of him and by being drawn by him Now what effect upon the Soul that is or what temper of mind it is which is caused by the Fathers teaching and which does prepare men so as that they come to Christ thereupon is not here said in the fore-cited words of our Saviour But we may be able to make some judgment of it after two or three things are considered which our Saviours words direct us to 1. It is not Faith it self as having Christ for its object For coming to Christ or believing in him is the effect of that temper of mind which is wrought by the Fathers teaching and drawing here spoken of or at least is consequent to it 2. This temper of mind wrought by the Fathers teaching or operation is such in the nature of it as does incline and dispose men to come to Christ and to believe in him though it be not that coming to him it self nor that believing in him For every man that hath heard and learned of the Father does come to the Son 3. This temper of mind is such an effect and that by which it is wrought such an act as is most properly attributed unto God the Father It is that which comes by mens learning of the Father it is that by which the Father draws them These things considered that temper of mind then which does most incline and dispose men to come to Christ and to believe
he hath done and does more for us in another respect under the Gospel than he did in times past for his own peculiar People For according to the various predictions of the Prophets of old we under the Gospel have a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit to enable us to perform the condition of the promise of pardon and life than ever they ordinarily had Which brings me to the second thing I proposed to insist on which is to shew what assistance men receive in performing the condition of the promise by the influence and operation of the Spirit of God CHAP. V. How by the Holy Spirits operation upon the Mind and Will men are assisted in performing the condition of the Promise BUt before I proceed to shew this to prevent misunderstanding in this matter I must premise thus much by way of caution to wit That when I propose the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit to be considered as an aid distinct from that which is vouchsafed by the Gospel it self I would not be understood thereby to deny that assistance which we receive by the Gospel it self in performing the condition of the promise to be the aid and assistance of the Spirit at least in some respect I onely suppose that there is an influence and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men by which they are enabled to perform the condition of the promise over and above what the Gospel in its own nature abstractedly considered does contribute thereunto Otherwise as I have been now shewing the operations of the Gospel it self is of and from the Holy Spirit both in respect of its revelation and consirmation So that what is said and done by the Gospel is in a sense said and done by the Holy Spirit And they are led by the Spirt and walk in the Spirit that make the Gospel their Guide All Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 and holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And the things spoken by the Prophets in the Old-Testament are said in the New to be spoken by the Holy Ghost Acts 1.16 and 28.25 Heb. 3.7 and 10.15 And it 's seven times said in Revel c. 2 3. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches meaning what he said to them in and by those Epistles which S. John sent to the seven Churches in Asia And God is said to have testified against the People of the Jews by his Spirit in his Prophets Neh. 9.30 And S. Stephen said to those in his time for opposing the Gospel Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye And S. Paul said touching such as should despise their doctrine and commands He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who also hath given unto us his Holy Spirit 1 Thess 48. By all this it appears that what is done by the doctrine of men divinely inspired is done by the Spirit of God and what is done against it or against them for the sake of it is done against the Spirit of God He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me saith our Saviour also Luke 10.16 But yet though the assistance men receive by the Gospel in performing the condition of the promise be the assistance of the Holy Spirit yet it is not all the assistance they receive from the Holy Spirit therein For when the holy Scripture speaks of the Gospels coming unto men not in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.5 of their being born of the Spirit John 1.13 and 3.5 of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 of their obeying the truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 of a being built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes 2.22 of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and of Gods working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 and the like there is no reason to restrain the sense of such sayings unto the alone operation of the doctrine of the Gospel as having God or the Spirit of God for its Author and no more The Prayers which our Saviour made and taught his Disciples to make for the success of the Gospel and which the Apostles made and taught the Christians to make for the like do all of them imply likewise something more to be done by God for the renewing of men unto himself than onely by his bare sending his Gospel among them Although men can consider matters discovered by the Gospel when they hear them as well as they can any other things set forth by Discourses of another nature and indeed God expects they should do so at the peril of their own destruction if they do not yet such is the zeal of the Lord to promote and set forward the business of our salvation that he is not willing to trust the work onely in our hands though he hath brought it to our hands by such preparations wherein he hath prevented all endeavours of ours He doth not onely bring the Gospel and our minds together and then leave them to operate upon each other in the strength of their own nature onely but is graciously pleased to accompany his word more or less as he sees good with a secret operation of his spirit upon our minds both to incline and dispose the internal faculties to exercise and imploy themselves about matters of this high nature and likewise to assist them in it There is doubtless a secret power and efficacy of the divine Spirit goes along with the Gospel into the mind and will by means whereof the Gospel does the more readily and effectually work upon the mind and will to the renewing of them When the Disciples scattered by occasion of the Persecution by Saul preached the Gospel to the Grecians it is said The hand of the Lord was with them and that a great number believed and turned to the Lord Acts 11.21 Their believing and turning to the Lord was the effect of the Lords hand being with them in preaching as well as it was the effect of what was preached The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Believing and Salvation are the effects of Gods power going along with the Gospel as well as of the Gospel it self By that the Gospel becomes more quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword It is the sword of the Spirit as it is called as well in respect of its being managed by the Spirit as it is by being provided by the Spirit for Christians to manage The whole success of the Gospel in producing those happy effects in men by which they become other manner of men than they were before is ascribed unto the grace and blessing of God that goes along with the Gospel I have planted and Apollos
by his kindness he would gain upon them and draw them to better thoughts of him and to a better behaviour towards him He left not himself without witness viz. of his seeking to draw all Nations from walking in their own ways in that he did good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness Acts 14.17 If any conclude from Gods forbearance and goodness to wicked men that he is not displeased with their evil ways no more than they themselves are like those Psal 50.20 These things thou hast done and I kept silence saith God thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self I say if any can persuade themselves thus to conclude it must be onely profligate wretches sinners of no ordinary rank For very Heathens and such as the Apostle brands with a very black character thought otherwise Their thoughts did not onely accuse them but they knew the judgment of God as he says that they which commit such things are worthy of death and therefore sought to appease God by their sacrifices And this is evidence enough that such as they as bad as they were did not think God was not displeased with their evil ways or that he did forbear them upon that account Now this long-suffering and this goodness of God is a piece of Divine Assistance toward repentance which God vouchsafeth even to the Heathen and barbarous Nations And however this assistance may be much inferiour to what is vouchsafed them who have the Oracles of God among them yet this with the secret operation of God by impressing principles of natural Religion upon the minds of such have as I have shewed so far prevailed upon many of them as that they have been thereby prepared to receive and believe the Gospel as soon as it hath been sufficiently revealed and made known to them and so far also as in the mean time to become morally religious in devotion towards God and in justice and charity towards men This seems very evident in those uncircumcised Gentiles which are stiled Religious Proselytes Act. 13.43 men fearing God ver 16.26 devout men Act. 10.7 as Dr. Hammond hath observed in his Notes upon Acts 10.2 Of which sort were Cornelius and the Eunuch And when the Lord said to S. Paul in a Vision at Corinth I have much people in this City as a reason why he would have him continue preaching there notwithstanding the Jews in that place opposed themselves and blasphemed Acts 18.10 I question not but he meant it of such Gentiles as were in the first degree morally religiously disposed and so were prepared to receive the Faith of the Gospel as other such so prepared had done before them And of such as these onely further improved in morality I suppose S. Paul speaks Rom. 2.26 when he saith If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision And in reference to such it was that S. Peter also said I perceive of a truth that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.34 35. These several considerations tend you see to evince that God does not deny his preparatory assistance to any of those that perish and that therefore their perishing is not for want of so much mercy in God towards them as by which their perishing might have been prevented had they not refused and opposed the mercy of God it self towards them in that way and method of saving in which he saves others that are saved God hath concluded all under unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Rom. 11.32 And those who will not be saved by the mercy of God in that way and method of his mercy in which he saves those that are saved nor unless they can be saved by Gods mercy in a way of their own chusing in opposition to Gods must sit down with their own choice and go without that salvation which they might have had if they would and which God of his compassion did more than barely offer them while his Spirit did strive with them as it did with them of the Old World These are they that receive the grace of God in vain against whose folly S. Paul does with great seriousness and earnestness beseech and admonish men 2 Cor. 6.1 And truly they are men of a strange presumption that can promise themselves that which God never promised them as if God should for their sakes alter his ordinary method of his mercy in saving men to save them when he hath many and many times peremptorily declared the contrary in the Scriptures of truth They doubtless that can do thus are the men the Scripture speaks of that despise their own souls that set little by them and concern themselves little about them By the reasons given to induce a persuasion that God affords his preparatory assistance unto all I do not say nor mean that he does vouchsafe it to all equally and alike For the scope of our Saviours Parable I conceive doth intimate the contrary when he said To one is delivered one talent to another two and to another five Mat. 25. But then if he which hath but the least doth but use that for the end for which he received it he seems by parity of reason to be capable of being dealt with as a faithful servant in opposition to him who is doomed as slothful though he does not do so much as he does who hath received more He that gained but two talents by using the two which he had received was pronounced a faithful servant and dealt with as such as well as he who gained five with using the five which were delivered him So that we see a mans faithfulness and unfaithfulness is estimated by his using or not using what is afforded him for the end for which it is vouchsafed him If he that hath but one talent gain though it be but one with using that one he hath received he we may suppose will be dealt with as a faithful servant as well as he that gains two with two or five with five If a mans repentance faith and usefulness in the World do but hold some good proportion to the measure and degree of assistance he hath from God in means and helps external and internal though both the one and the other be but of the lesser size yet we cannot deny such to be capable of better usage from God than such as are and will be sentenced for impenitent unfaithful and unprofitable We cannot say that so little will make a man which hath more means and helps capable of the reward of a faithful servant as will another which hath not so much For to whom much is given much will be required and to whom men commit much of him they ask the more saith our Saviour Luke 12.48 That probably will not be sufficient to
their own hurt and to think it inconsistent with his natural goodness being infinite not to save them if he can And therefore to undeceive men in this matter I have insisted the more on these things and to shew how agreeable it is to the Divine Wisdom for God to withdraw his assistance from men after they have obstinatery persisted in refusing and opposing it in its design upon them And if it be agreeable to his wisdom it cannot be disagreeable to his goodness for it is as well goodness in God to controul Vice as it is for him to encourage Vertue in what way and by what methods seems best unto him There is a great deal of difference between true love and goodness and fondness Men by fondness love many times without reason and bestow their favours more than becomes them But true and generous goodness governs it self by wisdom and prudence and so it doth in God The wisdom of God will not suffer his goodness to throw away his saving benefits upon those who by incapacitating themselves to enjoy them have rendred themselves altogether unworthy of them For it would disparage the wisdom and so the goodness of God the donor in case he should confer them upon such because his different affection to evil and good would be thereby in a great measure obscured and the sinews of his Government weakned Honour is not seemly for a Fool saith the Wise-man Prov. 26.1 As it will not become the Fool himself so neither will it become the wisdom of him that confers it to place it on one so uncapable of it as a Fool is CHAP. VII Of the after-assistance of the Holy Spirit which those receive who have been assisted already to perform the condition of the promise as new beginners in doing so THose who have been assisted by God to repent believe and obey and therein to begin their performance of the condition of the promise of pardon and life do still stand in need of his further assistance to persevere and to continue to do so to their lives end and to do it more and more excellently For as Believers hold their title in the benefits promised no longer than they continue to perform the condition on which the promise of them is made so neither do they continue in the performance of that condition longer than they are assisted by God to do so Now to persevere in performing the condition of the promise is as necessary for men to continue their title to the benefits promised as their performance of that condition at the first was to begin it For the promise runs thus He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 And to him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end will I give power over the Nations Rev. 2.26 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all the righteousness which he hath done shall not be mentioned in the trespass which he hath trespassed and in the sin which he hath sinned in them he shall die Ezek. 18.24 And as this perseverance is necessary for the reason and end aforesaid so is a constant and continual assistance from God to enable the Disciples of Christ so to persevere As the same power is necessary to continue the natural life which first gave being to it so is it in the spiritual life and state also Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 And that which is very remarkable touching this After-assistance of which I speak is That a greater presence and more constant assistance of the Spirit of God is promised and vouchsafed unto men after they believe than they had before This appears by having the Holy Spirit given them after in such a degree which they had not before and by Gods dwelling and the Spirits abiding in them after who did not do so before First those who have believed the Gospel and sincerely delivered up themselves to the conduct of it in their lives do thereby come under that special priviledge of having the Holy Spirit given them to assist influence and quicken them and to carry on the work of sanctification in them This our Saviour promised John 7.38 39. Jesus cried saying he that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this saith the Evangelist he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Which promises we find made good afterwards in several instances Of the Believers it is said Acts 4.31 that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And Acts 5.32 We saith S. Peter are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him And S. Paul to the Ephesians saith After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise chap. 1.13 that is they were marked for his and distinguished from those that were not by his giving them the Spirit For if any man have not the Spirit of Chhist he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Sensual not having the Spirit Jude 19. It is true indeed those first Christians and others after for some time did receive the Holy Spirit in a sense that was peculiar to those times for the confirmation and propagation of the Christian Religion until it was well setled and had taken some rooting in the World As when they were in an extraordinary way enabled by the Spirit to speak with other tongues and to perform other miraculous operations as our Saviour had foretold they should For these signs said he shall follow them that believe in my name in my name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues c. Mark 16.17 A more full and particular enumeration of which extraordinary gifts of the Spirit scattered among the Believers of those times we have in 1 Cor. 12. But besides these the Believers then received in receiving the Holy Spirit an increase of gracious qualifications called the fruit of the Spirit such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance as the Apostle reckons them up Gal. 5.22 And in this sense the Holy Spirit hath been given to all true Believers ever since and is now For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he is no true Christian Rom. 8.9 By mens having the Spirit then and by the Spirits being given them after they believe is meant I conceive a more constant and a more plentiful influence and effusion of the Spirit to change and renew them to restore them to the likeness of God to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ than ever was vouchsafed them
towards their believing or by enabling them to believe at first Before men repent believe or begin to obey they have the Spirit at work in their minds indeed to suggest to their thoughts and considerations things of highest concernment to them and to incline them to look after them in time and before the day of grace and salvation is over and gone He then at times stands at the door and knocks and strives with every man and vouchsafes to such more and more of his assistance until they are enabled to believe who do not make fast the door against him but rather open to him and refuse not to be led on by degrees The more they attended to the teaching of the Father by his Spirit and the nearer they came to believe indeed the more frequent visits they had from him and the more assistance But after they have followed on so far and become so teachable as to believe indeed and sincerely to give up themselves to his conduct then he communicates himself more freely and more constantly to them than ever before in divine influence and assistance to root and establish them in the Christian Faith and Life and to carry them on further and further towards perfection This secondly is set out to us in another vein of Scriptures viz. such as speak of Gods dwelling in true Believers and sincere Christians and of their being the temple of the Holy Ghost of which nature are many texts Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 1 John 3.24 and 4.13 16. By all which is signified the more constant residence of the Holy Spirit in and with men after they believe and become true Christians to assist them in their great affairs for their souls and another World as one that is never long absent from them but ready at hand at all times to help them in doing their duty and to overcome temptations unless by grieving him they cause him to withdraw himself If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 This giving of the Holy Spirit to sincere Christians to be always with them as his dwelling in them implies is not onely to help and assist them to persevere in doing onely so much as will entitle them to pardon and life barely as their performing the condition of the promise though but in the lowest sense of performance will do But Gods design in giving his Spirit to them after they have perform'd the condition in the lowest sense is to fit and prepare them for greater degrees of blessedness and glory for a higher and more glorious exaltation therein than a bare performance of the condition of the promise in simple consideration and in the lowest degree of performance will well bear Our Saviour came as he says that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance John 10.10 not barely to save us but to exalt us to such a height of glory that the glory and blessedness of his Body the Church might hold some good proportion with his own glory and blessedness as Head of it And to encourage true Christians to endeavour to excel in holiness and goodness in order to this there are other conditional promises made besides that of pardon and life upon condition of faith and repentance simply considered To such as give all diligence in adding to their Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity so that these things be in them and abound the promise is of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 And he that humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.4 Besides the Vessels of Mercy will hold more or less glory according to their different capacities in grace and service as they are made larger or lesser By how much the more near Christians come to Christ in goodness by so much they are qualified to be the more near to him in happiness and glory But still as I say this greater and more constant presence of the Spirit is given to true Christians after they believe to carry on this great and glorious design of grace towards them to take them out of the spirit of this World and to lift them up in holiness and goodness thereby to make them capable of the greater glory and happiness To make this plain and familiar to our thoughts let it be considered that upon mens unfeigned believing follows immediately their adoption As many as received him to them he gave power right or priviledge to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 This is a very great advancement indeed and holds some proportion to that deep humiliation our Saviour underwent to prepare our way to it Now those whom God adopts to be sons those he adopts to be heirs also to his great inheritance and glorious estate so saith the Apostle if children then heirs heirs of God yea joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 This being their happy case the blessed God and Father who hath adopted the Believers for his children and heirs gives them his Holy Spirit to be always with them puts his Spirit within them to tutor and discipline them and to give them thereby such breeding as may sit and prepare them for so high a relation and for so glorious an inheritance as that is which he intends to settle upon them Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 Saint Paul having spoken of the happy state which he with other the Believers expect and long for after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle in which the soul now dwells 2 Cor. 5. saith in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit His giving them his Spirit to sit them for that inheritance is an earnest or pledge that he does really intend to bestow it upon them When he saith He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God we hereby see that it is the work of God by his Spirit to frame frame and fashion the Believers for that magnificent estate in the next World which is prepared for them and to which they are adopted This work of God upon them is to make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Gal. 1.12 These Believers are those Vessels of Mercy whom he thus afore prepares unto glory Rom. 9.23 It is the benevolent work and business of our Lord and Saviour by his Spirit so to sanctifie and cleanse the
rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong Their hope that God would make good to them his exceeding great and precious promises was at such time raised very high made lively vigorous and strong by the Spirit of God Rejoycing in hope saith S. Paul in one place abounding in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost in another Rom. 12.12 and 15.13 When the Holy Ghost did put forth himself did exert his power in raising the Christians hope it is no marvel then if they did abound therein that is that their expectations rose very high were vigorous and strong and very affecting filling them with such joy as over-topp'd and in a great measure swallowed up the sense of their sufferings And thus I have endeavoured to shew how the Spirit of God doth assist the Believers to do more than meerly to persevere and hold out in performing the condition of the promise under the sorest trials and greatest temptations to the contrary for it enables them to glory and rejoice under them and so to be more than conquerors to fight the good fight of Faith to finish their course to keep the Faith and all in order to their laying hold of eternal life To conclude then this matter all these and other like assistances influences and consolations of the good Spirit of God by which the Believers are prepared for glory are I conceive the things meant by S. Paul by that Communion or rather Communication of the Holy Ghost which he in his Apostolical benediction seriously desired and invoked in the behalf of the Christians when he dismissed them thus The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion or communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 For as he wished them the comfort and benefit that flows from the grace or charity of our Lord Jesus Christ expressed in his Mediatorial performance and from the love of God from which that did proceed So he did likewise the communication of those assistances and graces of the Holy Spirit by which they might be enabled to do their part in performing what was required of themselves in order thereunto CHAP. VIII Cautions against mens depriving themselves of Divine Assistance by running into two contrary extreams HAving thus far shewed as well as I could what assistance men receive from God in performing the condition of the promise of pardon and life it will be necessary now to add something by way of Caution 1. To take heed not to deprive our selves of those benefits for the attaining of which these assistances are granted nor of those assistances themselves by neglecting to do what God expects we should do towards the working out our own salvation as we shall if we neglect to fall in with these assistances by endeavouring to do those things for the accomplishing of which these assistances are afforded us The very notion of assistance implies in it that those who are assisted by God are not meerly passive in performing the condition of the promise for the performance whereof these assistances are vouchsafed us but some way active in that performance God doubtless does expect when he hath awakened in men a sense of their danger by reason of sin and hath set before them what he hath done and Christ hath done to rescue and deliver them from it and what must be done by themselves to make them capable of the blessed effects of our Saviours performance in obtaining pardon and life and what assistance they shall have to that end if they will but truly endeavour to do what they can do towards it I say when God hath set all this before them he expects that they should put forth themselves in endeavours tending towards the performance of the condition of the promise He expects they should think on and consider those things which he sets before them and at least out of regard to their own safety to be moved thereby to make use of the means tending to enable them to perform the condition of obtaining pardon and life and to be doing what they well can do towards that performance Doubtless such expressions in Scripture as I shall now set before you cannot signifie less than this Ezek. 14.6 Thus saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from your Idols Ezek. 18.30 Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Vers 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel Ver. 32. I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live Can all these expressions can mens repenting and turning themselves and their making them a new heart possibly signifie less than real endeavours to do so Again Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves unto the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts Acts 2.40 Save your selves from this untoward generation And all the precepts exhortations and persuasions in Scripture to repent to believe to obey are of the same signification Such for instance as Acts 17.30 But now God commandeth all men every where to repent Chap. 2.38 Repent and be baptized Chap. 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted and the like These Scriptures imply and suppose that men can do something towards repenting towards turning themselves and making them a new heart or else we must suppose that God commandeth presseth and persuadeth men to do that towards which he knows they can do nothing The latter of which to suppose would be to suppose the Scriptures to make the same bad representation of God with the slothful servant in the Parable viz. that he is a hard Master expecting to reap where he hath not sown and to gather where he hath not scattered And who would not abhor to fasten that upon God which is not consistent with the goodness of a man We know what it signified in Pharaoh to require the full tale of Brick when he did not give the people Straw wherewith to make them And God forbid we should represent the good God to our selves in the likeness of Pharaoh Besides for any to say that men are wholly passive in performing the condition of the promise is to lay a temptation upon themselves and others not to endeavour to perform it nor to do any thing towards it For who will attempt to do or endeavour to do that which they believe impossible to be done by them And for men not to endeavor to do what they can towards the performance of that condition is the directest course they can take to deprive themselves of that assistance from God by which they might have performed it For from him that
work lay wholly on their hands These are they the Holy Spirit delights in and delights to spiritualize to influence quicken and strengthen and to lift them up near unto Heaven in preparing them for it For thus saith our Saviour to his Disciples speaking to them of the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it doth not know him but ye know him saith he therefore he abideth with you and shall be among you for so Dr. Hammond reads the place John 14.17 As if he had said because ye know how to value his presence and assistance therefore you shall have it CHAP. IX Something of the grounds of incouragement which such have to expect assistance fully to perform the condition of the promise as have not refused to make use of Gods preparatory assistance towards it THat God doth prevent all endeavours on our part of returning to him by his applications to us to make us sensible of the badness and danger of our sinful state to dispose us thereby to hearken to his merciful terms of being delivered from it before we our selves make any one step towards it I have shewed before Now those who have made so much use of Gods preparatory assistance as thereupon to become inquisitive what they should do to be saved and desirous to be taught These I reckon have encouragement to expect and hope to be further and further assisted until they are enabled fully to perform the condition of the promise 1. For first our Saviour hath positively asserted and that more than once that to him that hath more shall be given and he shall have abundance Mat. 13.12 and 25.29 Which can be understood I conceive of nothing more properly than of Divine Assistance and so he whosoever he be that hath had assistance from God towards performing the condition of the Gospel-Covenant and hath made use of it by using endeavours towards such a performance to him more shall be given to wit more assistance until he have abundance of it and of grace proportionably 2. Those who have made use of Gods preparatory assistance are given by the Father to his Son Christ Jesus to be assisted by him fully to perform the condition of the promise in believing and obeying the Gospel And those that are given by the Father to the Son to be thus assisted have great reason to be confidently persuaded they shall For our Saviour hath said of such that he will in no wise cast them out but receive them as Disciples and treat them as becomes such a Master That those who are given by the Father to the Son are such as have made use of Gods preparatory assistance appears by comparing our Saviours words in John 6.37 with those in the 44 and 45 verses All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me saith he verse 37. And in verse 44. he saith No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and verse 45. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Now if those and onely those come to Christ whom the Father giveth him then those must needs be the persons which are given to Christ which are prepared by the Father because all these and none but these come to Christ according to our Saviours words expresly Now that the Father gives these to the Son for that end that they may be assisted by him to perform the condition of the promise will I conceive appear by what will follow by and by The Fathers giving these to the Son doth not suppose them to have believed in the Son when he gives them to him but the contrary For the Fathers giving them to the Son is antecedent to their coming to him for Christ saith all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me not are come unto me And to what end do they come to him but to learn of him and be taught by him how to be saved i.e. to perform the condition on which salvation is promised For that I take to be the meaning of the Fathers giving these to the Son viz. his committing them to him to be made Disciples by him to be taught and enabled to do that on which salvation is promised Not that the Fathers thus giving these to the Son to be assisted by him is so to be understood as if the Father did wholly remit them to the Son and did not still continue to assist them by the same Spirit by which he prepared them for him at the first For that faith by which they perform the condition of the promise is the gift of God and those who are regenerated are born of God and it is God that worketh in them both to will and to do even when they perform the condition of the promise in the best manner that ever it is performed And accordingly we are to direct our prayers to the Father for the Holy Spirit and for all the assistances and fruits of it But those prepared by the Father are said to be given to the Son in order to their being brought by him to believe the Gospel because the dispensing of all Evangelical assistances and of all gospel-Gospel-grace is committed to the Son but yet so as that the Father gives this by the Son as the Son also does by the Holy Ghost For the better understanding of this matter we must know that after our Saviours humiliation came his exaltation by the Father who gave unto him as Mediatour God-man a Kingdom glory and greatness all power in Heaven and Earth he gave all things into his hands Joh. 3.35 committed all judgment to the Son Joh. 5.22 The Father committed to the Son the whole Evangelical Oeconomy the power of managing all affairs belonging to the being and well-being of the Church which he had purchased with his own bloud over which he made him head yea head also over all things to the Church for he made him Prince of the Kings of the Earth the onely Potentate as the Scripture speaks This authority and power is said to be given to Christ because he is the Son of man John 5.27 that is I conceive because he is the Messiah to whom such a Kingdom and Regal power was promised and foretold in the Prophets under that denomination of the Son of Man Thus Daniel saw in a Vision one like the Son of man to whom the ancient of days gave dominion glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages might serve him Dan. 7.13 14. And Son of Man is the appellation which our Saviour as the Messiah doth frequently give unto himself as is recorded in the Evangelical History and which S. John in his Book of Revelations doth also more than once give him And Isaias foretold concerning a child that should be born that the Government should be upon his shoulders upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order and establish it for ever chap. 9.6 7. To which agrees
the Nations running in unto him it is because Almighty God hath glorified him exalted extolled and made him very high as the same Prophet speaks chap. 52.13 When men perceived that the God of Heaven so far approved of what Christ had taught done and suffered in the World as to reward him for it with such power and glory this procured from them a belief of his doctrine and put a great reputation upon it it raised in men also a great expectation from him as from one that was very well able to prefer and reward his friends and followers as he had promised he would We find that the sending of the Holy Ghost the pouring out of the Spirit in those greater measures foretold by the Prophets was deferred unto this time of the glorious exaltation of Christ So saith the Evangelist S. John 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified And the reason hereof was that he might have the honour of sending him and of dispensing the assistances and manifold gifts of the Spirit and thereby convince men that he was the same which he always declared himself to be the Son of God sent down from Heaven If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he shall convince the World of righteousness because I go to the Father and ye see me no more John 16.7 8 10. Convince the World of righteousness that is he should convince them that Christ was no deceiver as they accused him to be here on Earth but the true Messiah Son of God and Saviour of the World as he had declared himself to be while he was here in the World And this our Saviour says the Holy Ghost should convince the World of because of his going to the Father that is by the Fathers receiving him up into glory after his resurrection and placing him there in royal Majesty This our Saviour says the Spirit should convince the World of when he was come from him and the event plainly declares how For within a few days after our Saviours ascension into Heaven and his enthronation there he sends down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles that preached in his name and were his witness and upon others also that believed in his name enabling them by the Holy Ghost to speak and do such things as by hearing and seeing of which great multitudes were presently convinced that Jesus was the Christ the true Messiah and Saviour of the World about three thousand of them being baptized into this Faith the very same day in which the Holy Ghost was thus sent by Christ For S. Peter discoursed to them of this wonderful event thus Acts 2.32 33. This Jesus of whom he had been speaking hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear The end and design of all which was to convince men that Jesus is the Christ of God which was done by convincing them that God had thus exalted him and given this power of doing these wonders by the Spirit he had sent For that is the use S. Peter drew it to Verse 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Now this sending of the Holy Ghost was so necessary to qualifie the Apostles for the great work of converting the World by preaching Christ and his doctrine and for the procuring credit to be given to it that our Saviour would not have them so much as set upon it or go about it but commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with this power from on high Luke 24.49 And the preaching of the Gospel under this qualification was doubtless the preaching it in demonstration of the Spirit and of power which S. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 2.4 Now by this we see how those assistances which men receive in believing and so in performing the condition of the promise do depend upon the Fathers giving all things into the hands of the Son and how for that reason the Father gives such as have been preparatively assisted by him unto the Son to be compleatly assisted to perform the condition of the promise And indeed the reason why so many turned to God in so little a time after Christs exaltation than ever was known before was because those assistances then dispensed by him were more and greater than ever were vouchsafed the World before And lest any should be discouraged or think their condition worse than indeed it is for that we have no such external assistances by the sending of the Holy Ghost as men in those primitive times had let this one thing be considered That the Christians now are as really assisted by that sending of the Holy Ghost which was in those times as those were who lived then supposing the truth of the History of it of which there is no cause to doubt For we have the same Gospel as they had and that under the same evidence by which it was demonstrated to them to be from Heaven and that the then glorified Jesus was the author of it And we may as truly be said to have Christ and his Apostles now in respect of external assistance as the Jews in those times were to have Moses and the Prophets For we have the same doctrine which Christ and his Apostles preached and many of the same miracles which they wrought to confirm it transmitted down to us by their writings and unquestionable tradition and the Jews had Moses and the Prophets no otherwise in our Saviours time when he said they had Moses and the Prophets The miracles of the Apostles then wrought the same effect procured the same belief of their doctrine in many that onely heard of them by credible testimony as they did in them that saw them done We see our Saviour upbraided his Disciples for not believing matter of Fact when testified to them by credible eye-witnesses Mark 16.14 And he said to Thomas blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed And when S. John had written a History of some of the signs or miracles which our Saviour did he says these are written that men might believe John 20.30 31. By this he supposed his written testimony of what he had seen and heard to be a competent ground of faith in others and S. Paul saith Hold fast the tradition which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle 2 Thess 2.15 But although it is not necessary that the same miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit should be repeated in every Age to convince men that Christ who was first crucified is now advanced to the throne of his glory and hath the power of sending
the Holy Ghost to confirm the doctrine which was preached in his name by them who proved their mission from him by signs and wonders and mighty deeds which were done in his name though as I say the repetition of these be not necessary in every Age this having been done once for all in one Age as S. Jude speaks of the Faith once delivered to the Saints yet the inward assistance by the Spirit to cause the external assistances to operate the more effectually upon the mind is still necessary and is still continued in the Church For in this respect our Saviour by his Spirit as well as by his word is with his people always to the end of the World as he promised he would and as he promised his Spirit likewise should I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth John 14.16 It was this presence of Christ I conceive which S. Paul desired might be and continue with Timothies Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit In this part of my Discourse concerning Divine Assistance I have endeavoured to shew that our Lord and Saviour hath the power of dispensing Evangelical and Spiritual Assistances committed to him by the Father and that that is the reason why the Father is said to give such to the Son as have heard and learned of the Father And now this high advancement of the Son and his having all power in Heaven and Earth given to him leaves no place for us to doubt of his ability to assist those to the uttermost who do not make themselves uncapable of it by refusing to make use of it and of the Fathers preparatory assistance And truly all such have no more reason neither to doubt of our Saviours willingness to assist them than they have of his power if these few things following be but duly considered 1. That Kingdom Glory and Greatness forementioned and the power of dispensing aids and assistances is given by the Father to the Son for this very end among others that he might use and manage all for the bringing men such as the Father hath given him to perform the condition of the promise in repenting in believing and obeying the Gospel Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins The father advanced him to that high honour and dignity that he might be a publick good to mankind in assisting them to perform the condition of the promise as he had been before by his humiliation for the obtaining of the promise upon that condition that so he might be a compleat Saviour in saving us as well from sin in the power and pollution of it as from the guilt of it He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill or fulfil all things Ephes 4.10 That he might fully dispence and bestow whatever is necessary to the perfecting of the Saints and edification of the body of Christ The Apostle having said in chap. 1.20 21. that God having raised Christ from the dead set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this World but also in that which is to come and having put all things under his feet then in Verse 22 and 23. he says he gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He did not onely give him to be the Head of his Church but to be Head over all things to the Church to the use and benefit of the Church for the fulness of this power of his in the issue and benefit of it runs in to his Church for whom he received it and in respect whereof the Church is his fulness in a passive sense for it is he that filleth all in all as S. John saith of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace John 1.16 such a fulness as holds some proportion with the fulness of such a head all the fulness wherewith all and every one of his Church are filled is derived from him it is all of his silling and that as he is Head of the Church and Head over all things to the Church For he is not onely a political Head to the Church to govern it by Laws but such a Head also as resembles a natural head by way of influence conveying by his Spirit a vital and quickning power unto all the members to enable them to obey those Laws The whole body hath from this head nourishment ministred as S. Paul shews Col. 2.19 Upon which account S. Paul could say I am able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me But without him as our Saviour told his Disciples ye can do nothing Now if all this fulness all this power we have been speaking of was given to the Son was put into his hands for that end that he should use it and manage it in aiding and assisting those whom the Father hath given him to perform the condition on which pardon and eternal life are promised there is no question to be made of his willingness to use it to that end especially when we further consider that which follows 2. For in the second place he is as faithful as he is able faithful to use the fulness of his sufficiency for the ends and uses for which he received it He is faithful to him that appointed him in all his house Heb. 3.2 Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 All saith our Saviour that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 When he was leaving the World he could with all confidence say unto his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. And if he did thus in the day of his humiliation and temptation it cannot be thought but that he will likewise finish what the Father hath given him to do now in the day of his exaltation and power Why do the holy Angels sing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength but because he faithfully useth them for those noble and worthy ends for which he received them Rev. 5. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and received gifts for men saith the Psalmist Psal 68.18 he then gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 When upon his glorious exaltation he had received the promise of the Father to wit the power of sending the Holy Ghost he presently pours it out upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 what he receives for us he will be sure to communicate to us If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the