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
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
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
whole Society of Believers that he may present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and to beautifie and adorn them as a Bride for such a Husband as Jesus Christ is and will appear to be in the day of the manifestation of all his glory that he may not be ashamed to own them for such And thus we see another of the ends for which Christians receive a greater and more constant presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit after they believe than they did before is to fit and prepare them for greater glory and happiness than the lowest degree of performing the condition of the promise as at the first will make them capable of We will now a little consider in what or wherein the Holy Spirit doth assist the Believers when they grow up thereby unto more perfection in the Christian life One of the first things I conceive he does is to stir them up to and to assist them in making prayers and supplications unto Almighty God for the working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight For although God be ready to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ yet not without being sought unto to do it for them And accordingly they are promised but upon that condition Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Matth. 7.7 Otherwise it will fare with them as it did with those S. James speaks to James 4.2 Ye have not because ye ask not Now to the end therefore that Believers may receive such an increase and growth in all divine Vertues as by means whereof they may live as becomes the Gospel and be made meet for the celestial glory the Holy Spirit doth assist them to make requests according to the will of God and helpeth their infirmities when otherwise they know not how to pray as they ought Rom. 8.26 27. Almighty God poureth on them the Spirit of grace and supplication as the Prophet speaks Zech. 12.10 He helps them not onely to pray for such things as they ought but also in such a manner as they should to wit with a great sense of their own wants and of their own unworthiness to obtain and of the worth and excellency and defireableness of those spiritual blessings they pray for He helps them to pray with seriousness and devotion of soul and with an humble fervency accompanied with sighs and groans which cannot well be uttered by them many times He helps them also to pray in faith concerning the goodness of the nature of God and his readiness to give and to forgive and concerning the prevailing intercession of Jesus Christ our blessed Advocate God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba Father enabling them in their Addresses to God to depend upon him as their Father and humbly to expect to be used and dealt with by him in all respects as a Father while they resolve and endeavour to carry it toward him as his children And when the Holy Spirit enables them to pray thus they may be said to pray in the Holy Ghost as Jude 20. to make prayers and supplications in the Spirit as Ephes 6.18 And when the Holy Spirit hath thus holpen the Believers to seek those things of God which pertain to life and godliness grace strength and ability to overcome corruptions and temptations and to live a sober righteous and a godly life then the Holy Spirit in way of return to such prayers doth assist them in their endeavours in the use of means to attain those things they have begged of God This we are well assured of by our Saviour himself when we compare his saying as related by S. Matthew with the same as related by S. Luke In Mat. 7.11 he saith If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Or how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith S. Luke 11.13 From both which compared we learn that God is most ready and willing to give those that seriously ask them out of a sense of their want of them all graces or gracious qualifications and dispositions of soul necessary to their pleasing of God by giving them his Holy Spirit to work them in them Or that by giving them his Holy Spirit he gives them all those good things because when the Spirit is given unto men it is to work those good things in them by way of assistance This might be shewed in particular instances I shall mention some When we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts when weeleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit when we mortifie the deeds of the body it is still by the help and assisistance of Gods Spirit that it is done Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gods Spirit in his Servants lusteth against the flesh as the flesh doth against the Spirit it draws a contrary way and therein prevails against the flesh The flesh calls upon men to be gratified in this and that in things either unlawful in themselves or in that degree which is unlawful But the Spirit calls upon us by exciting thoughts in us to mind and regard our souls and by no means to wrong them by disturbing their peace or hazarding their safety to gratifie the flesh with momentary pleasures which will leave guilt and trouble upon the mind when they are vanished and gone themselves And the Spirit by frequent prevailing herein comes at last to kill this itch in the flesh Again when the Believers minds and wills become more and more reconciled to their duty and to be in love with it in all the instances of it both towards God and towards men it is still through the help of the Holy Spirit that they are so 1 Pet. 2.22 Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit That they obey the truth in what it requires it is through the Spirit strengthening and quickening them thereto by making the motives thereto present to their thoughts In 2 Chron. 30.12 it is said that in Juda the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. The hand of God upon the heart as well as the word of the Lord by the ministry of men is that by which mens wills are bowed and inclined to what God commands He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him saith the Apostle 1 John 3.24 Our keeping the commandments is an eviderce of Gods dwelling in us because it is the effect of his presence with us to assist us therein he argues from the effect to the cause Again it is the effect of the Holy Spirits presence with Believers and of
his operation in them when their minds and spirits become purified and refined from inordinateness of affection and unruliness of passion until by degrees they are brought in some good measure unto a likeness and conformity to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ whose Scholars they are They that are joined to the Lord are one spirit They mind love hate and design the same things which our Saviour doth They participate of that love gentleness benignity and goodness which was so eminent in him the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 by which means they come to be in the world as he was in the world as S. Johns phrase is Hereby saith S. John we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Joh. 3.24 It is so like him that it must needs come from him and if it be in us it is because he dwells in us If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 When we love one another as Christ hath loved us when we are merciful as our heavenly Father is mercciful his love and goodness is so resembled by us as that it is perfectly discernible in us Moreover the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be with them to strengthen them with resolution and courage to hold on their course of holy living and cleaving faithfully to Christ notwithstanding all opposition and discouragement they may meet with from the World in doing so To this end they are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 For God hath not given them the spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 And not onely so but the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be always with them to maintain and uphold in them a comfortable and chearful frame of spirit and so to keep them from fainting when they are called to suffer for the sake of our Saviour or his truth or doctrine And it is doubtless from this effect among others of the Spirits abiding with the Believers that he is stiled the Comforter And for the same reason principally the joy which they have amidst their sufferings for righteousness sake is called the joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.6 having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost And well may it be called the joy of the Holy Ghost because solid joy under such circumstances can proceed from no other cause but the Holy Spirits operation It is not the manner of the World as it is with Believers to rejoice in affliction in wrongs and injuries and hard usage from men but the contrary because they have no principle in them out of which such a thing should proceed And therefore our Savior saith to his Disciples My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Joh. 14.27 The Holy Spirit can raise joy yea great joy in the souls of the followers of Christ when they suffer never so hard measure from the hands of men so long as they know it is for their faithfulness to their blessed Lord and Master who hath suffered and done so much for them as he hath done The Spirit of God can so order their thoughts within them that they shall not look upon themselves as disgraced thereby but as highly honoured by their Master by giving them both opportunity and courage to do him that honour when his adversaries would cast reproach and shame upon him and his Cause and all that appear for it And thus the Apostles when they had been beaten departed from the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus their Lord Acts 5.41 The Holy Ghost can suggest to them also that a great deal of good by such sufferings may be done to others in causing them to think the more and the better of the Christian Religion when they see with what chearfulness the Professors of it can suffer for its sake When the Thessalonians received the Word in much affliction and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost they became thereby ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia and from them and their deportment in suffering for the Gospel the word of the Lord sounded out not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place their faith was spread abroad and talked of 1 Thess 1.6 7 8. It was this joyous deportment of the primitive Martyrs in their sufferings that tended so greatly to the increase and enlargement of the Church as History relates it did The Christians then were enabled to glory in tribulation of this kind in as much as they were guided to consider that this patient enduring without repining would give them experience of their sincerity and fidelity in cleaving to Christ and then this experience would give them hope such as should not make them ashamed through any disappointment but great confidence towards God of being accepted Rom. 5.3 4. And not onely so but also touching the greatness of the reward which is laid up in heaven for such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Upon account whereof our Saviour bids them to rejoice and to be exceeding glad yea to leap for joy in that day when they should be persecuted for righteousness sake and have their name cast out as evil and the like When the Christians were enabled to suffer the spoiling of their goods yea and of their lives too not onely with patience but also with joyfulness when they were as sorrowing and yet always rejoycing whence was this And how can it be imagined that they should ever be able to do and to be so but that they were strengthened with all might according to Gods glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness as S. Paul speaks Col. 1.11 The Spirit of God and of glory then rested upon them as the other Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.14 How came S. Stephen to stand with such an undaunted courage before the Council as if his face had been the face of an Angel Why it was because he was full of the Holy Ghost he had a mighty presence of the Spirit with him to enable him thereunto S. Paul learned by experience that as his sufferings did abound for Christ so his consolations by Christ did abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 that when he was weak then he was strong that he had a mightier presence a more powerful and comfortable influence of the Holy Spirit in times of great trials and sufferings for Christ than he had at other times And this experience of his made him so far from being afraid of suffering that for the sake of that wonderful comfort which was wont to come along with suffering he was rather glad when suffering came than any way dejected and cast down for it 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Most gladly therefore will I
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
indeed they were prepared for their receiving of Christ against he should come by principles of natural and revealed Religion and some of the Gentiles by principles of natural Religion onely But how can this concern us Christians who have prevented the need of any such preparation for receiving Christ by having received him already as having been taught by our Parents from our Childhood to do so when they taught us all the Articles of the Christian Faith Yet we who live now after Christ is come are as much concerned to be prepared for a saving reception of Christ by the same temper of mind as they were who lived before his coming Our Saviour hath said it That no man can come to me except it be given unto him of my Father John 6.65 And again No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him ver 44. And if this be true with respect to all men then of us who live in these days as well as of those who lived when Christ first appeared in the World For our Saviours words we see contain an universal proposition No man to whom it is not given of my Father No man whom the Father which hath sent me draweth not can come unto me He does no more limit his assertion to those who did precede than to those who do succeed his coming There is no doubt but a sense of our obnoxiousness to the displeasure of God and the sad effects of it in another World upon the account of sin is as necessary now as ever it was to prepare and dispose men heartily to receive Christ because it is by this sense on our minds that Christ is looked upon as the most suitable good and consequently as the most desireable good as I shewed before It is by means of this sense when any thing strong and affecting that Christ becomes precious unto men as he is to every one that believes To you that believe he is precious saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.7 A true sense of the danger we are in by having provoked the great God against us gives great disquietness to the mind until we come to know that that displeasure is taken off and the danger we were in thereby removed And it is the sense of this danger that makes Christ precious to us when we come to understand that we cannot escape this danger but by him and when we find that pain removed by believing in him which the sense of danger before put us to And it is this sense that prepares the soul to receive Christ as Lord as well as Saviour by that time the Gospel is well opened to men And the reason is because they understand thereby that none can have the benefit of that Atonement and satisfaction made by his death but such as are content to be governed by him in their lives and to yield obedience to his precepts that none can be saved by him that refuse to become sincere Disciples to him And they will find it no unreasonable thing for them to obey his Precepts and to imitate his Example when they understand that to do so is in effect but to abandon those sins which created so much trouble in their mind before by making them liable to and by putting them in fear of the eternal wrath of Almighty God The sense of that danger their sins had exposed them to and of that anxiety of mind they were brought into thereby will prepare the mind and dispose the will to receive Christ as Lord and to obey him in forsaking those sins so long as they are well assured that then and not till then they shall be pardoned through his bloud and so be discharged from those fears of the wrath of God which had given them such uneasiness of mind before And when they have found the difference between the ease of mind and peace in the Spirit which they have by their knowledge of Christ so long as they obey him and the sad thoughts dark and doubtful apprehensions misgivings of mind and storms in the spirit which sin had wrought and raised in the soul before it will then make them out of love with sin and afraid to have any more to do with it And thus you see according to the reason and nature of the thing how useful and necessary such a sense is as I have oft mentioned to prepare and dispose men to go to or to receive Christ when he is made known to them by the Gospel and that as well now under the Gospel as before if by receiving Christ we understand such a receiving as is saving But otherwise men may and doubtless do without any such sense as is effectual to its end not onely profess belief in Christ but also really believe in him with an inoperative ineffectual and dead Faith And to the end we may yet farther see how necessary such a sense in men of their danger as I have been speaking of is to prepare and dispose them to come to Christ in good earnest and to believe in him with all their heart I shall shew it you by the method which our Saviour and his Apostles used in their preaching Both he and they insisted mainly in the first place in order to mens conversion upon such doctrines as tended to beget in them a great sense of their danger by reason of guilt upon them And this they did by preaching Repentance by which as I shall presently shew they laboured to beget such a sense in men Our Saviour began his Preaching with this Mat. 4.17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand And so did his twelve Apostles when he sent them out by two and two They went out and preached that men should repent saith S. Mark 6.12 When the Author to the Hebrews gives a summary account of the first Principles or beginning Doctrines of Christ Repentance from Dead Works is not onely one of them but is the first of all in order Heb. 6.1 S. Paul gave this account to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus both of the method and substance of his preaching publickly and from house to house when he told them that he had testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ First Repentance then Faith Repentance for sin and from sin and then Remission of it through faith in Christ Now in thus preaching Repentance in the first place they laboured to possess men with a strong sense of the danger they were in until they did repent For that was the great Argument or motive by which they persuaded them to it We knowing the terrour of the Lord we persuade men saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 5.11 Thus our Saviour taught the People that so long as they did not repent and reform though it should cost them the cutting off their right hand and plucknig out their