knows no Will of its own divided from the Will of God and would not will any thing but what he doth will such a Soul shall understand the fear of the Lord and hath great and frequent occasions of saying with David I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel 2. Be the doubts about our Condition and State what it is to God-ward and in reference to Eternity as S. Iames speaks Whence come Wars and fightings I may adde Whence come those fears anxieties and uncertainties that are to be observed in many about the state of their Souls those fears that have torment in them come they not from hence even from the lusts that war in their members One lust often wars against another scelera dissident but all war against the Soul Are not most of those tormenting fears and troubles in Christians to be resolved into the want of an entire Self-Resignation as the proper and true ground Men will not come off throughly to this they would be indulged in some thing or other and yet would be at peace and rest they would be cured of their distemper and yet are unwilling to have the root of it taken away Consider therefore is there not something of Self-will that works and is too powerfull within thee Wouldest thou not be unresigned and please thy self in this or that thing dost thou not say with Naaman the Syrian the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing and as Lot in another case is it not a little one If this be so God who seeth the heart seeth all this and he will not be mocked nor be bribed to give thee peace in thy making a great shew of being subdued and resigned in other things But if by the power of God's Grace our Wills be intirely subjected to the Divine Will we cannot have the least reason upon any account whatsoever to torment our selves with anxious thoughtfulness about our state we may be sure that the outward Hell shall not be our portion if we are delivered from the Hell within and that we cannot miss of the Heaven above while we have a Heaven within us and are put into a fit disposition for it by a free Resignation to the Will of God They to whom the doing God's Will is connaturall and their meat and drink have eternal life as in the Epistles of St. Iohn the phrase is more than once they in a lower degree live the life of Souls in Glory are affected as they are and have the disposition and temper of Heaven Indeed it is as impossible for Souls whose sincere care it is to purifie themselves as God is pure and onely to will as he wills to be in Hell as it is for impure self-willed and disobedient Souls to be in Heaven 'T is as impossible for Love Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance and the like fruits of the Spirit to be in Hell as it is for Vncleanness Lasciviousness Hatred Strife Wrath Envyings Cruelty Vnrighteousness and the like works of the Flesh to grow in Heaven That Soul cannot be miserable and is uncapable of the Hellish state which is intirely resigned for such a Soul dwelleth in love and therefore in God and God in him Nor can the infinitely good God abandon and cast off any Soul that cleaveth to him with full purpose of heart and preferreth his Will above her chief Joy Thirstings and holy breathings after the enjoyment of God God-like dispositions and a frame of heart agreeable to the heart of God cannot fail to be united to him their Original CHAP. V. That Self-Resignation is the way to rest and peace That those that have attained thereunto find satisfaction and pleasure both in doing and suffering the Will of God That it procures outward as well as inward peace and that Self-willedness is that which puts the World into Confusion V. SElf-Resignation is the way to true Peace Rest and Ioy Ioy unspeakable as St. Peter calls it Peace which passeth all understanding as St. Paul By the way observe that neither words nor thoughts can reach Spiritual Excellencies this is their sole priviledge that they can never be over-valued over-praised Other things we may easily speak too highly of but we can never invent too magnificent expressions concerning these we cannot raise mens expectations too high concerning them they will ever prove better then they are reported to be It will be said by the Soul that comes to know these things by experience as it was by the Queen of Sheba Behold half was not told me This Self-Resignation I say it is the way to an holy rest to the Sabbatum cordis the Sabbath of the heart as St. Austin calls it If thou wilt enjoy the true rest and keep the inward Sabbath thou must not do thine own ways nor speak thine own words nor find thine own pleasure to borrow those words in Isaiah lviij Thou must cease from thine own works as the phrase is Hebr. iv 10. All desire rest peace and pleasure but no where shall we find it but in yielding our selves to God and that it is to be found in this way our Saviour hath told his Disciples Mat. xi 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and ye shall find rest to your Souls In taking Christ's Yoke upon us in bearing his burden in a sincere free and entire obedience to his Laws in learning of him who was meek and lowly in heart a pliable and obedient frame and temper of spirit we shall undoubtedly find the sweetest ease and tranquility of mind As the Soul groweth in Resignation it returns more to its rest it comes to be more as it would be by being more restored towards its original constitution its first state Man was made after God's Image and while his Will was the same with the Divine Will he dwelt in peace and joy But when he would needs have a Will of his own divided from the Will of God in falling from Resignation he fell also from peace and rest into trouble fears shame and confusion The Resigned Soul enjoys Religion in all the Sweetnesses and Priviledges of it it is prepard to taste and see how good the Lord is and the more a man is conformed to the Will of God and grows in Obedience the more he enjoys the peaceable fruits of Righteousness To him that overcometh that overcometh his own Will those Lusts that war against his Soul shall be given the hidden manna the white stone with a new name in it known by him onely that receiveth it and a stranger intermeddleth not with his joy Such an one hath meat which the world knows not of and is fed with the food of Angels Those which have the Holy Spirit for their Guide shall undoubtedly have him for their Comforter The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever If. xxxij 17. A man can have no peace that lodgeth
dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones Isaiah lvii 15. Humility disposeth to gratitude and gratitude fits us to receive more from God for a grateful Soul will set a high value upon his blessings and most gladly give him the glory of his grace The humble Christian thinks himself with Iacob less than the least of all God's mercies and consequently he will be heartily thankful for the least and by being thus affected he becomes meet for the greatest and therefore cannot fail of it It is to be observed that when Iacob was in this humble and self-abasing temper it was that he saw God face to face at Peniel Then it was that he was honoured with the name Israel and as a Prince had power with God and men and prevailed But on the contrary Pride and Self-fulness which is ever accompanied with unthankfulness makes men uncapable of receiving the Divine Grace And therefore the Pharisees who gloried in themselves that they were righteous and despised others that were not sick but whole and healthy in their own conceit died of their diseases notwithstanding the great Physician of Souls was so long among them Now there are two graces that Humility gives a peculiar fitness for two of the first magnitude and greatest influence of the greatest use and consequence in a Christians life viz. The Love of God and Faith or Trust in him 'T is evident that Humility hath a peculiar fitness to cherish and increase the grace of Love for the more sensible any one is of his great unworthiness and ill-deservings the more he must needs love God for having so gracious a regard to him the more will he admire and adore the riches of his Grace And 't is as evident that Humility affordeth the like advantage for the Grace of Faith or trust in God for the more sensible a Christian is of his own impotence the more will he rely upon the Divine Power and Goodness for the supply of his wants having so many promises to encourage him The sense of our own weakness will make us distrust our selves the more we distrust our selves the more shall we stay our Souls on God and confide in his Wisdom Power and Grace Now we have particularly shewn of how great efficacy both these Vertues are to enable us to this Duty of Self-Resignation CHAP. VIII That the serious observation of the great Examples of Self-Resignation which are recorded in the Scriptures is of great use and advantage And first of the Example of ABRAHAM VIII EIghthly Look to those lively Patterns and Examples of Self-Resignation set before us in the Holy Scriptures These are of singular use and advantage to be seriously considered For they plainly shew this holy disposition of spirit to be attainable and that God requires herein nothing of us that is impossible Could they do thus and cannot we by the same divine help and power do the like which we have shewn is attainable by us as well as them They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to like passions with us they were flesh and bloud as we are and naturally as weak and infirm as our selves and God is the same in Power and Goodness now that ever he was And this may commend to us the fulness of the Scriptures that besides the best Precepts and Rules we have the best Patterns and Examples recorded in them of every grace and virtue So that by the guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit the Christian man may be perfected throughly furnished unto every good work The best Rules of the best life are laid down in the divinely inspired Writings and they are plain and intelligible especially to those that have the good and honest heart but Examples superadded to Rules and Patterns to Precepts make both more instructive and as well encourage as direct our Practice And we having a many worthy Examples upon record of this Self-Resignation the Lesson becomes neither too high nor hard for us to understand or practice How many Precepts have we in Scripture to engage us to Chastity and Purity Meekness and Patience Faith and Charity to an holy resolvedness in owning of God and adhering to his ways and unweariedness in doing good and to every other grace and virtue And have we not besides others the Example of Ioseph for Chastity Moses for Meekness Iob for Patience Abraham for Faith Dorcas and Cornelius for Charity Daniel for an holy resolvedness of spirit in owning God S. Paul for an unwearied Zeal and above all that Example of all Examples for every thing that is holy pure and lovely our Lord Jesus Christ Take we heed then that we be not found ingentium exemplorum parvi imitatores small imitators of mighty examples as Salvian expresseth it But let it be our serious care and holy ambition to transcribe their vertues to write after those fair Copies they have set us to be followers of those blessed Souls wherein they were followers of God and Christ. But our present argument determining us to Self-Resignation let us consider some Examples hereof for our guidance and encouragement First I will present you with that of Abraham Faithful Abraham as he is stiled by the Apostle St. Paul There were ten trials wherewith God was pleased to exercise this good man as they are collected out of his Story by the Hebrew Writers The first and last of which ten were the sorest of all The first was his being called and commanded of God Genesis the twelfth to leave his own Countrey his House and Lands his Friends and Kindred and to go to a place he knew not This Command as unpleasant and grievous as it must needs have been to his flesh and bloud he did not in the least demurr upon obeying But by Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went Heb. xi 8. The last was his being commanded to take his onely Son Isaac and to slay and offer him for a Burnt-offering than which there could not be a greater trial We have the Command in Genesis xxii 2. every word of which hath a singular Emphasis and deserves attention Take now thy son thine onely son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of Take now thy Son Not a Beast for Sacrifice not any of the best of his great store of Cattle but his Son Take him now forthwith without any delay Thy Son Isaac Not Ishmael but Isaac his and his Mothers delight and joy as the name signifies Thine onely Son He and Sarah had no other to solace themselves in nor were they ever like to have any other And besides there
hardship when he sends it Should not the memory of his many and long continued mercies more sweeten and endear our good God to us than some present crosses and adversities imbitter our thoughts of him and sowre our spirits with discontent Oh the heighth and excellency of Grace in this holy man He was Vir ante Evangelia Evangelicus A person of the true Evangelical and Christian spirit before Christ or his Gospel came into the world How had patience its perfect work in him There could not be a braver spectacle a more lovely sight on the whole earth for God and Angels to behold than such a Soul in the midst of such trials the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit being in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of great price If Seneca could say of Cato Behold a sight which that God who diligently observes the work of his own hands may fix his eye upon well may it be said of holy Iob. This honourable Elogium is given of him Chap. 2. 10. In all this Iob sinned not with his lips And the like in Chap. i. 22. where it is added nor charged God foolishly He did not speak unworthily of God or his disposals nor had he any disbecoming thoughts of him or them Nay he was so far from repining and fretting at the severest of them that as was said he took them gratefully at his hands As deformed and diseased a Creature as Iob was as to his outward man he was most sound fair and lovely within Though his Body lay among the ashes and potsherds yet was he as to the inward Constitution of his Soul as the wings of a Dove beautified with such interchangeable colours by the Sun shining upon her that they are as it were covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold In the Song of Hannah it is said that God raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill But here we have a far greater wonder God exalted Iob even when he debased him to the dust and made him in his lowest estate a glorious person more glorious to all ages than ever he would have been had there been nothing in his story but that he was for his Wealth and Honour the greatest of all the men of the East So that Iob even whilst he was of this low degree might rejoyce in that he was exalted to allude to that of St. Iames Chap. 1. 9. Great afflictions accompanied with an unconquerable patience canonize men and advance them to a peculiar degree of honour and glory above the rest of mankind Behold we count them happy that endure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we call them blessed James v. 11. St. Chrysostom thus magnificently speaks of Iob's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Dunghill that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more stately than any Kingly Throne And of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Sores that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 richer than any jewels and precious stones nay that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more splendid and glorious than the very Sun-beams And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no King sitting upon his Throne is so illustrious as was Job then upon the Dunghill honourable and glorious That very Ash-heap or Dunghill where the illustrious debased Iob sate was a Throne of glory no Royal Seat of Majesty or Chair of State was so glorious here his patience was inthroned here the humble Greatness and Majesty of his mind shined forth and the Spirit of Glory rested on him What a pleasure was it to Heaven to see this Champion come off so bravely and to baffle all the attempts and arts that the Devil could use to break his spirit and force him to impatience and unworthy reflections upon God and his Providence God said twice to Satan Hast thou considered my servant Iob that there is none like him in all the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hast thou set thine heart upon my servant Iob Hast thou taken special notice of him God seemeth to glory and make his boast of this excellent person as a more worthy sight than any that presented it self to the view of observation in any part of the world But he was much more worthy of esteem and admiration after he had been proved by such sore trials when the trial of his faith and patience was found unto praise and honour and glory So great was his Patience so exemplary his Resignation that the holy Scripture sets a special mark both upon it and him Upon it James 5. 11. Ye have heard of the patience of Iob upon him in that he is mentioned as one of God's three most peculiar Favourites Ezech. 14. And now having given some account of his woful afflictions and his great patience under them we will speak briefly of the reward this his submission and Resignation of himself to the Will of God was at last crowned with After the Apostle had said in the forementioned place Ye have heard of the patience of Iob it follows and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy And in the 42. Chapter of Iob we find him most amply rewarded even in this life In the seventh and eighth verses we read that he found such special favour in the eyes of God that his three friends who had added to the heavy weight of his afflictions and had not spoken of God that which was right as Iob had done could not atone his anger with a Burnt-offering without Iob's intercession in their behalf And in the tenth verse it is said that the Lord turned the captivity of Iob when he prayed for his friends also the Lord gave Iob twice as much as he had before And in the twelfth verse that the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning for he had fourteen thousand Sheep and six thousand Camels and a thousand yoke of Oxen and a thousand She-asses whereas he had before but half this number of each of these as hath been shewn Thus in his Goods and Possessions which were either destroyed by fire or carried away by his thievish Neighbors the Sabeans and Chaldeans and so were never to be enjoyed by him more God gave him in these double But as to his Children he gave him the just number he had before viz. seven sons and three daughters v. 13. These it is likely were not doubled because though they were taken away by death yet they were not utterly lost but their spirits returned to God that gave them they were still alive with God where their Father should again meet them in the other life But there is this said concerning these new daughters of Iob which was not said of the former that in all the land were no women found so fair as they ver 15. And lastly we read in ver 16. that after this lived Iob an hundred and fourty years and
obedience Many would be glad to have the Spirit to sit as a Refiner upon their Lips that they may be able to speak spiritually but few are willing that he should sit as a Refiner in their Hearts to melt and consume their Self-will and purge out of them all secret inclinations to Sin Abundance have learnt Parrot-like to talk of the Spirit and pretend greatly to things Spiritual which yet declare by their lives as those in St. Iude that they are altogether Sensual having not the Spirit that they have received no other Spirit but that of the world It hath been a great and common fault which hath been the occasion of a world of mischief to Souls that men have been valued as Spiritual by the gifts of the Spirit such as the veriest hypocrites may have rather than by the Graces and fruits of the Spirit such as those Gal. v. 21 22. But to return to our present Direction Would we have our Wills fully resigned to the Will of God let us above all things beware of grieving his holy Spirit according to the Apostles Caution Eph. iv 30. Let us take heed of rejecting him when he offers to work this work in us and of giving him any the least check or discouragement but permit him to have his full scope and liberty of doing what he pleases within us without disturbance When Christ stands at the door and knocks and waits to be gracious to us let us not refuse to open to him nor seem not to hear him but say with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth CHAP. IV. That we are not onely to suffer the Spirit to work in us but ought also to work with him in heartily opposing our Self-desires and what endeavours we should use is shewed in five Particulars IV. FOurhtly We must not be meerly passive and onely suffer the Holy Spirit to do his work in us but we must likewise work with him in vigorously resisting and crossing our Self-desires We must put on heroical resolutions stoutly to oppose the impetuous desires of our sensitive powers It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do but yet we must also work out our own salvation with fear and trembling We must strive according to his working which worketh in us mightily We must be faithful to that lesser light and strength which is in us and we shall have more light and strength If we be faithful in fewer Talents we shall receive more And here take these following Directions 1. Deny the first Sollicitations and resist the first motions of inordinate appetites depress them at their first rising Quench 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lust when it doth begin to smoak as Iustin Martyr phraseth it before it bursteth out into a flame for then it will be unruly and too hard to master Think not to ease thy self by giving some satisfaction to thy lusts for by this means they will sollicite and vex thee the more and the yielding to commit a sin leaves a greater propension and desire to sin again Thou shalt best silence the clamours and importunities of a temptation by not listening in the least to them As one act of mortification prepares for and enables to another so on the contrary by once yielding to corrupt nature thou art made less able to resist another time 2. As to those sins which either through Constitution or Custom thou hast the strongest inclination to thou must shew a more than ordinary roughness and severity against them It is not safe so much as to dispute or argue with temptations to such sins It was a good observation of Aristotle that some passions are not to be vanquished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason but by force that is not so much by the one as by the other Not so much by arguments as by a holy violence and resolution And there is not more need of taking this course against any temptations than those that solicite to the Sin of Vncleanness Duriora sunt praelia castitatis saith S. Cyprian The battles of Chastity are more sharp than any other The forementioned Philosopher in his Ethicks observing that man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature very apt to be taken and ensnared by pleasures adviseth that for the attaining of vertue the middle between two extreams we should shun that extream most and keep farthest from it which pretends to most pleasure This is good advice and there cannot be better given for the attaining the vertue of Chastity and the overcoming temptations to Uncleanness which of all other sins doth promise the most pleasure than not to trust our selves to enter into the least parley with them but presently to fly from them by diverting our selves to other thoughts and forcing our minds to other objects 3 We ought as much as lieth in us to shun whatsoever may probably be an occasion of our being tempted especially to such sins as we are most inclined to Art thou prone to excess either in meat or drink Art thou apt suddenly to take fire and to be inflamed with passion Art thou of a lustful temper or the like Avoid all thou canst such places company and objects as may be incentives to those appetites Thus in order to the avoiding of the Sin Uncleanness the Wiseman adviseth not to come near the house of the whorish woman and for the prevention of the Sin of Drunkenness not so much as to look on the wine when 't is red and giveth its colour in the glass 4. It is of good use for the better securing our perseverance in the spiritual warfare with humble dependance on God for the aids of his grace to engage our selves in solemn vows against those sins especially which have gotten most power and dominion over us I cannot commend the obliging our selves by vows to certain tasks as the manner of some is which have not an immediate and special tendency to the mortifying of Sin and advancement of Holiness Such vows are found by experience to be both unprofitable and burdensome to be insnaring and hampering and rather to gratifie Superstition and minister questions and scrupulosities than godly edifying But to vow against things unquestionably evil and to the use of certain means that are necessary to the destroying the body of Sin and that first for a shorter space of time and afterwards for a longer and so that time being expired to renew these vows as long as we shall see it needful and till we be well grounded and establisht in Holiness till Religion become our nature the temper and constitution of our Souls the joy of our hearts and our deliberate choice and settled practice till we have gotten the compleat mastery over those lusts which we have been most carried away captive by I say to vow with such cautions is found by experience to be of exceeding great benefit and advantage And when we have thus vowed we should frequently reflect upon what we have
This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith I John 5. 4. Above all take the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Eph. vi 16. Glorious things are spoken of thee O Faith who can recount the mighty acts and great atchievements of those holy Souls who have strongly confided in the gracious power of God and Christ Jesus for the subduing of sin as well as in God's mercy and Christ's merits for the pardon of it These through this Faith that I may borrow those expressions in the Eleventh to the Hebrews have subdued Kingdoms even the Kingdoms of divers lusts and pleasures and the Kingdoms of the Prince of this world to which they were once subject Through Faith they have wrought righteousness even the righteousness of God far excelling that outward slight and partial righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisee Through Faith they have stopped the mouths of Lions the impetuous and ravening solicitations and greedy desires of their selfish will Through Faith they have quenched the violence of fire or the Lusts of Passion Malice and Uncleanness which burned like fire within them out of weakness were made strong and turned to flight the armies of the Aliens Now there are many exceeding great and precious promises scattered through the Scriptures which are of soveraign force and virtue for the encouragement of our Faith and Hope in God for the strengthening of us against his and our enemies But there is abundantly enough in that one passage Luke xi 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him What could our Saviour have spoken more plainly and fully for our encouragement to a dependance on God for Grace and Spiritual strength and to a quiet unsolicitous expectation of assistance from him This promise concerned not onely those Disciples that heard Christ preach then from the Mount but all his Disciples and Followers all that shall believe on his Name to the end of the world It is said to them that ask him without any limitation either to a certain age or people language or nation and therefore we may be as much comforted from these words as if we had been in the number of those in whose hearing our Saviour preached that best of Sermons wherein they were uttered For as there is the same need of the Holy Spirit for us as there was for them who were then present with our Saviour so there is now and ever will be the same benignity and philanthropy in God the same good will compassion and love to men that there was then and in former ages He is without variableness or shadow of turning the same yesterday and to day and for ever But this word of promise is so rich and precious that it deserves a more particular Consideration If ye that are evil Earthly Parents are too commonly envious and niggardly close hard and cruel to others being all for themselves and not caring for the good of others Know how to give good gifts unto your Children As backward as they are to give to others they cannot find in their hearts when their Children ask to withhold from them they will be free open-handed and bountiful to them And such is the tenderness of their affection to their Children that they will not give them any thing that they know to be evil and hurtful to them they will not give them Stones for Bread a Serpent for a Fish or a Scorpion for an Egg. How much more shall your heavenly Father He who being good cannot but do good He who is the Father of Mercies the God of Love and Goodness and Love it self He who best knows what is good and is best able to bestow whatsoever is so He who is as willing to do us good as he is able and as able as willing as no earthly Parent is He in whom is nothing of envy towards others and hath in himself all fullness is Infinite Almighty and All-sufficient Give the holy Spirit to them that ask him so saith one Evangelist and give good things saith another The greatest good that Omnipotence it self and infinite Goodness can do for us is the giving the holy Spirit and with him spiritual light to know and spiritual strength to do his Will and to subdue our own Wills and whatsoever is contrary to him in us To be indued with the holy Spirit doth import an accession both of light and strength knowledge and power So that our Saviour argues from the less to the greater from the drop of goodness and benignity in Creatures and those sinful Creatures too to that Fountain-fulness which is in God What good soever children may expect from their Parents that and infinitely more may God's Children expect from him And it is impossible to conceive that the infinitely good God will be more wanting to his Childrens Souls than are evil men to their Childrens Bodies All that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those affections and tendernesses which God hath implanted in all Parents for the good of their Offspring are but a little drop to that ocean of Love and Mercy that is in himself are but a dark and short representation of those unconceivable riches of Goodness and bowels of Compassion which are in him Nullus Pater tam Pater No Father is so fatherly so much a Father as God is said Tertullian He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus stiles him out of Orpheus the tendernesses of both a Father and Mother are in God Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget it is possible but very prodigious yet will not I forget saith God Isaiah xlix 15. God doth not take empty titles to himself but fills up the utmost of whatsoever relation he is set forth by in the Holy Scriptures Whatsoever the wisest most careful and loving Parents are to theirs God is such and incomparably more to his Children If the affections of ten thousand Parents were in one Father or Mother how secure would the Child be of their tender care who indeed is secure without such a supposal but all these in one person are far short of God's affection who is the Spring and Original of all the Fatherly tenderness which is dissused in the hearts of so many millions of Fathers as are in the world Let me adde this That the promise of the Spirit is the great promise of the Gospel the great priviledge of the Evangelical Dispensation or New Covenant Greater aids and supplies of Grace for the subduing our corruptions we are encouraged to hope for under the Gospel The Apostle saith Titus iii. 6. that the Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a rich and plentiful manner through Iesus Christ our Saviour If
therefore we be not stronger if we are not better it is because we resist or at least neglect the Holy Spirit It is because we have not faith in God not because he is unwilling to help and assist us For what saith St. Iames chap. iv 5 6. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy such but giveth more grace He gives grace in such a measure as to overpower that spirit that lusteth in us So that for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundance of wickedness as the expression is Iames 1. 21. there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abundance of grace as the phrase is Rom. 5. 17. which the regenerate and believing Soul receiveth by Jesus Christ. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell that of his fulness all might receive even grace for grace And this grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Thus you see what abundant encouragement we have to have faith in God for the supplies of his Grace and Spirit and what reason we have to take heed of unbelief if ever we would master our sinful affections and bring our wills into compliance with the Will of God And there is a double unbelief we are to beware of as very hurtful to our Souls First An Unbelief in relation to the mercy of God for the pardon of Sin Secondly An Unbelief in relation to the power and goodness of God for the subduing of Sin Now it is much to be lamented that whereas the former sort of unbelief is much taken notice of and condemned in Sermons and Books the latter is but little mentioned But if the evil of this were no less clearly and powerfully represented than the evil of the other and men were as effectually warned to beware of this as of that Unbelief it would through the blessing of God be an excellent means to make more sincere strong and healthy Christians Whereas alas the spirits and lives of the generality of Professors do now too plainly declare that they had rather have sin pardoned than subdued that they had rather sin should not be imputed to them than destroyed in them But the compleat Faith is this in opposition to that twofold Unbelief First To believe that Christ came to make expiation for sin so that it shall be pardoned to those that do truly repent That is to those that being sensible of their sins and are affected with a godly sorrow for them and an holy hatred and abhorrence of them desire and purpose above all things to walk before God in newness of life Which conditions of pardon and non-imputation of sin are by too many either not at all or but slightly insisted on while they press the duty of recumbence and relying on Christs merits for Justification and Salvation Secondly To believe that as Christ came to make atonement for sin so he was manifested also for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And to procure grace for us whereby sin may have no more dominion over us But this part of faith I say is little urged in comparison of the other whereas it is of as great concernment to our eternal happiness to have Faith in the Power of Christ as to have Faith in his Bloud Nay as appears from what hath been said to have sin mortified and to be enabled to will after the Will of God is far more than to be meerly pardoned for willing otherwise than God doth will Now their defect in this latter part of Faith is a great cause of Christians continuing so low and weak lazy and faint in a sickly and even bed-rid condition and of their fancying that they honour and please God by complaining of their impotence and infirmities whereas the true way to please and honour him is confiding in his omnipotent grace to get up and be doing But I fear I may also adde another reason why most of those that will confess their sins and pray for grace and strength against them are still as impotent as if there were no grace or assistance promised namely their not being heartily desirous of grace as well as their want of faith in the promises of it Their unwillingness whatsoever they pretend to have some lust or other mortified and to be throughly purified Their secret fear of the searching and purging work of the Spirit and of that light and grace that would disquiet them and not let them alone in some sins to which they are fondly and tenderly devoted It was one of St. Austin's Confessions I when I was a young man begged of thee that thou wouldest indue me with the grace of Chastity and said Give me Chastity but not yet for I feared lest thou shouldest presently hear me and immediately heal me and I had rather satisfie lust than have it extinguished If this be thy case whosoever thou art that readest these lines if this be the state and temper of thy Soul then in thy complaining of weakness and that the sons of Zervia are too hard for thee and in thy praying for the assistance of God's grace against them thou dost no better than add sin to sin the sin of false dealing with God and wicked hypocrisie to that of Unbelief thy heart is not right with God and thou lyest unto him with thy tongue But to conclude this Let us take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of Unbelief and so we fall short of the Spiritual Canaan and entring into the rest of God as it befell the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the Wilderness and none of all that came out of Egypt entred into Canaan but Caleb and Ioshuah men of another Spirit and that followed God fully who were full of Faith and encouraged the people to believe and prosper And it is observable that Caleb asked for the mountainous Countrey where the Anakims dwelt and the Cities were great and fenced by the news of which the evil Spies dismayed Israel but Caleb gave proof of the strength of his Faith in freely chusing to expose himself to the hard and seemingly impossible service of gaining this Countrey and was rewarded with success answerable to so great a faith for we read that he drave out the three sons of Anak notwithstanding that it was commonly said Who can stand before the sons Anak He made it manifest that Faith could stand before them and overcome them And if we have Calebs Faith in the power and goodness of God in fighting with the Spiritual Anakims we may be most undoubtedly assured of Calebs success Let the Spiritual Israel therefore encourage themselves in the Lord their God and they may be certain that it shall be unto them according to their faith his grace shall be sufficient for them and when the enemy shall come in like a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them CHAP. VI. Of the