salvation As are the sinews of all Religion As most concern our selves and families That concern righteousnesse and mercy That concern the avoiding of greater sins We should do all affectionately in or to observe Sol. I humbly conceive that our special care should be First Of those which do principally and immediately respect Gods Glory Summa ratio in summo fine Secondly Of those which do most absolutely and necessarily respect our own salvation as Regeneration Repentance Holiness Faith Thirdly Of those which are the bond and sinews of all Religion upholding it in the power and practice of it as the sanctifying of the Sabbath Fourthly Of those which do most concern our selves and such as are under our charge as family-duties Fifthly Of those which do require and enjoyn righteousness and mercy unto others and preserve publick society Sixthly Of those which do concern the greater sins which should be most carefully avoided Fourthly we should walk in Gods statutes and keep and do them affectionately we should affect the acts of obedience and be affected in them Suppose that a man did walk up to every statute of God yet if this were not done affectionately all were nothing Now there are four affections with which we should perform every service or duty that we do unto God 1. Love and delight 2ly Joy 3ly Fear 4ly Zeal First With Love and Delight We must love the Lord and his statutes and the With love and delight duties which he requires from us and take delight in obeying and doing his will Psal 119. 97. O how I love thy Law Ver. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 40 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Secondly With joy and alacrity Psal 119. I have rejoyced in the way of With joy and alacrity thy testimonies as much as in all riches Psal 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness Our walking in Gods statutes should be our meat and drink we should find more satisfaction and soul contentment and refreshing when we are doing the will of God and are enjoying communion with him than we do find or take in any earthly enjoyment whatsoever Thirdly With fear Serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. 11. when ye are a performing With fear any duty to God ye must do it with a 1. Reverential fear Thou shalt fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord A reverential fear thy God Deut. 28. 58. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him Psal 89. 7. Pray and hear with fear and trembling 2. Humble fear of our own sufficiency and of our own performance left Humble fear any thing should fall in with our duties by which God may be offended and our service of him may miscarry c. Fourthly With zeal or fervor of spirit The people of God must be zealous With zeal of good works and zealous in good works fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. It was said of Jehoshaphat that his heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chron. 17. 6. And of Josiah that he made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandements and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul c. 2 Chron. 34. 31. See also 2 King 23. 25. Wrestling and striving in Prayer attend earnestly in hearing We must not walk in Gods statutes with careless sloathful indifferent spirits but with heightned and lively and enlarged spirits doing his will with all our might and strength bringing out all the might and power that we have in his service stir up our graces and our hearts Fifthly We should walk in Gods statutes uprightly and sincerely Gen. 17. 1. Walk before me and be thou upright And 1 Kin. 3. 6. David my Father walked Walk in them uprightly before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Quest But here now is the great Question how one may know that he walks Signs of sincerity uprightly in Gods statutes Sol. There are 〈◊〉 discoveries of this First The prevalent motive which alone sufficeth to his obedience and that If we obey because God commands is the will or command of God if a man be upright and walk with an unright heart then he will and doth act and move upon the sole account of Gods command that alone is reason enough and will prevail with him for obedience There are several Motives which induce men to do good works some do respect our selves and are drawn from a respect to our credit and profit as do such a work and perform such a duty and you shall have honour amongst men by it and you shall gain much by it these considerations are the prevailing Motives which men of unsound hearts to some things which God requires as it was with Jehu c. And some are drawn from God himself only from his Commandement and this is sufficient and this prevails with men of upright heart Psal 119. 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts dilgently Ver. 5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Mark how his heart is drawn out to obedience upon the meer command of God Thou hast commanded us c. Isa 2. 3. He will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths Mark there is no more considered to move to walk in his paths than this he will teach us of his wayes i. e. he will make us to know that this or that is his will and command concerning us Paul relates that it was the earnest prayer of Epaphras for the Colossians that they might stand perfect and be filled with all the will of God Col. 4. 12. It is not Compleri but Repleri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some look upon that word as Metaphorical to be filled with the will of God as the sails of a ship are filled with wind which is enough to carry the ship in voyage so it is enough when the will of God fills our hearts and that carries them out to duty and David hath a singular expression in Psal 119. 6. When I have respect unto all thy Commandements you know that to have a respect unto a thing is this when that of all other swayes most with us as when a Master commands a servant he will do such a business because he respects him and at his command he will go and come though he will not at the command of any other this was Davids
not neglect these motions do not throw them aside and do not delay or defer to act them remember it you shall be able to do much at that time when the Spirit of God stirs your hearts if you presently act upon his actings of you Simile as the ship moves the faster when the Mariner takes the wind and tide but if you neglect them the work will be more difficult and your hearts will be more untoward and backward and hardened Object But some will say It is an hard thing to know what motions are the motions How to know the motions of the Spirit of the Spirit if we could certainly know them to be his we would not neglect them Sol. You may know the motions which are stirring of you to be the motions of the Spirit of God by the conjunction of these Adjuncts First They are holy and heavenly they do resemble himself he never moves They are holy you to any evil but only to what is good and spiritual to get grace to increase it to exercise it to mortifie your sins to beware of all incentives and provecation unto sin c. Secondly They are conformable to the written Word All hâ—s motions are Agreeable to the Word but the setting on of Gods commands upon your heart and lives he moves you not and stirs you not to do any thing but what the Word of God expresly commands Thirdly They are suitable to your place and condition The spirit moves to Suitable to our place and condition do that good work wâ—ich belongs to us in our place He did not move Vzza to put forth his hand to hold the Ark nor Uzziah to burn incense It pertaineth not to thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but unto the Priests the sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense 2 Chron. 26. 18. He is the Author of order and not of confusion he moves men to exercise the gifts which he hath given them in the places and callings wherein he hath set them Fourthly They are seasonable He puts in good motions not to hinder a present good work but to further it when we are sometimes praying or hearing you shall They are seasonable have many good things presented unto your minds which come not from the Spirit of God but from Satan for they are put in as diversions and distractions from that good work in hand but when they are from the Spirit they are seasonable and helpful As when you are hearing and 〈◊〉 and confessing your sins all those good motions which drop into you to humble your hearts enlarge your hearts to attend to mark and remember and to yield consent and obedience and to take delight to raise heavenly resolutions to walk according to the will of God revealed these are motions from the Spirit Fifthly They are gentle and spiritually rational men talk of impulsives and violent They are gentle motions upon their spirits for particular works for the doing of which they can give no religious account or ground Those are dangerous motions and are to be suspected and questioned but the motions of the Spirit are not turbulent nor violent though they be strong yet they are gentle they are leadings but not disquieting motions Secondly Neglect not the removings of the Spirit The Spirit of God by reason of our spiritual pride and security and formality and other sins may remove from us i. e. you may not find that comfort from him and you may not find that strength and assistance and vigor from him and you may discern a general Hatness and lowness in your graces and services they come not off with that zeal with that delight with that care with that love with that importunity with that fervency with that faith as formerly and you are more ready to fall under temptations and sinful occasions you cannot make that resistance which you were wont to do The Spirit in these cases is removing and withdrawing And it is a most dangerous folly now to sit still and to be careless and regardless If a Guard which preserves you draw off are you not in danger are you not exposed to enemies why all your strength support sufficiency safety is in the presence of Gods Spirit Therefore take notice of his removings or or withdrawings at any time and do it quickly and seriously for though his removes be not usually all at once yet the oftner he removes he removes the farther from you and the farther he removes the stronger will hardness grow upon you Quest Why what is to be done in this case Sol. I will tell you How to prevent the Spirits removoings First Search your hearts and enquire what is amiss what cause you have given unto the Spirit of God thus to withdraw from you what harndness what offence you may read in Scripture these causes 1. Pride of heart as in Hezekiah 2. Self-confidence as in Peter 3. Careless neglect as in the Church Cant. 5. 6. I opened to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawn himself See the cause of this in Ver. 3. I have put off my coat how shall I put it on 4. Foule transgressions as in David Psal 51. He had almost lost all Secondly Then repent it is the counsel given to the Church of Ephesus which lost her first love Rev. 2. 4. 5. Thirdly Cry out with David Psal 51. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me O Lord I am willing to let my sin go but I cannot be willing let thy Spirit go When the spirit is removing move after him and lay hold on him with tears and supplications and faith and say O forsake me not utterly O return in mercy revive thy work again in me and quicken and restore and establish me c. Fourthly Do not injure the Spirit Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you c. SECT VI. 4. THe fourth Caution which concerns them that have the Spirit given unto Injure not the Spirit How the Spirit may be injured By bearing false witness against the spirit them is this Take heed you do not injure or wrong the Spirit Injure the Spirit will some say how can any man injure the Spirit of God A man may injure the Spirit of God four wayes First By bearing false witness against the Spirit Wicked men do injure the spirit by railing and by reviling his gifts and graces and good men do injure the spirit by denying and disowning of them upon every temptation and every weakness and upon every failing O they have no faith and no love and no sincerity of heart and the Spirit of God never wrought any Renewing work or saving work in their hearts and they cannot attain unto those joyes and comforts which the people of God do meet with But beloved why do we charge the Spirit of God thus foolishly Is it a small thing for you to weary men but
1. Because he works where and on whom and when and how he himself pleaseth he blowes where he lists Joh. 3. 8. 2. And he is a â—ree Spirit in as much as all spiritual freedom and liberty is received of us from him hence the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 17. where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 4. The good Spirit by Spirit is good â—sa 143 10 Thou gavest them of thy good Spirit The good Spirit Neh. 9. 20. The Spirit is essentially good and counsels good he is indeed a good Spirit unto us All the good thoughts in us and all the good desires in us and all the good we have or shall receive from God in Christ is handed to us by this good Spirit yea and all the sweet sights of God himself that ever we enjoyed and all the tasts that ever we have had of Jesus Christ and all the joyes and contentments in our souls we are beholding unto this good Spirit for every one of them though in some respect you are not beholding unto the Spirit for dying and suffering and satisfying and reconciling and purchasing for you yet this I may safely affirme that for all the enjoyments of all the sweet comforts depending on the sufferings of Christ you are singularly beholding to the good spirit for them you never could have partaked of Christ nor of any one good purchased by Christ had it not been for this good Spirit 5. The powerfull or mighty Spirit The Spirit of the Lord is called the Spirit of The powerful Spirit might Isa 11. 2. The power of the holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. the power of the Spirit of God verse 19. the power of the Highest Luke 1. 35. It was the power of this Spirit which did convince you of your sins and which did break your heard harts and did rescue and deliver you from the power of darknesse which doth subdue your iniquities and pull down your strong bolds It was and is this powerfull Spirit by whom the Ministrations or Ordinances of the Gospel have been and still are of power with you The Word is called the sword of the Spirit Ephes 6. 17. The Ministrations of them selves are weak it is the concomitant presence of the Spirit which makes them powerful and lively for your conversion comfort and salvation you had laine in the same condition and darknesse and bondage and death with other men had not the powerful and mighty Spirit of God put forth the greatnesse of his own strength to the alteration of your hearts by his own grace 2. The Spirit is yours in respect of his gifts and fruits You read in 1 Cor. 12. The Spirit is ours in respect of his gifts or fruits 14. of diversities of gifts of the Spirit for edification or to profit withall ver 7. and you read of the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8. 23. and of the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. The Spirit of God as to these gifts and fruits is called the Spirit of grace Zach. 12. 10. and the Spirit of wisdome Isa 11. 2. and the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4. 13. and the Spirit of love 2 Tim. 1. 7. and the Spirit of supplication Zach. 12 10. the fruit of the Spirit saith the Apostle in Gal. 5. 22. is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith and ver 23. meeknesse temperance There are six things which I would briefly observe concerning the graces or fruits Six things concerning the graces of the Spirit They are the beauties of a Christian They are necessary to salvation of the Spirit 1. They are the Beauties Glories Ornaments Chains Pearls Jewels of a Christian you have no excellencies till you partake of them but are dead loathsome polluted and vile These are the very image of God 2. They are necessary unto salvation No man can be saved without them They are the way to the kingdom though they be not the cause of reigning in the kingdom without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. 3. They are pledges of salvation therefore called the first fruits which were They are pledges of salvation the beginnings and the pledges of the full harvest and also the earnest of the Spirit which he leaves with us to assure us of that glorious happinesse which we are to receive shortly in fulnesse 4. They are given to none but unto such as shall be saved There are the common gifts of the Spirit which are for the edification of others These they may have They are given to none but such as shall be saved who shall perish like those who helped to build the Ark and yet were drowned But there are the special gifts of the Spirit which are for Renovation of the soule and for the preparation of it for glory These are given to none but unto such who are elected unto salvation As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 13. 48. Matth. 11. 25. Hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes 5. Every gift or grace which accompanies salvation is by the Spirit given Every grace accompanying salvation is given to every child of God to every child of God to every one who hath God to be his God in Covenant every one of them hath every saving grace of the Spirit 1. The spirit of grace I will poure upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace Zach. 12. 10. 2. The Spirit of knowledge They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them Jer. 31. 34. 3. The Spirit of wiâ—dâ—me The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give unto you the Spirit of wisdome Eph. 1. 17. 4. The Spirit of faith We have the same Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4. 13. You are all the children oâ— God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. 26. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us 2 Pet. 1. 1. 5. The Spirit of love 2 Tim. 1. 7. Ye your selvâ—s arâ— taught of God to love one another 1 Thes 4. 9. What should I speak of godly sorrow repentance humblenesse meeknesse patience c. whatsoever gift is necessary to our salvation the Spirit doth certainly work in every one of the people of God although not in the same measure proportion and height yet to the same truth and for the same efficacy unto their salvation Every child of God hath the same Spirit of grace and faith and love and though one Christians graces may fall short of anothers for the quantity yet they do not fall short for the present quality nor for the future glory The weakest grace of the Spirit is able to change the heart and save the soul 6. The Spirit doth cherish and preserve and keep all those saving gifts of his The Spirit doth cherish and prese ve all those saving gifts in
Satan alas your own strength is insufficient to conquer for you 〈…〉 maintain the fight for you unlesse the Spirit of God put forth his actual help unlesse he take your part what one temptation of lust of doubt of feare is not too hard for you and what one temptation from Satan is not too strong for you Every little touch throws down or hazards the weak child so this c. But this is your comfort that in all your spiritual conflicts you are sure of the Spirits presence to own his own graces and to defend and secure them His gracious presence shall be sufficient for you 2 Cor. 12. 9. and his power makes it self manifest in your weaknesse he will be near to help you strengthen you to make you to resist and to conquer and to be more than conquerours through Christ that loved you We are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6. 10. 5. The Spirit helps them in the darknesses upon their spirits my meaning is In the darkness of our spirits in all the with-drawments of Gods favour and light of countenance and in all the sad apprehensions of their own spiritual condition when they think God is become their enemy and that themselves are forgotten of God and cast off by God and have no interest nor hope in Christ Now in these times the Spirit of God works and helps supplies supports stirs up faith against hope to believe in hope and against our own feelings yet to pray and trust and wait and look for God 6. He helps them in the captivities of their souls As when sinne or Satan In the captivity of our souls in this or that particular have been too subtile and too strong for them and have prevailed over them so that they are fallen and not able to rise even then in this condition doth the Spirit of God by his wonderful graces help them up again he makes them to see their sinnes and bewail them and raise them by renewing and strengthening faith on the Lord Jesus Christ Thus he dealt with David with Peter c. As the finding of us in our lost estate so the raising of us from our fallen estate is done by the help of the Spirit 5. The Spirit is yours in respect of his joyes â—r comforts You read of the He is ours in respect of his joyes and comforts joy of the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. And of the comforts of the holy Ghost Acts 9 31. And that Christ himself calls him the Comforter John 16. 7. The Spirit is given unto you not only to unite you to Christ not only to conform you unto Christ not only to lead you in the wayes of Christ not only to help you in the services of Christ but also to comfort your hearts in Christ The Spirit is a comforter in three respects He is a Comforter As he opens to us all the springs of comfort As he actuates our faith in theÌ„ As he applies them to our souls 1. He opens unto you all the true springs of comfort It is he who opens unto you the fountain of mercy and the fountain of the love and grace of God and the fountain of the blood of Christ 2. He actuates your faith to look on all these fountains of joy and wells of comfort as set open for the good and help of your souls 3. He applies all of them unto your souls he makes it evident that God loves your souls and that Christ died for your souls and that you are justified by faith in him and are reconciled and pardoned and accepted unto life and hereupon he fills you with all joy in believing even with joy unspeakable and glorious You cannot imagine what a comfort it is to have the Spirit of God to be our comfort for 1. His comforts are choice comforts There is no more comparison 'twixt the His comforts are choice comforts comforts of the world and the comforts of the Spirit than between the light of the Candle and the light of the Sunne they are the very comforts of God they are the very drops out of the Wells of Salvation they are drawn out from the proper and only grounds of joy They are comforts which of all other do most punctually answer the distresses of your souls 2. He can comfort you under all your discomfirts Who comforteth us in all our He cancomfort under all discomforts tribulations 2 Cor. 1. 4. Yea under the deepest and saddest disconsolations In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Psal 94. 19. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death c. thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me Psal 23. 4. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds Psal 147. 3. 3. He can comfort you when there is none else to comfort you when you have He can comfort when there is none else to comfort neither father nor mother sister nor brother companion nor friend when you are in prison in exile in the losse of all yet he alone when you are alone can comfort your souls he can shew you the salvation of the Lord speak peace assure you of mercy and cause you to rejoyce 4. Hâ— can comfort you and none shall hindâ—r him neither men nor divels He can comâ—ort and none â—hall hinder â—im nor your own fears and doubts He can create your peace and joyes and make comfâ—rts for you and make you to drink of them And as none can take away your joyes so none shall be able to hinder them 6. The Spirit is yours in respect of his offices There are three special offices beloâ—ging He is ours in respect of his offices Three offices of the Spirit To make all the Ordinances of Christ effectual to us unto the Spirit 1. One is to make all the Ordinances of Christ powerful and effectual unto you Take the doctrines of the Gospel they are not effectual without the Spirit and take the seâ—ls of the Gospel they are not effectual unto you without the Spirit There are excellent precepts in the Gospel and excellent offers in the Gospel and excellent promises in the Gospel the Gospel commands us to repeâ—t to mourn to deny our selves to renounce all for Christ to come and believe on Christ but it is the Spirit which makes all these commands effectual and the Gospel offers Jesus Christ to poor sinners and thiâ—sty sinners and presents singular arguments to perswade and allure and draw the hearts of sinners but it is the Spirit which makes all those offers and all those arguments effectual and the Gospel promiseth all heavenly good of love of grace of peace of joy c. but it is the Spirit which makes all these effectual And therefore the New Testamâ—nt is called the mâ—nâ—stration nâ—t of the Letter but of the Spirit who giveth lâ—fe 2 Cor. 3. 6. And the Gospel hath excellent seals
in a very good estate when he is in a very wicked estate and a man may think he hath every grace requisâ—te to salvation when indeed he hath not any one of them he may deceive himself about repentance and about faith and about love c. For there is no true grace but there is also a counterfeit of that grace which may look like it but it is not so Ahab humbled himself and so did Hezekiah but his humbling was of another sort David repented and so did Judas but Davids repentance was of another kind than his Simon Peter believed and so did Simon Magus but Peters faith was another kind of faith than his There are three Grounds or Reasons upon which men may and do deceive Three grounds oâ— this deceit themselves that their Faith is the true Faith which shall bring Remission of sinnes unto them when really their Faith is not that Faith unto which forgiveness is promised 1. They finde some things which are the Ingredients of true Faith which yet are They finde some ingredients of Faith which are but common ingredient but common ingredients which another faith may have that gives not title unto forgiveness of sins As suppose knowledge and assent unto heavenly truths these are in that faith which gives us the Remission of our sins though not as giving that Remission and these may be in a faith which shall never bring you to the Remission of your sins 2. They finde some affections like unto those which come from true faith Some And some affections 〈…〉 suddain joyes and delights and desires upon hearing the Word and yet these are not those joyes which do flow from faith but are suddain and tranâ—â—ent Raptures flowing only from their own self-deceiving perswasions and not from any certain knowledge of union with Christ 3. They finde some kinds of conforming of themselves unto the Word in matters And some 〈◊〉 to the Worâ— of practice reforming and doing many things and yet this is not that conformity and that obedience which flows from true faith For it is not internal but only external and it is not universal but partial Let the same word strike aâ— a separation 'twixt their hearts and their beloved sin and presse them to a strictnesse of holy walking their Faith will not be able to bring them up to a subjection therein unto the will of Christ 4. These things being premised I now come to set out before you that Faith What that Faith is which will certainly get the remission of sins Faith well seated for the truth and quality of it which will certainly get you the remission of your sins That Faith First It alwayes follows special contrition and humiliation for sin For Faith cannot act on Chrst as a Saviour untill I finde my self a sinner needing him to be my Saviour and therefore the ordinary usual way of the Spirit is to convince of sin and to lay us low in the sense thereof and to break down all our high imaginations and self confidences that we come to see no hope but in the free grace and rich mercy of God in Christ before he conveyes Faith into our soules Luk. 3. 5. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low c. Ver. 6. and all flesh shall see the salvation of God Acts 16. 29. He came in trembling and fell down ver 30. and said Sirs what must I do to be saved ver 31. and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved 2. Is wrought in us only by the power and mighty working of the Spirit of Christ Faith rightly caused So the Apostle in Ephes 1. 19. called there the exceeding greatness of his power and the working of his mighty power The Spirit of Christ doth accompany and actuate the Gospel and it sets it on upon the heart for the truth and goodness of it with such Majesty Authority and Efficacy that the poor sinner is not able to resist and withstand the precept of Faith but is made willing and ready and yields up his heart to receive the Lord Jesus Christ Thirdly It is alwayes raised by Evangelical offers and premises when the Lord And well grounded works faith indeed and draws the heart to believe on Christ the heart takes ground and encouragement for this from the Offers and Invitations and Commands of the Gospel Come unto me saith Christ this is his Commandement that we should believe And from the Promises He that believes shall be saved Come unto me and I will give you rest c. Fourthly In true Faith the whole heart or soul is carried out unto Christ True believing is a believing with all the heart the whole heart yields unto Jesus Christ And unites the whole heart to whole Christ the understanding admires at the glory and at the kindness and goodness and love of Christ the judgement is filled with choisest thoughts and highest estimations of Christ None like Christ and none but Christ the will falls in with Christ freely readily fully O Christ thou art my chiefest good and blessedness and Christ hath all the affections of desire love delight and joy these are taken up and filled with Christ c. Faith brings in all to Christ Fifthly True Faith sincerely sets up all Christ takes and sets up Christ as our Priest for Expiation of sins Reconciliation Intercession and him alone and as It sincerely sets up all Christ our Prophet to teach and instruct us and as our King to rule us to destroy his enemies in us to give us Laws to receive obedience from us Sixthly True faith eternally unites the heart to Christ neither earthly preferment It eternally unites to Christ on the one side nor persecutions and discouragements on the other side can separate the heart of a true believer from Jesus Christ In a word true faith which hath the promise of forgiveness of sins doth not only know Christ but approves of Christ not only approves of Christ but receives Christ not some of Christ but all Christ not with some part of the heart but with the whole heart not for a time but for ever not upon our conditions but upon his own conditions not occasionally and upon an exigence but freely and upon choice not only for safety but also for service nor only for profession but also for union and communion It matcheth us to Christ as a Wife to the Husband it unites us to Christ as Branches to the Vine it joynes us to Christ as Members to the head Beloved this is that faith which is necessary for the remission of our sins If you have not a Faith produced by the mighty working of the holy Ghost if you have not a faith planted in a broken heart if you have not a faith grounded on Gospel-offers and promises if you have not a faith which brings in all your heart to match with Christ if you have not a faith
cryes out O Lord pity and pardon and comfort my distressed soul with the assurance of thy love and of forgiving mercy for Christs sake And then the voice of comfort and joy speaks Be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee and writes this good news upon the conscience Why this is right assurance and right comfort of the Holy Ghost Secondly There always goes a renewing and sanctifying work of the Spirit A renewing and sanâ—â—ifying work before the assuring and witnessing work of the Spirit Here I will briefly clear two Points 1. That the sanctifying work of the Spirit goes before the assuring work of the Spirit 2 Cor. 1. 21. He who hath anointed us is God Ver. 22. Who hath also sealed us Psal 85. 8. He will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints I beseech you tell me whose portion is forgiveness of sins and peace Hath the Lord promised it unto any but unto his people and who are indeed the people of God but Saints but holy people see 1 Pet. 2. 9. Ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood a holy Nation a peculiar people God will forgive none their sins but such as are his people much less will he assure any that their sins are forgiven but his people and all the people of God actually called into Covenant with him are holy therefore men must be sanctified before they are assured 2. It cannot be otherwise whether you consider First The Nature of the Spirit of God The Spirit of God is a holy Spirit and he will not aford his presence to any unless he first make them holy he always makes the Temple holy in which he intends to abide and dwell and if he will not abide in us unless he sanctifies us will he give us the assurance of the great love of God in Christ that our sins are pardoned before he sanctifies us Secondly You find in Experience that when the people of God fall into sin and do oppose the sanctifying work of the Spirit presently they lose comfort and assurance David did so Psal 51. if we must uphold sanctity to preserve the peace and comfort of the Spirit surely then there must be sanctity wrought before peace and assurance be spoken Thirdly A man must be in Christ before he can have propriety in the forgiveness of his sins and assurance that God hath for Christs sake forgiven him this all of you will grant as saith the Apostle If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Fourthly Once more Mark what God hath threatned to wicked and ungodly persons namely wrath and judgement and destruction and visiting of their sins upon them this is the portion of their cup. Now would you have the Spirit of God to misapply the Word of God whatsoever God hath threatned or promised in his Word that the Spirit of God is to apply his work it is to apply threatnings and his work it is to apply promises and his office it is to apply the one and the other respectively to the persons under the threatnings and under the promises he knows the mind of the Lord and therefore as he will not apply the threatnings of wrath unto the godly so he will not apply the promises of God to the wicked and if so then no assurance shall be by him applied unless men be holy Therefore let no man deceive himself with a deluded perswasion or assurance that his sins are pardoned as long as he remains wicked ungodly or unholy no no the holy Spirit never seals any but holy persons And there is a twofold holiness wrought in us before the Spirit gives assurance 1. One is Internal and Habitual which is the renewing and changing of the heart into a conformity with the Image of Christ 2. Another is External and Actual in the life and conversation Psal 50. 23. To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Gal. 6. 16. As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God Although this be true that every one who is sanctified is not presentâ—y assured yet this is true that the Spirit of God assures no man but first he sanctifies him Thirdly There always goes the believing work before assuring work of the Believing work Spirit the Spirit of God is a Spirit of faith and then the Spirit of comfort or assurance Ephes 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Mark first believing and then a filling with all joy and peace Psal 13. 5. I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation This Assertion I suppose will pass without dispute that the Spirit first works faith and then assurance and really it must be so for 1. You must be in relation of children and heirs before you can assure your selves of the portion of children Therefore the Apostle placeth the Spirit of Adoption before the witness of the Spirit as I hinted out of Rom. 15. 16. But it is by faith that we are children Gal. 3. 26 And receive the dignity of sons Joh. 1. 12. 2. None can assure himself of benefit but he who hath first a propriety in Christ union is the sole foundation of communion see 1 Cor. 1. 30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption What faith preceâ—es assurance Quest But now the question may be what faith that is which necessarily is precedent unto assurance Answered Sol. A twofold faith is previously required First A faith of union with Christ Secondly A faith of dependance upon the promises 1. A faith of union from which results propriety that Christ is yours and you are Christs as upon civil Marriage there ensues a mutual propriety this faith doth unquestionably precede the testimony or assurance of the Spirit for no part of Christs purchase can be sealed unto you before you have a part in Christ himself 2. A faith of dependance upon God that according to his promises he will both pardon you and also give you the assurance that he hath pardoned you for Christs sake and this faith is many times put forth to believe in hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. Before the Spirit lets in the assurance that our sins are pardoned I will hearken what c. Psal 80. 8. Fourthly There always goes praying and wrestling before this assuring Praying and wrestling work of the Spirit The Spirit of supplication goes before the Spirit of assurance Zach. 13. 9. They shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God Jer. 30. 21 22. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord ye shall be my
for mercy to pardon their sins and never mind holiness nor how to get their hearts to be sanctified Nay they oppose holiness and scoff and scorn at holiness These men will lose their souls because both of these which God hath promised are necessary for salvation you must have your sins pardoned or else you cannot be saved and so you must have your hearts sanctified or else you cannot be saved Quest 1. But you may say unto me why do men look only after mercy and Why men look after mercy and not holiness not also after holinesse seeing God hath joyned them together in his promise and both must be in persons which will be saved The Reasons may be these First Holinesse is more contrary to mans sinful nature than mercy Mercy indeed relieves the sinner in a more easie and delightful way but holiness though it doth relieve the sinner yet it doth it in a way more cross to our sinfull love for it fights against our sins and doth purge and work them out from our hearts and will not suffer sin to bear Rule there Secondly Though holiness be the way to heaven yet sinfull men do not look on it as so but they look on it as the way of trouble and reproach as a way that is contradicted and exposing them to crosses losses and contempts and which is too severe against their carnal liberties and pleasures and wills and therefore they like it not No man reproacheth another because he is justified but because he is sanctified for sanctification is a reproach and condemnation to the evil wayes of men Vse 3. Doth God promise to sanctifie his people as well as to justifie Be not content with the one without the other them Then be not content with the one without the other but joyn them in your prayers which God hath joyned in his promises Be not satisfied that you sins are pardoned neither be satisfied that your hearts be sanctified as he cryed out Domine de penitentiam da indulgentiam so do you Lord give me grace and Lord give me mercy God is a holy God as well as a mercifull God and Jesus Christ came by water and blood 1 Joh. 5. 6. Let your hearts be earnestly carried out for both To this end remember six Conclusions First Though your Right and Title to heaven lies in Justification yet your meetnesse and fitnesse for heaven lies in your Sanctification Col. 1. 12. Giving thanks unto God the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Acts 20. 32. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified Is it meet or fit that an ungodly person should be in heavenly glory The Leper had a right to his house yet was not fit to dwell in it untill he was cleansed Secondly When you look at the pardon of your sins you seem to look more at your selves your own safety your own peace your own deliverance from wrath and hell but when you look after sanctification you rather look more at Gods glory how you may be enabled to honour him more 1 Pet. 2. 9. Yea are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Thirdly We should be compleat in Christ Col. 2. 10. And in all the will of God Chap. 4. 12. How can this be if Christ be not your sanctification as well as Righteousness if you be not partakers of his Spirit as well as of his merit if you do not dye and live with him Fourthly It is a sign of a naughty heart when mercy alone is desired and that only will satisfie In an exigence the most wicked man will cry out for mercy but he never cries for sanctity Pharaoh put Moses upon it to pray that God would forgive his sinne but never that God would heale his hardness Fifthly As God promiseth the one as well as the other so he will never give the one without the other If he justifies you he likewise sanctifies you and if you are not sanctified assuredly you are not justified when you are by Faith united to Christ your communion immediately falls in for sanctification as well for Righteousness And it is impossible that Christ should be yours but you must have the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and that Spirit quickning us with a new life and mortifies our lusts Some hold that sanctification is an inseparable effect of justification but unquestionably it is a companion of it and a lively testimony of it Sixthly Because he promiseth both therefore seeke for both Consider 1. God promiseth nothing that is superfluous or useless but it is good and for our good 2. He promiseth no good which he 1. Is not able to perform And 2ly willing to perform Holiness is an excellent good it is the image of God it is the glory of God it is called glory 2 Cor. 10. it is the glory and excellency an unholy person is but vile and base the Saints are the excellent on the earth Psal 16. 2. It is our perfection it is the highest elevation of our names here on earth and hereafter in heaven it is the prime work of the Spirit it is the scope of election he hath chosen us that we should be holy Ephes 1. 4. It is the scope of vocation God calls us unto holiness 1 Thes 4. 7. And this God hath promised to give c. But I shall speak no more at present of this general Observation I will touch a little also upon the next general Proposition and then I will come to the principal matter in the Text. SECT II. Doct. 2. THat God himself undertakes in promise to sanctifie the hearts of his people I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within God himself undertakes to sanctifie his people you Levit. 20. 8. I am the Lord that sanctifieth thee Luke 11. 13. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Joh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them through thy truth thy Word is truth 1 Thes 5. 23. The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly Quest Why God undertakes it First Else it were impossible to be effected Consider First That no creature can make it self holy it cannot change it self no man Why God undertakes it Else it were impossible No creature can make itself holy can change his own sinful heart Who can say I have made my heart clean Prov. 20. 9. And this will appear by two particulars 1. No sinful man hath any supernatural power in him to produce any superdatural work in himself he is without all strength without me saith Christ
and unworthy of any mercy Lord be merciful to me a sinner Thirdly When hardness of heart is cured or curing then conscience recovers Conscience recovers it seâ—â— in all its offices it self in all its offices and operations it was 1. Asleep before but now it is awakened it was 2. Dead before but now it is alive it was 3. Silent before but now it speaks and now it shews it self with wonderful authority and power First Now it is an Accuser These have been your sins Secondly Now it is a witness in testifying against thee that thou wast guilty at such a time and in such a place and in such company Thirdly Now it is a Judge and condemns the sinner Wrath belongs to thee fâ—om which thou shalt never escape unless thou get into Christ Fourthly And now it wounds and troubles the sinner for what he hath done thou didst withstand such means of grace and thou didst resist such strivings of Gods Spirit and thou didst scorn and mock at the Word of God and thou didst hate instruction and reproof and thou didst therefore harden thy heart and wouldst commit such and such sins because thy sins were discovered and reproved c. Fourthly When hardness of heart is cured or curing then the sinner will not The sinner will make out for counsel rest in the sense of his miserable condition but out he goes for counsel to this Minister and that Minister and there he cries out with tears O Sirs what shall I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. I have slighted God and I have despised you and mock't at your counsel the good Lord forgive it me I now see what I saw not before and my heart is over-whelmed within me I know not what to do what way to take for the Lords sake shew me the way of life and mercy and peace Fifthly When hardness of heart is cured or curing then there is a special teachableness He is become teachable and tractableness fallen into the heart of a sinner the man can now hear reason and he is content to receive the Law from the mouth of God his slighting mocking despising spirit is departed from him and now it is Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. and now it is Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk Psal 143. 8. Whiles hardness prevails upon the heart no word of mercy no work of affliction no command of God no counsel of man can do any thing but the sinner will hold on in his sinful way come of it what will but when hardness is off then the heart becomes like a tender branch you may bend it which way you will or like the soft wax which presently receives the impression Speak but one word Take heed do not such a thing it is evil the heart presently flies off Have a care do such a work the Lord requires it at your hands presently the heart yields it stands in awe of the Word Sixthly When hardness of heart is cured or curing then all the dealings The dealings of God will work kindly of God will work kindly and effectually upon thee When thou hearest the threatnings of God thy heart will tremble and melt as Josias did when thou seest the judgement of God thy heart will lament and mourn as Davids did when the Lord meets thee in a way of affliction thy heart will humble it self and bow before the Lord when the Lord shews thee any mercy and blessings thy heart will receive them with tears O how good is God to me a sinner when the Lord reveals himself in his Covenant and Promise and sets out himself in the exceeding riches of his grace and love and mercy why thy bowels are stirred within thee and tears do trickle down thine eyes and longings rise up in thy heart O Lord that thou wouldst be my portion Seventhly When hardness of heart is cured or curing then the sinner He will never be quiet till he have Christ will never be quiet untill he hath Christ and untill he can see God to be at peace with him and reconciled in Christ There is no hoâ— with a broken and tender heart without a Christ and without a reconciled God Lord give me Christ and Lord take away iniquity and Lord receive me graciously O he is now sensible what a sinner he hath been and what injuries God hath received from him and what God may do against him and what need he hath of a Christ to make peace for him and therefore his soul is impatient and strives and wrestles for Christ and the distressed man indeed is become willing to part with all so that he may have his part in Christ and Gods reconciled favour Eighthly What shall I say more when hardness of heart is cured or curing He hath a singular aptitude to prayer the sinner will find a singular aptitude to prayer and his great delight will be to be with God unto whom he can now open himself with enlarged confessions and with floods of tears and grief even for an heart to be given unto him to mourn and bewail his sins and to obey c. and that he would never suffer his heart to harden it self any more Ninthly When hardness of heart is cured or is curing there will be A singular fear to sin then a singular fear to sin against God any more the man would not live and do as formerly for all the world How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. How shall we live in sin any longer Rom. 6. 2. Ezek. 36. 26. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh You have heard something of the first Proposition vâ— That there is a stoninesse or hardnesse of heart in every man naturallyiz I now proceed to the second Proposition which is this CHAP. X. The stony heart taken away 2. Doct. THat God will take away that hardness of heart from his people I God takes away hardness of heart from his people will take away the stony heart out of your flesh you have the same promise in Ezek. 11. 19. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh For the opening of this Point I would speak unto these Particulars 1. The manner how God takes away the hardness of heart from his people 2. Why the Lord will do so 3. How this can be affirmed seeing there doth remain much hardness of heart in the people of God SECT I. Quest 1. THe manner how God takes away the hardnesse of heart from his The meanes how God takes it away peeople Sol. For Answer unto this remember that hardness of heart may be taken away 1. Preparatively 2. Effectually 3. Successively 4. Perfectly and compleatly First The Lord takes away the hardness of heart Preparatively when he lets in such a powerful work of his Spirit by the Law which doth
A marvellous unsensibleness and cannot mourn for our sins 3. No delight in communion with God cannot pray Sol. For your help in these cases know First Melancholy is one thing and hardness of heart is another thing Melancholy breeds an indisposition to all works Religious and Civil unfit to Pray and unfit to Trade But hardness of heart is rather an opposition than an indisposition Melancholy indisposeth for a time for a fit but when that is off the soul is free again Secondly Indisposition from temptation is one thing and from affection is another Temptations may deject the heart and distract it but these are grievous and burdensome to the soul Thirdly Indisposition is absolute no heart at all or comparative not so full free quick and lively as at sometimes Fourthly Constant And transient approved resisted and bewailed And to that of unmournfulness First There is direct grief and there is reflexive grief a mourning because we cannot mourn Secondly There is dolor voluntatis which is displeasing and dolor passionis which is vexing this not alwayes nor always alike Thirdly Though you finde not your hearts so mournful yet you have hearts to beseech the Lord to give a Spirit of mourning Zach. 12. 10. We cannot pray First What not at all never no desires Secondly Not at sometimes with that freedom fulness chearfulness uninterruptedness Thirdly Yet you will pray you will look up Fourthly Three things may comfort and quiet you though you cannot pray with that earnestness and enlargedness yet if you can can pray 1. With a believing heart 2ly With an humble heart in the sense of it 3ly With a sincere heart and desire God will accept you SECT III. Vse 3. DOth the Lord himself undertake to take away the heart of stone from They who partake of this mercy should beware of hardning themselves again his people O then let all such who are the people of God whose hearts God hath cured of this Spiritual disease of hardnesse let them in a special manner beware that they suffer not their hearts to harden themselves again Perhaps this may be a word in season to some of us this day who have lost our former tenderness of heart and do now find a strong obduration upon our spirits and we know not therefore what to think of our selves and conditions With your favour I will speak three things unto this Case 1. The real Symptomes of an heart harding in a godly man 2. The sadness of that condition 3. Directions in this case for recovery I. The real Symptomes of an heart hardning in a godly man Symptomes of it Listlestness to the Ordinances First A listlestnesse of heart to the Ordinances the man hath not that flying spirit unto them Simile flies not as Doves to the windows nor that hungring spirit after them as heretofore he longs not for a Sabbath nor doth his soul complain for his appointed food It is with him as with a man on whom a disease is seasing his stomack begins to fail him and he mindes not his meat as he was wont to do So it is with a good man on whom hardness of heart is seasing the Ordinances are not so precious and dear to him as heretofore he falls in the high estimation of them and in the wonted affectionateness of them and the man can miss many a Sermon quietly and neglect any Ordinance Ah friend remember from whence thou art falling consider whither thou art going Hardness is growing when carelesness is rising c. Secondly A flatness of spirit under the Ordinances The time was that the Flatness of spirit under Ordinances mans heart was to the Word as wax to the seal every part of the world would have wrought and imprinted something on his heart a threatning would have startled him a Precept would have guided him a promise would have revived him there was ordinarily a vigour and warmth falling from the Ordinances upon his heart But now his heart is chill and cold and formal and dead under the means of life he is little or nothing stirred or moved He comes and hears the sound of the Word but he seldome meets with the power of the Word there is not that mourning nor joy nor fear nor trusting as formerly Divine Precepts do not quicken his heart Divine Promises do not establsh his heart Divine Exhortations do not encourage and enlarge his heart Divine Tryals and discourses do not make him to search his heart Divine Rewards do not affect and open his heart as heretofore they have done Thirdly A carelesnesse of mind after the Ordinances Heretofore when the man had heard the Word home he would go and retire himself and consider Careiesnesse of mind after Ordinances and confess and pray and bless the Lord Lord in such a Point thou didest discover my sin and failing O pardon and heal me in another thou didst clear my doubts be pleased still to settle and quiet my soul in another Point thou didst shew me more of my work O now grant unto thy servant more of thy strength in another Point thou didst raise my faith and comfort my soul my soul did therefore love and bless thee You would not imagine what pains the man took with a Sermon after a Sermon what wrestlings with God what tears and cries to take out the lessons of God to be cast into the mould of every Divine Truth O but now it is not so with him he hath quickly done with the Word after he hath read or heard the Word the Word doth not dwell with him nor go home with him he is seldom in after Meditations in after Applications in after Supplications The Word of God comes and goes is heard and laid aside perhaps the man speaks a little of it but mindes it not as a Message or Errand from God to him Fourthly A remisnesse concerning private duties when these begin either to Remisness in private duties be omitted or seldomly to be performed rather out of course than Conscience without that intentiveness of minde and without the labour of the heart and affections which God requires and which the Christian formerly found and expressed v. g. The Christians confessions were wont to be with singular sense of sin compunction and brokenness of heart judgings mournings shames and condemnings of himself his Prayers were wont to be strong cries importunate wrestlings vehement strivings and pleadings in the name of Christ humble urgings and pressings of the promises of God unsatisfiable thirsts after mercies graces comforts O but now they are not so or are very seldom so This poor Christian is scarce sensible of the sins which he doth now confess and scarce apprehensive of any Spiritual good which he seems to crave he doth not insist on these with his ancient affections and ancient expectations he seemes to be satisfied with what he doth and not with what he desireth Ah friend when the edge and fervor of the spirit is gone
when fervency daily degenerates into formality surely tenderness is falling into hardness of heart Watchlesness over the spirit Fifthly A watchlesnesse over the spirit or soul it is not minded observed lookt unto in its motions affections transactions as formerly but the guard is drawn off there is less fear and more security less diligent care and more loose presumption The man was wont to keep his heart with all diligence narrowly observing the passages and workings of his Spirit the inclinations of his heart temptations of Satan behaviours of every day alone and in company and accordingly did apply himself with variety of petitions to God and humbled himself for what was amiss and renewed his strength in the Lord for the time to come O but now it is not thus the precious soul is neglected the City is not watched the thoughts and affections and actions are not observed the poor man is asleep and drowsie and his spirituall frame is impaired and he considers it not 2ly The sadnesse of this condition The sadness of this condition It is an evill distemper First It is a very evil and naughty distemper an hard heart softning that is good but the soft hardning again that 's very evil Was it good to tremble at the Word what is it now not to be moved by the Word was it good to think of sin and mourn what is it now to hear of thy sins and not to be troubled at all was it good to act duties with affections and life what is it now to neglect the duties or to act them with a heavy and careless Spirit There are four things which shew this hardning to be very evil 1. The marvellous ingratitude in it that the Lord should shew so much mercy to heal the disease and yet you relapse into it again 2. There is an express self-condemnation why you were exceedingly troubled at the hardness of your hearts and prayed against it and sought the prayers of others and now to harden your hearts again 3. There is presumption in it you do tempt the Lord by it Do you mean to continue in this case then you are undone do you mean to come out of it why do you then tempt the Lord by falling into it and presuming on his grace to recover you 4. If you look not speedily to your selves where think you will this hardning end perhaps in some great desertion perhaps in some great transgression perhaps in some exceeding great and long trouble of conscience Secondly It is a very uncomfortable condition How is thy Sun eclipsed It is a very uncomfortable condition and thy Spring cut off what is become of that spirit of Prayer what is become of that excellent assurance of which thou hast so much spoken where is that sweetly excusing testimony of Conscience what is become of that joy in the Holy Ghost and that peace with which thou wast wont to work Ah! thou hast suffered thy heart to harden again and God looks not on thee as he was wont and Conscience speaks not as it was wont and the Spirit of God manifests not himself as he was wont and Ordinances smile not on thee as they were wont nor doth Providence shine upon thy Tabernacle as it was wont But instead of these thou meetest with many a sharp affliction with many piercing reproofs with many a sad item and reckoning and scourges which no man knows and feels in the sting and bitterness of it but thou thy self Thirdly It is a very formal and empty estate how may it grieve thee to see It is an empty state a fruitless Vintage of thy soul Tell me what returns hast thou had all this while that this hardning distemper hath been upon thee thou hearest carelesly and negligently what hast thou been the better for all the Sermons which thou hast heard thou prayest coldly and formally and what good hath returned upon thy soul after them thou hast had no trading all this while at heaven how dull must grace be which is not used and how decaying must thy Spiritual strength be which all this while recovers no more strength Fourthly It is a very dangerour posture though it be not absolute Apostacy It is a dangerous posture yet it looks toward it Though I will not say that it is the turning of the grace of God into wantonnesse yet it bends towards it Though it be not falling from grace and though it be not a forsaking of God yet unquestionably it is a gâ—ieving of God and a provoking of him and for which he may very far leave a person 3ly Directions in this case for recovery Directions for recovery Finde out the cause First By all means find out the cause or causes of the hardning observe well 1. What conscience tells thee in thy bed at night or in the day of fear and affliction or in a day of Solemn Humiliation or in the meditation of thy short appearances before God 2. What the Word of God hints and points at in thee at what it levels and strikes there is an arrow some time or other shot which falls into thy very heart a message that is secretly delivered in way of conviction and reproof which saith Thou art the man and this is thy way and thy doings 3. What thy faithful and watchful friends say unto thee what their suspicions and fears are and unto what their friendly counsels do tend A thousand to one but some of these things which I shall mention have brought on thee this new hardness upon thy heart 1. Either spiritual pride this hath made thee to neglect thy watch and to neglect the Ordinances 2. Or a worldly surfet thou hast been taking in too much of the world and worldly business and this hath robbed thee of thy precious time to converse at heaven to meditate to examine to read to hear to pray to confer with thy Fellow-Christians 3. Or the deceitfulness of sin Thou hast ventured on lesser sins and they have ensnared thee and drawn thee to greater sins and these have brought upon thee the hardness of thy heart again c. Secondly When you have found out the spiritual causes by which your hearts Judge your selves and repent have been hardned then judge your selves and repent remember from whence thou art fallen and repent said Christ unto Ephesus Rev. 2. 5. Nay do not stay to look when this hardning will fall off from thee but hasten but compel thy self to retiredness and to a penitential consideration of thy hardning with the causes of it and the great evils in it and fall down before the Lord in humble confessions of thy great back-slidings and poure out prayer upon prayer O wrestle with the Father of mercies for his Christs sake to pity and pardon and heal and once more to cure and recover thee Follow on to seek the Lord though he doth secretly upbraid thee though for a while he delays thee though to thy
hatred variance discord c. 2ly Many have a false and lying and deluding spirit but it is not this Many have a false and deluding spirit spirit which God promiseth to put within his people You read in Scripture of the Spirit of truth and of the spirit of error 1 Joh. 4. 6. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error and so you read of the Fancies and Delusions and Revelations of men called by the name of the spirit 2 Thes 2. 2. Be not shaken in mind or troubled neither by spirit nor by word c. And we are charged not to believe every spirit but to try the spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4. 1. Quest But here it may be demanded how it may be known that the spirit by which How a false spirit may be known man is moved and stirred and put on and led is a false spirit and not the Spirit of God Sol. This may be known many wayes First A false spirit is never let in by the Word The Ministry of the Gospel is It is not let in by the Word the Channel or the Conduit by which we partake of the true Spirit of God Gal. 3. 2. Ye received the spirit by the hearing of faith i. e. the Word or Gospel of Faith as those who hearing Paul Preach the Holy Ghost fell upon them so c. But a false spirit comes not in that way nay it is so far from being breathed by the Word that it works in men a slighting and contempt of it as you shall hear presently Secondly A false spirit is a loose spirit persons that partake of it do pretend It is a loose spirit unto strange Visions and high Revelations and mysterious Notions but for all them this false spirit leaves their hearts unchanged and their lives unreformed ordinarily men led by a false spirit are unfound and corrupt in their judgements and opinions and are idle and lazy and vicious in their walking Thirdly A false Spirit is an irregular spirit the motions and works of it are It is an irregular spirit such as 1. The Word of God doth not warrant nay doth exceedingly condemn As for the Husband to take a way the life of his Wife and the Parent to kill the child and for a man to take away the goods of his neighbour c. 2. Neither a mans General nor Paticular calling can warrant The false spirit puts on to such works which a man may not do as he is a Christian nor may he do as he is set in such or such a private Relation Fourthly A false spirit is a preposterous spirit It fills a man with strange joyes A preposterous spirit and Raptures of heaven before a man knows Christ aright and receives him by Faith and before he repents of his sins or ever made his peace with God it is all in joy and nothing in humbling and mourning for sin Fifthly A false spirit is an earthly spirit 1 Joh 4. 5. They are of the world An earthly spirit therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them They talk much of the Kingdom of Christ and setting up of that but they pull down the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ and it is a temporal kingdom which they strive after as you may read in those of Munster Sixthly A false spirt is a disordering and turbulent and bitter spirit There A turbulent spirit are two things which men of a false spirit have been tumultuously violently railing and reviling and lifting at One is Publick Magistracy the other is Publick Ministery It is a certain truth that the false spirit is an enemy to order and peace and authority and likewise to sound teaching and the instituted Ordinances of Christ Seventhly A false spirit is a Scripture-slighting spirit This is evident in all A Scripture-slighting spirit sorts of men led by a false spirit Papists are more for unwritten Traditions than for the written Word Ignorant Formalists are more for superstitions and superstitious worship than for the worship which the Word of God requires Anabaptists and Enthusiasts are more for Revelations and Visions than for the Word of God nay they reject the Word and do close with them c. Eigthly A false spirit is a self-contradicting spirit It frequently gives itself A self contradicting spirit the lye confidently foretels and determins of matters and for such particular times and none of these prove true as I my self know c. Ninthly A false spirit is a proud spirit and extreamly impudent and consorious A proud spirit it swells a man up in a conceit of himself and in a contempt of others above all measure The Scriptures are but poor things and the Apostles but ordinary men and Ministers but a company of dogs and others differing from them in their Opinion but the fire-brands of hell c. Tenthly A false spirit is a presumptuous spirit A presumptuous spirit Many have the Spirit yet come shorrt of what they should have 3ly Many have the spirit as to divers gifts and works and effects nevertheless these do not amount to the putting of the spirit within the people of God here promised in the Text. e. g. First A man may be enlightned by the spirit he may come into a knowlede of God and of Christ and of the way to heaven c. This is the enlightning spirit yet this is not the sanctifying spirit Secondly A man may be gifted by the Spirit he may have the gift of understanding of memory of utterance of praying of preaching c. and yet not not have the Spirit spoken of in the Text. Thirdly A man may be humbled by the spirit he may see his particular sins be exceedingly distressed and terrified and he may confess his sins as Pharaoh and Judas did and yet not have this Spirit in the Text. Fourthly A man may have desires of heaven to be saved as Balaam Let us dye the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. and the young man that came running to Christ saying Good Master What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life Matth. 19. 16. and yet not have c. Fifthly A man may have many motions of the Spirit to take him off from his evil course to stave him off from some sinful action and to put him on to a new course of life yea so far working in him as to raise him to some kinds of purposes and resolutions as in hearing the Word c. and yet not have c. Sixthly A man may by the spirit tast of the heavenly gifts and tast the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come Heb. 6. 4 5. he may be joyfully affected a while upon hearing and knowing and in some sort believing the great happiness purchased by Christ and yet not c. The misery to be distitute of the Spirit 4ly The extream miseries to be
Causally in us c. 3. Without faith no salvation He that believes not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. But without the spirit there can be no faith because that grace is the fruit and effect of his Almighty power So now you see plainly the infinite misery of being destitute of the Spirit of God Quest But how may we know whether the Lord hath put his own Spirit within How to knw that we have the Spirit of God us that the spirit of God is given to us indeed Sol. This may be known 1. By the works of the spirit 2ly By the qualities of the spirit 3ly By the properties of such who have the spirit in relation unto the spirit 1. By the works of the spirit The spirit of God is a vigorous and active and operative spirit and By the works of the Spirit when he is indeed put within any mans heart there he works in order unto the salvation of that man for unto that do all the works of God the Father as our Father tend and unto that do all the works of Christ the Son of God as our Redeemer tend and unto that do all the works of the spirit of God within us tend What are the works of Gods Spirit in them that shall be saved Now the works of the spirit in them which shall be saved are these .. Conviction 1. Conviction Joh. 16. 8. And when he is come that is the spirit whom Christ calls the Comforter ver 7. he will reprove the world he will convince the world of sinne Simile As when the light of the sun shines in a room this opens and discovers all the nastiness and sluttishness in the room so when the spirit of God comes into the heart he doth by his own light clearly discover and represent the sinful foulness that lies therein Here now I will briefly speak unto two Questions Quest 1. How the spirit convinceth a person of sin Sol. He doth convince of sin 1. By opening the Law of God unto us partly in the spiritualness of it as How the Spirit convinceth of sin reaching not only to our outward words and actions but also to our inward thoughts and affections both in the commands of it and likewise in the prohibitions of it that God doth not only command of us a Righteousness and holiness of conversation but also a righteousness and holiness of heart and nature not only that we do good but also that we be good not only that we hear him but also that we know and love and fear and trust upon him not only that we draw near unto him with our lips and bodies but also that we draw near unto him with our hearts and serve him in spirit and in truth That God in his Law doth not only forbid and condemn sinful words and deeds but also sinful desires and delights and motions not only murder in the hand but murder also in the heart not only adultery in the act but adultery also in the heart as Christ assures us himself in Matth. 5 28. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Perfection of it that it is so precise and exact that it expects from us not this or that particular duty but an universal obedience and full conformity unto all and every particular which is required and not for some little space of our life but constantly and invariably as to all the time of our lives and if we fail either in the fulness or in the continuance of obedience at any time in any particular presently the Law pronounceth a sentence of curse against us Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all these things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Secondly By opening our sins the transgression of the Law unto us Rom. By opening our sins to us 7. 9. When the Commandement came sin revived and I died i. e. when the Law came accompanied with the Spirit of God now sinne revived now it appeared now I saw what a sinful creature and what a miserable creature I was This is certain that when the spirit of God doth convince any one of sinne he then doth by an invincible evidence or lâ—ght so set out a mans sinful life and heart that he cannot but confess and acknowledge the same and withall himself to lye under the curse of God as long as by unbelief he remains in his sinful estate Quest 2. Whether a wicked person may not be convinced of sin and if he may how then can this work of conviction be any distinguishing character that we have the spirit Sol. To this I answer First I do not make every work flowing from the Spirit a character of his What are not characters of the presence of Gods Spirit gracious presence not illumination not conviction solitarily considered by themselves alone but as concomitantly considered with other more powerful and effectual works of the spirit following them 2. But secondly there is a difference between that conviction of sin in wicked The difference between the convictions of the wicked and the godly men and that in the people of God and the difference lies thus First The conviction in wicked men is ordinarily levis mollis it is such an evidencing of their sins as doth not much afflict and distress them indeed they cannot deny but that they are sinners yet they hope to escape well enough for all this c. Secondly The conviction in wicked men is ordinarily semiplena imperfecta it is of some outward gross sins as swearing lying adultery drunkenness but for all these they think their hearts are as good as the best they are seldom convinced their sinful hearts and natures and that original sin which is the fountain of all sins and which pollutes the whole soul Thirdly The conviction in wicked men if it be full and strong it is but Judicialis it is not Remedialis it is not in salutem but proves only in perniciem for when they are so convinced either they sin more desperately against the convincing light of the Spirit or else they fall into despair as Cain and Judas and Spira crying out that their sinnes are greater than can or shall be forgiven But now the conviction of sin by the Spirit in the people of God is another kind of conviction For 1. It is deep and powerful it makes discovery of the very root and foundation What is the conviction of the Spirit in Gods children of all sins even of that corruption and vileness in the heart In sinne did my Mother conceive me said David Psal 51. 5. And I see another Law in my members said Paul Rom. 7. 23. And Ecce cor meum Deus meus ecce cor meum said Austin Ah Lord what a wicked heart had I c. 2. It is graciously effectual this work of conviction works graciously upon
men destitute of the Spirit though we be civil and courteous and friendly and helpful if we be born of the Spirit c. Gal. 4. 29. as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Here is Ishmael born after the flesh i. e. an ungodly and wicked wretch and here is Isaac born after the Spirit i. e. according to the promise of the Spirit and according to the powerful and gracious renewing of the Spirit and presently he is persecuted by Ishmael That must needs be good which Nero persecutes so he must needs be good he must needs have the Spirit of God against whom all the scoffings and mockings and reproaches and persecutions of the wicked are raised Fourthly They that have the Spirit do walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit you read those expressions Gal. 5. 25. and Rom. 8. 4. We walk not afâ—er Such walk in the Spirit the flesh but after the Spirit Now as to walk after the flesh is to set anâ— order the course of our life after our corrupt reason and wills and affections following them as our guides so to walk after the Spirit is to dispose and order our conversation according to the rules and motions of the Spirit so to lead our lives and move on in our courses as the the Spirit of God doth teach us in the Word and stirs us up inwardly to follow Thus doth every one who hath the Spirit of God he walks after the Spirit his conversation is in heaven Phil. 3. 20. His course of life is the course of new obedience that newness of life which the Word sets forth He walks not as the men of this world walk nor according to his own lusts in the times of his ignorance but before God in Holiness and Righteousness for by the Spirit he is sanctified to obedience 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1. He prayes with David Psal 119. 133. Order my steps in thy Word Ephes 5. 10. Proving what is acceptabe to the Lord. 2. For the paths Psal 119. 101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way Ver. 8. I will walk in thy statutes Isa 26. 7. The way of the just is uprightnesse 3. For the end so as to advaace the Kingdom and advance the Gospel a living unto the Lord. Fifthly They that have the Spirit are spiritual worshippers The true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth for the Father seeketh Such are spiritual worshipers such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth John 4. 23. 24. So Paul in Rom. 1. 9. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son Phil 3. 3. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit Beloved take these two things for certain truths viz. 1. Carnal men are but carnal worshippers a form of worship satisfies them bodily service outward performance Isa 29. 13. This people draw near me with Carnal men are carnal worshipers their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart farre from me c. Jer. 12. 2. Thou art near in their mouth and farre from their reins 2. But spiritual men or men of the spirit are spiritual worshippers they do worship God in spirit Object But you will say What is it to worship God in spirit Sol. I answer to worship God in spirit is First To have our inward man taken up imployed and acting in all those Religious duties which we do owe and which we do present unto him As when What it is to worship God in Spirit we draw near to him in prayer for power to repent to believe to obey c. not only our mouthes do pray but our very hearts also do pray and our prayers are the lifting up of our hearts Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Psal 25. 1. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens Lam. 3. 41. And the very desires of our souls Isa 26. 8. The desire of our soul is to thy name And when you come to him in confession of sins not only your lips do acknowledge them and condemn you for them but your very hearts are ashamed of them and bewail them and judge them And so when you come to hear the Word a bodily presence doth not satisfie you but your hearts do come with your bodies and your hearts do hear and your hearts are ready to receive the Word with gladness and fear Secondly To have an edge upon our hearts in the services of God a kind of heavenly vigor and strenuousnesse so that our souls do come in to it with all the actual strength which they have for the present Indeed a Christan hath sometimes a stronger and quicker keeness of spirit than he hath at other times but still he puts forth as least in his desires and endeavours what power he hath in his communion with God As he seeks God with his mouth so he seeks him with his whole heart Psal 119. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee he doth not serve the Lord with a cold formal indifferent spirit but as the Apostle speaks Rom. 12. 11. He is fervent in spirit serving the Lord He prayes and hears fervently and repents fervently and believes fervently 'T is true that he falls very short yet what he doth to the Lord he doth the same in good earnest it is his work and his business and if he finds it otherwise with himseâ—f if he finds a dulness and deadness upon his spirit this troubles him and he strives to shake it off by stirring up himself as the phrase is Isa 64. 7. and that of 2 Tim. 1. 6. and by awaking of his heart and graces I my self will awake saith David Psal 108. 2. and beseeching of the Lord to quicken and to enlarge his heart I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart Psal 119. 32. Sixthly They who have the Spirit of God are most pleased and delighted in Such delight in spiritual ministrations spiritual and vigorous ministrations which deal most with their spirits and do in a spiritual power most reach their hearts and spiritual condition Beloved this you shall find in experience that a profane heart cannot endure but alwayes hates and despiseth a spiritual and searching Ministry A formal heart hath most satisfaction in a formal Ministry A gracious heart is alwayes best pleased with a spiritual and powerful Ministry with that Ministry which doth come in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit and makes it self manifest unto the consciences of men which is quick in operation and piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. and which is mighty
many times we know not what to do and cannot do any good that we would and now the Spirit of God comes and strengthens our feeble hands and supports our fainting spirits and puts out his power upon our hearts and carries us on in our wayes and works You do find it thus in several cases viz. 1. Frequently when we are to pray we are at a loss and cannot go on with Gods spirit helps us in prayer the heavenly work our ignorance our unbelief Satans temptations and distractions all these hold us down and bind us up and we cannot help and free our selves But then the Spirit of God comes in with his strength and with his help and stirs up our hearts and enlargeth our hearts and new desires flow and groans abound and affâ—â—ctions work and faith works with confidence to the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help in time of need 2. Alwayes in our spiritual warfare with our own corruptions with Satans temptations In our spiritual warfare in these conflicts we feel our own weakness and their power and violence so that we many times cry out O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us Rom. 7. 24. Or as Jehoshaphat in another case We have no might against this great company that commeth against us neither know we what to do 2 Chron. 20. 12. And verily we may say concerning our own corruptions what he spake of his enemies If it had not been the Lord who was on our side if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed us up quick Psal 124. 1,2,3 so if the Spirit of the Lord had not been with us and if the Spirit of the Lord had not strengthened and helped us sin had been too hard for us But in those conflicts the Spirit of God hath made us strong still to pray still to believe still to wait still to resist and at length to conquer 4ly The spirit of God which is given unto us is a reconciling and a restoring spirit He is a restoring spirit he restoreth my soul saith David Psal 23. 3. Even the people of God sometimes are circumvented by Satans temptations and are overpowered by sin that dwelleth in them what I hate that do I saith Paul Rom. 7. 15. They do many times fall very grievously and sadly and are not able by their own strength to rise again but there they lye with their weakness and losses and complaints and tears Now in this condition the Spirit of God puts forth his hand and recovers and raises them up again he doth not leave them when they are fallen but by the power of his assisting grace 1. He awakens them out of their sleep by a quick conviction upon their consciences He awakens out of spiritual sleep to see the great evil which they have done I have sinned saith David as soon as Nathan said Thou art the man 1 Sam. 12. 2. He melts their hearts into singular grief for that evil which they have done Melts their hearts into grief David watred his couch with tears Psal 6. 6. And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly Luk. 22. 62. he makes them to mourn and to be ashamed and to loath themselves 3. He stirs up their hearts to confess and acknowledge their sinnings and to judge themselves before the Lord for their unfaithful dealings and unworthy walking Stir them up to confess their sins and likewise earnest wrestlings and strivings with the Lord by prayer for pardoning mercy and restoring grace and a more stedfast spirit Psal 51. 9. Blot out all mine iniquities Ver. 10. Renew a right spirit witbin me Ver. 12. Vphold me by thy free spirit 4. He enables them by faith to lay hold on Christ to be their peace and to Enables by Faith to lay hold on Christ make Reconciliation and thus doth the Spirit of God recover and restore their fallen souls and assures them that their sin is pardoned Fifthly the Spirit of God which is given unto you is a comforting Spirit Christ He is a comforting spirit himself calls him the Comforter Joh. 14. 16. and you find him actually comforting the people of God Acts 9. 31. They walked in the comforts of the Holy Ghâ—st He is called the Comforter by way of Eminency and Excellency there is no such Comforter as the Siprit of God Psal 77. 2. For 1. He can comfort your very souls with proper comfors and consolations Thy Comforts the soul comforts delight my soul Psal 94. 19. 2. He can comfort you against all your discomforts 2 Cor. 1. 4. Who comforteth Comforts against all discomforts us in all our tribulations 1. From Conscience 2. From the Divel and the world 3. From Providence when it seems to be cross to us 3. He can comfort you under all absences when there is neither Father nor In all absence and wants Mother nor Husband nor Wife nor Child nor Friend nor Land nor House yet he can comfort you he alone can shew you the salvation of the Lord speak peace and joy and assure you of mercy and cause you to rejoyce in believing Psal 27. 10. When my Father and my Mother for sake me then the Lord will take me up 4. He can comfort you and none can hinder him nor men nor Divels nor fears nor doubts for he can create you peace and create you joy and create He cannot be hindred in comforting us you comfort he himself alone is a sufficient cause of comfort Object How so how doth the Spirit comfort Sol. 1. By opening all the springs of comfort unto you the fountain of mercy How the Spirit comforts By opening the springs of comfort By actuating our Faith Zech. 13. 1. the Fountain of grace the Fountain of the blood of Christ and of justification 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. Rom. 5. 11. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the attonement 2. By actuating your faith to behold all these fountains of joy and to dig water out of the wells of salvation and making you to suck the brests of consolation 3. By applying them to your very souls clearing and witnessing your right unto By opplying them to our souls them your propriety in them that Christ dyed for your sins that God is reconciled to your souls that you are justified and accepted unto life and that you are the children of God Rom. 8. 4. By enabling conscience to testifie 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this By enabling Conscience to testifie the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation Sixthly The Spirit which is given unto you is dwelling and an abiding spirit He is a dwelling spirit in all the people of God Rom. 8. 11. By his Spirit that dwelleth in you Joh. 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he
shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever He will be mortifying your sins perfecting your graces conquering your temptations subduing your corruptions helping your weaknesses comforting your consciences leading you on in your journey untill you come to the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls As Jesus Christ accomplished all the works for which the Father sent him he gave not over untill he had finished all of them so doth the Spirit of God who is sent and given unto us he proceeds and goes on with all the works for which he is given unto us and that is to communicate and apply unto us all which Christ hath purchased for us even grace and glory even life and eternal life Thus have you heard 1. The Discoveries of the presence of the Spirit 2ly The Benefits and blessedness in the enjoyment of that Spirit SECT IV. 3. Vse I Now proceed unto a third Use which shall be of relief to tender and Reliefe to weak Christians weak Christians who are full of tears and sadness because they can find no discoveries of the presence of Gods Spirit within them or at most very weak and feeble pulses and appearances thereof That which I would say for the support of those weak persons I shall set down in five Conclusions First One may have the real presence of the Spirit and yet sometimes The spirit may be really present and yet not discovered It s in desertions have no sensible discoveries of his presence as to his own apprehension As 1. In the time of desertions when the Lord hides himself from the soul and draws off and leaves it a while to sit in darkness and in silence in such a case though there be actings of the Spirit and puttings forth tears and groans and complaints Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Psal 77. 7. yet the deserted soul discerns them not in a Relative way as working testimonies of the presence of the Spirit 2. In time of great transgressions Then the Spirit as is it were in a swoon and the light appears not and confusion and darkness rise upon our graces David In great transgressions in his great transgressions looks upon all as lost and therefore prayes that the Lord would not take his holy Spirit from him Psal 51. 11. Secondly One may have the Spirit of God within him and yet sometimes as to his own thinking the discoveries may be rather that he hath not the spirit than that he hath Job saith of God he holds me for his enemy Job 13. 24. And David saith cast me not off Psal 43. 2. And the Church saith my God hath forsaken me Isa 49. 14. This is our condition in the times of vile temptation and in the time of sad melancholy and there is no grace in me no faith no love softness of heart no ability to pray all was but hypocrisie there was never any thing in truth wrought within my soul Thirdly There are comforting discoveries of the presence of the Spirit and Other effects of the Spirit there are proper and respective discoveries of this presence as to our present ways and works and needs Perhaps you have not the manifestations of the spirit in the effect of peace and joy and assurance and yet you may have the manifestations of the Spirit in the effects of mourning for sin and conflicting with it and prayer against it and to walk uprightly Perhaps you find not the presence of the Spirit discovering himself in strong and powerful actings in your souls and yet you may find the Spirit discovering himself in making you to hunger after Christ Perhaps you find not the Spirits presence in raising your hearts with his testimony and yet you find his presence in humbling your hearts for the sins into which you are fallen Perhaps you do not find the presence of the Spirit in delivering you from temptations but yet you find his presence in upâ—olding of you against temptations Fourthly There are many things which may befall us in our Christian race When we may conclude our having of the Spirit not withstanding afflictions and course which yet are not sufficient grounds to conclude that God hath not given unto us his Spirit e. g. 1. Afflictions losses and crosses in outward things you may not from these conclude that God hath not given you his Spirit Because 1. The Lord doth correct every son whom he loveth 2. The most holy persons have been afflicted Job was so so was Jacob so was David 3. These are sent for the tryal of our faith and repentance c. and for the improvement of them 2. Oppositions from wicked men by reproaches and slanders and threatnings and injuriousness these are so far from aproving that we have not the And opposition and reproaches Spirit that they rather do demonstrate his presence and work in us Gal. 4. 28. We brethren as Isaac was are the children of promise Ver. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now 1 Joh. 3. 12. As Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew he him because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 Pet. 4. 4. They think it strange that you run not with them to the same excesse of riot speaking evil of you 3 Inward motions of sin and outward temptations from Satan They have Inward motions of sin and outward temptations Different temptations in our own hearts and do befall the best of Saints Paul found the one in Rom. 7. and the other in 2 Cor. 12. and who of the people of God is free from them 4. Several diversities upon our own spirits sometimes a lowliness a dulness sometimes great confidence and someties many doubtings sometimes rejoycings sometimes mournings sometimes an enlargedness of heart and sometimes a narrowness and restrainedness sometimes an high elevation of heart and sometimes why art thou cast down O my soul sometimes I do believe and yet sometimes O that I could believe sometimes I will not fear what man can do unto me and sometimes I am affraid and that I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul 5. Particular wandrings and sinnings when yet the course of a Christian is Particular wandrings holy and upright in this case we may neither condemn another nor yet our selves as utterly destitute of the Spirit of grace because as a course of sinning ariseth from the want of grace so the particular acts of sinning may arise only from the weakness of grace Fifthly there may be but a very weak measure of grace in a person who yet A weak measure of grace where yet is the Spirit of grace hath the Spirit of grace in truth A Child that is newly born is a living child and yet he is very weak Some Christians are but
forth his image and to conform us to â—hrist 2 Cor. 3. 18. It s accepted with God Sixthly The weakest graces and breathings and actings of it are accepted with God he owns it Simile as a Father doth his weak babe and he regards the offering and services of it he will not only not despise the day of small things Zech. 4. 10. and he will not only not only break the bruised reed and not only not quench the smoaking flax Matth. 12. 20. but he will lovingly and graciously accept of the weakest fruits of weakest graces Psal 38. 9. All my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee 2 King 20. 5. Tell Hezekiah thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father I have heard thy prayer I have seen thy tears 2 Cor. 8. 12. If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Seventhly The Lord hath a very tender respect unto persons who are weak in grace Isa 40 â—1 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the God hath a tender respect to such lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosome and shall gently lead those that are with young You may look up to Jesus Christ your High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and by him you may come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy to help in time of need Heb. 4. 15 16. Mal. 3. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him Isa 66. 13. As one whom his Mother comforteth so will I comfort you 1 Thes 5. 14. Comfort the feeble-minded support the weak Isa 61. 1. The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted ver 2. to comfort all that mourn Sixthly The weakest grace of the Spirit is a sure evidence that you are in Christ and it is the earnest penny of your future glory Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are It s an evidence that we are in Christ the poore in heart for they shall see God Ver. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied SECT V. 4. Use DOth God give his own Spirit unto all his own people Let them then who have received the Spirit remember the duties which do in a more special manner concern them These are first Negative secondly Positive 1. Negative duties are First Quench not the Spirit this is the Exhortation of the Apostle 1 Thes Duties of such as have received the spirit Quench it not Why the spirit is compared to fiâ—e 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit The Spirit in this Metaphorical expression is compared to fire because 1. Fire lightning upon any combustible matter it doth burn and consume it So when the Spirit of God enters into our hearts he doth waste and consume by degrees all our noysome lusts and vile affections and sinfull deeds Rom. 8. 13. 2. Fire doth purge and purifie the mettals by burning up the dâ—oss and by making them more pure and bright So doth the Spirit of God when he comes into our hearts he purgeth the heart of sin and makes us holy and fit vessels of honour 3. Fire doth mollifie and soften and melt the hardest Iron So doth the Spirit of God the hardest heart and makes it melt into godly sorrow and feare 4. Fire doth give light and heat So the Spirit of God doth enlighten and teach us and heats us and warms us and inflames our hearts with the love of God and with a power to do his will 5. Fire doth ascend and mount upward So the Spirit carries up our thoughts and affections unto things which are above Rom. 8. 5. 6. Fire doth revive and as it were put a new life into us when we are frozen or benummed So doth the Spirit quicken and enlarge our hearts when they are oppressed with dulness and deadness In these and some other respects is the Spirit of God with his graces compared to fire which may be quenched either in part as when you suffer it to decay and slack or in whole when it goes out all together There are four wayes by which the fire is quenched First By withdrawing and with-holding the fuell which should nourish it How this fire is quenched So when we withdraw our ears from hearing the Word and restrain Prayer and decline holy society and conference we do now quench the Spirit in his gifts and graces they will decay and fall and dye withâ—n us Secondly By casting on water though you put much wood to the fire yet if you cast more water upon it this will quench the fire So although you should hear and pray yet if you admit gross sins these will quench the Spirit they will either totally extinguish or else extreamly diminâ—sh the graces of the Spirit David found it so by his gross sins of adultery and murder And Sampson found it so in his loosness with Dalilah Thirdly By smothering of it Though you do not withdraw fuell from the fire nor throw water upon it yet if you heap upon it much cold earth or green wood this will smother and put out the fire though you do not decline Ordinances and duties you do not fall into gross sins yet if you suffer your heart to be overcloy'd with the things of the world with the cares and employments of it these will choak the word and these will smother and quench the operations of the Spirit within you Fourth By neglecting of it If we do not look unto the fire and put the Brands together and stir and blow it up it will decay and go out So if we neglect the graces of the Spirit if we do not stir them up as Paul adviseth Timothy 2 Tim. 1. 6. shake off the contrary indisposition and put them out in daily exercise they will decay and will be ready to dye Object But some will say Quorsum haec may a Christian lose the Spirit fall away from grace can the work of the Spirit be wholly extinguished where is then the comfort and the happiness you lately spake of Sol. I will not take up by the by that debate of total and final Apostaty only this I say for the present that there is such a latitude and compasse in the graces of the Spirit that as the Christian may rise higher in them so he may fall and decay much in them How the graces of the spirit may be considered In their Root Take me briefly thus the graces of the Spirit may be considered First In their Root which is Christ And thus considered as Christ lives for ever so do the graces of Christ he dies not neither shall any Branch Rooted in him die Secondly in their essential habit or spiritual quality thus likewise the are In their essential habits immortal seed and abiding
been and are the cause of all our troubles The troubles which the Spirit causeth in us for sinne is a meanes to deliver us from sinne and the eternal troubles for sinne 2. The troubles which the Spirit causeth in us for sinne do end in much joy They end in joy and peace and peace The joy and peace of the Spirit are very precious and they cannot be delivered out unto us unless we be first troubled for our sin The Spirit comforts mourners and them that are cast down Now the Spirit troubles us for sin 1. To make sinne bitter to us 2ly To make Christ sweet to us As he troubles us for our sins so he leads and draws the troubleâ— soul to Christ that in him he may find deliverance from those sinnes and his peace made with God c. Trouble is not all the work of the Spirit it is an inceptive work and a preparative work he troubles you for sin that you may not be damned for sinne and that you may make out for Christ to save you from your sinnes Object We should be willing to have the Spirit but that then we must bid farewell to all our sins the Spirit is a mortifying Spirit he will not suffer us to love our sins nor to take pleasure in them as heretofore we are affraid of the sword of the Spirit Sol. I answer First It is granted that the spirit will do this as you do speak it will cast sin The second prejudice removed He dethrones sin The death of sin is our life out of the throne it will take off love and service from sin and it will be more and more â—â— mortifying of it Secondly But then where is the hurt the danger the prejudice which you have against this Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Here is death and life If you keep your sins alive ye shall dye if you through the spirit mortifie your sins you shall live The life of sin is your death and the death of sin is your life Saul spared Agag but it was his ruine and Ahab spared Benhadad but it was his ruine c. Object O but the Spirit will make us holy and we must then live holily and not so lâ—osly and freely as heretofore Sol. First Will the spirit of God make you holy and should you not be The third prejudice removed so 1 Pet. 1. 16. Be holy for I am holy and should you not walk so As he who hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. Secondly Consider only three places of Scripture for this 1. Isa 4. 3. He that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every We should be holy one that is written amongst the living in Jerusalem 2. Heb. 12. 14. Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 3. Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Object But I shall be a derision and a mock if I should pretend to the Spirit c. Sol. 1. Who will mock you those that are led by the Divel wicked graceless The fourth prejudice removed ungodly men 2. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 3. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of Christ resteth upon you 1 Pet. 4. 14. Secondly if you would come to partake of the Spirit you must not then resist We must not resist the spirit the Spirit Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resâ—st the Holy Ghost Acts 7. 51. Men resist the Spirit two wayes 1. When they will not hearken unto nor regard the counsel and commands of the Spirit delivered in the Word but set themselves against them and oppose and How the spiriâ— is resisted despise them 2. When they will not receive the offers and motions of the Spirit but harden their hearts against them and quench them and will not give way or enterance unto them Now take heed of this when the Spirit of God is knocking at your hearts and stirs your hearts to accept of him and of his graces which he is willing and ready to work in you by no means neglect them or slight them but lay hold of them presently as one of the greatest mercies that God is intending toward you bless him and cherish them and beseech him to go on with his work on your souls do not reject any work of the Spirit neither grieve him by neglecting his good motions Prov. 1. 23. Turn you at my reproof behold I will poure out my Spirit unto you I will make known my works unto you my Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Thirdly If you would come to partake of the spirit then you must pray the We must pray for the spirit Lord to give you his spirit you must thirst after him and seek for him Isa 44. 3. I will poure water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will poure my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Luke 11. 13. Your heavenly Father will give the spirit to them that ask him What a promise is this to encourage any man sensible of the want of the spirit to pray unto God! Jesus Christ assures him that if he will ask for the Holy Spirit he shall have him Object But who can pray unless he hath the Spirit first Sol. I grant that the spirit must make you sensible of the want of the spirit and he must stir up your hearts to pray for him there is some degree of the spirits presence in stirring us up to pray for these but then if you would fully enjoy the spirit you must poure out you hearts c. Fourthly You must attend the Preaching of the Gospel the Gospel is called Attend upon the Ministry oâ— the Word the Ministry of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. And you read that whiles Peter was Preaching the Word unâ—o Cornelius and the rest the Holy Ghost came upon them Act. 10 44. Whiles Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word So Gal. 3. 2. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith They received the spirit upon the hearing of the Gospel which is the word of faith You read that aâ—l the works of the spirit and all the graces of the spirit and all the joyes and comforts of the spirit are let into us by the Word by that the spirit is pleased to convey himself First His works He enlightens our minds by the Word he convinceth us of He enlightens our minds by the Word sin by the Word I
to be separated from me and another thing for me to be separated from sin 1. It is one thing for sinne to be separated from me and it is another thing for me to be separated from sinne For sin to be separated from me is wholly to be rid of it so that sin no more remaines in me For me to be separated from sin is not to love and serve it but cordially to hate it and oppose it he is separated from sinne who hates sinne Now it is not the presence of sinne simply and absolutely which is effectually contrary to union with Christ for then no sinner should ever be in Christ but it is the love and service of sin which is contrary to a union with Christ a man cannot love sinne and yet love Christ neither can he serve sinne and serve Christ But thus it is not with you for though sin be in you yet you love it not and though sin assaults and tempts and perhaps sometimes prevailes yet you serve it not And remember as long as sin is your burden your grief your enemy which you resist which you would destroy with which you will not make peace certainly you love it not nor are you the servant of it Paul who was in Christ found the presence of sin but yet he hated it and the powerful working of sin but yet he refused it and sometimes the captivity of sin but yet he bewailed it and sought to Christ for more deliverance and victory 2. There is a twofold separation from sin There is a twofold separation from sin Radical Gradual One is Radical when by the infusion of grace the heart is changed and alienated from sin The other is Gradual when by the further influence of the Spirit of Christ the powerful presence of sin is more and more mortified and subdued This latter you shall attain unto by vertue of your union with Christ But if you finde the former certainly you are united to Christ If there be but so much grace infused into the heart to alienate it from sin to change the bent and frame of the soule why this cannot be without a union with Christ for this is a new spiritual change wrought in you by the Spirit of Christ and the newnesse of our hearts depends upon that union with Christ which is made by faith and is the lively testimony of it If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5 17. But I never found the powerfull workings of the Spirit Object O but union with Christ depends upon some mighty and powerful workings of the Spirit upon the soule which I never observed nor discerned in my soule Answered Though such a powerful work may not be discerned for the time yet it may appear by the effâ—cts Sol. It is a truth that it doth so The Gospel comes not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost when it inables a soule to believe in Christ and without the mighty working of the Spirit it is impossible to make the heart to believe And although in the present darknesse of the Spirit you discern not nor remember such a mighty working yet perhaps by the effects which may be found in you you shall acknowledge the same for the time was 1. When blacknesse of darknesse covered your mindes so that you were ignorant of God and Christ and your own condition and of the way of salvation But now there is a light set up in your minde by which you know the true God and him whom he hath sent even Jesus Christ and the salvation by him purchased for sinners who believe in him 2. When carnal security possessed your heart so that you could rest quiet in your natural condition but now that spirit of slumber and security is shaken off and your soule is become anxious and sollicitous What shall I do to be saved 3. When your heart was full of your own righteousness you were rich and increased you were whole and needed not the Physitian but now you see your self pâ—ore and wretched and naked and miserable and utterly undone unlesse you may have Christ and be found in him 4. When you were confident and presumptuous of your own power and self-sufficiency O it was easie to repent and no great matter to believe on Christ but now you finde your self without all strength and unlesse you be enabled by the strength and grace of Christ it is not only difficult but also impossible for your heart to close with him by faith 5. When you found your proud spirit slighting the offers of Christ and opposing the word of Christ and resisting and quenching the motions of the Spirit of Christ but now your hearts tremble at these abominations and you lie down at the feet of Christ and your heart is set on Christ O Lord give me Christ O Lord give me an heart to embrace this precious Christ and never to slight thy great love in Christ nor that great salvation any more 6. When you felt the power of unbelief in your hearts working up daily exceptions and hourly fears and strong despaires for ever enjoying Christ for your Christ O now this sin and that sin this slighting and that neglecting and your unworthinesse and Christs unwillingnesse and your inability and Christs command and your dulnesse and Christs silence and your desires and Christs delayes so that no hopes many times lodged within you your hearts were sinking and failing and giving up all But now your hearts are answered and set at liberty and power is found within you to break down this mighty partition wall of unbelief and against all the oppositions which unbelief and Satan can make yet to venture upon Christ and to justifie the invitations and promises of Christ and wholly to come up to all the terms and articles of Christ upon which he is contented to be yours O Christian call'st thou these no workings of the Spirit Or no mighty workings of the Spirit I tell thee that to work and effect these things no lesse power is put forth than the Almighty power of God upon thy soule A greater power than to bring Israel out of Egypt as great a power is put forth as to raise the dead I grant that when the Spirit works with the Law to convince and distresse the conscience there his workings are more vehement and strong to our apprehensions And when the same Spirit works through the Gospel his workings many times are not discerned in their time of working in that sensible and remarkable efficacy but yet when you review the whole work and working of the Spirit as to the production of faith why you will fall down and admire how ever your poore soules could against so many oppositions insufficiencies reasonings conclusions fears doubts despaires be prevailed upon and enabled to come to Christ Ob. O but union with Christ indeed by faith ever takes along with it the presence and communion of the
Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit and he hath received the Spirit the Spirit of Christ who is in Christ But I have I but I have not the Spirit not that Spirit I finde him not I feele him not Answered Sâ—l This also is a truth that the communion of the Spirit is inseparably annexed to union with Christ And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of Christs But then know 1. You must consider in what posture a Christian must be who may judge of the presence In what posture a Christian must be who may judge of the presence or absence of the Spirit or absence of the Spirit of Christ in him 1. He must be out of melancholy 2. Out of violent temptation 3. Out of Desertion He must be himself see himself that he is able and fit to judge Spiritual works and to compare things together and to weigh all that may be said in the ballance of the Sanctuary If thou be in this free posture and upon diligent search and serious consideration canst finde not any one effect of communion with Christ the case is very heavy But I believe the contrary touching thee O weak Christian when those above mentioned impediments are off so that thou art able to use the light of grace and of a renewed conscience much of Christ and from Christ will be found in thee a love of thy Christ a delight in thy Christ a heart ready and willing to hear and to obey thy Christ Distinguish of vital and vivifical acts 2. Distinguish of vital acts and of vivifical acts that is effects of a real union and effects of a comfortable union The estate of a comfortable union and communion thou dost not perhaps espy at present viz. Not actual joy not actual chearfulness not actual assurances O but though you do not finde the childe smiling yet if you finde it living there is union There are yet the effects and characters of life and of vital union and communion with Christ though not of a comfortable communion there is yet a breathing after Christ a hunting after Christ an heart renewed and changed an image of Christ unto which thou art changed and conformed a will agreeing with the will of Christ an end agreeing with the end of Christ c. And yet thou canst serve thy Christ in tears though thou canst not serve him in joyes and though the Spirit of Christ be not seen so as to comfort thee yet he is found so as to lead and uphold thee 3. There is a communion by way of influence and a communion by way of eminency and a communion by way of evidence and all these depend upon union with Christ There is communion by way of influence and of eminency and of evidence 1. Communion by way of influence when we partake of the Nature and Life of Christ ye are made partakers of the Divine Nature saith Peter Christ liveth in me saith Paul 2. A communion by way of eminency when Christ appears mighty in the soule in the large and high and strong degrees of acting of particular graces of faith of love of patience of self-denial of zeale of wisdome of humility 3. A communion by way of evidence as when Christ kisseth the soule with the kisses of his lips That is when he sheds abroad his love into our hearts by the Spirit which he hath given us and makes us to know that he loves us and saith by his Spirit unto our hearts I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Perhaps you have not attained to this last communion with Christ to this Osculumoris and perhaps you have not attained to the second of these which as Bernard speaks is Osculum manus well But yet you have attained to the first of these which is Osculum pedis perhaps you have not the sensible manifestations and impressions and seals of his favour by his spirit but yet you are young men in Christ and strong in the might of his Spirit perhaps you are not come to the strength of the Spirit but yet you are babes in Christ yet the liâ—e of Christ is in you you have that Spirit of Christ in way of influence which brings you into fellowship with Christ in his death and in his resurrection ye are dead to sin and you are alive unto righteousness and Christ is setting up himself in your hearts more and more Be not discouraged this shews true union with Christ for ever This is the communion of the Spirit of Christ when our hears are fashioning and conforming to Christ and have any part of his image stamped upon us If you can finde any one grace depending upon and flowing from union with Christ that is enough to satisfie you about the communion of the Spirit and that you have the faith which hath indeed united you unto Christ I but I am under much weakness of grace and many wants Ob. But if I had indeed this faith which unites to Christ I should not all this while have lived with so much weaknesse of grace and under so many spiritual wants certainly I should have found more of the strength and of the fulnesse of Christ who filleth all in all Answered Sol. I grant it for a truth that the right union is an imparting and strengthening and supplying union Whosoever is united to Christ indeed by faith to him is Christ a supplying Fountain a feeding Root and an helping Head and he will never leave the communicating of his Spirit unto him untill he hath filled him with all that fulness whereof a lively member of Christ is capable but then remember 1. Comparatively the original and first receptions from Christ are weak and little The first Receptions from Christ are weak as the seed that is cast into the earth or as the light which breaks forth in the morning compare the first works of grace with the flowing growth of grace it is but as the babe to the strong man but as the Lambe to the sheep I believe Lord help my unbelief this is that most of Faith at first Thou knowest that I love thee this is the highest of your love at first whom I serve with or in my spirit this is the greatest of our obedience at the first 2. The Communications of Christ unto the soule united by faith unto him are The communications of Christ are partly for justification and partly in sanctification Justification is perfect partly for justification and partly in Sanctification His communications in Justification are at once and full and perfect as soon as you are by faith united unto Christ you are perfectly reconciled to God you are perfectly cloathed with the righeousness of Christ you are perfectly pardoned all your sins your peace is so perfectly made with God that you cannot be more fully reconciled you have the righteousness of Christ so perfectly imputed to you that you cannot be