Father and the Son breathe forth this blessed Spirit with one and the same Spiration or Breathing This they do Eternally Inconceivably Naturally by the Perfection of their Nature not by any Arbitrary Decree And this said Spirit is a distinct Person acting according to the counsel of his own will He is called one Spirit and That one and self-same Spirit which are very particularising terms 1 Cor. 12. he is a Person declared to be the EQUAL of the Father and Son by his equal Titles and Attributes equal Works and Worship And accordingly the gracious Man that we speak of doth EQUALLY both Honour Worship and Obey him He is not of them that have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost or no. He knows there is one one Proceeding naturally from the Father and Son in respect of Substance as hath been said And also Proceeding from them dispensatorily in respect of the work of Grace One that in the former respect is their EQUAL and in the latter respect is their INFERIOR Vicarius Christi Tertull. With reverence and godly fear be it written and read that here followeth No occasion is given and I hope none will be taken for any blaspemous thought of Inequality of Essence between the Father and Son and their holy Spirit Inequality of Office it is which the Scripture declareth and which the gracious Man believeth It is a very Maxim and granted by all that Inferiority of Office doth very well consist with Equality of Essence And it is exemplified in our blessed Saviour who is expresly named God over all and the Servant of God God EQUAL in Essence Servant INFERIOR by Office Now be it observed this eternal Spirit did freely condescend to take an Authoritative Delegation or Commission from the Father and Son unto the work of Sanctification Even as God the Son did condescend to take an authoritative Delegation from the Father unto the work of our Redemption Joh. 14.26 The Father will SEND him And Joh. 15.26 I will SEND him saith Christ And frequently this glorious Spirit is said to be SENT GIVEN POURED forth c. Namely to TEACH his People to BRING ALL THINGS TO THEIR REMEMBRANCE to QUICKEN them to COMFORT them to RESTORE them Eph. 2.13 He is named the Spirit of the Promise that is that is promised in the Covenant of grace unto all the blessed purposes of Grace aforesaid And is indeed the grand and principal Gift of all promised therein in the New Testament day The main thing promised by our Saviour unto his Church at the time of his withdrawing his bodily Presence from the same So that it is most evident this Holy Spirit doth not come unto us or act within us only in his own Name but in the Name of the Father and of the Son from whom and by whom He is Promised and Sent. Upon which account it is thought by many excellent Divines to be that the Sin against the Holy Ghost is Unpardonable which no other Sin is Even because Sin against him is Sin against all the Authority of God and all the Love of God and the uttermost condescention of all the three Divine Persons to the work of our Salvation And to come to the Mark that we would give let this be attended The gracious Man is one that payeth unto the Holy Ghost his double Honour the honour of his Essence and the honour of his Office Considered as in his Essence he believes in him worships him and obeys him as God EQUAL with the Father and Son Considered as in his Office he Values him Prays for him Grieves him not but industriously Pleaseth him Delighteth in him Dependeth upon him Thanketh the Father for giving him and the Son for purchasing him and the Father and Son for sending him as the great APPLYER of all the Benefits by the Father given and by the Son purchased As one whose Presence is incomparably more profitable and serviceable to the application thereof than the bodily presence of Christ it self And is as freely vouchsafed by him for the Sanctification of the Elect and for the Consolation of the Sanctified as ever Christ's Presence was vouchsafed for the Reconciliation of God unto thâ—m by his Blood Freely our Redeemer CAME to do that Will of his Father And as freely this our Sanctifyer and Comforter PROCEEDED to do the Will of the Father and the Son For of his Oeconomical and dispensatory Proceeding unto it and not of his personal Proceeding is that Text to be understood Joh. 15.26 He PROCEEDETH from the Father Now unto this glorious Spirit in whom all the New Testament Promises are fulfilled as in Christ all the Promises of the Old Testament were unto Him who as Jesus Christ thought it no robbery to be EQVAL with God yet was Promised as Christ was Promised by God and is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given as Christ is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given and may not be esteemed a less GIFT of God than Jesus Christ himself was unto this ever-blessed Spirit descending from the bosom of the Father and the Son and residing among the needy Children of Men unto this Inspiration of the Almighty what deferences doth the gracious Man make Sciunt qi fiunt Gracious hearts do very well know what deferences They know and feel it a gracious heart would rather be no heart than be void of this Spirit It accounteth every heart that is not his Holy Temple to be no other than Satan's hideous Dunghill In short it thus testifieth concerning that Spirit that is the Soul of its Soul the prime and principal Spring of all its Motions Heaven-ward The Son of God's Work in Redemption had been in vain without the Spirit of God's Work in it's Application Without this Almighty Work as well as that most Merciful one the Work of the Father in Freation which Sin spoiled had never been repaired never restored Without this blessed Spirit never had I understood a Truth or possessed a Grace or performed a Duty or enjoyed a Privilege in hand or in hope I was Ignorant even Darkness it ' self and he was unto me the spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding I was Unconvinced of my Sin and Misery and in a feavorish Dream of the clean contrary and he convinced me making it plain to me that I was a Child of wrath by Nature and of Disobedience by all my Life I was stupid and senseless of the wrath I believed coming and he brought me to my feeling and made me cry out I am grievously tormented with the guilt of my Sins and with the power of my Lusts He brought me into that bondage without which I had never looked out after liberty Under my Conviction and Compunction I was even totally Despairing one while and going about to set up my own Righteousness another while and he it was who came and perswaded me there was a Rock of Salvation for such as I but my
own Righteousness was very Sand and by no means to be built on He Convinced me of Righteousness and that of another make than my own yea or than the Angels Being beat off from trust in my own Righteousness and coming to some knowledge of Christ's I was like to stick in the place of the breaking of Children I was very near to Miscarry in the pangs of the new Birth And he the self-same Spirit brought me forth He brought Christ to my heart and my heart unto Christ he was to me a Spirit of Faith of uniting Faith joyning Christ and my Soul as Head and Members be joyned Of Justifying Faith and such as through the Law of Grace makes Christ's Satisfaction for Sin as beneficial to us as if we our selves had payed our Debts unto God Such a Faith as put me into the City of Refuge and secured me from the pursuit of the Avenger I humbly hope so at least When this was done and I was born of Water and of the Spirit then was I all in haste for a heart much more clean and more after God's heart And he the same Spirit was unto me a Spirit of Burning as Fire mollifies Iron he softned my heart more than ever in former times and melted my will into God's Will and united it to fear his Name After this it self still was I a short-sighted Creature and in pain to know more of God and Christ of Sin and Grace of my Hearts deceits and Satans wiles of Heaven and Hell And he it was that in and by his Ordinances anointed my Eyes and made me from that time to this to make some Progress in Knowledge To grow in it both Extensively and Intensively Several times have I been in danger of being deceived by false Teachers by the craft of men lying in wait to deceive And he the only unerring Guide kept my foot his word it was that I heard behind me saying This is the way walk in it Many is the sad time that I have back-slidden and foully fallen And by him hath it been shewn me whence I was fallen he it was that came and said Return thou backslider He it was that let me not to rest till I had gone forth and wept bitterly and laid hold on him that healeth backslidings Full often I have had fightings without and fears within sorrow upon sorrow And he hath been a Comforter indeed he hath taken of Jesus and shewn me that which hath made my state presently tolerable and by and by comfortable It is never very long together but I am at a loss what to do for both Life Motion and Direction And he alone it is who makes me feel any spark of life in me makes me stir and move in Willing and Doing and guideth me in Judgment teaching me his way When I am most afflicted and need most of all to Pray even then oftentimes do I least of all know what to pray for And he it is this holy Spirit himself that maketh Intercessions in me as it is Rom. 8.26 and maketh me to Pray in him as it is Jud. v. 20. More plainly he enlightneth and he fortifieth my puzled and dejected Soul He Directeth my requests so that I ask Bread and not a Stone Fish and not a Serpent He Enflameth my Desires so that by the Fervence I discern God's Acceptance as of old Sacrifices were manifested to be acceptable by the firing of them He emboldens also my Suits unto God so that while I adore him as my Soveraign I trust him as my Father by Adoption While I am prostrate before him as a rebellious Subject with a Rope about my Neck I have the humble confidence of a Child of his in my heart and I do rejoyce fiducially while I tremble most Self-condemningly Briefly until such time as I got acquainted with him never could I heartily call God the Father my Father nor call Jesus Christ my Lord. I am sure I could do neither according to the Will of God Well might my dear Redeemer call this Holy Spirit God's good gift Luk. 11.13 Well might the Man after God's own Heart exclaim Take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51. And well might the great Apostle pray for his Ephesian Children that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory might give unto them the SPIRIT of WISDOM and REVELATION in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 18. And well will it be for me and all my dearest ones if as above all things I Pray we shall holily walk after this good Spirit Not GRIEVING his Divine PERSON dwelling in us not QUENCHING his gracious MOTIONS made in us not RESISTING him in any of his ORDINANCES instituted for us For by his blessed Operation it is that we have our Communion with the FATHER in his Love with the SON in his Grace and with Himself the Coessential SPIRIT in his Consolation Look as the Son of God is Mediator for us unto the Father unto himself as he is God and unto the Holy Spirit unto the whole Trinity in like manner is the Holy Spirit the one common Operator or Worker for us and Comforter of us from the Father from the Son and from Himself from God in Unity He is named the COMFORTER and as I conceive comparatively greater than Christ was in the days of his Flesh on Earth But how doth he comparatively so much more comfort the Children of God This he doth by acquainting them much more with the Love of the Father By giving them to see more fully that the Father himself loveth them as our Lord speaks Joh. 16.27 And by discovering unto them much more the grace of the Son the super-excellency of his Person and of his Purchases By glorifying of him in their hearts so as he never was before Joh. 14.15 that is the very word which Christ useth He shall GLORIFIE me And lastly by setting before their Eyes much more his own like infinite Love Grace and Condescention Admirable condescention to be made less in Office than the Father and Son with whom he is Equal in eternal Essence And this most freely and of choice for our good and so great good as hath been foreshewn And that although he well foreknew what we were and what cross pieces we should prove and how we should GRIEVE him PROVOKE him and QUENOH many Millions of his most holy Motions in our hearts defile his Dwelling-place and provoke him for ever to abhor US so infinitely needing his Wisdom Power and Grace to help us in all Concernments Us who without his infallible Counsel and his invincible Strength are sure by every Sin to be frightned into Despair of Mercy or hardned unto a very disregard of Vindictive Justice Who are sure by Prosperity to be slain and to be made forgetful of God by Adversity to be brought to horrible Distrust of God's goodness or as leud Disdain of his Government and Discipline by our very Duties themselves to be puffed up with
the vile Idolatries committed upon it I have taken this time as the first I could find or make for writing these Marks of true Grace Not knowing whether they shall prosper most as Spoken or Written or whether they shall be alike fruitful For I will acknowledge unto you that I do humbly expect fruit from them Physicians speak of Pills and Divines of Memorands which a Wise Man would not be without And be it confessed these Marks are such in my thoughts Wherefore consider what follows and the Lord give you Understanding and Possession of all He that truly feareth the Lord and of whom God saith that he shall be his in the day wherein he maketh up his Jewels he hath these five Marks Mark 1. GOD is Supream in his Soul both by the highest Authority of a KING and the dearest Authority of a FATHER The One only God who is Father Son and Spirit doth as truly Dwell in his heart as in Heaven And as truly Reign as Dwell therein and that by Consent and Choice VVhatever Cherubins Seraphins and Spirits made perfect be the very same this Man desires to be I mean as to honorable Apprehensions of God and Affections toward him He wisheth that his Esteem and Reverence Love and Trust and Service were of degree equal to theirs And telleth himself a thousand times that if they were so they would still be infinitely disproportionable unto the divine object of them It is against his renewed Mind and VVill that his Life or his very Salvation should be principally valued but for the glorifying and enjoying of God As our Saviour refused not to worship the Devil because he was a Devil but because he was not God So this Man argues and concludeth that the infinite distance of any created Being from Godhead is an infinite reason for denying to prize it for it self The word God signifies a Being that is not a Part but the Whole of Excellence And so well he understands it that his Soul is for a Total not a Partial Preference of Him Heathens would say That the Sun were worthy of Adoration though it were so that no benefit descended from it upon them Much more saith this Man that if it were possible we could Be without God it would be Folly and Injustice to honour any thing like Him God's DOING good is but a lower and lesser reason for his being adored His BEING good is an infinitely higher one For all the good He DOTH is but a Stream from the Fountain of good that He IS So David Thou ART good and DOEST good The impressions of both upon an holy heart are such as none can know but those that have them And of such every one will tell you that they thus far affect him They fill him with Wonder Grief and Shame that his Thoughts of God are not in a sort Almighty and able to work no more powerfully upon him Able to annihilate all the Worlds grandeurs in his Mind able to strike dead the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts able to embitter sweetest Sins and sweeten the most bitter Afflictions able to set and fix his Soul in Heaven even according to his hearts desire However he findeth these thoughts to be truly Powerful and the most Powerful of all the thoughts framed in his heart and all the good in his heart and life he knows to be the issue of these said thoughts And accordingly of desire of more good in both he operously multiplieth thoughts of God Thoughts of his Essential Perfections Eternity Infiniteness Wisdom Power Holiness Justice Goodness Truth Thoughts of his wonderful Manner of Being in the Father Son and Holy Ghost the best and most glorious manner of Being that is Possible Thoughts of his Relations unto the Church and World unto the latter of which He is Maker Owner Ruler and Benefactor to the former He is all four and over and above their reconciled Father Husband and Portion The gracious Man of whom we speak hath his times in which he goes aside and muses of all these most solemnly And efficaciously to the making him exclaim as the Psalmist Whom HAVE I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I DESIRE besides thee O THREE in ONE Be it observed here some sincere Souls may have less Light But more intelligent Christians do take their times to think that if God the Father had been the Father of no more than Men and Angels He would have been nothing so glorious as now He is Now that He begets a Son equal to himself and without change in himself in way inconceivable And that beyond all possible thought of any Creature it is the Father's and the Son's honour to give a subsisting life to the coequal Spirit by alike eternal and inconceivable Spiration And that it is no dishonour to the Son to be thus Begotten by the Father or to the Spirit to proceed thus from the Father and the Son Being that the Son is Equal with the Father and One and to be worshipped with one and the same worship with the Father And the holy Spirit is Equal with the Father and the Son one with them and to be worshipped with one and the same Worship with them By this means these three Father Son and Spirit do infinitely and mutually love and are beloved of each other And unto this their eternal infinite and mutual delight the natural perfection of the Godhead did require this Communication of it self Nor was it therefore arbitrarily but naturally and necessarily though voluntarily that the Father begat the Son and the Father and Son breathed forth the Spirit To conclude The Child of God looks on the Son and admires the Father looks on the Father and admires the Son looks on the Father and Son and admires the holy Spirit looks on all three as subsisting in the Unity of the Godhead as dwelling in one another mutually possessing loving and glorifying one another from everlasting to everlasting He contemplates the Godhead dwelling equally in its fulness in all the three Persons in the Father the Beginner the Son the Promoter the Holy Ghost the Perfecter of all good He Knows Believes Acknowledges Worships Obeys and Trusts and Lives upon Three PERSONS and One GOD. He questions not but Angels and Saints in Heaven do the same Holy Holy Holy being their Song He is satisfied that Adam in his Innocency did the same being that he was Created by the three Divine Persons and in the Image of all three For it was the Father said to the Son and Spirit Come let US create Man in OUR Image and after OUR likeness He is certified by the Scriptures of Truth that it is the Will of the Father that every Tongue should confess the Son to be God and the holy Ghost to be God unto the glory of God the Father He is well informed that the Universal Church under the New Testament hath most expresly made One-God-in-three-Persons the Object of her Faith
the burning beams of Sin-revenging Justice but under the MEDIATOR the only Apple-Tree among the Trees of the VVood. In short Worship cannot be without Acquaintance Agreement Strength Courage and Oneness of Design But I avow it to all the World take away Christ out of my Mind and God is a very Stranger unto me Nor know I what to say unto him Take Christ out of my Mind and God is worse in my sight than a Stranger He is an Enemy one that doth and cannot but hate me and one whom I must and cannot but hate Christ is so altogether my RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE Take Christ out of my Mind and I a Creature that is a Thing of no strength of my own And a sinner also that is one that hath forfeited all the strength that God first gave me I then have no strength to speak or sigh it self graciously Yea and am one whom God will not strengthen and whom all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot strengthen no not so much as to think one good thought Tell me not God is merciful and the way to him is easie I am sure God's Mercy though there be an infinite Ocean of it descends not one drop of it but through Christ And in the easiest sweetest way that Almightiness and Grace can make there can be no Motion without Strength no Act without Power Take Christ out of my Mind and verily if I remember God I am troubled horror and trembling lay hold on me I can like Devils believe and tremble I cannot believe and pray The Divine great Power scares me and his Wrath against Sin strikes me in my thoughts unto Hell Take Christ out of my Mind and what then why then whatever worship I set to I cannot possibly drive at God's end and design in it Without which it is plainly as impossible that God should be pleased with it The design of God is to advance his own Glory and to do it in the advancement of Christ Mediator as aforesaid What a worship then must I make of it if I rush into any without designing both to glorifie God and to glorifie him in Christ In Christ honoured with the honour of his Mediatorship What do I do less than overthrow as far as in me is the foundation of God's Government and Grace to faln Man I love this Mediator and he is my Meditation every day I set him always before me Old Testament and New be but Stars leading me to Jesus The Promises be precious because they conveigh Jesus to me The Precepts are precious because they lead me to Jesus for strength to perform them The Threatnings be precious because they lead me to Jesus for grace to escape them And I bless the Father of Glory his Father and my Father that he hath given him so very many Names for the help of my Mind and Memory So that it is my own fault if all things do not suggest thoughts of him to me if sight of the Morning call not to my mind him the Sun of Righteousness If putting on of my Cloaths suggest not some thoughts to me of him the Wedding Garment If I wash me and forget him the Fountain opened to wash away sin If I Eat and forget him the Bread of Life If I Walk and forget him the Way If I lye down to Rest and forget him who is my Peace If I see an earthly King and forget him the Prince of the Kings of the Earth If I converse with wise Men forgetting him the VVisdom of God with Ministers forgetting him the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession and Bishop of our Souls with Lawyers and forget him the wonderful Counsellor with Physitians and forget him the Healer of all Diseases with Merchants and forget him the Pearl of Price Yea or with very Alphabet-Children and forget him who is the Alpha and Omega Who is all that all the Letters can make words to speak praise for and much more Who is JESUS that is a Saviour from Sin and all the Curses of Sin Who is REDEEMER that is as to the manner of his saving one who saves by the payment of a price valuable or rather invaluable Who is MEDIATOR that is a Middle person by participation of both Natures to wit of God offended and of Man offending A middle Person thus by his Natures and standing in a middle place betwixt God and Man whom Sin had set at odds labouring in apt and fit ways to reconcile them To reconcile God unto them by a satisfactory price and to reconcile them unto God by a victorious Power Which Power he could not have had if he had not been God and which Price he could not have paid if he had not been both God and Man also Who is our SURETY that is a person that undertakes to see a Debt satisfied or a Covenant performed Christ undertook to satisfie for our Debt to God On his Father's behalf he undertook that he should Pardon and Save us on the terms of the Gospel-Covenant On our behalf he undertook that we should fulfill those terms Who is CHRIST that is anointed or qualified and consecrated and commissioned to be such a Surety as aforesaid Who is therefore the PROPHET to take away our Ignorance the PRIEST to take away our Guilt the KING to take away our Rebellion Who is White and Ruddy and ALTOGETHER LOVELY Whose reproaches I esteem greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt for whose sake I have forsaken all things and do account them but loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith O what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and go without this Saviour of the World What can be said worse of Hell than that Christ is not there Or when is Heaven praised higher than when it is said to be a Being for ever with the Lord Jesus Thus doth the gracious Heart express it self and lisp forth its Esteem and Love of Christ which are unexpressible The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God but the gracious Wise man saith in his heart There is no God but God in Christ that he can Enjoy as his Portion or Serve as his Lord. There is no God out of Christ but what is a consuming fire And their Sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another Mediator or Peacemaker with God With submission to learned Interpreters I do so understand the Psalmist In a word the gracious Man is of that Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ as it is expressed 1 Thess 1.1 And it must be said nextly Mark 3. The Holy Ghost is God and Christ's both Equal and Administrator General in his heart The Scripture calls him and the gracious Man calls him The Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son The
Pride as if we were more than Angels or else to be torn with Discontent as if we thought God's Servants were no better than Gally-slaves To conclude thus saith the gracious Man I believe in God the Father and in the Son and I believe in the Holy Ghost also The Father worketh hitherto and the Son works and blessed equally be his Name the Holy Spirit worketh By his ASSISTANCE through Christ's MEDIATION is my access unto GOD. Mark 4. The Covenant of Grace is Spiritually entred Sacramentally confirmed and Practically observed by him He knows no Religion but what is Federal and by Covenant He is one fast-bound to all three Persons of the Godhead undividedly and unto each of them distinctly And this by the BOND OF THE COVENANT as Ezek. 20.37 Even the COVENANT OF GOD'S PEACE as Isai 54.10 He hath learned the first Covenant of Works He hath been Convinced of his breach of it in his first Parents and in his own Person And of his becoming thereby first a Runnagate from God and then an Exile or Banished Creature and one remedilesly miserable without a NEW and BETTER Covenant He hath been wounded by this his said breach of the first Covenant and that unto Death it self The death of all his Comforts in any thing under the Sun and of all his Hopes of welfare in the next World He hath cried in the anguish of his Soul O that I had never been born Nor ever could he change his Mind or desist from that cry or come to any life of Peace and Hope till he had got knowledge of this Covenant of Grace By the balm hereof his Wounds that stank and were corrupt were healed He Revived when he heard that God being by Christ appeased had made and offered a NEW Covenant A new Bond to bind again unto himself those that had run from him To bind himself to bless and save the Penitent and that as strongly and more than ever he bound himself in the first Covenant to bless and save the Innocent He cannot forget the sweet feelings that he had in his heart when he first heard what this Covenant was What it 's Promises and what it's Demands Indeed at first he exclaimed in his haste Away away this is too good to be true Indeed if Light and Darkness and Fire and Stubble were possible to be made Friends this were a way to make them so If GOD and a SINNER were possible to be united and reconciled this New Covenant is one that would unite them But how CAN this be Nevertheless being by and by brought to himself and not daring to give the Lye to Him that CANNOT Lye he ceased to Doubt and began to Wonder and Bless Uttering words to this purpose HEAVEN HEAVEN HEAVEN here 's HEAVEN on Earth Here is a BEATIFICK VISION Why here shine all the astonishing Excellencies and attracting Beauties of God of the whole Trinity I never saw before some of them I never before knew the ten thousandth part of the rest of them Is this the COVENANT OF GRACE 'T is of GRACE indeed and of GLORY too I think O that I had known it sooner That I had asked after it as soon as I could speak That I had given my Parents Ministers and God himself no rest till I had been made to know this Covenant of Grace This HEAVEN HEAVEN HEAVEN upon Earth Briefly he hath admired the exquisite suitableness of both the Privileges and Duties of the Covenant of Grace Their suitableness to the state wherein he lay That was a state of Sin and Misery He did therein nothing but dishonour God and destroy himself Now comes this Covenant of Grace and as to his Sin preacheth Repentance and return to Duty as to his Misery preacheth Remission and return into God's Favour It gives as well as requires Repentance and freely for the sake of Christ not for any Merit in Repentance giveth Remission The Promised Privileges of the Covenant of Grace are such as our Nature craves for and all it can desire To wit PARDON and SALVATION comprehending all Blessings In these God respected our Want The demanded Duties which also are promised in the use of means are such things as our Corrupt Nature doth loath and turn from To wit ENTRANCE and PERSEVERANCE in the Obedience of the Gospel comprehending all Duties In these God respected his own Honour And of equal Wisdom and Grace by the former which are craved by our Nature he allureth us to these latter which are averted from by our Corruption This the gracious Man hath observed much and blessed and magnified God in the observation of it By the former his Spirit Soul and Body have been strongly and sweetly drawn into the latter He hath a true heart that is a heart resolved upon all the Duties of the Covenant and that because he hath also full assurance of Faith that is a heart trusting in God for all the Promised Blessings of the Covenant Thus is he a Spiritual Covenanter with God His Heart and Spirit taking truly the Blessings of the Gospel for his Happiness and as truly taking the Duties of the Gospel for his Work and Business Be it added the Man whom we describe is one that neither Thinks nor makes Light of any Ordinance of his God He knows that God's Positive Laws do bind the Conscience as well as his Moral ones And he remembers that the effects of the first Sin though it were a breach of a Positive Law were tremendous He considers that under the New Testament the Number is but Two the Observation not difficult and if Piously observed exceedingly Beneficial And he infers that the disuse or abuse of Baptism or the Lord's Supper must therefore greatly incense God and injure a Soul He rests not in the foresaid spiritual Covenanting with God though good necessary and of greatest necessity The bare word of the Covenant of Grace as it is in the Scripture he highly prizeth but the signified sealed and engaged word thereof as it is in the Holy Sacraments he most religiously useth and justly prefers He Useth it because he is Commanded and he Preferreth it because in it's use he hath the word of the Covenant with extraordinary Advantages Among Men any Covenant made is first expressed by Words then by Writings then by Hands and Seals mutually added and this last is the highest strongest and utmost Confirmation that Men can give to each other The Covenant between God and Us made is first expressed by his Spirit unto us and by our Spirits unto him in spiritual Language Nextly by Words or Confession with our Mouth we alledging God's part of the Covenant and professing our own restipulation Lastly By Sacraments which are Rites in their outward appearance contemptible but ordained by God for both Signifying Sealing and Engaging Ordained to be Signs and Seals on God's part and to be Bonds and Badges on our part of the Covenant And in this last way is the most noble and
above all things Purification of heart and hands c. do so do And these are attainable Inward spiritual Sense and Perception is not to be discredited In proposing of Ends and in prosecuting them with Means we have sensations of our actions and these sensations are as worthy to be believed as our bodily Eyes at any time are There is a seeing Light in God's Light there is a Feeling of Divine Power with its exceeding greatness prevailing upon our Wills there is a Tasting that the Lord is good and his Word sweeter than Honey he that hath these may safely conclude from them that he is an Heir of Grace And these are attainable also Lastly The Testimony of a Person that can neither be Deceived nor Deceive us is worthy of all acceptation The Holy Ghost is such a Person infinitely Wise and alike Good He is sent from the Father and Son to testifie unto the Children of God that they are his Children and his Heirs and Coheirs with Christ To Testifie it with their Spirits that they are so To be an additional and deciding Witness The Word of God lays down sure marks of Grace and witnesseth those marks to be true The Conscience of a Believer or his Spirit witnesseth those marks to be found in his heart and life The Spirit of God supervenient to both presents himself and witnesseth by self-evidencing Light that those marks are true and are truly in the Believer and the Believer truly in the unchangeable Love of God And who dares say this Testimony of the Holy Ghost is unattainable or being attained will not give true and proper Assurance The good man knows well the Desireableness of such Assurance For without it who can Do God's Will or Praise his Name Who can come unto the Throne of Grace with a becoming boldness Who can Rejoyce or not Mourn always Who can Comfort or not Sadden others Who can Live but very uneasily or Die but very unwillingly But Assurance is Joy and Joy is our strength Our strength against Corruptions Temptations and the Fear of Death Assured Paul beat down his Body and kept it in subjection Assured Moses chose rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to be Heir of the Crown of Aegypt Assured Simeon could say and sing Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace But lastly The gracious man conceives of this Assurance as a thing most Necessary Even upon a nearer consideration Necessary I mean upon consideration of the Command of God laid on him to seek it God requireth nothing more expresly and plainly in all the Bible than that we give Diligence to make our Calling and Election SURE 2 Pet. 1.10 We desire that EVERY ONE of you do shew the same diligence to the full ASSURANCE of Hope unto the end Heb. 6.11 Yea many another duty doth God require from us as means of getting and keeping this said Assurance Our Ways must be searched our Hearts must be searched the Scriptures must be searched our H. Baptism must be recognized the Lord's Supper must be frequently repeated Men to whom is given the Tongue of the Learned to speak a word in season must be oft consulted and for what less than to get and keep sure that God's Law is written in our Hearts and our Names be written in Heaven in his Book of Life Many a serious thought of this riseth walks and lieth down with the gracious man Whose setled Judgment therefore is that if the bare want of Assurance be no Sin or Loss at all yet the neglect of it is such a sin and argues such a want of all Spiritual sense as scarce consists with grace He is satisfied indeed that spring-tydes of Assurance and over flowing Comforts may be wanted without sin For they are rather Priviledges than Duties But as for Assurance which Schoolmen call Moderate and which reacheth unto Hope and Peace though not unto Dancing for joy and Triumph this the good man thinks God seldom or never denies but upon some sinful Provocation Upon the contempt of some Ordinance neglect of some Duty unexercisedness of some Grace indulgence of some Lust And therefore inclines to think the want of this sort of Assurance to be his sin This whose want he judgeth meritoriously procured by sinful Causes and he feeleth to be malignantly full of sinful Effects Nevertheless he awefully concludeth that should he add unto that sinful want the more sinful carelesness of getting out of it should he forget or despise God's positive command to seek Assurance though therein the divine goodness maketh his Comfort to be his Duty should he together break such a Gospel-Precept and slight such a Gospel-Priviledge he should then contract a much more frightful Symptom of Reprobation upon his Soul In short our gracious Man is ever busie in Getting or Preserving and Promoting his Assurance of grace The Holy Ghost must indeed work grace in us before he can Witness it to be in us But it is most certain that he may and doth often work it in a Soul long before he doth witness unto it that he hath wrought it Nor do I dare to say that he doth not let some Children of God live and die without ever witnessing it unto them at all in this World Although we all believe and teach that ordinarily he doth first or last witness the grace he works to be true and saving And doth either by and by after their Conversion or after some good Proficience in Sanctification or at least a little before their Death Assure God's people of his grace in them There are several Seasons in which above all other times he is observed to give them the said Assurance and there are several Duties which above others he useth graciously to reward and honour with Assurance There are six Seasons which are eminent The first is when a Soul hath been extraordinarily bemoaning its sin Ephraim was heard so doing And what was the next news He was straitways called a dear Son a pleasant Child Jer. 31. The second is when a Soul hath been Praying in Prayer and that with all Prayer When it hath been most restless and denied to give the Lord rest and been most importunate for Assurance in order unto holiness then frequently cometh an assuring Testimony As when our Saviour had been at Prayer then came the voice from Heaven saying This is my well beloved Son Luke 3. The third Season is when a Soul hath been Waiting for Assurance and looking for it in all the Ordinances of God no one of them excepted It is in his Ordinances that he will dispense his Consolations See what is said of them that follow those Ordinances Psal 36. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure In the Ordinances we see most of Christ's Blood as prevailing to God's satisfaction and we feel it most prevailing as to our Consciences Pacification The
most complete Confirmation that can be given For in these said Sacraments God doth as appears from his Institution of them most sensibly unto our selves and most publickly in the face of the Congregation TESTIFIE his Engagement to fulfill the Promises of the Covenant expecting our fulfilling of the Demands which he had before Testified unto us by his Word and Spirit in our hearts And we in the Sacraments do as appears from our very Celebration of them besides our verbal Declarations most solemnly and openly TESTIFIE our Engagement to fulfill the Demands of the Covenant expecting God's gracious fulfilment of the Promises which we had before testified with our Hearts and with our Lips In a word the good Man learns that though it be an amazing Condescention of which God disposeth his Grace in way of Covenant yet it is a further and vastly greater Condescention of which he addeth Seals and such Confirmations There was on his part no need of them nor did he add them to help his own inviolable Faithfulness but meerly to help our weak Faith and to give us the more strong Consolation Particularly 1. The more to express his sincere and earnest respect unto our Salvation as a King expresseth his Zeal for a poor Subjects Satisfaction when he saith Come I am not satisfied my self to give thee my bare word though it be a royal one I will unto the same add my broad Seal 2. To Apply more particularly and closely unto every individual Soul this foresaid Covenant I say more particularly than in the Scripture it is applied Like a King who being desirous more abundantly to comfort reconciled Rebels though he hath in common declared their Pardon in an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity doth further Sign and Seal particularly every one's Pardon For in the Word God speaks indeed the same things as in the Sacraments but in the Word he speaks unto all generally but in the Sacraments unto every one particularly Therein his Language by his Minister uttered is I Baptize THEE and Take and Eat THOU 3. To invest Believers solemnly and as by formality of Law into a right to the good things of the Covenant As Men use when having consented to a Bargain they have made those that deal with them a right unto a House or Field they do make that right more explicite by the delivery of it to them by some formality of Law that of a House by the delivery of a Key and that of a Field by delivery of a Turf of Earth So Acts 22.14 Arise and be Baptized for the washing away of thy Sins that is Receive Baptism as a livery and Seisin of Pardon and of all other benefits of the Covenant of Grace which are inseparable from it 4. To set Christ and all his benefits before Believers in the way of greatest force to Instruct and Comfort them And that is by Proposal of them unto our Senses in visible Rites and Ceremonies For who knows not that Knowledge comes into our Souls through our Senses And both most powerfully and pleasantly through our Eyes Now the gracious Man dares not receive this overflowing of God's Grace in vain Holily to God exemplarily to Men beneficially unto his Soul he doth by the holy Sacraments of the New Testament 1 Profess his Christian Religion 2 Testifie his Union to Christ and to his Members 3 Distinguish himself from Infidels 4 Encourage and Engage his Soul to the Obedience of the Gospel He thinks it worth his while to contemplate and to praise the wonderful extent of God's grace in this signed sealed Covenant of his For the most part he is one that considers it is extended as to the PERSONS so unto the SEED of Believers And that as God said to Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy seed so upon us Gentiles is that blessing of Abraham come Gal. 3.13 14. And we are told that our Children are Holy that is with a Covenant-holiness and such as entitles them unto Baptism the entring Seal of the Covenant 1 Cor. 7.14 They are holy by their Parents Dedication and by God's Acceptation for when the Parents dedicated themselves they dedicated their seed also unto God and when God Promised to be their God he Promised to be the God of their seed also No Man hath yet shewn us where God hath said I will no longer be the Covenant-God of my Peoples Infant-seed Or though I do admit them into my Covenant I will not henceforth as of old seal my Covenant unto them Now as before Baptism they are Holy by Spiritual Dedication after Baptism they are farther Holy by Sacramental Consecration And as the Circumcised of old were debtors to the whole Law to do it so are they being Baptized by new Obligation debtors to the whole Gospel to obey it To wit when they come unto years of capacity and cease to be accounted by God as Parts and Pieces of their Parents which in their nonage they are accounted A blessed Privilege And such as if it were but duly improved by Parents and Children we should soon see blessed Effects of it The gracious Man of whom we speak laments much his Parental and his Personal non-improvement And is one that sets himself to make it appear he thinks the past time of neglect to have been too too much One that now having received his sight in the Matter addicts himself to improve it so much the more unto Faith and Obedience He perceives that Baptism is another kind of thing than the generality of People take it for And of all things to be named God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Baptism in vain Take it in vain they do who mind their Covenant with God never the more for it Who believe the Pardon of their Sins never the more who confide in God for the bestowal of all the Promised good things of the Covenant never the more who are bent to die unto sin and live unto righteousness never the more for their Baptism But he conceives of it as a Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins And makes the same use of it as a Servant doth of his Covenant with his Master as a Souldier doth of his Covenant with his Captain as a Wife doth of her solemnized Marriage-Covenant with her Husband He constantly bears it in Mind as his true and greatest Encouragement to expect the recompence of reward without doubting and as his like Engagement to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ to fight under his Banner against Flesh World and Devil and all days of his Life to Honour Love and Obey him As Warriers are not dress'd but are naked till their Swords are girded to their Sides so is it with him in a Morning he thinks not himself up dress'd and ready to stir till his Soul hath put on the Sword of the Spirit which is the Covenant-WORD of GOD as in holy BAPTISM SIGNED and SEALED Ubi VERBUM nominatur SACRAMENTA fere subintelliguntur
victorious over Jealousies as stronger ones have They have Reliance upon it's Promises but not so Quiet and so little Interrupted as stronger ones have They have their Comforts and their Troubles but not ordinarily at least so great as stronger Converts have The Loads of strong ones would break their backs and the sweet Wines that they do drink would be too strong for their heads True it is least Children in Nature and in Grace be more in crying than when more grown Though God can he very rarely doth make little Grace so evident unto us or so comforting of us as he maketh greater But what is said above is true 3. The huge diversity of Grace hath various Causes of it e. gr Converts are of various 1 Ages and standings in Grace 2 Their outward Helps are various some have Parents Ministers and Company an hundred fold more helpful than others 3 Their inward Aids of the Holy Spirit are various He helpeth all but not all alike 4 Their Prayers and Pains to improve their Helps are various 5 Their Services and Employments and so their Occasions for Grace are various One needs more than another therefore 6 Their Sins and Provocations of God to withdraw from them are various Some fall into foul and gross Sins which others keep far from and some do more indulge carnal Affections than others do 4. Special marks of Weakness in true Grace are these Namely 1 Wavering and Desultoriness in our Promises unto God He that staggers hath weak feet he that is Up and Down one while will be the Lord's and by and by fears to Vow it he hath weak Grace 2 Suspiciousness of God's Promises unto us He hath a weak knowledge of fallible Men whoever much trusts them and he hath as weak a knowledge of God that cannot lye whoever much doubts him 3 Easiness to be scandalized or turned out of God's way by any thing we meet with By God's darker Providences as Asaph was Or by good Men's failings as Job's Friends were Or by wicked Men's instigations as poor Spira was He stands but weakly who falls easily 5. Special Marks of Truth in weak Grace be these e. gr 1 Giving glory unto God when we cannot take Comfort from him We must needs sincerely love him with whom we had rather Mourn than Rejoyce with the World And whom we Praise while he hides his face from us or frowns upon us 2 Combating on against sin even while we think at least we cannot conquer it Doing all we can against it even while all we do seems to do no good Blessed be Gospel grace it is certain we Conquer as long as we verily Fight Sin is never our Master till we do Consent to have it so But happy is the Soul that even then holds on the Conflict when he imagines that Sin hath got the Mastery 3 Making up in Root what we want in Fruit. Growing downward when we can't grow upward I mean being exceedingly Humble when we can't be so useful to God's Name in the World Abasing our selves when we cannot Exalt God otherwise 4 Lying at the Pool as weak Cripples as long as we are so Willing to have strength and waiting on God for strength and staying his time at his Gates if he makes us wait long for it Resolving to Justifie him if he never give it and to Admire and Bless him if he give it at all The poor Canaanite was sincere and came off with honour she whose first Prayer was answered with Silence and for her second Prayer was called a Dog but undaunted by both prayed on that she might have some of Christ's Kindness though it were but the share of a Dog Though it were but a Crumb and not Plenty 6. Innumerable are our Motives to seek strength of Grace Will the weakest Grace carry to Heaven what then Bread and Water will keep you alive on Earth but you do desire more a great deal Life is Life and very sweet and precious But you desire Health Strength and Beauty do you not Most do think that their Glory in Heaven will be more or less as their Grace on Earth is more or less Whether that be so or no I thus argue If you love not God you have no true Grace If you do love him how can you but crave more Vnderstanding and more Power to serve him This remember Though you do what he Accepts of you do not what he is much honoured by while you are weak His infinite Grace accepts and rewards your little one but your little one doth but sorrily Praise and Serve the Glory of his infinite one Add hereto tho' weak Saints are equally Elected Redeemed Called Justified and Adopted with the strongest yea and have equally all the Promises of the Covenant that concern the Essentials of Salvation so that the least Stars be as firmly fixed in the Firmament of Bliss as the greatest Luminaries be yet this is true God's love of Delight is greater to strong Saints than to weak and It is then greater to them when they are strong than when they are weak Natural Parents love all their Children but although they have most Pity of the Weak they have most Pleasure in the Strong And in the Strong they then have most Pleasure when they are Strongest It is no otherwise with our Heavenly Father Abraham was God's Friend by way of eminency and then when without staggering his Gigantick grace bore parting with his Isaac then above ordinary God looked on him complacentially Zanchi speaks broader than I do God's love of good-will is not Equal to all his Saints He wills more good to some Saints than unto others Which you cannot deny unless you will say that his holy Spirit 's Graces be lumber unworthy to be put in the Inventory of his Goods In a word every Believer doth wear the Garland of the Supream King's Favour but in that Garland there are special Flowers which are vouchsafed only unto strong Believers Again If you love not your selves you have not true Grace If you do love your selves your true selves and not only your earthen Shells you cannot but desire to be Men. You cannot be willing to keep in your Infancy to live all your days in the Cradle and in Swadling clothes unable to go upon your feet stumbling at every straw even when you are most carefully led by your spiritual Nurses and filling the house with your Cryes while they carry you in their Arms. Plainly you cannot but be sick of desire to have it better with you than it can be until Grace is stronger To have it better than now it is now that you conceit if you apply a Promise it is horrid Presumption and if you do not it is fatal Unbelief That if you Hope it is but Self-delusion and if you do but Doubt it is straightway Desperation That if you Repent it is a sorrow but legal and if you fall into any Sin it is no less than that which is
Unpardonable That if you go unto the Lord's Table 't is blasphemous Intrusion and if you keep away it is prophane contempt of the Institution Read the rest in your own hearts I will add no more 7. Growth in Grace is not always discerned where it is but is often falsely presumed to be where it is not This Growth is like the growth of a Plant which requireth three things Life in the Plant Watering of it and God's Blessing on it Hearts and Plants must Live ere they Grow must have heavenly Dews on that Life and God's Blessing on those Dews Where these three do meet Grace grows in all Dimensions heighth of Knowledge length of Meditation bredth of holy Affection and Action depth of Humility That which let and hindred these is took out of the way The cursed Suckers which before stole away the nourishment of Grace are now cut off Their names be Legion they are many but the chief of all are two Idleness from and in Duty and Pride of Duty In some Souls they are cut off and Grace springs up amain in an instant Their Profiting appears unto all men and themselves too But these Souls are extraordinary Examples The Growth of most Graces is like that of Oaks slow and unsensible though sure and firm Yea like the Amendment and recovering of sick Folk which begins with Peelings of pain and Complaints of being worse and worse For which there are Reasons enough to make no very small Book Ministers must suggest them as occasion requires As certain it is on the other hand there be many false appearances of growth in our graces We must take heed that we find not Sin to be only exchanged when we think it is mortified Or only to be Covered when we fancy it is Killed That we do not find our new Reformation to be the effect of Temptation's removal and no more Wild-fire may abide in us when Fuel for its flames is denied unto us And holy Fire may be ready to die when bitter Zeal and carnal may represent us unto our selves as Seraphims Nevertheless it is but a Difficulty not an Impossibility to find whether we grow in Grace or not He that would find himself so to do cannot too curiously observe how his FAITH worketh Gal. 5.6 How his HOPE quickneth him 1 Pet. 1.3 And how his Love constraineth him unto Diligence in doing God's Will and Patience in suffering it 2 Cor. 5.14 To be sure it is some or other Sin that creates our darkness and doubt And as one saith well If we do not know the particular Bee that stings us with it let us throw down the whole hive and then our Troubler shall not escape Sirs I have now made you a small Looking-Glass Need I intreat that you carry it in your Pockets alway and use it often I presume some will so do and I do desire all It is through the Grace of Christ a small thing unto me to be by many so treated as you know I am bold to say If I am besides my self it is for your sakes I do therefore reject the Requests of some mistaken Friends and despise the Tattles and Scribbles of prophane Adversaries because as the Gospel teaches and Experience demonstrates the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men That of God saith Mr. Baxter which Men count foolishness and weakness and deride doth overcom their pretended Wisdom and Strength and do that which they cannot do and proveth them to be but Folly and Weakness I will promise you to Preach and Write as Men will call more Learnedly as soon as I become indifferent whether I do them Profitably or no. In the mean time I shall labour to Exercise my own and Serve your Faith and Joy in my Plainness or as it must be styled Rudeness Knowing that he whom we look for from Heaven will ere long come as we are certified by Canonical Scripture And then as it is not amiss expressed in the Apocryphal Writings Then shall the Righteous man stand with great Boldness before the face of such as Afflicted him and made no account of his Labours When they shall see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his Salvation so far beyond all they looked for And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves THIS IS HE whom we had sometimes in Derision and a Proverb of Reproach WE FOOLS accounted his Life madness and his End to be without honour But how is he numbred amongst the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints Wisd 5.4 5. Brethren suffer ye a word of Caution and of Exhortation and I have done The Religion of most Professors seemeth Dead the Religion of many seerneth Dying the Religion of very few seems Thriving It is the Exercise of Grace that strengthneth the Habits and it is the industrious Performance of universal Duty that maintains that Exercise Neither is there any Thriving in Religion without both of them In these things do our Souls Live and in them doth their Prosperity consist and appear And unto these things have I endeavoured to Direct and Quicken you I will not tell you with how careful a Soul I have so done Full often I do think and often I would have you all to think of the three Evangelists account of Christ's Reproof of his Disciples In Matthew it is thus Why are ye so fearful O ye of LITTLE Faith In Mark it is thus How is it that ye have NO Faith In Luke it is thus WHERE is your Faith Mat. 8.26 Mark 4.40 Luke 8.25 The Difference is exceedingly easie to be reconciled and the Doctrine is as exceedingly desirable to be observed and improved Weak Faith is Little Little Faith is next to none and Faith that is in its Degree next to none will as to its Exercise often be to seek as if it were none They that have but little Grace will very often have it to seek when they should have it to use By means whereof the Comforter which would otherwise relieve their Souls is oftentimes far from them And long it is ere he speaketh Peace to them or lets them speak it to themselves or be comforted by all that Ministers can speak or write Of any Text in the Bible I beseech you as on my bended Knees remember Gal. 5.16 WALK IN THE SPIRIT AND YE SHALL NOT FULFIL THE LUST OF THE FLESH 1 You have opposite Principles in you Flesh and Spirit Impurity and Purity Original Sin planted Impurity in you Temptations water it Satan gives it encrease Free grace plants Purity in you free grace waters it free grace gives it encrease 2 You have a liberty of walking according to each of the foresaid Principles To the Fleshly and to the Spiritual one the Pure and the Impure If you cannot live sinfully at all you are perfect in Grace if you cannot live holily
Ames in Sciagraph Cateches It is his perpetual Soliloquy How shall I that am dead to sin that am Baptized and have solemnly Vowed Death unto all Sin how shall I live any longer therein I that am in the import and signification of my Baptism Risen with Christ what shall become of me if I do not seek the things that are above If unbaptized Infidels be damned without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall I be thought worthy if I Forget though I do not verbally Renounce my Baptism If I become blind see not far off and FORGET that I was washed from my old sins If I bear my holy Baptism but as an empty Formality If I use it not as daily Food for the strength of my Faith and as my ordinary Physick for its Health If under Temptations I do not advance the Considerations of it for gaining Victory over them and if at other times I do not advance the same for keeping my Conquest Better may a Servant forget that he was Hired a Souldier that he was Listed a Wife that she was Married than I forget that I was Baptized Their Folly would be less their Sin would be less their Loss and Shame incomparably less And the rather because I consider my Baptism was Infant-Baptism it self Other Baptism is like the Tower of David builded for an Armory wherein there hang a thousand Bucklers and Shields against our spiritual Adversaries But of Infant-Baptism it must be said There is none like that None like it for numerous and powerful enforcements unto Faith and Obedience Being Baptized in my Infancy upon the account of God's Covenant with my Ancestors I am thereby given to see that Sin is a Herod that sought my life from the very womb That it was In me before ever it proceeded actually From me That it is an earlier Enemy of mine than they dream of who disown Original Sin For what need of the holy Washing if I was not then it self Unclean And being that I was surely so methinks I am the more engaged to contrive and endeavour the death of so early as well as deadly Foe as my Sin is Being in Infancy Baptized so early entred into league with God against it and encouraged extremely unto holiness and righteousness the date of my Obligation addeth weight unto it I cannot but think that of all Men living the so early bound had need exquisitely and entirely to obey Being in Infancy Baptized I am thereby certified God is not only my God but he was the God of my Fathers before me And I cannot but much the more promptly trust in him as it 's Usual with all the World to trust the most readily of any Men their own Friends and their Father 's before them For this also have I the Example of God's Saints on Scripture-Record who often strengthened their Faith on their Father's Covenant Exod. 32.13 c. Yea good warrant from God I have being he tells me he shews mercy to thousands of them that love him and Children are beloved for their Father's sake Rom. 11.28 Being baptized in Infancy I can and shall often plead the Covenant therein sealed with special Advantage The Object of my Faith is not only God in Covenant but God in Covenant with the Seal of Baptism administred to strengthen that my Faith And this whenever administred is a strong Plea But as all the World will acknowledge Experience and long Acquaintance do make a mighty inducement to Trust and Confidence in any one that we Plead with Now this Inducement I have by the means aforesaid And thus do I humbly Plead with my God both for Spirituals and for Temporals Lord when I could only Want and could not Know Desire or Ask for the good things that I wanted whether Initial Graces or After-supplies of Grace whether Necessaries or Convenient Comforts of this Life then most freely of Grace visibly and without question free thou didst Seal a Promise of all of them unto me Forbid the unbelief in my heart I meekly beseech thee And let me not doubt but thou wilt faithfully bestow them all on me now that I am daily in thy dear Son's Name an earnest Supplicant for them Now that of thy own Grace whereof thou art as constantly the Rewarder as the Author I ask seek knock and pray without ceasing O what will the People say the People of the Congregation that saw thee solemnly seal Promise of all unto me when I was carried in Arms if they should see that sealed Promise fail me now What will the Minister be tempted to say he who in Christ's Name and Place did then solemnize the Covenant betwixt thee and my soul What will he say should he see me now at these years coming to thee and yet cast out and cast off by thee O be it far from me to distrust thee and especially then to distrust thee when I consider 1 that thou art my God in sealed Covenant and 2 that thou art my God in sealed Covenant from my Mother's belly By thy Grace assisting I will never forget or less than Practically remember my Infant-Baptism for therewith thou hast quickned me And therewith I trust thou wilt always quicken me When of old thou didst promise Life to Hezekiah his query was What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me But I am past that doubt Thou hast promised me Life and all good things in Christ Jesus and holy Baptism is the Sign and Witness between Thee and Me. The sign and seal of the Righteousness which is by Faith even of all the Grace promised to me in Christ Amen and Amen! It must be added the gracious Man is one that doth not use to forget that he is a creature Weak and but Imperfectly fanctified and during his abode in this World always miserably Tempted And therefore one that had need to make use of all the means of grace by God provided To have a due respect unto ALL the Covenant Word of God and unto BOTH of the Sacraments or Seals thereof He forgets not that the Word of God is a Covenant word and that the Covenant of God is a signed sealed Covenant and that the signed sealed Covenant of God for our more abundant Instruction and Consolation hath two distinct Seals ordained for it Baptism the first for our Initiation the Lord's Supper the other for our Confirmation Baptism once to be administred for our one Entrance into Covenant the Lord's Supper often to be administred I think always on Lords-Days for our Continuance in Covenant for our Perseverance and Progress in grace Baptism in which God constructively saith Come thou and obey the Gospel as thus Encouraged and Engaged by the Sign and Seal on my part and by the Bond and Badge on thy own part And the Lord's Supper in which God saith Forasmuch as thou hast Vnderstood and Consented unto and Professed thy consent unto the Covenant sealed between me and thee in Baptism Come thou and