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
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
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
it is spoken of the Works of Providence and I work saith Christ Joh. 5.17 And v. 22. The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son Which is to be understood of the Administration of all acts of Government at present and of the final sentence at the last day God reconciles Sinners to himself but it is by Christ God was in or by Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God glorifieth reconciled Souls but it is by Christ that he doth so Lord Jesus receive my spirit saith Stephen Act. 7. Cameron is not the only Man that thinks it to be declared in Heb. 2.5 that the World to come Heaven is subjected unto Jesus Christ so that Angels shall have no Authority there but Christ have it all Now the gracious Soul saith of this blessed Mediator This is my Beloved and this is my Friend God hath highly exalted him and highly do I exalt him It is the Father's Will and through his Grace it is as truly my Will that All men should honour him even as they honour the Father And that they confess him to be their Lord unto the honour of the Father Who is honoured in their honouring of him and dishonoured in their dishonouring of him Even more dishonoured in being sinned against mediately in Christ than he could be in being sinned against immediately before the Fall And more honoured in being glorified mediately in Christ than he could be before the Fall in being glorifyed immediately Because there is a much more full Manifestation of God and a higher Communion with him through Christ than was in that our first estate More particularly the gracious Man saith This Mediator is my Lord and him will I worship Even with divine worship both Natural and Instituted The Natural that arises due from the excellency of his divine Nature and the Instituted that becomes due from the signification of his preceptive Will Worship is Duty paid in acknowledgment of Excellency My Mediator is God as well as Man and to his divine Excellency is due the utmost divine Worship Him will I esteem above all and count all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus In him will I Believe I do Believe in God the Father I will Believe in him no less Him will I love I am content that grace be unto none but such as love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Him will I Reverence and Obey as charged by God to Beware of him Obey his Voice not provoke him because God's Name is in him To him will I Pray as did Abraham when he Pray'd for Sodom Even so long ago whereas his Mediatory glory is much more illustrious now in the New Testament than it was in the Old And incomparably more in his state of Exaltation than it was in his state of Humiliation Him will I worship in the house of God who is the Builder of that said House Heb. 3. And in all Ordinances will I draw nigh to him who alone hath Power to Institute and Abrogate Ordinances Again this Mediator is the Way and Means of all Peace with God He is our Peace The way unto all Access to God and Acceptance of our Persons and Services By him we have Access by Faith Rom. 5.2 He hath accepted us in the Beloved viz. Jesus Christ Eph. 1.6 By Faith in Christ Abel offered a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11.4 wherefore never will I dare to Believe on God but through Christ Or to worship God but in his Name Or to utter a word or any work but all in his Name I mean ordering it according to his Command and expecting acceptance of it upon his account I will not allow my self to say God be merciful to me without an Eye to his Satisfaction and Merit though I may not every time utter the words with my Mouth As God is the Object to whom I pay worship this Mediator is the Medium through whom I pay it and he ever shall be so It is the Angels happiness to need no Mediator it is my happiness to have such an one as He. For alas alas 't is next to nothing that I see of God until I look unto him his representative Image His Perfections reveal'd by Creation and Providence do but to very little effect appear to me I mean his Power Goodness Wisdom Alsufficience Patience Vindictive Justice And then as for his Love to Sinners and his Pardoning and saving Grace never could I believe them to be in God if this blessed Mediator did not shew them unto me And no marvel therefore never could I overcome my fear or lay down my enmity against God till Jesus Christ shewed them unto me Nor am I able to this moment to look toward God to think of him to pray to him to offer any service unto him with any boldness or confidence of acceptation any longer than I look unto and think of Jesus Christ I do not wonder that Adam fled and hid when he had sinned I do not wonder at the dread of the people about Mount Sinai at their imagination that if they saw God they must Die at their outcry Let not God speak with us lest we Die I wonder not that Moses himself who was the Typical Mediator said plainly I exceedingly fear and quake My wonder is that they are not all distracted with horror that look to God's Throne and overlook the Rainbow about it That think of God and not of Christ of their Judge and not of their Advocate of their Creditor and not of their Surety The dread of God entred by Sin and it can neither be took off nor kept off but by looking to him that was made sin for us Besides what would come of it if casting off fear I should offer at any time to worship God immediately To honour God as my End and not honour Christ as my Way To present any Sacrifice of Prayer or Praise without using the hand of the great High Priest Should I not be more Bold than Welcom Would not my slaying of an Ox be like the killing of a Man as the Prophet speaks Isai 66.3 Would not God abhor my Person and my Service Would he not detest me as a very Murtherer Idolater and Prophane Creature Would he not ask me to what purpose I went about to honour God and not honour him in whom it is his will to be honoured Who required it at my hands And who gave me leave to worship but in Christ's Name Or how I dared to do that under the New Testament which none of his Saints dared to do under the Old even when the VVay into the Holiest was not yet made near so Manifest How I presumed to worship but looking towards the holy Temple drawing encouragement so to do from the Mediator by the Temple typified How I presumed to make a Prayer but for the Lord MEDIATOR's sake Or to expect any shade from
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
another To conclude this Mark of a gracious Man he thinks of the Lord's Supper as it was said he thought of Baptism The Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes the Lord's Supper in vain And he accounts that they do in great measure so take it who do not as is said in the Lines foregoing He knows that the strongest man in Christ doth need it and is not above it and that the weakest Babe in Christ is habitually qualified for it and the Ordinance is not above him No but is even chiefly for such as he is As Holy as Adam was in his innocent state he wanted a Sacrament And as imperfectly Wise and Holy as Christ's Disciples were before his Ascension and Mission of the Spirit they had this holy Sacrament that I speak of He is therefore one that valueth the holy Feast above his daily Bread And not without cause It is said of the Egyptian Youth whom his Master left sick in the Field that being brought to David and having eaten and drank his spirit came again to him The gracious Man can tell you that he hath often been sick and faint in his inner Man and being brought unto David's Son and Lord and having Eaten and Drank at his Table his spirit also hath come again unto him If every Lord's-Day he hath not resorted unto this Banquet yet ordinarily he hath tasted of its twelve manner of Fruits every Month if I may allude unto that in Rev. 22.2 And virtue hath come forth from Jesus Christ into his Soul and done mighty Works there even in despight of its Unbelief and deadly Fears foregoing Though he doth not think the Lord's Supper a Converting Ordinance as from a state of Sin into a state of Grace yet he doth experience it to be a Converting Ordinance as from lower degrees of Grace and Peace unto higher ones He pitieth in his heart every Soul of each sinful Tribe both those that prophanely keep away from the holy Table and those that do but come and prophane it And he spiritually hears God saying to those vilifyers of holy Bread and Wine as it is Isai 65.13 14. Behold my Servants shall Eat but ye shall be Hungry behold my Servants shall Drink but ye shall be Thirsty behold my Servants shall Rejoyce but ye shall be Ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit I will here Publish the words of a Judicious and Pious Author which have been useful to me and may be so unto some of my Readers Even these of Mr. Daniel Rogers which I find in his Treatise of Sacraments Part 2. p. 241. I mourn to speak it divers Ministers neither Unlearned nor Unpainful in their kind nor Ungodly yet in Point of the Sacrament do little acquaint either themselves or the People with it almost through the Year except in a passage afar off I dare not boast my self but if I might draw any to Emulation I durst say that whereas my poor Labours for TWELVE YEARS were more upon this than any other Point I am not ashamed to say I found the Argument more FRUITFUL at the end than all the while And doubtless many good People there are who mourn for the barrenness of their Ministers in this kind So in his Preface to his Reader he harmoniously eenough saith I could not see wherein I could do greater honour to God than to enhanse the Knowledge of CHRIST SACRAMENTAL And to incite others to do it whose learned Abilities can better perform it It hath been said who is the good Man's KING and FATHER who is his ADVOCATE and FRIEND in the Court of his fatherly King who is his GUIDE and COMFORTER on Earth sent down unto him from that Court And also what are the BONDS and COVENANT TRANSACTIONS that have passed betwixt them and him Wherefore our last Mark is this Mark 5. Assurance of Saving Grace is sweetly possessed or painfully sought by him By Saving Grace I mean ELECTION REDEMPTION VOCATION JUSTIFICATION and GLORIFICATION By Assurance I understand Certainty of Mind such as is Proper tho' it be Imperfect No man living is Perfectly Assured of God's Love or is so certain that he cannot be made more certain But many a man is Properly Assured of it and hath more than a guess or a conjecture that he is a Possessor of it For many a man's Assurance is built upon proper rational assuring grounds Many a man's Assurance hath proper real Victory over his doubts and against his fears Many a man's Assurance hath proper genuine Fruits of Assurance Peace Patience Joy c. Many a man's Assurance hath the name of Assurance given it by God himself who always giveth things their proper Names St. Paul's is called a sure Perswasion Rom. 8.38 St. John's a sure Knowledge 1 Joh. 2.3 The Faith of all is called an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or evident proof of things not seen Heb. 11.1 In a word many I say have and enjoy the comfort of this proper Assurance of God's Grace And the good man that hath it not that either never attained it or having attained it hath lost it he knoweth that it is ATTAINABLE that it is DESIRABLE and that it is NECESSARY And therefore dares not to desist from seeking it or to be remiss in seeking it He knows it is Attainable For the H. Scriptures are Revelations of God's Grace and that Free indeed as to any Merit of ours but most Engaged as to the Promises and Covenant of God They are a Revelation both Full and very Plain and Intelligible yea and given of God for this very end that we thro' comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Besides this he knoweth the Nature of Man and the Power of Conscience too well to dream that Assurance is unattainable The Scripture is a Lamp to see by and Conscience is an Eye to see with what then should hinder Assurance Conscience is we know an inner Judge and justifies or condemns us at its Bar. It is also a Witness in our selves as to the matter of Absolution or Condemnation It is likewise a Rewarder or a Punisher of us a good man is more than a little satisfied from himself and a Cain and Judas more than a little tormented in themselves Moreover the good man knows that what hath been full often attained even under the Old Testament it is not to be thought unattainable under the New Especially that thing which under the New Testament very many have attained and all are commanded to seek and consequently have a promise that in the due use of means they shall find To conclude he knows that it is possible to attain assuring Evidences and therefore possible to attain Assurance it self Those said Evidences are Demonstrative ARGUMENT Credible SENSE and Infallible TESTIMONY The inseparable and distinguishing Effects of Grace do demonstrate the being of it Preference of Christ and his Spirit
God doth not so condemn them Then as to the Season it must be said Times there are in which Self-examination is by no means our Duty Times wherein he that looks into his Heart and Life shall have it with him as he that beholds his Face in troubled Waters which represent it in nothing truely but in all things frightfully Such are times of prevalent Melancholy and of Satans Temptations in their violence and hurry and of frequently prevailing Corruptions before that by frequent acts we have gained some new Experience of our selves In these times a man's present and immediate Duty is to put forth the first act of Faith to cast himself on God in the way of well-doing which he hath a Command to do and that with a Promise of losing nothing by it He is to be advised as he is able to Recal his former evidences and hopes however to lean on the Lord and to Resolve though he slay him yet to Trust in him for restoring grace The next Question is What degree of true grace may we take for the Least and Lowest of all The God of truth direct my Heart and my Hand in my answer I am sensible of the Question 's being as Arduous as Momentous Humbly it is that I here deliver my Judgment and as far as I know the Judgment of our Protestant Divines And as plainly and suitably unto your Apprehensions as I am able The H. Spirit who well knoweth his own Grace in all its various Degrees doth by these Metaphors describe unto us its Lowest degree He compares it unto the Life of a Child new Born John 3.3 Nay to the Life of a Child just quickned in the Womb Eph. 2.5 Agreeably whereto it is named the Forming of Christ in a Soul Gal. 4.19 Now as Mothers in whom Children are formed so Souls in whom Christ is formed do by and by shew it by nauseous Ebullitions from the Stomach and new Pulsations in the Bowels Plainly thus by Loathings and by Longings To that of the Lowest degree of grace it must be said it is a Life a something that makes a man to differ from what he was before as much as a Living Creature differs from a Dead A Life of which Jesus Christ is so the Alpha and the Omega and the All in All that it bears his very Name Christ in us And a Life notified by Loathing of all things that are known to be contrary unto Christ with inseparable Longing after all Mercy from him and all Duty unto him A Life that speaks forth assoon as it breathes and uttereth these words I count all but Loss and Dung that I may win Christ and be found in him and Lord Jesus what wouldst thou have me to do Four things doth the Spirit of Christ attribute unto this least and Lowest Life of grace Which waving others I briefly propose 1. An Eye to Look unto Jesus Christ Even as the stung Israelites looked unto the Brazen Serpent Then he who was Blind was surely Dead And now he that seeth not Christ cannot be Alive If then a man had looked to Aaron or Moses or both that could not have saved his Life and now let a man have all possible respect to Ceremonial Law and Moral it cannot save his Soul 2. Feet to Come on unto Christ Even as the Manslayer came to the City of refuge his only place of Safety from the Avenger The least Grace hath Feet not to say Wings of desire to hasten to him when Christ saith Come unto me 3. Hands also to receive Christ Even as a starving man receives Bread a fainting man receives a Cordial a Beggar receives a Bag of Gold a Wanderer in the Wilderness receives a Guide a Blind man receives Eye-salve a Condemned man receives a Pardon a Leper receives a Cure 4. Ears also to Hear Christ Even as a Servant heareth his Master as a Child his Father as a Wife her Husband as a Subject his King as a ransomed Slave his Redeemer The Father that draws Souls unto Christ efficaciously commandeth all from the greatest to the very least to HEAR his Son In short The Gospel evidently declares that Graces as Stars do differ in glory All Stars be in the Heavens but are of various Magnitudes and Motions All Grace is from Heaven and carries toward Heaven but some doth extreamly differ from other in strength of Parts and in Acts. Yet of them that are so much as New-born or Spiritually Quickned and have Christ in the Lowest degree formed in them we are taught that all do Look unto Come unto Receive and Hear Jesus Christ as he is offered by God That is as Prophet Priest and King to give us the Sight the Pardon and the Cure of our Spiritual Diseases that we want I would be yet more plain and instructive unto the least Babes whose help I do most especially design And therefore conclude with this assertion There are twelve Steps that men take in Sin and in Grace in Evil and Good toward Hell and Heaven The least of Damned Sinners taketh them in Sin and the Least of Redeemed Saints taketh them in Grace He that taketh them in Sin however he be Painted he is a very Sepulchre he that taketh them in Grace howsoever he may be Defiled Blemished and Blackned he is unquestionably a Living Temple of God God dwelleth in him and he in God These Steps here follow in their Natural Order They are Strangers at home that ken 'em not 1. The First is the Admission of Suggestions Unregenerate Men admit the Suggestions of Sin and Satan and the World they brook and bear them as Eve did the Serpents But the Suggestions of the Holy Ghost and his Ministers concerning Repentance and Faith and Holiness they cannot bear but turn from them as from Offers to their Loss Even with Scorn if not Rage Regenerate Souls act quite contrarily They are impatient most times of sinful Motions and answer them as Joseph answered his Mistress with Detestation and hasty Flight And as for the Heavenly Motions foresaid they well Endure them give them audience and turn not away from them as from things stingy and biting 2. The Second is the Retention of Suggestions admitted Unregenerate Men hold their sinful ones in mind and talk with themselves concerning them in secret Places Regenerate men do likewise retain God and his Ministers Suggestions unto them And a great deal of Discourse they have with themselves about the same They commune with their Hearts upon their Beds while others sleep 3. The Third is the Approbation of Suggestions retained Unregenerate men do nextly smile upon their sinful ones inwardly saying this is an agreeable and a sweet Suggestion I would surely follow it if I could So sweet it is I cannot spit it out of my mind The Regenerate do in like sort favour and like well the holy Suggestions unto them made Saying in their Hearts Good is this Word of the Lord. O that we had Skill Zeal