viz. the Son of God and consequently that his doctrine is of divine authority Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name John 29.30 31. These miracles in conjunction with the nature of our Saviours doctrine in nothing contrary to natural Religion had certainly a very great tendency in them to beget a belief in him and of his doctrine or else he would never have marvelled as he did at the unbelief of those which saw them and heard him Mark 6.6 He marvelled at their unbelief Their unbelief under such circumstances is mentioned again as matter of wonder John 12.37 But though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him But this would have been no matter of marvel to our Saviour or wonder to his Disciples if there had not been a mighty power in those miracles to convirce men and to persuade them to believe To this end also served the resurrection of Christ from the dead for by that he was mightily declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 And when the Apostles of our Lord were after his Resurrection sent forth to convert the World to Christianity by preaching the Gospel to them as a means to make it efficacious to this end and to procure it credit and authority in the minds of men they were endued by the Lord with a power of working miracles and of speaking with new tongues Mark 16.20 They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following Heb. 2.4 God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will And it was in respect of these powerful confirmations of the Gospel I doubt not that S. Paul says his preaching was in demonstration of the spirit and of power and not with enticing or persuasible words of mans wisdom 1 Cor. 2.4 It was by reason of this kind of demonstration of the Gospel to be from God which was made by the miraculous operation of the Spirit by the Apostles that the Gospel was received as the Word of God and not as the Word of Man as all those Discourses of Philosophers were which had no other confirmation than what the Wit and Oratory of men could derive from principles of natural and humane Wisdom But the Apostles doctrine as it was in the nature of it above humane pitch to find out so their way of confirming of it was above all humane power and wisdom also As their doctrine was known onely by the Holy Spirits revealing so the arguments motives and reasons by which they persuaded men to believe it to be from God were fetched from the Spirits own mighty operations which were visible to men as well those that did not as those which did believe They compared and suited spiritual things with spiritual ver 13. The nature of their arguments by which they persuaded men to believe their doctrine were suited to the nature of their doctrine both being from the Holy Spirit The one by the Spirits revelation to the Apostles the other by the Spirits miraculous operations by the Apostles They proved their doctrine was revealed to them by God by the testimony which he gave that he had sent them to preach what they did preach by enabling them to do such things which none could do but by virtue of a divine power which put forth it self in them God as was said did bear them witness by signs wonders and by divers miracles which he enabled them to do and to shew And being the Gospel was upon the account of this confirmation received as the Word of God and not of Man as the Author of it therefore it was that it did operate so powerfully as it did in the hearts and lives of them that received it to the transforming them in their minds and spirits and in the tenour of their lives and actions into other manner of men than they were before By reason of which transformation the Scripture stiles them New Creatures and the man thus altered the New Man When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us saith S. Paul ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe 1 Thess 2.13 The Gospel then thus confirmed as hath been represented was and is so glorious an object of Faith and so every way sitted and prepared to command mens belief of it that S. Paul supposeth it impossible but that men should believe it unless the Devil hath strangely blinded their minds And therefore he saith 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them And thus we see what great assistance God hath vouchsafed us for our performing the condition of the promise by giving us his Gospel The Lord by his Prophet speaking of how much he had done for his People of old to enable them to be what he expected they should be in order to the happiness he designed them saith Isa 5.4 What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it that is What in reason could they expect he should have done more to make them become obedient and fruitful than he had done And yet he hath done much more for us who live under the Gospel than he did for them For he hath sent his own Son to reconcile us to himself and himself to us by his death He hath sent his own Son to persuade men which is more than all the Prophets which he sent before And as he is greater himself so he persuades by greater arguments than the Prophets were wont to do both in respect of what hath been done for us already to oblige us and in respect of what he will do in rewarding if obedient and in punishing if disobedient And all this lies fair before us in the Gospel by which life and immortality is brought to light and which comes to us more gloriously attested also than the doctrine of Moses and the Prophets did to them And therefore the Lord may much more appeal to us than he did to them and say What could have been done more to engage you to believe and obey the Gospel and so to perform the condition of the promise which I have not done And if so How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And yet behold
he hath done and does more for us in another respect under the Gospel than he did in times past for his own peculiar People For according to the various predictions of the Prophets of old we under the Gospel have a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit to enable us to perform the condition of the promise of pardon and life than ever they ordinarily had Which brings me to the second thing I proposed to insist on which is to shew what assistance men receive in performing the condition of the promise by the influence and operation of the Spirit of God CHAP. V. How by the Holy Spirits operation upon the Mind and Will men are assisted in performing the condition of the Promise BUt before I proceed to shew this to prevent misunderstanding in this matter I must premise thus much by way of caution to wit That when I propose the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit to be considered as an aid distinct from that which is vouchsafed by the Gospel it self I would not be understood thereby to deny that assistance which we receive by the Gospel it self in performing the condition of the promise to be the aid and assistance of the Spirit at least in some respect I onely suppose that there is an influence and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men by which they are enabled to perform the condition of the promise over and above what the Gospel in its own nature abstractedly considered does contribute thereunto Otherwise as I have been now shewing the operations of the Gospel it self is of and from the Holy Spirit both in respect of its revelation and consirmation So that what is said and done by the Gospel is in a sense said and done by the Holy Spirit And they are led by the Spirt and walk in the Spirit that make the Gospel their Guide All Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 and holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And the things spoken by the Prophets in the Old-Testament are said in the New to be spoken by the Holy Ghost Acts 1.16 and 28.25 Heb. 3.7 and 10.15 And it 's seven times said in Revel c. 2 3. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches meaning what he said to them in and by those Epistles which S. John sent to the seven Churches in Asia And God is said to have testified against the People of the Jews by his Spirit in his Prophets Neh. 9.30 And S. Stephen said to those in his time for opposing the Gospel Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye And S. Paul said touching such as should despise their doctrine and commands He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who also hath given unto us his Holy Spirit 1 Thess 48. By all this it appears that what is done by the doctrine of men divinely inspired is done by the Spirit of God and what is done against it or against them for the sake of it is done against the Spirit of God He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me saith our Saviour also Luke 10.16 But yet though the assistance men receive by the Gospel in performing the condition of the promise be the assistance of the Holy Spirit yet it is not all the assistance they receive from the Holy Spirit therein For when the holy Scripture speaks of the Gospels coming unto men not in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.5 of their being born of the Spirit John 1.13 and 3.5 of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 of their obeying the truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 of a being built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes 2.22 of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and of Gods working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 and the like there is no reason to restrain the sense of such sayings unto the alone operation of the doctrine of the Gospel as having God or the Spirit of God for its Author and no more The Prayers which our Saviour made and taught his Disciples to make for the success of the Gospel and which the Apostles made and taught the Christians to make for the like do all of them imply likewise something more to be done by God for the renewing of men unto himself than onely by his bare sending his Gospel among them Although men can consider matters discovered by the Gospel when they hear them as well as they can any other things set forth by Discourses of another nature and indeed God expects they should do so at the peril of their own destruction if they do not yet such is the zeal of the Lord to promote and set forward the business of our salvation that he is not willing to trust the work onely in our hands though he hath brought it to our hands by such preparations wherein he hath prevented all endeavours of ours He doth not onely bring the Gospel and our minds together and then leave them to operate upon each other in the strength of their own nature onely but is graciously pleased to accompany his word more or less as he sees good with a secret operation of his spirit upon our minds both to incline and dispose the internal faculties to exercise and imploy themselves about matters of this high nature and likewise to assist them in it There is doubtless a secret power and efficacy of the divine Spirit goes along with the Gospel into the mind and will by means whereof the Gospel does the more readily and effectually work upon the mind and will to the renewing of them When the Disciples scattered by occasion of the Persecution by Saul preached the Gospel to the Grecians it is said The hand of the Lord was with them and that a great number believed and turned to the Lord Acts 11.21 Their believing and turning to the Lord was the effect of the Lords hand being with them in preaching as well as it was the effect of what was preached The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Believing and Salvation are the effects of Gods power going along with the Gospel as well as of the Gospel it self By that the Gospel becomes more quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword It is the sword of the Spirit as it is called as well in respect of its being managed by the Spirit as it is by being provided by the Spirit for Christians to manage The whole success of the Gospel in producing those happy effects in men by which they become other manner of men than they were before is ascribed unto the grace and blessing of God that goes along with the Gospel I have planted and Apollos
towards their believing or by enabling them to believe at first Before men repent believe or begin to obey they have the Spirit at work in their minds indeed to suggest to their thoughts and considerations things of highest concernment to them and to incline them to look after them in time and before the day of grace and salvation is over and gone He then at times stands at the door and knocks and strives with every man and vouchsafes to such more and more of his assistance until they are enabled to believe who do not make fast the door against him but rather open to him and refuse not to be led on by degrees The more they attended to the teaching of the Father by his Spirit and the nearer they came to believe indeed the more frequent visits they had from him and the more assistance But after they have followed on so far and become so teachable as to believe indeed and sincerely to give up themselves to his conduct then he communicates himself more freely and more constantly to them than ever before in divine influence and assistance to root and establish them in the Christian Faith and Life and to carry them on further and further towards perfection This secondly is set out to us in another vein of Scriptures viz. such as speak of Gods dwelling in true Believers and sincere Christians and of their being the temple of the Holy Ghost of which nature are many texts Rom. 8.11 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 1 John 3.24 and 4.13 16. By all which is signified the more constant residence of the Holy Spirit in and with men after they believe and become true Christians to assist them in their great affairs for their souls and another World as one that is never long absent from them but ready at hand at all times to help them in doing their duty and to overcome temptations unless by grieving him they cause him to withdraw himself If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14.23 This giving of the Holy Spirit to sincere Christians to be always with them as his dwelling in them implies is not onely to help and assist them to persevere in doing onely so much as will entitle them to pardon and life barely as their performing the condition of the promise though but in the lowest sense of performance will do But Gods design in giving his Spirit to them after they have perform'd the condition in the lowest sense is to fit and prepare them for greater degrees of blessedness and glory for a higher and more glorious exaltation therein than a bare performance of the condition of the promise in simple consideration and in the lowest degree of performance will well bear Our Saviour came as he says that we might have life and that we might have it in abundance John 10.10 not barely to save us but to exalt us to such a height of glory that the glory and blessedness of his Body the Church might hold some good proportion with his own glory and blessedness as Head of it And to encourage true Christians to endeavour to excel in holiness and goodness in order to this there are other conditional promises made besides that of pardon and life upon condition of faith and repentance simply considered To such as give all diligence in adding to their Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity so that these things be in them and abound the promise is of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2 Cor. 9.6 And he that humbleth himself as a little child the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.4 Besides the Vessels of Mercy will hold more or less glory according to their different capacities in grace and service as they are made larger or lesser By how much the more near Christians come to Christ in goodness by so much they are qualified to be the more near to him in happiness and glory But still as I say this greater and more constant presence of the Spirit is given to true Christians after they believe to carry on this great and glorious design of grace towards them to take them out of the spirit of this World and to lift them up in holiness and goodness thereby to make them capable of the greater glory and happiness To make this plain and familiar to our thoughts let it be considered that upon mens unfeigned believing follows immediately their adoption As many as received him to them he gave power right or priviledge to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name John 1.12 This is a very great advancement indeed and holds some proportion to that deep humiliation our Saviour underwent to prepare our way to it Now those whom God adopts to be sons those he adopts to be heirs also to his great inheritance and glorious estate so saith the Apostle if children then heirs heirs of God yea joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 This being their happy case the blessed God and Father who hath adopted the Believers for his children and heirs gives them his Holy Spirit to be always with them puts his Spirit within them to tutor and discipline them and to give them thereby such breeding as may sit and prepare them for so high a relation and for so glorious an inheritance as that is which he intends to settle upon them Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts saith the Apostle Gal. 4.6 Saint Paul having spoken of the happy state which he with other the Believers expect and long for after the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle in which the soul now dwells 2 Cor. 5. saith in verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit His giving them his Spirit to sit them for that inheritance is an earnest or pledge that he does really intend to bestow it upon them When he saith He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God we hereby see that it is the work of God by his Spirit to frame frame and fashion the Believers for that magnificent estate in the next World which is prepared for them and to which they are adopted This work of God upon them is to make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Gal. 1.12 These Believers are those Vessels of Mercy whom he thus afore prepares unto glory Rom. 9.23 It is the benevolent work and business of our Lord and Saviour by his Spirit so to sanctifie and cleanse the
hath carried us up to a good degree towards perfection He is still working in us to will and to do that is to will better and to do better by assisting us so to do and if we do but work too as he expects we should by making use of his assistances to work out our own salvation the great business of of our Salvation will go on prosperously This I doubt not is the truth which lies in the middle way between the two contrary extreams of Pelagianism on the one hand and the opinion of Irresistible Grace on the other into one of which men will be in great danger to fall if they do not understand the Nature and Terms of Divine Assistance The right understanding and due consideration of this Doctrine of Divine Assistance is very necessary also to make us all thoroughly sensible how much the work of grace from the beginning to its greatest growth and perfection depends upon the Divine aids Though it is not Gods Method to convert men without their own endeavours and use of the means appointed and vouchsafed by him yet the success of such endeavours depends upon the concurrent operation and influence of the Spirit of God Paul may plant and Apollos water and We likewise use our endeavours but yet it is God that gives the increase and causes them to prosper Nay it is God who by his Preventing Grace does first excite in us that from which all our endeavours of this nature do spring for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Whatever therefore our endeavours may be and how excellent soever the External means are which are vouchsafed us for the begetting or increasing of Grace yet it is not safe to depend upon these for either otherwise than as they are means by which God conveys his Grace to us but upon the gracious and powerful operation of God by those means And that is the reason why in the use of all means we are to seek unto God by Prayer for somewhat beyond what he hath put into the means or instruments of Grace onely as such Hence building up our selves in our most Holy Faith and praying in the Holy Ghost are joined together Jude 20. What made the Gospel to make so strange an alteration in the World on a sudden as it did in the minds and manners of men upon its first setting forth after our Saviours ascension but that mighty presence of the Spirit that accompanied it unto the minds of men We cannot say it was onely because of the Miracles that kept pace with it which yet were wrought by the power of the Spirit For how little did the numerous and marvelous Miracles of our Saviour prevail though he spake also as never man spake until the time came that the Spirit was poured out in greater abundance as well on the Hearers as on the Preachers of the Gospel The Apostles in their spiritual Warfare did indeed pluck down strong holds cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted it self against the knowledge of God but it was because the Weapons of their Warfare were mighty through God that is through the mightiness of his operation that went along with them 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And as the sense of how much the Work of Grace depends upon the Divine Assistance proceeds from the knowledge and consideration of the nature of it so our Application to God and Dependence upon him for it depends upon the same knowledge and sense also For unless men have some knowledge and sense as of their need of Grace and of the necessity of their performing the condition of the Promise in order to their obtaining the benefits promised so unless they have some sense also of the necessity of Divine Assistance to perform that condition and of the terms on which they may have it they will neither desire these things nor use Gods appointed means to obtain them nor depend upon him for them in the use of means But by how much the more sense they have of their need of these things and of Gods willingness to assist them in the use of means for the obtaining them and of his willingness to confer them upon such terms by so much will they apply themselves to God for them and to the use of the means by which he conveys them and in doing so depend upon him for them And by how much they do thus by so much they are likely to be filled with the Spirit and to be taken out of the spirit of the World and to be acted by another Spirit and to have their hearts lifted up in the way of the Lord. For the Holy Spirit will most certainly be given unto such who out of a sense of their great need of it and of its excellency and usefulness do earnestly beg it of God and depend upon him for it in a conscientious use of that assistance they have already received For our blessed Saviour hath assured us that the Heavenly Father will much more and much sooner give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it than earthly parents will give good gifts unto their children Luke 11.13 I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me saith the Wisdom of God and is truly applicable unto the Spirit of God Prov. 8.17 And by how much we are made sensible that all our Christian performances depend upon the Divine Assistance by so much the less we are in danger of trusting in our own strength or of attributing them to our selves and by so much we are likely also to ascribe them all to God and to say with David of thine own we have given thee and with the other Prophet Thou Lord hast wrought all our works in us and accordingly to love and to praise him for all his aids And lastly The knowledge of the Doctrine of Divine Assistance is of great use likewise to animate and hearten us in the way of our duty against the discouragements we meet with in it from the difficulties of performing it and oppositions against us in it For by the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning Divine Assistance we are assured that if we do but in good earnest set about our duty in performing the condition of the Promise our ability to perform it will increase upon our hands They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and to him that hath more shall be given and he shall have abundance And by how much our strength doth increase through the Divine Assistance by so much the work will grow more and more easie and the difficulty wear off That which is with difficulty done by one while he hath but the strength of a child will be done with ease and pleasure when he grows towards the strength of a man And although we meet with opposition and temptation to turn us back again after we have set out and usually the greatest
their own hurt and to think it inconsistent with his natural goodness being infinite not to save them if he can And therefore to undeceive men in this matter I have insisted the more on these things and to shew how agreeable it is to the Divine Wisdom for God to withdraw his assistance from men after they have obstinatery persisted in refusing and opposing it in its design upon them And if it be agreeable to his wisdom it cannot be disagreeable to his goodness for it is as well goodness in God to controul Vice as it is for him to encourage Vertue in what way and by what methods seems best unto him There is a great deal of difference between true love and goodness and fondness Men by fondness love many times without reason and bestow their favours more than becomes them But true and generous goodness governs it self by wisdom and prudence and so it doth in God The wisdom of God will not suffer his goodness to throw away his saving benefits upon those who by incapacitating themselves to enjoy them have rendred themselves altogether unworthy of them For it would disparage the wisdom and so the goodness of God the donor in case he should confer them upon such because his different affection to evil and good would be thereby in a great measure obscured and the sinews of his Government weakned Honour is not seemly for a Fool saith the Wise-man Prov. 26.1 As it will not become the Fool himself so neither will it become the wisdom of him that confers it to place it on one so uncapable of it as a Fool is CHAP. VII Of the after-assistance of the Holy Spirit which those receive who have been assisted already to perform the condition of the promise as new beginners in doing so THose who have been assisted by God to repent believe and obey and therein to begin their performance of the condition of the promise of pardon and life do still stand in need of his further assistance to persevere and to continue to do so to their lives end and to do it more and more excellently For as Believers hold their title in the benefits promised no longer than they continue to perform the condition on which the promise of them is made so neither do they continue in the performance of that condition longer than they are assisted by God to do so Now to persevere in performing the condition of the promise is as necessary for men to continue their title to the benefits promised as their performance of that condition at the first was to begin it For the promise runs thus He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 And to him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end will I give power over the Nations Rev. 2.26 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all the righteousness which he hath done shall not be mentioned in the trespass which he hath trespassed and in the sin which he hath sinned in them he shall die Ezek. 18.24 And as this perseverance is necessary for the reason and end aforesaid so is a constant and continual assistance from God to enable the Disciples of Christ so to persevere As the same power is necessary to continue the natural life which first gave being to it so is it in the spiritual life and state also Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 And that which is very remarkable touching this After-assistance of which I speak is That a greater presence and more constant assistance of the Spirit of God is promised and vouchsafed unto men after they believe than they had before This appears by having the Holy Spirit given them after in such a degree which they had not before and by Gods dwelling and the Spirits abiding in them after who did not do so before First those who have believed the Gospel and sincerely delivered up themselves to the conduct of it in their lives do thereby come under that special priviledge of having the Holy Spirit given them to assist influence and quicken them and to carry on the work of sanctification in them This our Saviour promised John 7.38 39. Jesus cried saying he that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this saith the Evangelist he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Which promises we find made good afterwards in several instances Of the Believers it is said Acts 4.31 that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And Acts 5.32 We saith S. Peter are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him And S. Paul to the Ephesians saith After ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise chap. 1.13 that is they were marked for his and distinguished from those that were not by his giving them the Spirit For if any man have not the Spirit of Chhist he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Sensual not having the Spirit Jude 19. It is true indeed those first Christians and others after for some time did receive the Holy Spirit in a sense that was peculiar to those times for the confirmation and propagation of the Christian Religion until it was well setled and had taken some rooting in the World As when they were in an extraordinary way enabled by the Spirit to speak with other tongues and to perform other miraculous operations as our Saviour had foretold they should For these signs said he shall follow them that believe in my name in my name they shall cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues c. Mark 16.17 A more full and particular enumeration of which extraordinary gifts of the Spirit scattered among the Believers of those times we have in 1 Cor. 12. But besides these the Believers then received in receiving the Holy Spirit an increase of gracious qualifications called the fruit of the Spirit such as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance as the Apostle reckons them up Gal. 5.22 And in this sense the Holy Spirit hath been given to all true Believers ever since and is now For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he is no true Christian Rom. 8.9 By mens having the Spirit then and by the Spirits being given them after they believe is meant I conceive a more constant and a more plentiful influence and effusion of the Spirit to change and renew them to restore them to the likeness of God to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ than ever was vouchsafed them
whole Society of Believers that he may present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and to beautifie and adorn them as a Bride for such a Husband as Jesus Christ is and will appear to be in the day of the manifestation of all his glory that he may not be ashamed to own them for such And thus we see another of the ends for which Christians receive a greater and more constant presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit after they believe than they did before is to fit and prepare them for greater glory and happiness than the lowest degree of performing the condition of the promise as at the first will make them capable of We will now a little consider in what or wherein the Holy Spirit doth assist the Believers when they grow up thereby unto more perfection in the Christian life One of the first things I conceive he does is to stir them up to and to assist them in making prayers and supplications unto Almighty God for the working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight For although God be ready to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ yet not without being sought unto to do it for them And accordingly they are promised but upon that condition Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Matth. 7.7 Otherwise it will fare with them as it did with those S. James speaks to James 4.2 Ye have not because ye ask not Now to the end therefore that Believers may receive such an increase and growth in all divine Vertues as by means whereof they may live as becomes the Gospel and be made meet for the celestial glory the Holy Spirit doth assist them to make requests according to the will of God and helpeth their infirmities when otherwise they know not how to pray as they ought Rom. 8.26 27. Almighty God poureth on them the Spirit of grace and supplication as the Prophet speaks Zech. 12.10 He helps them not onely to pray for such things as they ought but also in such a manner as they should to wit with a great sense of their own wants and of their own unworthiness to obtain and of the worth and excellency and defireableness of those spiritual blessings they pray for He helps them to pray with seriousness and devotion of soul and with an humble fervency accompanied with sighs and groans which cannot well be uttered by them many times He helps them also to pray in faith concerning the goodness of the nature of God and his readiness to give and to forgive and concerning the prevailing intercession of Jesus Christ our blessed Advocate God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba Father enabling them in their Addresses to God to depend upon him as their Father and humbly to expect to be used and dealt with by him in all respects as a Father while they resolve and endeavour to carry it toward him as his children And when the Holy Spirit enables them to pray thus they may be said to pray in the Holy Ghost as Jude 20. to make prayers and supplications in the Spirit as Ephes 6.18 And when the Holy Spirit hath thus holpen the Believers to seek those things of God which pertain to life and godliness grace strength and ability to overcome corruptions and temptations and to live a sober righteous and a godly life then the Holy Spirit in way of return to such prayers doth assist them in their endeavours in the use of means to attain those things they have begged of God This we are well assured of by our Saviour himself when we compare his saying as related by S. Matthew with the same as related by S. Luke In Mat. 7.11 he saith If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Or how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith S. Luke 11.13 From both which compared we learn that God is most ready and willing to give those that seriously ask them out of a sense of their want of them all graces or gracious qualifications and dispositions of soul necessary to their pleasing of God by giving them his Holy Spirit to work them in them Or that by giving them his Holy Spirit he gives them all those good things because when the Spirit is given unto men it is to work those good things in them by way of assistance This might be shewed in particular instances I shall mention some When we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts when weeleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit when we mortifie the deeds of the body it is still by the help and assisistance of Gods Spirit that it is done Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gods Spirit in his Servants lusteth against the flesh as the flesh doth against the Spirit it draws a contrary way and therein prevails against the flesh The flesh calls upon men to be gratified in this and that in things either unlawful in themselves or in that degree which is unlawful But the Spirit calls upon us by exciting thoughts in us to mind and regard our souls and by no means to wrong them by disturbing their peace or hazarding their safety to gratifie the flesh with momentary pleasures which will leave guilt and trouble upon the mind when they are vanished and gone themselves And the Spirit by frequent prevailing herein comes at last to kill this itch in the flesh Again when the Believers minds and wills become more and more reconciled to their duty and to be in love with it in all the instances of it both towards God and towards men it is still through the help of the Holy Spirit that they are so 1 Pet. 2.22 Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit That they obey the truth in what it requires it is through the Spirit strengthening and quickening them thereto by making the motives thereto present to their thoughts In 2 Chron. 30.12 it is said that in Juda the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. The hand of God upon the heart as well as the word of the Lord by the ministry of men is that by which mens wills are bowed and inclined to what God commands He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him saith the Apostle 1 John 3.24 Our keeping the commandments is an eviderce of Gods dwelling in us because it is the effect of his presence with us to assist us therein he argues from the effect to the cause Again it is the effect of the Holy Spirits presence with Believers and of
his operation in them when their minds and spirits become purified and refined from inordinateness of affection and unruliness of passion until by degrees they are brought in some good measure unto a likeness and conformity to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ whose Scholars they are They that are joined to the Lord are one spirit They mind love hate and design the same things which our Saviour doth They participate of that love gentleness benignity and goodness which was so eminent in him the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 by which means they come to be in the world as he was in the world as S. Johns phrase is Hereby saith S. John we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Joh. 3.24 It is so like him that it must needs come from him and if it be in us it is because he dwells in us If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 When we love one another as Christ hath loved us when we are merciful as our heavenly Father is mercciful his love and goodness is so resembled by us as that it is perfectly discernible in us Moreover the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be with them to strengthen them with resolution and courage to hold on their course of holy living and cleaving faithfully to Christ notwithstanding all opposition and discouragement they may meet with from the World in doing so To this end they are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 For God hath not given them the spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 And not onely so but the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be always with them to maintain and uphold in them a comfortable and chearful frame of spirit and so to keep them from fainting when they are called to suffer for the sake of our Saviour or his truth or doctrine And it is doubtless from this effect among others of the Spirits abiding with the Believers that he is stiled the Comforter And for the same reason principally the joy which they have amidst their sufferings for righteousness sake is called the joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.6 having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost And well may it be called the joy of the Holy Ghost because solid joy under such circumstances can proceed from no other cause but the Holy Spirits operation It is not the manner of the World as it is with Believers to rejoice in affliction in wrongs and injuries and hard usage from men but the contrary because they have no principle in them out of which such a thing should proceed And therefore our Savior saith to his Disciples My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Joh. 14.27 The Holy Spirit can raise joy yea great joy in the souls of the followers of Christ when they suffer never so hard measure from the hands of men so long as they know it is for their faithfulness to their blessed Lord and Master who hath suffered and done so much for them as he hath done The Spirit of God can so order their thoughts within them that they shall not look upon themselves as disgraced thereby but as highly honoured by their Master by giving them both opportunity and courage to do him that honour when his adversaries would cast reproach and shame upon him and his Cause and all that appear for it And thus the Apostles when they had been beaten departed from the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus their Lord Acts 5.41 The Holy Ghost can suggest to them also that a great deal of good by such sufferings may be done to others in causing them to think the more and the better of the Christian Religion when they see with what chearfulness the Professors of it can suffer for its sake When the Thessalonians received the Word in much affliction and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost they became thereby ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia and from them and their deportment in suffering for the Gospel the word of the Lord sounded out not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place their faith was spread abroad and talked of 1 Thess 1.6 7 8. It was this joyous deportment of the primitive Martyrs in their sufferings that tended so greatly to the increase and enlargement of the Church as History relates it did The Christians then were enabled to glory in tribulation of this kind in as much as they were guided to consider that this patient enduring without repining would give them experience of their sincerity and fidelity in cleaving to Christ and then this experience would give them hope such as should not make them ashamed through any disappointment but great confidence towards God of being accepted Rom. 5.3 4. And not onely so but also touching the greatness of the reward which is laid up in heaven for such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Upon account whereof our Saviour bids them to rejoice and to be exceeding glad yea to leap for joy in that day when they should be persecuted for righteousness sake and have their name cast out as evil and the like When the Christians were enabled to suffer the spoiling of their goods yea and of their lives too not onely with patience but also with joyfulness when they were as sorrowing and yet always rejoycing whence was this And how can it be imagined that they should ever be able to do and to be so but that they were strengthened with all might according to Gods glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness as S. Paul speaks Col. 1.11 The Spirit of God and of glory then rested upon them as the other Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.14 How came S. Stephen to stand with such an undaunted courage before the Council as if his face had been the face of an Angel Why it was because he was full of the Holy Ghost he had a mighty presence of the Spirit with him to enable him thereunto S. Paul learned by experience that as his sufferings did abound for Christ so his consolations by Christ did abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 that when he was weak then he was strong that he had a mightier presence a more powerful and comfortable influence of the Holy Spirit in times of great trials and sufferings for Christ than he had at other times And this experience of his made him so far from being afraid of suffering that for the sake of that wonderful comfort which was wont to come along with suffering he was rather glad when suffering came than any way dejected and cast down for it 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Most gladly therefore will I
that of the Angel to the Mother of our Lord Luke 1.33 34. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end All agreeing that this Kingdom Government and Power should be administred by the Son of God in humane nature and because he is the Son of Man Now in this gift of the Father the giving such to his Son as he had prepared to become his Disciples and to be made so by him is included they are part of the all things which the Father hath put into his hand In giving him a Kingdom he gives him a people to be his Subjects whose good behaviour and whose happiness he is to provide for and to promote by his spiritual Government When the Prophet had spoken of Gods setting his Son upon his holy hill of Zion Psal 2.6 in verse 8. he brings in God speaking thus to him Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession These are prepared by the Father to become Subjects to the Son then when he gives them to him but are actually made subject to his Spiritual Government by the Son himself by his going forth conquering and to conquer by his Gospel it is by his arrows the people fall under him Now the Fathers thus committing to his Son the power of managing all matters that concern the forming and perfecting one Christian Church throughout the World and so of dispensing all aids and assistances to that end doth not imply or suppose the Fathers relinquishing this power but his doing all by his Son as designing to interess the Man Christ Jesus in all these great affairs And thus when the Father sends the Holy Spirit by whose influences we receive our assistances he then sends him in the name of the Son as being concerned with him in such sending John 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name saith our Saviour And on the other hand the Son when he sends the Holy Spirit he sends him as from the Father who is always concerned also in such sending John 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me But as I say the Father dispenseth the influences and assistances of the Spirit by the Son as God-man now in the time of this Kingdom of his which the Father hath given him S. Paul speaking of Gods saving us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which saith he he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.6 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every thing ye are enriched by him 1 Cor. 1.4 5. And because these aids are thus dispensed by the Son though from the Father and by the Holy Ghost they are called the supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 And it is God that supplies all our need according to his riches in glory but it is by Jesus Christ Phil. 4.19 And the Holy Spirit is stiled the Spirit of the Son even then when he is sent into our hearts by the Father for the reason aforesaid Gal. 4.6 And so for the gifts and graces of the Spirit they are all dispensed by Jesus Christ To every one of us saith S. Paul is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 All this I have noted that we might the better understand for what reason and in what respect those prepared to receive the Faith of the Gospel are said to be given by the Father to the Son to work that faith in them and it is because in giving him the Mediatory Kingdom he gives him the power of dispensing all those aids and assistances by which men are made true and sincere Christians But to proceed yet a little further in this matter the use of which as to the principal scope of this Chapter will be better discerned afterward the reason why the Father confers this Regal dignity and authority upon the Son and the power of sending the Spirit and of dispensing aids and gifts is not onely that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father which yet is one reason of it John 5.23 Nor yet onely as a reward of his deep humiliation suffering and obedience unto death which is another Phil. 2.9 10. but also that Gods great design of reforming the World by sending his Son into it and of converting sinners to the faith and obedience of the Gospel might by that means be facilitated as tending to render Christ the more glorious and the more attractive an object of Faith It is by his being thus exalted that men are more especially brought to believe in him It is by him that we do believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 So that we see this glorious advancement of Christ hath the nature of an aid in it to help us to believe The meanness of our Saviours appearance in the World while he was in it and his crucifixion at the last was that which prejudiced men against both him and his doctrine it was their stumbling block and that at which they were offended and all through a mistake of the nature of Christs Kingdom and Government so that he had but very few Disciples at last notwithstanding all his mighty miracles and gracious words But when he was raised from the dead and exalted in his kingdom and glory and had given a powerful demonstration of it by sending the Holy Ghost as he had promised he would to enable those that preached in his name and those that believed in his name to do so many wonderful things in his name as they did this proof of his exaltation in a short time filled a great part of the World with Disciples to him and made men flock by multitudes into his Church and Kingdom This effect of his glorious exaltation was foretold by the Prophets Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power more than the womb of the morning according to the marginal reading Psal 110.3 These words more than the womb of the morning seem to be hyperbolical to shew the vast numbers of Disciples and Subjects the day of Christs power and glorious exaltation should procure him even like the drops of the morning-dew for multitude The Prophet Isaiah speaking as it were to the Messiah of whom he prophesied said Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee Isa 55.5 That is the reason we see of
the Nations running in unto him it is because Almighty God hath glorified him exalted extolled and made him very high as the same Prophet speaks chap. 52.13 When men perceived that the God of Heaven so far approved of what Christ had taught done and suffered in the World as to reward him for it with such power and glory this procured from them a belief of his doctrine and put a great reputation upon it it raised in men also a great expectation from him as from one that was very well able to prefer and reward his friends and followers as he had promised he would We find that the sending of the Holy Ghost the pouring out of the Spirit in those greater measures foretold by the Prophets was deferred unto this time of the glorious exaltation of Christ So saith the Evangelist S. John 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified And the reason hereof was that he might have the honour of sending him and of dispensing the assistances and manifold gifts of the Spirit and thereby convince men that he was the same which he always declared himself to be the Son of God sent down from Heaven If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he shall convince the World of righteousness because I go to the Father and ye see me no more John 16.7 8 10. Convince the World of righteousness that is he should convince them that Christ was no deceiver as they accused him to be here on Earth but the true Messiah Son of God and Saviour of the World as he had declared himself to be while he was here in the World And this our Saviour says the Holy Ghost should convince the World of because of his going to the Father that is by the Fathers receiving him up into glory after his resurrection and placing him there in royal Majesty This our Saviour says the Spirit should convince the World of when he was come from him and the event plainly declares how For within a few days after our Saviours ascension into Heaven and his enthronation there he sends down the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles that preached in his name and were his witness and upon others also that believed in his name enabling them by the Holy Ghost to speak and do such things as by hearing and seeing of which great multitudes were presently convinced that Jesus was the Christ the true Messiah and Saviour of the World about three thousand of them being baptized into this Faith the very same day in which the Holy Ghost was thus sent by Christ For S. Peter discoursed to them of this wonderful event thus Acts 2.32 33. This Jesus of whom he had been speaking hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear The end and design of all which was to convince men that Jesus is the Christ of God which was done by convincing them that God had thus exalted him and given this power of doing these wonders by the Spirit he had sent For that is the use S. Peter drew it to Verse 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Now this sending of the Holy Ghost was so necessary to qualifie the Apostles for the great work of converting the World by preaching Christ and his doctrine and for the procuring credit to be given to it that our Saviour would not have them so much as set upon it or go about it but commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with this power from on high Luke 24.49 And the preaching of the Gospel under this qualification was doubtless the preaching it in demonstration of the Spirit and of power which S. Paul speaks of 1 Cor. 2.4 Now by this we see how those assistances which men receive in believing and so in performing the condition of the promise do depend upon the Fathers giving all things into the hands of the Son and how for that reason the Father gives such as have been preparatively assisted by him unto the Son to be compleatly assisted to perform the condition of the promise And indeed the reason why so many turned to God in so little a time after Christs exaltation than ever was known before was because those assistances then dispensed by him were more and greater than ever were vouchsafed the World before And lest any should be discouraged or think their condition worse than indeed it is for that we have no such external assistances by the sending of the Holy Ghost as men in those primitive times had let this one thing be considered That the Christians now are as really assisted by that sending of the Holy Ghost which was in those times as those were who lived then supposing the truth of the History of it of which there is no cause to doubt For we have the same Gospel as they had and that under the same evidence by which it was demonstrated to them to be from Heaven and that the then glorified Jesus was the author of it And we may as truly be said to have Christ and his Apostles now in respect of external assistance as the Jews in those times were to have Moses and the Prophets For we have the same doctrine which Christ and his Apostles preached and many of the same miracles which they wrought to confirm it transmitted down to us by their writings and unquestionable tradition and the Jews had Moses and the Prophets no otherwise in our Saviours time when he said they had Moses and the Prophets The miracles of the Apostles then wrought the same effect procured the same belief of their doctrine in many that onely heard of them by credible testimony as they did in them that saw them done We see our Saviour upbraided his Disciples for not believing matter of Fact when testified to them by credible eye-witnesses Mark 16.14 And he said to Thomas blessed are they which have not seen and yet have believed And when S. John had written a History of some of the signs or miracles which our Saviour did he says these are written that men might believe John 20.30 31. By this he supposed his written testimony of what he had seen and heard to be a competent ground of faith in others and S. Paul saith Hold fast the tradition which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle 2 Thess 2.15 But although it is not necessary that the same miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit should be repeated in every Age to convince men that Christ who was first crucified is now advanced to the throne of his glory and hath the power of sending