is denyed by Socinians nor do I purpose fully to refute their blasphemy onely I shall take notice of one Scripture because it not onely proves the Deity of the Holy Ghost but also sheweth the exceeding sinfulness of doing any thing against him seeing he is God Wend. p. 248. Posteriora haec exaggerant declarant priora ut quando mentitus est Spiritui sancto intelligeret peccati magnitudinem quod Deo esset mentitus siquidem Sp. S. est deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadem sensu dicitur Synonymum in eodem loco est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 5.3 4. Why hath Sathan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost thou hast not lied to men but to God There are here three assertions 1. Ananias lied to the Holy Ghost 2. That in so lying he did not lye unto man 3. That he lyed unto God Our argument lies in the opposition of which no fair account can be given if the Deity of the Holy Ghost be not supposed for if so be the Spirit had been an Essence distinct from God the Apostle after he had said Thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost would not have said Thou hast lied not to men but to God but thus Thou hast lied neither to men nor to the Spirit but to God Nor will this argument be evaded by saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the third verse is joyned with an Accusative case and should be translated to counterfeit the Holy Ghost for besides that in some Copies 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the propositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make it all one as if a Dative did follow besides this 't is most certain that sometimes with an Accusative it signifieth to deceive or cheat and it must here so signifie because this sin is called a tempting the Spirit of the Lord How violent would it be to expound that phrase by counterfeiting of the Spirit of the Lord every time we grieve the Spirit of God we grieve God And is that a small matter in our eyes Can there be a greater aggravation of sin If one man sin against another the judg shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2.25 but this would also further be considered by us that though there be no difference as to the Essence of the Persons yet there is a difference in the oeconomy he that grieveth the Spirit grieveth that divine person against whom alone such a sin can be committed as is unpardonable Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this life nor in that which is to come Mat. 12.32 To sin against Father or Son is not so dangerous as to sin against the Spirit because he acting not in his own name but in the name of Father and Son from both of whom he is sent to sin against him is to sin against all the authority of God all the love of the Trinity the lowest condescention that divine goodness ever did or can make II. Consider we how little the Spirit hath deserved to be thus grieved by us Many good works saith Christ John 10.32 have I shewed you from my Father for which of them do ye stone me Many good works hath the Spirit from the Father and the Son done you O Christians for which of them do ye grieve him Did I say many I might have said all there is no good gift that is either wrought in you or for you or by you but it is to be ascribed to this Spirit Is Christ precious to you he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary he descended upon him in his Baptism and anointed him to all his offices raised him from the dead bears witness of him and pleads his cause against the unbelieving sinful world Is there any sweetness in the Scriptures why these are all from this Spirit Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 Are you taken with those admirable gifts that you see in your Ministers All that diversity of gifts is from the same Spirit 2 Cor. 12.4 called all therefore the manifestation of the Spirit vers 7. Or are you more affected with the works of God in you they are all the fruits and effects of the Spirit whether conviction or contrition or humiliation or regeneration or consolation they are all wrought by the Spirit this is the argument made use of in the Text Grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which ye are sealed to the day of redemption In calling him the holy Spirit of God he meaneth not onely that he is of essential original indefectible sanctity but also because he worketh all the holiness that is in any of Gods servants And when we are said to be by him seaed up unto the day of our redemption by that phrase is signified that he doth all that which answereth to the nature and various ends and uses of Sealing But with that phrase I am not to meddle as yet nor list I to run over all his works but pitch on that of comforting and press that to keep men from grieving him The Spirit is the Comforter sent from the Father upon the prayer of his Son to supply the absence of his corporeal presence to open those wells of Salvation that were hid and did lie under ground in the days that the Messiah did dwell among men In some Churches they have an officer who is called Consolator Aegrorum whose work is to put the brests of consolation into the mouths of those who have received within themselves the sentence of death should any whilst this Officer is at his bed-side labouring to take out the sting of death vex him with untoward language and not to give over till he had forced him to depart his room would not all say that this man were either in a phrensie or else in the very gall and bitterness of spiritual death The wickedness of those who do grieve the Spirit of God is far greater For 1. This sick Comforter cannot alway be with those whom he visits but is now discoursing with them and anon gone either to some other languishing person or to his own relations But the Spirit is a Comforter alway abiding with you John 14.16 Not that he actually comforts at all times but that he always preserves the root of comfort alway tenders comfort were not Christians either so sullen or so stupid as not to receive it 2. The Comforter of the sick may endeavour to comfort and not be able to comfort Men may not be so wise as to open to him the root of their
THE BELIEVERS DUTY Towards the SPIRIT And the SPIRITS OFFICE Towards BELIEVERS OR A Discourse concerning Believers not Grieving the Spirit AND The Spirits sealing up Believers to the day of Redemption Grounded on Ephes 4.30 Hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is in us Rom. 5.5 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 LONDON Printed for SA GELLIBRAND at the Ball in S. Pauls Church-yard 1665. A PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader HOw needfull it is to have a right belief of the Holy Ghost appears not only from the Ancient Creeds which in how few words soever comprehended did alway make mention of Him but also from the wretched Socinians who blasphemously denying his not onely Deity but also Personality and in their Catechism roundly asserting the no-necessity of any operation of his in order to our assenting to the Gospel have been so filled with a Spirit of Delusion that they retain not truth enough to denominate them either Christians or Hereticks The text upon which the ensuing discourse is founded afforded very fair opportunity of proving the Personality and Deity of this blessed Spirit and of shewing that our natural corruption cannot be cured but by his inhabitation But contenting my self to wave or slightly to touch these matters I mainly insist on our being by this Spirit sealed to the day of redemption a phrase which as most others that are metaphorical hath had the hap to be many ways interpreted Bellarmine who seems to have read holy writ onely to serve a design applies it to that indeleble character supposed by the Romanists to be imprinted on all that are baptized but how vainly appeareth 1. By his own Cajetan who saith Sacramenta imprimere characterem ex scriptura non habetur sed ex Ecclesiae authoritate non multum antiquâ 2. By the miserable shift he is put to before he can find any imaginable foundation for this Chymaera in the words He is fain to read with the vulgar Latine in the day though against the Greek and Syriack yea and against sundry latine Manuscript copies as Estius tells us yet this very writer Ephes 1.13 when he thought it would be more for his turn forsaking the vulgar Latine which readeth in whom believing flyeth to the Greek after ye believed 3. Besides how absurd is it that any indeleble character or cognizance of Christianity should be imprinted on all in Baptisme when as we see that many after Baptisme do utterly and maliciously renounce Baptisme and all the Principles of Christianity Other Pontifician writers do refer the phrase not to the Sacrament of Baptisme but Confirmation So Estius so our Country-men the Rhemists who have this note on Ephes 1.13 Some refer this to the grace of Baptisme but to many learned it seemeth that the Apostle alludeth to the giving of the Holy Ghost in the Sacrament of Confirmation by signing the Baptized with the sign of the Cross and holy Chrisme But they are well told by the judicious Dr. Fulk That rhe learned men they speak of must needs be Masters of the new learning for the ancient learning had no such interpretation instancing in Chrysostome Ambrose Theodoret Augustine Primasius Hierome Oecumenius Theophylact who carry the text quite another way All Protestant Writers are not agreed what may be intended by this Sealing of the Spirit sure it is for our credit that we can allow our selves to differ one from another in expounding a place of Scripture I refer it not to the Holy Ghosts regenerating or renewing us but to his assuring us of the adoption of sons his creating in us a sense of Gods Paternal love towards us and of our filial love towards him in so doing I follow not onely sundry learned sons of our own Church but also Cornelius a Lapide whose comment on Ephes 1.13 being translated is this As by the impression of a Seal the Letters of Kings and publick tables are sealed that those which are authentick may be distinguished from doubtful those that are genuine from false and it may be certainly manifest that these are the Letters and Tables of the King So ye Christian Ephesians as it were The Epistle of Christ written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of your heart are signed with the Holy Ghost as it were with a Seal that it may be manifested that ye are the not feigned but authentick Epistle of Christ that ye are truly the people and Church of the true and high God Having thus descanted on the text he frames against himself this objection If this be so then may Believers be certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God and for answer denieth the consequence because this Seal is not altogether and physically certain and evident to them for who certainly knows who dares swear that he is sealed with the Holy Ghost as with a seal but onely probable and morally as it were certain from signs and conjectures so in like manner it is not to them clear and certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God For the further clearing of this doubt He refers us to what he had said on Rom. 8.16 Consulting him on that place I find him to give this note That the testimony of the Spirit by which he witnesseth that we are the sons of God is not certain with certainty of Faith nor certain with infallible certainty as Catharinus and Cajetan would have it but onely with a conjectural certainty which certainty yet increaseth with Holiness so that Vega and Ruard and Pererius following them think that some men very holy without the special revelation of God from the signs and effects of the Holy Ghost which they find in themselves very frequent clear and efficacious have a certainty not indeed infallible so as they dare swear that they are in the grace of God but yet such and so great as excludes all fear of the contrary not onely from the affection and confidence but also from the understanding and perswasion so as such do as certainly know and believe that they are in the grace of God as we certainly know and believe that there is such a place as Constantinople or Alexandria Let the Papists read this and if they have not lost all ingenuity acknowledge that some eminent Writers of their own go as high or higher then we do For we do not say that we are certain with a certainty of faith that we are sanctified or pardoned or if any do so say it is onely a Philosophical mistake for they do not intend that it is to any one revealed by any vocal or written testimony that he is sanctified or pardoned but onely that seeing these Conclusions do arise from Premises the one whereof is Scripture though the other be known onely
soul whether our own or others is capable of being vexed in a proper sense but this sense seems not here intended yet this I must tell you that God interprets all that is done against his children as done against himself and therefore do you beware how you grieve the Lords holy ones either by saying or doing any thing which you know their souls cannot but abhor perhaps it grieveth not some of your souls nor grateth on some of your ears to hear the name of God taken in vain or blasphemed or the good ways of God spoken against but true Believers are of another temper Psal 42.10 As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me While they say dayly unto me where is thy God 2 Pet. 2.8 Lot vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds which he saw and heard in Sodom and Gomorrah Wherefore Sirs be not ambitious to strike father and sons at one blow let it suffice that you dishonour God but do not dishonour him at such times and places when and where his Saints may stand by and see and hear the wrong and dishonour that is reflected on their heavenly Father 2. We may be said to grieve him when we do that which would grieve him were he capable of grief The Scripture calls not things according to success and event he that looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart though he never act that brutish lust Matt. 5.28 He that hateth his brother is a Murtherer 1 John 3.15 not that every one that hateth doth properly kill but that he who hateth his brother had undoubtedly killed his brother could his brother have been thought to death his hatred would have brought forth murder had not something strangled it in the womb So we do by the Spirit we do that against him which would grieve him and more then grieve him were he capable of being grieved or any way altered for the worse O man take it from me every time thou sinnest presumptuously thou dost what in thee lieth to annihilate the fountain of all essences thou dost what thou canst to leave the world without a God He will be in heaven maugre all the malice of men and devils no thanks to them were he capable of being deprived of life they by their sins had deprived him of life long since Hence he complains that he was broken in pieces by the whorish heart of Israel Ezek. 6.9 So true is that of the Schoolmen that omne peccatum is deicidium 3. We are said to grieve the Spirit of God when we make the Spirit of God so to carry it towards us as persons do towards those that have grieved them If by any unworthy carriage I have vexed my friend he intermits all acts of friendship and familiarity So doth the Spirit when any thing is committed contrary to his nature or offices withdraw his benigne influences and consolations which are better then life I judge as do the generality of Reformed Divines that the Spirit of God doth never forsake those totally whom hee hath once chosen for his temple In this we know we are not deceived nor can we deceive you when wee teach that the faith whereby yee are sanctified cannot fail it did not in the Prophet it shall not in you They which are born of God do not sin any such sin as doth quite extinguish grace clean cut them off from Christ Jesus because the seed of God abideth in them and doth shield them from receiving any irremediable wound saith the judicious Mr. Richard Hooker Sermon of the Certainty c. pag. 545 546. But de non existentibus et non apparentibus eadem est ratio the Spirit may when greived so dwell in a man as if he did not dwell in him he may be quite gone as to any present sense and feeling he was so as to David which made him pray Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit Quest 2. Why are we rather said to greive the Holy Ghost then the Father or the Son Answ No question we do by sin grieve the Father and the Son as well as by every Renewed act of repentance we do minister joy to them Every wilfull sin is an high affront to the thrice blessed and glorious Trinity Psal 78. v. 40. How oft did they provoke him in the Wilderness and grieve him in the desert Psal 95. vers 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation But the Divine Persons though agreeing in their common essence are distinguished by relations and operations or rather by their manner of operation the father being unbegotten worketh of himself the Son from the Father the Holy Ghost from both Father and Son hence though all works terminated on the creature are common to all three Persons yet each work is most commonly ascribed to that person whose manner of subsistence doth most eminently appear in that work It is the appropiate work of the holy Ghost to reveal unto us the mistery of godliness to make application of the death and resurrection of God the Son and therefore when we do any thing contrary to the doctrine which is according to godliness or unworthy of the death of Jesus we cross the Spirit in his work and so are said to grieve him Quest 3. What are the special sinnes by which we do more eminently grieve the Spirit Answ If the question were put concerning the general nature of the sins by which the Spirit is grieved soon might it be resolved for it seems to be past all controversie that we grieve him not by sins of dayly incursion not by meer unavoideable infirmities such as by the measure of grace vouchsafed on this side heaven we cannot escape but by sins that are in some degree deliberate and wilfull but seeing it is put concerning the special kinds of deliberate sins which are most grievous to the Spirit it will deserve a larger answer I say therefore the sins that are more then ordinarily grievous to the Spirit are such as these 1. All the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All those lusts of uncleanness whether natural or unnatural the living in these is called walking according to the flesh which we know is made diametrically opposite to walking according to the Spirit by whose help we are to mortifie the deeds of the flesh This kind of sin hath something in it peculiar for whereas all other sins that a man doth are without the body he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body 1 Cor. 6.18 A Graecis sexcentae dantur huic loco interpretationes Vid. Dr. Feaâ—ly in lecum saith Clarius that interpretation which seems most proper is that other sins though acted by the body and leaving an ill impression on the body yet have not that force over mans body as to enslave it to another which yet fornication hath for by fornication the fornicator is made a member of the
Harlot seeing mans abuse cannot disanul the institution of God by which two are made one flesh Now to take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot is that the Apostle could not think of without abhorrence vers 15. but there is also sacriledg in this sin because the body unto which it is so injurious is the Temple of the Holy Ghost vers 19. To pollute the holy place was a crime of that magnitude that the Jews thought it sufficient to stir up all the people to lay hands on Paul when he was but supposed to be guilty of it Acts 21.27 28. What outcries do the Papists make against K. H. the VIII for pulling down some consecrate places after they were become receptacles of idle drones and witless and worthless creatures and yet these very men do make fornication a venial sin and trick of youth but let them mince the matter as they please we are sure that if any man defile the Temple of God him God shall destroy 1 Cor. 3.17 When there were no Christian Magistrates to punish this sin God gave his Church a power to deliver the unclean beasts that were guilty of it to Satan for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5.5 Bodily torments as well as Soul agonies did then attend excommunication which yet in its own nature separated from all such attendants is not to be thought on without trembling as being the Churches giving up a man to the devil to do with him what he will Excess in drinking also is very contrary to the Spirit and that as it doth dispose to this sin of uncleanness so much we may collect from Ephes 5.18 Be not filled with wine in which is excess but be filled with the Spirit Here are plainly two propositions and a reason assigned of the first the propositions are Be not filled with wine Be filled with the spirit and there 's an opposition betwixt these two implied in the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as for the cause in which is excess it s not to be taken for excess in drinking for then the sence would be a little incommodious Be not you drunk with wine in which being drunk with wine Vid. Zanch. et Dr. Hammond there is drunkenness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore here rather signifies excess of venery and brutish lusts the usual effects of following wine and strong drink and the common attendants of the heathenish feasts if not integral parts of them yea and of the Jewish Feasts too when they were become Idolatrous 1 Cor. 10.7 They did eat and drink and rise up to play where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may and perhaps must signifie dancing in a light youthfull lascivious manner Fornication and all uncleanness are so unbecoming Saints that they are not so much as once to be named by them Ephes 5.3 Therefore every filthy obscene word yea and every unclean thought if morose must needs be grievous to the Spirit whose dwelling in Saints makes them to be Saints 2. The sins of Anger Malice Bitternesse and which flow thence Strife and Divisions These are commonly numbred among spiritual sins but I am sure that the Apostle doth reckon hatred variance strife seditions envyings among the fruits of the Flesh Gal. 5.20 21. and that he doth call the Corinthians carnal because there was among them envying and strife and divisions one saying he was of Paul another he was of Apollos 1 Cor. 3.3 4. 'T is thought by some that the Corinthians did not make Paul and Apollos the Heads of their Parties and Factions but that the Apostle doth by a Figure transferr this unto himself and Apollos that they might collect that if it were so foolish and carnal to glory in them endued with extraordinary gifts it was much more foolish to glory in those ordinary Pastors by whose names they did call and distinguish themselves How carnal is it then for one to say I am of Aristotle and another I am of des Cartes In reference to which parties I need not say Was Aristotle crucified for you Were you baptized into the name Cartes but doth there in either of their Writings occurr so much as the name of Christ crucified Certainly so to admire the Tenents either of the one or the other as to vilifie and deny the parts of those who close not with them is very unbeseeming any that profess to be led by the Spirit But let us allow these sins to be called spiritual as in a sense they may that makes them onely Minoris scandali less scandalous not Minoris malitiae less wicked if uncleanness and drunkenness make a man like a beast these make him like a Devil If as the School-men say that in some creatures there be the foot-steps but in others the image of God so we may be allowed to think that in some sins be to be found not onely the foot-steps but also the image of the Devil 't is as much in these sins as in any other Be angry and sin not let not the Sun go down on your wrath neither give place to the Devil Ephes 4.25 26. The order of the words implieth that so much place as we give to Anger so much place we give to the Devil To be sure these sins are so contrary to love which though it be not as Lombard thought the essence of the Holy Ghost yet is one of his chiefest fruits that they must needs hugely grieve him If a contentious woman be a continual dropping in a very rainy day and if any wise man would choose rather to dwell in the wilderness then with a contentious and angry woman how can the Spirit think you delight to dwell with those Salamanders that are never well but in the fire of contention and count themselves not to be in their element any longer then they are wrangling and disputing perversly about substantial forms and qualities or about matter motion and atomes 3. The sleighting the divinely inspired Writings or ministration of the Spirit and preferring thereunto the Writings of any men whatsoever If a person had taken much pains and put together all his Learning to set out some one Treatise and should find after it was published that men neither read it nor much enquired after it whilest the Pamphlets of some others were greedily bought up would not this grieve him And must not then the Spirit after he hath revealed unto us the deep things of God the things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard the wisdom of God in a mystery the wisdom which God hath ordained before the world be grieved if men shall more value and converse with those Writings that can onely contain excellency of Speech and enticing words of mans wisdom Object But can any professing Christianity so do Answ Yes St. Augustine confesseth there was a time when Literarum typho tumidus he despised the simplicity of the Gospel stile Confess lib. 3. cap. 5. So doth Hierom somewhat his senior
waters and when he had so done put it on his own head he had a talent for his pains but lost his life for setting it upon any head but his Soveraignes so they shall have honour for contending for the truth but their souls shall God require of them because they gave not him the glory of all their zeal Wherefore as you would not grieve the Spirit when you see a drunkard say Who made me to differ or say as the Holy Martyr Bradford was wont to say God be mercifull to me a miserable sinner When you hear of one denying the Divinity of our Saviour say Nor could I have said that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit of God If either men or devil suggest that thou hast done well say It was not I but the grace of God in me I have nothing but what I have received and must not boast as if I had not received but ascribe all to him who worketh in me both to will and do of his own good pleasure 5. Fathering on him the ugly and monstrous brats of the spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience How much was the mother in Solomons time grieved when her living child was taken away and a dead one laid in room of it More must the Spirit be grieved when Humility Obedience Subjection to higher powers his natural issue are taken away and instead of these disobedience and rebellion laid at his door To do wickedly and to say that we do it by the impulse of the Spirit is to make God such a one as our selves and what a provocation that is you may learn from Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set thy sins in order before thee Nor shall they fare better who do not father their impieties on the immediate impulses of the Spirit but yet on the Word revealed by the Spirit For causa causae est causa causati whatever is found in Scripture is conceived of the Holy Ghost if we do wrest and torture Scripture to salve our Phaenomena we do thereby injure and lie against the Holy Ghost This is the honour of Christian Religion that it can wound all other religions with their own weapons and principles They rob it of this honor who go about to fight against is also with its own Sword quoting texts of Scripture to authorize such actions as are perfectly destructive of Christianity No sin so hainous as theirs who pretend to sinne by authority from God 6. The ascribing that to the devil and his instruments which is the work of the Spirit This is not onely to grieve him but also to blaspheme him What was the unpardonable blasphemy against the Holy Ghost mentioned Mark 3. but the Pharisees ascribing that to the Prince of Devils which was done by the finger of God Every work of the Spirit hath not so clear an impression of the Spirit on it as had the miracles of Christ and therefore to mis-call them renders not ones case so desperate as was the Pharisees But yet sure after God hath by the conversion of so many discovered himself to be in the ministers of the Gospel of a truth for any to say that they were all literal legal antichristian which was the language of the late times was a blasphemy of a very high nature and I have observed that such men mostly have waxed worse and worse deceiving and being deceived nor can I conceive much hopes of their repentance who do so far wrong the Spirit as to ascribe all his works of conviction and contrition to the predominance of the melancholy humor or to a cracked brain and all the fervent importunate expostulations of Gods devoutest supplicants to sauciness such speeches do greatly dispose tot he unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost We may hence inferr against the * I say the Judaizing Socinians because this seemeth to have been the opinion of the Jews that the Holy Ghost was nothing but the afflatus or energy of God and therefore Lactantius who denied the substantiality of the Spirit is said by Hierome to symbolize with Jews Epist 55. Yet the ancient Doctors of the Jews acknowledged and believed the Son to be an eternal person of the Divine essence and worthy to be called Jehovah as they who want other books may see proved by Julius Conradus Ouho lib. 1. Gul. Razia cap. 4. Judaizing Socinian the personality of the Holy Ghost Grief is a personal affection How a person should be grieved we can understand how a Divine person should have that done against him which would grieve him were he capable of griefe is not inexplicable but how a quality a power or an operation should be grieved is unconceivable 2. Hence may be inferred the love and tender care the Spirit hath for us and of us Had he not graciously condescended to take on him the offices of Advocate Intercessor Comforter he would not have so far concerned himself in our miscarriages as to be grieved for or by them 3. If we are not to grieve the Spirit then sure we are not to blaspheme or offer despight unto him which cannot be done but by sinnes of the greatest and most hellish malignity and in the highest degree wilfull 4. This will also inform us what to think of them who take up their pleasures in sin which grieves the Holy Spirit of God we may think that either they never were partakers of the Holy Ghost or if ever partakers that now he hath quite forsaken them and an evil Spirit from the Lord hath seised on them If Christ at his second coming would spare all other sinners yet doubtless he will damn all those that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2 Thes 2.12 But the main I intend to dwell on is the counsell of the Text propounded indeed negatively but yet must be supposed to include in it many affirmative duties indeed all by which that good Spirit can be pleased and delighted I will first propound some motives to perswade men to abstain from all sins by which the Spirit is grieved they shall be drawn from the person and office of him whom they grieve from their own estate who do grieve him from the sad and wofull effects of greiving him I. Consider who it is you grieve Were he but some created Angel you ought so farr to respect his ministry as not to grieve him The woman is to keep a covering on her head because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 lest the contrary indecency should offend those pure Spirits Nay were He but a Saint compassed with flesh and blood we must not no not by the use of a lawful thing grieve him unless we will walk uncharitably Rom. 14.15 which would be to break the bond of perfection But he is greater then any holy man or Angel even an uncreated divine person I know this
fears or if they do he may not be able to reach them or if to reach them not to pull them out There are perplexities of conscience which will puzzle and non-plus the most experienced Christian or Teacher But so strong are the Consolations of the Spirit that they break through all opposition of contrary grief and trouble whether arising from afflictions or guilt of sin 3. The sick Comforter may apply comfort unseasonably and nothing is more usual then to lose clave errante to speak peace where God speaks no peace but the consolations of the Spirit are never misplaced or mistimed he pours not the oil of gladness but into broken hearts he puts not the garments of praise upon any but those in whom hath been the Spirit of heaviness he applieth not his strong consolations to any but the heirs of the Promise nor to them neither but onely when they fly for refuge and lay hold of the hope that is set before them Heb. 6.18 19. When they flie as men pursued by the Revenger of blood did to the Cities of refuge or to the horns of the Altar 4. In the absence of the sick Comforter another may do the work as well perhaps as he but the Spirit is so a Comforter as none can comfort without him all consolation therefore is called the consolation of the holy Ghost Acts 9.31 Whilest the Spirit of the Lord did rest on Sampson he could break wit hs and cords but the Spirit being departed Sampson may go out and shake himself and think to do as at other times but he shall soon find a difference the Philistines shall prevail lead him away captive and put out his eyes So those who by the help of the Spirit have in former tribulations been made to rejoice and glorie may think when assaulted afresh to shew like chearfulness but if by any sin they have made the Spirit depart they shall find a little thing too heavy to bear the loss of a child which is but a common temptation shall make them cry and take on more like men then like Christians yea more like children then men Now put all these considerations together and when corruption next stirs say What! shall I grieve my Comforter my abiding my strong my wise my onely Comforter This question will strangle it in the womb if any ingenuity be left in the soul if is be grown hard and carnal through the deceitfulness of sin then nothing but arguments drawn from wrath will work on it III. Let it be pondred who they be that thus grieve the Spirit all men are not in a capacity so to do they that are have of all men least reason to do it Amyraldus in his Theses about the sin against the Holy Spirit hath well observed that a man may be considered under a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or relation one meerly natural or legall having knowledg of duty but no revelation of any mercy or pardon in case he sin he that in this case sins sinneth rather against the Father then against Son or Holy Ghost or else he may be considered as under an evangelical dispensation and that again two ways either so as onely to have heard of remission of sins but not at all to believe it or be affected with it he that sins in this state sins rather against the Son then against the Holy Ghost or so as not onely to have seen the marvellous light of the Gospel but also to have been refreshed with its beams and made to rejoice in it if in this state he sin wilfully he must needs grieve the Spirit but thus to sin is to sin at a very high rate when a man hath been made partaker of the holy Ghost and tasted of the powers of the world to come and of the heavenly gift the Spirit may say What could I have done more to endear religion and inodiate sin that I have not done To grieve the Spirit after all this by returning to folly and vanity is an affront and disingenuity not to be suffered and which shall be most severely punished either in this world or in the other or in both This leads to the Fourth Motive drawn from the sad effects and consequents of grieving the Spirit I will not say with Luther that it may make God ro carry it towards men tanquam si non esset Deus ipsorum sed Diabolus nor dare I so much as adventure to English so harsh an expression but I shall direct to one place of Scripture in which enough is said to terrifie us from grieving the Spirit They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them so far was he from assisting them against their enemies and he raised up enemies against them and caused Rebels to fall before them God's punishments under the Gospel are more spiritual not less severe As for the temporary beleever the Spirit being grieved by him may so forsake him as that the unclean Spirit may return with seven unclean spirits worse then that which was cast out he may be suffred so to fall as that it shall be impossible to renew him by repentance As for such as by the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost are consecrated and made Temples of God I am so strongly perswaded of the doctrine of perseverance that I do not think they ever again become of the Synagogue of Sathan but their grieving of the Spirit may be so punished as that 1. They may be permitted to fall into very foul and dishonourable lusts He that complieth with the motions of the Spirit is changed into the image of God from glory to glory he renews his strength as doth the Eagle but give me a man that grieves the Spirit he shall in a short time fall into abominable either opinions or practises and when we do consider how ugly have been the carriages and how scandalous the Apostasies of some that doubtless were enlightned and made the highest profession of Religion we cannot rest in any other cause of them then Gods judiciall blinding and hardening of them for vexing his Spirit of truth and holiness 2. All ordinances become unprofitable to them Promises sometimes sweeter then the honey and the honey-comb have no relish in them Commands and threatnings of which their hearts were wont to stand in awe now affect them no more then dreadful tales of men in another world Were it not for shame had they but any handsom excuse they would not come at ordinances at all the Disciples are told John 14.26 that the Spirit shall bring things to their remembrance by which I would not understand a bare calling them to mind but a bringing them to mind in their full vigor authority evidence 'T is the Spirit alone that sets home doctrines with demonstration and power the Spirit grieved the most weighty truths are no more regarded then so many idle dreams at least no more then do the enticing
God for those enjoyments they have of him in this earthly Tabernacle but yet not be so satisfied with any such enjoyments as not to desire it may be dissolved and so they put into the possession of that house in heavens not made with hands We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon 2 Cor. 5.4 I confess in this I look on St. Paul as our Pattern rather then as our Standard I dare not say that all who are partakers of the Spirit do thus earnestly groan after absence from the body and presence with the Lord but all have reason so to do else had not all by Christ been taught to pray Thy Kingdom come As for you who live in sin I cannot exhort you to desire this day rather you may pray as did the Primitive Christians though on a better account Pro morâ finis for to you this Day of the Lord shal not be a day of Redemption but of Confinement to the darkest dungeon it shal burn as an Oven it shall burn you up and leave you neither root nor branch The Devils who believe it do tremble at the thoughts of it and if you tremble not at it it is because you believe it not The best and most seasonable advice I can give you is to kiss the Redeemer and to follow God with sighs and groans till he hath given you hearts soft as wax then shall you also be sealed to the day of Redemption Of this Sealing of the Spirit I am now to speak and that somewhat largely being therefore to build high it is good to dig deep and lay the foundation sure The expression is undoubtedly Metaphorical and must betoken something that bears proportion to Sealing properly so called What that is we should the rather enquire because the Metaphor is so frequently used here and Chap. 1.13 and 2 Cor. 1.22 He that shall read the Learned Zanchy on Chap. 1. vers 13. will not lose his labour nay will think nothing can be added unto what he hath said I shall from him and others in a few words lend light enough to elucidate this matter to those that have a mind to understand Two things among us go by the name of a Seal 1. The Signet that makes the Impression 2. The Impression that is made by the Signet And sealing if considered in its nature is nothing else but the imparting of the Image of the Signet to that which is sealed But then the uses of sealing are divers 1. For secresie or security 2. For ratification or confirmation 3. For distinction or separation Now the question is Whether in allusion to the nature of some or all uses of sealing we are said to be sealed Doubtless the Spirit doth work in us so as to communicate unto us the likeness of God in holiness and righteousness By him we are changed into the Image of God from glory to glory 1 Cor. 3. last According to his mercy he saveth us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 We are born again of water and the Holy Ghost Joh. 3.3 We are washed we are sanctified we are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 But seeing the sealing here intended is in order of nature after believing Ephes 1.13 I humbly conceive it is not the making of the Elect to partake of the Divine Nature but the assuring of them that they do partake of it the perswading our hearts that we have Gods mark on us God seals us with his Spirit not that he may know us to be his but that we may know our selves to be his and rest satisfied that we are his and that he will own us for his when to others he shall say Depart from me I know you not I deny not but we may be said to be sealed by the Spirit when we are by him regenerated and made new creatures but I think Regeneration is rather the Spirits writing the law in our hearts and making us the Epistle of God and that the sealing in the Text intended is the Spirits testifying unto us that we are of the number of Gods redeemed ones and have a right to the priviledges of Gods redeemed ones Now there are five things of which the Spirit may be thought to give assurance 1. Election 2. Vocation 3. Justification 4. Perseverance 5. Eternal life but because of some of these there is dispute and because it is by all sober persons granted that effectual vocation regeneration conversion are the evidences of the other of that chiefly and well nigh onely I shall speak and cast all I have to say about it into an Answer to these six Questions 1. Whether such Assurance may be had 2. Whether the nature of Faith consist in it and whether it may not be separated from Faith 3. How the Spirit works it 4. Why so many Christians are so long without it 5. What motives there be to perswade us to labour after it 6. What means are to be used 1. to gain it if we have it not 2. to keep it if we have it 3. to regain it if we have lost it 1. In answer to the Question Whether such assurance may be had I say it may which I prove 1. By arguing ab esse ad posse Assurance hath by many been attained therefore it may be attained That it hath been attained is so evident that scarce any thing can be more evident there is not one Saint almost in all the Scriptures concerning whom much is said of whom something is not said from which it may be collected that he had sometime or other good assurance of Gods love Was Job think we without assurance who maintained his integrity against the devil and his uncharitable friends clubbing their wits to prove him an Hypocrite Was not that the voice of assurance I know that my redeemer liveth Was not the Spouse assured when she said I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Was not St. Paul assured when he so triumphed in Christ Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither life nor death nor Angels nor principalities c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus The Papists do not much deny but that these persons and sundry others mentioned in Scriptures had assurance onely they say they came to it in an extraordinary way by immediate revelation which must needs be looked on as a meer evasion and shift there is not in Scripture the least hint that these came to their assurance in any extraordinary way but many things there be in Scripture which make manifest that they attained their certainty in a discursive way arguing from the effect to the cause from the fruits to the root from their mortifying the deeds of the flesh and walking according to the Spirit to the Spirits dwelling in them St. Paul