be a decrease and abatement of spiritual love humilty and self-denyall so that you grow sleight and envious and high minded truly it is a sad Symptome it may be you have great gifts and excell in outward performances high and lofty expressions of more than ordinary enjoyments of God as if yee only did reigne and none were comparable to you and yet all this while you walk proudly and vainly and whilst you boast of high attainments you live much below God Thus it was with some in the Church of Corinth x 1 Cor. 4.7 8. who looked on Paul and the other Apostles as not worthy to be compared with them in spirituall enjoyments and here upon the Apostle makes use of that ironicall expression which wee may take up in our dayes Now yee are full now yee are rich yee have reigned as Kings without us and I would to God that yee did reigne that wee also might reigne with you I would it were so indeed as you say that we might beare you company and share with you in your enjoyments But these very Corinthians were so far from excelling the Apostl in a spirituall way that they were much below him and walked carnally Are yee not carnall saith the Apostle for as much as there are divisions among you and I could not speak to you as unto spirituall but as unto carnall even as unto babes in Christ y 1 Cor. 3.1 Now in this there may be great mistakes and therefore take these rules First if you have greater enjoyments of God than your brethren Rule 1. The clearer apprehensions you have of God the viler you will be in your owne eyes you will then see more into the evil of your own hearts and bewaile the same doubtless the more you see of God the viler you will be in your owne eyes if God appeare unto you in his glorious perfections you cannot but lie in the dust in the sense of your owne filthinesse and imperfections and for this we have divers instances in scripture when the Lord had invailed his glory to Job how did it humble and abase him Behold said he z Iob. 40.4 5. I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth once I have spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further I will expostulate the case with God no longer neither will I plead mine owne righteousnesse with him And againe a Chap. 42. verse 5 6. I have heard of thee by the bearing of the eare that would not move him but nowmine eye seeth thee now I come to see thy glorious Attributes and perfections thou having opened mine eyes by thine owne Spirit wherefore I abborre my selfe in dust and ashes And so Ezekiel when he saw the appearance of the likenesse of the glory of God b Ezek. 1.28 he fell on his face in token of humility and self abasement And the Prophet Isaiah when he saw that glorious vision Chap. 6.5 cryed out in the sense of his owne vilenesse We is me for I am undone because I am a man of uncleane lips mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts If you have seen the Lord in his glorious appearances oh your hearts will be humble your consciences tender your spirits full of self deny all the visions of God Christ will above all other things throw downe the pride of the flesh and cause the soule to have a high esteeme of the Lord Jesus as the chiefest of ten thousand Secondly 2. Rule The more precious will the Ordinances of the Gospel be to you the more precious and beautifull will the word and Ordinances of the new Testament be to you as Preaching Prayer Sacraments Communion of Saints I dare say if you enjoy much of God as you say you doe you will be so far from sleighting the Ordinances of God under the notion of carnall and fleshly dispensations as that you will have higher thoughts of them than you have had the Lord Jesus powring out his comforts upon you in and by these as conduitpipes you will remember that you have had sweet meetings with God heavenly breathings and warmings unspeakable comforts and refrshings from him and that God hath unvailed and uncovered his face and appeared gloriously unto you in these administrations and therefore the word and Ordinances of Christ will be precious to you as gold and sweeter unto you than honey and the honey combe c Psa 19.10 And indeed it doth not a little amaze mee that any who professe the name of Christ and union and fellowship with him should abandon the Ordinances of Christ now under the new Testament seeing David speakes Prophetically in reference to this latter administration d Psal 84.1 2 3 4. the Prophet Mica chap. 4. vers 1 2. of the amiablenesse of Gods Tabernacles and the Saints longing after God in the use of his Ordinances Hath not the Lord refreshed your soules in Prayer and ravished your hearts while you have communicated with the Saints in a Sacrament and have yee not by an eye of faith in the use of an Ordinance seen Jesus Christ crucified for your sins and sitting at the right hand of his Father making intercession for you such as have experience of the Communications of God can set to their seales that this is true and therefore take heed of sleighting those administrations wherein you have found God so abundantly Thirdly 3. Rule The conversation will be more holy i in generall if you have high enjoyments of God in the Spirit your conversation will excell in spirtualnesse and holinesse by the irradiations of God upon you yea there will be such Christian care and watchfulnes that you will flie from the very appearance of evil from the garment spotted with the flesh from fleshly tamperings lacivious gestures and unprofitable discourses where the Spirit of God works most there will be the greatest conformity to God who is holinesse it self But to descend to particulars 2. More particularly First 1. You will be in a good measure crucified to the world your affections will be in a high degree crucified to the creature true mortification consists not in a few good words and fine expressions for there are many that speak much of dying to the flesh and carnall things who yet live much in the flesh and upon the world really therefore to be crucified to the world is to have the heart and affections alienated from it and set upon God and heavenly objects our conversation is in Heaven saith the Apostle e Phil. 3.20 and wee sit together with Christ in heavenly places and I am crucified to the world and the world to me f Gal. 6.14 That is I am so dead to the world that it is indifferent to me whether the world smile or frowne upon me for I care no more for it than it cares for me and againe
longer by the breathings of his Spirit now this kind of desertion true Saints are not capable of nor subject unto For although there is oftentimes a withholding from them comforts and inlargements yet never a totall withdrawing of grace f Isa 54.10 for it is grace and grace only that supports them and bears up their spirits in a drooping and disconsolate condition it is the power of the Lords grace upon their souls that prevents sad disasters and desperate attempts which otherwise Satan and their flesh would put them upon Secondly 2. A suspension of comfort there is another kind of desertion which cannot properly be called a desertion but rather a Suspension of those soul refreshing manifestations influences and consolations of the Spirit which a Saint hath formerly enjoyed neither is this totall and universall but partiall and graduall in respect of measure and degree a true Christian is never so forsaken of God but he partakes in some measure of the influences and opperations of the Spirit of grace though there may not be such heatings and warmings as there have been The Sunne you know shines upon the earth in Winter as well as in Summer yet the earth is not so warmed heated nor the trees made so fruitfull by the influence of the Sunne in Winter as in Summer just so it is with a Christian he hath his Winter as well as his Summer seasons his nights as well as his dayes his complainings as well as his consolations but yet observe that this kind of desertion if it may be so called which a Saint is capable of is rather in his apprehension than reall The soul-ravishing object which is God in Christ is not darkned or eclipsed in it selfe God is perfect light and in him is no darknesse at all g 1 Joh. 1.5 But the darknesse is in the understanding or apprehensive faculty which is but renewed in part the flesh as a thick mist or cloude interposes it self betwixt the object and our understandings as betwixt the Sunne and our corporall eyes so that wee cannot clearly see into the things that are revealed or comprehend fully the glory of the spirituall object The Saints may be considered under a twofold notion Saints considered in a twofold relation or relation this will help much to the clearing of the matter in hand First 1. In justification as they are in a state of Justification and union with God in Christ and this admits of no change diminution or increase the weak Christian is as much justified as much united to God he hath as much interest and propriety in Christ though hee cannot make so much advantage and improvement of it as the strong Christian who hath a greater degree of faith the ground and matter of justification which is the free grace of God in and by the blood of Christ as Mediator h Ephes 1.6 7. Ro 3.24 25. remaines sure stedfast and unmoveable notwithstanding the daily sinnings and backslidings of saints the Covenant which they are under is an everlasting Covenant of free grace which cannot be disanulled i Jer. 32.40 and the bond of their spirituall union which is the Spirit of grace and love is an eternall bond that can never be broken or dissolved as the bond of temporall Marriage may be God hath betrothed his Saints to him for ever and hath given them his Spirit to be a Seale k Ephes 1.13 and a pledge of his everlasting love to them Secondly 2. In Sanctification the Saints may be considered in their Sanctification and communion with God which is an effect or product of their justification and union l Gal. 4.6 now in this the Saints have experience of great changes and alterations of ebbings and flowings as in the Sea of increasings and decreasings as in the Moone Their communion with God and enjoyment of him is sometimes greater sometimes lesser as God manifests himself to them and the Sun of righteousnesse shines on them you shall have a Christian high in communion with God when hee meets with a ful-tide and fresh-gale of the Spirit m The Spirit is compared to wind Cant. 4.6 hee goes on merrily in his way and passes over the Red sea of temptations as it were with a fore-right winde but when the wind blowes not at all or else blowes but softly either he cannot hoiz saile or at the best heeds forced having but a side wind to tacke often about and make many boords before hee get to shore Here you may aske me why Saints now under the new Testament administration Quest are lesse surprized with spirituall languishings and swoonings than Saints were under the old Testament administration The old administration ingendered bondage Answ and terror in those who lived under it although they were sonnes yet were they dealt with as servants though they were heires yet were they used as children in nonage n Gal. 4.1 2 3. Gal. 5.1 but the new administration brings peace and liberty to Saints This the Apostle handels excellently as in other places so especially in the 2 to the Cor. 3 Chap. Therefore those Christians that act much from a spirit of bondage and yeeld to slavish feares terrors though they may be right in the maine yet doubtless their carriage and demeanour is not answerable to the new Testament administration Now the reason as I conceive why Job and David and other eminent believers in the old Testament had so much horror upon their spirits is because they lived under a typical administration and were types of Christ * God exhibited spiritual things to believers under the old Testament in Types and shadows Heb. 10.1 not only in their bodily sufferings but also in their spirituall agonies and temptations in the one they shaddowed forth the sufferings of his body * Vide Calv. Institu lib. 2. Cap. 11. Sect. 3. ad finem and in the other the sufferings of his soule And now the old administration being abolished and a new one taking place we doe not read that the Saints who lived since Christs ascension have had so much horror and bondage upon their spirits as Job and David had Neverthelesse it cannot be denied but the Saints have their ebbings and languishings under the new Testament more or lesse Paul that chosen vessell of God had conflicts within as well as terrors without he was not alwayes carried up into the third heaven as he writes of himself o 2 Cor. 12 but had sometimes experience of sad qualmes and aguish fits and in Johns time which according to the opinion of some was a time of more light The Angels of the Church of Ephesus p Rev. 2.4 5. who were faithfull and so acknowledged by Christ himself in the 2 and 3 verses had lost their first love and were fallen from their former zeale and therefore Christ bids them remember from whence they were fallen and repent and
doe their first works So that in the purest times the Saints have had their cold fits their retrogradations and goings back in spiritualls Thus much for the proofe of the premisses now that the weak ones may not be offended at this discourse for I would not willingly offend or stumble any that professe the name of Christ it will be necessary to premise a few cautions 4. Considerations by way of caution for preventing mistakes and informing the judgment a right before I come to the Symptomes and in order there unto I shall lay down these following considerations First as Satan that lying spirit may delude thee 1. Consi Satan will tempt you to think worse of your spirituall condition than it is by flattering thee into a beliefe that thy soule is in a flourishing growing condition by reason of some gifts and enlargements when it is otherwise and thus he deales with hypocrites and temporary believers so may he likewise accomplish his wicked designe by perswading thee that thou art in a languishing condition when thou art not by the one he would puffe thee up and make thee glory in the flesh and by the other he would expose thee to such discouragements that thou shouldest not serve God comfortably in thy calling as hee will tempt thee to think better of thy condition than it is so likewise to think worse of it than it is by presenting before thee false mediums and glasses and putting thee upon consulting with flesh and blood which is no competent judge in spiritualls for the flesh savoureth not the things of God q Mat. 16.23 Now this latter temptation of Satan commonly surprizeth a Christian when he hath a deep sense of his own vilenesse and is much abased in himself his heart in an humble and contrite frame for then 't is most probable such a temptation may take a deep impression therefore at such times take heed you deny not the work of grace and the operation of the Spirit of God upon your souls acknowledge your own nothingness but with all be sensible of the love of God towards you in changing and renewing your hearts Secondly 2. Consi The keennesse of a corruption doth not infallibly preâ—â—â—se a declension in spiritualls it cannot be safe for a Christian to judge of his spiritual condition by the keennesse or activeness of this or that corruption in him for the soul may have intimate converse and familiarity with God and be filled with that peace which passeth understanding when yet it is buffetted and exercised with the bublings up and stirrings of corruption and this was Pauls case in the 7th to the Romans 1 Rom. 7. where after a great conflict with the flesh hee comes off a conquerer by the consideration of the victories of Christ and in another place r he tells us that he had a thorne or prick in the flesh which was some notable corruption or other and though hee had prayed thrice against it yet still it continued vexing the good man to the end that his faith patience might be exercised and therefore the Lord tells him for his comfort that his grace was sufficient for him notwithstanding the malice of Satan and the daringness of his lusts and that the Lords strength was made perfect in his weaknesse Å¿ 2 Cor. 12. Here Paul was not in a spirituall consumption because he was exercised with the stirrings of corruption but therefore God permitted it that he might not trust in himself but in the Lord so neither shouldest thou presently conclude upon the stirring of every corruption that thou art run behind hand in true mortification for as some Patients that are nigh unto death make a great bustling and are so strong when they are giving up their last breath that two or three men can scarse hold them or as the body of a man after he hath received his deaths wound will leape and move from place to place even so it is with the lusts and corruptions of believers for though they are knockt in the head and have received their deaths wound by the death of Christ yet will they bustle and make a stir so long as wee remaine in this Tabernacle and untill the flesh be perfectly subdued in us by the Spirit 3. Cons The distemperature of the body hinders internal actings Thirdly the constitution of the body if distempered with melancholy and other ill humours may and doth cloude the understanding and interrupt the internall motions and operations of the renewed soul So that a Christian cannot clearely apprehend them in himselfe or make out the same to others Melancholick Christians are as full of divine experiences as heavenly and spirituall as any yet when this duskish humour and black distemper of melancholy which may well be called the devils cushion is prevalent upon them oh what false conclusions what grosse mistakes and carnall reasonings what closing in with Satans suggestions and fighting under his coulours doe these bewray at such times how shamelesse are they in denying what Christ hath done for them and what the Spirit hath wrought in them and evidenced to them which they will thankfully acknowledg when the skie is clear the weather faire when the cloude of melancholy is dispelled and the foggy mists of temptations scattered and therefore it behoves Saints not to judge of their spirituall condition in melancholick and pettish fits for the Satan and their owne lying hearts joyning together will deceive them Fourthly 4. Cons Saints differ in the measure of their spirituall growth as some trees grow taller and shoot forth more than others so is it with Saints in their spirituall growth there are Saints of severall degrees and measures as there are several gifts and dispensations and but one Spirit t 1 Cor. 12. so there are severall degrees of faith love joy humility and all even the least of them streaming from that one Spirit Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ u Eph. 4.7 Some have more and others lesse according to the wise dispensation of the Father perhaps thou art not so high in communion with God as others are thou hast not high attainments but art low and dead hearted comparing thy self with others wilt thou therefore conclude that thou hast no communion with God at all or that there is a decrease of thy communion with him that thou art no member at all because thou art not the most eminent member or that thou art a languishing dying member because thou art not so nimble and active in spirituall performances as others These are false conclusions and shew forth a great deale of pride and unthankfulness Thus much by way of caution now I come to the Symptomes of a Christians abatement in spiritualls in the handling whereof I shall be somewhat large First 1. Symtome If there be a decay of love humility self-denyall if there
who whilest they depend on their owne righteousnesse are the greatest enemies to the righteousnesse of Christ Secondly in a more refined mysterious way attributing that to frames of spirit and to the acts of faith love joy which some falsly call God in them which should be attributed only to the righteousnes and bloodshed of the Lord Jesus If you fall on any thing for life salvation though never so spetious besides the righteousnesse of Christ as Mediator or if you looke on any thing either externall without you or internall within you as a ground of your peace apart from or without relation to the blood of Christ whereby the same is rendered acceptable in the sight of God this is to fall under a Covenant of works and oh that this were but rightly considered by those who count the knowledge of Christ in his Mediatorship and Preist-hood to be no other than a knowledge of him after the flesh Object Rom. 8.14 Yee have not received the spirit of bondage againe to feare how then can the Saints be brought into bondage and under a Covenant of works T is true Answ the Spirit of God having once spoken peace to a believer he doth not afterwards bring him into bondage by telling him that he is under wrath and in chaines of darknesse for this were a plaine contradiction which is far from the Spirit of God who is truth and is no lye z 1 Joh 2. c 7. neverthelesse the Saints may be brought into bondage after they have received the Seale of the Spirit as they may also be deluded with errors which wee must not impute to the Spirit of God but to Satan and the flesh for these two joyne together to rob God of the glory of his grace The Spirit who is free in his operation causeth terror and slavish feare in the believing soule no other wayes than the Sunne causeth darkness by suspending his beames and irradiations doubtlesse so far as wee hearken to the suggestions and language of the Spirit of God wee shall be conducted into the way of truth peace and comfort but wee often give credit to Satan that lying spirit and so are led from Christ the true way into dangerous paths Suppose yee take counsel both of an honest-man and a deceiver so far as you follow the advise of the honest-man yee prosper well in your businesse but if you will be tampering with the advise of the deceiver which is our case then wee have to doe with Satan who is the great Jugler yee will be cozened and deluded Ninthly 9 Symptome If ye slight the communion of Saints if the society and communion of Saints especially such as keep close in their judgments to the simplicity of the Gospel and are most spirituall holy and watchfull in their conversations be tedious and burthensome unto you so that you forsake their assemblies and meetings as it was the manner of some in the Apostles dayes a Heb. 10.25 And though yee are convinced that they have much of the Image of God upon them and your hearts have been wonderfully expatiated and enlarged whilst you frequented their assemblies God having unbosomed his love to you in the communication of their experiences yet now your spirits swell and rise up against them as too strick and too watchfull for you not long since their company and discourse was delightsome and precious unto you oh you could not be absent from them an houre you were never in your right element but when you were conversing with them I appeale to you did not your hearts often burne and were not your affections raised heaven wards in communicating with them where then is your former zeale and love seeing now yee are as much or more affected with the company of meere worldings or lukewarme Gospellers or sleight spirited Opinionists than with the Society of these precious saints certainely they have but could affections to Christ who looke on the communiion of saints as an arbitrary indifferent thing And as this is a symptome of decaying in spiritualls so it argues much vanity and slightnesse of spirit if you be taken up in your meetings with circumstanciall and trisling things and so fall to jangling and strif (a) 1 Tim. 1. 4 5 6 7. neglecting those blessed truthes wherein the Saints concur and agree as namely the Doctrine of Justification by Christ of assurance by the spirit and liveing upon God by saith in our severall callings and relations and herein professiors doe as children use to do who looke more on the outside than on that which is with in and prize bables and toyes more than Preclous things Religion which consists in a conformity of the hart to God is now turned into a dispure and made use of only as a head notion a sad thing hee that is the greatest disputant and can utter bigg swelling words is counted the most excellent Christian whereas many dispute much of religion that manifest but little of the power of it and those that are spirituall and walke circumspectly can tell you from experience that they have seldome or never mett with the comforts of God in disputes but have come away from them with sad harts and drooping spirits and how can it be otherwise since men exalt their owne notions and gifts more than Christ and strive more for victory than for truth in contending for their opinions Thirdly when men are let loose to a spirit of bitternesse 10 Symptome If there be much bitternesse against dissenting brethren invie and parsecution So that they stuff and fill their bookes sermons and discourses with gall and wormeword and rake up all the dunghills they can meete with that so they might find a matter against brethren who in some things oiffer from them looking on that which is true Christian charity according to the Apostls description (a) 1 Cor. 13. as want of true zeale such a spirit as this hath acted much of late in professors that live under seuerall formes and indeed ye that have a close commuinon with God a cleere judgment in the things of God may see these angry bitter men that would violently obtrude upon their brethren every opinion they hold though but Circumstanciall under a penalty notwithstanding their heat of spirit grow exceeding colde in the practicall part of Godlinesse and in the duties of Christian Charity while they continually cry out errors errors c. without excerciseing bowells of compassion towards their brethren they themselves loose much of their Communion with God for whereas they ought in tendernesse of heart to pray and mourne for their brethrē if fallen into any error either of doctrin or practise and endeavour by meekness of spirit to set them in joynt againe * So the word signifies Gal. 6.1 in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quemadmodum incolumitati naturae diligentia medicorum servit ita Christiana Charitas sanitati mentium cordium tam
these 15 Symptomes wherin I have beene some what large because they are sutable to these deserting times I shall now give you three grounde or reasons why there are such eclipses or cloudings of Gods countenance First because the spirit of God which is a spirit of wisdom 1 Ground The Spirit of God is free worker and revelation a spirit of life and light a spirit of love and of a sound minde a Eph. 1.17 is a free and arbitray agent he workes when 2 Tim. 1.7 and where and in what measure he pleaseth as the wind bloweth where it listeth so the spirit workes where and how he pleaseth b John 3.8 to some he reveales more to some lesse of the minde of God none are perfect in there faith love joy while they remaine heere as he is free to give the soule comfort and speake peace to it so he may as freely withdraw his divine influence from it at least in some measure and degree and who can blame him for so doing since he acts freely and every dram of peace and comfort which any poore soule hath is meerely of grace and benevolence if you have more communion with God then your brethren and a bound in the comforts of the holy Ghost whilst they morne under sad discouregments you have so much the morecause to magnifie the grace of God for what have you which you have not received as the sun is free in shining on your outward man so the spirit of God is also free in casting his beames upon your inward man * Donum spiritus liberum est nulli merito alligatum Musc Secondly the Lord in his infinit wisdome layes you low 2 Ground Saìnts are brought low that they may sympathize with their brethren that you may pittie others that are in a sad conditon over whome you would otherwise insult and triumph such as have knowne the terrors of God and have beene in the depths of sorrow and affliction themselves will Sympathize with there afflicted brethern experience makes a compassionate and tender hearted Christian if ye be wounded your selves you would be sensible of others if you be exercised in the spirituall warfare your selves you will pitty those that by groaning under the burthen of corruption by exercise wee come to be expert souldiers in the Campe of Christ indeed the speculative part of religion is not comparable to the practicall our Saviour himself was tempted that he might be a compassionate high preist and know how to helpe others that are tempted a Heb. 4.15 you are apt to grow proud and wanton when you have much comfort and greate raptures you are puffed up with your inlargments and looke at your poore wounded afflicted brethren at a great distance the Lord it may be will take away your comforts and put you into the same capacity with them that you may be sensible of their sorrowes no temptation hath taken others but it may also surprize you yee may ere long for ought I know mourne after your beloved as the Spouze did in the Canticles though you have the bridgrooms presence now with you it may be shortly taken frō you and then your countenances wil be sad and your harts be filled with sorrow you ought therefore to be so far from censuring your disconsolate brethren as that you should morne with them and helpe to beare their burthens so fulfill the law of Christ which is a law of love Thirdly because God will put a differēce in the measure 3 Ground God will have Saints know they have not a full poffession of heaven here of the Saints enjoyments here and in glory here they live by faith there by sence and vision here their comforts ebbe flow but there they have an uninterrupted communion with God a fulnesse of joy in the beatificall vision of the Lord of glory 't is true the saints in this world have experience of that joy which is unspeakable and glorious but they have but a tast of it some times they are so carried up in the spirit as that the most excellent things in the world are as nothing unto them but these raptures are not of long continuance there is as great if not a greater difference betweene the Saints here and the Saints in glory in the measure of there joyes as betweene the Saints that lived under the old administration those that have liv'd since Christs ascention when he distributed great portions of his spirit to the sonnes of men a Eph. 4.8 as princes use to give great gifts at the time of their coronation the Apostle cleares this excellently in the 1. Cor. 13 12. now wee see darkly through a glasse or medium now wee have but a Darke sight of the glory of God but then namely when the vaile is rent and corruption swallowed up wee shall see face to face now wee know but in part but then wee shall know even as wee are knowne the failings and imperfections of the most spirituall Saints do sufficiently confesse the vaine interpretation which some give on this place namely that the perfect vision of God is to be referred to the Saints there which cannot be obtained without a change of the outward man this mortality must put on immortality and this corruption incorruption at the glorious appearance of the sonne of God when the Kingdome shal be delivered up to the father and the father shal be all in all b 1 Cor. 15. now we are the sons of God it doth not appeare what we shal be but wee know when he doth appeare we shall be like him for wee shall see him as hee is b 1 John 3.2 hee shall change our vild bodies that they may be fashioned like his glorious body c Phil. 3.1 21 and this is that which the Saints long after as the great marriage feast the complement of their joy and happinesse praying continually come Lord Jesus come quickly Vse 1 Spurne not at this Doctrine as too low and carnall for you let not such a thought enter into your hearts but examine your selves strictly concerning it that at length if it be the will of God yee may be sensible of your great losse for a man to be wounded and not know it aggravates his afflictions to be miserable yet to be ignorant of it adds to his inisery the time was when you had tender consciences broken and contrite hearts and were sensible of the stratagems of Satan and the deceitfulnesse of your owne spirits yee have also seene the out-goings of God and your mouthes have beene filled with mirth and singing as the bird in a summers morning oh how pleasant and delightfull have the truths of God and Saints of God beene to you but now behold and oh that you were sensible of it yee walke in a desart and wildernesse where there is no water darknesse is your habitation you feed on chaff and windy notions in which
age it is neither wholly night nor wholly day with us but we expect a glorious evening wee looke for a time when truth shall vanquish error and light shall swallow up darknesse And those that have a name they live and yet are dead shall be plainly discovered and that maske and vizard pull'd off where with they have blinded many precious Saints I meane their pretences of high and glorious discoveries without relation to the blood of a crucified Christ which is not only sleighted and undervalued by Papists and others that live under a Covenant of works but also by another sort of Professors who have much of the Spirit of divine light and dying to the flesh and carnall created things in their mouthes the Lord Jesus in the sufferings of his humane nature is laid aside as an Almanack out of date or an old administration or fleshly appearance out of which they are passed And this is that spirit of Antichrist which began to work in Johns time and appeared much in Luthers time in Zwenkfeld his followers who judged Luther and other faithful Christians to be men of a very low straine that lived under a carnall administration upon the letter and history not knowing God in Spirit and in mystery which is the very language of the manifestarians in these daies concerning many precious Saints I shall be far from stirring up the civill Magistrate against those that erre in judgment about spirituall things so they submit to lawfull Authority in civill things for this were to thwart the straine of Christs Gospel which exhorts us to love and forbearance if peradventure the Lord will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth a Heb. 10.2 our weapons saith the Apostle are not carnall but spiritual b 2 Cor 10 4. and my Kingdome saith our Saviour is not of this world if it were my disciples would fight c Ioh. 18.36 Howbeit it concerns every Christian soul to mourn before the Lord and to be earnest with him in prayer that he would consume the man of sin with the breath of his nostrills and that he would throw down the strong holds of Satan namely those horrid errors and blasphemies which are crept into the Churches of Christ I shall desire thee Christian Reader to read this little book without prejudice and to avoid jangling and strife and minde the things that tend to peace and edification Now the Lord give thee and mee a seeing eye a hearing eare and an understanding heart Farwell To the Christian READER HIgh attainments and choyce Communion with God are a great Happinesse such as many Saints come not up to nor all that pretend they have them doe enjoy Some judge themselves on the top of Mount Sion when they are at the foot thereof they are without sinne perfect live in the Essence of God neither Christ nor any of his institutions are considerable with them The Ministery is a delusion the Ordinances of the Gospel low administrations empt Cloudes fleshly appearances and dead formes righteousnesse holinesse faith are to them of little account Immediate revelations are onely looked at the holy Scriptures laid aside Whereupon Satans delusions are often taken for the Spirits discoveries and these conceit themselves all Spirit manifest much flesh Is it not fleshly wisdome to put down what the infinite wisdome of God hath set up to seek out inventions of out own and not to be content with the Gosspel which is the power of God to mans salvation Reader art thou beyond others in knowledge holinesse high attainments let not thy tongue but life declare it Christ had the Spirit not by measure John 3.34 he was annointed above his fellowes Heb. 1.9 fill'd with all the fulnesse of God Colos 2.9 yet he conversed with sinners Matth. 9.11 pray'd with others Luk. 9.28 frequented the Assemblies Luke 4.16 preached to mixt multitudes Mark 6.33 34. pray'd before meat Matth. 19.19 15.36 Communicated with his disciples Mat. 26.29 made use of the Scriptures Luk. 4.17 18 19 20 21. and directed others to do so John 5.39 How is it then that any should cast off such duties Have they more of the Spirit than Christ Are they richer than he If such thoughts lodge in them the Lord teach them to know themselves to bee lowly minded and to esteeme other better than themselves Phil. 2.3 What heights soever such speak of they are in a bottome greatly benighted and clouded decay'd rather than growne Christians Declinings are dangerous growth is comfortable It 's matter not onely of observation but of complaint that the power of godlinesse is much abated in most Saints Many in England have lost their first love it 's time for them to remember former dayes and to doe their first works lest severe judgements divorce them from their sweetest comforts This little Treatise very savoury and seasonable written with a Dove-like Spirit will discover to thee thy declensions and direct thee to the ready way of recovery Read it with a single heart and the Lord make it a blessing to thee W. G. Saints in England under a Cloude THat such as are spirituall and have tasted of the specially love and grace of God may yet for ends best known to him be cast into a sleepy and languishing condition and brought to a low ebb in their owne sense and feeling is an experimented and undeniable truth and hereof we have divers instances in holy writ Job was a godly man there was none like unto him and yet the Lord hid his countenance from him and writ bitter things against him a Job 13.26 and David and Heman were filled with horror and amazement in the apprehension of the Lords withdrawing his comforts and the light of his countenance from them and the Church of Christ was once put upon this sad and dismall conclusion That the Lord had forsaken her yea her Lord had forgotten her b Isa 49.14 Cant. 5.6 Nay in this we have the Lord Jesus himself for an example who as touching his humane nature wanted those sensible feelings and injoyments of God which he was wont to have in so much that this blessed Saviour of mankinde cried out in the bitternesse of his soule My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c Mat. 27.48 And againe My soule is exceeding sorrowfull even unto the death d Mat. 26.38 For our better understanding of this truth Two sorts of desertions and that wee may have a distinct knowledge of it according to the Scriptures we are to consider two sorts of desertion which differ much the one from the other First 1. A reall desertion there is a totall reall desertion and rejection by God and this is when the Lord hardens the heart of a man as hee hardned the heart of Pharaoh e Exo. 4.21 and wholly withdrew the influence and beames of divine grace from him the Lord wil call him no more he will breath on him no
were but babes in the knowledge of Christ but as for the Baptist himself it seemes hee had much of God in him for he ingenously acknowledged that Christ must increase and himself decrease neither did hee repine but rejoyce and was glad that Christ the Bridgroome was exalted whose messenger and servant he was This seeking honour of men was the great let obstacle in the way of the Jewes so that they could not believe in Christ How can yee believe which receive honour one of another and seeke not the honor that commeth from God only o Joh. 5.44 and indeed this was the break-neck sin of Diotrephes for the Apostle writes of him that hee affected the preheminence that is to be counted more excellent then the Apostles and their followers that so he might make a worldly gaine of his spirituall gifts and if it be thus with you that you are taken with the applause of men and love to have the preheminence it is a Symptome that you are in a sleepy condition want that spiritual sense of your own nothingness which you have formerly had Fourthly 4. Symptome If you kick at a reproofe if your hearts be haughty and stubborne so that you will not take a reproofe kindly and meltingly but kick against it and your brethren that admonish you and instead of an ingenious acknowledgment of your fault yee frame excuses and your spirits swell and grow big upon it I'ts evident in this case that God hath hid his face from you and thus it was with Peter that holy man who when the Damosell charged him home with truth he grew outragious and passionate and no marvell if he took it no better from her for the good man was left to himself that he might have experience of his owne weaknesse and learne to put his confidence in the Lord. After Christs ascension when there was a greater effusion of the Spirit upon him the mystery of faith was more clearely revealed to him we doe not read that he was so vaine and passionate under a reproofe when Paul withstood him to the face for his double dealing p Gal. 2.11 Wee may therefore conclude that those Professors who spurne at their brethren for giving them a seasonable reproofe and admonition and upon this accompt grow strange to them and refraine their society are much under a cloude and in a great measure carnal for otherwise the reproofe of a Saint would be as oyle powred out on their heads and it would be entertained as a messenger from God Fiftly when there is a neglect 5. Symptome When you are formal in your duties or superficiall use of Christian duties and services I have observed two extreames in Professors some doe idolize the meanes and set up Ministers and duties in the place of Christ as if these were crucified for them and others sleight duties and Ordinances as dead formes beggerly rudiments carnall administrations fleshly appearances and thus it was in the Church of Corinth q 1 Cor. 1.12 one said he was of Paul another of Apolle another of Cephas here was idolizing men and meanes but then there was another sort that said they were of Christ that is as I conceive in opposition to men and meanes they were so for Christ and his imediate teachings and discoveries that they sleighred the faithful dispensers of the Gospel and neglected all meanes and Ordinances as the teachings onely of man and not of God Ordinances neglected from a twofold consideration I shall only mention a double consideration from which some Professors neglect Ordinances First 1. Consi That there is a going out to the world which is distinct from the Church of Christ because there is going out to the world and dispensing the Word and Prayer to the world therefore Saints may not communicate therein This is a grosse mistake and I hope there are not many of this judgment for First 1. No difference of places under the new Testament there is no difference of places neither are wee tied more to one place than to another now under the new Testament since that typicall holinesse that was in the Temple is abolished and thus much in effect our Saviour told the woman of Samaria r Ioh. 4.21 Truth is truth and the Gospel is the Gospel wheresoever it is dispenced as one place is not more holy than another so neither is one place more unholy than another in the dayes of the New-Testament Secondly 2. Christ preached to the world and Saints did accompany him Christ preached to the world to the Scribes and Pharisees to all sorts of men and embraced all places occasions and opportunities to declare the will of his Father and his Disciples who were Saints were with him and heard him and Paul and the other Apostles preached often in the shipps to the rude Sea-men and donbtlesse some of the Saints did accompany them were present at their exercise Thirdly 3. Saints may hereupon praise the Lord who hath deliveredthem out of the world by that doctrine which is delivered to the world yee that are Saints whome the Lord hath taken out of the world may have occasion ministred to praise the Lord and to magnifie the riches of his grace who hath put a difference between you and the world and hath translated you out of the kingdome of darknesse into the kingdome of his deare Son yee have no excellency which you have not received therefore why should ye boast as if ye had not received it why should ye insult over those that are in a naturall condition and have not yet attained to the knowledge of the mystery of Christ I am sure the Gospell teacheth you another lesson and if yee obey the voyce thereof yee will be tender hearted and compassionate towards such as are without seeing they cannot helpe themselnes till grace over power their hearts the same power that raised Christ from the grave enables a poore soule to beleeve in Christ Å¿ Epehs 1.19.20 Fourthly some truthes which are dispensed to the world are in a speciall manner usefull for saints as the doctrine of redemption and reconciliation by the blood of Christ and the doctrine which holds forth the evill and sinfulnesse of sin the saints are not come to such a perfect knowledge of these truthes they do not so fully see into the mistery of sin and the glory of their redemption by Christ neither doe they so distinctly and cleerly aprehend the offices and relations of Christ but much more may be added to their knowledg of these particulars Secondly 2. Consi That the Scriptures hold forth a perfect vision of God in this life Isa 60.19 Reve. 21. this slighting of ordinances and duties proceeds from a misaplication and misinterpretation of some scriptures which hint at the cessation of ordinances as Isaiah 60.19 and Revel 21. The sunne and moone which some conceive to be the Ordinances of Christ
shall shine no longer but the Lord will be an everlasting light to his church now if these scriptures bee appliable to the Church earth which I rather thinke ought to be referred to the saitns when glorified and triumphant in heaven it must be when he church is made perfect not onely by imputation but inherently when she sees God face to face and there is no flesh nor corruption in her till then they ought not to plead for an exemption from Ordinances and if Ordinances cease in this life much more eating and drinking and the duties of matrimonial relation if there shall be so much glory revealed as to swallow up the former which are of a higher nature that fulnes of glory will much more0 put an end to the latter which are lower more perishing and therefore those that say they need use Ordinances no longer let them also refraine from eating and drinking and conversing in the world * Praesens haec vita vita est fidei quae non est praesentum ac fruentium sed absentium sperantium expect Sixthly if yee constantly attend the purest Ordinances and the most spiritual and evangelicall Ministery and heare truths that are most sutable to your condition and corespond most with your experiences and yet bring forth little or no spiritual fruit but are still dead-hearted indisposed and unprofitable under these thriving dispensations it s a Symptome that you are under a spirituall distemper * Non progredi estregredi Christians oft times blame the men and the meanes and quarrell with the truths of God either as too high or too low for them when they oght rather to blame the carnality sleightnes and unbeliefe of their owne hearts for herefore the word profits not becanse it is not mixed with faith in them that heare it u Heb. 4.2 yet I deny not but there may be and often is * Sermo auditus fine fide vel fide non mixtus tâ abest ut prositaudienti ut magis eum damnet Muscul a great failing in him that dispenses the word for he may deliver it so generally and confusedly having little or no experience of the worke of Gods Spirit that an experienced Saint cannot profit by it If there be not bodily motion and stirring you may conclude the party is in a swound or trance and againe if he eat good victualls and thrive not by them but rather grow lank and leane you may well say he hath an ill concoction by reason of some bodily distemper or other So if the word be purely preached and the truths of the Gospel distinctly handled and you attend the meanes from day to day and ug continually with your hearts in Ordinances and yet notwithstanding you finde little or no spirituall sap and moisture but are leane and drie in this case it is evident enough that your spirituall digestion is in a great measure gone from you and that your inward man is under a distemper Now this may be when yet there is as frequent an use of Ordinances as much praying hearing conferring in the letter and forme as ever but there wants that spirituall life and vigour that holy familiarity and boldnesse with God in your performances which was wont to be nay your performances by the breathings of the Spirit may be lively and spirituall to others and yet your selves in the meane while dead-hearted and labouring under the burthen of your Iusts the great crop of gifts and fluent expressions which you have usually had in Prayer c. may still remaine and yet that which is the life of Prayer Gospel faith and assurance may decay and this many Christians can tell you by experience 7 Symtome when saints shark much after creature comforts Seventhly this may be another Syptome if yee dote so far on creature enjoyments that in dallying with these you spend and squander away many precious houres and dayes without serious thoughts of God and heavnly intercourses betweene him and you and so commit Idolarries with the creature and run a whoreing after the world and earthly things Forsaking him who is the fountaine of living water and digging to our selves broken cisternes that will hold no water xJer 2.13 If you set your hearts on creature beauty and sacrifice your affections to wanton dalliances igh apparel diet buil dings and other creature excellencies spending the very streame and creame and quintessence of your affections on these perishing objects so that when you come to rejoyce in God and love God and spirituall things yee have no heart to it but are altogether dead and indisposed as to this having spent your affections upon other objects and tired out your selves in the things of the world and further if you can rejoyce exceedingly in the possession of these outward things and forrow as much in the want of them be it a husband a wife a child or any other creature that is deare to your as if your life and happinesse were bound up in these temporall enjoyments It s aparent to me that you converse not much with God but rahter that his countenance is hid from you and surely the Prophet David was much under a cloude and not sensible of the consolations of his God when his affections were so captivated and insnared with the beauty of Bersheba and good Ezekiah was in the like condition when he made shew of his gold and silve in a vaine glorious manner to the King of Babylon And for those Christians that are easily transported and surprized with every temptation drink much of the perishing waters it appeares their spirits hang loose from God they have but little spirituall joy and therefore they run out to creature comforts and so spena their money for tht which is not bread and their labour for that which satisfieth not y If. 55.2.8 Symptome If there be an abatement in poynt of assurance Eighty if your assurance of salvation be weakned your evidences blurred and your soules brought into bondage so that you fall as it were under a covenant of works by poreing too much on your selves and creatures and not eyeing Christs blood and righteousnesse in the Spirit Now the soules that hath been acquainted with Christ the true spirituall seed may yet goe back to a Covenant of works as Abraham hankered after Ismael who was a type of the Covenant of works even when Isaac that typified the Covenant of grace was borne and that two wayes First 1. In depending on eternall acts in depending on the externall acts of Prayer c. and deriving your peace and comfort from the work done * Ex opere operato which is meere Popery and hence it is that you are lifted up and cast downe according to the outward performance thus the Pharisees builded their hopes and comforts upon their doings and performances and so doe many Professors in these dayes 2. Of the internall motion in stead of Christ
there is no substance no reality your understandings are clouded hearts hardened your consciences benummed your spirits like Tinder apt to take every impression of Satan and all this because the bridegrome hath withdrawne himselfe from you he is gon behinde the curtaine the sun is ecclipsed t is night with you and what saies our saviour if a man walke in the night he stumbles and if the light that is in thee namely the understanding which is the light of thy soule be darknesse oh how great is that darknesse d 2 Mat. 6.22 In this sad condition you may take up that complaint of Job e Job 29.2 3 3 4 5 20 25. who had experience of the Lords hiding his face from him my harpe is turned into mourning my organ into the voice of those that weepe and wish which him that you were as in the months past as in the daies when God preserved you when his candle shined upon your head and when by his light you walked through darknes when the Secret of God was upon your Tabernacles the Almighty was yet with you when your glory was fresh in you and you were as those that comfort the mourners when you did see the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary f Psa 63.2 and your harts were sweetely drawne out unto him because of the savor of his good ointments g Cant. 1.2 namely the glorious rayes of his countenance which shined upon you Vse 2 2. To conclude if you would bee restored to your former comforts and injoyments or greater I beseech you and oh that God would enable you by his grace to looke up to Christ by an eye of faith and clasp fast about him It is not all your prayers and teares though I doe not say these or any Gospel ordinance wherein Christ manifests himselfe must be neglected it is not your gifts and parts nor any of your performances that can restore you but only the Lord Jesus apprehended by faith how comes the heart to be filled with joy and peace but in beleeving h Rom. 15.13 and againe beleeving yee rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious i 1 Pet. 1.8 for your incouragement let me tell you that ye have a tēder hearted Saviour to deale with one that hath aboundant experience of your sorrowes one that knowes what it is to have the countenance of God eclipsed goe to him and plead before him the promises his death his resurrection his precious offices relations call to minde former experiences of his love and goodnes he died for you when you were enemies to him and will he not give you a gracious visit now that yee are his friends he was found of you when you sought not after him k Isai 65.1 wil he not manifest himself to you now that you seeke him by faith hee knowes very well that you cannot be without him having once had communion with him and therfore hee will answere you when you call he wil open when you knock and both hee and the father will come and sup with you l Iohn 14. he cannot be long from you for yee are his jewells and ingraven upon the palmes of his hands yee are members of his body m Ephe. 5.30 and can he forget his owne flesh and blood its impossible what though yee have rebelled against him yet consider that hee loves you freely and will heale your backslidings for his anger is turned away from you n Iosea 14.4 his thoughts are not as your thoughts nor his wayes as your wayes o Isa 5.1 having once set his love upon you hee will never take it off againe hee may in his heavenly wisdome for a while hide his face from you that you may prize his countenance the more when you have it take heede of an evill heart of unbeleefe in departing from the liveing God to whome will yee goe I pray you for hee only hath the wordes of eternall life p Ioh. 6.68 hee that hath wounded you must cure you nay hee will do it if yee will but come to him him than cometh to mee I will in no waies cast out Now the Lord drawe you by the Cordes of his love q Hos 11.4 that you may come to him and finde rest in your soules not in the act of your coming but in the person whome yee come to for he is the eternall rest of the Saints FINIS THE TABLE A. ALterations not alwayes censurable p. 67 Applause p. 35 Assurance weakned p. 51 Attainments rest not in what you have p. 66 B. Bitternesse against those differ in judgement ill p. 59 C. Communion of Saints slighted p. 56 Comfort suspension of it page 4. Sharking after Creature-Comforts p. 48 Conversation whose most holy and mortified p. 27 Corruption the keenesse of it doth not certainly suppose declension in spirituals p. 14 Covenant of works now many goe back to is p. 52 D. Desertion totall and reall what p. 3 Distempers bodily Distempers hnider spirituall actings p. 16 F Faith not the acts but objects of it to be leaned upon p. 68 Formality in duties p. 39 G Gospel the simplicity of it not to be departed from p. 62 Growth the measure of spirituall growth different p. 18 H. Heart tender-heartednesse to the weak p. 28 Heaven no full possession of it here p. 81 Humility those most humble have clearest apprehensions of God p. 22 I. Injoyments Great and high injoyments of God how knowne p. 21 22 c. O Ordinances to whom pretious 24. Why some neglect them p. 40 44 R. Reproofe p. 37 Rigteousnesse of Christ onely to be looked at p. 53 S Saints considered as justified as sanctified 6 7 8. lesse subject to bondage now than under the old Testament 9. They have their ebbings p. 11 Sorrowes not to be rested in p. 70 Spirit whether Saints may be under the spirit of bondage 54. A free agent p. 77 Strangenesse to Christ p. 72 Streames ill to affect them and neglect the fountain 31. Sad effects of it p. 33 Sympathizing p. 79 Sullennesse p. 75 T. Temptations Satan tempts to think better or worse of ones selfe than it is p. 12 13 V. Unfruitfulnesse p. 46 W Weak who are tender-hearted to them p. 28 ERRATA FOr lacivious page 26. read lascivious Imediate p. 40. r. immediate Presemum pag. 45. r. presemium Our selves p. 49. r. your selves Parsecution p. 59. r. persecution Ptactice p. 61. r. practice He could not dispute p. 67. r. I cannot dispute yet I can Familior p. 73. r. familiar Sence p. 82 r. since Saints there p. 83. r. Saints here Morning p. 86. r. mourning