the vile Idolatries committed upon it I have taken this time as the first I could find or make for writing these Marks of true Grace Not knowing whether they shall prosper most as Spoken or Written or whether they shall be alike fruitful For I will acknowledge unto you that I do humbly expect fruit from them Physicians speak of Pills and Divines of Memorands which a Wise Man would not be without And be it confessed these Marks are such in my thoughts Wherefore consider what follows and the Lord give you Understanding and Possession of all He that truly feareth the Lord and of whom God saith that he shall be his in the day wherein he maketh up his Jewels he hath these five Marks Mark 1. GOD is Supream in his Soul both by the highest Authority of a KING and the dearest Authority of a FATHER The One only God who is Father Son and Spirit doth as truly Dwell in his heart as in Heaven And as truly Reign as Dwell therein and that by Consent and Choice VVhatever Cherubins Seraphins and Spirits made perfect be the very same this Man desires to be I mean as to honorable Apprehensions of God and Affections toward him He wisheth that his Esteem and Reverence Love and Trust and Service were of degree equal to theirs And telleth himself a thousand times that if they were so they would still be infinitely disproportionable unto the divine object of them It is against his renewed Mind and VVill that his Life or his very Salvation should be principally valued but for the glorifying and enjoying of God As our Saviour refused not to worship the Devil because he was a Devil but because he was not God So this Man argues and concludeth that the infinite distance of any created Being from Godhead is an infinite reason for denying to prize it for it self The word God signifies a Being that is not a Part but the Whole of Excellence And so well he understands it that his Soul is for a Total not a Partial Preference of Him Heathens would say That the Sun were worthy of Adoration though it were so that no benefit descended from it upon them Much more saith this Man that if it were possible we could Be without God it would be Folly and Injustice to honour any thing like Him God's DOING good is but a lower and lesser reason for his being adored His BEING good is an infinitely higher one For all the good He DOTH is but a Stream from the Fountain of good that He IS So David Thou ART good and DOEST good The impressions of both upon an holy heart are such as none can know but those that have them And of such every one will tell you that they thus far affect him They fill him with Wonder Grief and Shame that his Thoughts of God are not in a sort Almighty and able to work no more powerfully upon him Able to annihilate all the Worlds grandeurs in his Mind able to strike dead the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts able to embitter sweetest Sins and sweeten the most bitter Afflictions able to set and fix his Soul in Heaven even according to his hearts desire However he findeth these thoughts to be truly Powerful and the most Powerful of all the thoughts framed in his heart and all the good in his heart and life he knows to be the issue of these said thoughts And accordingly of desire of more good in both he operously multiplieth thoughts of God Thoughts of his Essential Perfections Eternity Infiniteness Wisdom Power Holiness Justice Goodness Truth Thoughts of his wonderful Manner of Being in the Father Son and Holy Ghost the best and most glorious manner of Being that is Possible Thoughts of his Relations unto the Church and World unto the latter of which He is Maker Owner Ruler and Benefactor to the former He is all four and over and above their reconciled Father Husband and Portion The gracious Man of whom we speak hath his times in which he goes aside and muses of all these most solemnly And efficaciously to the making him exclaim as the Psalmist Whom HAVE I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I DESIRE besides thee O THREE in ONE Be it observed here some sincere Souls may have less Light But more intelligent Christians do take their times to think that if God the Father had been the Father of no more than Men and Angels He would have been nothing so glorious as now He is Now that He begets a Son equal to himself and without change in himself in way inconceivable And that beyond all possible thought of any Creature it is the Father's and the Son's honour to give a subsisting life to the coequal Spirit by alike eternal and inconceivable Spiration And that it is no dishonour to the Son to be thus Begotten by the Father or to the Spirit to proceed thus from the Father and the Son Being that the Son is Equal with the Father and One and to be worshipped with one and the same worship with the Father And the holy Spirit is Equal with the Father and the Son one with them and to be worshipped with one and the same Worship with them By this means these three Father Son and Spirit do infinitely and mutually love and are beloved of each other And unto this their eternal infinite and mutual delight the natural perfection of the Godhead did require this Communication of it self Nor was it therefore arbitrarily but naturally and necessarily though voluntarily that the Father begat the Son and the Father and Son breathed forth the Spirit To conclude The Child of God looks on the Son and admires the Father looks on the Father and admires the Son looks on the Father and Son and admires the holy Spirit looks on all three as subsisting in the Unity of the Godhead as dwelling in one another mutually possessing loving and glorifying one another from everlasting to everlasting He contemplates the Godhead dwelling equally in its fulness in all the three Persons in the Father the Beginner the Son the Promoter the Holy Ghost the Perfecter of all good He Knows Believes Acknowledges Worships Obeys and Trusts and Lives upon Three PERSONS and One GOD. He questions not but Angels and Saints in Heaven do the same Holy Holy Holy being their Song He is satisfied that Adam in his Innocency did the same being that he was Created by the three Divine Persons and in the Image of all three For it was the Father said to the Son and Spirit Come let US create Man in OUR Image and after OUR likeness He is certified by the Scriptures of Truth that it is the Will of the Father that every Tongue should confess the Son to be God and the holy Ghost to be God unto the glory of God the Father He is well informed that the Universal Church under the New Testament hath most expresly made One-God-in-three-Persons the Object of her Faith
Father and the Son breathe forth this blessed Spirit with one and the same Spiration or Breathing This they do Eternally Inconceivably Naturally by the Perfection of their Nature not by any Arbitrary Decree And this said Spirit is a distinct Person acting according to the counsel of his own will He is called one Spirit and That one and self-same Spirit which are very particularising terms 1 Cor. 12. he is a Person declared to be the EQUAL of the Father and Son by his equal Titles and Attributes equal Works and Worship And accordingly the gracious Man that we speak of doth EQUALLY both Honour Worship and Obey him He is not of them that have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost or no. He knows there is one one Proceeding naturally from the Father and Son in respect of Substance as hath been said And also Proceeding from them dispensatorily in respect of the work of Grace One that in the former respect is their EQUAL and in the latter respect is their INFERIOR Vicarius Christi Tertull. With reverence and godly fear be it written and read that here followeth No occasion is given and I hope none will be taken for any blaspemous thought of Inequality of Essence between the Father and Son and their holy Spirit Inequality of Office it is which the Scripture declareth and which the gracious Man believeth It is a very Maxim and granted by all that Inferiority of Office doth very well consist with Equality of Essence And it is exemplified in our blessed Saviour who is expresly named God over all and the Servant of God God EQUAL in Essence Servant INFERIOR by Office Now be it observed this eternal Spirit did freely condescend to take an Authoritative Delegation or Commission from the Father and Son unto the work of Sanctification Even as God the Son did condescend to take an authoritative Delegation from the Father unto the work of our Redemption Joh. 14.26 The Father will SEND him And Joh. 15.26 I will SEND him saith Christ And frequently this glorious Spirit is said to be SENT GIVEN POURED forth c. Namely to TEACH his People to BRING ALL THINGS TO THEIR REMEMBRANCE to QUICKEN them to COMFORT them to RESTORE them Eph. 2.13 He is named the Spirit of the Promise that is that is promised in the Covenant of grace unto all the blessed purposes of Grace aforesaid And is indeed the grand and principal Gift of all promised therein in the New Testament day The main thing promised by our Saviour unto his Church at the time of his withdrawing his bodily Presence from the same So that it is most evident this Holy Spirit doth not come unto us or act within us only in his own Name but in the Name of the Father and of the Son from whom and by whom He is Promised and Sent. Upon which account it is thought by many excellent Divines to be that the Sin against the Holy Ghost is Unpardonable which no other Sin is Even because Sin against him is Sin against all the Authority of God and all the Love of God and the uttermost condescention of all the three Divine Persons to the work of our Salvation And to come to the Mark that we would give let this be attended The gracious Man is one that payeth unto the Holy Ghost his double Honour the honour of his Essence and the honour of his Office Considered as in his Essence he believes in him worships him and obeys him as God EQUAL with the Father and Son Considered as in his Office he Values him Prays for him Grieves him not but industriously Pleaseth him Delighteth in him Dependeth upon him Thanketh the Father for giving him and the Son for purchasing him and the Father and Son for sending him as the great APPLYER of all the Benefits by the Father given and by the Son purchased As one whose Presence is incomparably more profitable and serviceable to the application thereof than the bodily presence of Christ it self And is as freely vouchsafed by him for the Sanctification of the Elect and for the Consolation of the Sanctified as ever Christ's Presence was vouchsafed for the Reconciliation of God unto thâ—m by his Blood Freely our Redeemer CAME to do that Will of his Father And as freely this our Sanctifyer and Comforter PROCEEDED to do the Will of the Father and the Son For of his Oeconomical and dispensatory Proceeding unto it and not of his personal Proceeding is that Text to be understood Joh. 15.26 He PROCEEDETH from the Father Now unto this glorious Spirit in whom all the New Testament Promises are fulfilled as in Christ all the Promises of the Old Testament were unto Him who as Jesus Christ thought it no robbery to be EQVAL with God yet was Promised as Christ was Promised by God and is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given as Christ is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given and may not be esteemed a less GIFT of God than Jesus Christ himself was unto this ever-blessed Spirit descending from the bosom of the Father and the Son and residing among the needy Children of Men unto this Inspiration of the Almighty what deferences doth the gracious Man make Sciunt qi fiunt Gracious hearts do very well know what deferences They know and feel it a gracious heart would rather be no heart than be void of this Spirit It accounteth every heart that is not his Holy Temple to be no other than Satan's hideous Dunghill In short it thus testifieth concerning that Spirit that is the Soul of its Soul the prime and principal Spring of all its Motions Heaven-ward The Son of God's Work in Redemption had been in vain without the Spirit of God's Work in it's Application Without this Almighty Work as well as that most Merciful one the Work of the Father in Freation which Sin spoiled had never been repaired never restored Without this blessed Spirit never had I understood a Truth or possessed a Grace or performed a Duty or enjoyed a Privilege in hand or in hope I was Ignorant even Darkness it ' self and he was unto me the spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding I was Unconvinced of my Sin and Misery and in a feavorish Dream of the clean contrary and he convinced me making it plain to me that I was a Child of wrath by Nature and of Disobedience by all my Life I was stupid and senseless of the wrath I believed coming and he brought me to my feeling and made me cry out I am grievously tormented with the guilt of my Sins and with the power of my Lusts He brought me into that bondage without which I had never looked out after liberty Under my Conviction and Compunction I was even totally Despairing one while and going about to set up my own Righteousness another while and he it was who came and perswaded me there was a Rock of Salvation for such as I but my
own Righteousness was very Sand and by no means to be built on He Convinced me of Righteousness and that of another make than my own yea or than the Angels Being beat off from trust in my own Righteousness and coming to some knowledge of Christ's I was like to stick in the place of the breaking of Children I was very near to Miscarry in the pangs of the new Birth And he the self-same Spirit brought me forth He brought Christ to my heart and my heart unto Christ he was to me a Spirit of Faith of uniting Faith joyning Christ and my Soul as Head and Members be joyned Of Justifying Faith and such as through the Law of Grace makes Christ's Satisfaction for Sin as beneficial to us as if we our selves had payed our Debts unto God Such a Faith as put me into the City of Refuge and secured me from the pursuit of the Avenger I humbly hope so at least When this was done and I was born of Water and of the Spirit then was I all in haste for a heart much more clean and more after God's heart And he the same Spirit was unto me a Spirit of Burning as Fire mollifies Iron he softned my heart more than ever in former times and melted my will into God's Will and united it to fear his Name After this it self still was I a short-sighted Creature and in pain to know more of God and Christ of Sin and Grace of my Hearts deceits and Satans wiles of Heaven and Hell And he it was that in and by his Ordinances anointed my Eyes and made me from that time to this to make some Progress in Knowledge To grow in it both Extensively and Intensively Several times have I been in danger of being deceived by false Teachers by the craft of men lying in wait to deceive And he the only unerring Guide kept my foot his word it was that I heard behind me saying This is the way walk in it Many is the sad time that I have back-slidden and foully fallen And by him hath it been shewn me whence I was fallen he it was that came and said Return thou backslider He it was that let me not to rest till I had gone forth and wept bitterly and laid hold on him that healeth backslidings Full often I have had fightings without and fears within sorrow upon sorrow And he hath been a Comforter indeed he hath taken of Jesus and shewn me that which hath made my state presently tolerable and by and by comfortable It is never very long together but I am at a loss what to do for both Life Motion and Direction And he alone it is who makes me feel any spark of life in me makes me stir and move in Willing and Doing and guideth me in Judgment teaching me his way When I am most afflicted and need most of all to Pray even then oftentimes do I least of all know what to pray for And he it is this holy Spirit himself that maketh Intercessions in me as it is Rom. 8.26 and maketh me to Pray in him as it is Jud. v. 20. More plainly he enlightneth and he fortifieth my puzled and dejected Soul He Directeth my requests so that I ask Bread and not a Stone Fish and not a Serpent He Enflameth my Desires so that by the Fervence I discern God's Acceptance as of old Sacrifices were manifested to be acceptable by the firing of them He emboldens also my Suits unto God so that while I adore him as my Soveraign I trust him as my Father by Adoption While I am prostrate before him as a rebellious Subject with a Rope about my Neck I have the humble confidence of a Child of his in my heart and I do rejoyce fiducially while I tremble most Self-condemningly Briefly until such time as I got acquainted with him never could I heartily call God the Father my Father nor call Jesus Christ my Lord. I am sure I could do neither according to the Will of God Well might my dear Redeemer call this Holy Spirit God's good gift Luk. 11.13 Well might the Man after God's own Heart exclaim Take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51. And well might the great Apostle pray for his Ephesian Children that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory might give unto them the SPIRIT of WISDOM and REVELATION in the knowledge of him Eph. 1.17 18. And well will it be for me and all my dearest ones if as above all things I Pray we shall holily walk after this good Spirit Not GRIEVING his Divine PERSON dwelling in us not QUENCHING his gracious MOTIONS made in us not RESISTING him in any of his ORDINANCES instituted for us For by his blessed Operation it is that we have our Communion with the FATHER in his Love with the SON in his Grace and with Himself the Coessential SPIRIT in his Consolation Look as the Son of God is Mediator for us unto the Father unto himself as he is God and unto the Holy Spirit unto the whole Trinity in like manner is the Holy Spirit the one common Operator or Worker for us and Comforter of us from the Father from the Son and from Himself from God in Unity He is named the COMFORTER and as I conceive comparatively greater than Christ was in the days of his Flesh on Earth But how doth he comparatively so much more comfort the Children of God This he doth by acquainting them much more with the Love of the Father By giving them to see more fully that the Father himself loveth them as our Lord speaks Joh. 16.27 And by discovering unto them much more the grace of the Son the super-excellency of his Person and of his Purchases By glorifying of him in their hearts so as he never was before Joh. 14.15 that is the very word which Christ useth He shall GLORIFIE me And lastly by setting before their Eyes much more his own like infinite Love Grace and Condescention Admirable condescention to be made less in Office than the Father and Son with whom he is Equal in eternal Essence And this most freely and of choice for our good and so great good as hath been foreshewn And that although he well foreknew what we were and what cross pieces we should prove and how we should GRIEVE him PROVOKE him and QUENOH many Millions of his most holy Motions in our hearts defile his Dwelling-place and provoke him for ever to abhor US so infinitely needing his Wisdom Power and Grace to help us in all Concernments Us who without his infallible Counsel and his invincible Strength are sure by every Sin to be frightned into Despair of Mercy or hardned unto a very disregard of Vindictive Justice Who are sure by Prosperity to be slain and to be made forgetful of God by Adversity to be brought to horrible Distrust of God's goodness or as leud Disdain of his Government and Discipline by our very Duties themselves to be puffed up with
above all things Purification of heart and hands c. do so do And these are attainable Inward spiritual Sense and Perception is not to be discredited In proposing of Ends and in prosecuting them with Means we have sensations of our actions and these sensations are as worthy to be believed as our bodily Eyes at any time are There is a seeing Light in God's Light there is a Feeling of Divine Power with its exceeding greatness prevailing upon our Wills there is a Tasting that the Lord is good and his Word sweeter than Honey he that hath these may safely conclude from them that he is an Heir of Grace And these are attainable also Lastly The Testimony of a Person that can neither be Deceived nor Deceive us is worthy of all acceptation The Holy Ghost is such a Person infinitely Wise and alike Good He is sent from the Father and Son to testifie unto the Children of God that they are his Children and his Heirs and Coheirs with Christ To Testifie it with their Spirits that they are so To be an additional and deciding Witness The Word of God lays down sure marks of Grace and witnesseth those marks to be true The Conscience of a Believer or his Spirit witnesseth those marks to be found in his heart and life The Spirit of God supervenient to both presents himself and witnesseth by self-evidencing Light that those marks are true and are truly in the Believer and the Believer truly in the unchangeable Love of God And who dares say this Testimony of the Holy Ghost is unattainable or being attained will not give true and proper Assurance The good man knows well the Desireableness of such Assurance For without it who can Do God's Will or Praise his Name Who can come unto the Throne of Grace with a becoming boldness Who can Rejoyce or not Mourn always Who can Comfort or not Sadden others Who can Live but very uneasily or Die but very unwillingly But Assurance is Joy and Joy is our strength Our strength against Corruptions Temptations and the Fear of Death Assured Paul beat down his Body and kept it in subjection Assured Moses chose rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to be Heir of the Crown of Aegypt Assured Simeon could say and sing Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace But lastly The gracious man conceives of this Assurance as a thing most Necessary Even upon a nearer consideration Necessary I mean upon consideration of the Command of God laid on him to seek it God requireth nothing more expresly and plainly in all the Bible than that we give Diligence to make our Calling and Election SURE 2 Pet. 1.10 We desire that EVERY ONE of you do shew the same diligence to the full ASSURANCE of Hope unto the end Heb. 6.11 Yea many another duty doth God require from us as means of getting and keeping this said Assurance Our Ways must be searched our Hearts must be searched the Scriptures must be searched our H. Baptism must be recognized the Lord's Supper must be frequently repeated Men to whom is given the Tongue of the Learned to speak a word in season must be oft consulted and for what less than to get and keep sure that God's Law is written in our Hearts and our Names be written in Heaven in his Book of Life Many a serious thought of this riseth walks and lieth down with the gracious man Whose setled Judgment therefore is that if the bare want of Assurance be no Sin or Loss at all yet the neglect of it is such a sin and argues such a want of all Spiritual sense as scarce consists with grace He is satisfied indeed that spring-tydes of Assurance and over flowing Comforts may be wanted without sin For they are rather Priviledges than Duties But as for Assurance which Schoolmen call Moderate and which reacheth unto Hope and Peace though not unto Dancing for joy and Triumph this the good man thinks God seldom or never denies but upon some sinful Provocation Upon the contempt of some Ordinance neglect of some Duty unexercisedness of some Grace indulgence of some Lust And therefore inclines to think the want of this sort of Assurance to be his sin This whose want he judgeth meritoriously procured by sinful Causes and he feeleth to be malignantly full of sinful Effects Nevertheless he awefully concludeth that should he add unto that sinful want the more sinful carelesness of getting out of it should he forget or despise God's positive command to seek Assurance though therein the divine goodness maketh his Comfort to be his Duty should he together break such a Gospel-Precept and slight such a Gospel-Priviledge he should then contract a much more frightful Symptom of Reprobation upon his Soul In short our gracious Man is ever busie in Getting or Preserving and Promoting his Assurance of grace The Holy Ghost must indeed work grace in us before he can Witness it to be in us But it is most certain that he may and doth often work it in a Soul long before he doth witness unto it that he hath wrought it Nor do I dare to say that he doth not let some Children of God live and die without ever witnessing it unto them at all in this World Although we all believe and teach that ordinarily he doth first or last witness the grace he works to be true and saving And doth either by and by after their Conversion or after some good Proficience in Sanctification or at least a little before their Death Assure God's people of his grace in them There are several Seasons in which above all other times he is observed to give them the said Assurance and there are several Duties which above others he useth graciously to reward and honour with Assurance There are six Seasons which are eminent The first is when a Soul hath been extraordinarily bemoaning its sin Ephraim was heard so doing And what was the next news He was straitways called a dear Son a pleasant Child Jer. 31. The second is when a Soul hath been Praying in Prayer and that with all Prayer When it hath been most restless and denied to give the Lord rest and been most importunate for Assurance in order unto holiness then frequently cometh an assuring Testimony As when our Saviour had been at Prayer then came the voice from Heaven saying This is my well beloved Son Luke 3. The third Season is when a Soul hath been Waiting for Assurance and looking for it in all the Ordinances of God no one of them excepted It is in his Ordinances that he will dispense his Consolations See what is said of them that follow those Ordinances Psal 36. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure In the Ordinances we see most of Christ's Blood as prevailing to God's satisfaction and we feel it most prevailing as to our Consciences Pacification The
the burning beams of Sin-revenging Justice but under the MEDIATOR the only Apple-Tree among the Trees of the VVood. In short Worship cannot be without Acquaintance Agreement Strength Courage and Oneness of Design But I avow it to all the World take away Christ out of my Mind and God is a very Stranger unto me Nor know I what to say unto him Take Christ out of my Mind and God is worse in my sight than a Stranger He is an Enemy one that doth and cannot but hate me and one whom I must and cannot but hate Christ is so altogether my RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE Take Christ out of my Mind and I a Creature that is a Thing of no strength of my own And a sinner also that is one that hath forfeited all the strength that God first gave me I then have no strength to speak or sigh it self graciously Yea and am one whom God will not strengthen and whom all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot strengthen no not so much as to think one good thought Tell me not God is merciful and the way to him is easie I am sure God's Mercy though there be an infinite Ocean of it descends not one drop of it but through Christ And in the easiest sweetest way that Almightiness and Grace can make there can be no Motion without Strength no Act without Power Take Christ out of my Mind and verily if I remember God I am troubled horror and trembling lay hold on me I can like Devils believe and tremble I cannot believe and pray The Divine great Power scares me and his Wrath against Sin strikes me in my thoughts unto Hell Take Christ out of my Mind and what then why then whatever worship I set to I cannot possibly drive at God's end and design in it Without which it is plainly as impossible that God should be pleased with it The design of God is to advance his own Glory and to do it in the advancement of Christ Mediator as aforesaid What a worship then must I make of it if I rush into any without designing both to glorifie God and to glorifie him in Christ In Christ honoured with the honour of his Mediatorship What do I do less than overthrow as far as in me is the foundation of God's Government and Grace to faln Man I love this Mediator and he is my Meditation every day I set him always before me Old Testament and New be but Stars leading me to Jesus The Promises be precious because they conveigh Jesus to me The Precepts are precious because they lead me to Jesus for strength to perform them The Threatnings be precious because they lead me to Jesus for grace to escape them And I bless the Father of Glory his Father and my Father that he hath given him so very many Names for the help of my Mind and Memory So that it is my own fault if all things do not suggest thoughts of him to me if sight of the Morning call not to my mind him the Sun of Righteousness If putting on of my Cloaths suggest not some thoughts to me of him the Wedding Garment If I wash me and forget him the Fountain opened to wash away sin If I Eat and forget him the Bread of Life If I Walk and forget him the Way If I lye down to Rest and forget him who is my Peace If I see an earthly King and forget him the Prince of the Kings of the Earth If I converse with wise Men forgetting him the VVisdom of God with Ministers forgetting him the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession and Bishop of our Souls with Lawyers and forget him the wonderful Counsellor with Physitians and forget him the Healer of all Diseases with Merchants and forget him the Pearl of Price Yea or with very Alphabet-Children and forget him who is the Alpha and Omega Who is all that all the Letters can make words to speak praise for and much more Who is JESUS that is a Saviour from Sin and all the Curses of Sin Who is REDEEMER that is as to the manner of his saving one who saves by the payment of a price valuable or rather invaluable Who is MEDIATOR that is a Middle person by participation of both Natures to wit of God offended and of Man offending A middle Person thus by his Natures and standing in a middle place betwixt God and Man whom Sin had set at odds labouring in apt and fit ways to reconcile them To reconcile God unto them by a satisfactory price and to reconcile them unto God by a victorious Power Which Power he could not have had if he had not been God and which Price he could not have paid if he had not been both God and Man also Who is our SURETY that is a person that undertakes to see a Debt satisfied or a Covenant performed Christ undertook to satisfie for our Debt to God On his Father's behalf he undertook that he should Pardon and Save us on the terms of the Gospel-Covenant On our behalf he undertook that we should fulfill those terms Who is CHRIST that is anointed or qualified and consecrated and commissioned to be such a Surety as aforesaid Who is therefore the PROPHET to take away our Ignorance the PRIEST to take away our Guilt the KING to take away our Rebellion Who is White and Ruddy and ALTOGETHER LOVELY Whose reproaches I esteem greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt for whose sake I have forsaken all things and do account them but loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith O what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and go without this Saviour of the World What can be said worse of Hell than that Christ is not there Or when is Heaven praised higher than when it is said to be a Being for ever with the Lord Jesus Thus doth the gracious Heart express it self and lisp forth its Esteem and Love of Christ which are unexpressible The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God but the gracious Wise man saith in his heart There is no God but God in Christ that he can Enjoy as his Portion or Serve as his Lord. There is no God out of Christ but what is a consuming fire And their Sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another Mediator or Peacemaker with God With submission to learned Interpreters I do so understand the Psalmist In a word the gracious Man is of that Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ as it is expressed 1 Thess 1.1 And it must be said nextly Mark 3. The Holy Ghost is God and Christ's both Equal and Administrator General in his heart The Scripture calls him and the gracious Man calls him The Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son The
another To conclude this Mark of a gracious Man he thinks of the Lord's Supper as it was said he thought of Baptism The Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes the Lord's Supper in vain And he accounts that they do in great measure so take it who do not as is said in the Lines foregoing He knows that the strongest man in Christ doth need it and is not above it and that the weakest Babe in Christ is habitually qualified for it and the Ordinance is not above him No but is even chiefly for such as he is As Holy as Adam was in his innocent state he wanted a Sacrament And as imperfectly Wise and Holy as Christ's Disciples were before his Ascension and Mission of the Spirit they had this holy Sacrament that I speak of He is therefore one that valueth the holy Feast above his daily Bread And not without cause It is said of the Egyptian Youth whom his Master left sick in the Field that being brought to David and having eaten and drank his spirit came again to him The gracious Man can tell you that he hath often been sick and faint in his inner Man and being brought unto David's Son and Lord and having Eaten and Drank at his Table his spirit also hath come again unto him If every Lord's-Day he hath not resorted unto this Banquet yet ordinarily he hath tasted of its twelve manner of Fruits every Month if I may allude unto that in Rev. 22.2 And virtue hath come forth from Jesus Christ into his Soul and done mighty Works there even in despight of its Unbelief and deadly Fears foregoing Though he doth not think the Lord's Supper a Converting Ordinance as from a state of Sin into a state of Grace yet he doth experience it to be a Converting Ordinance as from lower degrees of Grace and Peace unto higher ones He pitieth in his heart every Soul of each sinful Tribe both those that prophanely keep away from the holy Table and those that do but come and prophane it And he spiritually hears God saying to those vilifyers of holy Bread and Wine as it is Isai 65.13 14. Behold my Servants shall Eat but ye shall be Hungry behold my Servants shall Drink but ye shall be Thirsty behold my Servants shall Rejoyce but ye shall be Ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit I will here Publish the words of a Judicious and Pious Author which have been useful to me and may be so unto some of my Readers Even these of Mr. Daniel Rogers which I find in his Treatise of Sacraments Part 2. p. 241. I mourn to speak it divers Ministers neither Unlearned nor Unpainful in their kind nor Ungodly yet in Point of the Sacrament do little acquaint either themselves or the People with it almost through the Year except in a passage afar off I dare not boast my self but if I might draw any to Emulation I durst say that whereas my poor Labours for TWELVE YEARS were more upon this than any other Point I am not ashamed to say I found the Argument more FRUITFUL at the end than all the while And doubtless many good People there are who mourn for the barrenness of their Ministers in this kind So in his Preface to his Reader he harmoniously eenough saith I could not see wherein I could do greater honour to God than to enhanse the Knowledge of CHRIST SACRAMENTAL And to incite others to do it whose learned Abilities can better perform it It hath been said who is the good Man's KING and FATHER who is his ADVOCATE and FRIEND in the Court of his fatherly King who is his GUIDE and COMFORTER on Earth sent down unto him from that Court And also what are the BONDS and COVENANT TRANSACTIONS that have passed betwixt them and him Wherefore our last Mark is this Mark 5. Assurance of Saving Grace is sweetly possessed or painfully sought by him By Saving Grace I mean ELECTION REDEMPTION VOCATION JUSTIFICATION and GLORIFICATION By Assurance I understand Certainty of Mind such as is Proper tho' it be Imperfect No man living is Perfectly Assured of God's Love or is so certain that he cannot be made more certain But many a man is Properly Assured of it and hath more than a guess or a conjecture that he is a Possessor of it For many a man's Assurance is built upon proper rational assuring grounds Many a man's Assurance hath proper real Victory over his doubts and against his fears Many a man's Assurance hath proper genuine Fruits of Assurance Peace Patience Joy c. Many a man's Assurance hath the name of Assurance given it by God himself who always giveth things their proper Names St. Paul's is called a sure Perswasion Rom. 8.38 St. John's a sure Knowledge 1 Joh. 2.3 The Faith of all is called an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or evident proof of things not seen Heb. 11.1 In a word many I say have and enjoy the comfort of this proper Assurance of God's Grace And the good man that hath it not that either never attained it or having attained it hath lost it he knoweth that it is ATTAINABLE that it is DESIRABLE and that it is NECESSARY And therefore dares not to desist from seeking it or to be remiss in seeking it He knows it is Attainable For the H. Scriptures are Revelations of God's Grace and that Free indeed as to any Merit of ours but most Engaged as to the Promises and Covenant of God They are a Revelation both Full and very Plain and Intelligible yea and given of God for this very end that we thro' comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Besides this he knoweth the Nature of Man and the Power of Conscience too well to dream that Assurance is unattainable The Scripture is a Lamp to see by and Conscience is an Eye to see with what then should hinder Assurance Conscience is we know an inner Judge and justifies or condemns us at its Bar. It is also a Witness in our selves as to the matter of Absolution or Condemnation It is likewise a Rewarder or a Punisher of us a good man is more than a little satisfied from himself and a Cain and Judas more than a little tormented in themselves Moreover the good man knows that what hath been full often attained even under the Old Testament it is not to be thought unattainable under the New Especially that thing which under the New Testament very many have attained and all are commanded to seek and consequently have a promise that in the due use of means they shall find To conclude he knows that it is possible to attain assuring Evidences and therefore possible to attain Assurance it self Those said Evidences are Demonstrative ARGUMENT Credible SENSE and Infallible TESTIMONY The inseparable and distinguishing Effects of Grace do demonstrate the being of it Preference of Christ and his Spirit
Pride as if we were more than Angels or else to be torn with Discontent as if we thought God's Servants were no better than Gally-slaves To conclude thus saith the gracious Man I believe in God the Father and in the Son and I believe in the Holy Ghost also The Father worketh hitherto and the Son works and blessed equally be his Name the Holy Spirit worketh By his ASSISTANCE through Christ's MEDIATION is my access unto GOD. Mark 4. The Covenant of Grace is Spiritually entred Sacramentally confirmed and Practically observed by him He knows no Religion but what is Federal and by Covenant He is one fast-bound to all three Persons of the Godhead undividedly and unto each of them distinctly And this by the BOND OF THE COVENANT as Ezek. 20.37 Even the COVENANT OF GOD'S PEACE as Isai 54.10 He hath learned the first Covenant of Works He hath been Convinced of his breach of it in his first Parents and in his own Person And of his becoming thereby first a Runnagate from God and then an Exile or Banished Creature and one remedilesly miserable without a NEW and BETTER Covenant He hath been wounded by this his said breach of the first Covenant and that unto Death it self The death of all his Comforts in any thing under the Sun and of all his Hopes of welfare in the next World He hath cried in the anguish of his Soul O that I had never been born Nor ever could he change his Mind or desist from that cry or come to any life of Peace and Hope till he had got knowledge of this Covenant of Grace By the balm hereof his Wounds that stank and were corrupt were healed He Revived when he heard that God being by Christ appeased had made and offered a NEW Covenant A new Bond to bind again unto himself those that had run from him To bind himself to bless and save the Penitent and that as strongly and more than ever he bound himself in the first Covenant to bless and save the Innocent He cannot forget the sweet feelings that he had in his heart when he first heard what this Covenant was What it 's Promises and what it's Demands Indeed at first he exclaimed in his haste Away away this is too good to be true Indeed if Light and Darkness and Fire and Stubble were possible to be made Friends this were a way to make them so If GOD and a SINNER were possible to be united and reconciled this New Covenant is one that would unite them But how CAN this be Nevertheless being by and by brought to himself and not daring to give the Lye to Him that CANNOT Lye he ceased to Doubt and began to Wonder and Bless Uttering words to this purpose HEAVEN HEAVEN HEAVEN here 's HEAVEN on Earth Here is a BEATIFICK VISION Why here shine all the astonishing Excellencies and attracting Beauties of God of the whole Trinity I never saw before some of them I never before knew the ten thousandth part of the rest of them Is this the COVENANT OF GRACE 'T is of GRACE indeed and of GLORY too I think O that I had known it sooner That I had asked after it as soon as I could speak That I had given my Parents Ministers and God himself no rest till I had been made to know this Covenant of Grace This HEAVEN HEAVEN HEAVEN upon Earth Briefly he hath admired the exquisite suitableness of both the Privileges and Duties of the Covenant of Grace Their suitableness to the state wherein he lay That was a state of Sin and Misery He did therein nothing but dishonour God and destroy himself Now comes this Covenant of Grace and as to his Sin preacheth Repentance and return to Duty as to his Misery preacheth Remission and return into God's Favour It gives as well as requires Repentance and freely for the sake of Christ not for any Merit in Repentance giveth Remission The Promised Privileges of the Covenant of Grace are such as our Nature craves for and all it can desire To wit PARDON and SALVATION comprehending all Blessings In these God respected our Want The demanded Duties which also are promised in the use of means are such things as our Corrupt Nature doth loath and turn from To wit ENTRANCE and PERSEVERANCE in the Obedience of the Gospel comprehending all Duties In these God respected his own Honour And of equal Wisdom and Grace by the former which are craved by our Nature he allureth us to these latter which are averted from by our Corruption This the gracious Man hath observed much and blessed and magnified God in the observation of it By the former his Spirit Soul and Body have been strongly and sweetly drawn into the latter He hath a true heart that is a heart resolved upon all the Duties of the Covenant and that because he hath also full assurance of Faith that is a heart trusting in God for all the Promised Blessings of the Covenant Thus is he a Spiritual Covenanter with God His Heart and Spirit taking truly the Blessings of the Gospel for his Happiness and as truly taking the Duties of the Gospel for his Work and Business Be it added the Man whom we describe is one that neither Thinks nor makes Light of any Ordinance of his God He knows that God's Positive Laws do bind the Conscience as well as his Moral ones And he remembers that the effects of the first Sin though it were a breach of a Positive Law were tremendous He considers that under the New Testament the Number is but Two the Observation not difficult and if Piously observed exceedingly Beneficial And he infers that the disuse or abuse of Baptism or the Lord's Supper must therefore greatly incense God and injure a Soul He rests not in the foresaid spiritual Covenanting with God though good necessary and of greatest necessity The bare word of the Covenant of Grace as it is in the Scripture he highly prizeth but the signified sealed and engaged word thereof as it is in the Holy Sacraments he most religiously useth and justly prefers He Useth it because he is Commanded and he Preferreth it because in it's use he hath the word of the Covenant with extraordinary Advantages Among Men any Covenant made is first expressed by Words then by Writings then by Hands and Seals mutually added and this last is the highest strongest and utmost Confirmation that Men can give to each other The Covenant between God and Us made is first expressed by his Spirit unto us and by our Spirits unto him in spiritual Language Nextly by Words or Confession with our Mouth we alledging God's part of the Covenant and professing our own restipulation Lastly By Sacraments which are Rites in their outward appearance contemptible but ordained by God for both Signifying Sealing and Engaging Ordained to be Signs and Seals on God's part and to be Bonds and Badges on our part of the Covenant And in this last way is the most noble and
fourth Season is when a Soul is called to undertake some extraordinary Service for God Before Abraham was called to the extremity of Self-denial in offering up his Isaac he was certified that God wou'd be his exceeding great reward Before Steven was stoned he saw the Heavens opened and his Advocate standing at God's right hand Before our Saviour himself was Crucified he was Transfigured He did shine in glory before he was clothed with shame The fifth Season is when a Soul hath done some eminent service and extraordinarily held its integrity After that Abraham had in his admirably prompt intention offered up his Son he received that transcendent testimony Now I know that thou fearest God And after that Job had made his Patience to be heard of though not without sore fits of Impatience immixed the Lord accepted the face of Job gave him twice as much as before and proclaimed it that none of his Friends had spoken the thing that was right like unto Job Job 42. The sixth Season is when the Soul is taking leave of the Body Then when Flesh and Heart faileth the God of all consolations oft pleaseth to be most sensibly the Strength and the Portion and the Joy of his Children Making them then most sure that they have a building of God an house made without hands Eternal in the Heavens when the earthly House of their Tabernacle is dissolving Thus doth he who is Master of his own Consolations and may and doth dispose of his own as he pleaseth both for the Measure and the Season thus doth he oftentimes dispose of them And hereof the gracious Man is no negligent observer Let it still be remembred that God will use a liberty and arbitrarily dispense the sweet Assurance we speak of And it is not for us to prescribe to him either Times or Means in which he shall necessarily give it to us But as it hath been said of special Seasons so it must be affirmed of these following Duties ordinarily God doth in them give the sense of his Love and the moderate Assurance of his Eternal Good-will unto Believers I would make no such Comparisons between Duties as should be lessening of the worth and weight of any But I may be allow'd to say thus much I suppose Look as some Sins do above ordinary so grieve the holy Spirit that he refuseth to comfort such as do commit them so do some Duties above ordinary please and delight Him insomuch that he useth not to let it be very long before he doth pacifie and comfort the Believers who do duly perform them And of this sort are the Duties which I shall propose First The religious use of our Gospel Sacraments Unto the scarcity whereof I do very much impute the notorious scarcity of Assurance in these our days In which we have many that never in their lives spake to this purpose unto themselves Come I perceive that without some Assurance my Religion cannot be my Delight And it horribly reproacheth God to be served without greatest Delight And men will unavoidably be prejudiced against all inward and spiritual service of him by the sight of my sad and drooping life My Children and Servants and Neighbours will be hardned in Irreligion while they see my Religion to be for the present not at all Joyous but Grievous I have learned that Baptism and the Lord's Supper were ordained for the very purpose to BEGET and PROMOTE assurance of God's grace Wherefore by the help of his grace this day and hour I will BEGIN and I will PERSEVERE in the use of them for this blessed benefit Beloved Readers stop here and before you read on take to task your selves The discreet and gracious Man knows the Holy Ghost is the Sealer and Comforter of God's Children But he himself in his Scriptures hath named Sacraments by the name of Seals Rom. 4.11 And testified that Abraham received his Old Testament Baptism for a greater ground of Assurance of the righteousness he had by Faith As also that the Old Testament Lord's Supper was for the Church's further Assurance that the destroying Angel should not smite them And accordingly we see that the New Testament Circumcision when duly considered and improved is blessed to ensure believing Souls of the divine Promises The Baptized Eunuch found it so and went his way rejoycing Act. 8.39 And the New Testament Passover is sweetly blessed to remove fear of the destroying Angel It appears so Act. 2.46 For continuing in breaking of holy Bread the Primitive Christians eat their common meat with gladness of heart praising God Not to repeat all that is foresaid this remember In the WORD God woes us but by his Minister in the SACRAMENTS he woes us also by his Son 's very Picture In the WORD he speaks in General He that believes shall be saved in the SACRAMENTS he is more particular Son or Daughter be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee And in the use of these Sacraments it is that he useth so to speak not in the carnal spiritless use of them but in that use which is declared in our foregoing Mark. An use in the neglect whereof I think it not safe to Pray for Assurance but full as wicked as it wou'd be to Pray that Faith may come in the resolved neglect of Hearing the Word In short who knoweth not many Christians that have come to the study and practical improvement of the Sacraments with a Hell of Fears in their Souls and have e're long received a Heaven of Joys in the room of those banished Fears For the most part gracious Souls be wiser but some Babes will object and do so that it is a sin for them to come to the Lord's Table until they have Assurance And a great deal of pains it costeth to teach some of them these plain Truths 1. The Faith that qualifies for the Lord's Supper is not higher than that of Acceptation of Christ on the Gospel-terms and Reliance upon God's truth for making it good When a Soul hath this he is spiritually Alive and as soon as he is so he may and he ought to feed on this spiritual food for strength and growth 2. It is not indispensably necessary to ones right unto the Lord's Table that he should have a certain or assured Knowledge that this Faith it self in him be true and that he is in Christ It is enough if God's Word may be believed if his heart condemn him not though it cannot fully absolve him and rid him of his scruples 1 Joh. 3.20 True he ought to Examine himself for how else should a man Condemn or Justifie himself But if upon Examination an enlightned heart finds it self weary of sin Desirous to be rid of it in Christ's own Method Pleased that Christ promiseth rest and relief unto such burthened Souls as his and Resolved to wait in the use of all means to have that promise made good unto him what then Truly these things being so he ought to
victorious over Jealousies as stronger ones have They have Reliance upon it's Promises but not so Quiet and so little Interrupted as stronger ones have They have their Comforts and their Troubles but not ordinarily at least so great as stronger Converts have The Loads of strong ones would break their backs and the sweet Wines that they do drink would be too strong for their heads True it is least Children in Nature and in Grace be more in crying than when more grown Though God can he very rarely doth make little Grace so evident unto us or so comforting of us as he maketh greater But what is said above is true 3. The huge diversity of Grace hath various Causes of it e. gr Converts are of various 1 Ages and standings in Grace 2 Their outward Helps are various some have Parents Ministers and Company an hundred fold more helpful than others 3 Their inward Aids of the Holy Spirit are various He helpeth all but not all alike 4 Their Prayers and Pains to improve their Helps are various 5 Their Services and Employments and so their Occasions for Grace are various One needs more than another therefore 6 Their Sins and Provocations of God to withdraw from them are various Some fall into foul and gross Sins which others keep far from and some do more indulge carnal Affections than others do 4. Special marks of Weakness in true Grace are these Namely 1 Wavering and Desultoriness in our Promises unto God He that staggers hath weak feet he that is Up and Down one while will be the Lord's and by and by fears to Vow it he hath weak Grace 2 Suspiciousness of God's Promises unto us He hath a weak knowledge of fallible Men whoever much trusts them and he hath as weak a knowledge of God that cannot lye whoever much doubts him 3 Easiness to be scandalized or turned out of God's way by any thing we meet with By God's darker Providences as Asaph was Or by good Men's failings as Job's Friends were Or by wicked Men's instigations as poor Spira was He stands but weakly who falls easily 5. Special Marks of Truth in weak Grace be these e. gr 1 Giving glory unto God when we cannot take Comfort from him We must needs sincerely love him with whom we had rather Mourn than Rejoyce with the World And whom we Praise while he hides his face from us or frowns upon us 2 Combating on against sin even while we think at least we cannot conquer it Doing all we can against it even while all we do seems to do no good Blessed be Gospel grace it is certain we Conquer as long as we verily Fight Sin is never our Master till we do Consent to have it so But happy is the Soul that even then holds on the Conflict when he imagines that Sin hath got the Mastery 3 Making up in Root what we want in Fruit. Growing downward when we can't grow upward I mean being exceedingly Humble when we can't be so useful to God's Name in the World Abasing our selves when we cannot Exalt God otherwise 4 Lying at the Pool as weak Cripples as long as we are so Willing to have strength and waiting on God for strength and staying his time at his Gates if he makes us wait long for it Resolving to Justifie him if he never give it and to Admire and Bless him if he give it at all The poor Canaanite was sincere and came off with honour she whose first Prayer was answered with Silence and for her second Prayer was called a Dog but undaunted by both prayed on that she might have some of Christ's Kindness though it were but the share of a Dog Though it were but a Crumb and not Plenty 6. Innumerable are our Motives to seek strength of Grace Will the weakest Grace carry to Heaven what then Bread and Water will keep you alive on Earth but you do desire more a great deal Life is Life and very sweet and precious But you desire Health Strength and Beauty do you not Most do think that their Glory in Heaven will be more or less as their Grace on Earth is more or less Whether that be so or no I thus argue If you love not God you have no true Grace If you do love him how can you but crave more Vnderstanding and more Power to serve him This remember Though you do what he Accepts of you do not what he is much honoured by while you are weak His infinite Grace accepts and rewards your little one but your little one doth but sorrily Praise and Serve the Glory of his infinite one Add hereto tho' weak Saints are equally Elected Redeemed Called Justified and Adopted with the strongest yea and have equally all the Promises of the Covenant that concern the Essentials of Salvation so that the least Stars be as firmly fixed in the Firmament of Bliss as the greatest Luminaries be yet this is true God's love of Delight is greater to strong Saints than to weak and It is then greater to them when they are strong than when they are weak Natural Parents love all their Children but although they have most Pity of the Weak they have most Pleasure in the Strong And in the Strong they then have most Pleasure when they are Strongest It is no otherwise with our Heavenly Father Abraham was God's Friend by way of eminency and then when without staggering his Gigantick grace bore parting with his Isaac then above ordinary God looked on him complacentially Zanchi speaks broader than I do God's love of good-will is not Equal to all his Saints He wills more good to some Saints than unto others Which you cannot deny unless you will say that his holy Spirit 's Graces be lumber unworthy to be put in the Inventory of his Goods In a word every Believer doth wear the Garland of the Supream King's Favour but in that Garland there are special Flowers which are vouchsafed only unto strong Believers Again If you love not your selves you have not true Grace If you do love your selves your true selves and not only your earthen Shells you cannot but desire to be Men. You cannot be willing to keep in your Infancy to live all your days in the Cradle and in Swadling clothes unable to go upon your feet stumbling at every straw even when you are most carefully led by your spiritual Nurses and filling the house with your Cryes while they carry you in their Arms. Plainly you cannot but be sick of desire to have it better with you than it can be until Grace is stronger To have it better than now it is now that you conceit if you apply a Promise it is horrid Presumption and if you do not it is fatal Unbelief That if you Hope it is but Self-delusion and if you do but Doubt it is straightway Desperation That if you Repent it is a sorrow but legal and if you fall into any Sin it is no less than that which is
and acceptably unto God you are void of Grace Young Joseph hath ability to repel Temptations and Older David hath ability to comply with Temptations Satan cannot force us unto Evil and the Holy Ghost doth not ever force us unto Good it is voluntarily that we do all the Evil and the Good done by us Grace doth find us sinful Men and free unto Evil and it makes us sincere Christians and free unto Good It doth not as Glory doth take away our possibility of sinning in Mind Will or Work Our state on Earth is one and that in Heaven is another 3 Your Duty of Duties it is therefore to make the best use of your Liberty To side with the Spiritual Principle against the Carnal To take the part of Purity against Impurity And strain hard to live according to the Spirit in every Walk not allowing the Flesh one step To keep the Candle of the Lord your internal Light shining And the fire on the Altar of your hearts your holy Zeal burning To see that your Minds be blinded by no Objections and your Wills blunted by no Oppositions and your Lives blackned by no avoidable Abominations For why God rewards Grace with Grace and your Obeying the new Nature in you strengthens it And the strengthning thereof is the weakning of Sin its opposite It doth make and shew it to be weak But on the other hand let it be awefully considered It is a frightful Sin to receive in vain the offer of Grace in the Gospel and far worse it is to make vain and not improve the very Work of Grace in one's Soul This is no less than going about to destroy that which is Conceived in us of the Holy Ghost For the new Nature in us like a new-born Child quickly languisheth if it be not tenderly cherished And besides the Holy Ghost who is the Parent of it will be more than a little incensed if it be but little made of and not by all possible means nourished wherefore blessed are they who set not themselves to gratifie but to crucifie their Senses Appetites and Passions And content not themselves to Possess unless they do also exercise and Increase their spiritual Gifts Graces and Comforts Going forward in them and going apace so and that sensibly and visibly Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle I have thus endeavoured that ye may be able after my Decease to have these things always in remembrance For if these be in you and abound they make you that ye shall not be Barren nor Unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ And an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into his everlasting Kingdom Amen and Amen Bishop Wilkins his Character of the best Christians is here added for your Profit and for the shame of such as traduce us for New-fangled Opinionists and contrary to all the Learned of the Church of England THey are Persons of a Moderate and healing Temper of Catholick and Comprehensive Charity They do not Baptize their Religion with the Name of a Sect nor Espouse the Interest of a Party but love all Good men that Fear God and work Righteousness They are not guilty of the Corinthian Vanity in crying up a Paul an Apollos or a Cephas but look upon it as the great Design of Christianity to make men good and where it hath not that Effect they know it matters not what Church such a Man is of because a Bad Man can be saved in none They shun the dangerous Extreams and keep the Regular mean and in Divine Worship prefer a reverend Decency before pompous Superstition or popular Confusion neither bowing down to the Altar of Baal nor Admiring the Calves of Bethel They are true Primitive Christians and think it lawful to hold Communion with any true Church of Christ that is sound in the Substantials of Religion notwithstanding some Circumstantial Differences in the External Modes of Administration And they suspect it sinful and Schismatical to separate from any true Christians who Agree in Apostolical Doctrine and maintain the Discipline of the purest Ages They prove all Things and hold fast only that which is Good and are perswaded those Christians are most in the Right who choose out of all Parties whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just c. and not they that think every thing to be so that 's maintained by their own party They place Religion more in the serious practice of Piety than in the Observance of Ceremonious Forms they are neither fond of needless Rituals nor yet molested with groundless Scruples but long for the Philadelphian State of the Church wishing that all the World might with one mouth glorifie the Eternal God They pay a great Deference to Antiquity yet they are not so fond of Error as to fall in love with it meerly for its gray Hairs but make use of their own Reason to judge of the Reasonings of other men Though they apply themselves to spiritual Guides yet they love to enquire the Way to Sion and not follow them in the Dark except they carry a Lanthorn in their hands They refer the Decision of all the Differences amongst good Christians primarily to the Sence and Meaning of the Holy Scriptures And they know every man must Judge for himself therefore where they see men do all they can to find out the Truth to please God and to save their own Souls they give them a Liberty of Interpreting as knowing themselves not to be Infallible They know there are many Controversies amongst Christians of that Intricacy that the Day of Judgment must determin who are most in the right therefore they dare not judge of mens final Estates or of the Sincerity of their Hearts by their speculative Opinions or different Relishes of things because every man must believe what he can and not what he will They admire to see some Christians so egregiously mistake in the Notion of true Catholicism as to confine Salvation to their particular Communion and they think it strange to hear men contend for an Infallible Guide when Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles do with one consent declare that the way to the Blessedness of the Righteous is by observing the Rule and Exercise of Holy Living from a Principle of Divine Life They never charge other mens Doctrines with such odious Consequences as they never intended nor Asperse their Persons with such invidious Names as they never deserved but make charitable Allowances for their different Educations Constitutions and Apprehension of things supposing that other men may differ from them with the same Sincerity that they differ from others and sometimes from themselves They are for a Religious Loyalty and prefer the Wisdom of Publick Authority before their own private Judgments in all such Matters as are not Determined by the Soveraign pleasure of their Maker And if in any thing they differ from the Wisdom of their Superiours they do it with great Modesty and Reservation and are always ready to change their Minds when better Information leads them to it not thinking they undervalue their Judgments by so doing They are afraid of being infected with the Heresie of Bigottism and have great cause to fear that if the merciful God should damn us all for such things for which strait-laced Christians condemn one another none could be saved They think there is no particular human Form of Ecclesiastical Polity so acceptable to the great God as the Exercise of Mutual Charity under our different Forms They neither make their Opinions Articles of Faith nor their Modes Terms of Communion but believe those Principles and practise those Precepts which wise and good men are all agreed in well Knowing if they should happen to be mistaken in those things wherein they differ they could not lose the Way to Heaven whilest they sincerely love God believe in Christ and obey the Motions of the Holy Spirit They are of peaceable and Reconciling Dispositions and neither call for Fire from Heaven nor Kindle Fires upon Earth to destroy all those that follow not them as well knowing that Truth cannot be engraven in the Minds of Men with the Points of Swords nor can their Understandings be illuminated with flaming Faggots They neither make the Way to Heaven Broader nor Narrower than the Head and Pillars of the Universal Church have made it And they walk on soberly righteously and godly in that Path which upon great Consideration they take to be the Right without rudely Justling those whom they fear to be in the Wrong They think the best way to find out to what Mother the Child of Truth belongs is to make use of Solomon's Test viz. To give up the Cause to them that first lay down the Sword of Division When one Party saith Lo here is Christ in this Church and another saith Lo he is there they Believe what Christ himself hath told them That where Two or Three are met together in his Name there is He in the midst of them They do not think their Zeal Luke-warm except it burn up their Discretion but can joyn the Prudence of the Serpent with the Innocency of the Dove and are grieved to observe men contend so Eagerly about the Pinnacles of the Temple as that they threaten to overturn the Foundations of the Church They take more pains to make good their Baptismal Covenant than to dispute about the Manner of its Administration as if they were Baptized with the Waters of Strife and they are more frequent in a Devout Participation of the Lord's Supper than in Metaphysical Contests about the Real Presence They Know there 's nothing required of Man as Necessary to Salvation but what is clearly Revealed and beyond all Dispute They choose rather to take up the Cross of Christ than wrangle about it and more sollicitously observe the Complexion of their own Souls than the Colour of Ministers Garments Nor do they so contend about the Number of the Elect as to Reprobate themselves for want of Charity but endeavour to perform the Whole Duty of Man in so doing they know they are in the Way to the Saints Everlasting Rest FINIS