Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	know_v	scripture_n	speak_v	7,222	5	4.9707	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97232	Chonoyterion he Sion. The refinement of Zion: or, The old orthodox Protestant doctrine justified, and defended against several exceptions of the Antinomians, methodically digested into questions, wherein many weighty and important cases of conscience are handled, concerning the nature of faith and repentance, or conversion to God: of his eternal love, and beholding of sin in his dearest children: of justification from eternity, of of [sic] preparations to the acceptance of Christ, of prayer for pardon of sin, and turning to God: of the gospel covenant, aud [sic] tenders of salvation, on the termes of faith and repentance. For the establishment of the scrupulous, conviction of the erroneous, and consolation of distressed consciences. By Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore in Hampshire.	Warton, Anthony.	1657 (1657)	Wing W987; Thomason E914_2; ESTC R207476	171,315	250

time I deny this consequence for from hence it followeth only that Faith goeth before our justification in order of nature or in reason but not in time because a man is justified at the same instant that he layeth hold on Christ believeth in him But he denieth that Faith goeth before our justification in any respect at all his reason is because Faith is a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which indeed and in nature is before it The first of these Propositions I do willingly grant that Faith is a part of sanctification but whereas he assumeth that there is nosanctification but it is after justification I cannot assent unto him in this For many worthy Divines do hold that sanctification is before justification their judgment therefore I might oppose unto the learned Chamiers others that hold the contrary For the clearing of this matter I do distinguish of sanctification and say that it is either habitual and so God doth sanctifie us by infusing holinesse into us or actual and so we do sanctifie our selves by renouncing the works of sin and living holily Of both these Moses speaketh when he saith Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them Lev. 20.7.8 for I am the Lord which sanctifie you When the Lord saith here Sanctifie your selves and be ye holy this must be understood of actual sanctification that is of holiness that is to be actually performed by us But whereas the Lord useth this as a reason to stir us up hereunto for I am the Lord which sanctifie you this is spoken of habitual sanctification For how doth the Lord sanctifie us but by infusing the habit or the internal grace of holinesse into us whereby we are inabled to perform the several acts of holinesse or to live holily the effectual excitation of Gods blessed Spirit herewith concurring But because these words of the Lord which I have alledged though they speak of a twofold sanctification are taken in another sense by very learned Divines than this that I have given for confirmation therefore of habitual sanctification I do alledge those words of St. Paul 1 Thess 5.23 where he prayeth that God would sanctify them wholly or throughly And those 1 Cor. 1.30 where he saith That Christ is made unto us sanctification See also 1 Pet. 1.2 Now of actual sanctification St. Paul speaketh when he saith This is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Hereof also speaketh St. Peter in that precept of his Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts In these and in other places the Scripture speaketh of Sanctification both habitual wrought in us by God himself and of sanctification acted and wrought by us through the assistance of Gods Spirit exciting us unto holinesse Whereas then this most learned Divine saith That there is no sanctification but it is after justification this is true if it be understood of actual sanctication For we are first justified by Faith and then this Faith inflameth our hearts with the love of God and stirreth us up to glorifie him and to serve him in holiness and righteousness according to all his commandements Thus the several works of holiness and righteousness do proceed from Faith Etiamsi non elicitivè imperativè tamen though not elicitly yet imperatively Faith stirreth us up unto them For as St. Paul saith The end of the commandement is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned It is true therefore that Faith and therefore justification which is thereby laid hold of and obtained is before actual sanctification For as this learned man saith well fides vera est fons et scaturigo omnium bonorum operum in fidelibus De sola fide justificante Lib. 22. cap. 12. True Faith is the fountain and source of all good works in the faithful But I cannot say that there is no sanctification but it is after justification for habitual Faith is a part of habitual anctification Now the infused habits of grace such as Faith is are before their acts If therefore it can be proved that adulti or such as are of capacity and understanding are not justified without or before actual Faith then it will inevitably follow that there is some sanctification that is not after justification Yea beside what hath been said already to prove that we are actually justified by Faith and not without it methinketh Chamierus himself doth as good as grant it when he saith Verum est proptereà nos factos in Christo justitiam Dei quòd Christo nos simus incorporati per fidem It is true that we are therefore made the righteousnesse of God in Christ because we are incorporated into him by Faith We are not then justified before Faith or before we do believe in Christ Again this most excellent Divine saith In adultis fatemur remissionem peccatorum ab inhaerente justitiâ nunquam sepaerari We confess that remission of sins is never separated from inherent righteousness in those that are grown in years But say I many of the Elect after they have the use of reason and understanding being well grown in years do yet live in sin for some time and do not serve God in righteousness until he by his grace doth afterward convert them According therefore to his own Doctrine it followeth that justification from sin at least in adultis in those that are grown in years doth not go before Faith But saith he Faith justifieth relativè as it hath for its proper peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Whence as I conceive he would have it inferred That seeing the mercy of God is eternal therefore our justification is so also and therefore before Faith Now hereunto I answer that though Christs righteousnesse be materialiter the proper object of our justification or that which is imputed to us for our justification Yet I will not deny bur that Gods mercy considered as the internal cause moving God to justify us may thus be said to be the proper and peculiar object on which our Faith relyeth for justification But it doth not follow hereupon that we were justified ab aeterno from everlasting because Gods mercy is the cause of our justification no more than that we are sanctified and glorified eternally because our sanctification and glorification are wholly of Gods mercy Quest 7. Whether any previous dispositions preparations or qualifications be required of men in the Gospel that they may be partakers of salvation by Christ SECT I. The Preparations that go before our Regeneration and Conversion THose that take upon them to be the only Preachers of

the terrors of the law he be not first made to see in what a wofull case and condition he was by his sins to wit that he should have perished and been damned to unspeakable and unconceivable torments in Hell if God out of his surpassing love pity and compassion towards him had not provided and given him a Saviour Thus must we first be brought by the Law and the judgments and terrours thereof to apprehend our own misery before we can acknowledge the depth of Gods mercy and be inflamed with love towards him and stir up our selves unto thankfulnesse unto his Divine Majesty for the great and most gracious work of our redemption and salvation by Christ The preaching then of Hell and damnation and the rendring of a terrible account to a severe Judge is not the laying of the foundation neither of Faith nor of our justification and sanctification whereby we are made good Christians but a digging deep to remove the rubbish of self-confidence and spiritual pride and presumption that so the foundation of our conversions may be laid in the Love of God and of his comprehensible mercy towards us in Christ Jesus SECT VII Objections answered and the truth in this Controversy cleared AS long as any colourable specious and plausible objections against the truth remain unanswered men who have been taken and deluded by them will hardly be brought to renounce their errors no not when the truth shall be solidly taught and confirmed from the alone ground of all Divine and supernatural truth the holy Scripture Having therefore of late met with a Book of very high esteem with many intituled The exaltation of Christ in the dayes of the Gospel by T.C. and finding that the Author thereof doth teach that men are not at all prepared for Christ and Faith in him by the preaching of the Law but by hearing of the Gospel only I have thought good therefore not to passe over in silence but to examine those things he delivereth and the rather because his reasons and allegations do differ from those which I have before met with Exalt of Christ pag. 216. Edit 3 First he telleth us that though all are under the Law by nature yet it is the preaching of the Gospel that discovers it that is as he after explaineth himself that discovereth unto them that they are under the curse and condemnation of the Law See also before pag. 112. and so most miserable creatures He teacheth therefore that a man must first in the preaching of the Gospel see Christ and then by reflecting upon himself see his own misery which otherwise is not to be seen and discerned by the Law But in this he contradicteth St. Paul for he telleth us that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin And he instanceth in himself Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 and saith I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Thus the Law sheweth us our sins yea and the punishment also Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 that by them we have deserved when it saith Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them 2 Cor. 3.7.9 And hereupon it is that the Apostle calleth it the ministration of death and of condemnation For as the Law at the promulgation and publishing thereof upon Mount Sinai was delivered with great terrour so it still of it self terrifieth and astonisheth the consciences of sinners accusing them when they do evil as both St. Paul Rom. 2.15 and every mans own experience teacheth But let us take notice of the Arguments of Mr. C. whereby he endeavoureth to make good that which he hath taught Object First he telleth us That a man never savingly seeth his evil condition without Christ And again That it is the Spirit of God that discovereth sin unto him Now the preaching of the Law bringeth not this Spirit but the hearing of Faith as witnesseth St. Paul Gal. 3.2 But here first I would know of him why he saith Answ a man never savingly knoweth his evil condition without Christ For our salvation consisteth not in knowing of our evil condition but in the knowledge of Jesus Christ John 17.3 Isa 53.11 For a man to know his evil condition by sin is to know that damnation is due unto him for his sin Now many a man hath attained to this knowledg who was never saved Salvation therefore doth not at all consist in this but in a mans flying unto Christ and laying hold of him when he seeth how miserable his condition is become through sin Now whereas he alledgeth the Apostles words Gal. 3.2 to prove that a man is not brought by the preaching of the Law but of Faith to be made partaker of the Spirit without which he cannot see his miserable condition by sin I answer him That the Apostle speaks there partly of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were by God bestowed on none but those that had heard the Gospel and made profession of Faith in Christ and partly of the Spirit of adoption which also is peculiar to believers Now thus indeed we do not receive the Spirit by the preaching of the Law but otherwise Rom. 8.15 as the same Apostle giveth us elsewhere to understand we did by the Law receive the Spirit of bondage to fear His meaning is that the Spirit of God which we received from him illightning our minds with the true knowledge and understanding of the Law did fill our hearts with fears and terrours and so did put us as it were in a state of bondage at or before our conversion unto Faith in Christ We have need therefore of the illumination of the Spirit that we may throughly understand the Law For as long as men are left to themselves their very knowledge of the Law is but shallow and superficial as it to be seen in the Pharisees and in all those who are only civilly honest which sort of men are either not at all or but a little troubled in their souls and consciences with the fear of their sins or of hell and damnation Whereas then Mr. C. saith The Apostle was once alive without the Law that is without the spiritual understanding of the Law but when the Commandement came sin revived and he died that is when Christ had opened his eyes to see into the spirit of the Law the spiritual sense thereof I trow he meaneth In all this I do agree with him but not in that which followeth when he addeth That we come thus to know the spiritual understanding of the Law only by the preaching of the Gospel For I have already proved the contrary to wit that when the Law is preached men come to understand it by the illumination of the Spirit opening their minds to see the true meaning of the several precepts thereof Object But Mr. C thinketh by instancing in

Deo definito not from eternity but at that time which God had determined Gal. 4.4 His Passion therefore either must not be the cause of our justification or if we shall say that it is as this most learned Divine and all other for any thing that I know to the contrary do we must needs grant that we were not actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity but in time Lastly Whereas St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.24 25. that We are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood from hence also it followeth that our sins are actually pardoned and we justified from them in time and not from all eternity For it cannot be said of our Election and there is the same reason of every other immanent and eternal Act of God that we were elected through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus as a cause thereof For our Election is immediatly of Gods grace and not effected by any external means or for any external cause extra Deum without God himself no more then are opera ulla ejus ad intrà any of his internal acts or works For as much therefore as the Apostle teacheth That we are justified by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood unto me it seemeth very evident that our justification can be none of the immanent and eternal works of God that are acted altogether within himself Object I know there are those that do object against this that I have said those words of St Paul 2 Thess 2.13 where he telleth them That God had from the beginning chosen them unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth But his meaning is not That sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth were any causes no nor means of their Election but of their salvation as if he should have said God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation to be enjoyed and possessed of you by being sanctified by Gods Spirit and by believing in Christ as by means leading thereunto Thus the Apostle in saying he hath chosen you unto salvation that is to obtain salvation by sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth maketh these means of their salvation not of their Election Yea not only the Orthodox Protestant Divines but Popish Doctors also do thus expound these words of St. Paul amongst whom Estius commenteth thus upon them The effects of Gods Election ordained unto salvation are hereby signified as if he should say God hath chosen you or hath taken you unto salvation by means thereunto allotted to wit through sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the truth Theophylact also alledged by him thus expoundeth these words God hath from the beginning that is from eternity chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit that is saith he he hath saved us in sanctifying us by the Spirit Thus our salvation is by means but our Election is the immediate work or act of God whereof there can no cause or reason be given nisi bene placitum Divinum but Gods own gracious good pleasure This that I have thus taught is the Doctrine of the most Orthodox Divines I cannot therefore but wonder what should move the most illustrious Chamier to say quòd amari mereamur à Deo per imputationem justitiae Christi et quôd inde diligamur et destinemur vitae aeternae that we deserve to be loved of God through the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and that thereupon we are beloved and allotted or elected unto eternal life This I say seemeth unto me a most strange assertion for hence it would follow that Gods Love and his Election were not free or altogether gratuitous But God speaking unto his Church and people saith dilexi te gratis I have loved thee freely And St. Paul teacheth that God hath predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will The same Apostle also saith that the Election of Gods people is of grace Now merit and free love and grace cannot stand together Christ indeed hath merited all the saving effects of Gods Love at dilectio ipsamet Dei est gratuitae but Gods love it self is not merited but free He loveth us meerly ex beneplacito suo of his good pleasure This love of his is the cause why he gave us his only begotten Son to work our salvation John 3.16 This love of his therefore must needs be the cause also of all Christs merits both of our redemption justification adoption sanctification and glorification Neither our justification therefore nor any other of these can be the cause of Gods love if we shall speak properly of his love and not of some one or other effects thereof But proceed we to the next thing wherein Chamierus dissenteth from that which is most commonly taught by other Protestants concerning our justification This learned man also teacheth contrary to the common Doctrine of the Protestants that there are no preparations unto our justification Now if it were as he saith that our justification is an eternal Act of God this would necessarily follow But seeing we are not actually justified until we do believe in Christ and are not ordinarily brought to renounce our selves and to put the whole confidence of our salvation in Christ until we be wrought upon and prepared thereunto both by the Law and the Gospel as is to be shewed in the next Question therefore seeing he produceth nothing that I have met with for confirmation of this his assertion I will leave the further examination and sifting of it unto its due place And so I come to the last thing that by the learned Chamierus is asserted in opposition to the common Doctrine of Protestants and that is That we are not justified by Faith in Christ for he speaketh expresly and saith falsum est fidem impetrare justificationem It 's false that Faith obtaineth justification For confirmation whereof he reasoneth thus If it were so then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in time which may by no means be granted For Faith it self is by it self a part of our sanctification but there is no sanctification but it is after justification which in deed and in nature is before it Which is the cause why we do say that Faith doth no otherwise justifie but relatively that is because it hath for its peculiar object the mercy of God on which it relieth Now this is that properly that justifieth as the Church is built relatively upon the Faith of Peter that is upon Christ whom the Faith of Peter confessed That I may examine these things in order as they lie First whereas he saith If Faith should obtain our justification then Faith should go before our justification both in reason and in

Pauls conversion Acts 9 to prove that men come to know themselves that is their misery by sin by the preaching of Christ and that the preaching of the Law doth not prepare us for Jesus that we may believe in him For the ministery by which Paul came to see himself and to believe was the voice of Christ Answ I am Jesus of Nazareth Whereunto I answer that Pauls conversion was miraculous and extraordinary it cannot therefore be concluded from thence that men are ordinarily brought to Faith in Christ or enlightned to see their miserable estate by sin without the preaching of the Law But he goeth on forward and saith Object It is the sight and knowledge of Christ that brings men truly to see and know themselves not as they are in the estate of grace he meaneth not so but as they are in the estate of damnation for proof whereof he saith Saul Acts 9. thought himself a very holy and happy man till he met Christ in the way And biddeth us note that Christ taught him in the first place the knowledge of himself Who art thou Lord saith Saul I am Jesus of Nazareth saith Christ whom thou persecutest Christ did not tell him of his sin O thou art an accursed persecuting creature Dost ask who I am Thou hadst more need know thy self c. No no he discovereth Himself unto him And this I know was Gods usual dealing in the Gospel those whom he taught he taught them first to know Christ and this Christ our Prophet must teach thee if ever thou be taught Answ But I would know whether the Lord did not take another course with Adam when he was fallen Sure I am he first brought him to the sight and sense of his sin and misery by reproving him for the transgression of his Law before he comforted him raised him up with that Evangelical promise The seed of the woman shall break the head of the serpent And our blessed Saviour layeth it down for a general rule and direction Luke 24.47 That repentance and remission of sins must be preached in his name amongst all nations First repentance which cannot be without the knowledge of sin and then remission of sins by Faith in Christ Now as for the example of Sauls conversion which Mr. C. so much and so often urgeth it is not true which he saith as it were triumphantly Christ did not tell him of his sin O thou art an accursed persecuting creature c. For did he not plainly speak unto him and say Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And again I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks It 's evident that he did as manifestly and as soon if not before tell him of his sin in persecuting him as he told him that he was Jesus We may conclude therefore from hence that a man must be brought to know himself and his miserable estate and condition by sin either at the same time or before that Christ is preached and offered unto him But of this more hereafter only I will say this now that Paul was terrified and cast down indeed by those terrible words of Christ and by beholding his glorious Majesty but for the perfecting of his conversion Christ sent him to Ananias by whom he was to be taught and instructed what he was to do By him therefore he was taught all things necessary unto his salvation and so was ●●mforted and raised up again by Faith in Christ from his former terrours and fears I say therefore as Mr. C. doth It is Christ in the preaching of the Gospel that is glad tidings for sinners remission of sins for believers and this Gospel this glad tydings cannot rightly be held forth unto the world but withal men must be shewed that they are sinners and the emptiness of duties and of all other foundations must be discovered and the danger of not accepting Christ But I demand whether this is not to be done by shewing unto men their sins by the Law and their disability to do any thing of themselves that is pleasing unto God through the corruption that is in them by the fall of Adam For this impotency of doing good and the great wrath that is due unto us for our sins the Law re ealeth and maketh known unto us which when a sinner once apprehendeth then the Gospel is to be preached and he is to be exhorted to lay hold of Jesus Christ by Faith Object as the only means of salvation But let us examine another of Mr. C's Arguments and see whether there be any more force in that Beloved saith he God hath appointed the Spirit to be the means in the preaching of the Gospel to convince the world of sin Joh. 16.9 It is the Spirit of God that convinceth the world of sin and that in the preaching of the Gospel But hereunto I answer that our Saviour saith not Answ that the Spirit of God doth in the preaching of the Gospel only reprove the world of sin absolutely but of the sin of infidelity for thus he saith VVhen the Comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin because they believe not in me Now what shall we say that none believed in Christ before this coming of the Spirit and reproving of the world of unbelief Verily no for the Apostles with many other did before this believe in him For our Saviour speaks here of the coming of the Spirit in the miraculous gifts thereof as he came upon the Apostles and other believers in the day of Pentecost and afterwards until those gifts ceased in the Church when the Gospel had been by them sufficiently confirmed Besides the world of which our Saviour there speaketh though it was convinced of sin by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit yet it never believed for our Saviour calleth it the world that believed not in him Lastly If we should say they were unbelievers and worldlings before but afterward believed when they saw the miraculous gifts that were by Christ poured down and bestowed on his Apostles and others that reproved their infidelity yet it cannot hence be inferred that all in all succeeding ages are thus to be converted and brought unto Faith in Christ But of this more hereafter when I shall examine that which he alledgeth out of Acts 2.37 In the next place he reasoneth thus All preparations and qualifications whatsoever which are not of Faith Object are sin and I am sure Faith comes by the preaching of the Gospel not of the Law Therefore the preaching of qualifications before Faith is sin for all things before or without Faith are sin His Reason if we put it in form will be thus Sin cannot prepare us for Christ but all preparations before Faith are sin therefore no such preparations or qualifications can prepare us for Christ Here I would wish him first of all to consider that by reasoning thus he striketh himself as well as us For he will not

tell him what both I my self and some others heard one speak with great rejoycing whose conversation was none of the best We never had the Gospel preached until now Christ is freely offered unto all nothing is required of us free Grace is preached What will you say to those who hearing you preach thus do turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and say That they know they shall be saved by their Faith in Christ who is freely offered them without any conditions what you and those who preach thus will say I know not but sure I am St. Paul saith to them and to all Prove your selves whether ye be in the Faith And then he sheweth how this is to be done 2 Cor. 13.5 Know you not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates As if he should say Whosoever they are that believe in Christ they have him dwelling in them by his Spirit hereby therefore shall you know that ye are true believers even by his spirit whereof ye are made partakers For as St. John also saith Hereby we know that he abideth in us 1 Joh. 3.24 by the Spirit that he hath given us He therefore that upon good proof and experience findeth that the Spirit of God is in him mortifying his carnal lusts and affections and renewing him in holiness may be assured hereby that he is by Faith ingrafted into Christ and that he shall be saved by him For it is not flesh and blood that worketh such an inward and universal change in us but the spirit of God by Faith in Christ Jesus And of this St. Iohn assureth us when he saith This is our Victory that overcommeth the World even our Faith As if he should say it is our Faith in Christ 1 Ioh. 5.4 whereby we are made pertakers of the spirit of God which he merited for us who believe in him that makes us Conquerors of the World that is of those sinful lusts that raign in worldly men and not any power or strength of our own Where sin therefore is thus conquered there is true faith but in whomsoever sin still raigneth 't is in vain for him to boast of his faith or of the free grace of God for as yet he can lay no claim thereto Thus Mr. D. I have proved that our love to the Brethren and other effects of the spirit which are never seperated from true Faith do bear witness to our Faith and testifie the truth of it not only before men Confer with a sick man Pag. 8. as you say but inwardly also to our souls and consciences which you must not deny if you remember what you have written concerning the reconciliation of Man to God pag. 57 59 60. for there you say that joy in the Holy Ghost and the love of God and of our Brethren and new obedience are inseperable Companions to our reconciliation by Faith Every one of these therefore must needs assure us of our reconciliation to God unless you will say that a man may know that he hath faith but cannot know either that he rejoyceth in God or that he loveth God and his Children or that he obeyeth his word and Commandements of which I can see no reason seeing faith is as spiritual supernatural and as hard to be known as any of these For my part I cannot conceive how the souls of those that are reconciled unto God should have such abundant joy as you speak of be filled even with floods of comfort and have no knowledge nor feeling thereof at all And though the true love of God cannot alwayes so easily be seen and discerned by every one in whose heart it is as such superabundant joy and rejoycing may yet if he that loveth God could not know that he doth so our Saviour would not have said unto Peter Lovest thou me neither could Peter have answered as he did Yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee ●●h 21.15 ●sal 116.1 Nor could David so confidently have said as he doth I love the Lord because he hath heard my voyce and my supplications Now as a true Christian may know that he loveth God so may he also that he truly repenteth and liveth not according to his fleshly lusts but according to Gods Commandements and is therefore his Servant For else how could Iob have said Iob 42.6 Psal 116.6 that he abborred himself and repented in dust and ashes Or how could David have said Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thine Handmaid It will be worth the while also to take further notice what Mr. D. hath written concerning the love of God and the keeping of his Commandements This Garment of love saith he is like the Garment of divers colours wherewithall the Kings Daughters which were Virgins were apparelled If a woman be seen in the street without a party coloured Garment it is concluded that she is either none of the Kings daughters or at least no Virgin so is that Ornament of love I say that thing wherewith all the people of God reconciled to him are adorned if we see a soul altogether stript of this Ornament we conclude they are not in the number of Gods people at least not reconciled Therefore the Holy Ghost concludes He that loveth not knoweth not God 1 Ioh. 4.8 And as on the affirmative he pronounceth Grace be on all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Eph. 6.24 So also on the negative If any love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Now with the love of God is joyned the keeping of his Commandements as an inseparable effect thereof This is the love of God that we keep his Commandements 1 Joh. 5.3 If ye love me keep my Commandements 1 Iohn 14 15. If a man love me he will keep my words Vers 23. Christ entering into the soul shall drive out whatsoever is prophane and draw up the soul by the cords of love unto new obedience And to this place we refer hatred of sin love of vertue a godly sorrow for transgression committed revenge upon our selves for the things that are past and a jealous care for that which is to come Thus far Mr. D. From all which I pray you may not I infer and conclude both negatively that he who liveth in sin and loveth the World and the things thereof is destitute of the true love of God and as yet can have no assurance of salvation and affirmatively that if a man can find that he sincerely and unfainedly loveth God and testifieth the truth hereof by obedience unto his Commandements he may hereby and not by faith only as Mr. D. will have it be assured of Gods love and of his own eternal salvation by Jesus Christ Doubtless St. Peter would have us thus to conclude 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9 10. and resolve upon it for he biddeth us make our Calling and Election sure