a Zeal doth Faith stir up for the Worship of God and no less for the Truth of God this is a precious jewel a secret out of the Fathers bosom a beam come down from Heaven to light us thither if this be subverted Zeal will stand up and vindicate it Secundus when he was commanded to deliver up his Bibles to be burnt answered Christianus sum non traditor In the first General Councils how earnest were the Fathers for the Faith they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it The Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not pass instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the Nestorian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to Christ as man instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to the blessed Virgin With what an heroical and gallant spirit did Luther cleave to the Evangelical Truth Pia est sancta hac in re nostra pertinacia in this ours is a pious and holy obstinacy saith he Such a Zeal for truth doth Faith ralse up In sum Faith hath a single eye at Gods Glory and so endears all things tending thereunto that upon the least violation thereof Zeal will be ready to break forth in that behalf Moreover Faith gives a further advance thereunto by looking on the unparallelled Love of God O what a Zeal hath he for our Salvation Hath he not writ our poor names in the book of Life and shall we neglect his glorious one Hath not he sent his own Son in the flesh to be the great Ordinance of our Salvation and to fill all the under-Ordinances with his Spirit and Grace and shall we not be zealous in and for his Worship Are not his holy Truths the day-star in our bearts seeds of the New Creature and Cordials of rich Comfort and shall we not earnestly contend for them Will he not glorifie us to all eternity above and shall we not glorifie him in our little span of time here below Whilest Faith is thus musing the fire of Zeal must needs kindle in our Hearts Another Grace actuated by Faith is Meekness which is as cool in our own cause as Zeal is hot in Gods This is the great Moderatrix of Anger that it breaks not out Preter squum bonum not unjustly for a light occasion as that Pope's did who raged upon the missing a cold Peacock and blasphemously added If God was so angry for an Apple he might justly be so for a Peacock Nor upon a just cause excessively as it did in that great Conqueror Stephen King of Poland who was so angry with the Rigenses about the Gregorian Calendar that he sell into Epileptical sus and died Natural Meekness is a beautiful thing and so is Moral but neither is a Grace Natural being but the result of a sweet temper of Body and Moral but the improvement of Reason neither levels so high as Gods Glory In Natural we do but comply with our Temperament and in Moral but sacrifice to our Reason But the Grace of Meekness is a portion of that Dove-like Spirit which rested upon Christ and aims at his Glory whose Goodness is resembled thereby Hence it is observable that where the Meekness is only Natural or Moral Men will be angerless and sintully meek even when Gods Glory lies at the Stake their Meekness being as opposite to holy Zeal as to rash Anger but where the Grace of Meekness is Men in their own concerns glorifie God by a cool converse and in Gods call for Zeal to vindicate his Glory To promote this Grace Faith doth many things as first it looks at the infinite Long-sufferance of God O what doth he bear from Men His Laws are violated Blessings abused Name blasphemed Glory stained and all by his own Creatures and in his own World and day after day year after year nay one age after another and yet the axle-tree of his Patience breaks not under it 〈…〉 a look at this will much meeken us Excellent Melincton under great Calumnies was still of a cool spirit and when his Enemies said That they would not leave him a footstep in Germany all hi◠reply was That he should have one in Heaven And what made him so meek we may gather from his own words Nullum hominem tantum sustinere malorum quantum contumeliarum Deus No man bears so many evils as God doth contumelies And if we will be followers of God we must be meek and as a further motive hereunto Faith looks unto Christ in whom Meekness is exemplified in our own Nature that we may not say flesh and blood cannot be so under reproaches injuries contradictions bloody sufferings He was as a lamb not opening his mouth when he was reviled be reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2.23 And the Believer must follow him and the rather because he hath a spirit of Meekness from him to do so Such a spirit shewed it self in Beza who when in a Dispute about the Eucharist the Jesuits called him and his Colleagues Foxes and Serpents only replied Nos non magis credimns quà m Transubstantiationem We believe it as much as we do Transubstantiation Again this Grace is much advanced by Reslections without Faith a man is a stranger at home and knows every thing better than his own Heart as St. Bernard faith of Petrus Abailardus He knew every thing better than himself but where Faith is there is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a Man looks in wardly into his own Heart and there finds such a black nest of Corruptions that upon reproaches and injuries ostered he is ready to commune with himself and say Are not such Sins with me even with me at least seminally if not actually Have not I done worse to God and may I not do so to Men Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est such Reflections wonderfully meeken us Hence St. Bernard saith That he never saw another man sin but he was jealous of his own Heart Ille heri tu hodie ego cras he did it yesterday and thou to day and I to morrow St. Paul exhorts the Gà latians in the Plural number to restore the lapsed in the spirit of Meekness and adds the reason in the singular considering thy self Gal. 6.1 He changes the number as the Judicious Interpreter observes That every one in particular may deseend into himself and there find an Argument for Meekness towards others Moreover Faith promotes this Grace by viewing the Promises made thereunto which are as large as heart can wish Would we have the things of the World The meek shall inherit the earth and to sweeten it They shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace Psal 37.11 Would we have the things of God The meek shall be beautified with salvation Psal 149.4 And all the good tydings in the Gospel are to be preached to them Isa 61.1 For the true Way They have God to teach them and guide them
off from the Will and mountains of earthiness off from the Affections outward miracles in the Churches infancy followed believers for a while Mark 16.17 but inward miracles are ever found in them and no wonder for the exceeding greatness of Gods power is unto them that believe Eph. 1.19 Secondly This precious faith doth compleat the noblest instinct in man I mean that natural pulse which he hath after happiness All men would be happy but none ever hit upon it till faith came The Pagans by natural light have some knowledge of God the supream good but the only access to him is by faith The Philosophers whose profession was the study of wisdom and whose lamp of reason burned brighter then others were no better then the blind Sodomites unable to find the door of happiness De civitat Dei l. 19. c. 1. Hence as St. Austin relates out of Varro the Philosophers might be divided into two hundred eighty eight Sects about the chief good which faith can indubitably immediately point at Some Philosophers placed mans happiness in pleasures which yet are but the sad transformations of men into bruits Some in honours which yet are but great servitudes which made the Noble Charles the fift weep over his Son upon whose shoulders at his retire out of the world he left the burden of a Crown Some in riches which yet are but thorns choaking that precious seed of the word which would grow up if embraced into life eternal Others which were better marks-men in moral virtues yet even these as a learned man observes are but circa res humanas their sphear is but humane converse and they do not as faith elevate the soul into a conjunction with God which is the only true happiness When the Apostle in his Catalogue of graces which minister an entrance into the everlasting kingdom puts in temperance and patience 2 Pet. 1.6 he speaks of them as Graces not as meer moral virtues but as Christianized by Faith which in that place is set in the van But waving the Pagan world let us come to the Christian There the way of life is clearly manifested yet none void of faith ever trod a right step in it nay nor spiritually discerned it unto them that are without all things are in parables Mark 4.11 to the unbeliever though never so great a Scholar Christ and grace and heaven are but as it were in parables The Kohathites whose name as a learned man observes is derived from stupidity carried the holy things covered and so do all the unregenerate Rabbies in the Church till faith waken them out of the stupor of the fall they discern not spiritually the beatitude objectively exposed to view in the Gospel till faith draw off the vail from their hearts but as soon as that is done the way into the holy of Holies is manifest and passable and so the 〈◊〉 instinct after happiness receives a compleature Now this precious faith being precious in the least minim of it may be considered either in its first and lowest measure or in its fruits and glorious progresses In its first and lowest measure it is the very condition of the Gospel and puts a man by virtue thereof into a state of salvation whosoever believeth even with the least degree of precious faith shall be saved I shall therefore first treat of it according to the lowest measure which hath salvation entailed on it and then proceed to the progresses and fruits thereof and according to the lowest measure it may be thus described Precious Faith is a grace of the holy Spirit whereby the heart supernaturally illuminated doth so believe the testimony of God in the sacred Scriptures as in a way of trust or dependance to resign and yield up it self unto Jesus Christ as Mediator and in and through him unto God according to his word In general it is a grace of the holy Spirit in special there is in it first a supernatural illumination which is as the womb of the morning in which this child of light is conceived and then which is the first-born of that light there is a belief of the testimony of God and lastly which makes up the total sum of this grace there is a dependant yielding or resignation of the soul unto the Mediator and through him to God according to the word I shall in order treat of all these and so unsold the description at large The first thing is in generall faith is a grace of the holy Spirit The famous St. Austin once let drop a strange word It is said saith he God worketh all in all but not he believeth all in all therefore that we believe is our own but that we work good it is Gods who giveth the holy Spirit to believers but the good man soon called it back again Aug. Retract l. 1. c. 23. Profecâ—o non dicerem truly I should not have said it if I had then known faith to be the gift of God The Pelagians of old understood by grace only their own free-will and the Gospel-doctrine hence that impious saying of theirs refuted by St. Austin à Deo habemus quòd homines sumus à nobis ipsis quòd justi sumus faith with them was but the issue of their own free-will and it is no other with the Socinians Peccatum originis saith the Racovian Catechism nullum pâ—orsus est quare nec liberum arbitrium vitiare potuit there was not so much as a bruise of free-will in the fall we have a free power of our own to believe but what saith the Scripture Vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is gratuitously given to believe Phil. 1.29 and faith is called the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 because it is not from our own spirit and in express terms the grace of God Acts 11.23 it lodges in mans heart as a beam of that eternal grace which is in Gods and to make this clear I shall offer three things First This precious faith is a thing above the natural faculty of man There is in man a natural faith or believing faculty and the very Phiosophers would call for it from their Scholars but as it is in the fall of a house not this or that beam falls but all comes down at once so it was in the fall of man not this or that natural faculty fell but all together and among the rest the believing faculty fell also hence as it lyes in the dust and rubbish of the fall it centers in the creature and without the elevation of grace it can in no wise lift up it self to God and Christ We are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 Observe there must be a touch from Christ in glory or else there will be no elevation Christ must first apprehend us Phil. 3.12 or else our believing faculty is but as a dead hand unable to apprehend him Secondly This precious faith is
dead letter and we must not try the living by the dead The holy Martyr Stephen long since stiled them lively oracles Act. 7.38 and if they are now but a dead letter who hath murdered them who so much as the Enthusiast who goes about to separate the spirit from them If the Law come to a man in the convincing spirit and slay him with his own guilt and set his conscience on fire with some tasts of hell he may with the Apostle call it a killing letter but he will hardly call it a dead one If the Gospel come to him in the converting spirit and open the glories of free-grace and bring in a new creation into his heart he must confess that it is the very savour of life unto life and the power and arm of God to salvation and as the first life of grace is breathed through it into the dead sinner so all the after-gales of the spirit come from it upon the new creature Wherefore whilest the spirit is in the word it cannot be a dead letter and where the spirit is in the heart it will not be called so The Enthusiast for all his swelling words of vanity by calling the Scripture a dead letter proves only the deadness of his own heart and the true believer who owns the Scripture for his rule doth not try the living by the dead but the lesser measure of the spirit in his heart by the greater measure of it in the word Again they say there is a seculum spiritus sancti an administration of all-spirit which is much above all Scriptures and Ordinances but that there should be such a Church-state on earth is a vain dream There are two manifestations of God unto men the one dark and through the glass of ordinances the other by pure and immediate vision as it were face to face There are two states of believers the one a state of weak and imperfect graces the other a state of perfect holiness and purity There are also two places the one is earth a vale of tears and death the other is heaven a region of all blessedness and life eternal The manifestation by ordinances is congruous to weak graces and such a place as earth The manifestation by pure vision is congruous to perfect holiness and such a place as heaven Thus hath the wisdom of God ordered things Methinks the Enthusiast should blush to say that he is above Scriptures and Ordinances here What above the glass and yet below the bliss-making vision above the channels and methods of grace and yet below a state of perfection above the heavenly mediums and yet on earth Oh strange imagination What saith our Saviour Go teach and baptize loe I am with you always to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. Ordinances run parallel with this world and the state which is above them is only in the next What saith St. Paul Apostles Prophets Teachers Pastors are all for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ Eph. 4.11 12. Ordinances must continue as long as weaknesses and imperfections and cannot be spared till the top-stone of holiness and perfection be laid in heaven What saith St. John speaking of the heavenly City And I saw no Temple therein Rev. 21.22 No Temple no Ordinances is only for heaven earth must alwaies want and have them O my soul enter not into their secret which cry up the spirit and despise prophesyings be thou where Gods honour dwelleth in the Temple of Ordinances thou mayest see his power and glory Lastly the Quakers talk altogether of the light within which being as they say common to all men can be no other then natural conscience this is the candle of the Lord and much magnified by Heathen Philosophers this is every mans Daemon saith one nay it is the God in us saith another And it is so in such a sense as Moses was a God to Pharaoh preaching the will of God to him and for non-obedience urging him with dreadful plagues For it magisterially dictates the will of God even in the Monarchs of the world and in case they rebel it hath inward stings and scorpions for them Quid aliud voces animam quà m Deum in humano corpore hospitantem saith Seneca Were a Quaker to English it he would go near to do it thus The light within is God manifest in the flesh for in plain terms he will call it Christ as if the candle could becom a Sun of Righteousness In the mean time the devil hath a fetch under the praises of inward light to explode the Scriptures But we must remember that Conscience which is above man is yet below God and though it be a light and a rule yet it must truckle under the greater light and rule in the Scriptures Take conscience before conversion it is clouded and overshadowed with the Fall dark and blind in spiritual things and shall the blind lead the blind till both fall into the ditch must it not go be new-lighted at the Scripture Take heed unto the word as unto a light shining in a dark place saith St. Peter 2 Pet. 1.19 The heart of man is but a dark place till the divine word shine into it it is intoxicated with the love of sin and by it as the devils Opium it sleeps at the top of the mast in the ocean of lowdangers and must it not be rouzed up ought not the silver trumpet of the word to be sounded in its ears to prevent an eternal sleep and awaken it unto righteousness should it not go and wash in the pure streams of free-grace and redeeming blood in the Gospel it may be it is infected with errors and by these Satan hath taken sanctuary in the intellectual tower and utters his own dictates as from God and must it be left in such a case should not Satan and all his lying wares be cast out by the word and spirit but because conscience is now at the worst take it after conversion are there then no reliques of darkness which call for more light are there no fits of spiritual drowsiness which need fresh alarums are there no dregs of corruption which want a new purgation are there no spots of error which ought to be wiped out he that presumes a freedom from these hath great reason to doubt whether there be any such thing as conversion found in him and he that confesses them hath as great reason to run to the Scripture to have them rectified But because the Quaker dreams of perfection I will go higher Suppose a man absolutely perfect every wheel in his soul in right motion and his conscience a pure Chrystal without any flaw in it yet must the man be under God and his conscience under the word for his very perfection stands in that subjection and is forfeited as soon as it departs from it Conscience is a rule but a subordinate one it binds and looses but in the power and
and there 's the sea and yonder 's the Sun Moon and Stars sensibly pointing from one creature to another so it is with the believer when he is irradiated by the holy spirit he can look into his own heart and experimentally say this is the pretious faith and that is the love in incorruption and the other is the meekness of wisdom and so go over all the parts of the new creature formed within him or at least over such or so many of them as may assure him that he is in a state of grace This is the way of assurance first there is a constellation of faith and other graces in the heart then these graces irradiated by the holy spirit send forth a kind of splendor which the soul reflecting on it self taking up it comes to attain assurance well knowing that such and such things accompany salvation and import no less then a Divine favour notable is that of St. Paul in whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 Mark after ye believed first there must be faith and the train of graces attend thereon and then comes the seal of the spirit of promise the same spirit which endited the promises in the word comes and seals them on the heart whereas in the word there are such promises made to faith and love and holiness the irradiating spirit plainly discovers that faith and that love and that holiness to be indeed in the heart and so seals up the promises to the believer in particular as if it had expresly said this or that promise belongs to thee Hence the believer so sealed may say of the promises as Origen did of those Scriptures which did much affect him haec est Scriptura mea this promise is mine and that promise is mine nay all the Land of promise as much as I can set my foot on is mine own There are three seals to the promises first God seals them for true in the blood of his own Son in whom all of them are Yea and Amen then man seals them for true by faith he that believeth sets to his seal that God is true and then again God seals them for true to the believer in particular by his irradiating spirit Faith then goes before all other graces but assurance comes after them as being no other then the clear evidence of their true existence in the soul Unless we allow this distinction we gratifie the Enthusiasts who declaim against all marks of grace as legal things and sandy foundations Sixthly Faith stands upon the word of God purely totally and entirely In point of expectation it will not look without a word of promise in point of obedience it will not stir a foot without a word of command in point of doctrine it will not lend an ear without a word of instruction Hence Reverend Calvin saith Inst l. 3. c. 2. Perpetuam esse fidei revelationem cum verbo nec magis ab eo posse divelli quà m radios à Sole unde oriuntur Faith hath a perpetual relation to the word and can no more be sundred from it then the beams from the Sun from whom they arise should it be sundred from it it would lose its nature and cease to be faith but assurance doth not stand so purely totally and entirely upon the word this is also manifest by the manner of attaining assurance that is not made axiomatically in an Enthusiastical way as if there were an inward voice saying thou art justified but discoursively and after some such manner as in this practical Syllogism Whosoever believeth his sins are forgiven but I believe Ergo my sins are forgiven Here the conclusion which imports assurance in it stands upon two propositions the Major is meerly grounded upon the word but the Minor stands upon spiritual sense and experience caused by the holy spirit irradiating the soul in its reflections upon its own estate therefore assurance which is comprized in the conclusion doth not stand so meerly upon the word as faith doth Thus the Learned Pemble speaking of that Syllogism saith the major is of faith the minor of sense and experience And the conclusion of both but chiefly of faith as it follows on the premises by infallible argumentation and partly of sense as it is founded on the inward experience of Gods grace working upon our souls What the doctrine of Faith is is to be sought in Bibles but whether there be a particular act of faith or not such as is comprized in the minor Com. R m. 8. cap. must be looked for in the heart Fides non creditur sed habetur sentitur in corde saith Learned Pareus Faith is not believed but had and felt in the heart Actus reflexivus in ipsam fidem quo credo me credere non est ipsa fides sed potiùs sensus fidei Loc. Com. 689. saith Maccovius The reflexive act whereby I know that I believe is not properly faith but the sense of it But you will say if the minor stands upon sense and experience how can the conclusion which imports assurance be de fide And Bellarmine argues thus D. justificat l. 3. c. 8. Nothing can be certain with a certainty of faith unless it be conteined in the word of God upon which if it lean not it is not faith but that such or such a man is justified in particular is not conteined in the word neither can it be deduced from thence for then I must argue thus the word saith All that truly turn to God shall find mercy but I do truly turn to him therefore I am sure of mercy in which the minor is not in the word By the way we may observe what an excellent foundation the Jesuite layes for his disputation Fides non est nisi verbi divini auctoritate nitatur that is not faith which is not bottomed on the authority of the divine word Oh rare if this were believed what would become of Popery What of all the hay and stubble of their vain Traditions Why do they play the wily Gibeonites with their old bottles and clowted shoes obtruding their unwritten verities and mouldy customs upon the Church of God I can be assured of no Religion which is not founded on Scripture But for answer The certainty of the Doctrine of Faith which respects the whole Church is to be found in the Scripture but the certainty of an act of Faith which is in a particular man is to be found in the heart by spiritual sense and experience and so in Bellarmines minor the certainty of my turning to God stands not upon the word but upon spiritual sense and experience yet nevertheless the conclusion which imports assurance is de fide for every conclusion is so which stands upon one proposition contained in Scripture and upon another gathered from sense or experience as the case is in all such practical Syllogisms yet withall as I said at first the
Coelis By Faith we possess that which is in Heaven All our Graces are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.9 Things having or containing Salvation No parts or pieces of this World but such as Heaven dawns and begins here below The holy Spirit is as the First Fruits to assure us of the whole Crop in Heaven and as the earnest of the total Sum of Glory which shall be paid above The Believer here hath so much of Heaven as to make him strive wrestle run work watch and wait with his Loyns girt and Lamps burning and as the twelve Tribes to serve God instantly Acts 26.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 running with full speed and stretching out himself in the Race that he may come to the Crown of Life and surely his Hope if fastned about a nullity would not put forth such strong and vigorous operations Heaven must be a real thing indeed which so carries away the Heart from all the World and engages it unto it self Another considerable part of Scripture stands in threatnings against Sinners Touching experimenting these I need say very little our Good God doth not give out Threatnings in the same manner as he doth give out Promises he gives out Promises that they may be fulfilled and experimented but he gives out Threatnings that they may not be fulfilled and experimented but rather that by them Men may be warned in a way of Faith and Repentance To fly from the wrath to come The applying of a Promise in a right manner makes it to belong to us but the applying of a Threatning makes it not to belong to us judging our selves we prevent the Judgment of God The Believer even before Conversion more or less felt the Threatnings taking hold of him and shutting of him up under Wrath till Jesus Christ opened the Prison-dores and made him Free indeed And if afte Conversion he forget the old Chains and run into wilful Rebellion again he will feel them a second time The bones will be broken and Comforts lost the Conscience will be wounded and the Wounds will Stink and be corrupt because of his foolishness God may depart away and leave the Graces withering and the poor Soul all in the dark with Terrors round about it This is a very sad Experiment and yet undeniably proves that the Threatnings are from God his Justice appearing on the top of them like devouring Fire Passing over those three great Pillars of Scripture Precepts Promises and Threatnings I now proceed to the Sacred Truths which lie therein as Rich Veins of Gold and Silver do in a Mine And to avoid Prolixity I shall pick out of them some supernatural Ones such as cannot be known by the mere Light of Nature but drop down from Heaven in a way of pure Revelation concluding with my self That if Faith can make an Experiment in these it may much more do so in others I shall first instance in that Sacred Truth of The blessed Trinity of Persons in Vnity of the God-head This is as one hath it Fundamentum Fundamentorum The Foundation of Foundations unless this stand fast all Evangelical Truths fall to the Ground we are no longer Christians then we acknowledg it So sublime is this Mystery that as Saint Bernard saith Scrutari haec temeritas est credere pietas est nosse vero vita aeterna est And when Gregory Nazianzen was pressed to assign a disserence between those words Begotten and Proceeding he made this answer Dic mihi quid sit generatio ego dicam quid sit processio ut ambo insaniamus distinguere inter processionem generationem nescio non valeo non sufficio This Truth is totally supernatural it could never without a Revelation enter into our Heart humane reason no not that of Adam could not reach it Indeed there are strange passages touching it in Trismegistus and Plato Trismegistus saith God who is Mind begat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Speech or Word which is another Mind and with that Speech another which is the Fiery God and Spirit of the God-head Plato speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A most Divine Word and of the begotten Son of the Good and the learned Grotius saith Apud Platonicos reperias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three Persons in one But sure these men knew nothing of this Mystery if they spake somewhat like they spake not the same or if the same they borrowed it from Moses Plato is called the Atticizing Moses and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one and many is an old Tradition derived from the Jews and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken from Jehovah or I am Or which is most probable the notions of the Trinity in Plato and Trismegistus were foisted into their Works How many Books have been put out under the names of the Apostles and ancient Fathers which have not been truly such Such imposture in the Primitive times was very ordinary And if Men would be thus bold with Apostles and Fathers what might they not do in Heathens Besides some think there are clearer notions of a Trinity in some of the Heathens than in Moses's Books and so by consequence the Heathens should know more of it than Israel which is contrary to the Scriptures which tell us In Judah is God known Ps 76.1 and He hath not dealt so with any Nation Ps 147.20 It is therfore likely that such passages in Heathens were inserted into their Books by Christians in a way of Pious Fraud such as was anciently used This Sacred Mystery was intimated in the Old-Testament Elohim in the plural Created Gen. 1.1 Let us make Man saith God Gen. 1.26 By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth Ps 33.6 Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts I say 6.3 The ancient Jewish Rabbins as Petrus Galatinus hath shewed embraced this Doctrine Rabbi Simeon on that in the Prophet saith Sanctus hic est Pater Sanctus hic est Filius Sanctus hic est Spiritus Sanctus the three Middoth or Properties in Rabbinical Writers are the three Persons in the Godhead And the Cabbalists have these words Pater Deus Filius Deus Spiritus Sanctus Deus Tres in Vno Vnus in Tribus In the New-Testament we have this Truth clearly laid down in the Baptisin of Christ we have all the three Persons appearing The Father in a Voice the Son in the Flesh the Holy Ghost in the Dove Mat. 3.16 17. The Primitive Christians used to say to any that doubted of the Trinity Abi ad Jordanem videbis Go to Jordan and you will see it Christ Commands That Baptism should be In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Math. 28.19 Or as the Greek Article imports In the Name of that Father that Son and that Holy Ghost which discovered themselvs at Christs Baptism There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the
is some great Trausgression which as an accursed thing causes the Lord to depart In such cases though there be no intercision of Justification yet there is an interruption of Consolation These Things premised I proceed to prove the Point viz. That a Believer may attain Assurance of Pardon and Salvation In the first Place the Names and Titles given unto Faith in Scripture are remarkable 'T is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The subsistence of things hoped for Glory and Salvation are hoped for by us but Faith maks them as certain as if they were present to us The Hebrews have a Van conversivum which turns the Future into the Preter-tense such a thing is Faith which presentiates future Things to the Believer That ye may know that ye have eternal life saith John It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye have it in praesenti it already subsists in your Faith 'T is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen Eternal Life cannot be seen by corruptible Eyes but Faith doth so point out and demonstrate it as if it were visible or sensible We know that we have passed from Death to Life 1 John 3.14 As if the Apostle had said We are indeed in the very Borders of Heaven and we know it as it were sensibly as we do our passage from one Place to another 'T is set out by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strong perswasion or considence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a liberty or holy boldness with God The Apostle mentions both In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him Ephes 3.12 Access to God imports that we are reconciled to him but access with boldness and confidence imports that we know it also Otherwise it would not be Faith as the Apostle stiles it but meer rashness and presumption if we should do so upon Peradventures Esther-like not knowing whether the golden Scepter would be held out to us or not Nay 't is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full Assurance carrying out the Soul with full Sails to the good things in the Promise It is well observed by the acute Dr. Arrowsmith That in Scripture mention is made of a triple Plerophory a Plerophory of Knowledg Col. 2.2 a Plerophory of Faith Heb. 10.22 and a Plerophory of Hope Heb. 6.11 The Genius of each shews forth it self in the Believers Practical Syllogism Whosoever believeth shall be saved But I believe Ergo I shall be saved In the Major we have a Plerophory of Knowledg In the Minor a Plerophory of Faith And in the Conclusion flowing from the Premises a Plerophory of Hope In the next place some Commands in the Gospel clearly import that Assurance is attainable there God would have us To work out our Salvation Phil. 2.12 To make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 To add to our Faith virtue one Grace upon another and one degree of Grace upon another That we may have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.5 11. To walk by the Rule of the New Creature that peace may be upon us Galat. 6.16 To prove our own state whether we be in the Faith whether Christ be in us or not 2 Corinth 13.5 To prove our own work that we may have rejoycing in our selves and not in another Gal. 6.4 If these things may be done Assurance is attainable if they cannot to what purpose are these Precepts how vain and impossible are they In that question Whether we may perfectly fulfil the Moral Law the Pontificians urge thus for the Affirmative If we cannot fulfil it the Law is impossible and void De Justif lib. 4. cap. 13. Si praecepta essent impossibilia neminem obligarent ac per hoc praecepta non essent praecepta saith Bellarmine If the Commands were impossible they would oblige none and so would become no Commands But in the Point of Assurance we may with much better reason say if we cannot fulfill the Commands concerning it they are then impossible and vain the Law is an exact Rule of Righteousness a Copy of the pure Law engraven on Mans Heart at first in the state of Innecency unto which it was attemperated It was not at all impossible and that it is so now is only from Mans Apostacy And withal the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impossibility of the Law is admirably useful to drive us in a deep sence of our Impotence to Christ the Complement of it that through his holy Spirit we may in a way of sincere though imperfect Obedience at last arrive at perfect Sanctity in Heaven But if such Commands as are purely Evangelical be impossible what can be said to it what tolerable answer made Were these at all accommodated to a state of Innocency Was not their Original scope to raise up fallen Man to Salvation If the Commands of believing and repenting were impossible what room would there be for Salvation And if the Commands of proving and ensuring our state of Grace be impossible what room is left for the Joys of Faith or the Sealings of the holy Spirit or the Suavities of a good Conscience And there being no second Christ or Gospel to fly to whither doth this Impossibility drive but into the black gulf of Despair Wherefore as we would avoid such doleful consequences we must conclude those Precepts practicable and so Assurance possible And as a sure seal thereof we have the sweet experience of Saints in all Ages Holy Job though God multiplied his Wounds and his Friends raked in them by a very sharp charge of Hypocrisie knew his own Integrity and would not let it go Job 27.5 And which reacheth beyond his present state of Grace as sure of future Glory he breaks out I know that my Redeemer liveth and maugre all the destructive worms In my flesh and with these very eyes I shall see God Job 19.25 26. O how certain was his Faith I know How appropriative My Redeemer liveth and how sharp-sighted he could look through the dust to Immortality David knew the truth of his Grace and proved it to himself by infallible Marks I have kept the ways of the Lord I have not wickedly departed from my God I did not put away his statutes from me I kept my self from mine iniquity Psal 18.21 22 23. ver And for future Happiness he saith without scruple That at his waking in the Resurrection he should be satisfied with Gods likeness Psal 17.15 St. Paul speaks as one full sure of his present state and future hope I have fought a good sight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. The Martyr Agatha having her Breasts cruelly cut off for Religion told the Persecutor That yet she had two Breasts remaining such as he could not touch the one of Faith and the
it self in a transcendent excellency above that of Works which had no Promise of Perseverance annexed to it Shall we now say That all these Promises are Conditional if we will persevere and not otherwise Is not this to turn the Covenant of Grace into that of Works and a sure state in Christ into a lubricous Adamical one Is it not to evacuate all those glorious and magnificent Promises touching Perseverance as if God in them spoke only in such cold Language as this I will preserve you from all evils and dangers only for that greatest of all which is in your own hearts and wills I will not undertake or in such contradictory terms as these if you persevere I will make you persevere as if Perseverance could be the condition of it self After these Promises so interpreted Believers are but where they were before before these Promises it would have been true that if Believers persevere and continue in Grace they do so and after them so interpreted What have they more What do they contribute to Believers when the main stress of Perseverance is laid on Mans Will and not on Gods Grace But this obiter The experienced Believer knows better how to use Promises and from them communes with his own Heart Hath God promised Perseverance and will he not do it is not his Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Everlasting Covenant and are not his Mercies sure Mercies Can his Faithfulness fail or his words of Grace fall to the ground Shall I trust him for Pardon and Salvation and not for Perseverance Will he give me Heaven and shall I faint by the way It cannot be He will guide me with his counsel and then receive me to glory Till I come there I shall be supported by his hand and supplied with his Spirit Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life In such sort may the Believer be assured of his Perseverance in Grace and so of his Salvation Again the Believer may gather his Pardon and Salvation from that peace and joy which he finds in his own heart There is a kind of Peace and Joy springing out of Moral Virtues which because of their Congruity to Reason leave a serenity on the Soul where they are lodged Mens sibi conscia recti is a great matter a good Conscience is murus aheneus a wall of brass to the owner Seneca saith Res severa est verum gaudium True joy is in the severe prosecution of Virtue Hierocles tells us That the pleasure of the Virtuous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imitates the joy of the gods And it was a Point of ancient Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virtue is sufficient to Happiness But the Peace and Joy in believing is of an higher nature Those in the Moralist come but from the face of Reason smiling on the Congruity which is in Moral Virtues to it self there is nothing of Grace or Christ in them But these in the Believer come from the reconciled face of God shining upon the Heart in a Mediator Those in the Moralist exceed not their own sphere of Reason but these in the Believer pass all understanding Phil. 4.7 and are full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Heaven comes down in them and puts a pure serenity on the Heart The Believer now dwells in Paradise the light of Gods Countenance shining as a clear Sun Christ as a Tree of Life dropping down Pardons and Graces the holy Spirit being as a perpetual spring of Virtues and Comforts the fragrant Promises breathing out the odors of Love and Mercy the sweet voice of Peace and Joy uttered from Heaven ecchoing and making melody in Conscience Nothing here but green pastures and still waters and placid Heavens not a cloud from the Law to darken the light not an ach in Conscience to break the rest not a spot of unremitted sin to stain the serenity Oh what manner of Peace and Joy is here A Stranger a Pagan Philosopher intermeddles not with them These are to be found in the Raptures of a Cyprian or in the Consolations of an Austin or Bernard In such a state as this what should the Believer do May he not break out in the proper Idiom of Faith My Lord and my God May he not sinely conclude My sins are forgiven me Nay Ought he not to do so and with David call upon all that is within him to bless the Lord for it After such hansels of Heaven and Glory should he yet doubt and say I cannot enter when he is there already in the beginnings and first-fruits thereof Nothing is more unreasonable He knows in himself by the Graces and Comforts in his own heart That he hath a part in Heaven and Salvation In the last place The Nature of the Sacraments which are Seals of the Covenant evinces this Truth In the Gospel we have Gods Hand but in the Sacraments his Seal also In the Gospel Pardon and Salvation are set forth in general Promises but in the Sacraments they are Sealed up to this and that man in particular Circumcision is called The Seal of Righteousness Rom. 4.11 and by the Hebrew Doctors The Seal of the holy God And Baptism which succeeds and as Evangelical transcends it must be as much and more So Sealing Pardon and Salvation to Believers that there follows the answer of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 or such a Conscience as can with an holy considence interrogate God himself in some such terms as these Did not Christ purchase Pardon and Salvation for me Have I not a share and interest in them Yes assuredly there is no doubt of it The Passover figured out Christ the true Lamb who was reasted in the Fire of his Fathers Wrath to take away Sin and the sprinkling of the Blood on the Door-posts pointed out the Application of Christs Blood to the Consciences of Believers in particular The Lords Supper which rose out of the Ashes of the Paschal Supper and took its very Materials from thence doth eminently Seal Christ with all his Benefits unto the Believer Our Saviour delivering it to his Disciples said This is my body which is given for you this is my blood which is shed for you Luk. 22.19 20. Why for you but to signifie the particular Application of his Passion to them By the Elements of Bread and Wine as by turf and twig God gives the Believer livery and seisin of Christ as if he said to him expresly Christ is thing Pardon and Salvation are thine thou hast my Seal for it and mayst be as sure of it as of the Bread and Wine in thine Hand and Mouth Bellarmine himself confesses De effect Sacram. l. 1. c. 8. That Sacraments were instituted Vt nos certos reddant remissionis gratie To make us certain of Pardon and Grace Only he adds 'T is only a moral certainty not an infallible one But how frivolous is this What can make an Infallible certainty if Gods Seal
cannot do it Among all Nations Seals are great Confirmatives When Darius but a man Signed the Decree though of Iniquity it was unalterable by the Law of the Medes and Persians Dan. 6.12 And what the Great God Seals in the Sacrament in a way of Grace and Mercy must much more be so by the Law of his own Truth and Faithfulness The Jews looking on the Rainbow bless God who remembers his Covenant and is faithful in his Promises as being sure that the World shall not be drowned again Much more may the Believer looking on the Bread and Wine do so as sure of Pardon and Salvation in and through Christ But you will say Gods Seal indeed is sure but our Disposition is uncertain and how can we know that we are worthy Receivers I answer Very well The worthiness required is not that of condignity but that of congruity The least Grace if true though but a bruised reed and smoaking flax amounts to a capacity May we not know That we truly hunger and thirst after Christ when we inwardly feel a pinching and pressing necessity of him equal to or rather more than any want in Nature May we not find That our Faith in God is right when it assimilates us to his Holiness as well as rests in his Grace and puts forth Obedience to his Commands as well as Affiance towards his Promises May we not say That we love him indeed when the main stream of our hearts runs towards him when at least in endeavour we obey him in every Command seek him in every Ordinance glorifie him in every Condition and prize him in every Saint Hath he not bid us welcom to the Sacrament Hath he not anointed us with fresh Oyl of Grace and Joy whilst we have sat at his Table Have we not been clothed with Power against our Corruptions Have not our Hearts been enlarged and refreshed from the Presence of God there How many melting and ravishing Prospects of a Crucified Christ have we there enjoyed And what beams of Heaven and Eternity have broke in upon us in the very Duty These things to Believers who have the exercise of their spiritual Senses are so obvious that they may easily and surely conclude That God hath indeed welcomed them to his Table and there Sealed Pardon and Salvation to them In this rich estate a Believer may bid all Scruples be gone and in an holy manner say to his Soul Soul take thy ease thou hast much goods laid up for eternity Thou art now secure of Pardon and Salvation The Holy Spirit hath Sealed them to thy Heart and the Sacraments to thy very Sense and Conscience witnesses to both as True and Infallible and what can be more Nothing remains but to keep thy self in the Love of God till he take thee up to the pure bliss above CHAP. XIV Of the Ways in which the Assurance of Faith is attained With the Conclusion of the whole THus much touching the first thing That Assurance is attainable I now proceed to the other viz. The ways in which it is attained All which are as so many further Arguments to prove it attainable Were it not so the All-wise God would not set down ways for the attaining thereof Impossibles are not to be sought after Assurance however difficult is not impossible The Scripture hath chalked out a Method how to arrive at it which I shall endeavour to open in the ensuing Discourse In the first place He who would attain Assurance must give Grace and Christ their due All spiritual Blessings grow upon Grace as an eternal Root and hang upon Christ as the Tree of Life In particular Assurance is a Blessing proper to the Covenant of Grace In the Covenant of Works there was no Assurance or Perseverance because the whole managery was left to Mans Will But in the Covenant of Grace these are to be found in Believers because God undertakes the work This is the rather to be marked because man under the Covenant of Works was in a state of Innocency and perfect Holiness and under the Covenant of Grace is in a state of Weakness and Imperfection and yet there through Faith he arrives at Assurance and Perseverance which were never reached under the First Covenant Saint Paul in the 10th Chapter to the Romans notably distinguishes between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith The Righteousness of the Law is That the man which doth those things shall live in them No Life or Peace but upon perfect Obedience which is impossible and beyond the line of man lapsed nay of man regenerate in this life Hence the Conscience of those who would enter into Peace at this Door must needs be dubious and full of trembling anxieties But the Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine heart Who shall ascend into Heaven Doubt not whether thou shalt have a part there this is to bring Christ down from above He is gone to Heaven and hath carried his Merits thither to prepare a place for thee there Such a doubt denies his Ascension and so as it were brings him down again Neither say in thine heart Who shall descend into the deep Doubt not as if thou shouldst be turned into Hell this is to bring up Christ again from the dead He is already risen and hath triumphed over Death and Hell Such a doubt denies his Death and Resurrection and doth as it were bring him again from the dead But what saith the Righteousness of Faith The Word the Promise of Pardon and Salvation is nigh thee O Believer in thy mouth and in thy heart confessing and believing on the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved Thou in particular thy Soul shall dwell at ease thy Conscience shall enter into rest in the Covenant of Grace To doubt of it is to deny the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ He therefore who would have Assurance must give Grace and Christ their due One would think that the Papists who hold That they may by perfect Obedience reach the apex of the Law and go beyond it in works of Supererogaton and climb Heaven it self by their own Merits might arrive at Assurance much rather than Protestants who instead of exceeding the Law confess themselves much short of it and instead of meriting Heaven acknowledg all their Righteousnesses to be but a filthy rag But it is far otherwise the Papists generally do not so much as doctrinally hold it save here and there a man among them such as Antonius Marinarius who in the Council of Trent asserted it concluding his Speech thus Si Coelum ruat si Terra evanescat si orbis illabatur praeceps ego in Deum erectus ero Much-like the Prophet Habakkuk who in an universal languishment of nature would yet rejoice in the Lord the God of his Salvation much less do they practically arrive at it Bellarmine himself after his fair life died not like a Bolton or a Rivet not knowing whether
he had a true Virtue in him or no but seeming afraid of the Judgment-Seat unto some who begged his Prayers when in Heaven he made this Answer The way thither is not so easie I should esteem it a great Blessing from God if I might obtain Purgatory for many years Into such labyrinths do their Principles lead them The Reason whereof is They espouse Hagar the Covenant of Works and that gendreth to bondage and servile fear They corrupt the great Fountain of Peace and Joy I mean free Justification by Christ and Grace and their Comforts cannot run pure They would compound those two incompatibles of Grace and Merit and patch together Christs Righteousness and their own which in the Apostle is to fall from Grace and make Christ of none effect Gal. 5.4 And what Peace can follow Whilst they look at the Law Conscience will be still murmuring Non recte sacrificasti non recte orasti as Luther hath it This and that was omitted or not well done The Levite and the Priest pass by their Wounds the good Samaritan will not come but alone and without a co-partner to make a Cure If therefore thou wouldst have Assurance thou must build on the right Foundation and lie at the true Fountain of Comfort Thy Love and thy Obedience are but Evidences Christ and Grace are the only Foundation Thy Faith is but a receiver an empty vessel Christ and Grace are the Fountain of Comfort Expect no rest but in his bleeding Wounds look for no comfortable words but from the Mercy-Seat Think not that thy Conscience shall be appeased unless by that Blood of Atonement which appeased God himself or that thy heart may be satisfied in a Righteousness less than that perfect one which satisfied Gods Conscience is his Deputy and cannot go off at lower terms than he himself doth Fix thy heart on Christ and Grace lay the whole stress of thy Soul and Salvation there Lean on thy Beloved appropriate his Merits and Righteousness to thy self Thus Luther tells the menacing Law O Lex Immergo Conscientiam meam in Vulnera Sanguinem Mortem Resurrectionem Victoriam Christi praeter hunc nibil plane videre audire volo O Law I drown my Conscience in the Wounds Blood Death Resurrection and Victory of Christ besides him will I see and hear nothing This is the true way of Peace Jahannes a Berg a zealous Papist in his life found it so at last by his own experience When a Protestant-Friend admonished him then lying on his sick-bed That now he would by Faith apprehend the Merit of his Saviour and acquiesce in the full Expiation by him made for sin he immediately swallowed it as the richest Comfort in the World looking on those in Popery but as so many vain Fig-leaves When Assurance which is the top-stone of Faith is laid in our hearts we have reason to cry out Grace Grace Christ Christ These whatever our Duties and Works have been are the Fundamental Reason of all Peace and Comfort Again He who would have Assurance must not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit but cherish and follow it It cannot but be a great and marvelous thing in his eyes that the holy Spirit should make his heart a Temple or Sanctuary for himself To grieve it is unnatural and to grieve it expecting comfort a contradiction If thou wouldst be assured grieve it in nothing indulg not any lust This is filthiness and to be carried out of the Sanctuary this is an Idol and must not stand in the Temple Bury thy excrements thy superfluity of naughtiness that the holy one may walk in the midst of thee Take away the accursed thing lest his Presence depart Away with thy vomits thy sensual sins lest he complain that there is no place for him left in thy heart Pride not thy self in gifts or graces this is as a smoak in his nose to force him away from thee grieve not him whereby thou mayst be sealed to the day of Redemption He comes to seal Pardon and Peace and Heaven it self to thy Soul why shouldst thou grieve him If thou dost so How canst thou expect to be sealed by him Instead of Sealing he will turn to be thine Enemy as he did to those Rebels Isa 63.10 He will meet thee in some straits of Providence and by one threatning or other as by a drawn Sword stop thee in thy perverse way Oh! do not grieve him gather out of thy heart and life every thing that offends and his Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace and Joy shall be in thee When an holy Truth appears to thee smother it not for a World it comes from the pure Spirit to light thee to Heaven Walk in the Light of it Who knows but that whilst thou art in the way the Spirit may drop some heavenly Cordials upon thy Heart Obedience is the true Road to Comfort Excellent is that in the Prophet Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going is prepared as the morning and he shall come to us as the rain Hos 6.3 Follow him in his Truths and thou shalt know him in his Comforts Gods Face shall be as an aurora or morning lighter and lighter on thy Soul and his Spirit as the dew or rain distilling Divine Consolations on it Believe it every ray of Truth if followed leads to the Joy unspeakable When an holy Motion comes remember who is the Speaker That Spirit who can seal the Promises and print Gods Love on the Heart now calls thee to one Duty or other Hear and thy Soul shall live open thy Sails and the Gales will blow thee to the fair Haven of rest I may say of the Spirits Motion as he in the Prophet doth of the Wine in the Cluster Destroy it not for a Blessing nay the greatest of Blessings a Paraclete a Divine Comforter is in it Follow on and thou shalt come to the Vintage and Wine-cellar of pure Consolations such as Earth assords not The Holy Spirit can witness to thy Graces and seal up Gods favour to thee and be to thee an earnest of Heaven and eternal Life As thou wouldst be assured welcome every motion close with every dictate cherish every illapse of this blessed Monitor let every inspiration find thee as the Seal doth the Wax and the spark the Tinder let thy Soul follow hard after him pursuing him E vestigio step by step as near and close as thou canst possibly This is the true way to rest Again if thou wouldest have Assurance first make Conscience pure and then walk after it That Pardon and Salvation which is founded in Christs Blood and sealed by his Spirit must be recorded and reported in Conscience or else there can be no Assurance If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.21 He allows what his Deputy doth in us I say make thy Conscience pure Two things chiesly impure it Ignorance is as a
thee in intimate Communion and sup with thee in the acceptance of thy Graces and thou shalt sup with him at a Banquet of Love Thou mayst experimentally say That the Gospel is come to thee in power and in the holy Ghost and in much Assurance as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 1.5 In Power in the first work of Conversion in the holy Ghost in the gracious indwelling of it after Faith and in much Assurance in the Sealins of Truth and Love upon the heart Next to that of the Word I recommend Prayer to thee This is an excellent Ordinance it wrestles with God and like a Prince prevails with him It unlocks the Treasury of Grace and fetches down all Blessings it hath a king of Omnipotency in it and if with reverence I may so allude As God brought forth all things by the breath of his mouth so the Believer produces all Blessings by the breath of Prayer Apollonius as Sozomen relates never asked any thing of God but he obtained it And of Luther it was said Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit This man could do what he would with God Ask and thou shalt have Ask the sealing Spirit and thou shalt have it ask in the Name of Jesus Christ His Merits are as pure Incense able to perfume thy Prayers and as a powerful Orator to perswade the Comforter to come down to thee Ask in the holy Spirit in the Grace and sweet Gales of it That the Spirit may be an answer to it self the Spirit as sealing Gods Love an answer to it self as inspiring thy Prayers Ask in Faith Hath not God told thee of a witnessing Spirit Hath he not said That he will speak peace to his Saints Are not his Promises as so many Bonds upon his Truth to make the things promised good Prove him by Prayer if he will be as good as his Word see if he will not own his own hand in the Promise wrestle with him till the day break in the light of his Countenance lifted up upon thy heart Ask in fervency that whilst thy heart is burning with Love towards God his Love which is the Fountain of thine may reveal it self to thee The old Token of acceptance was firing the Sacrifice and it is still a pledg of success when there is warmth in Prayer Ask in sincerity in a pure intention not for self-ease not that thou mayst fare deliciously upon the Love of God but that thy Spirit may be the freer to his service that thy Zeal may be more inflamed towards his Glory The prayer of the upright is his delight in so praying thou shalt meet the favour of God It is very remarkable what posture Paul was in when Ananias was sent to comfort him Behold he prayeth saith God go let him be filled with the Holy Ghost In the beginning of Psal 13. Davids Faith run very low How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me ver 1. A while after it lifts up it self a little Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death ver 3. but praying on it is in the altitudes I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoice in thy Salvation ver 5. Prayer is one of Gods sealing times in it thou approachest and drawest nigh to him who is the fountain of Life and Joy Whilest thou art opening and pouring out thy Heart to him Who knows but he may open his Heart and incomparable Love to thee the holy Spirit may come and tell thee as the Angel Gabriel did Daniel in the same posture That thou art greatly beloved a man of desires with God In the last place make use of the Lords Supper There God makes a Royal feast a feast of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well resined he sets forth Christ crucified whose flesh is meat indeed whose blood is drink indeed Come eat his flesh and drink his blood that you may live for ever Eat and let thy Soul delight it self in fatness drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Soul or as the Original Text may be read Be drunk or happily inebriated with the sweet Love of Christ the same crucified Christ which in the Sacrifice on the Cross satisfied Gods heart at this Sacrament can satisfie thine Never any Feast like this which chears the Heart of God and Man How will God manifest his Love here in Salutations Kisses and Unctions The Jews at their Feasts used many demonstrations of Love such as Salutations faying to their Guests Peace be unto thee Kisses from whence afterwards Christians derived their Kiss of Charity or as Tertullian calls it Oscuculum Pacis A Kifs of Peace and Oyl poured out upon the Head called therefore Oleum laetitiae The Oyl of gladness And cannot God do much more at his Table Cannot he salute thee and say Peace Peace to thee because thou trustest in him Cannot he kiss thee with the kisses of his mouth and cause one Promise or other to drop sweetness into thy heart Cannot he give thee the rich anointings of the holy Spirit and sill thee with all joy and peace in believing Let thy Spikenard thy Faith and Love and other Graces send forth their smell that he may break a Box of Spikenard in thy heart and fill and perfume it with the sweet odours of his Love Wait upon him in this Ordinance there he doth by outward and visible Elements seal Pardon and Salvation to thee and believe it he that puts one Seal to thy Sense can put another to thy Heart unto the Seal of Elements he can add the Seal of the Holy Spirit with the outward Bread and Wine thou mayst have the hidden Manna and heavenly refreshments from Christ Whilst thou art renewing thy Covenant and avouching the Lord to be thy God he can own thee and avouch thee to be one of his Children and this will be more to thee than a World Again If thou wouldst be assured walk in Vprightness this is Gospel-perfection the Believers Beauty the soundness of all his Graces the desire and delight of God himself as being a Beam from his own Truth and Simplicity In Scripture he seldom mentions an upright man without setting some mark of Honour upon him Enoch walked with God as one familiar with him Gen. 5.22 and as the Septuagint and after them the Apostle Heb. 11 hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pleased God and how great a Character is this Caleb followed God fully and he is stiled a man of another Spirit such as is above the rate of common Souls Job was a perfect and upright man and God calls him a none such in the Earth The Jews say That the Seventy Souls that went with Jacob into Egypt were worth as much as all the Seventy Nations in the World I am sure the upright the Israelites indeed are the Pearls and Excellent ones in the Earth Now