as unto men floating upon the Sea or unto distempered braines the land and house though immoveable seeme to reele and totter or as unto weake eyes every thing seemes double so the promises of God however built on a sure foundation his Counsell and Fore-knowledge yet unto men prepossest with their owne private distempers doe they seeme unstable and fraile unto a weake eye of faith Gods Covenant to bee if I may so speake double to have a tongue and a tongue a promise and a promise that is a various and uncertaine promise And for this cause notwithstanding diffident and distrustfull men doe indeed deserve what they suspect and are worthy to suffer what they unworthily doe feare doth God yet in compassion towards our fraitly condescend to confirme his promises by an Oath to engage the truth of his own essence for performance to seale the Patent which he hath given with his own blood and to exhibite that seale unto us so often as with faith wee approach unto the Communion of these holy mysteries And who can sufficiently admire the riches of this mercy which makes the very weakenesses and imperfections of his Church occasions of redoubling his promises unto it Secondly in that this Sacrament is the instrumentall cause of confirming our faith from this possibility yea facility of obtaining we must conclude the necessity of using so great a benefit wherein wee procure the strengthning of our graces the calmeing of our consciences and the experience of Gods favour in the naturall body there being a continuall activity and conflict betweene the heate and the moisture of the body and by that meanes a wasting depassion and decay of nature it is kept in a perpetuall necessity of succouring it selfe by food so in the spirituall man there being in this present estate an unreconcileable enmity betweene the spirit and the flesh there is in either part a propension towards such outward food whereby each in its distresses may be releeved The flesh pursues all such objects as may content and cherish the desires thereof which the Apostle calleth the provisions of lust The Spirit of the contrary side strengthens it selfe by those divine helps which the wisedome of God had appointed to conferre grace and to settle the heart in a firme perswasion of its owne peace And amongst these instruments this holy Sacrament is one of the principall which is indeed nothing else but a visible oath wherein Christ giveth us a tast of his benefits and engageth his owne sacred body for the accomplishing of them which supporteth our tottering faith and reduceth the soule unto a more setled tranquility Fifthly In that in this one all other Types were abrogated and nullified wee learne to admire and glorifie the love of God who hath set us at liberty from the thraldome of Ceremonies from the costlinesse and difficulty of his Service with which his owne chosen people were held in bondage under the Pedagogie and governement of Schoole-masters the ceremoniall and judiciall Law as so many notes of distinctions charactristicall differences or wall of separation betweene Iew and Gentile untill the comming of the Messias which was the time of the reformation of all things wherein the Gentiles were by his death to bee ingrafted into the same stocke and made partakers of the same juyce and fatnesse the shadowes to bee removed the ordinances to bee canceld the Law to bee abolished for The Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ Grace in opposition to the Curse of the Morall Law Truth in opposition to the figures and resemblances of the Ceremoniall Law The Iewes in Gods service were bound unto one place and unto one forme no Temple or ministration of Sacrifices without Ierusalem nor without expresse prescription no use of Creatures without difference of common and uncleane wheras unto us all places are lawfull and pure all things lawfull and pure every Country a Canaan and every City a Ierusalem and every Oratory a Temple It is not an ordinance but a Prayer which sanctifieth and maketh good unto our use every creature of God But yet though we under the Gospell are thus set at liberty from all manner ordinances which are not of intrinsecall eternall and unvariable necessity yet may this liberty in regard of the nature of things indifferent bee made a necessity in respect of the use of them We may not thinke that our liberty is a licentious and unbounded liberty as if CHRIST had been the Author of confusion to leave every man in the externall carriages of his worship unto the conduct of his private fancy This were to have our liberty for a cloake of naughtines and as an occasion to the flesh but we must alwayes limite it by those generall and morall rules of piety loyalty charity and sobriety Use all things we may indifferently without subjection or bondage unto the thing but not without subjection unto GOD and superiors Use them we may but with temperatnes and moderation use them we may but with respect to Gods glory use them we may but with submission to authority use them we may but with avoyding of scandall Christian liberty consisteth in the inward freedome of the conscience whose onely bond is a necessity of Doctrine not in outward conformity or observances onely whose bond is a necessity of obedience and subordination unto higher powers which obeying though wee become thereby subject unto some humane or Ecclesiasticall ordinances the conscience yet remaines uncurbed and at liberty Secondly we have hereby a great encouragement to serve our God in spirit and in truth being delivered from all those burdensome accessions which unto the inward worship were added in the legall observances In spirit in opposition unto the Carnall in truth in opposition unto the Typicall ceremonies The services of the Iewes were celebrated in the bloud and smoake of unreasonable creatures but ours in the Gospell must be a spirituall a reasonable service of him for as in the Word of God the letter profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickneth so in the worship of God likewise the Knee the Lip the Eye the Hand alone profiteth not at all it is the spirit that worshippeth It is not a macerated body but a contrite soule which he respecteth if there be palenes in the face but bloud in the heart if whitenes in the Eye but blacknes in the soule if a drooping countenance but an unbended conscience if a knee bowing downe in the Temple of God and thoughts rising up against the grace of God the head like a Bul-rush and the heart like an Adamant in a word if there bee but a bodily and unquickned service a schisme in the same worshipper betweene his outward and his inward man he that is not a God of the dead but of the living hee that accompteth in the leviticall Law carcases as
Vision fruition and possession heere darkly by stooping and captivating our understandings unto those divine Reports which are made in Scripture which is a knowledge of Faith distance and expectation wee doe I say heere bend our understandings to assent unto such truths as doe not transmit any immediate species or irradiation of their owne upon them but there our understandings shall be raised unto a greater capacity and bee made able without a secondary report and conveyance to apprehend clearely those glorious Truths the evidence whereof it did heere submit unto for the infallible credit of God who in his Word had revealed and by his Spirit obsignated the same unto them as the Samaritans knew Christ at first onely by the report of the Woman which was an assent of Faith but after when they saw his Wonders and heard his Words they knew him by himselfe which was an assent of vision Secondly as the Church is heere but a travelling Church therfore cannot possibly have any farther knowledge of that Countrey whither it goes but onely by the Mappes which describe it the Word of God and these few fruites which are sent unto them from it the fruits of the Spirit whereby they have some taste and relish of the World to come so moreover is it even in this estate by being enclosed in a body of sinne which hath a darkning property in it and addes unto the naturall limitednesse of the understanding an accidentall defect and sorenesse much disabled from this very imperfect assent unto Christ the Object of its Faith for as sinne when it wastes the Conscience and beares Rule in the Soule hath a power like Dalila and the Philistines to put out our eyes as Vlysses the eye of his Cyclops with his sweet wine a power to e corrupt Principles to pervert and make crooked the very Rule by which we worke conveying all morall truths to the Soule as some concave glasses use to represent the species of things to the eye not according to their naturall rectitude or beauty but with those wrestings inversions and deformities which by the indisposition thereof they are framed unto so even the least corruptions unto which the best are subject having a naturall antipathy to the evidence and power of divine Truth doe necessarily in some manner distemper our understandings and make such a degree of sorenesse in the faculty as that it cannot but so farre forth bee impatient and unable to beare that glorious lustre which shines immediately in the Lord Christ. So then we see what a great disproportion there is betweene us and Christ immediately presented and from thence wee may observe our necessity and Gods mercy in affoording us the refreshment of a Type and Shadow These Shadowes were to the Church of the Iewes many because their weaknesse in the knowledge of Christ was of necessity more than ours in as much as they were but an infant wee an adult and growne Church and they looked on Christ at a distance wee neare at hand hee being already incarnate unto us they are the Sacraments of his Body and Bloud in the which wee see and receive Christ as weake eies doe the light of the Sunne through some darke Cloud or thicke Grove so then one maine and principall end of this Sacrament is to bee an instrument fitted unto the measure of our present estate for the exhibition or conveyance of Christ with the benefits of his Passion unto the faithfull Soule an end not proper to this mystery alone but common to it with all those Legall Sacraments which were the more thicke shadowes of the Jewish Church for even they in the red Sea did passe through Christ who was their Way in the Manna and Rocke did eate and drinke Christ who was their Life in the Brasen Serpent did behold Christ who was their Saviour in their daily Sacrifices did prefigure Christ who was their Truth in their Passeover did eate Christ by whose Bloud they were sprinkled for howsoever betweene the Legall and Euangelicall Covenant there may be sundry Circumstantiall differences as first in the manner of their Evidence that being obscure this perspicuous to them a Promise onely to us a Gospell Secondly in their extent and compasse that being confined to Iudea this universall to all Creatures Thirdly in the meanes of Ministration that by Priests and Prophets this by the Sonne himselfe and those delegates who were by him enabled and authorised by a solemne Commission and by many excellent endowments for the same service Lastly in the quality of its durance that being mutable and abrogated this to continue untill the consummation of all things yet notwithstanding in substance they agree and though by sundry wayes doe all at last meet in one and the same Christ who like the heart in the middest of the body comming himselfe in person betweene the Legall and Evangelicall Church doth equally convey life and motion to them both even as that light which I see in a starre and that which I receive by the immediate beame of the Sunne doth originally issue from the same Fountaine though conveyed with a different lustre and by a severall meanes So then wee see the end of all Sacraments made after the second Covenant for Sacraments there were even in Paradise before the Fall namely to exhibite Christ with those benefits which hee bestoweth on his Church unto each beleeving Soule but after a more especiall manner is Christ exhibited in the Lords Supper because his pretence is there more notable for as by Faith wee have the evidence so by the Sacrament wee have the presence of things farthest distant and absent from us A man that looketh on the light through a shadow doth truely and really receive the selfe same light which would in the openest and clearest Sun-shine appeare unto him though after a different manner there shall wee see him as Iob speakes with these selfe same eyes here with a spirituall eye after a mysticall manner so then in this Sacrament wee doe most willingly acknowledge a Reall True and Perfect Presence of Christ not in with or under the Elements considered absolutely in themselves but with that relative habitude and respect which they have unto the immediate use whereunto they are consecrated nor yet so doe wee acknowledge any such carnall transelementation of the materials in this Sacrament as if the Body or Bloud of Christ were by the vertue of Consecration and by way of a locall substitution in the place of the Bread and Wine in but are truly and really by them though in nature different conveyed into the Soules of those who by Faith receive Him And therefore Christ first said Take Eate and then This is my Body to intimate unto us as learned Hooker observeth that the Sacrament however by Consecration it be changed from common unto holy Bread and separated from common unto a divine use is
reasonable desires so the confirmation of that happinesse is the solace and security of those that desire it He said the Prophet speaking of Christ shall bee the desire of all Nations in as much as without him that happinesse which all doe naturally desire is but a Meteor and fiction So then wee see that even the light of our inbred reason seconded and directed by Divine truths doth leade us unto a desire of Christ who alone is the Authour and Matter of that Happinesse which is the true though unknowne object of all our naturall desires Now this happines in Christ wee cannot have till we have actuall fruition of him enjoy this blessednes we never can till we are vnited to him no more then a dissected member enjoyes the vitall influences of the soule and Spirits Vnion unto Christ wee cannot have untill it please him by his Spirit as it were to stoope from that Kingdome where now he is and to exhibit himselfe unto those whom it pleaseth him to assume into the unity of his body Other way to enjoy him here we can have none since no man can at his pleasure or power lift up his eyes with Steven to see him or goe up with S. Paul to the third Heavens to injoy him Now it hath pleased the Wisdome of Christ whose honor ever it is to magnifie his power in his creatures weaknes and to borrow noe parcell of glory in his service from those earthly and elementary instruments which he useth in it by no other meanes to exhibite and confirme the virtue of his sacred Body unto us with the life and righteousnes that from it issueth but onely by those poore and ordinary elements of Bread and Wine in his Sacrament unto which therefore he requireth such reverence such hunger and affection as is in reason due to the Hand that reacheth to the Seale that secureth to the food that strengthneth that spirituall life in us without which we cannot possibly reach unto the end of our very naturall and created desires happinesse and tranquillity It behoves us therefore to beware how we give entertainment to any carnall thoughts which goe about to vilifie and undervalew the excellency of so Divine misteries from the outward meannesse of the things themselves Say not like sullen Naaman Is not the Wine in the Vintners Sellar or the Bread of mine owne Table as good as nourishing as is any in the Temple certainly if thou be commanded some great Worke for the procuring of so great a good as there had beene betweene the service and the reward we disproportion so would even reason it selfe have dictated unto us a necessity of obeying rather then of disputing how much rather when he biddeth us only to eat and live True it is that these creatures naturally have no more power to convey CHRIST then wax hath in it selfe to convey a Lordship yet as a small piece of wax when once in the vertue of a humane covenant or contract it is made the instrument to confirme and ratifie such a conveyance is unto the receiver of more consequence then all the wax in the Towne besides and is with the greatest care preserved so these elements though physically the same which are used at our owne Tables yet in the vertue of that holy Consecration whereby they are made the instruâ—ments of exhibiting and the seales of ascertaining Gods Covenant of grace unto us are unto us more valewable then our barnes full of graine or our presses full of grapes and are to be desired with so farre distant an affection from the other that are common as Heaven is above Earth Secondly in that these elements are consecrated and exhibited for confirmation of our Faith wee thence see how the Church hath her degrees of faith her measure the spirit her deficiencyes of grace her languishings ebbings imperfections her decayes blemishes and fals which makes her stand in neede of being perfected builded rooted established in faith and righteousnes all things under the middle region are subject to Winds Thunders Tempests the continuall uncertainties of boysterous wheather whereas in the Heavens there is a perfect uniforme serenity and calmenes so when a Christian comes once to his owne Countrey unto Heaven he then comes unto an estate of peace and security to be filled with the fulnes of GOD where theeves do not breake thorowgh nor steale where neither flesh nor Satan have any admission noe stormes of temptation No Ship-wrack of conscience but where all things are spirituall and peaceable But in this Earth where Satan hath power to goe from place to place to compasse the World to raise his tempests against the Church even the Waves of ungodly men can have no safety from any danger which eyther his subtelty can contrive or his malice provoke or his power execute or his instruments further and therefore wee are here subject to more or fewer degrees of faintnes in our Faith according as our strength to resist the common adversary is lesse or greater As in the naturall so in the mysticall Body though all the parts doe in common pertake of life yet one is more vitall then another the Heart and Head then the Hands and Feete yea the same part is at one time more active and quick then at others One while overgrowne with humors and stiffned with distempers another while free expedite and able for the discharge of any vitall office And this is that which drives us to a necessity of recovering our strength and making up our breaches by this holy Sacrament which should likewise tell us in what humble esteeme wee ought to have our perfectest endowments they being all subject to their faylings and decaies Thirdly in that these mysteries doe knit the faithfull together into the unity of on common body we see what fellow feeling the faithfull should have of each other how they should interest themselves in the seâ—verall states and affections of their fellow members to rejoyce with those that rejoyce and to weepe with those that weepe As we should thinke the same things and so agree in a unity of judgments because all led with one and the same Spirit which is the Spirit of truth so we should all suffer and doe the same things and so all concurre in a unity of affections because all animated by the same Spirit which is the Spirit of love too where there is dissention and disagreement there must needs be a severall Law where the Law is diverse the government differs too and in a different government there must of necessity be a differeÌ„t subjection He then that doth not sympathize with his brother but nourisheth factious and uncharitable thoughts against him doth therin plainly testifie that he is not subject at least totally unto the same prince with him and then we know that there are but two Princes a Prince of peace and a
beauty of his graces and so constraine and perswade me to be obedient unto it These are those good premises out of which I may infallibly conclude that I have had the beginnings the seeds of Faith shed a abroad in my heart which will certainly be further quickned by that holy spirit who is the next and principall producer of it The operations of this holy spirit being as numberlesse as all the holy actions of the Faithfull cannot therefore all possibly be set downe I shall touch at some few which are of principall and obvious observation First of all the spirit is a spirit of liberty and a spirit of prayer It takes away the bondage and feare wherein we naturally are for feare makes us runne from God as from a punishing and revenging Iudge never any man in danger fledde thither for succour whence the danger issued feare is so farre from this that it betrayeth and suspecteth those very assistances which reason offereth and it enableth us to have accesse and recourse unto God himselfe whom our sins had provoked and in our prayers like Aron and Hurr it supporteth our hands that they doe not faint nor fall It raiseth the soule unto divine and unutterable petitions and it melteth the heart into sights and groanes that cannot be expressed Secondly the holy Ghost is compared unto a witnesse whose proper worke it is to reveale and affirme some truth which is called in question There is in a mans bosome by reason of that enmity and rebellion betwixt the flesh and the spirit and by meanes of Satans suggestions sundry dialogues and conflicts wherein Satan questioneth the title wee pretend to salvation In this case the Spirit of a man as one cannot choose but do when his whole estate is made ambiguous staggereth droopeth and is much distressed till at last the Spirit of God by the light of the Word the Testimonie of Conscience and the sensible motions of inward grace layeth open our title and helpeth us to reade the evidence of it and thus recomposeth our troubled thoughts Thirdly the Spirit of God is compared to a Seale the worke of a Seale is first to make a siampe and impression in some other matter secondly by that means to difference and distinguish it from all other things And so the Spirit of God doth fashion the hearts of his people unto a conformity with Christ framing in it holy impressions and renewing the decayed Image of God therein and thereby separateth them from sinners maketh them of a distinct common-wealth under a distinct governement that whereas before they were subject to the same Prince Lawes and desires with the world being now called out they are new men and have another character upon them Secondly a Seale doth obsignate and ratifie some Covenant Grant or conveyance to the person unto whom it belongeth It is used amongst men for confirming their mutuall trust in each other And so certainely doth the Spirit of God pre-affect the soule with an evident taste of that glory which in the Day of Redemption shall be actually conferd upon it and therefore it is called an hansell earnest and first fruit of life Fourthly the Spirit of God is compared to an oyntment now the properties of oyntments are first to supple to asswage tumors in the body and so doth the Spirit of God mollifie the hardnesse of mans heart and worke it to a sensible tendernes and quicke apprehension of every sinne Secondly oyntments doe open and penetrate those places unto which they are applied and so the Unction which the faithfull have teacheth them all things and openeth their eyes to see the wonders of Gods Law and the beauty of his graces In vaine are all outward sounds or Sermons unlesse this Spirit be within to teach us Thirdly oyntments doe refresh and lighten nature because as they make way for the emission of all noxious humours so likewise for the free passage and translation of all vitall spirits which doe enliven and comfort And so the Spirit of God is a Spirit of consolation and a spirit of life hee is the comforter of his Church Lastly oyntments in the Leviticall Law and in the state of the Iewes were for consecration and sequestration of things unto some holy use As Christ is said to bee annoynted by his Father unto the oeconomy of that great worke the redemption of the world and thus doth the holy-Ghost annoint us to be a Royall Priest-hood a holy Nation a people set at liberty Fifthly and lastly I finde the holy Ghost compared unto fire whose properties are first to bee of a very active and working nature which stands never still but is ever doing something and so the Spirit of God and his graces are all operative in the hearts of the faithfull they set all where they come on worke Secondly the nature and proper motion of fire is to ascend other motions whatever it hath arise from some outward and accidentall restraint limiting the nature of it and so the Spirit of God ever raiseth up the affections from earth fastneth the eye of Faith upon Eternity ravisheth the soule with a servent longing to bee with the Lord and to bee admitted unto the fruition of those pretious joyes which heere it suspireth after as soone as ever men have chosen Christ to bee their Head then presently ascendunt de Terra they goe up out of the Land Hos. 1. 11. and have their conversation above where Christ is Thirdly fire doth inflame and transforme every thing that is combustible into the nature of it selfe and so the Spirit of God filleth the soule with a divine fervour and zeale which purgeth away the corruptions and drosse of the flesh with the spirit of judgment and with the Spirit of burning Fourthly fire hath a purifying and cleansing property to draw away all noxious or infectious vapors out of the Ayre to separate all soyle and drosse from mettalls and the like and so doth the Spirit of God clense the heart and in heavenly sighes and repentant teares cause to expire all those steemes of corruptions those noysome and infectious lusts which fight against the soule Fifthly fire hath a penetrating and insinuating quallity whereby it creepeth into all the pores of a combustible body and in like manner the holy Spirit of God doth penetrate the heart though full of insensible and inscrutible windings doth search the reines doth pry into the closest nookes and inmost corners of the soule there discovering and working out those secret corruptions which did deceive and defile us Lastly fire doth illighten and by that meanes communicates the comforts of it selfe unto others and so the Spirit being a Spirit of truth doth illuminate the understanding and doth dispose it likewise to discover its light unto others who stand in need of it for this is the nature of Gods grace that when Christ hath manifested himselfe to the soule of one
man it setteth him on worke to manifest Christ unto others as Andrew to Simon Iohn 1. 41. and the Woman of Samaria to the men of the City Ioh. 4. 29. and Mary Magdalen to the Disciples Ioh. 20. 17. It is like Oyntment poured forth which cannot be concealed Proverb 27. 16. Wee cannot saith the Apostle but speake the things which we have heard and seene Acts 4. 20. And they who feared the Lord in the Prophet spake often to one another Mal. 3. 16. These propositions being thus set downe let the conscience assume them to it selfe in such demands as these Doe I finde in my selfe a Freedome from that spirit of feare and bondage which maketh a man like Adam to fly from the presence of GOD in his Word doe I finde my selfe able with affiance and firme hope to fly unto God as unto an Alter of refuge in time of trouble and to call upon his Name and this not onely with an outward battology and lipp-labour but by the spirit to cry Abba Father doth the testimony of Gods Spirit settle and compose such doubtings in me as usually arise out of the Warre betweene Flesh and Faith doe I finde a change and transformation in me from the vanity of my old conversation unto the Image of Christ and of that originall Justice wherein I was created doe I finde my selfe distinguished and taken out from the World by Heavenly mindednes and raised affections by renouncing the delights abandoning the corruptions suppresing the motions of secular and carnall thoughts solacing my soule not with perishable and unconstant contentments but with that blessed hope of a City made without hands immortall undefiled and that fadeth not away doe I finde in my heart an habituall tendernes and aptnes to bleed and relent at the danger of any sinne though mainly crossing my carnall delights and whatever plots and contrivances I might lay for furthering mine owne secular ends if by indirectnes sinfull engagements and unwarrantable courses I could advance them doe I finde my selfe in reading or hearing Gods Word inwardly wrought upon to admire the Wisdome assent unto the truth acknowledge the holines and submit my selfe unto the obedience of it doe I in my ordinary and best composed thoughts preferre the tranquility of a good conscience and the comforts of Gods Spirit before all out-side and glittering happines notwithstanding any discouragements that may bee incident to a concionable conversation Lastly are the graces of God operative and stirring in my soule Is my conversation more heavenly my zeale more fervent my corruptions more discovered each faculty in its severall Sphere more transformed into the same Image with Christ Iesus Are all these things in me or in defect of any doe the desires and longings of my soule after them appeare to be sincere and unfeigned by my daily imploying all my strength and improving each advantage to further my proficiencie in them Then I have an evident and infallible token that having thus farre partaked of the spirit of Life and by consequence of Faith whereby our soules are fastned unto Christ I may with comfort approach unto this holy Table wherein that life which I have received may be further nourished and confirmed to me The second medium formerly proposed for the tryall of Faith was the nature and essence of it To finde out the formall nature of Faith we must first consider that all Faith is not a saving Faith For there is a Faith that worketh a trembling as in the Divels and there is a Faith which worketh life and peace as in those that are justified Faith in generall is an assent of the reasonable soule unto revealed truths Now every medium or in ducement to an assent is drawne eyther from the light which the obejct it selfe proposeth to the faculty and this the blessed Apostle contradistinguisheth from faith by the name of light or else it is drawne from the authority and Authenticalnes of a narrator upon whose report while we relie without any evidence of the thing it selfe the assent which we produce is an assent of faith or credence The Samaritans did first assent unto the miracles of CHRIST by the report of the woman and this was faith but afterwards they assented because themselves had heard him speake and this was sight Now both those assents have annexed unto them either evidence and infallibility or onely probability admitting degrees of feare and suspition That faith is a certaine assent and Certitudine rei in regard of the object even above the evidence of demonstrative conclusions is on all hands confest because howsoever qantum ad certitudinem mentis in regard of our weakenes and distrust wee are often subject to stagger yet in the thing it selfe it dependeth upon the infallibility of Gods owne Word which hath said it and by consequence is neerer unto him who is the Fountaine of all truth and therefore doth more share in the properties of truth which are certainty and infallibility then any thing proved by meere naturall reasons and the assent produced by it is differenced from suspition hesitancie or dubitation in the opinion of Schoole-men themselves Now then in as much as we are bound to yeild an evident assent unto the Articles of our christian Faith both intellectuall in regard of the truth and fiduciall in regard of the goodnes of them respectively to our owne benefit and salvation Necessary it is that the understanding be convinced of those two things First that GOD is of infallible Authority and cannot lie nor deceive which thing is a principle unto which the light of nature doth willingly assent And secondly that this Authority which in Faith I thus relie upon is indeede and infallibly Gods owne Authority The meanes whereby I come to know that may be eyther extroardinary as revelation such as was made to prophets concerning future events or else ordinary and common to all the Faithfull For discovery of them we must againe rightly distinguish the double Act of Faith First that Act whereby wee assent unto the generall truth of the object in it selfe secondly that Act whereby we rest perswaded of the goodnes thereof unto us in particular with respect unto both with these doth a double question arise First touching the meanes whereby a beleever comes to know that the testimony and authority within the promises and truths of Scripture hee relieth upon are certainly and infallibly Gods owne Authority Which question is all one with that how a Christian man may infallibly be assured ita ut non possit subesse falsum that the holy Scriptures are the very dictates of Almighty God For the resolution whereof in a very few words wee must first agree that as noe created understanding could ever have invented the mystery of the Gospell it being the counsell of Gods owne bosome and containing such manifold wisdomes as the Angels are astonished at So it being dictated and revealed by Almighty God such is the deepnes
shew forth such an Heavenly light of holinesse puritie majesty authority efficacy mercy wisedome comfort perfection in one word such an unsearchable Treasurie of internall mysteries as that now the soule is as fully able by the native light of the Scriptures to distinguish their Divine originall and authenticalnesse from any other meere humane writings as the eye is to observe the difference betweene a beame of the Sunne and a blaze of a Candle The second question is how the Soule comes to bee setled in this perswasion that the goodnesse of these truths founded on the Authority of God doe particularly belong unto it Whereunto I answere in one word That this ariseth from a two-fold Testimonie grounded upon a preceding worke of Gods Spirit For first the Spirit of God putteth his feare into the hearts of his servants and purgeth their consciences by applying the bloud of Christ unto them from dead workes wish affections strongly and very sensibly altering the constitution of the minde must needs notably manifest themselves unto the soule when by any reflex act shee shall set her selfe to looke inward upon her owne operations This being thus wrought by the grace of God thereupon there ensueth a twofold Testimonie The first of a mans owne spirit as wee see in the examples of Iob David Hezekiah Nehemiah Saul and others namely That hee desireth to feare Gods name to keepe a conscience void of offence to walke in all integrity towards God and men from which and the like personall qualifications arise joy in the holy-Ghost peace of conscience and experience of sweetnes in the fellowship with the Father and his Sonne Secondly the Testimony of the holy Spirit bearing witnes to the sincerity of those affections and to the evidence and truth of those perswasions which himselfe by his grace stirred up So then first the Spirit of God writeth the Law in the heart upon obedience whereunto ariseth the Testimony of a mans owne spirit And then he writeth the promises in the heart and by them ratifieth and confirmeth a mans hops and joyes unto him I understand not all this which hath been spoken generally of all assents unto objects Divine which I take it in regard of their evidence firmnes and stability doe much differ according unto the divers tempers of those hearts in which they reside but principally unto the cheife of those assents which are proper unto saving Faith For assent as I said in generall is common unto Divils with men and therefore to make up the creature of true Faith There is required some differencing property whereby it may be constituted in the entire essence of saving Faith In each sense we may observe that unto the generall faculty whereby it is able to perceive objects proportioned to it there is annexed ever another property whereby according to the severall nature of the objects proposed it is apt to delight or be ill affected with it for example our eare apprehendeth all sounds in common but according as is the Harmony or discord of the sound it is apt to take pleasure or offence at it Our taste reacheth unto whatsoever is the object of it but yet some things there are which grievously offend the Palate others which as much delight it and so it is in Divine assents Some things in some subjects bring along with them tremblings horrors fearefull expectations aversation of minde unwilling to admit or be pursued with the evidence of Divine truths as it is in Divils and despayring sinners Other assents on the contrary doe beget serenity of minde a sweete complacency delight adherence and comfort Into the hearts of some men doth the Truth of GOD shine like Lightning with a penetrating and amasing brightnes in others like the Sunne with comfortable and refreshing Beames For understanding whereof wee are to observe that in matters practicall and Divine and so in all others though not in an equall measure the truth of them is ever mutually embraced and as it were insolded in their goodnes for as truth doth not delight the understanding unlesse it be a good truth that is such as unto the understanding beares a relation of convenience whence arise diversities in mens studies because all men are not alike affected with all kindes of truth so good doth noe way affect the will unlesse it be a true and reall good Otherwise it proves but like the banquet of a dreaming man which leaves him as hungry and empty as when he lay downe Goodnes then added unto truth doth together with the assent generate a kinde of rest and delight in the heart on which it shineth Now goodnes Morall or Divine hath a double relation A relation unto that originall in dependency on and propinquitie whereunto it consilleth and a relation unto that faculty or subject wherein it resideth and whereunto it is proposed Good in the former sense is that which beares in it a proportion unto the Fountaine of good for every thing is in it selfe so farre good as it resembles that originall which is the author and patterne of it and that is GOD. In the second sense that is good which beares a conveniency and fitnes to the minde which entertaines it good I meane not alwayes in nature but in apprehension All Divine truths are in themselves essentially good but yet they worke not alwaies delight and comforts in the minds of men untill proportioned and fitted unto the faculty that receives them As the Sunne is it in it selfe equally light the water in a Fountaine of it selfe equally sweete but according unto the severall Temper of the eye which perceiveth the one and of the vessell through which the other passeth they may prove to be offensive and distastfull But now further when the faculty is thus fitted to receive a good it is not the generality of that good which pleaseth neyther but the particular propriety and interest thereunto Wealth and honor as it is in it selfe good so is it likewise in the apprehension of most men yet we see men are apt to be griev'd at it in others and to looke on it with an evill eye nothing makes them to delight in it but possession and propriety unto it I speake here onely of such Divine good things as are by God appointed to make happy his creature namely our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ his Obedience Satisfaction Resurrection Ascension Intercession Glory and whatever elce it is of which he hath been unto his Church the Author Purchaser conveyer and Foundation Now unto these as unto other good things there is a double right belonging by free donation from him unto the Church a right of propriety unto the thing and a right of possession in the thing This latter is that which here in Earth the Church suspireth and longeth after that other onely it is which here we have and that confirmed unto us by a double Title The first as the Land of Cannan was confirmed unto the Israelits by
some few clusters of Grapes and other Fruits of the Land I meane by the earnest first fruits and pledges of the spirit Secondly by the free promise of Christ who cannot deceive Thus then at last we have discovered the proper ultimate and complete object of faith which is all Divine truth and goodnes unto which there is a right and propriety given to all such as are Christs though not in actuall possession yet in an infallible promise and the Acts by which they entertaine that object assenting adhearing and delighting in it as particularly good By these two to wit the object and the Act. as all other habits of the minde so is this of faith to bee defined So that from these observations I take it wee may conclude that the nature of saving faith admits of some such explications as this Faith is a particular personall applicative and experimentall assent unto all Divine Revelations as true and good not in general onely but unto me arising out of that sweete correspondency which is betweene the soule and from that relish and experience of sweetnes which the soule being raised and illightned by Gods Spirit doth finde in them I have been over teadious in finding out this definition of the nature of faith and therefore brieflie from these grounds let the conscience impartially examine it selfe in such demands as these Doe I finde in my selfe a most willing assent unto the whole compasse of Divine truths not out of constraint nor with griefe reluctancie and trembling of spirit doth Gods Word shine on me not like lightning which pierceth the Eye-lids though they shut themselves against it but doth this finde in my heart a welcome and a willing admittance Am I glad when I finde any Divine truth discovered of which formerly I had been ignorant doe I not of purpose close mine eyes forbeare the meanes of true information stifle and smother Divine principles quench the motions and dictats of Gods Spirit in me am I not ignorant willingly of such things the mention whereof would disquiet me in my bosome sin and the inquiry whereunto would crosse the reserved resolutions and unwarrantable projects which I am peremptory to prosecute am I not so in league with mine owne corruptions that I could hartily wish some Divine truths were not revealed rather then being so they should sting my conscience and disable me from secure enjoying some beloved sinne doe I assent unto all Divine truths as a like pretious and with equall adherence am I as little displeased with the truth of GODS threats as of his promises doe they as powerfully worke upon me to reforme as the other to refresh me doe I beleeve them all not onely in the Thesis or generall but in the Hypothesis and respectively to mine owne particular againe doe I finde my heart fitted unto the goodnes of Divine truth am I forward to embrace with much affection and loving delight whatsoever promises are made unto me doe I finde a spirituall taste and relish in the food of life which having once tasted of I finde my selfe weaned from the love of the World from admiring the honours pursuing the preferments hunting after the applause adoring the glories and selling my soule and liberty for the smiles thereof doe the sweetnes of those promises like the fruits brought by the spies from Canaan so much affect me as that to come to the full possession thereof I am at a point with all other things ready to encounter any Cananite or sinfull lust that shall oppose me to adventure on any difficulties that might deterre me to passe thorow a Sea a Wildernes through fiery Serpents the darts of Satan yea if neede were by the gates of Hell briefly doe I finde in my heart however in it selfe froward and wayward from any good a more then naturall livelinesse and vigor which disposeth me to approve of the word promises and purchases of my salvation as of an unvaluable Jewell so pretious as that all the things in this World are but as dung in comparison to a most fervent expectation and longing after them to a heavenly perswation of my happines by them and Lastly to a sweete delight in them working peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost a love of CHRISTS appearing an endeavour to bee like unto him and a desire above all things to be with him and enjoy him which are all so many secret and pure issues of the spirit of adoption I may from these premises infallibly conclude that I am possessed of a lively faith and thereby of those first fruits which bring with them an assurance of that great harvest of glory in the day of redemption And in the meane time having this wedding garment I may with much confidence approach Gods Table to receive there the renewall of my Patent unto life CHAP. XX. Of the third and last meanes for the triall and demonstration of Faith namely from effects or properties thereof THE last Medium which was assigned for the examination of Faith was the properties or effects of it by which as by stepps we raise our thoughts to the apprehension of Faith it selfe To assigne all the consequences or effects of Faith is a labour as difficult as it would be tedious I decline both and shall therefore touch upon some speciall ones which if present all the rest in there order follow with a voluntary traine And now as in the soule of man there are two kinde of operations one primitive and substantiall which we call the act of information others secondary and subsequent as to understand to will to desire and the like so Faith being as hath been formerly observed in some sort the Actus primus or forme of a Christian I meane that very medium unionis whereby the soule of man is really united to CHRIST hath therefore in it two kinds of operations The first as it were substantiall the other secondary The former of these is that act of vivisication or quickning by which Faith doth make a man to live the life of Christ by knitting him unto Christ as it were with Joynts and Sinews and ingrafting him into the unity of that Vine whose Fruit is Life That which doth quicken is ever of a more excellent nature then that which is quickned now the soule being a spirit and therefore within the compasse of highest created perfection cannot possibly be quickned by any but him who is above all perfection which the Heathen themselves have acknowledged to be God For S. Paul hath observed it out of them that in him we live and move and have our being Now unto life necessary it is that there bee a vnion unto the principall or originall of life which to the soule is God In regard of the essence of God nothing can be seperated from him he being immense and filling all things but yet in regard of his voluntary communication and dispensing of himselfe unto the creature the manner of his
speciall presence doth much vary unto this speciall union of the creature unto God in vertue whereof the creature is quickned and doth in some sort live the Life of God There is necessarily presupposed some sinew or ligament which may be therefore called the medium and instrument of life This knot in the estate of mans Creation was the obedience of the Law or the covenant of workes which while man did maintaine firme and unshaken he had an evident Communion with God in all those vitall influences which his mercy was pleased to shed downe upon him but once untying this knot and cutting asunder that bond there did immediately ensue a seperation betweene GOD and man and by an infallible consequence death likewise But God being rich in mercy and not willing to plunge his creature into eternall misery found a new meanes to communicate himselfe unto him by appointing a more easie Covenant which should be the second knot of our union unto him onely to beleeve in Christ incarnate who had done that for us which we our selves had formerly undone And this new Covenant is the covenant of faith by which the just doe live But here a man may object that it is harder for one to discerne that hee doth live in Christ then that he beleeves in him and therefore this can be noe good meane by which we may finde out the truth of our Faith To this wee answer that life must be discerned by those tokens which are inseperable from it and they are first a desire of nourishment without which it cannot continue for nature hath imprinted in all things a love of its owne being and preservation and by consequence a prosecution of all such meanes as may preserve and a removeall of all such as may endanger or oppresse it Secondly a conversion of nourishment into the nature of the body Thirdly augmentation growth till we come unto that Stature which our life requires Fourthly participation of influences from the vitall parts the Head the Heart and others with conformity unto the principall mover amongst them for a dead part is ever withered immoveable and disobedient to the other faculties Fiftly a sympathy and communion in paines or delights with the fellow members Lastly a free use of our senses and other faculties by all which we may infallibly conclude that a creature liveth And so it is in Faith It frameth the heart to delight in all such spirituall food as is requisite thereunto Disposing it upon the view at lest upon the taste of any poysonous thing to be pained with it and cast it up The food that nourisheth Faith is as in little Infants of the same quality with that which begat it even the word of life wherein there is sincere Milke and strong meate The poyson which endangereth it is heresie which tainteth the roote of Faith and goeth about to prevert the assent and impiety which blasteth and corrupteth the branches All which the soule of a Faithfull man abhorreth Secondly in Faith there is a conversion likewise the vertue whereof ever there resides where the vitall power is In naturall life the power of altering is in the man and not in the meate and therefore the meate is assimilated to our flesh but in spirituall life the quickning faculty is in the meate and therefore the man is assimilated and transformed into the quality of the meate And indeed the word is not cast into the heart of man as meate into the stomacke to be converted into the corrupt quality of nature but rather as seed into the ground to convert that Earth which is about it into the quality of it selfe Thirdly where Faith is there is some growth in grace wee grow neerer unto Heaven then when we first beleeved an improvement of our knowledge in the mysteries of godlines which like the Sunne shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day An increase of willingnes to obey God in all things and as in the growth of naturall bodies if they be sound and healthy so in this of Faith likewise it is universall and uniforme one part doth not grow and another shrivell neyther doth one part grow too bigge and disproportioned for another the Head doth not increase in knowledge and the Heart decay in love the Heart doth not swell in zeale and the Hand wither in charity but in the nourishment of Faith every grace receives proportionably its habituall confirmation Fourthly by the spirituall life of Faith the faithfull doe partake of such heavenly influences as are from the head shed downe upon the members The influences of Christ in his Church are many and peradventure in many things imperceptible Some principall I conceive to be the influence of his truth and the influence of his power His truth is exhibited in teaching the Church which is illumination his power partly in guiding the Church and partly in defending it that is direction this protection Now in all these doe they who are in Christ according to the measure and proportion of his Spirit certainely communicate They have their eyes more or lesse opened like Paul to see the terrours of God the fearefulnesse of sinne the rottennesse of a spirituall death the pretiousnesse of Christ and his promises the glimpses and rayes of that glory which shall be revealed they have their feete loosned with Lazarus that they can now rise and walke and leape and praise God Lastly they are strengthned and cloathed with the whole armes of God which secureth them against all the malice or force of Satan Fiftly where faith is there is a naturall compassion in all the members of Christ towards each other If sinne be by one member committed the other members are troubled for it because they are all partakers of that Spirit which is grieved with the sinnes of his people If one part bee afflicted the other are interested in the paine because all are united together in one head which is the Fountaine and originall of Sense The members of the Church are not like paralyticke and unjoynted members which cannot move towards the succour of each other Lastly where Faith is there all the faculties are expedite and free in their operations The eye open to see the wonders of Gods Law the eare open to heare his voyce the mouth open to praise his name the arme enlarged towards the reliefe of his servants the whole man tenderly sensible of all pressures and repugnant qualities The secondary effects of faith are amongst sundry others such as these First a love and liking of those spirituall truths which by faith I assent unto For saving Faith being an assent with adherence and delight contrary to that of Divils which is with trembling and horror which delight is a kinde of relish and experience of the goodnesse of those objects wee assent unto It necessarily followes even from the dicate of Nature which instructeth a man to love that which worketh in him delight and comfort that from this