and so to arm their Judgments and Consciences against them This was the reason doubtless why none of the Cities in which Christ had wrought most of his Miracles and mighty Works were drawn to repentance hereby And so likewise why so few of the Scribes and Pharisees believed in him notwithstanding so many Miracles wrought before their eyes it was the marvelous averseness both to his Doctrine and Person that quickly took off their minds and thoughts from such things whether words or works which they found medling or dealing with their Consciences that way I mean which they found in any degree enclining them to believe on him so that these means could not have their perfect work upòn their souls For whether words or works they must be kept for some time upon the mind and intellectual faculties of the soul before they can accomplish any transmutation or change there It is a common Maxime in Philosophy that no motion is effected or brought to pass in an instant There must be time for the strongest Physick to work for there is some averseness in the body against it So before there can be any such repentance and believing in the soul the means by which this must be effected must have some time to work upon the understanding and therefore if they be thrown by so soon as they begin to work the blessed change will never succeed or take place Or else because there are lying and false Miracles as well as true and very strange things are sometimes done by Magick Sorcery and by the help of Devils and the like therefore they satisfie themelves with a like conceit that the great works of Christ were of this bastard kind of Miracles and so maintained and hardned themselves in their Unbelief all his great Works and Miracles notwithstanding And I remember it was the opinion of one of the Ancient Fathers that Judas thought that his Lord and Master wrought all his great Cures and Works only by the Art of Magick and the Jews have such a conceipt of him at this day So then Miracles if the Ministers of the Gospel in these daies had the gift of them might possibly little accommodate the men who under a pretense it is to be feared so impatiently call for them Secondly Sect. 15 It argueth men and women to be of a very unworthy frame of heart and much estranged in mind and spirit from God and from the things appertaining unto him to require or stand in need of Miracles for their Conviction and Conversion to the Faith This is evident from that of our Saviour Joh. 4.48 Except ye see Signs and Wonders ye will not believe It is evident that these words are objurgatory striking at such a spirit or frame of heart in the persons to whom they were spoken Except yet see signs c. As if he had said ye Jews are of such an ill spirit and frame of heart that such means which are in themselves sufficient to perswade or bring men to believe sufficient to prevail in this kind with persons of any tolerable disposition Godward as such heavenly and authoritative teachings from holy and worthy men are these will do no execution will not convince you but you must have such means used and applied to work upon you to do you any good which are sufficient to break the Iron sinews of the most prophane stiff-necked and obdurate Infidel under heaven you must see Signs yea Wonders or Prodigies of Signs Men that are in any degree ingenuous and willing to walk up to these lower and more common principles of truth which are by nature planted in them or desirous in the least to understand and submit to the truth they stand in no need of Signs and Wonders to satisfie and convince them of the truth I mean of the truth of a more spiritual and sublime nature but only of a lightsome and rational discovery of such truth As the wood that is dry will readily take the fire and burn only by putting coals of fire to it whereas that which is green requireth much puffing and blowing and many times will not burn at last though all this means he used to it Therefore the persons that must have Miracles and say they cannot edifie they cannot profit by the Ministers of the Gospel in these daies because they cannot work Miracles their own tongues fall upon them as Davids Expression is by such sayings they plainly declare themselves to be persons much estranged from God to bear little love to the truth Our Saviour in the Gospel calleth the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 12.39 16.4 An evil and adulterous Generation for seeking after a Sign or Miracle for their satisfaction about the truth of his Doctrine having occasion to speak upon the same account unto the generality of people He leaves out the word Adulterous only styling them Luke 11.29 An evil Generation for seeking after a sign Why doth our Saviour call the Scribes and Pharisees and so the Sadduces not simply an evil but an adulterous Generation also upon occasion of their seeking after a Sign We know an adulterous disposition imports the departure and estrangedness of heart and affection from the person whom we ought by reason of our Conjugal Engagement to love and affect above all others together with the bestowing of them upon some other person whom we ought not to affect in any such way Now then our Saviour calling the Scribes and Pharisees an Adulterous Generation chargeth them that their hearts and souls were wickedly and basely alienated and estranged from God unto whom they were married by Covenant and should have cleaved with their whole heart and soul and have been of one heart and spirit with him whereas now they had coupled themselves with this present World with the honours riches and pleasures thereof and thereby they did plainly bewray their nakedness in this kind in that the voice and word of God which should have been familiar unto them as the voice of a Husband should be to a Wife which they should have known without any Dispute or Argument to make them know it was become so strange unto them that they were as far to seek whether it was his Word or no as they who never knew him nor scarce had heard of him and that they required as much satisfaction to be assured thereof as might serve to satisfie the greatest stranger under heaven So that they who call for Miracles upon the account mentioned declare themselves to be of the race of the Scribes and Pharisees who are an adulterous Generation Thirdly and lastly The holy and exemplary lives Sect. 16 and righteous conversations of the Ministers of the Gospel where persons have time and opportunity to observe and know them are as authoritative and mighty to convince men of the truth of the Doctrines they teach as Miracles themselves would be 2 Tim. 3.14 Acts 28.31 And as we lately heard that our Saviour severely taxed those that would
of himself unto him for by this means the Spirit withdraweth his former influences from such a person and affordeth him but a faint and scanty presence of himself afterwards Again Sect. 9 from the Apostles Exhortation 1 Thes 5.19 Quench not the Spirit the truth of the Doctrine may be further argued even to a demonstration For if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to quench the Spirit i. e. Not to do any thing that may justly occasion him to cease from his wonted activity within them stirring their hearts and causing them to burn with inflamed desires after God and Jesus Christ and the things of their eternal peace I say If it be a duty to take heed of quenching the Spirit in such a way as this Then must it needs be a duty lying upon them to be filled with the Spirit the fulness of whose presence as was formerly more than hinted will cause their hearts to burn within them and as it were to mount up unto heaven in a flame It is an approved Rule frequently made use of by learned Ministers for the right understanding of the Decalogue or Moral Law That every Negative Commandment includeth the Affirmative contrary unto it As that which forbiddeth the destroying or the taking away the life of a man enjoyneth withal the preservation of his life with all tenderness and care There is another Rule delivered by some worthy Expositors of the Scriptures very necessary to acquaint us with the emphatical import of some expressions here The Rule is to this effect Adverbs of denying do very frequently import the contrary unto that word unto which they are joyned Many instances of this Rule might readily be given but this may be done upon some other occasion only for the present take notice that this Scripture agreeth to that which is imported in both these Rules This Negative dehortation Quench not the Spirit carrieth in it some such Affirmative and commanding Precept as this See that you be prudently industrious and careful with all diligence to nourish and advance the life and vigour of the Spirit of God within you entertain him with all worthy and honourable respects in your souls let him have all the obedience that he desireth or requireth of you By this means you shall be so far from quenching him in his motions and operations that he will burn like a bright flame of heavenly fire within you and work wonderfully in your souls That some such sense as this was intended by the Apostle in the said Dehortation is not obscurely intimated by that negative Precept not to despise Prophecying immediately subjoyned unto that of not quenching the Spirit especially if it be interpreted by one or both the Rules given for the interpretation of the former passage For then Not to despise Prophecying will signifie to put an high esteem upon Prophecying that is in the Ministry or Preaching of the Gospel which is done partly by a constant or frequent attendance upon it as with reverence and fear so with a lively and steady expectation of meeting with God and much good in it partly also by a consciencious subjecting all a mans waies words and works unto the authority and guidance of it Now not to despise that is to honour Prophecying upon such terms as these and duly honoured it cannot be upon any other is a direct and pregnant course to cause the Spirit to take pleasure in us and to be as fire in our breasts and bones not suffering us to be in the dark concerning any such spiritual things which are necessary or meet for us to know nor yet to be remiss negligent or cold as to waies and works that are truly honourable and worthy our high calling And what doth all this signifie being interpreted but to be filled with the Spirit Nor is there any way more dangerous unto men or more threatening the great evil and misery of being emptied of the Spirit than to despise Prophecying or the Ministry of the Gospel which is called The ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 And the Ministers of it The Ministers not of the Letter that is Not so much of the words matter or contents of the Gospel but of the Spirit Because the Spirit of God according to the counsel and good pleasure of God in this behalf is wont to joyn himself with the glorious truths of the Gospel published and proclaimed by his Messengers when he hath an intent or desire to go forth into the world and to visit the hearts and consciences of the Sons and Daughters of men See upon this account Acts 10.44 Gal. 3.2 5. And as the Spirit ordinarily cometh unto the souls of men in a golden shower of Evangelical truths rained down upon them from the mouth of a Church Angel So doth he not only continue but increase and inlarge his presence in them proportionably to that honour and obedience which is given by them unto those truths by which he was brought into their souls Therefore as the despising of Prophecying whether it be by undervaluing or neglecting the Ordinance or dispensation of it or whether it be by disobeying and casting behind their backs the holy Counsels and divine Injunctions of it is a ready way to quench the Spirit So on the contrary to have this heavenly Ordinance in high esteem and with constancy in attending upon it to joyn a reverential and awful subjection unto the voice of it in our lives and conversations is a method or means sealed by God whereby to obtain that inestimable treasure of being filled with the Spirit Thus you see how the Apostles charge of not quenching the Spirit leadeth us directly and by a clear light to the acknowledgment of this That it is every mans duty to be filled with the Spirit That other Dehortation of the same Apostle Sect. 10 Parallel in Expression and partly in sense unto the former Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 being rightly argued and searched into will give us the light of the same truth at the bottom of it But let us first consider what it is to grieve the Spirit and then we shall see by the light of the two rules mentioned in the opening of the former proof how it doth follow from hence That it is the duty of Christians to be filled with the Spirit The Spirit here spoken of is neither the Spirit of Man nor Angel as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter but the eternal Spirit of God the third Person in the Trinity Now to speak properly this Spirit is not subject unto grief nor any other Passion whatsoever But men are said to grieve the Spirit when they cause him to do and act towards them that which men are used to do under the Passion of grief Now you know that men whilst they are under the guidance of that Passion are listless and indisposed unto action Grief contracts and straightens it is of a wasting and consuming nature unto the
heart and spirit Psal 31.9 10. It makes men heavy lumpish and sad averse unto all action as if they had neither life nor soul as we use to say being like unto Davids Images That have hands and handle not feet and walk not c. Psal 115.7 And Jobs three Friends Job 2.13 cast themselves down with him upon the ground and for seven daies and seven nights together none of them speaking so much as a word unto him the reason is given because they saw that his grief was very great Meaning as Junius well interprets it That the greatness of that grief which they perceived had taken hold of the spirit and soul of their Friend so afflicted them and because that sympathy commiseration had wrought such a grief in them that they sate all this while as persons astonished and were not able to stir up themselves to comfort him by these instances you may see it is the nature of grief to contract the heart and to make men listless unto action In like manner the Spirit through the ungrateful disobedient and unworthy behaviour of men towards him is said to be grieved when by such means men have wrought him if we may so speak to the like listlessness of acting and putting forth the excellencie of his power in their hearts and souls as formerly he did and doth sometime in others On the other hand a man is never in a right posture for action or for the doing of any thing that is of any good or great concernment unto others but when he enjoyeth himself upon the highest and richest terms of satisfaction and contentment So then the Spirit of God is said to be grieved by men when they shall deal so unkindly with or by him as to reject and neglect his heavenly motions and inspirations by giving over such and such waies of honour Christian excellency and worth which they had sometime lift up their hearts and hands unto and walked with delight in them When men I say shall cease to go on in such waies as these and prefer the ignoble and base motions of the Flesh or of the World before those that come from him and which are all honourable and heavenly such a demeanour of men towards the Spirit of God grieveth him that is Maketh him listless unto action and causeth him to abate and to fall lower in his operations and to give out himself more faintly than before Whereas he had been active and ever and anon stirring and provoking them and this with efficacie and power unto this and that good way and work now he withdraweth by degrees and declineth these motions and operations upon which the soul of man becomes listless and dull to any thing of a spiritual concernment like a Ship becalmed on the Seas whose Sails a little before were filled with fresh and pleasant gales of wind carrying her amain to her desired Port. Now then if it be a duty lying upon Christians not to grieve the Spirit Then by the authority of both the Rules by which we found out the true sense of our former proof both of them being as proper and useful here it is their duty also to chear and delight the Spirit I mean to keep themselves in such a frame or posture both inwardly in heart and soul and outwardly in life and conversation that he may take delight in them And if it be the duty of Christians to be pleasing unto and compliant with the Spirit simply indefinitely and in any degree Then upon the grounds formerly argued and made good it is more their duty to endeavour with their whole heart and soul to please him in the highest Now when he taketh delight and pleasure in any man in more than an ordinary degree he will signifie not only his contentment in this kind but even the measure and degree of it also by a proportionable advancement of his gracious activity upon all occasions This is that we intend and hold forth in the Doctrine from the Apostles expression of being filled with the Spirit which also by warrant of the same authority we affirm to be a duty lying upon all Christians We shall insist only upon one proof more to confirm the truth of the Doctrine Sect. 11 Be kindly affectioned saith the Apostle one unto another c. Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.10 11. To be fervent in Spirit especially in the Service of God or of Christ requires a great presence or fulness of the Spirit of God in a man For the Spirit of a man acted only by it self or by its own strength wisdom or goodness will never rise so high in any true and real Service of god as fervency of spirit doth import Neither will an ordinary presence or assistance of the Spirit of God himself carry the heart of a man up unto any such pitch of devotion He that will have an ear to hearken to the voice of this Exhortation of being fervent in spirit in the Service of the Lord must find out a way how to engage and how to comport with the Spirit of God that he may vouchsafe unto him a measure of his presence heaped up to make him capable of so great and worthy an undertaking Yea men I suppose cannot be fervent in spirit in doing any thing which they call or judge to be the Service of God although it be a Service of their own fansie or genius or of some worse deity unless they be acted therein by a spirit more active than their own So then if it be a duty lying upon all Christians to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord then is it a duty that beareth with the same weight upon them to be filled with the Spirit Inasmuch as the performance of the former of these duties cannot stand but by the performance of the latter so that from hence it is evident that it is a duty incumbent upon all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Besides these Scriptures now argued we might if need were increase their number for the proof of our Doctrine by arguing in like manner all those Scriptures which require such things of men that cannot be performed by men without a being filled with the Spirit such passages of these which are not a few do clearly import that it is a duty yea a duty of duties such a duty without the performance whereof great numbers of other duties will suffer and never appear in their glory Texts of this import are these with their fellows Rom 8.13 Joh. 16.24 Luke 21.36 CHAP. II. The first Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued viz That it is the duty of all persons especially of all the Professors of the Gospel or Christianity to be filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God Because if men be not filled or in a way of being filled with the Spirit of God they will be filled with some evil Spirit one or other IT is
part it will be so So again where he saith There are last that shall be first and there are first that shall be last Luke 13.30 he implyeth that there may be some last who shall not be first and so that there may be some first that shall not be last The reason hereof we shall shew presently This caution premised the equity of Gods proceedings in making the last-called of his Saints the first in their reward ordinarily may be demonstrated upon these four grounds First Those that have been great sinners and have stood out long in rebellion against God when their great evil is overcome by the goodness of God in the Gospel and they notwithstanding all their wretched and fierce Provocations are received into grace and favour with him only upon their repentance and believing commonly prove the greatest and most cordial friends unto him amongst all his Saints become most naturally and genuinely affected towards him are most free and willing to spend and to be spent upon the service of his name and glory Whereas old disciples and those that of a long time and from their youth have been accustomed to the yoke of Religion are apt in process of time to grow drowsie and next unto formal and customary in their performances and seldom have that courage that spirit and life in them to act any thing or suffer any thing out of course or upon any extraordinary account for the interest of God and of Jesus Christ in the World which are found in late Converts and those that come off from many and great abominations unto God The longer and harder the Earth hath been bound by a Frost the mellower and more tender and capable of any impression it is found when a through thaw cometh No heart so pliable under the Word Spirit or Interest of God as that which is made soft by him after the greatest hardness The Scripture beareth witness unto this as a truth in many instances and places He who by his own confession 1 Tim. 1.15 was the greatest of sinners whilst unconverted when the evil property of his heart was altered by the Grace of God Laboured in his service more abundantly than they all than all his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 15.10 That which is recorded of Zacheus Luke 19.7.8 and of Mary Magdalen though her name be not mentioned Luke 7. from ver 37 to 48. gives a lightsome evidence of truth in the Notion in hand and that Saying of Christ To whom little is forgiven he loveth little with his discourse preceding doth abundantly confirm it Secondly They who have long and even unto weariness and to the brink of despair walked in the vanity of their minds and waies of wickedness being upon repentance received unto mercy commonly prove more Evangelical in the frame of their minds and temper of their spirits and cleave unto God with a more pure and entire dependence upon his grace in Christ for their Justification and Salvation than they that are Professors of a long standing and were early at work in the Vineyard It is very incident unto these after some years continuance in a religious course to be insensibly corrupted in their minds from the simplicity of the Gospel and to warp towards a spirit of legality associating as it were their own Righteousness with the Grace of God in Christ to keep up their hearts in hope of Justification by him This difference between the one and the other in the spirit of their minds was doubtless intimated by Christ in the different behaviours or expressions of the Prodigal or younger Brother who personates the late Convert or the person that after much wickedness returns unto God and upon his Conversion and of the Elder Brother who seems to represent the Genius and temper of those that have been old servants in the House of God The former the younger at his return discovereth the frame of his heart end Spirit to his Father thus Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15.21 As he had no temptation upon him to plead any thing he had done for his Father to render him worthy in the least degree of his favour so was he far from looking this way with the least of his thoughts his hope of acceptance with his Father depended wholly upon his Fathers goodness and readiness to receive him upon his return Whereas the Elder Brother in a Contest with his Father claims a kind of right and title to more of his love than as he thought he had yet at any time shewed unto him And he answering said unto his Father Lo these many years do I serve thee neither transgressed I at any time thy Commandment and yet thou never gavest me a Kid that I might make merry with my friends But c. Ver. 29. David hath this Saying Psal 62.10 If riches encrease set not your heart upon them As it is an hard matter for those that are rich in this present World to keep off their hearts from trusting in their uncertain riches or to keep them in trust or dependence upon the living God 1 Tim. 6.17 whereas afflicted and poor people and the widow that is desolate do as it were of course and by a kind of necessity trust in the name of the Lord Zeph. 3.12 compared with 1 Tim. 5.5 In like manner when men have wrought righteousness for many years together and have heaped up Prayers upon Prayers and hearings upon hearings with great constancy intermixing it may be now and then Fasting with some Alms-deeds or other works of Charity without making any scandalous digression from the waies of God all their daies it requires more spiritual strength and wisdom than are found in ordinary Believers for a man not to look upon so much beauty with an adulterous eye and not in secret at least to think that God in consideration of so much such long and faithful service done unto him may well forgive him his sins and trespasses and so not to wear somewhat flat and superficial in their esteem of and dependence upon the meer grace of God in Christ Whereas they whose course of life hath been nothing but sin and wickedness and enmity against God when they are converted and reconciled unto God cannot lightly but be pure end chaste in their dependence upon his grace and goodness for all the good they expect from him their conscience plainly telling them that they have no self-righteousness nor are in a capacity of having any whereon to build or wherewith to feed the least hope or expectation in that kind Now it is but reasonable that God who hath designed the Salvation of men according to the terms of that Gospel which himself hath conceived and communicated unto the World for that end in the exact and precise model whereof himself also is infinitely delighted should be more intent upon rewarding those with salvation who expect it from him with
Spirit the Holy Spirit so much spoken of in the Scriptures to be God The debate of this Question we have already finished Another of the three Questions was How or what course a Christian or any other Person Man or Woman may and ought to take to be filled with the Spirit i.e. How or after what manner the Exhortation imposed in the Text is to be obeyed or put in execution The third and last Question was How a man or woman may either come to discern and know themselves or how others may come to the like knowledge of them whether they be filled with the Spirit I mean the Spirit of God or some other Spirit of another nature and contrary to it I suppose much light will be given by the examination of the truth in the Former of the two Questions for the decision of the Latter so that we may be somewhat the briefer here To begin then with the former of these Questions Sect. 2 how a Christian or a Believer yea or any other person may be filled with the Spirit which the Text and Doctrine mention for it will appear by the way that any other Person as well as a Believer is in a capacity though somewhat more remote of being filled with the Spirit likewise What it is to be filled with the Spirit hath been formerly declared in the opening of the Doctrine notwithstanding I conceive it is necessary for the resolution of the Question in hand that we briefly remind you of what we delivered in that kind we signified unto you that to be filled with the Spirit doth not note and import an absolute and precise fulness that is a having of the Spirit in such a precise fulness and height that there is no capacity left of having more of him No but as in Scripture Phrase a Vessel is said to be full when there is a good and sufficient and competent proportion in it and so in ordinary discourse we say a Cup is full of drink not when it is full to the brim but if there be a good quantity and proportion in it just so a fulness with the Spirit doth not suppose or imply such a uniform kind of fulness as if no man could be said to be full of the Spirit but only he that is fullest of all But if any person be acted by the Spirit or doth quit himself like unto a man he in whom the Spirit hath any considerable power of command may be truly said to be filled with the Spirit as David had many Worthies in his Army and yet they did not reach or attain unto the three first though they were worthy in their way so there may be many Christians of several sizes and degrees who yet may be said to be filled with the Spirit of God So that in propriety of Phrase it signifieth to have an actuous vigorous and operative presence of the Holy Ghost in you to enjoy his grace love and favour upon such terms as to receive from him and from the glory of his power ever and anon upon all occasions excellent quicknings incitements impulses enlargements strengthnings of heart and soul unto every worthy way and every good work to have all contrary workings motions and risings of the flesh borne down with a strong hand and swallowed up in victory so that a man or woman shall find no great no considerable opposition or turmoile as formerly from any weakness or corruption within him in his way of well-doing but only such which he shall be enabled and this at a very good rate to overcome I say when this is found to be the case and condition of any Christian it is a sign of such a presence or fulness of the Spirit of God I here describe unto you only that kind of filling with the Spirit which is the duty of all Christians as of other persons also in their way to mind look after and be industriously careful to obtain and which only I conceive is intended by the Apostle in the Text. For I do not conceive that he doth admonish and exhort the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit as if his meaning should be that he would have them be filled with such a kind of filling by which some were enabled to work miracles or reveal things secret and unrevealed in the Scriptures being yet future and to come Although I can easily believe that even such a filling with the Spirit as this at least to a considerable degree was within the reach of Christians in the Apostles daies yea and that the Apostle did exhort the Corinthians 1 Cor. 12.31 to seek after some such kind of filling as this in these words but covet earnestly after the best gifts Doubtless he would not have had them to lay out themselves with any desire after these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as speaking with Tongues and Prophecying but that there was a means for the attaining of them But that filling with the Spirit which he commendeth to the Ephesians by way of duty in the words before us is only or at least principally such a filling as we have both formerly and even now described unto you which respecteth the effectual stirring up and strengthening of the hearts and souls of men unto waies and works of righteousness and these of the worthiest and most excellent kind and strain And yet it is not unlike but that if men and women should quit themselves worthily and with faithfulness in this Race I mean in their endeavours to be filled with the Spirit in that kind or sense we speak of there would be cast in unto them by way of heaped measure somewhat of that kind of filling also they should have a kind of first fruits of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit also as of healing of the sick declaring things to come c. I could give an account of my apprehension in this kind and this in more particulars than one were it not for fear of lengthening out this Discourse in hand beyond what you are willing to bear Notwithstanding Sect. 3 there is one thing more necessary I conceive to be touched here also in order to your better satisfaction about the Question in hand though something as I remember hath been spoken to it formerly that is How it can stand with the weakness and unworthiness of the Creature man on the one hand and the incomprehensible Majesty and Glory of the Holy Ghost on the other hand that it should be in the power of man to procure or draw into himself i.e. into his heart and soul such a rich or glorious presence of the Spirit as that wherein our being filled with him consists Or whether in this case the Spirit may not be conceived to be obnoxious unto or in the power of man I am the rather desirous to remove this stumbling block out of the way before we go forward to give reply to the principal Question propounded because I conceive it must needs be
Point That to him that hath shall be given He that is willing to sow to the Spirit it is a sign that he in the sense of this Scripture is a man that hath received the Grace of God Now they that declare that they have i. e. that take a course to make the World acknowledge that they have they that have in this sense shall have more abundantly and yet still the more they have the more they shall have and the faster and the thicker that men shall sow to the Spirit they shall still have more seed As God giveth natural Seed unto the Sower so doth he give spiritual Seed unto him that soweth unto the Spirit he shall have more strength and vigour and stronger Propensions to do well and worthily yea to abound in well doing This is a third means to be made use of in order to a being filled with the Spirit of God Fourthly Another means for the same end I mean of being filled with the Sprit is to feed and cherish to nourish and strengthen the motions of the Spirit when at any time he beginneth to burn or rise up in a little flame in the soul then toties quoties to be ready to cast spiritual oyl upon the flame that so he may advance the motions which he hath begun is another excellent and pregnant way and means to be filled with the Spirit To open this means or direction unto you it is to be supposed that the Spirit where he inhabiteth and dwelleth will ever and anon be heaving and putting forth in the hearts and souls of men he will be secretly inciting and gently moving and perswading men and women unto good waies and actions unto waies of Justice Righteousness and Goodness and the like sometimes in one kind and sometimes in another yea many times it is likely he will be moving men and perswading them to actions not simply and positively good but unto such waies and actions that are higher and more excellent and more worthy than any of those wherein they yet walk or have been accustomed or have lift up their hearts or hands unto This then is that we advise you in this means or direction that whensoever you perceive or feel the Spirit rising or moving within you unto any thing that is good worthy or meet to be done as if you live inwardly and have much and close communion and converse with your hearts and souls you may frequently find that he is When I say at any time you are sensible of any good motion conceived and raised in you that then presently you provide spiritual milk and honey to feed strengthen and nourish the tenderness of it for when these motions come from the Spirit they are at first but weak and tender and faint but you may take a course by nourishing of them that of soft and tender motions you may make them strong if you take unto you such and such considerations which are apt and proper both to continue on foot and keep alive the said motions within you and likewise to fortifie and encourage them Gentle and soft motions bearing upon your hearts and consciences are but like a soft Air or breathing of wind upon a Ships sails which help her not much on her way So the breathings of the Spirit the first rise of them are but soft and gentle but there is a proper kind of nourishment to be administred unto them which will enlarge and strengthen them Let the motions be what they will as indeed there may be a thousand motions of this kind the Scripture doth afford wherewithal to nourish them all As the Earth bringeth forth all kind of of Herbs Trees c. So the Scriptures yield a proper and peculiar kind of Nourishment a peculiar kind of consideration of truth which will fortifie and strengthen all those motions and raise them up in growth and stature As suppose it be a motion unto a more constant frequent and consciencious attendance upon the Ordinances of God's House and the Affairs there the Scriptures will fill you with motives and considerations which are apt and proper to nourish fortifie and strengthen you in this service So again suppose that the motion be to works of Charity to a more open handedness unto works of Mercy the Scripture will furnish you with nourishment for such motions also Or if the motions of the Spirit be to abandon or cast off idle and unprofitable company who are good for nothing but to waste our precious time I say the Scriptures will nourish these motions also You shall find meditations there and such words and considerations that are proper nourishment for all such motions of the Spirit as these mentioned with their fellows which will cause them to wax and grow and gather strength until it be too hard for the contrary corruptions and infirmities to hinder them My Brethren there be many choice motions from the Spirit of God which may die and never bring forth As there are many Children that die in their Infancy and never grow up unto men Even so the truth is that where there is one Motion that doth grow and come to any maturity it is to be feared that there are many thousands which for want of nourishment and because they are not propagated and encreased by adding further strength unto them die and come to nothing As it is with the Seed of Mankind in their Infancy and tender years we know that they are capable of living and growing up unto men yet are they not capable of propagating in their kind till they are grown up to some maturity Even so motions to good take them in their beginning though they are capable of growing unto their full strength yet they are not presently capable of action untill they be trained and fed up until they come to maturity Then they will beget in their own likeness then they will produce in their kind Thus we see if we desire to be filled with the Spirit of God we must do as we use to do with our new-born Infants make much of them and not despise them because they are weak No but we are to be very tender of them and to nourish them and to cherish them to minister such food unto them that will strengthen them unto or at least until they are grown to Maturity A motion which at first hath little or no strength and so cannot go abroad into any Action or Service by that time you have nourished and carefully tendered it in your hearts and souls though it was but like a grain of Mustardseed at the beginning yet being nourished and fed in your hearts after a while it will be full of strength and vigour and whereas at first it might easily have been quenched after it cometh to maturity it will be able to nourish it self Now the reason of this direction in order to a being filled with the Spirit runneth upon the former Principle which we lately mentioned viz. To
and drawn forth by the Spirit of God in them Hence you see that that which is supposed or taken for granted in the Objection in hand viz. that the Devil is said to tempt all the World over at one and the same time is an airy and loose supposition and hath no stable Basis or Foundation to support it neither doth it hold parallel with the Holy Ghost because it is possible that men and women may be tempted and yet not by the Devil It is true the Devil doth compass the Earth to and fro but we see it cannot be concluded that every temptation to sin and wickedness is from the Devil because the Apostle James saith expresly that a man when he is tempted he is drawn away with his own Lust and enticed so that if there were no Devils men might be drawn away with their own Lusts Seventhly Concerning those that are tempted Sect. 8 or said to be tempted by the Devil there is no such emphatical punctual or precise limitation or appropriation of their temptations to one unclean Spirit or Devil as there is of all the variety of spiritual gifts unto one holy spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 Now there are diversities of gifts saith the Apostle but the same Spirit It is no where said that there are varieties of temptations but the same Tempter or the same tempting Spirit Again To one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit to another Faith by the same Spirit to another working of Miracles to another Prophesie to another discerning of Spirits to another divers kinds of Tongues to another the interpretation of Tongues but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Ver. 8 9 10 11. A man would think by these expressions especially by the last but all these worketh one and the self-same Spirit that the Apostle had foreseen that there would in time rise up such a Generation of men in the Christian World whom he meant to way-lay in their errour viz. such who would deny the Divinity of the Spirit yea and would pretend and plead by way of countenance for their errour that there are many Spirits and that these amongst them perform all those operations dispense all those gifts the performance and dispensation whereof are the peculiar and appropriate praise of one and the self-same Spirit viz. that Spirit which is infinite increated and God himself Eighthly The Apostle a little before the passages now cited viz. ver 4 5. compared plainly enough teacheth or supposeth that as there are no more Lords than one notwithstanding the variety of Administrations so there are no more Spirits but one notwithstanding the great variety and diversity of gifts Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord the same Spirit and the same Lord. Is it not rational to infer from hence that the Apostle did not own or acknowledge any more Spirits interessed in giving or bestowing the great multiplicity and diversity of spiritual gifts which in these times especially of which the Apostle here speaketh did abound in all Christian Churches Than he did acknowledge Lords in the disposing of the several Administrations of those gifts Now those Enemies of the Spirit of God I mean to the Divinity of this Spirit with whom we have now to do do confess and acknowledge that there is but one Lord i. e. but one Jesus Christ though they count it no Sacriledge to rob him also of his equality with God they confess him indeed to be God the Scriptures in plain and express words affirming this but what manner or kind of God they would make him neither do I nor I suppose themselves well know For they deny him to be the most High God and so they seem to make him some demy-God But this only by the way By the consideration now insisted upon and suggested by the Apostle it plainly appeareth that however there be Legions of Tempters or of Devils who may tempt at the same time in several places of the World and all these temptations be ascribed to the Devil or to the Prince of Devils because of their subordination unto him in such actions yet there is no such number of these holy Spirits who fill the Saints with their presence all over the World at the same time No But that this is one and the same Spirit who upon this account must needs be God Ninthly Whereas the Apostle verse 11 of the late mentioned Chapter ascribeth such a liberty to the Spirit as to divide to every man as he pleaseth But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will Is not this also of like pregnant intimation that he looked upon him as God For hath God vested any such Prerogative in any Angel or created Spirit to govern the World to Umpire or administer the Affairs of the Children of men after their own will and pleasure Or is not the disposing and bestowing of those excellent gifts and endowments of which the Apostle speaks so much in that Contexture of Scripture mentioned a considerable vein and piece of the Government of the World For what other thing almost can we look upon that is so considerable in the Government and Ministration of the Affairs of the World as the disposing of those excellent gifts and endowments Now then he that gives out and dispenses these as he will and pleaseth is no Creature No Creature hath the Government of these Master dispensations in his own hand and at his own disposure none but God himself 10ly Comparing the said ver 11. now cited with ver 6. Sect. 9 of the Chapter we may have a light clear enough to see that the Apostle supposeth the Spirit of which he all along speaketh to be God Verse 6. He had said There are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all And ver 11. He saith thus But all these things worketh that one and the self-same Spirit Therefore the same God of which he spake in the former verse and the same Spirit of which he speaks in the latter verse are one and the same God the working of the same things being respectively ascribed to him Nor can it with any colour of reason here be pretended that the same actions may be and frequently are in Scripture ascribed unto God and unto the Creature God is often said to save men and so Timothy is said to save men 1 Tim. 4.16 So here God may be said to work all these things and the Spirit may be said to work all these things also although it be supposed that the Spirit is a Creature The reason why this pretense will not serve here is First Because though the same attribution here in the same Contexture of Scripture he made unto God and then unto the Spirit of God yet there is not the least intimation
it it hath by Commission from God And the very truth is that if we would examine the business we should find that as fear hath torment so there is nothing that hath torment in it but fear or nothing without fear all sicknesses and pains in the body if you could but divide fear from them they would not torment at all if a man did not fear the continuance of them they would not disquiet nor trouble him Now it is the effect of love that it doth remove from the hearts and souls of men whatsoever is of a disquieting import unto them The truth is that love would do so amongst men were it perfectly known or understood If I knew that this man did know that my heart was perfect with him and that I did entirely love him I would not fear that that man would willingly do me any harm So then this is one reason why love to God casteth out fear because that a man by this means is mightily perswaded concerning God that he is so good and gracious that he will not fall heavy upon his Friends those that love him Yea it is impossible that any such thought of God should enter into the heart of such a man to think that God should destroy any that do love him and seek his honour and glory or that he should not do them good and seek their peace and safety The Apostle takes this for a Principle that no man will gainsay That all things shall work together for good to those that love God Rom. 8.8 This is a Principle which we all agree in that Gods love is such to those that we cannot think but that all his Creatures and all his Providences shall be Tributaries to them In the second place then it is evident from the Premisses both latter and former that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that he loves God Thirdly and lastly The third thing mentioned Sect. 13 which especially in conjunction with the two former must needs satisfie any man of his attonement with God is the direct and immediate Testimony of the Spirit of God himself in man testifying together with a mans own spirit i.e. with his heart soul and conscience that this attonement is made and he accepted by God this is the Apostles express Doctrine Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God The Spirit it self or the Spirit himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle by this Emphatical expression the Spirit himself seemeth To imply that the thing or act which he speaketh of is of a most worthy nature and import of a sacred consequence and such as well becometh him who is the Agent or Actor of it the Spirit of God himself But what is that worthy thing which the Apostle here attributes to so great an Agent as the Spirit of God It is a witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God which signifies as much as that our Attonement is made and that we are at peace with him it signifies this I say and somewhat more Well out how are we to conceive of that act here ascribed unto the Holy Ghost his witnessing this to and with our Spirits that we are the Children of God The Expression of witnessing with our spirit plainly implies that it is but one and the same Act of witnessing or witness-bearing which is here joyntly or in common ascribed unto the Spirit of God and the spirit of men and that the Spirit of God doth not bear any such witness as that here mentioned apart from the Spirit of men or when this doth not witness also From whence it appears that the witnessing or joynt-witnessing of the Spirit here spoken of is only a fortifying strengthening raising and enriching of the Witness or Testimony of a mans own spirit So when the heart and soul and conscience of a man shall with more than ordinary strength power and authority testifie unto or perswade him that he is the Child of God Or rather thus when a man shall find himself perswaded and possessed upon these high terms with such an apprehension it is a sign that the Spirit is in this perswasion and that it is he that giveth the vigour and all that which is more than ordinary unto it As the stream and current of a River is doubled and trebbled in the swiftness of the motion and in the depth and breadth of it when the rain-water or the waters of a Land-floud joyn themselves in the same motion with it making together one and the same stream In like manner when the apprehension or perswasion in a man of his being a Child of God magnifies it self at a high rate against fears and doubtings and jealousies in every kind it argues a Conjunction of both Spirits the Spirit of God and the spirit of man himself and that which is so over bearing and over-ruling in this perswasion is appropriately from the Spirit of God according to that of our Apostle immediately preceding the words in hand But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption by which or whereby we cry Abba Father We cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. cry aloud or with all our might as we lately noted the proper import of the word Now to cry aloud Abba Father signifies the inner man calling of God Father or a mans addressing himself unto God as unto a Father with a good courage or Princelike confidence A mans own spirit I mean with such an assistance of the Spirit of God as the weakest Christian hath may whisper or secretly mutter Abba Father But by the way this is to be remembred First That when the Apostle saith that by the Spirit Sect. 14 which we have received by the Gospel we cry Abba Father he is not so to be understood as if he meant that every one who hath received of the Spirit of Adoption in any measure were in a capacity hereby to cry much less actually did cry aloud Abba Father upon the terms lately expressed but he means that that Spirit which was sent down from heaven to accompany the Gospel and the Ministry of it might be received entertained and entreated by men and women as that they might become enlarged and enabled by him to cry Abba Father Things use to be described and especially commended by the best and richest of their fruits and by what they are serviceable for when they are in their perfection and not by their mean or less considerable fruits and services As the Apostle commending and setting forth the excellency of love or Christian Charity saith 1 Cor. 13.5 7. among other things Charity doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil And again Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things c. His meaning in these descriptions and commendations of Charity is not to imply that Charity in any degree qualifies men for
Fulness which Filii Terrae the Children of this World or Earthly-minded men do affect and set their hearts upon viz. To have their Barns full their Purses and Chests full their Bellies full c. Psal 17.14 144.13 Ezek. 16.49 Phil. 3.19 though this be but as I may say to be full of Emptiness or as the Wiseman better expresseth it of Vanity and Vexation of Spirit for that is the best that Earthly things afford so that in the Fulness of their sufficiency they are in straights as it is Emphatically observed in Job 20.22 There are also who may woe unto them be called Filii Diaboli the Children of the Devil who mind a Fulness of a worse sort than that newly named and that is to be full of Sin Acts 5.17 13.10 45. 19.28 Rom. 1.29 Jam. 3.8 2 Pet. 2.14 Rev. 17.3 4. but this alas is to be full of Wrath and Misery for Sin hath no better Attendants and Effects But Filii Dei the Sons of God the Children of the most High do mind are ambitious of and do cover after another and better Fulness viz. To be full of Light Mat. 6.22 Of Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 with 16. Of Joy Joh. 15.11 Acts 6.3 11 24. Rom. 15.13 1 Joh. 1.4 Of Faith Acts 6.5 8. Of Good-works Acts 9.36 Of Goodness Rom. 15.14 Of Knowledge and Assurance Col. â— 9. 2.2 Heb. 6.11 10.22 Of a full Age or perfect Stature Heb. 5.14 with Eph. 4.13 Of Mercy Jâ—m 3.17 Of Righteousness and its Fruits Phil. 1.11 To be filled with all the Fulness of God Eph. 3.19 And at last to receive a full Reward 2 Joh. v. 8. Beside all this there is one special Fulness more which they greatly desire and no less endeavour after while they are here below in Relation to all the other Fulnesses that they may be filled with them all which is to be full of the Holy Ghost or to be filled with the Spirit Luke 4.1 Acts 9.17 Eph. 5.18 and this is the thing about which the following Treatise is chiefly employed and mostly taken up and of which indeed it treats to very good purpose and to very great advantage I cannot but acknowledge to have profiâ—ed by the perusal of it and do heartily pray that the Lord who teacheth to profit will teach all that â—â—ad it to profit by it and make it instrumental to their being filled with the Spirit wherein there can be no Excess no sin as there is in being filled or drunk with Wine as the Sacred Text and truth assures us but advantages innumerable beyond all that Mirth and Glee which men presume they shall and fanfie they do attain by being filled with Wine Though I confess my self not to be of the same mind and opinion with the Learned Author in some other controverted Points yet I cannot but give my Testimony concerning this Peece That I find an excellent Spirit moving on the face and acting in the heart of it to promote the Glory of God the Power of Godliness and consequently the good of men especially of Christian men Possibly an Expression here and there may as all Humane Writings do call for a grain of Salt as we use to phrase it but as to the tenour of the whole and the tendency thereof I do judge it to be very inoffensive and not a little but very useful The Author 't is true according to his wonted Genius doth often traverse a great deal of ground and fetcheth some compasses before he come to his designed journeys-end yet he makes it pleasant too by such variety and will thereby pay the Reader for his pains and patience in following of him The Epistle of the Publishers and the Contents of the Book will give so clear and full an account of the whole that I shall need to say no more concerning it That this and all good Books may be well read and improved is the hearty Wish and Prayer of him who is a lover of all Christians yea and of all men Ralph Venning The Contents of the Chapters CHAP. I. THe Coherence and sense of the words opened What it is to be filled with the Spirit Four Doctrines raised from the words Proved from the Scriptures that it is the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit Page 1 CHAP. II. The first Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued viz. That it is the Duty of all Persons especially of all the Professors of the Gospel or Christianity to be filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God Because if men be not filled or in a way of being filled with the Spirit of God they will be filled with some evil Spirit one or other Page 15 CHAP. III. The second Reason of the Doctrine without being filled with the Spirit the hearts of men and women will never serve them to do excellent things for God Acts 5.3 Ch. 13. 9 10. Ch. 20. 22. 2 Cor. 5.13 in part opened Page 41 CHAP. IV. The Doctrine demonstrated by a third ground viz. That we are never like to be any great Benefactors unto the World which yet we stand bound in duty to be unless we be filled with the Spirit He is a great Benefactor unto the World that gives a real account of his believing in Christ Why Abraham called the Father of Believers The force of Example A mans keeping the Commandments of Jesus a great benefit and accommodation unto the World in two respects Gal. 6.2 in part opened 2 Tim. 3.8 in part opened So Eph. 3.14 15 16. The Saints praying for any good thing frequently in their prayer mention the means by which God is wont to give or effect it Page 45 CHAP. V. The fourth Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued Men are not capable of receiving the rich Consolations of the Gospel unless they be filled with the Spirit 1 Pet. 2.9 in part opened So Heb. 6.17 18. Eph. 3.17 18. 1 Pet. 1.8 Eph. 1.18 Jam. 2.13 Prov. 19.16 Acts 17.28 Mar. 4.5 and 6.16 Page 65 CHAP. VI. The fifth and last Reason of the Doctrine argued Men stand bound in duty to put themselves into a capacity of the fullest and highest rewards which God hath prepared for and holdeth forth unto the Children of men Inequality of rewards in glory argued The Parable of the Peny Mat. 20. considered The advantages of late Converts Inconveniences incident to to the early which yet may be avoided Dan. 12 3. in part opened 1 Cor. 3.8 Eph. 6.8 Gal. 6.7 1 Cor. 15.58 Rom. 6.23 Psal 138.2 Psal 25.8 10. Mat. 13.43 Phil. 3.21 2 Tim. 4.8 Mat. 20.20 21. Rom. 9.15 Mat. 5.48 Num. 25.11 12 13. 2 Thes 1.10 Eph. 1.23 2 Pet. 1.4 1 Joh. 3.3 2 Cor. 7.1 Heb. 11.10 17 18 19 26. Heb. 12.2 Joh. 17.5 Luke 22.43 Page 91 CHAP. VII Three Questions propounded to give further light into the Doctrine The first of them enquired into namely who or what this Spirit mentioned in the Text is
viz. Whether he be an increated Spirit even God blessed for ever or whether a created Spirit Several Scriptures opened and argued both from the Old and New Testament proving that the Spirit spoken of in the Text is none other than Johovah or the most High God The several Pleas brought against these Scriptures by persons contrary minded taken off and rendered invalid As also some Grounds in Reason propounded and argued to prove that the Holy Ghost is very God Page 142 CHAP. VIII The most material Arguments that are generally insisted on by those who deny the Divinity of the Holy Ghost are weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary Wherein also those Scriptures which are generally insisted on by those who perswade themselves and would also perswade others that he that is the Searcher of hearts is but of a finite extraction or the Holy Spirit of God is but a Creature are all discharged from bearing that burthen which is laid upon them As also the great profitableness yea the great necessity of this Discourse though somewhat large is asserted Page 196 CHAP. IX The Second Question propounded namely How or by what meanâ— a Believer or any other Person may be filled with the Spirit of God Some difficulties removed with one Direction propounded and largely discoursed whereby men and women may understand the intent of the Exhortation and what it is that is required of them when they are commanded to be filled with the Spirit Wherein also the Grace of God and the free working of his Spirit is clearly vindicated and asserted Page 239 CHAP. X. The Resolution of the Second Question further prosecuted And six Directions more given to shew how men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit of God and what is to be done by them in order hereunto Page 279 CHAP. XI A third Question propounded viz. How a man or woman may know whether himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or will some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but is indeed a Spirit contrary to it Wherein are several Rules laid down in order to a clear understanding thereof Pro. 6.9 10. 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. Jam. 3.17 Prov. 2.22 Chap. 9.6 Rom. 8.13 Psa 145.17 1 Cor. 2.10 11. in part opened p. 316 CHAP. XII The first Vse of the Doctrine by way of Instruction in four main Points First Shewing how comely a thing it is for men and women to be found obedient to the Commands of God in general and particularly how beautiful and honourable a thing it is for men and women to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be found acting accordingly Secondly An account given what strangers the Saints themselves are unto many great Duties and more especially unto this great Duty of being filled with the Spirit insomuch that even this Generation are as it were asleep thereunto Thirdly That this great blessedness of being filled with the Spirit is no impossible thing but is attainable by the endeavours and engagements of men Fourthly and lastly That it is the Will and Design of God that Believers should be a Royal Generation of Kings and Priests unto himself and that they should live accordingly p. 345 CHAP. XIII A Second Vse of the Doctrine being a Vse of Reproof unto all those who are Enemies unto this heavenly Exhortation and Counsel of the Holy Ghost administred unto men namely to be filled with the Spirit and who by any means obstruct the course of it A first sort are such who scoff at such a thing as a being filled with the Spirit of God A second sort of Offenders are such who perswade men that the Spirit which they are exhorted to be filled with is but a finite Spirit an Angel and not God Wherein many things are further argued proving the Holy Ghost to be the most High God Page 358 CHAP. XIV A third sort of Offenders reproved are such who instead of following the Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit take a course to be emptied of the Spirit of God Who make it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit Wherein the several Scriptures and Reasons by which they strengthen themselves in their evil way are examined and found bent against them And likewise the necessity of the Ministry of the Gospel and the great benefit thereof largely asserted and vindicated Page 387 CHAP. XV. Five sorts of Offenders more under the Second Head reproved First Such who are chill and cool in their respects unto the Ministry of the Gospel An account of the Causes thereof The danger of false Notions concerning God A second sort reproved for withdrawing from a lively and powerful Ministry Reasons of such miscarriages Legal and Evangelical Ministry distinguished What renders Persons duly fitted for the Ministry of the Gospel The third sort justly reprovable are such who neglect to be led by the Spirit of God How and when the Spirit of God is neglected A fourth sort justly reprovable also are such that do resist the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God The fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who refuse to sow unto the Spirit of God Page 419 CHAP. XVI The fourth and last Vse of the Doctrine being an Exhortation to use all means we are capable of in order to a being filled with the Spirit of God Three Motives propounded The first More generally taken from the nature of the Commandments of God That this Duty is one of the holy and righteous Retinue of Duties enjoyned us by God Neglect of his Commands provoketh him to Jealousie The second Motive This being known to be a Duty enjoyned by God neglected hinders the Soul from prospering in the things of its own peace The vast difference and great danger of an habitual Omission of known Duties in comparison of Duties a man is ignorant of A third Motive This is a Duty enjoyned by the Lord Christ who speaks now from Heaven The difference between God's speaking on the Earth and now speaking from Heaven Neglect of Evangelical Duties much more provoking than the neglect under the Law Heb. 12.25 in part opened A being filled with the Spirit purely Evangelical Page 452 CHAP. XVII Four Considerations more to enforce the Exhortation The fourth Motive the great benefit accruing unto men and women by a serious engagement in a course likely to issue in a being filled with the Spirit It will free men and women from foolish unclean and noysome lusts somewhat peculiar in this engagement differing from others though worthy in their kind A fifth Motive proving that in case men do what God hath and doth enable them to do in order to a being filled with the Spirit of God this their enterprize shall assuredly prosper in their hand Hope of obtaining great encouragement unto Endeavours Some more of the great Priviledges that accompany a being filled with the Spirit A
sixth Motive That the Reasons and Vnderstandings of men are not capable of being employed upon terms of greater benefit and advantage than in this engagement A seventh Consideration taken from the uncertainty of obtaining the things of this World by all the means that can be used and also from the uncertainty of the continuance of these things if gotten Whereas a being filled with the Spirit as it is attainable so by a perseverance in the use of means our attainments in this kind shall stand by us for ever Page 463 CHAP. XVIII The Eighth and last Motive That a being filled with the Spirit will render the Condition of men and women most desirable in this World and in that which is to come That no other course will do it but this or none without this Four things a concurrence whereof will render a man's Condition in this life most desirable 1. A freedom from all troublesome distracting and tormenting fears and cares 2. A heart and conscience abounding in Joy and Peace 3. A large and free Communion with God 4. And lastly A rich and large interest in God to be able to carry great Matters in Prayer with him Three of these insisted on 1. A being filled with the Spirit will discharge men from all troublesome and distracting fears and cares 2. The Peace and Joy of men will abound by a being filled with the Spirit 3. A third particular which renders mens Condition so desirable in the World is a free and large Communion with God 1. What is meant by Communion with God 2. What by a free Communion 3. What is meant by a large and full Communion with God 4. How this Communion renders man's Condition very desirable in the World 5. That this Priviledge must needs accompany a being filled with the Spirit What it is for God to dwell or abide in man How a man may know that God dwelleth in him by the Spirit which is given him How perfect love casteth out fear In what respect the Spirit may be said to witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God A well-grounded Confidence The Causes of a false Confidence enquired into A good Conscience a ground of Assurance Page 482 CHAP. XIX The Eighth Motive further opened in the fourth particular a being filled with the Spirit doth interest men with a rich and large Interest in God How this Interest doth arise by being filled with the Spirit of God Reasons why so little is done by Prayer now in comparison of what was done in the Primitive times Without being filled with the Spirit none of the great blessings formerly mentioned and which render a mans Condition so desirable in this World are to be obtained The Reasons whence it comes to pass And the equitableness of God's proceeding with men therein The difference between a fearless and dreadless frame of spirit that is counterfeit and that which is raised upon good Grounds A being filled with the Spirit is the only way to cause the Crown of glory to flourish on the head of a man And that with a greater measure of glory in the World which is to come Page 522 ERRATA PAge 8. Line 22. for te read to p. 14. l. 28. for of r. as p. 16. l. 23. for never r. ever p. 18. l. 23. for the inspiration thereof r. his inspiration p. 24. l. 20. for men r. man p. 60. l. 34. after on r. of p. 61. l. 8 for effecting r. affecting p. 63. l. 21 dele or doth Ibid. l. 4 r. for and r. of the. Ibid. l. 42. for of the r. and. p. 66. l. 11. for Princes r. Prophets p. 77. l. 16. for heavenly r. lovely p. 84. l 5. for it r. them p. 87. l. 10. for maniture r. manuducture p. 107. l. 2. for leaving r. left p. 109 l. 36. for of 1. as p. 121. l. last for most r. not p. 146. l. 2 for that r. though p. 162. l. 18. after whci r. it Ibid. l. 40. for in r. into p. 163. l. 41. for apparence r. appearance p. 165. l. 8. for it r. he p. 181. l. 24. for interest r. request p. 186. l. 2. r. it is the first born lb. dele it is p. 190. l. 18 for consent r. conceit p. 191. l. 10. for zealoufly r. jealously p. 213. l. 26. for or r. but. p. 216 l. 19. for undeceivedness r. underivedness p. 228. l. r. after Believer r. But. lb. 18. dele But p. 231. l. 19. for any r. an p. 236. l. 15. dele that p. 248. l. 28. add whereby p. 254. l. 34. for exhibiting r. excitings p. 268. l. 21. dele because p. 284. l. 23. for by r. for p. 289. l. 26. for having r. have p. 300. l. 21. for I r. A. p. 311. l. 25. for obtain r. attain p. 323. l. 6. dele of p. 346. l. 10. for grateful r. graceful p. 348. l. 17. for absolute r. obsolete p. 352. l. 24. for to r. who p. 354. l. 19. for picking r. higgling p. 364. l. 28. dele that p. 366. l. 25. for suits r. fruits p. 374. l. 27. dele judgeth that he p. 385. l. 8. for who r. we p. 396. l. 18. after seen r. in p. 397. l. 8 dele that p. 400. l. 24. dele of p. 423. l. 19. for chose r. choose p. 430. l. 41. for of r. for p. 445. l. 43. after yea r. there are p. 456. l. 6. for if r. which p. 375. l. 15. after sums r. are p. 484. l. 1. for where to be r. to be where p. 490. l. 11. for be r. he p. 506. l. 5. for as r. so as p. 538. l. 37. dele was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A being filled with the Spirit Ephes 5. the latter part of the 18 verse But be filled with the SPIRIT CHAP. I. The coherence and sense of the words opened What it is to be filled with the Spirit Four Doctrines raised from the words Proved from the Scriptures that it is the duty of all Christians to be filled with the Spirit THe tenour of the former part of the verse is this Sect. 1 And be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit The Apostle having in the former part of this Epistle as his usual method was declared and laid down foundation-wise that great Doctrine of the Christian Religion namely justification by or through faith in Jesus Christ In the latter part thereof he builds upon this foundation Precepts and Exhortations to such duties and behaviours which may very justly and equitably be expected upon the account of such rich grace from God vouchsafed unto sinful men in their free justification by Christ Now in Precepts and Exhortations unto Christian duties there is not alwaies a dependence or relation of coherence between duty and duty or between that which goeth before and that which followeth after But Exhortations are many times like unto Solomons Proverbs which resemble Jewels or precious stones not set together in order
or in any form of special aspect one upon another but as it were laid together in great heaps Yet there is I confess a relative opposition between the words read and the former part of the verse plainly intimated by this adversative Particle But And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess But be filled with the Spirit Which Particle clearly implies that to be drunken with wine as we have it or as the word elsewhere frequently signifieth To drink wine freely or to be given inordinately unto it to sit upon the brink of the pit of drunkenness though possibly you may not fall into it Is a thing inconsistent with your being filled with the Spirit For wine being freely drank as it inflames a man or the body of a man So on the contrary it quencheth the Spirit in him and causeth that to abate its fervency by degrees and to withdraw more and more from the Soul or else obstructeth his entrance into a man For the clearing the sense and meaning of the words there are three things briefly to be opened First Sect. 2 What is here meant by the Spirit Secondly What it is to be filled with the Spirit Thirdly why the Apostle exhorts and perswades to a being filled or to a filling of themselves with the Spirit by occasion of the preceding dehortation viz. from being drunken with or from being given to much wine For the first There are several significations of the word Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet it is as clear as the Sun that the Apostle hath nothing to do with in this place 1. It sometimes signifieth the wind Joh. 3.8 2. Sometimes it signifieth courage or such a frame of heart which is opposite to despondency or extremity of fear Josh 5.1 Neither was there Spirit in them any more 3. It sometimes signifieth the mind disposition or inclination of a man Pro. 14.29 But he that is hasty or rather according to the original short of Spirit i. e. that is of a Cholerick or rash temper or disposition being not able to contain himself or hold out in patience for a little season under temptations exalteth folly 4. It sometimes signifieth the soul of a man and this is a frequent acceptation of this word in the Scripture I need not cite any instances for this places of this import are obvious and frequent Sometimes the understanding or discerning powers or faculties of the soul are signified thereby Exod. 35.21 Every one whom his Spirit made willing i. e. whose judgment and understanding in artificial work inclined him to a willingness in that kind viz. for the work of the Sanctuary There are these and several other significations of the word Spirit which by comparing the place in hand with the particularities of them it will be found as clear as the Sun at noon day that they are none of them to be understood or meant in this place and therefore for expedition sake I shall omit them Neither shall I argue against any of those several senses of the word Spirit even now mentioned That by the Spirit Sect. 3 here is meant the holy blessed and incomprehensible Spirit of God the third of the three Persons in the divine Being or Essence Besides the concurrent judgment of the best Expositors upon the place It may be evinced from the Antithesis or opposition the words read have unto the former part of the verse As also from the comportance and perfect agreement in the next verse with this signification of the word Spirit For the first the Apostle opposeth their being filled with the Spirit to their being drunken or filled with wine Now take the word Spirit in any other signification whatsoever besides that we have pitched upon viz. for the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God and you will not find any such emphatical liveliness in opposition between being drunken with wine and being filled with the Spirit you may make trial and take an account of particulars at your leisure But now between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God there is such a strong clear and pregnant opposition that the one fighteth against and excludeth the other For he that is drunk with wine is full of the spirit of sin and of the devil and during either the act or the habit but especially the act of such a drunkenness such a person is utterly uncapable for that time in sensu composito so long as he is under the power of his drunkenness of being filled with the Spirit of God As on the contrary he that is filled with the Spirit of God is in no capacity during this his fulness of being made drunk with wine wherein is excess But Secondly That by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God is further evident from what the Apostle immediately subjoyns in the next verse Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs making Melody in your hearts unto the Lord. As men that are drunken or enflamed with wine are apt to speak to themselves and to entertain one another with light vain and unsavoury mirth and Songs of carnal and sinful jollity In like manner if ye be filled with the Spirit of God you will be apt and able to speak to your selves and solace and delight your selves and be in a steady posture to teach and admonish one another with matters of a spiritual and heavenly import So that God himself will take a holy contentment in your mirth and rejoyce with you Whereas the vain and sinful mirth of the others namely of those that are drunken with wine is the hatred and abhorring of his soul But now there is no filling with the Spirit in any other sense of the word Spirit that only excepted which is pleaded for that is proper or likely to qualifie men or women for these spiritual exercises of an heavenly mirth It is only a being filled with the Spirit of God that is like to act or work the heart and soul of a man into such a posture or frame of spiritual rejoycing We might further confirm this exposition by taking into consideration all those instances in the Scriptures which are many where men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by comparing them in their respective context with the Scripture in hand we might shew that the Holy Ghost there and the Spirit here are one and the same See Acts 2.4 c. 4.31 c. 9.17 c. 13.52 We read likewise of persons full of the Holy Spirit Luke 4.1 Acts 6.3 5. c. 7.55 c. 11.24 c. thus you see what is meant by the Spirit Secondly Sect. 4 What is it to be filled with the Spirit Or What is it that the Apostle means or what is the nature or property of the duty he requireth of them and which is imposed upon them when he chargeth them to be filled with the Spirit or as in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the being filled with the Spirit But the reason of this Connexion and Conjunction of these two things namely that upon the use of such means as we speak of this great effect shall be produced or end attained unto viz. a being filled with the Spirit The reason I say of this Connexion is the eternall Counsel the gracious Law and Decree of God and so of the Spirit of God himself He having set it down and determined it and accordingly revealed it That thus it shall be so that the effect of being filled with the Spirit of God is not the result of the means but the proper product of that Eternal Law and Decree which God himself hath made For otherwise if we shall suppose that there were no such Law or Decree of God in being if men should use never so much means do the same things a thousand times over it would never be accomplished so that the reason why men come to be filled with the Spirit of God upon the using such and such means is not because of the means but it ariseth from the mighty force and irresistible power of the Decree of God this is that which triumpheth over all the use of means The Decrees of God are so full of grace and bounty that they do not stand to measure inches as we use to speak in the things of men so that unless they find so much worth or goodness in them they shall never pass with God neither the performers of them be made partakers of any rich anoynting from him No This is not the tenour of the Decrees of God in general nor of that of which we are speaking particularly but it hath a more favourable aspect upon his Creature man and importeth such a thing as this I know the nature of my Creatures Men and Women and the utmost of what they are able to do their weaknesses and frailties being considered Yet let them but do what they can let them shew their willingness to comply with me and they shall have as much assistance from me and from my Spirit to help them on in this blessed design of being filled with my Spirit as their hearts can desire And indeed this is one of the highest and greatest vouchsafements of God unto the children of men that he hath opened unto them such an effectual door or way whereby they may fill themselves or be filled with the Spirit All other means which God by his providence hath vouchsafed unto men of another nature as to make them great rich honourable c. amongst them all there is none greater Nay none so great and of so sacred an import unto them as this which we are speaking of viz. That God hath shewed them a way and vouchsafed unto them means to be filled with the Spirit which hath this blessed tendency in it to raise them to the highest pitch they are capable of in the love and favour of God When men are filled with the Spirit they are no more like unto other men They are more excellent than their neighbours Prov. 12.26 For by this means as we shall hereafter shew more at large they shall be enabled to act in a peculiar Sphere by themselves leaving the world yea and the Saints themselves who have but a little or small proportion of the Spirit to move in a lower and more inferiour Region Whereas they shall mount up on high and be carried as it were on Eagles wings enabled to do worthily Great and excellent things shall put forth themselves in them things that shall have more of heaven more of glory more of beauty more matter for admiration than can be found in or raised from the stirrings movings and doings in the world round about them So that by this you may easily judge of what a blessed consequence it is unto men to be filled with the Spirit of God 3. The third and last particular Sect. 6 proposed for the opening of the words was to shew why the Apostle subjoyns this positive Exhortation or Precept concerning their being filled with the Spirit by way of Antithesis or opposition to the negative dehortation not to be drunken with wine I answer this seems to be the reason thereof because that which invites men to drunkenness is a certain kind of jollity lightness or freeness of spirit that is occasioned by the drinking of wine according to the judgments of many who write concerning the tempers of men who say that there is a kind of lightness and frenziness of Spirit which is occasioned by the drinking wine wherein some men take more content and satisfaction than they do in any other thing And therefore the Holy Ghost doth direct them to such a course wherein they shall have far better contentments not indeed of the same kind or flowing from the same cause but however they shall be satisfied in that which they so much desire they shall have jollity lightness and chearfulness of Spirit indeed of a far better nature and upon far better and more excellent terms than what they could expect from their being filled or drunken with wine That jollity or mirth of spirit which men please and solace themselves in when they are under the influence of wine is but melancholy and dull or dead in comparison of that mirth and rejoycing that pleasantness of mind and spirit which they shall certainly attain unto and be made partakers of if they would but take the same course to be filled with the Spirit which they do to be filled with Wine So that this is the reason as I conceive why the Apostle subjoyns this affirmative Precept unto the negative Dehortation The Doctrines which we shall raise from the words thus opened Sect. 7 are only these four First from the adversative Particle But which as hath been said notes an opposition between the latter part of the verse and the former Doctrine 1 This Doctrine springeth forth viz. That drunkenness with Wine or inordinate drinking is altogether inconsistent with a being filled with the Spirit Or if you will we may phrase it thus That inordinateness in drinking is inconsistent with a filling with the Spirit Secondly From the Phrase here used Be ye filled with the Spirit The Apostle's meaning only being as was shewed that he would have them use the means take such a course that they might be filled with the Spirit Doctr. 2 The Doctrine is That in matters of Religion and things appertaining unto Salvation to use the means and to obtain the end are interpretatively and in effect one and the same Or thus That in spiritual concernments a regular use of means and the obtaining the end are by the Counsel and Decree of God inseperably joyned together The Apostle had in vain exhorted the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit if having used the best means they were able thus to be filled they might notwithstanding remain empty The Counsels and Exhortations of God in the Gospel are not like unto
moved to do any thing for the good of this Creature of his may be absolute and in all respects every way free For the object or opportunity for grace to shew it self or for to act is not in strictness of consideration misery or extremity these are the appropriate objects and opportunities of mercy But the proper opportunity for grace to shew it self is either 1. A flat or dead irrelativeness in point of merit in him to whom grace is shewn or to be shewn in reference unto him that is supposed to shew grace so that the person is no waies beholding no waies debtor unto him to whom he is willing to shew himself gracious Or else 2. A relation of demerit injury or provocation in him to whom grace is shewed towards him that sheweth grace or dealeth graciously by him So that he that sheweth grace hath not only no tye or ingagement at all upon him to shew any such thing but on the other hand hath much before him to disswade and take him off from it Now if he shall be pleased to overlook all these injuries and shall these notwithstanding deal graciously and shew kindness this is properly an act of grace 3. Neither was it simply or only the misery wherein men lay plunged that wrought upon the mercy of God so far as to move and prevail with him to open that door of relief and deliverance unto him which now he hath done but it was his misery so and so circumstantiated in one respect or other as is evident from hence because otherwise the misery whereinto those more excellent Creatures of his the lapsed Angels are fallen being every whit as great if not far greater than that of man would have had the same motive or operation upon the mercy of God to do the like for them which the misery of man had and so have prevailed with him to have provided deliverance for them also But this only by the way 4. And lastly for this That which was properly matter of grace in God towards man being fallen was not procured or drawn from him by any thing in man any waies obliging him thereunto or by any consideration whatsoever relating unto man or his condition But was every way free meerly intirely and absolutely from himself And this is one thing and the first thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of acting in the Spirit of God consists viz. That without any moving or obliging cause whatsoever from without or on mans part He is pleased to intreat him sweetly and lovingly and to come unto him as it were from heaven to visit him to converse with the Children of men in the secret of their hearts and souls to instruct and teach them the things of their eternal peace to admonish and excite them to the imbracing and prosecuting of them yea and to follow them with his Promise to look after them and assist them And these things he doth to all men without exception to a certain degree when they first come by the use of their judgments and understanding and by the putting forth of their consciences to be capable of them yea and doth increase and advance these his gracious workings in them untill either by a long continued neglect of his presence with them or by some higher hand of sin and wickedness practiced in opposition to such gracious motions and transactions of his within them they weary him and quench those gracious operations which his presence affordeth unto them and bring it so to pass that he taketh no pleasure or delight in them Secondly Sect. 9 Another thing and that which already in part hath been mentioned wherein the graciousness and freedom of the Spirit of God in his working consists is this viz. That he is pleased sweetly and graciously to intreat men not only without any cause on their part moving or obliging him thereunto But against many provocations that might in reason have perswaded him to the contrary I mean to have absented himself from them and to have abandoned and abhorred them for ever and left them to have perished in their sin eternally Who can number all that variety of sins and provocations which centred and met together in and about that first and great transgression of Adam What strain of sin and wickedness was there wanting There was unthankfulness pride unbelief contempt of God sensuality murther of Posterity and that without end and what not almost of all that the soul of God abhorreth And all this great concourse and assembly of all sorts of Impieties and Provocations from the greatest to the least of them were as so many Orators and Pleaders against man before God and disswaders of him from ever respecting or taking the least care or thought what became of him and yet the grace of God and of the good Spirit as we have both heard and known to our comfort hath through that abundant freeness thereof magnified it self against them all It had been grace yea freeness of grace in the strictest consideration of both words if God or the Spirit of God should have moved in mercy or love towards his creature Man upon a level or plain ground I mean without any worthiness or desert or any inviting consideration in man But that the Spirit of God should be in his visiting of men like a river of water running up a steep hill my meaning is should vouchsafe to make applications of himself unto them in order to their eternal peace against such height and fierceness of demerit injury and provocation is indeed somewhat more than simply and meerly free grace if we had a word of more excellent signification to express it by and the truth is we want words to express it For that grace which God hath vouchsafed unto men in their salvation and in the means thereof and in the great condescension of the Spirit of God unto men is more and somewhat of a higher nature it carries a richer and more glorious notion in it than simply of grace of meer grace or of free grace because this free grace might have been shewed unto men in case they had never sinned It was the grace of God to create man upon those terms that he did to put him in a capacity of continuing in that honour and happiness wherein he was created and to adorn him with such rich and excellent qualifications because the Creature could deserve none of these things it could deserve nothing before it was But having sinned for God to exhibit such terms of love and goodness and bounty as he hath done this is somewhat more if we know what to call it than meer grace or free grace The Apostle Paul makes it more than so and an higher expression of it than his I think could not have been given down from Heaven at least 2 Amat compositiones Paulus cum Prepositione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that should in any degree have been intelligible by men a For he takes
to propose unto himself and unto his Spirit for his dealing with the world And for exceptions it is a common saying and true that an exception from a general Rule strengthens and confirms the Rule in all particulars not excepted for there is no general Rule as the saying is that hath not some exceptions Now these exceptions that are to be found from the general Rule we speak of are so far from taking it away or making any breach upon it that indeed they give great confirmation and authority unto it By that standing Rule we speak of God doth explain himself to this effect that men should not expect any extraordinary coming of the Holy Ghost upon them but wait for him in his ordinary way And the truth is those standing Laws and Rules of which we have spoken may be the result of the choisest and most excellent wisdom of the Holy Ghost and of God in ordaining them and yet it may be a point of the same wisdom likewise in some cases to act contrary to them There is a time saith the wise man to build and a time to pull down though these be contrary actions yet according to the exigency of differing times and seasons and occasions both may be done with a like wisdom So that the Holy Ghost may ordinarily walk by one rule and yet in extraordinary cases may walk by another Rule and both with uniformity unto his grace and goodness towards the world But it will be still objected That the Holy Ghost doth not move or act by any determinate Law prescribed unto himself no Sect. 17 not in his ordinary proceedings with men For doth he not many times ever and anon shew himself in his might and in the glory of his strength and power in working effectually upon the hearts and consciences of men that have been loose and vain and a long time wicked and prophane In answer hereunto we might commend unto you those particulars which we have formerly delivered upon this account to consider of But in the sixth place we shall add this to the five preceding which we will not stand now to name that persons that have been loose prophane despisers of God and the Gospel c. may on the sudden and at once seem to be truly converted and brought home unto God when that which is wrought in or upon them in this kind is but either that which some call a Sermon-sickness when the Conscience of a man is only troubled or wounded with the dreadful concernment of the things he hears but soon after recovers himself out of this fit and is the same man he was or worse than before As when Paul before Felix was reasoning of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come it is said that Felix trembled Acts 24.25 But this was but like an earthquake under which the earth is much troubled and shaken as if it would be removed out of its place but soon after recovers and returns to its wonted stability Or else the work we speak of suddenly wrought in loose sensual and prophane persons may possibly not vanish and come to nothing and yet not be a real work of Conversion yet doth it not follow that the Holy Ghost should be found therein to recede from his own Law mentioned To him that hath shall be given because possibly a man may have more in him by way of improvement within the space of one hour and perhaps in a far shorter time than another in the space of several hours yea or years and yet be an Haver too in the sense formerly declared my meaning is this That a man or woman may possibly with a less assistance of the Spirit more effectually provoke and stir up themselves and advance their minds and attentions to the hearing and considering of the Gospel the words of eternal life when they are speaking unto them than another man with a greater measure of assistance of the same Spirit may do within the space of a far longer time and yet be doing somewhat all the while As in matters of a Civil concernment one man with a lesser stock only with more diligence and wisdom may advance his estate more within the space of one year than another with a greater stock being less industrious and provident may do in three and this man may not go backward neither That hath been heretofore signified unto you that the Holy Ghost seldom or never withdraws from any man so low unless it be in the case of the unpardonable sin but that a person may by means of his gracious presence with him if he will provoke and stir up himself accordingly he may consider the things of his eternal peace and act and behave himself accordingly That God is said to open the heart of Lydia Acts 16.14 So that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul doth not prove that Lydia had a greater presence or assistance of the Spirit of God than any other that were present at the preaching of the Gospel whereby she was converted But only notes the happy event and success which that assistance she had had in and upon her heart like unto which there was none wrought or produced in any other there present by any presence or assistance of the Spirit which they had This is a Principle or Rule according to which many things are spoken and are to be taken and understood in the Scriptures viz. that when one and the same action is raised and produced by a joynt concurrence of two different causes one principal and independent in its efficacy or working the other subordinate and dependent in the acting thereof the effect or work produced between them is sometimes as in good propriety of speech it may be ascribed to the one and sometimes to the other but more commonly to the former that which is the principal So that act of opening Lydia's heart because God was the principal agent in it and cause independent in working it though this was not could not be without Lydia's act in consenting God opened and she opened too for she repented and believed see Rev. 3.20 yet the work is ascribed only unto God But this by the way Seventhly Sect. 18 and lastly When there is any such example in reality and truth as the objection mentioneth viz. a person on the sudden converted and brought home unto God which hath formerly been loose vain and prophane there may be somewhat more than an ordinary presence of the Holy Ghost in and about the work without any declining of that Law or Rule before mentioned from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath For it is to be supposed and not at all to be doubted that even he that hath not in our Saviours sense of the word have that hath not any thing upon improvement of his original stock yet may have somewhat commodious and advantageous unto him at this turn upon the account of some other one or
a service that seems vain rash or needless in the eyes of most men then the glory of it shall shine round about him and he shall see as in a vision of the noon day this conveniency and that this consequence and that attending upon it all great and excellent and worthy and by this means the heart comes to be full of it full of the greatness and the goodness and the worthiness of it full of the sense of the benefit and blessing which it will bring along with it So that though all the world should rise up against him to disswade him from it they could not do it For in such a case there would be no opportunity no roomth in his heart or soul for any carnal disswading interposure to enter or to intermeddle about taking him off from it As when the glory of the Lord had filled the Temple the Priests could not enter into it to do their Office or any work belonging to them here 2 Chron. 7.2 In like manner when the Holy Ghost hath filled the Temple of the soul with the glory of great and high ingagements for God and for the Gospel such reasonings and conceits which are wont to purvey for the flesh and to sacrifice all that comes to net pleasures and profits unto it cannot now find entrance hither to inveigle or intice the hearts or consciences of men to hearken unto them So that we see the truth of this reason That unless men and women be filled with the Spirit of God they will never be able to advance in such waies and courses and to hold out in many practices and services without which the honour of God the reputation and credit of the Gospel of Christ cannot be maintained like unto themselves in the world The Gospel will suffer loss and lose ground unless it be held up and the present interest of it maintained by some such worthy practices and undertakings of the Saints as those we have now spoken of and which we have shewed will hardly be attempted much less performed and carried through with that height of courage and resolution which will make the face of the Gospel to shine unless they that shall be called to be Actors of them shall be so emptied of themselves as to be filled with the Holy Ghost and by this means be lifted up above themselves CHAP. IV. The Doctrine demonstrated by a third ground viz. That we are never like to be any great Benefactors unto the world which yet we stand bound in duty to be unless we be filled with the Spirit He is a great Benefactor unto the world that gives a real account of his believing in Christ Why Abraham called the Father of Believers The force of Example A mans keeping the Commandments of Jesus a great benefit and accommodation unto the world in two respects Gal. 6.2 in part opened 2 Tim. 3.8 in part opened So Eph. 3.14 15 16. The Saints praying for any good thing frequently in their prayer mention the means by which God is wont to give or effect it THe third Reason of the Doctrine is this Sect. 1 Every man stands bound upon this account to be filled with the Spirit of God Because otherwise a man will never become any great and signal benefactor unto the world He will never bless or serve his Generation at any worthy rate or as becomeâ—h an heir apparent to life and immortality to do There are two things in this Reason the one supposed or taken for granted as clear and evident enough in it self the other plainly affirmed That which is supposed is this That it is every mans duty to become a Benefactor and this in some degree considerable unto the world This is nothing but what every man stands charged with by God I mean to be singularly and signally active for the real and crue interest of the world whilst he continueth and abideth in it That which is plainly laid down and affirmed is That a man without being filled with the Spirit will never be in any rich or competent capacity to perform his duty in this kind Now concerning the former though it be a truth shining clear enough with its own light yet because every mans eyes haply are not sufficiently opened to see it let us make a little eye-salve of the Word of God to anoint them with that they may be opened to see it First then that all men are bound to believe in Jesus Christ at least all men that have the Gospel preached unto them though there be little question indeed of others Secondly That they are bound to do the best they can to make the world believe this concerning them I mean that they do indeed believe on him As will the one as the other of these is I suppose every mans apprehension and no mans question or doubt Now if this be true Full that every man and woman of us stands bound to believe in Jesus Christ And secondly to do that which is proper and sufficient to convince the world that we do thus believe it evidently followeth That every man stands bound to do some great and worthy thing for the World and to be a Blessing to his Generation For there is nothing lies within the sphere of humane activity of more worthy or higher accommodation or concernment unto the World than to present it with a clear Vision of the sight of a man Believing with his whole heart in Jesus Christ or else to shew unto men the sight of the World it self Conquered and Overcome by a man With both these sights every such man or woman presenteth the World who telleth the World with authority and power that is by a manifest contempt of the World in all that it can either do for him or against him that he believeth in Jesus Christ There is not a greater sight to be shewed or seen in the world than to shew it plainly and cause it to see distinctly the heart of a throughout Believer in Christ or to shew it in like manner the World Overcome by a weak and mortal man Now both these sights a man doth shew when he doth cast contempt upon the World Such a man presents the World with both these with a man really believing in Jesus Christ and with a man having the World under his feet Most men when they pretend or go about to let the World know that they believe in Jesus Christ speak like unto the Spirits of Divination the manner of whose speaking the Pophet Isaiah describeth by peeping and muttering Isa 8.19 as if they were afraid to speak out or plainly lest they should be taken tardy with speaking a lye being conscious to themselves of their inability positively to declare the truth concerning the things which are inquired about at their hands by their Proselites and Customes In like manner the generality of Professors amongst us who pretend to give the world to know that they believe in Jesus Christ do but peep and
mutter their lives and doings speak their Faith but brokenly and indistinctly they do but whisper so that the generality of men can understand but little of what they say in this kind They speak in their way as men that were jealous and half afraid least in time they should or might be discovered to speak untruth when they say they believe in Jesus Christ Such a broken intricate and uncertain account as this given by men unto the World that they believe in Jesus Christ doth no great service unto the World For all such a restimony or assertion of these mens believing in Christ the World will be at liberty and find it self loose enough from being perswaded or convinced that such men do in deed and in truth believe in him And whilst they remain at liberty in this kind they are but where they were the Faith of a person made known but by halves hath but a weak influence but a faint operation upon men being like unto a Trumpet that gives an uncertain sound upon which no man prepares unto the battel as the Apostle speaketh But now he that shall speak out shall speak plainly and without a Parable that shall with authority give or rather make the World to know that he doth really and in truth believe on Christ he will do some worthy execution upon them he will make work to some purpose in the hearts and consciences of men Such a testimony will cause men to awake out of their sleep and stand up from the dead and so prepare and put them in an immediate capacity of receiving the light of life from Christ Eph. 5.14 We know there is an attracting an encouraging Sect. 2 and provoking force in Example to the similitude and likeness of actions yea and sometimes to the similitude of passions or of sufferings also at least to the adventure making of like suffering as Paul said Many waxed confident by his bonds and suffering Phil. 1.14 and were hereby much more bold to speak the Word without fear For seeing Paul make no more of his bonds than he did they began to think that suffering persecution for the Gospel was no very great matter Therefore now they also would preach the Word confidently and with all boldness as he had done In like manner when men shall see the World neglected trodden and trampled upon by a person believing in Jesus Christ by means of this his believing and shall behold this person raised in his spirit enlarged in his comforts and enjoyments with the World under his feet the sight of such an example as this will provoke them also to trample the World under their feet likewise Your Zeal saith the Apostle speaking of their great forwardness and alacrity in contributing towards the necessities of the poor Saints 2 Cor. 9.2 hath provoked very many viz. in the same kind to the like bounty and liberality And yet we know men are as hard as unlikely to be provoked by examples in this kind I mean to part with their money as by any other kind of example whatsoever In like manner the zeal of any man in believing in Jesus Christ being made visible unto men by such deportments and actions which can in reason or in the judgment of conscience have no other root to bear them but this the zeal I say of such a Believer may set the whole World on fire round about him and provoke many to do likewise Abraham may very probably be thought to have the spirit of this glory cast upon him to be stiled the Father of Believers because his notable Example was in the nature and proper tendency of it so generative so apt and likely to replenish and fill the World with a generation of Believers And the Apostle Heb. 12.1 brings a cloud of Witnesses to this very end unto those to whom he writes viz. to encourage strengthen and provoke them to believing yet more and more and to continue believing unto the end So then this is one Reason which plainly demonstrates an Obligation lying upon every man to be a signal Benefactor unto the world viz. That he stands obliged by command from God to believe in Jesus Christ and not only this but to compel the World to know that he deth indeed thus believe He that shall do this shall lift up his hand on high to bless the Generation of the Sons and Daughters of men amongst whom he converseth and shall take a course to open a door unto them to become the Sons and Daughters of God by believing likewise and consequently to become happy and blessed for ever And because of this notable efficacy and potent tendency which a man's Faith in Christ demonstratively asserted by life and waies appropriate to it hath to bless the World by drawing men into Communion in the same course of engagement with him the Lord Christ hath I conceive imposed it in the nature of a spiritual Assessment on every man and woman in the World that believeth namely that they make Profession of this their Belief in the Face of the World that so the World may be made to know that they believe yea and hath included it in the same act by which Salvation it self is granted unto believers Thus Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart c. Now because Confession is one way by which the Faith of men may be made known to the World therefore doth he impose by way of Tax the Confession of the mouth his meaning is as Expositors generally understand it the whole life and conversation He that believes and is baptized shall be saved Here he joyns faith or believing and profession together and insures Salvation upon both Baptism or to be baptized in those daies especially was as it were the first born of their profession of Faith in Jesus Christ And therefore I take it to be an assertion that is to be understood figuratively or syneedochically viz. for a solemn or serious Profession of their Faith He that believeth and is baptized that is he that believeth and shall let the World know that he believeth such a man shall be saved So Mat. 10.32 He that confesseth me before men him will I confess c. So that we still find that upon mens Believing or upon their Conversion they have had some such spiritual imposition as this laid upon them viz. to be helpful to others When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethreu So behave thy self that this Conversion of thine may efficaciously tend unto the Conversion or Confirmation of others And so David knew what his duty was what was imposed upon him when as God should restore unto him the joy of his salvation Psal 51 13. Then saith he shall I teach transgressers the way and sinners shall be converted unto thee As if he had said I know the task that is laid by the hand of the Righteousness of Heaven upon me namely that
of recovering them to any degree of health and soundness of mind had need be one of a thousand as the present stature and constitution of the World generally now is I mean had need be a person as like unto an Angel of God as flesh and bloud is capable of the assimilation a person so deeply baptized into the hope of life and immortality so acted and carried out of himself by the Spirit of the World to come that he hath left the know ledge both of persons and of things after the flesh and knoweth nothing neither the one nor the other but according to the Spirit only that is how they relate unto the honour and glory of God and how they may be made serviceable unto the peace and comfort of men The Apostles being made by the Lord Christ Feoffees in trust for the World in the managing and ordering the invaluable Treasure of the Gospel to the best profit and advantage for the Inhabitants of it yet as concerning the preaching of this Gospel were directed by him to stay at Jerusalem untill they were endued with strength from on high untill they were baptized with the Holy Ghost Luke 24.49 The reason hereof was least in case they should go forth into the World no better provided with Wisdom Knowledge Faith and Courage c. than they were at present and before the golden shower had rained upon them the work and service they had to do for the World in preaching to Gospel and otherwise would have been found too hard for them and to overcharge them and have been unto them as New wine in old bottles which by reason of the strength and high working of the Spirit of it it being yet new is like to rent and break them in peices and so to make both them and it self useless And indeed men had need be endued with strength and power from on high to do such things as will reach the necessities of the World with any likelihood to relieve them For these the necessities of the World are very many and some of them very great and hard and difficult to come at yea there is nothing more difficult than to make the men themselves willing to receive a Cure Therefore he upon whose hand it lyeth to relieve the deep poverty of the World as it lyeth upon all our hands to bear a part and this as large as may be in so great and blessed a work had need be endued with special strength and power from on high And what is this but to be filled with the Spirit these being desirous to let the World know and cause men to understand he was their Messiah without which knowledge he could not bless them this I say being his design and desire he was necessitated upon this account to do such things among them which no man ever did nor indeed could do Joh. 15.24 otherwise they had been in no capacity of receiving any benefit or soul-accommodation by his heavenly Doctrine nor by any work that he should have done among them unless they had had this distinguishing and peculiar Character whereby to have been known from all the works in the World besides and that they were such that no other man could do For if they had been no other than what others could do as well as he it is like they would have proved but like to the former works of Moses which wrought not at all upon Pharaoh or the Aegyptians because Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers did the like whilst their hand held out with Moses all that he did was to no purpose as to any conviction upon Pharaoh or his people that Moses was sent by God The Sorcerers by doing things like unto those which Moses did are said to have resisted or withstood him 2 Tim. 3.8 viz. in his attempt and endeavours by working miracles to convince Pharaoh that he was sent unto him by God to require of him the dismission of his People out of his Land For as long as his Inchanters were able to vie Miracles with Moses at least as name of God But now when Moses came to do such works which neither Jannes nor Jambres nor their Master himself the Devil could do nor any like to them then Pharaoh and his Aegyptians began to look about them and the Magicians themselves acknowledged in these the finger of God Exod. 8.19 So if we intend to bless the World or do any great things for our Generation so long as our waies and course and Spirit that works in us are but like the waies and spirits of other men that do not declare stoutly and aloud for Jesus Christ whose live and doings have no peculiar relation to him so long I say as we go but their pace and act at their rate alas the World will despise us and all our sayings and doings For whilst natural and carnal mens works will hold out with the works of Professors all this while the World stirs not but keeps its wonted posture of security and obduration whilst those that pretend to Faith in Jesus Christ shall not rise up in Acts of Christianity above the Line and Level of all that can be done by any other hand or spirit whatsoever but only that same most glorious spirit of Faith all this while they minister little or nothing to the necessities of the World My Brethren our arrows will fall short of the mark and we shall do little more than beat the air if we think to do any worthy service unto the World unless we shall quit our selves as a peculiar People a Royal Priesthood and a chosen Generation We must be a Generation by our selves and in all heavenly worth and excellency above the World before we can have any power over it to work and fashion it into any shape or form that God may take pleasure in And if we shall do works distinguished by a Character of such excellency and beauty in them like unto which there is none found amongst the Children of men excepting such who are eminently the Children of God also this is that which will reach the World and make the foundations of the unbelief and wickedness thereof to quake and tremble Then and not till then are we like to stand the World in some considerable stead but consider we a little the particular in hand We gave instance of three things in general which all persons stand bound to do and by the performance whereof they shall approve themselves signal Benefactors to the World and occasion many to say unto them these or like words Blessed are the Wombs that bare you and the Paps that gave you suck The first was to believe with the Centurions Faith Mat. 8.10 I mean with a Faith so great that there is none to be found like unto it no not in Israel to believe above the Faith of ordinary Believers Yea doubtless it is the duty of every soul of us to believe above the present degree of
the Faith of the greatest and best resolved Believers amongst the Children of men The second thing was this to display manage and act this Faith before the World that they may see it as it were face to face and that the fruit evidence testimony and account of it may be fully adaequate and Commensurable to the truth and all the degrees of the reality of it The third and last thing whereunto all men stand bound and by the performance whereof they must needs bless the World was the keeping of the Commands of God How and in what respects the performance of all these must needs stand the World in eminent stead was shewed formerly We have now only to shew how they cannot be performed without their being filled with the Spirit of God who shall perform them First Sect. 8 For that notable strain and generous kind of believing we spake of As no Faith no kind or degree of believing can be attained or raised in the soul but by the Holy Ghost so much less can any excellent or worthy strain hereof be raised or exerted in men but by the glorious might of the same Holy Ghost Doubtless there is no man believeth upon any other terms than those did who are said Acts 18.27 to have believed through grace that is through the gracious operation and assistance of the Holy Ghost So likewise 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your hearts or souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit c. implying that neither had they obeyed the truth meaning the Gospel that is believed it the Gospel being there under the notion of truth as elsewhere made the Object of Faith had not the Spirit of God done very graciously by them in awaking and exciting them hereunto They would never in any serious manner have so much as though upon this believing had not the Holy Ghost put them upon it The Gospel and mens hearts are commonly strangers the World and their sensuality and folly make them so They have little knowledge one of another and doubtless would never have been brought together but by the mediation of that most gracious and blessed Spirit Now the Spirit of God bringeth the hearts of men and the Gospel together by causing a kind of enterview to be between them for a while upon which if there be not an extream frowardness and desperateness of folly in the hearts of men the glory and beauty of the things to be believed being presented unto them by the Holy Ghost will overcome them and so there will follow a blessed union and agreement between them Now as the first and lowest greeting between the Souls and consciences of men and the Gospel was procured by the simple interposure of the Spirit of God so must that glorious and more near interview between them which we call face to face viz. such a Faith which giveth presentiality or real subsistence unto the great things of the Gospel in the spirits and souls of men which alone is the Faith that will bless the World by amazing it with its glory breaking forth in semblable actions this say we must be obtained not simply by the Holy Ghost but by him in his more sublime and raised actings Eph. 3.14 16. For this cause faith the Apostle bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward man c. The Apostle travelling in birth with a great matter of grace and spiritual blessing for this people and Church of God he telleth them he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named c. meaning by this Character and Consideration that he is the Root of all that Family that is worthy to be put into account that is of all that are holy and righteous where ever they be and that they take their denomination as well as their spiritual and happy being from him But for what did he bow his knees to the Father of c It was That he would grant them according to the riches of his glory see how he laboureth and toyleth to be delivered of what he had conceived to ask of God for them to be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. But why doth he insert this clause according to the riches of his glory Doubtless his meaning is to inform them that though the request which he was now making unto God for them was exceeding great viz. that they might be strengthened with might by his Spirit c. yet there was good ground of hope that he should obtain it because the grant of it was but according to the riches of his glory that is proportionable or sutable to that glorious abundance of Grace Love Bounty Power c. which reside in him and are his Glory So that he knew that God could very well afford it notwithstanding the greatness of it being so richly furnished with all things necessary for the performance of it So that it is as if he had said I know it were in vain for me to how my knees to God for any such benefit for you as your strengthening with might by his Spirit did not I know he is exceeding rich in Glory in Bounty in Grace in Love c. Therefore in this you may be comforted that I do not beg this heavenly bread for you out of any desolate place or at such a hand where it was not to be had or from any such heart which is shut up against you no but from him who is both able and willing to give unto all that ask Good measure heaped up pressed down and running over Luke 6.8 Yea and this in things of greatest consequence and value well knowing that it is his glory thus to do Now to be strengthened with might in the inner man signifies more than simply to believe Yea more than simply to be strengthened in or by believing it imports a powerful strengthening or an excellent and high degree of corroboration or stoutness in their spirits hearts and souls by means whereof they should be able both to do and to suffer and this without much regret or trouble greater things for God and for the Gospel than the common sort of Believers can But why doth pray that this mighty strengthening in the inner man might be wrought by the Spirit I answer Because it is the appropriate work of the Spirit thus to elevate and raise the hearts and spirits of men above fears and doubtings God never conferring this high Priviledge upon Believers themselves without his interposure And besides it is considerable that it is the manner of the Saints throughout the Scriptures and so it was observed by Christ himself in his Prayer Joh. 17.11 17 19 20. that whenever they make any great request unto
necessary uses that they be not unfruitful he clearly supposeth that they who truly believe in God are in danger notwithstanding their Faith of being unfruitful and that to maintain the honour and necessity of good works by an exemplariness in the practice of them requireth a peculiar strain of wisdom and care over and besides a mans believing But this only by the way to shew that mens Works do not alwaies keep pace with their Faith but are very frequently much behind it Thirdly Sect. 10 There is the same consideration of the third thing mentioned which is the keeping of the Commands of God If we do this we shall do something like unto the Children of God and worthy the heirs Apparent of Heaven and of the glory of the world to come And indeed it becomes these to quit themselves like Princes in the World and to be Soveraign Benefactors to the Community of men For wherefore are they called the Sons of God more than other men if they be not like unto god in blessing the World in their capacity as he doth in his And yet neither shall they be in any capacity for this so honourable a work or imployment I mean to bless the World by keeping the Commands of God unless they be filled with the Spirit of God For my Brethren the Commands of God and so of Christ we know are spiritual The Law faith the Apostle is spiritual Rom. 7.14 and Believers themselves even they that believe in the highest the worthiest Believers under Heaven are carnal in a very great measure whilest they carry about them the body of flesh that will still be importuning them to take care and make provision for it yea for the inordinate desires and lusts of it in several kinds It will ever and anon be putting even the best men upon projecting and contriving its gratification in this pleasure and in that in this enjoyment and in that without end As the dunghil sendeth forth noysome and offensive vapours and stenches continually So the Flesh all the day long ceaseth nor to breath upon us in many unsavoury foolish troublesome and importune suggestions and motions still lusting as the Apostle expresseth it against the Spirit And doubtless it was an obnoxiousness in this kind that drew from him that sad complaint not only of his being carnal but even sold under sin Rom. 7.14 meaning that he was a man seldom free from some sinful insinuations or other from his flesh yea and that pathetical lamentation also Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Ver. 24. Now these continual workings and movings of the flesh are of a strong antipathy against and next to an utter inconsistency with the keeping of the Commands of Jesus Christ For as we lately heard it lusteth against the Spirit and so fighteth against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 And therefore the Apostle himself was fain to take order with his body to keep it under and teach it subjecton to the Spirit and Word of God 1 Cor. 9.27 So we should nurture it likewise and teach it to demand and require of us only things that are regular and agreeable to the mind of God and to be content with things that are requisite needful and comely for it And if the Flesh would but contain it self within this compass and not exceed in craving and desiring the bounds of that Law which God hath prescribed unto it it would not much interrupt us in our course of obedience unto Christ But now there is no mans flesh so well taught or nurtured or brought into any such subjection but that it will be importuning him for things that are inconvenient and be unreasonable in its motions as it alwaies is when it lusteth against the Spirit Sometimes and in some things it lusteth with the Spirit as when it requires I mean or doth without impatience or frowardness only such things as are convenient and meet for it as such meats and drinks such cloathing and harbour such rest c. which is for the support of it and without which the health and strength and serviceable activity and vigour of it cannot in a natural or ordinary way be maintained All this while it lusteth with the Spirit for the Spirit demands and requires such things of us for the flesh and outward man But now for the most part it lusteth against the Spirit as in seeking to be gratified in things contrary to the Spirit and the dictates hereof to those Laws of holiness and righteousness which God himself hath judged meet to prescribe unto it So that unless we be in a great measure spiritual which must be by being filled with the Spirit of God certain it is we shall ever and anon faulter and be broken in the course of our obedience and not carry on the great design of observing the Commands of God with that throughness with that evenness of tenour with that authority life and power which are very requisite and necessary to be found in those whose worth and goodness have ingaged them to attempt the Blessing of the World For if there shall be any breaches and empty places found in our obedience if we shall ever and anon fall foul upon any of the more remarkable Commands of Jesus Christ alas we shall endanger the repute and worth of the goodness of those other things wherein we shall obey and walk regularly they will lose much of their virtue and authority in the hearts and consciences of men if they shall be mated and coupled with actions and practices that are ignoble and base yea though it be but with omissions and neglects of such duties which the World knows we stand bound to perform as well as those which we do in their sight Therefore there is an eminent and clear necessity for the interposure of the Spirit of God both to enable and make us willing to nurture and keep under the flesh that it moves orderly and regularly so as not to be troublesome unto us with craving any thing that is sinful and inordinate or which intrencheth upon the glory of God and honour of the great Law-giver Jesus Christ or at least to make us resolute and peremptory to reject with indignation all dishonourable and unseemly motions that it shall make unto us and to hearken unto it in nothing in our condescension whereunto any of our great interests or spiritual concernments are like to suffer in the least Even this is an high and holy priviledge and not to be obtained or enjoyed by men without the high exertions and workings of the Spirit of God in them And by the careful and constant exercise and use hereof we spin such an even and strong thread of obedience to the Commands of God whereby we shall be able to draw the world unto him For as Christ said long since unto the Jews Joh. 4.48 Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe So the truth is that men
generally will never look into their hearts nor reflect seriously or to any purpose upon themselves till they be some way or other amused and struck with admiration If we shall not reduce the World to some such pass as to marvel and to wonder and to think strange of us what manner of persons we are or what we mean or whence we have our Principles c. we shall never come at the dull hearts and at the sleepy Consciences of worldly and carnal men They must see signs and wonders of Righteousness Goodness and Humility Love Patience Meekness and other like Christian Vertues whereof they are capable Otherwise they will think themselves excusable in their not believing So then this is a third reason of the Doctrine Without being filled with the Spirit we are never like to be any great Benefactors to the World CHAP. V. The fourth Reason of the Doctrine propounded and argued Men are not capable of receiving the rich Consolations of the Gospel unless they be filled with the Spirit 1 Pet. 2.9 in part opened So Heb. 6.17 18. Eph. 3.17 19. 1 Pet. 1.8 Eph. 1.18 Jam. 2.13 Prov. 19.16 Acts 17.28 Mar. 4.5 and 6.16 Sect. 1 The fourth Reason It is therefore a duty lying upon every man and woman especially upon those who pretend to the honour of the high Calling of Saints to be filled with the Spirit of God because otherwise they will be in no capacity to receive from the hand of God and to be filled with those rich and strong Consolations during their abode here in the World which God hath provided for them in the Gospel And which he will actually confer upon all those that shall be found meet to receive them In this reason as in the former we suppose one thing and affirm another The thing we suppose and take for granted as not questioning the truth of it Yet for the satisfaction of those who possibly may question it we shall a little put to the consideration The thing is this I mean that which the reason supposeth viz. That it is every mans duty and more especially every Believers to desire and seek after part and fellowship not only in the Consolations of the Gospel but in the highest and richest Consolations which the Gospel administreth or which are attainable by means of it Upon what account this is or may be a duty will appear presently by inquiring into it But that which we affirm in the Reason is this That without being filled with the Spirit of God we are not meet Subjects nor Vessels regularly prepared to be filled with the strong and excellent Consolations of the Gospel For the former of these the thing supposed That it is every mans duty and more especially the duty of all that look upon themselves or are looked upon by others as Believers to thirst after the sweetest and richest waters of life that the heavenly Fountain the Gospel from any place or vent of it one or more sendeth forth and to break through all impediments all difficulties to come at them is evident enough upon this ground viz. That we all stand bound to declare and testifie unto the World and this as well by deeds or real demonstrations as by words or verbal account or assertion the unsearchable riches of the grace and great bountifulness of God towards the Children of men in this present world as well as in that which is to come 1 Pet. 2.9 But we are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People Why all this To shew forth the praises or vertues or as the Etymology of the word imports the pleasing or lovely things of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light c. That you may shew forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies to speak out or declare aloud so that all may hear that your sound may go forth into all the World Now when he minds them that they are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood c. that they should throughly and effectually shew forth the vertues of God He plainly sheweth that it was Gods intent in honouring and enabling them in making them Kings and Priests and Princes by the Gospel to put them into a way or capacity of informing the World upon terms of the best advantage as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to shew or declare out imports to make known unto the World what manner of God he is how abounding in all excellent desirable and delightful properties and dispositions and with whatever else is likely to commend him and his service and waies unto his Creatures the Children of men Now if God desires such a thing as this casting such a Spirit of Glory upon men by the Gospel in making them a separate and choice people that they should thus publish and proclaim all that which is excellent and glorious in him certainly it is their duty to do it and this upon the most worthy terms they know how and consequently to enlarge their Capacities to the utmost that they may do it effectually that they may do it with authority and power Yea if it be possible to the astonishment and holy amazement of the World round about them This certainly is the duty of men to contrive and cast about how they may recover or gain the best ground of advantage for the performance of such a service as this is unto God So then this is that which we said that all that claim the dignity of Saintship especially stand bound by vertue of this claim above other men to steer such a course to use such means that they may be Children of the richest and most glorious Consolations of the Gospel because otherwise they will stand upon a lower and less advantageous ground for the service they will be but in an under capacity to make known unto the World the things that God hath prepared for them that love him they will not be able to publish them without some detriment and loss of their transcendent worth and excellency which inconvenience they might in a great measure at least have prevented by the course mentioned For first the Consolations administred by the Gospel take them in their height and strength where they rise highest they are very glorious unspeakably glorious Secondly Such persons who do not provoke and stir up themselves mightily that do not lift up their hearts to such means which are proper to obtain them are not likely to obtain them Thirdly and lastly they that are not possessed of them that do not enjoy them are in no better posture to shew forth the vertues or lovely things of God like themselves and as they might and ought to shew them than Zatheus by reason of the Iowness of his stature was to see Christ in a great throng and press of people until he climed up into the Sycamore tree Luke 19.3 So long as men have their Vessels only washed
that capacity we speak of I mean of being filled with these heavenly Consolations This is that which we said was directly laid down and affirmed in the Reason given For the proof hereof we shall not need to add much to what hath been already delivered upon the same account For we have shewed and proved from that of the Apostle Rom. 8.13 That the deeds of the body cannot be mortified but by the Spirit yea and by the Spirit acting and working at some excellent and very considerable rate which imports a mans being filled with the Spirit in the sense first declared Again from that of the same Apostle Eph. 3.16 we proved that no person could be mightily strengthened in the inner man but by the Spirit of God And this as we said in the former case advancing himself to some worthy degree in his operation and working upon the heart and consciences of men So then he that is not filled with the Spirit is like to be a man of this present World addicted to the waies pleasures or profits of it and consequently in an incapacity of those Soveraign Consolations of the Gospel we speak of according to what was lately proved For inordinacy of addiction to this present World and the things thereof is a lust of the flesh and consequently will not cannot be effectually subdued or mortified but by the assisting efficacy of the Spirit of God For it is the Spirit as the Apostle informs us that lusts against the flesh Gal. 5.17 And indeed it is the Spirit only that lusts against it as being contrary to it as the Apostle there speaks and nothing else contrary at least nothing so vigorously so perfectly contrary unto it as the Spirit If you ask me In what sense or consideration is the Spirit of God said to lust against the Flesh I answer First The nature or native and proper Genius of the Spirit of God is to desire and to delight in and to act such things as are of a contrary nature and tendency to the Flesh and to the things which that desireth and delighteth in and in this respect may be said to lust against the Flesh viz because it desireth and this very strenuously things opposite to the things desired by the Flesh Secondly The Spirit may be said to lust against the Flesh because he stirs up motions and desires in men contrary unto those which are occasioned by the flesh As the flesh inwardly provokes unto and causeth men to desire things that are unjust unholy and things displeasing unto God c. The Spirit secretly exciteth to all things contrary hereunto as to things which are just and righteous and holy Or Thirdly and lastly the Spirit may be said to lust against the flesh or the unregenerate or corrupt part of the soul or rather that weakness or aptness unto sin which cleaveth unto the soul because it seeketh the utter abolition and destruction of it or because it admonisheth the Saints to desire and endeavour this abolition of it yea the utter extirpation and rooting of it out of their Kingdom Now then as no man is slain or ruined by any person unless it be casually or against his will which is no common or ordinary case but only by him who lusteth against his life and this at an high tate of lusting for every motion of envy and hatred or wishing that a man were dead will not lead a man so far as violently to take away his life so neither is the flesh like to be abolished crucified and destroyed by any but only by such or by that which lusteth against the very life and being of it and this with some potency and strength of lusting And this must needs be the Spirit of God because there is nothing that lusteth against the life and being and continuance of it but the Spirit of God If it be objected and said Sect. 11 That Reason and Conscience in men may lust against the Flesh as well as the Spirit And consequently may attempt the crucifying and destroying of it as they did in some Philosophers and moral men amongst the Heathen and so men may be put into a capacity of the first-born Consolations of the Gospel without being filled with the Spirit viz. by being filled with Reason or Conscience at least if the crucifying of the flesh be sufficient to invest men with this capacity To this I answer First That if Reason or Conscience do at any time lust against the flesh oppose or stop the lustings or movings of it they do it by vertue of a certain superintendency and instigation of the Spirit of God It is the Spirit of God which puts them upon it For in him that is to say through or by means of him saith the Apostle speaking of God and more particularly and appropriately of the Spirit of God we live move and have our being Acts 17.28 When he saith in him we live he doth not mean we Saints we Believers as if none lived in God or through the Spirit of God but such men But we men for it was spoken by a Heathen Poet and the Apostle doth justifie the saying by incorporating it with the Word of God by using it as or instead of a saying from God himself For so it was though it passed through a corrupt hand yet it came from God In him we live we move we men all men in the World Saints or others we live in God that is by God or through God for so the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in often signifieth that is by means of his supporting us If men do not only live in by or through Gods supporting of us but move also and this as well morally as naturally with our hearts and wills as well as with our bodies or the members hereof Certainly when we move regularly and as becometh us as we do when either Reason or Conscience within us do their office in any kind and when they do not regard the flesh within us when ever I say we act or move thus regularly we do it by somewhat more at least by nothing less than an ordinary exertion or putting forth of his gracious presence in us If we move one way or other morally or naturally sinfully or righteously yet every of these motions that proceed from us proceeds also from or by the Spirit of God though the sinfulness of no motion proceeds from him much more when we move according to Rule then certainly this is by means at least of his ordinary if not to a degree more than an ordinary putting forth of himself and his gracious presence with us Thus then in the first place if Reason or Conscience do at any time or in any particular case lust against or oppose the flesh or corruption in man they do it by means of the Spirit of God within them For as there is an inhabitation and consequently an operation of the Spirit appropriate to the Saints or Believers so there is an
account touch only one place more at present though there be very many consorting with it Having therefore these Promises meaning of that high and sacred consequence as those now mentioned ver 16 17 18. of the preceding Chapter let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 As if he should say Had you only matters of lighter concernment or less desirableness promised and proposed unto you for your encouragement and reward than those insured you by God in the Gospel you might much more reasonably demur upon the exhortation now given you yea or absolutely reject it I know it is a very tedious and uncouth thing unto you and next unto death if not equal to it yea or above it to abandon all Sensuality to crucifie the Flesh with all the lusts and deeds thereof and seriously to strive after perfection of holiness both in Flesh and Spirit But the things promised and confirmed unto you by God in the Gospel are so above measure desirable and super-transcendently glorious that for the enjoyment of them you shall offer no violence at all to your reasons or judgments but rather highly satisfie and content them by hearkening and submitting unto all that the Exhortation requireth of you Gospel Precepts are not to be reconciled with flesh and bloud but only by the mediation of Gospel Promises but these are proper to make peace yea and more than peace even mutual love and delight between them This for a second consideration Thirdly Sect. 17 According to the import of this last particular and in pursuance of our present design it is observable that the most generous and heroick services performed unto God by the best and worthiest of men are by the Holy Ghost still ascribed unto the desires and expectations which they had of those magnificent rewards and that superlative glory which he hath promised unto those that obey him which cannot reasonably imply less than that such desires and expectations were amongst other motives and inducements which it is like strengthened their hand also to those great undertakings predominant in them That one Chapter Heb. 11. recordeth many more instances in this kind than at present we judge needful to insist upon And the Chapter following one that is much greater than all those In the former of these Chapters The reason of that ready and signal obedience which Abraham yielded unto God when he called him to go out into a strange Country he knew not whither where he dwelt in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob is thus expressed ver 10. For he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God So that which enabled him to another as great an act of submission unto God if not a greater I mean the offering up of his only Son Isaac in sacrifice unto him upon his Command is intimated to have been a certain expectation and hope that according to the import of this Declaration or Promise made unto him In Isaac shall thy Seed be called God being able to do it would raise him up from the dead in case he had been actually sacrificed ver 17 18 19. Those most eminent and renouned strains of Self-denial in Moses as that he refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Aegypt all these high actings I say are ascribed unto the influence which the hope of the great things promised by God unto those that should quit themselves with the like faithfulness had upon him For saith the Text he had respect unto the recompense of reward ver 26. as if it should have been said It is the less to be marvelled that he should deny himself at that most worthy and exemplary rate considering that he was seriously intent upon and taken up with confident expectations of those soul-ravishing enjoyments which he knew God had promised unto Self-denying men Doubeless both Moses and Abraham were persons of as great ingenuity of as gracious spirits as great lovers and friends of God and of all righteousness and goodness as the ordinary nay the more choice and improved sort of Christians are yea and doubtless these worthy Principles were not asleep in them when they acted those magnalia hominum those stately things of men which have been mentioned Yet the Holy Ghost as we have seen attributeth none of those great things done by them unto any of these neither unto the love of God love of righteousness or the like but only unto the inspirations of those desires and hopes of the excellent things which God had set before them as rewards of their obedience which wrought in them respectively By the way then that Doctrine which teacheth it to be unlawful to serve God or do the best actions with an eye to the reward promised unto them cannot but seem very uncouth and strange to considering men Certainly the express tendency of it is at once to destroy if it were possible both Nature and Grace out of men Yea let me add upon this occasion that were it possible yea were it never so probable or likely that men out of the meer love of God or of goodness without any thought of or respect had unto the recompense of reward might or would live holily and quit themselves as worthy Christians yet should they sin in tempting God and in spreading a snare in their own way in case they should neglect the great and sacred Encouragements which God hath given them by promise to strengthen their hand unto such waies For when God hath prescribed and vouchsafeth a plurality of means for the enabling of men to the performance of any duty it is a sin even a tempting both of God and a man's self also to despise or neglect the use of any one of them But this occasionally only If you desire more instances where the high services of the Saints are imputed as well sufferings as doings unto their desires and hopes of inheriting the great and precious Promises of God you may at leisure peruse ver 7 15 16 35. of the late mentioned Chapter Heb. 11. Paul himself seems to profess himself as it were a debtor to that incorruptible Crown he speaks of for those high animations by which he was acted to do and to suffer at an almost incredible rate for Christ and for the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. from 22 to the end But the instance in this kind and above all others is that of the Lord Christ blessed for ever It is said of him also that for the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame c. Heb. 12.2 It was that high exaltation which God the Father had set in the eye of his Faith that made that deep humiliation passable
increated Spirit or whether a created Spirit Many of you that are present I suppose know that there is an Antitrinitarian Spirit that hath broken prison of late and gotten abroad amongst as very busie in making Proselytes And as in the daies of Old this Spirit laboured to fill the World with this Doctrine That only one of the Three which John as you heard saith are one viz. He that is known unto us by the name of the Father is truly God And that the other two the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Spirit are but the Father's Creatures receiving though very excellent yet only finite and limited Being from him Wherefore as Moses said unto Aaron Num. 16.46 There is wrath gone out from the Lord the Plague is begun and hereupon wisheth him to go quickly unto the Congregation to make attonement for them Even so the Plague of this most dangerous Errour we speak of being begun amongst us already and several being intangled and insnared by it It therefore concerns those who are in a special manner intrusted with the great concernments both of God and men and upon whose shoulders it lieth more especially to contend for the truth I say it concerns them to lay about them with all wisdom and faithfulness in order to the convincing gainsayers or the Adversaries of this Truth We do not intend at present to speak any thing directly and particularly for the vindication of the God-head of the Second Person The Name by which he is best known unto us is Christ But only to plead the cause of him whom we with the ancient Christians call the Third Person in the Trinity or the Holy Ghost and briefly from the Scriptures to demonstrate him to be an infinite and uncreated Spirit and truly God Amongst very many passages as well in the Old as in the New Testament which with greatest evidence demonstrate the Holy Ghost to be God we shall only insist upon some few which we judge to be most clear and convincing Exod. 4.12 Jehovah translated Lord speaketh thus to Moses Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say From hence it appears that it is only proper for Jehovah or him that is God to be in the mouth of the Prophets and to teach them what to say Add hereunto that which we have Num. 12.6 And he said hear now my words If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord or I Jehovah will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream Now most evident it is from hence that he who spake by the Prophets and other Holy men of God as the Apostles was true Jehovah true God And hence it was that when the Prophets were about to deliver any Message to the People in the Name of God they commonly used this Preface Thus saith Jehovah or the word of Jehovah that Jehovah spake unto them or appeared unto them or the like places of this kind are without number in the Writings of the Prophets And the Apostle himself Heb. 1.1 expresly saith That God in times past spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets Now the Lord Christ himself affirmeth That it is the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost that thus speaketh in men Take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father speaketh in you Mat. 10.19 Therefore now if it was God that spake by the Prophets then and is interpreted by Christ to be the Holy Ghost then Jehovah or the Lord in the Old Testament is the Spirit or the Holy Ghost in the New And the Apostle Peter expresly affirmeth that it was the Spirit of Christ that spake in the Prophets 1 Pet. 1.11 And elsewhere he saith that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 Thus David also a little before his departure The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me 2 Sam. 23.2 And so Ezek. 2.2 And the Spirit entred into me when he spake unto me So that evident it is from these Scriptures diligently compared and laid together that the Holy Ghost who is from place to place said to have spoke unto the Prophets and Holy men of God was none other but Jehovah God himself Another place may be Lev 19.1 2. where Jehovah is said to have spake unto Moses saying Speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel and say unto them Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy Now he that spake these words unto Moses and ordered all these Ceremonies is in the New Testament said to be the Holy Ghost Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost this signifying c. Yet again Lev. 26.12 And I will walk among you and be your God and ye shall be my people compared with 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Cor. 6.16 1 Cor. 3.16 In all these places you shall find that the Saints in their Holy Assemblies are said to be the Temple of God and that God is said to be there and to walk amongst them Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 3.16 So again ver 17. For the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 6.19 What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost c 2 Cor. 6.16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God c. Now these persons you see in whom God is said to dwell are said to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost And that God that dwelleth amongst them is the Holy Ghost Deut. 9.8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord so that the Lord was angry with you compared with Isa 63.10 But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit That which in the former place is termed a provoking the Lord unto wrath so that he was angry Is in the latter by the Evangelical Prophet termed a vexing of his holy Spirit Psal 95.7 8. The Psalm begins thus Come let us rejoyce unto Jehovah And soon after ver 7. To day if ye will hear his voice c. He that contested with and complained of the People in the Wilderness was true Jehovah as appears also from several other Scriptures And they tempted God in the Desart Psal 106.14 and Psal 78.18 Yet the Apostle Heb. 3.7 plainly affirms that it was the Holy Ghost that was tempted wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. So that you see by these and many other such like places which might be readily produced if need were that he called Jehovah the Lord of Hosts in the Old Testament is called the Holy Ghost in the New Yet again Isa 6.9 10. The Prophet in the beginning of
is here plainly and in expressness of words attributed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God So Tit. 3.5 we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost And 1 Cor. 6 11. we are said to be washed sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God The parts likewise of Regeneration the several graces or holy dispositions of which the body of Regeneration is made up is attributed to the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. From the Scripture then propounded with the rest consorting as ye have heard with it I reason thus If the work of Regeneration be the appropriate work of God appropriate I mean so that it cannot be effected by any meer Creature without him then must the Holy Ghost to whom this work is attributed needs be God But such is the work of Regeneration Ergo. This latter Proposition I suppose will not be denied because evident it is both from the Scriptures and from the consideration of the nature of the work it self which we call Regeneration that it is not cannot be effected without the interposure of the hand and power of God True it is God may use Creature instruments about the raising and production of it as he commonly useth men his Ministers and their gifts together with his Word I mean his written Word but yet all these without his interposure will not do the deed will not reach the blessed effect of Regeneration The Scripture is very express and clear in this I have planted saith Paul and Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.6 7. When he saith that neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing he speaks not absolutely as if their agency in the business were simply nothing for he had said of himself and Apollo a little before that they were Ministers by whom they believed but he speaks this comparatively meaning that that which they did in the work of their conversion to the Faith was nothing in comparison of that which God did in it God could have effected it if he had so pleased without them but all that they did or were in a capacity of doing was nothing unless his hand had been with them Elsewhere those that are regenerate or born again are said to be born of God Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And again ver 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World c. to omit many other places So that evident it is from the Scriptures that Regeneration is a work which is appropriate unto God and cannot take place without him The Minor Proposition then in the Argument last propounded is unquestionable But to the Major Proposition it is like it will be replied that though the work of Regeneration be attributed to the Holy Ghost and withal cannot be effected but by God himself yet it doth not necessarily follow from hence that the Holy Ghost should be God because the Holy Ghost may have an agency or efficacie in it in conjunction with and subordination unto God as Ministers of the Gospel and the Persons themselves who are regenerated have To this I reply If the operation or efficacy of the Holy Ghost in and about the work of Regeneration were subordinate or instrumental we could not be said to be begotten or born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirit but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit as we are not said nor can in any tolerable propriety of speech be said to be begotten of men as of the Ministers of God though they be instrumental in our Regeneration but only by men according to the Apostles expression lately mentioned 1 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul who is Apollo but Ministers BY whom ye believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So as the Word of God is instrumental or subordinate to our Regeneration we are said to be begotten by it 1 Pet. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Word of the living God And elsewhere Jam. 1.18 God is said to have begotten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with or through the Word of truth The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still notes either the principle efficient cause or else the material cause of things produced but seldom or never the instrumental efficient cause Thus men are said to be begotten of their Parents You saith Christ to the wicked Jews are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Angel to Joseph concerning Mary Mat. 1.20 That which is begotten in her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to omit instances of this kind without number Therefore there is little question but that in the same sense wherein men are said to be born or born again of God they are said to be regenerate or born again of the Spirit It is true sometimes the Spirit is spoken of as instrumental or subservient in the works of believing mortification c. Peter tells the Saints unto whom he writes 1 Pet. 1.22 that they had purified their souls in obeying the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spirit i.e. by means or by the help of the Spirit So Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live But first it is to be considered that that subserviency which in these or the like passages seems to be attributed to the Holy Ghost is attributed unto him in reference unto men not unto God and the reason of the attribution is not to imply that He the Holy Ghost is not the principal or prime cause both of our believing and so of our mortification but only that with his agency or interposure about these works he never effects them without the consent and compliance of men themselves therewith So that in this respect men are said to purifie their hearts in believing the Truth through the Spirit and so to mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit when they fall in and comport with the preventing motions of the Spirit in order to these great and blessed works which may well and with clearness of apprehension stand with the Spirits being the first Author of yea and the principal Actor in them only it implies that He works none of these spiritual or heavenly things within us irresistibly or whether we will or no. And therefore Secondly Such attributions of subserviency unto men as these do no waies prove or so much
upon a mistake of the Scriptures and ignorance of the true nature of God First To prove that the Holy Ghost is not truly God they argue thus He that is distinguished from God is not God but the Holy Ghost is distinguished from God therefore he is not God To both these Propositions in order I reply first to the former and then to the latter To the Major or former Proposition I reply by distinguishing or explaining it there being a sense whereof the words are capable wherein it is to be admitted and a sense also wherein it is to be denied and so it is an ambiguous Proposition and of an uncertain signification Therefore when this Proposition saith He that is distinguished from God is not God If his meaning be this that he that is distinguished in Nature and Essence from God is not God the Proposition is most true for that which is â—inite cannot be infinite that which is Created and partaketh not of the increated Nature and Essence of God cannot be God But in this sense of the word distinguished from God the Minor is false for the Holy Spirit is not thus distinguished from God viz. in Essence and Nature as we have formerly proved Secondly The said Proposition that which is distinguished from God is not God may be understood in this sense That that Person who is distinguished from another person who is truly and really God is not God but in this sense it is false and neither is nor can be proved by the Proposers of it For such a person who is distinguished from another person who is God may be God likewise yea the same God with him though not the same person Otherwise it would follow that because the Lord Jesus Christ is often distinguished in the Scriptures from the person of God the Father as when he is called the Son of God and so when it is said that God sent him with the like and also where he is called Jesus it would follow I say that he should be truly God no more than the Spirit or Holy Ghost for these and many such like expressions in the Scriptures import a manifest distinction between him and God the Father Nor doth it therefore prove that because the Son is distinct from the Father that he is not God yea as the Scripture frequently distinguisheth between God and the Father therefore if the Proposition before us were true in the latter sense it would follow that neither should the Father be God because as I say the Scriptures distinguish him from God as Rom. 15.6 God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ You have the same expression 2 Cor. 1.3 So also Ephes 1.3 Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ So likewise Eph. 5.20 Unto God and the Father to omit others But the Author and Avoucher of the Argument now in hand cryeth ouâ— upon that distinction which is made between the Essence and Person of God terming it a wretched distinction and an ignorant refuge What he meaneth by a wretched distinction I do not well know or understand if he therefore termeth it wretched because it is poor and destitute of means or friends to support it he had small reason so to defame it For certain it is that it hath both means and Friends in abundance to support it it hath the whole glory in a manner of all the chief and choice Gifts Parts Wisdom Learning that hath been found in the Christian World from the daies of the Apostles untill now to stand by it and maintain it which have ministred Arguments and Proofs very bountifully unto it for its defense therefore in this sense it is not it cannot be wretched upon the same account he had small reason to call it an ignorant refuge That which had all the Wisdom Knowledge and Learning well nigh of all the Christian World to erect and build it cannot reasonably be suspected for an ignorant refuge If he calleth it a wretched distinction because it is the object of his hatred and he meant so to handle it so to bruise batter and deface it by bending the force of his Wit and Learning against it that hereby it should become desolate and miserable his spirit of Prophesie hath failed him at this point For the distinction is at this day notwithstanding all the contempt he hath poured upon it all that he hath done to misfigure it it is in as much honour and esteem with sober learned and understanding men as before yea his ignorant Zeal to dishonour and disparage it hath provoked the learned zeal of many to maintain it yea and to add more beauty and strength unto it But leaving his swelling words of vanity against this distinction let us hear and consider what his more sober and express Arguments or Reasons are against it First he saith That it is unheard of in Scriptures and so to be rejected it being presumption to affirm any thing of the unsearchable Nature of God which he hath not first affirmed of himself in the Scriptures these are his own words By the way before we come to reply to this Reason it is not unworthy observation how directly he treadeth in the steps of those who have a mind to oppose that which they fear they cannot solidly and substantially confute or overthrow For whereas those men whom he would be thought to oppose in his Doctrine against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost are wont to distinguish between God taken Personally and Essentially he represents them as if they distinguished between the Essence and Person of God which distinction is of a much differing import from the former I do not remember any learned man that ever asserted a distinction a real distinction of which our Adversaries seem to speak between the Essence of God and the Person of God as if the Essence or Nature of God were one thing and the Person of God or any Person in the Godhead another thing differing really from it yet the distinction of God taken Essentially and Personally is frequent amongst those who write about the Trinity How the word God may be taken sometimes Essentially and otherwhile Personally without supposing any real difference between the Essence of God and a Person in the Godhead may be shewed in due time or however may appear by what God shall enable us to speak upon the subject matter in hand But to the Reason or Argument propounded against the distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially viz. it is unheard of in the Scriptures I reply first that if he meaneth that these words Personally and Essentially are not literally or formally found in the Scriptures in this sense the truth of his Argument is granted But the pertinency and strength of it in point of proof of that which he infers from it viz. that therefore it is to be rejected is denied For it doth not follow that every distinction the terms whereof are not in expressness of words
that the word God in such Sayings as these cannot be taken Personally but of necessity must be taken Essentially viz. as signifying the Divine Nature or Essence wherin both Persons Father and Son do partake so that the sense and meaning of this Proposition is That the Father and the Son do subsist or are partakers of the same Divine Nature and Essence which Divine Nature or Essence is sometimes expressed by the word God So again when God is said to be a Spirit as Joh. 4.24 it is not to be taken Personally as if the meaning were either that the Father or the Son or the Spirit were a Spirit for though it be true of every of them that they are Spirits the Father is a Spirit and so the Son is a Spirit yet that our Saviour should here affirm it determinately or particularly of any one of them more than other no sufficient Reason can be given Therefore the meaning of our Saviour saying God is a Spirit must needs be this That the Divine Nature and Essence which is communicated to the Three Persons or wherein the Three Persons subsist and so are Essentially one and the same God that thâ—s Nature and Divine Essence is spiritual immaterial and invisible And yet more plainly Rom. 16.27 where God is termed only wise To God only wise be Glory The word God is to be taken Essentially because if it should be here taken Personally viz. for God the Father which our Adversary conceiveth and contendeth for with might and main affirming That to take God otherwise than Personally is to take him otherwise than he is and to mistake him and that there is no such acceptation of the word God in the Scriptures with the like But I say that in the place now before us To God only wise be Glory the word God must needs be taken essentially and not Personally is evident from hence because otherwise the Apostle must suppose that neither Christ nor the Holy Ghost had any wisdom in them or none considerable but God the Father only which how near or far off it is from Blasphemy I leave to sober men to determine Other places there are without number wherein the word God must needs be taken Essentially But these few produced and insisted on are sufficient for the proof thereof Therefore the distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially is not a distinction unheard of in Scriptures as our Adversarie groundlesly affirmeth unless as we noted before by being unheard of he meaneth in respect of the sound of words not in respect of the truth and substance of the matter neither do they who speak of God according to the sense and import of that distinction Affirm any thing of the unsearchable Nature of God which he hath not first affirmed of himself in the Scriptures and so are free from all the guilt of presumption upon such an account But the Adversary cannot be perswaded himself Sect. 3 nor be willing that others should be perswaded that the Scriptures should own or countenance any such distinction as that of God taken Personally and Essentially and therefore trieth his skill to make us believe that it is disclaimed by reason and accordingly levieth three Arguments or Reasons against it We shall propound them in their order as himself hath drawn them up and give replies unto them one by one First saith he It is impossible for any man if he would but endeavour to conceive the thing and not to delude himself and others with empty terms and words without understanding to distinguish the Person from the Essence of God and not to frame two Beings or things in his mind and consequently two Gods This is his first Reason to which we reply three things 1. Whereas to perswade others into his own Judgment or opinion he would put them upon endeavouring to conceive the thing distinctly to mould frame and fashion in their minds or imaginations the manner how a Divine Person should be distinguished from the Divine Nature or Essence Doth he not put men upon a direct course to make shipwrack of their Christianity and all they believe touching the Gospel and Christ Jesus For whereas there are many things plainly asserted and partly clearly supposed of the main Pillars of that Religion and Worship of God which the Gospel commendeth unto the World the mode or distinct manner whereof cannot be conceived or understood by men if so be men shall reject or deny them upon this account I mean because they cannot distinctly conceive or satisfie their imaginations how they should be they must together with the rejection of these reject all that which is built or hangs upon them which is as hath been said the main Fabrick or body of Christianity As to give an instance Because it is once and again plainly affirmed in the Gospel that a Virgin conceived and brought forth a Child and upon this Conception and Child thus brought forth we know that the whole projection and frame of the Gospel dependeth Yet who is able to conceive in his mind the distinct manner how she should or did Conceive or what the Holy Ghost particularly acted or did in order to enable or make her to Conceive or what she her self likewise did towards or about this Conception For to Conceive as well as bring forth is a Verb Active and importeth the doing of somewhat either per modum naturae or per modum voluntatis or both by her who is said to Conceive But that the whole Transaction between the Holy Ghost and the Virgin about the Conception of the Lord Jesus Christ God blessed for ever was mysterious and secret and the manner of it in respect of particulars purposely veiled by God is plainly enough intimated by the words or Phrases wherein the Holy Ghost himself expresseth the said business by the mouth of the Angel who first brought tidings from Heaven unto the Virgin of this high Favour intended by God towards her The Holy Ghost saith the Angel unto her shall come upon thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the vertue or power of the most High shall overshadow thee Luk. 1.35 Shall overshadow thee i. e. shall secretly and after a manner unknown not fit to be revealed unto men negotiate this great business with thee Now if a man should reason so or speak thus unto us about the Virgins Conception It is impossible for any man if he would but endeavour to conceive the things and not delude both himself and others with empty terms and words without understanding to understand or comprehend how a Virgin should Conceive Should he not attempt to perswade us out of the belief of the Gospel and to abandon our Christianity only upon this account because it requireth us to believe such a thing which we cannot conceive how it was or should be And what doth he less that argueth after the same manner to draw us from believing that a divine Person and the divine Essence can be
by the teaching authorizing or commanding of another really distinct from him that speaketh most certainly cannot be God Secondly A person may be said not to speak of himself the main strength subtilty and fallacy of this Argument lieth in that Phrase of himself viz. when he doth not speak of himself alone or without the co-speaking of another person with him for this you are to know and remember that many times the exclusive Particles only and alone are not expressed in the Scriptures when yet indeed they are to be necessarily understood thus Deut. 6.13 and so again 10.20 where Moses speaks thus unto the people Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him the meaning is Thou shalt serve him only or alone as our Saviour himself citing the place in the New Testament expoundeth it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only or alone shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 So Joh. 12.44 He that believeth on me believeth not on me but on him that sent me Believeth not on me i.e. not on me only or alone he hath not only one string to his bow for there is one besides me to support his Faith viz. my Father And our Saviour speaking of the branches of a Vine in that Parable Joh. 15. opposeth this Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to that which is wholly from another in one kind or other much less from another differing in nature and substance from the said branch but to the solitariness or sole vertue of the branch being separate from the Vine As the branch cannot bear fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it self except it abideth in the Vine ver 4. And in the Application of the Parable ver 5. he expresseth the spiritual notion or thing which answereth it by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which importeth a separation from or exclusion of another I am the Vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because without me i. e. being separated or divided from me through unbelief ye can do nothing Now then in this latter sense of the Phrase speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of himself it is true the Holy Ghost speaks not of himself no more doth God the Father For God the Father speaks not of himself alone without the Son and without the Holy Ghost for both these speak together with him i.e. joyn in the same Action of speaking or of revealing things unto men which I suppose is that kind of speaking which is attributed to the Holy Ghost in Joh. 16.13 which is the grand Scripture wherein our Adversaries put their strength Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that will he speak As the Lord Christ speaketh Joh. 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work meaning that he and the Father wrought together and hence it is that as the speaking i. e. the revealing of spiritual things is here attributed unto the Holy Ghost so elsewhere it is ascribed unto the Father Mat. 16.17 11.25 Joh. 6.45 And sometimes to the Son Mat. 11.27 Luke 10.22 and frequently to God indefinitely taken i.e. for God the Father Son and Holy Ghost considered as one and the same God Gal. 1.15 Phil. 3.15 and elsewhere so that when Christ for the comforting and strengthening of the Faith of his Disciples telleth them that the Spirit when he cometh shall not speak of himself his meaning is that the Testimony of the Spirit in revealing what he shall reveal unto them shall not be a single Testimony which is less creditable he shall speak and reveal nothing unto them but wherein the Father and himself shall agree We might add for the further clearing of the Phrase of himself that we find in Joh. 11.51 where the Evangelist speaketh concerning the speech of Caiaphas the High Priest that it was expedient that one man should die for the People and not the whole Nation to perish This saith the Holy Ghost here of him spake he not of himself but as being High Priest Now the meaning hereof is not as if that Caiaphas had this saying dictated unto him or as if he were any way authorized or countenanced or had the saying suggested unto him from another or that there was another that did over-rule and guide and govern his lips or his tongue in bringing forth such a saying For the meaning cannot be that he spake it from the Holy Ghost for certainly the Holy Ghost could not be the Author of any such Counsel of putting the Lord of Life to death nor any way encouraging or aiding to such a work as this but yet the Holy Ghost had a hand in the business not in suggesting the Notion or wicked Counsel into the High Priest but he did over-rule and cause his Tongue to issue such words and sayings which having another Principle in his heart it is like if he had been left unto himself he would have brought out some other kind of way and said something which would have tended to the destroying or taking away the life of Christ but that it was brought out in that form of words which had a Prophetical face in them there was some kind of interposure of the Holy Ghost as there is in many Actions and sinful Sayings of men many times their tongues are over-ruled though the substance of what they say is evil yet there are some strains in it which are from a Principle Superiour unto themselves Now I say apply we the distinction of the Phrase speaking not of himself to the Argument and you will readily find the weakness and insufficiency of it And that there are four terms which alwaies make a fallacious Syllogism that is if the same words be taken in one sense in one Proposition and in another sense in the other Proposition this now maketh four terms and so maketh the Syllogism void and inconclusive of any thing So much for this Argument He that speaketh not of himself is not God the Holy Ghost speaketh not of himself therefore he is not God If we take the Phrase speaking not of himself in the latter sense explained so the Major Proposition is false for he may be yea and truly is God who in this sense speaketh not of himself i.e. who speaketh not but in conjunction with others If you take the said words in the former sense so the Major Proposition is true but the Minor is false For the Holy Spirit doth speak of himself in this sense i. e. he speaketh the same thing with the Father and the Son and doth not speak by the motion or direction of any person or being separated from him The fourth Argument is of affinity with the former Sect. 10 and presenteth it self in this form He that heareth from another what he shall speak is not God the Holy Ghost doth so
followeth Sect. 11 He that receiveth of another is not God the Holy Spirit doth so i. e. receiveth of another therefore he is not God The Minor is witnessed from Joh. 16.14 The Major is proved thus God is he that giveth all things unto all wherefore if there be any one that receiveth of another he cannot be God The Antecedent is plain from Acts 17.25 Rom. 11.35 36. The Consequence is undeniable because he that is deficient is not God he that receiveth from another is deficient therefore he is not God The Major is unquestionable for to say one is deficient which implyeth imperfection and yet is God is in effect to say that he is God and not God This is the compass likewise of the fifth Argument the strength of this Argument such as it is is easie enough to be discerned the stress of it resteth upon these words of Christ as you may perceive concerning the Spirit Joh. 16.14 He shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you because he is here said to be a Receiver therefore our Adversary cannot allow him to be God because saith he God is he that gives all things unto all and it implieth a contradiction that he that giveth all things unto all should receive any thing from any but amongst all his Arguments this is the first born amongst the poor For I reply first Though God in a sense be said to give all things unto all yet withal he is said also in a sense proper enough to receive several things and this without any contradiction at all He is said to receive the Prayers of his Saints Psal 6.9 To receive the Saints themselves Psal 49.15 73.24 To receive comfort Isa 57.6 And so to receive glory and honour and power Rev. 4.11 Therefore this Proposition is most untrue He that receiveth of another is not God yea he may be and is God who receiveth something from another as we have heard Nor is it the proper notion of dependency to receive of another these things are very loosely and unduly affirmed God is sometimes in Scriptures said to give all things unto all because he giveth unto all all things which they stand possessed of He gives them Faculties Principles Strength and means to do all things which they do and in this sense he may be said to give them all the actions motions and workings also which they act and work and consequently those very Praises and acknowledgements which yet he receiveth from them too As for example He that gives a man money wherewith to buy such a commodity he may very properly be said to give him the things which are purchased with the money And so the Scripture Phrase runneth for he is thy money speaking of the Servant So when God eâ—dneth a Creature with strength and power to get wealth he may be said to give him wealth it self which he did allow him by means of that power and understanding infused into him God's giving all things unto all in this sense doth not hinder but that he may receive also many of these very things which he giveth in the sense declared therefore it is no infallible Character of a true God not to receive from another The Apostle himself in that very Scripture which the Argument citeth Acts 17.25 saying That God is not to be worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing clearly implieth that God may receive things from his Creatures but not upon any such account as this viz. As if he needed any thing meaning for he bettering of his own condition or compleating of his happiness and unless our Adversary can prove that the Holy Ghost received what was Christs for his own necessities and supplies The simple receiving of it doth no way incumber the plea of his Godhead 2. When our Saviour speaking of the Holy Ghost saith He shall receive or shall take as the word signifieth and is accordingly translated in the next verse of mine and shall shew it unto you he doth not imply as if the Holy Ghost had not then when Christ thus spake received or taken that or those things of his for it is certain that he had taken these things of Christ under the Old Testament and had revealed them unto the Prophets of God and other holy men and by these unto the World as is very evident from many Scriptures yea certain it is that he had received them from Eternity but our Saviour's meaning in the Clause or Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall take of that which is mine seems to be this That whereas the Holy Ghost had viz. in his mind or understanding both at present and ever before abundance of that which was Christs even his whole Treasury his relation to his Father his Godhead his Incarnation his Infinite Grace Love Sweetness Holiness c. together with all his Counsels Purposes and Intentions concerning the World c. He should when he should visibly be given and come unto them take not simply this or all this But he should take viz. of himself and out of the Treasury of his own understanding so much or such particulars concerning Christ to reveal unto them which should be necessary for them to know either for their own comfort or to furnish or accomplish them for the great Office and work of Apostles in the World So that the word take in this place The Holy Ghost shall take of mine is used in some such sense as when a man is said to take a thing which is already his own or in his own possession only in order to the doing of something with it in this sense God saith Zach. 11.10 I took my staff even beauty and cut it asunder The staffe he speaks of was in his possession before only he is said to have taken it in order to cutting it asunder So again The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 13.33 is like unto Leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal to name no more places in this kind ver 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of Mustard-seed which a man took and sowed in his Field 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in the words before us The Spirit shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you i. e. From amongst many other things which he knows concerning me he shall take such and such which shall be needful for you to know and shall reveal them unto you Even as a prudent Minister or Scribe instructed for the Kingdom of heaven As our Saviour speaks out of the rich and full treasure of his understanding taketh and chuseth such and such particular notions and veins of spiritual truth relating unto God and Jesus Christ which he judgeth meet to be delivered and imparted to such and such a people The words taken in such a sense as this do no way favour the dangerous conceit of our Adversaries that the Holy Ghost is not God There is another sense likewise wherein the
for us with God and then what kind of help should we receive from him But then Secondly The Spirit is said to make intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered Now though we should grant that groaning may in a metaphorical sense and unproperly be attributed unto the Spirit yet how any groans or groaning of his should be unutterable unto him who is the Lord of all Language and Speech is not easie to conceive Thirdly Whereas the Argument insisteth so rigidly upon these words in the end of ver 27. The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us according to the will of God As if they argued a distinct will of the Spirit from the will of God I reply that the words do not signifie according to the Will of God here is no word which signifieth Will But according unto God and they answer these words by way of Antithesis in the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we ought Thus the Apostle had there granted that the Saints did not indeed of themselves know how to pray as they ought here he tells them for their comfort that the Spirit will enable them to pray as they ought i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto God or the mind or will of God i. e. as they ought and as it becometh them to pray And here is a direct answer relating to those infirmities which our Apostle had expresly affirmed to be in the Saints Fourthly That the work of the Spirit on the behalf of the Saints doth not lie in this to pray for the Saints a part in heaven which is the sense of the Author of this Argument is evident from Joh. 14.16 where our Saviour saith that when he should go away he would pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth c. So that the work which the Spirit hath to do for the Saints is not in heaven since the Ascension of Christ into Heaven Heaven is not the Stage or Theatre where the Holy Ghost acteth and bestirs himself on the behalf of the Saints but now he is come down upon the earth and his great business which he hath to do lieth in the earth even with the hearts minds understandings and wills of men stirring and moving there But Fifthly and lastly Remember the Rule that we delivered unto you in the former Argument which will fully give you the sense wherein the Holy Ghost is said to intercede with groans we gave you many instances when we delivered this for a Rule that in many places Actions are ascribed unto him that doth assist and direct and help men in the performance of them and not unto him that is the formal and immediate Agent So here the Holy Ghost doth intercede with groans because he doth fill the Saints with his Wisdom and Power and so putteth them into a posture to conceive inward groans and secret motions and desires in the Soul which the Creature indeed is not able to utter or come to God withal in his lips the Creature cannot utter it self when the heart is full of the Spirit of God yet such persons are acted beyond their own ability and very well may be because the Spirit is directing guiding and strengthening unto this work And this is the property of an Intercessor To intercede doth not alwaies signifie to plead for us but sometimes to plead with us against any Enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word in the rigour of the Grammatical signification of it is not alwaies used for interceding for another which he seemeth to catch at as I judge from the Latine word which signifieth to go between two but sometimes to go in opposition to an Enemy and sometimes it signifieth to expostulate and debate things with another Acts 25. So that all things being considered it is a clear case that this Argument is wholly defective And it may be seen further Rom. 8.15 it is expresly said that by means of the Spirit we cry Abba Father meaning that by the assistance and impulse of the Spirit we are able to call God Father which implieth the whole duty and management of this great service of Prayer and Invocation on the name of God And in the last place Jam. 16. speaking of the Prayer of the righteous man we translate it the effectual Prayer but the word properly signifieth that which is acted within a person by a power which is superiour to that which is natural in it We call those persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are acted by an unclean Spirit as when any person is made to speak a Language which he never understood we use to say such a person is inspired acted and carried out by a power superiour to his own And so that Prayer which can do so much with God The effectual fervent prayer of the Righteous it properly signifieth such a Prayer which is full of the Holy Ghost which is inspired into man or whereunto a man is carried out and thrust forward by a Divine Power greater than his own So that these things considered it is a clear case that the true sense and meaning of the place is only this That the Spirit of God relieveth our infirmities in Prayer that when as we know not how to pray as we ought and when the flesh sometimes cometh in and directeth and leadeth into such a method of Prayer which we ought not the Spirit now interposing and directing and leading us to such a method and way that now we pray according to the mind and will of God Now concerning the business it self Sect. 19 I mean the Controversie I would only say this before I leave it that if you mind it or shall please to go round about the matters in Controversie and weigh both these Doctrines First that which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God go I say round it and take all the Arguments and grounds which the Maintainers thereof are pleased to bring forth and weigh and consider their tendencies and operations upon the hearts and consciences of men and you shall find them altogether barren and flat and no waies calculated for the nourishment of men neither is there any thing in it that is any waies apt to quicken the hearts of men to the Service of God comparable to that Doctrine which doth oppose it viz. That the Holy Ghost is God truly God In this Doctrine and in the Arguments by which it is proved there is spirit and life there is as it were great strength which cometh forth from it which bears upon the Judgments and Consciences of men It rules like a King upon his Throne Whereas those other Doctrines viz. that deny the Spirit and so likewise Christ to be God are but of a dull and flat import there is no manner of spiritual power and vigour in them It may possibly be the sense of some that the time wherein we have been
an incumbrance upon the mind and spirit of a man and so an hindrance unto him from attending chearfully to any thing given by way of satisfaction touching the manner and means of obtaining a thing when the thought of his heart is that the thing is impossible to be obtained Therefore as to the Question propounded about this how such a thing can be or is likely to be that the Holy Ghost and much more a fulness with the Holy Ghost should be obtained by the endeavours of men I reply First That he is not to be obtained by the endeavours of men upon any such terms as if men were stronger than he or could compel or necessitate him by any force or strength properly so called to turn in unto them or the like but this I suppose is the thought of no mans heart Are we stronger than he saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.22 therefore certainly it is not to be obtained upon any such terms Secondly Neither is the Holy Ghost nor a fulness with him to be obtained by the endeavours of men upon any such terms or in any such consideration as if there were any thing of any worth goodness or the like in the endeavours of men in one kind or other which might in a way of merit challenge the gift of the Holy Ghost from God much less such a measure of the Spirit as the being filled with him importeth No the obtaining of the gift of the Holy Ghost upon such terms as these is like the redeeming of the Life or Soul of a man's Brother from the Grave Psal 49.7 which as the Prophet saith must cease for ever and such a thought of heart in any man is not much better than that of Simon Magus when as Peter chargeth him he thought the gift of the Holy Ghost might be purchased with money Therefore there is no such thing as this any waies implied in the Doctrine in hand Thirdly Neither is the Holy Ghost or any fulness with him to be obtained by any endeavours of men which originally spring from themselves or whereof they are the Authors Not saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.5 that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing or to reason any thing as the word signifieth meaning in the Ministry of the Gospel as of our selves i. e. as originally or radically of our selves He doth not deny but plainly supposeth and granteth that in a sense and in some consideration we are sufficient of our selves viz. by vertue of those abilities which are properly our own being given us by God to reason or think after such a manner as he speaketh of Only he denies that in such a sense or consideration as this we have any sufficiency in this kind viz. As if we our selves were the Authors of that sufficiency that is in us either by way of nature or of any meritorious procurement because as he immediately adds our sufficiency is of God namely originally fundamentally and radically not only by way of Creation as he that raiseth or worketh it in us but also as he that worketh it graciously or freely without any meritorious engagement laid upon him by us to work it in us or give it unto us For that in Scripture Phrase is said properly and precisely to be of God not simply which he acteth or worketh but that which he acteth or worketh freely without any either meritorious or demeritorious engagement laid upon him by the Creature As for example in case either Adam or Abraham or any other person had continued in all things that are written in the Law to do them I mean had perfectly fulfilled the Law God would have justified them or declared them righteous upon it yet had not this their justification in strictness or propriety of Scripture Phrase been of God but of themselves though he had justified them because they had wrought for it and God in strictness and rigour of justice could not have denied it them And so that of our Apostle concerning Abraham is I conceive to be understood Rom. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It should not be translated but not before God as we have it but thus rather he hath whereof to glory but not concerning God concerning any grace or favour received from God in his Justification If his Justification had been by works it had not been from God but from himself Upon the account of that Principle which we now plead the condemnation and destruction of wicked and impenitent men though the execution be done by God yet in emphaticalness of Scripture Phrase it is said to be procured from themselves and is disowned by God viz. because there is a demeritorious engagement layed upon God by the Creature to inflict it Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self So that neither in this respect or sense is it a truth that the Holy Ghost or a being filled with him is procured by the endeavours of men in a meritorious way or as if any thing that men can do did any waies oblige God in way of justice to fill any man with the Spirit Therefore Fourthly When we teach and affirm that men may take a course or use means to be filled with the Spirit we do not make the Spirit obnoxious unto men or unto their endeavours but unto his own most gracious and free promise unto his infinite goodness unto poor Creatures only lead and guided by his infinite wisdom Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Psal 138.2 that is he had subjected all his Attributes unto his Promise and unto the Word that is gone out of his mouth so that they shall serve the World and bless the Sons and daughters of men according to what he hath declared in his Word So that the reason why any man by taking such or such a course Sect. 4 or by using such or such endeavours comes to be filled with the Spirit is not because he doth these things there is no such vertue vigour or strength in them in any thing that men can do or are in a capacity of doing in this kind which is able to produce an effect so glorious as the filling of the heart or soul of a man with the Spirit of the living God But only because the Will of God and Word of God which are potent and wonderful in their operation do here interpose therefore doth it so come to pass And if God will give his Spirit or a fulness of his Spirit unto men and women upon their observation of such and such directions from his mouth who shall ask him Why dost thou so That which men do for the obtaining of that fulness with the Spirit which we speak of is little other than Sacramental Now such causes which work and contribute towards their effects Sacramentally only are in respect of that which is litteral or natural in them the poorest and lowest of all causes being of
of him I mean they made very little breach upon his comfort or peace he was upon the matter as well apaid in himself even when the pains of hell as David speaketh i. e. fear or apprehensions of Death or the Grave compassed him about as when the Sun of outward peace and prosperity shone with the greatest brightness upon him This might be made to appear from the many passages in his own writings as 2 Cor. 4.16 6.10 Now how lovely and above measure desirable a priviledge is it to have an heart that cannot be pierced that cannot be wounded by the sharpest Arrows that can be drawn out of the Quiver of this World I shall not need to teach or inform you I make no question but that you have a very vigorous and lively notion or impression of it within you however something may be added to this Point hereafter So then you see another thing very considerable in a being filled with the Spirit the diligent working of which upon your hearts and souls must needs make you covetous after it Thirdly Your being filled with the Spirit Sect. 11 will be unto you as an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Apostle Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 1.11 And this in these three respects highly desirable First In respect of an excellent measure and degree of righteousness and true holiness Secondly In respect of a like measure or degree of inward and sound peace Thirdly and lastly in respect of that measure of joy also wherewith the heart and soul must needs be filled thereby The Apostle Paul we know Rom. 14.17 placeth the Kingdom of God in these three Righteousness Peace and Joy in or through the Holy Ghost The Kingdom of God saith he is not meat and drink but Righteousness c. By the Kingdom of God he means nothing else but the same thing the same Kingdom which Peter calls the Everlasting Kingdom c. Only Paul seemeth to speak as well of it in respect of the manner and behaviour as of the Priviledges and Happiness of the Subjects thereof the Apostle Peter either only or chiefly mentions it in respect of the latter This then is that we say that in respect of both as well in respect of that heavenly deportment or behaviour which is Universally used and practiced in this Kingdom expressed by the Apostle Paul in the word Righteousness as in respect of the Priviledges and great Felicity signified in the other two words Joy and Peace in the Holy Ghost In respect I say of both your being filled with the Spirit will give you an entrance in abundance into this Kingdom i. e. will put you into such a state and condition wherein you shall have a rich taste or rather plentiful first Fruits of the glory and blessedness of that Kingdom This entrance in abundance which we speak of into the Everlasting Kingdom shall by your being filled with the Spirit be given unto you First In respect of that Righteousness or Excellency of Conversation whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom maintain themselves in the felicity and enjoyment of it and whereby they are discernable from other persons For when and whilest the Spirit of God dwelleth richly and plentifully in you he will kindle and raise up strong and excellent Inclinations Potent and Prince like Resolutions within you unto waies and works of Righteousness and true Holiness Inclinations and Resolutions in this kind that will not be baffled or turned out of the way by every gust of Temptation as the Purposes and Resolutions of the same Denomination in the generality of Professours in whom the Spirit dwelleth in a lower degree only are subject to be but will hold on their course in waies of Righteousness As a good Ship running with all her Sails displayed before a stiff Gale of Wind will cut through the waves and troublesome workings of the Seas taking no notice of them Even so when a man is filled with the Spirit he is as it were tied and bound hand and foot that he cannot lightly move or stir out of the waies which the Spirit it self commendeth unto him and seeketh to guide his feet unto As Paul being filled with the Spirit Acts 20.22 Behold saith he I now go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there I go bound in the Spirit That is the Spirit of God hath wrought such a mighty Desire and Resolution in me to go to Jerusalem that my Mind and Conscience will not serve me so much as to deliberate or argue the case within me whether I had best to go or no. As a man that is bound hand and foot where and in what posture you leave him there you shall find him especially if his bands be strong and close drawn and fast tied they will keep him from motion In like manner he that is filled with the Spirit is much in the same case or condition spiritually he cannot act or move but only as the Spirit acteth and moveth him When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost as they were in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.4 they could not speak what they pleased or listed but saith the Text they began to speak with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they were bound in the Spirit from speaking viz. from speaking any thing but what the Spirit pleased As Paul was not bound in the Spirit from doing any thing or going any where at all but from going any whither but to Jerusalem which was the place the Spirit moved him to go unto In like manner when men and women are filled with the Spirit in the sense of the Text in hand they are inwardly bound and straitned from walking or moving in all other waies save only those wherein they are guided by himself which are only waies of Rigteousness and Holiness Now then to walk in waies of Righteousness to walk uniformly constantly and only in these waies I mean without any scandalous or self-allowed deviation this must needs be conceived to be an entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in respect of the Righteousness of it Now to be at this pass that we shall not only walk in waies of Righteousness but to do it without any manner of regret nay without much noise striving or reluctancy from our hearts or from our flesh within us This is one of the first born of Priviledges and my Brethren if there were nothing else in being filled with the Spirit but this only viz. that you shall be enabled hereby to walk after an excellent rate to keep the very Battlements of Heaven to walk holily and humbly with your God by excellency of righteousness and to shine in the beauty of Holiness whilst you live is a matter that would make it worthy your labour and of all that can be required of you to possess your souls
contribute any thing towards the making of the joy of the Kingdom we speak of like unto a joy prepared by the infinite magnificence and bounty of the God of Heaven on purpose to shew his glory and power for his Sons and Daughters and those that have served him How exceeding great then above measure must this joy needs be That he will do no less but rather much more than yet hath been spoken of for the persons mentioned He hath given a sufficient assurance in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ unto them according to the express tenour of the Apostles reasoning Rom 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things The strength of the Apostles arguing lieth in some such Principle or Notion as this viz. That no man of understanding and that is Master of his Engagements or undertakings will lay a foundation larger or wider or richer than the nature of what he intends by way of superstructure doth require Such a thing as this would render his work or building dishonourable and uncomely and indeed ridiculous if the Foundation do palpably and notoriously exceed the proportion and scantling of his Building From this Principle we may with the Apostle with the greatest confidence and assurance of heart and soul under Heaven conclude That in as much as God hath laid the foundation of the joy and happiness of those who shall love and believe on him so large and rich as he hath done in the gift of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for them that he will build upon it answerably and consequently raise the Fabrick of their blessedness and glory to the greatest height and and magnificence by all means by any thing that any where can be procured to advance it otherwise his Alpha and Omega would not agree So then this is that we say That if you shall be filled with the Spirit you shall have an entrance in abundance into this abundant joy we speak of The joy of the Everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ There is an entrance and an entrance in abundance as into the two former of those vast Priviledges of this Kingdom viz. Righteousness and Peace so also into this third Priviledge of the Joy thereof An entrance simply into this joy implies only some kind of lighter taste thereof less affecting the soul An entrance in abundance noteth such a state or condition wherin a man or woman shall be possessed of a good or Rich Proportion of this Joy viz. of a third or fourth part of it by means of which he shall find and feel and enjoy within himself to his own content and in his own sight as good and happy an estate and condition upon the matter as he would judge himself to be in in case he were actually invested with such a Kingdom and with the felicity and joy thereof the joy we speak of being of the same kind with that of the Everlasting Kingdom of Christ but only short in some degrees of it As a man whose estate is worth one thousand pounds by the year hath somewhat of the same satisfaction and contentment of him that hath four or five thousand pounds I mean when as well the one as the other knoweth how to take satisfaction in their estates respectively and neither more or less than what they are competent and proper to afford unto them Now that your being filled with the Spirit must needs give you such an entrance in abundance as hath been described into the joy of the everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ may be well conceived by what hath already been delivered after such a manner as this the joy of this Kingdom is the highest and most contentful result in the soul of all those particular blessings and vouchsafements in the possession and enjoyment whereof the happiness of it consisteth The sense of the rich goodness and commodiousness of those things being enjoyed upon such terms as they will be in that Kingdom and known so to be is either formally or efficiently the joy thereof So then whatsoever createth a lively sense in the heart and soul of a man of the transcendent goodness and sweetness of those enjoyments must needs give an entrance in abundance into the joy thereof This a being filled with the Spirit must needs do because it cannot but fill you with a confident hope and earnest expectation to enjoy them in due time In this I â—imply one thing and affirm another The thing I plainly affirm lieth naked or open in the words themselves viz. that a being filled with the Spirit must needs fill men with a confident hope and expectation to enjoy these things in due time The thing I suppose is That a confident hope and rich expectation to enjoy these things in due time must needs give men an entrance in abundance into that joy which we are speaking of such an entrance in this kind as hath been described The first of these is evident from what was argued when we shewed and proved unto you That your being filled with the Spirit will not suffer you to be idle and unprofitable in the Knowledge and Profession of Jesus Christ but will cause you to abound in the fruits of righteousness and true holiness And secondly that such an abounding as this must needs raise an abundant confidence or assurance in the love and favour of God and consequently an assurance of enjoying all that is to be enjoyed in the Everlasting Kingdom of his dear Son So that we shall not need to insist upon the proof hereof any further Therefore secondly whereas I suppose that an abundant confidence or assurance and expectation of enjoying the great things of Christ's Kingdom in due time must needs amount to as much as this or produce at present such an entrance in abundance into the joy of this Ringdom as that lately described The truth hereof may be conceived upon this account The confident hope and earnest expectation of enjoying things in time which when they come to be actually enjoyed will be found to be exceeding great and yielding much satifaction and joy and are known to be such whilest they are yet only hoped and expected is and must needs be such an entrance into them as Peter calls abundant in the sense we have given Such an hope and expectation as we speak of is a kind or degree of enjoyment of the things themselves and may in propriety of speech and with truth enough be simply termed an enjoyment of them As she that is betroâ—hed or espoused to an Husband may truly and properly enough be termed a Wife So he that is under a pregnant and lively hope of enjoying such and such things may be said by means of such his hope to enjoy them Now you shall see that the Scripture useth thus to speak Rom. 8.24 For we are saved by hope that is that hope which we have of
things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self c. Now do but compare the latter And when he Agabus was come unto us he took Paul's Girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles Upon the hearing of these things they besought him not to go up to Jerusalem and ver 13. Then answered Paul what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart For I am not only ready to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus As who should say Are you aware how blessed a business I have in hand and of how evil a tendency this your advice and this your weeping is Why saith he do ye break my heart I am all thoughts made in my felf I have no regret within me as to this service of going to Jerusalem and therefore why do you by your weeping as you do go about to dissolve and scatter that blessed and composed frame of heart which I have wrought my self unto For saith he I have not only a light willingness but I am set upon the work whatever it cost me I am not only ready to suffer such things as Bonds Imprisonment c. but I am even ready to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus I have reasons in abundance to balance against all the counter-arguings of my Flesh my Friends and Relations I have trampled them all under my feet so that I have no more to think of or to debate what to do in this case but am in an actual readiness as to this business So then you see that being filled with the Spirit of God how it removeth all obstructions out of the way of men and women in the Service of God It causeth every thing to cease from being burthensome or hard unto them It is with a man or woman that is filled with the Spirit of God in respect of their natural indispositions or aversness to the high and difficult Services of God as it is between the inferiour Orbs or Spheres in the Heavens and that utmost Sphere which Philosophers call Primum Mobile the First Mover the motion of this Sphere according to the notion they have of it and probable it is true in reason however it is very apt and proper to represent the business which we desire to possess you with is so incredible swift and strong that it carries about all the other with it notwithstanding their propensions and these very strong too in their kind unto different yea contrary motions but that same Primum Mobile carries them along with it in its own motion and course taking no notice viz. of any repugnancy in them to such a motion or comportance with it but carries them about as if they were all agreed and naturally consenting to go along with it Much after the same manner it is between a great presence or fulness of the Holy Ghost in the soul and that natural indisposition or averseness of the Flesh to waies and services of a difficult and excellent import The Holy Ghost being gloriously potent and mighty in his motions and way overbears and oversets the natural Propensions and the repugnant and cross inclinations of the Flesh to such services and works and carries these along with him in his course by reason whereof they seem willing also and consenting to what is done or to be done in that kind Or look as it is between the Tide or flowing in of the Sea and the course of the River or fresh waters upon which it comes we know the natural course of the River and the waters thereof is contrary to the course of the Sea and the waters thereof when it flows yet because the Sea moves with more authority viz. with more strength and irresistibleness of motion than the River doth it takes along the waters of the River with it in its course and these seem to be as willing with the motion as the Sea it self and the waters thereof nor is there any contrariety or averseness or reluctancy to the motion discerned in these fresh waters whilst they are under the authority and conduct of the Salt After such a manner it is between the flesh of a man and the averseness that is there unto things that are of a spiritual nature When a man is filled with the Spirit of God this carrieth all down before him and that after such a manner as that the Flesh forgetteth all hardness and difficulty that is in its way in the Service of God and so forbears all swelling or rising up against it This then in the fifth place is another worthy Priviledge that doth attend your being filled with the Spirit Sixthly Your being filled with the Spirit will enlarge your hearts mightily unto waies and works that are excellent Sect. 16 It will make you like unto Jesus Christ in true Nobleness and Prince-like disposition of Spirit and cause you to fall in travel with the World until the peace comfort and prosperity of it be provided for and established round about you This accommodation and benefit differs from the former and carrieth somewhat in it above that That consisted in a reconciling or healing the disproportion which commonly is between the hearts or natural dispositions of men and the waies especially the more high and excellent waies of God This consists in an effectual drawing out of the heart and soul unto such waies and services in setting an edge of zeal upon the Spirits of men to be like unto the Vine in Jotham's Parable Judg. 9.13 which is there said to chear both God and man A man may possibly be free from any great averseness or indisposedness to such or such an action or course and yet be but of a kind of neutral and indifferent frame of heart have no great or zealous propension towards them But he that is zealous of good works as the Scripture speaks hath not only the contrariety and averseness of his nature unto such works subdued and broken within him but hath an inclination unto them stirred up and wrought in him so that as a strong Bias in a Boule his heart leaneth and longeth that way So then this is that which I hold forth unto you in the particular now in hand If you shall be filled with the Spirit you will hereby be enriched with many noble excellent and worthy dispositions of heart and soul which will lead and carry you forth with a strong hand upon all occasions to works and actions of an high and sacred import It will relieve you against the natural scantness and narrowness of your hearts in this kind and cause you with Abraham to be numbred amongst the Friends of God and Benefactors to the World and no opportunity of doing good shall escape you It will cause you to look upon your selves with
a greater presence of God and where he filleth the hearts and souls of men with his presence there he riseth and advanceth in a more excellent manner with greater accommodations teaching them how to pray meaning the manner how they should pray Now in that he is said to relieve our infirmities and to help our ignorances when we pray and so to teach the Saints to pray as they ought by making Intercession for them the meaning is that he teacheth them a prayer of a more excellent and of a more spiritual import and teacheth them how to present this Prayer of theirs upon terms of a richer and more high acceptation unto God And Gal. 4.6 it is said God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Alba Father This is a Phrase or Figure of speakking wherein Actions are ascribed unto those who are the means or cause of them and not to the Actors themselves As for instance Charity is said to believe all things and to hope all things because it doth qualifie and dispose the Person where it is found thus to believe all things and to hope all things So here the Spirit is said to cry Abba Father and so to make intercession for the Saints because he doth teach enable and dispose them both to the one and to the other You had a taste of that formerly in Jude ver 20. praying in the Holy Ghost that is by or through the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost According to the same figure our Saviour's Saying unto his Apostles is to be understood Mar. 10.20 For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you When they should come before Rulers and Governours he saith it was not they that should speak but the Holy Ghost that was within them his meaning is not that the Holy Ghost did speak the words but only because the Holy Ghost did furnish them with such and such things which they should speak So now they that be filled with the Spirit of God there is as it were a characteristical difference between the same kind of actions in them and that which proceedeth from other men who have not the same edge of spirit and life in them these are full of power and authority and heavenly lustre and beauty in their actions and doings whereas the like actions and performances of persons that do them without the Spirit have nothing of excellency in them Now of how great and blessed a consequence is it unto you to be enabled to pray effectually to carry things in Heaven richly and upon terms of highest acceptation If we could but weigh this one priviledge or advantage alone in the balance we should find it to weigh more than all the Silver and Gold in the World What To be able to pray yea to pray unto God with acceptation to pray so as to be able to prevail with God and that about great matters for States and Kingdoms as they may that have an interest in Heaven as such persons we speak of have Such men might carry the World before them they might pluck up States and Kingdoms they might be as great in Heaven as Nâ—buchadnezzar was here upon Earth whom he would he set up and whom he would he pulled down so had we interest in Heaven as we might have we might do likewise It is like we are at such a pass as the Disciples were at when it is said that they believed not for joy when Christ came first amongst them the consideration of his being rose again from the dead was a business of such a mighty consequence such a matter of joy that it became a stumbling-block in the way of their faith They believed not for joy i. e. they were not capable of the most demonstrative Arguments and Convictions as when he shewed them his hands and his feet and talked with them This is the case of this great Priviledge I speak of viz. of carrying matters in Heaven we are conscious to our selves that we are poor and weak men and women whom the men of this World are generally ready to to be treading and trampling under foot and to despise Oh my Brethren the things we speak of How incredible above measure are they Yet it is a most certain and an undoubted truth that if we be filled with the Spirit of God we might pray at such a rate and after such a manner that we might carry our Petitions in Heaven and even whatsoever we should ask in the Name of Jesus Christ according to the will of God And we need have no larger Rule than this we need not desire a larger Commission than the compass of the Will of God For all things are according to the Will of God which are necessary for the comforts and accommodation of men and women in the World round about Jâ—m 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all Greek Authors give out the proper signification of it is this It noteth a Person that is possessed or acted by a supernatural power whether it be of an holy or an unclean Spirit above their Sphere so now that prayer viz. the effectual fervent prayer c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is acted wrought and raised by a Spirit which is greater than the spirit of man and therefore of necessity by no other than the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost himself who thus raised and lifted up himself in might and power to enable them hereunto Eighthly and lastly By being filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 18 you shall by the mediation of the fruit and consequence of the particular last mentioned consult to your selves so much the better Resurrection and consequently the better Eternity I allude to that place in the latter end of Heb. 11. where the Author speaking of the Servants of God saith that they might obtain a better Resurrection where the Antecedent is put for the Consequent a better Resurrection for a better State in the Resurrection There are other waies and practices or at least may be upon which men may obtain the fatness of Heaven the best of the glory and great things of the World to come But there is none so certain or regular none within the reach of the Wisdom or Providence of men that a man may rely and reckon upon whereby to consult to himself a better Heaven but only that we speak of A being filled with the Spirit of God If you be made great in the Kingdom of Heaven in any other way or by any other means than that we speak of you must as well be beholding to the sin and wickedness of other men as to your own worth grace or faithfulness and there must be more than an ordinary hand in the Providence of God to bring it to pass For what other waies or means are there of obtaining a greater preeminence in glory than the
double or treble it will he not do it If this be counted wisdom to advance a perishing and contemptible state who would not amongst us all labour to advance in such a glorious and durable state as we speak of This then is the first thing requisite to be done in order to your being filled with the Spirit of God namely to fill your Judgments and Understandings with the knowledge of all the excellent and desirable things of it together with a frequent and an effectual consideration of these most worthy and rich accommodations which must needs accrue or grow unto you by your being filled with the Spirit of God CHAP. X. The Resolution of the Second Question further prosecuted And six Directions more given to shew how men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit of God and what is to be done by them in order hereunto A Second thing to be done Sect. 1 to fill your hearts and souls with the Spirit of God is to employ and make use of him upon all your spiritual occasions and for the performance of duties When you shall at any time apply your selves unto God to do it by him as in your Prayers unto God and so your mortifying the deeds of the flesh and in searching out the deep things of God and in keeping in mind the things of God and of your own peace Now as touching these four particulars mentioned viz. Prayer Mortification understanding great Mysteries and keeping in mind these things c. The Scriptures do plainly hold forth the use and necessity of the Spirits being employed in all these chiefly and more especially than in other spiritual Services But here three Questions may be propounded First Whether we can or whether it be in our power to engage the Spirit of God in this kind Whether it be in the reach or power of a man to draw him into part or fellowship with us in such spiritual works as lie upon our hands to do Secondly How or by what means we may engage him Thirdly and lastly In case we shall be able to engage him and shall actually do it how the things that shall be thus done by the Spirit in us so engaged can be attributed unto us or we looked upon as the doers of them For the first of these Whether it be in our power thus to draw in the Spirit of God to stand by us to stand at our right hand and to be helpful unto us in our spiritual Services To this we answer in the Affirmative We are able and may do it otherwise himself would not so frequently have admonished and called upon us to do it I mean to engage him or to do things of several kinds by him Rom. 8.13 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live This Clause but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body containeth and implieth more than an Exhortation or Charge to set the Spirit on work to mortifie the deeds of the body For it containeth a Reason to press such an Exhortation drawn from the excellent benefit and advantage that doth attend it Life Eternal you shall live if you do it Seneca hath a Saying Rogat quidem efficacissimè qui profert rogandi causas He asketh and that most effectually who expresseth reasons why he should ask so we may truly and pertinently say when the Holy Chost delivereth unto us reasons or motives whether one or more why we should be exhorted to such and such duties he doth inclusively exhort us hereunto and this after the most peircing and effectual manner Telling and promising us that if we shall mortifie the deeds of the flesh we shall live doth he not most affectionately excite and stir us up to mortifie them accordingly Now we cannot mortifie them by the Spirit but by prevailing with the Spirit in one kind or other to mortifie them Thus also Jude ver 20. But ye Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost that is in or by or through the help and assistance of the Holy Ghost meaning that they should do that which they well enough understood and knew would prevail with the Holy Ghost to assist and help them in praying So again 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee speaking of that Pattern of wholsome words and sayings of the Doctrine of the Gospel keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us He addeth these last words which dwelleth in us to put Timothy in mind that the Holy Ghost was near at hand ready and offering himself to be imployed by Christians in all the great difficult and worthy occasions of their souls and consequently to encourage him to address himself unto him I mean the Holy Ghost that he would enable him to keep i. e. to preserve in memory and mind the good things he speaketh of To these places I shall only add Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Walk in the Spirit I suppose his meaning is not in this Phrase that they should walk according to the direction and guidance of the Spirit which in ver 18 and elsewhere he calleth a being led by the Spirit but that they should walk thus by the strength or by the excitations and quicknings or actuations of the Spirit that they should walk as it were on the Legs of the Spirit so that he may carry them out to all they do and so interpose likewise in their doing it that the burthen and stress of the work may lie chiefly upon him and that men themselves may taste little of the difficulty bardness or offensiveness if any such thing be in it This or some such thing as this the Apostle I suppose meaneth by walking in the Spirit and by putting Christians upon it to walk in or by the Spirit he supposeth such a thing that may be done or attained by them if they will take a course thereafter But then it may be objected If we may engage the Spirit Sect. 2 and set him on work about any of those spiritual employments that have been mentioned or the like Must not we be looked upon as principal or first Movers in every such work and the Spirit as the subordinate Agent only and subservient unto men and dependent upon them in his workings To this I reply no First Because when any man doth awaken the Spirit and engage him to his assistance he is first awakened by the Spirit hereunto yea and engaged too by which the Spirit himself becometh engaged by himself for we are thus or after some such manner as this to conceive of the spiritual treaty or entercourse and of the state of affairs between the Holy Ghost and the soul of a Christian in whom he dwelleth in reference to the business now in hand First
turn to the praise of the Spirit But we must do them with a desire and purpose of heart that they may be to his praise So that to sow to the Spirit denoteth fruitfulness in good works especially in such good works wherein more particularly the glorious goodness and power c. of the Spirit may be discovered unto the World and when men are addicted unto such waies and such works which have a proper and clear tendency to discover the goodness bounty power and excellency c. of the Spirit of God then they may be said to sow unto the Spirit especially when they do these things with an intention to commend his goodness and power unto the World So to sow to the Flesh is to do that which tendeth to please the sensual part of man and this with an intent to gratifie the Flesh whether we understand it in respect of the outward Actions of the body or the corrupt workings of the mind it is clear that men in either of them do sow to the Flesh Only this is to be minded that the taking care of the outward man and the doing of such things which in a regular way tend to the maintenance and comfortable subsistence thereof are never said to be a sowing to the Flesh in opposition to the Spirit but only when men are inordinate in the use of these things then and only then doth the Interest of the Flesh come in For whilst men and women are providing for the comfortable being of the outward man they all this while walk by the Rule of the Word of God and comport with the Spirit of God These kind of doings are not properly the works of the Flesh but may be more truly said to be the works of the Spirit For the Spirit of God requireth that all things should be done in a regular manner that the outward man may not be disadvantaged unto spiritual Services therefore the Spirit of God doth charge men with particular care and circumspection over their Bodies that by this means he may rejoyce with so much the greater Joy where he findeth men manage themselves so that they may be in a good capacity to do such things which are holy just and good and that are righteous and of a good report Now the reason why such things as these must needs be matter of praise unto the Spirit of God is because the hearts of men cannot lightly when they see men full of good works but acknowledge that these things do come from the Spirit of God because such works as these being in goodness and glory above the Line of men plainly assert their Original to be Divine and plainly inform the World that God by his Spirit vouchsafeth to dwell and to act in men and women from whom such excellent works as these proceed But more particularly such waies and works which outstrip the generality of men yea of Christians and which they are not at present able to understand nor to see the reason of them such were some of the actions and waies of the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 5.13 For whether we be besides our selves it is for God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Paul seemed in some of his Actions as a man half-witted or besides himself and as a man bereaved of his senses yet this doubtless was of the best and choicest seed the best kind of sowing unto the Spirit of God it is true that at the first performance of them the World did not understand no nor Christians neither of an ordinary anointing as was even now hinted nor could-resolve them into their proper Principles so as to say that this was the Spirit of God that moved and stirred him up As the Seed for a while lieth buried in the ground and afterwards springeth up Even so when the reasons of such actions should be manifest unto them then they should confess that he had a great and mighty assistance of the Spirit of God with him There are some things which are above the ordinary reach of natural and moral men though the truth is there hath been here and there a Son of Nature Philosophers and such like men that have gone very far and as high it is likely as many of the Sons and Daughters of God have done or do as in that great work and strain of excellency in forgetting and forgiving of injuries and passing by all matters of unkindness disparagement and contempt which they have met withal from the hands of men Now for men and women to take no knowledge of such things from any nor to draw back from them or to withhold the hand of their goodness bounty or good will in any kind from them upon the account of any such hard measure received this is one of the highest and one of the most spiritual strains that can be that the nature of man is likely to partake of To be able to do good in the presence of all these discouragements doth argue even to the generality of men that such a man is of an excellent spirit and that he hath a great presence of the Spirit of God with him And doubtless though there may be excellent things written in this kind concerning those that have not been seasoned with the Gospel of Jesus Christ at least in so explicite a manner yet is there a more peculiar and a more rich presence of the Spirit vouchsafed unto those who enjoy the Gospel and which moveth them more strongly to spiritual actions and which have a more immediate and strong connexion with their present joy and comfort and also with their Eternal life and good of their souls But besides this there are other things of an excellent import Let your moderation saith the Apostle Phil. 4.5 be known unto all men The word signifieth let your yieldingness or comportance and compliance be known unto all men he meaneth sweetness and gentleness of disposition a readiness in men ever and anon to give away their own right to deny themselves in many things which according to strict terms and the rigour of the Law they might stand upon When ever there is danger that upon their account the Gospel is like to suffer in the hearts and consciences of men in case they should stand stifly upon their own rights then the opportunity is before a man then hath he a call to practice that moderation and that yieldingness and gentleness of Spirit which the Apostle calleth for at the hands of Christians We might instance in many more particulars of this nature but you see by that little which we have insisted upon what we mean by sowing to the Spirit But if you ask How should such a thing as this be any way or means to help us forwards in this viz. A being filled with the Spirit or any waies promote such an end I answer This is clear from the Principle insisted upon in the former
instinct and they do not depend upon the consent of the will or discourse of reason The latter kind of these lustings are such which have gained or gotten the consent of the will unto them and hereby they conceive as James speaketh Jam. 1.15 i. e. are made pregnant like a woman that is with Child so have such lustings as these the Act or Deed it self of sin in their womb or bowels Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished i.e. actually or externally perpetrated or committed bringeth forth death Then when lust hath conceived c. This clearly supposeth that there is or may be a lust or lusting which in this respect is Virgin like hath no corruption of the act of sin in it wherein the act of sin is not formed or shaped This kind of lust we speak of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek word expresseth it the first motion or moving of nature in a man which is exerted or put forth before a man intends thinks or knows any thing of it This kind of lust may be troublesome unto a man and find him inward exercise and work more than enough to suppress it as it riseth that so the will and consent may not touch it or come at it yet this is not the lusting of the Flesh which doth much obstruct the Spirit in his way or prejudice the souls being filled with him Paul was a man that was abundantly filled with the Spirit and yet he saith that he knew that in him that is in his Flesh as he interprets dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 And that he saw ver 23. i. e. discerned felt or perceived another Law in his members warring against the Law of his mind and bringing him into captivity i. e. endeavouring to bring him into captivity to the Law of sin which was in his members meaning unto it self by an Hebrew kind of Dialect which many times uses and repeats the Antecedent for the Relative I thank my God saith the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 1.4 alwaies on your behalf for the grace of God not for his grace which is given unto you c. So again Eph. 4.16 From whom the whole body maketh encrease of the body meaning of it self See also Luke 3.19 Now the Apostle saying That in him i.e. in his flesh there dwelt no good thing meaning but abundance of that which is naught or dangerous according to the Rule often upon occasion delivered unto you viz. That Adverbs of denying signifie the contrary of these words with which they are joyned implies and signifies that the fleshly part of him which he calleth his members ver 23. i. e. his body was ever and anon occasioning his spirit or soul being so near in conjunction with it to bubble or put forth in some vain foolish or sinful desire or other which made him work without end partly in lamenting over himself by reason of them and their mingling themselves with all his services and spiritual actings and doings Partly in a solicitousness and careful watching over his heart or will lest they came to be confederate with them in respect of this turmoil he still had with his flesh and body ver 24. He crieth out O wretched or miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body or from a body of death i.e. From a body that worketh or createth all sorrow trouble and care to me I thank God saith he through Jesus Christ our Lord meaning that that deliverance from that body of death he speaks of which was procured unto him by Jesus Christ and which he had in his eye as coming apace towards him provoked him to a signal thankfulness unto God for his grace towards him in such a deliverance and so concludeth the Chapter So then with my mind I my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same person I or he or that man that is I serve the Law of God but with my flesh the Law of sin With my mind I my self serve the Law of God that is yield obedience unto it with an intent and desire hereby to honour it with my mind I my self thus serve it In this Discourse Paul maketh a plain opposition between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I and my self or between him and himself affirming that he did many things which he himself did not and was resolved not to do I man may be said in the general and common language to do whatsoever he doth upon any terms whatsoever viz. what he doth causelesly what he doth contrary to the desire of his soul and which he doth thorough violence of temptations c. But a man himself cannot in emphaticalness of expression be said to do any thing but what he doth with his heart and soul with a full and free consent of his will c. And so our Apostle who was very far from flattering himself yet acquits himself from that which was done by him contrary to the bent and frame of his heart and without consent of his will by casting it upon sin that dwelt in him i. e. that sinful weakness which kept possession of his Flesh Now if I do that which I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me It is no more I meaning that all the while he did that which was evil and sinful for him to do with his entire will and full consent it was he himself that did it and not the sin or sinful weakness that dwelt in him but now saith he since the frame of my heart and bent of my will standeth against that which I do in this kind from hencesorth I may truly speaking Evangelically discharge my self from the doing of it and arraign that weakness which inseparably hangeth upon me as the Author and Actor of it I have stood somewhat the longer upon the opening of this passage of the Apostle because I desire with as much evidence and satisfaction as may be to make out this unto you that so you need not be discouraged in the course or way of your endeavours to be filled with the Spirit by such kind of lustings of the flesh within you as these we have spoken so much of though they should still haunt and follow you in as much as you have heard that he that was filled almost to the brim with the Spirit was notwithstanding obnoxious to such a lusting Such Lusts as these do not intoxicate bewitch or drink up your Reason Judgments or Understandings but they may remain whole and intire unto you them notwithstanding for any spiritual work or service and consequently for comporting with the Spirit of God in order to his filling you with himself But Secondly Those words of James Then when Lust hath conceived Sect. 14 it bringeth forth sin c. as plainly shew that Lust also may be so intreated and dealt with as to be made pregnant and big with the
external Act it self of sin This is done when the heart or will of man or woman falleth in with the Lust and taketh her to Wife and couple themselves with her i. e. when men approve and like of the Lust or Desire we speak of and begin to take care as the Apostle elsewhere speaks to make provision for it or to bethink themselves how they may gratifie it and fulfil it By the way when James saith as we have heard Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin The meaning is not as if this alwaies proved so viz. that every Lust consented unto produceth the external or complete Act of sinning there are many times Conceptions where there are no Births or bringing forth of Children many things may interpose to occasion an abortion or a consumption of that which is conceived in the womb And thus it may be and often is in the case of Lusts in their conceptions many men have for a time intended and purposed to do many things that are evil whose purposes and intentions notwithstanding have been dissolved or turned out of their way so that they never come to be put in execution This is apparent in Davids case when by Abigail's wise behaviour and advice he was taken off from his hard and bloudy intentions against Nabal and his House Therefore the Apostles meaning in saying that when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin is not to shew what is alwaies done in the case he speaks of but what is frequently done and alwaies likely or probable to be done of which kind of sayings there are very many in the Scriptures Joh. 11.9 10. If any man walk in the day saith our Saviour he stumbleth not but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth his meaning is neither to affirm that no man that walketh in the day ever stumbleth nor that every man that walketh in the night doth stumble but only that there is a probability both of the one and of the other and that they are likely either to stumble or not to stumble So likewise the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 7.32 33. The unmarried careth for the things of the Lord c. But this only by the way The business we have in hand is to give you to understand and know that that kind of lusting which hindreth your being filled with the Spirit yea and will hinder it untill it be taken away is that which is owned accepted and approved of by the will and judgement of a man or woman and for the gratifying and fulfilling whereof care is taken by men Such lusts as these are they which grieve and quench the Spirit and consequently hinder his progress motion or advance in the soul When with the Scriptures we say the Spirit is grieved we do not mean nor doth the Holy Ghost in this expression mean any thing else but only that he is turned out of the way he doth retire himself and is quiet and still men shall hear but very little from him so that there will be but very weak and faint motions and suggestions from him But we were saying unto you that all fleshly lusts in the general are obstructive to the course of the Spirit Sect. 15 in his advance or growth in the soul Now as all Lusts in the general entertained and countenanced as hath been declared in the heart and soul are malignant against and opposite unto the growth and coming on of the Spirit in the Soul so the Scriptures seem to cast an eye upon some as being of a more virulent and express antipathy in this kind than others and obstruct that blessedness of the soul we speak of with an higher hand than their fellows These are such lusts which carry in them a direct contrariety to those signal characters or properties which the Scriptures take notice of and ascribe unto the Holy Ghost We shall take notice of at present and briefly insist upon only four of these and the like number of lusts in men more directly opposite unto them First The Spirit of God is famously known throughout the Scriptures by the great attribute of holiness he is more frequently termed the holy Spirit than spoken of under any other name or expressed by any other Character whatsoever We shall not need to cite places for this The thing I presume is sufficiently known unto you all A second property which the Scriptures attribute unto the Spirit of God is Grace or a gracious disposition Heb. 10.29 He is termed The Spirit of grace And God is termed The God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 A third property taken notice of in the Holy Ghost by the Scriptures is his heavenliness he is said in 1 Pet. 1.12 to have been sent down from heaven which implies that his coming or sending into the World is about the affairs of heaven and that he only mindeth these so elsewhere he is said to be the Spirit which is of God 1 Cor. 2.12 14. So also in Joh. 15.26 Christ promiseth to send him from the Father all which imply him to be an heavenly and heavenly minded Spirit A fourth property and the last we shall now take notice of which the Scriptures mind in the Holy Ghost is a disposition and propensness of mind in him to be communicating and revealing the Counsels and secret things of God unto the minds and consciences of men This property of the Spirit of God which is of some assinity with the last named and gives testimony unto it is oft mentioned in the Scriptures 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12 13. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him c. So again ver 12 13. Now we have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know viz. by his discovering it unto our Judgments and Consciences the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth And so in Joh. 16.13 Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come speaking of the Comforter he will guide you into all truth c. and he will shew you things to come c. This is another heavenly property of him who cometh from the Father to communicate and acquaint men with the great mysteries of the Counsels of God so far as it doth concern the souls of men to know them Now all such lusts and sinful dispositions being indulged and nourished which are contrary to and fight against these properties and dispositions of the Spirit are and must in reason needs be most distasteful unto him and consequently most obstructive to him in his way of advancing his blessed presence in the souls of men The first of the four Particulars attributed unto the Holy Ghost in Scripture was holiness Sect.
his House 1 Kings 21.29 Yet evident it is by the tenour of the place that he was far from being a person truly believing or a person justified in the sight of God In like manner John was not a man endued with Justifying Faith as appears by the Character which the Holy Ghost gives of him 2 Kings 10.29 30. yet was God well pleased with him not only to do as great matters for him as he did for Ahab viz. To establish the Kingdom to him But likewise to continue this Kingdom unto his Posterity for four Generations howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam Jehu did not depart This is Character enough to shew that he was not a true Believe and yet the Lord said unto him Because thou hast done well c. Men may do well though they may be without justifying Faith It is no way probable that all of the Family of the Rechabites were Persons so justified in the sight of God and in favour with him yet was God well pleased with them Jer. 35.14 18.19 So the men of Niniveh were not all and every one of them in the favour and love of God they were not in the state of Justification The like may be said of the young man in the Gospel Mar. 10.21 22. It appeareth from that sad parting between the Lord Christ and him when he went away sorrowful from him you know upon what words speaking that he was not in the state of Justification in the sight of God yet nevertheless he did many things well and was in very great favour with Christ as man for it is said that Jesus beholding him loved him So then men that pray unto God for the gift of his Spirit may be accepted with God as to the obtaining of what they pray for though they be not in an estate of Justification Again secondly If we understand the Saying of the Apostle mentioned Without Faith it is impossible to please God of such a Faith which only importeth a knowledge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what we do or intend to do in which sense the word is sometimes used in the Scriptures And particularly thus it is twice used Rom. 14.23 He eateth not of Faith here the word Faith is taken for knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth I say if we understand such a kind of Faith as this then it imports no more but this that without a belief or knowledge of the lawfulness of what a man doth he cannot please God in the doing of it Now that men may know the lawfulness of praying unto God for his Spirit without Justifying Faith and consequently please God in the Action so far as to obtain what is prayed for needeth I suppose be no mans question at least if we grant or suppose that a man may believe or know and that without Justifying Faith that God hath a Spirit to give unto them that ask him Now though it be somewhat hard to conceive how a man without Justifying Faith yea and somewhat more should distinctly know or believe that God hath a Spirit to give coessential or of the same infinite being with himself yea possibly many that have Justifying Faith may be ignorant or doubtful of this as we read of some in Acts 19. that they did not know as they professed whether there were any Holy Ghost or no yet that God is able inwardly to enlighten quicken stir up and strengthen to that which is good men may know and believe without such a Faith which justifieth and to know this I mean that God is able to enlighten c. is interpretatively or constructively to know that he hath a Spirit to give because these things are proper for him to do by his Spirit and doubtless God out of his abundant Grace and Condescention unto his Creature Man will construe his Prayer as a Prayer made unto him for his Spirit who shall pray for illumination and quickning unto waies and works of well doing This for the seventh and last means we shall insist upon at present by which men and women may be filled with the Spirit of God viz. Prayer And thus much likewise for resolution of the Second Question propounded viz. How men and women may come to be filled with the Spirit and what is to be done by them in order hereunto CHAP. XI A third Question propounded viz. How a man or woman may know whether himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but is indeed a Spirit contrary to it Wherein are several Rules laid down in order to a clear understanding thereof Prov. 6.9 10. 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. Jam. 3.17 Prov 2.22 Chap. 9.6 Rom. 8.13 Psal 145 17. 1 Cor. 2.10 11. in part opened THe Third and last Question was this Sect. 1 How a man may know or judge whether either himself or others are filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit that pretendeth to be the Spirit of God but indeed is a Spirit far differing from it For reply hereunto these five things are necessary in a few words to be premised by the way First That there are a Generation of men and women in the World who cannot properly be said to be filled with any Spirit at all in one kind or other unless haply it be with that which the Scripture calleth in Rom. 11.8 a spirit of slumber or rather a spirit of sloath such as the Wiseman describeth Prov. 6.9 10. How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the arms together Some there are that are of a dull heavy and of a stupified temper little active or stirring in one kind or other somewhat like unto the men of Laish Judges 18.7 who are said to have been quiet and secure and to have had no business with any man We know there are some such in the World who seem to have little sense either of the one World or of the other yea scarce to know whether they be alive or in being or no. Now though these kind of persons we speak of be as good as dead unto all manner of activeness yet if this be come upon them by any Judgment of God by reason of any preceding sin or provocation they may truly and properly enough be said to be filled with the Spirit of slumber drowsiness or floth because God hath left them in the hand and to the power of some evil spirit or other who dismantles and bereavs their nature bodies and souls of that activeness or disposition unto Action in one kind or other which is natural unto them and otherwise would be found in them But if that such a kind of temper be found in any person simply by way of Nature and not by a just recompense of reward for some former sinful miscarriages then the case is far differing I
This is a second thing by the way Thirdly We may add that likewise by the way that in reference to many persons the question now under consideration is Sect. 3 upon the matter no question at all I mean in this respect because they are so manifestly and so apparently filled with an unclean Spirit one or more that there is no place left for any considerable enquiry whether they be filled with the Spirit of God or no The reason is because they do plainly discover themselves to be filled with the spirit of the World Of this sort of persons are all those who live whether in the secret or open practice of those sins whether one or more which the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures expresly declares to be inconsistent with an estate of Grace and with Salvation and for which the Holy Ghost excludeth them out of heaven We have a list of several of these kinds of persons drawn up by the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Idolaters nor Fornicators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Railers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God meaning if they continue such But you are washed c. Some of these with a clause of enlargement which taketh in more than are here named we have elsewhere mentioned by the same Apostle Eph. 5 5 6. For this ye know that no Whoremonger nor Vnclean person nor the Covetous man who is an Idolater hath any c. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience It seemeth that there was in the Apostles daies such a Generation of men like unto which we have in these daies who are called Rantors who bear men in hand being first deceived themselves they labour to deceive others also that for such things as these are even all manner of abominations though they commit them yet there is no such thing as the wrath of God coming upon them no but they can follow these wicked practices with the greatest liberty and that they understand their liberty to be such that they may do such things as these without any regret So that concerning such persons as these we need not spend time in debating the case whether they be filled with the Spirit of God or with some other Spirit contrary unto him The case is evident enough without debate As a man needs not a touchstone for a Chip or a piece of brown Paper to try whether these be good Gold or no these plainly enough discover themselves to be no Gold without the Touchstone every mans sense will inform him of it So that the Question propounded lately is chiefly or only to be managed between persons that have some colourable or plausible pretense to a being filled with the Spirit of God and such who have a real and substantial ground for such a claim Fourthly Sect. 4 That also is to be premised and remembred by the way that we do not intend to sift or examine the difference between a regenerate and an unregenerate estate nor make a discovery of those who have the sanctifying Spirit of God in any degree from amongst those who totally want it but only to search after and if it may be find out who they are that are really filled with the Spirit of God amongst those who pretend to such a fulness and how these may be manifested from the other Fifthly and lastly This also would be taken along with us Sect. 5 that the Spirit of God being a voluntary Agent doth not utter himself in all or every person whom he filleth with his presence in all the variety of his gifts And from hence it followeth that men may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of some one of his operations and yet make no appearance of the fulness of the Spirit in some other 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit c. Here we may clearly see that one and the self same Spirit of God is able to fill several men with variety of gifts with several kinds of filling One may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of Knowledge another may be filled with the Spirit of God in respect of Wisdom and yet may not be filled with him in some other consideration But if you ask me the difference between Wisdom and Knowledge you may conceive it thus Wisdom implieth a heavenly dexterity a faculty and ability to apply general Rules or Sayings to particular Cases to be able to find out Rules whereby to resolve Questions and Cases which another man who wanteth the Spirit of Wisdom will not be able to see As for instance Our Saviour when he was put to it by the Scribes and Pharisees to justifie the Fact of his Disciples in plucking the Ears of Corn against their unjust Clamours if he had not had a rich anointing of this gift of the Spirit of Wisdom he would not have been able to find out a passage of Scripture to have justified this Practice of theirs but you know where he findeth it and to prove the lawfulness of what his Disciples did Have ye not read saith he Mat. 12.3 4. what David did and those with him when they were hungry how that they went to the House of God and eat the Shew-bread which was not lawful for them to do And so he gives another instance of the Priests Circumcising on the Sabbath day and yet they pollute not the Sabbath Here he by the Spirit of Wisdom findeth the grounds that are contained in these passages of Scriptures laid up somewhat close out of the way of the ordinary thoughts of men It is like not any of the Apostles had been able to make use of these to plead their own cause but the Lord Jesus Christ by reason of that Spirit of Wisdom did it effectually There is the like gift of the Spirit to a degree which is discernable to those that have eyes to discern Men that are but of competent Judgments may clearly see that in some men the Spirit of God doth put forth himself in this great and happy gift of Wisdom making them able to find out grounds and passages of Scripture for the clearing and unfolding of such questions and difficulties which other men and men that are more excellent in their way in some other gifts of the Spirit are not able to do Now Knowledge noteth an understanding of the general Rules themselves and the things themselves which are delivered and asserted in the Scriptures A man may have all Knowledge as the Scriptures speak he may be able to repeat the whole Scriptures from first to last by heart and give an account of the sense and meaning of
and the same also of the same hot temper in his own private Concernments his heat in matters of Religion may be but of the same account with other mens coldness I mean may be nothing else but his natural temper and so argue no fulness of the Spirit of God I confess it is possible that he that is somewhat warm and somewhat apt to be stirred in his spirit about his Worldly Affairs and withal is zealously affected with and about the things of God may be filled with the Spirit of God But however the Judgment of this latter heat is taken away by the former though such a mans zeal in the things of God may proceed from a fulness of the Spirit of God in him yet his heat otherwise drowns the Argument of it This heat we speak of in his Worldly Affairs though it doth not contradict the reality or truth of his being filled with the Spirit yet it contradicteth and destroyeth the evidence proof or manifestation of it The reason why I conceive that some fervour of spirit in a mans own occasions may possibly consist with a fulness of the Spirit of God in which case a mans zeal for God must needs proceed from such a fulness is because the Spirit of God even when the heart and soul is to a good degree filled with him doth not alwaies dissolve the natural frame of the heart in such dispositions which are not sinful or not apprehended to be sinful And many times we find men who are flames of fire in their own occasions yet like so many dul clods of earth in the things of Jesus Christ yea this is the ordinary temper of the generality of men even of Professors themselves according to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.21 All men seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ In this case when he that seeketh or hitherto hath sought his own things with zeal and diligence but hath been remiss and cold in the things of Jesus Christ shall be reduced to greater zeal for the things of Jesus Christ than for his own this change in him must needs proceed from the Spirit of God yea from a great work of this Spirit in him and consequently such a Person continuing thus zealous for Christ may well be conceived to be full of the Spirit of Christ notwithstanding he be somewhat zealous of his own Cause and Affairs also Now the reason hereof is because his heat in his own Affairs is but somewhat of the natural frame of his heart which is not dissolved by the Spirit of God it not being apprehended to be sinful I confess there is a kind of zeal in a mans secular and worldly Affairs which is found in too many which is hardly if at all consistent with a being filled with the Spirit this is that which the Apostle calleth A warring after the flesh Now What is this same warring after the flesh It is to be importunely troublesome unto the World to quarrel almost with every man that comes in our way and with whom we have to do about these outward things and accommodations When men fight they lay out their strength and all they have as Souldiers they do it with all their might and power So when men are zealous to such a degree for their own Affairs that the managing and providing for them is a kind of Warfare wherein they are acted by the flesh and by the desires lusts and unreasonable motions of it so as to quarrel and contend with every man that stands in their way such a kind of zeal in men which appeareth in thus warring according to the flesh testifieth unto their Faces that certainly they are not filled with the Spirit of God There is indeed another kind of zeal which you may conceive better of and this is a kind of diligence in your Affairs which is worthy of commendation For men being diligent in their Callings by this means declare themselves to be Loyal Servants of Jesus Christ if he set them about their own work then they will serve him there if he set them on work for himself there they will serve him also In such a kind of heat as this there is somewhat that answers unto and is consistent with a fulness of the Spirit of God But when men are hot fiery and fierce in their own things and likewise fierce in the things of God their being hot in the things of God is an Argument of no weight no way convincing that they are filled with the Spirit A second Rule for discovery of those who are filled with the Spirit of God from those who are not filled with him but with a contrary Spirit Sect. 7 may be this when men and women have the command of their Spirits so as to keep them in and let them out to cause them to rise and to fall to go and to come according to the true exigency of the affairs of Jesus Christ and of the real benefit of men For when men are alwaies and in all cases alike hot and fiery or else alike cold and heartless and put no difference between times and times occasions and occasions persons and persons it is an argument or sign of great probability and which seldom faileth that there is no great presence of the Spirit of God with them and that that zeal and heat wherein some men upon all occasions and without any difference made between any circumstances appear is but either a kind of natural temper or which is worse some affected strain of hypocrisie It is a Promise made by God unto those that will cause their ear to hearken unto Wisdom And encline their heart to understanding c. Prov. 2.2 compared with ver 9. That they shall understand righteousness and judgment c. by understanding of judgment c. I conceive he means these two things First A discerning and understanding what is meet and worthy to be done upon all occasions according to the regular and due exigency and requirements of every of them respectively And secondly An heart and inward disposition to do every thing accordingly Now when men and women thus and in this sense understand judgment that is know how to rise and fall in their spirits how to change and temper their behaviour and speech when to be authoritative stout and resolute and again familiar gentle and submissive according as the persons are with whom and according to the nature of the occasions and affairs wherein they have to do and this in order to the glorifying of God and the justifying of his Wisdom it is an Argument of much weight to prove that they have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God We find Paul a man very excellent and active in all the variety of these spiritual postures we speak of 1 Cor. 9.19 20 c. For though saith he I be free from all men yet have I made my self a Servant unto all To the Jew I became a Jew unto them that
for another to know with what Persons and in what Cases to deal in a spirit of Meekness and Sweetness and when to deal with men in Fire Earthquake and Thunder and when to hold a course between both and to know how proportionably to measure out by drams and scruples a behaviour sutable to all cases such as will make a man harmonious with himself and not to be over-bearing when that which is less will best become him and so not be light where a greater weight is necessary Secondly Sect. 9 Many men may be better provided at this point at the intellectual part and for matter of understanding and discerning times and seasons than they are at the second which is a readiness an aptness to comport with these actions or occasions for alas there is not one man or woman of many that do live up to their light If ye know these things saith Christ happy are ye if ye do them As it requireth a rich anointing of the Spirit of God to discern times and seasons so doth it no less to have a mans heart throughly broken and subdued under him to comply with them Doubtless many persons know the necessity of duties yea of many highly acceptable and beneficial things which yet their hearts will not serve them to come up unto Their eyes are generally better than their hearts their apprehensions are more raised and full and their affections more slow and heavie within them And therefore secondly For men to have all things that may render them apt to all due and regular compliance with all services incumbent on them this doth require a marvelous degree of self-denial and mortification for the heart of a man is exceeding stâ—ff and will not bend nor bow unless it be in such and such cases that fall in with the natural frame and temper of it But for a man to be universally comportant and complying with all those spiritual occasions and affairs of God that come in his way this will never be done a mans heart will never stand upon such terms until it be mightily broken until the Spirit of God have pulled down that building of the Old man and have not left one stone thereof upon another It is true the heart of a man requires much hammering before this building of the Old man will fall before the flesh and lusts thereof will be subdued But would men be faithful unto the interest of their own souls this blessed work might be accomplished For the Word of God is abundantly furnished there is enough in it wherewithal to subdue that or those lusts which are most disturbing enough quite to change and alter the property and constitution of a man and to reduce those that are most froward to the greatest gentleness and those that are most fiery and turbulent in their Spirits to the greatest Meekness and Patience I say If men would but set that Wisdom which is from above on work upon their hearts and Spirits this would fill up all the Valleys and bring down all the Mountains and reduce the frame of the heart and soul of such a man who thus imployeth it into a conformity with it self viz. in Purity Peaceableness Gentleness and an easiness to be intreated My Brethren we do admire and we have cause so to do at that excellent temper of the Apostle Paul how active he was he could stop the Flesh as it were with a curb in the midst of its Career like a Horse that is excellently taught that will stop in the midst of his way with the least check of the Bit or Bridle So Paul's heart being broken and disciplined by means of the Gospel and by his own care and industry was brought to that same pass And doubtless we have the same Word and Gospel that he had and if we had but the same mind we might be as excellent even as he himself was if we did but love that same more excellent way as he did what hindereth or what is there in the way between him and the poorest Christian of all He saith he laboured more abundantly than they all and therefore no marvel that he got so far before them in the Race But if we respect our selves and the generality of Christians in these daies no marvel if we lie in the very Center of the Earth and have made so little advance in waies of excellency and that on the other hand we are not descended so much as one degree lower from that height and pride of spirit which we first began withal and which we found in our selves when we set upon the work of Mortification I say it is no marvel if we consider how exceedingly indisposed Christians generally are to spiritual labour without which these things cannot be attained This for the second particular But then The third and last is this Sect. 10 The rarity and fewness of such persons in the World who do thus genuinely and kindly answer unto and suite their spirits and deportments with all occasions and circumstances that come in their way There are very few that are expert in the Word of God and that can or are willing to take the pains to be able to distinguish between an ordinary presence of the Spirit and that which we are speaking of viz. a being filled with the Spirit and therefore sit down and content themselves without striving after it I make no question but the Spirit of God is abroad in the world and that he dwelleth in many of your hearts and souls But though I would be indulgent unto your spiritual credit and repute to the utmost that I am able yet I cannot believe any such thing concerning you that all of you are what you ought to be and what you might very well be The commodity indeed is rich but it is very costly yet if you would go to the price of it it is to be had at the hand of Jesus Christ But according to the present size and state of Christianity and the Professours thereof in the World there are very few to be found of that excellent Character we speak of but that their natural Temper Humour and Disposition will be found in their actions they will be stiff and not fall in nor comply gently nor sweetly with many occasions when they should quit themselves like men of courage not regarding the faces of men their hearts will not serve them but they are meal-mouthed they dare not speak they are afraid to offend such and such a man Otherwhile when they have occasion to treat about any business with those that are low and mean then you shall have them high and surly and over-bearing Now in these cases this same unworthy Principle of their Nature as we may call it shews it self I cannot by the way brook that term for there is nothing simply unworthy in nature but what sin and the unworthiness of the hearts of men have put into it It is hard and exceeding rare to
Or else secondly Relatively I mean in reference to other things to certain ends or purposes which are not essential unto the work In the former consideration or sense a work is said to be perfect when it is so well and perfectly performed that no degrees of perfection are wanting or can be added to it In the latter sense a work is said to be perfect when it is wrought after such a manner or upon such terms that it accommodates some ends and purposes of greater weight and moment than a sudden or present perfection of the work it self To explain this distinction a little and then briefly to apply it God we know in the course of Nature though as the Apostle saith he giveth to every Seed it s own body yet he doth this gradually As our Saviour in his Parable Mar. 4.28 expresseth it concerning the Seed or Grain of Corn First the blade then the ear and then the ripe or full corn in the Ear. Now the work of Providence in bringing the Seed that is sown thus by degrees to perfection is in this respect at first and for a time after viz. until the ripe Corn in the Ear imperfect because after the springing up of the Blade and after the Ear there remains somewhat further to be done to bring there to their natural and due perfection i.e. to be ripe Corn in the Ear. But now look upon this work of Providence in another consideration viz. as it is subservient to such ends and purposes as God projecteth to bring to pass by it viz. to exercise the Faith and Patience of the Husbandman in waiting upon him a convenient space for the receiving the fruit of his Labour and so to display his own Wisdom in the orderly Progression of Nature or second causes and so it is perfect all along from first to last and under every degree or advance of it and would have been less perfect in case it had been carried on and wrought otherwise I mean in case the Seed that is sown should presently upon the sowing be brought to perfection or full Corn in the Ear. Though this had been perfect in the former consideration yet in the latter it would have been imperfect and so would not have accommodated the Husbandman in his waiting with patience Now to apply the distinction All the works of the Spirit in men the work of Faith the work of Repentance or Mortification c. They are all perfect in the latter sense but not in the former We read in the Scripture as well of a little Faith as of a great Faith and a little Faith is the work of the Spirit as well as that which is great Yet a little Faith simply considered is an imperfect work because many degrees remain to be added to it to perfect or complete it but in the latter consideration the work of a little Faith in men and so of a lower degree of Mortification is as perfect a work as a greater The Reason is because the Spirit in working a work of little Faith and not of greater accommodates the righteous and wise Counsel or Design of God viz. in rewarding mens Labour Diligence and Faithfulness proportionably to their degrees not making those who have been less diligent and faithful though both in some degree equal unto those who have abounded in these above their Fellows Now we know the Wisdom and the Holiness of God have in consultation the promotion of Godliness in the World upon the highest and best terms that may be And among many waies and means wherein the God of Grace doth intend to express himself for the promoting this great Design of his there is no means more effectual than this way viz. That those who will be more diligent and more laborious and more faithful and shall more and more apply themselves to the use of such and such means that they shall be invested with such and such Priviledges in a greater measure Whereas if God should do that upon any use of means viz. if they shall pray once a month or hear the Word once a month if God shall give as much and as rich a presence of himself unto such a person as unto him who shall be diligent in the use of means Then or by means of such a procedure God should pull down that with one hand which he endeavoureth to build up with the other and would by such a course take men off from the use of means for Who would give double or treble to procure that which he might have at a lower rate This for a third sign or means of discerning who are filled with the Spirit a deep and effectual work of Mortification Fourthly Sect. 14 Another thing which argueth a man or woman to be filled with the Spirit of God is some worthy degree of Holiness where a Spirit of holiness breaths uniformly and with an equal tenour of life and conversation in the World We have heretofore shewed what holiness in the sense we now speak of it is viz. a gracious impression or propension enclining the heart and soul where it resideth unto waies and actions eminently righteous and just with a real abhorrency of the contrary or of whatsoever is sinful Indeed that holiness which we now speak of seemeth chiefly to consist in the latter A real loathing abhorring and detesting what is sinful and unclean Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his waies and holy in all his works Righteous in all his waies i. e. All his waies and works and dispensations all his interposures in the World with every Creature are all righteous and just He meaneth just in such a sense as men are able to call just for else to what purpose was it to inform the World that God was just and righteous and then to mean it to be such a kind of Justice and Righteousness which men cannot understand And holy in all his works I suppose it is according to the manner of the Scriptures where usually in the latter Clause of the Verse there is some Explication made of the former And so here the Holy Ghost having said The Lord is righteous in all his waies he addeth and he is holy in all his works As if he had said He is not simply in all that he doth just and regular No but he doth abhor with a perfect hatred all things that are contrary We know a man may do a thing out of such or such an affection or disposition or in reference to such an end that he would provide for and accomplish and yet possibly he may do the contrary But now saith David concerning God there is such a mighty propensity and going out of his heart and soul to holiness in all his works that he cannot do otherwise he hath the greatest abhorrency in his nature to do otherwise As the Wiseman saith in the Proverbs It is joy to the upright to do justly that is the Propensions of their heart and soul
stand for such actions Now all Actions which are sutable to a strong Propensity in a man are actions of joy and great delight unto him so that to do justly and righteously when the heart is full of this disposition must needs be matter of joy and of high contentment it must needs ease the heart and soul that is filled with this fulness And so God taketh a pleasure in mercy mercy is his delight because he is full of mercy his Nature and Essence is full of these gracious Principles these sweet and blessed affections and so likewise Righeousness is his delight as on the contrary because there is planted in his Nature a deep and unspeakable detestation and abhorrence of that which is sinful and unrighteous therefore he cannot come near any such Action Now the reason why I make a worthy or considerable degree in holiness an Argument or sign of a mans being filled with the Spirit of God is because the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Holiness And according to the common Maxime in Reason and in Natural Philosophy Omne Agens assimilat sibi patiens c. Every Agent endeavoureth to make the Patient like himself as fire would make all hot So water doth moysten and soften all that doth come near unto it and that will mingle with it The Spirit we know is from place to place in the Scriptures stiled the Holy Spirit this is his proper Name or Character by which he is distinguished Eph. 1.13 In whom or by whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise He is here distinguished from all other Spirits and termed the holy Spirit In whom saith he after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise that is the Spirit promised by God or by Jesus Christ unto Believers Only this is to be remembred by way of Caution when any person is wont to appear in the Form of holiness in respect of any great and solemn detestation of some things or waies that are evil as it is observable in some that they have a great fierceness and as it were a fierce keen edge of Spirit against some kind of sins but are remiss lukewarm and neutral in respect of others being manifest and generally known or acknowledged to be sins This is no Argument of persons being filled with the Spirit of God Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge So when men shall abhor one kind of sin or abomination but yet either practice or pass by or connive at and are not troubled at the practice of another this is a sign that it is not from the Spirit of God or from any fulness with this Spirit that that abhorrence and detestation of that particular sin doth proceed and consequently this is no Argument of any great worth or value to prove that a man is filled with the Spirit of God And thus you have many great pretenders unto holiness and consequently to a being filled with the Spirit by this touchstone of truth discovered to be nothing so There may be indeed other reasons and other motives that may put them forth in a detestation of some sins but if there be other sins that they can suffer without any trouble or regret of soul certainly this is not the Spirit of God that worketh For he never teacheth men to put any such difference between abomination and abomination A fifth Particular Sect. 15 by which a man or woman may be discerned to be filled with the Spirit of God is if they be eminently godly if Godliness hath its perfect work in them i. e. if they be all really and in good earnest solicitous and careful that their waies and actions may have a direct clear and proper tendency to the glorifying or manifesting of God in the World when men without much regret or reluctancy or much pain unto the Flesh can accommodate all their occasions and affairs to the interest of God and his glory This is a great sign of their being filled with the Spirit of God For as we have formerly shewed unto you that as the heaviness of a Stone carries it downwards to its Center just so Godliness maketh the Soul hang Godward and consequently disposeth a man to a kind of solicitousness in all his waies that these may all lead in a straite Line unto the magnifying of God and the advancing of his glory The reason why we deliver this as a Property or Character of a mans being filled with the Spirit is first because the Spirit who is said to be of God or from God cannot but be conceived to be for God also i. e. perswade and encline men to make God and his Glory their Soveraign end and to set him up and his Interest here as the highest and supreme end of all their undertakings and of all their Counsels and dealings in the World And secondly The motions and workings of the Spirit in the hearts and souls of men being every way concurrent with the Gospel for the Spirit moveth not stirreth not doth not encline any mans heart or soul but in consort and in a full and express concurrence with the Gospel with the Sayings Precepts and Exhortations hereof And the Gospel being calculated as it were on purpose with the most exact and best Skill and Wisdom and Understanding to promote Godliness being a Doctrine according unto Godliness i. e. a Doctrine framed and made on purpose to promote Godliness in the World a Doctrine of such a nature and import as if God had a desire by means hereof to set up himself and to draw men unto himself Now then I say the Spirit never working but with a full concurrence with the Gospel and the Gospel being set for Godliness and for the advancement of it in the World it cannot be but that the Spirit of God must set the heart on work in order to the same end also and therefore when it appears that men are to a considerable degree industrious and earnest for the advancing of Godliness it is an indubitable sign or Character that the Spirit of God is present that he is there with a great presence with an abundance of himself and of his power Sixthly Sect. 16 Another sign of persons being filled with the Spirit of God is a like worthy degree of heavenly mindedness When mens minds and thoughts are much intent upon and taken up with heavenly things when the daily converse of the heart and soul is with things of another World when a man can sacrifice his greatest earthly accommodations and conveniences upon his spiritual and heavenly interest and when notwithstanding any state of blessedness doth accrue unto us as unto the things of this World yet a mans heart is daily in heaven when by our Faith we can rent the Vail I say when the mind and thoughts of a man are much exercised and acted about these things this is a great sign likewise that there
is much of the Spirit of God in him The reason of this is because the Spirit of God came down from heaven on purpose to make men heavenly minded and to negotiate the interest and affairs of his own Country much after the manner of Agents and Embassadours who come to treat about the things of their own Country So the Spirit doth come down from heaven he is the great Prince that doth negotiate the affairs thereof with men 1 Pet. 1.12 By them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven The Holy Ghost is come to preach the Gospel and the effect he desireth may be produced by it is that of earthly and carnal he might transform persons into heavenly and spiritual Now in whomsoever this is carried on to any sensible and notable degree insomuch that it is perceived by those that have to do with them that their minds are questionless much taken up much set upon the things of the World which is to come the things of heaven and that in comparison thereof the things of this World and the concernments hereof are undervalued and made to stand by when the other are in place that these are made to give way when the interest of the other requires it I say when any man is discerned by those with whom he converseth to be of such a frame and temper of spirit as this is it is a very promising sign and Character that this person is full of the Spirit of God Seventhly If we sow plentifully to the Spirit Sect. 17 this is another sign of a good import and very promising that men are filled with the Spirit What it is to sow to the Spirit we shewed you formerly when we prescribed a sowing unto the Spirit as a means whereby to be filled with the Spirit To sow to the Spirit we signified unto you was to live in such waies to perform such Actions and these frequently and constantly which the Spirit may reap i. e. from whence the Spirit of God may have acknowledgement honour and praise amongst men in the world In the same phrase of speech the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 9.11 calls the preaching of the Gospel unto men the sowing of spiritual things unto them If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter for us to reap your carnal things The faithful Ministers of the Gospel are said to sow spiritual things unto men when they preach the Gospel truly and effectually unto them because they may reap spiritual benefit and advantage from what they sow it being the proper tendency of those things which they preach unto men to yield an encrease and harvest according to the nature and excellency of the Seed In like manner men may be said to sow unto the Spirit of God when they walk in such waies and in the performance of such Actions which are like to turn to an account of praise and glory or contentment unto the Spirit of God As on the contrary when men and women go so to work behave themselves so unworthily in the World that the Spirit is like to suffer prejudice or disparagement by them viz. when men shall be occasioned or tempted to think or say that the Spirit of God never regarded never looked graciously upon such a person that walketh and acteth so unworthily so wickedly in such cases as this men are said to grieve the Spirit of God they sow the seeds of Gall and Wormwood unto him If you ask me What are these waies or actions more particularly by which men and women may be said to sow unto the Spirit I reply They are such which give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit of God in them and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit Such as are waies of Righteousness Love Humility Patience Mercy Bounty c. such waies and actions as these may therefore be said to give testimony both of the presence of the Spirit in men and likewise of the goodness of this Spirit because first If he were not in men perswading unto aiding and assisting in such waies and actions as these they would never proceed from them but on the contrary the Flesh would prevail and bring forth fruits in its kind Again secondly If this Spirit were not a Spirit of Goodness he would not move and stir up men and women to such good and worthy waies and actions as these but to the contrary as the unclean Spirit Satan stirreth up many in his kind Now it is a worthy Testimony given to the Spirit not only when men testifie or assert his goodness unto the World but also when they assert his presence with men or in men this argues the exceeding graciousness and condescension of his nature So then Sect. 18 they who abound in such waies and works as these mentioned and walk with an high hand in them are hereby plainly discovered to be full of the Spirit of God The reason hereof is because as the lowest proportion of the fruits we speak of and the least and least considerable of them do argue that men have some kind or degree of the Spirit in them otherwise they would be wholly and totally barren in this kind So doth it argue a worthy and excellent proportion of the Spirit in men when they are full of such fruits especially when the fruits they bear in this kind are any thing more large or fair than ordinary As when a fruit bearing tree in one kind or other as suppose a Fig-tree or a Pear-tree c. beareth any proportion though never so small of the fruit that is proper to it this argues that there is a lively sap and moysture in the Tree in some degree or other but if this Tree shall be seen with boughs laden with Fruit and that of the largest and goodliest that is to be found this is a sign not simply that the Tree hath sap and moisture in it But that it is full of sap as the Psalmist speaks of the trees of the Lord Psal 104.16 i. e. according to the Hebrew Dialect Trees that are excellently thriving and flourishing in their kind In like manner when men and women shall sow plentifully unto the Spirit in the sense declared especially if the Seed which they sow in this kind shall be goodly fair and large this is an unquestionable demonstration that they are filled with the Spirit of God When men and women shall quit themselves above the ordinary rate of Professours and Believers in works of Love Faith Humility and Self-denial c. shall truly and without any tincture of ill will or hard thoughts forgive and pass by some great injury done unto them by men If thou beest able to pass by an eminent wrong and if thou canst upon the next opportunity as the next day or the like kindly intreat him that hath done it If thou canst deal freely and lovingly with him and this injury hath not at all weakened
and Exhortations teach the Sons and Daughters of men such a deportment and demeanour of themselves in all cases and under all circumstances that will set them off with the best and highest acceptation with men for every Command and Precept of his hath a kind of pleasant correspondence with the frame and condition of man and when men and women neglect the performance of any of them in their season or shall do any thing contrary unto them they render themselves so much the less lovely and desirable No man ever neglected any of the Commands of God but that by every such neglect ipso facto they stain and spot the dignity and excellency of their glory whereas if they had been true to themselves and to their own interest in yielding obedience to those Commands of God they would have been more lovely comely and pleasant and more highly accepted both with God and amongst men The Holy Ghost himself very frequently commends obedience and subjection unto the Laws of God under this very Notion we now speak of unto men My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8 9. hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of grace upon thy head and Chains upon thy neck meaning that Instructions from the Word of God administred unto us by our Parents and those that be over us being regarded and submitted unto by us will render us lovely and respected both of God and men So again Prov. 3.22 So shall she meaning Wisdom submitted unto be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck She shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy head c. So again 1 Tim. 2.9 10. The Apostle in this Contexture of Scripture sheweth how women professing Godliness ought to behave themselves in all Modesty Shamefac'dness and Sobriety accompanied with good works these namely good works are comely Ornaments as well for men as for women And it is the property of good works and all manner of conforming to the Will of God to make a kind of noise in the World and to provoke men to look upon them who are found fruitful in them Even as rich Jewels do make and beget by their Lustre a kind of high esteem and reverence in men to persons who wear them In like manner they who shall adorn themselves with works of righteousness by submitting to the Commands of God shall by such waies be known to be the Sons of God even by the richness of those Ornaments and Jewels which hang about their necks Mat. 3.15 It becometh us saith our Lord Christ to fulfill all Righteousness as who should say This is the way that would advance and adorn him and make him more comely in the sight of God his Father and of Angels and of Men. And so Rom. 16.2 That ye receive her in the Lord speaking of Phebe as becometh Saints and that ye assist her c. My Brethren there is no occasion no business nothing to be done either abroad or at home when a man is sitting in his house or speaking to his Servants or any other persons but there is an opportunity for such a kind of behaviour which will well become us and which will set us off with a kind of comliness or loveliness in the eyes of those which are about us This then is the first thing which we commend unto you by way of Instruction That if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men especially Believers to be filled with the Spirit then is it a comly and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to walk accordingly by means whereof they shall find acceptation both in Heaven and in Earth Secondly Sect. 2 If it be the Will and Command of God that all Believers especially should be filled with the Spirit of God take we further knowledge from hence that there are some Duties and these of most worthy consequence and concernment unto men unto which the minds and consciences of men even of Professours themselves are generally asleep taking little notice of them or of yielding obedience unto them they do not put them into their Roll or Catalogue of Duties or things commanded or enjoyned For first That this Precept of God which enjoyns a being filled with the Spirit of God directed more particularly unto the Saints is a Precept of very high concernment unto them hath been made to appear formerly and particularly when we gave directions how to raise an ardent desire in your souls unto it by setting before you the various and most rich accommodations which do alwaies accompany such a fulness Secondly That this Precept notwithstanding the excellency of it is little in the thoughts of Believers themselves and that their Consciences are little better than dead unto it is too too evident from the general neglect that is found amongst them of the use of the means which are proper to fill them accordingly without the diligent use whereof it is impossible they should be obedient unto the Precept as we have heretofore opened the business unto you and besides the little regard of this Precept even amongst Believers themselves is apparent more than enough from the general tenour of their actions and waies which are nothing like the actions and waies of men filled with the Spirit And as it is with this Precept of being filled with the Spirit in being so generally neglected and forgotten by Believers So is it with several other also which share in the same disrespect at the hand of Believers with it viz. as That of walking circumspectly or exactly as the word signifies That of redeeming the time in respect of the evil of the daies wherein we live That of bearing one anothers burthens That of not respecting persons for their wealth and costly cloaths That which enjoyns rich men to be rich in good works These with some others as generally all such which grate hard upon the flesh and require a spiritual Heroickness and true greatness of spirit to submit unto them and which are not sanctioned or back'd with an express threatning of exclusion from the Kingdom of God and of Salvation in case of disobedience Most of the Precepts of any of these Characters are like some absolute and antiquated Laws or Statutes in a State or Commonwealth which through a long customary and general disuse and neglect are no more minded or regarded than if they were not nor persons any waies challenged charged or thought the worse of for not conforming themselves unto them So are such Precepts of Christianity which respect excellency of walking and have not the vengeance of hell fire attending them to awaken the Consciences of men to the observance They seem to be no otherwise looked upon by Professours than as if they were given by the Lord Christ only to be gazed on and looked at and not with any intent that they should be obeyed by men or with any expectation
by the generality of them thought to be little better than crazed in his brain 2 Cor. 5.13 or head-shaken and that too much Learning had made him mad Whether we be beside our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your sakes Now when he saith whether we be besides our selves he doth not mean that he acted any thing out of madness or distemper nay certainly he was never himself more than when he did act these things for which they thought him besides himself and a man singular and engaged with some odd kind of Speculations and Notions and therefore saith the Apostle as for such things as these if we be besides our selves and like men distempered we are this unto God we have our eyes upon and approve our selves unto him in these things we easily believe you cannot tell what to make of them you cannot make wisdom nor obedience nor subjection unto God in them you do not understand nor comprehend those Laws nor those Rules nor Principles by which we act and move in such waies but saith he we look unto God and he understands it though we speak as it were in an unknown Tongue unto you yet in a Language which God well knows and understands But now saith he if we be sober it is for your sakes in these things he had respect unto them for their Edification In like manner when persons are carried and lifted up by the power of the Spirit of God above the ordinary Line of men either in speaking or acting for the glory of God or advantage of the Gospel Men that do not know and believe that there is any such Spirit at least acting or working in men are ready to blaspheme him in his Saints and to impute the things that are wrought by the power of his Presence in men to some dishonourable and untoward Principle or other as that they pretend to be led by the Spirit of God whereas they do such things upon their own fansie and upon some such suggestion which Sathan hath put into them As the Roman Historian speaking of Nero the Monster of men reporteth his conceit to be which he did express publickly that there was no man in the World but was as vicious as himself only herein was the difference between him and them he was open and would act above board and other men were more afraid But he did not believe that there was any such thing as Temperance and Sobriety Even so this is the very strain and temper and inward thoughts of ignorant persons in the World that have no heart nor spirit for God nor for waies of excellency that are lovely and honourable When they see that there are other men and women of their Ranke that do such things which they cannot do They cannot go along with them they cannot fast and pray they cannot follow such and such Religious Duties or Exercises they think that these men do but dissemble they love their money as well as we they love their ease as well as we only the Devil tempteth them and putteth them upon these waies that so they may have credit and repute and be thought more holy and greater lovers of God than other men and by this means they judge themselves better because they know they are plain and have no reserves in their breasts but what they are in the frame of their hearts and spirits and affections they act and utter themselves accordingly Whereas those persons that are externally so godly and would be so judged are every whit as bad or worse than we because they seek to cover and hide and to dissemble those wicked and vile thoughts which are in them by an external shew of holiness they can take their turns privately and secretly to do the very self same thing or things that are worse and more sinful than any that we do This is I say an express strain of the Spirit of that Monster Nero This is the reason that such persons fall foul upon the Saints especially when the Spirit shall draw them forth unto waies that are so excellent in their kind Now they that shall thus impute this to Sathan or unto the vile hearts of men these are they who do obstruct the force of this Exhortation of mens being filled with the Spirit of God and do what in them lie to make mens hearts to sink and to discourage them from seeking after such a Royal Priviledge A second sort to be reproved upon the former account Sect. 2 viz. as Enemies unto the heavenly Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit discouraging mens hearts from pursuing the blessed Counsel given unto them by God himself in it are they who labour to perswade men that the Spirit wherewith God exhorteth men to be filled is but a Finite a Created Spirit an Angel and not God Evil words saith the Apostle corrupt good manners 1 Cor. 15.33 So do erroneous and lying conceits and imaginations infused into the minds of men obstruct many holy and worthy endeavours and layings out of mens selves which otherwise in all likelihood they would not refrain and which undertaken and put forth by them would turn to a blessed account unto them Instances might readily be given in many particulars in this kind we shall consider the truth of the Observation at present only in the Point in hand For what doth such a Doctrine or Notion as this That the Spirit the Holy Ghost is not God but only a finite Spirit being interpreted signifie but that it is but in vain for men and women so much as to think of ever being filled with him and consequently of ever being excellent For fust the Created Spirits the good Angels are Ministers and Servants even all of them without exception of any unto the Saints as they are Members of that body whereof their Lord and Master Christ is the head We know that place Heb. 1.14 Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation So then Angels however in respect of the excellency and dignity of their natures they be superiour unto men yet in respect of that Ministry and Service unto men whereunto they are deputed and set forth by God they are inferiour unto them Now the heart and soul of man cannot frame and bring it self to expect or look for from its fellow Creatures especially such a Creature which God in respect of Ministry and Service hath subjected unto it any thing so excellent or so desirable as it reasonably may work and prevail with its self to expect or promise unto it self from its Creator from a Spirit that is infinite in his being and an inexhaust Abyss of all excellency My Brethren it is repugnant to the inbred nature and innate Principles of the heart and soul of a man to go forth with a like courage alacrity or confidence to seek its desires or supplies where either he knows not whether they are to
though they may in a metaphorical and improper sense be said to dwell in men as Timothies Faith is said first to have dwelt in his Grand-mother Lois and in his Mother Eunice ver 5. yet in a direct or proper sense it cannot so be said of them Now where there is no necessity enforcing a Metaphorical sense a proper sense is still to be preferred besides an unproper sense here viz. by the Holy Ghost to understand the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost would be very incongruous and hard as thus The good thing committed unto thee keep by the gifts of the Holy Ghost which dwell in us or by the Holy Ghost which in or by his gifts dwelleth in us So again Grieve not the Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 So Isa 63.10 So it is said of the Jews of old that they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Luk. 12.12 Acts 2.3 4. 10.44 19.6 It would be very incongruous and harsh to understand these Scriptures and many others of the like Character and import only of the gifts of the Holy Ghost Nor will it at all relieve that most dangerous Notion and Conceit which we now oppose to pretend and say Sect. 5 that though there be but one Holy Ghost or one Holy Spirit to whom the Attribute of Holiness is appropriately ascribed and he termed the Holy Spirit yet there are many other Spirits multitude of angels which are assistant unto him who may possibly be as many in number as there are Saints in the World at one time yea and possibly more so that these Spirits amongst them may attend the Saints in all places and parts of the World at one and the same time and inasmuch as there is one Supreme amongst them by whom all the rest are directed and employed in their way all that is done by them all may be ascribed unto him as because there is one head or one Principal amongst the Devils who is said to be the Prince of the Devils who is termed sometimes Sathan sometimes Beelzebub and Prince of the Devils therefore all that is done all the temptations that are managed in the World by all that are amongst them are in Scripture ascribed unto Sathan or unto the Devil indefinitely and in the Singular number and if the Devil who is confessed on all hands to be a created and finite Spirit be said in Scripture to tempt men though in never so remote places one from another at the same time why may not the Holy Ghost be said to fill men with himself upon the like terms viz. in all the places of the Earth at the same time though he be supposed to be a finite Spirit also If we had time we should plainly shew unto you that this is nothing but a piece of Sackcloath spun on purpose and devized to spread over the face of the Sun It is nothing but a vain flourish to hide this great and worthy truth of God from the eyes of the World to take off the minds and hearts of men from looking after such a worthy and blessed enjoyment as a being filled with the Spirit of God For first We shall shew you that there is not any ground in Scripture or Reason to suppose that any one Angel should have the superintendency or disposing of all the rest of the Angels to order them to their several Employments Works or Actions I say there is no word nor the least breathing or whisper of any such thing as this but the Scriptures rather look another way namely to shew that all the good and holy Angels who are employed on the behalf of the Saints receive their Commission immediately from God himself or from the Lord Christ who is represented in the Scripture as their great Lord and Master They stand charged there with Loyalty and Homage to him Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in the first begotten in the World he saith and Tet all the Angels of God worship him And ver 14. Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth c They are sent forth by him whose Angels they are about their several Ministries And that is the reason too I suppose of that Expression of our Saviour Mat. 18.10 who speaking of the little ones who did believe in him saith I say unto you that in Heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Meaning that they do stand continually in the presence of God and there behold his face looking and waiting to receive some Commission or other longing for service and employment from him it is their life it is their glory and felicity to attend the services that shall be commanded them by God and therefore they do stand as Servants of a King who saith to one do this and to another do that to one go this way and to another go that way So do all the Angels in heaven stand round about the Throne of the Great God every one of them being greedy of Service to have some Message and Intimation from God what to do This therefore argueth that they do not receive their Commissien from any created Angel as they themselves are but that they have it directly and immediately from God himself or from Jesus Christ as Joh. 1.51 And he saith unto him verily verily I say unto you hereafter ye shall see the heavens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man they do not ascend and descend upon one of themselves the Inferiour upon the Superiour Angels no but on the Son of man meaning himself as they did and were to be seen soon after for they did attend upon him at his Resurrection they removed the Stone off from the Grave and they went to give notice of his rising again unto those who came to seek after him and so in his Ascension he went up with a mighty noise and is to descend again with the sound of a Trumpet Now this he calls the opening of Heaven viz. the full discovery of those heavenly things which as yet had not been made known or manifested unto the World as namely that he is the great orderer or great Lord and Master of the Angels and that they were all his Servants so that this very Notion of one Angel having the superiour command and dominion over all the rest of the Angels is contrary to Scriptures and cannot be proved from them There is no ground to conceive that whatever the Angels do throughout their whole body and in all places of the earth should be ascribed to such an Angel Sathan indeed hath a Kingdom ascribed in the Scriptures unto him Mat. 12.26 and he is said to be the Prince of the Devils as we heard but the Angels are no where said to be a Kingdom neither have they any head or chief Angel amongst them nor can it be proved that any one Angel hath a superiority over another the
reason I conceive of this difference may be because the holy Angels continuing in their obedience and loyalty unto God are all of them great Officers and Ministers of State in his Kingdom and have not a Kingdom by themselves or apart from his Whereas Sathan with his Complices not keeping and maintaining their obedience and loyalty unto God and so not keeping their standing in his love and favour but being cast out thereof they become a Kingdom by themselves and have one in chief over them It is very probable that there are several ranks and degrees of Angels Sect. 6 from Rom. 8.38 and again from Eph. 1.21 Col. 1.16 Eph. 6.12 and some other places in Scriptures do seem to give this kind of overture viz. that there are several ranks and orders of Angels and it is not much improbable but that there is a subordination amongst them and that some are of a Superiour Order and some of an Inferiour and that every rank hath one that is the principal or superintendent over the rest of the same rank though this be but conjectural too We read indeed of Arch-Angels in the Scriptures 1 Thes 4.16 So Jude ver 9. in this latter place the Arch-Angel spoken off is called by his proper name Michael which rather imports a Species or order of such Angels than that there is only one Arch-Angel and his name Michael for if there had been but one Arch-Angel it had been more proper to have said the Arch-Angel without calling him by his proper name which ordinarily serveth to distinguish one person from another of the same Species and Dan. 10.13 Michael is called one of the chief Princes which importeth that there are more of the same order i. e. one of the Arch-Angels though perhaps the first of them as the Margin gives you the liberty of reading it Though for good order they have one that doth precede or go before yet that there should be any one that should have the sovereign power or rule and ordering of all the rest of all ranks and orders is contrary to reason and hath no footing in Scripture Concerning the other place mentioned 1 Thes 4.16 where we have it translated with a shout and with the voice of the Arch-Angel as if there were one such Angel and no more the truth is according to the original Greek it may rather be read With the voice of an Arch-Angel for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with an Article but without and so doth signifie one of a great number Secondly The Schoolmen who have many of them addicted themselves to the study and contemplation of these things which are held forth in the Scriptures concerning the Angels whose Notions in these speculations are less to be suspected of partiality seeing they relate not to any difference and controversie between them nor yet to the establishment of the Papal Chair and therefore they in their determinations and conceptions are not like to be any whit prejudiced herein Now then they generally hold not only that there is an Order and distinct Band or Regiment of Arch-Angels but that there are many other Orders of Celestial Spirits above them as Cherubins Seraphins Dominions Thrones c. yea and that they are the lowest of all others except those that have the common name of Angels appropriate unto them and they give an account of this opinion and have their Scriptures for all these things though it may be they may not all hold weight if they be examined yet they have an appearance of reason for what they say Thirdly The Jewish Rabbies hold and teach that there are more Arch-Angels than one and they undertake to call them by their names One they call be the name Vriel a second Raphael a third Gabriel a fourth Michael a fifth Nuriel But it is also the sense of some that are more sober and considerate that there are more Arch-Angels though we meet with this name but in one or two places in the Scriptures Fourthly The Scriptures seem to imply and teach that all the Angels that are employed at any time about the Saints and for their benefit are immediately commissioned and sent forth about their respective Ministrations by God himself or by Jesus Christ to whom they stand charged with fealty and homage Heb. 1.6 a place lately insisted on upon another occasion Let all the Angels worship him Fifthly Sect. 7 In case it should be granted which yet never was nor I believe ever will be proved that there is one Angel placed by God in any such superintendency over all the rest of the Angels from whom they receive all their Orders and Commissions concerning all their transactions or all that they are to execute and do in the World yet it will not follow from hence neither that this Angel must presently be that Spirit which is surnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy or the Spirit of God which is said to be given unto his Saints and those who do believe as the earnest of their inheritance by whom they are sealed up to the day of their Redemption who in Scripture is dignified as the Author and Donor of all the spiritual gifts mentioned 1 Cor. 12. with whom in the Scripture before us we are all exhorted to be filled This is no where to be found in the Scriptures neither hath it foundation nor piece of foundation there If it could I say be supposed and granted for Arguments sake that there should be an Angel in chief over all the rest yet this doth not follow that this Spirit in our Text is an Angel and not the Holy Ghost i. e. God Sixthly Though it be supposed and taken for granted that men and women are tempted unto sin and wickedness at one and the same time all the World over yet it cannot be proved that they are tempted by the Devil whether Beelzebub or any under him But every one saith James Jam. 1.14 is tempted when he is drawn away or being drawn away of his own lust and enticed meaning that there are Lusts found in every man which perform the Work or Office of a Tempter secretly perswading and enclining them unto waies and Actions which are sinful and which many times prevail in this kind when there is no other Tempter at all that hath to do with them So that the tempting of men and women unto evil in never such numbers or multitudes at one and the same time in the World doth not argue that the Devil the Prince of Devils either immediately by himself or mediately by any under-Devil tempteth them But certain it is that when ever the Saints stir or move in any good way pray meditate hear and attend the good Word of God in any part of the World that the Spirit of God is with them quickning and exciting them to these things and strengthening them in the performance thereof because there is no disposition in men unto that which is good but that which is raised
The Fathers generally of greatest esteem in this Generation for Piety Holiness Learning and Faithfulness in the Work of Christ and of the Gospel and consequently we may conclude the generality of Christians who were taught by them and so the Martyrs and Confessors in the purest times of the Church were of this opinion and belief that the Holy Ghost was an Increated Spirit and truly God I might detain you many hours yea many daies in presenting you with passages and sayings of this nature I shall insist upon some few only for the present Austin is known to be a most studious and diligent enquirer into that Faith I mean those Doctrines and Tenents which had been generally held and maintained in the Christian Churches a long time before and from the Apostles daies till his time and to have had means and opportunity to attain to a perfect knowledge of this Faith and withal is known to have been defensor acerrimus a most zealous defender of it He then in his First Book de Trinit Cap. 6. having occasion to mention that of the Apostle Rom. 11.36 And reading the words thus For of him and through him and in him are all things to whom be glory for ever He glosseth them thus Ex ipso i. e. ex Patre per ipsum i.e. per Filium in ipso i.e. in Spiritu Sancto manifestum quod Pater Filius Spiritus Sanctus unus Deus est quando singulariter intulit Ipsi gloria in sacula saeculorum Of him i.e. the Father saith he By him that is by the Son In him that is in the Holy Ghost it is manifest that the Father Son and Holy Ghost is one God inasmuch as he the Apostle infers in the Singular number To him be glory for ever and ever And in his Fifth Book of the same Subject I mean de Trinitate Sed sicut Pater Filius unus Deus ad Creaturam relativè unus Creator unus Dominus sic relativè ad Spiritum Sanctum unum Principium Ad Creaturam verò Pater Filius Spiritus Sanctus unum Principium sicut unus Creator unus Dominus And not long after Similiter de Spiritu Sancto collecta sunt testimonia quibus ante nos qui haec disputaverunt abundantiùs usi sunt quia ipse Deus non Creatura Quod si non Creatura non tantùm Deus nam homines dicti sunt Dii sed verus Deus ergò Patri Filio prorsus aequalis in Trinitatis unitate consubstantialis coaeternus Athanasius lived well nigh an hundred years before Austin and he in that Symbol or Creed which beareth his name is so punctual and precise in this business touching the Godhead of the Holy Ghost that having asserted it he useth these words This saith he is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe undoubtedly he cannot be saved so that he was quite contrary to that Spirit which now standeth up against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost yea these very Fathers Ignatius Justin Martyr Jerome Tertullian Lactantius Hilary c. whom our Adversaries profess to stand by them as if if they spake on their side and against the Deity of the Holy Ghost when the very truth is they are so express and so significant to the contrary that I cannot but account it a little strange that such a claim though I believe it is not without much regret should be laid unto them But our Adversaries perhaps taking some words from these Fathers wherein they do not so fully declare themselves as having declared themselves elsewhere and not minding or at least not well heeding their fuller explication of themselves they will needs bear men in hand that they were of their Opinion Ignatius was the most ancient of them all in a Religious Epistle written to the Christians in Antioch his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore every one who Prâ—â—heth or professeth one only God to the taking away or denying of the Godhead of Christ he is a Devil or a Slanderer and an Enemy of all Righteousness Now for the most part they that deny the Deity and Divinity of Christ they do the like concerning the Holy Ghost But they who desire farther satisfaction in this kind and to know the full clear and unquestionable Judgment of the ancient Doctors and Churches from the Apostles times may without much trouble satisfie themselves for there are many learned Writers that have taken pains herein If it be objected But is it not a thing of dangerous consequence Sect. 15 and no less than horrid Idolatry a thing which God will severely punish to give the glory of his Godhead unto an another unto any Creature of his or to introduce a plurality of Gods into the World Therefore had not men need to consider narrowly and to bethink themselves over and over how they give up their Judgments and Consciences to such an opinion which maketh the Holy Ghost to be truly God I reply First That as it is a dangerous consequence and no less than horrid Idolatry to give the glory of the Godhead of him who is God indeed the true God unto another unto any Creature in which respect men and women had need be careful above all care that their feet be not taken in such a snare so on the other hand it is altogether as dangerous and Idolatry of as vile a nature and threatning consequence not to acknowledge and reverence him as God who is God indeed And in this respect men and women had need be abundantly solicitous and cautious how they entertain and admit of that Doctrine which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God For in case it shall prove that he is God all they who shall deny him to be God will be found fighters against God which will be worse than simple Idolatry and a sin as threatning and of as dangerous a consequence as the other Secondly Not to acknowledge not to glorifie God as God or as himself especially as he hath revealed himself in his Word is if not plain and express Idolatry yet a very high misdemeanour against God therefore in case God hath revealed himself in his Word to be Three in One and One in Three which is and hath been the sense in a manner some few persons only excepted inconsiderable both in their number and otherwise comparatively of the whole Christian World Fathers Martyrs Confessors Pastors Teachers Bodies of Christian Churches ever since the Apostles daies as was lately shewed They who do not thus acknowledge worship and glorifie him and consequently do not acknowledge and own him as God contract the guilt and expose themselves to the punishment of such a Crime Therefore men and women had need take heed how they reject or deny the Godhead of the Holy Ghost lest by so doing they make a God unto themselves according to their own fansie and worship him after their own imaginations Thirdly Sect.
16 It is the first-born of improbabilities or things that are unlikely that the Church of Christ which as the Apostle styleth it is The House of the living God 1 Tim. 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The pillar and ground or stay of truth in the midst whereof Jesus Christ himself delights to be continually walking and making himself known should ever since the Apostles times now for 1600 years and upwards lie wallowing in the horrid pollutions of so foul and gross an Error as to judge him who is a Creature to be God Can any man lightly be so simple as to think or imagine a snuff of a Candle to be the Sun And is there not a far greater difference between the ever blessed and incomprehensible God and any Creature of the greatest perfection that is imaginable than there is between the snuff of a Candle and the Sun Or is it worthy the belief or thoughts of any sober Christian that Jesus Christ for so many hundred of years together should not have awakened his Beloved out of such a Lethargy or sleep of death as was fallen upon her whilest she said in effect to a Stock thou art my Maker and to a Stone thou art my Redeemer Or what is it less or less unworthy than this to say unto a Creature thou art my God They who have but any tolerable thoughts of Jesus Christ his love and care over his Church cannot have such hard thoughts of him Fourthly Nor can it reasonably be imagined that the Holy Ghost would have received with so much patience and with so much silence nay with so much acceptation from the hand of the Christian World the acknowledgements of a Deity had he not been conscious to himself that they were his due and that he neither did either God the Father or the Son the least injury or wrong in receiving them at the hands of men But were he not or had he not been God he had trespassed after a very provoking and high manner against him who is God indeed in accepting his appropriate Royalties and suffering himself to be admired and adored amongst the Churches as God Doubtless the sin of receiving any acclamation from men or any thing else which is appropriate unto God alone is a sin of a very exasperating nature As it was with Herod who was struck with an Angel Acts 12.22 And we read Rev. 19.10 22.9 when John made a tender of Divine Worship to the Angel though he did not call him by the name of God yet when he did but exhibite that which was appropriate unto God the Angel would not suffer him nor admit it The Angel seemed to be exceeding tender and jealous of receiving so much as the hint or the first fruits of divine honour John thought that he that had revealed unto him such heavenly Mysteries was worthy of all honour therefore rather than not to shew himself thankful and respectful unto him for that unspeakable kindness of the Revelation he would needs give him something and having nothing at hand to repuite this high courtesie from the Angel that revealed such hidden mysteries to him but Divine Worship and honour he would bestow that upon him but the Angel would by no means suffer him to do it The truth is our Adversaries themselves at this turn do not make much scruple of this namely that Divine Honour should be given both to the Son and to the Holy Ghost and that they may and ought of duty to accept it though in the mean time they do deny the Godhead both of the One and of the Other But into the secrets of such a Notion my soul knoweth not the way how to enter nor can I comprehend or understand how they can either make Reason or truth of such a conceit to deny the Persons to be God by Nature and yet notwithstanding to judge it lawful and meet that Divine Honour should be exhibited and tendered unto them Upon what ground they can satisfie themselves in bringing together this East and West their strange opinion on the one hand and their practice which seemeth to affront it on the other hand How they can make peace between two that are at so great an enmity and distance between themselves I am not able to comprehend unless they mean by Divine Worship only something that is more Sacred or more August than the Reverence that is due unto man Bat this will not however salve the Opinion though it be formed and put into never so artificial and handsome terms Yea though it might be salved with such a sense and interpretation put upon it yet it is not worthy a Christian and especially a Teacher of others to put the mind of God or any Notion of Truth into ambiguous terms which need more unfolding than needs must for it is good to cloath the Truth in such a manner that it may be most familiar and nearest at hand to be received by the Judgments and Understandings of men But to the business in hand May the greatest Subject in a Kingdom lawfully go up into his Sovereigns Bed or require of his fellow Subjects that they swear Loyalty and Homage unto him as unto their Sovereign Or doth not the Scriptures from place to place make it Fornication Whoredom Adultery when that Worship which is appropriately due unto God is given unto any other Fifthly Sect. 17 We know that the sin of Idolatry is from place to place in the Scripture expresly numbred amongst those high provocations and misdemeanours which absolutely and peremptorily exclude from the Kingdom of God and from Salvation 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21 8. So that they who deny the Holy Ghost to be God do hereby First Make the whole Christian World in a manner or comparatively as hath been said Fathers Martyrs Confessors and whole Christian Churches to be Idolaters Secondly By a Scripture consequence pregnant and undeniable they do adjudge them all to the vengeance of hell fire But it is a small thing with persons of a proud and peremptory spirit to sacrifice not only the names honour and reputations of the worthiest men under heaven but even their souls and salvation also upon the service of their own opinions and conceits The Lord Christ himself must be a Samaritan and have a Devil that the Scribes and Pharisees may be presumed to be in the truth And so holy and worthy men who above all the World besides have had most acquaintance with God Ignatius Justin Martyr Ireneus Epiphanius Basil Nazianzen Chrysostome Jerome Austin and who not of all those great and famous lights of the Christian World in their daies must be all Idolaters and sent down into Hell that a Crown of glory may be set upon the head of a fond Opinion little less or rather not at all less than Blasphemy and to make way that they who deny the Godhead of the Spirit may be saved For though it be hard peremptorily to deny a possibility of salvation
it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which as the Apostle calleth it is the Ministration of the Spirit Secondly They who though they do not make it matter of Conscience to neglect or despise this Ministry yet make it no matter of Couscience diligently to attend upon it when they know otherwise how to bestow their time whether in the pursuit of their pleasures or recreation or in the service of Mammon and attending upon the World between these we might insert a third sort viz. such who though they have not turned their backs upon the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel but seem to make it some matter of Conscience to attend upon it yet have itching ears and cannot long together endure wholsome and sound Doctrine but run from Mountain to Hill from one Minister to another For the first We all know that of late years there is a strange spirit of Error and Ungodliness gone out into the World and walks up and down the Streets of your City and hath taken the heads or hearts rather of many who sometimes greatly loved or at least seemed thus to love the Assemblies of the Saints and those discoveries of himself which God is wont by his Word and the Ministry thereof to make from day to day unto them The Spirit we now speak of is a Spirit which teacheth men to say that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts are vile and for the Ministry of the Gospel and the opening the Mysteries thereof by those that have an Anointing from heaven to do it Wherein is it to be esteemed This Spirit also reacheth and perswadeth those men to fortifie and strengthen or harden themselves in their way not only by Reasons and Arguments such as they are but by the Scriptures themselves also as if they were divided in themselves and destroyed with one hand what they build up with the other Do not men who suffer themselves to be lead by this superordinancing Spirit rather consult the emptying of themselves of the Spirit of God than their filling with him and take a course by degrees wholly to bereave and dispossess themselves of that presence of his in them which at present they do enjoy or have enjoyed formerly Where no wood is saith Solomon or as the Hebrew hath it Prov. 26.20 without wood the fire goeth out In like manner except the Spirit of God in men be fed and nourished with the fresh and new comings in of the light of the knowledge of God and of Christ his presence will languish and sink and die in a manner Hence it is that the Apostle having admonished the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 He immediately subjoyneth by way of caution ver 20. and presignification how they might and must prevent it Despise not Prophesying or as our last Translation with more agreeableness to the Original rendreth it Despise not Prophesyings in the plural number Prophesyings i.e. the opening and interpreting the Word of God by a proper gift of the Spirit for the work if this be despised i. e. made nothing of as the word signifieth then the Spirit in men and women will be quenched i. e. the vigour and activeness of his presence in men will abate and if the neglect and disesteem be long continued in will by degrees wholly cease The word Prophesyings in the Plural number seems to imply that not only or simply to despise Prophesying i. e. the Work or Ordinance it self in the general of Preaching or opening the Scriptures is the ready way to quench the Spirit but to despise the frequency of the opportunities vouchsafed by God in that kind viz. when the bountiful providence of God affordeth unto men and women frequent opportunities of attending upon the Spirit of God in the exercise of Prophesyings and when they may be diligence and wise ordering and disposing of their secular and worldly occasions without any considerable inconveniency frequently attend the openings of the mouth of God which we spake of and yet they shall frequently neglect to do it pleasing themselves with a conceipt that to attend on Prophesying on the Lord's day only is sufficient If the persons with whom we have to do in the reproof in hand Sect. 2 should ask me But why should the despising or neglecting of Prophesying or of the Ministry of the Word be the quenching of the Spirit or a way to empty us of the Spirit I reply First Suppose we could give no other reason of the thing now enquired into but only the Will and pleasure of God and could say no more in the case but this that it is the Counsel of the Will of God to make the attendance of the Creature man upon the Ministry of the Gospel where he vouchsafeth it the condition of the Spirits presence or abiding with him so that in case he doth neglect it his Spirit shall withdraw from him If there were nothing else but this Were not this enough to satisfie any man of Conscience But now the truth is that the reasons of this Counsel of the Will of God that the attendence upon the Ministry of the Gospel should be a standing means to preserve and maintain the presence of the Spirit of God the reasons I say are not so hard to come at in this case but that if the Minds Judgments and Understandings of men were impartially engaged in the enquiry after what the Scriptures speak as to matters of this nature they might be clearly discerned The reasons therefore why God hath made such a Connexion between the attending upon the Ministry of the Word and the presence of his Spirit are first because the word of God is as it were the materials or proper matter for the Holy Ghost to work on to work all his excellent and heavenly works in the hearts and souls of men As for example to work Faith Peace Joy and Righteousness and Holiness and Love c. The Holy Ghost produceth all these excellent works in the hearts of men by the truths of God in the Gospel As an Artificer worketh upon his materials and by his Art and Skil produceth his Artificial piece as a Carpenter upon his Timber or a Goldsmith upon his Metal so that if you do not furnish them with these materials they can do nothing As the Carpenter cannot work when he hath no Timber the Holy Ghost in like manner if there be no Vision no Truth no New Light coming in for him to work on he will take no pleasure nor delight to inhabit or continue there He shall saith our Saviour speaking to his Disciples of the Holy Ghost He shall receive or take of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 What things of his doth our Saviour mean the Holy shall take and shew Doubtless they are such things of his or relating unto him which are contained and asserted in the Gospel As his Divine Nature Humane Nature his Incarnation Conception
not believe except they saw Signs and Wonders so the Holy Ghost himself represents such persons as worse than Harlots who did believe without Signs and Wonders Mat. 21.32 John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him So likewise elsewhere the Holy Ghost adjudgeth such to be persons more degenerate from the nature and property of men than ordinary to be signally wicked and perverse that would not hearken to the Doctrine of such Teachers who were excellently righteous and holy And to add this as a close of this particular it is probable that the Apostles themselves wrought not Miracles but at their first coming to a place and that they did not make use of them in those places after any long stay in them The reason may be because at their first coming to a place Miracles might be an effectual means to awaken men whereas if they staid but any considerable time then they had the means and opportunities to observe their lives and conversations NOw this would do the same service in regard of the truth and for the confirmation of what they preached that Miracles could do The Apostle Paul when he came to Rome where he continued three years in preaching the things of God there is no mention of any Miracles that he wrought there because he had opportunity to give an account and sufficient confirmation of the truth of his Doctrine by the holiness and heavenliness of his life and conversation So that it is but a vain and empty pretense to talk of signs and Miracles now for the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel for indeed in speaking such things and making such demands they demonstrate themselves to be as was even now said of the race of those that are called an Adulterous Generation by the Lord Christ who was not wont to slander men Another Pretense or Plea insisted upon by the persons under censure Sect. 17 for justification of themselves in their unchristian deportment in saying to the Ministry of the Gospel depart from us we desire thee not is this it is unto them but as salt that is infatuated and hath lost its savour we find no benefit by it we are not edified nor built up in our most holy Faith we have been oft rained upon by it and yet we do not flourish under it I reply first Though haply it be not meet to charge all those who are in the condemantion we speak of with alledging that which they do not only know is not truth but what they know to be contrary unto the truth as a ground of their practice Yet is it much to be feared that some of them pick the quarrel against the Ministry of the Gospel on a quite contrary ground because it hath too much savour and bites and gnaws and beareth hard upon their Consciences This I say is much to be feared is the true cause why many of them withdraw from it and are not able to bear the dread and terrour of it We saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 2.16 are unto those that perish the savour of death unto death The Gospel is so severe against those whose heart will not yield unto it that it kindles the savour and smell as it were of the fire and brimstone of hell in thier Consciences it makes them to know that they are a most cursed Generation of men and women the words thereof to wicked men are like the words of Michaiah unto Ahab 1 Kings 22.8 who hated him because he never prophesyed good unto him It suffers them to have no peace nor pleasure in their great Estates here in this present World So that it is much to be feared that many upon this account have turned their backs upon it that so they may be free from those gnawings and those kind of fiery doings which are ever and anon kindled in their inward parts by the means of it Secondly That the Ministry of the Gospel is not so effectual so mighty in operation upon those who take up this disparaging complaint against it doth not at all prove that either it is not effectual in it self or that it is not so unto others no nor yet that it is ineffectual unto them upon any such terms but that if they would remove that out of the way which maketh it ineffectual and which hindereth the efficacy of it which they might remove by the grace of God vouchsafed unto them it might become as effectual unto them as it is in it self and in its own nature and as it is unto many men in the World First That the Gospel is effectual in it self I think we need not question and more especially when opened like unto it self it is called The power of God or the Arm of God unto salvation Rom. 1.16 Heb. 4.12 The Word is said to be quick and powerful in operation it is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men This my Brethren is the property of the Gospel and of the Ministry thereof when it is handled like it self and when it deserves the name of the Ministry of the Gospel But I confess the Word of God may be so handled that the edge and spiritfulness of it may be blunted and flatted as when they that preach it and undertake to open it know not how to bring forth the mind of God in it but substitute their own thoughts and apprehensions instead thereof The truth is that in such cases as these the Word of God is but like the word of men It is the Spirit of the Word that is so piercing and searching and which is the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men it is not the Letter of it though we should preach the jots and tittles of the Word but then put a false sense and interpretation on it that will not do that great and lively execution which is proper to it it will not rouse the Conscience nor awake the spirits of men but it is the mind of God the true sense and meaning of the Word conveyed and brought home to the Conciences and Understandings of men this is all spirit and all life The words which I speak saith Christ they are spirit and life meaning in their true sense and meaning So that it is a clear case that the Ministry of the Gospel is in it self a thing exceeding lively and penetrative and effectual it will take mens hearts out of their bodies and give them into their hands to see all that is within them many times it poureth out it self like a great flash of lightning and makes men to see hideous shapes of thoughts conceits opinions and apprehensions on the one hand and allureth on the other hand to waies of holiness and virtue by strong and potent Arguments or Motives Secondly Sect. 18 That it is also effectual unto others appears by the great and many wonders it hath wrought in
words of Eternal life by his Messengers his Servants sent unto them when they know not well where else to be or what to do they will offer Sacrifice of that which cost them nothing or else no Sacrifice at all Now men of this Character and frame whose spirits sit thus loose to the Ministry of the Spirit are in this respect in the same condemnation with the former they also are so far from obeying the voice of this heavenly Exhortation Be ye filled with the Spirit that they seem to hearken to a quite contrary suggestion Be ye emptied of the Spirit at least to a degree For they that are thus neutral in their attendance upon the Ministry of the Gospel and only hear now and then as if they were afraid to hear too often and seem to think that they have somewhat too much of God or of the Spirit of God in them at the present or more than is expedient to accommodate them upon the best terms for the enjoyment of themselves in the pleasures and contentments of the World And therefore as men are wont to do when there is too much fire in the Room where they are for the season and the heat beginneth to be a little troublesome or offensive to them they lessen the fire by taking off some of the wood that is upon it and so reduce the Air in the Room to a convenient temper In like manner that Generation of men and women now under censure seem to moderate stint and limit themselves in their attendance upon the Ministry they will hear but now and then lest the Spirit of God should come in too fast upon them and they should grow too hot in their spirits too full of Heavenly Heat to comport with the Pleasures and Profits with the Principles and waies of the World round about them without interruption or check from their Consciences and yet they would not be counted or seem to be prophane neither but would willingly keep some fair correspondency with God and Christ though at a distance that if there be such things as the Worm that never dieth or the Fire that never goeth our I mean hell and damnation on the one hand or if there be happiness and glory heaven and salvation on the other hand they may have somewhat to depend upon for an escape of the one and an obtainiug of the other And the truth is this seemeth to be the secret policy the deep and profound reach of the Religion of the generality or far greater part of Professours amongst us they project and design to yoke the two Worlds that which is present and that which is to come and to make them draw together As if Solomon had spoken of the two Worlds when he gave that Advice Eccles 7.18 as our former Translators read the place It is good that thou lay hold on this but yet withdraw not thy hand from that and his meaning had been that men should do wifely and well to keep sure and fast hold of this present World and yet not wholly to withdraw their minds and thoughts from that which is to come though he speaks of quite another thing of which we shall not enquire at present but the Counsels and Designs of the hearts of men and women in that kind we speak of are legible in the tenour of their waies and practices and in the distribution they make of themselves between the one World and the other To make earnings of the World that now is men and women labour in the very fire they rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of much carefulness day after day They that are addicted to pleasures and given up to voluptuous living they forecast too to make provision for the flesh they waylay opportunities and means for the gratifying of themselves in this kind yet there is neither the one nor the other of them but will keep an eye upon that World which is to come they will be doing somewhat this way though it be to little purpose If Jesus Christ teacheth in their Streets when the World and their ease and pleasures will give them leave they will give him the hearing On the Lords day when the World that now is stands still and the World that is to come moves and stirs these persons we speak of will give some formal attendance upon the Ministry of the Gospel they will hear a Sermon or perhaps two and they think that by steering such a course as this they shall make the Port of Heaven and Salvation if there be any such thing or however that they shall escape the Wrath and Vengeance which is to come in case there be any such thing which indeed is that which runneth most in their thoughts Now they think the lowest and smallest degree of Righteousness and Obedience will keep them from hell and indeed it is true a lesser care will keep men from the penalty of the Law whereas it requireth a greater engagement to do such things upon which a man shall receive a great reward This is only the portion of noble and excellent enterprises But I say men generally do not so much look upon the glory which is to come Sect. 2 as that they may escape wrath and the vengeance of eternal fire Now their design being no higher their endeavours are according they seem to imagine that the World that now is is stiff and stubborn and will not bow or turn in unto them but by a strong hand of labour care contrivance diligence and circumspection and therefore they lay out a main proportion of their time and much of themselves and the chief of their strength about it but that the World which is to come is gentle and easie to be entreated and that an Inch of care and diligence for obtaining this will go as far as ten Ells as we use to speak for the obtaining of the other This I verily believe is the very thought and inward conceipt of the hearts of many amongst us Whereas the Lord Christ from place to place makes a quite contrary representation of them The Genius of the World to come according to his Pourtraiture or Description is far the stiffer of the two and harder to be entreated and the Genius of this present World more facile and pliable First saith he to his Disciples and in them to all men Mat. 6.33 seek ye the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be cast in unto you The Kindgom of God i. e. Heaven and the salvation of the soul these require seeking or else they will not be found yea they require seeking in the first place i. e. seeking with the many and principal intentions of the heart mind and soul or else they will not be had whereas these things i. e. the conveniences of the World shall upon the seeking of the former be freely and by way of gratuity cast in by God unto men as that which
was he in a short time forsaken by all the great multitude of his Hearers and Followers none continuing with him but the Twelve only ver 66 67. the rest of them forsook the Fountain of Living Waters to drink out of narrow maddy Cisterns they left him who had grace powred into his Lips who taught with authority whose words were Spirit and Life and went to these foolish blind Guides as Christ terms them the Scribes and Pharisees to be built up unto ruine and destruction by them Even as many Professours amongst us in these daies after they have rejoyced for a time in the light and lively Ministry of some able and worthy Teachers raised up and sent to them by God they wax weary and grow wanton and they must have change of Teachers although those they leave and turn their backs upon be as shining Stars and those they betake themselves unto are but as snuffs of Candles in Comparison This then is another reason of this unworthy and unwise practice of many Professours which oft times sorts to a sad issue an affection of Noveley or an itching ear as the Apostle calleth it A third Reason of the same inconsiderateness and miscarrying is insinuated by the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.3 Sect. 6 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts It is somewhat more significant in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. according to those lusts which are proper and peculiar unto them The manner of the Expression intimates a variety or diversity of fond humours and sinful distempers that will be found amongst Professours one mans conceipt running one way another mans another way and that every man according to his own proper humour and distemper i. e. to gratifie please and feed his own particular lust or humour whatever it should be would heap up Teachers to themselves i. e. I conceive would taste the Spirit or Doctrine of all the Teachers they could come at untill they could meet with such who were for their purpose the tenour of whose teachings and preachings they should find to be such which would not disturbe them in their sinful way Or else heap up Teachers c. i. e. to cover their impatience or dislike of sound Doctrine which will give no quarter to their Lusts and that it may not be thought but that notwithstanding they give over hearing of such or such men yet they are devout and good Christians and love the Ministry of the Word of God they will commend and follow heaps i. e. multitudes of other Teachers whose Doctrines are more plausible less penetrating and searching under which they can enjoy their lusts whatever they be in peace The passage clearly implies yet further that there hath been is and alwaies will be an heap of Teachers found amongst Christians whose Doctrine and Ministry will accommodate mens Lusts what ever they be they will put a bridle of some gloss or interpretation or other into the lips of such passages of the Gospel which frown with severity upon their lusts that they should not fall upon them These are of that sort of Teachers of whom the Apostle Peter likewise Prophesyeth Who he saith to these to whom he writeth and in them to all other Christians thorough covetousness should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with fained words make merchandize of them It is not so properly translated fained words as formed or fashioned words meaning with words chosen on purpose to comport or comply with you in all your exorbitant humours and practices such as will perswade and make you believe that you are all holy and good men and accepted with God although you indulge your selves in such courses As Corah Dathan and Abiram would perswade the People that they were all the whole Congregation of them every one of them holy Num. 16.3 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated feigned being an Adjective comes of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth the act of the Potter forming or fashioning the Vessel under his hand according to the requirement of that use or service for which he intendeth it So many Teachers do form and fashion their words in proportion to such unworthy ends as they propose to themselves in their work of Teaching which as the Apostle in the passage before us implies is ordinarily matter of profit or gain from their hearers Thorough Covetousness with fained words they shall make merchandize of you i.e. out of a desire and design to get money or matter of advantage out of you they will preach smooth and pleasing things unto you though never so dangerous and destructive unto your souls Baals Priests who eat bread at Jezebels Table 1 Kings 18.19 alwaies as it seems Prophesyed good unto Ahab and Jezebel whereas as he complains Micaiah the true Prophet of the Lord never Prophesied good but evil to or concerning him Chap. 22.8 If they had not Prophesied good to Ahab and Jezebel there had been no bread on Jezebels Table for them to eat And the truth is that the generality of Professours are not like to be so bountiful or free in any other case for any other kind of service done unto them as in the strengthening their hand in the way of their lusts and sinful humours by a Ministry of the Gospel this they look upon as an encouragement or dispensation at least from God himself to hold on their way On the other hand they are not more unwilling or loth to part so much as with their old Shooes or with a morsel of bread unto any sort of men than unto such Ministers whose Doctrine they either know or suspect to be at a strong or irreconcileable defiance with their Lusts alwaies troublesome unto and fighting against those Principles and Imaginations within them upon which they bear themselves with peace and comfort in their evil waies They look upon such Ministers as these with such an eye as Ahab looked upon Elijah 1 Kings 21.20 when he judged him his Enemy Hast thou found me O mine Enemy And men are not apt to be liberal to their Enemies nor unto those whom they judge their Enemies By this Argument the Apostle Paul vindicated himself from that aspersion which some false Teachers laid to his charge Sect. 7 viz. That he was a man that warred after the flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 4. i. e. sought himself with all his might in carnal or fleshly accommodations From this charge he vindicateth himself as I say by this Argument viz. That his Weapons or the Weapons of his Warfare were not carnal What doth he mean by the Weapons of his Warfare Doubtless he means those Principles as well intellectual as moral by the active management and use whereof he kept that stir in the World where-ever he came These Weapons saith he of his Warfare were not carnal i. e. were not of such a nature property or kind were not formed of such a
subjection to the Law Nor yet again is it any Character or property of a Legal Ministry if we take the word Legal in any disparaging sense to promise the Love and Favour of God Life and Salvation to those that shall be found the exactest observers of the things required by God in the Law in the Moral Law especially if such obedience proceed from that Faith which worketh by Love for the Ministry both of the Lord Christ and so of the two Apostles mentioned made many Promises upon these terms viz. upon keeping of these Commandments All or the greatest part of the Beatitudes as they are called pronounced by our Saviour in the entrance upon his Sermon on the Mount Mat. 5. of which we lately spake are but so many Promises made unto persons duly observant of things commanded in the Law As when he saith Blessed are the Meck blessed are the Merciful blessed are the Peace-makers c. Now Meekness Mercifulness and Peace-making c. are holy dispositions with their proper fruits and actions commanded in the Law So again Joh. 15.10 If ye keep my Commandments ye shall continue in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love Now his Commandments are no other but the very self-same things which are commanded in the Law of God Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments i. e. that hath them in his mind in his life and conversation he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him c. So that still we see that the Promises are made unto the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 2.6 7 10. where the Apostle speaking of God saith that he will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing i. e. by keeping the Commands of God seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but to them that are contentious c. indignation and wrath By such Passages as these it doth evidently appear that both the Ministry of the Lord Christ and of the Apostle Paul was full of these Promises unto moral qualifications or unto obedience unto the Law Thus then we see that a Ministry is not to be termed Legal in any reprovable sense upon the account of any the three properties mentioned nor yet upon the account of them all though concurring in one and the same Ministry as indeed they ought yea and must if they will be faithful and are like to edifie men in faith and holiness Very like it is that the persons now under censure Sect. 13 do ignorantly asperse that Ministry as Legal against which they seek a quarrel upon the pretense of one or other or all the three particulars specified But the Ministry that deserves that imputation of being Legal to add this briefly by the way is first and most properly such which teacheth Justification i. e. Remission of sins by Works i. e. by the merit of Works for otherwise Faith is a Work and so called by our Saviour himself Joh. 6.29 But to Preach Justification by Faith is not to Preach Legally but most Evangelically For that was the Master vein of the Ministry of Paul viz. to avouch and prove that Justification was to be obtained by Faith in Jesus Christ whereas they the Jews held that it was to be obtained by observing and keeping the Law Now though to Preach Justification by Faith alone as was even now said be not to Preach Legally but Evangelically yet to Preach it by Faith sensu meritorio as if Faith were the meritorious cause of Justification is either to Preach Legally or upon an account every whit as bad and as repugnant to the tenour of the Gospel Secondly That Ministry may in a sense be termed Legal which like unto Pharaoh's Taskmasters in their hard dealings by the Israelites exacteth the full Tale of Brick from men yet gives them no straw whereof to make them I mean which is continually in a manner pressing men unto duties yea the hardest of duties binding the heavie burthens of the Law upon the Consciences of men with the Iron bands of sharp reproofs and sore threatnings seldom or never ministring unto them the rich and high encouragements of the Gospel whereby both their hearts and hands might be strengthened and all that which is distasteful to the flesh in such works and waies be drowned and taken away They that require of men to do Angels work I mean do high and excellent services to God should feed them with the food of Angels they had need have the highest encouragements even such as are in the Gospel They that require of men to be as fruitful and as zealous in serving God and men as Paul was who laboured to promote the interest of God and men more abundantly than they all as himself saith they must endeavour to lift them up higher as high as the third heaven for there doubtless it was that Paul learned that nobleness greatness and worthiness of spirit there he learned to act after another manner of Rate than all the men of the World besides who never came there as he had done The way to draw out mens hearts and souls and all that is within them in serving God and men doing good to their Generation is as far as possible to raise in them the consolation of the Gospel then shall you bring the World under your feet and when that shall be under your feet then shall you be able to lift up your hands to any of the Commands of God But untill men are full of the hope of the life and glory and great things of the World which is to come every good work and way will stick with them and combate with their souls and spirits whereas give men but felicity enough and then if their eyes will do you any service they will pluck them out and give them unto you But this only by the way to give a little light whereby to estimate a legal Ministry which is a Word or Phrase used by many but rightly understood by very few Thirdly Such a Ministry may be termed Legal which sendeth men forth about their spiritual business in their own strength without informing them and that plainly that without Jesus and his Spirit they can do nothing For the gift of the Spirit unto men and so also the Doctrine of Prayer upon which God doth convey his Spirit is Evangelical Received you the Spirit by the hearing of the Law c. therefore they who teach men that they have no need of the Spirit or of the gracious assistance thereof but that they may do things in their own strength are in a sense Anti-Evangelical Teachers Fourthly and lastly That Ministry also may not unproperly be called Legal which bindeth over to Condemnation where the Gospel doth not that concludeth or shutteth men up under Sin and Wrath where the Gospel doth not or that shall make any stricter bands of
to be prevailed with to walk in those good waies whereunto the Holy Ghost did encline them In a like sense 2 Tim. 3.8 some men are said to resist the Truth When Truth is preached and declared unto men especially when with power and authority and with strength of conviction it doth assault or attempt their Judgments and Consciences to subdue and subject them unto it self and men on the other hand strengthen themselves by pretenses or fleshly considerations not to submit to it not to acknowledge it then are they properly said to resist it In a like Phrase or construction of Speech Israel is said to have been purged Ezek. 24.13 In thy filthiness is lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged therefore c. Thus then you see how and in what sense a person may be said to be led by the Spirit of God and yet not to be led by him Even as God may be said to work in men both to will and to do and yet men neither will nor-do as is clearly supposed Phil. 2.12 13. upon a like accompt also Moses or rather God himself supposeth that he i. e. God sanctified men yet men were not sanctified Lev. 20.7 8. This for reply to the first demand propounded To the second I reply That men may be led moved or enclined by the Holy Ghost in both senses now explained but especially in the former and yet be ignorant of it I mean by whom they are led moved or enclined In the former sense of the Phrase being led a man or woman may be ignorant when they are led by the Holy Ghost upon this account viz. because they do not know are not acquainted with the movings or leadings of the Spirit of God they understand not whence such leadings or motions unto good which at any time are stirring in them come As Samuel 1 Sam. 3.5 â— when young did not know the voice of God when he spake unto him but thought it had been Eli Now this ignorance in men and women is generally occasioned by a slothful careless and prophane disposition wherewith they commonly suffer their hearts to be overgrown untill in a manner they become insensible of it Men do not remember their Creator in the daies of their youth as Solomon advizeth them to do Eccl. 12.1 they do not enquire or seek after God as the Scripture speaketh They do not care to acquaint themselves with him as Eliphas Job 22.21 and so by degrees there grows a greater and greater distance between God and them untill they have quite forgotten him and lost all those blessed impressions of his Nature and Attributes which were implanted in them And when things are at this pass the Holy Ghost may stir and move within them unto waies and works that are good and worthy from day to day and yet they remain ignorant from whence such motions come or whither they go They it's like conceive they come there by accident or chance as Birds come flying through the air by them or that they spring out of their fansies and imaginations as waters bubble and spring out of the earth but that the blessed Spirit of God should be their Author or Parent is not to be found amongst all their thoughts Besides to many of those leadings and movings of the Spirit of God within them and these of the greatest weight and moment it is like that the greatest part of people know not apprehend not that they are so much as good or Worthy of God How then should they believe them to be from the Spirit of God As when men find or feel any impulses or beatings upon their hearts or spirits to turn Puritans as the Phrase was formerly or to joyn themselves in the Companies and Societies of men and women fearing God to refrain from their former vain companies or waies they construe such motions as these as temptations or insinuations of Sathan and not the motions and insinuations of the Spirit of God In the latter sense of the Phrase being led viz. when men and women actually go as and whither they are led they may be ignorant when they are led by the Spirit of God viz. when they do things that are worthy and good and yet act with some regret or hesitancy of mind whether these things they do be good or no. Or possibly they may suppose the inward motions by which they were led unto such actions or waies as we now speak of were but the workings of their Consciences the Dictates and Suggestions of their natural Consciences But we have no occasion to speak any further of this at present that which we have now to do is in the name of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to expostulate the case with such persons in order to their own eternal peace and safety who instead of laying out themselves upon such terms as that they may be filled with the Spirit of God run counter as it were to such a course and by neglecting to be led by the Spirit of God take a course to be deserted by him and so empty themselves of him Now to open a little further the sinfulness and danger of such a course Sect. 16 as we speak of of not being led or neglecting to be led by the Spirit it is to be considered that men and women may incur the guilt and so the danger of not being led by the Spirit two waies or by two degrees First When they are not inwardly attentive to the Spirit that doth speak within them I do not mean now when they are not attentive to what the Spirit doth speak within them But when they are not attentive to hear or to hearken whether the Spirit will speak or hath any thing to speak or say in secret unto them or no. As a man many times and in many cases listens and hearkens not only unto those who he knows actually speak but to understand whether there be any speech or voice stirring or no especially they are wont to lie very close in their attentions when they have reason to think that they whose speech or words they are desirous to hear in case they do speak will speak but softly and with a low voice In such a case as this men are very careful to make no noise themselves nor to suffer any to be made about them if they can help it the reason hereof is plain because any noise hinders and drowns a soft voice that it cannot be understood The Town Clerk of Ephesus could not be heard for a long season because of the uproar amongst the People Nor will a man of ordinary discretion especially being of a weak voice though he hath never so great a desire to speak attempt to speak whilest there is a noise round about him This is the case in the great business before us First The voice of the Spirit of God in men by which he guideth them is but very soft and low at least
Word of the Holy One of Israel See also Psal 119.60 And the Philosopher in his definition of anger makes it the off-spring of neglect or contempt implying that it is never conceived or kindled in any mans breast by any other coal but that of contempt at least so apprehended My Brethren God is a God of great patience he beareth much from the Sons and Daughters of men and can pass by a thousand infirmities He can bear with his Sons and Daughters under mighty Provocations But if men shall go on from day to day in their neglect and contempt of him and his Counsels and will not repent when he giveth them space and admonisheth them accordingly if yet they will walk on in the stubbornness of their hearts then he will make his Jealousie to smoke against them and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God We heard but now what it is that causeth a man to fall into the hands of the Living God and that not meerly the committing of sin but the despising of the Commands of God the undervaluing of them and casting them behind their backs This is that which causeth the breach between men and that God whose name is Jealous And therefore if the words of this Counsel and blessed Advice shall be flighted by us and looked upon as a common word and not be entertained as the Word of the Living God this must needs provoke the Spirit of God and cause the Great God of Heaven and Earth to break forth as a Lion out of a Thicket upon those who have neglected and despised this Word of his Indeed many men make but as it were a pastime as Solomon's Expression is Fools make a pastime of sin So many make it but a matter of course to pass by and to give the Counsels of God a hearing they enter in at one ear and there being none to entertain them and keep them by the way out they go at the other But now my Brethren though the Counsels and Precepts of God make so little adoe in the World make no noise there Like unto Jesus Christ who in the daies of his flesh made no clamour nor lifted up his voice in the Streets but when he shall come from heaven the Second time then he will roar like a Lion and turn the World upside down with such a turn as it was never turned before Even so will this Word and this Counsel and Exhortation and other the Commands of God though now they do not cry nor lift up their voice make no noise in the World but Silver and Gold and Pleasures and Honours these are they that engage the World and cause tumults in the minds and thoughts of men these are they that set the World together by the ears whilest the Words and Counsels of God come not near the hearts of men and have little to do there Yet these Words are they that will judge the World at last and find out the despisers of them and will place them at the left hand of Jesus Christ to whom it shall be said Depart from me ye cursed I know you not My Brethren we know not how soon that day will come upon us the Fig-trees and other Trees begin to put forth and we cannot but think the Summer is near at hand But suppose we should despise this and other the Precepts of God and set them at naught it may be we may see some daies of pleasure and ease and contentment in the World yet alas What will it profit a man saith our Saviour who was the best Estimator concerning matters of profit to gain the whole World and lose his Soul Much less will it profit a man to enjoy a few daies of ease and contentment under the neglect and contempt of the Word of God if at last he must lose his Soul or incur thereby Eternal Condemnation Yea if it should be but the quenching the Spirit of our present joy if it should rise no higher than so this is such a loss as that they who understand the true worth and value of it will think and conclude it to be a thousand times better rather to honour and to reverence and highly to esteem all the Words Counsels and Exhortations of God beginning at the first and so carrying them on unto the last and taking this along with them in their way Be ye filled with the Spirit than to lose the present comfort of it by turning their backs upon this or any other of the Commands of God And therefore Secondly To strengthen your heart and your hand Sect. 3 that they may be lifted up together to the Exhortation now commended unto you you may further consider that it being one of the Precepts of God and having now been made known in this relation unto you your souls will never prosper you will never be filled with that peace of God which passeth all understanding you will never rejoyce that signal kind of joy which the Apostle Peter calleth unspeakable and glorious if you shall from henceforth neglect it or cast it behind your backs For look as a crack or leake in a Vessel will not suffer it to fill with water or other liquor at least not remain full for any time though much water be from time to time put into it In like manner though we should be great doers in our own eyes and though others may seem but as Grashoppers in comparison of us yet nevertheless that peace and that joy and that inward comfort that you should have if there were no neglect of any the Commands of God will suffer loss If this be the case if any Command of God be despised or neglected this will be as a dead Fly in your Box of Oyntment and keep it from making that sweet smell and savour and from coming up into your Nostrils you will in effect lose the present lustre and beauty if not the future reward of all these choise services if you do otherwise Now I say who would run the hazard of the loss of the great benefits and blessings of such great works through the neglect or non-performance of one Who would lose all the joy peace and comfore of many other services and of much obedience otherwise exhibited unto God and unto Jesus Christ only to please the flesh in the neglect of one Commandment As it is with the natural health of the body though a man should use many means for his health and strength yet if he should neglect one thing that is necessary for him to do as suppose a man should eat and drink such things only as would keep the body in good habit yet if he should never sleep or if any other things as necessary as these be not used in their places and seasons health and good habit and state of body will never be any mans portion So in this case a man shall never find his soul in a comfortable habit he shall never
be possessed with a spirit of joy and of a sound mind but will be ever and anon apt to take hold of fears and he will alwaies be obnoxious unto temptations unless he do run in his obedience round about the Commandments of God so far as they are made known unto him It is true it is not a step awry now and then besides a Commandment of God no nor an habitual or continual omission of an unknown Duty or Precept that will thus endamage the Soul If men and women be truly consciencious and habitually careful to put in practice all they know of the good and holy and perfect will of God concerning them their faces may shine and their hearts be lifted up to Heaven My meaning is the rest and peace of their souls may be glorious and their inward man may be exalted highly yea though through the infirmities of the flesh they should sometimes be prevented with some irregular and unworthy actions supposing that what they scatter thorough the infirmities of the flesh they gather up again by the strength of the Spirit and repent toties quoties As though a man let pieces of money drop out of his hand yet if he presently stoop and take them up again he suffereth no great loss Even so though a man as often as he miscarries drops a proportion or quantity of his peace yet if he stoop and gather up by Repentance that which he lets fall his soul may still prosper But this is that which we say that if a man shall ordinarily or constantly neglect any of the holy Counsels or Precepts of God which have been discovered and made known unto him for such such a person will never thrive in his inner man his Consolations in the Gospel will never be rich or strong no though he should do many things otherwise very commendable and good yea and be zealous for God that disrespect which he sheweth to that one Commandment of God whatever it be will be like a Moth fretting his Garment Or like a dead Fly in his Oyntment that will drown the sweet savour which otherwise it would breath forth For though God can bear with the frailties and weaknesses of men and can endure them with much long suffering and patience under greater provocations than weaknesses and infirmities yet he will not he cannot bear the coals of disrespects and neglects from men neither will he countenance from Heaven man or woman under a contempt of his words upon the account of any other service or obedience whatsoever We know the Charge was very strict under the Law Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that you may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God c. So Chap. 12.32 Whatsoever I command you observe to do it c. You know David that man of God who had that large Testimony from Heaven that he was a man after Gods own heart yet he durst not it seemeth promise himself any security from the Judgments or displeasure of God upon any other terms but upon the condition of his consciencious respects to all the Commandments of God as well one as another Psal 119.6 So shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments And our Saviour Joh. 5.14 maketh this the touchstone of the Love and Friendship of his Disciples unto him viz. Zealously to do whatsoever they were commanded Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you You may understand the word Friend either Actively or Passively thus you shall deserve the name of Friends to God and Jesus Christ he speaketh in the Evangelical Dialect when you shall do or to the utmost of your power endeavour to do or when your hearts stand clearly and singly bent to do whatsoever I command you though many times you may be interrupted in the way of your doing yet shall not this hinder your acceptation with God but you shall be dealt withal by him as if you had actually done the thing whatever it be Or otherwise Passive If you do whatsoever I command you you shall be dealt withal as Friends I will entreat you as he that is the greatest lover of his Friends doth I will bountifully reward you and gratifie you over and over I will make the World to know and see that I indeed do love you My Brethren there is this reason why a neglect or disrespect of any of the Words or Precepts of God being made known unto a man for such should quench the spirit of the joy of all a mans services or obedience besides viz. Because he that despiseth one constructively despiseth all as James reasoneth Jam. 2.10.11 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all and thus he proves what he had said For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. As he that breaketh a Staff but in one part yet is said to break the whole Staff Even so this Law of God though it consisteth in many Parcels Branches and Commands yet is it one entire and perfect Rule of life and of the waies of men Now he that breaks this Rule in any one part he is guilty of all i. e. he is in effect guilty of all or it is one and the same unto him as if he had broken and transgressed them all for he speaketh chiefly of matters of Punishment and Curses in the Law Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the Law to do them If a man should continue in nothing at all that the Law requireth he should but be accursed and if he did not continue in all cursed is he too upon that account I say then if men do neglect or pass by or slight any one of the Counsels of God it is interpretatively the despising of them all When men shall make Elect and Reprobates amongst the Commandments of God some they will keep with all their hearts but others they will trample under their feet this sheweth that the ground of that obedience which they do exhibit and perform unto some is not because they are the Commands of God but something else For if it were out of a pure true and real respect to God and reverence that they have unto him that is the Law-giver they would respect one Law as well as another and every Law as his fellow and would make no difference between them Now then Let this be considered also which hath been propounded in the second place to bind the Exhortation fast and closs unto your Consciences it being one of the Precepts of God and now made known unto you that you ought to be filled with the Spirit of God If you shall cast this behind your backs or trample it under your feet your keeping the rest of the Commands of God will turn but to a slender account unto you Will you
truly and properly be said to be the disposer and dispenser of the whole and every part and parcel of it And as he is said to have spoken by the Prophets so much more may he be said now to have spoken by his Apostles For whatsoever was spoken by the Apostles was upon the account of Christ the Spirit by which they spake was purchased by Jesus Christ so that the whole and entire Systeme and body of Principles in the New Testament may all be ascribed to Jesus Christ as if he spake all and every part thereof with his own mouth Fourthly and lastly Evident is is from the opposition and comparison which the Apostle here makes between him that spake on Earth in the sense mentioned and him that speaketh from Heaven Sect. 5 and so from the greater obnoxiousness unto Wrath and Punishment in him that shall neglect and disobey the latter above that which we found in him that disobeyed the former who notwithstanding was severely punished by God Evident I say it is from these Comparisons that Evangelical Disobedience i. e. the known and customary neglect of any Precept in the Gospel is of a far more provoking nature and import and far more punishable than the Disobedience of the former Law Justice did not then require any such severe execution upon Transgressors as now it doth Upon this account God respecting the times of the Gospel threatneth Mal. 3.5 that he would be a swift Witness where it is evident that the Prophet speaks of the daies of Christ Who saith he ver 2 may abide the day of his coming And ver 3. He shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levie Ver. 4. Then shall the Offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord. Implying that Christ in the daies of the Gospel will call men unto and put them upon another manner of strain of holiness and righteousness and heavenly mindedness than ever they had been put upon before Behold saith he I will come near unto you in Judgment and I will be a swift Witness against the Sorcerers c. and fear ye not me saith the Lord of Hosts He would draw nigh unto them in Judgment then whereas he was at a great distance from them in that respect under the Law Forty years long saith he was I grieved with this Generation But God will not now be grieved long with any stubborn Generation of Delinquents under the Gospel though it may be he do not appear as a swift Judge in respect of Temporal Judgments yet he will some way or other be a swift Witness against them he will declare and make manifest from Heaven after a competent time and reasonable space given them to repent that he doth dislike and that he is highly displeased with their sins and wickedness and disobedience It is upon this account that John the Baptist tells the Jews Christ being come into the World to settle a new Covenant better than the former That the Axe was laid to the Root of the Tree Mat. 3.10 meaning that whereas before God laid the Axe to the Boughs of the Tree but still left the Root standing and so they did recover in time again from under many severe Judgments But Jesus Christ being now come amongst you he being sent unto the World now look to your selves if you do not every man turn from his Iniquity every man from his Abomination you will be cut down and destroyed and burnt with sire For his Fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floure c. By what hath been said we see that to despise an Evangelical Precept or Command of God hath more of provocation of guilt and demerit in it than former Transgressions and Provocations under the Law had The Reason hereof is plain viz. because though some of the Evangelical Commands be more spiritual and so more contrary unto and more grating upon the flesh and in this respect more difficult to be observed than the Precepts under the Law were yet notwithstanding all things considered the rich and glorious advantages which the Gospel affords unto men above what the Law doth to help them to obey These things considered and laid in the Balance it will appear that a despising and neglecting of God and the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel is a sin of a far greater and deeper demerit than the neglect of a Command under the Law for the more easie that obedience is which is prescribed it is of so much the greater provocation and demerit when men shall neglect to obey God having in the Gospel afforded such mighty Arguments and encouragements on the one hand to holiness and vertue and threatned destruction with eternal fire on the other hand to them that shall be disobedient For men to be disobedient under such circumstances as these is most provoking in the eyes of God So that evident it is that such persons who have greater Motives greater means to perswade them to any service if they shall neglect and be despisers of these Commands their demerit is so much the greater and their condemnation will be so much the sorer upon them But now this Command or Exhortation to be filled with the Spirit is not only Evangelical but it hath a special and peculiar property in this kind wherein it agreeth with few others because the giving of the Spirit of God viz. in such a degree as to be filled with it is appropriate to the New Testament It is usual in the Scriptures when things are more fully done and after a more rich and bountiful manner discovered to represent them as newly done though the Spirit of God was given under the Law yet the proportion and quantity of it was but scanty in comparison of what is now given under the Gospel Jesus Christ is now glorified and therefore he poureth out of his Spirit upon the Sons and Daughters of men more abundantly So that to be filled with the Spirit is a duty of such a nature that it is not only Evangelical but likewise more purely Evangelical than many other duties are This should be a great Argument which should bear upon our Spirits to perswade us to submit our selves unto the obedience thereof to gird up the loins of our minds and to go about this great duty with all readiness CHAP. XVII Four Considerations more to enforce the Exhortation The fourth Motive the great benefit accruing unto men and women by a serious engagement in a course likely to issue in a being filled with the Spirit It will free men and women from foolish unclean and noysome lusts somewhat peculiar in this engagement differing from others though worthy in their kind A fifth Motive proving that in case men do what God hath and doth enable them to do in order to a being filled with the Spirit of God this their enterprize shall assuredly prosper in their hand Hope of obtaining great encouragement unto
Endeavours Some more of the great Priviledges that accompany a being filled with the Spirit A sixth Motive That the Reasons and Vnderstandings of men are not capable of being employed upon terms of greater benefit and advantage than in this engagement A seventh Consideration taken from the uncertainty of obtaining the things of this World by all the means that can be used and also from the uncertainty of the continuance of these things if gotten Whereas a being filled with the Spirit as it is attainable so by a perseverance in the use of means our attainments in this kind shall stand by us for ever FOurthly Sect. 1 to perswade you to be filled with the Spirit of God I shall further recommend by way of Motive unto you That the very exercise of your minds hearts and souls about the business your very labours and endeavours to obtain such a prize as a being filled with the Spirit is will turn to an happy account and be of worthy concernment unto you not only at the winding up of the business not only at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and receiving the Crown of which more in another Motive but even the running of the Race it self will bless you and that to a very good degree He that shall seriously engage himself in a course likely to produce and issue in a being filled with the Spirit will in a great measure be free from such foolish vain and noysome thoughts and lusts from such impertinent and sinful excursions and runnings to and fro of his mind where into men and women that are disengaged in this kind are continually obnoxious and hereby treasure up nothing but sorrow and shame to themselves It was a prophane Speech and full of slander which Pharaoh used to the Officers of the People of Israel when they came to him to complain of their Burthens and Oppressions by their Taskmasters Exod. 5.17 Ye are idle ye are idle saith he therefore ye say let us go and do sacrifice unto the Lord. But it may be said with soberness and truth that men and women because their hearts are idle and loose from all spiritual Engagements and Projections Therefore they say Come let us follow vain pleasures Let us provide thus and thus for the fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and otherwhile swarms and multitudes of Cogitations that have neither head nor foot as we use to say that are profitable for nothing that have little or no tendency at all to one end or other are rambling up and down in the inward parts of men One main reason of that sad posture wherein God beheld the World when he intended to destroy it by the Floud when every imagination of the thoughts of men were evil continually Gen. 6.5 or every day One main Reason I say why the World was now overgrown with sinful and vain imaginations and thoughts was because men and women the Inhabitants hereof were under no great spiritual Engagements This would have composed them and drawn off those Imaginations of their hearts which were now evil continually from those objects and occasions which made them evil and carried them to objects and occasions of an happy consequence and import The same thoughts and moral actings of their Souls or puttings forth of their imaginative Faculties had they been but directed unto and set upon such objects and occasions which were honourable and good this would have altered their properties and changed their natures from evil unto good For look what a good and faithful Shepherd is to his Sheep he keeps them from scattering from wandring and going astray into places of danger and where they may be lost and causeth them to feed in safety Look I say what a good Shepherd is to his Sheep such is a steady and fixed design being honourable and worthy to the thoughts and imaginations of the hearts of men it keeps them from scattering and running wild this way or that where they are like to be lost and vanish into nothing it keeps them from applying or bending themselves to occasions and things that are evil and causeth them to hunt close and to follow the sweet and rich sent of such a Game which when it is taken and won will enrich and bless men abundantly Now any spiritual design for God and Jesus Christ carried on with strength and vigour this is that which will repell all your vain and foolish thoughts it will draw away all that food which fed and nourished them it will make havock and desolation amongst all your vain thoughts and sinful Lusts which are striving within you in order to the gratifying of the Flesh And this is to be considered further that the greater and more comprehensive a man's Engagement or design is the Dominion which it hath over his thoughts is so much the larger it beareth sway over so many the more of a man's thoughts and leaves a liberty of extravagancy unto so many the fewer of them yea Umpires with so much the higher and stricter hand of authority amongst those unto which its dominion extendeth For instance Suppose a man's design be to live justly Sect. 2 or righteously in the World or to live soberly these designs are good and honourable but they are but narrow in comparison of some others and particularly of that of being filled with the Spirit A man that is seriously and solemnly engaged in his heart and soul to live justly to wrong hinder or defraud no man by vertue of this his design he must needs refrain all thoughts of injustice all projections or devisings which tend to the injuring or endamaging any man in his Estate at least so far as he apprehends any tendency in thoughts this way and consequently all thoughts and imaginations that may arise within him towards Voluptuousness or expensive living and all thoughts of Idleness c. So on the other hand he must needs raise and stir up such thoughts and resolutions within him and exercise himself in them which are proper to dispose and strengthen him to deal justly by all and to give every man that which is his due For whosoever doth not resist and reject all thoughts of the former tendency and indulge and nourish all of the latter it is a plain case that he is not full of that heavenly engagement or design we speak of I mean of dealing justly by all men he is hollow and slight in it But a man may be really under the command of this design and yet be extravagant and impertinent in thoughts of another nature and tendency I mean vain and sinful in thoughts of several other kinds which we shall not particularly insist upon There are many vain thoughts which may be entertained in the minds and hearts of men which carry no direct opposition to the design of giving to every man his due Now because this design is but narrow although it extendeth it self to many of a man's thoughts yet nevertheless there are many others
fruit whereas if they were taken off from such corruptions as these they would conceive other manner of births births that are spiritual that would make you glad when they are born It cannot but be to any considering Christian matter of offence and grievance to find himself continually annoyed and that he should have troublesome Guests from day to day and there should be no end no remedy against it I beseech you consider How can men lay out themselves upon more desirable terms than to benefit themselves than to make themselves truly happy in this World and likewise in the World to come Now the greatest things must in reason be conceived to proceed from that which is most noble the Spring and Fountain of all commendable things Now this Fountain is the Mind Understanding and Judgment of a man these must do it otherwise men will never do any thing either for themselves or others to any purpose Therefore it is a thing worthy of us to hearken and learn how we may keep our hearts from running out their strength upon such things which defile us that they may attend only upon such which are sweet and rich such as are pleasant both unto God and unto Angels and unto men and shall be most pleasant unto our selves and our own souls when our taste is but come to us when we shall be able judiciously to taste and discern the true worth and value of spiritual things Fifthly Sect. 4 To promote the word of Exhortation propounded in your hearts and souls you may please further to consider that if you will do that for the gaining of this Treasure of being filled with the Spirit which God hath enabled you or shall enable you further to do in order thereunto the enterprize shall most certainly prosper in your hands and you shall be filled with the Spirit of God your Seed shall not rot under the Clod but shall yield an harvest God doth not put men to run for Prizes which are not to be obtained by running So run saith he that you may obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 Doubtless if it be true of God in the course of nature that he giveth to every Seed it s own Body It is much more true in spiritual cases and in the Affairs of Heaven he will reward every mans labour every mans endeavour Whatsoever a man soweth in this kind he shall reap and if he shall sow plentifully i.e. if he shall shew so much care and diligence as is requisite to bring about this great blessing he shall eat of the labour of his hands yea happy shall he be Indeed sometimes God suffers the natural Seed which is sown in the Earth to miscarry and never to yield any fruit or encrease according to that of Jeremiah Jer. 12.13 Ye shall sow Wheat and reap thorns Deut. 28.38 And that also in Lev. 26.20 And your strength shall be spent in vain and your Land shall not yield her encrease Thus sometimes it cometh to pass but you see God threatneth it as a matter out of course which would never come to pass were it not that God did this for the punishment of them that are wicked and have mach provoked him He sometimes withdraweth himself from nature and second causes But for the Promises of God in the course of spiritual waies and means there is never any exception here for if a man sow wickedness If he sow to the flesh he shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6.7 8. On the other hand whatsoever good thing a man doth the same shall he receive viz. in the reward of it God hath put himself in strict Bonds and Obligations that if men shall do that which he hath given them in charge to do if men shall study and use the means of Grace with that diligence care faithfulness and goodness of Conscience which he hath prescribed and enjoyned them look whatsoever this means is proper to produce this they shall be sure to enjoy God is not wont to provoke men to such things which are not attainable he doth not deal so with his Creature he only promiseth such things which are very feasible and attainable by those Methods and means which he hath appointed them to use by doing those things which they may very well do quitting themselves but like men It is true indeed though the prize of being filled with the Spirit be never so rich though it will cause a mans face to shine like the face of an Angel or like God himself yet if it lie not within any mans reach if a man might lay out himself after the most effectual manner and yet notwithstanding come short in the end this would stifle all inclinations and dispositions this way yea and to stir up men and women by any other Motive though never so potent would be to very little purpose Let this be another Motive to stir you up to fall-in with the Exhortation proposed unto you you shall not lose your labour you shall not sow your Seed in vain but shall have a goodly and blessed recompense of reward for whatsoever you shall do faithfully and conscienciously herein you may be assured that though to be filled with the Spirit be an exceeding great and high priviledge and hath much of God and of glory in it yet are you in a capacity to come at it and enjoy it My Brethren Sect. 5 we speak great things unto you of this being filled with the Spirit But it may be you will say Wherein doth the greatness of it lie What great or excellent things are there in it that we should be willing to consent unto you to lay out our selves for the obtaining it And it seems we must do it throughly and not be remiss or half-hearted in the work but must quit our selves like men with the best of our might and strength and therefore What is this great thing which you call A being filled with the Spirit Or upon what account shall we be more happy and blessed in our Conditions when we have compassed it than whilest we are without it I answer That though men had the Tongues of Angels and the Understandings and Wisdom of Angels too yet they could not declare fully the glory nor the blessedness of such a state the heights depths and the lengths and breadths of this high Priviledge or Prerogative of being filled with the Spirit If the thing could fall within the virge of humane Understanding and could be uttered if you could rightly conceive of the worth or excellency of it this would make you call it the Priviledge of a man or something that a man can reach or understand The Apostle Paul when he would express the transcendency of that Priviledge which he calls the peace of God Phil. 4.7 he describes it to be such a thing which passeth all understanding This Character of it gives it high honour and double esteem in the hearts and minds of men but if he should have expressed it in
any such terms which had set limits and bounds unto it and told them that it was good to such and such a degree but not further this had been apt to have diminished the esteem and reputation of it and consequently to have interrupted and checked the desires of it in the hearts of men Even so we may say concerning this great Priviledge of being filled with the Spirit if we could measure out unto you and were able to say that it is thus much and no more this were neither for your benefit or profit neither should we be found faithful or true Witnesses of those excellent and glorious things of God There is no question but that the Apostles in their daies did make large discoveries of the peace of God and spake many glorious things of it so much that might have enflamed the hearts of men to have desired it but yet there was more than all this in that Character whereby it is described viz. A peace that passeth all understanding So questionless many great and excellent things and that according to sobriety and truth may be spoken concerning this great and happy Priviledge yet if we should attempt any thing in this kind without giving knowledge that we do not speak limitedly or to confine your apprehensions as if there were nothing further or greater in it besides and above or beyond what we can express without some such intimation or â—aution as this is we should rather prejudice you and set you off than quicken you and set you up to look after it We have formerly as I remember acquainted you with several Royalties and blessed Contentments which do attend the state of a person that is filled with the Spirit 〈◊〉 God One thing was that they that are filled with the Spirit of God are like to be much imployed and set on work by God he deâ—ghteth not to imploy such persons about any great services which he hath 〈◊〉 do in the World that are streightened in their spirits whose anointing 〈◊〉 but scanty narrow and low God doth not care that much of his Work should pass thorough their hands because they will not quit themselves so as to answer the Majesty of God nor the excellency of such Services Whereas those that are filled with the Spirit look whatsoever they go about or put forth their hearts unto they will carry it on with the greatest authority and highest hand neither will they baulk this or that Truth of God nor in the least give in for any opposition or contradiction of Men. Now this is a great Priviledge if we had hearts to conceive aright of it for a man or woman to be much imployed or much set on work by God the Angels are as it were proud of his service Christ speaking of his little ones saith Their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Mat. 18.10 They stand waiting to see if there be any service or imployment they strive who shall be most set on work and who shall have most put into their hands for this is their honour and their glory And doubtless my Brethren if we had but the true sense and resentment of the transcendent worth and desirableness of serving God and of being imployed by him in the world we should account of it and esteem it after another manner of rate than I fear generally we do Another thing was this they that are partakers of that blessedness are upon the matter out of the reach of all sorrows or troubles about any thing that can befall them in this present World those things which cut other men to the very heart and soul these men are secured from when the World riseth up and lieth down by them they know not they are in an heavenly extasie or a spiritual kind of drunkenness As Lot being drunk knew not when his Daughters rose up from him nor lay down by him men that are full of the Spirit are lifted up they are in the upper Region where no storms no tempests nor troublesome things come there is a perpetual serenity clearness and peaceableness of mind whilest the World generally and those that are strangers to this fulness of the Spirit are tossed to and fro tumbling up and down their thoughts disquieting and tormenting them continually And so again we shewed that they that are filled with the Spirit are to a degree freed from Temptations It is said of God He cannot be tempted with evil Jam. 1.13 Now such men are partakers of that blessedness of God himself as far as flesh and bloud is capable of drawing near unto him Resist the Devil and he will flee from you saith the Apostle James c. 4.7 Brethren Why should the Devil flee from him that resisteth him and giveth him a peremptory denial It is because that he hath much to do and but little time to do it in and he will not lose his time when he hath no hope to speed he is then as if he stood upon thorns as we use to say if he get no profit or advantage by his Suggestions it is so much out of the way of his miserable comfort and that solace which he is capable of during his present state and condition all his solace being this to draw men into communion and fellowship with himself in his misery and knowing by his own experience that the way thereunto lieth by the way of sin and doing wickedly therefore he laboureth to entice men to walk in such waies knowing if he can but draw men into these paths he will presently meet with them and that they will arrive at that place of endless misery and torment which he is gone unto But now this great and blessed Priviledge of being filled with the Spirit of God will make all the enticements and allurements all the baits and temptations to evil of no force they will be as Arrows shot against a brazen Wall that will recoyl and turn upon him that shooteth them So that we need not ask a question What the fulness of the Spirit meaneth You see it is worthy all your labours all your endeavours and layings out of your selves in one kind or other though you should prejudice your flesh never so much upon the account of it yet nevertheless there is no cause for you to complain for the Priviledge is so great that it will do a thousand times more than bear its own charge and it will recompense a thousand fold into your bosome whatsoever you expend of your pleasures and enjoyments in the World for the attaining of it Sixthly Sect. 6 To promote the interest of the Exhortation propounded in your hearts and souls and to make you desirous indeed to be filled with the Spirit of God you may please yet further to consider that your Minds Reasons and Understandings with whatsoever besides shall be necessary for you to imploy or lay out about this great and blessed undertaking cannot be disposed of or imployed by
Exhortation delivered and the Duty recommended therein you may please to consider this one thing farther which was lately touched on by the by that you may rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of much carefulness you may spend the strength of your minds and understandings to procure other accommodations and enjoyments such I mean which relate to the outer man only aad yet never eat the labour of your hand nor see the fruit of the travel of your souls or that which is little better if not rather worse ye may only taste of what you seek after in this kind that which you shall take in hunting and yet not be able to continue the enjoyment of it for any considerable space of time A day an hour yea possibly a moment may bereave you of what the care and labour of many years advanced you unto whereas first it hath been already shewed and proved unto you that whoever shall lay out themselves for this spiritual and heavenly accommodation of being filled with the Spirit shall most certainly obtain it Secondly In persevering in this course unto the end your attainments shall stand by you in glory and blessedness for ever But as the Prophet David saith Psal 34.10 The young Lions shall suffer hunger c. so it is with those that seek the glory and great things of this World that pursue the Honours and Wealth and Pleasures thereof these many times suffer hunger and want He that seeketh after Honour and Riches falleth short and so he that seeketh after Pleasures is disappointed But he that shall seek to be filled with the Spirit of God shall be filled therewith neither shall any thing be able to separate between him and it And as the Apostle reasoneth concerning the love of God Rom. 8. Even so it is in the case in hand neither life nor death nor any other thing neither Trouble nor Persecution nor Angels no nor Devils shall be able to separate and step in between those who shall engage themselves in a consciencious manner to be filled with the Spirit and the actual accomplishment and enjoyment of this felicity The Spirit of Ambition may work in you as the Grace of God did in Paul mightily and yet of this Spirit you may reap nothing but dishonour and disgrace and covering of the face with shame and confusion Absolom as we lately intimated ran with all his might and with all his strength for the Prize of a Kingdom but that which he got by his running was an ignominious and untimely death being hung by the hair of his head on the bough of a great Oak 2 Sam. 18.9 as he fled to save his life from the pursuit of Davids men in which posture three Darts were thrust through his heart by Joab Many ambitious Climers in all Ages have met with the like disasters and disappointments All Histories almost fill the World with examples in this kind that men before they come at the top of the Ladder fall down and are broken and crushed to pieces they wholly miscarry and get nothing but a covering of darkness instead of that grandeur or greatness which they lift up their hearts unto and many who did compass the grandeur and greatness in the World which they sought after were soon dispossessed The like may be said concerning Riches and of those that in the sweat of their brows and burning of their hearts have sought to sit down and rest themselves under the shadow of a great Estate As Paul said of his Country-men the Jews that following after the Law of Righteousness they attained not the Law of Righteousness so we may say of many that following after Riches they have not attained to be rich But whosoever follow after this being filled with the Spirit have and shall most certainly attain it Those carnal designs are meerly accidental and casual attempts which men often miscarry in The Scriptures are full of such Expressions which sufficiently confirm the truth of what we say I returned and saw an evil under the Sun saith Solomon Eccl. 9.11 the Race is not to the swift nor the Bâ—ttel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet Riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill but time and chance happens to all So elsewhere Prov. 28.22 11.24 you shall find that those who are great designers of Wealth many times are disappointed and senâ— empty away He that maketh haste to be rich hath an evil eye and knoweth not doth not consider that poverty is coming upon him And so There is that withholdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty many times their Projects fail them and they come to poverty So that we see there is great uncertainty in all these things we do not know whether our design will prosper in our hand or no for God hath not made any such connexion between these carnal projects and their ends but that he can forbid their coming together But we have the Word of the Living God the security of Heaven that if any man will build a spiritual house carry on a heavenly design if they will lay out their hearts and spirits upon it God will stand by such men their labour shall not be in vain God hath established a Law that shall not be broken a Law like unto the Law of the Sun and Moon which shall be kept inviolable that he that desireth to eat of this bread shall have to eat abundantly he that shall run the course of this Design shall obtain He that giveth to every Seed his own body ordinarily in things natural will never fail here he hath put a Law upon himself neither will his nature give him leave to separate and divide between the means that are spiritual and the end to be attained by them He that soweth the Seed shall reap the Fruit whosoever shall ask in this kind shall receive and whosoever knocketh it shall be opened unto him Now if you please but to consider in a word the weight and import of this Motive you know that men do not love to sow their Seed in vain to part with their Silver and Gold for things that are of no use It is every mans case and they are accounted the wisest of men that can prevent such things the interposure whereof is apt to deprive them of that for which they have given their money Now then this is the case as to the business we have been exhorting you unto viz. A being filled with the Spirit it is a Commodity which if you will lay out your selves for it will most certainly be made good unto you it is not obnoxious to any disappointment either by God Angels or Men. Now then Why should any man bestow his time upon that which he may possibly not enjoy or in case he may enjoy it it will be but for a short season or if he should enjoy it for any long season yet at last it
dumpishness c. and so that which is begotten by the Spirit of God doth resemble that Spirit which doth produce it Now as the Spirit of God that begetteth this Spirit in a man is holy and pure a Spirit of Love and Meekness and Gentleness c. Even so is that Spirit which is begotten a Spirit of Meekness Love Holiness Humility c. The reason why I rather thus understand the word Spirit in the place before us is first because this spirit I mean the spirit of a man wrought and new framed within him by the Spirit of God is the more immediate principle of a mans actions and the Spirit of God in this respect the more remote because he produceth and worketh all our good works by the mediation of that Spirit or new frame of heart which he hath raised in us Now then that Spirit which hath the more immediate conjunction with or influence upon our actions is more easily discernable by us and consequently more proper to discover or make known that which is discoverable by it as the dwelling of God in us in this place Secondly The Holy Ghost doth not discover himself or his presence in a man at least not his sanctifying presence of which we now speak but only by that spirit which he begetteth in his own likeness as hath been said and by the Fruits or Works of the Spirit For who can say upon any competent grounds I have the Spirit of God in me unless he find the frame of his heart and the temper of his former spirit changed within him and this for the better He that saith he hath the Spirit of God in him upon any other ground or account speaketh he knows not what nor hath any man reason to believe him Now then if the Holy Ghost be not manifestive of himself or of his own presence in men but only by that spirit which he begets or creates in men and by the works which this Spirit produceth in them but this Spirit especially by the works which it produceth is plainly manifestive of it self and consequently of all other things which must of necessity accompany it amongst which the dwelling of God in men is one It clearly follows that this is the Spirit by which the Holy Ghost himself here saith that we know that God abideth or dwelleth in us Thirdly That Spirit in a man which must declare and evidence Gods dwelling or abiding in him must be a Spirit constantly or habitually abiding in him Now the constant and habitual abiding of the Spirit of God in those who have received him cannot be known but only by that habitual frame of heart out of which they act for otherwise there is a remaining of the Spirit of God in them which is not sanctifying many had the Holy Ghost in them to work Miracles but the sanctifying presence of the Holy Ghost in men cannot be known but only by the habitual and blessed frame of heart out of which they act in the waies of God and therefore in this respect also it is most likely that the Holy Ghost meaneth the spirit which is begotten in the hearts by this Spirit Fourthly and lastly This Spirit we speak of which is begotten in men by the Spirit of God may be said to be given unto us by God as well as the Holy Ghost himself For as God when he gave Christ unto men may be said to have given them all things appertaining unto life and bleâ—â—edness He that hath given the Fountain may be said to have given the streams So he that hath given the sanctifying Spirit may be also said to have given all other things and blessings that depend upon the same Thus then we see this clear before us that he that is filled with the Spirit cannot but know that God dwelleth and abideth in him and this was the first thing mentioned which must needs possess and fill men with a rich assurance that their attonement and peace is made with God by the bloud of Christ For most assuredly God dwells in no man but in him who believeth in him And secondly Whosoever believeth in him his attonement is compleat with God Thirdly and lastly the man or woman in whom God dwelleth either knoweth or readily may know that God dwelleth in him The second thing propounded Sect. 11 whereby a man or woman may know that their attonement or peace is made with God and they accepted was if they love God they that truly love God and know they love him may from hence readily conclude and take hold of an assurance that they have peace with God This is evident from that known passage 1 Joh. 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love There is no fear in love i. e. with love or where love is found The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with as 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith or with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus So again Mat. 16.27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory that is with the glory of his Father There is no fear in love meaning the love of God and the fear of God i. e. the fear of being hurt by God or of receiving evil from him as he explaineth himself immediately cannot stand together But saith he perfect love casteth out fear First It is evident that he speaks here principally and more particularly of the love of God in men Secondly By perfect love he means love grown to a good maturity and strength in the heart and soul of a man when it is active and bringeth forth a considerable proportion of fruit By perfect love here he cannot mean love which is absolutely and compleatly perfect which is not capable of any more intenseness or further enlargement for there is no such love of God to be found amongst men that dwell in houses of clay no not among the greatest of the Saints yea it is a question whether the love of the Angels themselves be perfect in this sense or no. The word perfect and perfection are most frequently used when applied to man or any other Creature not in a strict or absolute but a limited and diminutive sense Things are said to be perfect when they are grown to any good degree of perfection So he that offendeth not in word is said to be a perfect man Jam. 3.2 that is it is a sign that he is an able Christian so love to God when it is grown to a considerable strength in a man that it yieldeth forth fruit in abundance then it is called perfect love and I do not remember where the word is otherwise used when applied to the Creature or things relating to it Indeed when applied to God it is to be taken in the strictest sense but when applied
with some impressions or other of God's disapprobation or displeasure until the sinner hath recollected himself by repentance and sought the face of God Thus then we see that the testimony of a good conscience especially in conjunction with the assurance that a man's Attonement is made with God must needs invest him with a rich capacity of enjoying a free Communion with God If you ask Why shall a man 's not being condemned by his heart upon the terms specified give him a right or be a regular ground of boldness or confidence towards God I reply Because as fear of shame and punishment from God are the natural results of sin especially of sin against knowledge as we lately intimated So is expectation or hope of reward or countenance from God the natural result of Righteousness and Holiness neither can God himself separate between these things I mean Righteousness and hope of reward but only by such a kind of interposure by which he should separate heat from the fire or light from the Sun as God may in a miraculous way stand between the natural force of things as when time was he stood between the heat and the fire For Righteousness and Holiness are of that nature that he that shall put forth his heart and hand to do them doth in a natural way fill his heart with hope of reward and countenance from God See upon this account Psal 19.7 8 9 10 c. 2 Cor. 1.12 Heb. 10.19.20 c. This for the second particular found in those who are filled with the Spirit the testimony of a good conscience which must needs especially being joyned with the former assurance of a man's Attonement made with God compleat his capacity of enjoying free Communion with God That all those who are filled with the Spirit of God in the sense formerly declared cannot want the Testimony we have spoken of is I suppose so clear and manifest from the contents of what hath been formerly declared upon the Scripture in hand that I conceive it no waies necessary to insist upon any further proof of it But secondly To demonstrate Sect. 19 that a being filled with the Spirit doth yet further contribute to the raising our happiness in this present life by investing us with a capacity of enjoying Communion with God we added that it must needs invest us with a capacity of a large and plentiful Communion also Now a free Communion with God as was formerly in effect said imports a liberty or freedom from any troublesome tormenting or discouraging fears in our conversings with God and in our application of our selves unto him whether by way of Meditation or Contemplation of any of his glorious Attributes or Perfections or whether by Prayer or Request or whether by way of expectation or dependence upon him for matters relating to this life or that which is to come Now in any of these three works I do not remember any but what is reducible to one of these when a man or woman is at liberty and this upon good grounds to do all this without fear I still mean without any such fear which hath trouble pain or torment in it this I call a posture or capacity of a free Communion with God and this capacity we have already shewed and proved that alwaies it accompanies such a being filled with the Spirit as that unto which you have been exhorted Now as men and women filled with the Spirit are capable of such a Communion with God as this so are they by the same means and opportunity capable of an enlarged Communion with God They are in a condition of conversing with God in all the three kinds lately specified after a more large and ample manner and about more particulars and these more spiritual and secret and matters of a more high importance than they whose anointing with the Spirit is more sparing and low Now to help you a little to understand the difference a child of three or four years of age may probably be as free in his Communion with his Parents may go unto them and speak unto them and hear them speak again unto him with as little fear or trouble as his brother who is come to maturity of years and is a man grown But yet by reason that such a Childs understanding is at persent short and scant in comparison of his Brothers who understands the things and affairs of men which the Child doth not or but very weakly and imperfectly Therefore the Childs Communion with his Parents is not so large extends not to so many particulars of such weighty concernments as his elder Brothers Communion doth I make use of this Comparison only to explain the difference between that which I call free and that which I call a full or large Communion with God not to imply that he that is in a capacity of enjoying the one may be in no capacity of enjoying the other For it hath been already said that he that is filled with the Spirit is in a capacity of enjoying both This Proposition we have proved as to the former viz. A capacity in such persons of enjoying a free Communion with God we now go forward to the proof of the other viz. that the same persons are in a capacity of enjoying the other also an ample or large Communion with God in the sense lately opened To prove this there are only these two things to be taken into consideration and shewed First That a large knowledge of God of his Attributes and Perfections of his Counsels and Decrees and other things relating to him and recorded in his word doth invest men and women with a capacity of such an ample and large Communion with him which we speak of Secondly That he that is filled with the Spirit cannot lightly if possibly but be thus enlarged in the knowledge of God with the Attributes and Perfections of God For the first of these Sect. 20 That a large knowledge of God of his Attributes Perfections Counsels and Decrees must needs invest a person with a capacity of a large Communion with him may be proved thus Only by the way before we come to the proof by the knowledge of God in this place we do not mean simply a knowing i. e. a having in a man's memory or understanding that which is written in the Scriptures of God of his Attributes Counsels Decrees c. or a being able to argue and discourse of these in a rational way and to draw Conclusions and Consequences though never so clearly directly and substantially from them it is not such a knowledge as this that will qualifie men for that full and large Communion with God The reason hereof is because a man may have such a knowledge of God his Nature and Attributes and yet believe little or nothing at all of the truth of these things which in such a sense he knoweth As Aristotle speaking of young men in reference to the excellent Principles of Morality
and be able to draw inferences from them and to follow their guidance as far as they will lead them into many particulars concerning God This is the nature of Principles and general Grounds As there was a Wheel within a Wheel in Ezekiels Vision so there may be many Considerations many Propositions concerning God that may be wound up in one Expression or one direct Saying in Scripture For there are very many things requisite to be known and understood concerning God for the investing men and women with that capacity we speak of of enjoying a large Communion with God which are not literâ tenus or in so many words expressed in the Scriptures and yet they may be plainly enough delivered and held forth here For that may be truly and properly enough said to be plainly taught and delivered which with competent diligence study and meditation may be gathered from those things which are plainly and expresly taught and delivered As Solomon Prov. 8.9 speaketh concerning Instructions end Precepts of Wisdem as the former Translation reads the place They are all plain to him that will understand i. e. whose heart is set within him to understand them who is not negligent and loose minded to such things but is willing to enquire and find out the mind of God as Lavater well expoundeth the place so may it be said of those things concerning God which are necessary to be known and understood in order to that end and purpose we speak of And that of Solomon is true That the diligent hand maketh rich Prov. 10.4 as well in Spirituals as Temporals Now all these things of God which being known put a man into a capacity of a large Communion with God are not upon any such terms laid down in the Scriptures that if we shall but spare any small time or labour we may be as fully satisfied in them as if we had seen them face to face It is no where said in the Scripture in so many words that God in these operations and workings upon the hearts and souls of men by his Word and Spirit by which he intendeth to work Faith and Conversion is resistible resistible I mean in such a sense which imports a possibility in men so wrought upon never to be actually converted or brought to believe these operations of God notwithstanding This I say is not in these words nor any other Grammatically equipollent to them to be found in the Scriptures yet it is plainly enough taught and delivered there and this in several places from whence it may be duly and clearly collected as we have heretofore made apparent unto you So again that Christ died for me in particular for the Attonement of my sin or that God intended that Christ should die for me such Positions as these though they are no where in so many words delivered yet they are delivered plainly enough in Scripture and to much satisfaction so that every man may with a little consideration see them Thus then you see what manner of knowledge of God and of his Attributes and Counsels it is as well for the nature as for the Extent Compass or Degree which is required to qualifie men and women for this large Communion with God for the nature and quality of it it must be a knowledge accompanied with a through belief of God and his Attributes for the extent or compass a knowledge which is somewhat comprehensive both concerning God his Nature Counsels and Decrees c. Now that such a knowledge of God as this must needs prepare and make men capable of a large Communion with him is evident upon this consideration viz. Communion cannot well extend further than there is a mutual knowledge of the one and of the other How can two walk together unless there be some agreement in Principles It was the Saying of Achish King of the Philistines 1 Sam. 21.15 Have I any need of mad men When his Servant brought David before him his meaning was that he could not tell well what to do with him or how to speak to him or what to imploy him about And Solomon Eccl. 5.4 speaking to the same purpose concerning God saith That he hath no delight in Fools Men that have no knowledge of God nor of his Attributes c. are like unto stocks and stones they are not at all capable of that Communion which we now speak of So likewise men and women who have but a scant knowledge of God it may be ten parts of twelve dark and but two light so far as they are ignorant their Communion with God will be obstructed and hindred and consequently their Communion with God if any at all will be very narrow and contracted I suppose we shall not need to spend time in proving Sect. 22 that those who are filled with the Spirit must needs be enlarged in the knowledge of God and much more in the belief of the truth and certainty of those things which being truly apprehended and known concerning him render them capable of this large Communion with him Where the Spirit abideth with such a fulness of his Presence he will enlighten and open the darkness of the hearts of men and will scatter that ignorance which otherwise is likely to darken them Therefore we shall pass by that enough having been argued already only a word or two to open unto you the rich and glorious accommodation which the capacity of such a free and large Communion with God as we have insisted on must needs be conceived to be unto those that are invested with it or made partakers of it although the truth is that the transcendent worth and excellency of the Priviledge we speak of is near enough at hand to be apprehended and understood by all men without the help of any discourse For shall not the joy which the Apostle Peter dignifieth with those two high Titles Unspeakable and Glorious shall not this attend a free and large Communion with God It is mentioned by our Saviour as one of the richest strains of felicity that the Elect Angels are partakers of that they stand before their heavenly Father and behold his face continually i. e. they stand before him like unto Princes undaunted unappaled they have a free and large Communion with God But that flesh and bloud the poor Children of men should arrive unto such a state and condition as to have part and fellowship with them in this their happiness and felicity is certainly a transcendent priviledge unto them It was a Reply that an old Philosopher made to a Tyrant a great Prince who asked him what good he had gotten by the study of Philosophy Why saith he I have gotten this that I can talk with the greatest Tyrant in the World without being afraid of him Now if this be a desirable thing that a man can look the greatest and proudest man in the face without being dismayed or afraid What is it for a poor Creature cloathed with flesh and
to be Errors Heresies Blasphemies c. and by riding over the heads of all those whom he calls Sectaries he shall set God upon the Throne and put an Iron Scepter into the hand of Jesus Christ wherewith to break all his Enemies in pieces like a Potters Vessel making full account that God will never have a Temple upon Earth unless it be of his building The Seeker whilest he throws the House of God out of the Windows as we use to say and makes an utter desolation in the Courts thereof casting out all the Ordinances and Ministrations of it as Menstruous and polluted Rags and makes an headless heartless and confused meeting of a few to speak what any Spirit one or other shall prompt them withall he conceipts and this with confidence enough too that he acts according to the heart of Jesus Christ and that persons of all other forms and waies do rather great disservice to Jesus Christ and the truth than otherwise and that he and men of his inspiration are the only persons that understand aright what makes for the lifting up of the Throne of Christ amongst men Yea the Rantor himself whose Principles and waies have no more Communion with the glory of God or of Jesus Christ than Light hath with Darkness or Christ himself with Belial yet he in his own conceipt is the first-born amongst the Friends of God and of Jesus Christ He alone it is that spreads abroad the sweet savour of Jesus Christ in the World whilest he pours out himself in all manner of abominations and sentenceth men of other Principles and Practices as strangers unto God and to the Gospel and obscurers and darkeners of the Grace of God and the fulness of Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ Yea there is another sort who is the last-born Son of Sathan that I know amongst us he finds false fire in the Zeal of all the former and therefore hath set up a new form or way for the worshipping and serving of God and though Sathan be more palpably visible in it than in any of the former yet he is confident that all other waies ought to cast down their Crowns to the ground at the feet of it yea and that they shall be made to do it Thus God hath many in the World that pretend high in Friendship to him and in Zeal for his glory who yet indeed trouble and disturbe the World And many of them labour in the very sire and some of them do as little spare their flesh as the Servants of Baal did who cut themselves with Knives and Lances which they needed not to do in case they were real Friends indeed unto God and worthy Imitators of the true Zeal and Christian fervour of Spirit which uttered themselves in the Primitive Christians So that as Solomon observing the common pretenses and professions of men one to another expresseth himself thus Prov 20.6 Mâ—st men will boast every man of his own goodness But who can find a faithful man That is a Friend indeed and indeed So may God altogether as truly say that there are many in the World men of this way and men of that way men of a third of a fourth and of a fifth who all boast of their goodness who pretend love to me and zeal for my glory but I can hardly find a faithful man amongst them a man who naturally careth for the things of my glory As the Apostle speaks concerning Timothy that did naturally mind his Affairs it is one of the hardest things in the World to find men especially any publick Society of men that do naturally mind the things of Jesus Christ But the thing I was saying unto you is that the reason why the interest of Prayer in the World I mean amongst Professors of Christianity is fallen so low as it is and is in a manner sunk in comparison of that which it was and appeared to be in the Christians of old is because that the Spirit of love to God that Heroick and vigorous Spirit is sunk in the Christian World It was upon the Wing in the times of the Apostles and some Ages after them but now among all pretenders to God certain it is that God amongst them all finds not many faithful Friends not many of that integrity and uprightness of heart and soul which was found in the Primitive Christians For as God reasoned the case with the Jews long since Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortened c. neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear So then this is a thing which needs be no mans doubt or question that to be great in the sight of God and to have his ear continually open unto a mans Prayer must needs be a treasure of comfort and peace unto him and so in consort with those three other Priviledges formerly opened renders a mans life and condition in the World as desirable as God judgeth meet to permit it to be here We further added Sect. 7 in the proposal of the Motive yet in hand that as a being filled with the Spirit would render a mans life in this World comfortable in respect of the four particulars mentioned yea most desirable So there is no other course that a man can take without this nothing that he can do besides or with a neglect of this will do it will interest a person man or woman in any or however not in all the particulars mentioned without a joynt concurrence of which there will be somewhat material and of moment wanting to the compleating of their condition in the World Let us speak a few words to this also and prove unto you that without a being filled with the Spirit none of the four particulars can be enjoyed or possessed by you at least upon any such terms on which they may be and are enjoyed by those that are filled with the Spirit and on which the desirableness of a mans life in the World is raised and maintained by them Now the reason briefly why none of the great Priviledges mentioned can be enjoyed like themselves by any other course taken or means used without a being filled with the Spirit is this because they all depend upon these cordial and high engagements for God and for the advancement of his interest in the World of which we have lately spoken and these are not likely to be found in any person or persons but in those only who are filled with the Spirit So that we have these two things to open and shew unto you First That the four particulars wherein as we have proved the life of a man in this World as to the greatest desirableness of it consists are not to be had or to be enjoyed either devisim but especially not conjunctim but only by a signal course of righteousness or a very considerable degree of activeness for God Secondly That no mans heart will ever be lifted up to such a course of righteousness as this to such
Page 429 Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel Heb. 6.17.18 confirmed it by an Oath c. Page 67 For this is the Covenant which I will make with the House of Israel Heb. 8.10 11. c. Page 394 c. The Holy Ghost this signifying Heb. 9.8 c. Page 149 150 The Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Page 305 c. Without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Page 313 c. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not Heb. 12.25 c. Page 459 Then when Last hath conceived it bringeth forth sin Jam. 1.15 c. Page 299 300 Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment Jam. 2.13 Page 82 83 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are Jam. 5 17. Page 532 Whom having not seen 1 Pet. 1.8 ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing c. Page 67 68 Ye are a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 c. that ye should shew forth c. Page 79 Whereby are given unto us most great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 Page 133 An entrance in abundance into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Ver. 11. Page 257 And through Covetousness shall they with fained words make Merchandise of you Ver. 2.3 Page 429 c. But the anointing which we have received of him abideth in you 1 Joh. 2.27 and you need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you Page 398 And every man that hath this hope in him parifieth himself as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 Page 133 If our heart condemn us not Ver. 21. then have we confidence towards God Page 511 Whatsoever we ask we receive of him Ver. 22. because we keep his Commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight Page 523 There is no fear in love Ver. 4.18 but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love Page 128 262 501 For there are Three that bear Record in Heaven Ver. 5.7 the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One Page 179 180 Sensual Jude v. 19. not having the Spirit Page 8 9 10 19 20. He that overcometh Rev. 2.26 27. c. To him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule them Page 531 If any man would hurt them Rev. 11.5 fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their Enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed Page 529 And the Spirit and the Bride say come Rev. 22.17 Page 225 Some general Rules for the opening and understanding of several Scriptures in the Book I. THat every Negative Commandment includeth the Affirmative contrary unto it Page 10 c. II. Adverbs of denying do very frequently import the contrary unto that word unto which they are joyned Page 11 12 13 c. 299 III. When Principles or Dispositions in men whether they be Dispositions unto Virtue and Holiness or unto Sin or Vice are grown up unto any fulness so that they put forth themselves with force and are vigorous and active in them it is usual in the Scripture Language to express such or such Principles or Dispositions by the name of Spirit Page 15 16 c. IV. Fulness or filling in Scripture Language do not alwaies indeed very seldom if at all signifie an absolute or exact fulness or a filling up to the brim but things or persons in Scripture Phrase are said to be full or filled with a thing when they have a good rich and plentiful proportion of it Page 4 V. It is ordinary in Scriptures to express one who useth not what he hath and which giveth no testimony or account of what he hath by the Phrase of not having at all Page 19 20 28 29 VI. The gracious and free working of the Spirit wherein it doth consist and wherein it doth not Page 22 23 24 25 26 The Object of Grace and the Object of Mercy wherein they differ one from another Page 23 24 VII It is frequent in the Scriptures for God to deliver and express as well Threatnings as Promises absolutely in respect of the tenour or form of words wherein they are delivered without the least whisper or noise of any Exception or Clause of Restriction when as notwithstanding both the one and the other are conditional and were by him intended for none other Page 30 31 VIII When one and the same Action is raised and produced by a joynt concurrence of two different causes one principal and independent in its efficacy or working the other subordinate and dependent in the acting thereof the effect or work produced between them is sometimes as in good propriety of speech it may be ascribed to the one and sometimes to the other but more commonly to the former as that which is the principal Page 39 IX It is the manner of the Saints throughout the Scriptures and so it was observed by Christ himself in his Prayer that whenever they make any great request unto God they do not simply mention or insist upon what they desire but they desire it in Gods way and by that means by which they knew that God was wont or likely to confer it Page 59 60 X. When any thing is prescribed or mentioned by way of means in order to such or such an end though the proportion of the means be not expressed yet it is to be estimated and judged of by the nature and quality of the end to be obtained thereby Page 60 XI In Scripture Phrase persons many times are said to do that not only which they actually or at present do but which they may or have opportunity and means and are like to do And sometimes it speaketh of men as doing that which is their duty and what they ought to do whether they actually and indeed do it or no Page 68 XII When Grace is opposed to Works it is not opposed to Works simply much less any kind of Works but to Works in point of Merit and as in the strictect justice they deserve that he who doth them should be justified by God In this sense Grace is opposed to Works in Justification Page 69 XIII It is a frequent Dialect in Scripture to attribute that to the abstract or form which properly belongeth to the Subject as qualified therewith Page 82 83 XIV The Holy Ghost sometimes useth the same word not only in the same Contexture of Scripture but even in the same Sentence to signifie things that are only Analogically or in proportion the same and not the same properly or specifically Page 98 99 XV. This Particle or Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated for whom is to be taken Adjectively and not meerly nominally or pronominally that is not as signifying naked or meer Subjects but Subjects so and so qualified or disposed Page 125 XVI In
Treatise is gravely and with solidity penned and worthy the perusal of those whose feer are taken in the snare of that Error or others remaining in any measure dis-satisfied about the Point Though the truth is they have as much reason to be dis-satisfied about their Christianity it self and whether Salvation is to be obtained by Jesus Christ and Faith in his bloud as to be dis-satisfied about the Holy Ghost being God We might argue the Deity of the Holy Ghost from other particulars observable Sect. 10 upon such an account from the said passages of Scripture lying yet before us As 1. That Christ saith of him that he should teach them all things 2. That he should bring to their remembrance all things that he had spake to them 3. That he proceedeth from God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall but only glance at them First our Saviour undertakes for the Holy Ghost that when he comes he shall teach his Disciples all truth To be able to teach all truth is a Royalty too rich to be vested in any Creature it is most worthy God himself and meet only for him The Eph. 3.9 10. Angels learn many things from the Church and from the Min stry and Dispensation of the Gospel there And the Apostle Paul himself professeth of himself and the rest of his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 13.9 who knew more than all the World besides of the mystery of Christ and of God that they knew but in part Therefore no Angel was in a capacity to teach them all things when as they themselves were in a condition to learn some things of them If it be demanded But how can these two stand together 1. That Christ should say unto the Apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them all things and lead them into the way of all truth And yet 2. That Paul should say notwithstanding that they knew but in part Can he be said to know but in part who hath been taught all things or led into the way of all Truth I answer 1. That the all things which the Holy Ghost according to our Saviours Promise here was to teach the Disciples is to be restrained to the business in hand which is very frequent in Scripture and so such things as were necessary and meet for them to know in order to the performance of their Apostolical Office as well in teaching as in planting Churches and ordering the Government hereof For it was not for them to know the times and seasons which God had reserved in his own hand Nor doth it follow from hence either that the Holy Ghost was not able to teach them that restrained all things or that the teaching of this restrained all things should be no sufficient proof of the Holy Ghosts being God The former of these is evident enough from the common principle in reason God and Nature as they are not defective in things that be necessary so neither do they abound in things that be superfluous And therefore if the Apostles had no need of any further knowledge of any thing which did any waies conduce to the performance of their great Office as they were Apostles It is not to be conceived that the Holy Ghost should impart such things unto them which were not expedient for them to know The latter viz. That the teaching of that limited all things we speak of especially taken with that Clause that goeth along with it and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 14.26 is an Argument no waies defective in proof that the Holy Ghost who was to do all these things is truly God this I say is evident from hence For 1. He that shall be able to teach all that was necessary for the Apostles to know for the discharge of their great Office must be supposed to know all the heights and depths of the Scriptures all things that are contained and comprehended there For doubtless there is nothing in the Word of God but what was fitting and necessary for the Apostles to know and understand As namely the sitting and applying of all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies under the Law to and with the Gospel and so likewise to know and understand all obscure Prophesies for otherwise they might have been foyled and intangled by their Adversaries which would have been matter of prejudice to them in the fulfilling of their Office Now then to be able to do this certainly doth prove sufficiently that he must needs be God For 1 Cor. 2.1 1. saith the Apostle what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him It is the Spirit within a man who knoweth all the motions of the heart all the Purposes Counsels Hopes Sorrows c. No man knows all these things but the spirit of a man which is within him which is intimous to him and upon the matter himself Even so after the same manner we may say no man knows the things of God but the spirit of God The Spirit God searcheth the deep things of God As the Spirit of a man is privy to the most secret things of a man even so the Spirit of God is privy to the secrets of God So there is no man and consequently no Spirit besides no Creature no Angel though never so great and near unto God in point of Office and Ministry that is able to search the deep things of God but only the Spirit of God which is intimately acquainted with the deep things of God 2. He that was able to bring so the Apostles remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them must neds be God because he must know their hearts and their thoughts and what of themselves they did remember without him and withall to know what was worn or blotted out of their memories For I suppose the meaning is not that when the Spirit comes he should be a Remembrancer unto them of such things which they remembred already and therefore it supposes that the Holy Ghost of whom it is said he should remember them of all things that Christ had formerly spoken unto them did know the state of their minds and inward parts and that he knew what things they had or did remember and what things they had forgotten and lost and accordingly shouldsupply them Which is another consideration that doth argue that certainly this Spirit of God this samje great Remembrancer of the Apostles can be no other but God 3. We might also argue from that other Clause where our Saviour describes the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God there being no plurality of Holy Ghosts to be one individual Spirit of Truth And then denotes his Process which proceeds from or out of the Father For both words should be put in from the Father and proceeds out of the Father after an ineffable and inconceivable manner Now if any such Character as this or any near to it can be found to be given of
any Angel or Spirit that he proceedeth out of or from God the Father then haply this will not prove the Holy Ghost to be one and the same God with the Father that is the most high God For as for that word indeed our Adversaries do marvellously please and gratifie their weak Disciples with it Sect. 11 falling foul and uttering evil speeches against several kinds of expressions which the Scriptures themselves speaking of God as three and one do invite and lead men unto Now because these things cannot be explained nor made sutable to the minds of men by any thing found in the Creature that should answer them they fall foul upon them and say that they are nothing but devices tricks and subtilties of men which they say are contrary to Principles of Reason and Understanding Whereas the truth is they are things that are most rational and of an elevating nature unto those who understand them whose Element they are who are versed in the traversing of such curious questions and mysterious speculations I say they are most rational unto them and admit of the most curious debates But that which in the general may satisfie the meanest capacity concerning the Three in One we may thus conceive That according to the Nature Essence or simple Being of every thing whatsoever such likewise is the Modus or manner of that respective Being For there is nothing that hath a simple Being but it hath a Modus or a particular manner of Being according to which it is or hath its subsistence Now this Modus or manner of Being or subsistence take it where you will it alwaies follows the Being as the shadow doth the body or substance whose it is For Essence or Being is one thing but the manner of its subsistence this is another If you cannot so well consent unto this at the first view yet you will find upon a diligent enquiry that the Notion is true viz. That every thing hath a manner of Being as well as a Being it self and that this Modus or manner of Being is something which is distinct from the Essence or Being it self Now then look as things are more excellent in their simple Essence and Nature so have they a more excellent Modus or manner of Being than such things whose Nature and Essence are beneath and less noble and excellent in the order of Creatures So now if we shall carry up this Rule or Principle unto God and apply it unto his Essence and Being it will be no manner of offence to any man's Reason and Understanding that he should not be able to comprehend how or after what manner the Divine Nature and Essence doth subsist Because his Essence is so infinitely above and differing from all created Essences or Beings Otherwise we shall conceive rudely of God and pollute his Nature and bring him down from what he is and mingle him amongst finite and limited Creatures if we shall seek for any parallel or likeness of his Being And if so then we must conceive that the manner of his Being is of the same kind and commensurable unto his Being it self A peculiar and appropriate manner of subsisting which is not to be parallelled in the subsistence of any finite Being whatsoever And besides we have the help and light of Scriptures to help us in this namely to find out what manner of subsistence this is that is One in Three This I say we have from the Scriptures And though some men do undertake to make it to be nothing but what is very agreeable to the Principles of Reason and Understanding that is in man to cnceive that there should be such a subsistence in the Divine Nature Yet for this we shall not undertake nor advance so high in such a mystery as this is Only this is clear and the foundation is as a Rock under our feet that there must be a peculiar Modus or manner of Tubsistence appropriate to the Divine Essence or Being which doth not parallel nor cannot be matched by the whole Creation And that it may be thus as well as any otherwise I think is as clear as the other For whatsoever you will imagine or whatsoever your Understandings should project unto you to be the peculiar manner of this subsistence most certain it is that it will be as hard to explain and bring it down to the capacity and apprehension of men as the Being it self which is infinite or as the subsistence of Three in One. Sect. 12 I shall only add a few more Testimonies from the Scriptures wherein the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost shineth as light at the noon day and then proceed to shew the fallacies and other weaknesses of those pretenses wherein our Adversaries rejoyce so much as if they were Arguments above Answer and so put an end to our present debate The first Scripture shall be Joh. 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained First When Christ breathing upon his Disciples said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Is it tolerable to imagine that his meaning should be Receive ye an Angel or the supreme Angel That by the Holy Ghost here he doth not cannot mean the gifts of the Holy Ghost so called but the gift of the Holy Ghost himself appears 1. From the nature of the Symbol or outward sign which Christ useth in communicating or giving the Holy Ghost unto them viz. That inflation or breathing upon them The Holy Ghost himself is elsewhere compared unto the wind which is a kind of breathing or moving of the air and fitly so may be partly because his manner of proceeding from the Father and the Son is by way of spiration or breathing i.e. The ineffable and inexplicable manner of his proceeding amongst all created things or things intelligible unto men is best resembled by or comes nearest unto a spiration or breathing Partly also because as the original or first cause and so likewise that which becomes of the wind or that which is done by the wind is very secret unto men So is the first spring or original of the Spirits entring or coming into men as likewise the end which the Spirit makes with men into whom he cometh are great secrets hidden mysteries unto the generality of men very hard and dissicult and of an abstruse definition and demonstration This our Saviour Joh. 3.8 describes by the nature of the wind The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit It is very likely that God made this same material World in such a shape as he hath now done and such and such Creatures as now are made And so such Laws for these Creatures to act and move by and
unto persons of both opinions whose waies otherwise are worthy the Gospel and Profession thereof yet the truth is that partly the nature and partly the consequence of the two Opinions compared together their distance being so great as it is and they so contrary one unto the other it is not a matter of easie conception how they both should be saved unless with the men against whom we now argue and have under reproof who are in this respect the off-spring of the old Hereticks called the Origenlans who hold that after a certain time all men without exception as well bad as good shall be saved yea the very truth is that the entire Systeme and body of that Religion and Doctrine some few common and general Principles only excepted and these also corruptly understood which the men we now speak of own is scarce any thing else but a Rapsody or Fardle of old abhorrid Errors and Heresies of the Anthropomorphits Arians Macedonians Origenists with several others who were the greatest troublers of the Gospel in the course of it and Enemies and Opposers of the Truth in their times Sixthly and lastly All the premised particulars duly weighed Sect. 18 and considered methinks any sober and considering Christian should require and stand up every whit as much for his satisfaction and conviction in this opinion that the Holy Ghost is but a meer Creature and to bring over his Judgment thereunto as the Jews did to perswade them that Christ was the Son of God who as our Saviour himself told the Nobleman at Capernaum Joh. 4.48 were at such a distance from believing it that exept they saw signs and wonders they would not believe they were resolved not to believe it upon any inferiour or lower account In like manner considering what the Scriptures speak in way of oppesition and how matters have gone all along from Age to Age in the Christian Churches in reference to this Doctrine and Opinion that the Holy Ghost is a Creature and not God It is strange to me that any sober or well advised persons professing Christianity should entertain it upon terms of any weak or less convincing demonstration than of Miracles and Signs and Wonders or of the Testimony of an Angel from heaven to assert it and therefore they that do subject unto it are of that Generation of men which the Wiseman speaketh of Pro. 14.15 They are of the House and Linage of that simple man who will believe every thing any thing let the nature of it be never so inconsistent and the connexion between things never so loose and groundless I had not insisted upon this branch of our Use of Reproof so largely but that the delinquent spirit is so rampant in the World and busily acting his part near unto us and amongst us and the Apostles direction to Titus is Tit. 1.9 10. That a Bishop or Pastor of a Church should hold fast the faithful Word as he hath been taught viz. by the Apostles that he may be able by sound Doctrine to exhort and convince the gain-sayer for there are many unruly and vain talkers especially they of the Circumcision whose mouths must be stopped There are men and still have been whose mouths must be stopped but not as some would interpret it by Prisons or by Sword No but stopped they must be i. e. way-laid in their Judgments Consciences and Understandings by the Scriptures This is that which the Apostle requireth in a Bishop that he may be able by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince And by the way take notice of this that he must exhort by sound Doctrine the truth is that many Bishops in the World do exhort many times very soundly but not by sound Doctrine For their Doctrine standeth at West and their Exhortation standeth South Now a faithful Bishop every man in that Office and Place must exhort with sound Doctrine his Exhortation must be comportant with the spirit and soul and tendency of his Doctrine the one must not be a Samaritan and the other a Jew But this by the way I shall leave this sort of Offenders at present only with reminding them of that passage of our Saviour Mat. 5.19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven My Brethren to break any of the least of the Commands of Christ knowingly when a man doth understand and is convinced that it is the Command of Christ is a sin of high provocation unto God but especially to teach men so to do i. e. to teach such a Doctrine which may strengthen any mans hand to despise neglect and disregard any Commandment of Christ this is provoking in the sight of God and that in the highest and of such a demerit that such a man deserves no place in the Kingdom of God Therefore whosoever they be who shall first weaken their own hands before they weaken anothers they that teach themselves to break the Commands of God and then shall spread abroad such Opinions and Notions that shall animate and encourage men so to do they shall be least in the Kingdom of God they shall have no respect there they shall not be numbred amongst the Servants of Jesus Christ therefore such persons as these who bring in and set on foot any such Doctrine which doth break and quench the endeavours of the spirit of men from following any piece or strain of that heavenly Counsel which the Holy Ghost hath given unto men certainly they fall under this heavy Sentence and Censure of Jesus Christ to be least in the Kingdom of Heaven CHAP. XIV A third sort of Offenders reproved are such who instead of following the Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit take a course to be emptied of the Spirit of God Who make it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit Wherein the several Scriptures and Reasons by which they strengthen themselves in their evil way are examined and found bent against them And likewise the necessity of the Ministry of the Gospel and the great benefit thereof largely asserted and vindicated A Third sort of Offenders to be reproved upon the former general account viz. as Enemies to that subjection Sect. 1 and observation which ought to be given to the Apostles Exhortation of being filled with the Spirit are such who take a course rather to be emptied of the Spirit of God than to be filled with him and of losing all that presence and Communion with the Spirit which sometimes they had received and yet may partake of to some degree and that by falling upon such practices and engaging in such courses which are of a direct tendency to dispossess them of all Communion with him and to make an absolute separation of the Spirit of God from them These are of two sorts The first are those who make