Spirit leads no man but by a just rule That rule is the word of truth in all matter of judgment that must direct us uncertain and variable Traditions private and ungrounded Revelations which are any way crosse to this recorded will of God are the deceitful guides of the spirit of errour If then any frantick or superstitious person shall pretend any other direction then God hath given us in his revealed will well may I say of him as St. Paul dares say of an Angel from Heaven if any such could be guilty of that offence Let him be Anathema Thirdly Gods Spirit leads his sweetly and gently disponit omnia suaviter not in a blustring and hurrying violence but by a leasurely and gracious inclination so in Elijahs vision There was fire wind Earthquake but God was in none of them these were fit preparatives for his appearance but it was the still soft voice wherein God would be revealed 1 Kings 19.12 Those that are carried with an heady and furious impetuousnesse and vehemence of passion in all their proceedings which are all rigour and extremity are not led by that good spirit which would be styled the spirit of meekness who was pleased to descend not in the form of an Eagle or any other soul of prey but in the form of a meek and innocent dove Fourthly Gods Spirit leads on in a constant way of progression from grace to grace from vertue to vertue like as the sun arises by degrees to his full meridian whereas passion goes by suddain flashes like lightning whereof the interruptions are as speedy and momentany as the eruptions The very word of leading implies a continuance neither can they be said to be led on that make no proceedings in their way if either therefore we go backward or stand still in goodnesse if we promove not from strength to strength we have no ground to think we are led by the Spirit of God Lastly Flesh and Spirit are ever opposite one to the other and go still contrary wayes and lead to contrary ends If ye walk after the flesh ye shall dye saith our Apostle Nature and Grace which have their hands in this manuduction both wayes stand in perpetual opposition to each other If therefore we be led by our sensual appetite to do and affect that which is pleasing to corrupt nature we are led by that blind guid the flesh and if the blind lead the blind it is no marvell if both of them fall into the pit of perdition but if we mortify our evil and corrupt affections crossing and curbing our exorbitant and sinful desires and bringing them forceably under the subjection of Gods Spirit Now we may be assured to be led by the Spirit of God Other particularities of discovery might be urged whereby we might easily judg of our own conditions but these are enow whereby we may try our selves our guides and wayes It is cleare then to summe up these proofes of our estate that only they who walk in the wayes of Gods commandements who are directed by the revealed Will and word of God who are sweetly inclined by the gracious motions of his Spirit who go on in a constant fashion through all the degrees of grace and obedience who restrain their own natural desires and affections submitting themselves wholy to the government of the Holy Ghost onely they I say are led by the Spirit of God Five sorts of men there are therefore who what challenge so ever they may pretend to make are not led by the Spirit of God First those that go on in a known evil way Lead me O Lord in the wayes of thy righteousnesse saith the Psalmist Lo they are only the pathes of righteousnesse in which God leads us the rest are false wayes as the Psalmist justly calls them which every good heart and much more the holy God utterly abhors wo is me that I have lived to see those dayes wherein any that looks with the face of a Christian should maintain that sins are no sins to the faithful and that he is the holiest man that can sin the boldlyest and with the greatest freedom from reluctancy Did ever any man look for Heaven in Hell before Did ever any seek for the greatest good in the worst of evils This is not heresie but meer Devilisme wherewith yet it seems some ungrounded soules are wofully tainted God be merciful to them and reclaim them ere it be too late from so damnable an impiety Secondly those that are led by their own vain imaginations and illusive dreams in the wayes of error raising unto themselves new and wild opinions and practises without any warrant from the written word of God Thirdly those that are carried by passion and distemper though even in good waies turning a religious heat into fury and uncharitable rage Fourthly those that make no progresse at all in good but either decay in grace or thrive not And lastly those that humour and sooth up corrupt nature careing only to fulfil the lusts of their own flesh All these whereof God knowes there are too many in the World yea in the Church of God making a fair flourish of Christianity are nothing lesse then led by the Spirit of God and therefore can lay no claim to the state or title of the Sons of God which is inferred in the connexion of this qualification with the priviledg being the third head of our discourse So many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God The Spirit of God is God neither is mention made here of the Spirit only as by way of exclusion of the other persons No what one doth all do according to the old maxime All the external works of the Trinity are indivisible it is good reason then that God should lead his own and so he doth But here it will be fit for us to consider How far this leading of Gods Spirit will argue and evince this son-ship and whether every conduct thereof will do it There is a work of the Spirit of God at large The Spirit of God fills all the World saith the Wiseman Wisdom 1.7 Not so yet as was the errour of P. Abailardus in Bernard That Gods Spirit is anima mundi as the God of the World not as the soul of the World As in the state of the first Tohu and Bohu the Spirit of God sluttered upon the Waters as it were to hatch the creature which should be produced Gen. 1.2 so doth he still fill the world for the preservation of this universse But in this all he works in man especially There is a spirit in man saith Elihu in Job 32.8 and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding yet this is not the leading of this holy Spirit that we are in hand with lower then this there are certain common graces wrought in men by the Spirit of God as some general iluminations in the knowledg of divine things some good moral dispositions some restraints
of evil inclinations and actions which yet will never reach to evince our son-ship to God How easily were it for me to name you divers Heathens which have been eminent in all these and yet for ought we know never the nearer to Heaven yet lower there are some speciall gifts of the Spirit which we call Charismata rare endowments bestowed upon some men excellent faculties of preaching and praying power of miraculous workings as no doubt Judas did cast out Devils as well as the best of his fellow-Apostles gifts of tongues and of Prophesie and the like which do no more argue a right to the son-ship of God then the Manuaries infused skill of Bezaleel and Aâ—oliab could prove them Saints yet lastly there may be sensible operations of the Spirit of God upon the soul in the influences of holy motions into the heart in working a temporary faith and some fair progresse in an holy profession and yet no sonship the world is full of such glow-wormes that make some show of Spiritual Light from God when they have nothing in them but cold crudities that can serve for nothing but deceit Will ye then see what leading of the Spirit can evince us to be the Sons and Daughters of God know then that if we will hope for a comfortable assurance hereof we must be efficaciously led by his sanctifying Spirit first in matter of judgment secondly in our dispositions and thirdly in our practise For matter of judgment ye remember what our Saviour said to his Disciples When the Spirit of truth is come he will lead you into all Truth John 16.13 That is into all saving and necessary truthes so as to free us from grosse ignorance or main errour Whosoever therefore is enlightned with the true and solid knowledg of all those points of Christian doctrine which are requisite for salvation is in that first regard led by the Spirit and in this behalf hath a just title to the son-ship of God as contrarily those that are grosly and obstinately erroneous in their judgment of fundamental truthes let them pretend to never so much holinesse in heart or life shall in vain lay claim to this happy condition of the Sons of God For our disposition secondly If the holy Spirit have wrought our hearts to be right with God in all our affections if we do sincerely love and fear him if we do truely believe in him receiving him as not our Saviour only but as our Lord If our desires be unfained towards him If after a meek and penitent self-dejection we can find our selves raised to a lively hope and firm confidence in that our blessed Redeemer and shall continue in a constant and habitual fruition of him being thus led by the Spirit of God we may be assured that we are the Sons of God for flesh and blood cannot be accessary to these gracious dispositions Lastly for our practise it is a clear word which we hear God say by Ezekiel I will put my Spirit into the midst of you and will by it cause you to walk in my statutes and keep my laws Ezech. 36.27 Lo herein is the main crisis of a soul led by the Spirit of God and adopted to this heavenly son-ship It is not for us to content our selves to talk of the lawes of our God and to make empty and formal professions of his name Here must be a continued walk in Gods statutes it will not serve the turne for us to stumble upon some acceptable work to step aside a little into the pathes of godlinesse and then draw back to the World no my beloved this leading of Gods Spirit must neither be a forced angariation as if God would feoffe grace and salvation upon us against our wills nor some suddain protrusion to good nor a meer actual momentany transient conduction for a brunt of holinesse and away leaving us to the sinful wayes of our former disobedience and to our wonted compliances with the World the Devil and the Flesh but must be in a steady uninterrupted habitual course of holy obedience so as we may sincerely professe with the man after Gods own heart My soul hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 119.67 Now then dear Christians lay this to heart seriously and call your selves sadly to this triall What is the carriage of our lives What obedience do we yeild to the whole law of our God If that be entire hearty universal constant perseverant and truly conscientious we have whereof to rejoyce an unfailing ground to passe a confident judgment upon our spiritual estate to be no lesse then happy But if we be willingly failing in the unfained desires and indevours of these holy performances and shall let loose the reins to any known wickednesse we have no part nor portion in this blessed condition Mark I beseech you how fully this is asserted to our hands in this saith the beloved Apostle the Children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loves not his brother 1 Joh. 3.10 Observe I pray you what test we are put to ye hear him not say who so talks not holily or who so professes not godlinesse in these an hypocrite may exceed the best Saint but whosoever doth not righteousnesse withall see what a clause the Disciple of love superadds to the mention of all Righteousnesse neither he that loves not his brother surely the Spirit of God is a Loving Spirit Wisdom 1.6 and St. Paul hath the like phrase Rom. 15.30 To let passe then all the other proofes of our guidance by the spirit Instance but in this one Alas my Brethren what is become of that charitable and christian carriage of men towards one another which God requires of us and which was wont to be conspicuous amongst Christian compatriots Wo is me instead of that true and hearty love which our Saviour would have the Livery of our Disciple-ship the badg of our holy profession what do we see but emulation envy malice rigid censures and rancorous heart-burnings amongst men In stead of those neighbourly and friendly offices which Christians were wont lovingly to performe to each other what have we now in the common practise of men but underminings oppressions violence cruelty Can we think that the Spirit of him who would be styled Love it self would lead us in these rugged and bloody pathes No no this alone is too clear a proof how great a stranger the Spirit of God is to the hearts and waies of men and how few there are that upon good and firme grounds can plead their right to the son-ship of God Alas alas if these dispositions and practises may bewray the sons of an holy God what can men do to prove themselves the children of that hellish Apollion who was a man-slayer from the beginning For us my beloved Oh let us hate and bewaile this common degeneration of Christians and as we would
of God This beholding therefore is with mentall eyes and not with every suddain glance but with deep considerations so to see them as both the Hebrew and the English phrase elsewhere to lay them to heart Wherefore hath God set us here on this greatstage of the world but that we should be spectators of the marvailous acts that are here done 1. Surely they are worth beholding for they are all like his well becoming his infinite power wisdom justice So hath God done his wondrous works that they ought to be had in perpetuall remembrance Beauty and excellence is abstractive where ever it is There is not one act of either his creation or administration wherein there is not the footsteps of an omnipotence and an infinity of providence Every thing works according to his ability As the man is so is his strength and as his strength so his actions Alas we weak creatures produce weak and feeble and imperfect acts neither can we possibly do other for such as the cause is such must the effects needs be God therefore who is all power justice wisdom goodnesse must needs produce acts answerable to such an agent therefore behold the works of the Lord. 2. Wherefore were our eyes given us but for this very purpose they were not given us for the beholding of vanity not for the ensnaring or wounding of the soul but for the use and honour of the Creatour and wherein is that attained but in the beholding of the works of the Lord hence it is that they can behold all things but themselves and discern those things worst which are closest to them and see not by sending forth any vertue from themselves but by intromitting of those species which are sent in to them shortly that God who hath made all things for himself hath in the making of this most excellent and usefull peece had an eye to his own glory in our beholding of his works which if we neglect to do we do what in us lies frustrate Gods purpose and intention in creating them 3. Add to this that the Lord delights to have his works beheld for he knowes the excellency and perfection of them and knowes that the more they are seen and noted the more honour will accrue to the Maker of them like as some skilfull Artizan some exquisite Limner or Carver when he hath made a Master-piece of his Art he doth not hide it up in some dark corner where it may not be seen but sets it forth in the best light and rejoyces to have it seen and admired Thus doth the Almighty when the Creature was first made because there was no other eyes to see it he lookt upon it with great complacency and rejoyced in his own handywork It being the Epiphonema to every days work when he comes to the relation of the particularities of his workmanship And God saw that it was good and in a recapitulation or winding up all God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Gen. 1.31 But when the Angels were created and saw the glorious handy work of God they did presently applaud the marvailous works of their Maker when the morning Starrs sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Job 38.7 And when after that man was created he joyned with those glorious spirits in viewing and magnifying the works of his Creatour And so he should do God was well pleased that he should do so Alas we men who are conscious to our own infirmity let passe many things from us which we care not how little they are viewed and scanned for we know there may be flawes found in our best performances which at the first blush appear not we hear sometimes a discourse which as it passes through the ear sounds well and seems to carry a good show of exquisiteness which if it be set down and come to an accurate examination may be found defective in this point in that redundant here mis-placed there inconsequent even course tapestry may afarr off show well which when it comes to be close viewed discovers an homelinesse in texture and faults enough both in shapes and colours But as for the works of God In wisdom hast thou made them all saith the Prophet The more they are scanned and tryed the more pure and precious they will appear and as Solomon expresses it Man shall find nothing after him Eccl. 7.14 And the God that knowes this loves that we should in all humble and modest-diligence search into and behold his works 4. There is great reason that we should carefully behold the works of the Lord because none but we can do it of such infinite variety of Creatures there is none but the rationall and intelligent viz. Angels and men that can so much as take notice of what God hath done no not of themselves that sence whereby they are led cannot reach so high as a thought what is before them they see so farr as their downward eyes will reach and make towards that which serves their appetite and avoid what they apprehend may hurt them but as for their Maker or for their own condicion or their fellow Creatures they are not capable of any glimpse of knowledg thereof And even of reasonable Creatures what a World is there that are as insensible of the works of God as if they were utterly insensate Pagans Infidels Worldlings that are carried by no other guide then mere bruit Creatures are and affect no other light then that of sense Alas what is it to them what God doth or what he doth not How much then doth it concern us whom God hath illuminated with any measure of knowledg and furnisht with any measure of grace to be inquisitive into the works of God and to give glory to him in all his actions 5. This shall not be so much advantage to God alas what can we add to the infinite as benefit to our selves it is here as with those that dig in some precious mine the deeper they go the richer they are hence it is that the most contemplative have been noted for most eminent in grace and surely it is their fault if they be not so for they should be the best acquainted with God and with their own duty shortly then seeing the works of God are so excellent and well-worth beholding since our eyes were given us for this use since God delights to have his works viewed since there are so few that are capable of giving this glory to God since in beholding the works of God we do most advantage our selves both in knowledg and holiness let us as we are here invited Come and behold the works of the Lord. His works in all the variety of them not some one work but all as the works of his creation so of his administration too the divers yea contrary proceedings of God therein in the changes of his favours and judgments I confess there is and may be some one work of
and his Host in the sea for his mercy indureth for ever which smote great Kings and slew mighty Kings for his mercy indureth for ever Sihon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Basan for his mercy indureth for ever Ps 139. Neither is there a greater demonstration of his mercy in his strokes then in his warnings for surely God intends by these examples of his just vengeance to deterr all others from following the footsteps of those wicked men whom he thus plagues as good Princes and Magistrates do so order their executions that paena ad paucos terror ad multos some may smart all may fear It is excellent and pregnant which the Apostle hath 1 Cor. 10.11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come See I beseech you God hath further drifts in his executions of judgments then we can imagine he intends them not only for acts but patterns he means not so much to punish as to teach every judgment 't is a new lesson and to teach not the next successions but all generations of men to the end of the World and if we do not make this use of his terrible proceedings we shall be much wanting both to him and our selves and no marvell if we be whipt for dull non-proficients in Gods School if we be not taught fear and obedience by his so many judgments We need not cast our eyes much back to the view of former ages though there we may meet with worlds of examples let us but look at the present estate of our miserable neighbourhood of the wofull ruines of Germany once and in our time one of the most rich and flourishing countreys of the Christian world famous for goodly Cities for a plentifull soyl for frequence of trafique for the seat of the Empire now wasted with the miseries of a long and cruell warr wallowing in blood buried in rubbidge and dust Oh see the desolations that God hath wrought in this part of the earth and pick out of them as we well may pitty fear thankfulness Pitty and just commiseration of the grievous sufferings of that desolate Nation fear of that just hand of God which hath thus humbled them and might no less deservedly have fal'n as heavily upon us thankfulness for those gracious immunities which he hath given us hitherto from their evills and mercifull respites of repentance for those sins which have called down these judgments upon them And this is the former particular object which the Psalmist calls our eyes unto worthy of our view but yet not the main and intended subject of this dayes discourse rather the other that now followes the cessation of armes and the blessing of peace He makes Wars to cease in all the World c. however the sight and due meditation of the miseries of war and the vastations that follow upon it may be a good preparative to us for setting a true value upon the benefit of peace For us Alas we had rather a threatning then a sense of war our neighbours entred into our borders not with a publick denunciation of an offensive war but with a profession of defence And if some blood were mutually shed in the passage it was not out of a professedly hostile intention on either part which had it been might easily have proceeded to a far greater slaughter but out of the suddain apprehensions of the intervening crosses of each others purposes And if the long abode in those our quarters have been not a little chargeable to us yet it hath been without any violent and bloody prosecution on either part and now thanks be to God they are passed away in peace But even this little glimpse of a dry war is enough to show us the wofull misery of a war denounced prosecuted executed to the height of cruelty where there are nothing but intentions of killing spoiling desolation The anguish of this very touch is sufficient to make us sensible of the torment of the full shock of a destructive war Out of the sense whereof let us look at this great work of contrary mercy which is here set forth unto us He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth Wherein we have an intimation no lâ—sse of the wonder then the benefit of peace It is a work of power mixed with mercy that he so restraines the spirits of men that they are composed to peace Desolation is not a work of so much power as peacemaking is naturally every man hath the seeds of war and quâ—rrell sown in his heart and they are apt to come up on every occasion Through pride men make contention saith Wise Solomon From whence are wars among you come they not from hence even of your Lusts that war in your Members saith St. James 4.1 Lo the outward wars come from the inward The unquiet thoughts of the heart arising from ambition from malice and envy and desire of revenge are those which are guilty of these generall affrayes and bloodsheds of the World and what heart is free from these Every man naturally hath a tyrant in his bosome We are all by nature thornes or nettles and cannot be touched without some stinging or pricking when there were but two Brothers in the World one of them rises up against the other and dashes his brains out Surely as we do all partake of Adam our Grandfather so we have too much of our great Uncle his Eldest Son Cain naturally affected to violence slaughter Hence in the next age after the deluge Nimrod was a mighty hunter Gen. 10. pursuing men doubtlesse no lesse in his tyranny then beasts in his game And ever since Lord how hath the World been over-run with battails and murder Here one Prince findes his Territories too straight and hath a minde to enlarge himself with the Elbow-room of the neighbouring Region There another scornes to be incroached upon by an injurious usurpation and repells a lesse violence with a greater Here one pretends to the title of a Crown wherein he hath no more interest then he can hew out with the sword There another under colour of ayd thrusts himself into that throne which he pretended to succour here one picks quarrells with the defect of justice done to his subjects and makes sudden embargoes and unwarned inroads into the adjoyning Country There another takes advantage of the violation of leagues and coulours his ambition with the fair name of a just Vindication Here one if he can have no other ground will make religion a stalking horse to his covetous and ambitious intrusion it is bellum Domini a sacred war that he manages for the reducing of Hereticks to the unity of the Church or punishing their perfidiousnesse There another will plant the Gospell with the sword-point amongst Infidels and massacres millions of Indians to make room for Christianity It is a rare thing if where great Spirits and
gone and doth go a mid-way betwixt these so ascribing all to grace that it destroyes not nature teaching us as Bernard well that we will is from nature that we will good and well is from grace But if it stick with you that we are bidden to draw nigh to God and therefore we can do it else the exhortation were vain and reason-lesse know that these charges show us what we should do not what we can do and that he who bids us can and doth together with the word of his invitation inable us to do what he requires his Spirit working with his word effects what he commands As a mother or nurse bids the child come to her but reaches forth a finger to uphold it in the walk If therefore Wisdom say in the Proverbs 1.17 I love them that love me yet St. John must comment upon Solomon prior dilexit he loved us first else we could never have loved him 1 John 4.19 It is true that in order of time there is no difference betwixt Gods working and our willing our conversion so soon as it is fire it burnes and if it burnes it is fire but in order of nature Gods work is before ours as the cause before the effect As we therefore say sensibly blow the fire and it will burne implying that our blowing doth not make it to be fire but helps to intend the heat where fire is so doth the Spirit of God say here draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Our first motion of drawing to God is the work of God he that thus drawes our will to him upon our pliant obedience to his will thus graciously seconds and rewards his own work in us so if we draw nigh to him by his co-working grace he will draw nearer still to us by his perfecting grace And oh how happy a condicion is this whosoever hath by Gods mercy attained unto it What can that man want who injoyes him that possesses all things In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy saith the Psalmist as contrarily in his estranging of himself from us there is nothing but grief and horrour It is with God and the Soul as betwixt the Sun and the Earth In the declining of the Year when the Sun drawes afar off from us how doth the Earth mourne and droop how do the Trees cast off the ornaments of their leaves and fruit how doth the Sap of all Plants run down to the root and leave the bare boughs seemingly feare and dead But at the approach of it in the rising of the Spring all things seem revived the earth decks her self in her fresh abiliments of blossomes leaves flowers to entertain those comfortable heats and influences so and more is it in the declining or approach of this all-glorious Sun of righteousnesse In his presence there is life and blessednesse in his absence nothing but dolour disconsolatenesse despair if an earthly King do but withdraw himself from us for a time we are troubled how much more if the King of glory shall absent himself from us in displeasure Surely nothing but our sins can estrange him from us our miseries do rather attract him to us our sins are only they that separate between God and us That we may therefore shut up in some application there is the same reason of a particular soul and of a whole Church one of these is but an abridgment of the other there is therefore the same consideration of Gods absence from or presence with both And certainly if sins can alienate a people from God and God from a people we have cast our selves miserably aloof from him For which of his commandments have we not shamefully violated wo is me how is our patient God affronted by us every day By our atheous profanesse by our frequent oathes and blasphemies by our wilfull disobediences by our pride excesse drunkennesse uncleanesse usury cozenages oppressions lying slanderous detractions as if we would utterly casheere the ninth commandement out of the Decalogue Yea what evil is there under Heaven that we can wash our hands of But withall we are so much the further off from God by how much we either were or or should have been nearer of a people that knew not God that could not know him no other could be expected Had we had the Gospel of the Kingdome lock't up from us and been kept hood-wink't from the knowledg of his royall Law the times of such ignorance God had not regarded But now that we have had so clear a light of Gods truth shining in our faces and such importunate solicitations from God to reclaim us from our wicked wayes by his Messengers rising early and suing to us and yet have as it were in spight of Heaven continued and aggravated our wickednesses Alas what excuse is there for us how can we do other then hang down our heads in a guilty confusion and expect a fearfull retribution from the just hand of God Thus have we done to God and whilest we have gone away from him hath he done other to us Hath he not given too just testimonies of withdrawing his countenance from us Hath he not for these many years crossed us in our publick designes both of war and peace Hath he not threatned to stir up evill against us out of our own bowels Nay which is worse then all this hath he not given us up to a generall security obdurednesse and insensiblenesse of heart so as we do not feel either our own sins or our dangers or relent at all at his judgments Alas Lord thou art too far off from us and we have deserved it yea we have too well deserved that thou shouldst turn thy face away from us for ever that thou shouldest draw near to us in thy vengeance who have so shamefully abused thy mercy But what shall we say Whatsoever we be we know thou wilt be ever thy self a God of mercy and compassion long suffering and great in kindnesse and truth so bad as we are could we have the Grace to draw nigh to thee in an unfained re-repentance thou wouldst draw nigh to us in mercy and forgivenesse Could we turne away from our sins to thee thou wouldst turne away from thy judgments to us Lord what can we do to thee without thee Oh do thou draw us unto thee that we may come Do thou enable us to draw nigh unto thee upon the feet of our affections upon the hands of our actions upon the knees of our prayers that so thou mayest draw nigh to us in thine Ordinances in thine Audience in thy grace and mercy in thine Aid and Salvation All this for thy mercy sake and for thy Christs sake to whom with thee O Father and thy good Spirit one infinite God be given all praise honour and glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON Preacht on WHITSUNDAY June 9. 1644. in the GREEN-YARD OF NORWICH By JOS. B. of N. EPHES. 4.30 And grieve not the holy
excellent the Person so much more hainous is the offence done to him As to offend an Officer is in the eye of the Law more then to offend a private Subject a Magistrate more then an inferiour Officer a Peere more then a Magistrate for that is Scandalum Magnatum a Prince more then a Peere a Monarch more then a Prince Now in very nature a Spirit is more excellent then a Body I could send you higher but if we do but look into our own breasts we shall finde the difference There is a Spirit in Man saith Elihu Job 32.8 The Spirit of Man is as the Candle of the Lord saith Wise Solomon Prov. 20.27 without which the whole House is all dark and confused Now what comparison is there betwixt the Soul which is a Spirit and the Body which is Flesh even this which Wise Solomon instanceth in may serve for all The Spirit of a Man sustains his infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can hear Lo the Body helps to breed infirmities and the Spirit bears them out to which add the Body without the Spirit is dead the Spirit without the Body lives more It is a sad word of David when he complaines My bones are vexed Ps 6.2 and cleaves to my skin Psal 102.5 yet all this is tolerable in respect of that My Spirit faileth me My Spirit is overwhelmed within me my heart within me is desolate Psal 143.4 they were sore strokes that fetcht blood of our blessed Saviour but they were nothing to these inward torments that wrung from him the bloody sweat in his Agony when he said my soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heavy unto the Death could we conceive that the Body could be capable of pain without the Spirit as indeed it is not since the Body feeles only by the Spirit that pain were painlesse but this we are sure of that the Spirit feels more exquisite pain without the Body in the state of separation from it then it could feel in the former conjunction with it and the wrong that is done to the Soul is more haynous then that which can be inflicted on the Body By how much then more pure simple perfect excellent the Spirit is whom we offend by so much more grievous is the offence to offend the Spirit of any good Man one of Christs little ones is so hainous that it were better for a man to have a milstone hanged about his neck and to be cast into the bottom of the Sea Mat. 18.6 To offend an Angel which is an higher degree of spirituality is more then to vex the Spirit of the best man Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy Flesh to sin neither say before the Angel that it was an errour Eccles 5.6 Hence St. Paul heightens his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee before the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 And giving order for the decent demeanure of the Corinthian Women in the Congregation requires That they should have power on their head because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 To offend therefore the God of Spirits the Father of these spirituall Lights must needs be an infinite aggravation of the sin even so much more as He is above those his best Creatures and there cannot be so much distance betwixt the poorest worme that crawles on the Earth and the most glorious Archangel of Heaven as there is betwixt him and his Creator One would think now there could be no step higher then this yet there is our Saviour hath so taught us to distinguish of sins that he tells us All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven Matth. 12.31 and Marc. 3.29 Not that we can sin against one Person and not offend another for their essence is but one but this sin is singled out for a special obstruction of forgivenesse for that it is done against the illumination and Influence of that Grace whereof the Holy Ghost is the immediate giver and worker in the Soul who is therfore called the Spirit of Grace hereupon is Stevens challenge to the stiff-necked Jews Act. 7.51 Ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost And his charge to Ananias Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost Act. 5.3 Ye see then how this charge riseth and what force is put into it by the condition of the Person A Spirit the holy Spirit the holy Spirit of God enough to make way for the consideration of the Act inhibited Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Grieve not c. How incompatible are the termes of this charge That which makes the sin as it is set forth more sinfull may seem to make it impossible If a Spirit how is it capable of passion and if it be impassible how can it be grieved Alas we weak mortalls are subject to be hurried about with every blast of passion The Almighty is above all the reach of these unquiet perturbations Lo that God which mercifully condescended because his infinite glory transcends our weaknesse to speak unto us men by man and by Angels in the forme of Men speaks to us men in the style and language of Men Two wayes then may the Spirit of God be said to be grieved in Himself in his Saints in himself by an Anthropopathie as we call it In his Saints by a Sympathie the former is by way of Allusion to humane passion and carriage so doth the Spirit of God upon occasion of mens sins as we do when we are grieved with some great wrong or unkindnesse And what do we then First we conceive an high dislike of and displeasure at the Act Secondly we withdraw our countenance and favour from the offender Thirdly we inflict some punishment upon the offence and these are all of them dreadfull expressions of the grieving of Gods Spirit even these three displeasure aversion punishment For the first Esay expresseth it by vexation Esay 63.10 A place so much more worthy of observation for that some judicious interpreters as Reverend Calvin Zanchius Pagnine and Cornelius a Lapide think very probably that this text is borrowed from thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they rebelled and vexed the Spirit of his holinesse Where such an Act is intimated as compriseth both grief and Anger surely we do not think it safe to irritate the great and if it be but a man a little bigger then our selves we are ready to deprecate his displeasure but if it be a man that is both great and dear to us with whom we are faln out how unquiet are we if we have any good nature in us till we have recovered his lost favour do ye not see with what importunity good David seeks to appease the wrath of his incensed Father in Law none of the best men and causelesly provoked Let my Lord the King hear the words of his Servant If the Lord have stirred thee up against me let him accept an offering but if they
be the Children of men cursed be they before the Lord And even Josephs Brethren though so ill-natur'd that they could eat and drink whilst their Brother was crying in their pit yet at last as doubtlesse they had done ere then they come with humble prostrations and passionate Supplications to their Brother Gen. ult we pray thee forgive the trespasse of the Servants of thy Fathers God what speak I of these Even Absolom himself though he soon after carried a Traitor in his bosome how earnestly he sued for his restoring to his fathers long denyed presence and out of his impatience caused Joab to pay dear for the delay Oh then how should we be affected with the sence of the displeasure of the holy Spirit of our good God who as he is our best friend so he is a most powerful avenger of wickednesse Surely we do so vex and sadden him with our grievous provocations that he cryes out and makes moan of his insufferable wrong this way Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and wearied me with thine iniquities Esa 43.24 and Amos 1.13 Behold I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of Sheaves even so full that the Axeltree creaks and bends and cracks again It must needs be a great weight that the Almighty complaines of and surely so it is could our offences be terminated in men and not strike God thorough them we might well say that all the outrages and affronts that we could put upon a world of men were nothing to the least violation of the infinite Majestie of God and so doth the God against whom they are committed take them by how much more tender the part is so much more painfull is the blow the least wipe of the eye troubles us more then a hard stroak upon the back it is easy to observe that the more holy the person is the more he is afflicted with his own and with others sin Lot vexed his righteous Soul with the unclean conversation of the Sodomites Davids eyes gusht out rivers of waters because men kept not the Law how much more then shall the holy God from whom these good men receive these touches of Godly indignation be vexed to see and hear our profanations of his name and dayes our contempt of his Servants and ordinances our debauched lives our malicious and oppressive practises our wilfull disobediences our shamefull excesses and uncleanesses our uncharitable censures of each other and all that World of wickednesse that we are overborne withall grief is never but an unpleasive passion the rest have some life and contentment in them Not only love and joy which useth to dilate and chear the heart but even hatred it self to a rancorous stomack hath a kinde of wicked pleasure in it but grief is ever harsh and tedious one of St. Augustins two tormentors of Mankinde Dolor et Timor And shall our hearts tell us That we have grieved the good Spirit of God by our sins and shall not we be grieved at our selves that we have grieved him How can there be any true sense of heavenly love and gratitude in us if we be not thoroughly humbled and vexed within our selves to think that we have angred so good a God How can we choose but roar out in the unquietnesse of our soules with the holy Psalmist There is no soundnesse in my flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are to heavy for me to bear Ps 38.3 4. Certainly it is a signe of a gracelesse Soul to be secure and cheerfull under a known sin that Man that can sleep soundly after a murder that can give merry checks to his Conscience after an act of adultery or theft or any such grievous crimes hath an heart insensible of goodnesse and may prove a fit brand for hell This is that whereof Esay speaks In that Day did the Lord of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladnesse slaying of Oxen and killing of Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Esa 22.12 13. But it followes next Surely this iniquity shall not be purged till ye die vers 14. these are they that say we have made a covenant with death and with hell we are at an agreement but it followes soon after Their covenant with death shall soon be disanulled and their agreement with hell shall not stand Esa 28.15.18 Far far be this disposition from us that professe to love the Lord let it be with us as with some good natur'd Children whom I have seen even after their whippings unquiet till with their continued tears and importunities they have made their peace with their offended parent And thus much for the displeasure which is in this grieving of the Spirit of God which never goes alone but is attended by those two other consequent effects Aversion and Punishment As those therefore which scent an unsavory breath turne their heads aside and those great and good guests who finde themselves ill used change their Inn so doth the holy Spirit of God upon occasion of our wilfull sins turne away his face and withdraw his presence In a little wrath I hid my face from thee saith God Esa 54.8 This good David found and complained of Thou turnedst away thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.7 And again as if he feard lest God would be quite gone upon those his horrible sins of Adultery and Murder he cryes out passionatly O cast me not away from from thy Presence and take not thine holy Spirit from me Psal 51.11 This is that which Divines call spirituall desertion A course which God takes not seldome when he finds a kind of restiveness and neglect in his Servants or passage given to some haynous sin against the checks of conscience where he intends correction quickning and reclamation the Spouse in the Canticles because she opened not instantly to her Beloved findes her self disappointed I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawen himself and was gone and my Soul failed me Cant. 5.6 This is no other then we must make account of and which if we have any acquaintance with God and our selves in our daily experience we have found and shall find if we have given way to any willing sin in that very Act the Spirit is grieved and in that Act of griefe subduced neither can we ever expect comfort in the sense of his return or hope to have his face shine upon us again till we have won him to us and recovered his favour by an unfained Repentance Is there any of us therefore that hath grieved and estranged the holy Spirit from us by any known offence it must cost us warme water ere we can recover him and the light of his countenance upon us neither let us be sparing of our Tears to this
of God planted in his heart and one that desires to be approved to God in all his wayes though perhaps he differ in judgment and be of another profession from thee in some collateral matters as the God of Heaven stands not upon such points let him I say be one of Gods dear and secret ones whom thou revilest and persecutest the Spirit of God feels the Indignities that are offered to such a one and will let thee feel that he feels them make as slight as you will of scandalizing and wronging a good man there is a good God that will pay you for it What an heavy complaint is that which the Apostle makes to his Corinthians concerning himself and his fellowes I think saith he that God hath set forth us the Apostles last as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle to the World and to Angels and to Men 1 Cor. 4.9 and verse the 13. We are made as the filth of the world the off-scouring of all things unto this day Alas if this were the condicion of the blessed Apostles to be thus vilified why should it seem strange to us their unworthy successours and Disciples if we be thought fit for nothing but to be cast upon the dunghill but these reproaches however we may take coolly and calmly as that Stoick Philosopher did who whilst he was discoursing of being free from passions it being the doctrine of that sect that a wise man should be impassionate a rude fellow spat purposely in his face and when he was asked whether he were not angry answered no truly I am not angry but I doubt whether I should not be angry at such an abuse but there is a God that will not put up our contumelies so we strike his servants on Earth and he feels it in Heaven It is very emphaticall which the Apostle hath to this purpose Coloss 1.24 I fill up that which is behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Asterings of the Afflictions of Christ in my flesh Intimating that there is one intire body as it were of Christs sufferings part whereof he indured in his own person and part he still sustaines in his members so as he cannot be free whiles they suffer inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of my brethren ye did it unto me Mat. 15.40 As the soul feels what is done to the body the Iron entred into his Soul saith the Psalmist so what is done to the faithfull soul God is sensible of and will revenge it accordingly what shall be done to thee thou false Tongue saith the Psalmist even mighty and sharp Arrowes with hot burning Coales Psal 102.3 Thou hast shot thine Arrowes even bitter words against Gods chosen ones and God shall send thee sharper arrowes of his vengeance singing into thy bosome thy tongue hath been set on fire with contention and hath helpt to kindle it in others and now God shall fill thy mouth with hotter coales of that fire which shall never be quenched Oh then as we tender our own safety let us binde our Tongues and hands to the good behaviour and resolve with the holy Apostle To give none offence neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God 1. Cor. 10.32 Now as the holy Spirit of God both in himself and in his Children is grieved with our leud speeches and offensive carriage so contrarily God and his holy Spirit are joyed in our gracious speeches and holy conversation Luc. 15.10 I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Lo this is Gods joy and the Angels witnesse it it is the owner that hath found the lost Groate and that saith Rejoyce with me how doth conscionable and godly behaviour and holy Communication make Musick in Heaven We have known many that have thought their time well bestowed if they could make a great Man smile Principibus placuisse c. And perhaps their facetious urbanity hath not passed unrewarded Oh what shall we think of moving true delight to the King of glory It was no small incouragement to the Colossians that the Apostle professes he was with them rejoycing and beholding their Order Coloss 2.5 What a comfort then must it needs be that the great God of Heaven is with us and takes notice of our carriage and contentment in it Revel 2.2 I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience saith the Spirit of God to the Angel or Bishop of the Church of Ephesus and Videndo vidi saith God to Moses concerning the Israelites I have seen the afflictions of my people it is said of Anthony the Hermite Let no man bogle at this that I mention an Hermite to this Congregation those first Eremites that went aside into the Wildernesse to avoid those primitive persecutions were holy men great Saints and of a quite different alloy from those of the present Romish Church Mera Nominum Crepitacula that when he was set upon by Divells and buffeted by them as St. Paul was 2 Cor. 12. according to learned Cameran his interpretation after the conflict he cryed out O bone Jesu ubi eras O Lord Jesu where wast thou and received answer juxta te eram c. I was by thee and lookt how thou wouldst demean thy self in thy combat who would not fight valiantly when he fights in the eye of his Prince It is the highest consideration in the World this how doth God rellish my actions and me The common rule of the World is what will men say what will my neighbours what will my superiours what will posterity and according to their conceits we are willing to regulate our carriage but a true Christian looks higher and for every thing he sayes or does inquires after the censure or allowance of God himself still caring that the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart may be accepted of his God and if his heart tell him that God frownes at his actions all the World cannot chear him up but he will go mourning all the day long till he have made his peace and set even termes between God and his Soul but if that tell him all is well nothing in the world can deject and dishearten him but he takes up that resolution which Solomon gives for advice Let thy Garments be white and let no Oyle be wanting to thine head go thy way Eat thy bread with joy and drink thy Wine with a merry heart for now God accepteth thy works Eccles 9.7 8. And this consideration as it never can be unseasonable so is a most fit cordiall for every honest and good heart in these dismall times we are in a sad condicion and perhaps in expectation of worse the sword is either devouring or threatning we are ready to be swallowed up with grief or fear what should we now do Dear Christians let every one of us look in what termes he stands with his God do
impressa fuit aliqualis notitia veritatis divinae dolor de peccatis suis aliquod desiderium aliqua cura liberationis mutentur plane in contrarium veritaâ—em rejiciant odio habeant concupiscentiis suis se tradant in peccatis occalleant ibid. Thes 5. 8. These foregoing inward acts wrought by the word and Spirit both may be and are many times through the fault of the rebellious will choaked and quenched in the hearts of Men so as after some knowledg of divine truth some sorrow for sin and desire and care of deliverance they fall off to the contrary and give themselves over to their own lusts Ne Electi quidem ipsi in his praecedane is ad regenerationem actibus ita se gerant unquam quin ut propter negligentiam resistentiam suam possint juste a Deo deseri derelinqui sed ea est erga eos Dei specialis misericordia ut quam vis c. Eos tamen iterum iterumque urgeat Deus nec desistat promo vere donec eosdem gratiae suae prorsus subjugaverit ac in statu filiorum regeneratorum collocaverit Theol. Br. ibid. Thes 6. 9. Yea the very elect of God do not so carry themselves in these foregoing Acts but that they do oft-times justly deserve for their neglect and resistance to be forsaken of God But such is his speciall grace and mercy to them that he notwithstanding followes them effectually with powerfull helps till he have wrought out his good work in them Gratiam specialem essicacem ad salutem certo perducentem his quos Deus ex beneplacito suo gratioso elegerit propriam profitetur D. Overal in Art 3. Sent. 3. 10. When the hearts of his elect are thus excited and prepared by the foregoing Acts of grace God doth by his secret and wonderfull work regenerate and renew them infusing into them his quickning Spirit and induing all the powers of their soul with new qualities of grace and holyness Deus animos electorum suorum praedictis gratiae suae actibus excitatos praeparatos intima quadam mirabili operatione regenerat quasi de novo creat infundendo spiritum vivificantem omnes animae facultates novis qualitatibus imbuendo Theol. Br. de convers Thes 1. 11. Upon this conversion which God works in the heart followes instantly our actuall conversion to God whiles from our new changed will God fetches the act of our believing and turning to him He gives that power which the will exercises so as it is at once both ours and Gods ours in that we do work Gods in that he works it in us Praedictam conversionem sequitur haec nostra conversio actualis Deo perliciente ipsum actum credendi convertendi ex mutata voluntate quae acta adeo agit ipsa convertendo se ad Deum credendo hoc est actum suum vitalem simul eliciendo ibid. 12. In working upon the will God doth not overthrow the nature of the will but causeth it to work after it's own native manner freely and willingly neither doth he pull up by the roots that sinfull possibility which is in our nature to resist good motions but doth sweetly and effectually work in Man a firme and ready will to obey him his grace is so powerfull that it is not violent Divina haec actio non laedit voluntatis libertatem sed roborat neque tamen extirpat radicitus vitiosam resistendi possibilitatem sed pravitatem ad resistendum motibus spiritus sancti sed haec resistibilitas propter efficacissimam suavissimam motionem gratiae nequit in actum hic nunc erumpere huic gratiae resisti nequit quia primum operatur velle id est non resistere c. ibid. in explic Thes 2. Deum cum voluerit quibus voluerit gratiam tam abundantem tam potentem aut congruam aut alio modo efficacem concedere ut quamvis possit voluntas ratione suae libertatis resistere non tamâ—n resistat sed certo infallibiliter obsequatur Dr. Overal in Artic 4. It is true that whiles our naturall concupiscence raignes in us we have not only a possibility but a proneness to resistance which yet is by the gracious and effectuall motion of God Spirit so over ruled that it breaks not forth into a present Act for God works in us to will that is not to resist Yea the very will to resist is for the time taken away by the power of grace Deus hominem conversum fidelem non ita semper movet ad bonos actus subsequentes ut tollat ipsam voluntatem resistendi sed quandoque permittit illam vitio suo deficere a ductu gratiae in particularibus multis actibus concupiscentiae suae parere Theol. Br. ibid. Thes 3. 13. God doth not alwayes so work in the regenerate that he doth ever take from them this will to resist but sometimes suffers them through their own fault to give way to their own sinfull desires for howsoever in those principall Acts which are absolutely necessary to Salvation the grace of God works powerfully in the elect both the will and the deed in his own good time yet in some particular acts he thinks good for his own holy purposes to leave the best Men sometimes to themselves who do thereupon grieve his good Spirit by a recoverable resistance Oportet semper discrimen statuere inter illos actus principales sine quibus salus Electorum non constat particulares subsequentes actus c. ibid. in explic Of the Fifth ARTICLE OF PERSEVERANCE QUibusdam non electis conceditur quaedam illuminatio supernaturalis cujus virtute intelligant ea quae in verbo Dei annuntiantur esse vera iisdemque assensum praebent minime simulatum In iisdem ex hac cognitione fide oritur affectuum quaedam mutatio morum aliqualis emendatio non electi huc usque progressi ad statum tamen adoptions justificationis nunquam perveniunt Theol. Br. de 5. Art Thes 1 2 3 4. 1. EVen among those which belong not to the election of God there are some that are enlightned by supernaturall knowledg and give their assent to the truth of the Gospel receiveing the same with some joy and from that knowledg and faith find some change in their affections and lives who yet howsoever they may pass in the judgment of charity never attained to that hearty renovation which is joyned with justification nor yet to the immediate disposition thereunto and therefore were never in the true State of the adoption of Sons these may utterly fall away from that grace which they have professed Unde constat â—os nunquam reipsa pertingere ad illam mentis affestuum mutationem renovationem quae cum justificatione conjuncta est imo nec ad illam quae proxime praeparat ac disponit ad justificationem ibid. in explic 4. Artic. Idem regeniti ac justificati quandoque
whiles they speak of an irresistible act in turning us they mean not such an act as cannot be at all resisted if we would but such a one as the will through Gods gracious inclination would not wish to resist for that their will to resist is so overcome by the sweet motions of Gods Spirit that now yieldance is made powerfully voluntary In which sense the very Jesuites themselves confess an irresistibility Bellarmine Suarez Valent. disp 8. q. 3. p. 4. Valentia and others granting it as impossible there should not be a conversion where there is an effectuall grace as that there should not be a conversion where there is a conversion D. Abbot exerc 2. ex Arm. declar ad ord omnia gratiae ascribantur modo ne statuatur irresistibilis Omnia gratiae ascribantur modo ne statuatur irresistibilis Arm. cit per R. Abbot ep Sarisb e declar ad ord p. 56. Quicquid sit constanter docent omnes hunc modum actuandi liberum arbitrium ejus libertati nihil nocere imo maxime proficit illam Paul Fir. spec Schol. p. 487. Now whether this irresistibleness be out of a consequent supposition as the Jesuites or out of an antecedent as the Dominicans with many of ours or whether this powerfull influence into the will be by way of a Physicall or morall motion they are subtleties fit for Schools not meet to trouble the heads of ordinary Christians It is enough for us to know that we will to consent because God works this will in us strongly yet sweetly and by an omnipotent facility so as no free will of ours resists Gods will to save us as St. Austin pithily Trahitur ergo miris modis ut velit ab illo qui novit intus inipsis hominum cordibus operari non ut homines quod fieri non potest nolentes credant sed ut volentes ex nolentibus fiant Aug. contr 2. Epist Pelag. To dispute then of the power of that will to resist which God hath made willing to yield what is it but to strive about the passage of those sheep which neither are bought nor ever shall be Man is in a marvelous manner drawn to will by him that knows to work inwardly in Mens hearts not that they should believe whether they will or no which is impossible but that of unwilling they should be made willing saith St. Austin True God makes us willing of unwilling and so we resist not But how doth he make us willing Whether by an irresistible manner of working in us or not this say the Opponents is the main question Surely so as that to use Aquinas his word the will is impelled though not compelled so as that though there is in the nature of the will a freedom and capacity of agreeing or dissenting in respect of it self yet as it is for the present moved and actuated by the effectual inclination of the Almighty now it so swayes one way as if it had for the time put off the power of refusing What need we then trouble our selves with these upstart termes of Resistible and Irresistible Let it content us that the gratious inoperation of God effectually drawes the heart of man to will to receive to entertain the happy motions of his good Spirit to our renovation If we yield not this to God we yield nothing and if we give him this he will not quarrel us for more But what place sover these differences have found in Forraign Schools and Pulpits ours have reason to be free if we shall listen to that wise and moderate voice of our church which our forecited reverend Author commends unto us who after the relation of the two extream opinions resteth in this Medio tutissimus that men are so stirred and moved by Grace that they may if they attend thereunto obey the grace which calleth and moveth them And that they may by their freewil also resist it But withal that God when he will and to whom he will gives such an abundant such powerful such congruous otherwise effectual grace that although the will may in respect of the liberty thereof resist yet it resists not but doth certainly and infallibly obey And that thus God deals with those whom he hath chosen in Christ so far as shall be necessary to their salvation Who so cannot sit down quietly in this decision me thinks should be no friend to peace And if any man stumble at the first clause as at the threshold of this sentence Let him know that our Divines at Dort have in effect said no lesse whiles having yielded to mans free-will in those external works which are required of us before our conversion and supposing certain effects in the way to our conversion which are wrought by the power of the word and spirit in the hearts of men not yet justifyed add further that those whom God thus affects by his word and Spirit those he doth truely and seriously call and invite to faith Theol. Briâ— Dord de Art 2. Thes 5. and conversion and that Christ in his death not only founded his Evangelical covenant but hath also obtained of his father that wheresoever this Covenant shall be published there also should ordinarily such a measure of grace be administred as should be sufficient to convince all impenitent and unbelieving men of neglect or contempt And lastly that whom God thus affects he forsakes not nor ceaseth to promote in the way of their conversion till he be first forsaken of them by a voluntary neglect or contempt of this initial grace But what need any proof hereof whiles that clause speaks but of a common grace and the persons to whom this liberty is ascribed are such as by that learned B. are contra-distinguished to them which are truely called according to the purpose of God Let us go but so far as these two guides will joyntly lead us it will be bootlesse to quarrel about any further discovery Hanc nostram esse sententiam prositemur hominem de salute aeteâ—na cortum esse posse debere solam Dei gratiam esse perseverantiae causam supernaturalem quae sacit ut voluntas nostra perseverare possit velit Rem Ep. ad ext p. 75. Concerning the fifth Article of perseverance The Belgick Opponents at first spake timorously professing not absolutely to hold a possibility of the totall or finall defection of true believers only suspending their opinion and rather inclining to the affirmative but afterward they grew to a strong resolution of that whereof they formerly but doubted In whose writings yet when a Man shall come to read that a Man may and ought to be certain of his own eternal Salvation That the only grace of God is the supernatural cause of perseverance which makes our will both able and willing to persevere he would think there need no more words that this quarrel were at a happy end But when he shall see them flying off into the distinctions of certainty for the
carnal he threats with death If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Those which are regenerate contrary to the wicked paradox of those men he assures of life If ye mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit ye shall live How doth he exclude the Spirit of bondage to fear which these good guides would lead in again how confidently doth he averr the inward testimony of Gods Spirit to ours and ascribes that voice to it which bars all doubt and disappointment and tels us by the powerful assurance of this Abba we are sons and if sons heirs coheirs with Christ Let them now go and say that God may disinherit his own son that he may cast off his adopted But say they to the same regenerate persons he applyes these two clauses and saith at once ye have received the Spirit of adoption and yet if ye walk after the flesh ye shall die what followes of this commination any assertion of the possibility of Apostasy in the regenerate Nothing lesse These threats are to make us take better hold and to walk more warily as a father that hath set his little son on horseback it is Zanchies comparison bids him hold fast or else he shall fall though he uphold him the while that both he may cause him hereby to sit fast and call the more earnestly for his supportation But the scope of the place plainly extorts a division of carnal men and regenerate the threats are propounded to the one the promises and assurance to the other and therefore no touch from hence of our uncertainty in a confessed estate of renovation For that Mat. 12.43 The Apodosis or inference of the parable might well have stop't the mouthes of these Cavillers for you shall finde in the end of it so shall it be with this wicked generation I suppose no man will be so absurd as to say these Jewes had formerly received true justifying faith How should they when they rejected the Messias And yet of them is this parable spoken by our Saviours own explication Maldonate himself a learned and spightful Jesuite can interpret it no otherwise Ideo Christus hoc dixit ut doceret pejores esse Judaeos quam si nunquam Dei legem cognitionem accepissent and to this purpose he cites Hilary Hierom Beda and this sence is so clear that unlesse the seven Devils had found harbour in the dry hearts of these men they could not so grosly pervert it Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5. will never prove a final or total extinction of saving grace the Spirit is quenched when the degrees of it are abated when the good motions thereof are by our security let fall we grant the Spirit may be quenched in tanto not in toto Or if we should so take it as they desire I remember Austin parallels this place with that other to Timothy Let no man despise thy youth Not saith he that the Spirit can be quenched or that contempt can be avoided but that in the one we may not indeavour to do that which may tend towards this wrong to the Spirit and in the other that we should be careful not to do that which may procure contempt The place I remember not directly but numeros teneo si verba tenerem But in all likelyhood that place sounds quite another way as may appear by the connexion of it with those two sentences following As if he should have said discourage not the graces that you finde in any of your Teachers despise not their preaching trye their doctrines And now what is this to the falling from Grace Which of us do not teach the necessity of perseverance He only that indures to the end shall be saved Be faithful to the death and c. But he that hath ordained we shall be saved hath ordained our perseverance as a mean to this salvation and hath appointed these sharp advises as the means and motives of our perseverance So as he that shall be saved shall also indure to the end Because no man plucks them out of my hand saith Christ How evidently doth the Spirit of God proclaime our certainty against these doubt-mongers Every where is he as full of assurance as these men of discomfort He that is borne of God sinneth not neither can sin because he is born of God and the seed of God remaines in them what an invincible 1 Jo. 3.3 and irrefragable consolation is this The seed of life is sown in the hearts of the elect though they could be dead to themselves yet to God they cannot And what a supposition is that of Christ that if it were possible the very elect should be deceived Desponsabo te mihi in perpetuum Mat. 24. Hos 2. and a thousand of this strain which your exercise in those holy leaves hath I doubt not abundantly furnisht you withal hold fast then my dear friend this sure anchor of our undeceivable hope and spit in the face of men or Devils that shall go about to slacken your hand Let these vain Spirits sing despair to themselves for us we know whom we have believed Thus hath my pen run it self out of breath in this so important a demand and much a do have I had to restrain it neither would I give you one houres intermission to my answer which I know your love cannot but accept as that which proceeds from aâ— heart zealous both of God and you Reverendissimo Viro D o. Marco Antonio DE DOMINIS Archiep. SPALATENSI Epistola DISCESSUS SUI Ad ROMAM dissuas NOli gravate ferre Reverendissime Praesul candidam hanc animi calami devotissimi tibi utriusque libertatem sane expressit mihi vel renitenti verba haec prius sincerus quidam religionis zelus tui Fama est te discessum a nobis meditari neque tam loco cedere velle quam fide strenua profecto suspicione non caret hoc ipsum proficisci neque enim cujusquam subire mentem potest hominem senem velle animi causa peregrinari deferbuit procul dubio jam diu juvenilis ille ardor relictas pridem oras curiose revisendi nec ita crassi sumus insulares ut credere possimus coelum te mutare velle nisi animum prius quadam-tenus mutare decrevisses multo vero minus septem illos invisos coelo totiesque tuo fulmine ictos colles repetere novimus nos sat bene ingenium Romae ecquem latere potest nedum hominem cordatum quam infida sit illa statio superbae Hierarchiae expugnatori Moneat te olim vester Fulgentius quam nihil ita tutum sit Pontificiae Majestatis tantillo violatori etiam post fidem si qua famae fides sancte datam post promissa munera post benignissimae invitationis blanditias Viderit tua prudentia ut te vel propudiosissima Palinodia tactaeque quas de jerasti prius arae liberaverint O tuam si quem modo profiteris sanus