being saved it is so full that we are already saved by it And so Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance or rather the subsistence for so Hypostasis signifies of things hoped for Faith is said to be the subsistence or existence of things hoped for because the belief of those grounds or of those Promises of God or declarations that come from Heaven That These and these things shall be given to those that believe this I say doth give a kind of existency and presentiality unto the things themselves in the minds and spirits and souls of men For it is Faith that is the ground work or that which giveth a subsistence to these things in the soul for Hope floweth from Faith and by it the heart is carried out to the expectation of them Hope doth dilate and open the heart as a man doth his hand to receive that which is ready to be given unto him But that which giveth life breath and being unto Hope that is Faith It is Faith that giveth Being unto the Truth and Faithfulness of God in his Promises and Declarations by which they are settled and secured that they are all valid and that God will make them good unto his Sons and Daughters those who shall believe And in this respect the Language or manner of the Scripture speaking is very remarkable That they who are enabled by God by being anointed with a Spirit of Revelation to put men into a steady and substantial hope of possessing and enjoying such and such things are said to give them the things themselves So Isa 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted c. So again ver 3. To give them beauty for ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness c. So that according to this manner of Scripture speaking because the Prophet offered by a spirit of Prophecy to fill theis hearts with the hope and expectations of these things he is said to give them the things themselves So again he that shall be an instrument in the hand of God to preach the Word of God with such evidence of truth and demonstration as that he fills the hearts of men full of the hope of Salvation is said actually to save them Take heed unto thy self saith Paul to Timothy and unto the Doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee 1 Tim. 4.16 Fourthly Sect. 14 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause God to take a holy pleasure and delight in you and to imploy you about many actions and services of his which will be very honourable unto you and turn to a bleffed account in due time in his Kingdom Wherefore saith the Apostle to the Church at Jerusalem look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost c. Which doth imply that the men that God seeketh for the acting and doing his business here in the World are such who are full of the Holy Ghost such who have a rich anointing of the Spirit of God Men that are filled with the Spirit will be vigorous active and free in their work they will do what they do with all their might As men delight to be served by such Servants who are diligent and will go through stitch with their business that will not be baffled or turned out of their way by every toy or trivial occasion that shall present it self but will go on with their business not with trifling Even so it is a special Principle in the living God to desire servants that will be faithful and fervent in their business This indeed is the very Nature and Being of God and therefore he putteth that Character of his Being upon men which he judgeth meet to be chosen as instruments to serve him and which are as I may say made for him fitly qualified for any work or employment that shall be put into their hands Who counted me faithful saith Paul putting me into the Ministry If Paul had not been the man he was a man of mettle courage and resolution God would not have delighted in his service so as to have put him into the Ministry Now where we do not see men that are in the Ministry of the same Spirit it is a sign they are not put here by God for God taketh no delight or pleasure but only in such who are fitted for his work We read 2 Tim. 2.21 of Vessels prepared and made fit for the Masters use so that there is a certain fitness as well in Persons as in Vessels which maketh them meet for such or such respective uses Now that Generation of men in the World that are filled with the Spirit are only meet for the Masters use viz. the Great Master of the World the Lord of Hosts Such men as these men who are through-hearted zealous and lovers of his Work and that take delight in being employed in his Service are Vessels of pleasure and delight unto him Seest thou a man saith Solomon diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings Prov. 22.29 Shall stand before Kings namely to minister unto them Men of this Character are only meet for their Service Even so none are fit for the Service of the Great God of Heaven and Earth but such men who are of active and vigorous spirits and that know how to manage his Affairs with diligence and faithfulness for his interest in the World These men shall not stand idle but God will take delight to make use of them in his Service Whereas men that are unqualified for his Service to any confiderable degree as all men are who art not filled with the Spirit who have no activity nor edge in them are unto God as a bottle in the smoak And as men do not love to put what they drink into bottles that are smoaky because that will destroy all the goodness and pleasantness of the taste of that which shall be put into them Even so as was but now hinted men that are unqualified that have no dexterity for his business these are persons in whom God taketh no pleasure but are unto him as a bottle in the smoak because the management of his Affairs by such men as these will rather be a disparagement unto him than any matter of glory by rendring his Sacred Things common and consequently rendring them despicable in the eyes of men But on the contrary men that are richly anointed and filled with his Spirit these are Agents and Instruments for him as the Sword of Goliah was unto David there was none like unto it There is no Generation of men under Heaven that he taketh such pleasure in to commit and intrust his Affairs withal as with these who are filled with the Spirit Who maketh his Angels Spirits or wind
the hard hearts and consciences of sinful and unbelieving men The words of God in the mouths of such men are as Arrows in the hand of a Giant as David speaketh Psal 127.4 they pierce deep and do execution afar off Other men that for matters appertaining unto God are but like the rest of the World and have nothing singular in their lives and conversations though using and uttering the same words with the former are yet but as sounding Brass or tinkling Cymbals in comparison of them Yea when men shall be found or known to be as it were rent and torn or broken in their obedience unto the Gospel alas they know or may know that when they shall preach the Doctrine of Faith Repentance Mortification or the like men will have wherewith to answer all that shall be spoken unto them by such men from their own mouths For who regards words and sayings where actions and works are of a contrary import As he that speaks Contradictions one while affirming one thing and at another time the quite contrary this man edifies no man by such a kind of discourse no man can tell whether he speaketh truth in the former Proposition or whether in the latter and so they go away as if nothing had been spoken they who speak at no better a rare destroying one saying with the other In like manner they whose lives and actions rise up against their teachings or speakings are of kin to those dumb Dogs of which the Scripture speaks Isa 56.10 For what they teach or affirm in words they deny in works and so in effect teach nothing at all The reason why Christ is said to have taught with authority and not as the Scribes and Pharisees is given by some to be this and I conceive it very pertinent viz. because he did what he said and taught and they said and did not So when they that keep the holy Commandment and walk up to the Rule of the Gospel shall teach admonish and instruct they shall do it with power and authority the Conscience and Judgments of men will give them reverence and do homage unto them As it is said of Herod that he feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things Mar. 6.20 And our Saviour taketh notice else-where of his righteousness and holy life as making his Doctrine much more commendable and of force upon the Consciences of men and withal chargeth such persons very high who did not embrace and submit unto his Doctrine John faith he came unto you in a way of righteousness and yet you believed him not Mat. 21.32 as who should say You declared your selves a Generation of Vipers indeed when as having such a man as John come among you a person so innocent and holy that you could lay nothing to his charge yet you reject his Doctrine you believe him not which is contrary to the light of Reason and argues a preposterous and perverse spirit frowardly bent against the Truth So that if men be not of this Generation men of a viperous spirit and desperately set upon their own ruine and destruction it cannot lightly be but the Gospel coming from the mouthes of just and holy men will do great execution upon them and make the powers of sin and darkness to fly before it Thus we have made good that in the Reason given which was supposed being this That every man standeth bound in duty towards God to act the part of a worthy Benefactor unto the World round about him and as far as in him lieth to bless his Generation The other thing which is affirmed in the Reason Sect. 7 was That no man or woman can be in any good or indeed tolerable capacity to discharge this Obligation unless they be filled with the Spirit of God And this we have in part made good already in what was delivered in opening the former Reason There we shewed That men and women will never do any great any singular thing for God and the interest of the Gospel unless they take a regular and due course to be filled with the Spirit There is the same consideration of doing great things for the World Men and women will fall extremely short of their duty herein also and with-hold that from the World which is its due unless they take an effectual course to strengthen their hand and their heart to the work which must be by filling themselves with the Spirit of God For as they who give munificently and like Princes had need be Princes or at least have the the Estate and Revenues of Princes So such men and women who shall cast in any thing considerable into the Treasury of the World to cover the nakedness and feed the hunger and heal the poverty of it had need be full of the Divine Nature and have a special Magazine within them of Faith and Love of Wisdom and Knowledge of Patience and Humility of Mortification and elf-denial and many other heavenly endowments Otherwise they shall never be able to rejoyce over mankind to do it much good nor to sow liberally and plentifully unto it As the Lord Christ had he not been Rich as the Apostle faith 2 Cor. 8.9 the making of himself Poor would not have extended to the making of many Rich so in case that a person hath but a little inward worth in him if he be scanted in true excellency and nobleness of spirit though he should empty and pour out himself to the World the poverty of it is such and the necessity of it so extreme craving and so devouring above measure that such an estate would do little more towards the relief of it than the seven fat Kine in Pharaohs dream did toward the seven that were lean and ill favoured the Text faith when they had devoured them they were not seen upon them but they were as lean and starven and as evil favoured as before the fat had need it seems to have been seven and seven and twenty times seven times fatter than they were to have wrought a Cure upon the leanness and hard-favouredness of the other And as Andrew Simon Peters Brother informed Christ of a Lad that had five barly loaves and two small fishes but viewing the multitude that were to be fed demanded but what are they amongst so many Joh. 6.9 And the truth is without the miraculous interposure of a Divine Power for their multiplication they had been very little indeed amongst the multitude that was to be relieved by them In like manner he that shall diligently consider and compute not so much the numberless multitude of souls or of men and women in the World round about him as the numberless multitude of their spiritual necessities and those very sad and threatning with open mouth eternal ruine and destruction on every side cannot lightly but confess upon the view that he that shall minister unto them with any likelihood
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
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
Cor. 15.8 but certain it is that he was born an Apostle and came into the work of God some considerable space of time after all his fellows yet we know he laboured more abundantly there than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 In like manner they that were called at the eleventh hour might do as much good and acceptable service as those that were called early And therefore no marvel if they received equal consideration for their work with these Besides God represented by the Lord of the Vineyard estimateth as we know the frame of the heart and inward disposition of the mind into the outward works and services of men So that the body and bulk as it were of their services may be fair and large when as the spirit of their value and acceptation with God may not answer by much and yet their persons nor services be wholly rejected neither As on the other hand where the hidden man of the heart is beautiful and lovely in his sight a performance or service which is but slender and ordinary in appearance may be highly prized and accepted of by him and this according to the most exact Rules of Justice Reason and Equity Christ pronounced a just and true Sentence when he said that the poor Widow who cast in only two Mites into the Treasury had cast in more than all the rich men who yet are said to have cast in much Mar. 12.41 43. Now it is not improbable but that by the early-called into the Vineyard may be set forth such a kind of Christian or Believer who savours much of the justiciary and legal spirit and is commonly active and zealous enough in his way for God but inclined to a rugged harsh and peremptory temper which unpleasant complexion and frame of heart though it doth not make void their Faith nor exclude them from the saving love of God yet it much abates and brings down the value and esteem of their outward services and performances with him So that Believers of a more Evangelical sweet and Christian constitution and frame of soul may equalize them in acceptance with God although they have not had time or opportunity to equalize them in the one half of their external services If it be yet urged and said But the Lord of the Vineyard doth not alledge against the early-called either any defect in them or in their work or labour nor any thing more commendable in those called at the eleventh hour as any reason why he should make these equal in reward unto them but only his will and pleasure I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. ver 14. From whence it seems that the will and good pleasure of God is the only Rule by which the Saints are rewarded and that by this Rule they shall be rewarded equally whether their works have been more or fewer more or less excellent according to any computation I answer These words from the Lord of the Vineyard to one of the first-called in the name of them all I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. do not at all prove either that the Will of God is the sole Rule by which the Saints shall be rewarded or that no consideration to the difference of their works whether they have been more or fewer more or less excellent shall be had therein They only prove that God typified in the Lord of the Vineyard will not acquaint proud quarrelsome or high minded persons with the Counsels of his Will or Reasons of his Doings especially with such as are more secret but will put them off with telling them what his peremptory Will is and an asserting the justness and lawfulness of it even as men likewise are wont to do by persons of a like evil temper whereas they are willing and free to give account of matters unto those that are ingenuous and of good spirits And this disposition is found in God himself according to these sayings of David The meek he will guide in judgment that is he will acquaint him with the grounds and reasons of all that he requires of him to do the meek he will teach his way viz. by shewing him the goodness and desirableness of it Psal 25.9 So again The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. And Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous God is most wont to communicate things of a more spiritual and mysterious cognizance but only unto those that are of meek and yielding spirits and reverently affected towards him So that it is no marvel if the Lord of the Vineyard would give no other reason but his will unto persons that were evil-spirited and contentious of such a dispensation as seemed hard unto them although he was able and ready to give reason enough thereof otherwise This for answer to the second Objection The third and last Objection Sect. 12 which pleads against all preheminence amongst the Saints in glory is taken from such Scriptures which intitle the Saints indefinitely taken or the whole species of them not only unto the same glory but unto such glory greater than which none can lightly be imagined The places of this import are these with others Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 So where it is said of Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Phil. 3.21 So again to mention no more where the Apostle Paul having said Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that last day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 All these Texts of Scripture speak of the Saints in general and without any differencing some from others by way of greater excellency and yet they promise unto them all shining like the Sun in their Fathers Kingdom and having their vile bodies changed by Christ and fashioned like unto his own glorious body the receiving Crowns of righteousness from God as well as Paul himself Which all seem to be expressions of as great glory as the greatest of Saints are capable of Therefore it is not to be conceived that one Saint shall differ from another in glory But To this also I answer That these and the like places only prove an identity or sameness in the species or kind of that glory whereof all the Saints shall be partakers not that they shall all partake of this glory in the same degree They shall all shine with a Sun-like lustre and brightness and yet some out-shine others The Sun it self doth not alwaies shine forth with the same lustre and glory Debora Judg. 5.31 prayeth that those that love God may be as the Sun when he riseth or goeth forth in his might which supposeth that sometimes he riseth with a weaker and less glorious splendour Yea it is said that
which at one and the same time is to be expedited and put in execution in all the four winds of the Heaven in places without number and these very far distant one from another and to provide that the work should be done regularly and effectually in all these places at once must in reason upon a diligent consideration of the business be judged to be greater than any Creature to have an arm far more out stretched than any Angel in Heaven therefore cercainly our Saviours ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Comforter here said to be the Holy Ghost must needs be greater than a finite Angel and consequently God himself even the most High God Nor is it pertinent or much to the purpose here to pretend that the business of temptation of tempting men and women unto sin is managed and that very effectually and with too much success all the World over at one and the same time and yet he that presideth in chief over the World is but a finite Creature and is styled in the Scripture ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Tempter Mat. 4.3 1 Thes 3.5 therefore why may not the work of Consolation be managed and carried on all the World over by an Angel or finite Spirit c. To this I answer 1. That there are many tempted and drawn away unto sin who are not tempted of the Devil Let no man saith James say when he is tempted I am tempted by God no let not every man when he is tempted say I am tempted of the Devil For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man Nor doth the Devil tempt every man especially as oft as he committeth sin But every man i.e. the generality or far greater part of men is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Jam. 1.13 14. And we know the Devil himself was tempted and drawn away with his own lust and enticed to the greatest impiety whilst yet there was no Tempter much more may men be tempted and drawn away by their own lusts So that the tempting of men all the World over at one and the same time doth not prove that therefore the Devil tempteth all the World over at the same time And the Devil himself confesseth in the Scriptures Job 1.7 that he compasseth the earth two and fre and walketh up and down in it And elsewhere it is said of him that he goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 Therefore the Devil is not present all the World over at the same time doing one thing or other either by himself or by inferiour Devils his subservient instruments But now the Holy Ghost whom our Saviour calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he must of necessity be present all the World over where there is any comfort administred because no inferiour Comforter whether men themselves Ministers of God or others whether Angels or men can perform the work with effect or success without the presence and interposure of him that comforteth in chief Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God that giveth the encrease So then neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease 1 Cor. 3.6 7. Neither man nor Angel is any thing i. e. comparatively or able to effect any thing of any Evangelical import without the immediate or actual presence or interposure of God therefore if the Holy Ghost were not God he could not render the Word of God effectual in the hearts of men as to matter of spiritual Consolation and that he should be termed the Comforter and not be able to comfort authoritatively of and by himself or any otherwise than as men commissionated or delegated from God ministerially to comfort is most irrational and no waies worthy to be believed But some that are otherwise minded in the business in hand except against the English Translation for translating the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Comforter when as they should have translated it the Advoeate as they have done 1 Joh. 2.1 I reply 1. That to him that is weak the Grashopper is a burthen and he that is afraid of falling is apt to catch hold of every twig in his way though it hath little or nothing in it to keep him from falling For what will be gained to the adverse cause in case the learning and judgment of the Translators should be made to bow down at the feet of him who thus excepteth And if we should condemn the Comforter to justifie and set up the Advocate will the Advocate plead his cause who stands so much for him with more strength than the Comforter Doubtless not at all For if the Holy Ghost be an Advocate in such a sense of the word Advocate as Christ is which it seems is the sense contended for he must mediate and plead the cause of all the Saints on earth as he doth with God the Father and so must know the estates and conditions of all the Saints on earth respectively and particularly and consequently must be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the knower or searcher of the heart Acts 1.24 Chap. 15.8 which is the incommunicable property of God Or if he doth not know the hearts of the Saints perfectly how shall he be able to perform the part of a worthy Advocate He that is a man's Advocate had need understand his cause perfectly Or 2. If he that excepteth against the said Translation would have the Holy Ghost an Advocate in some other sense of the word viz. because he pleads the cause of the Saints at the Tribunal of their own hearts and consciences and informs these Judges I mean the consciences of the Saints respectively such things relating to his Clients upon the account of which they ought to justifie and absolve them or else because he pleads the cause of the truth and innocency of their Christian Profession before the World and the Rulers thereof when they are called before them or questioned by them according to that of our Saviour It is not you that speak but the Holy Ghost that speaketh in you Mar. 10.20 Mar. 13.11 Luke 12.12 namely by way of Apology for the Christian Profession which you make Take I say the word Advocate in either of these significations and I think there is hardly a third imaginable except that of Christ his being an Advocate the Godhead of the Holy Ghost will be every whit as much countenanced and asserted either by the one or by the other applied to him as by being styled the Comforter Yea the truth is that is cannot well be conceived how or in what respect other than in one or both of these the Holy Chost should be called or understood a Comforter Therefore the Exceptor against the said Translation in seeking the change thereof is but like a sick man who conceits if he changes either his Chamber or his Bed he shall be better and find ease whereas the
Holy Ghost may be said to receive that which is Christs which is so far from impairing his Divinity or Godhead that it fully asserts and confirms it But this being somewhat mysterious and requiring some larger Explication we shall not at present dive into it that which hath been given is more obvious and agreeable to the words and scope of the place and sufficient to detect the vanity of the Argument built upon it in opposition to the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost And this for the fifth Argument The sixth Argument riseth thus He that is sent by another is not God Sect. 12 the Holy Spirit is sent by another therefore He is not God The Minor is proved from Joh. 16.26 The Major he that ministreth is not God this is the whole compass of the sixth Argument The substance and strength of this Argument is That to be sent forth by another to minister and to receive commands are things incompatible to the Soveraign Majesty of God and that these are in Scripture affirmed of the Holy Ghost therefore he cannot be God To this we reply First That the man being a perfect Anthropomorphite notioning and conceiving that all those things which are attributed unto God in the Scriptures after the manner of men as bodily members humane passions a circumscriptiveness unto place c. are in the litteral and proper nature and formality of them to be found in him builds his Arguments upon this sandy and rotten foundation And because it is so with men that he that is sent or sent forth by another is inferiour to him that sends him though this be not alwaies so neither as we shall see presently he therefore conceiveth that when these things are spoken of Christ or of the Holy Ghost they must be understood litterally and formally of them also whereas if we do but own and acknowledge the infinity and incomprehensibleness of God we must of necessity admit of and own that Rule delivered long since by Austin and the ancient Fathers and ever and anon remembred by all learned men that have written of these things Quando humana transferuntur ad Deum c. When things properly belonging unto men are transferred over unto God they are to be understood so that no dishonour nor disparagement be offered unto the Divine Nature and whatsoever in them imports imperfection is to be separated and left behind and only that to be conceived to be meant of God which implieth perfection for whatsoever proceeds from God so far as it cometh from him hath no imperfection in it therefore nothing which includes imperfection in it so far as it includes it can be with truth attributed unto him Secondly When the Holy Ghost and there is the same consideration of the Son in this respect is in Scripture said to be sent whether by the Son as Joh. 16.26 or by the Father as Joh. 14.26 it doth not imply either subjection or inferiority to either of the Persons sending because subjection savoureth of imperfection Nor secondly doth it imply any removal from place to place for this also savoureth of Creature-like imperfection not to be present every where at once Nor thirdly doth it imply Ministery or Service properly so called i. e. The doing of any thing in the fruit and benefit whereof he that is sent hath not an equal interest or share with him that sendeth him For this also implies some kind of imperfection If you ask me What then doth it imply I answer first It implies the plurality of beings or subsistencies which we call persons in the Divine Essence for the sender and he that is sent must needs be more than one Secondly It implies another thing as namely the order of the persons between themselves For he that is sent must in order though not in nature or dignity be after him that sendeth Though there be not a superiority and inferiority one to command and another to be subject Yet notwithstanding there is an order amongst them and the order is this the Father is as the Schoolmens Expression frequently is Fons Deitatis the Fountain of the Godhead because the Son though he doth partake of the same Divine Nature and Essence with him and is every way God with him yet he hath the Sonship or Divine Person communicated unto him by God the Father So the third Person hath a divine Nature and Essence communicated unto him by a joynt spiration as they express it or by way of Procession he hath it joyntly from the Father and the Son And hence it is that you never find in Scripture that the Father is said to be sent either by the Son or by the Holy Ghost But you find concerning both the Son and the Holy Spirit sometimes the Son is said to be sent into the World by the Father and so the Spirit is said to be sent This therefore sheweth indeed the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence and so likewise the order of subsistence between them that there is one as it were before who hath a priority of order though not of excellency or dignity nor of greatness nor any such thing And then again that which I suppose is the principle thing meant by it viz. the Phrase of sending is that the work mode or manner of working which is proper for the Holy Ghost that this is to be performed by him according to the order that we lately shewed First the Father then the Son then the Holy Ghost So that now every one of these though as indeed they have one and the same Essence and Nature so they alwaies joyn in one and the same operation and working ad extra without yet notwithstanding they have every one of them a peculiar and an appropriate and distinct manner of working answerable to that order wherein they subsist among themselves As for example The Father beginneth the work which is proper for the Original Author of the Work and then the Son he doth something but in a mediate kind of way between the beginning and consummation or finishing of it and the Holy Ghost according to his place in his order being the third and last He worketh after the manner of him that perfecteth or finisheth or consummates the work The Father he hath laid the Counsel and Platform of Salvation for men The Son he hath carried on the work so far as to make the attonement for them And yet there remaineth something to be done for the Salvation of the World and that is the reducing and bringing men to believe in this Saviour and to accept of that Attonement which he hath made for them and this being the consummating work about the salvation of the World although the Father and the Son both have a hand in it and it is doubtless their work as well as his yet the manner of the accomplishing of it concluding wise this is appropriate unto the Holy Spirit And now because his work importeth such a thing
arguing of this great Controversie might have been better spent in arguing other things they suppose that these kind of notions are not so affecting unto the hearts of men neither do they tend unto the establishing of them nor are so proper for the building of men up in their most holy Faith nor so powerful to excite unto Action But the truth is my Brethren though such discourses as these and the laying out of such things for substance as these are though they do not so much stir the heart as some other subjects may and might have done yet nevertheless these have somewhat which will make you unmovable in the waies of Christ And if this be but duly cast up by you you will find it every way as profitable unto you it will amount to every whit as great a sum of comfort and of peace as those Sermons whose property is to quicken and work upon men at present For what will it avail you if you should be carried up into the Heavens one day by a Sermon full of affection and another day a deceiver cometh and layeth a stumbling block in the way and should make you call in question and drive you quite off from these great Truths of the Godhead of Christ and of the Holy Ghost I am very confident that few of you that have heard me in this question but know that there are many young men that are able to puzle you and to put you to such a stand in these great Principles of Religion that you would not otherwise be able to vindicate your selves nor your credit nor deliver your Judgments from their snares and entanglements And whereas it is objected and supposed by some Sect. 20 that such Sermons as these are sublime mysteries and that the secrets of the Trinity discoursed do not furnish Christian men and women Masters of Families with matter for repetition in the Evening of the day to their Families To this I answer briefly in a word That it is to be presumed that you that have been Professors so long as generally you have been are able of your selves out of your own Treasure to speak things that are most commodious and fitting to be spoken unto your Servants and especially unto your Children and not alwaies to expect from the publick Minister matters for your private Families Strong men desire strong meat and milk is not nourishment for them to make them grow to any considerable degree But for Babes and Sucklings that are not grown in their spiritual stature things indeed of a lower nature and of a more easie apprehension are meet and very fit So that there is no reason to desire or expect this that you should never hear from a publick Minister nothing but that which is meet and convenient for you to preach over at home No you must be provided from your selves and out of your own for such occasions otherwise you must resolve never to thrive and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ but alwaies to stand at the same stay And of how dangerous a consequence it is that in this case you should have your desires viz. That from time to time the first rudiments only of Religion should still be discussed in your hearing do but consider this one place Heb. 6.1 2 3. Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ the Doctrine of Baptisms c. And this will we do if God permit What is that Go on to perfection That is carry on your Judgments to the most mysterious things of God But mark now upon what ground it is that he resolveth upon this that this he would do and desires them to go along with him For saith he it is impossible for those who were once enlightned c. How doth this Motive hang upon this Exhortation or Admonition Doubtless thus that when Christians shall come to this pass that this shall be the temper and state and present frame of their hearts that they care to go no further nor to understand no more in the Mystery of their Profession this is a certain or at least a dangerous sign that they are in a condition near to that of falling away and relapsing from those very principles and foundations themselves which they had embraced And if you will but consider how it is in the course of nature you shall observe that it is the nature of every Creature to advance and go on still to move and to wax But whensoever this Creature cometh to a stand and goeth no further evermore the next motion is to relapse The Sun in the Firmament of Heaven when he comes to his Meridian and can rise no higher begins immediately to decline towards his setting The Waters wax and flow and encrease but ever when it is standing water then is the reflux in a short time it altereth its course backwards from whence it came Just thus is it in this great and important business of your Souls and of your Eternal Peace it is well with you so long as you are growing and gathering so long you are in a safe condition and out of danger of falling away But when you come once to such a pass that you desire to rise no higher it is a thousand to one but that the next news that will be heard will be that you will begin to decline and lose ground and to fall back again into your former ignorance and unto the love of the World and something which is of an utter inconsistency with your Salvation CHAP. IX The Second Question propounded namely How or by what means 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 VVherein also the Grace of God and the free working of his Spirit is clearly vindicated and asserted HAving formerly finished the Demonstration and proof of the truth of the Doctrine for the clearer understanding it Sect. 1 and making better way to the Use and Application we propounded three Questions to be taken into consideration and resolved the Questions were these First Who or what kind or manner of Spirit it is of whom both the Text and Doctrine speaks and particularly whether a finite and created Spirit or an infinite and uncreated Spirit God himself We have stood somewhat the longer upon the debate and arguing of this Question partly because of the great weight and importance of the truth lying either on the one hand of it or on the other partly also because there is a Spirit lately after a long banishmen and silence come forth again into the World and is now at work amongst us which opposeth with might and main that part of this Question where the truth heth as I trust we have made manifests and denieth the
if you bring in the Spirit of God into your Soul you shall by one and the same Act as it were expel and drive out all that Retinue Even as Christ coming into the Temple drove out those that bought and sold and the Money Changers just thus will be the coming of the Spirit of God in Power and in Glory in your Souls he will chase away from before his face all that rabble of evil doers your unclean lusts and desires your foolish froward and proud dispositions and distempers of Soul Now consider a little of how great and sacred a consequence such a thing as this is to have the Temples of your hearts of your inner man thus purged and rid of such Polluters and Prophaners of their dignity excellency and peace My Brethren Men and women live as it were by the fulfilling and satisfying of their lusts and unclean desires they are afraid that they should not make a life of their continuance in the World and being in the body unless they take pleasure in such things and in such waies unless they satisfie such and such desires whereas alas were they but free from the inordinacy of their desires their satisfying and gratifications would be rather matter of burthen trouble and cumber to them than any otherwise As persons that have the itch it is a pleasure to them to scratch but when the distemper in the skin is taken away no man complains that he wanteth his former pleasure of scratching Even so whilst men and women are laden with Lusts Pride Covetousness Uncleaness and given to pleasure it is little less than a death to them to be kept from the fulfilling and gratifying these lusts and distempers but if these lusts were but healed and separated as they may be for they are not of the Essence of their souls they are no part of their Nature or Being no they are but strangers and aliens unto their souls If these I say were but separated from them if they were but mortified and gone these kind of waies whereby they were to be gratified would be altogether unsatisfying unto them and would have no tafte or relish at all The truth is they would not only find no relish nor any savour in them but they would be troublesome they would be matter of shame and confusion unto them And therefore it must needs be conceived as a matter of excellent high and blessed concernment unto men and women to be invested with such a heavenly priviledge as this is to have the inner man healed of all that unclean Retinue of Lusts and sinful distempers to have these removed and thrown out of the Soul There is a great deal more to be said to make these things very desirable in your eyes but we may have occasion to speak of this Point in the Progress of this Discourse Thus then you see that where men are filled with the Spirit of God the lusts of the flesh are like to have but small trading they are there but as if they were not they have no joy in such souls nor these souls much sorrow and trouble with them and the serious consideration of this we teach to be a very effectual means to raise such Covetings such earnest Desires such Longings and Breathings of heart after it as have been mentioned So great and excellent is that heavenly accommodation of being delivered from the troublesome and dangerous impotunity of fleshly and worldly lusts by being filled with the Spirit Secondly Sect. 10 Another thing that will attend and must needs be the consequence of a mans being filled with the Spirit is this viz. That a man hereby will become little sensible of impressions of Sorrow Grief and Trouble from the World and the cross workings and dealings of things unto him there His soul by means of being filled with the Spirit will be able to dwell amongst Lions even as Daniel did without fear or danger of being destroyed and devoured with them Those Afflictions Pressures and Trials which will grind the faces and break the bones of other men will not create any Grief Pain or Trouble unto him For to be filled with the Spirit is a kind of spiritual drunkenness as the Apostle implieth in the Text and indeed hath effects in its kind in a spiritual way answerable unto those of drunkenness litterally and proprerly so called such as those mentioned by Solomon Prov. 23.34 35. Thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the Sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a Mast They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not Meaning that in fits of Drunkenness men are not sensible either of any danger though never so imminent and threatning whereunto they are exposed nor of pain or smart by blows or wounds given them In like manner when men or women are filled with the Spirit of God and so are in an intimous serious and affectionate converse with those glorious overtures of Comfort Peace and Joy and with those strong and high impulses and bearings upon their hearts and spirits unto waies and actions that are truly honourable and excellent and which take hold of Eternal Life which must be the portion of those that are filled with the Spirit they are not so much sensible of nor liable to much sorrow or trouble from the sad or hard occurrences of the World For when the strength of the heart and mind and soul of a man are drunk up with matters of a more sublime and glorious nature and consequence there is nothing left of him wherewith to become much capable or sensible of other things especially of those that are but of an inferiour concernment unto him For that Principle in man which renders him sensible or apprehensive of any thing relating unto him whether on the right hand or on the left whether good or evil is the native vigour of his mind and understanding Now then if this be intirely or intensly drawn forth busied and taken up with minding and considering things of one kind especially such whereon the mind is much set and delighted with a man is as it were in a Trance or half dead in respect of things of another nature and though they be of a very troublesome and afflicting nature in themselves yet do they little affect such a man As it was with our Saviour Joh. 4.8 31 32 c. His mind and soul being intensly bent and set upon the work he came about into the World which he calleth the doing of his Fathers Will meaning his Preaching of the Gospel he was not sensible of his corporal hunger or want of natural sustenance under which he was as appeareth verse 8. and 31. compared So the Apostle Paul being full of the Spirit though he was in sufferings abundantly yea I presume one of the greatest sufferers in the World for a long time together yet the things that he suffered took little hold
and his Ministers a flame of fire Heb. 1.7 Some by the way understand the meaning of the place to be only this That the Apostle would hereby shew or prove that there is no great matter in the name of an Angel because that God sometimes calleth the wind by the name of an Angel and that the Argument in hand was not to prove the transcendent excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ above the Angels and their dignity but because that the name of Angel is a term of no great dignity because sometimes God calleth the Wind Angel or Minister Whether this their Notion will stand or no it is not much material as to that which I shall commend unto you for our purpose For if God call the Wind by name of Angel or the Fire his Angel it is a sign that he doth delight to make those his Messengers that are most active and full of Spirit in their way for so are the Winds and Flames of Fire And so are Angels strong and swift like unto the Wind and zealous in their way like Fire and consequently every way meet and accommodated for the Service of the Great God In like manner by your being filled with the Spirit this high Priviledge will certainly accrue unto you That your standing on Earth will be much like the standing of the Angels in Heaven who continually stand before God and attend upon him for a beck to be appointed to their several services and to be sent one one way and another another way and happy are they to whom the favour is vouchsafed to have the first charge and direction from God about his business And such shall be your posture and standing before the God of all the Earth if you be men and women filled with the Spirit It will not be long ere you shall have some great and high imployment put into your hands that will be very beneficial and honourable unto you and in which you will take abundance of pleasure and satisfaction Fifthly Sect. 15 Your being filled with the Spirit will cause the offensiveness of good waies and works especially in some of the most excellent Services of God and of men and that which seemeth hard and troublesome to the flesh in them to cease It will reconcile the disproportion between your hearts and such services and imployments both for God and men We all know that there is a kind of natural averseness and indisposedness in the flesh of men unto many Services of God especially unto those which are most honourable and most worthy of Christians I say there is a kind of listlessness and hanging back of the Flesh unto such duties as these we are speaking of which is occasioned by nothing else but only by their disproportion which they have with men There is something in the heart of a man which doth not answer to something in the Work and Service Now then by your being filled with the Spirit this disproportion which lieth between your hearts and this Service of God will be taken out of the way You know the saying of the Apostle Gal. 5.17 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would in the Original it is that ye may not do the things that ye would The Spirit lusteth and by means of the Spirits lusting you are put into a strait so that now ye cannot or ye may not do what ye would This lusting of the Spirit against the Flesh will be a means to weaken the Lustings of the Flesh so that you will have no desire to do those things which you are naturally enclined unto And if the Spirit be strong in the soul of a man these Lustings of the Spirit will be strong also yea they will if they be not obstructed in their way advance and grow stronger until all the Lustings of the flesh be subdued and all dispositions and inclinations unto sin upon the matter wholly cut off so that you will not find your selves under any Obligations to walk in any such waies wherein the flesh may be gratified Your being filled with the Spirit will free you from all incumbrances in the waies of holiness And you shall come forth unto such waies as these Like the Sun which as David saith is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a Race Psal 19.5 Why is the Sun said to rejoyce and to come forth as a Bridegroom and as a Gyant to run his course but because though his Course be long above what will easily be believed should be accomplished by him in the space of twenty four hours he is if I may so speak naturally conscious that he hath abundantly wherewich to perform it Such a Course or Race to him is natural and delightsome If another Creature not so qualified either with figure swiftness Propensity unto Circular motion or the like were to run I mean appointed or commanded by God as the Sun is to run the same Course and were to set forth out of the same Chamber with the Sun this Creature would not come forth to his work like a Bridegroom but rather like unto him that mourneth and whose Countenance is cast down unto the Earth In like manner when men and women are filled with the Holy Ghost they come forth unto the greatest actions or highest Services whether for God or men like unto so many Bride-grooms out of their Chambers full of alacrity and with an heavenly pleasantness of heart and face as it is said of Stephen who is noted to have been a man filled with the Spirit that all the Council that looked stedfastly or narrowly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Acts 6.25 i.e. did discern a more than ordinary a kind of supernatural Visage or composure of Countenance in him wherein an awful gravity with an heavenly kind of Lustre or pleasantness were in conjunction and by the light of this his Angelical and heavenly Countenance a like heavenly complexion or constitution of heart and soul within might easily have been discerned also Stephen had a great piece of work a difficult service upon his hand he was to give Testimony unto Jesus Christ before the Powers of this World a great Council of men that were desperate Opposers of him and maliciously bent against all those that professed him and to abide all hazards and dangers likely to attend such an engagement But being filled with the Holy Ghost his heart sweetly and readily comported with the work as if it had been but like the going to a Feast So also the Apostle Paul Acts 20.22 23 24. 21.11 13. compared In the former And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these
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
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
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
that way and to tempt our selves to a neglect of the Commandments of God yea and to dishearten and discourage men from so much as the knowledge of what is commanded them of God For if they shall know their Masters Will and yet not do it and do it they cannot if the intention of God stand in opposition hereunto or if they want ability to do it I say to know the Will of God and not to do it is to incur the danger of being beaten with many stripes and to bring the sorer condemnation upon themselves Therefore we need not demur upon this Point or doubt but that whatsoever God hath commanded us to do yea or shall exhort us unto he hath put us into a capacity of doing it at least into a mediate or remote capacity from which we may thorough the grace of God that is never wanting unto us in this kind advance unto that which is immediate and within reach of the duty or performance it self Let us therefore comfort our selves over this gracious Advice and Exhortation given unto us by God of being filled with the Spirit and know that though it be an Estate or Priviledge very high and glorious as we have declared formerly yet it lieth within the reach of our faithful and zealous endeavours for the obtaining it there is nothing that can hinder us from the obtaining of it but our voluntary neglect and our slothfulness which as it is the impoverishing and beggaring many thousand in the World in respect of outward things so is it universally the spiritual beggary and poverty of Christians There is no man suffers the want of any thing for his peace and for the accommodation of his soul but his own slothfulness and his own carelesness in this kind is accessary unto and the occasion of it Fourthly and lastly for Instruction If the Doctrine be true Sect. 7 take we notice from hence yet further that it is the Will and Desire of God we should be excellent that we should be a Royal Priesthood indeed unto him that we should live the life of Angels both in point of HOliness and of Happiness For such a life as this in both these high accommodations is comprehended in a being filled with the Spirit as we have formerly at large made known unto you when we set before you the transcendent Priviledges and great glory of such a state or accomplishment How rich and blessed a Contemplation is it to feed upon and to nourish our hearts withal that God would not have us live at any low under or pedling rate as not of Action Service or Employment so neither of Contentment Joy or Satisfaction But his mind and desire is to make us to live like Princes for the greatness and nobleness of our Imployments on the one hand and like Princes also for the desirableness of our state and condition on the other hand It is said of Chirst that he hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Rev. 1.6 First Kings then Priests Kings in order to their Priesthood for the truth is there is none fit or meet to be Priests unto God but those that are Kings i.e. that enjoy themselves upon the richest and highest terms of contentment and joy that may be Those that minister unto him in his holy things do not answer the nature and dignity of the Service or of the things about which and wherein they minister but especially they do not answer the infinite goodness and bounty of him whom they serve who minister unto him either with dejected and sad hearts and spirits on the one hand or with remiss or indifferent hearts on the other hand Priests of a right Consecration had need partake of the anointing of the great High Priest himself I mean they had need be anointed with the oyl of joy and gladness above their Fellows above other men Now that the Heart of God is with the Sons and Daughters of men to put them into the honourable capacity we speak of as far as is meet for him to promote the thing appears as hath been said by that most gracious advice he gives them in requiring them to be filled with the Spirit This is that which will make them Kings indeed and Priests indeed He that is filled with the Spirit is fit to stand before the God of all the Earth and to minister unto him so that if any person be not a King and so in the fullest capacity of being a Priest unto God the reason of his defectiveness in this kind is not God The reason why he is not a King or Priest of this Royal Consecration is not because God would not have him to be such or because he is unwilling to confer such things upon him such an anointing which would make him a Priest of this Consecration We see that God would have us all filled with the Spirit which being interpreted as we have heard is to make us a Royal or Kingly Priesthood But the reason of every mans defectiveness or falling short in this kind is his own Oscitancy willing negligence and unworthiness of spirit We cannot say as Balak the King said unto Balaam the Prophet Num. 24.11 Now the Lord hath kept the back from honour No it is not the Lord who hath kept us from this honour but we our selves He is so far from keeping us from it that he calls upon us and counsels us and tells us what we have to do in order to the obtaining of it And as I said before it is not meet for him to go on any farther in this work his Spirit is free unto it his Spirit is near unto you it would fill your heart and soul it would make you all Princes and make you all a Royal Priesthood unto God but it is not meet for God to force such a thing as this upon you to make you do it whether you will or no to make you Kings and Priets whether you will or no But now that you might do this he delivers out himself unto you and he expecteth that there should be a consent on both hands though otherwise there is as much importunity and force to encline and carry you that way as can be in a way of Argument yea and as much force in respect of secret Impulse and Excitation by the Spirit of God as may be only reserving unto you the Liberty of consenting unto it So that this is another Instruction of rich concernment unto your souls even to consider that there is nothing between us and such an unspeakable dignity of being Kings and Priests unto the Eternal God There is nothing on Gods part wanting the Heavens are open they bow down themselves unto you on this behalf If any man doth fall short let him know that there is nothing but only his Unworthiness of spirit which whilest he doth harbour and doth nor overcome he cannot lay out his heart and soul so free in the consideration of
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
ordinarily it is uttered by the Mouth of the Conscience which is not wont to be wide opened unless it be in some broader or more known duties of the Second Table what the reason hereof is is not so proper for present consideration Secondly The Cares Lusts Thoughts Desires Fears and Apprehensions of things relating to this present World make a continual noise and hubbub in the hearts and inward parts of men and women generally So that in case any thing were spoken to the heart or inner man especially with a soft voice whilest these things are stirring in him it will not be heard or minded And therefore Thirdly The Holy Ghost being a Spirit of Wisdom will not speak at least ordinarily unto hearts so full of distractions and confusions Neither fourthly Do men that voluntarily make noise or suffer noises to be made about them desire to hear any man speak unto them Therefore fifthly and lastly It follows from these Premises that such persons who are earthly minded and continually filled with the Cares Lusts or Desires of this World are either in no capacity at all to hear or not at all care to hear any thing that the Spirit shall speak unto them Men that desire to hear the Spirit of God speaking in them must sequester and abstract themselves from the noise and tumults of this World For the voice of the Spirit of God in men that voice by which he suggests things in the Conscience is a still and low voice and therefore when men are in a hurry in their thoughts whilest the World is lifting up its voice within them there is no opportunity for him to speak When persons are full of the Cares of this Life and are making provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof there is no opportunity for the Spirit to declare himself to them or to shew them his secrets I will hearken what the Lord will speak saith the Psalmist Psal 85.8 They that will listen to this still voice of the Spirit must muse must have all quiet within them lay their ears close unto what shall be spoken They that do not thus hearken unto the Spirit of God that do not thus listen and keep a perfect calm in their Spirits are not likely to hear what the Spirit speaketh in them And yet in the fourth place there are another sort of men and women worse than these and these are they that resist the Spirit Ye have resisted the Holy Ghost c. Acts 7. where Stephen chargeth them with that grievous charge that they resisted the Holy Ghost when he was striving to do them good and to acquaint them with the mind of God with true holiness and waies leading to Salvation They resisted him i. e. fortified themselves against him cast about with their Minds and Reasons and Understandings how they might discover and take hold of any pretense why they should not submit unto such and such Counsels such Doctrines such Truths wherein the Holy Ghost did from time to time speak unto them By this means men are said to resist the Holy Ghost and there is a Generation of men and women amongst us who dash their foot at this stone of death who when the Spirit of God either in the Word or in the Counsel or Application of Christian Friends unto them or otherwise presenteth them with such and such truths of God which bear upon their Consciences making it evident that it is for their good that they should submit themselves in the course of their lives and waies unto them and perswading them to abandon such and such waies to cast from them all such works which are contrary to those truths and sayings of God They I say who are well aware of these motions and suggestions of the Spirit to them and yet turn their backs upon them are of this second or worser sort who because they are desperately unwilling to be led out of their old waies loth to drink New Wine saying the Old is better therefore they withstand the Spirit of God even when he cometh with power and is about to bind the Understandings of men that they might not be able to move Now he is not to be resisted in such cases but with a high hand of rebellion and there must be abundance of enmity and disobedience against him otherwise men would be led away in a blessed captivity unto Jesus Christ This is the reason why men whom God hath had much to do with who have lived under a mighty and powerful Ministry either they are overcome and prove the best and holiest of men or otherwise they must arm themselves with such weapons of Rebellion which will prove them to be the most vile and most desperate sinners in the World A fifth and last sort of Offenders are such who neglect to sow unto the Spirit Sect. 17 we use the Phrase of the Apostle Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting We have opened heretofore what it is to sow to the Spirit It is to do such things to go forth in such waies and to be found frequent in such Actions and Practices which will turn to the praise and honour and glory of the Spirit of God and not only so but to do such things with an eye and intention that the Spirit of God should receive honour and reap praise by such their waies Now he properly soweth unto a man who doth intend that the man to whom he soweth should reap benefit thereby Even so a person is said to sow unto the Spirit of God who frequently is engaged in such waies and actions which he knows must of necessity turn unto the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Now if men and women shall rise up in their obedience unto God above the line and common road of the World if they shall walk in a more excellent way than their Neighbours more excellent than the common sort of Professors about them This must needs turn to the praise of the Spirit of God for the means by which they are advanced and gotten above their Neighbours and become more excellent than they this of course falleth and is ascribed by all to the honour and praise of the Spirit of God Men will conclude that surely the Spirit of God acteth and operateth in these men and teacheth them more excellent works and more heavenly curiosity than is found in the ordinary sort of men in the World Therefore they who refuse thus to sow unto the Spirit when the Spirit first soweth unto them that is when the Spirit suggesteth unto them and graciously stirreth up and tempteth their hearts and Consciences to do such Heroick Acts wherein there is a more than ordinary strain of goodness to be seen they do not consult the honour of the Spirit of God nor their own peace and enriching but on the contrary their own sorrow and poverty They I say that shall refuse thus to sow
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 âaution 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 ãâã 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 deâghteth not to imploy such persons about any great services which he hath ãâã do in the World that are streightened in their spirits whose anointing ãâã 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
these high and excellent deportments of themselves in the World or as if persons in any degree charitable did perform all these worthy things in their perfection But that the nature of charity is such and that the means vouchsafed by God to advance this grace in their souls are such that men and women may be raised and enlarged in it to such a perfection or degree as to be in a capacity of doing all these great and excellent things formerly mentioned So when Paul saith We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father his meaning is not that every one who received this Spirit in any measure or degree doth actually thus cry or is in a present and immediate capacity to do it but that this Spirit being once received may be so comported with and entreated by men as that he will advance his presence to such a fulness or degree that they shall be able by means of that strong testimony to cry Alba Father This is the first thing to be remembred by the way A second thing Sect. 15 is that when the Apostle saith That the Spirit speaking of the Spirit of God witnesseth with our spirits that we are the Children of God i.e. as we expounded mightily fortifies and strengthens that Testimony of our own spirit in this behalf He doth not suppose that every man and woman who are more than ordinarily raised in this perswasion or apprehension of themselves I mean that they are the Children of God receive the abundance of this testimony or perswasion from the Spirit of God For very possible it is that men and women who are not the Children of God but far from it may be very strongly and confidently perswaded that they stand in this relation unto God But certain it is that such a perswasion as this in such persons cometh not either in whole or in part from the Spirit of God because he never joyneth in any Testimony whereby an untruth is confirmed There may be another Spirit a Spirit of delusion that standeth at their right hand ready to fall in with them at such a turn as this and it is like will make their perswasion great within them Our Saviour Joh. 16.2 giveth an account of some that would think that they did God good service when they put to death the Disciples of Christ one of the most horrid Acts of Impiety which could lightly be committed And the Jews themselves with whom the Lord Christ had to do in the daies of his flesh were as high and as confident as confidence it self could make them that they were the Children of God yea the first-born Children of God and if there were no more Children of God in the World yet they must needs be of this Generation Now most true it is that this confidence in such persons is in a sense supernatural too for certainly the Spirit of Error and Delusion which standeth at the right hand of sinful and unworthy persons doth suggest this unto them that they are the Children and Saints of God and falleth in with them after the manner of the Spirit of God and if he finds but the least mutterings or whisperings this way in such persons whose spiritual estate and condition he knows much better than themselves do he will fall in with might and main according to his manner of working and operation to help to raise and fortifie this perswasion in them he will give them of this Wine to drink until their senses be bewitched and besotted and by this means their Judgments and understandings bear them in hand with the highest confidence that they are the only Sons and Daughters of God and therefore we must take heed and learn to distinguish and not believe the confident testimony and assurance which some will pretend unto of being the Sons and Daughters of God we must carefully distinguish between the Spirit of God himself and the Spirit of Error and Delusion who as I said doth but lie in wait to hear the Spirit of a man whisper whom he knows not to be a Child of God but to be a wicked proud formal and hypocritical person and then he will fall in amain with him to strengthen his confidence And therefore in respect of the degree and measure of his confidence haply it may be as well with him that is deluded by Sathan as it is with him that is strengthened and raised by the Spirit of God himself Yet in respect of the manner of it and several circumstances that do attend this false perswasion and confidence it may easily be discerned from that which is true The Apostles speaks Col. 2.18 of some persons that were vainly puft up with their fleshly minds whose hearts were not established with grace but with meats meaning that these carnal observations had puffed them up with swelling thoughts of themselves Therefore it is to be considered and remembred that the persons with whose Spirits the Holy Ghost joyns in Testimony that they are the Children of God are only such who are the Children of God indeed i.e. who approve themselves for such by an innocent blameless and fruitful Conversation and particularly who reverence the Counsel and Appointments of God in the Ministry of the Gospel by attending hereupon from day to day If we had time we might give this Item unto you Sect. 16 that the Spirit of God which doth bear up the heart and conscience against all fears and doubtings and contrary apprehensions and the like this Spirit I say is received by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Ministry of it even as it was in the daies of the Apostles Received ye the Spirit saith the Apostle Paul Gal. 3.2 by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith It was the hearing of the Doctrine of the Gospel by which the Spirit of Adoption entred into them and this Spirit came down together with the Gospel from heaven to attend and accompany that in the Ministry and the Preaching of it by the Apostles and others that had part and fellowship with them in that work Even as the Spirit of fear or bondage which the Apostle speaketh of went forth or issued into the World by the Ministry of the Law and upon the giving of it upon Mount Sinai unto which the Apostle alludes when he saith Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear meaning that they had received it namely in their Fore Fathers when they were in their loyns But now saith he you have received namely by the Gospel and the Ministry thereof the Spirit of Adoption by which you cry Alba Father Now then when you shall find men and women that are full of confidence and assurance that they are the Children of God if this Spirit have entred into them upon the hearing of a false Gospel or upon the Preaching of another Jesus and not the Christ of God this is a dangerous sign that it is a Spirit of Delusion
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
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
have abundance But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath By him that hath in the former clause to whom more shall be given must needs be meant a man that useth or imployeth that which he hath so and upon such terms that he gives an account unto the world makes it known unto men that he hath received some Talent one or more from God For otherwise if we shall take the word hath in a Grammatical and proper sense it will follow that every one shall have more given and so every one shall have abundance For all men have in such a sense of having All men have somewhat from God originally But now in as much as he namely who had the one Talent is said to have buried it in a napking therefore our Saviour presents him under this notion and character of one that had not because he did not make use or improve that which he had took no course to make it appear unto men that he had any such Talent or means from God So it is frequent and ordinary in the Scripture 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 In like manner in the place under consideration where it is said that men of such a Character have not the Spirit The meaning is not that they had not the Spirit at all or in no degree But only this that they being sensual were chiefly guided and that their waies and works were influenced by the flesh and fleshly principles But as for the Spirit of God he was wholly neglected neither did they take any course to improve his presence in them nor to give any account unto men by their lives and conversations of any presence of his with them This is one consideration from whence in conjunction with that which follows it appears that he that is not filled or at least in a way of being filled with the Spirit of God is in eminent danger of being filled with an evil or contrary spirit The consideration as you heard was this that whosoever is destitute of the Spirit of God or is wholly flesh in the sense declared hath nothing wherewith to resist the unclean spirit that shall seek to enter into him and to fill him with his presence but all things which are confederate with him and assist him Secondly Sect. 6 As we intimated before our sense to be that no persons whatsoever who have not sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost which few now living if any have done but have the Spirit of God in some measure or degree in them I therefore add for the further confirmation of the reason in hand That men by the Spirit of God himself when he resideth in them in some low and ordinary degree only and when not stirred up by them being not regarded but neglected I say such a presence or residence of the Spirit of God himself in men will not put them into a meet posture or capacity to resist Sathan in case he shall engage himself which certainly he will to fill them with his spirit It is said of Christ Mar. 6.5 That being in his own Country he could do no great works there because of their unbelief The Evangelist Matthew speaking of the same thing or recording the same History Mat. 13.58 rendereth it thus That he did not many mighty works c. Now that which Matthew expresseth only in these terms That he did not Mark expressing the same thing doth it with more Emphasis and weight namely That he could there do no mighty works c. He could not work himself to be willing to do any great works he had not any motive before him to incline his will that way but on the other hand a grand diswasive from it and that which did quench and take off his will and made him listless to any such action namely their unbelief Now what a man cannot will to do he may properly enough be said not to be able to do because a consent or concurrence of the will is every whit as necessary to an action as the ability or power of acting There are two things equally necessary to every action The one is That the will be consenting thereunto The other is That the person so willing and consenting have a respective power or ability of acting when either of these shall be wanting the thing or action can never be done or performed As if a man have not a will unto a thing or action impossible it is that ever it should proceed from him or by his means Now certain it is that the will cannot rise up unto a consent and concurrence with the executive power in order to an action unless it have potent and congruous motives one or more to help it up or raise it No man can will any thing but only that which he conceiveth to be good there being no other object capable of affecting or moving the will So then the working of Miracles or great works about Nazareth the sottish and wilful unbelief of the people considered had not in the understanding of Christ rationem boni the consideration of good in it and so it was impossible that his will should be moved and affected by it to consent unto it and consequently it may very properly be said that he could not do any such things In the same dialect of speech the Spirit of God himself may be said not to be able to oppose and resit Satan in his attempting to fill men with sin and wickedness when his presence in and with men is despised and neglected when they take no knowledge of his being so near unto them nor of his gracious offers to relieve help and assist them against their spiritual enemies For though his power of executing namely for the frustrating and dissolving the attempts of Sathan which we are speaking of be not impaired nor indeed impairable to speak properly by any negligence unfaithfulness or unfruitfulness of men whatsoever Yet the exerting or putting forth of this power of his in such cases may be hindred by men namely when they shall so demean themselves towards him that he hath no consideration before him to render him willing to do it but many to make him unwilling Hence it comes to pass that the Spirit may truly and properly be said not to be able to exert his power or not to unbare his arm for the assisting of men in their resisting and vanquishing of Sathan in such attempts as we speak of Another Scripture of the same character with the others even now mentioned you have Joh. 14.17 Where our Saviour speaking of the Spirit tells his Desciples that the world cannot receive him the reason he renders is because it namely the world seeth him not neither knoweth him So that the reason why the world did not receive the Spirit in that measure that the
Disciples did is because they did not see him neither know him Though he be near unto them yea though he be in their hearts by his word yet they not minding nor contemplating this word of his nor regarding his motions in their souls but suffering the eyes of their minds to be fixed upon this present world and the sins and vanities thereof do not see him though he be near unto them and ready to do great things for them had they a mind to imploy him But their thoughts and mind being otherwise engaged and entangled they do by this means and during the Regency of such principles render themseles upon the matter in an utter incapacity of receiving the Spirit because they favour so much of the Spirit of this world and render themselves such a kind of sinners and such an unworthy generation that the Spirit of God can have no will or lust can take no pleasure or content to manifest himself unto them This is the second consideration by which you may perceive that unless men shall take a course to be filled with the Spirit of God they will lay themselves open and obnoxious to be filled with some unclean spirit or other If it be here objected Sect. 7 and said Is not the Spirit of God a gracious and free-working Spirit Objection And will he not doth he not for his own name sake as the Scriptures often speak put forth his might and strength to aide and assist men and women against Sathan and his evil practices towards them when and where he pleaseth without any motive or inducement from them by way of compliance with him or any goodness of behaviour in one kind or other towards him How then can we say that it doth depend upon any compliance of the creature Man with him or any kind of behaviour of his towards him I answer Answer most true it is That the Spirit of God is a most gracious and free-working Spirit exerting and putting forth himself rising up in his might and heavenly vigour where when and in whom he pleaseth Nor doth he receive Laws Terms or Directions from men for any of his motions or actions in the world but from himself his own grace and wisdom only Secondly I answer further That though the Spirit of God be most gracious and free in all his operations and workings Yet as the Apostle Peter speaking of the Promise of the Lord Christ concerning his coming saith The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some men count stackness 2 Pet. 3.9 Even so say I of the Spirit of Christ That he is neither gracious nor free-working as some men count gracious and free-working he is neither the one nor the other in any way of contrariety unto himself I mean either to his own holiness or his love of holiness in men nor yet to his wisdom or the interest of his glory but only in a direct and clear consistency with these Some mens imagination or notion concerning the gracious and free working disposition of the Spirit of God is 1. That there have been and are some men to whom he never hath nor ever will vouchsafe his gracious presence to the least degree and meerly out of his freedom hath willed never to have to do with them little or much not because of any peculiar strain of wickedness in them but meerly and only as I even now said from his own will and pleasure 2. On the other hand they conceive That God vouchsafeth such a presence unto some others so powerful and effectual that they are not able to resist the motions influences and workings of it but are necessitated thereby to repent believe and work righteousness 3. And lastly Others notion of this grace and working of the Spirit is such as if no course or strain of sin and wickedness whatsoever in men though still persisted in no impenitency no neglect or contempt whether precedent or present of the Gospel and of the great Salvation offered therein were or are any way considerable as to the obstructing or hindering the Spirit of God from vouchsafing even the richest highest and fullest measure of himself and his gracious presence unto them Now that Neither the grace of God nor the freedom of the Spirit in working is to be estimated measured or computed by any such notions or principles as these hath been already sufficiently evinced and proved and might here be done again would it not occasion too long a digression That graciousness and freedom of working which the Scripture any where yea and sound reason it self asserts unto the Spirit of God consists and shews it self in these particulars First All men without exception having sinned in Adam and thereby justly deprived themselves of all friendly converse and communion with God yea and justly incurred his high displeasure hatred and indignation There was nothing of any engaging or inviting much less of any obliging import in man to move or encline the God of Heaven to have any thing more to do with him in any way of love favour mercy goodness or the like to the daies of Eternity So that God having been pleased notwithanding this low and despicable condition of his Creature man to comport with him again upon terms of grace and reconciliation and to offer himself unto him namely to be re-enjoyed upon terms and these very possible to be performed by him and to put him into a capacity of blessedness and glory his former provocations notwithstanding must needs be matter of pure and meer grace and consequently of free grace so far as it was matter of grace at all If any shall say The misery and sad extremity of the Creature man Sect. 8 in the condition wherein he had now plunged himself Objection might be some moving cause unto God or upon God to look back again in mercy towards him And so in this respect there might be somewhat in man inviting him unto that merciful compliance with him which now he hath vouchsafed and consequently his grace in this vouchsafement is not so absolutely and purely free To this I answer Answers That no man as I suppose ever oppoed misery unto grace or freeness of grace in him that sheweth mercy or relieveth It is not repugnant to the greatest freeness of grace that can be imagined that a man should be induced to vouchsafe help shew mercy and relieve a person that is in misery yea upon the occasion thereof or that his misery should be an inducement thereunto 2. That compliance which God vouchsafed unto his Creature man considered as now misrable is not properly matter of grace or an act of grace but of mercy so that though the mercy of God out of which he hath vouchsafed means of relief unto man may be said to have been invited or wrought upon by his misery and in this respect not so absolutely free Yet this hinders not but that the grace of God properly so called out of which he hath been
his beloved Preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and compounds it with a Verb which without it signified somewhat more than simply an abundance and so calls it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Grace superabounding or rather grace superredounding But where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth or abounded much more Rom. 5.20 Thirdly Sect. 10 A third thing wherein the graciousness and freeness of the Spirit consists Huge Grot. in Rom. 5.20 is that in all that he acts and moves and works in men according to all that variety and manifoldness of working which proceeds from him at any time he doth proceed by his own Laws and these every waies gracious full of equity and sweetness and not by any thing any Law engagement or terms imposed upon him by men When men by having as the Scripture expression is that is by imploying and improving what they have viz. from the Spirit for men have nothing of any spiritual or gracious import but from him come to have more given viz. by this gracious Spirit more light more knowledge more wisdom love zeal courage faithfulness c. they come by this means to have in abundance Now they that have in this sense according to our Saviours promise this advance of his presence and growing tenour of his operation do not procure or draw it from him by any vertue or engagement of merit nor by any terms imposed upon him by the endeavours actings or improvements of their own but only the rich efficacy and vertue of his most gracious good pleasure and will who was pleased to prescribe the Law of this grace and goodness unto himself As when God justifies and saves those that believe he doth it freely of himself and from himself because he hath made this Law unto himself and established it he hath published and declared That whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall be justified and consequently saved he doth it freely and of meer grace not by judging himself obliged to do it by any worth or merit found in mens believing and yet he doth it constantly toties quoties and without failing as oft as he meets with believers in Jesus Christ he justifieth them he saveth them And indeed it is impossible he should do otherwise because as the A postle informeth us he cannot lie neither can he deny himself in his truth and faithfulness In like manner the Spirit of God hath prescribed unto himself the like Laws and terms for all his transactions dealings and proceedings with men according to the tenour whereof he will inlarge and advance his presence in the hearts and souls and spirits of men and will not walk contrary to them nor advance or put forth himself in any eminency of working but only where his lower or former motions have been obeyed and consented unto Yet he doth not this because men regard his presence but because he regards his own righteous counsels and purposes That which the Creature doth in this case is but a weak and inconsiderable thing to ingage such an infinite Spirit as the Spirit of God is to do such great things as those in men And as God will not save those that believe because of any merit that is in their Faith but because the counsel of his will is so to do So the Spirit of God will not do as hath been said because of any worthiness in mens compliance with him but he hath made this for a Law unto himself and honoureth his own Law and himself too by observing it To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Now we shall prove from that very passage that it is a Law which the Holy Ghost hath made and declares that he would walk by it towards the Sons and Daughters of men in all their succeeding Generations to the worlds end To him that hath that is that shews that he hath that declares that he hath that improves and imploys that which he hath namely that which is given originally to him by way of stock from the Spirit of God to him that thus hath shall be given namely by way of addition he shall have more abundantly he shall still be going on and be having and having and having he shall have and have still At last he shall have abundance he shall have a full and glorious estate in Spiritual riches in wisdom in knowledge in understanding in Faith in humility in love in zeal in temperance in patience and whatever else is necessary to enrich the soul of a man and to prepare him and put him into a capacity of the richest and highest glory So that we see this is a clear and declared method by which the Holy Ghost will proceed with men and women in his communications of himself unto them And though their be nothing in the creature to invite and move him in this kind yet nevertheless there is his own wisdom his own righteousuess and goodness by which he made this Law and imposed it upon himself these are sacred ingagements upon him to do all that he doth in the case we speak of And doubtless there was abundance of reason which did induce him to it whereof though we be not so capable for his Counsels are very deep yet something in the business may with good probability be conceived by us But for the thing it self he it seems will do it as constantly as universally at least in his ordinary dispensations as if it were the greatest injustice in him and most inconsistent with the rectitude and purity of his nature not to do it It may be here objected Sect. 11 and said that the Holy Ghost doth not observe any such Law or Rule in his actings or workings in men as now you ascribe unto him or at least tell us that he hath prescribed unto himself For doth he not sometimes come upon such men that have been formerly prophane vain and sinful above measure Doth he not sometimes come upon such men after some such manner as he came upon the A postles at the time of Pentecost like a mighty rushing wind I mean with an high hand of power and conviction and so in short time works the great work of Conversion and Repentance in them Was not Paul a stiff-necked Pharisee and Blasphemer a Persecutor of the Gospel and of the Saints all his daies before Yea as himself saith the chiefest of sinners And did not the Spirit of God come upon him as a whirlwind with a strong and high hand in an irresistible and miraculous manner to effect his Conversion To this I answer First That when with the Holy Ghost himself we say that unto him that hath shall be given and interpret this to be meant of the Holy Ghost advancing his presence and operations in men even as they hearken unto him and respectively comport with him in his preventing and lower motions And so again on the other hand
foreseen such a case or cases wherein a suspension of a just and good Law could be necessary it would not have been their wisdom nor for the interest of the people to make mention of it in their Law but to leave the regulation of such cases to that supreme Law we speak of In like manner when the Holy Ghost cometh in unto or falls upon any person man or woman on the sudden when they have been formerly and untill then vain loose and prophane it is upon some special and weighty occasion and of high importance for the benefit of the generallity of men not so much for the benefit of any single or particular person no but for matter of greater consequence and more comprehensive than the good or benefit of any one I say when ever God varies from a general Rule it is alwaies in order to the benefit and relief of the communities of men as for example for the preserving and keeping alive in the judgments and consciences of men some great principle of truth one or other which was ready to dye and so be lost in those parts of the world where his providence so acted Now to preserve and keep such a principle alive in the souls and consciences of men if God shall appear in an extraordinary manner or the Holy Ghost work out of course it is a sign that it was not likely to be preserved by any other means or however not by any means so proper or so well consistent with the wisdom of God as this For that is to be minded when there is any ordinary way or means to accomplish any end as to instance in our present case to preserve and keep alive any great truth then and in such cases God never betaketh himself to that which is extraordinary But as to the business in hand an instance may be in the Apostle Paul his Case he giveth this account of Gods going out of his ordinary way of Grace in bringing him unto himself viz. That it was for the benefit of men yea of such men who were not like to be wrought upon otherwise For this cause saith he I obtained mercy not so much for mine own sake principally but that in me Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should afterward believe on him to eternal life 1 Tim. 1.16 As if he should have said God in vouchsafing that extraordinary grace to me in my conversion in bringing me to the knowledge of Christ did not look so much on my salvation nor upon the great benefit that I should receive from it but was pleased to pitch upon me that he might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should afterwards believe he speaks here of his own Countrymen the Jews that were called or to be called to believe on Christ And because God would give an advantage unto them for their believing being a stubborn and stiff-necked Generation a people that had desperately rebelled against the Gospel he was pleased to set this Apostle as a Pattern for them that when they had such a Pattern before them they might conceive thus with themselves There was a man every whit as wicked as we as unworthy as great an enemy to Christ and the Gospel as we yet he was called and with a high hand of acceptation received therefore doubtless we may trust in him and expect that if we will subject to him and come in and accept of mercy we shall be received into grace and favour also So now if there can be any such instance produced in our daies or in the places where we have conversed viz. That any extraordinary thing hath been done for men in a way of a real and through repentance and conversion for a seeming repentance and conversion may be in many where true repentance is seldom wrought but if I say there can be the truth and reality of any such unusual work of the Holy Ghost demonstrated doubtless there was or is some great principle one or other some important truth in a declining condition in those parts and places where any such extraordinary power of God and of his Spirit doth appear and it is to keep alive and in power and authority such a Doctrine As for instance it may be the free grace and mercy of God and that readiness in him to entertain and receive Sinners when-ever they shall return unto him this great truth I say may be so weakened in the judgments and minds of men that it may need more than an ordinary confirmation And so that men have no cause to be jealous of their former courses as if these having been so wretched and vile they might repent and yet be cast out from God Again That wicked men have as much right unto as much to do if not more with the Promises of the Gospel as Believers themselves and so that persons that have not been so or so humbled or terrified by the Law may as lawfully yea and as truly believe as those that have been in the greatest terrours of Conscience by means of it Now for the relieving and reviving of such Evangelical Principles and Conclusions as these and the like in the hearts and Consciences of men there may possibly be some extraordinary working of the Holy Ghost in and about the conversion of some man or some few Fourthly Sect. 15 When God beginneth or first entreth upon a new kind of Dispensation or series of Providence or Administrations in the world the first instance or example of such a kind of dispensation is not to be indeed in some particular Cases cannot be regulated by such Laws unto which the subsequent practice of the same Administrations are to be governed afterwards I say the first Dispensation in any kind cannot be a reasonable or perfect measure by which all other after Administrations are to be measured Men of reason and learning have delivered this for a Maxime Primum in unoquoque genere est excipiendum That the first of every kind of things is to be excepted meaning from the Common Law of the rest So that in this case God doth go along with men in their own manner of proceedings To make the observation clear When God gave being to the first man Adam intending by him the propagation of great numbers of men he did not observe the decrees or Laws of nature or natural production which he doth in giving life and being to other men So when he began that Church the members of which were afterwards numerous even the whole Nation of the Jews he appeared unto and called Abraham in somewhat an extraordinary manner This was the first beginning the head of that kind of dispensation in the world For God had not a peculiar Church raised out of any stock or generation in the world before it was to him the beginning of Churches No marvel then that he should begin this Church after another manner and in a method somewhat
varying from that which he took in after Ages for the propagating of the members of it Yea or of such of the members of it who in Faith and holiness resembled Abraham their head So likewise when God began to take unto himself a Church of the Gentiles he proceeded we know in sundry particulars in somewhat an extraordinary manner which we shall not at present stand to mention We may yet take another instance When God set on foot that great Ordinance of Circumcision the Command was that Abraham being now ninety nine years old should be circumcized whereas the common and standing Law for the administration of this Ordinance afterwards was that the Male-child was to be circumcized at eight days old So likewise in case of Baptism in the beginning of this ministration there was one called to this imployment in an extraordinary manner and who himself had not been baptized but none of the after Dispensations of this Ordinance was to be performed or practised upon such terms either in the one respect or the other So then Paul being the first Founder under Christ and great Father of the Gentile Churches 1 Cor. 4.15 as Abraham was though in somewhat another sense of the Church of the Jews and being intended by God as we lately heard for a Pattern of believing unto the unbelieving Jews it is agreeable to the general Rule concerning beginnings and beginners of Administrations formerly mentioned that there should be somewhat more than ordinary in his conversion Fifthly But then in the next place though God Sect. 16 for the most part in laying the foundation of a new Administration doth not proceed or go by such a Law by which he doth intend to carry on the course of this Administration in the future practices of it yet he doth not wholly vary from nor altogether decline those general Rules by which he intends to carry on the same dispensation afterwards Though it be true that Paul said of himself that he was the chiefest of sinners yet notwithstanding this saith he I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief Therefore there was something in Paul though far from any thing that did ballance in value or consideration the extraordinary mercy vouchsafed unto him yet something I say there was there was a certain negative frame of heart as we may call it in him and that during all the time of his wickedness which God did take notice of as comparatively good and had it not been found in him the grace which he so much magnifies had not been vouchsafed to him For if therefore he was received to mercy because though he did thus and thus wickedly and unworthily yet he did it ignorantly and in unbelief that is not knowing not believing the Gospel to be from God nor those to be his servants whom he persecuted he did it upon lightning and easing Circumstances which took off much of the guilt and provocations of it in the eyes of God If this was the reason why he received mercy or at least that without which he had not received mercy it followeth clearly that had he done these things with knowledge and against the light of his judgment and conscience or believing the things of the Gospel to have been true certainly he had never seen that great salvation of God but had been excluded from it with the rest of the wicked of the world So he had another strain which God was much delighted in which was to be zealous for him and in his cause according to the real perswasion of his soul and conscience and therefore saith he God who counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry 1 Tim. 1.12 And thus we see that even in Pauls Conversion it self which was objected to infringe the credit and disparage the truth of that which from the Scriptures we shewed to be the general standing Law or Rule by which the Holy Ghost walks towards men in all things wherein he hath to do with them as in his fluxes and refluxes in his advances and in his retreats c. We may see I say in the case of Pauls Conversion as it hath been briefly and in some particulars only presented that when he doth upon some extraordinary occasions recede from the said Rule yet he keeps as close and near to it as conveniently he may he walks as it were within sight of it For though Paul had been a grievous sinner and blasphemer as we heard yet he had not debauched his conscience nor offered any indignity or affront to this great Vicegerent of God within him For as himself afterwards when he was not like to speak an untruth being now filled with the Spirit of Christ professed He verily thought with himself that he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth Acts 26.9 And that as touching the righteousness of the Law he was blameless Phil. 3.6 That he was zealous towards God Acts 22 3. And for his great sins of persecuting and blaspheming these were committed by him not only ignorantly that is without his knowing them to be sins but out of ignorance that is upon such terms of an ingenuity of conscience that had he but known them to be sins he would not have committed them For he that is zealous towards God as Paul was as we lately heard cannot but upon knowledge and conviction that any of his waies are hateful unto God presently hate and abandon them Now such things as these being in Paul before his Conversion though I am not willing to say because I am not confident in believing it that they did reduce him into the number of those who in our Saviours Rule all this while discoursed are said to have in the sense formerly declared to whom it is promised that more shall be given and that they shall have abundantly yet doubtless they were both of them of such an import in themselves and of such an interpretation with God as to place him in a very near neighbourhood unto them So that if it must be granted that God or the Spirit of God did not in Pauls Conversion act by that Rule which we affirmed to be his odinary or standing Rule observed by him in his actings yet certainly he did herein act by such a rule which holds good correspondence therewith and is of near affinity with it However By what hath been formerly argued and said you may see clearly that it is no derogation from the truth or from the authority of a general rule that there are some instances now and then that do digress and vary from it The credit and authority of the Law or Rule under present consideration is not impaired nor at all shaken thereby because in such Cases there is another Rule and Law of grace though this be a Law of grace too yet there is a Law of superiour grace and of more transcendent goodness which doth over-rule the common and standing Law which God hath thought fit
watch their opportunity and sooner or later will break out and shew themselves in the world Or if they should not break out into action yet they will greatly incumber and break the very heart and cut the sinews of the motions and excitations of the Spirit of God in men The motions of the Spirit of God where these inmates are hardly thrive or come to any maturity but will be as the untimely fruit of a woman which never comes to see the Sun There are some actions so necessary to be atchieved for the honour of Christ that this is like to suffer much unless they be performed And these are of such a contrariety to the flesh that unless men be filled with the Spirit of God the flesh will never give way for the performance of them because they have such a desperate antipathy to it and to the works thereof But when a man is full of the Holy Ghost he is now so full of the sense of the goodness of those honourable purposes that are conceived in his soul and of all high atchievements in the service of God which he judgeth will be both for the glory of God the advancement of the Gospel and for the good of mankind as also for his own peace and comfort that there is no place left within him for the flesh to suggest any thing to the contrary either to take him him off from or to retard him in the prosecution thereof He is as full of such occasions and ingagements as these as ever he can hold which keep out the motions and insinuations of the flesh Whereas if there were room for them to interpose it is a thousand to one but they would strangle or stifle all good purposes and resolutions within him You may the better understand what it is to be filled with the Spirit of God Sect. 2 in reference to the matter in hand by considering the contrary namely what it is to be filled with an evil spirit Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle to Annanias Acts 5.3 The Apostle supposes that Satan had filled his heart upon this ground because he had reason and grounds in abundance to speak the truth in as much as he saw and knew that Peter was indued with a miraculous and extraordinary presence of the Spirit of God whereby he could discern whether he spake the truth or not but Satan had filled his heart with foolish imaginations and vain conceits about the profit or benefit that he presumed would accrue unto him by his lye that there was no room for the consideration of those grounds and reasons as were before him to speak the truth though these were pregnant and near at hand So on the contrary when a man is so full of the consideration of the high services of God and of purposes and resolutions to quit himself worthily therein that there is no place left in his soul to encertain any contrary thoughts or suggestions that might insnare him and turn him aside now is he full of the Spirit and in a meet frame and posture to lift up his heart and his hands to the great and high Commandments of Jesus Christ It is said Acts 4 8. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them ye Rulers of the people and Elders of Israel c And Acts 13.9 10. Then Paul filled with the Holy Ghost sit his eyes on him viz. Elimas the Sorcerer and said O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right waies of the Lord The reason why here is mention made of the Apostles being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was ingaged in such a notable service for Jesus Christ as to reprove a man of that great authority and esteem which Elimas was of amongst them the reason hereof I say was to shew that he was not like to have performed such a work as this had he not been so full of the Spirit of God that there was no room in his heart for any fearful apprehensions nor thoughts of danger or reward to obstruct him herein So elsewhere the Apostle in a Phrase a little differing saith Behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem Acts 20.22 To be bound in the Spirit is upon the matter to be filled with the Spirit As a man that is bound hand and foot may be ordered any way he can make no resistance any man may carry him whither he will So saith Paul I go bound in the Spirit or by means of the Spirit He hath brought me into these bonds having filled me with satisfaction touching the excellency of the service that I shall do unto Christ by going to Jerusalem in the face of all those great Enemies I shall there meet with Yet saith he notwithstanding any danger that may befall me I go bound in the Spirit so filled with what the Spirit hath put into my judgment and conscience and soul touching the acceptableness of the service that I can give no audience to any reasons or proposals against it I cannot resist the motion carrying me to it And 2 Cor. 5.13 The same Apostle speaks of being besides themselves For whether we be besides our selves it is unto God or whether we be sober it is for your cause For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Constraineth us namely to both kinds of practices those wherein they should seem unto many to be besides themselves and those also wherein they should seem to be sober wherein he supposeth that there are many turns wherein the honour of Jesus Christ cannot be provided for as it ought but some men must act like unto men besides themselves to make the provision And of all kind of actions and services these are the highest and most spiritual and of the greatest consequence unto the interest of Jesus Christ and his affairs And the truth is that setting a very few persons aside that are more spiritually wise than the common sort of men yea of Christians themselves there are not sufficient witnesses of the worthiness of such actions but Jesus Christ himself because the grounds and reasons by which such actions must be promoted are so high and have so much of God in them that persons of an ordinary understanding have no skill of them they cannot cast it or conceive in their minds but that such a man might have done better might have been wiser and might have kept a good conscience though he had not run such an hazard and exposed himself to such or such a trouble or loss c. Sect. 3 Now it is only the Holy Ghost that can enable men to do that can inlarge their hearts unto such actions and services as those wherein they shall be looked upon as men besides themselves And when the Holy Ghost shall come and fill the heart and display the worthiness and glory of such
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
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 God was wont or likely to confer it Thus when Christ prayed for the Sanctification of his Apostles he prayed not simply that God would sanctifie them but that he would sanctifie them by his truth because he knew that that was Gods standing way and method by which he was wont to sanctifie men So the Apostle here knowing that God would not do that great thing for the Ephesians which he prayed for on their behalf viz. that they might be strengthened with might in their inner man be made glorious in their Faith and believe like Princes but by the interposure of his spirit He frameth his prayer for it accordingly And this is further to be considered that to be strengthened with might in the inner man supposeth that the Spirit of God must advance above his ordinary degree of acting to effect it He must not only act or interpose in men to work it but at such a rate of energy and power which is proportionable to such an effect And that is another Rule to be minded 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 But we have not time to stand upon this So that the Apostle we see plainly supposeth this that there is no strengthening with might in the inner man which in plain English is that there is no believing at any high rate but by the interposure of the Spirit yea and of such an interposure wherein he must give out himself at another manner of rate than it is requisite that he should do in making men simply to believe Secondly Sect. 9 Concerning the second particular which was when this Faith doth triumph in the soul when a man is full of the glory and power of it to give an adaequate and Commensurable account of it to shew men this Faith in its just magnitude by works and not simply so but by such a Systeme of works such a constant tenour of Conversation which according to the interpretation of a man comparing Causes with effects it may be rationally said that such a series of actions such a strain of life and conversation cannot proceed from cannot call any other Faith or Belief Father or Mother but only such a Faith which lifts up its head unto the Heavens For unless such a thing as this be done we shall not fill up the deep pit of the poverty of the World nor repair the sad breaches which ignorance security and unbelief have made upon the safety of it For this is the case of the World as before was signified it is very low the vanity sloathfulness and folly of it have brought it to a morsel of bread Now as when the visive faculty or sight is dim or any waies maimed or weak the object had need be very visible or to have many degrees of visibility or lightsomness in it to produce or cause an Act of Sensation In like manner the capacity and principle in the World whereby it is in any degree apprehensive or sensible of the things of its own recovery welfare and peace being depressed scant and low they who desire to work effectually upon it and make it serviceable unto the World notwithstanding must present it with such things which are very notorious and next to miraculous in their awakening effecting and restoring property Or as when the stone or wood is hard or very resistive against the incission or impression that is desired to be made upon it the Tool or Instrument used for this purpose had need be sharp and keen So the temper of the World being very obdurate and stubborn against such impressions that are like to benefit and accommodate them in their miserable condition that which is any waies probable or hopeful to work a cure upon them or to bring them to an effectual and lively remembrance of themselves must have so much the more of the Spirit and of the life of the vigour and power of Faith in it Therefore if mens waies and works shall be but low and ordinary and but level with those of the common sort of men in the World yea if they shall not be much above them and magnifie themselves beyond them though it were supposed that the Faith of the persons we speak of were very Royal and Prince-like yet will they not come at the World nor reach the obdurate Consciences and besotted Judgments of men by the mediation or interposure of such works and waies The Faith which is in men though it be of never so large a growth and stature yet will it not reach the sore and sad malady of the World but only by an outstretched arm of Works For let me say this though haply the thing may seem otherwise unto you that a mans works do not alwaies hold out weight and measure with his Faith nor are the greatest Believers alwaies the greatest Doers A full fountain indeed alwaies sends forth a stream of water answerable to the fulness of it But this is because a fountain is a natural cause and so alwaies gives out it self to the uttermost of its power whereas a Believer being a voluntary Agent may moderate and temper himself as he pleaseth in the exercise of those principles out of which he acteth Hence it cometh to pass that some men though they be large in believing yet are they strait in giving testimony to their own Faith We know many have the gift of wisdom who have not the gift of utterance many that are very excellent in wisdom and deep in understanding yet they are flow of utterance and so under a great disadvantage to get forth their wisdom so many having an excellent and a glorious work of Faith yet may they suffer through an ineptitude or backwardness of spirit to assert that high degree of Faith by Works proportionable thereunto or any waies competent to evince what manner of Faith it is that reigneth The frequent and fervent exhortations unto good works and fruitfulness in well-doing given by the Lord Christ himself and by his Apostles unto Believers sufficiently prove that the Faith of men doth not necessarily or alwaies give out its strength in good works For what need he to press and importune men to such things which they cannot refrain or forbear whether they be perswaded or pressed unto them or no Yea perswasions and exhortations are most proper if not only proper where there is some degree at least of a backwardness or indisposition unto the things exhorted or perswaded unto in those who are perswaded and exhorted unto them When the Apostle Paul writeth thus to Titus Tit. 3.14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the spirit but only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by or through the Word of the living God And elsewhere Jam. 1.18 God is said to have begotten us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with or through the Word of truth The Preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So the Angel to Joseph concerning Mary Mat. 1.20 That which is begotten in her is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
change upon experience turns to no account at all unto him in this kind But 3. And lastly his faulting of the Translation in the particular under debate doth not at all commend his skill in the Original or his acquaintance with the frequent use and signification of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from whence the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is derived For this word almost constantly at least very frequently signifies to comfort sometimes to exhort which is of near affinity with the other but never at least to my present remembrance to plead a cause or to perform the part of an Advocate It is said of Rachel mourning for her children that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã she would not be comforted Mat. 2.18 to translate it she would not be Advocated would be uncouth and next to ridiculous So our Saviour Mat. 5.4 speaking of those that mourn pronounceth them blessed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because they shall be comforted not because they shall be Advocated And to pass by other instances without number the Verb ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Verbal ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are no less than six times within the compass of three Verses and four times in one verse used by the Apostle Paul in the sense of comforting 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of all comfort ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who comforteth us in all our tribulation so that we are able or that we may be able ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to comfort those in tribulation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by or through the comfort ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wherewith we are comforted by God because as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so through Christ our ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã consolation aboundeth It is thrice more used in the same signification in the verse immediately following and once again in the verse after that so that there is no ground or just occasion to quarrel with the Translation we have of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor any thing gained to the cause of our Adversaries by the change But 2. To the main objection I answer Sect. 9 that however Temptations and other Actions proper to the Devil as the catching away the seed sown by filling mens hearts with wicked ness c. which are done in the World in a thousand different or distant places at one and the same time are or may be attributed to Satan or the Devil in the singular number yet our Adversaries themselves will confess that all these actions are not done in one and the same instant of time by one and the same Devil but though they may be acted by many subordinate Devils yet according to the Scripture Dialect they are or may be ascribed to him that is the head or chief of the Corporation For that is frequent in the Scriptures to attribute that unto one which is joyntly transacted by many Num. 36.2 5. There was but one of the Fachers of the Children of Gilead that spake unto Moses yet that which this one said is attributed also unto many of them I might spend time in multiplying instances in this kind but they that desire satisfaction in this may receive it abundantly by perusing a few lines in Mr. Ainsworth's Preface before his Notes on Genesis well towards the middle of the said Preface where he hath collected many such passages wherein that is ascribed unto one which yet is done by many Besides the word Devil or Sathan may be understood specifically or if you will generally for the whole species or kind of Devils or indefinitely for Devils be they fewer or more The Scripture likewise admits this construction Gen. 13.7 But we make hast Bat now those actions which are appropriate to the Holy Ghost and are done by him at one and the same time in a thousand different places in the World As the inspiring inhabiting and comforting the Saints c. are not attributed unto him as directing or commissionating other subordinate Angels to assist him in the work or as performing of them partly by them he only owning the name of them Bur saith the Text 1 Cor. 12.4 13. they are performed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i.e. by the self-same one Spirit There are saith he diversity of gifts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but the Spirit is the self-same Now this Spirit in the words immediately preceding he had called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Holy Ghost And ver 13. For we have all been baptized into one body ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã through one Spririt and in the end of the verse have been all made to drink ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And in the Scripture elsewhere he is more particularly expressed and his individuality circumscribed by our Saviour Joh 15.26 and 11.26 who styleth him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from or out of the Father If our Adversaries could find the Devil who as they say performs one and the same Action at one and the same time in a thousand different places in the World to be thus individuated as the Holy Ghost from place to place is and all the particulars of that Action which is supposed to be done at one and the same time in remote places attributed unto one particular Devil so or by any such Characters or expressions distinguished from all other Devils as the Holy Ghost as we have heard is from all other Spirits there had been some colour of an Evasion from the Argument in hand Otherwise they do but like Jannes and Jambres resist the truth as they did by pretended likeness of Moses real Miracles And as those Sorceries and counterfeit Miracles which Jannes and Jambres wrought being the same in appearance to the true Miracles wrought by Moses prevailed over Pharaoh and the Aegyptians to the hardening of their hearts against God and this to their own destruction and ruine in the end So it is much to be feared that by such likenesses and Colours by which men do resist the Truth setting fair glosses upon foul faces that this will harden the hearts of men and entangle and corrupt their Judgments and God grant that it be not to their own destruction But we must hasten because the blasphemy of that error which we now oppose and which most presumptuously daringly and desperately in the face of God Angels and men strikes off the Crown of increated glory from the head of the Holy Ghost God blessed for ever hath been heretofore broken to pieces stamped and ground to powder by the learning zeal and faithfulness of many famous lights burning and shining in the Church of God of old and by some of latter times and particularly by a late Treatise published in the English Tongue by way of Answer to those twelve Arguments levied by him who hath of late revived the said Error 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
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
that kind of causes which Logicians call Causa sinè quâ non the cause without which the effect is not cannot be produced which because it contributeth little or nothing at all to the effect unless it be its bare presence therefore they call it Causa fatua the foolish cause or the fools cause I suppose for this reason because none but weak and simple Persons will insist upon this kind of cause in reasoning about effects and the Causes and Reasons of them viz. if a Question were moved Why such a man runs so swiftly He that should answer Because his head stands on his shoulders or because his heart is in his body or the like should shew himself very weak because though these be causes Sinè quibus non such causes as without which the effect of running would not or could not be performed A man could not run unless his head stood on his shoulders yet his head standing on his shoulders contributes nothing unless it be in a very remote and inconsiderable manner towards it and besides takes place in many in whom no such effect as swiftness of runing is to be found If a man should ask the reason why the Waters of the red Sea were divided when time was and stood upon heaps like a Wall on the right hand and on the left hand of the Children of Israel as they passed through He that shall say this was the reason or cause of it Moses smote these waters with the Rod in his hand should quit himself very weakly in so saying though it be probable that without this without Moses his so smiting them they would not have been so divided There is the like consideration of the falling down of the Walls of Jericho upon the Israelites compassing them about seven daies and blowing with Trumpets made of Rams horns of Naaman's cleansing from his Leprosie by washing seven times in Jordan This is an Essential or distinguishing property or Character of Sacramental causes that though there be very little or nothing in them I mean in that which is litteral natural and external in them any waies apt or likely to produce their effects as there is in natural causes to produce theirs yet notwithstanding they produce their effects most vigorously most powerfully and with an high hand The reason is because the power of God is pleased to interpose and mingle it self with these more constantly and with a higher advance for the most part than with natural causes The reason of this good pleasure of his probably may be not because Sacraments or Sacramental causes are more appropriate and peculiar Institutions or Ordinances of his than Nature or natural Causes are But because they are weak and of no strength in themselves to do that which they have to do Upon this account as he hath taught men by the light of Nature in ordering the habit of their bodies Upon their uncomely parts to put more comeliness according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the power might i.e. might clearly appear to be of God and not of us So because Sacraments and Sacramental Causes are in themselves weak and without honour in respect of what Natural Causes have therefore God honours them so much the more abundantly with his strength and presence in them Sed hoc obiter Now to draw the substance of this Discourse close to the business in hand when we teach that men by hearkening unto the Counsel of God and doing that which he hath commanded in order to the obtaining of such a blessedness as a being filled with his Spirit may obtain it we neither make the Spirit obnoxious unto men but unto himself and unto his own good pleasure Nor do we attribute any thing more unto those Actions or Endeavours of men by which they obtain a being filled with him than a kind of Sacramental Efficacy and this depending only upon the gracious will and good pleasure of God God having instituted such and such means in order to this blessed end upon occasion hereof he standeth engaged to his truth and faithfulness in giving out his abundance of Grace Fifthly and lastly When we do affirm that the Spirit and so a fulness with him is attainable by men in the use of means as we do exclude all things by way of merit and likewise all such endeavours in this kind which are originally in men themselves So we do suppose that without the Spirit that is without a being prevented and without some measure of the Spirit already given no man is able to put forth his hand unto any of those works or actions whereby this same filling with the Spirit is to be obtained So that if we search the spring of these actions and waies of men whereby we affirm that the Spirit may be attained we do not find the Root in man but in something that is Extrinsical For though it be in a man yet is it not of the heart and soul of a man co-substantial with it but the root of these actions by which men are capable of filling themselves with the Spirit of God is not in themselves nor in their nature but it is in an External Agent who is God or rather indeed the Spirit of God himself as we shall shew you in the traversing of this great business For it is likely we shall have occasion to dive into that Question Whether all the men and women in the World are not prevented according to the general course of the Providence of God in governing of the World and setting forth men and women upon the Theatre of the Earth Whether they be not all prevented without asking or without any means used with so much of the Spirit of God and with such a presence of his as that thereby they are enabled to have more of him and to be filled more with him Having thus with as much brevity and plainness Sect. 5 as through the grace of God we were able to do removed that stumbling stone as we called it out of the way A conceit incident as we conceived unto some that there is no possibility for men or women to be filled with the Spirit of God by any course they can take by any means they can use We proceed now to enquire into the Scriptures what course it is that men ought to take to possess themselves of such a blessedness as a being filled with the Spirit of God imports yea and which they must take if ever they desire to be made great in the sight of God or men by being filled with the Spirit of God The first thing to be done by us in order to a being filled with the Spirit it being supposed we are clear and thoroughly satisfied about the possibility of the thing for otherwise this Corner-stone were to be laid for the building but this I say supposed the first thing to be done in direct order to a being filled with the
Spirit is in the Apostle's words in a like case 1 Cor. 12.31 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. zealously to cover or desire it to have a man's soul break within him as David's expression is with a longing desire after it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we translate the best gifts the better gifts saith the Original the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã translated covet earnestly signifieth to desire with a zeal or emulation i. e. to desire after such a manner or upon such terms that we resolve that nothing shall interpose as far as we are able to prevent and hinder it between our desire and the thing desired viz. so as to bereave our desires of their object or cause them to cease from it Now evident it is that the Apostle in the place now cited prescribeth this same ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This earnest or zealous coveting after the better gifts in order to the obtaining of them at the hand of God otherwise To what end or purpose should he enjoyn such a thing It is not to be imagined that he should exhort them zealously to covet such things which were not possible for them to obtain and enjoy No nor yet such things the enjoyment whereof were not to be obtained or procured by such their earnest coveting Now if this earnest or zealous coveting of those gifts of the Spirit which the Apostle there means and of which he had particularly spoken immediately before were a means either in whole or in part to attain them doubtless the same course the like zealous coveting is a proper means also though not an adequate or compleat means for the obtaining of such a fulness of the Spirit of which we speak For if God be enclined to hearken unto to accommodate the earnest desires of men when they are lifted up unto such objects such things that are of a perishing nature be they never so well used or managed for of this kind were those gifts of the Spirit of which the Apostle speaks in the place mentioned as himself also expresly testifieth and confesseth 1 Cor. 13.8 And consequently are of affinity with the outward perishable things of this World as Silver Gold Meats Drinks c. if then I say God were so far indulgent or respectful to the zealous desires of men after the transient gifts of the Spirit such whereof Persons who did not truly love God were capable that he was very propense to gratifie them much more have we reason to judge that he will look towards such desires of men especially if they be raised to any fervency or height when they are bent upon such a filling with the Spirit that will commend them in his sight and which being maintained and persevered in will make them great in the Kingdom of Heaven for ever Our Saviour speaking of things of a transient nature in reference to mens seeking of things that are permanent and enduring expresly informs the world that if men shall be diligent in seeking these latter those other shall collaterally and as it were on the by be cast upon them Mat. 6.33 First seek the Kingdom of God c. Indeed men and women generally go so to work as if the tenour of our Saviours Counsel ran counter and was quite contrary to what now it is That in case men would seek in the first place the things of this World and the conveniences thereof what they should eat or what they should drink or wherewith they should be cloathed that then all things appertaining to the Kingdom of God should be cast in unto them For there is an high seeking after these things almost on every hand as if God were so far from casting them in unto men upon the account our Saviour speaks of that men must deny themselves in the things of God and of their eternal peace to lay out themselves whole and entire with all their might and all their strength for the wresting of them out of his hand But whatsoever men think or do in this kind the word of the faithful Witness of Heaven remaineth firm and stedfast nor hath God made the least tittle or iota of any promise or overture of casting in spiritual things unto men upon their desires or endeavours after outward things but ever and anon labours to reduce men to sobriety and moderation in both these that so they may be found in a better capacity to receive spiritual things from him If you ask me Sect. 6 But what may be the reason that God should so graciously and highly esteem the zealous desires or covetings of men after spiritual things above the like desires in them after earthly things Or why considering that both kinds of things are good and from himself yet zealous covetings after the former take his heart and soul the like after these are an offence unto him and separate between him and his Creature To this I reply first Negatively the reason is not precisely because the former desires are commanded by him I mean zealous desires after spiritual things and the latter not commanded but forbidden The commanding of the former by God in conjunction with a prohibition of the latter is sufficient proof that he doth indeed accept the one and not the other but it is not the reason at least not the Adequate nor the principal reason why he doth so accept them A man may do that which is commanded by God and yet have little thank for his labour for doing it viz. when he knoweth not that it is commanded by him A stumbling as it were at unawares upon the Letter of commands is of no great acceptance with God which yet it would and must be if it were simply the Command of God that rendered an Act done according to the tenour of the Letter of it acceptable unto him Again some things commanded by God may accidentally fall in with mens carnal ends and desires and upon such an account as this they may do them As Children that have rich Parents from whom they expect great matters at their death or otherwise in the mean time to accommodate their hopes and expectations in this kind they may honour and obey them many the like cases might be readily put But now that which Children do in such cases though it be commanded at least in the Letter by God yet this renders it of a very slender acceptation with him Therefore most certain it is that the primary reason at least why any mans doing the Command of God is accepted with him is not this because he doth that which God hath commanded for then in what case soever men should do that which God hath commanded there would be acceptance which we have shewed is not true Therefore Secondly in the Affirmative the true reason or reasons for they are rather two than one why mens zealous desires after spiritual things and especially after a being filled with the Spirit are of such a high and soveraign acceptation with God as hath
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
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
generality of the Saints will enjoy besides that of being filled with the Spirit of God and being drawn out accordingly into waies and works of excellency and well-doing unless it be by suffering Persecution for the Gospels sake although it might be doubted too whether some good degree of being filled with the Spirit be not requisite even to put men into this capacity also For they who have not some competent anointing in this kind will hardly hold out in suffering That which maketh men constant and persevering under temptations and great tribulations to the end is a certain hope and expectation of a great recompense of reward from God as the Scriptures witness in many places which we shall not now insist upon Now such a hope which will make a man stand upright under great Afflictions cannot be raised and gotten up into the soul but by the reflection of a mans Conscience upon him and witnessing unto him that he hath walked in waies of a worthy life and excellent deportment in the World if then there shall be no place for such things as these in the soul without a being filled with the Spirit of God which hath been formerly and largely proved then evident it is that neither men nor women are likely to be capable of that best Resurrection and consequently not of the best Eternity upon one account or other without being filled with the Spirit of God But be it granted or supposed that men may be able deeply to be baptized into suffering for righteousness sake and so become capable of a greater reward in Heaven as our Saviour speaketh without being filled with the Spirit of God Yet as I was saying unto you this method or way to obtain an eternal greatness is more uncertain as to any particular person one or other and less within his liberty or power than by an abundant fruitfulness in well-doing which as hath been shewed will not be found in any man without a being filled with the Spirit nor any man found to be filled with the Spirit without that For to be called forth and strengthened by God to suffer for Christ's or the Gospels sake is matter of peculiar Grace and gift from God and so not in the power of any man himself to chuse according to that of the Apostle to the Philippians Phil. 1.29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake This Argumentative Particle also clearly implieth that to suffer for Christ's sake is not so generally granted unto men as to believe on him is I mean is not granted unto all those unto whom it is granted to believe By suffering in this place I suppose is meant a suffering deeply and to a more than ordinary degree Nor is that of the same Apostle 2 Tim. 3.12 contrary hereunto Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution i. e. shall be obnoxious and liable to suffer persecution or to some degree or other actually suffer So then there being no way at least no way of certainty to heap up these Treasures in Heaven to lift up your heads on high and that to Eternity amongst those that shall be partakers of the same glory with you to enlarge your capacities respectively for blessedness and glory but by being filled with the Spirit ââis must needs highly commend such a qualification or priviledge ãâã this unto you and cause your hearts to burn in longing desires âââer it The two Sons of Zebedeus James and John made this reââest unto Christ that the one of them might sit at the right hand c. Mar. 10.35 that they might be next unto him in greatness and in glory The motion our Saviour seemeth to have distasted as in considerately made and accordingly gave the makers of it this check You know not what you ask meaning that they did not understand nor consider how great and excellent how transcendent above measure the matter or priviledge was which they desired nor yet considered upon what terms and on what kind of persons according to the righteous purpose and intent of God it was to be conferred It is not mine to give but to those or those only for whom it is prepared But now though he checked them in respect of their inconsiderateness in making the motion because they understood not what they asked nor knew upon what terms they asked it for they asked it upon the account of favour and partiality in God because related unto him as Friends and Followers Yet otherwise he doth not blame them simply for desiring it but for desiring it after such a manner viz. carnally But when he saith ver 40. it is for them for whom it is prepared He doth imply that it is not for two persons only but for such persons that are so and so qualified As if Christ should have said this on purpose to draw and wind up the hearts of his Creatures men and women to waies of excellent righteousness and holiness There shall be some places of glory higher than other and they whose hearts will serve them to come up to my Fathers terms and quit themselves like men in what he expects from them in righteousness faithfulness and holiness these shall be the persons He doth not blame them simply for desiring these high accommodations in heaven but rather enciteth and encourageth them to quit themselves at such a rate of worth and excellency whilst they lived that they might be found those persons indeed for whom they were prepared and so be invested with them My Brethren the right hand and the left hand of Jesus Christ in his Kingdom of all desirable things they are most desirable The Ministration of the Law the Apostle plainly informeth us was glorious and yet affirms withal the Ministration of the Gospel to be much more glorious Yea though the former Ministration of the Law in simple consideration be glorious yet comparatively it was not glorious So my Brethren we might very well have some such kind of notion that all Believers are blessed all are glorious yet nevertheless in respect of those that shall be superabundantly blessed and glorious the others glory shall be but little in comparison There is one glory of the Sun and another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars and these differ one from another in glory even so shall it be in respect of the glory of the Saints Now Who is there but would be willing especially by waies that be honourable and worthy and withal are not difficult to better his estate and condition in the World that now is though what improvement soever he shall make in this kind he is not like to enjoy but for a short season here being no enduring substance Suppose he be in a competent way of subsistence at present as suppose he be worth a hundred pounds or two or three per Annum if there were a way opened to
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
the Spirit of God was in men before they believed for otherwise they neither could or would ever have believed yea and a long time before they believed otherwise there would have been no workings of Conscience or movings unto things either morally or spiritually good When men are prevailed with by him to believe he advanceth his presence in their souls and now moveth them to things Actions and waies of a more worthy and blessed consequence and import and of a nearer and stronger Connexion with their supreme good and happiness as to love God with all their hearts with all their souls to embrace waies of Excellency waies of Righteousness and true Holiness to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh c. By the way When I say that the Spirit of God moveth the hearts of men when they believe I do not say or suppose withal that Believers alwaies are prevailed with by these movings of the Spirit to do the things or effectually to consent to the doing of the things whereunto they are thus moved For though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert or put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth and we have heretofore I remember upon occasion shewed and proved unto you that the Spirit of God is not pleased to work either compulsively or necessitatingly upon the hearts and wills of men but only so as to leave them at liberty at least a possibility of going their own way contrary to that whereunto he moveth To plead that God is Omnipotent and from hence to conclude that therefore he should not fail of any or all things which he intendeth to do it clearly sheweth that men do not understand the true nature of God For though God be Omnipotent yet God useth his Omnipotency according to Rules of Wisdom and Counsel Now therefore he putteth forth his Omnipotency only in putting men into a capacity of doing such things upon which he will reward them which capacity would be utterly destroyed in case men should be necessitated to do any thing pleasing unto God Only this by the way Now this is one thing why the Spirit of God is not an under Agent because that men covld never have called for nor sought for his assistance did not the Spirit first move them thereunto Therefore hence it is evident that he is the principal Agent and yet this notwithstanding he may truly and properly be said to be drawn into our assistance by us Secondly This is by God himself Enacted and established for a Law between his Spirit and his Saints That when they having any spiritual Work services or Exercise to perform shall apply themselves unto the Spirit now at hand and dwelling in them after such a manner and upon such terms as we shall presently declare unto you If they shall seek for his help and assistance herein that then he will aid and assist accordingly he will not deny them but will condescend graciously unto them and assist them Now by the knowledge and consideration of this Law and confidence that there will be no failing on the Spirits part all which too are preventing wise wrought in men by the Spirit they are encouraged to make their recourse unto him and to depend upon him for his assistance at all times of need In this case the application of the Creature to the Spirit of God being submissive and obediential and not authoritative there is no reason or ground to judge or call the Creature the principal Actor or Mover in what is done by the assistance of the Spirit though the Creature may properly enough be said to engage the Spirit to assist in such and such Actions As when David being to encounter with his Enemies calling upon God for his help and his presence with him in the Battle may properly and truly enough be said hereby by his Prayer to engage God to him in his Battel yet it doth not follow from hence that David was the principal chief or first Actor in the Battel Because first It is God that freely maketh that gracious Covenant with David as with other Saints that if they call upon him in time of trouble Psal 50.15 or danger he will hear and deliver Secondly Because that it was God that put it into David's heart and stirred up David's spirit to go and apply himself by Prayer for his help in such a case Thirdly and lastly That which David did in this case to draw in God to his assistance he-did it in subordination to the will and good pleasure of God in that kind who had encouraged him to call upon him in a day of trouble There is a like consideration in Believers engaging the Spirit of God and his aid in all our spiritual occasions works and employments For first the Spirit of God hath made a Law that if we will call upon him upon the Spirit in the time of our need he will be present with us and help us But then secondly Because we are engaged hereunto I mean to call upon him for his assistance by his instigation hereunto Thirdly and lastly All that you do in this kind it is in subjection to his will and pleasure These things being considered it is clear that the Creature Man though he have a power to obtain the Spirit yet he is not principal Actor but the Spirit of God is the principal Agent Thus much for answer to the first Question A second Question was How Sect. 3 and by what means we may engage or prevail with the Holy Ghost to Act with us and to assist us in such occasions of our spiritual Concernments as have been mentioned To this I answer This may and ought to be done by these four means First By disclaiming when we go about any thing any spiritual duty or service our own strength and sufficiency as to the performance of it in an holy and acceptable manner as of our selves without the presence and assistance of God I say when men and women shall present themselves in all their works and services as weak and impotent unless they be endued with strength from on high this is one special strain that doth marvelously comport with the Spirit and that which is in the first place to be done by us if we desire to do any thing if we desire his help and assistance at any time Now to present our selves altogether weak without some such presence and assistance we speak of this is that which will awaken us to do things by the Spirit For the way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves or not to perform any services I say it is not to forbear the doing of things until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us But to go about that which is our duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgment and deep sense of our
to receive the Spirit But on the other hand those who have the knowledge of him they are in a capacity of receiving him upon the most desirable terms and are capable of making use of him as hath been in effect said unto you In the fourth place you must pray unto God Sect. 5 or unto the Spirit of God for Prayer it self is a means which we are to make use of in order to our being filled with the Spirit We do here mention it as a part of that Method which should be observed by him who is engaged in the drawing in of the Spirit in order to a being acted by him Now then if this be agreeable to the Will of God viz. that men should pray for the gift of the Spirit and that in the lowest measure then there is no question to be made but that Prayer is as profitable means to effect it in the highest in the one as well as the other and that there is no more unlawfulness in the one than in other This then in the fourth place by way of direction how you may engage the Spirit and set him on work within you to perform what you are not like to perform by your own strength without such a presence of him to assist in your work The third and last Question was Sect. 6 In case we be able and shall actually engage the Spirit of God to assist us how the things done by him or by his assistance can be attributed unto us as the Scriptures frequently do or we be looked upon as the doers of them as we must be if ever we be rewarded for them by God To this Question we gave answer in effect formerly when we opened this unto you namely how notwithstanding men do draw in or engage the Spirit to their assistance in spiritual works and services yet they are not to be looked upon as principal Agents and the Spirit as the subordinate Agent Where we explained unto you the Agency or Efficiency of man in such works in respect of which being truly and really such as the Scriptures every where suppose them to be the said Actions and Services may truly and properly be called ours For whatsoever Action a man doth voluntarily and freely consent unto may properly enough be said to be his especially when the Act of his Will and Consent contributes any thing towards the Action Which is clearly the case in hand for whatsoever a man doth by the Spirit or by his assistance is done not only with or by means of the consent of his Will but by the more active desire and application of the Will unto the Spirit for the doing of it as we have heard yea that which is yet more and entituleth a man more clearly unto such Acts as we speak of is the contriving and studying and plotting how they may and ought to be done by the man who doth them If a man did not consider how and by what means to bring in the Spirit to his assistance the great work we speak of would not be done therefore there is no great difficulty in the question only that is to be remembred as we pass from it that they who make the Creature either meerly Passive in such Works or Services or which little easeth the business willing as we say by or from a necessitation they despoile the Creature of all capacity of being rewarded by God for such services and thus whilst they importunely pretend to be the great Magnifiers of the Grace of God they do indeed and in truth reduce it to a morsel of bread as the Scriptures speak and make nothing of it so that in them the Latine Proverb is fulfilled Stultorum gratia ingrata The grace or favour of inconsiderate persons is unacceptable or such as there is no reason why they should be thanked for it But this only by the way If you ask But why should the imploying of the Spirit of God Sect. 7 in such a manner as you have taught us be a means for a Believer to be filled with the Spirit Or how should it conduce any thing towards such a blessed effect as this is I answer That such an imploying of the Spirit as that we have described unto you is a regular use of that great Gift of the Spirit given unto us by God for the Spirit is given of God unto the Saints for this end and purpose viz. that by him and by his assistance they should do all their works which he commandeth them to do I do not say that it is the sole end but that this is one great and material end why the Holy Ghost is given unto men and why he dwelleth in the Saints 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received saith the Apostle not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God That is for this end amongst others and for others depending upon this that by his help duly sought and obtained by us we might be able to know and rightly to conceive apprehend and understand and likewise firmly to believe the Gospel i. e. the particular things revealed in the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ and the mind and Counsels of God concerning our salvation which things are said to be given or freely given unto us by God beeause they are there exhibited and lie in a readiness for all men to receive and know that are willing to take the course which God hath prescribed unto them for such an end There is the same consideration of other spiritual Actions and Services as these Mortification Prayer c. The Holy Ghost is given for this end and purpose that by his assistance and strength they may be able to perform these things after a worthy manner and with highest acceptation unto God If so then to answer the gracious intentions of God in giving him which is by imploying him as we have heard This must need be a direct and proper means to abound with him to have an anointing more rich and full of his presence For it is a Principle in Reason and Equity that they who make a regular and worthy use of a less proportion of any good thing intrusted with them or bestowed upon them that these should no other circumstance hindering be intrusted with a greater Upon this Foundation are these and the like Sayings in Scripture built Mat. 13.12 for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath So again Luke 16 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much Meaning it is meet that such a person who hath approved himself faithful in a less proportion of any good thing committed unto him should upon the account of his approved faithfulness therein be intrusted with more for God as hath been observed upon the like occasion usually walketh
with men in the Scripture and Gospel by such Principles and Rules which are written in the Tables of their hearts by the Finger of Nature and which they are wont to observe and walk by in their common and Civil Affairs Thus because amongst men an Oath is the end of all strife Heb. 6.16 Therefore God will swear too and treate with men by the mediation of an Oath and so in abundance of other particulars God still applieth himself unto men and treateth with them by the same Rules and Principles which men walk by in transactions amongst themselves Now because one man is ignorant of what is in the heart of another and knoweth not how they will prove whether diligent or negligent faithful or unfaithful in matters of trust committed unto them therefore those whom they have occasion to trust they will first try them with a little that in case they should miscarry and prove unfaithful the loss may be the less and easier to be born if they approve themselves with wisdom and faithfulness in managing that little then they are encouraged to trust them yet deeper And as men are wont sometimes to try Casks or Vessels that are new made and never had Liquor put into them whether they be tight or leaky not by putting Wine or Liquor of value but water into them if they will hold water men have so much the better ground to trust them with Wine also In like manner though God as is said of Christ Joh. 2.25 needed not that any man should testifie of man Because he knew what was in man and consequently what would come out from him and what he would do So I say though God knoweth before hand how men will prove whether faithful or unfaithful in any thing committed unto them and in this respect needeth make no experiment and trial of them in reference to any trust yet because it is the manner and according to the Principles of wisdom in men to take such a course he also will do it though he hath other ends and reasons likewise for the doing of it which it is not necessary now to speak of Thus also it is in matters of reward more properly and commonly so called though he knoweth from the beginning the uprightness integrity of mens hearts and what such men in time will do all the good work all that righteousness and suffer all those things for righteousness sake which afterwards they do and suffer yet until they have given an account both unto himself Angels and men of that their integrity by waies of righteousness and well-doing he will do no great things for them he will reward men only according to their works according to what they shall do or suffer nor according to what they purposed to do or suffer unless happily they be prevented of an opportunity for that by the way least there should be mistake not as if God should have no consideration or regard of any mans faithful intentions that is not the meaning of it as many times you may find persons whose hearts are full of fruitfulness that notwithstanding are taken away by death Now it is not imaginable that God should deprive them of the reward of such services when as God himself denieth men the opportunity to do them it is not reasonable nor like unto the waies of God or his proceedings that he should deprive them of their reward in such a case or under such circumstances But the meaning is that the good things which men have done whether they be few or more these shall be rewarded accordingly So that men and women who have given testimony unto the World of their own integrity uprightness and faithfulness unto God God will give them rewards answerable hereunto We speak this for this end to shew that God's manner is not to reward nor to take knowledge of the righteousness of men until the World have taken knowledge of it until that they have given an account unto men that they are persons fearing God I say God will not take any knowledge of them until they having given some Testimony unto the World of the integrity and uprightness of their hearts a Testimony of the truth of their Faith and of the soundness of their Love that the World cannot deny but that certainly these are very worthy men then as in Scripture Phrase God is not ashamed of them but they are in an immediate capacity for him to own and to reward and do great things for As it is said of Enoch he was translated Heb. 11.6 of whom it was reported that he walked with God Gen. 6.22 Now God could suffer no disparagement in point of honour by owning of him And so 1 Pet. 1.7 That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of Gold c. might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory It is not said that your Faith being more precious than Gold but that the trial of your Faith this is that which will turn to an account of Praise and Honour and Glory unto men in the great day c. That the trial of your Faith might be a Testimony in abundance given unto men yea unto God himself namely when their Faith shall have been tried whether it be by their constant sufferings for righteousness take or whether it hath been by a holy and blameless Conversation it is not much material if this trial of it be the making of it known and bringing it to light in the World that so it may be known and observed by men In such a case it is a thing but equal and just and well becoming God to be found rewarding of them with great and wonderful things Thirdly Sect. 8 Another means whereby we may come to be filled with the Spirit of God is to sow unto the Spirit Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption But he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Everlasting Life If the Question be What is it to sow to the Spirit I answer according to the usual import of that Metaphorical Expression of sowing to sow to the Spirit is to do such things which will redound to the praise of the Spirit of God to manage Actions so that the benefit of them may accrue to another This the Apostle calleth a sowing to others If we have sown unto you in spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things 1 Cor. 9.11 To sow unto the Spirit is to imploy a mans self about such things such waies and works whereby the Spirit may receive honour and praise which is all the harvest which the Spirit of God and so God himself is capable of receiving from men Only we may add this That when men do such things which are for the honour and praise of the Spirit they must do them with an intent that they may turn to his praise we must not do such things only which may accidentally
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
16 he is ten times over and I believe twenty times to that called the Holy Spirit and sometimes in our English Translations the Holy Ghost Now holiness as we know or at least have often heard imports separation or distance from every thing that is unclean And where holiness is in its exaltation it importeth the greatest distance from uncleanness that is possible But without dispute holiness in the Spirit of God is in the height of its exaltation It dwelleth in him bodily Therefore there must needs be the greatest distance between the Spirit of God and all manner of uncleanness The Scriptures do shew that this is the nature of holiness not simply to fly from that which polluteth and defileth but to be at the utmost distance from iâ Upon this account it is in Scripture often opposed unto uncleanness as the East is opposite unto the West as being at the greatest distance from it For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 And so Rom. 6.19 1 Cor. 7.14 And very frequently in the Scriptures you shall find a great opposition made between holiness and that uncleanness whose fulfilling polluteth and defileth the Temples of mens bodies as the lust of Adultery Fornication Incest and all impurities of such a kind which being consented unto and harboured in the souls of men and women are obstructive with an high hand to that great felicity and happiness of their being filled with the Spirit The Apostle Eph. 4.29 compared with ver 30. plainly intimates such an Antipathy between such lusts of uncleanness as these with their fruits and the Spirit of God that they are a grief unto him and consequenly as we lately opened the Metaphor unto you that his hand is weakned by them to that good work of filling men with his presence which otherwise was in his heart to have been wrought for them Let no corrupt communication proceed cut of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying and grieve not the holy Spirit c. Let no corrupt communication ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã putrified or rotten speech such as is wont to proceed from these impure Fountains we speak of in the hearts of men and women For even as those sents and smells which are wont to breath from Laistoffs and Dunghils are noysome and offensive unto men who have their senses quick and good So are unclean Communication and rotten speech unto men who have their spiritual senses about them Now lascivious wanton unchaste or unclean communication is therefore termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã corrupt or rotten because unto them that have their senses their spiritual senses sound and in a good temper and habit exercised in distinguishing things that differ such Communication and Discourse is such a kind of annoyance or offense which answers that annoyance to the bodily senses which is occasioned as was said by the fumes and smells of Laistoffs Dunghills and putrified bodies which are not simply unpleasant and offensive but of dangerous consequence also to dissolve stifle or destroy nature for otherwise there may be sents that are offensive and unpleasant and yet not Enemies unto nature nor yet of any tendency to her dissolution but for her preservation and health In like manner wanton communication and discourses are not only or simply noysome or unpleasant unto men and women that have their spiritual senses about them but have a dangerous influence also to destroy their spiritual being and that work of grace which is begun in their souls according to that of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15.33 Evil words corrupt good manners not that they do alwaies do it but they have a property so to do they are of a destroying nature and if these destroy good manners then have they a property to do this also viz. to destroy all those good Principles out of which good manners are produced And whereas to this Exhortation that no corrupt or rotten communication should proceed out of their mouths he immediately subjoyneth And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption he doth it by way of motive clearly implying that such communication will grieve the Spirit of God Now this connective Particle and sometimes implieth a motive enforcing the precedent Exhortation Do this and live Gen. 42.18 i. e. for you shall live by doing this Exalt her and she shall promote thee Prov. 4.8 i. e. for she shall promote thee I give thee this for thy encouragement that she shall promote thee So that the meaning of the place in hand is that such a kind of rotten communication will grieve the Spirit of God That is hath a direct tendency in it to cause the Spirit of God to do as men usually do when they are grieved as we formerly shewed withdraw themselves from those who so grieve them and grow listless unto action and have no lust to go forth in their way but retire themselves and mourn and grow solitary In like manner rotten Communication will cause the Spirit to withdraw his presence in his wonted influences he will have no desire to exert or put forth himself at least with any strength or vigour in motions or encitements to holiness c. by means whereof the Flesh will gather more and more strength and the lusts thereof encrease daily This sheweth that there is a spiritual opposition between rotten Communication or any other lusts of the Flesh and the Spirit of God So Jude ver 19. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit Implying that they who are given over to sensual and voluptuous courses are persons who have no the Spirit I conceive this distinguishing Character that they separate themselves viz. from the Bodies and Societies of the Saints and from the Ordinances of God The Apostle would signifie this unto us that such persons as these did it under pretense of a greater measure of the Spirit some special discovery of somewhat more than had been made known unto other men As if they were of too tall a stature and growth to assemble themselves with others as men think not themselves fit company for Children so these men upon pretense of a more excellent inspiration from the Spirit of God separated themselves from other men But saith he there is this in the bottom they are sensual this separation doth not proceed from the Spirit of God nor from any further Communion more than others which they have with him But they are sensual sensual pleasures and courses have bewitched and taken away their heart And now that they may enjoy themselves in this course they must pretend to Revelation and some extraordinary Knowledge for the Saints in their Communion know no such thing but that which they know is of another nature and therefore that they might not be troubled and checked in their way they must give ear to an unclean Spirit and this they call the Spirit of God
and that in opposition unto others Secondly A second Property of the Spirit mentioned was his grace We read Heb. 10.29 of despighting the Spirit of grace And so God is called 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of all grace meaning that he is a gracious Spirit Now grace as we have formerly opened the nature of it unto you importeth a readiness or great propenseness in the will and soul of a man to shew kindness or to do good where no engagement is from without from him unto whom kindness is shewn it differeth from mercy For the object of mercy alwaies is misery or persons in misery But the object of grace may as well be persons in a good condition and free from misery as those that are in misery for Grace only respects as it were an absence of all motives or engagements from those to whom we intend good and reacheth no further So then when the Spirit is called the Spirit of grace it doth import a freeness a readiness a willingness and propenseness of mind to do good unto such persons who never laid any engagement upon him to whom he is no waies Debtor by one Law or other When there is a propenseness in any person thus freely without engagement to deal courteously or kindly with others this is Grace truly so called Now the Spirit is said to be a gracious Spirit because he vouchsafeth to come unto men and to dwell with them and to couple and joyn himself with men whilest they are strangers unto him even whilest as yet he hath received to no kindness from them he is pleased to come unto them and to invite them Nay the truth is there is a more excellent degree of grace than this in the Spirits dealing with men when kindness is shewed not only where no engagement hath gone before but contrary to engagements on the other hand This is grace in abundance and in its exaltation when a person hath done us wrong or disgraced us unjustly and offered us injury and we notwithstanding such hard measure received from him shall yet be ready to stand by him and accommodate him then are we gracious in an excellent and eminent degree Now such lusts and sinful dispositions in men which are contrary to this Character or property of Grace in the Spirit are very distasteful unto him apt to grieve and obstruct him in his course as well as the former viz. uncleanness c. In that former place Eph. 4.30 where the Apostle had added And greive not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption meaning by corrupt communication He immediately addeth Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice c. The motive lieth in the middle between the two Exhortations and it enforceth them both it is a motive both to that which went before Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth and unto that which followeth namely that all wrath and malice and the like should be put away Therefore this clearly shews that these kind of corruptions and distempers bitterness and malice c. are contrary to the Spirit of Grace and those gracious dispositions and inclinations of his to do good and to shew kindness and love where there is no merit yea even unto those men who have rather merited sorrow and hard measure from him But much more when men without any provocations shall be in bitterness of Spirit and full of wrath and anger and shall entertain and admit malice evil thoughts and intentions of hardness cruelty and bloud into their hearts this being so extremely contrary to that gracious and sweet property of the Spirit of God in reason must needs be signally obstructive unto him in his way of filling men with himself A third Property was the heavenliness of the Spirit of God Sect. 18 Joh. 3.31 He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth He that cometh from heaven is above all Therefore that Lust that is contrary to this property in the Spirit of God heavenliness or heavenly mindedness this must in a way of reason be offensive unto the Spirit of God Of this kind are all lusts of Covetonsness inordinate Love unto this present World earthly mindedness when mens hearts savour the things of the earth only or mainly when the matters of this life eat out the very heart and sinews of a Man Such Lusting as these must needs likewise be of a very offensive nature unto the Spirit of God When the Holy Ghost shall come unto men and offer them life and shall be ready to lead them into the Faith Knowledge and Love of God when he shall talk and discourse with men and women about heavenly things and they answer him with their carnal and their sensual things when he discourseth unto them of Faith and Holiness and the things of their Eternal Peace and blessedness and they shall have cars only to hear of Silver and Gold and Wealth and Grandeur and Power and Honour and the like certainly if lusts of this nature be made much of and harboured in the soul of a man there can be no expectation that ever the Spirit of God should take pleasure or delight to put forth or to give out himself in his glory in such a soul A fourth and last particular was a disposition aptness Sect. 19 or readiness of mind to communicate the things of God matters of a spiritual import the Secrets of God unto the minds and consciences of men Therefore such kind of Lusts in men which are opposite to this property in the Spirit of God must needs be offensive unto him and obstruct him in this blessed work we are speaking of Which lusts and distempers are these and such like viz. such lusts by which men are invited tempted and carried away from the Ministry of the Spirit and those waies whereby the Spirit is wont to utter himself which are the Ordinances of God and especially that of the Ministry of the Gospel and more especially such a kind of Ministry which is prepared as it were by God on purpose to bring forth the mind of God unto men For as God of old appointed Moses and the People to meet at the door of the Tabernacle So now hath he appointed the World the Sons and Daughters of men to meet with him in these Ministrations of his House and to treat with him there about the great business and things of their peace If men and women therefore shall suffer the great Enemy of their peace so to bewitch them that they fall in their esteem of these appointments of his and look upon them as if there were no great matter in them this is another thing which hath a direct opposition unto and is a ready way to quench the Spirit of God Mind and compare these two verses together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit But how or which way should
they prevent it Ver. 20. he informeth them Despise not Prophesying As fire by laying on and throwing combustible matter upon it may be made greater and greater and the flame to wax and grow more and more So the Spirit of God is like a fire in the Spirits of men he may be nourished after such a manner that he will flame out as fire doth when more wood is laid on it but as fire will go out if you withdraw the Fuel or throw Water upon it So saith the Apostle you will quench the Spirit if you shall despise Prophesying for that is the fuel or nourishment by which the Spirit of God is fed therished and maintained in the soul and conscience and heart of a man if you will withdraw this fuel and despise Prophesie neglect the Ordinances of God and Ministrations of his House he will soon be gone and leave his place He cannot live in the soul without this kind of nourishment and food administred unto him from day to day and time to time And thus you see as all kind of fleshly Lusts in general fight against the soul and are obstructive unto the peace thereof being as so many bars in the way of the Spirit so there are some Lusts which do more appropriately and in a more particular manner oppose his progress So that if you desire to be Possessours of such an invaluable Treasure as a being filled with the Spirit of God you must not make a light matter of it so as to suffer such words and directions as tend thereunto to come in at one ear and go out at the other No but you must make Treasure of them and be very serious in a business of this nature And if you will prosper in this design you must be sure to remove out of the way as these four kinds especially so also all other Lusts of the flesh which else will hinder you in so blessed an enjoyment But it may be you will say Sect. 20 How shall we keep our selves from the lusts of the flesh in order to our being filled with the Spirit To this I answer and say You may do it yea the doing of it may without any presumption be attributed unto you as done by you especially in their first rise and before they are grown to any great strength or maturity within you without any special presence of the Spirit of God I mean a full and rich presence of him For there is a kind of standing presence of the Spirit of God with every man which we call his preventing Grace which every man hath if he hath not consumed it and made aâspoyl of it which will keep men from these kinds of Lusts in case men shall but comply with it For my Brethren these kind of Lusts have no power in them to compel or to necessitate any man or woman unto subjection to them No they do but only offer or present themselves to see if you will entertain or own them and nourish and bring them up If you will take pleasure in them and go with them whither they will lead you you may otherwise they have no inssuence of power and authority over you neither have they any Commission from God and Sathan can give them none any way to compel you to open the door of your hearts unto them to give them room and entertainment there No but if you shall be true and faithful unto your own souls and their itnerest and be in love with that blessedness of being filled with the Spirit you may keep your selves free from vanity and fleshly lusts For to abstain from them is but to let them alone to let them go as they come do but you keep on your course and follow the light which is set up within you do but abstain and keep from an inward converse and communion with them and they shall never do you any harm nor ever prejudice you in the carrying on your work and in the prospering of your souls as to your being filled with the Spirit There is only one means or direction more The seventh and last means which I shall prescribe unto you Sect. 21 or rather remind you of being prescribed by God himself for your being filled with the Spirit is Prayer unto God for it If you desire that your anointing should be rich and full you must imploy your Angel which God hath given to serve you in this and all other your spiritual occasions about it I mean the Spirit of Prayer which you have received from God Many great and excellent things you well know are spoken of Prayer in the Scriptures that it is a Key to open Heaven as oft as we desire a Messenger that if his dispatch be thereafter will fetch us any thing out of the Treasury of God that we stand in need of You know also that heap of Promises and Encouragements which the Lord Christ himself hath heaped upon the head of Prayer Mat. 7.7 8. compared with Luke 11.9 10. And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened First these words And I say unto you c. seem to imply that what he was now about to say unto them concerning the marvelous efficacy and acceptation of Prayer with God if another one should have said it it might reasonably seem doubtful or questionable in point of truth unto you But I would have you to take knowledge that it is I that say it you may believe it upon the account of my authority though it be indeed a great and strange saying and hath a world of grace in it yet saith he this is enough sufficiently to balance this I say it Now by asking seeking knocking our Saviour questionless meaneth all kinds or variety of Prayer intending to declare and signifie some such thing as this unto us that if men be sincere and upright hearted in their praying unto God whether the manner or form of their Prayer be of this kind or of that whether it be asking socking or knocking it shall be of like acceptance with God and shall obtain what is desired If any man will please to adventure upon any narrow distinguishing of asking seeking and knocking he may do it after some such manner as this is though I would not have too much to be given to the Notion Asking very probably may be such a kind of Prayer which is right down where there is little or no Argument or little or no Scripture Rhetorick but only a right down and direct and immediate asking signifying unto God what it is that a man would have without any more ado And secondly Seeking seemeth to be a more exact or enlarged kind of Prayer wherein a man goeth about to fortifie his heart to believe that he shall receive the things that he prayeth for by
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
every obscure and knotty passage Such a man as can do this is an excellent man too and full of the Spirit of God in respect of Knowledge and yet this man possibly may not be able or dexterous to apply or bring those things and general Principles that he knows and sute them with particular cases and questions which are brought to him and laid before him whereas another that hath not half his knowlege may be able to do it and to give a plainer and fuller satisfaction unto him that shall propound a Case or difficulty unto him So that this we would have you take notice of by the way that the Spirit of God hath variety of gifts and therefore we are not to estimate a man as not filled with the Spirit because he is not dexterous at every turn These things being premised we now proceed to the Question Now then whether a person man or woman Sect. 6 who pretendeth to be filled with the Spirit of God be indeed filled with this or any other Spirit contrary unto it may be discerned or discovered for the most part by these considerations First When a man is of a cool calm and yielding temper and deportment in his own matters his own proper and personal concernments in the World and upon occasion shall be apt to be raised and stirred in his spirit about the things of God this is a sign of very great probability at least that such a person is full of the Spirit of God For First The genius and property of the Spirit of God may be discerned and judged of by the nature and property of that Wisdom which as James saith Jam. 3.17 is from above and this as he informs us is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy c. meaning that it disposeth men and women to those worthy properties that where it is received it works their hearts and souls to these gracious dispositions it makes men first pure it disposeth and enclines men and women to avoid all pollution with sin above any other thing whatsoever it perswadeth men not to meddle not to have to do with sin upon any terms whether of Pleasure Profit Honour or whatsoever And then next to this it teacheth men to be peaceable gentle easie to be entreated c. which is to be understood chiefly in a mans own Affairs and Concernments and in his ordinary Converse with men for otherwise this Wisdom teacheth men to be as stiff and resolute in the Affairs of Jesus Christ and the Gospel as Paul was Gal. 2.5 when he yielded not gave not place no not for an hour as he saith to certain false Brethren who went about to incumber the Gospel with matters of Judaism And again when he withstood another to his face who was not a false Brother but equal to himself a great Apostle I mean Peter in a business of the Gospel wherein as he saith he was to be blamed Verse 11. and yet again when he fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men 1 Cor. 15.32 Now then as it is the genius and property of that Wisdom we speak of that Wisdom which is from above thus to mould and fashion the minds and manners of men So is it the property of the Spirit of God also to do the like because this Spirit worketh not upon men but by the mediation of this Wisdom and works only such dispositions and inclinations which this Wisdom worketh This then is that we say that when men and women are very peaceably disposed and of a yielding and quiet spirit in their own worldly Affairs and yet when occasions require are apt to quit themselves like men of courage and resolution this argues that they have a very rich anointing of the Spirit of God I add this latter particular viz. That they are apt to be zealous and stirred in Spirit in and about the things of God because otherwise a softness or quietness of disposition about their own Affairs may be rather the result of their own natural complexion or constitution than any effect of the Wisdom from above or of the Spirit of God working in and by this Wisdom For though peaceableness of spirit gentleness easiness to be entreated c. be the fruits or effects of the wisdom from above viz. in the most of those in whom they are found yet it doth not follow from thence but that there may be in some persons impressions or qualities like unto these from another original or cause The Woods Pastures and Fields produce of their own accord some kind of Herbs and Fruits like unto those and of the same name or denomination with those which grow in our Gardens by sowing setting and planting yet are they but of a wild kind and nature neither so fair nor fit for use as these every palate will be able to distinguish between the one and the other As it is between those two sorts of of Eunuches which our Saviour distingusheth in the Gospel thus that some are such from their mothers wombs others have made themselves such Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.12 Meaning that they have been perswaded and prevailed with by the Gospel to embrace a single life that so they might with more freedom of mind and with less distraction and incumbrance of secular Affairs attend the Service of God and of his Gospel intimating withal that the former kind of Eunuch was little considerable with God little set by in comparison of this latter In like manner some have a kind of goodness and facileness of disposition with some other impressions of morality commendable in their kind and commodious to a degree both unto the persons themselves who are endued with them and unto others which yet spring naturally in them but these are not like unto those of the same name or denomination that are begotten and planted in the hearts and inward parts of men and women by the Gospel and Ministry of it The Gospel is termed the incorruptible Seed of the Word which liveth for evermore There is a kind of excellency and glory which goes along with the Word of God which leaves a lively Impression or Character of it self upon those holy dispositions and qualifications which are planted or begotten by it in the hearts and souls of men which doth distinguish them from those moral qualifications planted in men and women by the hand of Nature But this only by the way The sum of what we laid down in the Character or Rule of Dijudication now in hand whereby to judge of men and women that be filled with the Spirit of God is this He that is as a weaned Child in his own Matters but is strong and active as a Giant in the Affairs of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel he I say is like to be a person so filled with the Holy Ghost But if a man be forward and full of heat in the matters of Religion
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 stâff 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
find persons so filled with the Spirit of God that they do not give some such sign or testimony as now we speak of something to discover their temper humour and such kind of Principles within them that make them stiff that they cannot bow nor comply Their Iron Sinew is not yet broken they have not taken the course they have not dealt effectually with their hearts to bring them into subjection they have not chastened their Souls every morning as David did who had disciplined and nurtured his heart to some kind of order and compliance with God in all his occasions and affairs And so much for this Direction or the second Rule given by which we may know whether men be filled with the Spirit of God namely if they understand judgment as the Scriptures speak and then be ready in their hearts and affections to concur and to measure out to every case and business according to the exigency and requirements of it this now doth declare an excellent degree of the fulness of the Spirit of God with them And Thirdly Sect. 11 A deep degree of Mortification especially when the work is uniform spreading and stretching it self with an equal force and power unto all a mans Affections Disposition and Desires which ought to be mortified with the Deeds Fruits and Works of them This I say is another great Argument or sign of a man or womans being filled with the Spirit of God The work of Mortification is performable only by the Spirit of God and therefore where it is performed and wrought thoroughly where it appears in any degree of glory it must needs argue a great presence of the Spirit For if ye live after the flesh saith the Apostle ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If you ask me But why doth the Apostle place the great work of Mortification in the deeds of the body in having these mortified and not rather in those sinful affections and inward dispositions from whence they proceed I reply That he placeth it here in the deeds of the body because it is principally seen and the reality and truth of it found there though the work it self lieth most in the heart and inward man yet the energy and force chiefly appeareth in the abolishing or cessation of the deeds of the flesh or of the body When such sinful and unworthy actions cease to be found in men and women whereunto others are tempted by the flesh or by the occasions of the flesh and ever and anon are practicing of them it is a sign that the work of Mortification is real and in truth yet elsewhere the same Apostle placeth it in the affections and lusts of the flesh in having these crucified or moâtified Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. they that are Christs i. e. that are his Disciples or that have resigned up themselves unto him or are subject unto him have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts i.e. have pierced the flesh or outer man thorough and thorough with such sharp and effectual considerations that the strength and vigour of it as to sinful demands or actions is much spent and wasted and as the natural strength and vigour of a man that is nailed to a Cross breatheth out by degrees in that bloud that cometh from him by his wounds so have ye crucified the flesh with the affections or passions ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and lusts thereof ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with the passions i. e. with all those affections which belong to the irascible part of the soul as both Philosophers and Divines call it Anger Wrath Hatred Envy Revenge c. they have crucified these i.e. they have taken a course to break the strength and to suppress the motions and breakings out of these And the lusts i.e. all those affections also which belong to the other part of the soul which they call the Concupiscible such as are Fornication Uncleanness Drunkenness Gluttony Covetousness c. So then we say that when the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts and Deeds thereof are so crucified or mortified so handled that men and women are become Meek Patient Humble Gentle long-suffering c. And again Chaste Pure Sober Temperate free from Covetousness and all this to an excellent degree it is a sign that they are full of the Spirit of God the reason is because First If these things be in any weak and imperfect degree in men Sect. 12 they proceed from the Spirit of God and must be wrought by him Secondly A being filled with the Spirit is no waies to be estimated and discerned but by a proportionable excellency or fulness of his operations and effects Now the work of mortification as hath been in part described is one of the most signal works of the Spirit and therefore where it is full or any thing rich and deep it argues a great presence of the Spirit but the truth is it is very hard to be found in any such degree as that we speak of even amongst Professours yea or Believers themselves Men and women have generally some sinful humours and dispositions or other unbroken and unsubdued either they are Cholerick Hasty Froward easily Provoked Revengeful and the like or else they are given to Pleasures Ease Voluptuousness of life desires of Riches Honour Power the great things of the World And though many keep within some tolerable compass in respect of the breaking out of these and such like unmortified affections whilst the Tempter keepeth at a distance from them and some few it may be whilst the Temptations runs somewhat low and are but ordinary yet the greatest part of the persons we speak of Professors I mean are apt to be overcome and led away Captive unto Sin by every touch of Temptation any Temptation almost that will may serve it self upon them Even as some mens Judgments are so weak that they are apt to be carried about with every wind of Doctrine as the Apostle speaks apt to take impressions of any thing that is presented unto them with the lightest appearance of truth but to find a man or woman that is able to stand their ground of innocency when any strong temptations beare hard upon them is exceeding rare which argues the work of Mortification to be very imperfect and slight in the greatest part of men and consequently that they are far from being filled with the Spirit of God If it be here demanded Sect. 13 But are not all the works of the Spirit of God perfect If he work Mortification in any person must it not needs be perfect Can any thing proceed from that which is perfect yea most perfect as the Spirit of God is but that which is perfect indeed I reply The perfection of a work may be estimated or considered two waies First Absolutely or in reference only to it self
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
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
how many pretenders have we to little less than a Prophetick Unction to mystical discoveries to a deep and further insight into the mind of God in the Scriptures and to the understanding of things there whose Notions notwithstanding the pretended fruits of such their high Anointings and Revelations being weighed in the Balance of the Sanctuary are found light and to have nothing of the mind of God or of Christ in them Therefore in the first place unless these discoveries which are pretended unto and held forth with the greatest confidence shall commend themselves for truth unto the judgments and understandings of sober and judicious men much versed and exercised in the Scriptures either from their own light or evidence or else shall be made out by light of Argument and Demonstation Whether from the Scriptures or clear Principles in reason to be real truths and such things that are every waies worthy the Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness of God they are not to be looked upon as proceeding from any fulness of the Spirit in their Authors but as the exertions and puttings forth of a Spirit of vanity and delusion in men For certainly God would not have sent Christ Jesus in the end of the World to seal vp Revelations and Prophesies and to set bounds unto the Children of men and afterward send these men to gather up what Jesus Christ hath scattered and to make perfect what he hath left imperfect Wko knoweth not that the New Testament is sealed with a Curse with dread and terrour unto the man or woman that shall either make any breach upon that which is there delivered by diminishing ought thereof and so likewise unto any that shall bring any new or further Revelation than what is already brought in there Secondly In case by the opportunity and advantage of Education Sect. 21 liberty for Study and searching into Authors and Writers or the advantage of pregnancy of Wit quickness of Apprehensions or the like any man shall attain unto a greater dexterity or ability to unfold the Scriptures and to bring many of the secrets thereof to light which have been hidden from the eyes of others this doth not necessarily argue a fulness of or a being filled with the Spirit at least in the sense wherein we have prosecuted the Doctrine hitherto i. e. a filling with the Spirit as sanctifying unless it shall appear by their lives and waies that they are really and throughly perswaded of the truth and certainty of these things which they hold forth from the Scriptures It is true many men may do great Services for the Christian World and for the Saints and that by opening the great Deeps or Fountains of the Scriptures and may cause many beams of light and Spiritual understanding to break forth and many waies of Wisdom there to appear and yet may not believe As it is with a fained Story though there may be some kind of rationality in it yet the rationality of it doth not therefore argue its truth and verity just so men may maintain the reasonableness of the Scriptures and consequently many great truths therein contained they may argue excellently and shew how one thing giveth light unto another and yet nevertheless at the bottom there may be nothing else but uncertainties and doubtings of the truth of all the Story and this hollowness and defection at the bottom and core and root of the heart is like to break out and bewray it self in such a kind of life and conversation which is unsutable unto the tenour of Scripture and unto the Genius Nature and light of the glorious Gospel which they declare or preach unto men The Reason of the Character or sign last mentioned Sect. 22 whereby to judge of any mans being filled with the Spirit is because it is the proper work of the Spirit to open and reveal unto men the Scriptures and the mind of God there so that when any person man or woman shall be found to excell in such a way upon the terms and with the cautions lately specified I mean to be richly acquainted with the mind of God in the Scripture it must needs argue a great measure of the Spirit of God in them For it is I say the property of the Spirit of God to reveal the mind of God in the Scriptures and to reveal such and such truths which have lain dormant in the bodies of the Scriptures wound up and unpublished For the Spirit of God hath reserved and set apart some particular portion of truth which is appropriate to every Age and Generation that cometh over the World which is to be opened unto it Some conceive that the seven Seals do respect several Ages and times wherein several truths are to be revealed as that in such an Age and Time when one Seal was broken up there was such a part of the mind of God let out and so at the breaking up of a second then cometh forth another part of the mind of God This is clear and experience teacheth us that every Generation and every Age have had some sealed or fallow ground of Scripture broken up unto them some considerable passage of Scripture that hath never seen the Sun that hath never been so generally understood or known by men as in the present Generation so that it being the proper work of the Spirit of God to take away the vail and covering which hath been upon the Scriptures when he findeth some person whom he doth much delight in he will single him out for this service 1 Cor. 2.10 11 c. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God That is according to Scripture Language teacheth men to search and to find out by searching the deep things of God i. e. such Counsels of his which do not lie in the surface of the Scriptures such things which cannot be seen at the first cast of a mans eye For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now the Notions which are bred in the Mind and in the Nature of God are of another sort of a quite different nature from those which are ingendred and conceived in the mind of men even as those impressions in bruit beasts are of a far other nature and kind from those which are in men and being of another nature and kind and also inferiour to those Notions or Impressions which are in man they cannot understand or comprehend those Notions or Impressions and those Principles of Action that are in men and by which they order and steere their course The Reason is because these Notions or Impressions that are in Men are of a superiour kind to those in Beasts and out of the reach of them or any other created being especially beneath themselves So that though it should be supposed that
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
the work of Redemption Sathans chief work lies to undermine the Godhead of those persons to whom that work is most appropriate and who are most engaged therein For the Son of God is his great Enemy and the Person who threateneth his undoing and the Ruine of all that he hath gotten by drawing men aside from God And then likewise the Holy Ghost hath put to his supreme hand all his work being bent against the Devil and his Temptations Now in reason it cannot be thought but that he Satan will be more engaged against these to bring their Godhead if it be possible into question and to destroy the belief of it out of the World He that doth but know the nature of him as that he is full of malice mischief and bloud and that he is ready to rise up against God himself as far as he is able I say they that do but know the Devil so far cannot wonder at it or think it strange that he should labour to fill the World in all the quarters of it with such kind of Notions and Opinions that shall make the greatest breaches upon the honour and reverence that is gotten up into the hearts of men both towards the Lord Christ God blessed for ever and the Holy Ghost that Spirit of God by whom the Children of God are sealed to the day of their Redemption But as the Prophet Jeremiah in a case not much unlike demands What is the Chaff to the Wheat So may we say What is finite to that which is infinite What is a Creature for the carrying on of the Salvation of the World in comparison of the great Creator Secondly Whereas there are a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousands Saints upon the Earth and these in places far distant from one another to be filled at the same time with the Spirit of God or that may be engaged with their hearts and souls in waies and means to be thus filled with the Spirit if the Spirit which should fill them in this kind be a created a finite Spirit limited and confined to one and the same place at one and the same time for this must be his condition if he be finite How can these be raised to any ground of hope that ever they should be filled with the Spirit For if he be a finite Spirit it is impossible that he should fill any more than one person at a time and so must depart and withdraw thence to fill another And As Andrew said Joh. 6.9 of that slender provision which was to be had in comparison of the great multitude that were to be fed There is saith he a Lad here which hath five barley Loaves and two small Fishes but what are these amongst so many So may we well demand and ask in the case before us there being such vast numbers and multitudes to be filled with the Spirit What is a limited a finite a created Spirit to fill them all What is such a Spirit as this amongst so many thousands such an infinite number of men and women who all are labouring to be filled with the Spirit How is it possible he should accommodate such a numberless number of Saints so as to make them all glad Therefore they who teach men that the Holy Ghost the Spirit that shall fill them is but a Creature like unto themselves in limitedness and fuâiteness of being do by these whom it concerns to be filled with the Spirit and in order hereunto advance in their endeavours accordingly much as those Spies of old did by the Israelites Num. 13.32 who by bringing an evil report upon the good Land of Canaan and telling them that it was a Land that did eat up the Inhabitants of it discouraged the hearts of the People from attempting the Conquest and possession of it if it had not been for Caleb and Joshuah whose hearts were more upright In like manner they that bring up such a report as this upon the Spirit as that he is but a finite Spirit a created Spirit a straitned Spirit what do they do else but discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of those who have given out themselves and have their hands lifted up to such an exercise and make Treasure of such an heavenly advice and piece of Counsel as this is of being filled with the Spirit of the ever blessed God And besides if the Spirit we speak of with which the Saints are to be filled be a finite Spirit suppose he could at any time mind and attend them all all over the World from the East to the West and from the North to the South in their several applications of themselves to obtain such a filling yet he could actually fill but one person one heart or one soul at once and therefore when he hath filled one he must empty him again by withdrawing himself from him before he can fill another because it is impossible that he should fill them all with himself at one and the same time If it be replied Sect. 4 but he may be said to fill the Saints with himself although he doth not abide alwaies personally present with them viz. by leaving strong impressions of himself his grace and power upon their hearts and spirits though in person he be withdrawn from them as those Saints or Christians amongst whom Paul had been preaching the Gospel and had not only prevailed with them to believe but had put them into a zealous posture of profession and made them like unto himself these may be said to be filled with Paul or with Pauls spirit I reply That holy and zealous impressions upon the hearts and spirits of men may be declarative of their being filled with the Spirit of God but they are not properly and formally their filling or their being filled with this Spirit they are but the suites symptoms or signs of their being filled therewith as the Grapes that grow upon the Vine are not the Vine it self A being filled with the Spirit implies an actual residence or abode of the Spirit himself in men according to that of our Saviour Joh. 14.16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever he in person not in his gifts or operations only So in the next verse And he shall be in you And the Apostle maketh a plain and express difference between the Person of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.5 Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit So verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit And the Scripture from place to place speaketh of the Holy Ghost as personally inhabiting or residing in the Saints as in these and the like expressions and passages 2 Tim. 1.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee saith Paul to Timothy keep by the Holy Ghost which or who dwelleth in us the gifts or operations of the Holy Ghost
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
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Therefore every one who Prââheth 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.
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
wherein the Holy Ghost much delighteth as Isa 60.6 22. For the other Scripture mentioned Sect. 8 1 Joh. 2.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him remaineth or abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the anointing teacheth you c. implying that the former things which he had written to them concerning those that seduced them that is those men who went about to seduce them according to the Language of the Scripture wherein when any Impostor perswadeth or useth means to seduce he is said to seduce though the persons thus perswaded are not actually seduced As these Christians were not actually seduced and yet he writeth to them concerning those that seduced them and then he closeth his Admonition thus But saith he the anointing which ye have received of him meaning Christ abideth in you As if he had said it is true that which I have written is in order to fortifie and to strengthen you against those who go about to ensnare and entangle you but saith he you have another means and help in your selves by which to preserve your selves from them and from their snares Now by this anointing I suppose he means not properly the Holy Ghost though he was in them and according to Scripture-phrase may be very properly said to abide in them But by anointing I conceive he rather means the work of the Spirit which he had wrought in them that is the impressions of Holiness Righteousness and Goodness their love to God and Men. This is that anointing which they had received and saith he you need not that any man teach you but as this anointing teacheth you meaning that they needed not that any thing should be offered unto them but that whereof they might be competent Judges by means of those holy Principles of Righteousness and Love which the Holy Ghost had wrought and raised in them For the Gospel in the whole compass or circumference of it being a Doctrine according unto godliness men that have a Principle of Godliness rich and full and any whit raised may sent any Doctrine and if they will but consult with the Oracles in their own breasts they may find out and come to understand whether it be according unto Godliness yea or no. If it carrieth any repugnancy unto Godliness or unto Holiness then saith he you have no need of it you are better without it This anointing is truth and it is no lie As if he had said they themselves could not but know it for Godliness is a real Propensity of heart and soul unto that which is Good Just and Righteous and which maketh for the glory of God and well-being of men these are the Royal things of God not liable to any dispute whether they be true or whether they be false delusions therefore saith he having such an anointing within you you need not that any man should teach you any thing lying above the reach of this For let any Doctrine or Practice whatsoever come to you if it comport and fall in with this Principle then you may receive it And he plainly implieth here that though the same anointing teacheth all things yet they that had this anointing had need that men should teach them according as this teacheth them And the truth is that men and women that are godly and have this anointing in the fullest measure have need to be taught those things which are consonant and agreeable to this anointing and which will nourish enlarge quicken and revive it So that this place is so far from countenancing that Notion or Practice by which men turn aside from the Ministry of the Gospel that it proveth and that very clear that they indeed ought to attend upon it The persons now under reproof Sect. 9 besides what they pretend and plead directly and immediately from the Scriptures have other Arguments and Pleas to harden themselves in their Practice Let us therefore deal with them as sober men use to deal with them that are frantick and mad when they have gotten Knives or Swords wherewith they are like to do either themselves or others a mischief they wrest them out of their hands In like manner let us try by evidence and strength of reason and of truth to take away those weapons at least the chief of them wherein they put their trust One thing they pretend why they should not attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel is that the Ministers in these daies are not infallible We cannot safely depend upon them in what they teach us they may lead us into error as well as truth Is not this a Consideration sufficient to justifie us in our taking our selves off from hearing them To this I reply First By putting the question to them Whether they judge themselves to be infallible or no If they answer Affirmatively that they do judge themselves infallible which I suppose they will not then Why should not the Ministers of the Gospel be as infallible as they Besides if they be infallible What need they fear of being led aside into Error by the Ministers of the Gospel But it is like they will reply Negatively and grant that they are not infallible If so why then do they depend upon themselves or upon their own Notions or Apprehensions or upon their own senses and interpretations of Scripture May they not as well be mistaken and deceived by leaning unto these as unto such things which shall be by the Ministers of the Gospel delivered unto them Or will these persons themselves be only Sceptiques and profess that they are absolute Neutralists in all manner of Tenents and Opinions in matters of Religion or that they doubt of every thing and firmly believe nothing If they profess this they are more degenerate from men than the generality of the Heathen They firmly believe that there is one God and that he is good c. yea they are worse than the devils of whom James saith That they believe there is one God and tremble Besides such a Profession as this that men believe nothing in matters of Religion interfeers with it self for he that saith he believes nothing certainly pretends herein to know certainly that all things are doubtful yea and to know certainly that it is best for him to be of this Judgement that all things are uncertain and therefore nothing for him to believe Otherwise Why is he thus minded why doth he not rather submit to the contrary But this last Scepticism is a strain of folly not worth the contending against But to the Reason propounded Sect. 10 by which the seekers of superordinancers do make attempt to justifie their practice in giving over the Ministry of the Gospel I reply Secondly That the Scribes and Pharisees were doubtless every whit as far from being infallible as the Ministers of the Gospel now are yet our Saviour himself Mat. 23.2 3. counselled the people and his own Disciples too to hear them yea and
it is appointed to Umpire in the hearts and consciences of men if it were not able to make good those things which it threatneth and promiseth that they are Realities and not only Notions and faint Speculations it would do no great things it would be but a powerless and faint thing As we see all the devised and fained Stories that are abroad in the World though they may please the fansies of some that hear them yet they have no great work upon them they do not move or encline them to any great undertaking And as no man will go to the charge of building a Ship to travel to the Lands of Vtopia because it is only a fained Land of pleasure and delight but no man was ever able to make good the being thereof So for the glorious and great things of the World to come which are spoken of in the Gospel unless you can get it into mens hearts to believe that these things are really so you may treate with them by this and adjure them by that and yet the Conscience not move at all upon any such account but when it shall be made known to them demonstratively that these great things are not words only nor fansies or devised Fables but that they are the same in nature and reality which they are in terms and names now the Consciences of men and women are over-awed and overcome at this point there is no standing out but only in such cases wherein men are bewitched and have their eyes blinded by the God of this World Thirdly and lastly The efficacy of the Ministry we speak of is seen in that Sect. 22 that it communicateth and deriveth the Spirit of God unto men who receive and believe it It is to be considered in this case that it is not simply appointed by God to convey the Spirit of God into the hearts and souls of men and women but that it is an Ordinance of such a nature that it is most proper for such a service for the great God as this viz. the giving forth of the Spirit into the Consciences and Souls of men 2 cor 3.6 Who also hath made us Ministers c. not of the Letter but of the Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So that this is unquestionably true that the Ministry of the Gospel is erected by God for the communication of the Spirit into the hearts and souls of men Even as a Conduit Pipe is a means to convey the water into our Cisterns which before were empty so the hearts souls and inward parts of the Sons and Daughters of men being to a great degree empty of the Spirit of God God hath as it were made and framed these golden Pipes of the Ministry of the Gospel to convey the Holy Ghost into the hearts and souls of men that so together with him there may be life and power and strength and all manner of divine excellencies This the Ministry of the Gospel will certainly do when it is managed like it self and where the Wisdom and gracious Counsel of God is embraced and entertained and men have done homage and have bowed the knee of their Understanding and Judgement unto it and have owned the things contained in it as from God And meet it is that such a service and subjection of the Creature unto God as this is should be immediately and out of hand rewarded by him with so great a gift as his own Spirit As if God should say Where my Advice is received and where my Counsel goeth there shall my Spirit go also This saith the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive We have done at present with the first of the second sort of Offenders who were lately designed to Reproof upon the account of this general Delinquency against the said Doctrine viz. That instead of being filled with the Spirit they take a direct course to be emptied of the Spirit altogether The particular Delinquency of these Persons is that they wholly withdraw themselves from the Ministration of the Gospel which according to the intent and declaration of the Great Founder of it God is the Ministration of the Spirit according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith We have taken away the Weapons from them wherein they trust and have evinced those Texts and places of Scripture upon which they bear themselves for the justification of their practice to have no manner of compliance herewith but rather being rightly understood to stand bent a contrary way We have likewise detected the insufficiency and impertinency of such other Grounds and Reasons for their Practice on which they chiefly insist and wherein their foot is taken and held in a snare of Death The Lord break the snare in sunder and deliver their souls and shew mercy to those that are yet at liberty that they be not led aside into the same Error 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 WE proceed to a second sort under this Head of Offenders against our Doctrine Sect. 1 who together with the former are summoned to hear what the Spirit of God will please to say unto them in a way of reproof to their practice also and these are of several sorts First Such who though they do not with the former make it matter of conscience wholly to desert the Ministry of the Gospel nor rise up to plead in words against the blessing of it yet are they chill and cool in their respect unto it they do not esteem it as their appointed food they are not zealous in their attendance on it their hearts are not perfect with it when they come to it they come as if they came not or cared not much whether they came or no and so they hear as if they heard not Sathan with a very slender and slight temptation may interpose at any time and separate between them and their attendance upon it We know there are many thousands amongst us of that lukewarm and unworthy temper we speak of who think it enough to wait upon God when he is speaking the
we call the in-bread is given into the Dozen there is nothing properly paid or given for it bat only for the Dozen The Kingdom of God the salvation of the soul the World which is to come are like the Dozen he that will have this must pay for it I mean in labour and endeavours and in looking after it Whereas this present World is like unto the in-bread which will be given in by God to better the bargain So likewise when our Saviour adviseth thus Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that which endureth to everlasting life he plainly gives us to understand that the World which is to come requires labour of men to come by Now our Saviour was not of a light and unsavoury Spirit he did not jest with men he did not exhort men to strain and toyl at the lifting of a Feather no he was most grave and most sober and serious and weighty in all his Counsels therefore when he counselleth men not to labour for that which perisheth but for that which endureth for ever he doth consequently intimate unto them that unless there be industry used and much solicitousness of mind things of this nature will not be obtained The Son of man who hath these things to give will not give them unto men who look not after them And withal our Saviour doth plainly and clearly imply that this World doth not require a like labour and diligence at least comparatively Labour not for the meat which perisheth as if he should say You may have such meat which will suffice you if you will but labour for the other Therefore that Generation of men and women we speak of greatly erre in their thoughts about the terms of the two Worlds judging the World which is to come to be like the Fig-trees spoken of by the Prophet Nahum c. 3.12 with their first-ripe Figs which if they be but a little shaken fall into the mouth of the Eater So these conceit that the Golden Gates of Heaven if they be but touched with the least of a mans fingers will fly open and give him entrance that the great things of Eternity will come upon them before they be aware that a little time spent now and then when their ease and their profits will give way will cause heaven and happiness to bow down unto them whereas their Judgment of this present World is that both the inner and outer man with their highest contendings sweatings and strainings of themselves are all little enough or rather too little to prevail with it to bless them or give out its strength unto them It is not unlike but that the conceipt we now speak of within them may be sed with another Notion or Conceipt viz. that the World which is to come goeth by an unchangeable Decree of Predestination and Election and that Heaven is conferred upon men by virtue of a Deed of Gift of as ancient a Date as Eternity upon which account they act with a remiss and cool spirit for the obtaining of this expecting that the Decree of God from Eternity shall bring Salvation and the blessedness of the World to come upon them with an high hand though they themselves should do nothing whereas they have a contrary conceipt as if God had made no Decree concerning mens being wealthy and great in this World but that all these things do come about by diligence and industry and by a wise contrivement of their own in this behalf it is very likely that there is some touch or other of such a poyson that lieth near the root of the hearts of some But to the Persons now under reproof we shall at present say no more but this That if Mary chose the better part in chusing to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ to hear the words of Eternal Life from his lips in comparison of Martha's choice which was to be imployed about other things though otherwise as appears a worthy woman Certainly such persons who neglect the opening of the Heavens and the Visions of the Almighty when they descend upon the World to gratifie the Flesh with ease pleasure getting of money c. chuse the far worser part which will in the end turn to a portion of everlasting shame and contempt unto them if they perish in their choice Mary chose a being filled with the Spirit this was a blessed choice indeed these men chose a being emptied of the Spirit of God The Day is coming like an armed man upon them when the words which are now spoken in their ears will become a Sword which will pass through their souls A second sort of Persons against whom the face of the Doctrine delivered is set to reprove them are such who though they have not as yet Sect. 3 with the First of the Three wholly forsaken the Ministry of the Gospel nor seem with the second to be but loosely and indifferently affected to it yet they do take a course in a short time to be emptied of the Spirit as well as either of the former and this is by turning aside from the Ministry where it is lively and powerful teaching wholsome Doctrine as Faith towards God and Repentance from Dead Works where it promoteth Godliness with an high hand and consequently is like to fill men and women with the Spirit of God And turning unto and following a Ministry that is like to fill them with wind and flatulent humours with fond Notions and Conceipts either above or besides or contrary unto that which is written The Apostle speaketh of some Col. 2.18 Vainly puft up in their fleshly minds or irregularly puffed up Even as it is with some bodies that seem to be very fat and full and fair and yet their fat is but a loose kind of flesh or it may be it is nothing else but some dropsical humours which any kind of sickness will quite cancell and commonly such persons fall into the most desperate Consumptions of all when that loose fat forsaketh them Even so there are many loose Professors amongst us and have been in all Ages who have swollen in their minds and conceipts into a great bulâ They judge themselves to be like the Children of Anack in spiritual matters and other Professors about them but as Grashoppers as men and women of low and weak and inconsiderable stature in respect of themselves Now there is and for the most part alwaies hath been such a Ministry of the Gospel so called which is apt to work this way Though to speak properly it is no Ministry of the Gospel but only a kind of counterfeit of it which seeks to commend it self unto the World for such yea and to disparage that which is truly and indeed such in comparison of it self But of that Generation of men and women which forsake such a Ministry of the Gospel which is savoury wholsome and sound where the Mind and Counsel of God concerning the peace and salvation of
to the Spirit when they shall find their hearts carried out from time to time to do some excellent thing to go beyond the line of ordinary men If any in this case shall say there is no need of such waies that we should strain so high or go so far to be Wiser or more Righteous or fuller of Faith or good Works than other men are and shall put off the Spirit of God with such kind of Answers and Replies as these and shall refuse to sow unto him this must needs likewise tend to the grieving of the Spirit of God within them and consequently they are not like afterwards to find those suggestions and impulses in their hearts and consciences as formerly they were wont to have So much for this Use being a Use of Reproof 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 THe Fourth and last Use is of Exhortation Sect. 1 if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all Flesh especially upon those who believe to be filled with the Spirit then let us all in the fear of God and reverence of his Grace and Wisdom by which he commendeth unto us things that are excellent which make with an high hand both for our present and Eternal peace Let us I say quit our selves like men and hearken unto the voice of this Exhortation and arm our selves with this Resolution that if there be any thing to be done by us if there be any course or means of which we are capable whereby to be filled with the Spirit that we will not come short of this blessedness that we will cast in our Lots with those which are faithful and filled with the Spirit and will be filled also Let us not I beseech you be found amongst those who set at naught the Counsels of their God and value his Words but as Wind but let us rather consider how to provoke every man of us his own soul and every man the soul of another to set about the Duty now mentioned and enjoyned in the Text and to lift up both heart and hand unto it There are many Considerations some of a more general some of a more special and near relation to the Exhortation and Duty now commended unto you that are full of spirit and life to quicken and stir you up to the performance of it First in the general you shall do well to consider that the Duty whereunto you have been exhorted is one of that holy and righteous Retinue of Duties commanded unto us and enjoyned upon us by God and so the Exhortation by which it is enjoyned is one of the Counsels and Precepts of God of the most High God it is no foreiner or stranger amongst them it is none of the Tares which the Enemy hath introduced amongst the Counsels of God The complection of it shews it to be a Precept of that heavenly Parentage and Race the goodness and loveliness of it sheweth it to be from none other but God alone It is too spiritual and holy and too full of beauty to be of humane extraction much less of a Diabolical Therefore as Christ said unto his Disciples in another case I say unto you my friends fear not c. Even so may God say unto you I say unto you my Friends be filled with my Spirit Though the residue of the World round about you will not stir their hearts and consciences will not budge at this Exhortation they know not the worth of it Yet you oh my Friends you that love me you that are in a more peculiar manner beloved by me be ye filled with my Spirit My Brethren this being one of the Royal Commands of God Sect. 2 it therefore stands us in hand to look about us and to bethink our selves with the whole strength and might of our Consciences what we have to do in reference unto it Sin and Disobedience unto God or rather a neglect to obey the great Counsels of God is that which makes his Jealousie smoke against the World from time to time which makes the Foundations of the Earth to quake and tremble which maketh havock and desolation of the glory thereof It is a fearful thing as the Apostle is our Remembrancer Heb. 10.31 to fall into the hands of the living God i. e. to come under his revenging hand as is to be gathered from the former Verse Now What is it that causeth men to fall into the avenging hand of God but the despising his Counsels and neglecting the Words of his Mouth without being reclaimed Our simple not obeying the Commands of God is not so much as our neglecting or despising his Commands As on the other hand our simple keeping or obeying them as our reverence and respects shewed unto them A man though he may receive many indignities from his Child or others yet if he do not apprehend that there is any neglect or contempt in the person who offereth these indignities he can bear it much the better But if he apprehend that it proceeds from neglect and contempt this is highly provoking This is the case my Brethren for men and women to trespass upon the Commandments of God at unawares there being otherwise a reverential esteem of these Commandments in the Soul is not so provoking in the sight of God But it is the despising or neglecting the Commandments of God And therefore the Prophet Nathan coming by Commission immediately from God 2 Sam. 12.9 10. did not charge the sin which David had committed so much upon the Acts of Murther and Adultery as upon his despising the Commandment of God Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight David did not maintain that high and reverend esteem in his heart and soul of these Commands of God which he had violated So in Isa 5.24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the Stubble and the flame consumeth the Chaff So shall their Root be rottenness c. Because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts and despised the
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
take another course namely to desert and to retract that course and practice which he is in and to betake himself to such waies whereof he can give a reasonable and worthy and a sound account both unto God and men Jer. 2.12 13. Be astonished O ye heavens at this and be ye horribly affraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. Such a passionate expressing of himself as this is doth bespeak something notable and strange somewhat that is quite besides the course of nature But What is that the Holy Ghost doth usher in by such a Preface as this What hath the Lord to say that should put the Heavens to such an astonishment This is it For my People have committed two evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisterns breken Cisterns that will hold no water For my People have committed two evils c. They have turned themselves aside from waâes and things that are honourable that are holy that are spiritual and heavenly from waies that would bless them and make them happy for ever and have turned themselves unto such things which have nothing of worth in them such things which could not give them any true content or satisfaction therefore called Cisterns broken Cisterns c. This is a deportment of the Creature man towards God in the consideration of which the Prophets call the Heavens and the Earth to an Extasie of admiration and astonishment hereby giving us to understand and to consider that there is nothing so monstrous and so far beside the course of nature as that men should forsake God the Fountain of living waters who leadeth them in the way of salvation and blessedness and to go unto the empty and perishing Vanities of this present World Implying that the Reason and Conscience of man when first given unto him were directed unto God that every mans understanding tendeth Godward Now that men should forsake this Object and those waies and engagements which are natural and should turn aside and call off their mânds and thoughts from such excellent things as these and turn themselves to things that are meerly vain light and empty This is that which God himself holdeth as the most horrible and monstrous thing in the World enough to cause the Heavens to forget their Natures and Motions Once more Mat. 16.26 For what will it profit a man if he should gain the whole World and lose his own soul c. Now every man seeketh for profit and it is but rational and natural so to do and God doth not only give men frâe leave to look after their profit but hath imposed it by way of duty upon them and counteth it their folly not to do it therefore much ãâã God offended at any way or engagement which will be for your advantage Our Saviour saith What will it profit a man to gain the World and lose his own soul Now how can men gain the World but by engaging the faculties and power of their Souls in order hereunto It is impossible for men to get Wealth if they do not take some course about it Our Saviour would know of every man and woman of us what it will profit us when we have cast up the Account and he would have you cast it up Suppose that it were possible for you to gain the whole World and in the mean time you should lose your own souls as All they will certainly do who are so intent to gain the World that they have no reason no understanding no vigour of spirit to look after and to mind the great things of Eternity or such as this a being filled with the Spirit What will it profit you in case you have gotten the whole World It implyeth not only the invaluable disproportion between the gaining the whole World and losing their Souls but also that mens laying out themselves to gain the World is the stumbling stone upon which they stumble and lose their own Souls You have the World before you and have Reasons and understandings now weigh and consider it with your selves there is the loss of your souls Do you know what this will amount unto Do you know that the endeavouring to win the whole World will expose you to the losing or at least the danger of losing your own Souls So that we may plainly see that in these and many such like places in the Scriptures the Holy Ghost maketh it matter of shame and great reproach unto men to take off their Minds and Judgments from things that are of a most excellent and glorious import that will stand by them for ever and set them upon things of no value nor continuance Let us now ponder and weigh the Motive last insisted upon and so dismiss it if we know how to contrive how to dispose of our time of our reasons and understandings which must indeed be thoroughly engaged about this great Design of being filled with the Spirit if we intend to effect this Design If we know I say how to dispose them otherwise to a better purpose to more profit and advantage to our selves then might we more reasonably neglect yea and despise the Exhortation which with so much importunity hath been urged upon us or if we knew any other prize to run for which were in any degree worthy to stand in competition with that recommended in the Exhortation we might reasonably stick and demur and take into consideration what we had best to do in the case whether to lay our selves out about a being filled with Spirit or upon some other account inconsistent with this But if neither of these Lions be in our way if there be nothing disputably better than nay if there be nothing disputably equal with a being filled with the Spirit about which we can set the intellectual Faculties of our souls on work how shall we not fall down before the voice of the Exhortation which exhorteth us to be filled with the Spirit without any more ado and go forth with all our thoughts made and resolved in the highest that whatsoever shall be required of us in a due order to a being thus filled we will to the utmost of our power so do When we may have Bread for our money will we give it for Stones or for that which will not profit or nourish When we may with the same labour and travel both of soul and body invest our selves with Priviledges and Possessions that are excellent and glorious which will stand by us to Eternity shall we accept of things of little or no value Is not this for those that are come to be men to resume Childishness again My Brethren these are matters of very vast yea prodigious concernment unto you The word that now hath been spoken in your ears will judge you in the last day Let him therefore that hath an heart consider what hath been now propounded unto him Seventhly Sect. 9 To work your hearts to close with the
notice before-hand that he was a man full of the Holy Ghost Acts 6.5 And they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost lâst otherwise the greatness of the Actions might prejudice the belief of them in those that should read them Whereas the Reader taking notice that Stephen was a man endued with more than ordinary Power and Wisdom from on High full of the Holy Ghost they might upon this account look upon it as a thing no waies incredible that Stephen should do and speak and suffer for both ãâã did So likewise when Paul Acts 13.9 in the Condition of a stranger undertook the bold and high Contest against Elimas the Sorcerer as he is called a false Prophet being a great Favourite as it seemeth to Sergiue Paulus the chief Ruler of the Country in the Isle of Cyprus there is express mention made before-hand of his being full of the Holy Ghost Then Saul who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes upon him and said c. Implying that such a thing as this would hardly have been undertaken by Paul unless he had been carried on by the Spirit of God within him and that by some considerable fulness of him And this Paul we now speak of laboured we know in the work of the Lord more abundantly than they all he was as we may say the Lord Christ's right hand upon the Earth he drove Sathan the God of this World before him from place to place and triumphed over him every where where he came he was too hard for him and cast him down from heaven like lightning and turned the affairs of his Kingdom upside down and laid wast his power made havock and desolation in all the Territories which he had amongst the generality of men But how came it about what was the reason why this Apostle so much and to such an high degree over acted the Line of the Labours Zeal and Faithfulness of all his Follows Questionless the reason was he had a richer and fuller anointing of the Spirit than they the Sails of his soul were filled with a stronger gale of the Spirit of God than theirs himself doth in effect give this account of his heroick and high Actings for Jesus Christ in the World Col. 1.28 29. Whom we preach saith he warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily he laboured for this very purpose to present every man perfect in Christ and he did it according to his working namely the Spirit of Christ which did work in him mightily or with power Where observe by the way that the Apostle saith that he did labour in conformity unto the mighty working of the grace of God or of the Spirit of God in him the meaning seems to be this that the Spirit of God that put him on and Paul were both agreed Paul as ready to go as the Spirit was to send By this means Paul went on in all those Heroick Actions which he did and made great havock and desolation among the powers of sin and darkness and unbelief in the World By means I say of the Spirit Paul submitting himself unto him and receiving his impressions and going along with them he was enabled to many great atchievements and to labour more abundantly in the Gospel and for the interest of God and his glory in the World and the good of men also than any nay all the rest of the Apostles though they were men who were also very serviceable in their Generation To instance no father the Lord Christ himself who was the Worthy of all Worthies that ever the great God of Heaven and Earth imployed in any service upon Earth who was the first-born Servant of God and Elder Brother to Paul himself who kindled a fire that never was yet quenched nor ever shall be until it hath consumed all his Enemies and laid a foundation in his own bloud to build up the Name of God in the greatest glory amongst Angels and Men to the daies of Eternity He I say was a man of these high and most transcendent Atchievements by the advantage he had of all other men in being filled with the Spirit above them all according to that of Joh. 3.34 where it is said that God gave him the Spirit without measure he was not only filled with the Spirit but had the over flowing of the Spirit never did any man attain unto his pitch of zeal and faithfulness to the service of God So that there is no question but that he that is filled with the Spirit is in a capacity to Act and cannot lightly but Act at a very high rate for God if be do but follow the motions of the Spirit of God and will go along with them then he cannot I say but be great in the sight of God great in the services of Christ and of his Saints If you desire to know the reason hereof it is because as the higher the wind bloweth that Ship whose Sails are duly trimmed runneth so much the faster and riddeth the more way upon the Seas Even so when the heart and soul of a man shall be full of the Spirit of God such a person must needs be acted and carried on with more power and vigour in a swifter manner or course and be enabled to do twice as much as another in the same compass of time who hath but a scanty presence of the Spirit of God with him You know it is our Saviours Expression Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit I suppose he maketh mention of being born of the flesh only to shew and make things more passable to the understanding of Nicodomus to make way for that which he spake in the latter Now saith he that which is born of the flesh is flesh that thou and every man knows as the Parent that begetteth a Child is of a fleshly nature so that which is born must needs be flesh also And dost thou not know how a man shall be born again of the Spirit It is even as it is with those that be born of the flesh they partake of the same nature and receive the impressions of the flesh So it is with the Spirit that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Such as is the nature of the Spirit of God such also is that which is born or begotten of it that is those Principles whatsoever they are that he who is born of the Spirit doth receive by means of the Spirit of God must answer and be like unto those which the Spirit of God himself hath of which he is born or begotten Now you know that the Spirit of God is full of the Love of God and full of Zeal for God and set upon the magnifying of him in the World and promoting his Interest in the
hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men Now he that is born of the Spirit must needs act and be enclined after the same manner he will be zealous for God bestirring himself in his way as the Spirit of God doth in his way So then this is the first thing we were to shew in order to a demonstration or proof that a being filled with the Spirit must needs be accompanied with abundance of peace and joy viz. that he that is filled with the Spirit must needs be large hearted and highly active for God The second thing which upon the same account we have to prove is Sect. 5 that such men and women whose waies are thus on high as Solomon saith are not much obnoxious to temptations by Sathan or however not like to be overcome by them First We say that persons filled with the Spirit and consequently acting with an high hand and great resolution for God and for Jesus Christ are not in this respect so obnoxious unto temptations I mean are not so like to be assaulted to be tempted by the Tempter Sathan hath no such encouragements from these men they do not stand on purpose to be tempted by him as the far greatest part of men and women in the World do who go so to work in the things of God with so much deadness and lasiness that they do upon the matter invite the Tempter As we use to say Opportunity makes a Thief so the opportunity that men offer the Tempter who is carrying on his interest in the World to render it as miserable as he can at present and as miserable as may be for Eternity maketh him so busie with them Whereas those who are filled with the Spirit do upon the matter cut him off of all opportunity in this kind and consequently make him less careful or solicitous to spend his temptations upon such as these The Reason hereof is because he hath less hope to make any earnings upon such men the excellent Spirit for waies and works of righteousness and holiness which he continually discovers in these men breaks the heart of his hopes of doing any good upon them of prevailing over them This observing of the wind keeps him from sowing his temptations in those fields As a man though he hath a Quiver never so full of Arrows careth not to shoot them against a brazen Wall So neither will Sathan the Devil care to throw his fiery Darts against those who are so hard to come at who are alwaies up and out in the heighth of their spirits for God For as the Scripture saith 1 Cor. 9.10 he that ploweth or soweth ploweth and soweth in hope meaning that no man would either plow or sow but in hope to reap So neither will Sathan care to plow or sow but when he hath a hope of an harvest Now his Harvest is nothing else but the sin and wickedness of men and unless it were for this he would not care to tempt men God of old gave this by way of motive and encouragement unto the Jews to cause all their male children to appear three times a year in Jerusalem viz. that he would cast out the Nations before them and enlarge their borders and as a fruit and consequence of this he adds Neither shall any man desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Exod. 34.24 When I have taken such a course by magnifying thee by enlarging thy quarters then no mans heart shall desire or think of conquering of thee So when God hath filled men and women with his Spirit and by means hereof hath raised and enlarged their hearts to any Heroick kind of acting and conversing in the World and hath removed sin and wickedness far from them there is no desire of ensnaring or foyling them like to come up into the heart of Sathan And therefore it was that the Lord Christ was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted by the Devil Mat. 4.1 Mar. 1.12 Luke 4.1 He had an anointing of the Spirit of God above all his Fellows and therefore the Devil had no mind to set upon him with any of his Temptations unless it were upon some special advantage and therefore he was led aside into a very desolate and howling Wilderness amongst the wild Beasts as Mark saith there were some Wildernesses amongst them that had Towns but this was altogether without Inhabitants All which clearly implieth that the Devil had no mind to Duel with him but upon special advantages as his being ready to suffer thorough hunger his being amongst wild Beasts in a place remote from men altogether without Inhabitants for otherwise what necessity was there that the Lord Christ should be led aside into the Wilderness but only in order hereunto He continued fasting forty daies and afterwards when he was an hungry then he fell upon him So likewise the Devil observing how mightily the Grace and Spirit of God wrought in Paul had questionless the less edge to bestow time upon him in tempting of him and Paul was little other in Sathan's eye than a brazen Wall against which he cared not to shoot It is true the Apostle reports 2 Cor. 12.7 how there was given unto him a Messenger of Sathan a thorne in the flesh lest he should be exalted above measure But first That which is here termed a Messenger of Sathan and described to be a thorn in the flesh is said to have been given him meaning by God i. e. to have been by a special interposure of God disposed to him not in order to a perpetration of any sin which the greatest part of the Devils temptations are but to the preventing of it From whence by the way it clearly enough appears that the thorne in the flesh here spoken of was no last of uncleanness nor any sensual concupiscence because then Paul would not have said that it had been given unto him But doubtless it is rather meant of some false Apostle that endeavoured to undermine him Haply it may be it was some Christian Friend that did Paul a displeasure that did undermine his credit in one kind or other but however the very end for which the Messenger of Sathan was given him it was not to draw him into sin but for the preventing of sin as he saith lest I should be exalted above measure or lest he should conceive an opinion of himself above that which was meet for him to conceive Secondly It appears that Sathan was in one kind or other over-acted by God in sending such a Messenger and that the Temptation was over-ruled by some hand of God also Thus it appears in the second place why those that are filled with the Spirit of God are not obnoxious to be tempted by the Devil and that the Devil is not much enclined to tempt such persons as we speak of This appeareth further from Jam. 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you
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 bleââedness 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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is oft used for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
hired in the Morning and then with the rest that came later and then with the last that came at the Eleventh hour When the first saw that there was as much given unto those that had laboured but one hour of the day as there was unto them that had borne the heat and burthen of the day this caused them to break out against the Housholder that had hired them as if he were unequal unreasonable and unjust in giving more unto such as had laboured less as they judged it and less to them who had laboured more the proportion of their labour considered Now Christ shews that this might very well be in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the business of the Gospel and preaching of that in the World that God may justly and upon his own terms though he would not account with such Murmurers and Quarrellers about his terms yet that God was at liberty to make what Law or Terms he pleased for the disposal of his own and to walk by this Rule accordingly that this was just and equal and there was no cause to contend with him or to murmur against him for so doing But it may be some mans Question Sect. 20 But how could any such Terms or Rules be equal for God to proceed by to make these equal in reward who laboured but one hour with those that laboured many and as themselves pleaded their own cause that had borne the heat and burthen of the day To this I answer That God doth not simply and barely estimate the external Actions and Services of men but doth lay together and puts into the balance whatsoever it may be the inward frame of the heart and soul And so we find in Scripture that when mention is made of the righteousness of God in judging of men it is said that he will judge men according to their works and bring forth every secret thing to judgment That which will bear special weight in the judgment of God is the frame of the heart and spirit which it may be some had not the opportunity fully and thoroughly to express in their outward deportments and service in the World but when God comes to pass Sentence and to give Judgment then he will estimate things according to the strictest and accuratest terms of reason But our Saviour in this Parable sets forth the high presuming nature of the Jews in opposition to the Gentiles whom they despised and who at the Eleventh hour of the day were called into the Service of God He there sets forth their Genius and Disposition who because they had done so much and had been so laborious above others in the Works of the Law and in the Ceremonies and Sacrifices and in the legal Rites and Observations therefore they thought they should have double and trebble and a thousand-fold above the Gentiles that came in so late Now the Lord Christ declares unto the Jews Parabolically that he knew the frames of their hearts how they were much expecting and looking for rewards from him for what they did upon the account of themselves but intimates that the Gentiles were content to submit to the good will and pleasure of God that they came in to serve him freely without indenting or any particular contracting with him after the manner which it seems the Jews did Upon this account he makes equal the performance and Services of the Gentiles though it was not of so long a continuance The Gentiles had not been so long in his Vineyard as they had been yet the Gentiles served him with a better heart and more ingenious mind and affections than the Jews did which they ought to have considered and not so much to have stood upon their ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl their Sacrifices and Legal Observations as to contend with God for a reward in rigour of Justice That by the Peny is not here meant Eternal life Chrysostome of old and sundry later Interpreters have sufficiently proved from hence namely that they who come in at the first hour of the day that is the murmurers and those whose eyes were evil because God was good that envied at the bounty and magnificence of God towards the poor Gentiles that such persons are not like to receive the Kingdom of Heaven Salvation from the hand of God Or if we should in the last place understand by the Peny here the Kingdom of Heaven or Salvation it self yet would it not follow from thence that therefore all these workmen had all the same part and the same portion there or the same degrees in glory Because as when it is said that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father though they shall be all equal in this that they shall all shine as the Sun yet it doth not follow that they shall all shine with the same lustre and splendor and brightness but that there may be different degrees of shining So it may be said that all those persons even they that were men of an evil eye and were apt to murmur and grudge at them who they thought were inferiour unto themselves and had not been so long in the Service of God as they supposing I say that those persons should be saved as well as the other yet it doth not follow that therefore there should be no difference between the one and the other for every one may have his Peny if we understand Salvation by it for all the Saints and all Believers that have the least Faith and the lowest degree in Grace as well as the highest they shall all be saved But it doth in no wise follow from hence because they shall receive every man a Peny that therefore they shall each one receive no greater proportion than the other I say it hinders not but that there may be degrees and greater proportions and shares in this Salvation to be conferred upon some above what shall be given or conferred upon other So that the truth is though this Parable be very hard and obscure and accordingly hath tried the Judgments and Understandings of men and divided them to purpose Yet there is nothing can reasonably be brought from it which hath any clear or pregnant Argument against that inequality of rewards which we have been arguing until now So that we shall take this for a ground or Basis of that Discourse which we are upon That certainly there is a variety and difference of Rewards in Heaven there are Crowns some greater and more weightier than others Now this we should have added in the close that the Crowns of greatest weight and glory are prepared for the heads of those who are filled with the Spirit of God these are the persons that shall be highest and nearest unto Jesus Christ in his glory they that shall most abound in the work of the Lord they that are fullest of Zeal and Faithfulness they that will make the greatest disposure of themselves that shall be content to
spend and be spent upon the interest of God in the World certainly if there be any Crowns of Glorie in the World to come more weighty than others they are the persons that shall receive them from Christ Now it only remains that we weigh the Motive and for that I shall refer you to the consideration of what hath already been delivered in this Motive FINIS A Table of such Texts of Scripture unto which light is given in the foregoing Discourse ABraham will command his Children Gen. 18.9 and his House after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Page 512 Now therefore go Exod. 4.12 and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Page 143 If there be a Prophet among you Num. 12.6 I the Lord or I Jehovah will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto him in a Dream Page 143 I said indeed that thy Fathers House shall walk before me for ever 1 Sam. 2.30 Page 30 The Lord hath heard my Supplication Psal 6.9 10. and he will receive my Prayer let all mine Enemies be ashamed and sore vexed Page 529 I will call on the Lord Psal 18.3 who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine Enemies Page 529 The sorrows of Hell compassed me about Ver. 5 6. He heard my voice out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears Page 529 The eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous Ver. 34.15 17. and his ears are open to their cry the Righteous cry and the Lord heareth Page 525 Then shall I teach Transgressors the way Ver. 51.13 and Sinners shall be converted unto thee Page 48 They are all plain to him that will understand Prov. 8.9 Page 517 Wherefore is there a Price in the hand of a Fool to get wisdom Prov. 17.16 seeing he hath not a heart Page 474 He that despiseth his way Prov. 19.16 Page 83 84 Labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Cease from thine own wisdom Page 474 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Ver. 5. For riches certainly make themselves wings they fly away Page 474 Awake thou North wind Cant. 4.16 and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Page 183 184 Make the heart of this people fat Isa 6.9 10. Page 145 And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me Isa 48.16 Page 145 Neither lift up a cry for this People Jer. 11.14 for if they pray I will not hear them Page 530 Behold the daies come Jer. 30.31 saith Jehovah that I will make a new Covenant Page 145 They should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness Ezek. 14.14 Page 530 When I say unto the righteous man he shall surely live Ezek. 33.13 if he shall trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity in his iniquity he shall die Page 30 The morning cloud Hos 6.4 and early dew Page 88 Rejoyce not against me Mic. 7.8 O mine Enemy Page 83 Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5.48 Page 127 And I say unto you ask and it shall be given you Mat. 7.7 8. seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Page 309 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 Page 122 123 Therefore every Scribe Ver. 52. which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasury things new and old Page 435 And they likewise received every man a Peny Ver. 20.9 Page 93 94 119 120 Grant these my two Sons may sit the one on thy right hand Ver. 21 23. and the other on thy left in thy Kingdom It is not mine to give but unto them for whom it is prepared of my Father Page 124 125 For unto every one that hath Ver. 25.29 shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Page 19 27 28 29 c. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Ver. 28.19 baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Page 135 c. He saw the Heavens opened Mar. 1.10 and the Spirit like a Dove descending upon him Page 151 152 Why doth the man thus speak blasphemies Mar. 2.7 Who can forgive sins but God only Page 155 156 Ye know not what you ask Mar. 10.35 Page 27 c. For it shall be given to whom it is prepared Ver. 40. Page 27 That he would grant unto us Luke 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear Page 68 69 And ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the Wedding Luke 12.36 37. that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Page 350 Which of you having a Servant plowing or feeding Cattel will say to him by and by when he is come from the field Luk. 17.7 8. go and sit down to meat and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink Doth he thank that Servant because he did the things which were commanded him I trow not Page 350 c. That was the true light Joh. 1.9 which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Page 284 I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a Dove Joh. 1.32 and it abode upon him Page 153 Jesus answered verily Joh. 3.5 verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Page 156 That which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Page 18 The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth Page 174 Except you see signs and wonders you will not believe Joh. 4.48 Page 408 I am come that they might have life Joh. 10.10 and that they might have it more abundantly Page 68 But if I do Ver. 38. though ye believe not me believe the Works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him Page 516 Even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not Ver. 14.17 neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Page 21.22 But the Comforter Ver. 26. which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father
will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Page 164 Abide in me Ver. 15.4 5. and I in you he that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit Page 197 198 But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Ver. 15.26 even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me Page 164 c. He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Ver. 16.14 Page 216 217 218 And now Father Ver. 17.5 glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was Page 136 c. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Ver. 8. and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they believed that thou didst send me Page 516 c. And when he had said this Ver. 20.22 23. 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 Page 173 c. Men and Brethren Acts 1.16 this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas Page 176 And when they heard that Acts 4.24 they lift up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why did the Heathen rage c. Page 176 Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Page 42 177 Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Ver. 9. Page 177 For in him we live Ver. 17.28 and move and have our being Page 86 We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Ver. 19.2 Page 228 Behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Ver. 20.22 Page 43. c Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1.21 Page 68 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.18 Page 105 Giving glory to God Ver. 20. Page 105 c. For I know that in me Ver. 7.18 that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Page 299 But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind Ver. 23. and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Page 299 For as many as are led by the Spirit Ver. 8.14 c. Page 295 We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Ver. 15. Abba Father Page 505 c. The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Ver. 16. Page 504 c. And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came Ver. 9.5 who is over all God blessed for ever Page 189 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Ver. 10.9 c. Page 48 But fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Ver. 12.11 Page 14 Rulers are not a terror to good works Ver. 13.3 but to evil Page 68 Attending continually upon this very thing Ver. 6. Page 68 For the Spirit of God searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Page 171 231 232 233 For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Page 171 For though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 for necessity is laid upon me yea woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel Page 353 354 Wherefore Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe 1 Cor. 14.22 but to them that believe not but Prophesying serveth not for them that believe not but for them that believe Page 406 c. Therefore 1 Cor. 15.38 my Beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord for asmuch as you know your labour is not in vain in the Lord Page 112 113 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 but our sufficiency is of God Page 242 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5.13 or whether we be sober it is for your cause Page 43 44 Having therefore these Promises 2 Cor. 7.1 let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord Page 133 134 Your Zeal hath provoked very many 2 Cor. 9.2 Page 47 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly 2 Cor. 9.6 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Page 544 For the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal 2 Cor. 10.4 but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds Page 430 431 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 the Messenger of Sathan Page 492 For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5.17 c. so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Page 252 269 Bear ye on anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 Page 50 51 For he that soweth to the Spirit Gal. 6.8 c. Page 290 Which is his body Eph. 1.23 the fulness of him that filleth all in all Page 131 For this cause I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 15 16. Of whom the whole Family of 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 inner man Page 58 59 60 That ye might being rooted and grounded in love Ver. 17 18. may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and breadth and depth and height c. Page 71 72 73 Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth Ver. 4.29 30. c. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Page 12 13 304 305 Knowing whatsoever good thing any man doth Ver. 6.8 the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free Page 112 Many waxed confident by my bonds Phil. 1.14 Page 47 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 13. for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure Page 158 Who shall change our vile body Phil. 3.21 c. Page 122 123 That in all things he might have the preeminence Col. 1.18 Page 122 Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Page 10 11 12 God who counted me faithful 1 Tim. 1.12 putting me into the Ministry Page 35 36 I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern Page 33 For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine 2 Tim. 4.3 but will heap up Teachers according to their own lusts
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 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 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
nature as to be tempted of the Devil to combate with his greatest and most potent Enemy Masters are not wont to be led or acted by their Servants especially such Masters who are prudent and wise into undertakings of a difficult nature 4. and lastly If we look throughout the Scriptures we shall not find any Angel that ever appeared unto men in any other form likeness or shape of any other Creature but only of a man whereas we read of appearances of God himself in the forms of several other Creatures besides men He appears in a cloud of fire upon mount Sinal Exo. 24.16 17. So again in a cloud to the seventy Elders Num. 11.25 As for the Angel which is said to have appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush Exod. 3.2 and so Acts 7.30 It is evident from the fourth verse of that Chapter Exod. 3. and so from Mat. 22.31 32. that it was not a created Angel but he that is elsewhere called the Angel of the Covenant the Angel of the face and presence of God Christ himself who is called an Angel very frequently as Calvin and others the best and soundest of Interpreters teach and prove Evident it is that the Counsel and intent of God the Father in sending down the Holy Ghost from heaven in that bodily shape we heard upon his Son Jesus Christ was for the publick and solemn inauguration of him into his Prophetical Office the Great Office of preaching and publishing the Gospel unto the World This appears from that voice which was heard from Heaven which was an Interpreter of the whole Transaction This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him So then God the Father and God the Holy Ghost did together inaugurate solemnly invest Jesus Christ into his Great Prophetical Office wherein from henceforth he was to minister unto the World and immediately upon this inauguration he began to execute it That which the Father acted in the business was in that audible voice that came from Heaven That which the Holy Ghost did was by that visible appearance and lighting on him like a Dove So that the interposure or action of the one and of the other were much alike the one had little or no preheminence above the other Now it being the proper Interest of God alone and not appertaining to the Creature to raise up and send Prophets one or other certainly it was not proper for any Creature whatsoever to have a hand in the sending that Prophet of Prophets that Prophet of the World Jesus Christ A second place from the New Testament shall be that of our Saviour himself Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Sect. 5 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Concerning this place I suppose these two things 1. It is spoken of that Baptism which is unto Remission of sins i. e. which was given and appointed by God to secure or seal unto men the forgiveness of their sins upon their repentance whether they have already repented or no. 2. That He into whose name any person is baptized with such a Baptism as this a Baptism of this import must be in a capacity of forgiving sins upon repentance These two things supposed I argue thus If the Holy Ghost be such a Person in whose Name together with the Name of the Father and of the Son it is meet for men to be baptized then is He truly God But such a person He is c. This latter Proposition is unquestionable from the words of the Scripture before us For doubtless the Lord Christ would not have commanded his Apostles to baptize in his Name were he not a Person meet in whose NameBaptism should be administred The other Proposition cannot reasonably be denied neither because He in whose Name it is any waies meet for a person to be baptized for the Remission of sins upon Repentance must in reason be in a full capacity to give such a Remission and this not Ministerially or declaratively only For then Paul might lawfully have baptized in his own name yea every Minister of the Gospel may baptize in their own names for in this sense they are said to remit or forgive sins Joh. 20.23 Mat. 18.18 but Originally and Authoritatively For questionless it is the appropriate Priviledge or Prerogative of God thus to forgive sins it being He against whom all sin is committed and to whom men become debtors by sinning And as there is no reason or equity in it that one man should have power to forgive another man's debt especially that the Inferiour should have power to remit that which is due to the Superiour So is there much less reason to conceive that any meer Creature whatsoever hath power to forgive another Creature what it oweth unto God Upon this account it was that when Christ said to the sick of the Palsie Son thy fins be forgiven thee the Scribes and Pharisees not believing him to be God were startled at it and demanded Why doth this man speak blasphemies who can forgive sins but God alone Mar. 2.7 And the Lord Christ to justifie himself against the horrid imputation of blasphemy doth not contradict their sense in making it blaspemy for any but God to undertake to forgive sins Nor yet pleads that he had a special Warrant or Commission from God to forgive sins where he pleased but only vindicates his Godhead saying to him that was sick with Authority in his own Name Arise take up thy bed and walk and demanding of those who charged him with blasphemy Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the Palsie Thy sins are fergiven thee or to say Arise take up thy bed and walk Meaning that they could not but well enough understand and conceive that he that could say the latter with authority and effect could be no less than God and consequently might say the former without contracting the sin of blasphemy Besides it is altogether irrational to conceive that He that charged the Jews not to plow with an Oxe and an Ass together nor to wear a Garment made of Linnen and Wollen should couple the Name of an infinite and incomprehensible God and the name of a mear finite Creature together to make one and the same Name in or into which the Creatures are to be baptized For it is not here said Names but Name Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which likewise implies that all the three here mentioned have but one and the same Name i.e. one and the same power and authority amongst them A third place from the New Testament Sect. 6 which clearly evinceth the Holy Ghost to be God is extant Joh. 3.5 Jesus answered verily verily I say unto you Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The worke of Regeneration
been signified whereas the like zealous desires in them after things appertaining to this life are offensive unto him are these First Because they willingly and knowingly submit unto his Commands he commandeth and requireth of men to be zealously affected towards spiritual things whereas he prohibiteth the like towards earthly things And Secondly Because it is reasonable for men to be zealously bent for the obtaining of the former as being far more profitable and advantageous unto them whereas the like zeal towards the latter is very irrational hath no savour of true or sound reason in it as being indeed clearly repugnant to their supream good and real benefit For this is a true Rule in general that God is well pleased with all such Counsels Actions and waies of men which are in their nature and according to a true estimate and judgment of them profitable and advantageous and he is the more and better pleased with the Counsels Actions and waies of men the richer and fuller connexion they have with their peace and happiness So that when men do upon a good account willingly knowingly and deliberately subject themselves unto his will and pleasure and do the things which he commands he is well pleased with what they do but the original and grand reason why he is so well pleased with what they do in this case is not because they do what he hath commanded but because in doing what he hath commanded they follow the clear ducture and guidance of the light of Reason Judgment and Understanding which he hath planted in them to direct them to the things of their peace For First It is most rational to do that which God commandeth men whereas it is contrary to reason and that in the highest degree to do that which he prohibits Secondly Because the things themselves which God commandeth as they are in themselves and in their own nature suted unto the heart of God so likewise is it most agreeable unto reason that men should do them as being most commodious for themselves And this is the true reason why God accepteth men hereupon it being most agreeable to the highest Principles of Reason in the World that the Creature should be subject unto God When men shall obey him he is not so much delighted with them simply because they do obey him as because they quit themselves likemen of Wisdom and sound Understanding therein and steer a course to advance their own happiness as is evident from hence because he is willing and content that if men could find out a better God than he a God from whom they might tolerably expect better and greater things than they have ground upon their obedience to expect from him he is willing and content I say upon such terms to disoblige them from himself and where ever they can find him to give them leave to turn Proselyte to such a God though he should lose their service thereby This is evident from that saying of his great Prophet Elijah 1 Kings 18.21 How long halt you between two c. As if he had said never destroy your selves do not sometime go to the true God and worship him and otherwhile unto Baal for saith he if Baal be-he if you can satisfie your selves or come at any substantial reason to prove that Baal is he that can bless you and make you great and save you and make you Kings and Princes for ever If Baal be-he then serve him As if he should say God doth not desire the service nor the application of his Creature to him in any way of obedience or service but only in reference to the Creatures good and he doth desire it on such terms that if they knew better to bestead themselves or to find out a God of more grace and power they have free leave from heaven to follow him And besides the main end why God hath given Precepts and Laws unto men himself hath declared to be not that he might be served simply or be obeyed by them but rather indeed that he might serve them or as himself expresseth it that he might do them good in their latter end Dent. 8.16 6.24 10.13 implying that God cannot come at the Creature to make him such in happiness and in glory as his heart and soul desireth unless he be in a meet capacity having quitted himself like unto a man And the reason why God making Oath unto Abraham for the confirmation of the great Promise which he had given him sware by himself is said to be this viz. That he had no greater to swear by Heb. 6.13 implying that if there had been any God above him any that could have been a ground of greater assurance unto them it had been given them In like manner it may be said if there could be any way wherein the Creature could speed better that was like to be more beneficial unto it he would not have them hang their hope confidence and expectation upon himself but he would have transmitted them unto that God Sed hac obiter In the mean time by the light of this Discourse we clearly see why God so highly prizeth zealous covetings and desires in men after spiritual things viz. because such covetings as these are most reasonable to be found in men and have an excellent connexion with their supreme good and happiness If this be questioned or doubted there is this reason near at hand over and besides the consideration of God's Commands to make it evident viz. that such covetings and desires never fail to raise endeavours sutable unto themselves for the obtaining of things so coveted and desired If you here say Sect. 7 that in prescribing such a course of means as that now exhibited for your being filled with the Spirit I prescribe you that which is hard to come by you know not how to create or raise any such coveting any such strong desires within you as these recommended unto you To this I reply That the goodness excellency and desirableness of the thing it self I mean your being filled with the Spirit if you will but give âa narrow and intense beholding with the eyes of your minds and understandings and feed a while upon the beauty and glory of it this will furnish you will raise in you these covetings and desires we prescribe in order to the obtaining of it And indeed it is a general Rule that all objects whatsoever whether good or evil will beget or raise affections in men answerable to that degree either of good or evil that is apprehended in them if men will narrowly and frequently mind and confider them Yea if men apprehend either more good or more evil in any thing than is really and in truth to be found in them and will feed upon such apprehensions and oft repeat and renew them they will soon love and hate them proportionably above that which they ought to do For this reason it is that Solomon forbad men to look upon
shaken and began to give in As it is reported of Socrates himself the wisest or at least one of the wisest men amongst them and withal the most vertuous and Worthy who being condemned to die and that by taking Poyson when he came to drink his Hemlock for that was to be his deadly Draught he looked pale and yet he never did before bewray any kind of fear but set his countenance so that he was not wont to change it So that that fearlesness of Spirit which was in some Philosophers amongst the Heathen was not compleat or full of power it did not so reign over all formidable Enemies but that when Death made her approaches this raised some fear in them But if it be here objected and said Sect. 9 but however many amongst them were fearless even of death it self as appears by the Examples and Stories of those who voluntarily devoted themselves unto death for the preservation and safety of their Country as the Decii amongst the Romans there were two of them the Father and the Son who in several Wars wherein their Country was in danger did rush upon the face of death And so Curtius another Roman who threw himself into a deep Chasm or opening of the Earth And some amongst the Grecians also were men of great resolution as Codrus Themistocles c. and did expose themselves to eminent and certain dangers of death only for the safety of their Country therefore such men as these were free from all tormenting fears and troubles But to this we answer First That none of these did purely or meerly voluntarily devote themselves unto death but upon very great occasions at least by them so apprehended viz. for the preservation of their Families Wives and Countries so that to expose themselves unto that which they did in this was but to chuse the lesser evil before the greater So that all that can be made of the sense that those had of death was that they apprehended it far better and more desirable for them to lose their lives than that their Wives and Families and Country should be destroyed Secondly To expose a mans self to danger or unto a certain evil doth not prove that he is free from the fear of the evil but only that he chuseth and prefers this evil before the other As when a man is under a great and eminent danger unless he attempts very desperately through if he shall make this attempt he is not certain he shall escape the danger he is in only he doth suppose less danger of the two in that course which he takes or attempts As in the case of the four Lepers at the Gates of Samaria there was nâ safety for them to sit at the Gate there they must perish if they go into the City there they must perish likewise but if they should arise and go to the Army they could but kill them however in so doing they might escape Now therefore it doth not shew that there was no fear in them but that they knew there was was no possibility of escape in case they stayed at the Gate of the City Thirdly There is little question but that a man may so go to work and tamper with his heart and mind as quite to stupifie them and make them little other than sensless at least for a time in respect of any object whatsoever as the Scripture speaks of some whose hearts were as hard as brawn and whose consciences were seared as with a hot Iron Men do seldom make trial of their hearts what they can bring them unto and can hardly believe such a Doctrine as this viz. That men may bring their hearts to what temper they please if they will follow means that are proper to bring such a thing to pass Now it is no waies unlikely but that these at least some of them knew what considerations were apt to make them void of fear they being men of parts they knew how to deport themselves so as to make themselves fearless and dreadless If men will attend only upon the thoughts of the excellency and renown and grandeur of men that have died on such terms as of Achilles Epaminondas c. will feed upon the beauty and desirableness of their Names and Fames and then shall think that they themselves if they shall do such things shall be as famous as they and their names shall live If this course shall be taken for any considerable space of time and men shall but add hereunto other considerations which are apt to render their lives in this World less pleasing and less desirable no question but that they may harden their hearts and stupifie their senses that they may quite quench and destroy all impressions of fear which is naturally planted within them towards such formidable objects Fourthly Very possibly Sathan might stand at the right hand of such persons and help forward those who did devote themselves unto death he might blow the coals of vain glory when their hearts began to work and rise within them by casting in his incentives For we have heretofore shewed unto you he hath such a kind of operation upon the hearts of men and can joyn with their fansies and imaginative powers and put life into them by his injections This may be another means by which these Persons might attain unto this fearlesness and dreadlesness of spirit Fifthly and lastly for this Concerning that freedom from tormenting cares and fears if there were any amongst them that had part and fellowship in any such Priviledge upon such ground as the light of nature might afford them it may be thought that the Spirit of God was in the business we may safely say that the Spirit of God might be there and that it was his interposure For the Book of Nature is the Book of God as well as the Book of Scripture though this latter Book hath more in it than the former yet so far as that doth teach so far doth God own countenance and fall in with it And we know that the Scripture it self doth speak the truth of this and God is the God of Order and not of Confusion Therefore those things which are written in the Book of Nature do not cross any thing written in the Scripture The truth is that this Book I mean the Book of the Scripture is written to perfect that which is decayed blotted and blurred in the Book of Nature that we might come to the knowledge of God with the more ease Now in case there be any who want this Book of the Scripture and shall mind and consider that other Book of God the Book of Nature which Book requires many excellent things of men as well as the Scriptures do If they go so to work as they may if they will study the works of Righteousness which the Book of Nature teacheth and fall in with him who teacheth there that is God and still as light comes in walk up unto it all
this while here is a fit opportunity for the Spirit of God to joyn himself with those persons and carry them on from lesser light to greater It is for his glory to delight in such persons who make much of his motions They that will but mind his beginnings and his first breathings into their hearts and souls he will presently cause them to take up a new Lesson and will still carry them forward and cause them to know things more considerable Now then put the case that this was the state of any of them that they did attain unto any such Spirit to be above fears and dread this might be by means of the Spirit of God which might be a kind of fulness of the Spirit in them If it be objected Sect. 10 But the Heathen are said to be without God in the World Eph. 2.12 To this I reply It is true to speak of the body and bulk of the Heathen they were indeed without God in the World this was the state of the generality of them yet notwithstanding the same Apostle saith that they knew God Rom. 1.21 2.14.15 and that they were a Law unto themselves Now look to what degree they did those things by the Law and light of Nature that they would have done in case they had had the written Law to that degree they were a Law unto themselves and their Consciences either excused or accused them accordingly Now it is usual to speak some things of a Body or People in the general which cannot belong or be applied to every individual or particular person As when Christ crucified is said to be unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 it must be understood that he speaks only of the generality of them for the Apostle explains himself But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks we preach Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God So that that which the Scriptures speak concerning the Gentiles is not to be applied unto every particular but only to the generality of them Concerning persons whether they bear the name of Christians or no who by means of debauched Principles and Practices by following Lusts and Pleasures unsatiably seem to have contracted or gained a freedom from fears and tormenting cares the truth is that for the most part they are not Inheritors or in possession of any such freedom it is but a Copy of their countenance under this kind of practice There is a Worm that lies gnawing them that ever and anon doth sting and bite them even in the greatest heat of their jollity they are often stung The Wiseman says Prov. 14.13 that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness The end of foolish and vain jollity is heaviness and not only so but many times it breaks out even in the midst of it and comes upon them as the pains of a woman with Child which plainly shews that their fearlesness of spirit is not of that kind which we speak of These waies and courses of pleasure bring but a false kind of joy for their disease all this while lies hid within them festering And so men may cause these kinds of fears to be allayed by this kind of mirth and jollity as men may lay mud upon a Fountain but after a while the Spring will make its way So will the Conscience be as a Spring of sorrow and trouble the Conscience will work thorough and thorough though they should lay on one kind of Pleasure after another yea though they should lay on never so much and it will appear in due time that these men are far from being partakers with the Saints of God in that great and blessed Priviledge of being fearless and dreadless So that we see that that fearlesness of spirit which we have argued for is an appropriate effect of our being filled with the Spirit God And though there be some counterfeits of it in some other persons who are not full of this Spirit of God yet if you take the Priviledge as we described it take it in the richness of it and in the truth and reality of it take it as being raised upon good grounds that it be not baffled with any thing that shall rise up against it thus it is only the effect of such a signal Righteousness as we speak of and some other answerable effects of a being filled with the Spirit Now as the case is in this Priviledge Sect. 11 so there is the same reason of all the other three particulars namely that a Creature cannot invest himself in them but only by that course we have spoken of Joy and Peace a setled Peace an excellent strain of Joy cannot be attained by any other person but only by him who is more excellent than his Neighbour this is the natural result and product of an excellent course and strain of Righteousness and Obedience unto the Command of God And if men shall attempt to raise it in themselves in any other way or by any other means they will be disappointed for this kind of fruit grows from no other Tree whatsoever it ariseth only from an enlargement of the Creature towards his God And the truth is that which is found in many men and which in the Language of some is termed joy is but a kind of degenerate joy There may be joy so called but that which is joy indeed is a quite different thing from it It was the saying of an Heathen Philosopher and it is a very true Saying that true joy is a severe thing and for the maintaining of it it requireth much watchfulness of them that are the Subjects thereof they must not turn aside to do any thing that is unworthy of it Now therefore when men are light and loose in their words and actions carried away by that contentment which is in sin there is nothing of reality in their joy You may find out some other name for it or if you will you may call it Joy but there is nothing of the nature or of the substance of this joy in it which is unspeakable and glorious and so concerning that other particular a capacity of enjoying a free and large Communion with God This cannot arise in any mans heart without the Spirit of God who can fill men with the knowledge of God and impart and communicate the secrets of God accordingly Who knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit will reveal them And our Saviour saith no man knoweth the things of God but only the Son no man knows them without manifestation and discovery of them by him As Horse and Mule and other Creatures do not nor cannot understand the things of a man because they have no Communion with him in his Principles of Reason and understanding In like manner neither are men capable of the things of God further than himself doth manifest