dwell in Christ and Christ in us by that holy Spirit Hence also may a faithfull soule surely gather God himselfe hath most clearely testified that if I love the Brethren I am translated from death to life that I am borne of God and therefore love the children of God because being my selfe his childe I love my Father Christ hath set his badge and cognizance upon me in that love and that holy Spirit is â—hee which by his presence hath brought my heart into obedience of this precept Certaine then is it that this love to the Saints is proper onely to the Saints even to those whom God hath begotten by his Word saved by his death and sanctified by his grace Seeing then I finde this love to the Saints rooted in my heart that my soule cleaves to their persons delights in their fellowship admires their excellencies sure am I that the same grace which I love fâ—ourishing in others is planted in my selfe that their Father is my Father their Head my Head and that Spirit which dwels in them resteth on me and will abide with me forever CHAP. XXXIV Recollecting and applying these things by short meditation NOw then in the last place let the troubled soule in some inward conference underset and prop up his shaken faith by applying these assurances unto himselfe Say then in thy heart How long oh my soule how long wilt thou suffer this feare which hath torment to hold thee downe in continuall affright and vexation how long shall it keep out that spirituall joy which is thy only Paradise on earth Search oh my Spirit search ouâ— in these heavenly Records those sure evidences whereby thy Lord hath graciously convâ—yed unto thee this happy and blessed estate Are they not layed up in the middest of thy heart See here first divers strong assurances that God hath clensed thee from reigning hypocrisie that hee hath given thee a thirst of righteousnesse not onely a desire to know him but to walke with him in all sincerity of obedience That hee hath given thee an unfeined delight and joy not onely in the Promises but in every Commandement of thy Lord liking and heartily loving that purifying fire of the Word whereby thou art refined as gold and seperate from this sinfull drosse which is so mixed and incorporate with thee A zealous anger and griefe burning within thee detesting every sinne whereby thy Saviour is dishonoured and above all thine owne in which thou unthankefull wretch too often forgettest that incomperable incomprehensible love wherewith hee hath compassed and embraced thee A continuall longing after the Lord Jesus after his death that thou maist be buried in it after his resurrection that thou maist be quickened by it and not only justified in that other but sactifiâ—d in this life and renewed after that his glorious image and divine beauty True indeed my weake soule too true thou art full of infirmities very unfruitfull very unprofitable every one out-strips thee and those who have set out long after thee in this heavenly race are now much before thee But yet comfort thy selfe for even in this estate thy gracious Saviour leaves thee not altogether comfortlesse but still affords thee some token of his eternall love for seeing thy weakenesse thou art humbled within me and broken with griefe of thy barrennesse Remember that he as much delights in the low feat of an humble spirit as in the loftiest Throne of his glorious heavens But rise my dejected soule oh rise up in strong consolations and glorious rejoycings See here oh see thou hast an infallible evidence that the Father of lights hath begotten thee through the word of Truth and that thou art borne anew not of mortall but immortall seede the Word of God and therefore entred not into a corruptible but eternall life For seest thou not that seede of thy Father abiding in thee feelest thou not an unslaked thirst of that sincere milke of the Gospell not that thou mightst have it in thy mouth for discourse but in thy heart for growth growth in all obedience growth in all holinesse and perfection Behold also behold with joy unspeakeable Thy Saviour hath assured his victory unto thee and hath already throwne downe the dominion of sinne in thee It is indeed an enemy a strong a grievous encombring vexing and ah too often prevailing enemy but an enemy thou professest no obedience but proclaimest open warre to every sinne how much more will he who conquered it reigning subdue it rebelling in thee yea certainely the Lord Jesus hath set up his victorious Crosse in thee and he that now hangs out a flagge of defiance will shortly set up his banner of triumph trample all thine enemies and bruise under thy feet both sinne and Satan Consider also that the bleâ—sed Spirit the life of thy spirit dwelleth and continually worketh in thee It cannot bee that uncleane spirit the Prince of disobedience it cannot bee the spirit of the world or that fleshly sinfull spirit within thee which is ever washing thee from uncleannesse seperating thee more and more from the world and the corruption which is in the world through lust which drawes and frames thy desires and actions to all obedience unto the Lord Jesus which gives thee no peace in sinne suffers thee not to rest in any imperfection discovers thy corruption causeth thee to groane under it puts thee forward in thy race enflames thy affections and orders thy feet to turne out of the evill into the good way and to runne in it Dost thou not finde in thee an unfeyned love to the Brethren Doth not thy judgement highly esteeme them Doth not thy will doe not thy affections entirely love and honour them Doth not thy whole soule blesse them How dost thou cleave to them in heart How dost thou admire those that excell upon the earth in holinesse How doest thou delight in them and art ravished with their heavenly fellowship Looke now to thy evidence sworne by the Father written by the Spirit sealed by the bloud of thy Saviour Is not hee borne of God who loves the children of God Is not hee a member who loves a fellow-member Is not hee quickened by the same Spirit who is united in the same spirituall love to those who live walk in the Spirit Rejoyce then oh my sonle rejoyce in the Lord and in these assurances of his everlasting truth and favour Cast out this spirit of bondage this servile this tormenting feare Bring in that joy of the Spirit seat it in the midst of thy heart There let it abide there let it reigne making thee to delight in the Lord to turne and tune thy grones and sighs to hymnes and spirituall songs ever blessing him who never ceaseth to blesse thee to love his glory and glory in his love to serve him in joy and rejoyce in his service CHAP. XXXV Conâ—luding all with Prayer OH glorious Trinity of persons in the unity of one God draw mee nearer
is truly good especially when longing after thee thy righteousnes in this barren and thirstie land my soule panteth and fainteth for thy presence and for that holy Spirit wâ—ereby I call upon thee Abba Father Oh how shouldst thou not according to thy Covenant delight in me to doe me good and as thou hast promised rejoyce over me to give me my hearts desire Now then thou my gracious Father who art more ready to give thy Spirit than wee to aske him even that Spirit of Prayer and supplication Thou who hast commanded Call upon mee in the time of trouble and hast promised I will heare thee Heare now rhe supplication of thy servant and when thou hearest be mercifull Thou who commandest Seeke my face and hast given thy servant an heart to answer Lord thy face will I seeke oh hide not thy face from me nor cast thy creature away in displeasure Yea oh my God quickeÌ„ thy servant in the sense of my want and miserie and in the knowledge of thy powerfull grace and mercy alwaies to pray and never to faint So though I walke in the midst of troubles thou wilt revive me and perfect that which concerneth me CHAP. XVI Comforts arising immediatelie from God himselfe And first in generall LOoke as a vessell which is coutinually driven downe by the current of any River will at length fall into the maine Sea which being the common store-house of waters both supplieth the want and receiveth the over-plus of lesser streames So when our soules have beene carryed along within these narrower bankes of comforts they will easily bee wafted into that wide Ocean whence every consolation floweth and into it ebbeth againe and emptyeth it selfe Certainly the final comfort of a Christian soule into which all the rest are resolved is God himselfe infinit in all goodnes unchangeable in his love and therefore an unexhausted Well a standing overflowing fountaine of infinite consolations Hence as hee challengeth this title and calleth himselfe The God of patience and consolation nay The God of all comfort so his faithfull servants from their experience confesse him every where their strength joy portion inhâ—ritance their Rocke Towre Shield Fortresse c. Well might David rejoyce and glory in the Lord My flesh saith hee faileth and my heart also but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever How strong and invincible was that faith and by it that comfort of Iob Although he kill me yet will I trust in him and hee shall beé my salvation And how answerable was their practice to this their profession Doe but consider what wee read of these holy men David being driven from his native Countrey and from his Fathers house in disgrace with the Court and in displeasure nay deadly hatred of his Prince deprived of all his deserved honours the just recompence of his noble service by the malice and tyrannie of Saul and which he accounted farre above the rest the greatest miserie banished from the holy Assemblies and the house of God affamished and even starved for want of that Word which hee preferred above all the earth not onely thrust out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord but by the rage of his Adversaries inforced to seeke Sanctuary in idolatous Countries where hee might have beene seduced to serve other gods had yet at length hid his head under the protection of an Heathenish King and found that favour from an enemy a Heathen which he had lost among his friends and Gods people There he placed himselfe in a forraigne City with his wives and some few loose men who for their owne advantage had followâ—d him But when hee retireth thither he findeth the City burned his wives and all his substance the wives children and all the goods of all his followers carried away Nothing now was left him but his souldiers and they grieved and vexed at the heart for their losse take all against him conspire intend and speake to stone him Look out now into all the world and see where you can finde upon earth one spark of comfort for this Saint of God yet even then when he was utterly desolate and forlorne he could send up his dejected soule to heaven and there did finde and feele infinite comfort in the Lord his God See the 1 Sam chap. 30. from the 1. to the 7. vers Doe we not find the like nay more in Iob His estate was lost and for outward blessings goods and children hee was stript as naked as he was borne His wife left him but as a snare His friends come to comfort him but through the craft of Satan shake him more thau all the rest of his afflictions His life was yet whole in his body but his body broken and wounded with sore plagues from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot But yet the Spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmitie True but a wounded spirit who can beare The inner-man embroyled by Satan and terrors of the spirit joyned to griefes and troubles of the body without plagues continually renued changes and armies of sorrowes set against him within and without the arrowes of the Almightie shot at him sticking in him and their venime drinkâ—ng up his spirit the terrours of God fighting against him made him the most afflicted and if it were possible for the faithfull to be miserable the most wretched man on earth But even then his poore soule over-wrastled with temptations cast downe within him and almost smothered with this load and heape of afflictions could lift up the head to search out the Redeemer and find unspeakable comfort in him I am sure my Redeemer liveth and I shall see God in my flesh c. What was left to those three royal young men Dan. 3. in that burning anger of the Tyrant and that seven-fold heated furnace What to the Apostle persecuted by Jewes disgraced by Heathens stoned by the consent of both and as a dead carrion dragged and cast out of the City yea too little esteemed nay judged by his owne children in the Spirit yet were they then even full of comfort in God Oh consider with what noble courage those three noble Captives defie the roaring of that Lyon even the fiercenesse of that proud King and tell him to his Beard Our God can and will deliver us out of thine hand With what Christian valour could that great Champion of the Lord Jesus compassed in and pressed downe with all the most bitter persecutions of this world cry out Victory and sing his Triumph not onely saying with the Heathen How light are all these things how slightlie doe I weigh them nay These light momentarie afflictions cause to us an excelling excellent eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 but In all these things wee are more than Conquerors through him that loveth us So right is it oh
and to thy glorious Father so that I poore worme dust dung even I might be one even as thou art in the Father and the Father in thee that I might be one in both Ob height depth bredth and length of thy love how incomprehensible is thy grace how heavenly my consolation And how hast thou wrought all this for me O my God my Lord my gracious Redeemer where shall I seek words or thoughts to set out this mercy wonderfull is thy love in all the rest and that my soule knoweth right well but in this how farre beyond all possibility of apprehension all expressions of wonder That my miserable mortality might be clothed upon and I be borne anew in the divine nature thou didst strip thy selfe of those robes of divine Majesty in which thou knewest it to be no robberie to be equall to God and wast borne in my weake nature and found in the servileforme of my fleshly infirmities Thou gavest thy body thou gavest thy soule for my sinne thou wast bound thou wast mockt thou wast scourged condemned nailed and dead on the crosse Thou oh mirrhor oh infinite miracle of mercy thou the love of the Father didst taste not onely gall and vineger but even wrath hel for me the child of wrath and brand of hell Oh my dead soule canst thou see all this and want coÌ„fort Can one cup of wine cheere thy heart and shall not such fruit of such a Vine fill thee with joyes unspeakeable and glorious Oh what is thy portion wheÌ„ such is the price what thine inheritance when such the purchase Rejoyce then oh my soule rejoyce evermore in such a Lord and such a love for whatsoever thou hast lost thou hast gained Christ lost but dung with him thou receivest whatsoever is truly good and partest for him with nothing but what in some respect is evill Have I lost Parents Children friends lands livings yet I have not lost Christ nor my Lord will not lose mee If I lose my life with the rest yet shall I not lose the life of Christ he is my life hee in life and death is my advantage Let Father Mother Brother Sister Wife Children forsake and hate me yet the Lord Jesus will never leave me never cease to love me and hee is better than a world of friends and kindred Oh my Lord to be in heaven without thee were exile but a sicke bed a loathsome prison with thee is an heavenly Paradise Why then should I be troubled seeing thou hast made mee to dwell in thee by faith and thou vouchsafest to dwel in me by thy blessed Spirit Onely thou my Saviour who hast loved mee to death make me ever to live in thee and in thy love thou who hast dyed for mee plant thy death in mee and burie my corruptions in thy grave Tho who wast crucified for me crucifie the world to me the flesh in mee and graft in mee the life of thy resurrection make oh make me to reâ—oyce in the fellowship of thy sufferings and in thy good time change this crowne of thornes into that of glory CHAP. XXI Comforts which flow from the holy Ghost AGaine with those former drawn from the two first persons of the blessed Trinity annexe the consolations of Gods holy Spirit who dwelleth in the faithfull Sweete and excellent are these comforts Neither is it in vaine that in specialty the holy Ghost is called the Comforter as being that person who is sent by the Father and the Sonne by himselfe to worke this effect in us Let us then remember that this blessed Spirit doth not onely dwell in us by his gifts faith love c. but personally which is evidently expressed Ephes. 1.13,14 You are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which or rather who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke cannot in ordinarie construction of Grammar agree with that of Spirit the one being of the neuter the other of the masculine but the gender purposely changed against use to shew that the person of the blessed Spirit is with us in us and so continues and stayes as an earnest of our inheritance and our full redemption in which respect wee are called his Temples 1 Corinth 6. 19. Thus also when the holy Ghost is promised us Ioh. 16. 13 14. our Saviour alters the gender and useth the masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee the Spirit of Truth and againe he not it shall glorifie me to shew that the very third person of Trinitie is given us yet hee dwels not in us as sometime in the Temple made with hands but as the soule rather dwels in the body so doth the holy Ghost dwel in the faithfull quickening sustaining leading them on to the rest of their soules and Lieging with us Look as in the body the hart and Head produce life sense and motion by the vitall and animall spirits which being sent by them and diffused into every particular member quicken and move it So the Spirit of Christ flowing from him into his mysticall bodie fils every part with life sense and motion It is the Spirit saith our Saviour so his Apostle that quickens Therefore is he called our life and they that live in the Spirit walk also or move in the Spirit There is also spirituall sense a taste whereby wee perceive the sweetnesse of God of the grace of God and the word of his grace whereby the spirituall man savours the things of the Spirit a spirituall touch and tendernesse when the Lord takes away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh a spirituall eye whereby the spirituall man discernes all things a spirituall hearing delighting in the Word and promise of God more than any musicall harmony a spirituall sent whereby the verie name of Christ is as an Oyntmeâ—t powred forth Now the holy Ghost doth not onely worke this comfort in us by faith giviâ—g us power to apprehend things absent or to come but applieth them more immediately by this verie sense so that the soule shall even feele with joy unspeakeable the consolations of God flow into it Thus the blessed Spirit doth first speake peace unto us from God and then gives oâ—r spirits an open eare to heare his voyce and know our peace that so we may come to finde our selves children of God and heires with Christ. Thus he doth not only spread a Table for us and there sets forth that Bread of heaven in the holy Ordinances of God but gives us power to eate making them more sweete to us than the hony-combe and thus brings us on to more fulnesse of growth and eternall life thorough Christ. Hence commeth it that a Christian can rejoyce in tribulation because this holy spirit sheds abroad in our harts that love of God which is better than life and gives us so palpable a sense of it that it beareth downe all other feelings before it See
The seed of God remaineth in them who are borne of God he begetteth us by the Word of truth That immortall seede brings forth in us an immortall life Hence also is it manifest that when God hath powerfully and effectually sowne this seed in the heart of any man then the life of God that eternall life is given him in which regard the Gospell is often called the power of God to salvation But some will say Now I plainly see my estate were sure if I could infallibly know that the Word were effectually applied unto me by God Oh how should I be sure of that how should I be certaine that the Word is made to me a seed of life Reade 1 Pet. 2. 2. and compare with it the three last verses of thâ— former chapter We are borne not of mortall but immortall seed the word of God this Word endureth for ever and this is the Word which by the Gospell is preached unto you Wherefore laying aside c. As new borne babes â—esire or thirst for the sincere milke of the Gospell that you may grow thereby From all these Scriptures linked together observe how plainly and necessarily beyond all contradiction these two concluâ—ions are gatheredâ— 1. Whosoever thirsteth for the sincere milke of the Gospell to grow up by it in grace and all obedience hee is certainely new borne and a babe at least in this immortall life 2. Whosoever is borne of God by this seed of his Word is everlastingly beloved of God and shall appeare with Christ in glorie When therefore we finde that whereas heretofore being full we loathed this hony-combe but now feeling our selves empty and hungry even the most bitter part of Gods word is sweet unto us so that wee can truly say All the words of God even his commands and judgements as wel as his promises are pleasant unto our taste more than home unto our mouth that frequently as the Infant for the brest wee longue for it not for custome feare or knowledge onely but to grow up in all obedience to God then may we without all question conclude Seeing God hath effectually applied this Word unto my soule and in his eternall love begotten mee as a childe and heire to himselfe joynt heire with Christ I know that nothing shall seperate mee from the love of God which is in Christ nothing shall plucke mee out of the hand of my gracious Saviour and my Almighty Father Againe whosoever is partaker of the victory of Christ so that now not sinne but Christ reignes in him is certainly a true member of the Lord Jesus and one of them for whom Christ hath dyed See Rom. 8.37,38 We are more than Conquerors through him that loved us I am perswaded therefore that nothing shall seperate us c. God hath given us victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ. So then when by the Word the strong holds of Satan are battered and beaten downe in us every thought subdued to the obedience of Christ when the dominion of sinne is deposed in us and the Scepter of Christ and his Throne set up in our hearts we are in the state of grace Rom. 6.14 and members of his mysticall body baptised into his death quickened in his resurrection as is apparent in the whole course of that chapter But how should I be assured that Christ reigneth in me and not sinne Why Know you not that to whom you yeeld your selves servants to obey his servants yon are to whom you obey Marke then obedience in service must bee from a yeelding willingnesse and love With good will doing service If then thou obeyest thou yeeldest up thy selfe not forced with love and good will to do what is commanded See then and conâ—ider not so much what thou doest but what thou wouldst doe and whom thou obeyest Thou doest the evill thou wouldst not doe thou doest not the good thou wouldest doe Then this is no obedience when it is done but not with good wil nay so far art thou from obeying that it is not done by thee but by sin in thee Sin doth it in thee thou doest it not in sinne But when the inward man delighteth in the law of God howsoever the command of the Lord is not done as it ought yet because out of love to it the giver of it thy wil puts on the outward man to obedience hence is manifest that the law of God is written in thy heart see Psal. 40.8 and that thou livest in obedience not to sin but Christ. Hence it is clearly evinced that thou art not a servaÌ„t of sin whose yoak thou hatest Thou yeeldest not up thy selfe with love and cheerfulnesse to obey it but sighest under the burden of it a captive then thou maist be to sin but no servant Remember thisâ— He is not a member of Christ and his faithfull servant who either for feare of law anger of superiours or some such outward respect is driven inforced to Christian duties yet the hand or foot which by reasoÌ„ of some sore breeding in it or some weaknesse by a blow or fal thorne sticking in it festering cannot doe the office of it is notwithstanding a member and a servant not throughly recovered of a deadly malady nor able to do perfect service is yet a faithful servant So neither is he a servant to sin who overwrastled by strong tentations detesting this body of death is carried captive sending up his spirit in grones unutterable and crying out oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me And hee certainly is a servant and member of Christ who pressed with sinfull weakenesse would doe what hee cannot and doth what hee can Take a more through view of this truth in a familiar and confessed instance Spaiâ—e is truly said to be under the dominion of the Spanish King because the people acknowledging theÌ„selves Subjects willingly live under his lawes but Holland is as truly said not to be under his dominion because having shaken off his yoake they live not under his lawes nor will heare of his service And although sometime in fight they are overcome yet doe they renew their forces and both openly professe and behave themselves as enemies Thus is it with the faithfull They were the servants of sinne but now from the heart they have obeyed that forme of doctrine which was delivered them They hate and reject the Law of sinne in their members But doth not sinne fight against them Yes and they against it And this is a signe of enmitie not obedience But it often prevailes also True but it prevailes as an Enemie therefore they renew their strength by prayer plucke up their hearts and set themselves in order to resist and subdue it No signe of dominion in all this but rather of that deadly feod mentioned by the Apostle The spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these two are
contrarie Hence again we may know that we have claime to Christ and all that hee hath done for the Elect. For if I am not under the dominion of sinne I am under grace and the true subject of Christ even a member of his body But I plainly finde in me a rebellion against sinne within by loathing it as a body of death and a stinking carrion without by opposing it in all my actions and labouring to free my selfe not onely from subjection but from the encumbrance and molestation of it utterly to root it our as the spirituall Canaanite Certain am I therefore that Christ hath subdued sinne in me setled me in his kingdome and in his bodie Nothing can separate mee from him As it is very easie to see the soule in the body though invisible in the substance by the effects and workes of it so will it be no difficult matter to discerne the blessed Spirit dwelling in us by his many and manifest operations For as in the whole body of Christ so in every member the holy Ghost is ever working Looke as in the bodie the soule is never idle but ever in action even in swoones when we feele it not yet then it ceaseth not and though at such times wee have no sense of it yet others conversing with us evidently perceive it working for life so in the new man It is the same Spirit which worketh all in all so that when we feele it not our selves others easily see it Two maine actions of the Spirit comprehending the rest are mortification opposing resisting and working out the old man all sinfull matter in us or Vivification quickning repairing and strengthening the new man No sooner the Spirit enters but it discovers to us much ignorance and then stirres up to incline the eare unto wisedome and apply the heart to understanding the tongue to crie for knowledge and lift up the voyce for understanding When now the iâ—â—elligible part is somewhat cleared and light brought forth in this new Creation strait the dulnesse and deadnesse of the concupiscible part the will and affections is laid open Then the heart longues and the tongue calls out for quickeâ—iâ—g grace Take notice of this in the Saints Thus David begs for more light Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law Teach me O Lord the way of thy Sâ—atâ—tes Give mee understanding But now when by the grace of God in the exercise of the Word hee was growne wiser than his enemses and of more understanding than all his teachers then strait his eye was upon that sluggishnesse and deadnesse of spirit and how loud and frequent is he for quickning Quicken me according to thy Word quicken me according to thy judgement quicken me according to thy loving kindnesse how often repeated in that one Psalme Certaine is it that as wee can never in this life wholly shake off all sinfull infirmities so that blessed Spirit will never suffer us to rest in any Looke as in the earthly Canaan the Israelites untill the reigne of Salomon were never in full peace sometime vexed with Iabin of Canaan sometime with the Philistims but ever victorious Remarkable is it that ever their vexation was a sure signe of their enlargement and oppression by the enemy ushered in the destruction of the oppressor for when Israels soule was grieved with the Canaaâ—ites Gods soule was grieved for his Israel So in the state of grace till that true Salomon the Prince of peace shall fully reigne over all his and our enemies wee shall ever be in continuall strife with our sinfull corruptions first with one then with another and nothing should more fully assure us that God hath certainly purposed to cut off any sinfull affection in us then that discovering it to our eyes and giving us sense of the burden he gives us no rest that wee may give him no rest but seek importunately for helpe till we finde it subdued and destroyed in us Neither doth the blessed Spirit by his baptisme of fire onely mortifie and purge out the drosse of our sinfull nature but quickens us by that heat of life in vivification so that the soule enflamed with the thirst of grace and glory can make no stay in his race till it touch the marke with all diligence adding to faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance and when we are not destitute of any grace then putting us forward to grow in the grace which we have received Hence is it that even in the depth of tentation when our selves judging by sense suppose that all is lost standers by as they say see further then wee and can easily discerne this Spirit mightily working in us grieving under the load of sinne and unutterably groaning under this oppression judging our selves sighing for grace By this then may wee evidently disâ—rne the Spirit dwelling in us that we are ever in spirituall motion action and exercise sometime mortifying sometime quickning ever leading us forward to perfection See Rom. 8.11.13 14. so that we can never rest or sit downe in a contented estate till wee are fully compleat in happinesse and glory Lastly another signe whereby we may without all faile conclude that we are translated from death unto life is our love to the Brethren For certainely He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive the reward of a righteous man and hee that gives a cup of water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple verilie hee in no wise shall lose his reward Nay this token of our love proves and makes good all the former namely that God is our Father the Lord Iesus our Saviour and we Temples of the holy Ghost For whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God and every one that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of him And Behold let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is borne of God and knoweth God Where the love of Gods children is set out by the Spirit as a sure token both of our love to God and our new birth by God Againe our Saviour appointeth it as the Badge of his Disciples By this shall all men how much more our selves know that you are my Disciples if you love one another Read also 1 Ioh. 3.23,24 This is his command that we should beleeve and love one another and he that keepeth this Commandement dwels in him and he in him And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit he hath given us The two great commandements of the Gospell are Faith and love which when they are written in our hearts by the Spirit and he stirres us up to cleave unto our head by faith unto our fellow members by love it is manifest that we