The longer you go without the Spirits testimony the more difficultly will you obtaine it the more will your hearts be instructed in Satans Sophistry to elude Arguments of comfort if you be such as look towards God the more experience wil you have of your own hearts deceitfulnesse so-that you will deal with them as we ordinarily do with common lyars hardly be perswaded to believe their Testimony when they speak the truth concerning you If you be such as neglect both grace and assurance know that the more difficultly will you bring your selves to accept of grace the longer you delay it the heart will be hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3. 13. The Spirit grived c. And if you get grace a thousand to one if you get the witnesse of the Spirit to testifie that you have it Though God give such men grace as put it off to the last yet it were too great an encouragement to others to delay in like manner if he should ordinarily let them know it 'T is no easie matter at any time to get it much more difficult when delayed Many souls for many years together eat no pleasant bread and when they drink mingle their drink with weeping their sleep departeth from them and all the comforts of their lives are overcast with a sad cloud of darkness they go from sea to sea to wait on the Ordinances rise many a night to pray when others sleep chasten their souls with fasting and go heavily all the day long and this as I said for divers years together and this in the flower of their years and strength and yet with much ado can get little more then some flashes of comfort now and then some gleams of light as I told you before to save them at a desperate pinch and after long exercise in a doubtful medly of hope and fear a sad twilight of sorrowes and supports at last recover this testimony in and to their hearts that they are the children of God And therefore 't is not to be thought that persons who out of wilfulnesse or spiritual sloath put off the procuring this blessed certainty to themselves till old age or the approaches of death should suddenly leap out of a certain damnable estate into an assured certainty of salvation Sure the stream of Promises in the Word is least favourable to such persons and it is a thing most righteous in the eyes of reason it self that God should be as slow in giving as they are in seeking this assuring testimony CHAP. XI Certain Hindrances of getting Assurance of our Adoption removed Quest BUt how shall I get the testimony of the Spirit and thereby be assured of my Justification and Adoption Answ 1. There are divers Hindrances to be temoved and then divers Directions to be followed Hinderances are 1 A secret murmuring frame of spirit against Gods present dispensations towards thee as if God dealt very hardly and contrary to his wonted course with thee As if God had set thee up as the only mark of his displeasure which discontent is secretly augmented by the enjoyments and attainments of others Such and such have attained such and such comforts and walk cheerfully but God keeps me in the dark like them that art dead long ago And then as the children of Israel in the wilderness the soul many times quarrels at God for doing what he hath done and wishes any change even to what it was or the worst that can be Would God say they we had dyed in Egypt nay would God we were out of the world any way rather then to be thus tossed up and down in these tempests of spirit to be made Satans Tennis-bals the gazing stocks of the world and a terrour to our selves c. Friend who ever thou art that art in this frame of spirit know the Holy Spirit wil not be wrought to smile on thy heart by these means Such a dogged sullen frame of spirit will but procure thee the more lashes and continue thee the longer in the wilderness Israels murmurings kept them forty years in the wildernesse hereby they vexed Gods holy Spirit Isai 63. 10 and so dost thou and thou maist expect a proportionable dealing at Gods hands 2 A kind of delight in complaining against thy self and taking Satans part many times in bearing false witness against thy own soul Sometimes a kind of sinful humility sometimes an apprehension of ease in venting the causes of their trouble and sometimes a designe of provoking others to humor them in applying those corrasives and terrors to them which they think are their portion makes many persons liberal in charging themselves in this sort And somtimes Satan helping them they are apt to lay more load upon themselves then indeed belongs to them aggravating their sins beyond measure and condemning themselves for the vilest creatures upon the face of the earth And by constant use I know not what kind of pleasure grows out of such libelling themselves and they are never so well as when they are in that tune I grant a serious moderate and discreet complaining of our sins and wants to such from whose advice and prayers we may expect good and for this reason that we may get their advice and prayers they knowing our condition particularly and being thereby enabled to help us by such a through knowledge of our case is not onely lawfull and expedient but necessary But to be always in season and out of season urging these indictments against ones selfe and meerly for this reason that we may put from our selves those comfortable truths which are indeavoured to be fastened upon us doth but more indispose us to peace and satisfaction of spirit and teach Satan an art of troubling us everlastingly with our own liking and approbation Take this for a certain rule That soul that will not open to the Spirit of Adoption till he can find no matter of complaint against himselfe may go mourning all his days and thank himself for it 3. An unthankful denyal of the works of Gods sanctifying spirit in the heart Which are the material ground of all regular assurance from the Spirit of Adoption or at least mitigating qualifying and extenuating them This ordinarily accompanies the former A soul that delights it self in picking quarrels against its own peace will not bee easily brought to own any good concerning it self Tell a man in this frame Sir you are one of Gods called ones for you have had experience of a gracious change upon your heart You now hate sin count it your greatest burthen which once you loved and judged it your greatest comfort you have an unsatisfiable longing after Christ not only in his merits but in his graces and the communication of his holinesse and all the World will not satisfy you without him you have an heart perfectly broken off from all your old company and all your delight is in the Saints that are upon earth and them that excell in vertue
Spiritual pride may undo a convinced soul It may make a man take that for the end which is but the way nay but the first step in the way Trouble of conscience for sin is a rare thing in the world and where it is wrought in the soul to any large measure especially it puts a great difference between man and man this difference a soul may apprehend too soon so as to be puffed up with the experience of such a work on his spirit Suppose of a crew of profane persons the conscience of one may bee troubled for his lewd courses and this trouble sticks close and drives him from his loose companions and to resolve upon a new course of life Now is Satan apt to strike in and blow up the heart with the thoughts of this work and the man by comparing himself with what he was and what his Associates still are is apt to think Sure now I am in a good condition for I have been troubled for my sins and forsaken my former wayes and therefore I am savingly converted and therefore I have ground to take comfort and apply Promises to my selfe and entertain no more doubts of my condition Here let me at least allude to Matth 12. 43 44 45. The unclean spirit may in some notorious lust or other be cast out and he is rest lesse till he have again recovered his possession and therefore waiteth a time till it be swept and garnished till a barren profession of Religion be taken up and pride make such persons carry it high this furnisheth a lodging for the Divel then he returnes but in another disguise such an unclean dirty spirit must never think to be harboured again in a garnished house therefore he may perhaps wipe his shooes at the door and under a pretence of holinesse or light may get a firmer possession An erroneous Divel in such a proud heart may get possession when a scandalous Divel cannot though afterwards he open the door to more scandalous and unclean then himself Neither doth such a frame of spirit only give advantage to Satan but it also puts a man into a condition incapable of further grace from God seeing he every where annexeth the Promises of grace to those whom he hath throughly humbled Psal 25. 9. Isai 4. 6 He giveth grace to the humble 7. Indiscreet handling by godly Ministers and friends As many a child that comes to the birth is spoiled by the indiscretion of the Midwife Now here are two miscarriages to be avoided A birth may be endangered by over-slacking or overhastning 1 An over-rigorous exacting of such and such 1. preparatory measures in all as in some or 2. such measures of preparation to grace as cannot be attained unto before grace 3. and of such dispositions to the least measure of grace as presuppose growth in grace So when I find a soul humbled and broken under the guilt of sin and the work by all likelihood is serious but failing in some formalities of what is ordinary and usual in others for here I must not think to fit every foot with one shooe if I should hide the Gospel which only converts as to the formal act of conversion from such a soul till I see conviction of sin bring a sinner to attempt self destruction c. because it brings some so far or till it shew it selfe in a floud of tears as in others or till it heighten his troubles into a kind of distraction as in others here I go besides the rule on this side Or should I require in that sorrow for sin a freedome from all self-respect a single aiming at Gods glory absolutely divided from a mans own good should I require that those breakings of heart which I discerne be derived from meer love to God and Christ c. tempers which must needs attend the discovery and enjoyment of Christ and that not only in truth and reality but in sense and evidence and such as all persons who are arrived to a great measure of the Spirit of Adoption do not find or at least very weakly in themselves here I should not only be indiscreet in expecting and requiring that from the Law which is not to be found but in the Gospel but occasion the damping and cooling if not utter quenching those blessed affections through despair of ever causing the stream to ascend so high and so furnish Satan and mans cowardly sloathful heart with matter enâ—ugh of temptation to Apostacy This is a great evil to detain a soul long in the passage from death to life Hos 13. 13. 2 An over hasty and inconsiderate application of comfort before the soul give evidence that it is truly and soundly humbled And this is overhastening the birth which occasions many distortions weaknesses and defects in the person so born into the new world and divers times exposeth the soul to eternal undoing seeing there are very few if any over early and abortive children but are still-born Here is to be considered that all Promises that concerne the Application of Comfort to us are conditional and we are not to administer it but only to capable Subjects So as I have shewed before Christ tyes his yoak and rest together and feeling and removing the weight of sin are in the same place conjoyned Mat. 11. 28 29 30. And the comfortable indwelling of the presence of God in any soul is conditioned with an humble contrite and trembling frame of spirit Isai 66. 2 And blessed are the Mourners for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Now certainly ere God will speak he will not onely find shewes of these tempers but realities and therefore a Minister who is Gods Deputy in dealing with such persons should labour to come neer him herein for how can Ministers keep to their commission if they loose where God binds 'T is true they are not bound to an infallibility of concluding that such a work is true but only to judg by the effects but when they have sufficient evidence to sway their judgement concerning the real conversion of any soul then to speak comfort is a duty Isai 40. 1. till then 't is a sin The way then how to deal with such persons is this We must search whether the trouble be real or counterfeit sleight or deep fowl or clean inflamed or not and accordingly either widen the wound more to make it capable of admitting a Tent or apply a lenitive plaister to allay the fire of it or a drawing one to fetch out the corruption or lastly an healing to close the Orifice And indeed whiles the trouble is meerly legal and from a Spirit of Bondage the main care and skil of a Minister or friend as to such a one ought to be to find out the mean between these two extremes the heightning the trouble so as to render the soul too superstitiously fearful to close with Christ and lightning or asswaging it so as to undo the soul by a lusory and unsound
spirits into a temper inconsistent with their gravity nay youthful lâ—sts if they will yet take no denyal must fight for their quarters and dâ—ive the new intruders out of doors Friends I appeal to your own spirits how many Parents and Masters are there in the World who if their childrâ—n and servants begin to entertain any relâ—gion scruples though never so necessary are apt to lay to them as Pharaoh to the Isrâ—elites ye are idle ye are idle theâ—efore you are so inquisitive after those things Go theâ—efore now and work Exod. â—5 17. 18 And thus becomes the word of our Saviour verâ—fied upon them the cares of this woâ—ld and the deceitfulnesse of riches choak the seed and iâ— becometh unfruiâ—ful Mat. 13. 2â— Thus aâ—… the naiâ—s which the Spirit fastens by the Master â—f â—ssemblies driven out by others Eccles 13. 11 of the Worldâ— making How many prâ—fâ—ne scâ—ffers jear out such blessed guests out of the soul of those with whom they are familiar Lastly how many idle drunkâ—n câ—mpanions drown the blessed convictions of the Spirit of God in themselves and otâ—ers together with their own estates and parts in strong liquors Oh you that have often by scurrilous scoffe broken these bonds of the consciences of others take heed when the Spirit comes to fetter your own if ever you be so happy and that is somewhat rare to those that sit in the seat of the scornfull your bonds will be made strong Is 28. 22. You that to secure your selves from those motions have many a time made the Tavern your asylum your refuge I cannot say Sanctuary thinke when God shall give your consciences a commission to keep an Assizes in your souls you will not find so easie a discharge from its Court as from a drawers bar and a Vintners reckoning You have broken the Spirits prison once and again it may be and therefore take heed when he takes you next you 'l pay for all hee 'l lay you fast enough for flinching His own iniquities shall take the wicked and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sinnes Prov 5. 22. or I am almost affraid to read the next words v. 23. yet take them for your warning it may be it will be worse with you the spirit may leave you to die without instruction c. CHAP. VI. A branch of the fourth Caution of the preceding Chapter concerning over-hastening of comfort Wherein is also a case concerning measures of conviction and humiliation NOr are those impatient souls altogether blamefree who because they long for the peace-full fruit of the lips will not stay the ripening of it but greedily devour it green who though the spirit have them in cure and the necessity of their disease require their confinement to rules of Physick yet will be ruled by their own heads and adventurously break those bonds and cast those cords from them as grievous and unnecessary They Psal 2. 3. cannot endure to serve an apprenticeship under a Spirit of bondage and then be made free in his way and time but hastily lay violent hands on Christian liberty and are very angry though perhaps they more need it if a Minister do but mention a searching convincing truth which may reduce them to their Master again I have my self visited those ignorant souls upon their death-beds who have called out for nothing but comfort comfort when they might had they seen their own need have rather cry'd for conviction conviction Nay among some persons 't is as much accounted a solaecisme in Divinity to search any ones conscience as it is in manners to be iniquisitive into his secrets But beloved take this for a certain rule those that run away from a Spirit of bondage and will set up with a stock of comforts without his leave as too many do wil quickly break and turn arrant bankerupts in the matter of their spirituall condition Hee that beleeves makes not haste Q. But Sir how long will you have us continue under a Spirit of bondage what measures of humiliation are requisite to true conversion and sound comfort how many years must wee serve ere you will allow us to set up A. Truly friends it is past my Skill to determine precisely neither is it necessary I should The Lord knowes I could wish it were in my power to heal every conscience the first houre in which it is smitten But the Lord thinks not fit to deal so with many of his Saints and therefore I say there is danger lest wee snatch comfort before it is fit for us or wee for it And this is all that I desire to caution you against in this that hath been said But that I may not leave you altogether unsatisfied in this point and especially that I may wound no broken ones I shal give you some rules to judg when God gives you a manumission from the Spirit of bondage and by that you may guesse when you are too hasty 1. In generall As soon as the soul is brought to see a through necessity of Jesus Christ and accordingly to close with him with true Faith it may take comfort For certainly to such an one Christ belongs The waters belong to every one that thirsteth and they are in a blessed condition that hunger and Isa 51. 1. thirst after righteousnesse And to whomsoever Matt. 5. 6 Christ belongs immediatly comfort belongs as he that hath right to an inheritance hath right to all the incomes of it Gods Ministers are bound not to defer comfort one minute from a soul concerning whom they have but sufficient grounds in charity to believe in Christ Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord Is 40. 1. And Heb. 6. 17 18. the H. Ghost tells us that God intends comfort to all that fly for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them 2. As soon as I am within any promises reach and compasse so soon belongs comfort to mee And that depends on the former Obj. But will not any troubled soul cry out for Christ and lay hold upon Christ in extremity A dying man will never dispute with himself whether he shall send for a Physician a condemned man upon the gallows whether he shall accept of a pardon and a drowning man whether he shall scramble up a rock if it be within his reach And is every such soul fit for comfort 2. A. I answer therefore more particularly 1. I ought not to refuse comfort when I find my soul weary of the bonds and fetters of sin as much or more then of the fetters of trouble and anguish for sinne Beloved when the chains of corruption are as grievous as pangs of conscience when I hate Satan as a tempter as much as I hate him as a troubler when I groan as much to be delivered from the body of death as from the weight of wrath then I am ripe for comfort But Rom. 7. 24 when I hear my heart cry louder Oh
must serve the spirits designes in Law as wel as Gospel What would men have us do Shall we speak peace to those to whom the Spirit denounceth open war How shall we keep to our Commission if in stead of binding on earth those who are bound in heaven we let them loose and help them to escape preach doctrines of universall Redemption and Salvation and teach them how to apply generall Gospell truths to harden their souls in sin Mee thinks I hear the Lord when he gives a Minister his charge speak in the language of Jehu when he had shut up Baals worshippers in a guard If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape he that letteth him go his life shal be for the life of him 2 Kings 10. 24. Or rather in his own words to the Prophet Ezekiel 3. 18. When I say c. Yet I must tell you I would have the Law preached as it is in the hands of Christ i. e. not as casting men under an irrecoverable condemnation for every offence not as exacting rigorously every punctilio of a duty under pain of being rejected by God not as requiring obedience as a condition of a covenant of works to salvation Although it be necessary too that as a Covenant of works it should be declared to those that are under the Law that by the sight of it they may be made to fly to the Gospel as a Map discovers rocks and quicksands that men may avoid them and Physick books poisons to warn men of them By preaching it as in the hands of Christ I mean wee must withall open a door of hope shew them Christ as the end of the Law to whom all the preaching of the Law aymes For my part I meet with a dictinction often of the Law as in the hands of Moses and as in the hands of Christ I think as 't is ordinarily taken it is grounded on a principle of Socinianisme that the Spirit was not a spirit of Adoption under the old Testament But I can allow the expression in this sense Gospell must bee held forth more clearly now then it was then and believing more urged then doing and doing in a way of believing God giving them a yoke of observances which vailed the Spirit and looked much like a Covenant of works the Ministers of the Gospell are to take off that vail and shew Christs open face 3. Let this plead a little for poor troubled spirits to Ministers and friends that take paines to comfort them When we speak comfort to them and their souls refuse it as Heman Ps 77. 2. We are apt to censure them for peevish and perverse c. But friends is this reasonable to charge a prisoner with peevishnesse because he doth not shake off his bolts and come forth without the keepers leave I know sometimes there is much fault in such souls but the spirit works with their weaknesse to withhold comfort and though they be blameable for refusing it yet the spirit orders their weakenesses therein to his blessed ends Wherfore if you chide them for shutting the doors upon themselves do it so as withall to pray the Spirit to open them else they cannot open them if they would never so fain And those of us who were once in their condition were as untoward as they till Gods Spirit opened our eyes to see a well of consolation 4. Let this humble us all who have tasted any of the powers of the World to come and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost this way for our often grievings and vexings of the H. Spirit That we have stouted it out against the Spirits arrests and refused to bee his prisoners If this were wilfully done O how evill a thing was it how high a provocation If a warrant from Westminster in the hands of a Bayliffe will make a man stand and render himself prisoner How dares any man make an escape when the word arrests him by the authority and warrant of the Spirit Nay farther think what a sad case you were in should God resolve to strive no more with you Think on that terrible place Heb. 6. 4 5 6. If involuntarily this is very bad though not so bad as the Former When you look over the former convictions by the light of this Sermon Friends be humbled to think how often was the Lords Spirit in a sermon in the advice of friends in afflictions and we were not aware of it How often did hee lay his hand upon our shoulders and shew the Warrant of Scripture to arrest our souls and we fought with him and delivered our selves out of his hand Oh brethren when the Spirit seizeth on you again submit yeild your selves if his Arrests from time to time bee sleighted beware of a Writ of rebellion next See it Deut. 29. 19 20. The Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him Then will you bee outlawes to the Covenant of life and salvation and God will raise all the posse of heaven and earth and hell too for your ruine and destruction Your fear shall come as desolation and destruction shall come upon you as a whirlwind you shall eat of the fruit of your own way and bee filled with your own devices The turning away of such fools shall slay them and their false peace and prosperity shall destroy them Proverb 27 31 32. CHAP. VIII The second Thesis explained First by discovering the nature of this Work of Bondage 2d Thesis or Proposition COme we now to the second Thesis to wit that the blessed Spirit of God in the ordinary way of working becomes a Spirit of bondage before he become a Spirit of Adoption to any soul I say in the ordinary way not because I think there are any extraordinary cases in which it workes otherwise in those of full age and perfect sense but that I may qualifie the expression to some ears who plead such experiences as may be exceptions from this Rule whose spirits I am very tender of and therefore am contended to prosecute this doctrine in such qualified expressions Although I believe ere we have travelled together through this Discourse and when we come to understand one another wee shall comemore neer together and agree upon more generall terms to cloth it in As also because I will not tye up Gods hands from working miracles in this way as well as in any other if he see a cause worth the putting forth of an omnipotent Arme. But before I prove it I must answer some Questions Q. 1. Wherein doth this first work of the Spirit upon the soul consist Q. 2 By what means doth the Spirit usually work it And this done I shall first enquire how it appeares the spirit so doth and secondly why he doth so Q. 1. Wherein doth it consist Ans 1. Generally this
hady our bones broken on its wheele had you fed upon ashes and drunk tears and been whipt with scorpions every morning and ever and anon been doused over head and ears in the gulfe of Gods wrath shaken over hell fire and carryed the coals of it in your bosomes as I have done for divers weeks moneths years it may be you would find out some other way of spending your times and not treasure up sorrow for your souls here and wrath against the day of wrath hereafter One saith Sweetnesse before sense of sinne is like cordials to a foul stomack Shepherds Sound Believer I shall easily grant that the love of Christ is a very effectual and the most effectual restraint to sinne when it is manifested to the soul and set home effectually by the spirit but so dull are we to improve such ingenuous inducements that we have but too much need of experience of the bitternesse of sinne to second that consideration And indeed though that be most effectual where it works yet this is effectual with the most And moreover as before was shewed the argument from love is strengthened by this experience The experience of the bitternesse of sinne makes the love of Christ in delivering us from it more engaging 5. Hereby the Spirit terrifies others and restrains them from sinne As publique prisons and gallows do not only punish malefactors but prevent many evils that would be committed but for the severity used against some The World must needs read the torments of Hell to unconverted sinners by an easie deduction from those terrors that they see in converts or at least the hard termes upon which they must be delivered from them And this works often more effectually by comparing their lives who are made the butts of these divine arrowes with their own when they consider that if others smart so heavily for the fewer and smaller sins which they to appearance are guilty of their own more and greater deserve worse 6. Hereby the Spirit teacheth us to pray to sigh and grone out unutterable requests Jesus Christ upon earth when he suffered for our sinnes was under a Spirit of Bondage The Law said to him when he stood in our stead whoever is under the Law is under the curse of God and under the sentence of eternal death but thou art under the Law And this had the same effects which it hath on us it wrought horrour and anguish and such a despair of help every way but from his Father that was able to deliver him from death and that made him powre out strong cries and groanes Heb. 5. 7. Thus David cried to the Lord in the cords of hell Ps 18. 5 6. 116. 3 4 he groans and roares c. 7. Hereby the spirit keeps us the more humble all our dayes And for my part I may suspect the other way by the pride that attends it in those that boast of it as when a man whose life hath been forfeited to justice and saved by meer mercy growes proud we say Sir remember you were in another garb in such a Prison at such a place of Execution so will the Spirit make use of such admonitions ever after to such persons Remember my fetters the gall and wormwood c. Hereby it makes us contented with Gods slow and gradual way of comforting which is usual with him which our pride and tenderness cannot endure 8. That it may provoke pity and tendernesse and prevent censoriousnesse in one to another in such cases This made Christ a merciful and compassionate High Priest Heb. 2. 18. that he had the experience of our griefs and sorrowes God will have heart answer heart as face face Were such works not usual even Prov. 27. 19 Saints would look upon such as Monsters whom the hand of the Lord hath smitten Christ was so stared on as a Monster Psalm 22. 17. They look and stare upon me And Isai 8. 18. Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signes and wonders As the World looks upon troubled spirits so would other Saints but for this experience 9. That he may fit them for the comfort of several Gospel Promises which without this work they are not qualified for Such as that to hungring and thirsting after Righteousnesse poverty of spirit Matth. 5. 3 4 6. To wearinesse and being heavy laden with sin Matth. 11 28. To an humble and contrite heart Isai 57. 15. To a Saint in a Wildernesse Hosea 2. 14. How can men be the subjects of these promises without this work Many comfortable promises of the Scripture signifie nothing but stand for cyphers to souls who have had no acquaintance with this Work 10 That it may make us prize and take care to keep the favour of God when we have it Seeing we know by experience that if he hide his face we are like them that go down into the pit Ps 143. 7 11 That he may make the yoak of duty appear more desirable to the heart and feel more easie to the neck of Saints by comparison with the heavinesse of the yoak of sin 12 That he may settle comfort the more by such shaking at first As the tree growes more downward and roots deeper when it is exercised with storms and shaken at first and broken bones grow stronger if new set again These are some of many Reasons that might be given why the Spirit usually converts this way CHAP. XII A Case of Conscience eoncerning the measure of this work Quest 5 VVHat measure doth the Spirit work by in this bringing souls under bondage Answ He observes not the same measure with every soul nor continues it so long on one soul as on another Only so much must be wrought of all the forementioned works as will accomplish the saving ends of those works Now the end of one of these works is the begetting of the other and the end of all Christ Christ is the end of the Law to a Rom. 10. 4 Believer as soon as a man is brought to a full close with Christ the works mentioned are at an end and so they will when they have done the immediate preparatory work to faith which is to drive the soul out of all other shelters and make it conclude it self under a necessity of coming to Christ So much conviction saith a godly and a learned man now with God is necessary as breeds Shepherds Sound Believer compunction and so much compunction as breeds a through Humiliation And when is that When the soul thinks no more of by-wayes to escape but accepts the bonds and kisseth the fetters of the Spirit and acknowledgeth its imprisonment just and that justice might without any wrong done condemn it to perpetual imprisonment These are wrought generally in all Converts but not in al so visibly nor do the Converts themselves alike long stay in one as the other some have lesse horror and anguish yet perhaps a more kindly self-denying
dyed in Egypt How often have we longed for quails for our lust bin discontented at Gods allowance and thought all we had even precious manna gracious meltings for sin a tender fear of offending God an holy importunity in following after God c. nothing if we were not presently assured of his love and kissed with the kisses of his mouth Think how much of unbeliefe impatience pride peevishnesse unthankfulnesse despaire hard thoughts against God wearinesse of his service unjust censures against your selves blasphemous murtherous thoughts c. hath God past by and in all these provocations kept you from falling off from your present convictions and the benefit of them and held you in his hand and conducted you through the wild and roaring wildernesse till he hath brought you to Canaan 4. The multitude of those who perish under convictions and notwithstanding them nay perish the deeper for them When a man considers that the same troubles of spirit which drove Judas to the Gallowes and Cain to despair and to many thousands under the means of grace become barely means of hardening the heart and increasing their condemnation prove to him the throws of a new birth the rough passage to a Kingdom of liberty and glory the straight doore to a pallace of spiritual peace and comfort Distinguishing mercy is engaging mercy And distinguishing mercy is greatest when to the persons distinguished every thing is common but that very distinction As if in a common guilt some are pardoned whiles others dye and in a common disease some perish and others are preserved so here in common soul troubles one man despairs and sends himself to hell the sooner another presumes and fends himself thither the surer c. Others are effectually converted and eternally saved Oh what a deep engagement to thankfulnesse is this 4. Pitifulnesse and tendernesse to other persons in that condition Our own experience may tell us what grievous burthens soul troubles are and how much need there is that those that are with young should be gently led Our Saviour was pleased to submit to temptation for that very reason that he might be a mercifull high Priest able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. But I have spoken to this also before CHAP. XXII Several considerations to humble such as have gone through this work ineffectually II. HEnce also let all those be exhorted that have been under these troubles of spirit and have gotten over them without any real work of conversion or saving grace attained by them to 1. Labour seriously to bewail the inefficacy of such hopefull means for their good O friends 't is a sad thing to come out of any trouble muâ—h more such a trouble as this is and get nothing by it What a complaint do the Church make in relation to their temporal afflictions Isay 26. 17 18. We have been with child we have been in pain we have brrught forth wind c. That that comforts a woman in her throws is the hope of a child and this is that that makes her forget it when it is over John 16. 21. But if a woman fall into grievous pains and all proves but a Tympany or an abortive conception or a monster this will not quit the cost of such throws and therefore when shee thinkss on this time she bewails it ever after Much more should such an affection as this possesse a man when he considers how near he was to the Kingdom of God as Christ saith to the Scribe Mar. 12. 34. To perish within sight of the harbour and so to come within a stride of the goale and misse it O how vexing a thought should this be 'T were well if it were so with most men in this World whiles they have time to repaire their losses Hereafter 't will be a trouble to eternity irremediable and that irremediablenesse will be the greatest part of the trouble Here to help this work may be considered that hereby 1. The Spirit of God is disappointed quenched resisted 'T is Gods Spirit that hath contested with thy proud obstinate rebellious heart and 't is that Spirit whom thou hast so often repulsed That Spirit is a free spirit and is not bound to move any more Psal 51. 't is a Spirit of grace and if he move not Zach. 12. 10. thou canst never recover again and when he hath been so repulsed how canst thou expect his farther attempts God doth justly resolve many times concerning such persons as Gen. 6. 3. That his spirit shall strive no more 2. Your hearts are hardened Believe this for a certain truth that the more the heart is melted and softened if it grow hard again it grows the harder for it Thence 't is it may be for I am not certain the sin against the Holy Ghost is there meant that the Apostle saith it is impossible to renew such to repentance when they fall away Heb. 6. 6. impossible that is as to the strength and power of ordinary means that work on other men and if God convert such an one it is by an act of his absolute power besides the ordinary regulated way of his proceedings So is the word taken Mat. 19. 26. that that is impossible with men i. e. which is beyond the reach of men to conceive how it can be done is possible to God Now for such a man to be converted is impossible to men not only in that he hath no power in nature to effect it for so is every mans conversion impossible but in that a man cannot rationally judge him capable of benefit by any of the ordinary supernatural means of conversion The Word of God and whatever other means of conversion will grow so familiar with such a man that all that was affecting in them will through acquaintance grow contemptible and sinnes which at first view and in a mans first convictions appeared fearful and terrible having once or twice affrighted the soul and done no more will afterwards lose their monstrousnesse by a frequent fruitlesse view of them nay hell it selfe as bug hears to children after they begin to find that there is nothing in them but the name will appear but an old wives fable and its fire but a painted flame such as scares more then it hurts and so no wonder if all these restraints removed such an one 's latter end be worse then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. ult Sins before softenings are like weeds in a ground which before plowing and harrowing wee hope to root out thereby but afterwards they are like invincible weeds that no plough or harrow will tear up and therefore such ground is nigh unto cursing 3. Conscience is checked and discouraged That tendernesse which before possessed it upon every sinne is in a great measure lost and whereas it before passed a right censure concerning thy estate now it is grown partial and flattering For there is no man can get out of soul troubles without the leave of his
unto me he hath pulled me in pieces and set me as a mark for the arrow he hath caused the arrow of his quiver to enter into my reins he hath â—illed me with bitternâ—…s and made me drunken with wormwood he hath bâ—oken my teeth with gravel stones he hath covered me with ashes and this hath been of so long continuance upon mee that I have forgotten prosperity I can 17. scarce remember that ever I had a better day And therefore it is no wonder if I conclude that my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Oh saith the Church this was 18. my very case when I remembred my affliction 19. the wormwood and the gall I even said as thou dost But I withall considered that though my case were bad yet it might have been worse sure God hath shewn me some mercy in that I live It is of the mercies 〈◊〉 the Lord 22. c. Therefore have I hope and therefore I 23. c. to 32. conclude that though the Lord cause grief yet he will have compassion c. Read that Chapter ter all over I have given but a draught of it and therein see thy case and thy cure As to thy own experiences urge his preservation of thee and support thus long and plead for its continuance Obj. But how can I hope Hope proceeds from faith and I cannot believe for I am yet you tell me in a state of Nature till by these troubles God converts me Answ 'T is true of the grace of hope that it proceeds from faith in order of nature and is a fruit of conversion 1 Pet. 1. 3. and till conversion we cannot rejoyce in hope of the glory of God But there is another hope that is not always gracious though possibly sometimes grace may be seminally in it and may first appear by it as the first act of faith may appear in such an act of hope as this True I am a condemned creature but there are such and such free offers of Christ and promises of mercy to sinners indefinitely and why not to me yet I say this hope is not always gracious because it is common to presumptuous as well as repenting sinners and is the very ground on which they presume This hope I shall for distinctions sake call a moral or rational hope because it is gathered from the general promises of Scripture in a rational way as also because it is but a general probable hope that is accompanied only with opinion and not faith though it may ground faith as to its act of reliance upon Christ and the promise of mercy in him where the Spirit of God pleaseth to infuse faith in such a rational way as divers times he doth Whereas the hope that flows from faith is a spiritual and infused hope and is not so much the apprehending a possibility as expecting a certainty of fulfilling the promise to me in particular arising I mean in the acts of it not in the habit or seed of it for that is infused in the first vital act of reliance upon Christ which unites to Christ and so justifies arising I say from the particular evidence of my justification by faith and so from an act of assurance and is higher or lower like it Distinguish thus The one is a kind of negative hope the other a positive The one saith I am not excluded the other saith I am included It s language is Why not I Now 't is the former hope that rational moral hope I advise thee to keep alive in thy soul Let no power of corruption no strength of temptation no length or grievousnesse of thy soul troubles no false conclusions from Gods decree of reprobation c. drive thee out of a firm assent to this proposition that though thy case be sad yet it is not desperate God hath invited such as thou art hath offered Christ and grace freely to thee among others and therefore thou art by no positive declared act of Gods excluded more then any other It is a great support that a soul in this case gets by such an argument as this is For although grace do not always attend or accompany this hope yet the Spirit of God doth use it as it doth all other preparatory works to dispose the soul for grace Nay I know not but that if the soul follow this moral hope with a constant use of all means and ordinances and in them resolve to cast himselfe upon Christ to be saved by him in his own way and upon his own terms why this hope may not be the immediate ground if not the vehicle or chariot of the very first act of justifying faith Wherefore 3ly Let this hope produce waiting Think not that thou art presently cast off by God because he doth not presently as to thy sense answer thy desires There is a great deal of impatience usually in troubled spirits And there is reason why such souls should be subject to that failing For the wound of the spirit is an intolerable wound Prov. 18. 14. And nothing is more grievous to a man in intolerable pain and anguish then delays Hear me speedily saith David else shall I be like unto them that goe down into the pit Psalm 143. 7. and when God hides long he apprehends it will be for ever Psalm 13. 1. But we must labour against this corruption and endeavour to bring our souls to a contentednesse to wait for Gods salvation as long as he thinks fit to exercise and discipline us in that condition The Scripture abounds in exhortations promises and examples pressing home this duty upon us The place Lam. 3. 26. requires not only hope but waiting the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 siluit a quiet silent waiting free from clamorous complaints against God murmuring at his delays and desperate expressions of despondency of Spirit And we have a great encouragement hereunto if we consider 1. That this time of delay is Gods waiting time as well as ours Is 30. 18. The Lord therefore waits that he may be gracious and indeed he hath waited upon us many years before he could prevail with us to give him the hearing of any his gracious invitations and do we now think it much to wait on him till he hear us Besides 2. Saving grace is a thing worth the waiting for Thou hast heard often and prayed often thou saist and yet seest no fruit of it thou hast obtained neither grace nor peace conversion nor comfort remember what the Apostle saith Jam. 5. 7. though with relation to another fruit i. e. the fruit of external sufferings yet the force of his argument is no lesse herein also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lengthen out the patience into long suffering Behold your husbandman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lengthens out his hope though the seed come not up after the first rain yet he expects another shower it is not ripe as soon as it growes up it may bee a
should you not take like care when the word of God is passing judgment upon your souls I confesse that if wee watch not over our hearts much of the life and power of a Sermon may be lost at present to a man but that evil is not necessary here a man neede not take every word but only what most conconcerns or affects him and hee may be affected in hearing without being prejudiced in writing what he hears Friends I feare few families among us for want of putting themselves to this paine hear as they â—hould for afterwards Now a truth laid â—p in memory may perhaps worke afterâ—ard when a man is minded of it againe although a man go away at present and follow his sinful courses As pills may be taken over-night and a man may sleepe well upon them and all night think nothing of them but when hee awakes in the morning they then will worke Yea Sermons â—penned if they be not as ordinarily written only to serve the turne for a formal repetâ—tion at home and never looked on afterward may many years after they are preached do thee good 6. T is in thy power before thou comest when thou art there and when thou departest thence to lift up a Petition to God that hee will handle his owne hammer with his owne hand make the word mighty through God to break down strong holds and overthrow whatever within thy heart opposeth his own glory and thy salvation T is no hard matter when a word is spoken that suites thee to lift up an Ejaculation Lord set home this word Lord thine own word needs thine own blessing and special application to make it effectuall Lord fasten this nayle and clinch it firmely in my heart 7. 'T is in thy power when â—hou comest home to sit downe and meditate seriously upon what thou hast heard to repeat this word in thy family and confer of it with others and to apply it occasionally to others the word that thou dost another good by may do thee good too For all these acts are constantly performed by rational men in worldly affaires and certainly the change of the object doth not take from mee the power of my owne act upon it so long as both act and object are still suitable each to other now although the spiritual nature of the word be not sutable to a carnal and unsanctified apprehension yet the sound of it and its Grammatical and common sense is and I require no more of thee in these acts then may make use of these as far as they may be improved in a serious way as thou wouldest confer and discourse with a Lawyer about thy estate or a Physician about thy health 8. 'T is in thy power to endeavour to improve this word in a rational way As suppose it speaks conviction of sinne to exercise such an act of application as this this is my sin if of judgment to exercise such an act as this this is my case if direction or motive to apply it thus why should not I doe thus and thus as I am directed and exhorted Heart what have you to say why I should not follow this counsel that is given me This is called communing with a mans owne heart Ps 4. 4. and enquiring what have I done Jer. 8. 6. 9. You can desire and importune the prayers of others in the condition you are in God may heare such as are his own people for you when hee will not hear your selves You wil doe so in temporal plagues So Pharaoh Exod. 8. 8. And in special Simon Magus Acts 8. 23. 10. It is in my power to check my heart for those unreasonable prejudices which it hath against the word and to labour the removal of them Imean to endeavor to reason my self out of them 'T is true no total removal of prejudice against the word can be wrought but by grace it is grace only that kills the enmity of the heart against God but reason may silence and suppresse them for the time as a Judge in the Court may command silence at present but cannot except hee can cut out the tongues of men force them to â—ee totally silent and perpetually So reason can It cannot dig up the roots of prejudice but it may consider the word praescinded and abstracted 1. From all prejudicate fancies and conceits If I have prejudice against the preacher that hee sayes what hee doth out of spleene c. why cannot I put my heart upon this issue But let the mans intentions be what they will what is it that hee sayes c. So Eliah though certainly he had a legal prejudice against the raven if at least I may call that a prejudice that judged him an unclean bird according to the Law that brought him food yet saith Eliah here is food God and I have no other lawfull way of supply if the meat be wholsome I will eat it 1 Kings 17. 4. 6. A man is beholding to a watchfull enemy 2. If against his meannesse and contemptiblenesse of person want of parts and learning plainnesse of preaching c. Why cannot I in reason consider The richest mines are in the most barren and mountainous grounds That 't is the ordinary garbe of Princes to go clad in bare cloth which is often more worth then many a gallant Courtiers cloth and trimming That when God does good upon men and takes them most his greatest Art is to hide Art and there is reason for it because even humane skill loves not to be seen in the outside of every work and the Artificer loves to shew most of his skill where you would least expect it c. 3. If that he is not of thy own way or opinion Reason may plead for him For either thy way and opinion is good or bad if good thou wilt hear what can be said against it know thy adversaries weapons and play and so wilt be the better able to guard thy selfe If bad 't is a great mercy to be convinced of it c. Yet would I not in all these be misunderstood For 1. In all these I so affirm these acts to be in the power of the creature as not to exclude the common and sometimes especial influence of the Spirit upon them to produce them It is in these actions as in those other rational acts of ours concerning the affairs of this World which are in the power of nature to perform but yet the Spirit of God always in a common but sometimes in an especial way draws out those acts so as may be most for Gods glory and our good so though it be in the power of Nature to go to Church and sit reverently and hearken out a Sermon yet that I go at such a time and that possibly much against the grain of mine own inclination that I observe such and such truths and lay them up and meditate on them when I come home c. more then others this is the Spirits
fight for it Satan and Numb 13. 23 a mans corrupt heart are apt to discourage a soul under Bondage from hence What profit Job 21. 14 Lam. 3. 8. is there in serving God c. Thou prayest and he casteth out thy prayer thou hearest and art in trouble still Now God props up his people against such temptations by such Promises to all and performances to most of his Saints Reas 5 God doth it to wean his people from this world Now Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation sayes Simeon when he had seen Christ in the flesh Luke 2. 29. And when a soul after long troubles of spirit recovers the assurance of Gods love O what poor things are all the treasures of the world to him Lord saith David lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and then take corn and wine and oyl who will Psal 4. 6. And then let the eyes of wicked men be even ready to strut out with sat and let them have all that they can wish yet saith he in another place I will not change portion with them for the Lord is the strength of my heart c. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and bring me to glory Psal 73. 25 26 27 28 A man that is called to be a Favourite to a King will quickly grow into a dis-esteem of his shop and retaile Trade his sheepfold or cow-stal Take no care for your stuff saith Joseph for all the fat of the Land of Egypt is yours Gen. 45. 20. So saith God to an assured soul Take no care for these earthly things thou hast in heaven a richer and more enduring substance Reas 6. Because God delights to hear from his Saints often Not only as a Master from a Servant nor as a rich man from a beggar nor as a Conqueror from a Captive but as a Father from a child as a husband from a Spouse Cant. 2. 14. The voyce of a Spouse of Christ in the cleft of the Rock i. e. relying on him upon assurance of his love is sweet Joseph could not abide long under the mis-apprehensions his brethren had of him My Lord and Thy servants Joseph thought were strange Titles to that of Brother hee longed to hear them call him by a name of relation so saith God Hosea 2. 16. to an afflicted Church CHAP. VI. A Question concerning the mediate and immediate Testimony of the Spirit HOw doth the Spirit testifie our Adoption For although divers godly Divines are of a different judgement in the point of immediate evidence yet I cannot be perswaded but that there is something in the work of the Spirits testimony which may deserve to be so expressed Ans Two wayes 1 Immediately 2 Mediately I. Immediately wherein the Spirit acts as in illumination and infusion of good motions into us by his secret influence upon the heart quieting and calming all those waves of distrust and diffidence concerning its condition by his own immediate power without the present application of any Scripture grounds to convince a mans reason that his testimony is true I shall parallel it with the motions of the Spirit thus As the Spirit many times excites a man to such or such a duty by laying his hand immediately upon the heart and therewithal a kind of secret force and power inclining the heart to obey those motions and as it many times opens the heart to such and such spiritual impressions by a physical injection of holy motions into it and warming the heart to receive them so in this case when a poor soul sits in darknesse and sees no light sometimes upon a sudden a light from heaven compasseth it about and it is it knowes not how in a moment as it were taken up into the third heaven its fears are banished by a soft whisper from the Spirit of God in the heart Thy sins are forgiven thee and this is in such a way that though the spirit of a man really believes it and is immediately calmed by it yet it cannot tell how it comes to passe And so it is sometimes in overcoming temptations a soule some other times is enabled to knock them to the ground by a scriptum est as Christ did Matth. 4. but sometimes it is stirred up to decline them and abhorre them by a secret rising of the spirit against them and to club them downe by meere force setting the bent of the will and affections against them without any present direct recourse of the soule to the written word And of this kinde is that worke of the Spirit stirring up in us sighes and groans in prayer that cannot bee uttered whereas at other times it furnisheth us with abundant matter of prayer from the promises and other straines of Scripture useful thereunto And thus as I said in conveying the evidences of Gods love the Spirit can and surely oftentimes doth alter the whole frame of a mans Spirit by a secret irradiation of comfort a man cannot tell how for as there is a kind of spiritual instinct in the soul by which it doth the things that are pleasing to God after conversion though many times it knowes not the principles upon which it acts so is there a secret and spiritual faculty in the divine nature that is infused unto us by which when the Spirit speakes peace to the soule it closeth with it without any reasoning or recourse to evidences as at other times As saith a learned man there is in the eye lumen innatum Rutherf on Jo. 12. p. 100. and in the eare aer internus a certaine imbred light to make the eye see lights and colours without and a sound and air in the eare within to make it discerne the sounds that are without so is there grace a new nature and habitual instinct of heaven to discerne the consolation of Gods spirit immediately testifying that wee are the sons of God There are some secret and unexpressible lineaments of the Fathers countenance in this child that the renewed soul at first blush knowes and ownes it But for the understanding of this you must observe with mee these few particulars for explication of this secret of experimentall godlinesse 1. That although the Spirit may testifie this immediately without any expresse and formall application of a word yet he never testifies but according to the word i. e. to subjects capable thereof and in such wayes as they are discovered to be capable by the word so that the Lords speaking peace to the soul being in the Scripture bound up to persons under certain qualifications the Spirit never speaks peace but where those qualities are real though not alwaies visible in the soule As for example if a man that feels not sin a burden heavyer then all the world that throwes away all duties of religion never prayes reads heares meditates nay goes on in some sinful way without remorse be filled with joy and peace and assurance
of Gods love 't is certaine the Holy spirit is not the Author of this because the promise of peace belongs to none of this stamp Matth. 11. 28. Isa 57. 15 16. Matth. 5. 3 4. 8. c. Undoubtedly this assurance is from the spirit of errour a false light to lead into a bogg 2. That ordinarily hee thus testifies either in or after waiting upon God in some duty or other as in praying meditation hearing receiving the Sacraments By which testimony God seals to the dutifull attendance upon him in such waies Isa 57. 19. and 56. 7. Or 3. In such great and grievous temptations and darknesse of spirit wherein a man by the cunning of Satan hath so intangled all those evidences of grace and sanctification which hee might draw assurance from with sophistical evasions that they will not fasten any thing of comfort upon him Then when a man cannot untie those knots by which Satan hath entangled his spirit somtimes the spirit of God by such a sudden irradiation puts a soule upon an inartificial and illogicall way of solution enabling him to hold to his claime of Christ by a kind of resolute confidence though hee bee not able to prove it sound at present or answer Satans sophistry to the contrary as Alexander when hee could not untie the Gordian knot hewed it asunder with his sword And as that holy Martyr that answered all the Romish Doctours Sophistry by a fixed resolution of dying for Christ though shee could not dispute for him Now wee must take notice withall 4. That such testimonies of the Spirit do beget but an actual assurance during the present exigency or in order to some present designe that God is working thereby These are extraordinary dainties that God will not have us feed constantly upon A gleam Rutherf ubi suprà of light as one calls it in a dark night when a man cannot coast the Country and diseern his way by those marks which direct him at other times perhaps lightning from a thunder-cloud that comes just in the moment when a man is stepping into a pit that would swallow him up or to discover a cottage which he may turne into till the storme bee over c. Now a Traveller wil not depend alwaies upon such a guide but if hee can will learne out such way-marks for his constant direction as may bee standing assurances to him that hee is in the way and rather choose to travel by day when hee may see them distinctly Thus though Gods Spirit divers times takes this course to shine peace into our hearts upon unusual occasions immediately viz after extraordinary seeking God in duty under the immediate violence of some desperate temptation in which cases God hath sometimes condescended even to a kind of miracle as when he preserved the glasse from breaking which the troubled and almost despairing Gentlewoman threw against the ground making its breaking to pieces and her owne Mrs. Honymood damnation a like certaine or at the houre of death especially Martyrdome yet to take these for ordinary presidents and look for them constantly without endeavouring by standing evidences to make out an habitual assurance to our soules of our calling and election is a bold and presumptuous tempting of God And therefore 5 It is a fearful error of the Antinomians which teacheth us to reject the graces of sanctification from being grounds of our assurance whiles they tell us that they are all deceiving evidences because that were to light a candle to the sun they mean to the immediate testimony of the Spirit For certainly the testimony of the Spirit cannot bee without the indwelling of the Spirit and is accompanied alwaies with the leading of the Spirit See the connexion of these two in vers 14. 15 of this chapter compared Rom. 8. 14 15 compared And wee know that hee dwelleth in us and we in him because wee have received of his Spirit 1 John 4. 13. And John 14. 16 17 Christ promiseth them the Comforter but how shall wee know him might they say seeing the world as you tel us knows him not He shal saith our Savior dwel in you The in-dwelling therfore of the Spirit is an evidence of the truth and reality of the assurance that we have from the Spirit Hence are all those marks and signes that the Scripture every where holds out called fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. so that though the Spirit testifie immediately yet it submits the trial of his own testimony to his works Nor is this any dishonour to the Spirit to be tryed by his works seeing our Saviour Christ was content to submit the trial of his Godhead to the evidences of his works John 14. 11. But more of this in the second way of the Spirits testimonie which is II. Mediately and that is twofold 1 Without Argumentation 2 With Argumentation but both from the Word 1 Without Argumentation The Spirit sometimes applies the word to the soule and enables the soule to close with it for comfort in some particular promise of Scripture wherein God speaks so patt to its case that it takes that word as a message from heaven and rests in it upon the very first apprehension of it And such is the peace that a soul gets from those promises that either expresse not any condition or else such a condition as the soul presently apprehends it self under as suppose thou art burthened for some sin hast prayed earnestly for pardon against it suppose it a sin of backsliding and whiles thou art praying for pardon or waiting upon God in his word a secret whisper of the Spirit casts into thy heart Hos 4 14. I will heale thy backslidings and love thee freely or suppose that Matth. 11. 28. Come to mee all yee that are heavy laden and I wil give you rest c. This is a direct testimony and must be understood under the former limitations of immediate evidence 2. With Argumentation when he testifies the truth of thy sonship by grace when he applies conditional promises and upon search enables thee to apply the conditions of them This is the usuall way for getting habitual assurance a reflected testimony from our owne graces which are the love-tokens of Christ to us and discover that love even when as to present influence hee is absent from us And thus doth the Spirit properly witnesse with our spirits as followes in the next verse In the other two hee witnesseth Rom. 8. 16. to our spirits in this properly with our spirits And there is as much difference between these as between the assurance that Jacob had of his Son Joseps life from the Word of his sonnes and from the Chariots that hee had sent for him Gen. 45. 26 27 28 when they only told him so hee was indeed overjoyed but was also even in a fainting condition through the strugling of fear with joy as the disciples at Christs resurrection Luk. 24. 41. But when he saw the wagons
then hee was fully satisfied So the immediate and direct Testimony of the Spirit though sometimes when the Spirit gives a man to believe it it may drowne all doubts and feares yet in a time of temptation when a soule begins to question whether all its former refreshments from the Spirit were not dreames and delusions it is never so fully satisfied as when it evidently sees and ownes the tokens of Gods love in its owne heart the fruits of her marriage with Christ and feels the child of grace leaping in the womb then saith the soule sure I am married to Christ for hee doth not drink waters out of any cisterne but his owne and the seed of true grace cannot possibly bee the issue of an unlawfull bed CHAP. VII A discourse concerning the manner of the Mediate and Argumentative Testimonie of the Spirit Q. HOW wee may distinctly conceive the witnessing of Gods Spirit with our spirits in that Mediate and Argumentative way which wee last spake of Answ For Answer hereunto seeing this worke is directly opposite to that of the Spirit of Bondage before mentioned I shall review that againe here and lay the comparison betweene them which I conceive will give us a cleare light in this particular In the work of the spirit of bondage I told you the soul was brought under the Conviction of a practical syllogisme such an one as this Every unbeliever every person that is in a state of nature in general or in particular every drunkard swearer c. living under the reigning power of such or the like sins is a child of wrath c. But thou art saith the spirit of God I saith a mans owne spirit am such an one Therfore thou art saith Gods Spirit I am saith a mans owne spirit a child of wrath c. The three Propositions of this Syllogism I told you implyed three sorts of conviction 1. Conviction of Law 2. Conviction of case or fact 3. Conviction of state with the consequents of these Sutably in unlocking this prison there must bee a key of as many wards as there are in the lock and those answerable to them For a key will not unlock a doore that hath not answerable wards to the lock that fastens it Now these wards of the Spirits key are 1. Conviction of Gospel opposite to that of Law 2 Conviction of another case sutable therunto 3 Conviction of another state arising from both these 4 And the consequents 1 Conviction of Gospel For as the law the bondwoman from mount Sinai is the ground of terrour engendring unto bondage Gal. 4. So the Gospel is the free woman the Jerusalem from above that engenders to liberty ibid. and 2 Cor. 3. 17. and so is the special ground of comfort The Law is the warrant upon which the spirit imprisons the conscience and the Gospel the warrant on which it releaseth it againe And as it is in civill affaires a man that is under an execution for body and goods by such or such a statute hides and flies and is under feare and sometimes laid fast in prison and cannot bee released but either upon a repeale of that law or the annexing some condition to it under which hee sues for and recovers his liberty so it is in this case The Law sayes every one is accursed that continues not in every thing written in that booke No fornicator idolater covetous c. shal enter into the kingdome of God Now a man that is under the sentence of this law in his own conscience is capable of release no way but either by the repeale of that Law or adding some such limitation or restriction or condition to it as may include him Therefore when the Spirit gives peace from the word by way of Argument it first produceth the law of liberty the Gospel against the law of bondage It is confest saith the spirit in the conscience of a converted sinner the law gives mee no hope but there is an addition to and an exception from that law which I plead for my release There is a pardon proclaimed for such sinners as I am Isai 55. 7. Prov. 28. 13. The Law in the new edition excepts believers Joh. 3. 26 from its sentence Now the apprehending and assenting to this truth is the first work of the spirit in order to this regular assurance of a mans heart before God A man in a state of spiritual darknesse is like Hagar in the wildernesse Gen. 21. 19. she and her sonne Ismael are ready to dye for thirst when there was a well near them but they could not see it till the Angel shewed it them So is it in the children of the Law that Hagar and Ismael shadowed out When they are under Bondage of spirit there be many precious wells of salvation in the Bible but all these are hidden from their eyes the Bible is a sealed book to them and the fountains of life are fountains shut up as to them till the spirit that leads into all truth direct a man or woman in such a case to such promises as may be a ground of peace to him that may satisfy the weary soul and refresh the sorrowfull soul Jer. 31. 25. I appeal to the experience of all the Saints of God that know what this means whether the Spirit of God hath not many times guided them to places of Scripture as it were by his own finger When they have even thrown the Bible away after much search for a comforting word and resolved to look no more for that that is not to be found there hath not a secret whisper like that to Augustine in his Conversion tolle lege been cast into them try once again and have they not unexpectedly dipt and lighted on a place that hath satisfied them as with marrow and fatnesse Hath it not been with them as with a godly Minister that I knew when I was a child who having been under a Spirit of Bondage for many years and now even ready to dye in that condition when the eighth chapter of the Romans was read to him a little before his last gaspe stopping at the first verse now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. Stay said he I never saw so much in those words in my days as now though I read them often so I say can you not say that you have read such and such chapters ten twenty thirty forty times over and that not slightly or cursorily but deliberately and with meditation and yet could see never a well of Salvation in them and yet afterwards from those very places of Scripture the Spirit of God hath made you draw water with joy So that 't is the Spirit that doth this first work discover and convince of Gospel truth the ground of our assurance Now this conviction is either 1. General and so the soul is convinced of those very truths long before it can take comfort from them and believes them
hee hath gotten an oar into the spirits boat Thou maist discerne him by his usual guise of tempting which is to direct thee from the study and care of things revealed to things secret and uncertaine In mens unregeneracie when they wallow in sin securely the word threatens curses and wrath against them see then how Satan withdrawes them from the study of and surrendring their hearts unto the power of that word by a false prophecie I shal have peace Deut. 29 19. I may live many a fair day yet and repent and die a child of God Ye shal not die Gen. 2. And so he drives men to presume And if I be elected saith such a wretchlesse sinner I shal be saved at the last let me walke how I will in the meane while But I hope I am not a reprobate c. will such an heart bee apt to assume and the issue is a resolution to continue in sinne and put it upon the adventure But when a soul is under a Spirit of bondage he turns his note but how is it Is it not the same plot new dressed Now he prophesies an utter irrecoverablenesse to thy condition and upon what ground why forsooth hee hath looked over Gods booke of life and hee cannot find thy name there and therefore do what thou wilt thou canst hope for no better but worse rather then what thou now feelest He will not suffer thee now to conclude at the same rate as before that thou hopest thou art not a Reprobate but maist for any thing thou knowest be elected as well as any other The only remedy thou hast in such cases is to consult the written Word of God Satan saith thou art not elected but is there any Mark in the whole Word of God by which a man may know he is not Elected No God in his infinite wisdom and goodnesse hath not given any such Marks by which men may know Reprobation that so he might retard no mans endeavours after grace Indeed there be marks of Election by which we may make that sure to our selves 1 Pet. 1. but the want of these doth not discover Reprobation because these are all wanting in the dearest Saints of God till they be truly converted and so if that consequence were sound Such true Graces discover Election therefore the want of them discovers Reprobation it would follow that Gods Saints before they are converted seeing they want those graces are either not elected and so Election would not precede Calling contrary to Rom. 8. 30. and Election would not be from eternity contrary to Ephes 1. 4 or else they could at one and the same time be Elect and Reprobate which implies a manifest contradiction The Word speaks plainly in this case Deut. 29. 29. Secret things belong unto God c. 2 Thou hast abundant grounds to believe the contrary viz. That thou art Elected if thine eyes were open to see them The Sanctification of the Spirit is a certaine consequent and therefore a sure evidence of Election 1 Pet. 1. 2. and Rom. 8 1. In stead therefore of searching the Decrees of God whether thou be elected or no search into thy own heart and see whether thou canst find that thou art called and so in any measure sanctified the discovery of grace in thy heart though but one grain and that of mustard seed will assure thee of thy Election and final salvation Canst thou not find in thy heart any sorrow for sin any earnest desires after holinesse any solicitousnesse to please God any tenderness of conscience and fearfulness to offend him c If thou canst think these be flowers that use not to grow in Natures garden Well conclude then I hope I am called and therefore elected and therefore shall be assured in due time CHAP. X. Excitation and encouragement to labour for the experience of this work IN the next place how effectually should this stirre up all of us that are converted by way of a Spirit of Bondage to labour after a Spirit of Adoption in its witnessing act 1. You see that the Spirit of Adoption is attainable and especially by you of all other men You are under the qualification of those to whom he doth especially belong See Isa 61. 1 2 3. To you is the word of this salvation sent Christ was annointed with the Oyl of gladnesse for your sakes Are not your hearts broken are not you mourners in Sion are not you the subjects of a spirit of heavinesse a wrinkled a contracted spirit as the Word signifies a Spirit even grown old and wrinkled with grief Here then is a word of encouragement for you let it not fall to the ground What striving is there for places when they fall in the Universities under such and such qualifications how doth every one within the qualifications bestirre himself for his interest And will you being in such a capacity lose the priviledge of that capacity 2 The Spirit of Adoption in its assuring act is a precious mercy Friends do you count it a great matter to be assured of such a temporal inheritance Will you think it worth your time to search Deeds and Records and Offices to confirm a title to your selves and your heirs and is it worth no pains to assure your immortal souls of an eternal inheritance When a Merchant adventures a ship to the sea if he adventure much in the Vessel how doth he hye him to the Assurance Office that if he can he may be no loser by his Adventure what ever chance befal him O Friends you are every day lanching forth into the Ocean of eternity your Fraught is your precious souls that are more worth then all the world The Spirit keeps an Assurance Office hye you to the Spirit and never leave till you have assured your present Adventure 1. I am assured of this Without the witnesse of the Spirit that you are the children of God no soul here deliberately dares to dye Possibly a Roman Valour may carry men on upon desperate dangers when the temptations of honour c. are present to put out of their minds the thoughts of an adventured eternity with the hopes of the present life Those Parents that sacrificed their children to Moloch could not have endured the cryes of their dear little ones roasted alive in the Arms of the cursed Idol had not the Drummes and other loud Instruments drowned the noise And truly no man can deliberately sacrifice his soul to Satan or adventure his soul neer the borders of hell whiles his ears are open to the fearful yellings scriechings of damned spirits and therefore Satan makes a terrible din in their eares jingles the fine things of this world and makes such a noise with them that he leads them first into a fools Paradise and from thence into utter darknesse Friends Did such thoughts as these possesse any of you now and then Here I crawle up and down in the world a poor worm of two or three cubits
long and after a few minutes more be spent it may be this night this hour the foot of death may tread me into the earth I carry a Jewel in this earthly Cabinet that is more worth then all the world If Satan lay hands on it I am infinitely miserable to all eternity and whether if I dye this night the divels may not come to fetch away my soul I know not O if I could dye into another world once and have hopes to live again and recover my condition if it proved worse then my expectation I might adventure one of those lives upon an uncertainty but when as I must dye into eternity that my Sun must set and never rise again that what is said of a war is more true of death that in it non licet bis errare that though the tree that is cut down through the sent of water may grow again yet when a man dyes he cannot live again in this world Job 14 9 10. 14 but must measure out either wo or happinesse by the minutes of eternity O what is it worth to have the Spirit of God testifie that we are his children new born to the Inheritance of the Saints in light O how precious a mercy is it to have the zeal and earnest of that Spirit to assure it beyond Question 2. I am assured of this also that without the witnesse of the Spirit you cannot so fully have your hearts untyed from wordly encombrances It is true indeed that a soul that hears of the excellency of Christ and the glory of those things that are within the Vail may be convinced by the Spirit of God to adventure all that he hath for them but 't is still with fear lest he should miscarry in the losse of both As a Merchant that is fully assured that there is Merchandise in the Indies that is more precious then those English Commodities that he adventures for it may be drawn to put his whole estate in hazard that he may make a voyage thither but still there are misgiving and distracting cares attend this adventure O saith he I have put all I have into such a bottom indeed if it return safe I may be a hundredfold gainer but sea and Pirates may rob me of all my hopes and then I am lost both in my present estate and future expectations So a man to whom the Gospel is preached upon the presenting Christ as infinitely precious to the soul may be brought to deny himself and forsake all to follow Christ out of hopes to enjoy him but 't is with much fear True saith he if I get Christ I am an infinite gainer But if Satan cheat me or if Christ will not entertain me then I am of all men most miserable I have lost all my comforts my portion of this life and eternity too And therefore till the soul be sure of Christ it ever casts an eye backward as Lots wife on Sodom though Grace check those fears and keeps the soul on in its course yet still I say it meets with many temptations to think upon its adventure especially if Christ frown a while and to wish that it were to do again and many sad strâ—glings of spirit it hath with these temptations 'T is an hard thing for a poor soul to adventure all the world and have nothing in hand for it but only to expect its returnes hereafter What sayes the worldling A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and that Cardinal Give me my part in Paris and take who will my part in Paradise And as some say now as well as in the Apostles time Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye 1 Cor. 15. 32 and after death we know not where we shall fare better But a man that gets the witnesse of the Spirit is like one that adventures for a present Commodity a Commodity in hand a thousand times beyond his price or hath the earnest of his bargain put into his hand is certainly assured of the faithful delivery of the whole at an appointed time He never looks back upon his bargain so as to be tempted to repent it but rather as rejoycing that for so little he hath gotten so much See how the Apostle triumphs in this Phil. 3. 7 8. and 2 Cor. 4. 17. and those Saints Heb. 11. 9 26 35 and 10. 34. 3 I am assured also that you cannot be assured of your state of Adoption but by the Spirit of God The Arguments from which carnal men draw their evidences for Gods love how weak how fallacious are they God lâ—ts me thrive saith one therefore he loves me Ah fool so doth the Grazier fat his beast for the day of slaughter My conscience never troubles me saith another O mad man 't were thy happinesse if it did No more doth the man in a Lethargy complain of pain and yet he is the nearer to death for it But I live under the Gospel and go to Church c. Thou shalt lye the deeper in hell for that if it prevail not with thee to conversion But I pay every one his due So did many millions that are now in hel Heathens and Pharisees But God is merciful and I hope will have mercy on me at the last Though he be so he hath damned many millions in hell already that had as much confidence in his mercy as thou But I am not such or such a sinner So said the Pharisee Luke 18. 11. and yet was unjustified The Angels sinned but once and that it is likely in thought and are in hel and many thousands are there that have sinned far lesse then thou But Christ hath dyed for all men and so I have a share in his bloud O desperate Delusion Doth not Scripture say He laid down his life for his sheep and are all his sheep are not the most of men goats and shall be set at his left hand Might not all the damned in hel have hoped for heaven upon that ground as well as thou And are they not disappointed But I have gifts more then ordinary I can pray and expound Scripture and convert and build up others And yet thou maist be like sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. Those that are converted they seek Assurance in unlikely wayes too till they receive the Spirit of Adoption One resolutely chears up his heart and as it were enforceth himselfe to take comfort and to be at peace in the assurance of his good condition without following God in Duties and Ordinances for it Another begins to idolize his Duties c. and now sure saith he my estate is good for I hear attentively pray affectionately shed tears over my sins abundantly c. Another reasons himself into this perswasion fetching from the Word such and such grounds which he perswades himself suites his condition and thence concludes all wel And you shall see hereafter how fallible these are 3
however for state and form he must speak great things against them in his Word Else why doth he lodge in his bosom and entertaine intimate familiarity with such persons as he knowes are thus notorious And can the Lord beare this It was hainously taken at Davids hands that he had caused the enemies of God to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12. See how God complaines of such Boasters of God that they made their boasts of God and the Law and yet by the transgressing of the Law dishonoured God and caused his name to be evil spoken of Rom. 2. 24. and Psal 50. 16 17. God threatens such a person that he would terrifie his conscience to the purpose and set all his sins in order before his eies as took his name into his mouth in a boasting way and yet cast his Law behind him And truly friends I even tremble to think what a sad time not only in respect of spiritual desertions and terrours of conscience which I am perswaded will eminently haunt such professors one day but even in respect of temporal judgments hangs over the heads of many hundreds in this Land if not on the Land it self for their sakes who have given up their names to Christ and make great boasts of God and special intimacy with him before the world and yet have plunged themselves into such notoriously scandalous practices as amaze the very Turks and Infidels that are any way acquainted with the state of our affairs Truly friends if ever God recover the credit and reputation of his Ordinances among us especially of a strict and severe Discipline in the Church I look to hear of roaring consciences good store abroad in the Land for surely God must if he spare us in temporal visitations have some way for the reparation of his honour upon such persons as having eaten of his bread have thus lifted up the heel against him 5 Take heed of formality and spiritual sloath in the Duties of Religion Labour to keep your spirits as high and vigorous in Duties when you have attained Assurance as they were when you sought it Let not your Devotion as the Popish Mariners in the Story fall from a candle as big as the Mast of a ship to a candle of twelves in the pound when the Tempest is over Remember and pay the vowes that you made in the day of your distresse The truth is you that could pursue so eagerly after God in the dark when you were fain to grope out your way are utterly unexcusable if when you have the noon-day-Sun of his countenance shining upon you you cannot walk as freely and zealously in the strength of communion with him I have often told you of that of Neh. 8. 13. The joy of the Lord is a Christians strength sure I am it should be Princes expect that their Favourites should be more zealously at their devotion when they have advanced them then ever they were before Their former services are looked on as stairs for their ambition to climb by but their after services are looked upon as a tribute of thankfulnesse 'T is true the affections of the Saints may and do flag after the compleating of their Assurance of Gods love in some passionate heats as the Affections of an husband are not so wild and impetuous as the Suters are but yet there is still a steady fire burnes in faithful yoak-fellowes by which they as really endeavour mutual satisfaction as ever they did before and their real impressions of affectionate love are constant though the over eagernesse of them be allayed by mutual enjoyments All those flames which hope and fear added before are now extinguished but those of love and good will still continue as high or higher then ever Do not look therefore so much at the heat of your affections as at the reality and seriousnesse of your expressions of them But 't is a sad thing when any slight matter is good enough for God afterwards whereas before we thought our best too bad See how God abhors this dealing Mal. 1. 8 14. 'T is a thing would much discontent a wife if a hot Suiter afterwards prove a cold Husband 6 Take heed of mixing the comforts of the Spirit of God with carnal contentments There is no greater contradiction in the world then Assurance from the Testimony of the Spirit and a covetous prosecution of the things of the world Will any man believe that he is certain heir to a Crown and infallibly knows he shal enjoy it whom he sees gathering rags out of a dunghil to get a penny Nothing as I have told you in the world makes a more generous and noble spirit and less engaged to things below then the assurance of Gods love The Apostle Paul cals them Eph. 3 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs meat dung And of Luther the Pope was used to say The Germane beast would not be tempted with Gold And indeed there is no greater damp upon Assurance then this Because 1 The good things of another world and this are of a nature utterly inconsistent and the pleasures that are taken in them are utterly incompatible I mean in any eminent degree As to be conversant among base Drudges abaseth the spirit of a Prince and unfits him for taking contentment in noble and generous imployments Certainely the joyes of the Spirit are too serious spiritual and heavenly to suffer themselves to be mixed with vain and frothy and earthly contentments The light of the Sun will dim and put out the blaze of a fire or candle This Oyle of gladnesse will not incorporate with any thing though never so rich in the composition which is not of the same nature with it self It will swim at the top and if you will come at the inferiour liquor you must first skim that off And therefore if you descend to these meaner satisfactions you must first lay aside the severity and seriousnesse of your spiritual contentments and let fall your spirits to a level of vanity and slightnesse sutable to the refreshments you seek after 2 And when God sees us so undervalue his favour as to proclaime to the world that is not sufficient of it selfe to fill the desires of the soul as all going out after the Creature doth see how God complaines Jer. 2. 31. it proclaimes to the world that God is a barren wildernesse 't is no wonder if God desire not to bring his grace and favour down to so low a Market as such customers expect This is spiritual Adultery and that must needs breed strangenesse and a temporal separation if not divorce The Law is Prov. 5. 19. Let her brests satisfie thee and be thou alwayes ravished with her love So doth God when he is marryed to the soul expect that his brests should satisfie us and when they wil not can you blame him if he grow strange This is to proclaim to all men that a man was mistaken in the choice of God that he finds he is not
you lost it I have before shewn you what duties will preserve it and what sinnes will forfeit or obscure it Examine your memory now what duty have I failed in of all those or what sinne have I fallen into which is before discovered In the day of adversity consider Eccles 7. 14. Examine the particulars Have I not been carelesse in recording my evidences either in mine own memory or if I have not have I not entrusted them more with my self then with God have I not relyed upon my own strength to preserve them Have I laboured in the use of all means to strengthen them Have I not been guilty of spiritual pride in them carnal boasting of them security and carelesnesse in preserving and maintaining them presumptuous sinning because of them formality and spiritual sloath in the duties of Religion earthly-mindednesse keeping cooling company Have I lived a life of love thankfulnesse and obedience under them In a word have I carryed my self as became the receiver of so great a mercy the possessor of so rich a treasure If you find where and how you lost it seek it there It may be it was but mislaid by carelessenesse Think then what duty thou hast been carelesse in remember whence thou Apoc. 2 5. hast fallen Or if by some sinne thou hast lost them find out that sinne and when that is removed out of the way it will bee found again David had laid two great blocks upon his box of writings and they were even lost for a whole year or very little lesse till renewed repentance removed them and he re-enjoyed them So Peter by denying his Master lost his comfort but repenting hee recovers a favourable respect from Christ again Go tell the Disciples and Peter saith the Angel that he is risen Mar. 16. 7. Tell Peter in particular by way of peculiar favour Qu. But how shall I know what sinne it is that obscures or mislays or steals away my evidence How shall I know why God denies me the wonted influence of his comforting Spirit A. First Enquire or God Job 10. 2. And then Secondly search by these Rules 1. Ordinarily that sinne which upon serious search of thy heart and ways first presents it self to the eye of conscience is the sin whether it be of omission or commission God is not a little seen in the experiences of his people this way The voice of conscience is the voice of God not only in those things for which it hath a certain rule but in those things where its knowledge is but conjectural many times it speaks by an immediate suggestion from Gods holy Spirit certainly Jacobs sons had other sinnes upon them when they were in that streight in Egypt which we finde recorded in Gen. 42. but of all their other sinnes they are directed by the Spirit in a special manner to their former unnatural cruelty towards their brother Joseph committed about twenty years before and they take this voice of conscience as the voice of God and fasten on that particular sinne v. 21. Therefore say they is this distresse come upon us The soul will bleed afresh as dead bodies do at the approach of that sinne which is guilty of occasioning its spiritual trouble 2. Ordinarily also though it were not so in the case of Josephs Brethren before mentioned nor is it always so in the present case with divers others yet I say ordinarily the sinne that is most freshly committed before Gods with-drawing from the soul is that which that affliction points at and that being last committed is ordinarily also in the eye of Conscience Conscience immediately after the fact committed useth to blush and thereby betrayes its guiltiness if it have not by a frequent repetition of sins lost all modesty and shamefastnesse altogether and contracted an whores forehead which a soul acquainted with God cannot easily do If an Officer come in upon the sudden after a murther is newly committed 't is no hard matter for him to find in a throng who did the Fact by the fresh circumstances which he cannot easily overlook So though all other sins have an hand in this fact yet a man shall commonly observe in the sins newly committed some tokens and indications more then ordinary which may provoke the soul immediately to lay hold upon them in an especial manner and indict them for the Fact 3 Examine what sin thou didst when as yet thou didst walk in the light of Gods countenance most fear and suspect as laying wait for the life of thy Assurance Commonly the Saints observe in themselves some one constitution-sin or other darling corruption which at all times they find themselves most inclined to and that sin if they manage their comforts as they ought they set a special guard upon as suspecting it more then ordinary Psal 18. 23. Now if it chance at any time that this guard be slackned it is ten to one if a backsliding into that sin do not murther their spiritual peace And if so 't is no hard matter to find it guilty of the fact by strong circumstances and probabilities if not by certain and convincing Evidences because God puts a special Mark upon such sins as enemies to the peace of his Saints Psal 85. 8. God will speak peace to his people but then let them not turn again to folly let them take heed of Apostatizing and falling back to their former master sins q. d. if they do they will quickly lose their peace againe I kept my self saith David from mine iniquity that sin which I was peculiarly prone to Now this is a good rational and probable ground of proceeding against such a sin that there are such suspicious against it If a murther be secretly committed and the Authour of the Fact not presently apparent yet if from certain evidence it can be gathered that such a person threatned him often and laid in wait to take away his life formerly and the murthered party had a constant jealousie of him it is as great evidence as circumstances can make that such a person did the fact and therefore the Judge will examine such a person narrowly where he was when the Fact was committed and if he cannot give a probable account of his distance from the place at that time 't wil go hard with him Now take thou the same course Some sin or other hath taken away the life of thy soul which is the comfortable presence of God Psalm 30. 5. If thou canst not find the murthering sin presently and upon the place then examine that sin which hath often threatned it and hath watched frequent opportunities to do it and enquire whether that sin were so far from thee about the time of Gods departure as may excuse it from the suspicion of the Fact and if not but that thou hast at least in thy heart near that time taken acquaintance with it again there needs no farther evidence Take it and crucifie it 4 Possibly it may be a
such distracting suggestions and you then watch against him when you set your heart against them and turne your prayers edge against them till you have cast them out and then returne to your duty again Watch against your usual carelesnesse and when you find it growing upon you do likewise Watch against vain wandring thoughts and throw them out by a speedy laying hold upon some more weighty Meditation if any such be at hand if not but thou findest thy self wholly possest with such fancies do as before I advised turn the edge of thy prayer for that while against them Watch the kindlings of the Spirit and where thou findest but one little spark of fervency and zeal glowing ply that Meditation that Subject hard that kindleth it Follow the Veyne and thou wilt be Master of the Mine at last 4 Be much in begging the Spirit of prayer and calling him in to constant assistance in the Duty Urge his Office upon him he is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication And to enliven and embolden the Saints is his principal work 5 Rest not in formes of Prayer I do no way doubt but that a godly person newly brought in to the exercises of Religion may be sometimes to seek in expressing himself before others and in such a case if a publick person or Master of a Family I am not so severe as to forbid him the use of a good form either of his own or others framing and in the closet it may be good to read now and then for example and pattern the formes of others but especially the prayers of the Saints recorded in Scripture and among them the Psalmes which are most of them made up of matter of prayer either in way of Confession Petition or Thanksgiving that they may suggest to us quickning matter of prayer Nay whiles I read anothers form wherein I meet with passages sutable to my condition I know not why I may not say Amen to such Petitions But yet I know not by what warrant any one in private or constantly before others binds himself to the very same series and frame of words Nay I think it is an Argument either of much lazinesse in not improving the utmost of a mans owne abilities and interests in the Spirit to enable him or at least it proceeds from a fond and erroneous conceit of God as if he minded more an exact composure of Petitions then the real although immethodical and lesse quaintly dressed desires of a mans heart The truth is no man useth a form of prayer much but finds it if hee know his owne heart a great deadning to his Spirit If a Preacher should twenty times in a year preach over the same Sermon would not the veryest Formalists of his Congregation and indeed all others sleep and grow weary under such preaching And do we not see the same effects generally under a form of Prayer or at least is there not the same reason why wee should expect them A perpetual use of the same form is a more tedious tautology then that which such persons often blame in conceived Prayer viz. the repeating againe and againe the same Petitions in the same prayer For this may proceed from fervency See Psalm 124. 4 5. and 116. 14 18. and 80. 3 7 19. The other imports or begets lazinesse at least it gives suspicion of it and that not altogether causeless to others which hath much of the appearance of evil in it Object But Sir will you have us alwayes adventure upon an extemporary way of prayer Shall I offer to God that that cost me nothing Ans No by no meanes But you must know that conceived Prayers upon the variation of a mans condition or other occasions are not the same with extempore prayers 1 A man may pray extempore in a forme if he come unprepared and rush upon it as too many do as the horse into the battel he offers up the Sacrifice of fools and is rash with his lips before the Lord which is forbidden Eccl. 5. 1 2. 2 And on the other side a man may alwayes very as occasions vary and yet not pray extempore having before meditated upon the matter of his Petitions and layd up store of furniture for prayer though he trust much to present gifts for expressions I cannot call this extemporary praying 3. Neither yet is it unlawful upon some occasions and in some cases to adventure upon this Duty extempore both for matter and form As in daily and hourly occasional Ejaculations in case of a sudden call unto the Duty by any unexpected providence c. in which cases Christian prudence being the Judg and judging rightly the petitions are neverthelesse welcome to God for their extemporarinesse 4 And lastly yet must we use this liberty very tenderly and suspiciously lest our hearts perswade us that there is a greater frequency of such occasions then there is and so it prove a snare to us when we find it may be more then ordinary abilityes without ordinary endeavors as somtimes when God calls to sudden service he gives in sudden supplies we may be tempted to expect the same abilities in the same way without the same call We must not tempt the Lord our God And that is done one way when we expect extraordinary supplies from him in the neglect of the ordinary way appointed by Mat. 4. 7. him for the attainment of them CHAP. LIII A third Duty to come boldly to the Throne of Grace pressed 3 COme boldly to the Throne of Grace as Children to a Father 1 Under the Assurance of Gods love this is easie This will make a man talk with God face to face as a man talketh with his friend as it is said of the familiarities that passed between God and Moses Exod. 33. 11. to commune with God and draw nigh to plead with him when others stand at a distance as Abraham Gen. 18. 22 33. 2 We may under that assurance claim it as our priviledg A Princes Son when others are kept out by Officers and Guards is admitted at all times if any Guard stop him he pleads the priviledg of his Relation So though there be never so much darknesse and fire and terror round about God that seems to guard his presence from a Creatures approach an assured Saint can say Make way there and let me come to my Father guards are appointed to exclude strangers not sons 3. God expects and requires we should come with boldnesse to his Throne Hebr. 4. 16. Let us come boldly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking liberty to speak any thing so the word signifies in the Original Not simply any thing quicquid in buccam for Solomon cautions us against that Eccles 5 1. as is abovesaid but any thing that becomes the reverential duty and honour that we owe to God as to a Father A child may say any thing to a father that is that becomes a child to speak or a Father to hear Besides he may speak
Psalm 102. 24. When I can aske competency of estate not to spend on my lusts but to glorifie God benefit the Church refresh the bowels of the Saints and that in poverty grieves us most that we cannot do so to tell God so in prayer how successefull is it likely to be When in spiritual desertion I can say Lord I want a frame of spirit fit to glorifie thee I cannot pray read hear meditate without wofull distractions I dishonour religion by drooping c. therefore lift up the light of thy countenance upon me that I may speak great things of thy name that I may glorify thee Psalm 51. 12. 13 14 15. 142. 7. This Argument also affliction suppeditates 5. The advantage which a man in such a condition may make of an experience of Gods goodnesse in hearing prayer in such a needfull time If a man can plead as David Psalm 142. 7. Bring my soul out of prison i. e. of spiritual troubles and the righteous shall compasse me about and Psalm 51. 13. Deliver me from bloud guiltinesse O Lord then will I teach transgressors thy wayes and sinners upon the report of thy mercy to me encouraging them shall be converted unto thee So Psalm 32. 5 6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time wherein thou mayst be found If he can plead thus Lord give me and others of thy people an experiment upon which to trust thee with the more boldnesse for time to come It 's true thy faithfulnesse needeth no such avouchers but my faith and that of others needs such props many of thy people will be much refreshed by what thou shalt do for me I will tell them what God hath done for my soul Set me up as a patterne of mercy and tender compassions to them that after shall believe 1 Tim. 1. 16. And this Argument also an afflicted condition principally administers because experience of God in an afflicted condition is a double experience 't is more notable more encouraging then at any other time Now it is true in the last place none of these arguments work any alteration of God who is the same before we aske as when we aske and because he intends to give fits and frames our hearts to aske but it is much to us when in prayer we can urge such arguments as may support our faith in expectation of an answer God is not the more disposed to give by such arguments but we are made more inclinable to believe we shall receive upon such considerations and by so believing more disposed and qualified for the mercies we begge at his hands Arguments urged in prayer stirre up our faith and the more faith we pray withal the nearer are we to an answer Vse I shall make but this one Use of the poâ—nt to exhort all that hear me this day in stead of those many uselesse improper and sinfull wayes which they are apt as most people are to take in a time of affliction to resolve upon this course This let me presse upon you from these few motives Mot. 1. 'T is a course that will very much lighten the burthen Strangulat inclusus dolor Can a man in this sense carry fire in his bosome and not be burnt Prov. 6. 27. Every passion like the heat of the stomack when it hath no food feeds on the heart and burns up the soul that imprisons it The wind imprisoned in the earth causeth earthquakes and fire pent up in a watry cloud thunder No wonder if grief whiles it wants that kindly vent torture a man raise heart quakes Whereas on the other side when burthens of spirit have vent that a man can discharge them freely in prayer they are much allayed Prayer is an exercise that warmes a man into an holy sweat by which he sweetly breaths out the malady that vexed him If a man have but a faithfull friend that will suffer him under any pressure to sit down by his side and patiently tell him the sad stories of his pressures what a refreshment is it But to see how a child that hath gotten a grievous fall if he can but go to the father and shew him the wound and complain of the mischance if the father will take up the child in his armes and blow upon the part it is well presently How much more will prayer ease an oppressed spirt by recourse to God who is more friendly then a thousand friends and more fatherly then a thousand Fathers His bowels are beyond those of the tenderer sex whose pity and compassion is commonly most abundant as Jonathans beyond the love of women 2 Sam. 1. 26. and those of the tenderest relation in that Sex Can a woman a mother forget her sucking child c. Yet will I not forget thee Isai 49. 15. 2 'T is a course that will mightily lay the distempers of our own spirits which ordinarily are the bellowes that blow every suffering into a flame and make it a devouring fire that should be but a refining one A mans heart in an affliction is like the sea in a tempest and as that disturbs it self and tosseth it self up and down in unquiet motions one thought as so many waves dashing in pieces another it spares no body falls out with men quarrels with meer senselesse instruments occasions and providences takes pet at God himselfe and how many thousands more mad pranks of passion and discontent doth it play in such a condition What a frantick bedlam-frame for the while was that of Jobs spirit in his fit of impatience To curse the day of his birth Alas that day was past many years before and never to return again a meer non-entity he might with as much discretion have cursed latter Lammas as we use to say a day that shall never be as the day that is past and can be recalled no more Then he falls out with the knees that dandled him and the brests that nourished him his mother or if we can imagine that the fashion of putting out children to nurse was then brought into the world his Nurse This was a worse distemper an unnatural rage against those to whom he owed most love And a while after he falls out with God and will needs reason the case with him Like a mad man in a throng he deals blowes about him and cares not or at least considers not where they light on friend or foe But when God once brings us down upon our knees O what a calme is there How soon doth the Soveraignty of God the holinesse justice wisdome of God compared with our dependent condition our basenesse guilt folly c. set before the eyes of the soul when it is powred out in prayer make us tame and meek and self-resigning and reconciled to Instruments even blessing them that curse us and praying for them that despitefully use us and laying our mouthes in the dust that God may be glorified in our abasement And 't is a