of God like Peters Angel doth break up all the strong bars of any prison we are in any difficulty we are afflicted with As Dalilah gathered Sampson loved her when he would manifest where his strength was so may we assure our selves of Gods love to us by revealing his promises oh if you bring the promises you binde the hands as it were of the Almighty he can do nothing against his promises when therefore any thoughts of Gods Majesty of Gods purity and holinesse may affright thee run to his promise and as the people of Israel when amazed under the terrible lightnings and thundrings at Gods presence in giving the Law cried out Let not God speak any more to us but Moses so do thou let not thy Majesty speak thy Justice speak thy Holinesse speak but thy Promise let that speak and we will hear Lastly The freenesse of Gods grace is made very glorious and resplendent in the promises of grace Free-grace is more than love or goodnesse and bounty for Adam while in the state of integrity had those but free-grace is only where a miserable and hopelesse sinner is Now to such an one belong only curses and threatnings when therefore in stead of a threatning like a roaring lion to devour thee thou meetest with a gracious promise to embrace thee this must needs rejoyce thy heart Go to the spring head of every promise and thou wilt finde it to be alone free-grace The Scripture useth these Arguments as equivalent to have a thing by grace to have it by a promise and to have it by faith for grace is the originall and fountain Promises are on Gods part the active and communicative means faith on our part is the receptive and applicative so that when we enjoy any mercy by Gods promise thereby is excluded all works and all boasting and thus God is altogether exalted and man debased Again if we come to the second particular there we shall see how that our Amen subscribed to the promises or our firm beleeving in them doth give glory to God and this is the more to be pressed because we are apt to have low thoughts of faith as we see in Popery where Charity is far preferred before it and withall to beleeve is accounted an easie thing Thus also the Papists charge us as if we made the way to heaven a broad way because we say they must beleeve that is the soul and life of all And further it is good to presse this because the people of God look upon faith as was hinted before only as their ease not as bringing any glory to God Hence though they never doubt whether they should repent of sinne or love God yet they do very much doubt about their duty of beleeving Now all this preposterousnesse ariseth from the want of consideration in this particular that Faith giveth glory to God as well as procureth mercies to our selves yea to beleeve in the promise is the great and signall eminent way of giving glory to God First because by beleeving in Gods promises we thereby proclaim our dependance upon him in all things that we live both spiritually and corporally upon him only so that faith in this consideration is the great duty of the first commandment That requireth us we should have no other Gods besides him Thus faith doth it taketh off from all supports of sence of second causes of all humane advancements and setleth us upon the promise of God alone Now must not this needs give glory to God when God alone is set up no creature no other help is looked upon This is that which maketh faith in the promises so difficult because it is so hard to be weaned from the breasts of the creature we know not how to swimme without these bladders Though we have ten thousand promises to support us yet one crosse providence doth more to unsettle us then all these promises to confirm and quiet us Some have observed that all the letters in the Name Jehovah are literae quiefcentes teaching us thereby to rest our souls alone upon him it may be that is too curious howsoever faith may be called the acquiescent or quietative grace therefore to beleeve in the promises is to give glory to God Secondly By beleeving in the promises we glorifie God because hereby we manifest him to be truth it self the supream and infallible truth Therefore the Scripture maketh the contrary to this a very hainous sinne highly dishonouring God as when it is said John 3. 33. He that receiveth the testimony of Christ which is by faith hath set to his seal that God is true Then on the contrary he that doth not receive it he setteth to his seal that God is a lyar Oh execrable blasphemy so much unbeleef is so much giving the lye to God and if this be so hainous a sinne then beleeving doth God as much honour And truly it must be unpardonable if we who do upon a mans promise rest our selves contented and never doubt of the performance especially when a just and honest man that we should not much rather rely upon God of whom the Scripture saith It is impossible he should lye Thirdly Herein doth beleeving in Gods promise so exceedingly glorifie God because it exalteth that Evangelicall way of our justification and salvation which God above all things purposed for his own glory The works of Creation are for the demonstration of Gods glory Whether we eat or drink we are to do all for the glory of God But the way of mans salvation is in a more signall and eminent manner ordered for Gods glory This is the mystery that hath astonished all the world This is that glorious truth which the Angels desire to search into more and more Now by faith this glory of God is published and acknowledged Take the despairing sinner look upon the damned in hell do they give God the glory of his grace and of his wisedom and mercy Do they with cordiall ravishments speak of the unsearchable riches of Gods grace in Christ No they cannot do it therefore the Beleever only is he who giveth God the glory due to him for all Gospel-wayes and all Evangelicall Priviledges Therefore hath God exalted Faith above all its fellow-fellow-graces because that above all graces doth give God the glory due to him Indeed in the state of Integrity their love of God had the preheminence as it shall also have in Heaven but in the state of grace there Faith hath the Excellency God hath taken off the royal Crown from that Vasthi and put it upon this Esther this despicable grace as it were and which hath no Pomp at all in it Only as it is said of Christ who being poor made many rich So this poor grace doth not onely enrich us but every way advanceth the Glory of God Insomuch that from the unbeleever God hath no more glory than if he had never sent his Sonne into the world No more
of the Church They include and suppose the publick receiving of it by the people yea some do clearly expresse it By this pure and true preaching of the Word we may discern the true Church from Jewes and Pagans as also from Heretical and Idololatrical Societies yet pretending to a Church Fourthly When these Notes especially the former are said to be proper and inseparable to the Church of God You must alwayes remember here is a latitude in the application of these Notes For some Churches may have the Word more soundly preached and the Sacraments more dispensed than another and yet for all that not to be denied to be Churches This Church of Corinth was foully out of order And so most of those Churches in Asia were sharply reproved yet they did not cease to be a Church Yea the Church of Israel had many corruptions both in worship and life yet it was a long while ere God did cast her off So that we must not for some defilements either in the Doctrine Worship or Manners of a Church presently deny her to be a Church and separate from her for this is against Scripture information Yea there is no Church so perfect but needeth some Reformation They may build hay and stubble though they keep the foundation So that he must go out of the world that would live in a Church where nothing is amiss Even that Church of Smyrna the Apostle mentioneth Revel 2. 8. that was as her Name signifying sweet smelling and fragrant like a Garden or bed of Spices yet she was troubled with some who said They were Jews but were not but were of the Synagogue of Satan But of this more when we come to the next Doctrine Fifthly These then being the visible Marks of a visible Church we must not confound them with the properties of the Church invisible The Church of God hath as it were a two-fold Form one Internal and Essential which consists in their Union with Christ and communion with his benefits Now none but those that are truly godly are of the Church in this invisible manner he must be regenerated and graffed into Christ that can have any saving benefit by Christ But then 2. The Church of God hath an External and outward Form which consists in the external profession of faith and observance of Christs Ordinances Now a man may be of the Church in respect of this outward standing though he be not truly godly Therefore Dr Ames said well That it was a false thing which Bellarmine objected to us about the constitution of a Church as if we required internal graces to the making of a man a member of the Church in respect of the visible state of it We read in the New Testament that upon the outward profession of their faith they were baptized and received into the Church though it 's plain all of them had not true internal grace So then when the Question is put Whether may a man that is not truly godly be of the Church or no You must distinguish between the inward form of the Church which is union with Christ the Head and so he is not no more than a wooden leg is a member of the body that is not animated by the soul and the External visible state of it and so he is of the Church till by his obstinacy in wickedness he be cast out as unworthy We must not therefore give those Notes of the Church as visible which belong to it only as invisible viz. Election Vocation and Justification c. Sixthly The Papist to avoid this extream he giveth such Marks of a Church as savour rather of worldly ambition and pride Yea the true Church of God many times is known by the contrary Marks they give amplitude and universality as also temporal felicity Now this is rather a Description of some worldly Monarchy than Gods Church For as for the Churches amplitude though absolutely in it self it may be sometimes numerous yet at other times it hath been brought into a narrow compasse Elijah thought none was left and God speaks of but seven thousand that did not how the knee to Baal which was a very inconsiderable number to the Idolaters Therefore respectively to the wicked of the world even when they are most ample they are but a little flock And as for any glorious felicity though the Church of God hath sometimes had her respite and halcyon dayes yet for the most part a crown of thorns hath been on her head and therefore she is justly called the Militant Church while in this world because of her spiritual conflict with all sorts of enemies So that the Church of Christ may sometimes say as Christ once did The Foxes have their holes and the Birds of the air their nests but the Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head Thus the Foxes of the world the crafty subtil men have great abundance many times when the Church hath hid her self in the wildernesse And Fowls of the air men of proud and lofty minds have their nests when the Church like Noah's Dove hath not where to set her foot Seventhly I shall not enlarge my self to prove these only to be the proper Notes of the Church only consider that place Act. 2. 41 42. where you have all of them conjoyned together 1. They received the Word gladly There is a solemn profession of it 2. There is the administration of the Sacraments They were baptized and continued in breaking of bread with prayers There is the solemn calling upon God And as an epitomizing of all this it 's said Then were added unto the Church about three thousand souls Thus 1 Tim. 3. 15. the Church is called The pillar and foundation of the truth that is by the Ministeries preservation of it and the peoples submitting unto it Lastly If to this it be objected as Socinians do who hold this way of Notes to find out a Church to be useless and vain That true Doctrine cannot be a sign of the Church because it 's the Form and Essence of it Now that which notifieth the essence of a thing must be distinct from it To this it is answered That the form as it giveth being to a thing so it giveth to distinguish from others Forma dat esse distingui Although we do not say True Doctrine is the Note of a Church but the external preaching and receiving of it that is a Note incurring into our senses Even as Reason though it give a man his rational being yet speaking is the proper and true sign that manifests this So let true Doctrine or a true faith be the soul and life of a Church yet the external profession is the outward Note and Sign of it And if further it be said That every Sect doth claim to it self the pure preaching of the Word and the right administration of Ordinances Therefore these cannot be a sign It 's answered The consequence is denied for true preaching and
that the most genuine answer is That Paul doth here speak of his trouble according to the sense and apprehension of his flesh even as afterwards he saith It was above his strength that is his humane natural strength as will appear afterwards If therefore flesh and blood be consulted with then Paul saith It is an affliction above measure but then at vers 17. of the 2 Cor. 4. as also in other places he speaketh according to the workings of faith and the operations of Gods Spirit within him So that a godly man speaketh one thing according to the flesh and another thing according to the Spirit That is bitter and heavy to the flesh which may be sweet and welcome to the Spirit From whence observe That godly men judge otherwise of their afflictions by the principles of sense and flesh in them then they do by the principles of grace and reason in them Paul calleth it An affliction above measure in the lower sphere of nature but again he calleth it A light one in the higher sphere of grace Even as an Astronomer beholding the Sunne with his bodily eye judgeth it lesse than the Earth but then again beholding it with the instruments of Art doth conclude that it is many degrees bigger than the Earth Thus the godly man while he thinketh and speaketh according to the law of the flesh within him he cryeth out of his burdens he is discontented at them he look-at them as destructive but then again when the same man considereth them by the principles of faith and Scripture-grounds then he seeth that those stones may be turned into bread and from these thorns he may gather grapes Even as we see in Christ because he had two distinct Natures in a personal Union therefore we say Christ died Christ was in agonies and that because of his humane Nature yea it is called The blood of God And again on the other side Christ is said to be God to create the world to raise himself from the dead and that because of his Divine Nature As he was Sonne of God so he was full of power and might upon the earth As he was the Sonne of man so he was subject to weaknesse and infirmity Now here was no impossibility or repugnancy that it should be thus different with Christ under several respects Thus also it is with every member of Christ As he is born of God so he puts forth divine and gracious operations but as he doth still retain some reliques of his old birth So there are sinfull and infirm actions coming from him Therefore when a godly man doth any thing we must consider from what fountain it is either the sweet fountain or the bitter fountain that it sloweth from To discover this truth First We must know That in every regenerate man there are two selfes as it were the carnal self and the spiritual self From which issue all the works we do Galat. 5. 17. and also Rom. 7. For although Amyraldus Expos in cap. 7. ad Rom. yet professing both against Socinians and Arminians doth industriously labour to understand it of a man only legally wrought upon and that it would be a dishonour to Paul and injurious to the work of Sanctification to affirm That Paul speaketh those things in his own person while regenerated yet by that Text in the Galatians Chap. 5. 17. it is plain That those who are godly like Rebeccah have these two twins struggling in their womb and that as a man consisting of soul and body we may say he is mortal and immortal visible and invisible in different respects mortal and visible in respect of his body but immortal and invisible in respect of his soul Thus also it is with a godly man in a theological consideration he hath both corruption and grace he hath both flesh and spirit Now although this be so yet a godly man is not to be called an unregenerate person as well as a regenerate a sinner and a wicked person as well as holy Because denominations are alwayes from the more noble part and this corruption though remaining yet is to be subdued and conquered Even as Canaan might be called the possession and inheritance of the Israelites although many Jebusites did still continue therein and could not be cast out Let not then any godly man look for such perfection in this life as to have only one principle within him and that of grace Do not look that it should be altogether as the Spirit will have it in thee not finding the least opposition or renitency from the flesh No this estate is to be enjoyed onely in Heaven Secondly As these two selfes or principles are in a man that is regenerate so they doe actually oppose and contradict one another Hence cometh that Christian combate and conflict which the godly find within themselves Not like that of the Heathens Aristotles incontinent person or the Poets Medea a conflict between reason and their lusts only But this opposition is universal and diffusive in every part of the soul The carnal part in the mind opposeth the spiritual The carnal part of the will contradicteth the spiritual So that they have heart against heart affections against affections We are not therefore to conceive of these two principles as dormant and latitant in the soul but they are as fire and water in the same subject labouring to expell each other and according to the three-fold estate or degree that we may conceive in persons regenerate so is this fight and congress more or lesse vehement The first degree is of such who are newly converted These although in Regeneration they have the seed and root of all grace yet because of their former custom in evil wayes cannot so immediately conquer and subdue their lusts and therefore like children that begin to walk because of their feebleness they get many fals A second degree is of those who are in some measure proficients and have obtained much victory over sinne And although in such there be many combates yet grace hath the possession of the whole man notwithstanding the many assaults made against it And then Lastly There are such whom the Scripture calls perfect not absolutely but comparatively to others because they are as Gyants when others are but Dwarfs these are said To have their senses exercised to discern between good and evil Now such although they do overcome the world and the Devil by faith yet they are not free from this combate within It is true some think that though it be granted that Paul Rom. 7. speaketh in the person of a regenerate man yet it is of one in the lowest forme that is but newly come into the state of Christianity And Amyraldus doth therefore think Paul cannot mean those things of himself because he had attained to an higher degree of grace Insomuch that he inviteth others to follow him and to take him for an example Hence he is said to know nothing
dead can be proved possible by naturall reason but whether it can or no we are sure the Scripture doth so positively and plainly affirme it that it must be bold Atheisme to deny it Now do but consider how great a matter it is to exercise faith in this particular how improbable yea and impossible doth it seem to naturall reason All those who have dyed ever since Adam so many thousand yeares ago who have been for so long a time consumed into ashes All such bodies which have been eaten with fish or beasts yet God will raise the same body again the same bones and flesh again What amazement and astonishment may this raise in thee yet it is clear by Scripture God can and will do this Oh then that the godly did more vigorously exercise their faith in this fundamentall point of Religion What canst thou believe in God concerning this great and admirable truth yet doubtest whether he can raise thee out of those petty and minute troubles thou art exercised with When was news brought to the Pope of the murther of Henry the fourth of France he was exceedingly affected with it in his speech in the conclave blaspemously aggravating the mercie as he thought and among other particulars said the fact was so incredible that had he not used himself to believe the high and mysterious points of Religion he could not have believed this fact Thus he in a wretched manner but thou maist in a true and godly sense say Oh Lord this temptation is so great this trouble is so pressing I am so greatly overwhelmed that did I not believe those wonderfull Principles of Religion were I not used all the day long to things above humane reason and expectation I could not be able to beare up my self in these extremities 2. This Doctrine is metaphorically true also God raiseth from the dead and that again in a twofold extremity externall and internall externall troubles the Scripture doth delight to represent the great and extreame troubles of the Church when it hath visible help or deliverance under the name of death Isaiah 26. 19. We have the Prophet comforting the Church in her desolate estate Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise It is true many Interpreters expound this as if properly and immediately spoken of the Resurrection and it should seem our Translators understood it so when they render it together with my body but the context maketh it cleare God speaketh of their deliverance from captivity wherein he calleth his people Cadaver meum my dead body because in outward appearance so now the reason of this may be because Gods power would be to them as the dew to herbs ready to perish which doth revive them Thus their deliverance out of their calamity is described Hosea 6. 2. After two dayes he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight This Text is literally and immediately to be understood of the Jewes yet by consequence it may be applyed to Christ so that it argueth the calumniating spirit of Hunnius who would make Calvin to jadaize because he doth not expound it as a promise of Christs Resurrection God will do with his Church as he did with the body of Christ he would not suffer it to see corruption but within three dayes raise it again Thus saith the Church though we be in a dead condition yet he will within two or three dayes within a short time revive us again But above all you have a most evident allusion to this Ezek. 37. Where the Prophet in a vision saw a Valley full of dry bones and breath from the Lord brought sinews and flesh upon these bones and the bones came together and lived Now what the meaning of this parabolicall vision is appeareth Verse 11. These bones are the whole house of Israel Behold they say our bones are dryed up our hope is lost we are cut off from all parts but saith God I will open your Graves and you shall come out By these expressions you see how true the Doctrine is that in the Churches extreame calamities God raiseth the dead neither was this opening of the graves and making dry bones to live once done by God only for that people of that time But such hath been the condition of the Church in severall Ages It hath been the dry bones and God hath breathed life into them Now the Child of God should daily meditate upon these great workes of God to his People and then he will be ashamed to see himselfe so much dejected about his own particular What thou art but one dry bone and cannot God restore thee when he doth help so many Can he deliver his whole Church and not a particular Member therein More faith in the generall affaires of the Church would facilitate thy particular Come we then to internall extremities and exigences and there in a two-fold sense likewise we shall find it is God that raiseth the dead In the first place If you consider man in his state by nature he is wholly dead in sinne and therefore when God by his grace doth correct him then he raiseth the dead Thus every godly man in this spirituall change wrought upon him can experimentally say God who raiseth the dead I was senselesse in sinne I was stupid I felt no burden I desired no deliverance but God raised me from the dead Even as the Father said of his Prodigall Sonne converted this our Sonne was dead but is alive This expression in a spirituall sense the Scripture doth much delight in Ephes 2. You who were dead in sinne hath he quickned and therefore the work of grace is compared to a Resurrection and from this similitude we justly urge against the Arminians that man hath no active power to prepare himselfe for grace or to turne himselfe to God no more then a dead Lazarus did dispose himselfe to a Resurrection Thou then who labourest under many temptations about the weaknesse of thy graces that bewaile thy dead heart thy dead duties thy dead Religion Oh thou art withered and hast no life in thee Remember it is God that raiseth the dead And certainly if he did infuse the life of grace into thee at first when thou wast wholly dead can he not much more now thou art quickned recover thee out of thy decayings and swounding fits he that hath spirituall life at first can much more recover thee out of thy consumptions he that delivered from death can much more from sickness 2. There is another internall exigency upon the soul which may be called a spirituall death and that is the sad desolations and terrible blackness that may cover the soul because of desertions God may have forsaken thee thou maist not only look upon thy selfe as a dead man but as a damned man Oh this temptation when God sets himselfe against a broken soul shootes his arrowes into his heart
go rather than peace and quietness of a good conscience A Second Principle of the flesh which maketh men inconstant is An inordinate desire of Greatness and Honour above others They that walk by this must be black and white now say and than deny according as those are affected from whom they exspect Advancement This secret Ambition is accompanyed with a vehement heat and drought of the soul making a man restless till their desires be accomplished Neither may we think the Heathens onely to be blamed for these proud affectations We see even the Apostles twice contending about Primacy and Superiority which is the greater wonder if we consider the meanness of their own condition they were in as also of Christ their Master and yet more wonder it is if we remember how frequently our Saviour did inform them of Persecutions and saddest Calamities for his sake We read likewise of Diotrephes 3 John 9. who loved to have the preheminence and would not own no not the Apostle John himself Now those that walk by such Principles of pride and ambition they must needs be like a materia prima ready to receive any form They flatter they dissemble they commend they dispraise and thus debased they are that afterwards they may be exalted Now nothing is more odious and abominable to a sincere man than such mutability and uncertainty Hence Christians of old were called the just and holdfast men It was not thus with John Baptist of whom saith our Saviour What went ye out to see a read shaken with the winde No he did faithfully and constantly discharge his duty without any fear of men But how many may we go out to see as reeds shaken with every winde And as the reed must grow in some mire so must such mutable persons have some carnal respect to encourage them Those that climbe up to high places are apt to have their heads grow giddy and to be unsteadfast so that when men lay this as a foundation I will have Preferment I will have Honor and greatness though it damn me this man walketh upon slippery ice and no wonder if he often fall 3. Another carnal Principle which maketh Inconstancy in all our wayes is Pleasing of men When a man maketh this his Rule he must change often and be as a shadow which moveth whoily according to the motion of the body stoopeth when that stoopeth and is upright when that is upright The Apostle doth notably disclaim such a sinfull distemper saying Galat. 1. 10. If I should please men I could not be the servant of Christ Man is a mutable creature subject to different apprehensions to different affections loving one thing one day and hating it at another Then must they also who would please men be prepared for all formes and postures insomuch that a man cannot live in greater bondage and slavery tan to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a peoples ape or to study the humouring of those we have to deal with If thou art guilty of this man-pleasing thou art never able to do thy duty thou canst not reprove and punish sin thou canst not be just and righteous in thy place Our Saviour said to his Disciples How can you belive which receive glory of one another John 5. 44. and do not seek the glory of God only Certainly till we study to please God alone in our lives and aim at his glory who is alwayes the same we must be unstable as water and be a lyar to every man We read of some who did believe in Christ yet dared not to make Profession thereof for fear of the Jews Here was a desire to please men rather than God But can the good word and favour of men deliver thee from the wrath of God in thy conscience and eternal torments hereafter When Judas pleased the Chief Priests in betraying of Christ could they comfort him in the Agonies of his conscience yea when he bewailed his sin They say What is that to us look thou to that Mat. 17. 4. Such miserable tormentors instead of comforters will all those men be whom thou hast pleased to displease God 5. Time-serving is a Principle which whosoever walketh by must be as a weather-Cock that is turned with every winde The people of Israel are remarkeable for this Inconstancy under wicked and Idolatrous Kings then they erected Altars they adorned Images and then immediately under Religious and Reforming Kings they would destroy the Idolls and deface the Images they had set up It is true all change and alteration in Religion is not to be blamed yea sometimes it is to be encouraged When Luther and Melancton gave over their former corrupt Doctrines and superstitious Practices the Papists condemned them for Turn-coats and Apostate persons when yet this change was necessary So that as they say in Philosophy there is alteratio corruptiva and perfectiva a destructive change and a perfective change thus it is also in Divinity and the Latter is absolutely commanded by God when Errors or Prophaneness have like a gangrene spread over the whole Church but of that in its time We are now speaking of that sinfull change whereby people accommodate themselves to the times they live in and therefore judg of truth judg of the holy things of God as Jeroboam did with subordination to State-Interests This is the great carnal Policy that the Wise-men of the world admire as if the true Doctrines of Christ were not alwayes the same as if a thing might be the worship of God one time and Idolatry at another as if the same thing might be the Doctrine of Christ at one time and Heresie at another as if that of Cusanus were true though otherwise not a very bad man That the Scripture is to be understood according to the present state and Affairs of the Church and therefore saith he We are not to wonder if at one time some Customes and Usages be exacted in a Church which at another time are to be decryed and refused But certainly the Scripture is a Rule of Faith and Manners in all Ages in all Changes and Revolutions Though Kingdomes and States may alter yet the Scriptures are the same still and what was once the Doctrine Worship and Order of Christ is still the same Lastly That all Particulars may be comprehended in one To live according to the Principles of the Flesh is To set up our selves as the Alpha and Omega to enjoy our selves and to use all things yea God himself in subordination thereunto Thus this love of a mans self even to the hatred of God is that which maketh us put on multiform shapes it is that which maketh us bend and bow and comply in all things For if we did love the Honour and glory of God more than our own selves as we ought to do then we should not attend to self-advantages but Gods glory and honor So that we may say This Self-love is the Beelzebub sin it
We have dominion over your faith no more than they can say We are the true and great Jehovah They cannot make a Religion make Sacraments but enjoyn the observance of that which is required in the Word and the reason which excludeth both spiritual and civil Governours is general to all We are not baptized into any mans name neither hath any Emperour or Church-officer died for us they have not been crucified for us neither have they power over our hearts to impose a command upon them which must necessarily be in the duty of faith neither can they damne or save men Hence the Apostle saith There is one Law-giver which is able to save and to destroy Jam. 4. 12. Fourthly Although divine faith be such a noble and excellent work coming from Heaven and ascending up to Heaven againe Yet it doth admit of degrees in the subject where it is Some have stronger faith some weaker some have more explicite and extensive faith than others yea and the most setled beleevers are subject to temptations they are often assaulted and that even in their faith about the principles and fundamentals about God about the Scriptures about the immortality of the Soul about the state of Glory and eternal Torments Fiery darts are sometimes injected for which the people of God doe abhorre and loath themselves Therefore we must distinguish between little faith and no faith between doubtings and Atheisme And truely for this end doth God suffer errours and heresies to arise in his Church that truth may be more confirmed and the approved may be made manifest It 's to exercise the spiritual wisdome and faith of the godly whether they can discerne of things that differ and can tell which is the strangers voice and which is the true shepherds It is a very grievous temptation to be assaulted about fiducial faith whether the promises belong to thee in particular but in some respects it is farre more terrible to be exercised in doubts about dogmatical faith for this tendeth to the razing of the foundations and the arguments or remedies to cure this distemper are more difficult Use of Instruction Is faith thus immediately respecting God above all instruments though making use of them Then First Theirs is not faith which doth wholly depend upon the Authority of a man though never so eminent We may not relie on Austine on Chrysostome neither doe we owne those expressions of Lutherans and Calvinists For although we acknowledge them eminent instruments in propagating of the Gospel yet we believe not upon their authority meerly because Luther and Calvin saith so It is true nothing is more ordinary than to admire mens persons and while we extoll their gifts and abilities we are secretly enticed to thinke of worthy menâ— above what we ought and finde an awe in our consciences to recede from any opinion they have delivered But we must take heed we doe not hereby become guilty of spirituall Idolatry setting up men as Idols in our hearts Secondly This instructeth that grosse ignorant men cannot have any divine faith for they feel nothing of any work of Gods Spirit or illumination upon their understandings hence they believe as other men believe as if a man were not to be saved by his own faith Thirdly It sheweth the Sceptical and Pyrrhonian man in Religion the meer Seeker that he hath no faith If he had the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen upon his soul he would not be tossed up and down as he is Fourthly It sheweth that the meer carnal Politician hath no divine faith for he looketh upon Religion but as an humane device or a State-engine and therefore can transforme into all shapes and times How contrary is this to true faith FINIS AN Alphabetical Table CONTAINING The chief Heads of this Treatise A Administrations THe godly sometimes deceived about Gods Administrations towards them pag. 293 294 295 296 297 Reasons of it 298 Rules for the preventing it 299 300 Afflictions God comforts his people in all their Afflictions both spiritual 167 And temporal 168 'T is a special duty to comfort the Afflicted See Comfort The most eminent Saints when Afflicted need comfort 188 189 190 See Sufferings 'T is of great use to know what are the Afflictions of the people of God 256 Reasons of it ibid. What use is to be made of preaching about those Afflictions which Paul and others suffered from the Heathens 257 258 259 The Afflictions of the godly heavy and yet light 270 Faith and flesh passe different judgements upon Afflictions 270 271 Propositions clearing it 271 272 How we may know when flesh and when faith speaketh in Afflictions 274 275 276 'T is very usefull to know that 277 Natural strength not able to carry a man through all Afflictions 280 Propositions clearing it 280 281 282 See Troubles and Sufferings Anointing All true believers have a spiritual Anointing from God 620 Propositions clearing it 620 621 Apostle What an Apostle was 15 Two kinds of them ibid. They were appointed by Christ in the first building of the Church 16 The properties of an Apostle 16 17 18 19 Of the difference betwixt the Office of an Apostle and of an ordinary Pastour 506 507 Assurance A believer may be Assured he performeth duties with an upright heart 394 What is required to an Assurance of our being in a state of grace 395 396 The impediments of Assurance 400 401 Gods command to look after it 401 402 The effects of it 402 Cautions about it 403 B Blessing A Threefold Blessing mentioned in Scripture 127 Christians ought to Blesse God for all his mercies ibid. What is required to our Blessing God aright 128 129 130 131 We should Blesse God more for spiritual mercies than for other 134 See Praising God C Call THe divine Call of Ministers necessary to be known 19 Two things premised concerning a Ministers Call 20 What are the practical concernments which will follow those who have a true Call from God to the Ministers 21 To the people 22 The Call to Church-offices proceeds meerly from the will and pleasure of God 33 34 What is there meant by the will of God 34 35 36 Changing Of Changing in matters of Religion 546 Christ Why our Saviour called Christ 36 What it doth imply 27 He is the Sonne of God 135 Propositions explaining how Christ is the Sonne of God 136 137. 561 562 563 564 This truth is the foundation of all Christian comfort 138 139 Christ the onely object of all preaching 557 When Christ is preached 557 558 559 560 Jesus is the Christ the anointed of God 569 See Jesus Church Of the name Church 50 51 The nature and description of a Church 51 It is a society 52 Called of God 52 53 54 By the preaching of the Word to the profession of Christ and Church-communion 55 56 Wherein Church communion consisteth 56 57 The notes and signs of a Church 58 59 Why necessary