discerning which we have you would be as eager in the waies of God as we possibly can be Wicked men are not able to judge aright of the worth of grace and of the excellency of the things above as they should do therefore they preferre Barabbas before Christ and sinne before grace but the godly on the contrary they cry out with that godly Martyr Lambert None but Christ Nothing but grace Give us grace and Christ and it sufficeth us Do you think that men that are bewitched or that are besotted or that are overcome by the power of luft or that are drunken by the pleasures of sinne or that have no other light to judge by but that little spark which is left within them since the fall which is over-pressed with the corruptions of sinne these men are not fit to be competent judges of the minde of the Spirit Now all men that have not the teachings of the Spirit they are either drunken men drunk with the pleasures of sinne Eph. 4. Be not drunk with wine but be ye filled with the Spirit Or drunken with the cares of the world as Martha was who was cumbred about so many things There is a drunkenness wherein Nazarites themselves may be overcome The very cares of this world and voluptuous living have a kinde of inebriating power with them The excess of our affections in the pursuit and use of any earthly thing may be called drunkenness Dr. Sclater that she could not have time to attend to the sweet words which dropped forth from Christs-mouth Or they are drunken with self-love with self-pride with self-admiration with self-applause and so they lift up themselves before Jesus Christ The excess and immoderate use of a thing especially when the thing is unlawfull in it self may be called drunkenness as the Prophet cries forth O ye that are drunken but not with wine Isa 29.9 As wise Abigail did not discover the intent of David over night to Nabal A simile till the drink was out of his head and he had slept his sleep so these swinish men cannot understand the things of God till the Spirit of God of swines makes them men and of men Christians Many are sottish children that consider not the Lord nor the operations of his hands Isa 1.3 The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider They are benummed the devil having seared their consciences with a hot iron Now for sots and innocents to know the things of God it implies a thing impossible to flesh and blood Indeed according to the things of the world they may be wiser than the children of light but in respect of heavenly things they are sottish children Ask them what Regeneration is and about the new birth they are as great strangers to it as Nicodemus was Ioh. 3.9 Ask them concerning the teachings of the Spirit and like those in the Acts Act. 19.2 they will answer you they never heard of the teachings of the Spirit before Likewise men that are sensuall who are led by sense and not by faith who can believe nothing but what they see and can yield to no truth but what their blinde understandings can reach unto Arabicum Proverbium Obstrue quinque fenestras ut luceat domus qui sunt in eâ Shut your five windows that the house and all that are therein may shine i. e. Consult not with your senses with carnall reason which like Sarah laughs at heavenly promises and looks only to earthly possibilities and as the Sunne whose rising discovers the terrestiail globe to our sight but hides the starres and the celestiall Dr. Stoughton what they are able to apprehend these are not able to distinguish between light and darkness Now the Spirit subjects our sense to reason and reason to faith that what before we could not close withall for truth because it was above our capacity to understand by the Spirits witnessing with our spirits we can more certainly and resolvedly comply withall and beleeve than with those things we see with our naturall eyes The more we have to do with sense the less we have to do with God We finde it in naturall things that the more retired our souls are and the freer from this body of flesh and the more contracted within it self the higher it soars in the meditation of heavenly things Pleasant walks and solitary places where there is no recourse are fittest for the soul to be busie within it self by viewing Gods goodness and raising sweet experiences from severall creatures and divers objects of the infinite wisdom goodness and mercy of God in his providence over the world St Bernard that spirituall Father who had sweet Soliloquies between God and his own soul much delighted in fragrant places separate from all company that thereby he might have the more freedom of spirit to have communion with his God If a soul desires to be guided by the Spirit let it get from sense as high as it can lest like Anselm's bird intangled with the bird -lime of the world the more it flutters to escape the more it is intangled with the pollutions of it Those which have only that little spark of light within them since the fall ☜ which is like the snuff of a candle in a dark lanthorn these are to seek in the things of God They may have as it were an Owl-light but to have the Sun-light which is promised under the daies of the Gospel that the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun sevenfold Isa 30.26 this they cannot have But when the candle of the Lord which is within us For the Spirit of man it is the candle of the Lord Pro. 20.27 is inlightned by a further light superadded by the Spirit from the book of providence from the book of the creatures from the book of our own hearts we are able to draw many spirituall conclusions and are enabled to know the mind of the Spirit in the Word of God Is it so Vses That none can know the things of God but they that have the teachings of the Spirit Then First It shews us this that blindness lies upon the minde of the greatest part of the world of the greatest part of Christians because the greatest part of them are void of the Spirit That they are so I shall prove by Scripture 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty There is no inslavery no thraldom no bondage and therefore in Rom. 8. the Spirit of adoption is put in opposition to the spirit of bondage The Spirit is called a Spirit of liberty in three respects 1. The Spirit of liberty Because it hath rescued us from a state of bondage 2. Because it hath put us into a state of liberty 3. Because it gives us liberty and freedom of spirit to come with
of the spirit shall shine into their hearts through the face of Jesus Christ Till Christ shall sit as a refiners fire and purifie the hearts of his people as the Prophet Malachy hath it and shall make them willing in the day of his power to receive the truth in the love of it But yet we ought to distinguish Psal 110.3 Rom. 14.1 and to make a difference between the pretious and the vile between him that is weak in the faith and him that offends out of malice and obstinacy and knows that he is in a wrong way and will not be reformed With the later we are to deal in a more severe way openly 1 Tim 5.20 Mat. 7.6 Mat. 18.17 rebuhing them before many witnesses and if they still persist turn to Dogs and rent us then let them be unto us as Heathens or Publicans and let them be given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor 5.5 that their spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus I finde that the Scripture useth severall Greek words to express and shew forth the various waies we ought to proceed withall in handling those that have erred from the faith 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admonition a friendly and courteous telling them that they are not in the right way and that as long as they stick to these principles and adhere to those false conclusions they are to seek in the things of God Beseeching them to examine them by the light of the Word and the Spirits speaking in the hearts of others who have further discoveries upon their hearts of the truths of God and of those things which accompany salvation than they and to judge according to the analogy and proportion of Faith Rom 12.6 To beseech them to examine upon what grounds they close with these opinions and of the ground of their faith and of the reason of their hope For we are not upon Trust and upon bare Tradition to close with any Doctrine delivered unto us though it comes with never so fair a species of truth 1 Joh 4.1 but to try the Spirits whether they be of God or no and be alwaies ready to render a reason of our Faith 1 Pet. 3.15 and of the work of Grace upon our hearts to every one that shall require it of us And to search into the lives of those men who endeavour to draw us to their opinions Gal. 6.13 whether they are those that seek themselves and their honour and the pleasing of their own humour or the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the hearts of his people Now this admonition it must not be once but again and again till by the power of the Word and the bright shining forth of truth they being overcome by the beauty and the excellency and the power of it for what is stronger then truth they be over-weaned and prevailed upon to a sincere and hearty affection to it Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Admonition includes 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falsae doctrinae a demonstration of the absurdity and the falsity of the opinion they are in love withall as the Apostle Paul did who proved Justification to be of Grace and not of Works shewing the impossibility of it by an Antithesis between Works and Grace If it is of Works Rom. 11.6 it is not of Grace otherwise Grace is no more Grace We must first shew them that they are in a wrong way before we can perswade them of the right Saith Solomon Prov. 14.12 There is a way which seems right to a mans eyes but the ends of those waies are death Now till a man sees that death and destruction follows and attends his waies he will never seek after Wisdoms path and the waies which tend to life Act. 8.3 Act. 9.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As long as Paul was nurtur'd up in the Jewish doctrine and insensible of the depravation of it he was inraged in his spirit against the Church of God haling men and women to the Judgement seat but when once the Spirit had convinced him of the weakness of that dispensation under which he lived Rom. 10.1 and that the Law was not able to bring any thing to perfection and the Ceremonial Law is Statutes which were not good Ezek 20.25 as the Prophet Ezikiel cals them and that he cannot be justified by the works of the Law he presently disclaims whatsoever formerly he imbraced counting all things but loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2. A secret insinuating unto them the truth and the excellency of the opposite to which they hold saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 12.16 I beguiled you i. e. I caught you as fishes are caught in a net before you were aware by the power of the Word upon your hearts We ought to strike the iron while it is hot and to work upon mens hearts when they are stirred up by a holy compunction of spirit to search into the nature of things Every time is not fit to deal with men for their souls good because the spirits of men according to mens various assections stirred up at such a time rather then another are more sutable to receive an impression than at another time as the stories of Amaziah and Asa will clearly shew 2 Chron. 25. We read of Amaziah that having hired an hundred thousand valiant men out of Israel of the Tribe of Ephraim to assist him against the children of Seir the Propher came to him in the Name of the Lord commanding him to separate these men from the men of Judah that they might return to their own place Here Amaziah readily obeyed the Word of the Lord by the Prophet though to his own damage with the loss of the hundred Talents of silver Yet we finde in the following verses of the same Chapter that the same King Amaziah when the Prophet came to reprove him for serving the Gods of the Nations whom he had overcome he was wrath with the Prophet and disobeyed the Word of the Lord. O what a happy issue might many of Gods people have had of their admonitions and reproofs upon the souls of others if they had done it when the soul was of a tender frame of spirit sensible of its own infirmity and under the sense of its insufficiency kept low in its own eyes desiring above all things to be taught by the Spirit I have known many who at the first onset of a reproof though sugar'd over with many sweet words which is a great oversight in the people of God Psal 141.5 and farre from Davids temper who said If the righteous smite him it shall be as a pretious balm which shall not break his head who afterwards were as Lambs apt to be guided by the weakest hand 2 Sam. 15.6 As Absolon is said to steal away the hearts of the men
Apostle urged against the proud vaunting Sectaries of his times who named themselves by the names of their spirituall guides 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided Was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the Name of Paul It is a great indignity and an high dishonour offered to Jesus Christ who is their Lord and Saviour and hath purchased them for his peculiar people with his own blood to be called after other Lords and other Saviours 2 Cor. 5.16 Resolve with St Paul Hence forth to know no man after the flesh but only to acknowledge Jesus Christ And say likewise that though other Lords have had dominion over our faith and tyrannized over our consciences as the late Prelates did and as the tyrannicall party of these times do who would have all men stern their course according to their Compass and sail where they sail and do what they do and speak as they speak yet now Jesus Christ alone shall be to me all in all 1 Cor. 1.24 The Ministers of Jesus Christ are not to Lord it over mens consciences and to impose heavy yokes which they nor their fathers were able to bear but as the servants of Jesus Christ to become all things to all men that they may win all Be not ye called Masters Matth. 23.10 Be not ye Sect-masters such as were amongst the Jews who greedily affected the titles to be called Rabbans and Rabbies and were the ringleaders of parties and factions Be not ye such Masters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctores vel viae ductores Ringleaders Sect-Masters for one is your Master even Christ which is in heaven They are not to Lord it over Gods heritage but to account themselves as the servants of Christ condescending to men of low estate for the good of their souls And the people must have a reverent esteem of them as those who are overseers set over them for their good They must not have their persons in admiration and esteem of them higher then they are which thing hath caused God to stain the pride and the glory of the Prelaticall party who advanced themselves above Christ reason above faith and humane Learning which perisheth in the using above the everlasting Word of God because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God as if they were infallible or they knew all things or as if the spirit of God were straitned up to that particular person or to that particular society they are of or as if they were the only men to be followed and all others of a different judgement were erroneous and that it is necessary to be called by their names as if they were the summe and the top-stones of all piety and knowledge but they must pray for them knowing they are men subject to infirmities as well as our selves Pray to God to give them a door of utterance that they may deliver the word boldly and confidently sincerely plainly in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and to desire God to assist them in that great work they have undertaken and to obey them in all lawfull commands as the spirituall Pastors and Bishops of our souls and to encourage them in their work by honouring them and by giving them those Rights and Priviledges which appertain unto them Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars Mat. 22.21 and unto God the things that are Gods You commit sacriledge and rob God of his due when ye withhold from the servants of Christ that right which is their own Will a man rob God saith the Prophet Malachy Mal. 3.8 in robbing God you rob your selves for hereby you cause God to withhold good things from you I could wish that there were a fair and equal carriage on both sides It were to be desired that Christians would rather say they are of the Church of God in such a place or of the Church of God over which such a man is the Overseer than that they would say as they commonly do say they are of such a mans Church It is the Apostles phrase to the Church of God which is at Coloss Col. 1.2 Eph. 1.1 Act. 20.28 which is at Ephesus which is in her house the Church which God hath purchased with his own blood Ministers are but Gods Vicegerents speaking unto us in the place of God for we should never be able to stand before God and to receive the word from his own mouth because of the vast sea of guilt which lies upon our consciences and that infinite distance between the pure nature of God and our defiled and corrupted souls they are the mouthes of God to the people but the Church is Gods Church which Christ hath purchased with his pretious blood He it is that keeps the Church from the malice of blood-sucking persecutors Ps 121.4 He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps He it is that destroyes the implacable enemies of it destroying them with everlasting vengeance He it is that purifies the Church Tit. 2.14 that by his blessed Spirit doth unite all the members together Spiritus est vinculum Ecclesiae Pet. Mart. and at the last day will make of many Churches now scattered up and down one universall triumphant Church for ever and ever Let it be therefore the Church of Christ and of God and not the Church of man Yet pray have a care of this that you do not term your selves the Church of God when you are of the Synagogue of Satan Who say they are Christians when they are not as those hypocriticall Jews did in Johns Revelation Rev. 3. but see that you have Gods worship rightly administred amongst you and that ye worship God the Father in sincerity and in truth Now the Apostle goes on in the same Chapter shewing the reason why he used such plainness in the exercise of his Ministry to wit that their faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God that is that your faith might not be built upon humane inventions and traditions but upon the Word of God which is the power of God to salvation Eph. 2.20 that you may be builded upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner stone Hence observe That the Word of God Note considered absolutely in it self as the Word of God ought to be the rule and ground of our faith St Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10.15 Scriptura seu verbum Dei dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regula mensura The word of God ought to be the rule according to which we ought to square all our actions Lev. 18.5 Keep the true pattern of wholsome words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Greek The form or lively exemplar of wholsom words So that that word which the Apostle had committed unto him to wit the
the Spirit how couragious was he in the work of the Lord he that formerly was mad with fury against the Church of God how strongly doth he row the other way As soon as ever Ananias had said Brother Saul receive thy sight Act. 9. his eyes were opened and his heart enlarged in the knowledge of God he presently goes about his Masters business to win souls over by the evidence of the Spirit to the obedience of the word Yea he was ready not only to be bound for the Lord Jesus ☞ but to suffer for him A spiritual man he chooseth and pitcheth upon mature and serious deliberation with himself being helped by the light of the Spirits teachings I say he chooseth God for his God and Christ for his Christ and the Spirit for his Spirit and the Word for his rule and Gods Commandments for his delight An implicit faith Many Christians have but an implicit faith for what they believe some believe the Word of God because they were taught so and so were instructed by education others believe so because it is the generall opinion of most men others because this way seems the best to their corrupt naturall reason others there are because such a man said so because they are perhaps engaged to him in Church-society when they have no ground in their own consciences why they close with this rather than with that The devil will have a shrewd combate with this mans faith in the hour of temptation when he shall come to die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 efflagitavit The devil hath desired to winnow thee as he did Peters faith He will try thee of what mettall thou art made whether thou art dross or silver he will sift thee throughly and if thou art found wanting as I am sure thou wilt be found for this faith hath no foundation thou shalt be cast forth as chaff out of Christs floor to be burned for ever What is the reason that we drive on so slowly for heaven why it is because of the unsetledness of our spirits We do not walk by fixed principles Go to this point whether the Word be the Word of God were you never under the buffetings of Satan for a while concerning this thing hardly any but some times or other have been under such a cloud of temptation If you were really fixed upon this principle that the Scripture is the Word of God reading what judgments attends sinners in their evil courses and what happiness follows the Saints there could not be such a general spirit of prophanness amongst men as there is and that little care to walk exactly according to the preciseness of the Gospel The Spirit quiets our mindes concerning this doubt by discovering unto us the majesty purity and perfection of it A spiritual man can say I know whom I have believed 2 Tim. 1.12 I know what I speak I know that God is true and that there is no unrighteousness in him God is in me of a truth Besides have we not Atheisticall thoughts of God like that fool Psal 14.1 who said in his heart there was no God denying the providence of God When we see the wicked men of the world prosper and we our selves counted the offscouring of it are we not ready to say like David 1 Sam. 27.1 I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul or that we shall fall of everlasting happiness God hath cast us off for ever calling the servants of God liars who speak unto us in the name of the Lord and to distrust the word of promise Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee where there are five negatives for the confirmation of it I will never never never never never leave thee nor forsake thee Psal 73. Now as David when he went into the Sanctuary of God he was better principle'd and understood their latter end that God had set them in slippery places that they might fall and not rise again So if we would wait till the Spirit comes down upon our hearts we should have all these carnall reasonings and these fleshly doubts removed and we should be setled in the truths of God When a man is taught by the Spirit he doth not stand to reason with flesh and blood shall I do this or shall I do that shall I choose heaven or shall I choose hell shall I choose sinne or shall I choose grace shall I choose God or shall I choose Baal he doth not stand reasoning the case Shall I be religious or shall I not Shall I trust all upon Gods bare promise or shall I close with the pleasures of sin which are really present but he presently renouncing all those carnall reasonings which arise from flesh and blood presently sets upon the work of the Lord knowing that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. So did Paul Gal. 1. 15 16. When the Lord had endued him with his Spirit sutable for his calling whereunto he was called he stood not to reason with flesh and blood but presently sets upon his great Masters business Jesus Christ The great danger there is in consulting with flesh and blood This consulting with flesh and blood hinders many a poor soul from a through closing with Jesus Christ Flesh will say Do not close with Jesus Christ do not serve God you had better take a certainty for an uncertainty and those present enjoyments here and live merrily In consulting with flesh and blood you consult with the enemy of Jesus Christ of the Gospel of his grace and with an enemy to your own souls Be sure the flesh will decide the controversle on the devils part against Jesus Christ Now the Spirit of God determines the matter on Christs part against the devil teaching thee the insufficiency of all the creatures to make thee happy and the true happiness only resides in God putting thee into the way wherein God is to be found and preserving thee in the same that at length thou maist reap everlasting life Seventhly The teachings of the Spirit are consonant to the Word they agree with the Word of God As the minde of the Spirit in one place of Scripture agrees with the minde of the Spirit in another and there is a sweet harmony in the Word of God So the teachings of the Spirit upon our hearts they also are correspondent with the word Saith Paul to the Galatians Gal. 1.8 If an Angel from heaven should deliver any other doctrine unto you than what you have received let him be accursed And the Apostle by a resumption or ingemination repeats it again If any man teach any other Gospel unto you than what you have received let him be accursed ◠11 12. And why My Doctrine is not of flesh nor of the will of man but of God Note this well ☜ As if the Apostle had said My word which I have delivered unto you being the Word of God
and deportment in preaching the Gospel to them to this end to breed Schisms in the Church for saith he I was with you in weakness and in fear Yers 3. and in much trembling that is he was so farre from being pust up with those gifts and graces which God had indued him with that he was among them with much infirmity in much affliction and in much contempt as he saith Who is weak and I am not weak we are fools for Christs sake 1 Cor. 4.10 but ye are wise we are weak but ye are strong ye are honoured but we are despised In the 2. Cor. 10.10 For say they his Letters are weighty and powerfull but his bodily presence is weak and his speech coutemptible So that the Apostle was no promoter of Sects and Separations and Parties in the Church but these divisions came from their lusts from their carnality and fleshly mindedness 1 Cor. 3.3 4. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnall and walk as men For when one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not carnall So saith the Apostle James Iom 4.1 From whence are warres and contentions among you are they not hence even from your lusts that warre in your members It is a sign thou art of a proud impetuous and of an ambitious spirit if thou art a breeder of dissentions in the Church of God and that which was falsly charged upon Paul that he was a seditious person and a disturber of the Nation and upon Jeremy Act. 24.5 Ier. 15.10 that he was a man of ftrife may be justly charged upon thee who for a very light occasion makes a departure from the Church of God Pro. 13.10 From pride cometh contention saith Solomon so thou art of a proud spirit if thou art of a contentious spirit Hence observe Note That the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel of his grace must be men of peace and not study to make factions and parties in the Church of Christ They should endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 They should endeavour to preserve the truth of God that so the truths of God may preserve them For as long as they stand up in Gods cause in opposition to the flesh the world and the devil God will stand by them and plead for them and smite through the loins of them that shall rise up against them Jude v. 3. They must contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered unto the Saints and plead with that Whore of Babylon by the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and vindicate the Scriptures from all those foul aspersions which the locusts of the bottomless pit together with the Socinians Arminians Anabaptists and Quakers of these times have cast upon it The Church it is the House of God and the Word is Gods Looking-glass which he hath set up in his House whereby all the defects and spots and blemishes which are in Gods people may be discerned and this word is committed to the hands of the Ministers as Trustees and Stewards to give out and to dispense to every soul its portion as time and occasion shall require Now this treasure is in earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 that the praise might not be of men but of God and the people are not to be their own carvers as now adaies many are but to require the word at their mouths and to obey them in all lawfull commands examining by the Scriptures whether those things be true or no which they preach as the Beraeans did Act. 17.11 and highly to honour them for their work sake But now if they shall contrary to Gods Word set up new Lights in Gods Church and offer up strange fire as Nadab and Abibu did Lev. 10.1 and a new Looking-glass in Gods House and appoint those things which God never commanded neither came it ever into his thoughts to require and rend the seamless Coat of Christ that is the Church by their inventions and traditions and seek new doctrines and new opinions and vent them forth that others may follow their pernitious waies by reason of which 2 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exitiis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blaspemabitur 2 Pet. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 torquēt Rack the Scriptures the way of truth is evil spoken of and captivate the understandings of others by their carnall reasonings and sinfull objections whereby they wrest the Scripture to their own damnation and giddy the spirits of weak Christians by their deep notions and Allegoricall interpretations and set themselves up for the only men and to have other men called by their name and by that party they are of What is this but to be of a seditious spirit and to be the incendiaries of the Churches peace The Kingdom of Christ is a Kingdom of peace Omnes literae in nomine Jehovah sunt literae quiescentes quo observandum est Deum ipsissimum fore pacis fontem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and God is a God of peace and Christ is the Prince of peace and the Gospel is the Gospel of peace Why therefore should not Christs Ambassadors be the Ambassadors of peace I am not here against the communion of the Saints by way of Church fellowship joyntly to serve God and Jesus Christ in way of distinction and separation from the profane world But against that venomous humour which is in some men that to get themselves a name in the world do seek out and invent some strange and uncouth opinion and vent it forth with all the fair pretences of truth that possibly can be that thereby adopting to themselves proselytes they may walk in the light of their own fancies and delight in the vanity of their own imaginations Observe again That for Beleevers to call themselves by the names of their spirituall guides be they never so holy and religious men or by strange names taken up by the contumelies of ungodly men it is an unchristian thing The word Brethren is very often used in the Acts of the Apostles in the Epistle to the Romans and in several other places Act. 9.30 10.13 16.2 17.10 18.18 Rom. 12.1 and disagreeing to the minde of the Spirit Those be the best names which the Scripture useth as Brethren Beloved in the Lord Saints Christians Servants of Jesus Christ c. It was Luthers charge to his followers that after his death they should be sure not to call themselves by his Name that is not to be called Lutherans by his Name Luther and why Did Luther die for you or Christ If Christ died and was crucified for you let him be your Lord and Master But if Christ did not die for you and I died for you then let me be your Lord and Master and be ye called by my Name This argument the
〈◊〉 that is who hast thy being of thy self which being is from all eternity ineluding all the differences of time past present and to come That thou art Elohim Almighty Elschaadai Alsufficient Elion High that thou art I am that I am Exo. 3.14 which implies that thou art only of thy self and art all things to thy creatures I am bread to the hungry drink to the thirsty cloathing to the naked health to the sick liberty to the captive comfort to the distressed I am all things to all men as they stand in need of me Is 43.11 Thou hast said that thou art and that there is none else besides thee that thou art but one God and yet distinguished into three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost Lord let me beleeve and admire this truth rather than stand and question it And for thy Decrees which are as immutable as thy self for with the Lord is Yea and Amen for ever and ever I beseech thee grant that I may search no further than what is convenient for me as a creature to know and thy Word requires that I should search into These are mysteries lockt up in thy own breast from all eternity which though I cannot attain to in this life to know yet let me trace the foot-steps of thy everlasting providence in thy Word and admire thy goodness towards them who are elected in Jesus Christ and magnifie thy justice upon all the vessels of wrath to all eternity This I know that though thou did'st not pass by any in thy act of pretenition with reference to sinne as thou didst not elect the vessels of mercy with any respect to their future holiness yet thou never passest the sentence of condemnation upon any but for their sinnes past Yet God doth not condemn a man simply as a sinnes for then all should be condemned but at such and such a sinner a sinner against great light against great mercy a sinner under Gods judgement An unbeleeving sinner unbelief is the great condemning sin and receivest none into mercy but upon the account of Jesus Christ And O that there were a heart in me to seek above all things to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent to seek wisdom and spirituall understanding which will be unto me a tree of life to preserve me from the snares of death Thus Lord desireth every true and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ Now as these men have itching ears 2 Tim. 4.3 so they heap up to themselves such Pastors and Teachers as may serve their own fancies and it were to be desired that there were not too many amongst us who for preferment and for worldly honour would make the Word of God to stoop to the base lusts of carnall people and preaching the fictions of their own brain cause men to build their faith upon unsound and sandy foundations When men hold forth Jesus Christ to the people not as the Scripture holds him forth but according to their apprehensions of him they build wood hay and stubble upon this pretious foundation 1 Cor. 3.12 13 14. which when the day of the Lord shall come the fire of the Lord shall utterly consume when every mans work shall be made manifest Col. 2.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This will-worship when men will take upon them to prescribe Rules and Canons of Gods worship Mar. 15.3 Col. 2.8 Gal. 4.10 this worshipping of God after the tradition of our fathers this observing of times and seasons for the satisfying the lusts of the flesh and not for the service of God this mixing of our own Ceremonies and Superstitious waies is odious and abominable in his sight God cares not how little he hath to do with men in waies of his worship for whatsoever sacred things we handle we leave the print of our fingers behind us but hath reserved this to himself as one main part of his Soveraignty to prescribe Rules and give Laws according to which he requires that men should do him homage He is that great Law-giver who is able to kill and save alive Jam. 4.12 Now when men dare be so presumptuous and so highly impudent as to incroach upon Gods authority and to take upon them to assign waies and means of their own finding out to serve God by what do they but as it were condemn the Word of God for imperfection and God himself for want of wisdom as if he did not know how to govern his creatures Yea moreover God hath strictly commanded that we should not mingle our inventions with his worship Exod. 20.25 Thou shalt not lift up a tool upon my Altar lest it be defiled God in this place directly commands in the Antitype that we should worship him according to the way of his own choosing and that we should not adde the dross of our own corrupted fancies to the unspotted purity of his holy worship God hates a mixture of Religion at his very heart and could not endure that the Israelites should joyn themselves to the Canaanites left they should learn their evil way and be defiled Mens inventions and Gods worship will never agree together As there is but one God so the way of his worship is one therefore saith Paul Act. 24.14 according to the way which ye call heresie so worship I the God of my fathers But men of carnall mindes consulting with flesh and blood and not with the everlasting Word of God have sought out many waies to worship God by What a forged foppery of humane inventions and mans traditions is the Popish Religion What abundance of forms and outward worships have they as if God did look more at the outward man and externall behaviour than at the hidden man of the heart the sincerity of our actions and the purity of our intentions the Lord judgeth not according to the appearance 1 Sam. 16.7 but he judgeth righteous judgement Indeed they have a braver and more splendid Religion in outward beauty and worship as a Lady of Paris said when she saw the Pope going his Procession What a brave Religion is ours in respect of the Hugonites that is the Protestants they have richer Temples and more beautifull shrines but what is this in the sight of God as painted glass it rather darkens the light than adds more light though it seems more beautifull than plain glass so mens traditions though they may carry a beautifull pretence along with them they rather darken the minde of the Spirit than adde any further light unto the Word This foundation will melt as the wax before the Sun in the time of Gods pleading and contending with sinners Others are too extream on the other hand and care not for any decency and order in respect of outward worship and cry down all outward circumstances and conveniences because God chiefly regards the heart Let such know that God is the God of our bodies as well as of our souls and he requireth
to make them humble for their sinnes or to prevent the breaking forth of the boyls of sin for the future They know that God looks more to the frame of their hearts and how their spirits are under Gods hand whether perverse and peevish or patient and submissive than at any thing else Besides they consider that these afflictions are but to drive them to their Fathers house and when they are sufficiently broken and sufficiently humbled under his afflicting hand he will take them up in his arms and kiss them as a loving mother doth a weak sickly childe and restore unto them the joy of his salvation There are two extreams we are apt to runne into under afflictions either to despise the chastning of the Lord Heb. 12.5 or to faint under his displeasure Wicked men they despise the hand of God and Christians are ready often to faint but that Jesus Christ stands by as he did by that blessed Martyr and wipes the sweat off from their faces when they are nigh to swound and gives them some comfortable sun-shines of his loving presence X. The Spirit is taken for the motions of the Spirit upon our hearts 1 Thes 5.19 Quench not the Spirit i. e. the motions and impressions of the holy Spirit of God upon thy heart Beleeve it Christian for a truth that though thou canst not blot out the teachings of the Spirit yet thou maiest shift off and extinguish the motions of the Spirit Have a care of this great sinne lest by thy impenitency ingratitude and willfull rebellion thou stiflest the glowings of the Spirit Have a care that when God strives with thee thou doest not strive with God again It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Act. 9.5 Have a care thou beeft not found a fighter against God Saith Stephen of the rebellious Jews Ye stiff-necked Act. 7.51 ye do alwaies resist the holy Ghost i. e. you turn the deaf adder you stop your ears against the blessed Spirit warning you of that destruction which you have brought upon your selves in betraying the Lord of life Wicked men when they quench the Spirit are said to provoke the Spirit They stirre up a holy anger and revenge in the Spirit against their sins Mark 3.5 As Jesus Christ looked upon the Pharisees with a holy anger being grieved for the hardness of their hearts so the Spirit is angry at the hardness of the hearts of stubborn hearted sinners Eph. 4.30 But you who are the people of God you grieve the Spirit of God by your unkindness when ye seek to put out the light of the Spirit within you Walk in the light while you have the light for though God will never leave you wholly in the dark and utterly deprive you of his Spirit yet he may bring a cloud of temptation over you which may eclipse the glory of it for a time I beseech you grieve not the Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption As you would not be said to kick against the bowels of a bleeding Saviour by your sinnes so neither do you kick against the bowels of a most gracious Spirit or of the Spirit of grace striving with your hearts to the obedience of the truth As wicked men by their often sinning against the Spirit do quite sinne away the Spirit for by sinning so often against conviction they sinne so long till they have no light to sinne again having sinned it all away so the godly by sinning against the Spirit do cause it to withdraw its gracious influences for the present O that troubled consciences mourning under the loss of the comfortable presence of God in Jesus Christ would consider this Thou that complainest of the Spirits absence Hast thou not sinned away the Spirit by quenching its motions and resisting its impressions Thou that complainest of the want of assurance and of the Spirits not witnessing with thy Spirit Hast thou not sinned away thy assurance by committing some sinne or omitting some duty against the light of the Spirit What a wicked thing is it that Christians should complain of the Spirit and murmur against God for the light of his countenance when God and his Spirit have more reason to complain of them Christians are said to quench the Spirit two waies 1. When they withdraw the fuell which should maintain the Spirit as fire is put out when you withdraw the fuell which should maintain the fire so you quench the Spirit when you withdraw the fuell by which the Spirit is cherished When you will not hear the Word when you will not pray when you neglect the Sacraments the Sacrament often received is a great confirmation of our faith and a great cherisher of the work of the Spirit upon our hearts when you will not be much in meditation the Spirit loves to meet with a solitary soul disburdened of the world and seeking to have communion with God when you will not conferre and often speak of the things of God when you forsake the assembling of the Saints together As one coal kindles another and one candle enlightens another so the light of the Spirit in the heart of another may in time kindle and flame thy heart 2 Tim. 1.6 When men fail to stirre up the gift of God which is in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iguem rineribus absconditum resuscitare and to excite their graces and to bring them forth into action but let them sleep and lie dead and buried in their souls by these means they substract the fuell of the Spirit Christians should be men of activity alwaies doing and never idle in the work of the Lord. As the fountain is still purging forth that filth which lies nigh it so Christians should be still purging forth the remainders of that originall corruption which is in them still resisting temptations continually treasuring up the whole armour of God against the fiery triall daily weaning themselves from the world and preparing to meet Jesus Christ the Bridegroom of their souls As an idle man is the devils shop wherein he forgeth what he pleaseth so an active Christian is the Spirits shop If we do what we are able beleeve it Christians the Spirit will not be behind hand but will further the work of grace in our hearts It is because we are so backward in our duty that the Spirit is so backward upon our souls If thou wouldst have the continuall flowings in of the Spirit I beseech thee Christian for the good and for the comfort of thy soul for I speak what all true Christians do generally finde good pray more 1 Thes 5. pray continually that is lose no opportunity let no time pass when thou oughtest to pray or when thy occasions require it for there are many emergencies which fall out which require this duty and of some Christians more than others but be sure to pray hear the word at all occasions let not a
unclean heart Besides the Spirit takes away those objections which are in carnall mens hearts against the purity of religion What needs this preciseness this Pharisaism muchness in duty to be alwaies praying and alwaies hearing and the like It is a wearisomness to the flesh it duls the spirit and makes one melancholy it is more then needs be required As long as our hearts are upright with God and we desire to glorifie him in all his waies and we have upright intentions this is sufficient for heaven though we are not so much in duty as the pharisaicall men are Now the Spirit setting home the love of Christ upon our hearts and shewing us what he hath done for us brings us off from this lure to a perfect resignation of body and soul to his service Moreover he sheweth us that we must be holy in all manner of conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That we must walk exactly and as much as in us lies keep every circumstance that is contained in the Law of God And truly there is not a more certain sign of an upright heart than to have an universall respect to all the Commandments of God When out of a conscience to the command of God we would not commit the least sin or omit the smallest duty When the enmity is removed and the prejudice taken out of our hearts and all our misgivings and misapprehensions rightly placed we can easily hearken to the voice of the Spirit What things more peculiarly the Spirit teacheth 1. Thou canst not know God aright without the Spirits teachings Malè vivitur ubi de Deo non benè creditur A childe of God may know more of God in one Chapter of the Book of God which is the minde of the Spirit than all the writings of all the men in the world are able to shew forth without this word of God It is the Spirit alone that can ravish our hearts to the love of God in Jesus Christ 1. Gods love That can make us see the heighth depth and breadth of Gods love unto us Who would ever have thought that apostates rebels enemies should ever have become the sonnes of God heirs joynt-heirs and coheirs with Jesus Christ but that the Spirit hath made it clear Behold with what manner of love hath the Father loved us that we should be called the sonnes of God Philosophers could tell you that the Being of beings the first mover the first Cause of all causes must be infinite just mercifull and the like but that God through Jesus Christ should finde out such a way of reconciliation that sinners should be called the sonnes of God and that they should be one with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ and that they should have communion with him for ever and ever this only the Spirit teacheth It is the Spirit only which sheweth the most holy nature of God 2. The holy nature of God 1 Joh. 1.5 In God is light and in him there is no darkness He is holiness it self therefore saith God Be ye holy as I am holy We are apt to think that God is such an one as our selves that he mindes not our iniquities that he walks aloft in the heavens and cares not for the things which are done upon the earth but the Spirit hath declared unto us Hab. 1. That God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Psal 5. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity I have read of some Nations that because they have thought their Gods to have delighted in some vice therefore they have addicted themselves in the imitation of their Gods to the same vice Some have thought their Gods delighted in uncleanness some in drunkenness others in cruelty and therefore they have been drunken unclean and cruell but we have learned God otherwise by the mind of the Spirit that there is no iniquity in the God of Israel Mercy and truth goes before his face justice and judgement is the habitation of his Throne The Spirit alone hath shewed us the exact justice of God against every sinne 3. The exact justice of God that the least sinne unrepented of and not washed away by the blood of Christ though it be but an evil thought or an idle word shall be punished with everlasting destruction Origin with some others have thought that it could not stand with the mercy of God to punish a sinner everlastingly in hell and therefore they have jumpt in with the Popish purgatory thinking that after the soul hath been punished so many years in hell fire it shall be released and set at liberty But this is contrary to the Spirit of God in many places of Scripture 2. The mystery of the blessed Trinity The Spirit only hath shewed us the mystery of the blessed and incomprehensible Trinity That there should be three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost and yet these three but one God There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one All the great Rabbies of the world will never attain this mystery it is only the Spirit that teacheth it What Pla. to writes of the blessed Trinity it is supposed he had it out of Moses his writings or else some other way This doctrine of the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity that there should be three persons and but one God and one God and yet three persons that the Father should be God the Son should be God and the holy Ghost should be God it is a doctrine of faith and not of reason a doctrine which ought to be beleeved because the Spirit hath revealed it and therefore not to be disputed of The Schoolmen whose foolish hearts are darkned have become vain in their imaginations concerning this transcendent and exceeding great mystery 3. It is the Spirit alone that teaches us the great mystery of the incarnation of Christ that there should be two natures the humane and the Divine united together and yet but one person The union or the two natures in Christ is 〈…〉 by a fiery flaming sword or rather by the similitude of a branch engrafted into a stock of another tree where there is not a mixture of the nature of these trees nor a constitution of a â—hird out of them but a drawing of one of them into the others subsistance Dr Field this is the mystery of mysteries And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels beleeved on in the world and received up into glory John 1.14 The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory as the glory of the only begotten Sonne full of grace and truth Was made flesh This destroys the Heresie of the Marcionists who said that Christ was not made flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est articulus
praiest unto him Why God will not answer thee according to thy prayer for it is but lip-service but according to the Idol that is in thy heart Ezek. 14. In stead of pardoning thy sinnes he will give thee more liberty to gratifie thy lusts God will answer thee but it shall be with a curse rather than with a blessing Sinne it is filthiness in the sight of God Ezek. 36. I will pour clean water upon you and purge you from all your filthinessess Saith God remove this abominable thing out of my sight which I hate As it is spoken in reference to Idolatry so it may be applied to all manner of sinnes Remove this abominable thing to wit sinne either in generall Jer. 44.4 or this particular sinne out of my sight Rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 He that sinneth hurteth his own soul Every sinne properly is a destruction to the soul Isa 59 2. Your finnes have separated between you and your God and he hath hid his face and will not hear 2 Cor. 6.15 Sin it defaceth the beauty of the soul It is a fretting leprosie which only the blood of Christ can purge away The deluge which drowned so many sinners was not able to wash away the least sinne Sin it is the greatest evil because it is worse than the devil for it made him to be so 'T is worse than hell that is but opposite to the good of the creature this of the Creator And if the greatness of the malady may be judged by the cost and difficulty of the cure it will easily appear that no evil is so great as this because nothing could serve for the remedy of it but the infinite precious blood of Jesus Christ 'T is so great an evil that there can be no greater punishment of iâ— than by it self When God would deal with man as a most desperate enemy he gives him up to sin There can be no worse Epithete for it than it self When the Apostle would speak the worst of it as he could he cals it by his own name Rom. 7.13 Sinfull sin Dr. Wilkins in his Discourse concerning the gift of prayer it is a leprosie which infects the whole man it is that which makes the inhabitants of the earth to stink and be corrupt in the nostrils of God It is that which is the greatest evil because it is opposite to the greatest good God blessed for ever and brings the greatest evil upon creatures the privation of Gods glorious presence for ever 1 Cor. 6.9 Neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor reyilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of heaven The Morallist defines sin after this manner Vitium est quod à mediocritate deflectit vel in excessu vel in defectu Actuall sin according to the Schoolmen is thus defined Peccaium actuale est actus indebito modo circumstantionatus the circumstances are these Quis quid ubi quibus auxiliis cur quomodo quando But the Word of God cals sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin is the transgression of the Law Every deviation from the perfect Law of God in the least punctillo of it though but in a thought in a word or in one particular action it is a sin Regula est judex sui obliqui And the Law of God it not only shews what is good what is right and what is just but what is evil what is unjust because it shews us all our obliquities and defects from it 5. None can teach us to understand the Word of God but the Spirit of God The Word of God it remains alwaies the same and it is a clear and a plain way in it self Till the Spirit removes the scales from our eyes such scales as fell from Pauls eyes we cannot understand the minde of the Spirit We may prove the Word of God to be the Word of God by reason for unless we go by reason we shall never be able to convince an Infidell or a Pagan that the Seriptures are the Word of God But to make a man understand it is the work of the Spirit What is the reason that having been so much verst in the word we remain so ignorant of the minde of the Spirit Why it is because thou art void of the Spirits teachings The word it is not written upon thy heart by the finger of God but as fast as it comes in at one car it goes out at another and the devil comes and steals the word out of thy heart I tell thee thou maiest have the whole Word of God by heart and yet farre to seek in the right knowledge of it Scriptura omnibus accessibilitis paucissimis penetrabilis Aug. Act. 8. We reade the story of Philio and of the Eunuch The Eunuch was reading a place of Isaias He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer opened he not his mouth Philip comes to him and said Vnderstandest thou what thou readest said the Eunuch again How can I except some man guide me Then Philip expounded the place unto him But what set Philip a work to go to the Eunuch The Spirit said unto Philip Go near and joyn thy self to his Chariot So I may say to a poor man when he reads the Word of God Understandest thou what thou readest Dost thou know the minde of the Spirit in that place and he may answer me How should I unless the Spirit teacheth me or some body whom the Spirit sets a work for that end Beleeve it ☜ When sensual men that have not the Spirit let them be never so book-learned or head-learned otherwise speak of the things of God they speak as some Geographers write of other Countries who never were there themselves to see the situation or the sertility of them they travell by other mens eyes and see with other mens light and what they write for the most part of it they take up on trust and record and have but an opinionative knowledg of them if I may so speak and mix many errors with little of truth So Learned men void of the Spirit the greatest part of their knowledge they have upon trust and upon the record of men like Augustine who as he before his conversion said I beleeve so because the Church said so so they beleeve so because the fathers of old said so or because such and such persons whom they esteem say so not considering the light of the Spirit which is greater than the light of reason or any other light whatsoever But the spiritual man speaks experimentally what he seâ—â— by the light of the Spirit within him Every spiritual man can say and only he can say so I know what I speak I beleeved therefore have have I spoken My record is true because I have the record of the Spirit What I have heard seen and felt
of the word of life that I speak Rom. 9. and 't is a certain truth that a godly poor man let him be unskilfull in humane Learning yet if he hath but that unction of the Spirit that St John speaks of he is able to discourse of the things of God more savingly experimentally and powersully than the greatest Clerks and Rulers of the world 1 Cor. 1.20 Not many mighty not many wise not many noble are called but God hath chosen the base things of the world to confound the honourable and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty God did chuse for his disciples not the learned Rabbies of the world as the Scribes and Pharisees were but a poor company of Fisher-men and Tent-makers delivered this Book unto us God called Amos from following the sheep to go and Prophesie to Amaziab And this God did to stain the pride of worldly wisdom shewing that he stood not in need of an arm of flesh to accomplish his design upon the earth but that by weak and inconsiderable means in themselves he was able to bring about the greatest designes What is the reason that the greatest Scholars are most to seek in the things of God especially in those things which accompany salvation Why as Solomon speaks they leaning to their own understandings and exalting themselves in the pride of their parts and abillities do justly cause God to leave them to themselves and in the dark because they seek not after the Spirit of God which is the chief thing to be desired if they will know the will of God We usually say that he that made the Laws can best tell how to interpret them so the Spirit of God which made the Word of God for holy men of God spake as they were inspired by the Spirit knows best how to explain it We are to compare spirituall things with spirituall and the Spirit of God speaking in one place with the Spirit speaking in another if we would know the scope and intent of the Word No man can say Jesus is the Christ but by the Spirit Saith Christ to Peter when he confessed him to be the Christ Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in heaven Now the Father as it is clear from Ephes 3.5 declared this mystery by the Spirit Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy Prophets and Apostles by his Spirit As for practicall duties 't is the Spirit only that inflames the heart enlightens the minde breeds compunction and brings sundry comforts That teacheth us to despise earthly things to leath things present and to seek after things eternall to fly honours and to suffer scandals and to place our hope and confidence in God That teacheth us that great duty of mortification If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh to subdue our lusts to overcome the world to live a life of faith and not of sense to endure afflictions and to resist temptations The Spirit helpeth us to pray We know not how to pray as we ought but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities by making intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered He helpeth together with and over-against us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 collaborantes adjuvat The originall word imports as when another man sets his shoulder to bear a part with us in the lifting up of any burden The Spirit of God removes those clogs and weights which be upon our spirits and puts life into the Chariot wheels of our souls by raising up our affections by stirring up the gift of God that is within us that we may pray with readiness of minde And maketh intexcession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Not that the holy Spirit is a Mediator of intercessions that is properly the office of the Sonne who is therefore stiled our Advocate 1 Joh. 2.1 But because the Spirit of God doth stirre up our hearts to prayer and infuse into us holy desires stirring us up and instructing us in this duty therefore he is said to intercede for us The Spirit likewise by causing us to groan and sigh for our sinnes is said to make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered It is the Spirit alone that must convince us of our sinnes When the Spirit shall come be shall convince the world of sinne Joh. 16.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corripio pervim demonstrationis of righteausness and judgement The Spirit convinceth plainly by a demonstration shewing Thou art the man as Nathan said to David and powerfully to the conscience It is the Spirit that unites us to Jesus Christ he is the bond of our spirituall union He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his It is the Spirit that quickens The Spirit quickneth Joh. 6.63 the Word profiteth nothing It is the Spirit that sanctifieth and that regenerates the hearts of beleevers 1 John 5.18 He that is born of God sinneth not i.e. he that is born of the sanctifying Spirit of God sinneth not that great sinne against the holy Ghost which is unpardonable It is the Spirit that is the true Comforter Hence he is called by way of eminency John 16. The Comforter The earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.14 because of his inward testifying act upon our spirits that we are Gods children It is the Spirit that driveth out that slavish fear out of our hearts making us to come with boldness and with confidence to God Psal 51. Vphold me with thy free Spirit It is the Spirit that justifies 1 Cor. 6.10 But ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God It is the Spirit that preserves the faithfull from falling away by his preventing and establishing grace from that hope that is within them unto the day of their appearance before Jesus Christ Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ What manner of teachings the Spirits teachings are First They are infallible teachings The Spirit teacheth truly without the least errour or deceit He is called the Spirit of truth because whatever the Spirit teacheth it cannot but be truth John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter which shall abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth The Spirit is said to lead us into all truth Joh. 16.13 When the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dux vobis erit Dux viae He shall lead you by the hand as the Nurse doth a weak sickly childe and be a guide unto you in your way In the way of truth but what he hath heara of me that