called Christians so named from him do remain Thus far Josephus a Jew by Nation and Religion who wrote this about eighty six years after Christ and fourteen years before the death of St. John Himself being born about five or six years after Christ. 20. Consider also how that every Age hath afforded multitudes of VVitnesses who before were most bitter and violent enemies And divers of these men of note for Learning and place in the world How mad was Saul against the Truth Surely it could be no favour to the Cause nor over-much credulity that caused such men to witness to the death the truth of that for which they had persecuted others to the death but a little before Nor could childish Fables or common flying Tales have so mightily wrought with men of Learning and Understanding For some such were Christians in all Ages 21. Nay observe but the Confessions of these Adversaries when they came to believe How generally and ingenuously they acknowledg their former ignorance and prejudice to have been the cause of their unbelief 22. Consider also how unable all the enemies of the Gospel have been to abolish these sacred Records They could burn the Witnesses by thousands but yet they could never either hinder their succession or extinguish these Testimonies 23. Nay the most eminent Adversaries have had the most eminent ruine As Antiochus Herod Julian with multitudes more This stone having faln upon them hath ground them to powder 24 It were not difficult here to collect from unquestioned Authors a constant succession of VVonders at least to have in several Ages accompanied the Attestation of this Truth and notable judgments that have befaln the persecutors of it And though the Papists by their Fictions and Fabulous Legends have done more wrong to the Christian Cause then ever they are able to repair yet unquestionable History doth afford us very many Examples And even many of those actions which they have deformed with their fabulous additions might yet for the substance have much truth And God might even in times of Popery work some of these wonders though not to confirm their Religion as it was Popish yet to confirm it as the Christian Religion for as he had then his Church and then his Scripture so had he then his special Providences to confirm his Church in their belief and to silence the several enemies of the Faith And therefore I advise those who in their inconsiderate zeal are apt to reject all these Histories of Providences meerly because they were written by Papists or because some Witnesses to the Truth were a little leavened with some Popish errors that they would first view them and consider of their probability of Truth or Falshood that so they may pick out the Truth and not reject all together in the lump least otherwise in their zeal against Popery they should injure Christianity And now I leave any man to judg whether we have not had an infallible way of receiving these Records from the first VVitnesses Not that every of the particulars before mentioned are necessary to the proving or certain receiving the Authentick Records without depravation for you may perceive that almost any two or three of them might suffice and that divers of them are from abundance for fuller confirmation SECT IV. ANd thus I have done with this first Argument drawn from the Miracles which prove the Doctrine and VVritings to be of God But I must satisfie the Scruples of some before I proceed First Some will question whether this be not 1. To resolve our faith into the Testimony of man 2. And so to make it a Humane faith And so 3. To jump in this with the Papists who believe the Scripture for the Authority of the Church and to argue Circularly in this as they To this I Answer First I make in this Argument the last Resolution of my faith into the Miracles wrought to confirm the Doctrine If you ask why I believe the Doctrine to be of God I Answer because it was confirmed by many undeniable Miracles If you ask why I believe those Miracles to be from God I Answer because no created power can work a Miracle So that the Testimony of man is not the Reason of my believing but onely the means by which this matter of Fact is brought down to my Knowledg Again Our Faith cannot be said to be Resolved into that which we give in Answer to your last Interrogation except your Question be onely still of the proper grounds of Faith But if you change your Question from what is the Ground of my Faith to what is the means of conveying down the History to me Then my faith is not Resolved into this means Yet this means or some other equivalent I acknowledg so necessary that without it I had never been like to have believed 2. This shews you also that I argue not in the Popish Circle nor take my faith on their common Grounds For First When you ask them How know you the Testimony of the Church to be Infallible They prove it again by Scripture and ther 's their Circle But as I trust not on the Authority of the Romish Church onely as they do no nor properly to the Authority of any Church no nor onely to the Testimony of the Church but also to the Testimony of the enemies themselves So do I prove the validity of the Testimony I bring from Nature and well known Principles in Reason and not from Scripture it self as you may see before 3. There is a Humane Testimony which is also divine and so an Humane Faith which is also divine Few of Gods extraordinary Revelations have been immediate The best Schoolmen think none of all but either by Angels or by Jesus himself who was man as well as God You will acknowledg if God reveal it to an Angel and the Angel to Moses and Moses to Israel this is a divine Revelation to Israel For that is called a divine Revelation which we are certain that God doth any way Reveal Now I would fain know why that which God doth naturally and certainly Reveal to all men may not as properly be called a Divine Revelation as that which he Reveales by the Spirit to a few Is not this Truth from God That the Senses apprehension of their Object rightly stated s certain as well as this Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin c. Though a Saint or Angel be a fitter Messenger to Reveal the things of the Spirit yet any man may be a Messenger to reveal the things of the flesh An ungodly man if he have better Eyes and Ears may be a better Messenger or Witness of that matter of Fact which he seeth and heareth then a godlier man that is blinde or deaf especially in cases wherein that ungodly man hath no provocation to speak falsly and most of all if his Testimony be against himself I take that Revelation whereby I know
what we believe Both these are again Divine or humane 3. It is one thing to believe as Probable another thing to believe it as certain 4. It s one thing to believe it to be true conditionally another to believe it absolutely 5. We must distinguish betwixt the bare assent of the understanding to the truth of an Axiome when it is only silenced by force of Argument which will be stronger or weaker as the Argument seemeth more or lesse demonstrative and secondly that deep apprehension and firme assent which proceedeth from a well stablished confirmed Faith backed by experience 6. It s one thing to assent to the truth of the Axiome another to taste and chuse the good contained in it which is the work of the Will SECT II. THe Use I shall make of these distinctions is to open the way to these following Positions which will resolve the great Questions on foot How far the belief of the Written Word is of necessity to salvation and Whether it be the foundation of our faith And whether this foundation have been always the same Pos. 1. The Object of belief Is the will of God revealed or a Divine Testimony where two things are absolutely necessary first The Matter secondly The Revelation 2. All this Revealed Will is necessary to the compleating of our faith and it is our duty to believe it But it s onely the substance and tenor of the Covenants and the things necessarily supposed to the knowing and keeping of the Covenant of Grace which are of absolute necessity to the beeing of Faith and to Salvation A man may be saved though he should not believe many things which yet he is bound by God to believe 3. Yet this must be onely through ignorance of the Divineness of the Testimony For a flat unbelief of the smallest truth when we know the Testimony to be of God will not stand with the beeing of true Faith nor with Salvation For Reason layes this ground That God can speak nothing but Truth and Faith proceeds upon that supposition 4. This Doctrine so absolutely necessary hath not been ever from the beginning the same but hath differed according to the different Covenants and Administrations That Doctrine which is now so necessary was not so before the Fall And that which is so necessary since the coming of Christ was not so before his coming Then they might be saved in believing in the Messiah to come of the seed of David but now it s of necessity to believe that this Jesus the Son of Mary is He and that we look not for another I prove it thus That which is not revealed can be no object for Faith much less so necessary But Christ was not Revealed before the Fall nor this Jesus Revealed to be He before his coming therefore these were not of necessity to be believed or as some Metaphorically speak they were then to fundamentall Doctrines Perhaps also some things will be found of absolute necessity to us which are not so to Indians and Turks 5. God hath made this substance of Scripture-Doctrine to be thus necessary primarily and for it self 6. That it be revealed is also of absolute necessity but secondarily and for the Doctrines sake as a means without which Believing is neither possible nor a duty And though where there is no Revelation Faith is not necessary as a duty yet it may be necessary I think as a means that is our natural misery may be such as can no other way be cured but this concerns not us that have heard of Christ 7. Nature Creatures and Providence are no sufficient Revelation of this tenor of the Covenants 8. It is necessary not onely that this Doctrine be Revealed but also that it be Revealed with Grounds or Arguments rationally sufficient to evince the verity of the Doctrine or the Divineness of the Testimony that from it we may conclude the former 9. The Revelation of Truth is to be considered in respect of the first immediate delivery from God or secondly in respect of the way of its coming down to us It is delivered by God immediatly either by writing as the two Tables or by informing Angels who may be his Messengers or by inspiring some choise particular men So that few in the world have received it from God at the first hand 10. The only ways of Revelation that for ought I know are now left are Scripture and Tradition For though God hath not tied himself from Revelations by the Spirit yet he hath ceased them and perfected his Scripture Revelations so that the Spirit onely Reveales what is Revealed already in the Word by illuminating us to understand it 11. The more immediate the Revelation caeteris paribus the more sure and the more succession of hands it passeth through the more uncertain especially in matter of Doctrine 12. When we receive from men by Tradition the Doctrine of God as in the Words of God there is less danger of corruption then when they deliver us that Doctrine in their own words because here taking liberty to vary the expressions it will represent the Truth more uncertainly and in more various shapes 13. Therefore hath God been pleased when he ceased immediate Revelation to leave his Will written in a form of words which should be his standing Law and a Rule to try all other mens expressions by 14. In all the forementioned respects therefore the written Word doth excell the unwritten Tradition of the same Doctrine 15. Yet unwritten Tradition or any sure way of Revealing this Doctrine may suffice to save him who thereby is brought to believe As if there be any among the Abaâ—sines of Ethiopia the Coplies in Egypt or elsewhere that have the substance of the Covenants delivered them by unwritten Tradition or by other Writings if hereby they come to believe they shall be saved For so the Promise of the Gospel runs giving salvation to all that believe by what means soever they were brought to it The like may be said of true Believers in those parts of the Church of Rome where the Scripture is wholly hid from the vulgar if there be any such parts 16. Yet where the written Word is wanting salvation must needs be more difficult and more rare and Faith more feeble and mens conversations worse ordered because they want that clearer Revelation that surer Rule of Faith and Life which might make the way of salvation more easie 17. When Tradition ariseth no higher or cometh originally but from this written Word and not from the verbal Testimonies of the Apostles before the Word was written there that Tradition is but the preaching of the Word and not a distinct way of Revealing 18. Such is most of the Tradition for ought I can learn that is now afoot in the world for matter of Doctrine but not for matter of fact 17. Therefore the Scriptures are not onely necessary to the well-beeing of the Church and to the
these frail noisom diseased Lumps of flesh or dirt that now we carry about us so far shall our sense of Seeing and Hearing exceed these we now possess For the change of the senses must be conceived proportionable to the change of the body And doubtless as God advanceth our sense and enlargeth our capacity so will he advance the happiness of those senses and fill up with himself all that capacity And certainly the body should not be raised up and continued if it should not share of the Glory For as it hath shared in the obedience and sufferings so shall it also do in the blessedness And as Christ bought the whole man so shall the whole partake of the everlasting benefits of the purchase The same difference is to be allowed for the Tongue For though perhaps that which we now call the tongue the voyce or language shal not then be Yet with the forementioned unconceiveable change it may continue Certain it is it shall be the everlasting work of those Blessed Saints to stand before the Throne of God and the Lamb and to praise him for ever and ever As their Eyes and Hearts shall be filled with his Knowledg with his Glory and with his Love so shall their mouthes be filled with his praises Go on therefore Oh ye Saints while you are on Earth in that Divine Duty Learn Oh learn that Saint-beseeming work for in the mouthes of his Saints his praise is comely Pray but still praise Hear and Read but still praise Praise him in the presence of his people for it shall be your Eternal work Praise him while his Enemies deride and abuse you You shall praise him while they shall bewail it and admire you Oh Blessed Employment to sound forth for ever Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Honor Glory and Power Revel 4.11 And worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing for he hath Redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kinred and tongue and people and Nation and hath made us unto our God Kings and Priests Revel 5.12 9 10. Alleluja Salvation and Honor and Glory and Power unto the Lord our God Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him small and great Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Revel 19.1 5 6. Oh Christians this is the Blessed Rest A Rest without Rest For they Rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Revel 4.8 Sing forth his praises now ye Saints It is a work our Master Christ hath taught us And you shall for ever sing before him the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Revel 15.3 SECT VI. ANd if the Body shall be thus employed Oh how shall the Soul be taken up As its powers and capacities are greatest so its action strongest and its enjoyment sweetest As the bodily senses have their proper aptitude and action whereby they receive and enjoy their objects so doth the Soul in its own action enjoy its own object By knowing by thinking and Remembering by Loving and by delightful joying this is the Souls enjoying By these Eyes it sees and by these Arms it embraceth If it might be said of the Disciples with Christ on Earth much more that behold him in his Glory Blessed are the Eyes that see the things that you see and the Ears that hear the things that you hear for many Princes and great ones have desired and hoped to see the things that you see and have not seen them c. Mat. 13.16 17. Knowledg of it self is very desireable even the knowledg of some evil though not the Evil it self As far as the Rational Soul exceeds the Sensitive so far the Delights of a Philosopher in discovering the secrets of Nature and knowing the mystery of Sciences exceeds the Delights of the Glutton the Drunkard the unclean and of all voluptuous sensualists whatsoever so excellent is all Truth What then is their Delight who know the God of Truth What would I not give so that all the uncertain questionable Principles in Logick Natural Philosophy Metaphysicks and Medicine were but certain in themselves and to me And that my dull obscure notions of them were but quick and clear Oh what then should I not either perform or part with to enjoy a clear and true Apprehension of the most True God How noble a faculty of the Soul is this Understanding It can compass the Earth It can measure the Sun Moon Stars and Heaven It can fore-know each Eclipse to a minute many years before Yea but this is the top of all its excellency It can know God who is infinite who made all these a little here and more much more hereafter Oh the wisdom and goodness of our Blessed Lord He hath created the Understanding with a Natural Byas and inclination to Truth as its object and to the Prime Truth as its Prime Object and lest we should turn aside to any Creature he hath kept this as his own Divine Prerogative not communicable to any Creature viz. to be the Prime Truth And though I think not as some do that there is so neer a close between the Understanding and Truth as may produce a proper Union or Identity Yet doubtless it 's no such cold touch or disdainful embrace as is between these gross earthly Heterogeneals The true studious contemplative man knows this to be true who feels as sweet embraces between his Intellect and Truth and far more then ever the quickest sense did in possessing its desired object But the true studious contemplative Christian knows it much more who sometime hath felt more sweet embraces between his Soul and Jesus Christ then all inferior Truth can afford I know some Christians are kept short this way especially the careless in their watch and walking and those that are ignorant or negligent in the dayly actings of Faith who look when God casts in Joys while they lie idle and labor not to fetch them in by beleeving But for others I appeal to the most of them Christian dost thou not sometime when after long gazing heaven-ward thou hast got a glimpse of Christ dost thou not seem to have been with Paul in the third Heaven whether in the body or out and to have seen what is unutterable Art thou not with Peter almost beyond thy self ready to say Master it 's good to be here Oh that I might dwell in this Mount Oh that I might ever see what I now see Didst thou never look so long upon the Sun of God till thine Eyes were dazled with his astonishing glory and did not the splendor of it make all things below seem black and dark to thee when thou lookest down again Especially in thy day
give them such rejoycings in it and yet never bestow it on them It cannot be Nay doth he give them the earnest of the inheritance Eph. 1.14 And Seal them with the Holy Spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 And yet will he deny the full possession These absurdities may not be charged on an ordinary man much less on the Faithfull and Righteous God SECT VI. SIxthly And Lastly The Scripture mentioneth particularly and by name those who have entered into this Rest. As Henoch who was taken up to God So Abraham Lazarus the thief that was crucified with Christ c. And if there be a Rest for these sure there is a Rest for all believers CHAP. II. Motives to study and preach the Divine Authority of Scripture SECT I. THus much may suffice where the Scripture is believed to confirm the truth of the point in hand viz. The certain futurity of the Saints Rest. And for Pagans and Infidels who believe not Scripture it is besides the intention of this discourse to endeavor their conviction I am endeavouring the consolation and edification of Saints and not the information and conversion of Pagans Yet do I acknowledg the subject exceeding necessary even to the Saints themselves for Sathans assaults are oft made at the foundation and if he can perswade them to question the verity of Scripture they will soon cast away their hopes of Heaven But if I should here enter upon that task to prove Scripture to be the infallible word of God I should make too broad a digression and set upon a work as larg as the maine for whose sake I should undertake it Neither am I insensible of how great difficulty it would prove to manage it satisfactorily and how much more then my ability is thereto requisite Yet lest the tempted Christian should have no relief nor any Argument at hand against the temptation I shall adventure upon a confirming Argument or two but I shall premise first a word of entreaty to my brethren of the Ministery to preach this a little more to their people And that not any body but some of the choicest whom God hath especially furnished for such a task would be pleased in a full Treatise to undertake it To which end I give them some of the Reasons of my request entreating the Lord to enable and perswade some of them to the work 1. I desire them to consider whether any thing yet published be neer compleat or such as the weight of the subject requires Whether much more may not be said and is necessary to be said then is yet said by any that hath writ on this subject 2. Whether if Christians who have opportunity do their duty would it not be a singular part of their work to endeavour the conversion of Pagans and Infidels And as I said before without some Arguments to demonstrate to them the verity of Scripture how are we furnished for such a work Or what have we to say but naked affirmation Yea how can we maintain the credit of Christianity if we were put to dispute the case with an unbeliever 3. Whether the assertion of some of our Divines that a naturall man without the extraordinary Testimony of the Spirit cannot be perswaded of the verity of Scripture notwithstanding all Arguments that can be produced be not very derogatory to the Authority of Scripture and do not justifie the world in their unbeliefe for it is not their sin to deny assent to that which hath not sufficient evidence As if we confessed to them we have not Arguments to convince you but you must be convinced by the Spirit without Arguments as if the Spirit did not deal with us as rationall creatures and did perswade without Argument and not by it As if many wicked men did not believe the truth of Scripture Yet I confesse ther 's great difference betwixt naturall and Spirituall beliefe 4. Is not this the ground-work of the whole Fabrick of Christianity And the very foundation of our faith And therefore should it not be timely and soundly laid and frequently and clearly taught 5. Is not Faith a rational Act of a rational Creature And so the Understanding proceeds discursively in its production And is not that the strongest Faith which hath the strongest Reasons to prove the Testimony to be valid upon which it resteth and the clearest apprehension and use of those Reasons And the truest Faith which hath the truest Reasons truly apprehended and used And must not that on the contrary be a weak or false faith which receives the Verity and Validity of the Testimony from weak or false Grounds though the Testimony of it self be the truest in the world Our Divines use to say concerning love to Christ that it is not to be measured by the degree of Fervor so much as by the Grounds and Motives so that if a man should love Christ upon the same Reasons as a Turk loves Mahomet it were no true love if he love him upon false grounds it must needs be a false love and if upon common grounds it can be but a common love And is it not then as clear that to believe in Jesus Christ upon the grounds that a Turk believes in Mahomet or to believe Scripture upon the same reasons that the Turk believes the Alcoran is no true Faith Supposing that both have the like verity of their Reasons 6. Is the generality of Christians able to give any better then some such common reason to prove the verity of Scripture Nay are the more exercised Understanding sort of Christians able by sound Arguments to make it good if an Enemy or a Temptation put them to it Nay are the ordinary sort of Ministers in England able to do this Let them that have tried judg 7. Can the Superstructure be firm where the Foundation is Sandy And can our Affections and Actions be sound and strong when our belief of Scripture is unsound or infirm Sure this Faith will have influence into all For my own part I take it to be the greatest cause of coldness in Duty weakness in Graces boldness in Sinning and unwillingness to die c. that our Faith is either unsound or infirm in this point Few Christians among us for ought I finde have any better then the Popish implicit faith in this point nor any better Arguments then the Papists have to prove Scripture the Word of God They have received it by Tradition godly Ministers and Christians tell them so it is impious to doubt of it and therefore they believe it And this worm lying at the root causeth the languishing and decay of the whole yet is it usually undiscerned for the root lieth secret under ground But I am apt to judg that though the most complain of their uncertainty of salvation through want of assurance of their own Interest and of the weakness of the applying Act of Faith yet the greater cause of all
strength of Faith but ordinarily to the very beeing of Faith and Churches 20. Not that the present Possession of Scripture is of absolute necessity to the present beeing of a Church not that it is so absolute necessary to every mans salvation that he read or knew this Scripture himself But that it either be at present or have been formerly in the Church that some knowing it may teach it to others is of absolute necessity to most persons and Churches and necessary to the well-beeing of all 21. Though negative unbelief of the authority of Scripture may stand with salvation yet positive and universal I think cannot Or though Tradition may save where Scripture is not known yet he that reads or hears the Scripture and will not believe it to be the Testimony of God I think cannot be saved because this is now the clearest and surest Revelation And he that will not believe it will muchless believe a Revelation more uncertain and obscure 22. Though all Scripture be of Divine Authority yet he that believeth but some one Book which containeth the substance of the Doctrine of salvation may be saved much more they that have doubted but of some particular Books 23. They that take the Scripture to be but the Writings of godly honest men and so to be only a means of making known Christ having a gradual precedency to the Writings of other godly men and do believe in Christ upon those strong grounds which are drawn from his Doctrine Miracles c. rather then upon the Testimony of the Writing as being purely infallible and Divine may yet have a Divine and saving faith 24. Much more those that believe the whole Writing to be of Divine inspiration where it handleth the substance but doubt whether God infallibly guided them in every circumstance 25. And yet more those that believe that the Spirit did guide the Writers to Truth both in Substance and Circumstance but doubt whether he guided them in Orthography or whether their Pens were as perfectly guided as their minds 26. And yet more may those have saving Faith who onely doubt whether Providence infallibly guided any Transcribers or Printers as to retain any Copy that perfectly agreeth with the Autograph 27. Yet do all these in my judgment cast away a singular prop to their faith and lay it open to dangerous assaults and doubt of that which is a certain truth 28. As the Translations are no further Scripture then they agree with the Copies in the Original Tongues so neither are those Copies further then they agree with the Autographs or Original Copies or with some Copies perused and approved by the Apostles 29. Yet is there not the like necessity of having the Autographs to try the Transcripts by as there is of having the Original Transcripts to try the Translations by For there is an impossibility that any Translation should perfectly express the sense of the Original But there is a possibility probability and facility of true Transcribing and grounds to prove it true de facto as we shall touch anon 30. That part which was written by the Finger of God as also the substance of Doctrine through the whole Scriptures are so purely Divine that they have not in them any thing humane 31. The next to these are the words that were spoken by the mouth of Christ and then those that were spoken by Angels 32. The Circumstantials are many of them so Divine as yet they have in them something Humane as the bringing of Pauls Cloak and Parchments and as it seems his counsel about Marriage c. 33. Much more is there something Humane in the Method and Phrase which is not so immediatly Divine as the Doctrine 34. Yet is there nothing sinfully Humane and therefore nothing false in all 35. But an innocent imperfection there is in the Method and Phrase which if we deny we must renounce most of our Logick and Rhetorick 36. Yet was this imperfect way at that time all things considered the fittest way to divulge the Gospel That is the best Language which is best suited to the Hearers and not that which is best simply in it self and supposeth that understanding in the Hearers which they have not Therefore it was Wisdom and Mercy to fit the Scripture to the capacity of all Yet will it not therefore follow that all Preachers at all times should as much neglect Definition Distinction Syllogisme c. as Scripture doth 37. Some Doctrinal passages in Scripture are onely Historically related and therefore the relating them is no asserting them for truth and therefore those sentences may be false and yet not the Scripture false yea some falshoods are written by way of reproving them as Gehezies Lye Sauls Excuse c. 38. Every Doctrine that is thus related onely Historically is therefore of doubtful credit because it is not a Divine assertion except Christ himself were the Speaker and therefore it is to be tried by the rest of the Scripture 39. Where ordinary men were the Speakers the credit of such Doctrines is the more doubtful and yet much more when the Speakers were wicked of the former sort are the Speeches of Jobs friends and divers others of the later sort are the Speeches of the Pharisees c. and perhaps Gamaliels counsel Act. 5.34 40. Yet where God doth testifie his Inspiration or Approbation the Doctrine is of Divine Authority though the Speaker be wicked As in Balaams Prophesie 41. The like may be said of matter of Fact for it is not either necessary or lawful to speak such words or do such actions meerly because men in Scripture did so speak or do no not though they were the best Saints for their own speeches or actions are to be judged by the Law and therefore are no part of the Law themselves And as they are evil where they cross the Law as Josephs swearing the Ancients Polygamy c. so are they doubtful where their congruence with the Law is doubtful 42. But here is one most observable exception conducing much to resolve the great doubt whether Examples binde Where men are designed by God to such an Office and act by Commission and with a promise of Direction their Doctrines are of Divine Authority though we finde not where God did dictate and their Actions done by that Commission are currant and Exemplary so far as they are intended or performed for Example and so Example may be equivalent to a Law and the Argument a facto ad jus may hold So Moses being appointed to the forming of the old Church and Commonwealth of the Jews to the building of the Tabernacle c. his Precepts and Examples in these works though we could not finde his particular direction are to be taken as Divine So also the Apostles having Commission to Form and Order the Gospel Churches their Doctrine and Examples therein are by their general Commission warranted and their practice in stablishing the Lords Day in setling the
Officers and Orders of Churches are to us as Laws still binding with those limitations as Positives onely which give way to greater 43. The ground of this Position is because it is inconsistent with the Wisdom and Faithfulness of God to send men to a work and promise to be with them and yet to forsake them and suffer them to err in the building of that House which must indure till the end of the world 44. Yet if any of these Commissioners do err in their own particular conversations or in matters without the extent of their Commission this may consist with the faithfulness of God God hath not promised them infallibility and perfection the disgrace is their own but if they should miscarry in that wherein they are sent to be a rule to others the Church would then have an imperfect Rule and the dishonor would redound to God 45. Yet I finde not that ever God authorized any meere man to be a Lawgiver to the Church in Substantials but onely to deliver the Laws which he had given to Interpret them and to determine Circumstantials not by him determined 46. Where God owneth mens Doctrines and Examples by Miracles they are to be taken as infallibly Divine much more when Commission Promise and Miracles do concur which confirmeth the Apostles Examples for currant 47. So that if any of the â—ings or Prophets had given Laws and formed the Church as Moses they had not been binding because without the said Commission or if any other Minister of the Gospel shall by Word or Action arrogate an Apostolical priviledg 48. There is no verity about God or the chief happiness of man written in Nature but it is to be found written in Scriptures 49. So that the same thing may in these several respects be the object both of Knowledg and of Faith 50. The Scripture being so perfect a Transcript of the law of Nature or Reason is much more to be credited in its supernatural Revelations 51. The probability of most things and the possibility of all things contained in the Scriptures may well be discerned by Reason it self which makes their Existence or Futurity the more easie to be believed 52. Yet before this Existence or Futurity of any thing beyond the reach of Reason can be soundly believed the Testimony must be known to be truly Divine 53. Yet a belief of Scripture Doctrine as probable doth usually go before a belief of certainty and is a good preparative thereto 54. The direct express sense must be believed directly and absolutely as infallible and the consequences where they may be clearly and certainly raised but where there is danger of erring in raising consequences the assent can be but weak and conditional 55. A Consequence raised from Scripture being no part of the immediate sense cannot be called any part of Scripture 56. Where one of the premises is in Nature and the other onely in Scripture there the Conclusion is mixt partly known and partly believed That it is the Consequence of those premises is known but that it is a Truth is as I said apprehended by a mixt Act. Such is a Christians concluding himself to be justified and sanctified c. 57. Where through weakness we are unable to discern the Consequences there is enough in the express direct sense for salvation 58. Where the sense is not unstood there the belief can be but implicit 59. Where the sense is partly understood but with some doubting the Belief can be but conditionally explicit that is we believe it if it be the sense of the Word 60. Fundamentals must be believed Explicitly and Absolutely CHAP. IIII. The first Argument to prove Scripture to be the Word of God SECT IIII. HAving thus shewed you in what sense the Scriptures are the word of God and how far to be believed and what is the excellency necessity and authority of them I shall now adde three or four Arguments to help your Faith which I hope will not onely prove them to be Divine Testimony to the substance of Doctrine though that be a usefull work against our unbelief but also that they are the very written Laws of God and a perfect Rule of Faith and duty My Arguments shall be but few because I handle it but on the by and those such as I finde little of in others writings least I should wast time in doing what is done to my hands 1. Those writings and that Doctrine which were confirmed by many real Miracles must needs be of God and consequently of undoubted Truth But the books and Doctrine of Canonicall Scripture were so confirmed Therefore c. Against the major proposition nothing of any moment can be said For it s a Truth apparent enough to nature that none but God can work real Miracles or at least none but those whom he doth especially enable thereto And it is as manifest that the Righteous and Faithfull God will not give this power for a seal to any falshood or deceit The usuall Objections are these First Antichrist shall come with lying wonders Answ. They are no true Miracles As they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thess. 2.9 lying in sealing to a lying doctrine so also in being but seeming and counterfeit Miracles The like may be said to those of Pharaohs Magicians and all other Sorcerers and Witches and those that may be wrought by Satan himself They may be wonders but not Miracles Object 2. God may enable false Prophets to work Miracles to try the world without any derogation to his Faithfulness Answ. No for Divine power being properly the attendant of Divine Revelation if it should be annexed to Diabolicall delusions it would be a sufficient excuse to the world for their believing those delusions And if Miracles should not be a sufficient seal to prove the Authority of the witness to be Divine then is there nothing in the world sufficient and so our Faith will be quite overthrown Object But however Miracles will no more prove Christ to be the Son of God then they will prove Moses Elias or Elisha to be the Son of God for they wrought Miracles as well as Christ. Answ. Miracles are Gods seal not to extoll the person that is instrumentall nor for his glory but to extoll God and for his own Glory God doth not entrust any creature with this seal so absolutely as that they may use it when and in what case they please If Moses or Elias had affirmed themselves to be the sons of God they could never have confirmed that affirmation with a Miracle for God would not have sealed to a lye Christs power of working Miracles did not immediatly prove him to be the Christ. But it immediately proved his Testimony to be Divine and that Testimony spoke his nature and office So that the power of Miracles in the Prophets and Apostles was not to aâ—â—est to their own greatness but to the truth of their Testimony conâ—â—rning Christ.
give men such powerfull warning to beware of his snares and such excellent means to conquer himself would the Devil lay such a design for mens salvation would he shew them their danger and direct them to escape it would he so mightily labor to promote all Truth and goodness and the happiness of mankinde as the Scripture doth Let any man tell me what book or project in the world did ever so mightily overthrow the Kingdome of Satan as this book and this Gospell-designe And would Satan be such an enemy to his own Kingdome Fourthly If Satan were the author he would never be so unweariedly and subtilly industrious to draw the world to unbelief and to break the Laws which this book conteineth as his constant temptations do sensibly tell many a poor soul that he is Would he be so earnest to have his own words rejected or his own Laws broken I think this is all clear to any man of Reason SECT II. SEcondly That no meer men were the inventers of Scriptures I prove thus If men were the devisers of it then it was either good men or bad but it was neither good men nor bad therefore none Though goodness and badness have many degrees yet under some of those degrees do all men fall Now I will shew you that it could be neither of these And first Good men they could not be For you might better say that Murderers Traytors Adulterers Parricides Sodomites c. were good men rather then such To devise Laws and father them upon God to feign Miracles and father them upon God to set themselves up in the place of God to say their word is the word of the Lord to promise eternal salvation to those that obey them to threat damnation to those that obey them not to draw the world into a course so destructive to all their worldly happiness upon a promise of happiness in another world which they cannot give to endeavor so egregiously to couzen all mankind If all this or any of this be consistent with common honesty nay if it be not as horrible wickedness as can be committed then I confesse I have lost my reason Much lesse then could such a number of Good men in all ages till 〈…〉 were finished be guilty of such unexpressible crimes 〈…〉 will it here be any evasion to say they were men of a 〈…〉 temper partly good and partly bad for these are not 〈…〉 of a middle nature nor such as will stand with any remâ—â—nts of ingenuity or humanity We have known wicked persons too many and too bad yet where or when did we ever know any that attempted any so more-then-Hellish an enterprize False Prophets have sent abroad indeed particular falshoods But who hath adventured upon such a systeme as this Mahomets example indeed comes neerest to such a villany Yet doth not be pretend to the hundreth part so many Miracles nor so great as the Scripture relateth nor doth pretend to be God nor any more then a great Prophet trusting more to his sword for successe then to the Authority or truth of his pretended Revelations Not denying the truth of much of the Scriptures but adding his Alcoran partly drawn from Scripture and partly fitted with fleshly liberties and promises to his own ends And doth not every man among us take that act of Mahomet to be one of the vilest that the Sun hath seen And judg of the man himself accordingly So that I think it beyond doubt that no one good man much lesse so great a number as were the penmen of Scripture could devise it of their own brain and thrust it on the world Secondly And it is as certaine that no bad men did devise the Scriptures Could wicked deceivers so highly advance the glory of God and labour so mightily to honour him in the world Would they have so vilified themselves and acknowledged their faults Could such an admirable undeniable spirit of holiness righteousness and self-deniall which runs through every veine of Scripture have been inspired into it from the invention of the wicked Would wicked men have been so wise or so zealous for the suppressing of wickedness Or so earnest to bring the world to Reformation Would they have been such bitter adversaries to their own wayes and such faithfull friends to the ways that they hate Would they have vilified the ungodly as the Scripture doth And pronounced eternall damnation against them Would they have extolled the godly who are so contrary to them And proclaimed them a people eternally blessed Would they have framed such perfect and such Spirituall laws And would they have laid such a design against the flesh And against all their worldly happiness as the scope of the Scripture doth carry on It s needless sure to mention any more particulars I think every man of the least ingenuity that considers this or deliberately vieweth over the frame of the Scriptures will easily confesse that it is more then probable That it was never devised by any deceiving sinner much less that all the penmen of it in severall Ages were such wicked deceivers So then if it was neither devised by good men nor by bad men then sure by no men and consequently must of necessity proceed from God SECT III. SEcondly That it proceeded not meerly from man I also prove thus That which was done without the help of humane learning or any extraordinary endowments of nature and yet the greatest Philosophers could never reach neer it must needs be the effect of a Power supernaturall But such is both the doctrine and the Miracles in Scripture therefore c. It is only the Antecedent that here requires proof which consists of these two branches both which I shall make clear First That the doctrine of Scripture was compiled and the Miracles done without the help of much humane learning or any extraordinary naturall endowments Secondly That yet the most learned Philosophers never could reach neer the Gospel Mysteries nor ever work the Miracles that were then done But I shall say most to the Doctrine For the proof of the former consider First The whole world was in the times of Moses and the Prophets comparatively unlearned A kinde of learning the Egyptians then had and some few others especially consisting in some small skill in Astronomy But it was all but barbarous ignorance in comparison of the Learning of Greece and Europe Those Writings of greatest Antiquity yet extant do shew this See also Dr. Hackwell as before 2. As rare as Learning then was yet did God chuse the unlearned of that unlearned time to be instruments and Penmen of his choisest Scriptures David who was bred a Shephard is the Penman of those divine unmatchable Psalms Amos is taken from a Heardsman to be a Prophet 3. But especially in those latter Ages when the world was grown more wise and learned did God purposely chuse the weak the foolish the unlearned to confound them A company
of poor Fishermen Tentmakers and such like must write the Laws of the Kingdom of Christ must dive into the Spiritual Mysteries of the Kingdom must silence the Wise and Disputers of the world and must be the men that must bring in the world to believe Doubless as Gods sending David an unarmed Boy with a Sling and a Stone against an armed Gyant was to make it appear that the victory was from himself So his sending these unlearned men to Preach the Gospel and subdue the world was to convince both the present and future generations that it was God and not man that did the work 4. Also the course they took in silencing the learned adversaries doth shew us how little use they made of these Humane helps They disputed not with them by the precepts of Logick Their Arguments were to the Jews the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and both to Jews and Gentiles the miracles that were wrought They argued more with deeds then with words The blinde the lame the sick that were recovered were their visible Arguments The Languages which they spake the Prophesies which they uttered and other such supernatural gifts of the holy Ghost upon them these were the things that did convince the world Yet this is no president to us to make as little use of Learning as they because we are not upon the same work nor yet supplied with their supernatural furniture 5. The reproaches of their enemies do fully testifie this who cast it still in their teeth that they were ignorant and unlearned men And indeed this was the great rub that their Doctrine found in the world it was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness and therefore it appeared to be the power of God and not of man This was it that they discouraged the people with Do any of the Rulers or Pharisees believe on him but this people that know not the Law are accursed 6. To conclude The very frame and stile of these sacred Writings doth fully tell us that they were none of the Logicians nor eloquent Orators of the world that did compose them This is yet to this day one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the world to hinder men from the reverencing and believing the Scriptures They are still thinking sure if they were the very words of God they would excell all other Writings in every kinde of excellency when indeed it discovereth them the more certainly to be of God because there is in them so little of man They may as well say If David had been sent against Goliah from God he would sure have been the most compleat souldier and most compleatly armed The words are but the dish to serve up the sense in God is content that the words should not onely have in them a savor of Humanity but of much infirmity so that the work of convincing the world may be furthered thereby And I verily think that this is Gods great design in permitting these pretious spirits of divine Truths to run in the veines of infirm Language that so men may be convinced in all succeeding ages that Scripture is no device of Humane Policy If the Apostles had been learned and subtil men we should sooner have suspected their finger in the contrivance Yea It is observable that in such as Paul that had some Humane Learning yet God would not have them make much use of it least the excellency of the Cross of Christ should seem to lye in the inticing words of mans wisdom and least the success of the Gospel should seem to be more from the ability of the Preacher then from the Arm of God Besides all this It may much perswade us that the Apostles never contrived the Doctrine which they Preached by their sudden and not premeditated setting upon the work They knew not whether they should go nor what they should do when he calls one from his Fishing and another from his Custome They knew not what course Christ would take with himself or them no not a little before he leaves them Nay they must not know their imployment till he is taken from them And even then is it revealed to them by parcels and degrees and that without any study or invention of their own even after the coming down of the Holy Ghost Peter did not well under stand that the Gentiles must be called All which ignorance of his Apostles and suddenness of Revelation I think was purposely contrived by Christ to convince the world that they were not the contrivers of the Doctrine which they Preached SECT IV. 2. LEt us next then consider how far short the learned Philosophers have come of this They that have spent all their days in most painful studies having the strongest natural endowments for to enable them and the learned Teachers the excellent Libraries the bountiful incouragement and countenance of Princes to further them and yet after all this are very Novices in all spiritual things They cannot tell what the happiness of the Soul is nor where that happiness shall be enjoyed nor when nor how long nor what are the certain means to attain it nor who they be that shall possess it They know nothing how the world was made nor how it shall end nor know they the God who did create and doth sustain it but for the most of them they multiply feighned Deities But I shall have occasion to open this more fully anon under the last Argument CHAP. VI. The third Argument SECT I. MY third Argument whereby I prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is this Those Writings which have been owned and fulfilled in several Ages by apparent extraordinary Providences of God must needs be of God But God hath so owned and fulfilled the Scriptures Ergo They are of God The Major Proposition will not sure be denied The direct consequence is That such Writings are approved by God and if approved of him then must they needs be his own because they affirm themselves to be his own It is beyond all doubt that God will not interpose his Power and work a succession of Wonders in the world for the maintaining or countenancing of any forgery especially such as should be a slander against himself All the work therefore will lye in confirming the Minor Where I shall shew you first By what wonders of Providence God hath owned and fulfilled the Scriptures And secondly How it may appear that this was the end of such Providences 1. The first sort of Providences here to be considered are those that have been exercised for the Church universal Where these three things present themselves especially to be observed first The Propagating of the Gospel and raising of the Church secondly The Defence and continuance of that Church thirdly The improbable ways of accomplishing these And first Consider what an unlikely design in the judgment of man did Christ send his Apostles upon To bid a few ignorant Mechanicks Go
this is a lower excellency then Scripture was intended to And thus I have done with this weighty Subject That the Scripture which contains the Promises of our Rest is the certain infallible VVord of God The reason why I have thus digressed and said so much of it is because I was very apprehensive of the great necessity of it and the common neglect of being grounded in it and withall that this is the very heart of my whole Discourse and that if this be doubted of all the rest that I have said will be in vain If men doubt of the Truth they will not regard the goodness And the reason why I have said no more but passed over the most common Arguments is because they are handled in many books already which I advise Christians to be better versed in To the meer English Reader I commend especially these Sir Phil. Mornay Lord du Plessis his Verity of Christian Religion Parsons Book of Resolution Corrected by Bunny the Second Part. Dr. Jackson on the Creed and come forth since I begun this Mr. White of Dorchester Directions for Reading Scripture Mr. John Goodwins Divine Authority of Scripture asserted though some of his Positions I judg unsound yet the Work for the main is commendable Also Read a Book Called A Treatise of Divinity first Part. Written by our honest and faithful Countryman Colonel Edward Leigh a now Member of the House of Commons Also Vrsins Catachism on this Question and Balls Catachism with the Exposition which to those that cannot read larger Treatises is very usefull For the Question How it may be known which books be Canonical I here meddle not with it I think Humane Testimony with the forementioned qualifications must do most in determining that As I begun so I conclude this with an earnest request to Ministers that they would Preach and People that they would study this subject more throughly that their Faith and Obedience may live and flourish while they can prove the Scripture to be the Word of God which contains the Promise of their Everlasting Rest. CHAP. VIII Rest for none but the people of God proved SECT I. IT may here be expected that as I have proved That this Rest remaineth for the people of God so I should now prove that it remaineth onely for them and that the rest of the world shall have no part in it But the Scripture is so full and plain in this that I suppose it needless to those who believe Scripture Christ hath resolved that those who make light of him and the offers of his Grace shall never taste of his Supper And that without holiness none shall see God And that except a man be regenerate and born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That he that believes not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him That no unclean person nor covetous nor railer nor drunkard c. shall enter into the Kingdom of Christ and of God Ephes. 5.4 5. That the wicked shall be turned into hell and all they that forget God That all they shall be damned that obey not the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2.12 That Christ will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power And Christ himself hath opened the very maner of their process in judgment and the sentence of their condemnation to eternal fire prepared for the devil and his Angels Matth. 25. So that here is no Rest for any but the people of God except you will call the intollerable everlasting flames of Hell a Rest. And it were easie to manifest this also by Reason For first Gods Justice requires an inequality of mens state hereafter as there was of their lives here And secondly They that walk not in the way of Rest and use not the means are never like to obtain the End They would not follow Christ in the Regeneration nor accept of Rest upon his conditions they thought him to be too hard a Master and his way too narrow and his Laws too strict They chose the pleasures of sin for a season rather then to suffer affliction with the people of God They would not suffer with Christ that so they might raign with him What they made choise of that they did injoy They had their good things in this life and what they did refuse it is but reason they should want How oft would Christ have gathered them to him and they would not And he useth to make men willing before he save them and not to save them against their wils Therefore will the mouths of the wicked be stopped for ever and all the world shall acknowledg the Justice of God Had the ungodly but returned before their life was expired and been heartily willing to accept of Christ for their Saviour and their King and to be saved by him in his way and upon his most reasonable tearms they might have been saved Object But may not God be better then his Word and save those that he doth not promise to save Answ. But not false of his word in saving those whom he hath said he will not save Mens souls are in a doleful case when they have no hope of Happiness except the Word of God prove false To venture a mans eternal salvation upon Hope that God will be better then his word that is in plain English that the God of Truth will prove a lyer is somewhat beyond stark madness which hath no name bad enough to express it Yet I do believe that the description of Gods people in England and in America must not be the same because as Gods Revelations are not the same so neither is the actual Faith which is required in both the same and as the Written and Positive Laws in the Church were never given them so obedience to those meer Positives is not required of them Whether then the threats against unbelievers be meant of Unbelief privative and positive only and not negative such as is all non-believing that which was never revealed Or whether their believing that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him will serve the turn there Or whether God hath no people there I acknowledg again is yet past my understanding CHAP. IX Whether the Souls departed enjoy this Rest SECT I. I Have but one thing more to clear before I come to the Use of this doctrine And that is Whether this Rest remain till the resurrection before we shall enjoy it Or whether we shall have any possession of it before The Socinians and many others of late among us think that the soul separated from the body is either nothing or at least not capable of happiness or misery Truly if it
tittle SECT VIII 8. BUt the great aggravation of this misery will be its Eternity That when a thousand millions of ages are past their Torments are as fresh to begin as the first day If there were any hope of an end it would ease them to foresee it but when it must be for ever that thought is intollerable much more will the misery it self be so They were never weary of sinning nor ever would have been if they had lived eternally upon earth And now God will not be weary of plaguing them They never heartily repented of their sin and God will never repent him of their sufferings They broke the Lawes of the eternal God and therefore shall suffer eternal punishment They knew it was an Everlasting Kingdom which they refused when it was offered them and therefore what wonder if they be everlastingly shut out of it It was their immortall souls that were guilty of the trespass and therefore must immortally suffer the pains O now what happy men would they think themselves if they might have layen still in their graves or continued dust or suffered no worse then the gnawing of those worms O that they might but there lye down again What a mercy now would it be to dye And how will they call and cry out for it O death whither art thou now gone Now come and cut off thâ—s doleful life O that these pains would break my heart and end my being O that I might once at last dye O that I had never had a beeing These groanes will the thoughts of Eternity wring from their hearts They were wont to think the Sermon long and prayer long how long then will they think these Endless torments What difference is there betwixt the length of their pleasures and of their paines The one continued but a moment but the other endureth through all eternity O that sinners would lay this thought to heart Remember how Time is almost gone Thou art standing all this while at the door of Eternity and death is waiting to open the door and put thee in Go sleep out yet but a few more nights and stir up and down on earth a few more dayes and then thy nights and dayes shall end thy thoughts and cares and pleasure sand all shall be devoured by eternity thou must enter upon that state which shall never be changed As the Joyes of Heaven are beyond our conceiving so also are the pains of Hell Everlasting Torment is unconceivable Torment SECT IX BUt I know if it be a sensuall unbeliever that readeth all this he will cast it by with disdain and say I will never believe that God will thus Torment his Creatures What to delight in their torture And that for everlasting And all for the faults of a short time It is incredible How can this stand with the infiniteness of his mercy I would not thus Torment the worst enemy that I have in the world and yet my mercifulness is nothing to Gods These are but threats to awe men I will not believe them Answ. Wilt thou not believe I do not wonder if thou be loath to believe so terrible tidings to thy soul as these are which if they were believed and apprehended indeed according to their weight would set thee a trembling and roaring in the anguish of horror day and night And I do as little wonder that the Devil who ruleth thee should be loath if he can hinder it to suffer thee to believe it For if thou didst believe it thou wouldest spare no cost or pains to escape it But go to If thou wilt read on either thou shalt believe it before thou stirrest or prove thy self an Infidel or Pagan Tell me then Dost thou believe Scripture to be the word of God If thou do not thou art no more a Christian then thy horse is or then a Turk is For what ground have we besides Scripture to believe that Jesus Christ did come into the world or dye for man If thou believe not these I have nothing here to do with thee but refer thee to the second part of this book where I have proved Scripture to be the word of God But if thou do believe this to be so and yet dost not believe that the same Scripture is true thou art far worse then either Infidel or Pagan For the vilest Pagans durst hardly charge their Idol Gods to be lyars And darest thou give the lye to the God of Heaven And accuse him of speaking that which shall not come to pass and that in such absolute threats and plain expressions But if thou darest not stand to this but dost believe Scripture both to be the word of God and to be true then I shall presently convince thee of the truth of these eternall Torments Wilt thou believe if a Prophet should tell it thee Why read it then in the greatest Prophets Moses David and Isaiah Deut. 32.22 Psal. 11.6 9 17. Isai. 30.33 Or wilt thou believe one that was more then a Prophet Why hear then what John Baptist saith Mat. 3.10 Luk. 3.17 Or wilt thou believe if an Apostle should tell thee Why hear what one saith Jud. 7.13 where he cals it the vengeance of eternall fire and the blackness of darness for ever Or what if thou have it from an Apostle that had been rapt up in Revelations into the third Heaven and seen things unutterable Wilt thou believe then Why take it then from Paul 2 Thess. 1.7 8 9. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power And 2 Thess. 2.12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness So Rom. 2.5 6 7 8 9 10. Or wilt thou believe it from the beloved Apostle who was so taken up in Revelations and saw it as it were in his visions Why see then Rev. 20.10 15. They are said there to be cast into the lake of fire and tormented day and night for ever So Rev. 21.8 So 2 Pet. 2.17 Or wilt thou believe it from the mouth of Christ himself the judg Why reade it then Mat. 7.19 13.40 41 42 49 50. As therefore the Tares are gathered and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of this world the Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth c. So Mat. 18.8 9. So Mark 9.43 44 46 48. Where he repeateth it three times over Where their worm never dyeth and their fire is not quenched And Mat. 25.41 46. Then shall he say to
thou risest off thy knees when thou openest thy Bible or other Books let it be with this hope to meet with some passage of Divine truth and some such blessing of the Spirit with it as may raise thine affections neerer Heaven and give thee a fuller taste thereof when thou art setting thy foot out at thy door to go to the publike Ordinance and Worship say I hope to meet with somewhat from God that may raise my affections before I returne I hope the Spirit will give me the meeting and sweeten my heart with those celestial delights I hope that Christ will appear to me in that way and shine about me with light from heaven and let me hear his instructing and reviving voyce and causa the scales to fall from mine eyes that I may see more of that glory then I ever yet saw I hope before I return to my house my Lord will take my heart in hand and bring it within the view of Rest and set it before his Fathers presence that I may return as the Shepherds from the heavenly Vision glorifying and praising God for all the things that I have heard and seen Luke 2.20 and say as those that behold his Miracles We have seen strange things to day Luke 5.26 Remember also to pray for thy Teacher that God would put some Divine Message into his mouth which may leave a heavenly relish on thy spirit If these were our ends and this our course when we set to duty we should not be so strange as we are to heaven When the Indian first saw the use of Letters by our English they thought there was sure some spirit in them that men could so converse together by a paper If Christians would take this course in their duties they might come to such holy fellowship with God and see so much of the Mysteries of the Kingdom that it would make the standers by admire what is in those Lines what is in that Sermon what is in this praying that fils his heart so full of joy and that so transports him above himself Certainly God would not fail us in our duties if we did not fail our selves and then experience would make them sweeter to us SECT VI. 6. ANother help is this Make an advantage of every object thou seest and of every passage of Divine providence and of every thing that befals in thy labor and calling to minde thy soul of its approaching Rest. As all providences and creatures are means to our Rest so do they point us to that as their end Every creature hath the name of God and of our final Rest written upon it which a considerate believer may as truly discern as he can read upon a post or hand in a cross way the name of the Town or City which it points to This spiritual use of creatures and providences is Gods great End in bestowing them on man And he that overlooks this End must needs rob God of his chiefest praise and deny him the greatest part of his thanks The Relation that our present mercies have to our great Eternal mercies is the very quintessence and spirits of all these mercies Therefore do they loose the very spirits of their mercies and take nothing but the huskes and bran who do overlook this Relation and draw not forth the sweetness of it in their contemplations Gods sweetest dealings with us at the present would not be half so sweet as they are if they did not intimate some further sweetness As our selves have a fleshly and a spiritual substance so have our mercies a fleshly and spiritual use and are fitted to the nourishing of both our parts He that receives the carnal part and no more may have his body comforted by them but not his soul. It is not all one to receive six pence meerly as six pence and to receive it in earnest of a thousand pound though the sum be the same yet I trow the relation makes a wide difference Thou takest but the bear earnest and overlookest the maine sum when thou receivest thy mercies and forgettest thy crown O therefore that Christians were skilled in this Art You can open your Bibles and read there of God and of Glory O learn to open the creatures and to open the several passages of providence and to read of God and Glory there Certainly by such a skilful industrious improvement we might have a fuller tast of Christ and Heaven in every bit of bread that we eat and in every draught of Beer that we drink then most men have in the use of the Sacrament If thou prosper in the world and thy labor succeed let it make thee more sensible of thy perpetual prosperity If thou be weary of thy labors let it make thy thoughts of Rest more sweet If things go cross hard with thee in the world let it make thee the more earnestly desire that day when all thy sorrows and sufferings shall cease Is thy body refreshed with food or sleep Remember thy unconceivable refreshings with Christ. Dost thou hear any news that makes the glad Remember what glad tydings it will be to hear the sound of the trump of God and the absolving sentence of Christ our Judg. Art thou delighting thy self in the society of the Saints Remember the Everlasting amiable fraternity thou shalt have with perfected Saints in Rest. Is God communicating himself to thy spirit Why remember that time of thy highest advancement when thy Joy shall be full as thy communion is full Dost thou hear the raging noise of the wicked and the disorders of the vulgar and the confusions in the world like the noise in a crowd or the roaring of the waters Why think of the blessed agreement in Heaven and the melodious harmony in that Quire of God Dost thou hear or feel the tempest of wars or see any cloud of blood arising Remember the day when thou shalt be housed with Christ where there is nothing but calmness and amiable union and where we shall solace our selves in perfect Peace under the wings of the Prince of Peace for ever Thus you may see what advantages to a Heavenly Life every condition and creature doth afford us if we had but hearts to apprehend and improve them As it s said of the Turkes that they 'l make bridges of the dead bodyes of their men to passe over the trenches or ditches in their way So might Christians of the very ruines and calamities of the times and of every dead body or misery that they see make a bridge for the passage of their thoughts to their Rest. And as they have taught their Pigeons which they call carriers in divers places to bear letters of entercourse from friend to friend at a very great distance so might a wise industrious Christian get his thoughts carried into Heaven and receive as it were returns from thence again by creatures of slower wing then Doves by the assistance of the Spirit the Dove of God