that of the Angel to the Mother of our Lord Luke 1.33 34. The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end All agreeing that this Kingdom Government and Power should be administred by the Son of God in humane nature and because he is the Son of Man Now in this gift of the Father the giving such to his Son as he had prepared to become his Disciples and to be made so by him is included they are part of the all things which the Father hath put into his hand In giving him a Kingdom he gives him a people to be his Subjects whose good behaviour and whose happiness he is to provide for and to promote by his spiritual Government When the Prophet had spoken of Gods setting his Son upon his holy hill of Zion Psal 2.6 in verse 8. he brings in God speaking thus to him Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession These are prepared by the Father to become Subjects to the Son then when he gives them to him but are actually made subject to his Spiritual Government by the Son himself by his going forth conquering and to conquer by his Gospel it is by his arrows the people fall under him Now the Fathers thus committing to his Son the power of managing all matters that concern the forming and perfecting one Christian Church throughout the World and so of dispensing all aids and assistances to that end doth not imply or suppose the Fathers relinquishing this power but his doing all by his Son as designing to interess the Man Christ Jesus in all these great affairs And thus when the Father sends the Holy Spirit by whose influences we receive our assistances he then sends him in the name of the Son as being concerned with him in such sending John 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name saith our Saviour And on the other hand the Son when he sends the Holy Spirit he sends him as from the Father who is always concerned also in such sending John 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me But as I say the Father dispenseth the influences and assistances of the Spirit by the Son as God-man now in the time of this Kingdom of his which the Father hath given him S. Paul speaking of Gods saving us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which saith he he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.6 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ that in every thing ye are enriched by him 1 Cor. 1.4 5. And because these aids are thus dispensed by the Son though from the Father and by the Holy Ghost they are called the supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 And it is God that supplies all our need according to his riches in glory but it is by Jesus Christ Phil. 4.19 And the Holy Spirit is stiled the Spirit of the Son even then when he is sent into our hearts by the Father for the reason aforesaid Gal. 4.6 And so for the gifts and graces of the Spirit they are all dispensed by Jesus Christ To every one of us saith S. Paul is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 All this I have noted that we might the better understand for what reason and in what respect those prepared to receive the Faith of the Gospel are said to be given by the Father to the Son to work that faith in them and it is because in giving him the Mediatory Kingdom he gives him the power of dispensing all those aids and assistances by which men are made true and sincere Christians But to proceed yet a little further in this matter the use of which as to the principal scope of this Chapter will be better discerned afterward the reason why the Father confers this Regal dignity and authority upon the Son and the power of sending the Spirit and of dispensing aids and gifts is not onely that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father which yet is one reason of it John 5.23 Nor yet onely as a reward of his deep humiliation suffering and obedience unto death which is another Phil. 2.9 10. but also that Gods great design of reforming the World by sending his Son into it and of converting sinners to the faith and obedience of the Gospel might by that means be facilitated as tending to render Christ the more glorious and the more attractive an object of Faith It is by his being thus exalted that men are more especially brought to believe in him It is by him that we do believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 So that we see this glorious advancement of Christ hath the nature of an aid in it to help us to believe The meanness of our Saviours appearance in the World while he was in it and his crucifixion at the last was that which prejudiced men against both him and his doctrine it was their stumbling block and that at which they were offended and all through a mistake of the nature of Christs Kingdom and Government so that he had but very few Disciples at last notwithstanding all his mighty miracles and gracious words But when he was raised from the dead and exalted in his kingdom and glory and had given a powerful demonstration of it by sending the Holy Ghost as he had promised he would to enable those that preached in his name and those that believed in his name to do so many wonderful things in his name as they did this proof of his exaltation in a short time filled a great part of the World with Disciples to him and made men flock by multitudes into his Church and Kingdom This effect of his glorious exaltation was foretold by the Prophets Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power more than the womb of the morning according to the marginal reading Psal 110.3 These words more than the womb of the morning seem to be hyperbolical to shew the vast numbers of Disciples and Subjects the day of Christs power and glorious exaltation should procure him even like the drops of the morning-dew for multitude The Prophet Isaiah speaking as it were to the Messiah of whom he prophesied said Nations that knew thee not shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee Isa 55.5 That is the reason we see of
his operation in them when their minds and spirits become purified and refined from inordinateness of affection and unruliness of passion until by degrees they are brought in some good measure unto a likeness and conformity to the spirit and temper of Jesus Christ whose Scholars they are They that are joined to the Lord are one spirit They mind love hate and design the same things which our Saviour doth They participate of that love gentleness benignity and goodness which was so eminent in him the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 by which means they come to be in the world as he was in the world as S. Johns phrase is Hereby saith S. John we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us Joh. 3.24 It is so like him that it must needs come from him and if it be in us it is because he dwells in us If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 When we love one another as Christ hath loved us when we are merciful as our heavenly Father is mercciful his love and goodness is so resembled by us as that it is perfectly discernible in us Moreover the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be with them to strengthen them with resolution and courage to hold on their course of holy living and cleaving faithfully to Christ notwithstanding all opposition and discouragement they may meet with from the World in doing so To this end they are strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 For God hath not given them the spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 And not onely so but the Holy Spirit is given to the Believers to be always with them to maintain and uphold in them a comfortable and chearful frame of spirit and so to keep them from fainting when they are called to suffer for the sake of our Saviour or his truth or doctrine And it is doubtless from this effect among others of the Spirits abiding with the Believers that he is stiled the Comforter And for the same reason principally the joy which they have amidst their sufferings for righteousness sake is called the joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.6 having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost And well may it be called the joy of the Holy Ghost because solid joy under such circumstances can proceed from no other cause but the Holy Spirits operation It is not the manner of the World as it is with Believers to rejoice in affliction in wrongs and injuries and hard usage from men but the contrary because they have no principle in them out of which such a thing should proceed And therefore our Savior saith to his Disciples My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Joh. 14.27 The Holy Spirit can raise joy yea great joy in the souls of the followers of Christ when they suffer never so hard measure from the hands of men so long as they know it is for their faithfulness to their blessed Lord and Master who hath suffered and done so much for them as he hath done The Spirit of God can so order their thoughts within them that they shall not look upon themselves as disgraced thereby but as highly honoured by their Master by giving them both opportunity and courage to do him that honour when his adversaries would cast reproach and shame upon him and his Cause and all that appear for it And thus the Apostles when they had been beaten departed from the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus their Lord Acts 5.41 The Holy Ghost can suggest to them also that a great deal of good by such sufferings may be done to others in causing them to think the more and the better of the Christian Religion when they see with what chearfulness the Professors of it can suffer for its sake When the Thessalonians received the Word in much affliction and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost they became thereby ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia and from them and their deportment in suffering for the Gospel the word of the Lord sounded out not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place their faith was spread abroad and talked of 1 Thess 1.6 7 8. It was this joyous deportment of the primitive Martyrs in their sufferings that tended so greatly to the increase and enlargement of the Church as History relates it did The Christians then were enabled to glory in tribulation of this kind in as much as they were guided to consider that this patient enduring without repining would give them experience of their sincerity and fidelity in cleaving to Christ and then this experience would give them hope such as should not make them ashamed through any disappointment but great confidence towards God of being accepted Rom. 5.3 4. And not onely so but also touching the greatness of the reward which is laid up in heaven for such a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Upon account whereof our Saviour bids them to rejoice and to be exceeding glad yea to leap for joy in that day when they should be persecuted for righteousness sake and have their name cast out as evil and the like When the Christians were enabled to suffer the spoiling of their goods yea and of their lives too not onely with patience but also with joyfulness when they were as sorrowing and yet always rejoycing whence was this And how can it be imagined that they should ever be able to do and to be so but that they were strengthened with all might according to Gods glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness as S. Paul speaks Col. 1.11 The Spirit of God and of glory then rested upon them as the other Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.14 How came S. Stephen to stand with such an undaunted courage before the Council as if his face had been the face of an Angel Why it was because he was full of the Holy Ghost he had a mighty presence of the Spirit with him to enable him thereunto S. Paul learned by experience that as his sufferings did abound for Christ so his consolations by Christ did abound also 2 Cor. 1.5 that when he was weak then he was strong that he had a mightier presence a more powerful and comfortable influence of the Holy Spirit in times of great trials and sufferings for Christ than he had at other times And this experience of his made him so far from being afraid of suffering that for the sake of that wonderful comfort which was wont to come along with suffering he was rather glad when suffering came than any way dejected and cast down for it 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Most gladly therefore will I
the Holy Ghost to confirm the doctrine which was preached in his name by them who proved their mission from him by signs and wonders and mighty deeds which were done in his name though as I say the repetition of these be not necessary in every Age this having been done once for all in one Age as S. Jude speaks of the Faith once delivered to the Saints yet the inward assistance by the Spirit to cause the external assistances to operate the more effectually upon the mind is still necessary and is still continued in the Church For in this respect our Saviour by his Spirit as well as by his word is with his people always to the end of the World as he promised he would and as he promised his Spirit likewise should I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth John 14.16 It was this presence of Christ I conceive which S. Paul desired might be and continue with Timothies Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy Spirit In this part of my Discourse concerning Divine Assistance I have endeavoured to shew that our Lord and Saviour hath the power of dispensing Evangelical and Spiritual Assistances committed to him by the Father and that that is the reason why the Father is said to give such to the Son as have heard and learned of the Father And now this high advancement of the Son and his having all power in Heaven and Earth given to him leaves no place for us to doubt of his ability to assist those to the uttermost who do not make themselves uncapable of it by refusing to make use of it and of the Fathers preparatory assistance And truly all such have no more reason neither to doubt of our Saviours willingness to assist them than they have of his power if these few things following be but duly considered 1. That Kingdom Glory and Greatness forementioned and the power of dispensing aids and assistances is given by the Father to the Son for this very end among others that he might use and manage all for the bringing men such as the Father hath given him to perform the condition of the promise in repenting in believing and obeying the Gospel Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his own right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins The father advanced him to that high honour and dignity that he might be a publick good to mankind in assisting them to perform the condition of the promise as he had been before by his humiliation for the obtaining of the promise upon that condition that so he might be a compleat Saviour in saving us as well from sin in the power and pollution of it as from the guilt of it He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill or fulfil all things Ephes 4.10 That he might fully dispence and bestow whatever is necessary to the perfecting of the Saints and edification of the body of Christ The Apostle having said in chap. 1.20 21. that God having raised Christ from the dead set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this World but also in that which is to come and having put all things under his feet then in Verse 22 and 23. he says he gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He did not onely give him to be the Head of his Church but to be Head over all things to the Church to the use and benefit of the Church for the fulness of this power of his in the issue and benefit of it runs in to his Church for whom he received it and in respect whereof the Church is his fulness in a passive sense for it is he that filleth all in all as S. John saith of his fulness we have all received and grace for grace John 1.16 such a fulness as holds some proportion with the fulness of such a head all the fulness wherewith all and every one of his Church are filled is derived from him it is all of his silling and that as he is Head of the Church and Head over all things to the Church For he is not onely a political Head to the Church to govern it by Laws but such a Head also as resembles a natural head by way of influence conveying by his Spirit a vital and quickning power unto all the members to enable them to obey those Laws The whole body hath from this head nourishment ministred as S. Paul shews Col. 2.19 Upon which account S. Paul could say I am able to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me But without him as our Saviour told his Disciples ye can do nothing Now if all this fulness all this power we have been speaking of was given to the Son was put into his hands for that end that he should use it and manage it in aiding and assisting those whom the Father hath given him to perform the condition on which pardon and eternal life are promised there is no question to be made of his willingness to use it to that end especially when we further consider that which follows 2. For in the second place he is as faithful as he is able faithful to use the fulness of his sufficiency for the ends and uses for which he received it He is faithful to him that appointed him in all his house Heb. 3.2 Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it 1 Thess 5.24 All saith our Saviour that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 When he was leaving the World he could with all confidence say unto his Father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. And if he did thus in the day of his humiliation and temptation it cannot be thought but that he will likewise finish what the Father hath given him to do now in the day of his exaltation and power Why do the holy Angels sing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength but because he faithfully useth them for those noble and worthy ends for which he received them Rev. 5. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and received gifts for men saith the Psalmist Psal 68.18 he then gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 When upon his glorious exaltation he had received the promise of the Father to wit the power of sending the Holy Ghost he presently pours it out upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 what he receives for us he will be sure to communicate to us If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the
he hath done and does more for us in another respect under the Gospel than he did in times past for his own peculiar People For according to the various predictions of the Prophets of old we under the Gospel have a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit to enable us to perform the condition of the promise of pardon and life than ever they ordinarily had Which brings me to the second thing I proposed to insist on which is to shew what assistance men receive in performing the condition of the promise by the influence and operation of the Spirit of God CHAP. V. How by the Holy Spirits operation upon the Mind and Will men are assisted in performing the condition of the Promise BUt before I proceed to shew this to prevent misunderstanding in this matter I must premise thus much by way of caution to wit That when I propose the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit to be considered as an aid distinct from that which is vouchsafed by the Gospel it self I would not be understood thereby to deny that assistance which we receive by the Gospel it self in performing the condition of the promise to be the aid and assistance of the Spirit at least in some respect I onely suppose that there is an influence and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men by which they are enabled to perform the condition of the promise over and above what the Gospel in its own nature abstractedly considered does contribute thereunto Otherwise as I have been now shewing the operations of the Gospel it self is of and from the Holy Spirit both in respect of its revelation and consirmation So that what is said and done by the Gospel is in a sense said and done by the Holy Spirit And they are led by the Spirt and walk in the Spirit that make the Gospel their Guide All Scripture is given by inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 and holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And the things spoken by the Prophets in the Old-Testament are said in the New to be spoken by the Holy Ghost Acts 1.16 and 28.25 Heb. 3.7 and 10.15 And it 's seven times said in Revel c. 2 3. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches meaning what he said to them in and by those Epistles which S. John sent to the seven Churches in Asia And God is said to have testified against the People of the Jews by his Spirit in his Prophets Neh. 9.30 And S. Stephen said to those in his time for opposing the Gospel Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye And S. Paul said touching such as should despise their doctrine and commands He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who also hath given unto us his Holy Spirit 1 Thess 48. By all this it appears that what is done by the doctrine of men divinely inspired is done by the Spirit of God and what is done against it or against them for the sake of it is done against the Spirit of God He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me saith our Saviour also Luke 10.16 But yet though the assistance men receive by the Gospel in performing the condition of the promise be the assistance of the Holy Spirit yet it is not all the assistance they receive from the Holy Spirit therein For when the holy Scripture speaks of the Gospels coming unto men not in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 1.5 of their being born of the Spirit John 1.13 and 3.5 of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 of their obeying the truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 of a being built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes 2.22 of the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and of Gods working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 and the like there is no reason to restrain the sense of such sayings unto the alone operation of the doctrine of the Gospel as having God or the Spirit of God for its Author and no more The Prayers which our Saviour made and taught his Disciples to make for the success of the Gospel and which the Apostles made and taught the Christians to make for the like do all of them imply likewise something more to be done by God for the renewing of men unto himself than onely by his bare sending his Gospel among them Although men can consider matters discovered by the Gospel when they hear them as well as they can any other things set forth by Discourses of another nature and indeed God expects they should do so at the peril of their own destruction if they do not yet such is the zeal of the Lord to promote and set forward the business of our salvation that he is not willing to trust the work onely in our hands though he hath brought it to our hands by such preparations wherein he hath prevented all endeavours of ours He doth not onely bring the Gospel and our minds together and then leave them to operate upon each other in the strength of their own nature onely but is graciously pleased to accompany his word more or less as he sees good with a secret operation of his spirit upon our minds both to incline and dispose the internal faculties to exercise and imploy themselves about matters of this high nature and likewise to assist them in it There is doubtless a secret power and efficacy of the divine Spirit goes along with the Gospel into the mind and will by means whereof the Gospel does the more readily and effectually work upon the mind and will to the renewing of them When the Disciples scattered by occasion of the Persecution by Saul preached the Gospel to the Grecians it is said The hand of the Lord was with them and that a great number believed and turned to the Lord Acts 11.21 Their believing and turning to the Lord was the effect of the Lords hand being with them in preaching as well as it was the effect of what was preached The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1.16 Believing and Salvation are the effects of Gods power going along with the Gospel as well as of the Gospel it self By that the Gospel becomes more quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword It is the sword of the Spirit as it is called as well in respect of its being managed by the Spirit as it is by being provided by the Spirit for Christians to manage The whole success of the Gospel in producing those happy effects in men by which they become other manner of men than they were before is ascribed unto the grace and blessing of God that goes along with the Gospel I have planted and Apollos
whole Society of Believers that he may present them to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing and to beautifie and adorn them as a Bride for such a Husband as Jesus Christ is and will appear to be in the day of the manifestation of all his glory that he may not be ashamed to own them for such And thus we see another of the ends for which Christians receive a greater and more constant presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit after they believe than they did before is to fit and prepare them for greater glory and happiness than the lowest degree of performing the condition of the promise as at the first will make them capable of We will now a little consider in what or wherein the Holy Spirit doth assist the Believers when they grow up thereby unto more perfection in the Christian life One of the first things I conceive he does is to stir them up to and to assist them in making prayers and supplications unto Almighty God for the working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight For although God be ready to bless them with all spiritual blessings in Christ yet not without being sought unto to do it for them And accordingly they are promised but upon that condition Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find Matth. 7.7 Otherwise it will fare with them as it did with those S. James speaks to James 4.2 Ye have not because ye ask not Now to the end therefore that Believers may receive such an increase and growth in all divine Vertues as by means whereof they may live as becomes the Gospel and be made meet for the celestial glory the Holy Spirit doth assist them to make requests according to the will of God and helpeth their infirmities when otherwise they know not how to pray as they ought Rom. 8.26 27. Almighty God poureth on them the Spirit of grace and supplication as the Prophet speaks Zech. 12.10 He helps them not onely to pray for such things as they ought but also in such a manner as they should to wit with a great sense of their own wants and of their own unworthiness to obtain and of the worth and excellency and defireableness of those spiritual blessings they pray for He helps them to pray with seriousness and devotion of soul and with an humble fervency accompanied with sighs and groans which cannot well be uttered by them many times He helps them also to pray in faith concerning the goodness of the nature of God and his readiness to give and to forgive and concerning the prevailing intercession of Jesus Christ our blessed Advocate God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba Father enabling them in their Addresses to God to depend upon him as their Father and humbly to expect to be used and dealt with by him in all respects as a Father while they resolve and endeavour to carry it toward him as his children And when the Holy Spirit enables them to pray thus they may be said to pray in the Holy Ghost as Jude 20. to make prayers and supplications in the Spirit as Ephes 6.18 And when the Holy Spirit hath thus holpen the Believers to seek those things of God which pertain to life and godliness grace strength and ability to overcome corruptions and temptations and to live a sober righteous and a godly life then the Holy Spirit in way of return to such prayers doth assist them in their endeavours in the use of means to attain those things they have begged of God This we are well assured of by our Saviour himself when we compare his saying as related by S. Matthew with the same as related by S. Luke In Mat. 7.11 he saith If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him Or how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith S. Luke 11.13 From both which compared we learn that God is most ready and willing to give those that seriously ask them out of a sense of their want of them all graces or gracious qualifications and dispositions of soul necessary to their pleasing of God by giving them his Holy Spirit to work them in them Or that by giving them his Holy Spirit he gives them all those good things because when the Spirit is given unto men it is to work those good things in them by way of assistance This might be shewed in particular instances I shall mention some When we crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts when weeleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit when we mortifie the deeds of the body it is still by the help and assisistance of Gods Spirit that it is done Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gods Spirit in his Servants lusteth against the flesh as the flesh doth against the Spirit it draws a contrary way and therein prevails against the flesh The flesh calls upon men to be gratified in this and that in things either unlawful in themselves or in that degree which is unlawful But the Spirit calls upon us by exciting thoughts in us to mind and regard our souls and by no means to wrong them by disturbing their peace or hazarding their safety to gratifie the flesh with momentary pleasures which will leave guilt and trouble upon the mind when they are vanished and gone themselves And the Spirit by frequent prevailing herein comes at last to kill this itch in the flesh Again when the Believers minds and wills become more and more reconciled to their duty and to be in love with it in all the instances of it both towards God and towards men it is still through the help of the Holy Spirit that they are so 1 Pet. 2.22 Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit That they obey the truth in what it requires it is through the Spirit strengthening and quickening them thereto by making the motives thereto present to their thoughts In 2 Chron. 30.12 it is said that in Juda the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. The hand of God upon the heart as well as the word of the Lord by the ministry of men is that by which mens wills are bowed and inclined to what God commands He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him saith the Apostle 1 John 3.24 Our keeping the commandments is an eviderce of Gods dwelling in us because it is the effect of his presence with us to assist us therein he argues from the effect to the cause Again it is the effect of the Holy Spirits presence with Believers and of
did they must first fight the good sight of faith and then lay hold of eternal life It is he that overcometh that shall inherit all things Rev. 21.7 For men not to stir up themselves not to gird up the loins of their minds to sight their way through to Heaven but to resolve to be onely passive under pretence that the Captain of our salvation might have all the honour of the Victory would be much what as ridiculous as it would be for Souldiers in an Army to say they would leave it wholly to their Captain General to fight for them while they sit still that he might have all the honour of the Victory The ability of God and our Saviour to save hath no other limits save what his will directed by his infinite wisdom hath put upon it but the divine will hath so limited this power that the promise of Crowning is not made but to such as through striving overcome All the promises and assurances we have of Divine Assistance are to encourage our diligence and industry in working out and carrying quite through the business of our salvation and to overcome all that doth oppose us or which any way tends to hinder us in it Of this nature is that of S. Paul Phil. 2.12 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Gods working in us his readiness to assist us is given as the motive and argument to persuade us to work out our own salvation If we do but put forth our selves to do what we can in doing our duty though it be with fear and trembling when we consider our own weakness and the strength of the enemies we are to encounter and overcome in doing so we are assured of this for our encouragement that if we do so we shall find an inward and secret assistance from God to fortifie our resolutions and to bring the same to good effect so that all our spiritual enemies shall not be able to hinder us but that we shall still hold on our way and grow stronger and stronger as Job speaks of the righteous and he that hath clean hands God will not fail to add more strength to our willing and doing in carrying on the work of grace and so of salvation to a greater height and more perfection if we are but faithful in endeavouring it our selves Be of good courage and God shall strengthen thine heart saith the Psalmist Psal 27.14 The motive wherewith to persuade men to be of good courage and firm resolution in the way of their duty is we see because then God will strengthen their hearts that is will yield them more and further assistance and by that means make their duty more and more easie to them as it must needs be to the same degree their strength is increased by which it is to be done The Lord is so ready nay so certain to assist his servants in their faithful endeavours to do their duty that they may be as sure of it and as much depend upon it as if they had it in their own power And therefore St. Paul exhorted the Christians to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes 6.10 As if they might reckon themselves armed with his strength while they depend upon him for it in doing their duty Which made S. Paul speak so considently I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4.13 And again If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live He accounted that if they had any mind to mortifie the deeds of the body they might be sure of help from the Spirit wherewith to do it whenever in good earnest they went about it But when men think themselves so sure of being kept by the power of God as that they grow careless and remiss as to their own endeavours of doing their duty and standing upon their guard against temptations they many times slip into such ways and doings by which the Spirit of God is grieved and withdraws from them and with-holds his quickning influences and then they grow dry and flat and unsavoury too and fall even then when they thought they stood sure 2. And the like may be said touching the danger on the other hand also For when men have such an opinion of their own power and ability to perform the condition of the promise as that they are not mindful of the Holy Spirits assistance nor sensible of their need of it but are negligent in addressing to God for it and in their dependance upon him for the supplies of it it cannot be expected that the Holy Spirit should take any such pleasure in such men as to take up his residence and make his abode with them And if not the communication of his assistance to such men must needs be more rare and more sparing and his visits less frequent And when they are so it will be visible in the dulness dead-heartedness and barrenness of such Christians though then they may retain a form of godliness For the Holy Spirit will not vouchsafe to such his special presence and assistance who do not know their need of it nor how to prize it And accordingly our Saviour speaking of the Spirit of truth saith whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him John 14.17 So that it seems mens receiving the Spirit depends very much upon their knowing him in the usefulness and benefit of his communications and valuing him accordingly So that we see there is danger of running into extremes on both hands either in mens pretending so much dependance upon divine Assistance as to neglect to do what they can do towards performing the condition of the promise or else in having such an opinion of their own power and ability to perform it as to over-look and neglect the Divine Assistance as if they had little or no need of it Such as this latter sort are far from the mind of S. Paul who was still careful to attribute his after as well as his first Christian performances to Divine Assistance I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 I laboured more than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And again I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me Rom. 15.18 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And our Saviour taught his Disciples to be of the same mind when he said Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 And where Christians are full of the sense of their need of Divine Assistance and accordingly highly prize it seek it and depend on God for it and yet are withall as careful and diligent in their own endeavours as if all the