condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight St. John expressly affirms that we shall obtain what we ask of God in order to our Salvation who will give his good spirit to those that seek him if our heart condemn us not which he saith may be proved by this if we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight Our Lord and Master commands the same John 14. If ye love me keep my commandments And 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 whom the world cannot receive seein the Lust and Pride the Pomp and Vanity with all the other Vices of this World are an abomination to him 2 Tim. 2. But if a Man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto Honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work The sum then of all that hath been said in short is this whoever with a pure and holy heart believes the promises of God to his own salvation let him sincerely renounce the pomps and vanities of this World and the sinful Lusts and Desires of the Flesh and make good his profession of Repentance by a true and earnest forsaking of all sin and vice and a following after Righteousness and obedience to the commands of God with a zealous and constant care Of this care we shall speak hereafter having first laid down for a certain truth which we cannot inculcate too often that the holy spirit cannot dwell in a heart polluted with the sinful lusts pleasures and other corruptions of the flesh the spirit I say of sanctification by which who are acted are the Sons of God For this is the express sentence of God Almighty himself which hath been alledged already and ought often to be cited Gen. My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh that is to say so long as Man is flesh and obeys the will and lusts of the flesh he shall not be partaker of my spirit And this sentence was pronounced by God at that time when the Sons of God coming in unto the Daughters of Men perverted all the rules of Piety and Virtue and turned Righteousness into Iniquity Now they who believed the Promises of God made unto Adam the common Parent of Mankind and being endowed with that Faith exercised themselves in the practice of Piety are in holy Scripture called the Sons of God for amongst them was preserved the knowledg of the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by the holy Seed of the Woman and they being animated with the Faith and Hope of this promised Salvation shunned all worldly ambition and corruption leading a life neither magnificent nor splendid nor attended with the glory and delights which Men admire but low modest and mean living in the forry habitations of cottages tents caves and dens and were satisfied with sober poverty in imitation of their common Parents Adam and Eve whom God having cloathed them with coats made of Beasts skins commanded to live contented willing that they who by their own fault had forfeited the sovereignty of the World should live like strangers and sojourners in it This example the Sons of God followed But on the other hand the Sons of Men who either believed not the divine Promises or lived in pomp and splendor gave themselves over to delights and pleasures courted glory and worldly greatness and built to themselves stately Houses Towns and Castles being not a little incited to that course of life by the humour and counsel of Women by whose blandishments and conversation the Sons of God also being first allured and then wholly overcome they took to themselves wives of all which they chose That is to say when the Sons of God perceived the delights and pleasures the pomp and splendor that was amongst Men which might tempt humane frailty to prefer them before the rigours of an austere frugality but especially being enticed by the sight of Women among whom Vanity and Luxury both in diet and apparel was most conspicuous they forsook the hardships of an austere life continence and poverty that they might embrace riches wealth pleasures and luxury and making Marriages with the Daughters of Men they overturned Piety and perverted the antient discipline of primitive virtue and integrity Whereupon that divine Sentence was pronounced My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is flesh because of the Sons of God they not only became like unto the Sons of Men but begat a race much more corrupt than themselves more licentious in their lives indulging themselves in all sorts of vice and voluptuousness and prone to all kind of injustice barbarity and cruelty Gen. 6. These are the Giants which were in the Earth in those days and also after that when the Sons of God came in unto the Daughters of Men and they bare children unto them the same became mighty Men which were of old Men of Renown And God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth So much did the licentious wickedness of the dissolute life of Men offend God that holy Oracles assure us it repented him that he had made Man on the Earth and that he resolved to destroy all Mankind these only excepted who continued in the discipline and duty of the Sons of God tho they were but very few in number as it is written But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because he was a Just Man being not only endowed with that Faith of the Sons of God but through the exercise of true Repentance and Obedience to the commandments of God accepted also of the Lord as one who having spent so many years in building of an Ark and by frequent Sermons forewarning the Men of that age of the imminent wrath of God endeavoured to perswade them to Repentance and amendment of life for which he got the title and name of a Preacher of Righteousness Now this practice of Repentance which as we have said is necessary to all the Disciples and followers of Christ must be accompanied with an endeavour of amendment of life and of following after Righteousness and Honesty which for illustration sake we shall call by the name of Obedience and define Obedience Obedience to be an ordering and framing of all the actions of our life according to the counsel and will of God And this is performed by the knowledg and diligent practice of the commands of God For it is not enough to know the precepts and institutions of our Christian discipline or to talk of and commend them in quaint and
salvation who when he would have Men to turn to him with their whole heart and mind and so obtain life he patiently waits for their Repentance and this the holy Scriptures clearly testifie Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you And the Apostle St. Peter saith The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Now that the Conversion and true Repentance of sinners is most acceptable and pleasing to God his own Son shews us in that saving Sermon which he made in the three Parables of the prodigal Son the lost sheep and groat whereby he exhorted all Men that they would endeavour by their conversion to please God and cause joy in the whole Court of Heaven that so they might tast of the wonderful goodness of God who is rich in mercy towards all that call upon him with a pure and single heart and upon whom if they approve themselves by Faith and the practice of true Repentance and Obedience he bestows great mercies and the spirit of sanctification with all his gifts and graces which St. Peter affirms was given to all that obey him and our Saviour promised to be given saying John 14. If ye love me keep my commandments And 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 whom the world cannot receive Now in the sence of St. John the world are they who live according to the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh or the pride of life that is who are slaves to lust delights pleasures or ambition for those shall not feel the power and virtue of that holy spirit abiding in them as the Lord himself pronounces Gen. 6. My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is flesh With Man who is flesh and striveth not to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh as the Apostle saith if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live to wit through the spirit of God given and communicated unto you for so it is written Isa 66. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest for all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord but to this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Those divine gifts and graces whereby Men upon Earth are changed into other creatures and become almost celestial avoiding the corruption that is in the World through lust and having their conversation in heaven examples and instances of these gifts I say which were very frequent of old are now rare to be found on the Earth because we have neither that strong and lively faith in the Promises of God nor purely and sincerely obey his Precepts neither are we filled with the holy fear of the Lord but by a double and deceitful heart wicked and perverse thoughts and actions we are wanting to our selves and to the grace and goodness of God of God I say who trieth the heart and searcheth the reins and sees us wholly given over to impure thoughts the delights and pleasures of the flesh and to pride and ambition like adulterous Women dealing treacherosly against their lawful husbands which kind of hearts estranged from or divided in their chief love he neither loves nor approves of The mind must be pure and single and fervent in love that aspires to the heavenly marriage of this bridegroom and would have it confirmed and made good to it The wise Son of Sirach advises us to endeavour that as much as we can when he saith Ecclus 1. 2. Distrust not the fear of the Lord and come not unto him with a double heart Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways And the word of God by the mouth of his holy Prophets does also in many places expresly admonish us heartily to renounce the vanities sins and pollutions of this World and make it our whole care to forsake them Jer. 4. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodg within thee Whosoever come so provided to seek the Lord shall certainly find him to be loving gracious and bountiful Jer. 29. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you saith the Lord whose blessed Son hath also said Mat. 5. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God God is to be seen by the pure in heart saith our Saviour He is to be seen dwelling in them whom he consecrates for a holy Temple to himself as it is written Isa 57. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Psal 147. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up then wounds This contrition of heart so acceptable unto God and so much commended in Scripture doth not dwell nor abide with the anxious desire of worldly things and of the pomp and glory of the age which are hateful to the Lord. Nor let any Man perswade himself that he can serve two Masters that is that he can please God and at the same time fulfil the lusts of the flesh pursue the vanities pride and ambition of the World and obey the dictates of carnal wisdom The Apostle St. James declares it to be impossible Jam. 4. Ye adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy And therefore we are earnestly warned by the Apostle St. John that being deluded by vain arguments or any idle and groundless hope and opinion we should not retain the love of this World but wholly reject it if we would approve our selves to God whom we ought to love for our own salvation John 2. Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And the world passeth
them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all Vncleanness with greediness They again who were not without a sense and knowledge of God but would not conform to a steddy and sure rule of Conduct studying rather to follow their own humour than to comply with the simplicity of truth have broached most idle Notions of the excellence of the divine Nature and erroneous and most dangerous Perswasions of the way of imitating the same leading most part of Mankind first into error and a snare and then into utter destruction as it is written Rom. 1. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even the Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for evermore The Doctrine therefore of Men that had no conformity to the Faith of God or that fell off from the knowledge of God unto Vanity false and foolish imaginations could neither rightly define nor exhibit and declare the true happiness of Mankind That only Doctrine which the revealed Will of God doth teach is capable through the power and goodness of its author to perform what it hath promised to those who truly and sincerely become its Disciples For the Scripture saith Psal 119. The Proud have digged Pits for me which are not after thy Law All thy Commandments are Righteousness There are many instances which manifestly prove that the Doctine of the word of God hath fulfilled and made good what it promised and foretold to the true Disciples and followers thereof and that it can and daily does perform the same to those who are guided thereby Now this Doctrine hath promised Salvation eternal happiness and the inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven in and through the Son of God who was to be sent into the World and the descent of the Holy Ghost into the minds of Believers which as a sure pledge and earnest of the celestial inheritance might by his inspirations teach them the true and saving use of the Heavenly gifts and Graces of this the Disciples of our Lord had experience as the holy Ghost himself bears witness 2 Pet. 1. Simon Peter a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained the like precious Faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord according as his divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through lust The Apostle St. Paul treating of the vanity of the Doctrine of the Gentiles and of the truth and benefits of the Christian Discipline says to the same purpose Eph. 4. But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceiful lusts And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Acts 3. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Now that state and condition to which the true Disciples and Followers of the Christian Doctrine are by the grace and goodness of God advanced does in honor dignity and amplitude of glory and bliss far exceed all that the natural Man the Wit of Philosophers and the pains and study of mortal Man can conceive define or comprehend without the special favour and assistance of divine grace Isa 64. For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For what Man knows the things of a Man save the spirit of Man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the spirit of God This state and condition may in some measure indeed be delineated and described which by the help of God in time and place convenient we shall attempt but that will be but a faint emblem and adumbration rather than a true and lively representation of the same for the fulness of this solid and excellent happiness is not to be expressed in the common way of speech nor conceived by the thoughts of men unless of those who by the influence and operation of the Holy Ghost are rendred capable of so great mysteries Eph. 3. For this cause saith the Apostle I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Now although a Disciple of this Christian Doctrine may not at first comprehend the greatness and excellence of the state to which he is called until by divine favour he hath attained to it nevertheless the dignity and extent of the happiness is not therefore less nor will it by any disappointment be diminished for the mosâ—
Authority reaching all men whether publick or private the Universal Church hath always owned and asserted and that they will take in good part whatsoever may be said by us which perhaps may tax the corrupt manners of our present times being perswaded that Christian Simplicity Virtue and Probity are always in force and beyond exception and reproach not only upon their own account but because of our purpose and design also who heartily love all holy and good Men tho unknown neither hate any who may have fallen from the truth or degenerated from the Virtues of the Gospel but wish that all may repent and be saved through Jesus Christ our Lord whom therefore we would have rightly admonished of their Duty As for the wiser who stand not in need of our Admonition we trust they will put a favourable construction on our care and endeavours for the common salvation of Mankind who tho we be simple and unable to contribute any thing to the information of the wise yet to those who are weaker in knowledg ought to perform what service and good offices lye in our power Now the sum of all our Admonition shall consist of plain Sentences from the Oracles both of the Old and New Testament the weight of which is such that neither humane wisdom can resist nor the craft and subtilty of our adversary evacuate the force of them and by this means we may be helpful both to those who admit of nothing in dispute but what is taken from holy Scripture and to those also who rightly think that truth wherever it be found ought to be embraced for to both these it is our design to do good not alledging all that might be said but only such things as we shall have reason to think may be profitable to all and hurtful to no body The whole Christian Discipline then may be comprehended under two general Heads which every true Disciple and follower of Christ ought to know and dutifully practise The first is to believe the Word and Promises of God the Authority whereof hath been confirmed by Signs Miracles and manifest Testimonies Now Signs and Miracles are neither at present necessary nor are they nor indeed ought to be required as being of old seen and approved reiterated likewise and confirmed and received and believed by the Universal Church of God for concerning these it is written Deut. 32. Remember the days of old consider the years of many Generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Wherefore it is not now to be doubted what it is or how we ought to believe for that is reduced into certain Points which are called Articles and proposed by the Church to be learned under the name of the Apostles Creed briefly and plainly comprehending all the Points of our Faith which have been largely commented upon and explained in the many writings of holy and learned Men. Neither is our discourse directed to those that do not believe but to such as believe or at least profess they believe the Word and Promises of God to their own Salvation and confess that there is no necessity of Miracles nor any doubt of the Salvation sent into the World and wrought by Jesus Christ Heb. 2. Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by those that heard him God also hearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will The second Head and Branch of Doctrine is the knowledg and practice of Piety of which at present we are to treat Now for illustration sake we call Piety all that which every faithful Disciple and Follower of Christ and the Christian Doctrine believing the Promises ought to know hold fast and practise no Man being excepted who having the right use of his Reason can know and perform the same seeing the assistance of the divine Grace that is necessary to that knowledg and practice will not be wanting nor denied to those who as we said before diligently and seasonably beg the same but will rather be plentifully supplied by the Father of Light 1 Tim. 2. who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledg of the Truth even those who are strangers to the knowledg of the Truth and much more such as embrace the known Truth and study to hold fast and improve it Now we say that it behoveth a Disciple of Christ to know the chief Precepts and Institutions of the Doctrine of Piety which he professes for tho to know the least Points be neither the duty nor is it required of all yet those things which belong to all in general and every Disciple in particular are not to be unknown For how dare he profess and call himself a Disciple who knows not the Heads of that Discipline which he does and ought to follow And by what right can he expect to be acknowledged a Scholar by the Master who knows not the Precepts and Institutions of his Teacher And to that purpose is this which by a Disciple is written to his fellow Scholars 1 Cor. 14. If any Man think himself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledg that the things that I write unto you are the Commandments of the Lord. But if any Man be ignorant let him be ignorant If any Man know not the Commands of God he shall not be known by our Lord and Master who will say Mat. 25. I know you not And again to every one that hath shall be given but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath In another place making a difference betwixt those who believe and know the Will of God and those who do not the Lord saith Luke 12. And that Servant which knew his Lords Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Wherefore leaving those who know not the Will of the Lord such as are they to whom the knowledg of the Gospel hath not as yet reached our discourse is to those who have known or at least have professed to know the Will of the Lord who ought to prepare themselves and do according to his Will to whom the Apostle saith 1 Thes 4. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification to which Men ought to prepare themselves Now no Man can be so prepared if he be ignorant by what means and actions that Preparation is to be set about and accomplished for tho one may set about it with all imaginable care and study yet unless he square the same according to the rules and and directions of the Divine Will he will at length find it to be unprofitable And this God Almighty himself