the same spirit can breath no where so freely as in such holy aire The new Creature was borne under the Ordinances of the Gospell and is nursed and brought up under them Faith came first by hearing and Faith groweth and receiveth strength being nourished by the same Doctrine by which it was at first planted They who have heard and learned of the Father come unto Christ and know not whether to goe from him because he hath the words of eternall life The Apostle in 2 Cor. 3. 8. calleth the ministration of the Gospel the ministration of the spirit as being that by which the soul doth receive and grow up in this divine and heavenly life Therefore the Author of this Epistle writing to anointed ones tels them that as they had heard so it should be that Antichrist would come and that they should abide in the Truth whereby he doth commend them and their Teachers for their great care and diligence in searching out and receiving the Truth I need not spend time in shewing the lawfulness conveniency and necessity of Gospell Ordinances such as are Hearing the word prayer breaking of bread to shew forth the Lords death and the rest which are of the like institution Onely this I would speak by way of admonition as it is a serious and generall observation which holy men have made That no sooner do men cast off the use of the Ordinances and appointments of Jesus Christ but at the same time they doe cast off God and godliness and laying the Reins upon their own necks they set the foot upon the holy Law running desperately upon further mischeif Thus hath divine Iustice branded those who would not humbly submit to such sacred Institutions Such is the Majesty and Authority of these things that almost every man in the use of them doth finde an awe upon his conscience and feel himselfe commanded into a moderate and sober modesty a modest sobriety and moderation Having thus layd downe these foure particulars by way of prevention give me leave to explaine the sence of the Doctrine in these seven following propositions First The Lord Iesus as head of his Church was first anointed with the divine spirit Here began this holy Unction Jesus Christ was the first Receiver of the Spirit The eternall spirit powred forth an abundance of this ointment upon the person of our Lord Jesus He was anointed with the oyle of gladness above his Fellowes In the ancient anointings God had appointed certaine measures of this oyl to be spent upon the persons anointed Saul was anointed with a Cruise of oyle as not like to continue in the throne long David was anointed with a horne of oyle his Kingdome being to remaine longer but it pleased the Father that in Jesus Christ should all fulness dwell so that in Isai. 10. he is called The anointing and such is the savour of his good ointments that his Name is as ointment powred forth therefore doe the Virgins love him The Lord Jesus did Receive this fulness for our sakes that from it we might receive and grace for grace Hee was to be the head of his Church propter eminentiam influentiam not onely for superiority but also for influence and conveyance so that upon this account Hee was first considered in the business of anointing that he might be usefull for conveyance of this spirit to his people The ointment poured upon the head of the high Priest ran downe upon his beard and to the skirts of his clothing leaving a sweet fragrancie and savour behinde it so doth this spirit of our Lord Jesus flow from him down to all his saints and perfumes them with his owne sweetness And as the Prophet Elijah when hee went to heaven let his mantle and spirit fall upon Elisha so did our blessed Lord and Saviour after his ascention send forth his owne spirit to dwell with his Disciples as their solace and comfort in his necessary absence Secondly Iesus Christ as a second Adam doth begett Children after his owne Image The first Adam brought forth children in his owne likeness deriving to them the same naturall spirit which was in himselfe so doth the second Adam propagate his posterity and give unto them his owne spirit which is supernaturall and heavenly The Picture doth not so exactly resemble the face as the regenerate soule doth resemble her everlasting Father This Notion lyeth very obvious in the 5. of the Romans Where the Apostle discourseth of the two Adams and their two posterities with their severall advantages or prejudices that they received from their head As by one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and death passed upon all for asmuch as all have sinned which words referre to the whole posterity of the first Adam so by one man came life by one came forgiveness by one came such a universall reparation that as in Adam all dyed so in Christ all are made alive all the posterity of the second Adam are as much yea more advantaged by their Head Jesus Christ then all the posterity of the first Adam were damnified by his Apostacy and the influence that it had upon them The Lord Jesus findes the children of the first Adam in their naturall capacity and maketh them the subjects of his grace but Hee bringeth forth upon their minds and spirits a new creation which he did not finde in them no not in semine not in the seeds or root of it Hee cometh by his spirit to doe some thing in man which could not be done by the sublimation or improvement of those Rudera naturae those reliques and remainders of Shipwrackt nature for if so then what meaneth that bitter Cup what meant that pomp of bloody sufferings which Jesus Christ did undergoe What need was there that he should come endowed with so much spirit If Naturall principles which yet remaine in the broken posterity of the first Adam could have brought forth that which now is the great designe and undertaking of Christ in the world Hee seemeth to have come in the flesh and to have suffered such contradction of sinners and so shamefull accursed death upon the Cross upon too smal and too inferiour account Doth Jesus Christ after all this effect no more upon men then what the scattered peices of decayed nature being gathered together could effect upon them Surely Brethren Hee doth more then so for hee begetts children unto himselfe as a Father and uniteth members unto himselfe as an Head Hee transplanteth soules into an other soyle and they live in him deriving sap and spirit from him as from their better soyle their new Root The Apostle in Gal. 4. doth thus exprese it My little children with whom I travaile in birth {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} untill Christ be formed in you that is until the spirit of our Lord Jesus comes to be that to your soules which your soules are unto your bodies The reasonable soule in
I may the more clearly manifest to this great Assembly what my understanding is in this weighty matter give me leave to preface foure particulars which may prevent mistakes as if any private or particular designe were aimed at in such a Doctrine as this First Man as a reasonable Creature is the subject of Christian Doctrine Man doth not throw away his mind and understanding when hee comes to be proselited into the Truths of Christ When God undertaketh to informe a man with heavenly doctrine hee doth not deale with him as hee would deale with a stone which he would raise up to be a child to Abraham for he findeth man already endowed with a minde and will upon which account Hee is capable to heare further from his God Mans understanding is of very good use in Christian Religion for by that is man able to communicate much of his sence in heavenly things unto others as also to plead for and by argument to back the Truth received against the Cavils and contradictions of such as oppose themselves I must confess freely what I apprehend That in the moment of a mans conversion when the grace of God powerfully ceizeth upon his spirit to turne him from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God those acts that he doth then performe are the most rationall acts that ever he did performe in all his life The acts of Repentance Faith and Selfe-denyall the act of turning from sin unto God which are the acts that appear in the first motion of the soule unto God these are in themselves and to the soule most reasonable equitable just and right yea in the further progress of the grace of God in mans minde when it growes up into sanctification and holiness the understanding of a man doth act and acteth understandingly The truth is This minde and understanding of a man is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the great Philosopher calls it the very flower of a mans soule which is not blasted and withered by the Truths of the Gospell but it is thereby reformed rectified repaired and restored to its primaeve perfection with great advantage So that I think in a sober sence what the Apostle speaks of the Law That it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a School-Master to Christ may be sayd of mans naturall knowledge and understanding In which sence one of the Antients calleth true Philosophy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an inferiour Schoole or a fore-teaching to Christ as it is that which renders a man capable and fit to receive the impressions of a divine spirit For certainely a man in his witts and not a mad distracted man is the subject of Gods grace of his converting and sanctifying grace Secondly The written word of God in the Scriptures of Truth is the onely outward rule of faith and manners This is the norma fidei morum According to this rule must every man order his conversation Isai. 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because they have not so much as morning-light in them This is the royall Standard of Truth unto which we must bring all mens dogmata their assertions and opinions which are vended for Truth in the world Hereby may we examine and judge of all that which men would obtrude upon us I recommend to evry one that heartes me the constant studying of the holy Scriptures as being the Oracles of God It was that for which the Holy Ghost doth so highly commend the Beraean Christians That they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so and upon this account they were called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} more noble as being better borne better bred better educated then those of Thessalonica I will onely adde this That the Letter of the Scriptures is but dead without a divine power joyned with it and a spirit moving mans mind without a word is very questionable and dangerous Thirdly The Holy Spirit which is understood by this anointing is no private spirit or particular impulse no singular perswasion or extraordinary inspiration but a generall and universall sense in all regenerate minds Holy men doe all agree by common consent in those Truths which the New Creature doth chiefly resent and rellish The Apostle to this purpose useth two expressions 1 Cor. 12. 13. and 2 Cor. 4. 13. By one spirit are we all baptized into one body and have been all made to drinke into one spirit and wee have the same spirit of Faith Where the Apostle considers the community of Christians under the notion of a body made up of severall members which must have a soule and spirit to informe animate quicken and enliven it This is that spirit of Jesus Christ which doth live in the soules of holy men and distinguish them from the common Herd of Infidels and Beastly sinners Although we may be ignorant of that which the Philosophers meant by their Anima mundi the soule of the world yet me thinks every gracious heart should easily apprehend what is that spirit and soule of the regenerate world But here I must acknowledge also That the eternall spirit of God doth sometimes come downe as from Heaven and particularly move upon a regenerate minde whereby it doth {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} blow off the ashes and stir up those heavenly sparkes which lay in the soule as buried under some clouds of sadness and hereby the frozen and benumined spirit of a precious saint doth finde it selfe thawed into a vivacious fitness for any service This is that which the spouse calls for in Song 4. 16. Awake O North winde and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the spices thereof may flow out This discourse I conceive may shew us the difference between the good spirit of God which sober minds converse withall and that fanatick and exstatick spirit which vaine men pretend unto and are deluded with This spirit in both the senses that we have spoken of may not be condemned as a groundless Enthusiasme for as the learned Cameron observes Enthusiasmus est ubi quis est merum organum sine omni usurationis judicij Then is a man acted by such a spirit when he uttereth Revelations without the use of his understanding and reason as sometimes the Prophets of old did who were but as a trunk or instrument through which the spirit conveyed those secrets which God would declare unto the world Fourthly The spirit of Christ signified by this anointing is first received in the way of his Ordinances and is thereby maintained and carryed on and doth live with great delight in the use of those Ordinances where it was first received He who hath received the anointing from the Holy one knows where he hath received it and he knowes also that
word but the power of it implanting the minde of Christ in our mindes and turning of us from the ways of sin into the love of God I do not here determine what those larger measures or higher degrees of this teaching may be in the latter dayes when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters doe the Sea Secondly If the best way to a certainty of knowledge in heavenly things be by a spirituall anointing Then proud man must be humbled and bee willing to bee taught by a divine spirit Flesh and blood cannot reveal unto man the things of the spirit neither can any man call Jesus the Lord but by the Holy Ghost for the flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickneth and these things they are spirit and they are life All things that Jesus Christ spake and did they were spoken in parables and done in parables to those that are without that hearing they might hear and not understand and seeing they might see and not perceive but to his Disciples he saith Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdome unto you these things are revealed from the Father The Apostle tells us in 2 Cor. 10. 5 That the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mighty through God to the pulling down of those {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} those strong holds and reasonings those insulting notions that lift up themselves against Jesus Christ After all the Inquisition that our carnall reason can make into the Scriptures of truth to finde out articles of faith we shall still remain unsatisfied and may perceive that we are still ready secretly to aske the same question that Pilate did What is Truth Many men doe sometimes think that they throughly understand spirituall Truths when alas all their knowledge amounteth to nothing more then a zealous or passionate arguing for them The whole Bible to a reasonable man not regenerated will be as that book was which the Prophet speaks of when it was delivered to the learned to read it he returns it and saith I cannot for it is sealed and when it was delivered into the hands of the unlearned to read it he saith I am not learned We carry Bibles in our hands and say we study the word of God wee do well but untill we have a spirit from God teaching of us inwardly and reforming us according to the Tenor of that word we shall be no great Proficients in that knowledge Hence it is that in the 19. Vers of the Epistle of Iude one that hath not the spirit and one that is sensuall are accounted to be the same person sensuall not having the spirit The truth is vaine man would be wise though he be like a wilde asses colt Men would not onely be Masters of reason and naturall knowledge but would also have dominion over other mens faith and would subdue the spirituall sense of the new Creature to the Soveraignty and supremacy of humane arguments But as the Apostle speaks {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} where is the wise where is the Disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisedome of this world These men indeed be those {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that would seem to be wise but is it not with them as the Apostle speaks in Rom. 1. 21. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} are they not become dark and vain in their imaginations yea doe they not cum ratione insanire even run madd with that which they call their reason though it be nothing better then a corrupt enmity against the honesty and simplicity of Christ Give me leave to speak freely in this point when the great mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven such are Self-denyall reliance upon the grace of God revealed by the Messiah living by Faith in another and deriving strength from Christ through a promise I say when these things and the like are propounded to a naturall understanding and un unmortified heart will it not say that you doe lapides loqui speak stones unto it and offer that which is too hard to be received Me thinks when I offer such spirituall Truths to be judged at the Tribunall of naturall understanding which I call argumentative knowledge it is as when that which belongeth to one sense is presented to an other which cannot give a perfect judgement of it Hee that would make mee to understand what Musick is and the excellency of it must not bring mee to one that can with eloquence relate a story thereof and tell me in words what ravishing Harmony and rare delights it doth entertaine one withall and then bid me imagine how every note exceeded the other for this is not to touch upon the right string but he must bring me to a Consort where mine eare may receive a true impression from such musicall delights It is not enough to paint out the beauty of a Rose in the most lively colours and set it before mine eyes but I must smell to the rose it selfe and thereby come to know the sweetnesse of it Wee may thinke to make our selves great Doctors of the Law by a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a forme of knowledge but thereby we deceive our selves attaining onely to a poor and beggarly understanding of the truths therein contained for the best way to know them is to obey and practise them He that hath his heart truly mortified to this world is crucified with Christ being made alive againe by that spirit of regeneration Hee alone doth attaine to the most quick and lively apprehensions of those Truths that are revealed by Christ in his Gospel Thirdly If they alone doe truly know the things of Christ who have received his anointing then certainly wicked men are no competent Iudges of Christian Doctrine Whatsoever their parts are or their acquired learing in arts and sciences yet as to heavenly things they are very darke and ignorant Perhaps this inference may provoke the great wits of the world to say as those Pharises did to Christ Are we blinde also But I am sure the Apostle tells us Hee that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and he that is not one of Christs flock I doe not know how he should understand Christs voice The prophaner Jews had the magnalia legis the great things of the Law delivered to them and they accounted them as a strange thing for as the Apostle speakes Moses hath a veile lying upon his face and when that people shall be converted unto the Lord this veile shall be taken away There is the flesh of Christ covering his spirit there is the letter and shell of the word of Christ as it is printed in our Bibles which doth like a Masque cloude and hide the beautifull face of Truth so that a carnall heart cannot discerne the beauty or judge aright of the excellency thereof so that the preaching of