unutterable Agonies and Woes of Hell and the horrible Tempest of Divine Vengeance and indignation in everlasting Burnings which will be tormenting above all that any understanding but that of God can comprehend the bitter Weepings Wailings and Gnashings of Teeth without Ease Release Mitigation Relief or End this intolerable after-clap of Sin is even to the remembrance and fore-thought almost as Cruciating as it self to the sense and feeling will be confounding God's Writing down all our Miscarriages in his Book out of which all the Power and Policy in the World can never expunge them his setting even our secret Sins in the light of his Countenance which makes them infinitely more visible than the Sun in the Firmament is a consideration that sticks and stabs us to the Heart and Murders all our Comforts at once and buries us in Horror Yet now if there can be any good token found that this Hand-writing is blotted out If a Man can be assured that Iniquity and Transgression shall by God be remembred no more this is the most reviving transporting Solace in the World But how can I have a Testimony that God hath thus privileged me How shall I know that he will forgive and forget my wickedness if he do not tell me Who can search into the bottom of his Counsels and know his purposes and practice in Heaven if himself do not reveal them And there are but two ways of revealing any secret thing viz. by words and by works Words spoken and written Deeds in Signs The Holy Scriptures reveal God's general Will to pardon some yet do they not name but only describe the Persons giving their true and lively Moral Character setting down at full such Qualifications as may be to any Man a clear Evidence who is and who is not made happy in this forensecal Mercy of Justification If an Angel from Heaven should address himself to thee with this Comfortable Message That thy Iniquities are pardoned If a Bath-kol a voice in Thunder should name thee and say Be of good Comfort thy Sins are forgiven thee thou could'st not be secure that this was not an Illusion to abuse thee into Presumption if thy inward sense did not report those tokens on which the Word of God does suspend thy Pardon But if thou canst but produce these all the Angels and Voices from Heaven imaginable though as particular and clear as possible telling thee thou art unjustified must be acknowledged accursed Deceptions because they Preach another Doctrine than Christ has done in the Gospel Gal. 1.8 Well then that thou may'st find a good token for good thou need'st not ascend into Heaven to search the Archives or court Rolls of the upper Bench there nor turn over the Book of Life in a curious tracing out thy particular name but having duly informed thy mind what are the signs of a Pardoned State look within thy Soul and Conscience and diligently enquire and examine without Partiality and a biass selfward whether the present State Constitution and Frame of thy heart be that in reality which is enrolled in the promises of the Book of God the Scripture which tender to thee Conditionally the forgiveness of Sin produce but those Conditions let it but appear upon sound Evidence that will satisfie thy self and the World and thy Judge that having truly repented of thy Sin thou livest under the Dominion of Faith and a good Conscience and Justice it self is obliged to Faithfulness for the granting thee Indemnity and Remission and the sense thereof in thy own Soul For if a Man can truly say that he hath repented and stands to what he has done in stedfast Resolutions never to return to folly his Reflections upon former Sins will not be torturing though they may be grieving because he hath the promise of Mercy and Pardon Isa 55.7 Acts 3.19 which Justice it self is obliged to perform For Conditional Promises in themselves are Dispensations of free love which was not obliged by any necessity or Congruousness to offer such Blessings upon such terms yet once made and the Conditions observed the Donation of the Mercy becomes the interest of strict Justice and Righteousness But although the New Covenant admit of Repentance which that of Works could not yet this Condescention is only through a Mediator Jesus Christ If therefore to thy Penitence thou do not superadd Faith in him neither will those after Thoughts be sound nor introductive of Peace because without Christ our Righteousness and Peace objective and causal without us Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 Mic. 5.5 Eph. 2.14 there can be no Pardon and Peace formal within us Rom. 8.1 and without Faith no Justification no Christ Rom. 5.1 Joh. 3.18 36. Yet both these must be evinced to be sincere and sound and thereby be themselves justifiable and justified which nothing can do but the exercise of a Good Conscience Acts 24.16 This alone is to us the surest Evidence that our Repentance and Faith are unfeigned and that we deceive not our own Souls Indeed the basis of all true bliss and solace is a good Conscience in Justice and Innocency toward Man Inoffensiveness and Piety toward God Moderation and Sobriety in my self the contrary to these and Comfort are incompatible 'T is but a colloguing with my Conscience to my utter Confusion to tender it Peace if it be not pure Jam. 3.17 No Man can be groundedly quiet in Mind if filthy in Heart and Life If thou be a Devil thou must carry thy Hell about thee visibly or under disguise in its self or its Causes Thou hast no just Right to the sweets of Religion if a stranger to its Power A Mans first Designs for Joy are or ought to be laid in Self-survey and Reflection If he can find nothing of God within he can take comfort in nothing of God without but by an unjust Usurpation and Sacrilege All the goodness of God signifies nothing to an ill Man But a Good Conscience or heart is a continual Feast Prov. 15.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that finds all right at home who has no rebuke nor cause thereof from the Domestick Comptroller and Comforter in his Bosom is happy Now there can be no goodness in Conscience but only from God and as far as in Conjunction with God God in thy Conscience makes it good for he is all Goodness and there neither is nor can be any except in and from him And all the goodness which is in thy Conscience from him is first from his Faithfulness acting under his Love in the Covenant wherein he promises to give a new heart of Flesh Ezek. 36 26 27. Jer. 31.33 and Write his Laws in it by his Spirit of Promise which he engages shall cause us to walk in his Statutes c. Next and under Faithfulness all the goodness in thy Conscience is from Justice For the Right that Fidelity gives to Mercy Justice is obliged to maintain God must perform his Word because he cannot
against the Poison of all adverse accidents For since nothing diseases disquiets me but only as far as it gets within me and no external Occurrents can be so great Evils as internal Sanctity is a good because the utmost that the fiery rage of Earth and Hell can do against me is but finite whilst under the conduct and influence of real Holiness I am secure that I do and shall enjoy the all-sufficient Reliefs of infinite goodness and therefore my Miseries only commit a Rape upon my imaginative and irascible Powers whilst my Comforts are seated deep in my Rational which through Divine Grace have regain'd the Soveraignty it necessarily follows that the potency of all outward Evils to torment me is boundlesly short of the Omnipotency of that Internal Heaven that I feel in my conscience to content and ease me and my Sorrows will be perfectly run down by my Joys and Consolations But then this I must acknowledge that neither can my Conscience be good nor I comfortably Innocent i. e. neither acting nor imagining evil against Men nor Righteous i. e. designing and doing all the good I can out of an inward principle of Love and Justice unless I be truly a Sanctified Person For external fair demeanour toward Men without an inward Inclination and Affection thereto is but only Hypocrisie before God 2. Privilege is Propriety in God with the assurance of it both in Vers 22. and in those Two Words MY GOD. For he could not without presumption or falshood say this if he knew it not And 't is not the common interest of Nature founded in the Relation of Creatures which every Man nay Devil may justly claim that these words here import but a special Propriety through Grace founded in Regeneration and Adoption In short 't is not a congenit and general but a federal and peculiar right in God which must bottom our Consolation When we are taught of God out of his Law Vers 12. in such a manner as to have that Law of God Writ in our Hearts according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace Jer. 31.33 c. God thereby giving us a sensible Demonstration that he is our God so as he is not to those who though the Work of his hands of Power yet are not his Workmanship by Grace created in Christ Jesus to good Works Ephes 2.10 Then and not till then have we Right to the Fruits of Righteousness in Peace and Joy unspeakable and upon our assurance Right in them 'T is but little Satisfaction to be able to plead no better title to God than Apostate Spirits or Infidels But if we can upon good Grounds assure our selves that God is ours in the singular Relation of a gracious Father who hath begot us again to a lively hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead we therein have also the evidence that every thing in God is ours to enstate us in the Perfection of Felicity and Consolation He that is blest with any Plerophory that God is federally his and consequently that he hath a clear title to Jesus Christ and all his Benefits hath also a full and sufficient Testimony in that very thing of a sure and indefeisible right to the Holy Spirit and all his Comforts For these are absolutely inseparable both in Nature and Divine Donation And if we have an interest in one Covenant Blessing 't is a pledge of assurance that we have all They are four 1. Sanctification of which before I will put my Laws into their Minds and write them in their Hearts 2. Propriety in God or Adoption I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People 3. Special Illumination or saving Knowledge They shall not teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest 4. Pardon of Sin or Justification I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more All here is will and shall Words of Authority and Command These Four are not only by the Covenant indissolubly connected but also in the reason of the thing For there can be no possible evidence that God is ours in special and hath savingly enlightned our Minds and pardoned our Sins but only real and undissembled Goodness and that which is of God's Creation by Writing his Laws in our Hearts can be no other Therefore this is the leading Mercy in the Covenant as inferring the rest and declaring the truth of all If then God be ours we are certainly Sanctified Illuminated and Pardoned but the contrary if God be not ours by peculiar and special Right They mutually prove each other and the absence or denial of one excludes all 't is impossible they should be divided Canst thou without self-deceiving say with the Psalmist and in his sence MY GOD then canst thou as truly say I am Pardoned I am Sanctified c. Here then is the very Root of all Spiritual Comfort For trouble of Conscience which is its contrary is founded by Sin The Filth the Guilt the Power afflict and wound our Spirits If these be removed the ground of the trouble vanishes and if we have an inward feeling and assurance that they are removed the trouble it self is actually taken away Now Pardon is the taking away the guilt of Sin we have no reason to fear the Wrath to which it did bind us over and Sanctification is the taking away the Power and Filth of Sin in us I say in us for Sanctification doth not abolish the filthy Nature of Sin in it self but rather discover it to us more abundantly to excite our abhorrency and loathing and this very Detestation is the main of our cleansing from the filth of Sin this washes away that stain wherewith our Souls were blemished that is God deals with us as if there were none is as kind and favourable to us and as freely converses with us as if we never had been polluted and will continue so to do till we renew the defilement For the sake of Christ he overlooks all those spots and deformities the turpitude and disgrace whereof made us cover our Faces in shame before his pure all-discerning Eye and he looks upon us and we look upon our selves as clear unblamable and beautiful in his Eyes when we really hate those Evils that have defiled us and as the spring of that hatred without which it can never be nor be pleasing to God when we are replenished with the Riches of his Grace and adorned with the Robes of his Sons Righteousness for both concur to our acceptation Sanctification also destroys the Commanding but not at first the Rebelling the Regal but not Tyrannical Power of Sin though it be our strength even against this and at last will abolish it It so subdues our Lusts that they shall not Reign though they may resist as contumacious Enemies They are look'd upon as Traitors
got to the foot of that Ladder whose top is Heaven Comfort is the Off-spring of God and thus descends to Man The matter and substance of it or the thing comforting is originally something of or from the Divine Nature it self Which when we had forfeited by Sin the ever-blessed Jesus God's Eternal Son did interpose to regain and purchase for us and remove all impediments to the conferring it on God's part Whence he is call'd the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.25 And our Consolations are said to abound by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 If there be any Consolations in Christ is the Hypothesis of a very powerful Argument Phil. 2.1 And that Prayer 2 Thes 2.16 17. is very considerable Now our LORD Jesus Christ himself and GOD even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace Comfort your Hearts and establish you in every good Word and Work Hence the Father who is the principal Author and Efficient hath obliged himself to bestow it and therefore is call'd the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 God that comforteth those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 See Isa 51.11 12. Hos 2.14 Isa 66.13 Especially that remarkable place foremention'd Heb. 6.16 17 18. The Holy Ghost hath his part also as removing the Impediments of Comfort on Man's part preparing for it and in the use of the means of Grace and Peace the Word and Ordinances applying it actually to us whence if our Translation be of any Authority he has the Name of Comforter given and appropriated to him Joh. 14.16 c. I mention the Word and Ordinances of God as the means of Comfort and not without warrant Psal 119.82 Mine Eyes fail for thy Word saying when wilt thou Comfort me Rom. 15.4 Whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And to this purpose is it said of the Comforter Joh. 14.26 He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you And Joh. 15.26 He shall testifie of me all this in pursuance of his Office as Comforter Now by these means 1. He reveals Comfort to us in the Covenant and Promise 2. Declares to us the terms and conditions upon which Comfort may be assuredly obtain'd and 3. Works those Conditions in us 1. Repentance to qualifie and prepare for it 2. Faith to apprehend and apply it which 4. Experience feels with all other connex Graces operating effectually in our Hearts Wherefrom Lastly A full Assurance arises 1. That our Graces are sound and sincere 2. That the Promises are our Portion the Lord our God Christ our Saviour the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier Comfort Joy and Heaven our Inheritance by special Covenant-right and from all these together necessarily grows actual Peace of Conscience and true spiritual Consolation but then 't is only as far as we have the first Assurance for without this we cannot assume to our selves any true Joy and Comfort as far as the rest issue in Assurance but no farther have we solace in and from them Let there be as firm a Foundation laid both without me and within me as is possible yet if I know nothing of it my Heart is uneasie and unsettled I am no better for it But knowing that Sincerity gives right to all in God as soon as ever I attain true Faith of Evidence all is composed into a quiet Settlement and Peace And so certain is this that even the false and fallacious Joys of both Hypocrites and prophane Persons must have an answerable perswasion in the Mind of a right to them For no Man can take comfort in that which he knows he hath nothing to do with Indeed their Assurance is as groundless though they do not know so much as their Comfort is illuding and impostorous and alway the nature of the Comfort doth perfectly answer the quality of the Assurance if this be sound and good that is so also if otherwise we gull our selves into real woe under a delusory dream of merely phantastical Consolation Hence there 's an absolute necessity of abundance of Experience and diligent trial whether our Experience be conform to the Word of God if we desire that our Assurance may stand upon a secure basis For if we feel not the real effects of Divine Power and Goodness fulfilling to us in truth the Promise and Covenant of Grace in writing the Divine Laws in our Hearts and enabling and exercising us to observe and obey them we can have no Assurance that any thing is right within us or gives right to any thing without us We must experience a sound Work that without fallacy may be ascribed to God himself For no Grace is true which is not of God's creating to him doth the Scripture every where ascribe it One full place for all Ezek. 36.26 27. A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Satutes and do them Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your Iniquities and for your Abominations c. First the Principle and Power must be confer'd by God then and not till then the practice by Man will commence and begin but all under the influence of Divine Grace 'T is first I will I will then you shall and again to show that the very you shall though Man's act yet is not of and from Man it follows not for your sake do I this do I therefore not you without me nor so by my aid neither as that the doing it can more justly and truly be ascribed to you than me yet will not I do it without you for ye shall loath your selves i. e. by my Power nor will I do it without your asking for Ver. 37. Yet for this will I be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them We must then have good experience especially of the Work of Divine Grace in making the soundness of our Actings of Repentance and Faith apparent and the fruits of both must concur to give a clear Testimony that they are right and genuine such a full and thorow spiritual sense and feeling must we have of them and their agreeableness to the Rules and Laws of Scripture that require them as to be able to satisfie our selves and approve our Consciences to God that we do not play the Hypocrites and cheat our selves and the World with Counterfeits instead of unsophisticate sincere Graces else we can never be blest with any certainty that God is ours and his Comforts ours and therefore cannot groundedly take comfort in him 'T is then demonstratively clear that
the Port of real Holiness then does he generously tender us those needful refreshments which will revive our weather-beaten Souls can we now spurn them away from us and be innocent Here therefore is Sin on both hands How shall we cast the balance We must not sin our selves into Comfort neither must we sin it away Cut the hair Well then all depends upon this the determination what is too hasty what too slow application of Promises And this upon the preceding Quaere what is due Preparation For to apply Promises when rightly qualified is no Sin but Duty therefore to neglect it is Sin Then are we too hasty when we run before we are bidden not otherwise God by creating in us the pre-required Promise-dispositions bids us take all the Blessings in the Promise which they dispose for When the Condition is perform'd the Covenant is a Command to accept its Merey which cannot be refused without disobedience to God 'T would be strange petulancy when Christ says Come ye Blessed of my Father inher it the Kingdom c. to reply no I dare not I am not qualify'd Such is the refusal to inherit his Comforts when he hath wrought in us their Conditions And if the foremention'd be not where are they Remember Oh my Soul thou livest not under the Covenant of Works but of Grace And if thou doubtest of thy Preparations resume thy Work try them better make them sounder that thy second and renew'd Essays may be unquestionable Yet remember also that 't is a grievous Sin to belye thy self and deny God's Work he expects thou should'st consider and own the Operation of his Hands and give him the Glory of the Fruits of his Love in thy Regeneration Take heed of detaining the Truth in the Prison of Vnrighteousness Be just to God and thy self Do not dare to blaspheme his Grace by attributing it to other Causes As thou must not flatter thy self so neither forswear the Grace of God If thou yet alledge that 't is God's Work to comfort by his Spirit who does it by inclining the heart to accept of his Tenders which thou dost not experience but rather he renews thy Troubles and Disquiets by presenting new Matter or setting on the old therefore should'st thou assume to thy self the Solace of the Promises 't would not be a Comfort of God's making but thine own and so a mere Fallacy put upon thy Conscience I answer 1. by Retort If God do his part to encline thy heart to accept of Peace but thou resistest him and against his Will resumest thy Troubles and quenchest those Motions of his Spirit that were intended to allay thy Disquiets and create Peace whose is the Fault now That this may be clear'd I answer 2. That God's moral Motion is antecedent to and leads all Physical his or ours For since he inclines in a way suitable to our Nature as he himself as we and all rational Natures act where the Mind and Reason leads the Will and inclines it therefore by presenting Objects and Reasons urging and enforcing them by sense and feeling of misery disquiet of heart and woe God strives with thy Will to move it freely to embrace those freely-offer'd Comforts without which thou perceivest thy self plainly to be ready to sink into Horror and Despair But thou against both divine Reason and thine own Sense stiffly irrationally and malapartly refusest to yield to either and yet art so sottish as to impute thy Frenzy to God Avaunt Blasphemy If the mighty important Perswasives of Heaven cannot prevail upon thee as a Man never imagine that the Almightiness of God will miraculously drag thee as a Beast or a Block into that Paradise of Rest and Satisfaction which now thou startlest and tremblest at And understand that if thou be'st a Rebel against the Reason of God thou wilt also be a Fighter against the Power of God If a rational Mind act in repugnancy to his Wisdom much more will an irrational brutish Will against his Omnipotence there being less aversation in any Man to be subdu'd by the Golden Liberty of forcible Arguments than the Iron-necessity of Club-Law The result is that to refuse divine Comforts when qualified for them is an evident fighting against God and to deny our Qualifications when heartily grieved for and undissembledly willing and active to divorce from and never return to any thing displeasing to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and unfeignedly desirous and diligent to espouse the Divine Interest in all things without tergiversation or delay This is an apparent Rebellion and Lye against the Holy Ghost and our own Souls which Oh my Soul there is an absolute necessity that thou should'st be much more afraid of than thy mere imaginary Presumption in accepting that which is so clearly and freely tendered to thee by God And what dost thou mean herein oh foolish and unkind to thy self oh ingrateful and impious against God that the wise and rich and sweet Provisions of Heaven in boundless Compassions to thy Necessity and Misery laid at thy Feet should be trod in the Dirt That thou wilt not vouchsafe to be so merciful to thy self and respectful to God as to permit his healing Balms to be poured into thy bleeding Wounds but in a blind Zeal against thy unworthy self or an over-righteous Revenge against thy abhorred Sins or an humorous Peevishness or Pertinacy of Spirit or I know not what woundest those gracious Hands which in infinite Tenderness and Commiseration offer so benignly by these most effectual Medicines against all Anxiety and Woe to deliver thee out of thy wearisome Hospital into an everlasting Heaven of Pleasure Joy Peace Soundness Safety Rest and Consolation Oh thy Madness to chuse thy Miseries and Vexations rather than so blessed an hope so unutterable Happiness What! be fond of Hell and dote on thy Torment and prefer thy Prelibations of eternal Plagues and Horrors before these Earnests of those unspeakably glorious future Recompences Is it not even so This is and well may it be for a Lamentation CHAP. XVII Instructive Inferences VVAving the Corrective Deductions because in part coincident with the Elenctical as I have managed them I shall close all with the Instructive And here as all along I have done I shall especially direct about Spiritual Comfort as the foundation of and introductive to all other that 's worthy of Name Every disquieted Heart is melted into a passionate longing after Peace If it can but see any dawnings of a lightsom day of Joy after the gloomy night of its Troubles If after all its tremulous Palpitations and Passions and Horrors it may be supported with the Revivings of the least glimmering Hope that God will entertain any Thoughts of Reconciliation it seems to glory in a willingness to be or do any thing to submit to any Terms whatever that may be conducible to this happy and amicable Closure To promote this blessed End and compromise of differences betwixt incensed Heaven
not 1. Against the Law of Subjection and Obedience ingaging me to the Magistrate 2. The Law of Charity that requires me not to scandalize my Brother If to gratifie his scrupulosity I forbear I do certainly know that he sins in disobeying But 't is only an accidental scandal may or may not happen that he should be emboldned by my Example to act against his Conscience To throw this off the Stage enter Christian Liberty which to restrain is Sin though by a Person in Authority having Laws under him Ans True but then be sure that it be indeed Christian Liberty least asserting it forfeit and lose your civil and corporal Liberty Now because a right understanding and use of Christian Liberty hath a special influence into Comfort and Peace of Conscience Let 's a little consider it Let it be heedfully observed that true Christian Liberty doth not consist meerly in the indifferent use or omission of things not commanded nor forbidden but in the release of Conscience from an obligation to do or omit some things under pain of Damnation Thus are we set at Liberty from the rigour of the Law or Covenant of Works which required perfect personal and perpetual Obedience upon peril of Death The Covenant of Grace doth not disoblige from such obedience but from the peril of Death though we come short provided we act sincerely This is the main of our Christian Liberty Not a freedom to do or not do but a freedom from Penalty upon an easter Condition And this is all our Hope Comfort and Salvation Under the Jewish Law were included many Ceremonials things in their own nature neither Good nor Evil yet that Law made the omission of them Sin exposing to Damnation Christ by his Gospel hath set us at Liberty How What to do or omit them at Pleasure No such matters For then 't were lawful to Sacrifice to keep the Passover to Circumcise c. as well as forbear No the Liberty granted us must be doubly distinguish'd 1. Into Natural and Adventitious The Indifferency of the use or omission of Lawful things is a part of Natural not Adventitious Liberty which understand thus Some things which were in their own Nature lawful to be used or not used God determined on one side by positive Law under the Mosaical Dispensation But over and above there were things made the matter of positive Laws which would never have entred into the Imaginations of Men had not the first notices thereof come from God Who could ever have thought of such a thing as Circumcision c. had not the first Injunction thereof proceeded from Heaven Our Natural Liberty did consist in a freedom from that and like Yoaks But not in an indifferency to use or not use them So then by the Law of our Native Liberty we may use or not use some things without Sin there 's an indifferency on both sides as to take up a Straw or let it alone c. Yet also the indifferency does naturally lie only on one side in other things as to continue the Body in its Natural State without Circumcision But God for wise and holy purposes having abridged the Jews of this Natural Liberty for a season when the reason of those Laws ceased was pleas'd to abolish them whereby by we became reinstated in our natural Right and Freedom which otherwise those Laws when devulged to us would have taken from us Now the reason of imposing those Laws was to succour the infirmity of the Jews in two things 1. In Faith of which nature are all the things impos'd which have a Typical significancy as Sacrifices c. 2. In Manners of which sort are all that have a moral significancy as Meats Washings c. But now Jesus the substance of those Typical Shadows being come in the Flesh the Laws concerning them were ipso facto vacated and by the more plentiful effusion of his Spirit of Truth and Grace thorowly furnishing Men for exact Moral Goodness he took away the necessity both of remembring us thereof and eeking it out by Washings Circumcision c. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as a compleat Law from the Spirit of Truth doing the one more sufficiently than a few dumb signs and the New Nature communicated by the Spirit of Grace together with Christ's Merit all-sufficiently doing the other This is the Liberty I call Adventitious not that 't is new but newly given not that we never had it but had it restor'd after an interruption During the restraint 't was sin to use it To Christ we owe that now we may again use it without sin as at first before God abridged it and this is that we call Christian Liberty in things indifferent as contradistinct to Natural For Christ as Redeemer did not parchase our Natural Liberty but gave it as Creator 'T is only the Adventitious that we enjoy by vertue of his Merit 't is only this that we are entrusted with the Preservation and Vindication of by the New Testament 2. Liberty is either Positive or Negative The former consists in an indifferency to act this or that or the other way at pleasure The latter in being loos'd from the obligation to act That which Christ the Redeemer bestows is chiefly of this latter sort We are disobliged loosed from the Ceremonial Bands wherewith the Jews were tyed so as we need not to act as they under that Oeconomy 'T is no sin to us to omit incurrs no Penalty And this freedom from the guilt and punishment due for Omission is indeed a privilege which constitutes the very essence of the Covenant of Grace in one part of it The tenor thereof in its Negative part being this viz. Thy Imperfections Failures Omissions shall not be imputed as Sins effecting thy Damnation This for want of a better Word I call Negative Liberty Although thou do not Circumcise do not Sacrifice do not Eat a Paschal Lamb do not Wash c. thou dost not sin thou shalt not be cut off from thy People from my Heaven This and none other in these indifferent Matters is Christian Liberty the Purchase and Gift of Jesus Christ our Lord. So that except Magistrates do again introduce the Ceremonial Law in whole or part they do not at all touch upon Christian Liberty but Natural only which they are allow'd to restrain in civil things upon just occasions as is evident from not only Scripture and Reason but the practice of all Nations and Ages and Families For would it not be sweet to hear a Child or Servant reply to their Superiours commanding them to light a Candle c. 'T is not lawful for you to restrain my Liberty Had you not commanded I might have obey'd but your imposing has made it unlawfal Oh dainty delicate Reasoning Yet such as some fob off their Consciences withal 'T is the same thing when they command in the Circumstantials of Divine Worship c. I charge you to be present at
an Alms asked in the Name of Christ but above all the Eternal Father never will Joh. 14.13 14. and 15.16 and 16.23 24. But the Nature the Life the Power of Christianity is a Thing incomparable the highest communication of Divine Goodness issuing from the lowest condescension of infinite grace Christ the God of Wisdom dwelling in our Nature by the Holy Ghost the God of love and in our hearts by Faith to root and ground us in Love Oh the height depth length breadth of the love of Christ an Hyperbole to our knowledge infinitely surpassing shooting above it that we may be FILLED WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD. Oh Mystery above all Mysteries Oh Grace above all Grace The Height of most incomprehensible Majesty in the deepest humility of boundless Mercy exalting poor degenerate man from the lowest Abyss of unspeakable misery to the utmost sublimity of celestial Glory in such an extensive amplitude and fullness of all the richest blessings spread abroad over the whole latitude of humane nature having their spring from that everliving fountain of Eternal Love and streaming in infinite varleties to the length of all eternity with such accommodation and suitableness to every of our particular necessities desires hopes as becomes a fruit of unparallel'd incomparable Wisdom and Grace Oh unfathomable Love thou hast even outdone thy self and undone me a man of an unclean heart and lips for how shall such a poor weak polluted worm be ever able to conceive aright of thy unconceivable plenitude be thankful for and speak well enough of thy unspeakable magnitude with a degree of Love and delight high enough entertain thy unmeasurable sufficiency sweetness and satisfactory Perfection or faithfully improve and walk worthy of thy unmatchably rich and glorious communications The unsuitableness the unanswerableness of my Spirit and practice will ruine me if by another astonishing Miracle of demission thou do not spread abroad thy quickening confirming thy sanctifying and actuating influences throughout all the powers of my Soul that in thine own strength I may rightly glorify thee That is Christianity in its causes the Wisdom Love and Grace of God in Jesus Christ and its general Notion an elevation of Fallen Man to God More particularly Christianity in the Theory is the Doctrine of Faith in Jesus Christ in the Practice 't is covenanting and keeping Covenant with God This is brief inlarge your Thoughts thus Christianity is an undissembled acknowledgement or owning and receiving Jesus Christ as the only Mediator betwixt God and man in a hearty Submission to the terms of the Covenant of Grace Repentance Faith and upright Obedience It supposes Natural Religion in an universal subjection to the Deity as Creator Governour and Owner of all For if God had nothing to do with us nor we with him there would be no need of a Mediator so neither if there were no Sin Hence it also supposes the Obligation of the Law of Nature which is the Rule of Natural Religion and the guide of man in his natural subjection to God It supposes also the Covenant of Nature commonly called Works with the violation of it which none could expiate but God-man And it includes as most essential the Covenant of Grace and in special the New Edition thereof for the old is Judaism i. e. the Gospel exhibiting Jesus Christ as already come God in our Flesh Teaching for our instruction Commanding for our direction Doing for our example and advantage and Suffering in our room and stead and for our Sin All things necessary for our Salvation hereby satisfying Divine Justice and meriting for us the Holy Ghost with his gifts grace pardon peace and eternal glory to be given us upon conditions and terms suitable to his own goodness and our present state viz. Repentance toward God for and from dead works that we might serve him the Living God and Faith in Jesus Christ accepting of submitting and committing our Souls to him in well doing with all the fruits hereof in Love Meekness Humility Self-denial Patience Heavenly-mindedness Watchfulness in Summ Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety to be wrought in us and exercised by us through the Grace and Might of Christ which only makes them sincere and sound and so acceptacle to God through Christ who alone intercedes with God on the behalf of Man for this end as a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all perfection Heb. 7.25 This is the summ of Christianity owned by some Professionally only by others Really also But because the reality of the Heart is only known to God whereof he never made us the Judges We must proceed solely upon the external Profession as far as it renders the other real inward owning credible Now 't is in respect of this credible owning of Christianity manifested by Profession that a Man becomes a member of the Catholick Church Visible has a right to all Ordinances Baptism Fellowship with a particular Church the Lords Supper and consequently Ministry Ministerial and Fraternal Inspection c. 1. There 's no Vital Union betwixt Jesus Christ and any particular Person merely as a Member of a Particular Church and under that Formality but only as a Member of the Church Universal invisible For There 's no union of Life but by unfeigned Faith uncorrupt Love which are invisible things These make no Man a Member of a Particular Church actually and ipso facto though they give the first and truest right thereto but of the Catholick they actually do Nay the Visible profession of them though it give the right yet does not actually invest in a particular Church but does in the Universal Visible and after it has been own'd by the Church in Baptism we are not only Visible potentially but seen and actually acknowledged Members of the Catholick Church Visible yet not presently of a particular Church Though Baptism be in a particular Church yet 't is not into it but the Universal Consent without actual associating does not constitute any a Member actually but only potentially and virtually That which makes a Man a Member of a particular Church is only Actual Association with its consent explicit or implicit Every one that is truly a Member of the Catholick Church Visible and gives any credible evidence thereof either explicit or implicit as Mr. Tho. Hooker truly observes and essays to joyn himself to a particular Church upon that evidence ought to be receiv'd to a participation of all Ordinances and that particular Church cannot de jure deny its consent but it betrays its trust and sins greatly both against the man and Christ also But then no man is saved under that Formality as a member of a particular Church merely but only as he partakes of that common Christian Nature which constitutes the Members of the Catholick Church Though he sin Grievously and without Repentance general or particular may justly be damn'd for neglect of joining in the Ordinances with some particular Church or other if he have opportunity 2.
encourages a fainting Hope alleviates the grievousness of Pains discusses Trouble and Fear and under the Wings of the Son of Righteousness we have it his Power and Skill are not lessened nor his Bowels and Love diminished by his translation into a state of immutable Perfection Here 's an Antidote against every Plague and Poyson a Salve for every Sore not like Humane only of a finite limited Vertue but of infinite and universal Efficacy Oh wonderful Love thou art the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Elixir of Gold which is alway at hand because Omnipreseat can never fail because Omnipotent never decay and lose any vertue because Eternal Who can do less than ever dwell upon thee who hopes for ever to dwell in thee 1 Joh. 4.16 If a Man be alway bending his Mind to pore upon his Troubles they sink him but if any admirable strange thing if any thing of singular pleasure and delight present it self it gives a diversion to our Minds and putting by our bitter Reflections upon those ingrateful damping Grievances that swallow up our Thoughts and Joys makes us forget our Pains and gives us ease whilst we are taken up with those more powerful Contemplations And is there not a relief of this Nature in God in whom every thing is wonderful He is all Miracle his Essence Subsistence Perfection Providence but above all his Goodness Grace and Love with the fruits of it What infinite Beauty What admirable Fulness What unconceivable Freeness What astonishing Descents What transcendent Varieties Oh the Riches the Joys the Pleasures the Triumphs above expectation Desire Thought all freely tendring themselves and wooing our Minds and Hearts to a serious Consideration a kind and dutiful Embracement Oh sweet inviting Magazine of Wonders how shall I endure to leave thee who can with no patience endure to think of being left by thee In thee I am in Heaven how can I descend from thee yet 't is time to give my self the divertisement of a walk in another Paradise § 3. Justice it self under the Conduct and Influence of this over-shadowing Goodness and Love though perhaps not sensibly at present yet really is become the most comfortable of all Divine Attributes Remuner ative Justice is in reality goodness to a believing Soul through Jesus Christ notwithstanding that it is the most terrible to the impenitent Christless A Paradox easily made out thus That which makes our Mercy and Comfort sure and necessary that we cannot miss of enjoying it is more comfortable than that which leaves it at liberty and only renders it possible When a good thing is in the free dispose of a Donor that he may chuse whether he will bestow it or no we can have no certainty at all that we shall receive it no not when we have infallible assurance of his Inclination to bestow it For 't is still in his own Power and he may suspend the Gift as he pleases without any impeach to his Honour And though it may to us seem Congruous to his goodness to grant it yet is he not necessarily ty'd to our Laws of Congruity neither can they impose upon his Freedom and make his Mercy fatality God Almighty bears a singular good Will to all his Creatures especially the reasonable would not that any perish 't is no pleasure to him but that all Mankind should come to the knowledge of the Truth and through Repentance and Faith in Christ be saved This Repentance and Faith are his Gift which remain in the free disposal of his own good pleasure to confer upon whom he pleases therefore the Gift of Repentance stands upon a Peradventure 2 Tim. 2.25 without any injury to Divine Goodness which is not at all the less though this Blessing be denied to the greatest part of the World and to all the fallen Angels For more Goodness and a strong Inclination to Communicate transfers no right therefore no wrong is done by the suspence or denial of the Gratuity expected But then Justice supposes a right and dueness of the Blessing and that it cannot be in Righteousness withholden therefore makes it undoubtedly sure from him that cannot possibly be unjust Now though nothing be or can be due from Justice to a Sinner considered as such but only Indignation and Wrath on account of the Covenant of Works yet the Covenant of Grace transfers a right to Mercy upon those that fulfil its Conditions Therefore the gift of Pardon to the Repentant is no less an Act of Justice than free Goodness and Grace and there the Scripture lays it with Sanctification also 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness Mark first Faithful which respects the Promise and Covenant granting aright out of meer good Will and Grace and then and not till then Just distributing what the Covenant and Promise had made due and an Irrevocable Right Oh rich Comfort Pardon and Purification and both from Justice What can we expect more to satisfie our utmost Cravings Since these are Vertually all Spiritual and Coelestial Mercies giving a right to Peace and Glory Oh everlasting inexhaustible mine of the sweetest Joy and Rest What is the source of all thy Sorrows Nothing but sin This grinds thy Conscience in pain this brings all the external Grievances of thy Life By Nature thou art as bad as Sin and Hell can make thee though not in the degree yet in the kind of badness viz. Moral Conscience of forepast Wickedness is a Cut-throat to all Comfort Mens eyes when opened indeed are more apt to look backward than forward Upon Reflection past Evils of Sin sting more smartingly than the Remembrance of past Evils of Suffering can refresh and solace 'T is not so Comfortable to think that the worst is past in Affliction as grievous to consider past Evils of Sin for which the worst is to come The pleasure in acting is infinitely short of the pain in repenting especially in Hell A Man would forfeit all the Joys of his Life upon Condition he had never defiled his Conscience as the Devil in the possessed Woman told the Bishop of Cambray that he could be willing to suffer all imaginable Torments to the Worlds end so he might but then return into Heaven Nothing more bitter in the Belly than the Sins that were most sweet in the Mouth The Digestion troubles the Bowels infinitely more than the Mastication gratified the Palate But why is Sin so dreadful What is it that makes thy formerly pleasing Transgressions so torturous in the Recognition Truly this God knows them remembers them is concern'd about them engaged to animadvert upon them his Justice and Wrath will not let them pass thou canst not get through his hands with thy Lusts about thee as easily as they past through thine Oh this is the sting of Sin 't is a fearful terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God The
needless fond thing for the Deity to promise them or interest his own Agency about them which yet is of a blasphemous importance as 't would savour of the highest Arrogance to imagine that I am in a Capacity to act well-pleasingly to God without God For does it consist with the Divine Wisdom and God's Ingenuous procedure with Man to promise what is in Mans power whether he promise or no. And if we be capable of exerting one acceptable Act without Divine Influence Why not another and another till frequent Acts produce a Habit and all this exclusively to the aids of Heaven That he must be made a liar who said Joh. 15.5 Without me you can do nothing And 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God See also again Eph. 2.8 9 10. Let him stand forth and be a publick Spectacle of Ignominy and Malediction who will not subscribe to or having subscribed contradicts the 10th and 13th Articles of Religion which are these X. The Condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good Works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasing and acceptable to God without the Grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will XIII Works done before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make Men meet to receive Grace or as the School Authors say deserve Grace of Congruity yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin If formally upright and acceptable Acts of Submission to the Covenant and its conditions could issue from wicked Men and Hypocrites so continuing in State and Disposition and therefore Enemies to God and Goodness as there would be no need of the promise to Write his Law in the Heart so God would be obliged in faithfulness to fulfil to them his part of the Covenant in communicating all Covenant Mercies But the whole implies a contradiction For sincerely to observe the terms of the Covenant is to be sincere in that thing and therefore supposes the Law to be Written in the Heart or obliges God to Write it For the condition being observed by Man the Engagement upon God becomes absolute he must do his part or violate his Covenant and be unjust to himself and his Son Jesus Christ whose undertaking founded this New Covenant Dispensation Whence a cordial performance of the terms of the Covenant on our part does really introduce or infer that sincerity of State which is implied in the Writing God's Laws in our Hearts implanting therein his fear and pouring out his Spirit on us which is the very Work of Conversion or Regeneration and the basis of all Consolation for Psal 119.50 This is my comfort in my affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thy word hath quickned me Thy word in general as the Instrument its precepts in particular as the Matter principling my Heart in the nature of a Law engraven on that Fleshly Table by the Finger of God Whatever Mens Sentiments may be under Temptation Melancholy c. yet ordinarily let but this be made out to a considering Man viz. that he is truly born again of God and all his Troubles Disquiets Agonies Horrors of Conscience vanish into nothing and all other his Disconsolate Thoughts are very much moderated If his Grace be found real and sound his Repentance Faith and Love unfeigned his Heart is at ease he has a perfect Demonstration that God the Father is his God and Father Jesus Christ his Saviour because the Holy Ghost has been his Sanctifier Now does he not doubt of the pardon of his Sins of the special Love of God of an interest in all the Benefits purchased by Jesus Christ of a Right to all the Promises and everlasting Consolation and Salvation This is the bottom of all nothing without this will avail in the least to bring the glad tidings of Peace into the Conscience This as a sure and immovable Foundation establishes all our hopes of Comfort which without it is absolutely impossible But this ground laid Joy and Rest and Satisfaction of Soul will infallibly arrive sooner or later all the Malignity and Rage upon Earth all the Malice and Policy of Hell all the Melancholy Imaginations of a Man 's own Heart though they may obstruct and delay it yet cannot finally avert and hinder it any more than a gloomy Night can the rising of the Sun in its season The day of Glory Peace and Consolation everlasting Cant. 4.6 will undoubtedly break Hebr. breath upon such a Soul and Darkness Sorrows Shadows flee away For these Redeemed of the Lord by power and therefore by price shall return and come with singing unto Sion and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain Gladness and Joy and Sorrow Mourning and Sighing shall flee away Isa 51.11 Weeping may endure in the Evening but Joy cometh in the Morning Psal 30.5 A Child of Prayers and Tears said Ambrose to Monica cannot perish Isa 53.3 A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief whom it pleaseth the Lord to bruise shall see of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied This was verified first in the Head and shall be also in the Members They must pass through the Jordan of Repentance and there be wash'd seven times that they may be healed of their Spiritual Leprosies but their next Stage is a welcome Canaan of Solace and Rest This is the basis of the other Privilege viz. Propriety in God and assurance thereof and therefore being a connex Blessing more concerning it will necessarily fall under the following Head Now that the Psalmist had some Reflections upon his Sanctification in assuming to himself the Comforts of God seems evident from the 21. vers where he makes a tacit Profession of his Righteousness and Innocency which no doubt were to him as in like case they are to any Man a singular Support and Satisfaction under all the Calamities and Cruelties endured through the violence and fury of Man Though the Floods and Waves and Storms beat high from without yet if there be a sweet Calm within though the World with a savage barbarousness persecute and pursue me to Death yet if mine own Conscience do not reproach me but testifie that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my Conversation in this World not by fleshly Wisdom but by the grace of God in innocency and usefulness to Men 2 Cor. 1.12 This is a singular rejoycing and ground of Comfort though our sufferings abound Vers 5. The Peace of a good Conscience is a powerful Antidote
required as the sole Conditions of his Grace and Mercy and that there is as perfect an Agreement betwixt their inward Sensations and State and those God will certainly own and embrace with his Love as can reasonably be expected and desired Yet will they find some subtle cunning studied evasions and shifts to perswade themselves and others that they have some reason to be mad in rejecting all and will stifly argue against their own inward sense and feeling and lye against their own Experience rather than by receiving these Comforts comply with the Bounty and Kindness of Heaven that so freely and graciously tenders them Why then dost thou contend against thy self oh my Soul and quarrel with the admirable Condescensions the most bountiful Tenders Largess and Munificence of Heaven Art thou weary of thy Sins and under a practical Conviction of their abominable offensiveness to God heartily willing to relinquish all following thy desires and resolutions hereof with serious Cares and Endeavours not abiding the very thoughts or hankerings of thy heart that lean towards them carefully avoiding all Occasions Temptations Motions which might irritate thee to commit them in indignation and revenge against thy self for indulging thy self in them now resolutely bent with the Aid of God to mortifie them and not to spare hands feet or eyes the most sweet and endearing Dalilahs thy Master-reigning Sins constitutional customary pleasing profitable Corruptions recommended by Age Calling publick Allowance Practice which to forbear may expose to Scoffs Scorns Sufferings Death it self as in Times of Persecution Art thou daily in bitterness of Soul for them Are they evermore in their odious Nature and Aggravations before thee Art thou watchful against them and unto the contrary Duties Graces and holy Exercises that there is not one Law of God which t is not thy earnest desire and labour to observe heartily imploring the strength of Heaven to engage in all for thee and manifest its Might in thy Weakness And when thou hast done thy best hast thou learnt to deny thy self as an unprofitable Servant having only done what nay far less than thou oughtest Not daring to omit any part of thy Work nor when done most exactly to make a Christ of it but committing thy Person and Performances by Faith into his gracious hands to be presented to his Father sprinkled with his Blood of Satisfaction perfumed with his Incense of Intercession nothing but divine Free Grace through Christ's Mediation becomes the sole Support and Stay of thy Hopes as well as the Foundation of thy Faith maintaining in all a never-ceasing Jealousie over thy slippery treacherous heart lest it stain all thy Actions with Impurity or corrupt all thy Intentions by Hypocrisie a Sin to be fear'd and wrestled against above all other thy perpetual dread and hate Is this thy state frame and deportment And yet dost thou boggle at the Promises and start aside in aversation from or a rejection of their refreshing Consolations upon I know not what frivolous Pretences Oh thy Folly Oh thy Fury For beside the infinite wrong to thy self both as a knocking of the Wheels that thou dost but drive heavily in God's Service and a living in the confines or a corner of Hell when Heaven is opening to thee its everlasting Gates thou also blasphemest the unconfinable Goodness and Love of thy heavenly Father the affectionate Bowels and Grace of thy compassionate Redeemer thou grievest the Holy sealing Spirit of Grace and Peace and givest the lye to the Promises Sins as Hellish as any thou hast already renounc'd and forsaken Has Almighty Love and Grace check'd the exorbitancies of thy dissolute licentious Will and Affections bounded the raging Sea of thy Lusts insomuch that thou darest not wilt'st not pass the limits he hath confin'd thee to by his Laws Hath God enabled thee with a free undissembled Consent to embrace the Conditions of the Covenant in repenting and chearfully giving up thy self to be governed in all things by the ever-blessed Son of God which is a performance of thy part of the Covenant And can'st thou conceit that infinite Fidelity which gives thee the power to do all this and works in thee to observe thy part will not be real and faithful in perfecting what concerns himself on his part but that his Covenant is mere Collusion that he hath only brought thee into a Fool 's Paradise and all his great and precious Promises are only great and pompous Nothings not worthy to be rely'd on That he hath done all this for thee carry'd thee thorough the burthen and heat of the day and tenders thee thine Hire yet will be angry if thou accept it For why dost thou not receive and enjoy the Comforts of the Promises and Perfections of God so liberally presented to thy embracement so sweetly by their amiable Aspect inviting thee Is it because they do not suit thee are not proper and sufficient to revive thee Is it because thou needest them not desirest them not No nothing of this Nature What then is the matter oh my Soul They are fit for thee but thou art not fit for them not duly prepar'd That 's something if true But who told thee so God or the Devil If God shew the Scripture Out of the Law and Testimony must thou produce something more than I have described that God requires to qualifie thee for his Mercy Something more than an unfergned owning his Covenant in serious resolution care endeavour and industrious laborious diligence to go through with thy part of it under the influence of his Power and Grace and Holy Spirit Doth Satan tell thee that this is not due Preparation And dost thou dar'st thou believe him rather than God God forbid Where then dost thou stick What art thou afraid of Is there any thing to be feared but Sin There 't is Thou art afraid of sinning by too hasty applying the Promises for thy revival A very laudable Fear 'T is well that Sin is dreadful Stand to that Be then also afraid to sin by refusing to apply them thereby continuing thy perplexities For 't is very certain 1. That 't is a Sin not to serve God chearfully with Love especially when he hath done for us whatever is necessary to engage us thereto If he have in reality prepar'd thee for those Comforts which he hath prepar'd for thee he hath done that upon account whereof he will expect thy ready ingenuous affectionate Obedience whether thou be satisfy'd as to thy Preparations or no. But if thou still refusest his Comforts and protractest thy Troubles thou eludest the highest Engagement to love him and in despite of his Goodness perseverest to do his work as a Slave only wilt not as a Child which is a high Affront to thy Father 2. 'T is a Sin to reject God's Offers a Scorn put upon his Goodness to refuse his Free Gifts When he creates a Storm in our Thoughts and drives us before the blast of his Indignation into
Memory which are but dead things mere Carcasses of Devotion not to be insisted on in Competiton with an enlarged Heart Take with thee Words and turn unto the Lord. Lord at thy bidding I will take thy Words which thy self here prescribes Hosea 14.2 3. They shall be my stinted Liturgy none can tell which will be acceptable to thee better than thy self What are they Take away Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our Lips What 's that The substance is Praise But some Antients thus descant upon it Calves not of our Stall Mal. 4.2 but Lips When a Calf or other Beast was to be Sacrificed to which this is an allusion God required the Blood the Fat and sometimes the Flesh but never the Skin and Hair these were to be carried away and burnt in another place The Blood of these Calves of the Lips is Faith in the Blood of Christ which is the Life of Prayer and Praise The Fat pure and holy Affection and Grace Sorrow Desire Love Delight Hope c. The Flesh is the matter or thing pray'd for Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption c. The Skin and Hairs the Words and Expressions with the Method Mode Order which if alone and not spirited with the former are of no value with God who looks at Things not Words and Phrases They must indeed be brought to God in vocal Prayer which is never a Duty except when we joyn with others and they with us and we must see that all accord with or do not disagree from the general Rules of the Scripture But 't is a folly to think that we for these are more acceptable in Person or that our Prayers the Flesh the Fat the Blood are more well-pleasing to God We must not lay any stress upon put any confidence in that which God will not vouchsafe his Altar to Sanctifie Offer then even this vocal Prayer God expects in some cases this in Conjunction but take heed O my Soul of relying upon it as such viz. the Skin without the other in Separation Whether form or no form what matters it 't is but Skin and Hair Why so much adoe about it Give the main to God or thou givest nothing God will take off the Skin and burn it burn not thy Fingers about it 't is not for the Altar Oh bring that chiefly which must be presented there God is a Spirit what are Words to him Oh let thy Prayers be all Spirit Words are but the vehicle sometimes only Aereal mere Wind seldom Aethereal defecate and pure Quintescence without Froth and Vanity c. However O see thou that there be an Angel within if there be not an Intelligence to turn about this Orb of Devotion if a Soul do not animate this Body of Duty away with it to the dunghil with it 't is but mere Carrion Bring the Male in thy Flock not this corrupt thing Thou canst never derive Comfort from Heaven if thou lay nothing upon God's Altar but Froth and Wind. Substantial Prayers and all substance is an invisible inward thing and these alone introduce solid and substantial Consolations 2 Thes 2.16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace 17. Comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 19.20 Now the God of Peace who hath raised from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant 21. Make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS Chap. I. THE Introduction with the Explication of the Terms and their Sense Critical and Moral and Doctrine page 1. Chap. II. The Doctrine explained in a Resolution of three Queries a three-fold Essay p. 9. 1. The Character of the Psalmist not so much Personal as Moral which determines the Subject universally p. 10. 1. He was a Man that lived under a due and deep sense of God ibid. Chap. III. 2. He was a Man of Prayer p. 18. Chap. IV. 3. That lived by Faith not by Sight p. 25. Chap. V. 4. That did not live under the reproach of his own conscience p. 31. 1. He was very sensible of the odiousness of Sin to God ibid. Chap. VI. 2. Consciencious in the observance of his Duty to Man p. 45. Chap. VII 5. Of a Publick Spirit p. 73. Chap. VIII 6. Honours God 's Discipline Instructive Corrective p. 121. Chap. IX 7. A Man of Experience Eyes God in all things p. 133. Chap. X. 8. Seeks Comfort solely in and from God p. 140. Chap. XI 2. The Nature and Quality of the Psalmists Thoughts p. 151. 1. Fearing Thoughts p. 156. 2. Grieving Thoughts p. 164. 3. Despairing Thoughts page 174. Chap. XII 3. What Comforts these are in general p. 175. Chap. XIII 1. Comforts in God which God is derived from p. 182. 1. His Existence ibid. 2. His Names and Titles p. 183. 3. His Attributes p. 184. § 1. His Wisdom and Omniscience p. 185. 2. His Goodness p. 189. 3. His Justice p. 207. 4. His Omnipotence p. 224. 5. His Fidelity and Vnchangableness p. 234. 6. His Presence p. 241. 7. His Eternity p. 258. Chap. XIV 2. Comforts from God which God gives in p. 265. 1. Providence p. 266. 2. Privileges p. 269. 1. Sanctification ibid. 2. Propriety in God and assurance of it p. 276. 3. Experiences p. 286. Chap. XV. Inferences 1. Doctrinal 1. 't is lamentable to be left to our own Thoughts p. 296. 2. The best may be in perplexities inextricable by Nature p. 298. 3. The infinite Condescention of God in the Provision he hath made for us p. 302. Chap. XVI 2. Elenctical 1. Convictive 1. Theoretical confutes the Doctrine of Incertitude p. 305. 2. Practical establishing the conscience in the right method of discriminating true and false Comforts which differ p. 309. 1. In their Origin p. 310. 2. Their Attendants p. 317. 3. Their tendency and effects p. 330. 2. Reprehensive for neglect of preparing for and possessing our selves of Divine Comforts p. 337. Chap. XVII 3. Paideutical or Instructive how to attain solid Comforts p. 352. 1. Be Men of Thoughts p. 353. 2. Indeavour to attain Ability to give Law to Thoughts p. 361. 3. Get a clear notion of God and Goodness p. 366. 4. Lay the Foundation of Peace in Repentance and Holiness p. 375 376. 5. Be fervent and constant in Prayer p. 401. ADVERTISEMENT These BOOKS are Published by the Reverend Mr. Oliver Heywood M. A. Minister of the Gospel and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside viz. 1. BAptismal Bonds Renewed being some Meditations on Psal 50.5 2. Closet Prayer a Christians Duty 3. Sure Mercies of David 4. Israels Lamentation after the Lord. 5. The Holy Life and Happy Death of Mr. John Angier Minister formerly at Denton near Manchester 6. Advice to an only Child or excellent Counsel to all young Persons 7. Best Intail a Discourse on 2 Sam. 23.5 8. Family Altar a Discourse on Gen. 35.2 3. for to promote the Worship of God in private Families 9. Meetness for Heaven on Colos 1.12 designed for a Funeral Legacy 10. The New Creature on Gal. 6.15 lately Published 11. The General Assembly or a Discourse of the gathering of all Saints to Christ BOOKS Written by the Reverend Mr. J. How OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of Foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens Sins A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Richard Adams M. A. sometime Fellow of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls In a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick The Carnality of Religious Contention In Two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street A Sermon for Reformation of Manners A Sermon preach'd on the Day of Thanksgiving December 2. 1697. to which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the God-head A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that part of the late Considerations to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible World A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Hammond A Funeral Sermon for Dr. Will. Bates A Funeral Sermon for Mr. Mat. Mead. This Written by Mr. Flavel THE Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement