PRECIOUS FAITH CONSIDERED In its Nature, Working, and Growth.  
By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex, Esq  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Atlas in Cornhill near the Royal-Exchange, 1675.   

To the CHRISTIAN Reader.  
HE that with serious eyes looks on that dreadful spectacle, lapsed Angels lying in Chains of Darkness for ever, and that for one Sin, may very well stand and wonder at the Salvation of Men; in which worms are as it were Angelized, and little lumps of corrupted dust are first refined by Grace, and then transfigured into Glory. The pure Origine of this great Work is no other than the Divine Grace and Love, which have so fairly portrayed and limmed out themselves upon every piece of it, that all the Saints above and below may read the Characters thereof; and have reason to cry out, Grace, Grace. Indeed Heaven and Earth too should ring with the Praises of it, and Eternity itself will be short enough to behold and admire it in. To compass this Glorious design the Son of God left his Father's Bosom, and appeared in our Flesh, to make a Robe for us of his own Righteousness, and a Laver for us in his own Blood. Our Nature in him is now in Heaven, and his Spirit is descended to impress his Image on us, thereby to make us meet for that Blessed Region, to secure all to us. Heaven hath let down a great Charter in the precious Gospel, in which we have a Map of Glory, and Eternal Life set before us; to elevate our Souls, which are sparks of Immortality, out of the dust and rubbish of the Fall, and to set them aspiring after the true Pleasures and Beatitudes which are above. That we may not mistake our way, or faint in it, the holy Spirit hath in the Gospel drawn many lines of Holiness and Comfort: There are pure Precepts to chalk out the Way to Heaven, and sweet Promises to cordial us therein; and to give us some Tastes of Heaven before we come there. The great condition of this Salvation which streams down out of the fountain of Grace through the Blood of Christ into the Evangelical Promises, is no other than Faith. This is the Aurora of Glory, Heaven and Eternal Life dawn in it; This is the Hypostasis of Things hoped for. It presentiates the Celestial Paradise, and in some sort sets the Believer by the rivers of Pleasures which are there: This receives all from Grace, and ascribes all to it, prompting the Believer to confess touching his Spiritual Being and Working, By the Grace of God I am what I am, and by the Grace of God I do what I do. This unites to Christ, wraps up itself in his Righteousness, feasts on his precious Body and Blood unto Life Eternal, and surrenders up Heart and Life to the blessed dust of his Spirit and Word. Walking on in holy Precepts it drinks Comfort out of Promises, following hard after Holiness it meets with Peace, such as passes understanding; overcoming earth with all its Troops of vanity, it ascends and takes Heaven by violence; and renting off the dark veil of Time, it looks into Eternity, and aspires after that Bliss-making Vision, which is the true Centre of it. Where this Grace is, there the Gospel is not in word only, but in power: The Truth stands not merely without in the letter, but is entertained within, and springs up in the Heart as a seed of Immortal Happiness. The Divine Excellencies of this noble Grace have drawn out my Thoughts in the ensuing Discourse now offered to public view. The Erratas and Infirmities in it beg the Readers kind Indulgence: And the holy Truths therein call for a Practical Improvement. If but any Mite may get into the Treasury, if any thing thereby may redound to the Glory of God, or profit of Men, it is enough; and a sufficient recompense for him, who is  
A Lover of Truth, Edw. Polhill.   

PRECIOUS FAITH.  

CHAP. I.  
Some general acceptions of the word Faith in Scripture, premised. Precious Faith described, and considered in the general nature of it, as it is a grace of the Holy Spirit.  
THE word [Faith] hath many acceptions in Scripture, among which I shall touch upon some.  
Sometimes it imports the Gospel or object of Faith; thus St. Paul preached the faith, Gal. 1.23. that is, the Gospel, which is worthy to be so called, because it is the great Engine, which lets down God's faith to men, and catches up men's faith to God.  
Sometimes it imports a dogmatical or historical Faith, which is an assent to the word of God as true and infallible: thus the very devils believe a God, and (which is more than many sinful worms do) they tremble, Jam. 2.19.  
Sometimes it imports a temporary Faith, which is but a dogmatical faith, budding and blossoming with some tastes and joys in the things of God: thus the stony ground received the word with joy, Mat. 13.20.  
Sometimes it imports a miraculous Faith, which by a special instinct gives such a touch upon the power of God, as to produce wonderful effects in nature; a grain of this is enough to remove mountains, Mat. 17.20.  
Sometimes it imports saving Faith, called by the Apostle precious Faith, 2 Pet. 1.1.  
Omitting the rest, I shall fix my Discourse upon this, and that upon a double account.  
First, This precious faith virtually includes the rest. In Faith in the first notion, there is only the Gospel or object standing alone by itself, but in this faith the act and the object are in sweet conjunction; the soul is Gospellized, and the Gospel, which outwardly runs in the letter, is inwardly glorified in the believers heart. In dogmatical faith there is an assent to the truths of God, and so there is in precious faith, but in a more eminent manner; the first embracing the Gospel only in its naked truth, and history is but a dead and a cold notion, but the second embracing the same in its goodness and spiritual mystery, carries life and warmth in it: temporary faith hath some joys in the things of God, but precious faith hath the same in a more excellent way; the former is but a flash and away, a flower without a root, the Gospel is not radicated in him, but lies as it were upon the surface of his heart: Jesus Christ is not entirely received by him, but by parcels only; hence a little storm of persecution blows off all the blossoms of his joy, but the latter is a thing of a higher excellency and permanency. In the true believer the Gospel is intimately rooted, and Christ impartially received, even cross and all: Hence such an one can joy in tribultions, and under afflictions wait for consolations. Miraculous faith can work wonders, and so can precious too: the first works wonders in the body of nature, by a touch upon Almighty power, and the second works wonders in the souls of men, by a touch upon Almighty grace. A grain of this can remove spiritual mountains, mountains of guiltiness off from the Conscience, mountains of hardness off from the Will, and mountains of earthiness off from the Affections: outward miracles in the Church's infancy followed believers for a while, Mark 16.17. but inward miracles are ever found in them; and no wonder, for the exceeding greatness of God's power is unto them that believe, Eph. 1.19.  
Secondly, This precious faith doth complete the noblest instinct in man; I mean, that natural pulse which he hath after happiness. All men would be happy, but none ever hit upon it till faith came. The Pagans by natural light have some knowledge of God, the supreme good, but the only access to him is by faith. The Philosophers, whose profession was the study of wisdom, and whose lamp of reason burned brighter than others, were no better than the blind Sodomites, unable to find the door of happiness. 
De civitat. Dei. l. 19 c. 1.  Hence, as St. Austin relates out of Varro, the Philosophers might be divided into two hundred eighty eight Sects about the chief good, which faith can indubitably immediately point at. Some Philosophers placed man's happiness in pleasures, which yet are but the sad transformations of men into bruits. Some in honours, which yet are but great servitudes, which made the Noble Charles the fift weep over his Son, upon whose shoulders, at his retire out of the world, he left the burden of a Crown. Some in riches, which yet are but thorns choking that precious seed of the word, which would grow up (if embraced) into life eternal. Others, which were better marks-men, in moral virtues, yet even these (as a learned man observes) are but circa res humanas, their sphere is but humane converse; and they do not (as faith) elevate the soul into a conjunction with God, which is the only true happiness. When the Apostle in his Catalogue of graces (which minister an entrance into the everlasting kingdom) puts in temperance and patience, 2 Pet. 1.6. he speaks of them as Graces, not as mere moral virtues, but as Christianized by Faith, which in that place is set in the van. But waving the Pagan world, let us come to the Christian. There the way of life is clearly manifested; yet none, void of faith, ever trod a right step in it, nay, nor spiritually discerned it, unto them that are without all things are in parables, Mark 4.11. to the unbeliever, though never so great a Scholar, Christ and grace and heaven are but as it were in parables. The Kohathites (whose name, as a learned man observes, is derived from stupidity) carried the holy things covered, and so do all the unregenerate Rabbis in the Church, till faith waken them out of the stupor of the fall: they discern not spiritually the beatitude objectively exposed to view in the Gospel, till faith draw off the vail from their hearts, but as soon as that is done, the way into the holy of Holies is manifest, and passable, and so the 〈◊〉 instinct after happiness receives a compleature. Now this precious faith, being precious in the least minim of it, may be considered either in its first and lowest measure, or in its fruits and glorious progresses. In its first and lowest measure, it is the very condition of the Gospel, and puts a man by virtue thereof into a state of salvation; whosoever believeth, even with the least degree of precious faith, shall be saved. I shall therefore first treat of it according to the lowest measure, which hath salvation entailed on it, and then proceed to the progresses and fruits thereof; and according to the lowest measure, it may be thus described. Precious Faith is a grace of the holy Spirit, whereby the heart supernaturally illuminated, doth so believe the testimony of God in the sacred Scriptures, as in a way of trust or dependence to resign and yield up itself unto Jesus Christ as Mediator, and in and through him unto God, according to his word. In general, it is a grace of the holy Spirit: in special, there is in it, first a supernatural illumination, which is as the womb of the morning, in which this child of light is conceived, and then (which is the firstborn of that light) there is a belief of the testimony of God: and lastly (which makes up the total sum of this grace) there is a dependant yielding or resignation of the soul unto the Mediator, and through him to God, according to the word. I shall in order treat of all these, and so unsold the description at large.  
The first thing is, in general faith is a grace of the holy Spirit. The famous St. Austin once let drop a strange word: It is said (saith he) God worketh all in all, but not, he believeth all in all; therefore, that we believe, is our own, but that we work good, it is Gods, who giveth the holy Spirit to believers; but the good man soon called it back again, 
Aug. Retract. l. 1. c. 23.  Profec●o non dicerem, truly I should not have said it, if I had then known faith to be the gift of God. The Pelagians of old understood by grace only, their own freewill, and the Gospel-doctrine; hence that impious saying of theirs refuted by St. Austin, à Deo habemus, quòd homines sumus, à nobis ipsis, quòd justi sumus: faith with them was but the issue of their own freewill, and it is no other with the Socinians. Peccatum originis (saith the Racovian Catechism) nullum p●orsus est, quare nec liberum arbitrium vitiare potuit, there was not so much as a bruise of freewill in the fall; we have a free power of our own to believe, but what saith the Scripture? Unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is gratuitously given to believe, Phil. 1.29. and faith is called the Spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4.13. because it is not from our own spirit; and in express terms, the grace of God, Acts 11.23. it lodges in man's heart, as a beam of that eternal grace which is in Gods: and to make this clear I shall offer three things.  
First, This precious faith is a thing above the natural faculty of man. There is in man a natural faith or believing faculty, and the very Philosophers would call for it from their Scholars; but as it is in the fall of a house, not this or that beam falls, but all comes down at once: so it was in the fall of man, not this or that natural faculty fell, but all together, and among the rest, the believing faculty fell also: hence as it lies in the dust and rubbish of the fall, it centres in the creature, and without the elevation of grace, it can in no wise lift up itself to God and Christ. We are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, saith the Apostle, 1 Pet. 1.3. Observe, there must be a touch from Christ in glory, or else there will be no elevation; Christ must first apprehend us, Phil. 3.12. or else our believing faculty is but as a dead hand, unable to apprehend him.  
Secondly, This precious faith is a thing above moral virtue. There is a v●st difference between moral virtues and spiritual graces: the seeds of moral virtues are found in lapsed nature, but of spiritual graces there are none at all in it, nothing but a naked capacity. Moral virtues do from those natural seeds bud and spring forth into being under the common influence of the spirit, but spiritual graces, not being seeded in nature, are mere infusions or creations; the seed of God must drop down from heaven into the heart, or else these cannot exist: hence the Apostle in contradistinction to the virtues of men calls them the virtues of God, 1 Pet. 2.9. such a thing is faith, of a nobler extraction than all the moral virtues in the world.  
Thirdly, This precious Faith advances both our natural faculties and our moral virtues. It advances our natural faculties, and so shows itself what it is: grace is nature elevated above itself, a reason with an heavenly light in it, a will with an holy law in it, and affections as it were upon the wings of Angels, soaring into the upper world. After such sort doth faith elevate the humane faculties: when faith comes, God shines into the heart, and then the Reason, which before had a cloud on it, sparkles out as a pearl in the Sunbeams; the daystar is up in the heart and whilst others live by candlelight, the believer hath the Sun; then the will which lay in its lusts as a slave in its chains, is set upon the wheel and made free indeed; then the affections, which conversed among the tombs of the creatures, are no longer here, but are risen with Christ to seek the things above. Moreover it advances moral virtues also, it grafts them upon a nobler stock, they are no longer mere blossoms of reason, but fruits of the spirit. Josephus relating the patience of the Maccabees under the torments of the bloody Antiochus, cries up, Reason, Reason, as if that were the rock upon which they stood; but sure, he speaks below them, a greater than reason was there, even faith, as the Apostle asserts, Heb. 11.35. a higher spirit than their own acted in their patience, and elevated it above mere morality. Again, mere moral virtues, issuing merely out of our own reason, are apt to breed a moth of pride and vain selfreflection: here we find the Moralist crowing after a strange rate, Beatae vitae causa & firmamentum est, sibi sidere, turpe est Deos fatigare, 
Sense. Epist. 31.  quid votis apus est? fac te felicem, exurge & te dignum singe Deo, as if he would have no other happiness but what was of his own making; but when Faith comes, off go the plumes of pride, and humility is as a vail over all the moral virtues. I live in temperance and justice (saith the believing Moralist) yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Add hereunto mere moral virtues in their intention, rise no higher than their own level of humanity; but when faith comes, there is a pearl in the head, a pure intention in each of them towards the glory of God: he that before was temperate to himself, just to others, and patiented to necessity, is now all these to God; Feci Deo, is the Motto of every moral act. To conclude, what sweet and strong motives Faith adds unto moral virtues, may appear in the famous instance of Justus Lipsius, 
Melch. Adam. Vit. Philosoph.  that great humanist and admirer of Morality, who in his last sickness, being told by one present, that he might now fetch much comfort from the Stoical Philosophers, made this answer, Illa sunt vana, Domine Jesus, da mihi patientiam Christianam, those are but vain things, Lord Jesus, give me a Christian patience. Thus much touching Faith in general.   

CHAP. II.  
Of the special nature of Faith, and here of Spiritual Illumination, the first ingredient therein. What it is, with the necessity thereof unto Faith, demonstrated.  
THE next thing is to consider Faith in its special nature; and here the first thing in order, is supernatural illumination: touching which, I shall first show what that is, and then demonstrate the necessity of it to Faith. And first, what it is, it is God shining into the heart, and lighting our candle, to make us discern divine things in a spiritual way. It is an illumination above nature subjectively, and not objectively only; it is a thing above reason and all its improvements made upon external objects; reason may be taken in a double posture, either sitting with the glass of the creatures before it, and so it is merely the light of nature, or else sitting with the glass of the Scriptures before it, and so it is a notional knowledge of Divinity; but this supernatural light is above reason in both these postures: First, take reason with the creature-glass before it, and this supernatural light is much above it. And here I might show, how much the Scripture-glass excels that of the creature: the divine words there outshine the Sun, outweigh the earth, outvie all the treasures, and out-relish all the sweetnesses in nature. God is more glorious in the Scripture-robes, then in all the visible world: his chariot in the word is statelier than that in the clouds. Evangelical light is a richer garment upon him then mere natural; in the creature there is but a print or footstep of God, but in the Scripture there is his very image and resemblance. Also, which is a consequent on the former, this supernatural light, having the purer glass, is of a far greater latitude then mere reason: it spreads itself into many mysteries, which never entered into natural reason, but were hid from ages in the divine mind, it takes a view of those rare Evangelical pearls which were never digged out of reasons mine, but dropped down from heaven unto the sons of men: But, because the comparison of these two lights as to their outward glasses and latitudes is not so pertinent, I shall compare them as to their inward natures, and only in such things as both of them extend unto, and a vast difference will appear between them.  
First, Reason is a far lower light than that of Faith: in natural light Reason is the very faculty, but in supernatural it is but a capacity: God must shine into the heart, there must be light upon light, supernatural upon natural, or else there is no faith. David prays, open or (as the original hath it) reveal thou mine eyes, Psal. 119.18. There is in faith, a revelation of eyes, and not of objects only; the Apostle speaks of being renewed in the very spirit of the mind, Eph. 4.23. the rational spirit is the candle of the Lord, but unless it be new lighted, it is too dim since the fall to believe the things of God.  
Secondly, Reason is a far weaker light than that of Faith. It is a light shining in darkness, and after all its glimmerings, it leaves but a foolish heart and vain imaginations, Rom. 1.21. it is as a little spark 〈◊〉 an ocean of reigning corruptions, and these keep the heart from taking fire with the love of those excellencies which are known by nature. The Gentiles knew God, but they did not like to have him in their knowledge, Rom. 1.28. millions of unruly lusts, like the sons of Belial about Lot's house, beset this natural light, and keep it as it were in prison; thus the Apostle, they withheld it in unrighteousness, Rom. 1.18. and it is too weak to break out of this prison, and show itself practically: I shall give some instances hereof. All Nations in all climates and through all ages, have conspired together to confess a Deity: Conscience within bears witness to him, and so do all the creatures without also; one would wonder therefore that ever Idolatry should get footing in the world, but what saith the Apostle, they changed the truth of God into a lie, and the glory of the incorruptible one into a corruptible image, Rom. 1.23.25. there were store of abominable idols among them; no doubt natural light gave its secret vote for God, but it was but the vote of a poor prisoner altogether insignificant, it was not strong enough to make them own God in his own world. Again, reason and nature say, that God must be worshipped with the heart, and that a pure heart, purâ ment colendus, was the old verse, in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore, said Seneca. God hath not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a more proper place upon earth then a pure heart, saith Hierocles; O divine saying, next door to that of our Saviour, blessed are the pur● in heart, for they shall see God. But after all this, can this natural light work a dram of true sanctity or holiness in the heart? No, the very Schoolmen themselves (who ever give nature her due with an overplus) will not say so, only they say, facienti quod in se est, Deus revelabit Christum & largietur gratiam. Well, if this hypothesis (which I am not now to dispute) were true, can there be an instance given among all the Pagans from the morning of the world till this day, of any one man who by the right use of naturals arrived at true grace? If so, what will become of that in the Apostle? Who hath called us with an holy calling; not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, 2 Tim. 1.9. If not, O what a poor weak light is this of nature? and how long and universally a prisoner hath it been? indeed true sanctity or holiness is never found without humility, but touching that, there is no footstep nor shadow of commendation in all the Pagan writers, saith the learned Amyraldus, it is not so much as a virtue among them: on the contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, greatness of soul is reckoned among Aristotle's virtues. Well then might Erasmus his Sancte Socrates have been spared. Notable is that of St. Bernard, 
Epist. 190.  some (saith he) whilst they go about to make Plato a Christian, prove themselves heathens. Again, because possibly the light of reason may be weakest in the concerns of Religion, I shall instance in other things. Doth not nature and reason plead for all things of common honesty and humanity, and yet in the Laws of Lycurgus, which were of high renown, and commended even by the Oracle of Apollo, and which (as Plutarch relates) Lycurgus took singular pleasure to see put in ure, even as God rejoiced to see the world move and turn about: I say in these there are such obscenities and inhumanities' as would put any one to the blush to see them in story; what else are the dancing of maids naked, and throwing weak children into a pit of water, spoken of by Plutarch? well might the Lacedæmonians have spared the Temple and Sacrifices to their Lawgiver, unless he had been truer to the Law of Nature. Again, is not self-preservation an intimate and natural impress in the heart of man? it is not scripta sed nata Lex, said the Orator; and yet this engraven Law was not strong enough, no not in a grave and noble Cato, to keep him from murdering himself, and tearing out his own bowels; and over this unnatural act Seneca sounds a triumph, as being a noble and heroical contempt of death itself, that, that sword of his, which was yet pure from the blood of others, might let out his own; but hear the censure of St. Austin, 
De Civit. Dei. l. 19 c. 4.  Vtrum obsecro Cato ille patientiâ an impatientiâ se peremit? non enim haec fecisset, nisi victoriam Caesaris impatienter tulisset, and in another place, non erat honestas turpia praecavens, 
L 1. c. 23.  sed infirmitas adversa non sustinens, it was but a proud impatience, and miserable trampling upon the Law of Nature: Moreover the light of reason doth really produce many moral virtues; and yet in these wherein its greatest strength lieth, it is too weak to elevate any one of them to the glory of the great Creator; 
Contra Jul. Pelag. l. 4. c. 3.  therefore, as St. Austin hath observed, the whole body of Pagan virtues, for want of a single eye at that great end, is full of darkness. Thus much of the weakness of reason: on the other side, the light of faith hath a great deal of strength in it; this will not, cannot, be commonly imprisoned, it is an holy unction, and at last will be uppermost, it is a mighty Engine whereby the h●ly Spirit lifts the heart up into belief and resignation; a thing of high birth and great activity, being born of God and overcoming the world, 1 Joh. 5.4. and because the light of reason was not able to bear up the interest of God among men, this supernatural light came to do it. In the primitive Church, whilst this shined clear, there were no such things as outward Idols or Images, afterwards, upon the declension thereof, those things crept in by degrees, first into banners and then into Churches, and there, first for instruction only, and afterwards for adoration; yet nevertheless this holy spark shown itself in some, as in Epiphanius his cutting the vail, and Serenus his breaking the Images, and divers others abhorrency of Idolatry; and what this supernatural light doth in Churches against outward Idols, that it doth in hearts against inward: it will allow no Idol to stand in the secret place, not an Ashteroth of riches, not a Venus of pleasure, not a Baal, a ruling lording lust in the heart, every indulged lust stands upon the unilluminated and unresigned will; and, after Faith hath purified the heart, it must give way for God to set up his Throne there: that pure heart which the Philosophers talk of at random, as a Geographer of a terra incognita, faith plainly discovers, and practically operates. Those dishonesties and inhumanities' which reason could not keep out of Laws, faith casts away from private Christians, as the common mire and dirt of a wicked world: those moral virtues which reason could not elevate to the Creator's glory, faith spiritualizes by a pure intention towards it.  
Thirdly, The light, of reason is at a greater distance from God then that of Faith, and so doth not see him so clearly in the works of creation and providence as that doth. And first for creation, though it be a clear glass of the eternal power and Godhead, yet the Philosophers, as so many Babel-builders, are miserably confounded in their language about it. Thales fetches all things out of water, as if that were the universal fountain. Anaximenes' out of air, as if by the rarefaction and condensation thereof all were produced. Hippasus and Heraclitus held, that all things came out of a primitive fire or light, which by its death or extinction generated all. Democritus and Epicurus affirmed, that the world was made by chance, a lucky concourse of atoms framed it as it is. Pythagoras would have all things generated out of numbers, and the harmony thereof. Aristotle, the Prince of Peripatetics, asserted the world to be eternal. Plato attributed eternity only to the matter; and before him Anaxagoras was the first, who added a mind to matter, saying, Omnia simul erant, deinde accessit mens, eaque composuit. O dark and confused Labyrinth of opinions! How or which way shall a man extricate himself without faith? By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, Heb. 11.3. If Faith do but open its eyes upon the first Chapter of Genesis, the Creation, which before was dark as the Chaos, is all clear as the light. The believer sees God in every creature, not only in the great Regions of Heaven and Earth, but also in the least Atoms or particles of nature. I am, is discovered wherever there is any thing of Being: And as for Providence, reason hath not been much clearer among the Philosophers touching it, then touching creation. Aristotle holding the world to be eternally from God by emanation● as light from the Sun, must also hold its continuance to be in the same manner, and without any voluntary act, such as Providence is. God (saith he) is the first Mover, he moves the heavens and those other bodies subalternately; so God is the universal cause, and all the wheels in nature move under him; only contingent things, which are not within the chain of natural causality, seem according to Aristotle not to be administered by God. Epicurus, who makes the world to consist of a fortuitous concourse of infinite petit Atoms, owns no Providence at all: God will not break his rest and serene tranquillity with any mundane affairs, and indeed in reason a world made by chance must be so governed. The Stoics in stead of Providence brought in a Fate, or absolute necessity, resulting out of a series or connexion of causes, and binding God himself as well as other things. Plutarch relating how Timoleon was strangely delivered from two murderers, instead of acknowledging a Providence, wonders at the artifice of Fortune. Nay, mere reason is apt to vilify the great works of God: thus some said that Moses, in stead of dividing the Sea, did but take the advantage of a low Tide to carry the Israelites over the washes, when it was low water. But when the light of faith comes, the hand of God is seen in every thing, not only in the great moments of nature, but even in the fall of sparrows and numbering of hairs. Thus far of Reason with the Creature-glass before it, but to go on.  
Secondly, Take reason with the Scripture-glass before it, and this supernatural light is yet above it. And here I must first admit what reason under the influence of a common blessing can do; and then show, how much supernatural light doth transcend it. Reason under the influence of a common blessing may attain a rich furniture of humane learning, and so perusing the holy Scriptures, may understand them by Tongues critically, and by School-divinity distinctly, and by Logic in the consequences and connexion's, and by History in some Prophetical parts, and by Rhetoric in the tropes and figures, and by Comments in the abstruse and difficult places; and consequently it may gather in a great notion of Divinity, much larger in the extent and latitude thereof then the knowledge of many true believers. Yet after all this notional knowledge attained, there is in the meanest true believer an higher and diviner light, a thing above mere reason and notion; and this I shall demonstrate several ways.  
First, The light of reason with all it's acquired notions is not a light as yet congruous to the things of God, which are spiritually discerned only by a supernatural light. To make out this, it will be worth our while to consider that famous place, 1 Cor. 2. where the Apostle clearly distinguishing two sorts of men, the natural man and the spiritual; and two sorts of spirits, the spirit of man making the natural man, and the spirit of God making the spiritual man; and two sorts of objects, the things of man, which are the line of knowledge to the natural man endued with an humane spirit, and the things of God, which are the line of knowledge to the spiritual man endued with the spirit of God; Positively lays down this Thesis, the natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the soully man, or the man that hath only a rational soul, receiveth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as a full vessel is not capable of the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, ver. 14. In this Thesis the Apostle by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or soully man, doth not mean a sensual man, who hath deflowered his reason with sensual indulgences, for than he would not have distinguished between the natural man and the spiritual, but between the sensual man and the rational; neither would he have distinguished between the spirit of man and the spirit of God, but between the spirit of man or reason drowned in sensual pleasures, and the spirit of man or reason keeping its station and just authority over the sensual appetite; neither doth the Apostle here mean a natural or rational man sitting in Pagan darkness, without the Gospel, for he saith, the natural man receiveth not the things of God, which imports an offer of the Gospel to him, and he receiveth them not, because they are foolishness to him: which they could not be, if altogether unknown; and (saith he) he cannot know them, why? not because they are not externally propounded (which is the Pagans case) but because they are spiritually discerned: But the Apostle here meaneth by the natural or soully man, a man of reason, and that never forfeited by sensual lusts, and a man of reason with the Gospel set before him; and so his conclusion is this, A man of reason with the Gospel before him, cannot receive or know the things of God. But you will say, if this be so, how can a man of reason with the Gospel before him, arrive at so great a notion of Divinity, as is before admitted? I answer, the key to open this is in the Text, the natural man cannot know the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned. A man by reason and its furniture of learning may in the perusal of the holy Scriptures gather up a world of notions, and so know the things of God notionally; but he knows them not spiritually, and by consequence not congruously to their spiritual nature. For the opening of this, we must consider, that there is in the holy Scriptures something humane, or which may be inventoried among the things of man, as the letters and words made up of them, and sentences made up of words; not as if these were not dictated exactly by God himself, but that they are common to humane and profane Authors: I mean not for the divineness of the matter, but for the phrases and forms of speech. And there is in them something Divine, or which must be computed among the things of God, as the mysteries and spiritual things themselves, which are represented by those words and phrases. I may illustrate this distinction farther by that of our Saviour, If I have told you earthly things, and you believe them not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things, Joh. 3.12. I pray, what earthly things did our Saviour tell them? was not he there preaching on that divine Theme of Regeneration? Very true, but Christ spoke to them of Regeneration under the shadow of a birth and a wind, and not according to the heavenly and spiritual nature thereof in itself. Thus the words and phrases in Scripture, being of common use, are as it were humane types and shadows, but the mysteries and spiritual things themselves are altogether divine. Now to apply this distinction, reason improved, reaching to the things of man as its proper line, may know the words and sentences in Scripture, and so gather up a great notion of Divinity: But, unless enlightened by the holy Spirit, which searcheth the things of God, it goeth not beyond its own line, it knows not spiritual things spiritually. Reason without the light of faith, Take it in a Jew at a Sacrifice, and it saw the type only, and not Christ in it. Take it in a Christian at the holy Supper, and it sees only the outward elements, and discerns not the Lords body. Take it in the greatest Rabbi sitting with the Scriptures before him, and it sees them only in the shell or letter, and not in the mystery. And no wonder, for even in common Sciences it may be so; a man may construe and know the Grammar of a principle in Euclid, and yet be ignorant of the Mathematical sense of it; much more in divine truths may a man be spiritually ignorant, who knows a great deal literally. Therefore all Scholars may do well in their studies to do as Zuinglius did, who having arrived at Arts and Tongues, yet in the reading of the holy Scriptures, looked up to heaven. As for the great Doctor the holy Spirit, when he comes in supernatural illumination, than we know the things of God, not by our own spirit but Gods, the very same spirit which breathes in the Scriptures, shines in the heart. Hence spiritual things are discerned spiritually, by a light congruous to their nature; the spirit glorifies and shows forth Christ, as the expression is, John 16.14. Holy truths are as it were transfigured and shown forth in glory, which before were seen but in the flesh or weakness of the Letter; the Deity sparkles out in the beauty and spiritual lustre of Scripture-mysteries, which before only appeared in the humanity of words and phrases. Now heaven opens, and freegrace passes before us, the secret of the Lord is with us, and we are of his Privy Council. This is the first and fundadamental difference, Reason with all it's acquired notions is not a light congruous to spiritual things, but the light of Faith is: Out of this all the other are derived.  
Secondly, Mere Reason digging in the Letter of Scripture, arrives but at notions and shadows of knowledge, and though these be as the sands on the sea shore, they are but a form of knowledge, Rom. 2.20. but when the light of faith comes, there is sound wisdom, Prov. 3.21. or, as the original word is, essence; a thing which can no more be made up of mere notions, than a body can of shadows. Faith is the substance or subsistence of things hoped for, Heb. 11.1. Without it, notions and literal knowledge have no hypostasis in the heart; the spiritual world is as it were lost; God and Christ and Heaven, are but notions: But as soon as faith comes and makes the daybreak in the heart, the spiritual world subsists afresh. God is God, and Christ is Christ, and Heaven is Heaven to the soul, all of them are reallized by faith; there is a good treasure in the heart, far more substantial than Arts and Tongues and School-notions can make.  
Thirdly, Reason with its notions arrives but at a knowledge falsely so called, for it knows not the things of God as they are proposed to be known; those things are proposed to be known not as mere notions, but as practical things: to be in the first place chosen, loved, embraced and practised, but it knows them only notionally and not practically. That knowledge, whilst materially true, hath a secret lie in it; thus the Apostle, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 1 Joh. 2.4. 'Tis not in him in a practical way, so as to balance the will and affections with the excellency of the things known; but as soon as faith comes, those things are known as they are proposed to be known, as practical things to be improved in heart and life. The supernatural light digests truths into blood and spirits, and turns mysteries into godliness. It knows Law and Gospel in their true tendency, which is holiness; not to be holy is to blast and profane the meaning of both.  
Fourthly, The mere notional knowledge acquired by reason hath no spiritual life or sense in it, it hath no life in it; mere notions are but a dead faith, but faith is a living notion. In an unbeliever the notions are all dead, affording no pulse of holy affections, or motion of true obedience, they are all buried in a grave of corruption and covered in the dust of earthly things: But as soon as faith comes, there is a resurrection in the soul, the notions before dead now wake out of the dust, and rise in life and power, every truth lives in the heart, and springs up into the new-creature. This supernatural knowledge is a wellspring of life, Prov. 16.22. and all the vital acts of grace stream from thence. Nay, as our Saviour tells us, it is life eternal, John 17.3. heaven doth dawn and appear in it. Mere notional knowledge hath no spiritual sense in it; the unregenerate man with all his notions, lies as a man in a Lethargy, never feeling the weight of sin and wrath, though heavier than rocks and mountains; nor indeed savouring the sweetness of Christ and grace, though infinitely out-relishing all the things in nature. But as soon as faith comes, there are all the senses of the inward man, a seeing the sun of righteousness, an hearing the sweet charms of Gospel-grace, a smelling the odours of Christ, and the holy unction, a tasting how good and gracious the Lord is, and a touching and handling the word of life. The Learned Anatomists curiously pry into the head to find out the common Sensorium, where all the species and images of sensible things meet together. In the spiritual man faith is an universal sense, taking in all the species and images of heavenly things into the heart. The learned Junius with all his notions, coming into a poor Country man's house, and hearing him discourse warmly and feelingly of Christ, immediately thought that Religion was more than a notion; and thereupon reflecting on himself, was turned unto God, and no doubt sound by experience, that faith was much fuller of life and sense then mere notion.  
Fifthly, The mere notional knowledge gathered in by reason puffeth up, as if some of the Serpent's poison were in it, it blows up the heart into proud reflexes. Bonaventure to keep his mind from swelling, used to sweep rooms and wash vessels. I suppose it was, lest his School-notions should swell and make a tumour in his heart. But the light of faith is an humbling thing. If it enter in within the vail, and see God on his Throne, it cries out as the Prophet Isaiah, Woe is me, I am undone. If it fly up to Sinai, and sense the thunders and lightnings of the fiery Law, it puts the soul into a trembling sit. If it go a pilgrimage to Calvary, and there take a view of Christ crucified, it is greatly abasive, bowing the heart down under the conscience of sin. If it look inwardly into the heart, and there see the silthy and nasty corruptions in every corner, it will far more humble than Bonaventures sweeping and washing. And the reason of this difference is, mere notions are but the progeny and issue of our own reason, and therefore we are apt to be fond and fall a cockling of them. But supernatural light comes from above, and is ushered in with a kind of majesty, and therefore humbles and makes us fall down and say, God is in it of a truth.  
Sixthly, The merely notional knowledge is but superficial, a flash and away, a light taste, such as was in those Apostates, Heb. 6.5. a word sown but unrooted, such as that in the stony ground, Mat. 13.21. But the light of faith is another thing, it is truth in the hidden parts, Psal. 51.6. wisdom entering into the heart, Prov. 2.10. and a word engrafted or innaturalized in the mind, Jam. 1.21. As an appendix to this difference, I may add another; mere notions, being but superficial things floating in the brain, do not so establish the heart in Religion, as that supernatural light which intimately mixes itself with the heart. Hence many Princes and Grandees of the Letter have been sick with intellectual bottles, and shamefully reeled up and down in Articles of Faith. Some stumbling in the mire of gross Pelagianism, and others rolling in the ditch of foul Socinianism; with them Christ's Deity is but somnium Athanasii, and original sin but Augustini sigmentum, such horrid spuing from learned mouths hath been made on the glory of Religion. And no wonder, for the notionalist wants that love of the truth, which is an antidote against errors, and that pure conscience, which is the Cabinet of Divine mysteries. On the other hand, supernatural light is a more establishing thing: the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the firmament of faith, Col. 2.5. all the heavenly truths are there as so many fixed stars in their Orb. Gerson relates this story, A man vexed with doubts in Articles of Faith, at last came to such a certainty in them, that he no more doubted of them then of his own life; and this he had (saith he) Non ex ratione aut demonstratione, sed ex humiliatione ac admirabili quâdam Dei illuminatione à montibus aeternis. All grace, because divine, hath an establishing property, and among the rest, so hath the light of faith, because it comes from the eternal mountains.  
Seventhly, Mere notions are very apt to fume up into niceties and vain curiosities. A famous instance of this we have in the Schoolmen, whose books are the spider's house, made of cobwebs and fine subtleties, and those spun up into the Palace of the celestial King, and there fastened upon the ineffables of God and the sacred Trinity, as if these might be wrapped up in the quiddities of reason and Philosophy; insomuch as a learned Divine, startled at this audacious vanity, saith, he reads the Schoolmen about such things, as he hears men swear or take God's name in vain, even seldom, unwillingly, and with horror. And the learned Capito, who professed Scholastical Divinity, was soon weary thereof, because there is subtilitatis multum, utilitatis parum, found therein. But supernatural light doth not vapour upwards into niceties and curious questions, but influence downwards into the will and affections. It brings the day of power into the heart, and makes a willing people, the holy unction drops from the head to the heart, and sets all on a flame with love to God and Christ and heavenly things: wisdom speaks excellent things, Prov. 8.6. or, as the original is, it speaks princes or princely things, holy things are such in themselves. But when they are taken in by faith, they have a mighty power in the soul: Gods command to Abraham, entering by faith, wrought down into his will, and he offered up his Isaac. God's warning to Noah, entering by faith, wrought down into his fear, and he prepared an Ark. The word works effectually in them that believe, filling the inward man with holy affections, and the outward with holy fruits. I shall conclude this difference with an excellent simile of a worthy Divine; A child and a man come into a corn field together, the child falls in love with the blue and red weeds, but the man is for the solid corn: a man of mere notions falls in love with curiosities, and fine speculations, but a man of supernatural light is for the spiritual and practical truths in Scripture; these are the corn his soul must live upon, whilst the other are but gaieties, and for a show.  
Thus far I have spoken, what this supernatural light is. I shall now proceed to show that it is requisite to faith: and this will appear in the particulars following.  
First, Unless a man know that God is, he cannot believe; how can he rest on the testimony of him, whom he knows not, to have a being? This proposition, Deus est, is according to Aquinas, the preamble of faith: Nay, in the Apostle, it is the first fundamental faith, He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, Heb. 11.6. But you will say, What need supernatural light for this? Nature and Reason make this known; and indeed they do so, but so weakly, as not to raise up any one faculty in fallen man unto God his Creator. Never did natural light so show a God, as to raise up his love out of this vain world, nor as to raise up his faith out of creature-confidences unto God. Wherefore this first principle must be seen by a supernatural light, which is indeed a middle kind of light, between the light of glory above, and the light of nature below: It sees the invisible one, not as the blessed Saints see him in the heavenly vision, nor as the mere Naturalists see him by the glimmerings of reason, but in a middle way of gracious illumination. This our Saviour calls eternal life, Joh. 17.3. heaven dawns in it, and nature is illustrated by it.  
Secondly, As the first step of knowledge in order to faith, is Deus est; so the second is, Deus verax, God is true, yea truth itself, and the first archetypal truth, his testimony is infallible, and all his words Yea and Amen. Unless this be known, a man cannot believe him as a God; the believer sets to his seal that God is true. And, if he did not know it, his seal would be to a blank: and though natural light reveal the truth and veracity of God; yet, as I said before, weakly, and therefore supernatural is required.  
Thirdly, The third step of knowledge in or●●r to faith, is Deus dixit, seu revelavit, God hath spoken or revealed himself in the Scriptures. These are the very words and testimony of God himself. If a man do know that God is, and is true, yet unless he know that God hath spoken in the word, that there is his very testimony, he cannot believe. Should we ask a man, why do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world? it would be no rational answer for him to say, I believe it, because God is true: No, though God be the first infinite truth, yet unless he speak and testify so much, it cannot be believed upon his testimony or authority, the only satisfactory answer is this, I believe it, because God, who is true, hath spoken and revealed it. It is necessary to faith, to know the holy Scriptures to be the word and testimony of God; that God speaks and reveals himself in them, and this cannot be known without supernatural light. To explain which, I shall lay down two things.  
First, There are in the holy Scriptures certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or internal marks, whereby it may be known, that the Scriptures are the word and testimony of God.  
Secondly, These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or internal marks cannot be known without supernatural light.  
First, There are in the holy Scriptures certain marks or characters whereby they reveal themselves to be the very word of God, even as the Sun manifests itself by its own light. There is a Majesty in the stile; what book or writing ever run in such a strain, as thus saith the Lord? where before it was there ever any universal Law made unto all mankind, Kings and beggars without distinction? who ever before commanded obedience upon pain of eternal torments in another world, or alured obedience with promises of everlasting glory there? The fiery Law carries an awe with it, as if the thunders and lightnings of Sinai were not yet over: And in the Gospel the kingdom of heaven approaches and opens itself to believers, as it were in sparkles of glory. Again, there is a treasure of Divine mysteries, touching the sacred Trinity. Nature is mute, but Scripture speaks out; Reason is but a little child, and cannot pass this infinite Abyss, unless Faith in the word take him upon his back and carry him over. Touching that Incarnation of the Son of God, never any natural man dreamt, or so much as started a thought of it; but in Scripture this and all the train of mysteries in our Redemption break forth in their glory. That book, which hath such and the like mysteries, infinitely transcending all the thoughts and reasons of man, doth by them show that it came out of the bosom of God himself. Again, there is an unparallelled purity in it, such as is no where else to be found. This Sun hath no spots in it, this Diamond hath no flaws in it, there is nothing terrene or carnal in this heavenly piece, as long as it hath stood in the world: not a dust or a dreg can be found therein, neither ever did or will it licence the least of erratas in man: In its pure spiritualness, it casts a chain upon the very thoughts and first motions of sin, and traces up sin to the black nest of corruption in lapsed nature; it calls for a pure heart, made from heaven in regeneration and new-creation, and the noblest births of Reason and Morality will not serve the turn. Such things as these are not so much as named in the writings of the world's Sophies. Plato and Aristotle never arrived at such notions. Moreover, it hath a wonderful efficacy on the hearts of men; it looks into the inmost closet and retiring room of the heart; and, like Christ, it comes and stands in the midst of it: when all the doors are shut by obstinacy and unbelief, it awakens and alarms the sleeping sinner, and makes such impressions and deep wounds in the conscience, that it plainly appears no less than the arm of God was in it. It Evangelizes the heart, and turns it into its own nature, that it may be a Temple for that spirit which breathes in the Gospel. It comforts the heart, and fills it with joy unspeakable and full of glory. That place Rom. 1.17. was to Luther porta Paradisi, the door of Paradise; and that 1 Tim. 1.15. was a sea of sweetness to holy Bilney: such activities as these are above the sphere of nature, and speak no less than the divine extraction thereof. Lastly, to name no more, the very plot and design of the Scriptures is transcendently divine; all the holy lines run into that central divinity, that God is to be exalted, and man debased. Oh! what manner of self-denial doth it call for? how doth it labour to un-selve, and as it were unman us, that God may be all in all? There Reason, as fair a Jewel as it is must veil its beauty in an acknowledgement of its own folly, and yield up itself to be new lighted from heaven. The Will, as free an Empress as it is, must lay by its Crown in a confession of its spiritual slavery, and yield up itself to be made free by grace. The Man must be no longer a man in himself, but a man in Christ, clothed in a better righteousness, and acted by a higher spirit than his own. And how doth it open the glory, and blazon the arms of God? how admirably doth it set him forth in all his Attributes? his eternity is the rock of ages, his immutability an invariable and inconvertible Sun, his righteousness like the great mountains, his decrees and judgements a mighty deep, his mercy a glory, a mass of riches never to be told over, his holiness as the pure unmixed light, his justice as the devouring unquenchable fire; In a word, there all the glory of his Attributes pass before the believers eye: such a book as this must needs be divine.  
Secondly, These marks or characters in Scripture cannot be known without supernatural light. Mere reason receiveth them not; like the child Samuel, it hears a voice, a sound of words, but it knows not that it is the Lord: insomuch that some have slighted the Scriptures. Politianus said, that he never spent time to less purpose than in reading them; and Julian, that there was as good stuff in Pindars Odes as in David's Psalms. Had they known the word or testimony of God in them, they would not have crucified them by their wretched blasphemies: But when the light of Faith comes, the Scripture appears not in letters and words only, but in the divine and heavenly characters, and by these it bears witness to itself, that it is the word of God. There is a double cause of Faith, an effective cause and an objective: the effective cause is the holy spirit enlightening the understanding and moving the will; and the objective is the Scripture itself, by its own innate light and Majesty revealing its divinity to the enlightened soul. Tertullian having this holy light in him, adored the fullness of Scripture. St. Austin seemeth to be taken to admiration with the purity of it, as not admitting so much as an officious lyc. Wheresoever the supernatural light comes, the Scripture manifests itself to be divine.  
Fourthly, The fourth step of knowledge in order to Faith, is Deus revelavit Evangelium, God hath revealed a Gospel, a way of salvation and eternal happiness. Faith (as I shall show hereafter) is not a mere belief of the divine testimony, but a dependant resignation to God and Christ; and to this resignation no man arrives, unless he first see an overtopping superlative excellency in the Gospel, outbidding the world and all the lusts thereof; and verily believe that there and there only is the way of life and happiness: And thus to see and believe is beyond the line of reason and all it's acquired notions. The natural man in the midst of all his notions carries a false balance in his heart, which makes as if every trifling vanity did outweigh God and Christ and heavenly things and whilst the balance is thus, he cannot resign: and thus it will be till supernatural light come, then and not till then doth the balance turn by a right estimate of the Gospel and the promises thereof. The spirit enlightening, and not humane reason, takes the things of Christ, and shows them forth in their glory, Joh. 16.14. And in this way God works the heart to resignation.   

CHAP. III.  
Of the second part of Precious Faith, the belief of the Testimony of God in the Scriptures: What manner of belief it is, and the consequents of it, in order to an holy self-resignation.  
THUS far of the first thing in Faith, supernatural illumination. I now proceed to the second, A belief of the testimony of God in the Scriptures: and here I need use no words to prove this belief an ingredient in Faith, for faith in the Grammatical notion of it, is nothing else but a belief of a Testimony; and, being applied to God, it is a belief of his Testimony in Scripture. Only I shall open two things; first, what manner of belief of the divine testimony in Scriptures this is: and then, what the consequents of it are in order to resignation.  
First, What manner of belief this is. And this I shall explain in these particulars.  
First, This belief is divine, and congruous to the divine testimony. Such as the testimony is, such must be the ratio credendi: the Scriptures being a divine testimony, must be believed for themselves, because of the divine authority stamped upon them. Thus the Thessalonians received the word, not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, 1 Thess. 2.13. they lodged the divine truth in a divine faith, which was a suitable entertainment. Humana omnia dicta testibus egent, Dei autem sermo ipse sibi test is est, saith Salvian, humane words want witness, but divine carry their own testimony in themselves. To believe the Scriptures because God speaks in them, is a divine faith, but to believe them upon any other account, is below their divine authority, and but an humane faith. For example, to believe the Scriptures for the saying of the woman, for the Church's testimony, is but an humane faith, for it stands on no higher fulciment than an humane testimony, and therefore can be but an humane faith. Here the subtle Jesuit would help out the Papist at a dead lift: that faith (saith he) which is resolved into the Church's authority is neque purè divina, neque purè humana, sed quasi media inferioris cujusdam ordinis; but what saith the learned Pemble to him, Just so men use to speak when they cannot tell what to say; It is Quasi, and Aliquomodo, and Alicujus generis, it is somewhat, if they could tell what, thus he. 'Tis undoubtedly clear, that that faith which calls any man Master on earth, and centres on an humane testimony, such as that of the Church, made up of men, must needs be, can be no other than humane. Indeed the Church's testimony may be inter motiva fidei, but (if the faith be divine) it cannot be inter formales rationes sidei. A man in the dark labyrinth of nature may be led out by the Church's lamp, but when he is out, he sees the Sun by its own light, he believes the Scriptures for their own divinity, though per ministerium Ecclesiae, yet not propter authoritatem Ecclesiae. Divine faith hath its Master in heaven, and its record on high.  
Secondly, Which follows on the other, this belief is a firm and stable thing, because built on the divine authority of Scripture; we believe and are sure, saith Peter, Joh. 6.69. Nothing on earth can so ascertain things unto us, as faith in the divine testimony. Julian the Apostate glorying in the Pagan learning, jeered at the Christians, because all their wisdom was but in that one word Credo, I believe: but divine faith for all his profane taunt, hath more firmness and real certainty in it then all the Sciences in the world; for it sees things in lumine veritatis primae, in the light of the first truth, and sits even in the infallible chair; so that non potest subesse falsum, a lie cannot sit under it, and glues the heart to the truth in that manner, 
Eonav. l. 3 disi. 23. quest. 4.  that (as the Schoolman hath it) true believers, nec per argumenta, nec per tormenta, nec per blandimenta inclinari possunt, ut veritatem saltem ore tenus negent, nothing could turn them away from the truth. So strong a thing is faith, when it is set upon the rock, the testimony of God; but if it have an humane bottom only, such as the Church's authority, it is weak and wavering, more like a fluctuating opinion than a faith. Durandus asserts, that Science is more certain than faith, and to that strong objection, that the divine authority by which we believe, is more certain than any humane reason by which we know; he answers thus, Divina autoritas, propter quam credimus, licet sit certissima in se, non tamen nobis, qualitèr enim certi simus, 
L. 3. dist. 23. quest. 7.  quod Deus dicat ea quae credimus, non nisi quia sic tenet Ecclesia? Observe, how this great Scholar abates the certainty of faith, because he takes up the divinity of Scriptures upon trust from the saying of the Church; those who build their faith purely on the divine word, speak after another rate. Junius reading the first chapter of St. John, cried out in a kind of amazement, Divinitatem argumenti & authoritatem sentio: and Reverend Calvin, putting the question how we shall be persuaded that the Scriptures did flow forth from God; answers as roundly as a man doth touching that which is obvious and before his senses, 
Instit. l. 1. c. 7.  perinde est (saith he) ac si quis roget, unde discemus lucem discernere à tenebris, the Scripture reveals itself as the light doth, and to the pure eye of faith it appears divine from its own innate excellency, and so establishes the heart in its holy truth. To conclude this point, faith is a stable and firm thing; but, by the estimates and lives of men, there seems to be but a very little of it in the world. Did men, as they profess, firmly believe the Scriptures, could they vilify the commands of the great God as they do? The injunctions of earthly Princes are not served so. Would they slight that wonderful charter of grace and glory in the Gospel? a Patent of petty dignities and possessions here below will be highly valued by them: durst they sin as they do, in the face of hell and wrath flashing out of the divine threaten? a Prince's sword or Gibbet would cast them into a fit of trembling. O how soon would the things of God cast the balance in the heart, and outweigh all the world, if the Scriptures were indeed believed: but there being in men only levis opinatio, a light opinion rather than a solid faith touching the same, there necessarily ensues a monstrous disproportion between their faith and their life.  
Thirdly, This belief must be explicit as to the fundamentals of Religion. A mere implicit faith, as to believe in the lump, that all things contained in the holy Scriptures are true, will not serve the turn. 
In Coloss. 2. v. 2.  Non est divina sed belluina fides, quae nuliam habet conceptionem five comprehensionem illarum rerum, quae creduntur, saith the excellent Davenant. A mere implicit faith without understanding is a brutish thing; an explicit faith as to fundamentals is required: this will appear by these ensuing considerations.  
First, A mere implicit faith, if at any time might have passed for currant, in the days before Christ's Incarnation, whilst religion was wrapped up in vails and shadows; but even then faith in holy men was explicit according to the measure of divine light imparted unto them: all along they looked to the Messiah, the promised seed, and probably in an obscure manner to his future sufferings. Whilst Adam was in Innocency, there was no promise of a Messiah, no footstep of a sacrifice; but as soon as man was fallen, out came that first Gospel, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, Gen. 3.15. and sacrifices were set up: without doubt not without God's appointment, for God had respect to Abel's sacrifice; which, had it been a piece of will-worship, could not have been, and Abol offered it up by faith, Heb. 11.4. which, without a divine word, moves not in the least measure. These sacrifices were as it were visible Commentaries on that first Gospel, and types of a suffering Messiah. And if so and so by Gods own institution, it is not at all probable that God should hid the sacred meaning thereof totally from the faith of the first believers. Adam then, as I conceive, by the eyes of Faith saw the Messiah in that first Gospel, and withal some glimmering of his sufferings in the sacrifices: And if he saw it, no doubt he did preach and reveal it to others, 
Schola saerif. Disp. 4  and probably (as Franzius conceives) in a solemn manner at the sacrifices. Abel (saith the Apostle) by faith offered up a sacrifice to God, not only by such a faith as did it in obedience to God's command, but by such a faith, as through his own sacrifice did pierce to the antitype, the great sacrifice of the Messiah. 
De satisfact. Christi l. 1. sect. 5.  Thus the learned Essenius, cum sacrificia Veteris Testamenti fuerint typi sacrificii Christi, ea sides intelligenda est, quâ sacrificium illud refertur ad suum antitypum, such a faith was proper to his sacrifice. In Noah's sacrifice the Lord smelled a sweet savour, or a savour of rest, such as did (saith one of the Rabbins) make him ab irâ suâ quiescere, rest from his anger, Gen. 8.21. and therefore surely there was more in it then mere beasts and fowls. Noah's faith fetched in him, who was to give himself an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Abraham saw Christ's day, that is, his coming and suffering in the flesh, John 8.56. a very great sight at that distance: and no doubt the faithful Seer did not conceal it, but tell his children and servants thereof for the glory of the Messiah: his joy was too great to hold it in privately to himself, and his zeal too hot to hid so much of heavenly glory. Under the Levitical Law the Israelites were to lay their hands on the head of the sacrifice, as it were to disburden themselves of sin, and lay it off upon the sacrifice; and by the offering up thereof, they were to make an atonement or expiation. The unbelievers among them understood the outward rite of the sacrifice; and did the faithful ones see no more in it? Can or did they imagine that a poor silly beast could stand under the weight of sin, or that the blood of bulls or goats could take it away? No surely, their faith looked through the outward sacrifice to the Messiah for atonement and reconciliation. In David the Evangelical day broke out more clearly; O how much of Christ is there in the 110th Psalm? there's his kingdom and eternal priesthood; there's his passion in drinking of the brook in the way; there's his ascension in lifting up the head; there's his intercession in sitting at God's right hand; there's his Church Catholic, a willing people, made so by the power of his grace. This was Symbolum Davidicum, David's Creed (as a learned man hath it) reaching in a manner as far as ours: Moreover, the Saints of old by their faith kenned a resurrection and life eternal. Jobs faith looked through worms and dust to the vision of God, Job 19.26. Abraham's faith traveled beyond Canaan unto the heavenly city and country, Heb. 11.10. David is in a rapture at the full joys and right-hand pleasures with God, Psal. 16.11. When Cain talked with Abel his brother, Gen. 4.8. the Hebrew text sets not down what he said, but it hath an extraordinary pause, implying further matter; the Jerusalem Targum says, Cain asserted that there was no judgement, no judge, no world to come, no rewards of evil or good; but believing Abel said there were all these, and then his brother slew him: It seems the first fall out was about the future world. Wisdom causes her lovers to inherit substance, 
Quid est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? nisi futurum saeculum.  or essence (as the original word imports) Prov. 8.21. and this substance or essence is (as some Jews affirm) no other then eternal life in the world to come. Now to make my inference from all this; If faith were in a measure explicit in those early Saints, who had but the twilight of the holy types, and cock-crowing of the Prophets; how much more should it be so in us, who live in the noonday of the Gospel, and as it were directly under the Sun of righteousness, in such a Church-state, wherein the least is greater than John Baptist, we should expand and spread abroad the fails of our faith to take in the larger gales and effusions of the holy spirit.  
Secondly, Faith, unless explicit, cannot arrive at those ends for which it is ordained; viz. to raise up the heart to a reliance on the free grace of God in Christ, to inflame the heart with the love of God and holy things, to sanctify the heart through the truth, and to overcome the world with its lusts: A mere implicit faith cannot reach these, it cannot raise the heart up to a reliance on God's grace in Christ: to that reliance is prerequired not only a belief that God is true in the Scriptures in general, but also a belief that God is true in the precious promises in special: We are like Jacob, not believing in the mercies of God till we see the chariots, the gracious promises, which he hath sent down from heaven to carry up our faith to himself. They that know thy name, will put their trust in thee, Psal. 9.10. they and they only. Neither can it inflame the heart with the love of God and holy things: light and heat ever go together: Implicit faith is a dark and cold thing, affording no spiritual warmth at all; he that hath no more, is but a Nabal, a fool in religion, and his heart as dead and cold as a stone within him, till the love of God in the explicit notion of it shine into the soul; it will not, like the disciples at Emmaus, burn within us with love to God and his ways: neither can it sanctify the heart through the truth, the word did not profit them not being mixed or tempered with faith saith the Apostle, Heb. 4.2. Where there is only an implicit faith, the word lies upon the heart all in a lump, whole and undigested, affording no blood or spirits of sanctity to the soul: it is explicit faith only which breaks the truth in the heart, and mixes and tempers every holy particle therewith, from whence the soul comes to be changed and assimulated into the truth, receiving a divine likeness from it, according to the measure of its faith, more or less digesting the same truth in the heart; neither can it lastly overcome the world and the lusts thereof, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, saith the Apostle, 1 Joh. 5.4. And this Faith doth, by putting a right estimate of things into the heart: whereby it manifestly appears, that heavenly things do infinitely outweigh earthly in themselves, and should do so in the minds of men. A man of a mere implicit faith, is a man without a balance or judgement, he knows not how to estimate or weigh the excellent things of God, and therefore is ever poized down by the world and the lusts thereof. It is the explicit faith only which is in the soul as the balance of the Sanctuary, rightly determining the true weight of things, and thereby giving heavenly things the victory above earthly in the heart. Oh! where this is, what a feather, a vanity, a nothing is the world? what in it can weigh against God, or Christ, or the exceeding eternal weight of glory? surely nothing; wherefore the followers of faith become conquerors of the world.  
Fourthly, This belief must be total and absolute, without any salvoes or limitations. The Gospel must captivate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all the intellect, or every thought to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10.5. The Reason must not go at large or random, but be kept in safe custody under the Gospel and the divine mysteries thereof; it is not to be trusted to, never since the fall put an enmity into it against God. The Socinians believe the Scriptures only so far forth as they are congruous to reason; thus Socinus professes, that if this proposition (that Jesus Christ satisfied God for our sins) were once and again extant in the sacred monuments, yet non ideirco, he would not therefore believe the thing to be so as we ordinarily conceive of it: And another lays down this for a rule, Nihil credi potest, quod à ratione capi & intelligi nequeat, that cannot be believed by faith, which cannot be comprehended by reason. It seems they will trust God no further than they can see him, and depend more on their blear-eyed reason, than the divine oracle. Touching this Socinian faith, I shall endeavour to show, first the inrationality of it, and then the nullity.  
First, The Irrationality of it will evidently appear, if we distinguish between the two states of reason, before the fall of man, and since. Reason before the fall was a pure and virgin light without any spot in it, afterwards it was destoured and overshadowed with the fall, and by that means all that is in the mind of man in his lapsed estate is not reason, the blinds and dark shades there are not so, but only that which is the relic of the pure primitive light, and congruous thereunto, the blemish in the eye is not the light, the rust in the gold is not the pure metal, neither is all that is in lapsed reason to be reckoned reason. If then in this case we would know what is rational, we must consider what reason, so far as it is pure and right, doth dictate to us in this point: and what is that, but that God as the first unerrable truth, must be believed in his words for himself, and above all other things, even above reason itself? 
Ronand. l. 3. dist. 23.  Justum est (saith the Schoolman) ut intellecius noster ita captivetur, & subjacoat summae veritati, sicut affectus noster debet subjacere summae bonitati, nec potest esse anima recta nisi intellectus sum, veritati propter se, & super omnia assentiat, & affectus summae bonitati adhaereat: Its just and purely rational, as to love the supreme goodness, so to assent to the supreme truth for itself and above all; that is, without any salvocs or exceptions at all; the authority being infallible, the belief should in all reason be absolute. Reason says, that God should be believed as a God, one that cannot lie, no more than cease to be; and if as a God, then for himself and above all. That in the Socinian, which adds a salvo to his belief of the holy Scriptures, is not his reason, but the rust and proud flesh and spiritual corruption of it; and to believe such stuff before the truth of God, and make it the allay and supreme ruler of our faith, is desperately and monstrously irrational. How this rust grew upon our reason at first, is evident in the fall of man, the Serpent creeps in upon the woman, with an yea, hath God said? Gen. 3.1. his plot was to weaken the authority of God's word, and when she began to waver about it, and diminish the peremptory threatening of death, with a least ye die, v. 3. her reason began to corrupt and become dreggy, which, while pure, could not but assert the truth and veracity of God. Hence the Apostle speaking to the Corinthian Church as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ, adds this caution, lest as the Serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, 2 Cor. 11.2. & 3. ver. That is, take heed of falling off from the pure doctrine of the Gospel, the head of every man is Christ, so much adherence and subjection as reason hath unto him and his holy truth, so much chastity and virginity it hath; 
Virginitae mentis est integrasides. Aust. in Joh.  but as soon as it elapes, it becomes an adulteress, and should not be suffered to speak in holy things. Morcover, the irrationality of it will further appear, if we consider that the sphere of reason and the sphere of revelation are two distinct things. The sphere of reason is filled with natural notions, the elements of man's spirit; but the sphere of revelation is filled with supernatural truths, the dictates of God; Reason, so far as it is reason, is a divine spark, a petty Prince in its own dominions; but when it leaves these, and passes over into the supernatural region, and there, instead of sitting down at Gods see't to be taught and enlightened, assumes the magisterial chair, and falls a judging divine mysteries, it is no longer reason, but a fool and a brute, and speaks as simply in matters of Religion, as a beast, if it could speak would do in matters of reason. Thus when our Saviour discoursed Nicodemus about regeneration, reason prattled after a strange rate, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? So soolishly and absurdly doth carnal reason carry itself in supernatural things. To make this more plain, let us compare the weakness of reason with the sublimity of holy mysteries, and then the fallibility of reason with the certainty of them.  
First, Let us compare the weakness of reason with the sublimity of holy Mysteries. Reason, having a bruise in the fall, is weak even in its own sphere: With how much toil doth it creep from letters to words, and from words to Arts and Sciences? And when it is there, how little doth it know? Can it span the heavens, or measure the vast backside thereof, or number those golden letters, the stars therein, or understand the Sun, which to have done, Eudoxus would willingly have been burnt up by it, or in one of its beams: tell what light is, touching which there are no less than seven opinions in one of the Schoolmen, which verifies the old saying, Non constat ex lumine naturae quid sit natura luminis? To come lower, can it enter into the treasures of the snow, or ride a circuit with the winds, or take a rational turn with the flux and reflux of the sea, or tell how the massy earth hangs upon nothing, or unkennel an occult quality and draw it out to an open view, or unriddle a loadstone; in which a late Philosopher would have the atoms of both Poles to meet and incorporate? Nay, in a common stone, can it dive into the form or nature thereof, dic mihi, quid est lapiditas, said a Learned man; can it strip the meanest creature of the investing accidents, and look upon the pure naked essence thereof? can it comprehend a drop or a dust, in which (saith the profound Bradwardine) there are infinite figures and numbers, 
De Causâ Dei. l. 1. c. 1. pars 32.  and consequently infinite Geometrical and Arithmetical conclusions, following one another in order, and having a mutual dependence between themselves, such as no Philosophers can ever reach unto, because being capable only of finite conclusions, they leave behind them infinite unknown? Or, if it look about its own mansion-house, the brain, can it tell where the cells of memory, or the playhouse of fancy, or the shop of the animal spirits are situate, or whether all these live together in a family? thousands of such things there are, which may make every one cry out with Socrates, Hoc unum scio, quod nihil scio. And shall such a weakling as this, dunced and posed in every atom within its own sphere, usurp the crown, and rule over sacred mysteries, and pure revelations, which come out of the bosom of God, to be the wonder of Angels and faith of men, and are in a transcendent excess infinitely above and beyond the capacity of both of them? shall it take up the ocean in a little shell, measure the sacred Trinity in its shallow understanding: And, if it will not lie in so narrow a room, cast it away as no article of Faith, as a thing inter impossibilia mentis, not consistent with reason? shall it's dim eyes pry into the Ark, I mean, into that great mystery, God in the flesh; and there, because it cannot see how two such natures as mortal and immortal, temporal and eternal, mutable and immutable can come together into one person, throw it away, as Smalcius doth, with this, rationi sanae repugnat, it is repugnant to right reason? When reason thus exalts itself in the things of God, it sinks below itself into brutish irrationality.  
Secondly, Let us compare the fallibility of Reason, with the infallibility of Scripture. When the Papists lift up the Pope as supreme judge in matters of Religion, it is a sufficient answer to tell them, the first Clement held the Platonical community of all things, even of wives. Marcellinus sacrificed to Idols. Liberius subscribed to Arianism. Innocent the first taught that little ones could not be saved without the Eucharist. Vigilius was an Eutychian. Honorius a Monothelite. Hildebrand a brand of hell, and impiously diabolical. John the 23th was accused in the Council of Constance of this opinion, That the souls of men die with their bodies, even as the souls of brutes; and should such be judges in matters of Religion? When the Socinian, by subjecting articles of Faith unto Reason, makes not one, but as many Popes as men, we need say no more to him, but humanum est errare, reason is a fallible thing. The Philosophers were the Patriarches of heretics; Platonical Philosophy in the Fathers, and Aristotelical in the Schoolmen, hath much debased the truths of God, saith a great Divine. All the errors and heresies which have swarmed abroad in all ages, have been the progeny of corrupt Reason: upon this the devil begets all the black monstrous opinions which crawl within doors in the Church, or without in the Pagan world. And should such a thing as this come and sit in judgement on the pure words of God, which are surer than the voice of Angels, and stand faster than the pillars of heaven and earth, which in so many successions of Ages never contracted the least speck of falsehood, or shed a leaf in the fall of the least tittle or iota thereof? Surely, when reason thus forgets itself and its own fallibility, it degrades itself and becomes unreasonable. Thus far of the irrationality of the Socinian faith. But,  
Secondly, The nullity of it is considerable, it is a nullity in its foundation, and at last it proves a nullity in the consequence. It is a nullity in its foundation; the Socinian believes the Scriptures not as a divine testimony, but as congruous to reason, and so trusts not in God, but in himself and his own heart. Thus Socinus expresses himself, Non generalem comprobandi rationem quaerimus, quod eam, qui dixit, ejusmodi esse appareat, ut nullâ in re mentiri posset, sed singularem quandam, quâ id nominatim, quod comprobandum est, per causas & effecia propria ita se habere demonstratur, adeò ut non modò quia Deum ipsum dixisse appareat, id verum esse constet, sed etiam quia verum esse appareat, id Deum dixisse nobis certò persuadeamus. Qaomodo poterat clariùs prodere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suam, saith a Learned man? how could he more clearly betray his infidelity? he would not have us only believe a thing true, because God says so, but believe also that God says so, because it appears true to our own reason, where this is the foundation, faith is a mere nullity, and that which is a nullity in the foundation, at last proves a nullity in the consequence. Reason, corrupting itself in its own pride, casts away the found principles of the Gospel, and these being gone putrifies in abominable errors, like Herod assuming a Deity to himself, it is spiritually smitten of God, and eaten up of worms: I mean, those errors which are but the putrefactions of reason. How do the Socinians Paganize in worshipping a creature, a Christ whom they deny to be God; Mahometize in denying the sacred Trinity; Judaize in standing for an interpreting Messiah only, and not a satisfying one; Manicheize in undervaluing the old Testament; Arianize in denying the Deity of Christ; Pelagianize in denying original sin; Anabaptize in denying baptism to infants? how do some of them Divelaze in horrid blasphemies, calling the sacred Trinity tricipitem Cerberum; and to those who assert Jesus Christ to be God's son; ask, An Deus habuit uxorem? Whether God had a wise? and such like hellish stuff, in which much of the devil appears. After all this fearful shipwiack of faith, what remains? too too little to denominate them Christians. Ignatius called the Ebionites, because they denied Christ's Deity, men-worshippers; the antiont Church styled the Samosatenians upon the same account God-killers; and a great Divine passed this censure on the Socinians, that they were a company of baptised Turks: indeed their corrupted reason dissolves their faith into little or nothing.  
Fifthly, This belief must be such as owns the holy Scriptures for the rule of faith; To the Law and to the testimony, saith the Prophet, If they speak not according to this word, it is because, here is no light in them, Isa. 8.20. As soon as the morning of faith breaks in the heart, the word is owned as the rule. Enthusiasts going oft from the Scriptures, take the spirit for their rule. Swenckfield was altogether for the spirit and the internal word, and little or nothing at all for the external. Henry Nicholas boasting of the holy anointing, looked on the Scripture as a literal fleshly elementish thing. John Valdesso saith, that Christians may at first serve themselves with Scripture as an Alphabet, but afterwards leaving it to beginners, they attend to their proper Master the spirit of God: Others say, the Scripture is but a dead letter, a thing of paper and ink, and we must not try the living by the dead, the holy spirit by the Scripture. Such as these, bragging of their own revelations, call all other Christians Vocalists and Literalists, because of their adherence to the Scriptures. Mr. Saltmarsh makes three spheres of administration, the Law or mere letter, the Gospel which hath duty and grace in it, and the spirit, the pure spirit, which is the third heaven, higher than Scriptures and ordinances. The Weigelians talk of a seculum Spiritus Sancti, in which there shall be higher dispensations than before, and we shall be wiser than Apostles. The Quakers make the light within, that is, as I take it, natural conscience the standard of all their actings. All these, though clothed in various words, agree together to crucify the Scriptures, as if they had somewhat more noble. Unto them I shall offer some considerations.  
First, The Apostles direction is, Try the spirits whether they are of God, 1 Joh. 4.1. in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, try them, as Goldsmiths try metals by the touchstone, or by the fire, or as Magistrates question offenders, or examine those that stand for an office, use all manner of ways to find out whether the spirits be right or not: upon this as a sufficient warrant, I shall put some interrogatories to the Enthusiast.  
Thou sayest the spirit of God is in thy heart, and is it not in the Scriptures too? and wherever it is, is it not congruous and harmonious to itself? And what doth it say in the Scripture? doth it not say, that the Scripture is the rule? To the Law and to the testimony, saith the Prophet, Isa. 8.20. the Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 19.7. The Scripture is able to make us wise to salvation, and perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works, saith the Apostle, 2 Tim. 3.15. & 17. Nay, such a rule it is, that nothing must be added to it, nor diminished from it, Dent. 4.2. no not by an Angel. If an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you, let him be accursed, Gal. 1.8. And can the spirit in the heart contradict the spirit in the Scripture? can it be contrary to itself, and departed from its own oracles? no surely, defectible creatures may be off and on, yea and nay in their words, but the holy spirit cannot be so. The war between Constantius and Magnentius was looked upon as very portentous, because therein first cross was carried against cross, and Christians engaged against fellow-Christians; but that the holy spirit should make war upon itself, is a portentous contradiction; which, if allowed, would leave no being to God's veracity, nor standing unto man's faith: But as portentous as it is, the Enthusiast must maintain it, unless he will confess that the spirit in him, which denies the Scripture to be the rule, is not of God.  
Again, thou sayest thou hast the revelation of the holy spirit, but how or in what manner doth it reveal itself in thee? I suppose thou dost not pretend to a Revelation made by visions or dreams or audible voices, as it was wont to be of old, but to a revelation intellectual; and that is double, the one extraordinary in Prophets and Apostles, the other ordinary in all true believers. In the first revelation made to Prophets and Apostles, the holy spirit did immediately infuse the species intelligibiles into their minds, and thereby did internally speak, and in a proper sense reveal things unto them. What we translate the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea, Hos. 1.2. is in the original the beginning of the speech of Jehovah in Hosea, pointing out an internal locution to the Prophet. In the second revelation made to believers, there is no such thing as in the first, no immediate infusion of species, no internal voice or locution, saying this or that is so, and therefore no revelation properly so called; but the holy spirit doth enlighten their minds to make them capable, and then they hear what the holy spirit in the Scriptures speaks unto them: thus S. Paul on the behalf of the Ephesians prays for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, not that they might have extraordinary inspirations, but that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, Eph. 1.17, 18. To know the witness of God in the Gospel, the holy spirit doth not speak to their enlightened understandings immediately, but in and by the Scripture-medium, which is as it were Epistola Dei, God's letter unto man. In the first revelation to the Prophets and Apostles, the holy spirit did so totally and in such an extraordinary way govern them in their speaking and writing, that therein there was nibil suum, nothing of their own, not only the matter, but quaevis vocula, every little word was of God: hence S. Peter saith, that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moved or carried upon the wings of the spirit above humane frailty, 2 Pet. 1.21. In the second revelation to believers, the holy spirit is as an holy anointing to their minds, and thereby puts them into a capacity to hear what God speaks in the Scripture, but it doth not so totally carry and rule them, as to make their words purely divine and free from all mixture of their own. The first revelation to the Prophets and Apostles, being purely immediate and extraordinary, makes authentical Scripture. The second revelation to believers, being but ordinary, doth not make Scripture, but only capacitate their minds to take in the manifestations of the spirit therein. These things premised, I must renew my question: Say, O Enthusiast! what is thy revelation? is it a pure immediate internal locution? is it extraordinary and carried by the spirit above all humane frailty? may it be added to the Canon and become Scripture? I suppose thou canst not, darest not say so; but if thou dost, read and tremble at the sealing up of the Canon, Rev. 22.18. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book, and if any man shall take away from them, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city. These words are as a flaming sword at the end of the Bible, to keep thee from presuming to put any thing thereunto: Say then modestly, is not thy revelation ordinary? did not the holy spirit come to thee in the chariot of the Scripture? and why then dost thou slight and undervalue it? why dost thou call it a dead letter, a fleshly elementith thing, and the like? God hath spoken once, yea, twice, (if I may so allude) once in the Old Testament, and again in the New, expect not to hear his voice or spirit any where else but there; if thou dost, thou puttest a cheat upon thyself, and instead of a revelation, embracest a mere fancy.  
Again, the spirit is in thy heart, and the spirit is in the Scripture, but where is the greatest measure of it? say in good earnest, is there a greater measure of the spirit in thy heart then in the Scripture? then thou canst unriddle all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the difficult knots in Scripture; thou canst dive down into that divine abyss, and fetch up all the holy mysteries there; thy holiness can hold measure with the length and breadth of the pure spiritual Law; thy faith runs parallel with all the promises, and can tell over all that infinite Mass of freegrace which is couched therein: the hellish root of bitterness once in thy nature, is quite eradicated, and not a string of concupiscence left behind; thou canst say, I have no sin, and which is the wonder, thy heart doth not deceive thee in saying so; there are no shades or dark spots in thy mind, no cracks or flaws at all in thy obedience, no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nothing lacking in thy faith or other graces: All in thy heart and life is as right as the rule, and as pure as the Crystal streams in the Gospel. If there be a greater measure of the spirit in thy heart then in the Scripture, thus it is with thee: but I hope thou art not so utterly void of the spirit and conscience, as to fall into so proud a dream of thy estate. If thou sayest thou art clean, that very word pollutes thee, quisquis se inculpatum dixerit, aut superbus aut stultus est, whosoever saith so, is either a fool or a proud man. Say then, as the truth is, there is a greater, incomparably greater measure of the spirit in the Scripture, then in thy heart; and then tell me, what is fittest to be the rule, that which is perfect, or that which is imperfect, that greater measure of the spirit in the Scripture, or that lesser, far lesser measure of the spirit in thy heart; common sense will tell thee it belongs to the Scripture.  
Moreover, the spirit is in thy heart, and the spirit is in the Scripture, but where is it plainest and most obvious? where can it be most easily discerned to be the very spirit of God indeed? all that is in the Scripture is indubitably of the holy spirit, but all that is in thy heart is not so; it may be it is from thy own spirit, what thou didst suppose to have been from Gods: nay it may be it is from Satan transforming himself into an Angel of light. The Disciples would have called for fire from heaven as Elias, but Christ tells them, ye know not of what spirit ye are, Luk. 9.55. as if he had said, you think this motion came from an extraordinary spirit, such as was in Elias, but alas, it is but from your own spirit, nay from the gall and bitterness of it, that which you take for zeal, is indeed but revenge. When upon our Saviour's discourse of his sufferings Peter said, be it far from thee Lord, this shall not be unto thee, no doubt he thought himself right in the thing, but our Saviour calls him Satan for it, Mat. 16.23. his meaning was pious, and as he might think, from the same holy spirit which a little before inspired him to make a glorious confession of Christ; but alas, the devil acted secretly therein. Of what I find in Scripture, I can immediately and without any more ado pronounce that it is the very voice of the holy spirit, but of what I find in my own heart I cannot do so. First, the light must be divided from the darkness, God's spirit must be distinguished from man's and Satan's. And how such a piece of spiritual Chemistry should be done without the Scripture, I cannot imagine: There may be three different spirits in my heart, and unless I reduce them in a way of trial to the one pure spirit in the Scripture, I may be easily cheated by my heart: wherefore the Scripture, in which the characters of the spirit are more plain and legible then in my own heart, must needs be the rule.  
Once more let me ask thee O Enthusiast, who criest up the spirit, the spirit above Scripture, dost thou seek the spirit aright, or follow him faithfully? I fear thou dost neither. Thou dost not seek the spirit aright, because not in his own way, which now is not in visions and immediate revelations, but in the Scripture. Thou wouldst have the spirit, but wilt not stay upon the mountains of the Prophets and Apostles for him. Thou dost like Joseph and Mary, they sought Christ among their kindred and acquaintance, when he was in the Temple. Thou seekest the spirit among thy own fancies and imaginations, when he is in the Scripture, My spirit and my words shall not departed out of thy mouth, saith God, Isa. 59.21. Observe, the spirit and the word are by Gods own ordinance in a sweet conjunction together, he that sunders them loses both of them. For a man to wave the Scripture and seek the spirit, is as if he should forsake the beams, and search after the Sun in some place where it shines not. The French Kings use to be crowned at Reims, because there is the sacred oil, which (as they say) came down from heaven. If thou wouldst be crowned with heavenly wisdom, be in the Scriptures, there and there only is the holy Unction which will teach thee all things. Neither dost thou follow the spirit as thou oughtest: the spirit, if followed in his own way, will lead thee into all truth, but if thou wilt follow the spirit in an extrascriptural way, thou dost not follow it indeed, but thy own fancy, and whilst thou seemest to soar above Scripture, thou art like to fall far below it, into the ditch of error and wickedness. In no better place have thy predecessors been, after all their highflying imaginations. Montanus that early Enthusiast called himself the Paraclete, and magnified the writings of his two Prophetesses above the sacred Gospel. The Messaliani thought they could corporeally see the sacred Trinity, and dance upon devils, and receive the holy spirit in a visible way? Oh Satanical illusion! John of Leydens' visions teemed out Polygamy and a bloody Rebellion. Into what wild assertions did Swenckfield and Henry Nicholas come by their Enthusiastical spirit, the first saying, that the Gospel is the Essence of God; nay, faith in the heart is so. The other blasphemously alleging, That the believer is Godded with God, and the spirit of love is God incarnate? How did Valdesso run into Familism and Antinomianism? And what else did Saltmarsh, in his book called Sparkles of Glory; making as if Christ were but a mystical sigurative man, and God in the flesh were only God in his Saints? Oh mystery of iniquity! whither will not this extrascriptural spirit go? what errors will it not broach? what sacred foundations of truth will it not demolish? how little Gospel or divine rule will it leave to Christians? Leave it then O Enthusiast, or else thou canst not follow the spirit of truth. Thus much by way of question to the Enthusiasts.  
Secondly, I shall in a word say somewhat to their Allegations: they say, That the Scriptures are but the Christians Alphabet, and for beginners only. But let us remember, the spirit which is in believers in an ordinary way, was in the Penmen of Scripture in an extraordinary; I was in the spirit, saith St. John, Rev. 1.10. he saith not, the spirit was in me, but I was in the spirit, as a vessel in the sea, every way surrounded and overruled by it. And who can believe that the spirit in its ordinary way should exceed itself in its extraordinary; that in believers it should utter high mysteries, which in Prophets and Apostles gave out only an Alphabet? If it be no more, I dare say, no man, no not the most perfect Disciple of God on earth ever throughly understood his Alphabet, no man's knowledge ever dived into the bottom of Scripture, no man's holiness was ever parallel to its precepts, nor no man's faith ever traced the unsearchable riches of grace there unto the uttermost, and shall we say, it is only an Alphabet for beginners? Is it not the wisdom of God in a mystery? is it not able to make the man of God perfect? hath St. Paul milk only and not strong meat? was St. Peter to seed the lambs only, and not to feed them into sheep, and when they were such? doth St. John writ only to the little children, and not to the young men and fathers also? He writes to them all, plainly showing, that no man, of what stature soever in grace, did ever outgrow the Scripture.  
Again they say, the Scriptures are but a dead letter, and we must not try the living by the dead. The holy Martyr Stephen long since styled them lively oracles, Act. 7.38. and if they are now but a dead letter, who hath murdered them? who so much as the Enthusiast? who goes about to separate the spirit from them. If the Law come to a man in the convincing spirit, and slay him with his own guilt, and set his conscience on fire with some tastes of hell, he may with the Apostle call it a kill letter, but he will hardly call it a dead one. If the Gospel come to him in the converting spirit, and open the glories of freegrace, and bring in a new creation into his heart, he must confess, that it is the very savour of life unto life, and the power and arm of God to salvation; and as the first life of grace is breathed through it into the dead sinner, so all the after-gales of the spirit come from it upon the new creature: Wherefore, whilst the spirit is in the word, it cannot be a dead letter; and where the spirit is in the heart, it will not be called so. The Enthusiast for all his swelling words of vanity, by calling the Scripture a dead letter, proves only the deadness of his own heart; and the true believer, who owns the Scripture for his rule, doth not try the living by the dead, but the lesser measure of the spirit in his heart, by the greater measure of it in the word.  
Again, they say there is a seculum spiritus sancti, an administration of all-spirit, which is much above all Scriptures and Ordinances; but that there should be such a Church-state on earth is a vain dream. There are two manifestations of God unto men, the one dark and through the glass of ordinances, the other by pure and immediate vision, as it were face to face. There are two states of believers, the one a state of weak and imperfect graces, the other a state of perfect holiness and purity. There are also two places, the one is earth, a vale of tears and death; the other is heaven, a region of all blessedness and life eternal. The manifestation by ordinances is congruous to weak graces, and such a place as earth. The manifestation by pure vision is congruous to perfect holiness, and such a place as heaven. Thus hath the wisdom of God ordered things. Methinks the Enthusiast should blush to say that he is above Scriptures and Ordinances here. What? above the glass, and yet below the bliss-making vision; above the channels and methods of grace, and yet below a state of perfection; above the heavenly mediums, and yet on earth? Oh strange imagination! What saith our Saviour? Go, teach and baptise, lo I am with you always to the end of the world, Mat. 28.19, 20. Ordinances run parallel with this world, and the state which is above them, is only in the next. What saith St. Paul? Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Pastors, are all for the perfecting of the Saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Eph. 4.11, 12. Ordinances must continue as long as weaknesses and imperfections, and cannot be spared till the top-stone of holiness and perfection be laid in heaven. What saith St. John, speaking of the heavenly City? And I saw no Temple therein, Rev. 21.22. No Temple, no Ordinances, is only for heaven, earth must always want and have them. O my soul, enter not into their secret, which cry up the spirit, and despise prophesyings; be thou where God's honour dwelleth; in the Temple of Ordinances thou mayest see his power and glory.  
Lastly, the Quakers talk altogether of the light within; which, being as they say, common to all men, can be no other than natural conscience: this is the candle of the Lord, and much magnified by Heathen Philosophers; this is every man's Daemon, saith one: nay, it is the God in us, saith another. And it is so in such a sense as Moses was a God to Pharaoh, preaching the will of God to him; and for nonobedience, urging him with dreadful plagues: For it magisterially dictates the will of God, even in the Monarches of the world; and in case they rebel, it hath inward stings and scorpions for them. Quid aliud voces animam quàm Deum in humano corpore hospitantem, saith Seneca. Were a Quaker to English it, he would go near to do it thus, The light within is God manifest in the flesh, for in plain terms he will call it Christ, as if the candle could become a Sun of Righteousness. In the mean time the devil hath a fetch, under the praises of inward light, to explode the Scriptures: But we must remember, that Conscience which is above man, is yet below God; and though it be a light and a rule, yet it must truckle under the greater light and rule in the Scriptures. Take conscience before conversion, it is clouded and overshadowed with the Fall, dark and blind in spiritual things; and shall the blind lead the blind, till both fall into the ditch? must it not go & be new-lighted at the Scripture? Take heed unto the word as unto a light shining in a dark place, saith St. Peter, 2 Pet. 1.19. The heart of man is but a dark place, till the divine word shine into it; it is intoxicated with the love of sin, and by it, as the devil's Opium, it sleeps at the top of the mast, in the ocean of lowdangers, and must it not be roused up? aught not the silver trumpet of the word to be sounded in its ears, to prevent an eternal sleep, and awaken it unto righteousness? should it not go and wash in the pure streams of freegrace, and redeeming blood in the Gospel? it may be it is infected with errors, and by these Satan hath taken sanctuary in the intellectual tower, and utters his own dictates as from God; and must it be left in such a case? should not Satan and all his lying wares be cast out by the word and spirit? but because conscience is now at the worst, take it after conversion, are there then no relics of darkness which call for more light? are there no fits of spiritual drowsiness, which need fresh alarms? are there no dregs of corruption, which want a new purgation? are there no spots of error, which ought to be wiped out? he that presumes a freedom from these, hath great reason to doubt whether there be any such thing as conversion found in him; and he that confesses them, hath as great reason to run to the Scripture to have them rectified: But because the Quaker dreams of perfection, I will go higher. Suppose a man absolutely perfect, every wheel in his soul in right motion, and his conscience a pure Crystal without any flaw in it, yet must the man be under God, and his conscience under the word; for his very perfection stands in that subjection, and is forfeited as soon as it departs from it. Conscience is a rule, but a subordinate one, it binds and loses, but in the power and authority of the word; take away that, and conscience is no more conscience, the inward Eccleiastes is silenced, and hath nothing to say. My conscience beareth witness in the holy Ghost, saith the Apostle, Rom. 9.1. Observe, it beareth witness in the holy Ghost; Spiritu Sancto duce ac moderatore, saith Beza on the place. Conscience is no supreme thing, the holy Spirit must command and moderate in it, if not in an immediate way, as in Prophets and Apostles, yet in and by the sacred Scriptures as in ordinary Christians. To conclude with that of an ancient, Scriptures non loquentibus, quis loquetur? the Scripture being silent, none can speak, no not conscience itself in a regular way; wherefore our supreme rule must be sought no where else but there.  
Thus far I have treated touching what manner of belief of Scripture this must be. But to proceed on.  
Secondly, What are the consequents of this belief in order to that resignation, which is the last thing in faith? I answer, the holy spirit having lodged such a belief of Scripture in the heart, doth reflect and turn the Scriptural light inwards, and manage it in order to resignation, by so me such steps as these following.  
First, It strikes in the holy light in that manner, as to work a clear conviction of sin, and this conviction is manifold.  
First, There is a conviction of sin in its kinds, Actual and Original. I name Actual first, as being most obvious and first in the discovery. There is a conviction of Actual sin; the believed Law comes home to the heart, and gives it a charge as Nathan to David, thou art the man, these and those things are sins against the great God, saith the holy Law, and so and so thou hast done, saith the awakened conscience. God (who before had sowed and sealed up his iniquities in a bag, as the phrase is, Job 14.17.) now opens the bag, and pours out a vast sum of guilts, and exactly tells over all the smothered light, and abused love, and spirit-quenchings, and sorfeited creatures, and buried talents, and broken promises, and horrible presumptions, in all amounting to wonderful arrearages, and at last enforcing the poor sinner to cry out, Guilty, Guilty. And after this follows a conviction of Original sin: The sinner traces up his sins to the impure fountain, and follows every lust home to the black nest in the heart; there, there is the root of bitterness, the seedplot and spawn of all iniquity. Indeed in every actual sin we may, if we have our spiritual senses about us, hear the sound of its Master's feet, even of the reigning corruption within; in every act of rebellion we may cry out of the Pharaoh within, which saith who is the Lord? in every act of unbelief we may complain of the Jew in the heart, which will not receive Christ; we may taste Adam's apple in every sensual sin, and perceive his imaginary Godhead in every spiritual self-excellency; in our lives we have many sins, but all in our heart; there is a stench in vicious actions, but the filthy sink of all is within. After some such way as this doth God fill our faces with shame, that we may seek him and resign.  
Secondly, There is a conviction of sin in its guilt: The sinner comes to see that whilst he is in his sin, he is but a condemned man; and sin, unless pardoned, will chain him to hell and eternal wrath. God seems to speak to him, as once to Abimelech, behold thou art but a dead man, thou catest and drinkest and sleepest, but all the while under wrath; thou art jolly abroad among the creatures, but fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest hangs over thy head. God makes the sinner know where he is, as the Syrians, when their eyes were opened, saw themselves in the midst of Samaria; so he, when his mind is enlightened, sees himself at the brink of hell and death; without such a sense of wrath, man is too proud to resign: he is naturally a Manasseh, a forgetter of God, and will not turn till he be in chains. Laish-like, he sits quiet and secure, till Dan the judgement come; hell must drive him to heaven or else he will never come there; the fiery Law must melt him, or else he will never run into the Gospel-mould.  
Thirdly, There is a conviction of the filthiness of sin; the soul in every turn from God loses its light, and in every turn to the creature, gathers soil and pollution; the sinner will never resign up himself to be washed in the Evangelical laver, unless he first seo sin, as it is, mire and dirt, and superfluity of naughtiness, and find his precious soul lying in a sordid manner, in a sink of pleasure, or a cave of covetousness, or some other lust, which is as an unclean place miserably defiling it, whilst it abides therein.  
Fourthly, There is a conviction of the power of sin; sin is a Baal, a Lording tyrant, and the sinner a vassal to it; in sensual sins he drudges in Sodom and Egypt, and in spiritual he is carried away to Babylon: the sinner is as a captive in his chains, and (which is the great wonder) a willing captive, the iron is entered into his soul, the chain is in his very will the Principle of freedom, a vassal he is, and loves to be so. The more freely he sins, the more is his slavery, the more imperiously he sins, the more is his weakness: thus the Prophet, how weak is thy heart, seeing thou dost the work of an imperiou whorish woman? Ezek. 16.30. unless God make men in some measure feel the power of sin, and go as David over Olivet, weeping, because of the Absoloms, the rebellious lusts, which come out of their own bowels and make war upon heaven, they will not resign and take up the yoke of Christ as they ought.  
Secondly, Upon such a conviction of sin, ensue great straits and humiliations of soul. When the poor sinner sees things as they are, an host of sins round about the soul, nay and within it, an hell flashing out of the guilt thereof, a defiling filthiness in it, such as makes him ashamed to lift up his soul to God, and withal, such bonds and fetters therein, as he cannot break by his own power, than he becomes a Magor-missabib, terror round about, his heart more or less bleeds in tears, & travels in pangs of conscience, & breaks under a damning Law, and droops and swoons away in fits of self-confusion and self-desparation, and at last is ready to cry out Oh sin! Oh wrath! what shall I do? whither go? can I fly from the Omnipresent, grapple with the Almighty, or stand before the holy One? all's impossible: can I endure an hell, abide a neverdying worm, or dwell with consuming fire? 'tis intolerable. May my time be unravelled, my sins undone, or myself unborn, it cannot be. Oh! sinful forlorn creature that I am, woe woe unto me for ever. Such straits as these make way for resignation; all the sons of God come out of Egypt, out of the straits of sin, and pass through a wilderness of wants and extremities towards the Land of promise; the valley of Anchor, trouble and perplexity for the accursed thing, is a door of hope; husks and hunger make the Prodigal come to himself and his father.  
Thirdly, Upon this humiliation and strait of soul, there ensues a deliberation, a standing (as the King of Babylon did, Ezek. 21.21.) at the parting of the way, to make a true enquiry. Lo! saith the afflicted soul in a self-parley, here is the way of life, and there of death, this is the way everlasting, and that's the way of time; If you live after the flesh, you must die, but if you mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live, if you sow unto the flesh, you must reap corruption, if unto the spirit, life everlasting. O my soul! be not deceived; God and sin, Christ and Belial, heaven and hell, cannot mix together. Say then, O my soul, what wilt thou have? the mess of pottage, or the birthright, the pleasures of sin, or those at God's right hand, the world's trinity of lusts, or communion with the blessed Trinity in heaven? Thus the soul sits down and casts up the cost; sin on and burn in hell for ever, turn to God and shine in eternal glory, spare thy lusts and damn thy soul, slay thy lusts and save it. Oh! what a fearful cheat is sin? it proffers a profit or a pleasure, and asks a soul; it holds out a moment or two, and would have eternity in pawn for it; it tickles the sense, and stabs the conscience; it courts and flatters like the strange woman, and leads down to hell and death. Such deliberations as these make way for resignation; an indeliberate resignation is but a flash and away, but a deliberate one is fit to endure.  
Fourthly, After all this the holy spirit doth so far press in the holy light, as to work a denial of a man's self and his lusts in some measure. I say, in some measure, for without some measure of self-denial, a man will never resign up himself to God and Christ. Thus our Saviour, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, Mat. 16.24. first deny himself, and then go to Christ: and again, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, Mat. 11.28. first be weary of sin, and then go to Christ; no man can serve two Masters, he that will follow Christ, must do as Peter and Andrew did, leave his nets, all the entangling lusts of his heart, and so follow him. Whilst a man sits at the receipt of custom, driving on a trade of sin, he cannot follow him. First, he must with Matthew rise up from thence, and then he may follow him. Also I say in some measure, for the self-denial before precious faith, must be distinguished from the self-denial after it: self-denial before faith is wrought in us by the holy spirit, making impressions and darting in light into the heart in a transient way: self-denial after faith is wrought in us by the holy spirit, dwelling in the heart by faith, and acting therein as an abiding principle of all grace. Before faith, it is in a far lesser measure and degree, after faith it grows up to a full stature: before faith it doth in some sort cast off the sovereignty of sin, the soul no longer chooses to live under its dominion, but looking upon it as cruel bondage, casts off its allegiance: after faith it strikes at the very life of sin, in the work of mortification. What is said of the beasts in Daniel, their dominion was taken away, and yet their lives were prolonged, Dan. 7.12. the same may be said of sin, first it loses its crown and then its life. The holy spirit in the first measure of self-denial, doth as it were dethrone sin in order to resignation; and in the after-measure thereof, it mortifies and nails it to the cross, there to die and expire. Now this measure of self-denial, which precedes resignation, stands in divers things.  
First, There is a denial of a man's reason. Reason, as the candle of the Lord is not to be denied; but reason, as it is a false light, as it pleads for Baal, the lording lust of the soul, as it plays the serpent, seducing from holy truths, as it sows pillows under presumptuous sinning, as it laughs at holiness and divine mysteries above its comprehension, is surely to be denied. We must become fools, that we may be wise, put out our lamp, that it may be lighted by the spirit, and crucify our why's and wherefores, that we may believe the Gospel. Abraham having Gods promise for a seed, considered not, Rom. 4.19. and staggered not, or (as in the original) discerned not, v. 20. he did not play the critic upon the dead body and dead womb, he laid by his discretion, that he might give glory to God by believing.  
Secondly, There is a denial of a man's will. This is the forbidden fruit, and womb of concupiscence, unless this be renounced, there is no hope of resignation; our own will is a thing of Belial, and unless subdued by grace, will not take Christ's yoke: it is an inward Antichrist, and unless consumed by the divine spirit and brightness, will exalt itself above the will of God. Saul must have a light from heaven, and a fall to the earth, & a fit of trembling, or else he will not resign, and say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Act. 9.6. the will must be unselved, and the man become as a little child, without any will of his own, or else there can be no resignation.  
Thirdly, There is a denial of a man's carnal affections. These are the camels which cannot go through the needle's eye, the weights and plummets which press down the soul from God; unless these be cast off, there can be no resignation; our Saviour is positive in it, how can ye believe which receive honour one of another? Joh. 5.44. A soul breathed into vainglorious air, or drowned in sensual pleasures, or laden with the thick clay of the world, cannot resign; he that will offer up himself to God, must leave the world behind his back, his affections must be gathered in from earth, and Angellike, ascend in the flame of faith; the vail of time must be put by, and an entry made upon eternity.  
Fourthly, There is a denial of a man's own power. Proud persons, puffed up in their fleshly mind, vainly dream that their Reason can span all mysteries, and their Will teem out all graces, no temptations are too strong for them, nor duties too weighty. Alas! these are so far from resignation, that they are not come to illumination, through prodigious blindness they are strong in their impotency, rich in their poverty, free in their chains, and something in their nothingness. And what should they go to God for? as yet they are not so much as in the way thither; but let the man put off his false ornaments, and lay by his proud plumes, and sensibly feel a carnal mind, and a spiritual Law, a weak heart, and strong corruptions; let him groan and cry out of the blind eyes which cannot unscale, the iron sinewed Will which cannot bow, the false heart which cannot go true, and the fallen nature, which cannot reach so high as an holy thought. Let him be weak in his impotency, till God set up Jachin and Boaz in his heart; poor in his poverty, till he have a share in Christ's riches; a captive in his chains, till God break them off and bid him go free; and nothing in his nothingness, that creating grace may pass upon him, and God be all in all. This is the way to resignation, such is God's method to bring light out of darkness, perfect power in weakness, and call things that are not, as if they were.  
Fifthly, There is a denial of a man's own righteousness. Every man naturally would be a self-justifier, as the Apostle saith, Rom. 10.3. he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 establish, or make to stand his own righteousness, though it be but a dead carcase, he would set it upon its legs; though but a breathless image, he would have it stand alone; and the reason is, because he would be justified by somewhat within, he would not go out for a righteousness: But alas, all this while he doth not, cannot, resign; thus the Apostle in that place, going about to establish their own righteousness, they submitted not themselves to the righteousness of God. A man, whilst upon his own bottom, will not surrender; but take him up into Moriah, into the vision of God, and show him the purity of God's nature, and the sinfulness of his own; carry him to Sinai, and let him see the necessity of a perfect righteousness, and the impossibility of an inherent one in himself; pluck away his fig-leaves of false righteousness, and open his eyes upon his own nakedness and poverty: this is the true way to resignation.  
Thus far of the second thing in faith; what manner of belief of Scripture this is, and how in the consequents of it the holy spirit strikes in the holy light upon the heart, and by certain steps brings it to the very borders of resignation: which is the third and last thing in faith now to be opened.   

CHAP. IU.  
Of the third and last thing in Faith, an holy through dependant Self-resignation to the terms of the Gospel; What it is, to whom and to what it is made, and for what purposes: with the adjuncts and properties of it.  
THE third and last thing in Precious Faith, is a dependant yielding or resignation of the soul unto Jesus Christ the Mediator, and through him unto God, according to his word. This is the vital and essential act of faith, as faith is the condition of the Gospel. Touching it, I shall first explain what this resignation is; and then offer my reasons, why the vitality and essential nature of Faith doth consist therein.  
First, I must explain what this resignation is in general: It is no other than a surrender of the soul to God according to theterms of the Covenant. God hath chalked out in the word a method of salvation, and man resigns up his soul to God in his own way. God says to man, if ever thou art saved it must be through the Mediator Jesus Christ, his blood must wash out thy sins, his righteousness must answer the Law for thee. Content, saith the soul, I resign up myself to the Mediator, I lean myself upon his blood and righteousness for pardon and acceptance with thee. Among Anselms interrogatories to be proposed unto men lying, in extremis at the point of death, one which the Minister offers to the sick man is, dost thou believe that thou canst not be saved but by Christ's death, unto which when the sick man answers, yea, I so believe, the Minister is appointed to speak to him thus, Age, dum superest in te anima, in hâc solâ morte siduciam tuam constitue, in nullâ aliâ re siduciam babe, buic morti te totum commit, bâc solâ te totum contege, totum immisee, totum involve; Whilst there is any breath in thee, place all thy confidence in his death, and in nothing else, commit thy whole self to it, cover and intermingle, and involve thy whole self in it; this conference I have set down, because it doth emphatically express this act of resignation. God says further, my Christ must not, cannot, be divided, if he save thee as a Priest, he must teach thee as a Prophet, and rule over thee as a King, for I have made him all these. Content, saith the soul, his blood is not, cannot be spiritless; I give up myself to his holy spirit to be taught and ruled: I desire to say with Baldassar the Germane Divine, Veniat, veniat verbum Domini, & submittemus illi, sexcenta si nobis essent colla; Let the word of the Lord Christ come, let it come teaching and ruling, and I desire to submit to it, even six hundred necks, if he had so many. God says further, my Christ is a crucified one, and you cannot, must not divide him from the cross. No saith the soul, I will take him cross and all. I would fain say as the noble Ignatius, veniant crux, ignis, ossium confractiones, modò Christum habeam, let the cross, and the fire, and the broken bones come, so I may but have Christ, I hope nothing shall separate me from his love. God says again, through this Christ thou must in all thy wants cast thyself upon me for a supply. I cannot (saith the soul) bear up my own weight in this respect, I would fain lay all upon thee; my guilt upon thy mercy, my unworthiness upon thy freegrace, my folly upon thy wisdom, and my weakness upon thy almighty power; if thou dost not help me, the barn-floor and wine-press of the creature cannot do it; if thou fail me, I am confounded and expect to be miserable. Moreover says God, in all thy addresses unto me, thou must look to thy warrant, and see whether Scripture will bear thee out in it or not. The Scripture (saith the soul) is the Great Charter, above sealed by infinite veracity, and below by faith; this, this is the sacred rule I desire to go by in all my resignations: After some such manner as this doth the believing soul surrender up itself. But for the more clear opening of this resignation, I shall consider three things.  
First, Unto whom or what this resignation is made?  
Secondly, For what things or purposes it is made?  
Thirdly, What are the Adjuncts and properties thereof?  
First, Unto whom or what this resignation is made? I answer, it is made unto Jesus Christ the Mediator, unto God the whole sacred Trinity, and unto the Word: unto Christ as the Mediator and grand medium of salvation; unto God as the Centre and ultimate object of Faith; and unto the Word, as the warrant, rule, and way, in, by, and according to which faith must proceed.  
First, This resignation is made to Christ as the Mediator and grand medium of salvation. I begin with this first, because Faith cannot go to God immediately, but to the Mediator first, and so to God. Thus the Scripture saith, through him we have access to the Father, Eph. 2.18. by him we come unto God, Heb. 7.25. and which is more express, by him we believe in God, 1 Pet. 1.21. If we will go to our heavenly Father, we must first put on our elder brother's robes, we must  our faith and resignation in the resignations of Christ, and so appear before God; we must put our faith into the hand of a Mediator, and from thence it will ascend up before the divine Majesty. Take away the Mediator, and God is a consuming sire, no saith, no prayer, can approach unto him: If the cloud of incense do not cover the Mercy-seat, Aaron will die before it, Leu. 16.13. unless the Mediators merits had been as a cloud of incense about God, the sinner, though in the lowest posture of resignation, must have died before the Father of mercies. First then, there is a resignation unto Christ as the Mediator and grand medium of salvation: For the understanding whereof, two things are considerable.  
First, That Jesus Christ is by God's ordination sealed to be a Mediator. There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. 2.5. Christ, as God-man, stood up between an offended God, and offending man, and acts as a Mediator in all his offices: As a Priest he acts with God to pacify his wrath, and purchase grace and glory for men; and as a Prophet and a King he acts with men, to declare unto them the Will of God, and rule over them by his spirit and word; Thus the livine days-man lays his hand upon both, God above, and man below, to bring them together in a mutual reconciliation.  
Secondly, That this resignation to Christ as Mediator, is in a way congruous to all his offices: Look as God above sealed him to be a Mediator by his ordination, so man below seals as it were the counterpart by his resignation: The believer yields up himself to Christ as a Priest, by a recumbency on his merits and sweet-smelling sacrifice. This in Scripture is called, saith in his blood, Rom. 3.25. he yields up himself to Christ as a Prophet, by an humble teachableness; this is called, a hearing of the Prophet, Act. 3.22. and he yields up himself to Christ as a King, by an holy subjection; and this is called, receiving Christ Jesus the Lord, Col. 2.6. Thus this resignation, as a key to the wards of the lock, suits and hits Christ in every office. What is merit in Christ, is fiducialness in faith; What is instruction in Christ, is docibleness in faith; What is royalty in Christ, is obedientialness in faith.  
Secondly, This resignation is made unto God, even the whole sacred Trinity, as the centre and ultimate object of faith, I say, the whole sacred Trinity. For though Christ, as God-man, the Mediator, be only the grand medium, by and through which faith makes its approaches to God, yet Christ as God is not the ultimate object of faith; I say, the whole sacred Trinity, as the centre and ultimate object of faith: For nothing is or can be the formal reason or terminating object of faith, but the Deity or divine nature only; whose infinite excellency and perfection doth naturally merit the same; whose infallible truth, rich mercy, matchless power, and unsearchable wisdom, calls for faith to come and repose in its bosom; there and there only can it ultimately rest and keep Sabbath: this the Scripture expresses emphatically by trusting in Jehovah, the rock of ages, and centre of faith. Thus than it is, faith first goes to Christ the Mediator, and then in and through him it advances unto God. The Apostle is express in it, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God, 1 Pet. 1.21. Faith in Christ's blood, is saith in the way, the new and living way, consecrated through the vail of his flesh; but faith in God, is faith in the ultimate end and centre. Moreover, that faith may arrive at him, he comes as it were out of his unapproachable light, and manifests himself in Attributes; he lets down his veracity, grace, wisdom, power, holiness, and sovereignty, as so many beams of his glory for our faith to lean upon, and as it were to climb up by unto himself. They that know thy name will trust in thee, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 9.10. the knowledge of Attributes is a staff to our weak faith in its walk to him.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made unto the werd as the warrant, rule, and way, in, by, and according to which faith doth proceed. These things are written, that you might believe, Joh. 20.31. As for the choice blessings which faith waits for from God and Christ, the promises are the warrant. As for the obediential subjection to God and Christ, the commands are the rule. As for the teachings of the Spirit, the whole word is the way, in which believers looks for the same. If faith look up, the word is the perspective; if it work, the word is the line and plummet; if it consult, here's the oracle; if it weigh things, here's the balance: Faith is never warrantless. There is transgressing without cause, but never believing. Faith resigns to the Mediator, and through him to God, but the commission for both is in the word.  
Thus far of the first thing, unto whom or what this resignation is made. But to go on.  
Secondly, For what things or purposes is it made? I answer, It is made for very great things and ends. In opening of which, I shall to each of them accommodate the former distinction of resignation, as to the Mediator, as to God, and as to the Word. That the nature of this resignation may the more fully appear, the precious things and ends for which it is made, are as followeth.  
First, The soul is resigned to be instructed in all the ways of God. And this resignation, that I may keep to the prae-appointed method, is made  
First, To Jesus Christ the Mediator, and as to him, first faith Disciples the soul to him, and then yields it up to him to be taught.  
First, It Disciples the soul to Christ; before faith a man is as a Wolf or a Lion for brutish untractableness; but after it, a little child may lead him, even the least truth in the word, and he will not break from it: his ear is opened, and his mind in a readiness for instruction. Now this Faith doth two ways.  
First, It doth it by revealing the excellency of Christ as a Prophet. Oh! says faith, this is the only Rabbie, the Angel of God's face, the wonderful counseliar, lying in his bosom and knowing all his secrets; his mouth is most sweet, he speaks hony-combs of grace, and breaths beams of light, and utters sparkles of glory; nothing but mysteries and rectitudes and words of eternal life ever came from him, and (to make these come home to thee) he is an inward Ecclesiastes, one who can unlock thy secrets, and come into the midst of thee, and there express himself in words of life and power, and all the while his Majesty shall not swallow thee up. He speaks through an humane nature and vail of flesh, in rare condescension and compassion towards thy weakness. Whilst faith is in the high praises of this great Prophet, the heart cannot choose but be upon the wheels ready to run to him, and say, speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.  
Secondly, It doth it by humbling and softening the heart. Before faith a man is in the ruff of pride, and there's no speaking to him; his heart is as a stone or Adamant, and beats off holy truths: but after it, the man becomes as a little child, and Christ may say any thing to him, his stony heart is turned into flesh, and so made ready for God to be manifested in it. Faith doth so meeken the heart, that it will sit down at Christ's feet, and hear him, even in his hardest Lectures. Let Christ talk of racks, and bloody persecutions for the Gospel, and the believer will be ready to get up the cross on his back. Let Christ preach of high and transcendent mysteries, such as reason cannot fathom, and the believer will subscribe in silence, what ever reason mutter against it.  
Secondly, Faith having discipled the soul, yields it up to Christ to be taught: And because now he doth not teach in person, as once in the days of his flesh, faith yields up the soul to him to be taught by his spirit. The discipled believer loves to stand as Adam, in the wind of the day, in the gales of the holy spirit. And this will appear in twothings.  
First, Faith waits upon the Spirit in the Means, and when the spirit comes in holy motions, it welcomes him into the soul. Faith waits upon the Spirit in the Means, there it cries out, as Elisha at Jordan, where is the God of Elijah? here's the mantle, but where's the God? here are the Scriptures, but where's the Spirit that indicted them, to make holy impressions and seal divine truths upon the heart? here are the ordinances, but oh! for the moving of the waters, awake O North wind, and come thou South, blow upon the garden that the spices may flow out. And when the spirit comes in holy motions, faith opens the everlasting doors, and welcomes him in, as Laban did Abraham's servant, come in thou blessed of the Lord; stand not only without in the Scripture-letter, come in, thou that comest in the name of the Lord. Take the throne of my heart, and bid the world go down and sit at thy footstool. Take the keys of the soul, and unlock every faculty, set up thy lamps in every dark corner, and discover the accursed things there: Speak, O heavenly Rabbi, speak in words of life and power, and show me the path of life and righteousness.  
Secondly, Faith is very chary and loath to lose the teaching spirit. Like the Spouse in the Canticles, it holds him and and will not let him go, Cant. 3.4. This is to the believer as the apple of his eye, he would not have a dust of earth fall into to lest it grieve and weep out some of the holy light, and as the fire in the Temple, it must not go out, if there be but a live coal or single spark it must be brown up into a flame. Holy motions are very precious to the believer, as it were beams of heaven, better in Faith's account then the great Sun which quickens the animal world; and like so many good Angels sent from God to give the soul a visit: rather than these should be violated and abused, faith will offer all its worldly comforts, as Let his daughters, to be deflowered. If the holy spirit departed, faith writes scabbed upon all other things, and the believer becomes as a dead man, unable to breath in prayer, or walk in holiness, or live or have a being in the spiritual world. The Sun is down, and it is night with him; the dew is off, and his fleece dry; the gales are wanting, and he is at a stand in his voyage to heaven. Thus faith yields up the soul to be taught by the spirit.  
Secondly, In and through Christ the Mediator, faith yields up the soul to God to be taught by the spirit. I say, in and through Christ the Mediator: Without a Mediator God will not speak to a sinful creature, unless out of the fire, in words of wrath, like those at the last day, Go, thou cursed one. If he speak and commune with us in words of peace and salvation, it must be from the mercy-seat, that is, through Christ, who is called Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or propitiatory, Rom. 3.25. Hence Christ is called the wisdom of God, because through him that wisdom doth manifest itself; and as God speaks, so faith hears and resigns, both are in and through the Mediator. I say, in and through the Mediator, faith yields up the soul to God to be taught by the spirit, the very same teaching spirit; as it was procured by the Mediator, so it is given out by God. Therefore faith, for the teaching thereof, resigns up the soul as to the Mediator the procurer, so to God the donor of it: And in this resignation faith climbs up to him by that noble Attribute of his infinite wisdom. Are there transcendent mysteries in Scripture? Faith will resign and cry out with Zophar, Oh! that God would speak and show me the secrets of wisdom. Whilst the Scripture is in its hands, it sighs and looks up for the key to unlock and show forth this and that truth in its spiritual glory, or at least in some such beams of it as it is capable of; the Original Languages will not serve its turn, without the Original Author; nor the Learned Commentators, without the great Interpreter: that only wise God who indicted the Scripture, can illustrate the heart; and whilst the believer reads the one, he waits for the other. Is there a practical case dubious and perplexed, like an intricate Labyrinth or way-less wilderness? and when the believer goes about to put all circumstances into the balance, doth he tremble and demur like Origen at the Idol-incense, and cannot be satisfied? In such a case Faith runs, and Esra-like hangs upon God for a right way; the Alwise can make a way in the wilderness, and guide thee with his eye, saith Faith: one cast or glance from his wisdom will disintricate thy doubts, and make thy way plain before thee. Doth the outward world grow stormy and tempestuous? is the sky of the times overclouded with troubles and dangers? faith stands in the posture of Jehoshaphat, we know not what to do, but our eyes are upon thee, 2 Chron. 20.12. we know not, but thou knowest how to deliver; there is nothing but confusion below, but all is clear and serene in thy wise counsels; there is no one way or method of deliverance in our reason, but there are infinite millions of ways and methods with thee. Such a faith as this made Luther in the troubles of the Church cry out, That it was far otherwise concluded in heaven, then at Norimberg; and in the blackest tempest inspirits the believer to do, as the Mariners in the Acts, cast anchor, and wish for the day, roll himself on the wise God, and wait for the dawning of comfort from him.  
Thirdly, Faith yields up the soul for instruction unto the word. And here are three things considerable.  
First, Faith resigns to the word, as a warrant for both the former resignations. If you ask a believer why he presumes so far, as to go to Christ and God for the teachings of the spirit, his answer will be this; I find in the word divers promises, that we shall be taught of God, that the spirit shall lead us into all truth, that there is an holy anointing dropping from Christ, which teacheth all things. And all these promises are very true, the counterpanes of God's heart, and exactly congruous to the grace there; God speaks in them, and without compliment he speaks as he means, therefore I resign up my soul unto Christ and God for instruction; teach me good judgement and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments, saith David, Psal. 119.66. where by commandments, some Divines understand all the word, including in it Promises as well as Commands: however the believer hath a warrant to pray, teach me good judgement and knowledge, for I have believed thy promises of instruction.  
Secondly, Faith resigns to the word, as a rich mine and treasury of knowledge, there are precious mysteries, such as have the divine wisdom flowing in them. Them Hungarians have a tradition, that their golden Crown dropped down from heaven; to be sure the mysteries in Scripture did so, they are pure Revelations, come down from God to be as golden Crowns on the head of Faith. The window of the Ark was (as some Rabbins say) a precious stone, which gave light to all the creatures; and indeed the Original, which we translate window, Gen. 6.16. imports a splendour or clear light. Understanding is our window, but the Scripture mysteries make it a window of pearl. Humane learning is but painted glass, but these make windows of agates, such as are in the taught of God, Isa. 54.12, 13. These are riches of understanding, pearls and intellectual rubies, fit to be laid up in the very middle and Centre of the heart. There the holy precepts and precious promises, beauties of holiness and glories of grace lie open to the embraces of Faith. There the invisible God, whose dwelling is in light unapproachable, and whose pure glory our eyes cannot look on, may be seen in the reflex, in the Scripture image and condescension. In a word, so rich are the veins of knowledge there, that faith, as a day-labourer, is ever digging therein, to draw out a stock of holy understanding from it.  
Thirdly, Faith resigns to the word, as the only way in which a man may be taught of God: All men are ambitïous of so grand a privilege. The very Gentiles in the puddle of their filthy Idolatries, thought themselves taught of God in their Oracles. The Mahometans think themselves more sure of it in their Alcoran, at which (say they) the devils themselves rejoiced, and turned to God; no question they rejoyed at such a bundle of lies and blasphemies, but that they turned to God is a wild delusion. The Jews boast themselves no less in their Oral Law, which (say they) God delivered over to Moses, and Moses to Joshua, and Joshua to the Elders, and they to the Prophets, and they to the Sanhedrim, and they at last to writing in the Talmud; calling it, lux illa magna, that great light, which yet is but a dark labyrinth of errors and horrible falsities. The Papists run to their traditions and unwritten verities as Divine, and so bring in a load of fopperies and vain superstitions. The Enthusiasts cry up the spirit in an extrascriptural way, and so turn aside from the main principles of Religion. In such false ways do men lose themselves and the Divine teaching, whilst the believer knows where to sinned it, even in the Scriptures; in reading them, he sits at Christ's feet, and every where looks for Maschil, instruction from God. In them is the Oracle, the Vrim and Thummim, by which God answers him; here he opens his heart, and spreads abroad all his sails to take in the gales of the holy spirit, and be filled in all the will of God, Col. 4.12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, filled with it as the sails are with the wind; Whilst the Eunuch was reading the Prophet Esaias, the spirit joined Philip to his chariot, Act. 8.29. Whilst the believer hath his being in the Scriptures, the spirit joins himself to his heart, and by the infusion of holy light, makes him go on rejoicing in the way of knowledge. Here and only here doth he wait to be taught of God; such is and, since the sealing up of the Canon, ever hath been, the way of knowledge. And what of extraordinary dispensation hath been since, hath either directly turned men to their Bibles, 
Confess. l. 8. c. 12. Melch. Adam in vità Zuinglii.  as the voice to St. Austin, tolle, lege, tolle, lege, pointing him to the Scripture; or else hath quoted or ratified some Scripture-truth. Thus when it was objected to Zuinglius, that the word [est] in Scripture-parables may be taken for [significat] but not in verbis coenae, in the Sacramental phrases, and his thoughts were busy about it, an answer was suggested to him in a dream, a monitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 telling him, Quin ignare, respondes ei, quod in Exodo legitur, est enim phase, hoc est, transitus Domini, in which there is nothing extrascriptural, but a Scripture-instance given for that which before was a Scripture-truth; the Scripture is the only place where we can look for Divine teaching. To conclude, that of the Father is remarkable, qui sacrâ non utitur Scripturâ, sed ascendit aliunde, non concessâ viâ, fur est, he that goes not into knowledge by Scripture, is a thief, the believer keeps the divine road.  
Thus far of the first thing, resignation for instruction in the ways of God.  
Secondly, Faith resigns up the soul to be pardoned and justisied before God; unto justification and pardon there are three things prae-required.  
First, An act of free grace in God. All men are naturally sinners, and as such, God's holiness cannot but hate them, God's justice cannot but punish them; wherefore freegrace stepped in and found out a way, how God, who cannot justify the ungodliness, might yet justify the ungodly, Rom. 4.5. and that in a way of compliance both with his holiness and justice; with his holiness, providing a perfect righteousness; and with his justice, providing a perfect satisfaction for them in a surety: hence the Apostle saith, we are justified freely by his grace, Rom. 3.24. Freely, by his grace; he uses two words, the more plainly and emphatically to decipher out to us the pure fountain of love and grace, out of which pardon and justification issue forth to poor sinners.  
Secondly, There must be a perfect righteousness fully answering the holy Law. God cannot deny himself, he cannot deny his holiness, so as to justify us without a righteousness, therefore there must be one; he cannot deny his truth, so as to account that a righteousness which is none, therefore it must be perfect, fully answering the Law; all-fair without any spot in it, all-pure without any mixture in it, all-perfect without and defect in it, such a thing as is not to be found in any mere man. The Jews (as it seems by Josephus) thought a mere outward righteousness enough; but alas, what is this without a pure heart? The Popish Doctors look upon inherent graces as our very righteousness in justification: indeed these (because the denomination is à meliore parte) denominate men righteous, but they are but inchoate and imperfect, and therefore are short of that perfect and absolute righteousness requisite to justification. They denominate men righteous, but they do it but in their own weak degree, and not in full proportion to the holy Law; a gracious man is not all grace, there is flesh as well as spirit, dross as well as gold, water as well as wine in him; his mind is not all Light his will is not all love, his affections are not all harmony; what of grace he hath is but in part, and if this be his righteousness, he can be justified but in part, or rather not at all. Neither can our good works, no not those which flow from grace, ever be our righteousness in justification. Those are good as they flow from the pure fountain of the spirit, but as they proceed from us (in whom there is much of the old Adara) they smell of the cask and soil in the channel, and contract a great deal of dross from the indwelling sin: Hence they are so far from justifying us, that they themselves need a justification. Hence holy Nehemiah prays that his good works may be remembered, with a spare me O Lord, according to the greatness of thy mercy, Neh, 13.22. Neither will it suffice to justification, if our good works are more than our evil. The Papists fable that Henry the second Emperor was weighed in the balance, to see whether he were worthy of heaven or hell; his good works were put into one scale, his evil into the other, and these were like to out weigh and sink him to hell, but that St. Laurence put in the Chalice by the Emperor given him, and so made the scale of good works preponderate. O vain tale! nothing weighs with God in the point of justification but a complete rightcousness, and that can no where be found but in Christ alone; he and he only fulfilled all righteousness, and therefore he is called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the end of the Law for righteousness to the believer, Rom. 10.4. the Law hath its total sum and perfect compleature in him.  
Thirdly, There must be an expiation of sin, or else there can be no justification. The very Gentiles themselves, stung with the conscience of sin and vengeance, had their expiatory and lustratory Sacrifices. The ancient lews, being God's people, had their offerings and sacrifices for sin, to make an Atonement according to the Levitical Law. The latter Jews, though they reject the sacrifice of the Messiah; yet that they might not be wholly without an expiation, offer a cock for sin, because the word [Gebher] in Hebrew signifies a man, and in the Talmud a cock; hence they say, Gebher, that is, the man sinneth, and Gebher, that is, the cock suffereth. If the Prophet Isaias in the 53. chapter, had used the word (Gebher) the Rabbins (saith a Learned man) would have turned the man into a cock; but there it is not Gebher, but Ish, a man of sorrows: But these expiations not availing, God hath provided an expiation in the death of his son. Without shedding of blood there is no remission, saith the Apostle, Heb. 9.22. and because creature-blood could not do it, the blood of God was shed to redeem us from sin; Jesus Christ, who is God-man, offered up himself through the eternal spirit, to purge our consciences from dead works: he paid the utmost farthing to Divine justice, and hath left nothing at all to pay for the believing finner. The Gentile sacrifices were no expiations at all, being indeed sacrifices to devils and not to God; nay, in their own account they did not expiate in all cases. Hence when the Emperor Constantine was haunted with the innocent blood he had shed, the Gentile Flamius could tell him of no expiation. But the blood of Christ is a true and universal expiation, cleansing from sin and all sin, 1 Joh. 1.7. The Levitical sacrifices, though of Divine Institution, were but types and shadows, making nothing perfect. But a crucified Christ is the sum and substance of them, really atoning what those did but typically. The Rabbinical cock is a strange vanity, in which we may stand and wonder at the Jewish blindness; but what their vain Gebher could not do, that our Is the man of sorrows, upon whom all our iniquities met, hath done indeed: he was wounded for our iniquities, his soul was an offering for sin, his life a ●●nsom for many, his blood was shed for the remission of sins, he paid that he never took, he made 〈◊〉 through the blood of his cross; in him God is 〈◊〉 and reconciled.  
These things being premised, I say the soul by Faith doth resign up itself for pardon and justification. And, that I may observe my first method, this resignation is made  
First, To Jesus Christ the Mediator. The believer, conscious to his own spiritual poverty, doth as the poor man in the Psalm, commit himself, or as the Original is, leave himself on the Lord, Psal. 10.14. In stead of a perfect righteousness, he hath rags of weakness and imperfection, but he leaves himself upon the perfect righteousness of Christ, as a thing fully answering every jot and tittle of the Law. Indeed some great Rabbis cry out upon imputative righteousness as a thing impossible, calling it putative, a mere imagination, Luther's spectrum, the pleasing dream of simple Christians; but in sober sadness the dream is on their own side. If imputative righteousness be impossible, how can we stand before the righteous Law, dooming and cursing the least defect or noncontinuance in all things? Imputative righteousness is impossiblé, and inherent is imperfect, and how can we stand? if we stand, the righteousness of God must be upon us, Rom. 3.22. Christ must be the end of the Law for righteousness unto us, Rom. 10.4. and how can this be without an imputation? Again, if imputed righteousness be impossible, what is imputed sin? If that be so too, how was Christ made sin, or an offering for it? to what purpose was his blood and sufferings? what becomes of redemption, & all the train of blessings waiting thereon? what to those Masters of Reason is but a fancy, a spectrum or dream, that to the believer is the very thing he would be found in before God, Phil. 3.9. Apollodorus offered Socrates a precious garment to die in. Imputed righteousness is the blessed robe which the believer would live, and die, and rise in, unto the judgment-seat at the last day. Upon this he will venture his soul, against all the demands of perfect obedience in the Law. Moreover, instead of satisfying Justice for his debts, he hath just nothing of his own to pay, but he leaves himself upon the blood and rich merits of Christ; his sins are massy burdens, too weighty for all the Angels in heaven to stand under, but he unloads all upon the Lamb of God, who bore away the sin of the world: his debts to God amount to a vast sum, but he ventures upon the great surety, who paid the utmost farthing, and had a total discharge in his resurrection, and now is in heaven to see the scores crossed in God's book, and the bonds of guilt canceled and thrown down into conscience. If the avenging Law pursue him, he flies to Christ as a City of refuge, and there hides himself in the clefts of the rock, in the bleeding wounds of his Redeemer: here is faiths anchorhold, here he ventures his soul against all the curses of the Law. Deny himself to be a sinner, that he cannot, for his conscience is a thousand witnesses: oppose the cursing Law, that he dares not, for it is backed by an infinite justice; but he ventures all upon the merit and satisfaction of Christ: though in the night of desertion he may lie in a piteous condition, as the Levites Concubine, forced, and as it were dead with legal terrors; yet still his hand like hers, will be upon the threshold, upon Christ the door of salvation, till freegrace dawn and break in upon him: without this resignation the soul can have no peace. Gardiner himself, being ready to die, was willing to hear of a justification in the blood of Christ, nothing else could expiate the guilt of sin.  
Secondly, In and through the Mediator, this resignation is made unto God; It is God that justifieth. God as supreme Lawgiver; the believer wraps up himself in the blood and righteousness of Christ, and so yields up himself unto God to be pardoned and justified. And in this resignation, the great attribute he leans on, is God's grace: God is gracious, nay he hath riches of grace, such as no unworthiness of ours can exhaust; he hath glory of grace, such as no sinfulness can eclipse; he can abundantly pardon, or as it is in the Original, multiply to pardon, Isa. 55. 7. His grace can multiply pardons, as his power can creatures. Here is the beautiful gate, where the believer lies for an alms of pardoning mercy: here he ventures himself upon God, speaking like Benhadad's servants, I hear that the God of heaven is a merciful God, I will put on my ropes and sackcloth, and away to him, it may be I may catch a word of grace from him, and live for ever; or arguing like the poor Lepers, if I sit here in my sins, I die eternally; if it go unto the world, there is a famine of gace, let me fall into the arms of a good God, if he kill me, I thall bat die, but if he save me, I shall live for ever; after such a manner doth he cast himself upon mercy. This act of faith is very precious, it touches God as it were in his bowels, and sets them a sounding and melting into distillations of savour. As soon as the prodigal son returned and cast himself on his father's mercy, his father runs and kisses him; and the ring, and the best robe, and the satted calf, are all little enough for him, Luke 15. And as it is very precious, so it is very safe. 
De Jusif●●●. l. 5. c. 7.  Beliarmtne himself, after many disputations about justification doth yet conclude, tutiss. mum est, ●●duciam totam in solâ Dei misericordiâ & benignitate reponere, it is most safe to put all our confidence in the sole mercy and bounty of God.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made to the Word, as the warrant for both the former resignations. Ask a believer why he resigns to Jesus Christ for pardon and justification, his answer will be, I find in the word that Christ hath fulsilled all righteousness, hore our iniquities, made an end of sin, and reconciled us to God by his cross, therefore I resign to him. Ask him again, why he resigns to God for it, his answer will be, I find in the word that God is decy phered in blessed titles, as gracious, merciful, abundant in goodness, and ready to forgive; and that the grace in his heart slows down to us in promises of pardon, blotting out iniquity, and casting sin behind his back into the depth of the sea, therefore I resign. Parley with him further, and he will tell you, that over and besides God's infallible word, he hath his oath. As to Christ the atoning Priest, God hath sworn, thou art a Priest for ever, Psal. 110.4. And as to his own grace and favour, he hath sworn, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live, Ezek. 33.11. and in swearing, God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposes himself, as the word is, Heb. 6.17. pawns his life and essence upon it, to make the thing wholly irrepealable and immutable, and thereby to raise up strong and invincible consolation in us, and therefore I resign.  
Thus far of the second thing, resignation for pardon and justification.  
Thirdly, Faith resigns up the soul to be sanctified. Sanctification stands in two things, mortification of sin, and vivification of the soul, and for both these faith yields up the soul. And to observe the promised order;  
First, This resignation is made to Jesus Christ the Mediator. And first touching Mortification, the believer yields his soul to Christ in a threesold respect.  
First, He yields up his soul to Christ as the grand sampler of mortification. What Christ suffered in his pure flesh by way of expiation, that must we suffer in our corrupt flesh by way of mortification. His body was nailed to the cross till the soul separated from it; & the body of sin must be so nailed, till the soul, the will, and love, and delight of sin departed. He was free in laying down his life and blood, and so must we be in laying down the life and blood of the old Adam: 'Tis true, the flesh relucts and says, as Christ's humane nature, Oh! let this cup. pass from me, but the spirit is willing, and cries out, Father, thy w●ll be done, even in the death of my darling lusts. Christ died a violent death, and sin must not dy● a natural one. If it die alone or of itself, it is no sacrifice, it must be cropped in the flower, and stabbed at the heart, and die of its wounds; the violence done to God and Christ and the Spirit must be upon it, till it give up the ghost. Christ died a tormenting death, in pains and agonies, and we must die so to sin, we must suffer in the flesh, 1 Pet. 4.1. bleeding under sin, and being sorrowful to the death of it. Christ died a lingering death, and so doth sin, it doth not die all at once, but languishes by little and little; the believer dies daily to sin. The Colossians were dead C●l. 3.3. and yet saith the Apostle, mortify your members, v. 8. Mortification must be upon mortification, because sin is long a dying: the genius of faith is, to have sin crucified as Christ was, following his steps, as much as may be.  
Secondly, He yields up his soul to Christ as the meritorious cause of mortification. Christ's death merited sins; hence faith glories in the cross of Christ, as in that whereby the world is crucified to the believer, and he to the world, Gal. 6.14. there it would hang up every lust as an accursed thing. Faith lies at the bleeding wounds of Christ, watching for the breathe of that spirit, which can mortify the deeds of the body, waiting for that mind of Christ which can make us suffer in the flesh, that we may cease from sin. Christ was crucified, and the believer would have the old man crucified together, he would die with him as the graft doth with the stock. There is a Popish fable, that the angry Adriatic Sea was becalmed by one of the nails of Christ's cross cast into it; the moral is true: the troubled sea of lust in our heart cannot be subdued but by the application of Christ death; the winds and waves there obey no other voice but that of Christ crucified, he yields up his soul to Christ as the royal worker of mortification. When he sees his lusts as so many rebels rising up in arrns, he flies to his sovereign Christ for a power to subdue them: the high things and strong holds appearing in his understanding, make him cry out, Treason, Treason, the Jebusite is in the tower of David; the fleshly wisdom hath got into the understanding, O thou wisdom of God captivate and cast it down. The Pagan lusts and Gentile-wills showing themselves in the heart, force him to break forth like the Psalmist, O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy temple they have defiled, cast them out O thou mighty Saviour, that my soul may be a sanctuary for thyself. When the battle is set before and behind, corruptions surrounding and encompassing him, his eyes are upon his Lord sitting above at the right hand of power, till his enemies be made his footstool.  
And as the believer yields up his foul to Christ for mortification of sin, so also for vivisication of the soul. And this in the very same respects.  
First, He yields up his soul to Christ as the grand pattern of vivisication; the parallel is the Apostles own, Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, Rom. 6.4. Look what was done in the flesh of Christ in his corporeal resurrection, that is done in the spirits of Christians in the spiritual resurrection: there the stone was rolled away from the sepulchre, here from the heart; there the flesh of Christ was raised up by an Almighty power, called by the Apostle, the glory of the Father; here the soul of the believer is raised up by the same power, as appears Eph. 1.19, 20. there after the corporceal resurrection, Christ appeared in humane lineaments; here after the spiritual resurrection, the Christian appears in divine graces: the genius of faith is to assimilate the Christian to Christ risen.  
Secondly, He yields up his soul to Christ as the meritorious cause of vivisication. Christ merited all graces for us, saith doth not dare to go immediately to God, no not for holiness itself, but it goes and sucks at the breasts of Christ's humanity, well knowing that all graces are from the spirit, and the way of the spirit is by the blood, as Tagmon Archbishop of Magdenburg took the last breath of his dying Master Wolfgang by applying mouth to mouth; so faith applies its mouth as it were to the wounds of a dying Christ, from thence to receive the spirit of all grace; that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, as so many rivers of living water, may flow in the heart, to make glad the habitation of God therein, that the holy spirit may be as it were the soul of the soul, breathing in the believers prayers, and shining on his Bible, and melting in his charity, and impowering in his infirmity, and honey-dropping in his converses, and being a Shechinah, a presence and a glory in all his ways.  
Thirdly, He yields up his soul to Christ as the Royal Donor of all quickening graces. Christ as a Priest merited all graces, but as a King he gives them out unto us, him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance, Act. 5.31. and so to give all other graces. A melting heart is but a word of power from him at God's right hand, an heavenly heart but a touch from him sitting in heaven, every piece of holiness is a beam of glory from him; meekness, and mercy, and obedience, and patience, are as so many pearls dropping from his crown; all the sheddings of the holy spirit slow from him who is exalted above, he ascended up that he might fill all things, Eph. 4.10. that is, all the spiritual world of believers with grace. Faith therefore looks up for the sweet illapses of the spirit, and waits for graces as so many golden apples dropping down from that tree of life which stands in the upper Paradise of God.  
Secondly, In and through the Mediator this resignation is made unto God, it is God that sanctisieth. God as the supreme fountain of grace; and in this resignation faith climbs up to him partly by the Attribute of freegrace, cast thy burden upon the Lord, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 55. 22. or as the Original imports, omnia donabilia tua, all that thou wouldst have given thee, whatever thy want be, mortifying grace, or quickening grace, faith hath an art to cast and unload all upon freegrace: there being a famine of grace in lapsed nature, faith brings out the empty vessel, the soul void of self-worthiness, and sets it under one ordinance or other, waiting upon God till he rain down righteousness upon the soul. This is the rain of liberalities, as the Original is, Psal. 68.9. this faith waits for without money or price of its own, because God is love, and grace free, and partly by the Attribute of Almighty power: sin is strong, but not infinitely; the Almighty, who subdues all things to himself, can easily subdue it. The heart is a dead womb, and not able to teem out the least particle of grace, but the Almighty can quicken the dead, and raise up a divine seed therein. The fingers which made an Heaven and an Earth, can make a new heart and a new spirit: Faith takes hold on the power of God, for the working sanctification in the heart.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made to the word, and that upon a double account. It is made to the word as the warrant of both the former resignations, and made to the word as the engine in God's hand for the working of sanctification; it is made to the word as the warrant of both the former resignations. The word is full of promises of mortifying and quickening grace, and these promises stream out to us from the pure fountain of freegrace, through the bleeding wounds of the Mediator, and are all Yea and Amen. Hence faith resigns to God and Christ for all sanctifying grace. It is also made to the word as the engine in God's hand for the working of sanctification. The word is a mighty weapon, able through God's power to cast down the heights and strong holds of sin; and an immortal seed, able through God's grace to quicken the heart, and spring up into the new-creature. Faith therefore resigns to it, that the heart may be sanctified through the truth.  
Thus far of the third thing, resignation for sanctification.  
Fourthly, Faith resigns up the soul to be ruled as to its actings, I say, as to its actings. That I may clearly distinguish it from the but now mentioned sanctification, which consists in inward principles of grace. And still to press in my old steps.  
First, This resignation is made to Jesus Christ the Mediator. Faith translates the soul into the kingdom of Christ, and loves to live no where else; the world in its eyes is but a house of bondage, but it loves to live in Christ's dominions. Where holiness is, there's the King of Saints, where meekness and patience, there's the throne of the Lamb; where righteousness, there's his Sceptre; where Gods will prevaileth, there he sits in Power and Majesty; at the last day sense will discover this great King Jesus coming in the clouds, in power and glory. But faith sees him here coming in state in every holy command, and riding as it were on the wings of the wind in every motion of the holy spirit. The posture of faith herein is like that of the Israelies, when the pillar of cloud and fire went before them, than they journied, otherwise they stayed in their place; when the spirit and word of Christ goes before the believer, faith follows after, else it will not stir a foot out of its place; it is really in the believers heart, to be ruled by Christ in all things. Take him in holy ordinances, these, saith faith, are the throne of Christ here below, in these he fits at the right hand of power; here the believer waits to see the power and the glory, as the man with the withered hand, in stretching it forth, waited for a power to restore it, and as the blind man in his going and washing in Siloam, waited for a power to recover his sight: so the believer in every ordinance waits for the power of Christ, if he break the rocky heart, & melt it into the divine will, the believer cries out the Lord reigneth; here is the day of power indeed. Take him in the works of his calling, and there he is ruled by Christ; one would think the servant were only toiling and drudging in his servile employments, but if he be a believer, he is serving the Lord Christ, Col. 3.24. and by a divine prerogative above other men's, his deeds are wrought in God: such was the posture of pious Musculus in the town-ditch, as well as in the Pulpit. Faith is such an engine as brings down the kingdom of Christ (though not of this world) into the meanest trades, the believer acting therein, as Peter let down his net, at the command of Christ, and therein, as in his calling, abiding with God, which is more than the unbeliever doth under divine ordinances: nay, take him even in natural actions, the believer (when himself) cats, and drinks, and sees, and hears, and speaks, and sleeps, and wakes, and walks after another rate then other men, doing all under the Law of Christ; that's a knife at his throat, a covering to his eyes, a stopper to his cars, a bridle on his lips, when he sleepeth, that keeps him, when he waketh, that talks with him, when he walketh, that leads him; the kingdom of heaven, which is not meat or drink or any such thing, is by faith brought down into all these. The genius of faith is to be ruled by Christ in all things.  
Secondly, This resignation in and through the Mediator, is made to God, I say, in and through the Mediator; because without him, we can expect to be ruled by God in no other way then by the iron rod of his power and justice, dashing us in pieces to all eternity; but in and through him, the believer may and doth yield up himself to God to be ruled. And here he makes use of two Attributes, God's sovereignty, and God's holiness; God is the supreme Lord, and must be obeyed; he is the holy one, and must be sanctified in each command: the beams of his majesty and holiness sparkle out, and these faith takes in to melt the heart into a compliance with the divine will. Plato being asked by one of his Scholars, how long his precepts were to be obeyed, answered, Donec in terris apparuerit sacratior aliquis, qui sontem veritatis aperiat, the believer desires to be ruled by God, because an higher and holier cannot come.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made to the word. Ask a believer how he knows himself to be where he would be, in the dominions of God and Christ, his answer will be, I know it by the command in the word, and in the command his faith eyes two things, the truth of the command and the sovereignty; his faith eyes the truth of it, the command is true, as coming from God himself, and being the very counterpane of the holiness in his heart; This is the will of God even your sanctification, saith St. Paul, 1 Thess. 4.3. God's will is in himself, but the command is the counterpane of it, thy word is true from the beginning, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 109.160. or as the Original is, the head of thy word is truth, the body of the command in Scripture answers to the head of it in the holy will of God. Faith looks on the command as issuing out of the very heart of God, and exactly agreeing thereunto, and upon this account resign to it, as to the good and acceptable will of God. Again, his faith eyes the sovereignty of it; naturally we would be Gods to ourselves, and set up our wills as supreme, and therefore we make war upon God and his Law: But when faith comes, God is God, and the Law a royal Law, and all the commands in Power and Majesty, by them (saith David) is thy sorvant warned, or as it is in the Hebrew, illustrated, Psal. 19.11. the command to the believer is, as if a light shone from heaven, and a voice came from the excellent glory, saying, Do this or that. God's will rides in triumph, and man's falls to the earth, as not able to stand before the Lord: The voice of a superior, if perceived, puts an awe upon the inferior nature, so doth the voice of man upon beasts, so doth the voice of Angels upon men, and (which is the greatest awe because from the highest nature) so doth the voice of God upon the believer. After this manner doth faith yield up the soul to the command, and in it to God and Christ.  
Thus far of the fourth thing, resignation for a holy government.  
Fifthly, Faith resigns up the soul for the gracious, reward of eternal life. And here to keep the old Method.  
First, This resignation is made to Jesus Christ the Mediator. Faith cannot be satisfied with earth, that's but the Paradise of sense; no, nor with present graces, these are but the pawns and earnest-pennies of eternal life, faith aspires after heaven. Oh! let me go over, and see the good Land, where the Mountains are all spices, the River's pleasures, the Mountains are all spices, the River's pleasures, the Air pure holiness, the Eternal light God himself, saith faith, and for a title thereunto, faith yields up the soul to Christ, who as a Priest hath merited heaven for us, and as a King is able to give it out to us. The Plebeian (saith Epictetus') looks for his gain from things without; the Philosopher looks for it from himself; but (which is a strain higher) the Believer looks for his reward from Christ. Evagrius the Philosopher gave (as the story goes) three hundred pounds to Synesius for the poor, to be repaid him by Christ in another world: the believer doth all at the same rate, hears, and reads, and prays, and gives alms, and all to be paid in another world. Worldly men wonder at his hot pursuits after grace and holiness, but he knows what these will go for in another world; that's the reason he follows hard after them, but in the pursuit still his eyes are upon Christ as the great purchasor and paymaster.  
Secondly, This resignation in and through the Mediator is made to God. It is he that glorifieth, eternal life is God's gift, our heavenly Father's mere pleasure; faith therefore yields up the soul to him for it, and herein it climbs up to him by his freegrace, the pure river of life flows out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, Rev. 22.1. out of the regnant grace of God and merit of Christ as out of a fountain, the believer expects no eternal life but what issues out from thence. Thus the Reverend Soknius on his death bed expressed himself, Pendeo totus à Dei miserieordiâ, I wholly depend on God's mercy.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made to the Word. There is the promise of eternal life extant, and there the way to eternal life is chalked out, there is the promise of eternal life mapped out, a mercy above all the sphere of nature: Hence the ancient believers were as pilgrims here, Heb. 11.13. as if the world were too little for them, they were altogether for the heavenly country, which faith sees at a distance in the promise: There also the way to eternal life is chalked out, the world passes away, but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever, 1 Joh. 2.17. Riches and pleasures are but the way of time, but holiness and righteousness are the way everlasting, Psal. 139.24. the good acts may pass, but their record is in heaven; the good men must die, but the holiness shall never see corruption; the repentant tears which fall to the earth, are bottled with God; the charity which seems lost as bread cast on the waters, will come to hand again. Polycrates, when he cast his ring into the sea, little thought to have met it again in his fish; but the believer doing good works, expects to meet them again in another world, sowing to the spirit, he looks for a crop in eternal life. Dorcas may leave her coats and garments behind her, but the charity will follow her into another world; the commandment is eternal life, saith our Saviour, Joh. 12.50. the very way to it. The believer obeying, may in some sense say as dying Pollio, jam ingredior in vitam aeternam, now I am entering into eternal life, into that which will survive the world and live in glory. Faith resigns to the word, not only as it is the charter of eternal life in the promise, but as it is the director to it in the command.  
Thus far of the second thing, for what things and purposes this resignation is made. But to proceed to the third thing.  
Thirdly, What are the Adjuncts and Properties of this resignation? Unto which I shall answer in the following particulars.  
First, This resignation is made in the way of God. Believers wait upon God for very great things: Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides these, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him, saith the Prophet, Isa. 64.4. But where do they wait for these great things, where but in Gods own way? Thus it follows, those that remember thee in thy ways, v. 5. Look in what way or method God gives out a mercy, in the same way or method doth faith wait to receive it. Would a man have a pardon, faith waits for it in God's way; freegrace as immense a sea as it is in God, doth not flow out every way upon sinners, but through the bleeding wounds of Christ. We are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, saith the Apostle, Rom. 3.24. Mark, freegrace issues out through redemption, and in that way faith waits for it: Thus St. Peter, We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, Act. 15.11. he calls the grace of God the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, as being merited by him. The believer waits for pardoning mercy, but it must be the mercy of David, coming through the Messiah the true David. Whether God might not per potentiam suam absolutam, remit sin without a satisfaction, is a question may be spared; Gods will is declared, the Scripture is definitive, there is no other name given among men, but the name of Jesus, no other remission but through his blood: the glory of the Lord, that is, his freegrace, comes into the Temple of the Church by the way of the East, Ezek. 43.2. that is, through Jesus Christ, who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the East, Luk. 1.78. towards which the true believer bows down himself for all grace. The Socinians grace, such as is supposed to issue forth without the satisfaction of Christ, is not indeed the grace of God, but a fancy, an Idol of their own heart, He that abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God, saith S. John, 2 Joh. v. 9 therefore such an one must not be received, or saluted with God speed, v. 10. Let the Socinian, who abides not in the doctrine of a redeeming and satisfying Christ, cry up freegrace, and that (as he thinks) in the purest and highest strains, without all money and price, even without that of the Mediator. After all this he hath not God or freegrace in the right notion of it, the true believer dares not entertain such a grace, or say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it, lest he should bless an Idol, and rejoice in a thing of nought; such a grace is a mere stranger to Scripture, and therefore faith, whose skill is only in that Dialect, cannot own it, though humane reason speak never so fair for it. Again, would a believer have mortification? he would have it in God's way, he seeks it not Macedonius-like, by standing in a ditch all the day, nor as the Palestine-monks, by lying as dead unburied men on the earth, nor with the Papists, by Pilgrimages and outward pennances, nor with the Flageliantes, in their scourging and bloody whipping their own bodies. No, this is not God's way, in all this Pageantry of mortification, they are at hostility with nature rather than with sin, and in shooting all their arrows at the body, they miss the mark, the chief seat of sin in the heart: Nesciunt superstitiosi (saith a Learned man) Deum amare immutationem cordium, non dilaniationem corporum, superstitious men know not that God loves changing of hearts rather than renting of bodies: the true believer seeks mortification in and by Jesus Christ, our old man is crucified with him, Rom. 6.6. As long as we are in the old Adam, sin will be lively, but as soon as we are in Christ the wisdom and power of God, sin, which is the weakness and folly of man, dies in us. The believer seeks after the spirit of Christ, as after that which can lay our lusts a steep in godly sorrow, and nail them to the cross of Christ, and let out their vital blood, even the inward love thereof. Moreover, a believer would have instruction and teaching, but he would have it in God's way. The Papists say, that Images are laymen's books, and whilst the Bible is to the unlearned a sealed letter, these are Letters Patents, open to all men, he that runs may read God as it were in great Capital letters. Gregory the Great, though he condemned their adoration, yet he allowed their presence in Churches, tanquam essent memoracula & rudium literae; but alas! can the dumb Idol speak? or if it could, can a teacher of lies instruct? may that be our memorial which hath made many forget God? Did God ever licence the printing of such laymen's books? and if it have not his Imprimatur by an institution, how can we expect his benediction? surely this is none of God's way; faith saith, the image of God is in the word, and the only crucifix in the Gospel. The Enthusiasts would be taught in an immediate and extraordinary way, but the believer goes to the word, there is the School where he would be taught of God, there are the gates and door-posts where he would hear wisdom speak.  
Secondly, This resignation is made to its entice object, and not by piece-meal. As to God the ultimate object, the believer would not pick and choose among his Attributes, but is for them all, he would not have a God all of grace, but such as he is, an holy one and a just, who will be sanctified even in our approaches to touch his golden Sceptre. The believer, whilst he casts himself upon God's grace, would be assimulated to his holiness, when he catches hold on mercy, withal he trembles at divine justice, as he waits for the smile of God's face, so he walks as in his presence; all places to the believer are Bethels and Peniels, full of God, and too dreadful to sin in. If any man go about by his faith to single out grace from among the other Attributes, and suck that honicomb of infinite sweetness by itself alone, he doth not believe but presume, like those in the Prophet, The heads thereof judge for reward, and the Priests thereof teach for hire, and the Prophets thereof divine for money, yet will they lean upon the Lord, Mic. 3.11. O vain presumption! for them standing upon such unholy ground, to lean upon the Lord, is an utter impossibility. A traitor who strikes off his Sovereign's Crown, or with Hacket stabs at his image, doth not, cannot, at that time cast himself on his Grace or Royal favour: A sinner, whilst by his sinful rebellions he strikes at the Sovereignty or stabs at the holiness of God, doth not, cannot, lean upon his freegrace. St. John hath determined the case, If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth, 1 Joh. 1.6. Let such an one cry up freegrace, freegrace, never so much, he doth but trust in a lie, there is no such grace as he dreams of, none but what comes from the holy one as the giver of it, none but what teaches the receiver a lesson of holiness. Again, as to Jesus Christ the Mediator, the believer is for All Christ, not only for him as a meriting and atoning Priest, but for him as a teaching Prophet, and ruling Lord also. Whilst he wraps up himself in the pure robes of Christ's righteousness, at the same instant his ear is open to discipline, and his heart unfolds the everlasting doors to let in the King of glory; he puts the Crown upon his head, and sets him upon the throne of the heart, singing blessing, honour, power, glory, to the Lamb for ever. That Christ who is in glory in heaven at the right hand of Majesty, comes to be in glory in the heart by the resignations of faith. Thus he himself faith, the spirit shall glorify me, Joh. 16.14. that is, by working faith in the heart, as the Father glorifies him above, so the spirit, and under that faith, glorify him below. If any man go about by his faith to pick out the merits and righteousness of Christ for salvation, without a respect to his teaching and ruling offices, he mangles and tears in pieces Christ, as much as in him lieth, renting of Jesus from Christ, nay and Jesus in twain, whom he admits only to save him from the guilt of sin and not from the power and love of it, separating the blood of his Saviour from the water, and his merits from the spirit, which are and ever must be in conjunction; such an half and divided Christ as this is, is not the Christ of God, but a Christ of his own fancy, one that will save him in his sins, and justify him in his ungodliness; he that believes in such a Christ, doth at once miserably cheat his own soul, and as much as in him lieth, profanely trample on the blood of Christ, as if it were shed on purpose that sinful men might have the reins laid down on their necks to riot in their cursed lusts with all impunity. Moreover, as to the word of God, the believer is for all of it, he is not only for cordials, and pots of Manna, and distillations of grace in the promises, but for precepts also, his meat and his drink is to do the will of his Father in heaven; whilst his eyes are on the Land of promise, his feet are in the Land of uprightness. Antinomians boast themselves to be above the Law, and as free as if they were in heaven, and that their sins are but seeming sins, sins to sense and to the world outwardly, but no sins to faith and before God who seethe no sin in them. But alas! these are but swelling words of vanity, to be above the Law is Antichrist-like to be above God himself, whose Majesty and holiness break forth in it; and if sins be but seeming sins, the Law is but a seeming Law, and God (whose authority and sanctity shine forth in it) is but a seeming God: Promises and Precepts run together in the Scripture, and must be taken together into the heart by faith. Promises are effluxes out of God's grace, and faith takes them in by recumbency; Precepts are effluxes out of God's holiness, and faith takes them in by obediential subjection, both must continue and be owned by faith, as long as there are grace and holiness in God. The true believer neither with the Antinomian picks out the promises from the precepts, nor yet with the Hypocrite doth he pick out only such commands as do not cross his beloved lusts, as the Papists have razed out the second Commandment in some of their Catechisms, because of their outward images, so the Hypocrite razes out the displeasing Commandments in his practice, because of the Idol-lusts in his heart; but the true believer, as David, is for all the wills of God, without any salvoes, because without any indulged lusts.  
Thirdly, This resignation is made purely upon a Scriptural warrant. There may be hay and stubble in the believer, but there is none in his faith; which, so far as it is faith, stands only upon holy ground. All faiths assents stand upon Scripture-propositions, all its affiances upon Scripture-promises, and all its obedience upon Scripture-precepts: What Balaam said by an overruling providence, that saith the believer by the instinct of faith, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord to do less or more, Num. 22.18. he would not as to doctrinals be wise above what is written, nor as to worship be religious above what is written, nor as to mercies and comforts be an expectant above what is written. He would not as to doctrinals be wise above what is written: when the Lutherans and Papists met at Ratisbon, the Papists would first dispute about the Canon of Faith, the Lutherans replied, that the Scriptures were the only rule, at which the Papists cried out, that it was very unequal to tie them to one kind of weapon only, but faith is content with Scriptural doctrines only. There is one Mediator in Scripture, and faith dares not multiply them; there is one Scripture purgatory in Christ's blood, and faith will not invent another; there is one propitiatory sacrifice offered up once for all upon the Cross, and faith will not seek after any more. All the points in Popery are but so many additions to the word, and upon that account insignificant to faith. The first error in the first sin was an addition to the word, the woman saying, ye shall not touch it, Gen. 3.3. whereas God's word only was, ye shall not eat of it, Gen. 2.17. and the first and primordial error which hath ushered in all the Romish doctrines into the Church, hath been the very same thing; and because they are additions, faith cannot own them, no not faith in a Papist: opinion may own them, but faith cannot, for it is but the souls Echo to the voice of God in Scripture, and where there is no voice, there can be no return; humane doctrines found not at all to faith, Scripture is all. Bishop Fisher a little before his suffering lighting on that one sweet passage, this is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ, Joh. 17.3. broke out into these words, here's learning enough for me: the believer, who hath the whole Scripture before him, may well say, here's doctrine enough for me, faith will not turn vagrant and lie about at humane doors for doctrines, there is enough in the word. Again, the believer would not as to worship be religious above what is written; that of the Schoolmen, cultus est à naturâ, modus à lege, virtus à gratiâ, worship is from nature, the manner from the Law, the power from grace, is very excellent. The very light of nature saith, God is to be worshipped, but faith goes to the word for the manner, and to freegrace for the power. God in the second Commandment forbids graven Images, not as false objects of worship, which are forbidden in the first Commadement, but as false means and manner of worship, and under graven Images, as being the chiefest and groffest kind of false worship. God doth forbid all other false worship humanely devised, such as these were: hence true faith looks on all humanely devised worships as so many graven Images, a kind of Teraphim, expressing, though not as they did, an humane shape, yet an humane devise and invention, things void of God, without institution and without benediction. That of the Prophet, who hath required this at your hand, Isa. 1.12. falls like thunder on all the imagery of humane inventions, dashing them to pieces in a moment. Quintinus the Libertine, being present at a solemn Mass with a Cardinal, boasted that he saw the glory of God. I suppose according to his lose principles of being under no outward Law, he would have said as much if he had been among Pagans at their Idolatrous worship; but the true believer looks for that glory only in the Sanctuary of Divine Institutions, there and there only God records his Name, and commands the blessing, even life for evermore. Moreover the believer as to mercies and comforts would not be an expectant above what is written. 'Tis said of Moses that he died according to the word of the Lord, Deut. 38.5. or (as the Original may be read) he died upon the mouth of the Lord; the believer loves to live and die upon God's mouth in the promises, there watching for the sweet words of grace dropping from him: he walks among the Promises, as the Physician among his herbs, and by a divine instinct knows this is good for such a condition, and that for another; and when he comes to that promise, I will be thy God, he saith, this is the universal Medicine, and good for all things, as infinite a sea as God's grace is, as vast a treasure as Christ's merits, the believer cannot tell how to climb up to these, unless he have somewhat of a promise to set his faith upon; if there be but an half-promise, faith will ascend up by it: when God saith, seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger, Zeph. 2.3. faith will hang upon a may be, but where there is nothing at all of a promise, faith does not, cannot tell how to approach for the unpromised thing. The Perfectionists faith, that sinless perfection is attainable in this life; Joseph is yet alive, perfection of life, figured by Joseph, may be found, so thinks a Learned Doctor, My yoke is easy, said Christ, and from thence Bellarmine concludes, Legem Dei possibilem esse renatis imo & facilem observatu; but alas these are but dreams and not acts of faith. It's true, the believer groaning under the burden of sin, wishes nothing more than sinless perfection, he works, he walks, he prays, he weeps, he runs, he strives, but after all he may not believe sinless perfection attainable here; not but that the grace of God in Christ is sufficient to effect it, but there is no channel for such a grace to run in, no promise in all the word to bottom such a persuasion upon: there is a promise for the subduing of iniquity, but not for the annihilating it, a promise that sin shall not reign in us, but none that it shall not be; therefore the believer would not seek for that in himself, which is only found in Christ, nor for that on earth which is reserved for heaven; that mercy or comfort which is not let down in the promise, faith doth not expect or look for. Trubern a Germane Divine on his deathbed, seeking comfort, spoke thus, textum, textum volo, let me have the text, the text, well knowing that comfort streams out in the promises; the believer is ever for one promise or other, to give advantage to his faith in its ascension to God for mercy and comfort.  
Fourthly, This resignation is a voluntary act. It hath been disputed between Romanists and Protestants, where the seat of faith is, whether in the Understanding only, or in the Will also; the Apostle clearly determines it, with the heart man believeth, Rom. 10.10. the heart includeth both faculties, ad esse fidei virtutis concurrit actus rationis simul & voluntatis, quod benè innuit Apostolus in ipsâ notifieatione fidei, cum dicit fidem esse substantiam rerum sperandarum, argumentum non apparentium, tangens quod est in eâ cognitionis, & quod est assectionis, saith Bonaventure, the assent of faith is in the Understanding, but the resignation is in the Will, credere est consentire, consensio autem volentis est, saith St. Austin. We read in Scripture of faith unfeigned, and sincerity is in the Will, of the obedience of faith, and obedience is in the Will, of leaning, rolling, resting, casting ourselves upon God, and all these are in the Will; all the resignations which the believer makes, are acts of his Will; if he resign to the Promises, and through them to the meriting Mediator, and through him to the freegrace of God, this recumbency or fiducialness is in his Will; if he resign to the commands, and through them to the kingdom of the Mediator, and through him to the holiness of God, this obediential frame is in his Will; if he resign for instruction to the Word, and through it to the great Prophet, and through him to the wisdom of God; this docibleness, this tender holy flesh is in his Will; he would have salvation coming in a way of grace, and grace flowing through the Mediator Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ for a teacher and ruler as well as for a Saviour, and all this is his choice. 'Tis not a mere velleity or effluvium of a light desire, like that of Balaam, let me die the death of the righteous, but an act of his Will; 'tis not a mood or hot sit of devotion, such as falls on men under warming and awakening ordinances, but a deliberate act, 'tis not a constraint or piece of servility, such as men usually have in sick and dying hours, when they are rolling off from this world, and upon the brink of eternity, with a prospect of heaven and hell before them, but it is a true and a freewill, cordially and freely offering up the soul to the terms and methods of salvation in the Gospel.  
Fifthly, This resignation is made in Humility. The believer, like his father Abraham, is called to God's foot, there to lie in the lowest posture of a sinful creature, in an humble docibleness he lies at the foot of God's wisdom, waiting as they that watch for the morning, till the holy irradiations make the day dawn, and the daystar arise in the heart; in an obediential frame he lies at the foot of God's holiness, crying out like Paul struck down to the earth, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and in a fiducial recumbency he lies at the foot of God's grace, as a forlorn beggar, full of fores and extremities, waiting if freegrace will take him in, and, like the good Samaritane, bind up his wounds, pouring in the oil and wine of mercy into his heart. The men among the Israelites could not enter into the Land of promise, but the little ones did so, the mystery is the Christians, though the history be theirs: the men among us, such as can few sig-leaves together and  themselves, such as can feed themselves at home, and keep house upon their own reason, such as are Lords of their own actions, coming and going ad placitum, these do not believe, nor enter into the promises of the Gospel, but the little ones, who cannot dress themselves, but as freegrace swadles and wraps them up in Christ's righteousness, nor feed themselves, unless freegrace pluck out the breast and milk out instruction, nor rule themselves, or go alone, but as freegrace takes them by the hand and leads them in holy ways, these are they that believe and enter into rest: hence our Saviour saith, Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, Mat. 18.3. The proud man will not suffer grace to reign in or over him, but the believer is as a little child ruleable by all the will of God, humbly submitting to all the methods of salvation in the Gospel.  
To shut up this discourse about the Adjuncts of faith, I shall only add a caution or two. When I say that all true believers do thus resign, I mean not that all have the same formal notions or expressions, but the same faith and resignation for the substance of it; the root of the matter is in the weakest of them, though not the same verdure of notions or expressions, the substance or holy seed of true resignation may be latent in a bruised reed or smoking flax, in a poor spirit, or the pulse of a desire, I have read of a Noble person in Spain, who being, as was supposed, absolutely dead, 
Melch Adanum 〈◊〉 Vesal●●  was diffected, and upon the opening of his breast, they found to their great amazement his heart beating; some weak believers may seem totally dead, in whom yet before God, to whom all things are naked and open, as in an Anatomy, there is found a vital pulse of faith secretly working. God (saith a Reverend Divine) brings not scales to weigh, but a touchstone to try our graces. If there be but the least dram of gold, but the least smoke or weik in the socket (as the expression is Matth. 12.20.) God accepts it; neither do I mean that this resignation is acted perpetually, but with many sad pauses and interruptions, which happen partly by the blasts of Satan's temptations, making the believer walk like Peter upon the water, now a good step, and then ready to sink when the wind grows boisterous, till his faith buoy him up again, with a Lord, save me, partly by the allurements and entanglements of the world, which are to him as the stone and the string were to anselm's bird, now up in ascensions of soul to God and Christ, and then down again to the earth and earthly things, and partly from the indwelling sin which make him live, as his Saviour did on earth, a mere conflicting life, Christ endured the contradiction of sinners, and he the contradiction of sins; the indwelling corruption makes his soul, like a palsy hand with contrary motions, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, whilst faith moves forward, unbelief draws back; after he hath in a princely manner wrestled with God, he goes off Jacob-like halting in one infirmity or other.   

CHAP. V.  
Reason's proving the Essential nature of Faith, as the condition of the Gospel, to consist in an holy through dependant Self-resignation.  
THUS far of the nature of this Resignation, as to its Objects, Ends and Adjuncts.  
It remains that I lay down my reasons, why I place the vitality and essential nature of faith, as it is the condition of the Gospel, in such a resignation as is before described. And for this,  
First, That precious faith, which is the Evangelical condition, is more than a bare naked assent to the Gospel-truth, and less than an assurance of love and pardon from God, wherefore it must needs be some middle thing between both, such as Resignation is. I shall endeavour to make good both propositions.  
First, Precious faith is more than a bare naked assent to the Gospel-truth. This will be clear by the ensuing considerations.  
First, A naked assent is but credere Deo, a believing Scriptural axioms to be true; but precious faith is a far nobler thing, and therefore very emphatically painted out in Scripture; in the Old Testament 'tis credere in Deum, a believing in Jehovah, Gen. 15.6. importing a fiducial act, 'tis a trusting in the Lord, Psal. 2.12. where the Hebrew word imports a flying for refuge, a running under the wings of freegrace as chickens do under the hen; 'tis a leaning upon God, Isa. 50.10. as not able to stand alone without a recumbency on mercy; 'tis a rolling ourselves upon God, Psal. 37.5. as weary and without rest till we come to lodge in goodness; in the New Testament, 'tis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a believing into Christ, very frequent in the Gospel of St. John, a phrase wholly the holy spirits, never found in any Greek Author, a bare assenter may believe about Christ, but the true believer believes into Christ, so as to be in near union with him; 'tis a putting on of Christ, Rom. 13.14. the believer strips himself of his lusts, nay and of his own righteousness, to be invested with Christ; 'tis a receiving of Christ, Joh. 1.12. all Christ, merit and spirit, cross and crown together, 'tis a faith which hath its being in God as its ultimate centre, 1 Pet. 1.21. Scripture is but a medium, the ultimate object is God himself: All which imports of precious faith are much above the sphere of a mere assent.  
Secondly, Precious faith is the very condition of the Gospel. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life, Joh. 3.16. but a naked assent is not such; that is required not only in the Gospel, but in the moral Law too; and found not only in godly, but wicked men, nay, and in devils themselves, who believe and tremble. It is true some Scriptures seem to lay much upon assent; thus we find, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, Rom. 10.9. And, whosoever believeth, that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, 1 Joh. 5.1. And, these things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name, Joh. 20.31. But these places import not as if a naked assent were the full condition of Gospel-grace, for then a man might be saved in his sins, a man in arms against his maker might stand; God's grace might embrace him whom his holiness abhors, and Christ might sive him who will not have him reign over him; light might be in communion with darkness, and Christ might have concord with Belial; all which are impossibles in themselves, and incompossibles with the design of the Gospel: but they intent such an assent as is in conjunction with a true resignation of the heart to the terms of the Gospel. Cord credere, quad Deus eum excitaverit, est non mode assentiri historiae de excitato Jesus, sed & certes cordis siducist beneficial mortis & resurrectionis Christi amplecti, saith Reverend Parent on Rom. 10.9. whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ (namely, with such a faith as is accompanied with all that which belongeth to a true faith) is born of God, so the Dutch Annotators on 1 Joh. 5.1. intelligendum est de side non qualicunque sed actuosa, saith Grotius on Joh. 20.31. The Learned Bishop Downame saith, 
Covenant of Grace. P. 91.  that assent is the very condition required in the promise of the Gospel, but what an one is it? a true, willing, lively, effectual assent, such an one as by which we receive Christ, not only in our judgements, but in our hearts and wills, acknowledging him for our Saviour, and resting on him for salvation: Such an assent as this is no other than precious faith, but a naked assent is much below it.  
Thirdly, Precious faith doth unite us unto Christ, and gives us a being in him: A believer from the first instant of faith is no longer in himself or the old Adam, but a man in Christ; hence the same royal robe of righteousness which Christ hath upon himself, covers him also, which renders faith exceeding precious. George Prince of Anhalt was upon this account much delighted with this similitude, As the ring is highly prized for the diamond in it, so faith justifies us for the pearl of price, the Son of God, whom it apprehends; the believer is found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, Phil. 3.9. Hence also the very same spirit of holiness which is upon Christ in heaven above measure, falls down upon the believer according to measure; a piece of bread is a poor imnimate thing in it salt, but when by digestion it comes into the body and is transubstantiated into flesh, there is an humane spirit in it; a man before faith is an earthly carnal thing, but as soon as by faith he becomes a member of Christ, a piece as it were of his flesh and of his bones, he hath another spirit in him, even the same with Christ; Christ above and he below, and the same spirit in both: a great mystery, such as a naked assent cannot reach unto: he that hath no more is but a glass eye, or wooden leg in the body of Christ, or rather he is not at all in it, but outwardly tied to it by a name and form of knowledge, without any part in the righteousness or spirit of Christ.  
Fourthly, By virtue of its union with Christ, Precious faith bears many excellent fruits, it ushers in a spiritual life into the soul; that of the Prophet, the just shall live by his faith, thrice quoted by St. Paul in the New Testament, is exemplisied in every believer; but he that hath but a naked assent, though with a goodly structure of Evangclical truths standing upon it, is but a dead man, and his notions, like the Egyptian Pyramids, are but monuments for the dead. Again, it brings down pardon of sin into the soul. whosoever believeth in him (that is, in Christ) shall receive remission of sins, Acts 10.43. but a naked assent leaves a man as fast in the 〈◊〉 of guilt as ever before. Moreover, it purifies, the heart, and quenches the fiery darts of Satan, it carries out the dust and rubbish out of the heart, and makes it a sanctuary or holy place for God, and if Satan come and let fly his temptations, it beats them off from the soul. Thus Bucer when in his sickness he was admonished to arm himself against Satan, answered, in Christo sum, nihil habeo cum diabolo common, I am in Christ, and have nothing in common with Satan; but where there is only a naked assent, the holy truths going no further than the Understanding, the Will is left in the mire and pollution of its lusts, and is ready, as soon as the tempter comes, to join with his seducing proffers.  
Thus far of the first proposition, that faith is more than a naked assent.  
Secondly, The second proposition is, That faith is less than an assurance of love and pardon from God; only we must first distinguish between faith in the root and faith in the flower; between faith in the lowest stature, and faith in its fullgrown perfections. That assurance which the infant faith cannot reach, the fullgrown faith may arrive at; which I suppose was the reason that those prime Reformers Luther and Calvin, and after them Beza and Zanchy, with many others, did define faith by a plerophory or full persuasion of God's love, they being themselves in the joys of faith, drew its picture not according to the infant model, but the perfect lineaments thereof, as they found them in themselves, so they held them out to the world. Again, we must distinguish between seminal assurance and actual; an infant faith hath seminal assurance, light is sown for the righteous, Psal. 97.11. but the crop of comfort doth not immediately spring up, the weakest believer is heir to all the joys of heaven, only he doth not presently know his title, he hath not ordinarily actual assurance at the very first; I say, not ordinarily, for we must not limit the holy one, who by his royal prerogative may let in the sweet sense of his love in the first instant of believing. These distinctions premised, the meaning of the proposition is, That faith in its lowest measure, which is the condition of the Gospel, doth not essentially include assurance. And this I shall manifest by the ensuing considerations.  
First, All true believers have not assurance. Scripture and experience manifest it; there are Lambs which are gathered into the arms and laid in the bosom of freegrace, yet know not where they are. There are little ones, babes in Christ, which can only hang upon the breast, and are not grown up into the reflections and joys of faith; the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry and thirsty after righteousness, mentioned in the fifth chapter of Matthew, are all of them true believers, blessed ones, and heirs of the promises, and yet all of them are without any glimpse of assurance; the poor in spirit, all in rags of unworthiness and self-nothingness, as if he had no title to the kingdom; the mourners weeping and desolate, like Hagar in the wilderness with her bottle spent, as if there were no Well of comfort near them; the hungry and thirsty, like men in a famine, drooping and fainting away in fits of soul-emptiness, as if there were no such thing as hidden Manna for them. It is very observable in the Canticles, that Christ takes notice of the tender grape just at its first appearing; the very first opening or budding forth of faith is welcome to him; if the wine be but in the cluster, if there be but faith in desire, Christ saith, destroy it not, the blessing of Abraham is in it, out of this little grain of mustardseed heaven will grow, in this smoking slax there's a divine spark, though the smoke of doubts and temptations muffle it up in obscurity, it will break out at last into slames of love and joy; in the infant-believers assurance is not to be expected, because of their primordial weakness; and in well-grown believers it may be suspended, because of God's infinite sovereignty in the dispensing thereof as he pleaseth. Cruciger on his deathbed prayed thus, Invoco te Domine languidâ & imbecillâ side, said side tamen, Lord, I call upon thee with a weak and languishing faith, but yet with a faith. Pious Justus Ionas, who was present with Luther at his death, and took as it were his last breath into his bosom, was in his own sickness sainting and coldhearted, till a servant of his rubbed him up with some comforts out of the Gospel, Holy Bayn saith of himself, I thank God, sustentation in Christ I have, and some little strength, suavities spiritual I taste not any: even the choice servants of God may walk in darkness and see little or no light, their light may be like that in the Prophet, Zach. 14.6. neither clear nor dark, they may live in crepusculo in a kind of twilight, in a mixture of light and darkness.  
Secondly, Faith goeth before justification, but assurance followeth after it. Faith goeth before justification. Scripture is express in it, by him all that believe are justified, Acts 13.39. with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, Rom. 10.10. the righteousness of God is upon all them that believe, Rom. 3.22. we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified, Galat. 2.16. might justification go before faith, it were possible that a man might be saved in his sins, a child of wrath might be in the arms of divine love, a captive of Satan might be a son of God, a man out of Christ might be justified in him; all which are impossible, but assurance follows after justification, justification is necessarily presupposed to assurance; for to believe my sins forgiven, that they may be forgiven is absurd; to believe my sins forgiven before they be forgiven, is false; to believe my sins forgiven because I believe so, is vain and foolish. Remission must first he, before it can be manifested to be, it must first be granted out of the Court of heaven, before there can be any true Copy of it in conscience, unless we allow a distinction between a faith of resignation before, and a faith of assurance after justification, we cannot possibly deal with the Romanists. Bellarmine speaking of that special faith whereby a man believes himself just before God in and through Christ, puts this Quaere; 
De notis Ecclesiae. l. 4. c. 11.  Cum incipio credere me esse justum, vel sum justus, vel injustus, si justus, non justificor per fidem banc, quia ista fides posterior meâ justitiâ, si injustus, ista fides est falsa, when I begin to believe myself just, am I just or unjust, if just, I am not justified by this faith which is after my righteousness, if unjust, this faith is false; neither is there any imaginable way to dissolve this knot regularly, without such a distinction between faith as antecedent to justification, and faith as consequent.  
Thirdly, Faith justifieth us in foro Dei, before God, assurance justifieth us in foro conscientiae, in our feeling, and declaratively only. Faith justifies us before God; all those expressions in St. Paul touching justification by faith, are meant of a justification before God. I shall name but one or two, that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God, is evident; for, the just shall live by faith, Gal. 3.11. the justification before God, here denied to the Law, is attributed to faith. And again, a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, Gal. 2.16. He doth not say, faith declares a man justified, for that even the excluded works may do, but saith justifies: Faith? uts on Christ and his righteousness, assurance only bears witness that the wedding garment is on: Faith waits at the footstool of freegrace to have a pardon sealed in heaven, assurance copies it out and proclaims it in conscience; unless we admit this distinction, we open the floodgates to Antinomianism.  
Fourthly, Faith is a permanent thing, an immortal seed which never dies, it is built upon the rock of ages, and cannot be moved, it hangs upon an infallible word, the least jot or tittle thereof cannot fall to the ground, it is fed with an everlasting spring, the holy spirit being in the believer as a well of water springing up to eternal life, but assurance is transient; now the believer hath nothing but wine and honycombs of grace, and a little after he hath a cup of gall and wormwood; now a sheet full of celestial joys and comforts is let down to him, and then all is taken up into heaven again: he is much like Joseph, sometimes in the coat of many colours, in the visible badges of his father's love, and anon stripped and cast into the pit; like poor Heman, free among the dead, and laid in darkness, he is a spiritual Heliotrope, who is all day in heavenly amours, wheeling and turning about to the light of God's countenance, and anon, when night approaches, contracts his leaves and hangs down his head, till there be another Sun; it the essence of faith be in assurance, the believer stands, as it were upon a sea of glass, in a very lubricous condition, 'tis well with him whilst he hath the light of God's countenance, whilst God's spirit bears witness to his, that he is a child of God; but what if God withdraw and retire as it were into his unapproachable light? what if the crannies of the heart be all shut up, so that neither the sunny beams of God's favour, nor yet the starry graces in the heart can appear? what if the arch-enemy Satan come with those instruments of death, the threaten, and rake in the old wounds of sin, and join the darkness of temptation to the darkness of corruption in the believer, to cause, if it were possible, utter darkness? must he be an Apostate, a castaway, a man fallen from grace? God forbidden. St. Bernard, speaking of the manifestation of God's love, cries out, Rara hora, brovis mora, O si durâsset! it is a rare hour, but a short stay, Oh that it would continue with me! the believers standing is not in it, but in his union with Christ; this was notably exemplified to us in Christ, when he cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, Math. 27.46. the hypostatical union was not dissolved, but the present vision substracted; in like manner the believer, the man in Christ, when in desertions and temptations, hath a sure conjunction with Christ, even whilst there is a suspension of comforts; unless we own this distinction, we cannot maintain the doctrine of perseverance against the Remonstrants.  
Fifthly, Faith is the firstborn of all graces, and leads the van to all the rest, it is the mother-grace, and as it were teems out all other graces; and no wonder, for it unites us to Christ, out of whose fullness we receive grace for grace, and into whose image we are changed from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord, but assurance follows after faith and all other graces. This will be evident, if we consider the manner how assurance is produced; it is not an Enthusiasm, a voice, an internal locution, speaking to the heart some such words as these, thou art in God's favour, or thy sins are forgiven, or thou art a son of God; no, it is in another way, the holy spirit doth so irradiate the heart in its reflections, and all the precious grace's lodging there, that it plainly appears, that the grace of God is there of a truth; as it was with the blind man in the Gospel, when his eyes were opened he could look abroad in the world and say, here's the earth, and there's the sea, and yonder's the Sun, Moon and Stars, sensibly pointing from one creature to another: so it is with the believer, when he is irradiated by the holy spirit, he can look into his own heart and experimentally say, this is the precious faith, and that is the love in incorruption, and the other is the meekness of wisdom, and so go over all the parts of the new creature form within him, or at least over such, or so many of them as may assure him that he is in a state of grace. This is the way of assurance, first there is a constellation of faith and other graces in the heart, than these graces irradiated by the holy spirit send forth a kind of splendour, which the soul reflecting on itself, taking up, it comes to attain assurance, well knowing that such and such things accompany salvation, and import no less than a Divine favour; notable is that of St. Paul, in whom after ye believed, ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, Eph. 1.13. Mark, after ye believed; first there must be faith, and the train of graces attend thereon, and then comes the seal of the spirit of promise, the same spirit which indicted the promises in the word, comes and seals them on the heart; whereas in the word there are such promises made to faith and love and holiness, the irradiating spirit plainly discovers that faith and that love and that holiness to be indeed in the heart, and so seals up the promises to the believer in particular, as if it had expressly said, this or that promise belongs to thee. Hence the believer so sealed may say of the promises, as Origen did of those Scriptures which did much affect him, haec est Scriptura mea, this promise is mine, and that promise is mine; nay, all the Land of promise, as much as I can set my foot on, is mine own. There are three seals to the promises, first God seals them for true in the blood of his own Son, in whom all of them are Yea and Amen; then man seals them for true by faith, he that believeth, sets to his seal that God is true; and then again God seals them for true to the believer in particular by his irradiating spirit. Faith than goes before all other graces, but assurance comes after them, as being no other than the clear evidence of their true existence in the soul. Unless we allow this distinction, we gratify the Enthusiasts, who declaim against all marks of grace as legal things, and sandy foundations.  
Sixthly, Faith stands upon the word of God purely, totally and entirely. In point of expectation, it will not look without a word of promise; in point of obedience, it will not stir a foot without a word of command; in point of doctrine, it will not lend an ear without a word of instruction. Hence Reverend Calvin saith, 
Inst. l. 3. c. 2.  Perpetuam esse fidei revelationem cum verbo, nec magis ab eo posse divelli, quàm radios à Sole, unde oriuntur. Faith hath a perpetual relation to the word, and can no more be sundered from it then the beams from the Sun, from whom they arise, should it be sundered from it, it would lose its nature, and cease to be faith; but assurance doth not stand so purely, totally and entirely upon the word: this is also manifest by the manner of attaining assurance, that is not made axiomatically in an Enthusiastical way, as if there were an inward voice, saying, thou art justified, but discoursively, and after some such manner as in this practical Syllogism, Whosoever believeth, his sins are forgiven, but I believe, Ergo, my sins are forgiven. Here the conclusion, which imports assurance in it, stands upon two propositions; the Major is merely grounded upon the word, but the Minor stands upon spiritual sense and experience caused by the holy spirit irradiating the soul in its reflections upon its own estate; therefore assurance which is comprised in the conclusion, doth not stand so merely upon the word as faith doth: Thus the Learned Pemble, speaking of that Syllogism, saith, the major is of faith, the minor of sense and experience. And the conclusion of both, but chief of faith, as it follows on the premises by infallible argumentation; and partly of sense, as it is founded on the inward experience of God's grace working upon our souls. What the doctrine of Faith is, is to be sought in Bibles, but whether there be a particular act of faith or not, such as is comprised in the minor, 
Com. R m. 8. cap.  must be looked for in the heart. Fides non creditur, sed habetur & sentitur in cord, saith Learned Pareus, Faith is not believed, but had and felt in the heart. Actus reflexivus in ipsam fidem, quo credo me credere, non est ipsa fides, sed potiùs sensus fidei, 
Loc. Com. 689.  saith Maccovius, The reflexive act, whereby I know that I believe, is not properly faith, but the sense of it. But you will say, if the minor stands upon sense and experience, how can the conclusion, which imports assurance, be de fide? And Bellarmine argues thus. 
D. justificat l. 3. c. 8.  Nothing can be certain with a certainty of faith, unless it be contained in the word of God, upon which if it lean not, it is not faith, but that such or such a man is justified in particular, is not contained in the word, neither can it be deduced from thence; for than I must argue thus, the word saith, All that truly turn to God shall find mercy, but I do truly turn to him, therefore I am sure of mercy, in which the minor is not in the word. By the way we may observe what an excellent foundation the Jesuit lays for his disputation, Fides non est, nisi verbi divini auctoritate nitatur, that is not faith, which is not bottomed on the authority of the divine word. Oh rare! if this were believed, what would become of Popery? What of all the hay and stubble of their vain Traditions? Why do they play the wily Gibeonites with their old bottles and clouted shoes, obtruding their unwritten verities and mouldy customs upon the Church of God? I can be assured of no Religion, which is not founded on Scripture. But for answer, The certainty of the Doctrine of Faith, which respects the whole Church, is to be found in the Scripture; but the certainty of an act of Faith, which is in a particular man, is to be found in the heart by spiritual sense and experience; and so in Bellarmine's minor, the certainty of my turning to God stands not upon the word, but upon spiritual sense and experience; yet nevertheless the conclusion, which imports assurance, is de fide; for every conclusion is so, which stands upon one proposition contained in Scripture, and upon another gathered from sense or experience, as the case is in all such practical Syllogisms: yet withal, as I said at first, the conclusion doth not stand so entirely on Scripture as a direct act of faith doth.  
Seventhly, Faith is more purely faith then assurance is. In faith we look off from ourselves; thus the Apostle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, looking off from ourselves unto Jesus Christ, Hebr. 12.2. but in assurance we look into ourselves, by reflecting on our own estate. Whilst faith goes out of self, and hangs upon freegrace in one promise or other; assurance is at home, telling over its riches, and faring deliciously every day in the love of God: in faith there is nothing but mere dependence, but in assurance there is a mixture of sense. If a poor man in his rags and extremities leave himself upon God for daily bread, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things in the promise, his faith is more purely faith then the rich man's is, who hath creature-comforts flowing about him and running in at every sense. If one poor in spirit, in the midst of his wants and spiritual necessitles cast himself upon freegrace; it is more mere faith then for one to sit under assurance with pots of Manna and spiritual flagons round about him. When Jacob heard the report of a living Joseph, and put himself upon the chariots sent for him, it was nothing but mere belief, but when he saw joseph's face, his eyes were witnesses of the thing: when a man that walketh in darkness and seethe no light, will yet hang on the report of a Jesus, and put himself upon the chariot of the promises, it is nothing else but pure faith; but when he comes to see the light of God's face, and in it a piece of the heavenly vision, it is not all faith, but faith and sight together.  
Thus far of the second proposition, that faith is less than assurance: In which phrase I intent not a comparison between them in point of dignity, but only that precious faith, such as is the condition of the Gospel, may really be where the garland of assurance is not superadded; as a King is really a King before his Coronation, so faith is really faith before it be crowned with the sense of God's love.  
These two propositions made good, I come at last to gather up my first reason: Faith is more than a naked assent to the Gospel, and less than an assurance of love and pardon from God; therefore it must needs be some middle thing between both, such as resignation is. Let us put another practical Syllogism;  
Whosoever believeth, shall be saved. But I believe. Ergo, I shall be saved. the major proposition is the object of assent, the conclusion is an act of assurance, but the minor or middle proposition is an act of faith or resignation: Resignation includes assent, and, which is more, it yields up the soul to the terms of the Gospel, but it doth not immediately arrive at assurance, as it was with Jacob, when he heard his mother's counsel touching the blessing; between his assent to the counsel, and his audible hearing the blessing pronounced on him, there was a putting on the garments of his elder brother; so it is with the believer, when his heavenly Father offers him the Evangelical blessing, between his assent and his assurance of the blessing, there is a putting on the robe of Christ's rightcousness: a mere assentor hath as it were but the sight of his eyes, in looking on the rich treasures of the Gospel; a young believer hath a real title thereunto; and a man of assmance over and above his title, is able to bring his evidences and read them to his comfort.  
Secondly, That faith consists in resignation, will appear from the way which God uses in the working of faith. God works it in a way of persuasion, God shall persuade Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, Gen. 9.27. that is, in the Church of God, where the true Shem, the name of Godis. When God comes with his Almighty Oratory and speaks to the heart, persuading, dwell not O man any lorger at home, in thy will or righteousness, come into Shem, into my Name, into my mercy by a true recumbence, into my holiness by a cordial obedientialness, and by the sweet strains of freegrace the man is charmed into a surrender of himself unto the Divine call, than there is saith indeed. Hence believers in Scripture are called persuaded one's; And some of them believed, Act. 17.4. in the Original it is, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  And some of them were persuaded; and on the contrary, unbelievers are called the unperswadeable ones, ver. 5. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  such as will not suffer themselves to be persuaded. Faith is called persuasion, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  a yielding to the true Suada, the spirit and wisdom of God, none ever spoke or taught like him; and unbelief is called an unperswadethleness or contumacy, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  it contradicts and blasphemes at the sweet compellations of freegrace, if not outwardly, as those wretches, Act. 18. 6. yet inwardly, for it gives God the lie, 1 Joh. 5.10. Again, God works it in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit; thus the Apostle saith, His preaching was in the demonstration of the spirit and power, 1 Cor. 2.4. and then, as a sweet fruit thereof, follows faith standing in the power of God in the very next verse; when the spirit comes in its divine Logic, and demonstratively points out, this is the true Jesus, that is the very Gospel, and here is the only way of salvation, and the pure light and evidence presses in so far upon the man, that, like one under a clear demonstration, he is outreasoned, and cannot say nay to it, but yields and delivers up himself to the Gospel, to be moulded and cast into the holy figure thereof, then there is true faith wrought in him. Hence faith is sometimes set out by silence in Scripture, truly my soul waiteth on God, Psal. 62.1. or as it is in the Hebrew, my soul is silent to God; when the truth comes in the clear evidence and demonstration of the spirit, the soul is silent, let God say what he will, the soul contradicts not, but keeps an holy silence, scaling and subscribing to the truth and goodness of God in every thing. Moreover, God works it in the power of spiritual arms, casting down strong holds, and captivating thoughts to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10.4, 5. when God comes to the heart, which naturally is as a strong City, full of forts and towers of pride, and by unbelief barred and fast locked up against all holy truths, and lays a close spiritual siege to it, and shuts it up under sin and wrath, and makes inward batteries upon the forts and towers thereof, and the trumpet of the word sounds louder and louder in conscience, till the cursed walls fall down, and the everlasting gates be opened to the Lord of glory, and the heart surrender up itself with all its thoughts, as a willing prisoner to those Gospel-truths which before it imprisoned in unrighteousness, than there is precious faith indeed; the heart, which before was shut up, now opens itself to the truth, as we see in Lydia, Acts 16.14. When the Genoese vanquished the Venetians in a sea-sight, and took the Island of Chioggia, the Venetian Senate sent them a blank Charter, bidding them write down their own conditions, and they would accept thereof; when God by his word and spirit makes a conquest on the heart, and it yields up itself as a blank for him to write all his wills and pleasures in, then there is true faith wrought in the soul.  
Thirdly, That faith stands in resignation, will appear from the titles given unto faith in Scripture. 'Tis a leaning or rolling upon God, Cant. 8.5. Psal. 37.5. which are postures of resignation; the believer doth not stand upon his own bottom, nor bear up his own weight, but lays all upon God. 'Tis a committing one's self to God, 2 Tim. 1.12. which is an act of resignation; a believer pawns his soul to God, and as a pawn he leaves it upon God, as the expression is, Psal. 10.14. well knowing that it cannot be in a surer hand, as it were going out of the possession of himself, that he may be altogether in the custody of God. 'Tis a submitting to the righteousness of God, Rom. 10.3. which is the resignation of a subject to his Prince; a believer casts off his own righteousness as rags, and will be under no other righteousness but Christ's. 'Tis a casting our burden on the Lord, Psal. 55. a believer finds sins and wants too weighty for him to bear, and he throws off all upon God, who is able to pardon and supply him. In the Old Testament we have it called a trusting in God, and in the New a believing in Christ; a believer is not, as Adam, his own trustee, he hath not his estate in his own hands, but all in a way of dependence upon God. Moreover, it is called a giving one's self unto the Lord, 2 Cor. 8.5. a resigning up the property a man hath in himself, that Christ may be all in all: A believer as to his being is not a man in himself, but a man in Christ; as to his living, it is not he that liveth, but Christ in him; and as to his working, it is not he that labours, but the grace of God with him; and to name but one more, it is a resting on God, 2 Chron. 14.11. a believer is not at rest in himself, or the creature, but under perpetual toss and fluctuations, till he come to lay himself steadfastly upon God, as the Centre of souls, and Sabbath of eternal rest.  
Fourthly, That faith stands in resignation, may appear from the obstacles of faith. Look what of sin is an obstacle to resignation, is also an obstacle to faith, and what of sin may consist with resignation, may also consist with faith. For the clear understanding whereof, I must first premise some distinctions; there is original sin and actual, there is actual sin known and unknown, there is actual sin of mere infirmity and incursion, and actual sin which hath will and deliberation in it; there is actual sin in one single act, and actual sin in a series and succession of acts. These distinctions premised, I shall lay down this point in divers propositions.  
First, The mere in-being of original sin doth not impede resignation, and consequently it doth not impede faith: whatever the actual outflowing of it may do while the orisice of lust is open, the mere in-being of it doth not impede, is is an inmate in the heart; when the first work of faith is wrought there, only God by his Almighty grace doth suspend and bridle it that it doth not put forth, but lie hid in its own root: Thus say our famous Divines in the Synod of Dort, touching conversion; Divina haec actio non laedit voluntatis libertatem, neque tamen extirpat radicitùs vitiosam resistendi possibilitatem, quamvis enim Deus in ipso regenerationis opere adeo potenter in voluntatem agate, ut actualiter resistendi potentia proxima pro illo tempore suspendatur, remotam tamen & in actu prima positam resistendi potentiam ne tum funditus extirpate, said in suâ amarâ radice delitescere permittit. God lays the precious foundation of faith and the new-creature, as it were in mighty waters, in the very same heart in which there is a fountain of sin; only he doth as those that build upon great Rivers do, put back the fountain to make room for the heavenly structure, which is set up in the heart in a very wonderful way, as the stones were in Jordan, corruptions, as the waters of that river, standing on an heap on this side, and as it were cut off on that, whilst freegrace is a doing the great work. On the other side, the indulgence of original sin doth impede resignation, and by consequence faith: A man that foothes up the old man and earthly members, and upon the view of his heart returns omnia benè, all is well as it is, the heart is good enough, cannot, whilst such, believe; and why? to believe is to resign, and why or how should he resign to Christ for grace, who feels no want? such an one really poor but opinionatively rich, turns off all the rich offers of grace, as Esau did jacob's present, I have enough, and goes away empty from all the treasures of Christ.  
Secondly, All unknown actual sins are not obstacles to resignation, and so are not obstacles to faith. Who can understand his errors? Psal. 19.12. who so knowing as to know his intellectual errors? It hath been observed by some Papists, that there are above 200 errors in the Commentaries of Cardinal Cajetan, 
Dr. Reynolds de libr. Apoc.  in the Master of the sentences, whom the Papists extol as more worth than one hundred Luther's, two hundred Melanctons, three hundred bullinger's, four hundred Martyrs, five hundred Calvins, they have yet noted more than twenty erroneous Articles, unto which they add this, hic Magister non tenetur; who so holy as to understand his practical errors? no man ever searched the gulf of corruption in his own heart to the bottom, no man ever fully measured the breadth of the pure Law; there are in the best relics of self-love which cover a multitude of sins, blinds of custom, which hinder the sight of sin; what with carnal profits which blow dust into our eyes, and what with carnal pleasures, which, because brutish and bestial, hinder reflection; there is a great deal of sin unseen to us, which is plain to the pure eyes of God. On the other side, where unknown sins are obstacles to resignation, they are also obstacles to faith; of which I shall give some instances. Some unknown sins are therefore unknown because they arise out of an Abyss of darkness, out of a gross ignorance of fundamentals in the heart, and so in respect of their origine are inconsistent with faith, whose origine is light, such ignorant ones cannot resign; sin to them, because unknown, is no burden; holiness to them, because unknown, is no beauty; Christ and grace to them, because unknown, are no attractives; and how can they resign? resign recumbentially they cannot, for they know not the promises; resign obedientially they cannot, for they know not the precepts; resign in an humble docibleness they cannot, for they know not so much as their want of knowledge. Again, some sins, though unknown, carry in the matter of them a direct repugnancy to resignation and so to faith. For instance, every man hath some natural Popery in his heart, he would be justified by a righteousness of his own. The Jews being asked, whether they believed to be saved by Christ's righteousness, made this answer, every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer, every man must stand upon his own righteousness; he that doth thus, need not, cannot resign to Christ's righteousness: he need not, for why should he go out of doors for a righteousness which he hath within in his own heart; and he cannot, for justification by our own righteousness and justification by Christ's are contraries, and so are a dependence on our own righteousness for justification, and a dependence on Christ's for it. Hence the Jews, when they went about, though ignorantly, to establish their own righteousness, could not believe, they submitted not themselves to the righteousness of God, saith the Apostle, Rom. 10.3. their own unresigned righteousness kept them from believing, as being in the very matter of it contrary thereunto. Moreover, some sins, which may not be known for fins in the matter of them, may yet be darlings, Delilahs, and as the Hebrew word imports, exhausters, such as drain out the very marrow of the heart; I mean, the prime love, choice desire, and supreme delight thereof. These in respect of their intimate conjunction with the soul are bars to resignation, and so to faith. How can ye believe which receive honour one of another? saith our Saviour, Job. 5.44. their darling vainglory made their believing impossible: After the same manner all lawful things, when once they are set up as Idols in the heart, and the love and the joy dance before them, are obstacles to faith; thus we find, They would not come to the marriage-supper of the Gospel; and why? their darling farms and merchandise kept them away, Math. 22.5. Haec vincula, hae catenae quae carnales constringunt; these are the bonds and the chains which keep men from resignation, and the more dangerously, because they lie invisible and hid among the stust of our lawful things. Christ and earthly things (saith a Great Divine) come often in competition, in every unjust gain, Christ and a bribe; in every oath, Christ and a blasphemy; in every sinful fashion, Christ and a rag or excrement; in every piece of vainglory, Christ and a blast; in every intemperance, Christ and a vomit: whatever the thing be in itself, lawful or sinful, as soon as it becomes the Idol of the heart, it proves an obstacle to faith.  
Thirdly, All known actual sins are not absolute bars to resignation, and so not to faith: there are peccata quotidianae incursionis, sins of mere infirmity, such as are not the proper formal issues of deliberation, but the inevitable effluviums of humane frailty; these may be in a man, and may be known to be in him, and yet through grace he may resign, notwithstanding these black moats flying round about him, his faith may look up to the mercy-seat; on the other side, known actual sin issuing out of deliberation, if it be but in one single act, doth, whilst it is acting, put a bar to resignation, and so to faith, for that single act is rebellion, and how can a man, whilst he is knowingly in arms against God, resign? it is as the sin of witchcraft, 1 Sam. 15.25. and how can a man, who is virtually in covenant with the devil, enter into terms with God? that faith is not truly recumbential, which is not also obediential, neither doth it, can it, indeed lean upon God's grace, whilst his holiness is rejected. And if such known deliberate sin in one single act put a bar to faith, much more will it do so when it is in a course and series of successive rebellions. Thus St. John saith, whosoever sinneth, that is, makes a trade and runs a course of known sin, hath not seen him, that is, Jesus Christ, who was manifested to take away sin, 1 Joh. 3.6. such an one, though never so full of Scriptural notions, never yet saw a crucified Christ by faith, never yet looked upon the right mercy-seat, never yet set foot on the precious promises of the Gospel; Christ and Belial cannot be in concord, for Christ is a holy Christ, a Christ upon his throne, and the trader in sin is a man of Belial, a man (as the Hebrew word imports) absque jugo, who casts off the holy yoke from his heart and life.  
Fifthly, That faith stands in resignation, may appear from the act of resignation made by faith. Faith in Enoch resigned up his life, and in a spiritual sense every believer is by faith translated; Enoch-like he is not in the lower world, but so far as he believes, taken up by God and conversing in heaven. Faith in Abraham resigned up his only one, his Isaac, and every believer, every child of Abraham treads in the same steps of faith, going up into Moriah into the vision of God, and there offering up the only one of the heart, the darling love and joy there. Faith in Moses resigned up Egypt, and in that resigned up all the world, for in doing thereof his eye was not on some other part of the visible world, but on the invisible God; and in every believer faith takes the world and casts it behind his back as dung and dross for the excellency of Christ, regard not your stuff, saith faith, all the Land of promise, a heaven of glory is before you: wonderful are the surrenders which faith makes in the believer, it surrenders up his understanding to super-rational mysteries. Mere reason goes no farther than its own sphere of natural notions, but the line of faith runs as far as supernatural mysteries, such as the lingua lutea, the clay tongue of man cannot utter, such as lippus oculus, the weak eye of reason cannot see. Again, it surrenders up his will to super-moral self-denials. The Moralists self-denial is but the artifice of his reason, but the believers is a very great mystery. The Moralist denies only the beast, the brutish lusts in his sensitive affections, but the believer denies the more fine and spiritual fins in the Will itself. The Moralists design is only to advance the Empire of Reason over the lower faculties, but the believers is to advance God and his holy Will over himself, and all that is in him. Moreover, it surrenders up his affections to super-sensual joys and pleasures: The Sensualist is for the Paradise of sense, but the believer for the Paradise of God: The Sensualist swills in brutish pleasures, and sports himself with the volatile joys of the flesh, but the believer is upon the wing after the joys of the spirit, and the pure rivers of pleasure above. In a word, faith is virtually all the resignations which are in intellectual humiliations, inward mortifications, and outward martyrdoms. In intellectual humiliations, faith makes reason, though a Queen in her own dominions, come down and sit at the foot of revelation. In inward mortifications, faith makes the regnant lust come off from the throne of the heart, and bids the believer, as Joshua his Captains, put his feet on the neck of his lust. In outward martyrdoms, faith hath empowered men to kiss the stake, and embrace the flames, and cry out, as the blessed Martyr did, welcome sweet cross of Christ; and which is the crown of all the rest, in all these resignations faith ventures all upon the bare word of God, and desires no better security then that for all its expectations.  
Sixthly, That faith stands in resignation, may appear from the scope of Religion. It is the very centre of all Divinity, and grand axiom therein, that the creature is to be abased and God exalted, no flesh must glory in itself, but in the Lord, all pride must be stained, and boasting cut off, that God may be all in all, and the creature nothing. Now nothing is, nor can be more accommodate to this Central Divinity, than faith, considered under the notion of resignation; which I shall show in the following particulars.  
First, This doth exceedingly abase the creature. Resignation is the lowest posture of a creature, and so the fittest to take in all those graces which the Gospel hath entailed on believers. Would you have adoption from God? leave thine own kindred and thy father's house, stand not upon thy birthright or parentage, which in a child of wrath, such as thou art by nature, is as base and low as hell itself; go forth to Christ the natural son of God, that thou mayest be an adopted one. Would you have pardon and justification? stay not at home in thine own righteousness and repentant tears, these will not be habitable, when God comes in the pure glory of his justice and holiness, go out and put on the glorious righteousness of Christ, go out and lie down at the door of the pardon-office. I, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, saith God, Isa. 43.25. Would you have sanctifying graces? thine own Will cannot teem them out, thine own power cannot form them. Albertus Magnus the Philosopher, spent fifty years in making the Statue of a man so, as that with Engines it could speak articulately, but when all was done, it was but a poor dead thing. Shouldest thou live the age of Methuselah, and all the while in the artifice of thy reason, and power of thy will, labour to forge out true holinss, it would be at last but an umbra, a dead shadow of grace, though it might speak fairly in the way of notions and gifts, yet it would be without the heavenly life and vitality; thou must therefore yield up thyself to Jesus Christ, that his spirit may come upon thee, and form the new-creature in thee; the sum of all is this, put off thy ornaments, that God may know what to do unto thee, yield, resign, be in the lowest posture of a creature, that all the Evangelical graces may be thine own.  
Secondly, This doth highly exalt God, and that in several respects.  
First, It exalts the mercy of God. Now it appears that mercy in its proposals of salvation comes down to the very lowest terms; it will adopt, justify, and sanctify an yielding sinner, and how can it possibly go lower? should he adopt such as will not suffer him to draw his picture upon their hearts? when Thomas Arundel was for his Martial merits made Earl of the Empire, Queen Elizabeth said, that her sheep should not be stamped alieno stigmate, with another man's mark; as long as men will keep the worlds and Satan's mark upon them, God cannot tell how to call them sons; can he justify the ungodly? to justify the ungodly repenting and resigning is his infinite grace, but to justify them hardening and rebelling is impossible to his holiness, should be count them pure with the wicked balances, Mic. 6.11. every unresigned sinner hath a wicked balance in his heart, which makes as if a little sinful pleasure did outweigh God himself, and can he justify such wicked ones? should the sanctifying spirit with all its train of graces, come and dwell in the unclean stable of indulged lusts? Christ the holy one of God was in his admirable humility in a stable of beasts, but in a stable of indulged lusts he cannot be; he dwells in the heart by faith, that is, in the resigning heart, and it cannot be otherwise: Mercy itself, if it comport with the justice and holiness of God, cannot make lower terms then to save the yielding sinner.  
Secondly, It exalts the wisdom of God. He hath so admirably contrived the way of salvation, that mercy shall stoop to the lowest terms, and the creature take it in the lowest posture, that so mercy might sit in majesty, and save in state: Princes use in their acts of mercy to give an allay of Majesty, such as may stand with their honour. Solomon will pardon Adonijah, but he must be a worthy man, or as the Original is, a son of virtue, 1 Kings 1.52. King Henry the fourth of France would have freely pardoned Birone, but then he must make an ingenious confession of the treason, which he neglecting to do in time, lost his head. The great God gives out mercy to poor sinners, but they must take it upon the knee, in a bending and resigning posture, such as is congruous to so infinite a Majesty; they must be put into self-emptying and self-annihilating thoughts, as Moses into the cleft of the rock, while the glory of freegrace passes before them.  
Thirdly, It exalts the veracity of God. The believer resigns up his soul, himself, his happiness, his all upon the mere word of God, giving him the glory of his truth in every tittle. What Peter said to Christ, when he bade him let down his net, Master we have toiled all night and have taken nothing, yet at thy word I will let down the net, Luke 5.5. that saith the believer unto God, Lord, I am toiling in the dark, under sin and wrath, but at thy word I will cast myself upon freegrace; I am labouring under spiritual wants and necessities, but at thy word I will repair to the great treasures of grace in Christ, still the hangs upon a word: its true, he resigns up himself to Christ and freegrace, but his warrant for doing so is a mere word; how doth he know that the infinite Ocean of mercy, whose effluxes are free, will flow out to sinful men? how doth he know that the Son of God was incarnate and suffered on a cross for them? why, the word is nigh him, manifesting these heavenly mysteries unto his heart; still he hangs upon a word, that, if we make a true search, lies at the very bottom of all his faith, as the foundation thereof.  
Fourthly, It exalts the justice of God. Many great Rabbis have been caught by the head in the Controversal thickets, whilst they have disputed about God's justice in the condemning impotent men. Not to enter into the briers; there seems to be much in this, that God condemns none for bare impotency, but for height and pride and contumacy in that estate. Christ's question to the impotent man is very remarkable, wilt thou be made whole, Joh. 5.6. O thou impoten man, if thou art sensibly weak in thy impotency, poor in thy poverty, and low in thy low estate, surely creating grace is passing upon thee; but if thou art strong in thy impotency, rich in thy poverty, and high in thy low estate, thy condemnation is just; because in the pride of thy heart thou wilt not yield to be saved on the terms of the Gospel. 
Spondand. Annal. Eccles. Anno 491.  Zeno the Eastern Emperor, being in a fit of the Falling-sickness, taken for dead, was buried alive, and when he cried out lamentably to be taken up but into a Monastery, his wife Ariadne would not suffer it. If the poor sinner lying in his spiritual grave, mourn and groan under his impotency,   

CHAP. VI  
Precious Faith confivered in the fruits and glorious progresses of it; and here first, of the Divine Sagacities of Faith.  
THUS far I have treated of Precious Faith, in its first and lowest measure, as it is the condition of the Gospel, consisting of supernatural illumination, a belief of the Divine Testimony, and a dependant resignation to the terms of the Gospel. Now I come to consider the fruits and glorious progresses of faith. Faith is like Rebecca, the Mother of thousands. That blessing of Abraham, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee, falls down upon all the seed of believers; their faith is blessed with a fair progeny of graces and comforts, only these are not born all at once, for though adoption and justification immediately ensue upon faith, comforts and statures of graces do not do so, but come forth into being gradually, in some sooner, in some later, as grace is actuated and as God is pleased to dispense them: wherefore what I shall lay down touching the fruits of faith, I intent not as universally applicable to all believers at the very first, and before a progress made in grace, justification and adoption are found in every believer, nay, and some measures of sanctification, but higher degrees of grace and manifestations of Divine Love are not so; neither do I mean critically to time, when each holy fruit buds forth but only to explain the things themselves.  
And here I shall first begin with the sagacities of Faith. There hath been a great stir in the world about wisdom; Philosophers have hunted after it; the Jews have vainly cried up themselves, nos sapientes, we are the wise men, say they; but in truth the only Sage under the Sun is the believer. Upon Gods own survey it was found, that there is none that understandeth, Rom. 3.11. none but the believer only, his knowledge is divine, all Arts and Sciences are but toys to it, which occasioned the worthy Pitiscus to say, that he played in Mathematics with his rule and compass, but he sweat in Divinity; his design is the wisest, he seeks a crown, a kingdom of glory: the Primitive Christians were wont to talk so much of the kingdom, the kingdom, that the Pagan Emperors grew jealous of them; but alas, their aims were much higher, in comparison whereof earthly Monarches do but play at push-pin about Crowns of dust, and spend their time like Domitian in catching flies; the believer leaving the world behind his back, pitches upon heaven, and God, the heaven of heaven, in him to enjoy mirrors of truths, Sabbaths of love, rivers of pleasures, and plenitudes of joy and bliss for ever; and what wiser design can enter into man's heart? surely none, as the last day will demonstrate, when it shall put an eternal blush on all other designs. And as his end is the wisest, so his way to it is the surest, he goes to it by Jesus Christ, whose merit as a golden key unlocks the doors of bliss to the believer, and whose spirit attires him with all graces to make him fit to enter in, and all this is not a fancy, a fools Paradise, but a truth, a real thing, founded on that infallible word, which stands faster than the pillars of heaven and earth. But to unfold the sagacities of faith more fully, I shall consider them with relation to several objects.  
As to God, the believer sees the invisible one, and that after another rate then mere Naturalists and Notionalists do, he hath more than a bare notion, he hath the mystery of God in his heart, as the phrase is, Col. 2.2. he that hath but the mere notion sees him afar off, and knows not how to sanctify such a Majesty in his heart, no more than Cardinal Perron did, who first in an excellent Oration before the French King proved there there was a God, and then being much applauded by the Auditory, offered the next day to prove the contrary, but he that hath the mystery, sees him near at hand, and so prepares a room for him in his heart; a fear for his Majesty, a love for his goodness, a faith for his truth and mercy, a joy for his salvation, putting each affection into a posture suitable to some one or other of his Divine Attributes: he that hath but a notion of God's Omnipresence, can sport with his sins, as if there were no God in the place, but he that hath the mystery of it, Abraham-like, walks before God, on to his faces, as the Original is, Gen, 17.1. every where there is a face of God appearing, to deter him from sin, and excite him to holiness; he that hath but a notion of God's grace, hath no favour, no relish of the sweetness thereof; which I suppose makes the converse of some great Scholars as dry and sapless as Cardinal Pools Sermon about the Pall; but he that hath the mystery of it, tastes how gracious the Lord is, and is ravished, as if heaven opened, and some drops from the rivers of pleasure there, were let down upon his heart; he that hath but a notion of God's justice, can sit in his lusts before the sparks of his own kindling, and be no more afraid at the threaten in Scripture, than Jehojakim was at the burning of the roll, Jer. 36.24. one lust or other consumes all the roll of Divine threaten, but he that hath the mystery of it cannot do so; to him hell flames out in every threatening, he trembles at the word, and saith, O my soul, be not deceived, if thou live after the flesh, thou wilt die, if thou sow unto the flesh, thou must reap corruption. He that hath but a notion of God's power, can despise God's hand in small crosses, just as the proud Greeks, who when Callipolis was lost, said the Turks had taken but a bottle of wine; but he that hath the mystery of it dares not do so, well knowing that the lightest afflictions come from Shaddai, the Almighty, and if need be, he can strike harder; he that hath but a notion of God's All-sufficiency, hath his affections scattered up and down the earth, as the poor Israelites were over Egypt for straw, to gather, if it were possible, a happiness from the flowers of the creature; but he that hath the mystery of it, knows how by a compendious wisdom to have all in God; roll over all worlds, the world of thoughts wishes and desires in the heart, the world of riches honours and pleasures in nature, the world of pardons graces and comforts in Saints, the world of joy glory and beatitudes in heaven; and after all this, the believer can tell you, all these are to be found in God, habet omnia, quihabet habentem omnid, after this manner the secret of the Lord is with the believer.  
As to Jesus Christ, the believer hath the mystery of him in his heart. A man may have a notion of God manifest in the flesh, but unless he have an heart of flesh, an yielding resigning heart for God to manifest his spirit and graces in, that the heart may in some measure be made answerable to the spirit and graces in Christ, he wants the mystery of it. St. John, speaking of love, saith, which thing is true in him and in you, 1 John 2.8. Why so? because, saith he, the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth; a man may tell the story of the meekness, humility, holiness, obedience, charity, patience it Christ; but if the true light do not shine in him by faith, if these graces be not true in Christ: and in him, he hath not the mystery thereof; the spies coming back from Canaan, brought not only a bare report of the good Land, but clusters of grapes also; he that hath the mystery of Christ, hath not only a mere notion of the full treasures of grace in him, but clusters of graces from thence as so many real proofs thereof; the Apostle Paul doth notably decipher this sagacity, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death, Phillip 3.10. If a man hath only a notion of Christ crucified and Christ risen, we may character him as Erasmus did the Monastery he was in there is nihil Christi, nothing of Christ crucified, where lusts are living and reigning, nothing of Christ risen, where the soul is dead in trespasses and sins; he only knows the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, who hangs up his earthly members on the cross to die and expire; the only knows the power of Christ's resurrection, who hath felt the same Almighty power which raised up Christ, quickening his soul to a heavenly life: this is the mystery, the so learning of Christ, as the expression is, Eph. 4.20. learning him so, as to put off the old man with his corrupt lusts, and to put on the new man in true holiness, and so, as to be found in him, and count all dross and dung for him: It deeply concerns all Christians, nay, the greatest Clerks to understand this (so) which without faith no man doth, as being void of Christ and his spirit.  
As to inherent grace, the believer knows it to be an excellent thing, an accident more worth than the substance of the soul itself, and yet withal he knows it to be a creature, and in itself defectible, he knows it to be an excellent thing excellent in its supernatural parentage, a thing not born of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, an holy thing form by the overshadowing of the blessed spirit, a beam of grace from the eternal grace in the heart of God, excellent again as it is the souls lostre, knowledge its glass, humility its vail, obedience its golden ear-ring, love the chain of its neck, righteousness its fine linen, every grace its inward glory and beauty, elevating natural faculties above their own pitch, into a state congruous for communion with God, above all, excellent as it represents God himself; in every creature there is a print or footstep of God, but in grace there is his very image and resemblance. a believer can see more of God in an holy beam, then in the great Sun, in a little of heaven, then in all the earth, intal poor meek spirit, then in all the Nimrods' and mighty Potentates of the world; and yet after all this, the believer sees grace to be but a creature, and in itself defectible without a spiritual concourse from heaven, should God bid him stand alone, he would be in an agony, and pray as) Annas Burgus did at his Martyrdom, Deus mi, ne me derelinquas, ne ego te derelinquam, my God, forsake me not, lest I forsake thee. Should God offer him all the Angels in heaven to guard his little spark of grace in being, he would tremble and say, not so Lord, let me be kept by thine Almighty power unto salvation, that is the only keeper I desire; he dares not say, my mountain is strong, now I am full, now I am rich, now I reign as a King by myself; were he full of grace, it would be but as a room is of light, no sooner could he shut the windows, and possess it in a self-subsistence, but he would be in the dark, and experiment every beam to hang upon the Sun of righteousness; were he rich in grace, it would be but as a Merchant is in his trade, if the rich returns from heaven should fail, he would soon spend all his stock, and like a son of Adam, turn bankrupt; were he a spiritual King ruling over his lusts, he would and must confess himself under the kingdom of Christ, and to hold all his power from thence, or else Mene, Mene, his kingdom is numbered, and divided among lusts and devils. St. Paul saith, I live, but immediately he calls it back again, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, Gal. 2.20. well knowing that all his grace had its being from the true Immanuel, Jesus Christ, and its continuance from the continual influxes of his spirit, which are in a sober sense a kind of Immanuel, God with us, strengthening graces where they are weak, quickening where they are dead, upholding where they are falling, and by an incessant spiration influencing Being into them, that they may not vanish into nothing.  
As to the opposite, sin, the believer sees more of the sinfulness of sin, and yet more of the holy God about it than others do. He sees more of the sinfulness of sin than others. Next to Christ, who weighed sin upon the cross, he of all men knows best how to weigh it; the natural man may put in the breach of the Law into the scale, but he puts in all the bloody aggravations, the suffocated light, and abused love, the quenchings of the spirit, and the rejections of Christ, the broken vows and lying promises of obedience, the stabs of conscience, and warning pieces of wrath, the measures of delight and obstinacy in sin, and the heaps of guilt in reiterated sinning, no man makes sin so sinful as he; the pure light of faith being up in the heart, every scarlet thread in the contexture thereof becomes visible; and yet after all this, the believer sees more of the holy God about it than others do, and that whether he look on the sins of others, or his own. As to other men's, we have many examples in Scripture; the messengers that came to Job, spoke of the Sabeans and Chaldeans oppression, but the Lord hath taken away, saith holy Job, Job 1.21. when Shimei cursed David, Abishai looks no further than Shimei, why should this dead dog curse my Lord the King? saith he, but what saith heavenly David, the Lord hath said unto him, curse David, 2 Sam. 16.9, 10. In the crucifying of Christ, carnal men looked only at the instruments, such as Pilate and the Jews were, but the Saints saw God's hand and God's counsel in it, Acts 4.28. As to his own sins, there is a famous instance in the Church's complaint, O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? and hardened our heart from thy fear? Isa. 63.17. What? were they not sensible that the error and hardness were their own? yes doubtless, they were more sensible than others, as appears by their mourning and longing for the Lords return, yet they cry out, why hast thou made us to err? and why hast thou hardened us? the believer when he looks upon providence and sin, hath a spiritual sagacity to determine the matter. God is holy, while man is unclean; God wise, while man foolish; God merciful, while man cruel: the light is Gods, and the darkness man's; the order Gods, and the ataxy man's; the justice Gods, and the unrighteousness man's. As to Satan, the believer knows him by the word more truly than all the Magicians in the world; when Satan shows himself in Magical apparitions, he doth but mock the sense and delude the mind, but when God shows him forth in the word, he appears in his proper colours and true likeness; the believer knows him to be of very great power, a ruler of darkness, a Prince, nay a God of this world, one that can do great things without in the elements, and within in the passions, a mighty Leviathan, who can make the heart boil as a pot and foam out its own shame, and withal he knows that this roaring Lion is in a chain, and cannot go beyond his commission. Again, the believer knows him to be an old serpent full of methods and devises, turning every stone, waiting upon every occasion, complying with every temper, and putting on every shape; in his temptations, now in the dress and pomp of earthly things, and then in samuel's Mantle, transforming himself into an Angel of light; sometimes carrying men up into the mountain of the world, and glorifying vanity before them; and sometimes setting them on a pinnacle of the Temple, to cast them down by the pride of their own duties; now speaking in the Language of Nature, Master spare thyself, and anon in the Language of Scripture, it is written thus and thus, and all that he may devour, or, as it is in the Original, drink up, 1 Pet. 5.8. souls, as if he lived upon spirits, and no blood would serve him but that of souls: And withal the believer knows, that the Alwise God can wrap up Satan in his own nets, and countermine him in every plot, he can awaken us out of the snare, and make us see the methods and subtle postures of the devil, how he would charm us into presumption, or roar us into despair; how he stands at our right hand in holy duties, and at our left in earthly employments; what a murderer he is in stifling holy motions, and what a liar in his false joys and promises: Thus the believer knows more of Satan and his hellish depths than others do.  
As to things past, the believer hath a holy sagacity to make a good improvement of them, which is most evident in his appropriating Scripture-histories to himself, in such or such a state (saith he) God dealt so or so in a way of mercy or justice, and if I come into that state, I shall have the same measure, because God is ever the same, and his mercy and justice have the same aspects towards men as heretofore; the believer appropriates good states and good consequents: see in what way the goodness of God followed such a man, in the very same way will it be with me, saith faith; if I can strive and wrestle with God in prayer, I am in jacob's state, and shall be a prince with God; the effectual fervent prayer. of the righteous man availeth much, James 5.16. if I am in Joshuaes' state, fight against lusts the true Canaanites, God will never never leave me nor forsake me, that was a particular promise made to Joshua, yet is by the Apostle accommodated to believers, as being in his state, Heb. 13.5. If a man suffer for the true God and his worship, he is in the fiery furnace, and the son of God is with him to comfort and support him, if he have a good conscience made so by the blood and spirit of Christ, he is in the Ark, and shall never drown in the common perdition, 1 Pet. 3.20, 21. there is a cloud of witnesses, in which faith observes righteousness going before, and mercy following after. Again, the believer appropriates bad states and bad consequents, see in what way God's wrath broke out against such a man, in the same way will it break out against me, saith faith; if I am murmuring and unbelieving, I am in the Israelites state, and without repentance I shall die in the wilderness and never enter into rest; if I wallow in the mire of gross and sensual sins, I am in Sodom and Egypt, and may expect their line of plagues and eternal fire: if I love the wages of righteousness, I am in Balaams' way, and may look for his end; if I sleep in my indulged lust, I am in Delilahs' lap, and like to lose my own strength and God's presence; these are our types or figures, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 10.6. in which we have a lively image and portraiture of punishments for sin, and from thence may by faith divine, that if such sins goes before, such wrath will follow after.  
As to the present world, which is chequered with good and evil things, and hath in it, as the Ark had of old, a rod and a pot of Manna, the believer hath a greater sagacity than others. As to the good things of the world, no man sees so much of their excellency, and withal no man sees so much of their vanity as the believer doth; take the world in its own place and station, and thus it is a rare monument of the eternal power and Godhead, the invisible spirit renders himself visible, and as it were palpable in it, every being in nature shows forth the Being of Being's, every beam of light points to the Father of lights, every drop of goodness leads to the great Ocean, every harmony among the creatures tells of an infinite Artificer: this is the sense of the creation, which faith understands better than learning. Philosophers and great Naturalists may see more of the creature than the believer, but the believer sees more of God in it then they; they gaze most on the fine letters and characters in nature, but he best knows the sense of all, which is God. On the other side, take the world into the heart, and there exalt it as the supreme good of man, and thus it is a lie, a fancy, a dream, a shadow, my, a very nothing; after all its goodly promises, it is but a lie; after all its spreading pomp and glory, it is but much fancy, it casts men into dreams and appearances of happiness in this and that creature, but as soon as faith awakens them, it is known to be but a dream, the day breaking in the heart, all the shadows flee away, it looks like somewhat of substance, but it is as all other Idols are, a mere nothing, nothing to make a God of, nothing as separate from its Creator, just as letters without sense, and beams without a Sun, perfect vanity, which (as a Learned man hath it) is in its true Idea made up of nothing as the matter, and a lie as the form thereof. A carnal man gazes upon riches, and forgets the thorn; clothes himself with the creature, and forgets the moth; drinks of the cup of pleasures, as if there were no poison in it, and sits under the gourd of worldly things as if there were no worm at the root; but the believer sees a vanity in the fairest prospects of the world, before the rust appears visibly in the gold, faith sees it there; before the great Doomsday dashes down the world actually, faith doth it mentally, making it as inconsiderable a nothing to man's happiness, as it will sensibly appear at last, when the whole shall be wrapped up in a winding-sheet of flames. Again, though the carnal man dote more on creature-comforts then the believer, yet the believer pries more curiously about them than he; the carnal man is all for the bulk, but the believer not so much for that, searches into the title, he would very fain have what he hath in Jesus Christ, and in the good will of God. Since sin blasted and forfeited the world, he dares not claim any thing upon mere creation, but all in and through Christ and freegrace, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is Gods, 1 Cor. 3.22. there's his title; the carnal man looks on the world as a mountain of prey, and scrambles for as much of it as he can, but the believer would have every grain come through joseph's hands, and all his bread and wine set forth by the true Melchisedeck, the King of righteousness; nay, such is his holy curiosity, that he is jealous of the least adherent guilt, which others never mind; the oppressing Merchant boasts and smooths up himself, yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance, in all my labours there is no iniquity, Hos. 12.7, 8. but let faith come in, and then the stone cries out of the wall, and the rust of the gold and silver witnesses against him. There were in Saxony (as Thuanus relates) too sordid inhuman wretches, who for filthy lucre engrossed a great quantity of corn, and afterwards opening their barn-doors to transport it, the corn flew up into their eyes, driving them into horrid astonishment and desperation: should the believer oppress, it would fly in the face of conscience, and the curse of God would seize upon him; upon which account he is very curious about his estate, to keep the moth of guilt from it. As to the evil things of the world, such as crosses and afflictions, whilst others poor only on the outward evil lying before the senses, the believer looks upward to God the supreme Moderator, being richly content with crosses, as long as God governs the world. A story there is of a godly but sickly woman, who when an Angel came to her from God, proffering her as from him health in one hand, and sickness in the other, fell a weeping, that God should put her to her choice, and not himself choose for her; such is the genius of faith, which would not choose for itself, but refer all to God, kissing every cross as a piece of his government who rules the world. Again, the believer looks inward to sin, as the black fountain from whence all miseries issue forth in the world, well knowing that all Physical evils are but the pay of Moral; whilst others cry out of the plagues, he complains of the sins: Pharaoh cries out perii, but David peccavi, Against thee, thee only have I sinned, Psal. 51.4. and there is great reason for it, because sin is the fontal evil, which pours out all other evils, and puts a desperate sting and venom into them. Moreover, the believer looks forward to the issue of affliction, 'tis enough to others to come out of it, but he would come out of it as the Israelites did out of Egypt, with spinitual jewels and earrings; whilst they tell over their outward losses, he computes his inward gains. Oh! saith he, what hath God wrought by this cross? did not faith roll out as pure gold out of a furnace? hath not the fire dissolved some bands of corruption? how much of the rusty world hath been filled off from the heart? hath not the rod itself budded and blossomed with the peaceable fruits of righteousness? what experiments have been made of the love and faithfulness of God in the affliction? which of the Promises came in to me, and milked out its comforts in my heart? how warm were the heavenly affections within, when the frost lay upon outward comforts? such inquiries as these doth the believer make after the holy fruit of afflictions.  
As to things future and distant, the believer hath a notable sagacity; the men of this world are wrapped up in the vail of time, and see not so far as futurity and eternity; but as soon as faith comes, it rends off the vail, and gives a fair prospect into another world: if all the intermediate moments between this and the last day were cut off, doomsday were actually upon us, faith can in a spiritual way put back all the middle time, and makes us see things as they will be, the heavens on fire, the elements melting with fervent heat, the last trumpet sounding, the dead rising out of the dust and gathering to the grand Tribunal, faith is the presentiality of all these. Job looks through the worms and dust upon a resurrection, my Redeemer liveth, saith he, Job 19.25. though I die, my Redeemer liveth, and will fetch me up again; if there were an Engine made which could pull away all the intermediate bodies between us and the heaven of heavens, we might look into Paradise; faith doth the same thing spiritually, it puts by the world and time, and lies at the door of heaven and eternity. Thus the Apostle, we look not at the things temporal, but at the eternal, 2 Cor. 4.18. he puts by all temporal things, which as the lower heavens hold back the face of God's throne, and so he looks into eternity. There is a story of an Oxford Monk, who by his skill in Magic conveyed himself into the Northern Regions, and there took a view of the Pole: the believer by the art of faith doth much more, in conveying himself out of this world, and taking a view of eternity; in the promises he sees heaven opening, and letting down some sparkles of glory; in the threaten he sees hell flaming, and some of the fire unquenchable breaking out, heaven and hell are no longer notions but sensations; in the raptures and joys of faith he hath been caught up into Paradise, and there drunk of the wine of Angels, in convictions and deep humiliations he hath been as it were at God's bar, and hanging over the bottomless pit.  
As to seeming contradictions, the believer hath a rare dexterity to enucleate them. Touching which I shall give some instances. God commanded Abraham, offer up thy son, thine only son Isaac, to offer up a son was a seeming contradiction to nature, to offer up an Isaac, a son of promise, was a seeming contradiction to God's truth, who before had said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called, but faith unlocks all these difficulties, God is able to raise him up from the dead, saith Abraham, and from thence he received him in a figure, Heb. 11.19. a parallel to this we may find in all true believers, the children of Abraham; God calls upon them, mortify the deeds of the body, and ye shall live; mortify and live is a seeming contradiction, to offer up our only ones, our wills, our loves, our joys, to be slain, looks like a piece of unnaturalness; but what saith faith? it is no such matter, offer up your only ones, your wills, your loves, your joys, unto God, and you shall receive them again from the dead, raised up in the incorruption of the new-creature, that which was sown a natural will, natural love, and natural joy, shall be raised up a spiritual will, spiritual love, and spiritual joy, your souls before dead in sins, shall have the life of God in them, this is the first resurrection; such things as these nature laughs at as strange paradoxes, but faith embraces as rare mysteries. Again, Christ saith, take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, Math. 11.29, 30. what is Christ's yoke but the Commandments? and are these portable by any mere man? so say the Romanists from this very place, but the mistake is so gross that the communis sensus of Christians runs against it; faith can unriddle it another way, the impossibles of the Law, the sinless perfection unattainable by us were fulfilled by Christ, the heavy end of the Law, the dreadful curse unavoidable by us was born by Christ, the Covenant of grace is satisfied with uprightness in the ways of God, which is easy to a renewed man: its true, while there is only the pressure of a Law without, and nothing but a natural heart of enmity within, the ways of God are irksome and tedious, which occasioned a Divine to say, that a man might take a carnal man, tie him to a table, and kill him with praying and preaching; but it is far otherwise with the believer, who serves God not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit, who hath a Law within answering to the Law without, and a spirit within prompting the same in the heart, which the spirit in the command doth outwardly dictate. Prayer is but the breathing of the new-creature, holy desires its pulse, holiness its element, obedience its common walk, alms but the opening of its hands, contemplation but the lifting up of its eyes, all natural and easy, because from inward principles of life and grace: My yoke is easy, is durus sermo, an hard saying to every man but to the believer, who does all sweetly and in the easiness of the new-creature. Moreover, to give another instance, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure, saith the Apostle, Phil. 2.12, 13. what strange language is here? work, and yet God worketh all, and all of his mere pleasure; how can these things be? if God work all, there seems to be no place left for virtue or vice, rewards or punishments, because man can do nothing of himself. O what sweats have Learned brains been thrown into, whilst they have laboured to tune freegrace and freewill into harmony? what craggy thorny Volumes of mere speculation have they put forth the concordiâ liberi arbitrii & gratiae? and after all is done, the believer understands it best of any man; his life of faith is a plain practical solution thereof, for he acts and moves, but under the first Agent and Mover; he works, but under the Master-workman; he is free, but under the free-making spirit; he spreads his sails, and withal looks up for the holy gales; he labours and sows precious seed, and at the same time waits for the spiritual dews and sunbeams; he hath graces in him, but lays all under that spirit that created them, that that spirit may touch upon his charity and draw out his soul in alms, and touch upon his devotion, and pour out his soul in prayer, and touch upon every grace, and make the spices thereof flow out; still he waits for the touches of the spirit. Moral virtues, like the fabled cymbal of St. Telian, may seem to ring alone by their own self-power and self-confidence, but spiritual graces, like David's harp, must be awakened by divine influences; as it was in Christ on earth, the Humanity always ministered to the Divinity, so it is with the believer, so far as his faith acts, all his faculties and graccs are but as it were so many gardens, airy rooms, and working-houses for the holy spirit to walk, breath, and work its pleasure in. Hence the believer is said in Scripture to walk in the spirit, pray in the spirit, live in the spirit, doing all under the conduct thereof: after some such sort as this doth the believer work out his salvation with fear and trembling, in a way of humility and holy dependence upon God, who worketh to will and to do of his own good pleasure. We have an eminent instance of this in holy David, see how he hangs upon God in the 119 Psal. thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts, but O that my ways were directed to do so, ver. 4, 5. I will keep thy statutes, but O forsake me not utterly, ver. 8. with my whole heart have I sought thee, but O let me not wander from thy commandments, ver. 10. I will run the way of thy commandments, but do thou enlarge my heart, ver. 32. I love thy precepts, but quicken me O Lord according to thy loving kindness, ver. 159. I have chosen thy precepts, O let thine hand help me, ver. 173. how working is David, and how depending? how sweetly do man's obedience and God's influence accord together? this a believer practically understands, and none but he: whilst others labour to fathom it by speculation, the mystery is too deep for them, but the believer hath it practically and in experience every day.  
As to spiritual extractions, the believer is very sagacious. Chemists by racking and torturing of nature, have forced her to a confession of many secrets and choice mysteries, which made Paracelsus so triumph over Galen, vaunting proudly, that the least hair of his head had more learning than all the Universities besides. The believer is the best of Chemists, no extractions are like those of faith, he extracts heaven out of earth; could a man extract gold out of base metals, it would be but earth out of earth, purer out of grosser; but the believer extracts heaven out of earth. As Jacob saw more than mere Esau, he saw God's face in Esau's, so the believer sees more than the mere creature-comfort, he sees the goodness of God in it, which is the sweetness of all. Carnal men are content with the bulk and gross matter of an earthly blessing, but the believer draws out the spirits and quintessence thereof; that is, the love of God, without which oil and wine and corn, and all other earthly things are but a caput mortuum, a piece of dross and dead mattor in his eyes; earthly things are transient and perishing in themselves, but he hath an art to melt them down by charity into a fixed condition, though he cannot say, his house, yet he can, his charity shall continue for ever. Silver and gold will not go in speeie, in the upper world, but he knows how by the poor, which are Christ's bankers, to return them thither for everlasting habitations, given in exchange by freegrace.  
Again, he extracts good out of evil. Carnal men see nothing in affliction but a lump of sorrow, but the believer knows that there is a blessing in it, the sharpness of it may let out his corruption, the suddenness of it may alarm his spiritual watch, the bitterness of it may wean him from the breast of the creature, the weight of it may try the back of his faith and patience; it is no longer mere trouble, but made out into fans to unchaff him of his vanity, into furnaces to resine his golden graces, into moulds to cast him into the image of a meek suffering Christ, into spiritual wings to elevate the soul in devotions and heavenly affections towards the everlasting rest which is above: much of the love and faithfulness; of God is to be seen in it, which made Munster sick of the pestilence, to show the ulcers and plague-tokens on his arm ut armillas & preciosas Christi gemmas, as the bracelets and rich jewels of Christ; such noble extractions can faith make out of sore afflictions, as if they were the only love-tokens to seal up a son of God; according to that old saying, Qui excipitur à numero flagellatorum, excipitur à numero siliorum.  
Again, he extracts strength out of weakness. Satan's shocks and the fluxes of inward corruption may make him weak and ready to perish, but his faith tells him that the power of God, which can do all things, is perfected in weakness, and the weakness of man under which he groans, is a capacity for that power to show forth itself in; when our power is gone, there is room for Gods, when there is no might, he increaseth strength, as it was in Christ, the weakness, the humane flesh was anointed with the divinity; so it is in the believer, the weakness, the humane frailty is anointed with the power of grace; when he is weak in himself, than he is strong in God; when weak in the flesh, then strong in the spirit. The Psalmist hath some Psalms upon Machalath, that is, upon instruments Musical, say some, but upon infirmity, say others; the believer is able to glory and make Music over his weaknesses, because his faith can fetch down the power of God upon him, wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen thine heart, Psal. 27.14. as faith goes up, so power comes down; hence the believer out of weakness is made strong, as the Apostle expresses it, Heb. 11.34.  
Again, he extracts grace out of unworthiness, well knowing that the way of grace is to move itself into act from our unworthiness; a notable instance whereof we have, Hos. 2.13, 14. she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord, therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her; as if he had said, she is idolatrous, therefore behold, I will be gracious. Oh what a stupendious therefore is here? deservedly is it followed with a behold, a note of admiration: So wonderful it is, that some Learned men among the Papists, not understanding how such a connection could possibly be, have thought that it refers not to that which immediately went before, but to some precedent words about the beginning of the Chapter; a parallel place to this we have, Isa. 57.17, 18. he went on frowardly in the way of his heart, I have seen his ways and will heal him. Oh! what strange grace is here? one would have thought he would have said, he went on frowardly, I have seen his ways, and will damn him, but it is, I have seen his ways, and will heal him. Some Jewish Commentators gloss it thus, I have seen his repenting ways and will heal him. I suppose not understanding how grace should immediately follow upon perverseness, but the believer knows that this is the method of grace, and therefore by an holy art presses for it even from his own unworthiness, Our Saviour Christ calls the Canaanitish woman, crying out for mercy, no better than dog, Math. 15.26. a word of reproach, such as the proud Jews put on all the Gentiles, such as made the Saracens revolt from the Emperor Heraclius his army, and set up for themselves, under their Captain Mahomet; but see how admirably her faith gathers upon him, and even from that word presses for mercy, truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their Master's table, ver. 27. ipsum Dominum in verbis capit, she takes the Lord in his own words, saith Ferus, proving her title to the crumbs from her being a dog: Holy David prays, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great, Psal. 25.11. a strange argument for pardon, for it is great, such as no malefactor would use to an earthly Prince, but the holy man knows that it will pass with God, who loves to make grace superabound there, where sin hath abounded.  
Again, he extracts hope out of despair. When he is ready to faint and swoon away in cold fits of spiritual deadness, faith revives and points him to the fountain of life, which runs over in quickening graces upon the whole Church; and if he scruple his access to that fountain, faith tells him, that the Well is open to all comers, whosoever will may take of the water of life freely, whosoever hath the bucket of faith may draw out of it; and if he yet reply, true, whosoever will may do so; but oh! I want a will, I want an heart for God and Christ and heavenly things, faith is able, if awakened, both to tell him, that these are living groans, and withal to drop some Scripture cordial into his heart, such as that is Prov. 9 where Christ, the wisdom of God, builds his house, the Church, kills his beasts, mingles his wine, furnishes his table, that is, provides all heavenly blessings, sends out his virgins, his holy ministers, and after all invites the simple, and him that wanteth understanding, to eat, of his bread and drink of his wine, in the Original it is, him that wanteth heart. Oh! if thou sensibly wantest an heart for spiritual things, here thou art particularly called to the Gospel seast, where Christ's flesh is meat indeed, and his blood wine indeed, able to make thee live for ever.  
Again, he extracts joy out of sorrow. The Apostle Paul rejoiced over the godly sorrow of the Corinthians, because they received no damage in it, 2 Cor. 7.9. when faith looks over all the tears and groans of the believer, it saith there is no damage in these, these tears are bottled in heaven, the holy spirit breathes in those groans, he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him, Psal. 126.6. Oh! saith faith, observe the word, doubtless tears and sorrows in a godly sort are a sure sign that the harvest of joy and comfort is nigh at hand, one may see the crop in the seed sown. When the Emperor Julian banished Athanasius, he said, Nubecula est, & citò transibit, it is but a little cloud, and will soon be over; when the night of darkness and discomfort is upon the soul, faith is able to say, 'tis but a short night of sorrow, joys come in the morning, Psal. 30.5. and for that morning, I will trust the sun of righteousness, O how soon can he make it day in the soul.  
Moreover, he extracts wisdom out of folly. There is not, there cannot be any thing in all the world so foolish as sin, and yet out of this he picks up wisdom, hereby he comes to know more of his own heart. There is a Mahometan fable, that the heart of Mahomet, being a child, was cut open, and a black grain, called the devil's portion, taken out of the midst thereof. A believers sins make rents and holes in his heart, and through these the inward core and blackness thereof becomes visible. Good Hezekiah by his fall comes to know what was in his heart. Peter denying his Master, comes to understand the desperate deceitfulness of his own heart, which cheated him against his own resolutions, into so horrible an iniquity; every actual sin is to the believer a sad Commentary on his inward corruption. Again, hereby he comes to understand freegrace better than before, that God should melt as man hardens, heal as man falls and bruises himself afiesh, drop pardons as man doth sins, return the holy spirit as man grieves it away, lengthen out patience as man abuses it, use lavers as fast as man runs into pollutions, evidently argues riches of immense superabounding grace towards sinners. Moreover, hereby he comes to know the necessity of a continual dependence on God, considering the heats and colds of his heart, the ups and downs of his life, and the interchangeable actings of Hetis and spirit, he plainly perceives that he falls of himself and stands from God, dies of his own spirit, and lives from Gods, sins of his own, and reputes, believes, obeys, of mere grace, and so understands the necessity of depending on God; praying continually with the devout Psalmist, Hold up my gomgs in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Psal. 17.5.  
Lastly, to name no more, he extracts all out of nothing. Thus the Apostle, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things, 2 Cor. 6.10. all things in God, who is all in all. Zuichemus gave Erasmus a ring, which, when it was unfolded, represented a mundane sphere, with Astrological notes engraven upon it, telling him withal, that now he might wear the whole world on his finger: the conjugal ring, whereby the soul is married to God in Christ by faith, hath this posy, I will be thy God, which, if it be unfolded, is a sphere of all things; the believer need not ask with Peter, what shall we have? Math. 19.27. for he hath all in God. It is storied of the Laudanum of Paracelsus, that it was almost good in all cases; but however that might fail, faith well understands that all things may be made out of an interest in God the universal good; hence it can rationally part with all for him, because it knows, that there be fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, and children, and houses, and lands, and infinitely more in God.   

CHAP. VII.  
Of the second holy fruit of Faith in Justification, its growth upon Faith as a fruit thereof; with the manner, continuance, perfection, and various excellencies of the same.  
THUS much for the first fruit of faith, being the spiritual sagacities thereof; whereby it appears, that the believer is the only wise man, who hath eyes in his head, whilst all the rest of the world, be they what they will in notional knowledge, walk on in darkness.  
The second holy fruit of faith is Justification, which is a very great blessing, so great that in Luther's phrase it is articulus stantis & cadentis Ecclesiae; and in Chemnitius, arx & propugnaculum religionis Christianae, a blessing that is pregnant with many more; which occasioned a good Divine to say, sin committed is every judgement radically, and pardon of sin is every mercy radically, you may cut out any blessing or comfort out of it; particular mercies are but pardon of sin specificated and individuated, brought into this or that mercy; of all blessings you may say, this is pardon of sin, and that is pardon of sin. Touching this precious fruit of faith, I shall endeavour to show these things.  
First, That it grows upon faith as a fruit.  
Secondly, The manner how it grows there.  
Thirdly, The continuance of it.  
Fourthly, The perfection of it.  
Fifthly, The various excellencies of it.  
First, This holy fruit grows upon faith; in the very instant of believing a man is justified before God. The Antinomians indeed makes as if it came forth much sooner, even as early as eternity itself, as if it were an immanent eternal act in God. But the error of this opinion may be easily made appear: For,  
First, An immanent act abides in God, and doth not, as the transient, make any change at all in the creature; but in justification there is a great change made in man, though not a Physical one, such as is made in sanctification, yet as moral and a relative one: the sins which before cried at heaven gates for vengeance, are now cast into the depths of the sea; the soul, which was at the brink of hell, is now in the suburbs of heaven; the pure beams of grace breaking forth upon it, the prison garments of guilt are changed, and the righteousness of God is upon the believer, the blood of the Lamb is upon his conscience, and the damning destroying Law passes over him. Again, an immanent act in God is the same with God's essence, and not as the transient, the same with the effect produced. God's willing is but the divine essence, with an habitude to such an object; his decrees are himself decreeing, otherwise the simplicity of his nature would be overthrown: such an immanent act is the decree of justification, but justification itself is an effect in time, else God's judicial act may be exercised about a non-existing creature, a non ens may be justified, a man that is not may be made righteous, fin may be remitted before it is committed, absolution may anticipate guilt, and righteousness Law, all which are things hard to be swallowed. If any thing in justification look like an immanent act, it is either Gods complacential love, or the imputation of righteousness; but that neither of these are such, is clear in Scripture, which expresses the same as things future, he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, saith our Saviour, Joh. 14.21. righteousness shall be imputed to us, if we believe, Rom. 4.24. a shall be cannot be put upon an immanent act, futurity cannot be found in eternity.  
Secondly, If justification were an immanent eternal act, what means a Mediator? God and man were at one before; would the Lord of all be made under his own Law, to bring in righteousness into an already righteous world? would he shed his precious blood on a cross to purge away sins eternally forgiven? was his sweet-smelling sacrifice to atone a reconciled God? did he pay down so great a sum of merits to purchase a freedom for such as were freeborn long before? doth he still intercede with God to save those from wrath, who before were secure from it by an eternal justification? this opinion seems to make void the whole satisfaction of Jesus Christ; what the Apostle said of the Law, if righteousness come by the Law, than Christ is dead in vain, Gal. 2.21. the same may be said here, if righteousness come any other way then by the death of Christ, if it come by an immanent eternal act, than Christ is dead in vain.  
Thirdly, No man can be at once in two contrary states, in a state of wrath, and in a state of love too: every man, whilst an unbeliever, is in a state of wrath, the wrath of God abides on him, Joh. 3.36. God is angry with him every day, Psal. 7.11. and whilst he is in a state of wrath, he cannot be in a state of love. Joseph, whilst he was in prison in his old , was not in change of raiment in Pharaohs Court. St. Paul, reckoning up a black Catalogue of sins, barring men from inheriting the kingdom of God, saith of the unconverted Corinthians, such were some of you, 1 Cor. 6.11. as yet they were in the chains of sin and wrath, and immediately after speaking of them as converted, he saith, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God; then the prisoners were become favourites in the Court of heaven, and stood in their robes of grace and righteousness: then and not before, as evidently appears by the words, were and are, relating to two distinct states in two distinct times, they were not, could not be in both states at once, but if justification be eternal, a man may be at once in contrary states, as an unbeliever he may be under wrath, and yet as a justified one under love. I know a man under wrath may be under a love of benevolence, which is the purpose of God to bestow grace and glory, but he cannot at the same time be under a love of complacence, which is directly contrary to a state of wrath, nevertheless eternal justification makes a man capable of both at once.  
Fourthly, Justification and sanctification are inseparable companions, no more to be sundered then the merits and spirit of Christ which are the respective causes thereof: where grace pardons, there it heals, where Christ is made righteousness, there he is made sanctification, for he cannot be divided and taken by piece-meal, but if justification be an eternal act, than these twins of grace may be parted, an unconverted man may be justified, because that is from eternity, and withal unsanctified, because unconverted; in which case he must needs be in a strange posture, at once under two contrary reigns of grace and sin; partly in Christ, as justified by his blood, and partly out of Christ, as void of his spirit; the light of God's countenance shines upon him, and yet within he wears the image of Satan, a blessed one he must needs be, because his iniquity is forgiven, and an anathema too, because no lover of Jesus Christ; he is a justified and accepted man, and yet a man in his sins, all which absurd consequences are unavoidable, if justification be an eternal act.  
Thus much may suffice to discover the error of this opinion, only there are two Quaeres which must be answered.  
First, The first Quaere is this, If justification be not an eternal immanent act, is not there a change in God? God displicentially hates all the workers of iniquity, and such are all men before conversion; if therefore before conversion he hate, and after it he love them, is there not a change in him? I answer, no, there is none. God, such is his infinite sanctity, cannot but complacentially love righteousness, and displicentially hate iniquity: love and hatred are not in God, as sin and righteousness are in man, in man sin and righteousness succeed one the other, but in God love and hatred are eternal and simultaneous; the change therefore, which is where the succession is, and not where the eternal sameness is, is in man only, and not in God; the man, who was in a state of sin, and so the object of God's displicential hatred, is now in a state of righteousness, and so the object of God's complacential love; thus the Apostle, you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, Col. 1.21. All the change was in the Colossians, none in God, the Lord loveth the righteous, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 146.8. as soon as a man becomes righteous, the divine complacence doth embrace him, which it did not, could not before, because there was no suitable object.  
Secondly, The second Quaere is this, If justification be not an immanent eternal act, what is the transient act by which God justifieth a believer in this life?  
Unto this much is not spoken among Divines, some speak of a sentence before the Angels, as if God did declare before them who is righteous; but this I think is altogether unscriptural: others speak of a sentence in conscience, but this is but the manifestation of justification. Let us first distinguish of justification, and then answer. There is a double justification, constitutive justification, whereby God maketh us just in this life; sentential justification, whereby God pronounces us just at death and judgement. Constitutive justification is the foundation of sentential, for the true God will not pronounce us just unless we are such, and sentential justification is the compleature of constitutive: For here there is sententia judicis crowning us as righteous; the Quaere then being touching constitutive justification in this life, I conceive with worthy Mr. Baxter, that God justifies a believer by the moral agency of the Gospel, by which as by his Grand Charter and Law of grace, he doth make over Christ and his righteousness to the believer, neither need this seem strange, every humane instrument doth, moraliter agere. A Prince's pardon conveys an impunity, a Charter an estate, a Law a title or right, a Testament a Legacy, and shall not the Gospel do as much to believers? God doth constitutiuè justify the believer by making him righteous, and makes him righteous by making over to him the righteousness of Christ, and that he makes over by the Gospel, which is his Pardon, Charter, Law and Testament of grace, conveying the same upon believing: no sooner doth a man believe, but the conditional promise becomes absolute. As the old Covenant running, do this and live, would have justified upon perfect obedience, so the New running, believe and be saved, doth justify upon believing, as man sinning is condemned by the Law of works, so man believing is justified by the Law of grace. Hence the Gospel is called, the ministration of righteousness as the Law is of condemnation, 2 Cor. 3.9. the power of God to salvation to the believer, Rom. 1.16. quia nos per Evangelium justisicat Deus, because God justifies us by the Gospel, as Reverend Calvin hath it on the 17th. verse, Virga virtutis, A rod of strength, Psal 110.2. that is, in the Justification of men, saith the excellent Dr. Reynolds; and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus making us free from the law of sin and death; as many Divines interpret that place, Rom. 8.2. Upon which Pareus doth observe, Liberatio à condemnatione legis, Deo, Christo, Evangelio tribuitur, Deo ut Authori, Christo ut Mediatori, Evangelio ut Organo: Freedom from the coudemnation of the Law is attributed to God as the Author, to Christ as the Mediator, to the Gospel as the Instrument. God makes over Christ and his righteousness unto the Believer by the Gospel, as by his Charter and Law of grace. This is the transient act, by which God doth justify us in this life.  
Having thus removed the Antinomian Error out of the way, I shall resume my first Proposition, That Justification is an holy fruit growing upon Faith; in the very instant of believing a man is justified; this doth appear several ways.  
First, In Justification there must be a matter or foundation; a Righteousness, and a perfect one, such as answers the law which man is under. The Law demands of us two things; perfect Obedience, due from us as rational Creatures, and penal Suffering, due from us as sinful Creatures. The first God's holiness presses for in the Command, and the last God's Justice calls for in the Threatening. The Believer, who hath nothing in himself, hath enough in Christ to answer both. Christ fulfilled all the righteousness of the Command, and so satisfied God's Holiness. Christ bore the curse of the Threatening, and so satisfied God's Justice. Hence he is the end of the Law to the Believer, Rom. 10.4. as if the Apostle had said, Whatever the Law can ask, the total sum of it is in Christ, and from him redounding upon the Believer as a member of his body. It was a lamentable moan which Joannes Seneca made upon his Deathbed; 
Mel. Adam. in vitis Jureconsul. Germanorum.  In vitâ nostrâ habuimus (said he) qui pro nobis chorum frequentarent, qui pro nobis agros colerent, qui pro nobis Missas celebrarent & horas canonicas orarent; sed ubi nunc unum reperiemus, qui pro nobis in Gehennam descendat: In this life we have those that will go to the Choir for us, and blow for us, and say Mass and pray canonically for us; but where is there one that will go to Hell for us? But the Believer (blessed man that he is) need not say who will go to Hell for me? Christ was made a Curse for him, neither need he ask, Who will fulfil perfect obedience for me? Christ hath done every jot and tittle thereof. The Believer is a man in Christ, and so stands in the pure robes, woven all of Love and Holiness, by his Saviour; unless the Law can find a spot or a false thread in these, he will be, must be recius in Curiâ; if the Law offer to hale him down to hell, he will do as Tamar, when brought forth to be burnt, show forth the Bracelets and the Signet, the precious blood and merits of Christ, which God cannot but own, as the price of Redemption and Salvation.  
Secondly, In justification there must be a Justifier. It is God that justifieth, and whom doth he justify but the Believer in Jesus? unto him he makes over Christ and his righteousness; unto him he seals an actual pardon and remission; his sins are covered, never to appear more in their ugly hue; blotted out, never to be read more in their bloody characters; cast into the depths of the Sea, and who can fetch them up again? sought for and not found, and who can charge them afresh upon the Believer? St. Paul would have the debts of Onesimus put upon his account, Philem. v. 18. The Believers sins do not stand, as they did at first, upon his score, but upon Christ's, who came to make an end of them. When the swarms of Flies were upon the Egyptians and not upon the Israelites, the Text saith, God made a division; or, as it is in the original, A redemption between them, Exod. 8.23. That swarms of Gild sly about Unbelievers, and none about Believers, it is because the redemption is between them, on the one hand neglected, and on the other applied: We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, Rom 3.24. The Believer is, as I may say, a part or portion of Christ, wrapped up in his Righteousness, and washed in his Blood; an Object all-fair and lovely in the eyes of God, and accepted in the Beloved.  
Thirdly, Justification relates to the Law, which is norma judicii, the rule of Judgement. A Believer hath wherewithal to answer both Laws; as to the law of Works, he hath Christ's Righteousness answering the demands of it; as to the law of Grace, he hath Faith answering the terms of it. Do this and live is answered by Christ's Righteousness; Believe and be saved is answered by Faith. Christus est impletio legis, spiritus est impletio Evangelii. Christ by his pure Obedience fulfilled the Law, the Spirit by working Faith fulfils the Gospel. If the Believer be charged before God that he is a finner, he can plead the Righteousness of Christ, as a full discharge to the Law. If he be charged, that he is an Unbeliever, he can plead his faith as the condition of the Gospel. If he be further charged, that his very Faith is imperfect, he can again plead the Righteousness of Christ against those imperfections. His imperfect Faith entitles him to the perfect Righteousness of Christ; and that perfect righteousness removes the imperfections of his saith. Oh! happy Believer, whom God himself may search once and again by either Law, and find nothing of condemnation in him. If the Law come to him, it finds Christ the end and perfection of all holiness there: If the Gospel come, it finds Faith it's own demand and condition there; wherefore less than righteous he cannot be. Thus much touching the first thing, that this holy fruit grows upon Faith.  
Secondly, The next thing is the manner how it grows there; How we are said to be justified by Faith; unto which I shall Answer first Negatively, and then Affirmatively.  
First, Negatively: Faith doth not justify by its own  value and and dignity. There is nothing in it commensurate to so great a blessing; nothing in it to measure with the pure Law; nothing in it to pay off divine Justice; nothing in it to weigh against the guilt of Sin; nothing in it to purchase the favour of God; nothing in it to cover a Soul withal; no, nor the nakedness of its own imperfections. It is a poor self-emptying, self-annihilating thing, which lives upon Alms, and goes up and down in the Gospel from one door of the Promises to another to beg a Spiritual livelihood: all that it hath is in a way of Receiving. It receives the atonement, receives the gift of righteousness, receives the spirit of Grace, receives remission of sins; but gives none of them out of its own. Hence it is well observed by Divines, that the Scripture never saith, Faith justifieth in an active sense; but always, we are justified by Faith in a passive sense, because it receives all from Christ. This humble Grace, whose posture is to fall down and worship before the thrones of Freegrace and of the Lamb: will not turn Freegrace off the throne, nor like Zimri, slay its Master Jesus Christ in his merits and imputed righteousness, that it may reign in his room. Again, Faith doth not justify as coming in the room of that perfect righteousness which we own unto the Law, for God is true, and judgeth according to truth; he doth not, cannot do as the unjust Steward, who for an hundred measures of oil bid write fifty, but he accounts of things as they are. Faith, which is but a piece of righteousness, and that very imperfect, will not go with him for a complete universal righteousness, but only for what it is; neither will it salve the matter to say, as the Socinians use to do, That Faith, though it be not in itself a perfect righteousness, is yet reckoned as such per gratiosam Dei acceptilationem, by the condescending grace of God; for in God, in whom there is perfect Unity, one Attribute doth not interfere with another. Freegrace will not justle out truth, by accepting a partial righteousness for a total, which indeed it is not; neither doth a divine Attribute ever clash against its own design. Freegrace will not so accept faith, as to frustrate its own design in the Mediator Jesus Christ; which, as appears in Scripture, was, that Christ should be made our righteousness, 1 Cor. 1.30. that we might be the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5.21. that his blood may cleanse us from all sin, 1 Joh. 1.7. that his obedience might make many righteous, Kom. 5.19. but what need all this if Faith be accepted for a complete righteousness? what room for Christ's righteousness, as long as Faiths will suffice? You will say perhaps, that Christ by his merits hath purchased this of God, that faith should be accepted for a perfect righteousness; but if that be so, then Christ died not properly for Persons, but for Graces: Christ's righteousness was not to  poor souls in, but to advance faith above itself. Faith is become our immediate, material righteousness, and Christ only a remote cause of it. The Lord Christ walks a foot as a mere servant to Faith, and the servant Faith rides in his Master's robes as if it were the very matter of our righteousness; all which is to subvert the Gospel. True Faith will confess, as John did, I am not the Christ; I never was crucified for you; I never fulfilled all righteousness for you; I am but the Echo to the Gospel-grace; I do but prepare a way in the heart for Christ and his righteousness, to receive all praise and glory there.  
Secondly, Affirmatively, And here Divines generally express themselves thus, That we are justified by faith as an instrument receiving Christ and his righteousness. Thus Reverend Calvin calls faith, 
Just. 1.3. cap. 11.  Instrumentum justitiae percipiendae: The instrument of receiving the righteousness of Christ offered in the Gospel. 
Exam. Conc. Trident. 163.  Chemnitius styles it, Manus nostra, quâ recipimus ea quae in Evangelio offeruntur: Our hand whereby we take the alms offered in the Promise. Musculus calls it, 
Loci Com. de Justificut.  Medium quo gratiam justificationis in Christo apprehendimus: a Medium by which we lay hold on the grace of Justification in Christ. Faith is the eye which looks up to the Mercy-seat, the hand which puts on the robe of Christ's obedience, the ring which hath the Pearl of infinite price in it. Hence we are said in Scripture to be justified by faith and through faith, as it is the means whereby we receive Christ and his righteousness. And a late Divine speaks of a double instrument in Justification; on God's part the Gospel is an instrument, and on man's, Faith: the Gospel is manus offerentis, the hand offering, and Faith manus accipientis, the hand receiving Christ and his righteousness. And before him Calvin hath this passage, 
Comment. on Rom. ch. 3.   justificemur causa efficiens est misericordia Dei, Christus materia, verbum cum side instrumentum: In Justification the efficient cause is God's mercy, Christ the matter, the Word with Faith the instrument. Thus the generality of Divines conclude that we are justified by faith as an instrument; nevertheless some others express themselves thus, That we are justified by faith as 〈◊〉 condition of the Gospel. Thus the profestors of Saumiar in France; Fide justificamu. non tanquam parte aliquâ justitiae, 
Thes Salm. de Justif.  sed tanquam conditione foederis gratiae: We are justified by faith, not as it is a part of righteousness, but as it is the condition of the Covenant of Grace. Thus Learned Mr. Woodbridge, 
Method of Grace, 101.  To believe is a formal, vital act of the Soul in genere physico; but the use of it in justification is, to qualify us passively, that we may be morally and orderly capable of being justified by God. Or though physically it be an act, yet morally it is but a passive condition, by which we are made capable of being justified according to the order and constitution of God. Thus worthy Mr. Baxter, Right to Christ and life being a moral effect, 
Confess. of faith, 295.  and conveyed by a moral cause and way; that is, by a law of Grace, or conditional promise, or gift: therefore the formal reason of faith's interest in our justification is, as it is the condition of that promise by us performed; and its essence or physical act, the acceptance of Christ and Life, commonly called its instrumentality; though it be the reason why it was chosen and preferred to this office of being the condition of the promise, yet is it but its aptitude to the office, and so the remote, and, as it were, material reason of its interest in our justification, and not the formal Reason.  
Touching this matter I shall offer my thoughts in these Propositions:  
First, Faith is not strictly and properly the instrument of Justification: were it so, a man might justify and forgive himself. For, as Dr. Ames well observes, as Sacraments are properly Gods instruments, 
Bellarm. Enter. Tom. 4. lib. 5.  so Faith is properly man's. Deus nos baptizat & pascit, non nosmetipsi; nos credimus in Christum, non Deus: God baptises and feeds us, not we ourselves; we believe in Christ, not God. If then Faith, which is properly man's instrument, be properly the instrument of Justification, a Believer doth no less than justify himself, which is harsh doctrine to me. Again, When we are said to be justified by Faith, I suppose the Scripture doth not intent the transient act, but the permanent habit; and if so, I cannot conceive how that can be properly, strictly an Instrument. Instrumenti causalitas est in usu & applicatione; when it is not in use and act, it ceases to be an instrument. The habit of faith is an habit still, even when its act ceases; but when its act ceases, what hath it of instrumentality.  
Secondly, Faith, though not properly, may yet in some sense be called an Instrument, because it hath a peculiar aptitude and receptivity to accept of the free-gift made in the Gospel. Hence we are said by it to receive Jesus Christ, Col. 2.6. to receive the atonement, Rom. 5.11. to receive the gift of righteousness, Rom. 5.17. to receive forgiveness of sins, Acts 26.18. It hath a choice capacity to take in Christ with all his benefits.  
Thirdly, The proper formal reason, why we are justified by Faith, is, because it is the condition of the Gospel, on which God, the Great Donor, gives out Christ with all his blessings. We are not justified by faith, as for any reason intrinsecal, or in the nature of it, but as it doth inright and instate us into Christ and his righteousness; and how is that done? the old Law-rule must be remembered, Voluntas donatoris observetur: the Donors Will is the best guide; and what is that in this case? Clearly in the Gospel Christ and his righteousness are given upon the condition of faith. Bellarmine asserting, that it did not please God to give justification upon the condition of faith alone: Dr. Ames answers him, 
Bell. Everum, Tom. 4. lib. 5.  Vel maximè placuit boc Deo: It pleased him altogether. We must take as God gives. God in the great charter gives out Christ and his righteousness, upon the condition of faith: Faith therefore instates and inrights us into these as it is the condition of that grant. And by consequence we are justified by it as such, as when a Prince grants a pardon, upon condition the Traitor take it from him with his own hands; his taking it gives impunity, not because of the organical apprehensiveness in the hand, but because it is the modus donationis, the pardon runs upon those terms. So, when God grants justification upon condition of believing, we are justified by faith; not because of its intrinsecal receptivity or apprehensiveness, but because that faith, which stands in the Gospel as the condition of justification, is found in the heart.  
Thus much touching the manner, how this holy fruit grows upon Faith.  
Thirdly, The next thing considerable is the continuance of this holy fruit. Justification is a flower of Paradise which never dies; once justified, and ever justified. The righteousness of God, which is put upon the Believer, is never taken off again. The pardon, which is sealed in the Court of heaven, is never reversed. The cloud of Guiltiness, once scattered, never gathers together. The sins cast into the depth of Sea, never come up more. 
Camb. Eliz. p. 384.  When the Jesuit Chreition, taken at Sea, tore and threw overboard certain papers of dangerous consequence, the torn pieces were by the wind blown back again into the Ship, and afterwards artificially put together, discovered the Popish design then on foot: but when God casts our sins into the depth of the Sea, all the breath of the infernal Spirits can never blow them up again, they shall be remembered no more. All things in Justification concur to make this good. Freegrace, which is the first mover in it, is a fountain ever flowing, and a Sun which knows no going down. The Righteousness of Christ, which is the matter of it, is a robe which can never wear out. The Gospel, which is the Charter of it, is a grant never out of date. Faith, which is the Medium to it, will, under the divine influences stirring up the nest of gracious principles, bud and blossom forth in fresh acts, and when the acts cease, it abides in the root, kept alive by the eternal Spirit breathed from the endless life of Merit in Christ: All which make the righteous man an everlasting foundation; only here is a Quaere to be resolved.  
Do not Believers fall into sin? and doth not sin make a breach upon Justification? and if so, how doth it continue?  
I Answer, The sins of Believers are either sins of mere infirmity, and daily incursion, or sins of gross enormity, and conscience-wasting; such as David's Murder and Adultery, and Peter's denial of his Master: the first sort of these through the rich grace of the Gospel are pardoned, as I may so say, of course, and so make no breach at all upon justification: 
De peccate mortals & veniali.  Non excludunt fideles à favore Dei, & à spe regni coelestis: They exclude not Believers from the favour of God, nor from the hope of the heavenly kingdom, saith that eminent Divine Robert Baronius. God, such is his infinite mercy, doth not impute these to them. Hence he bears witness of David, That he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah, 1 Kings 15.5. Infirmities are not reckoned; the matter of Uriah is the only exception: The latter sort of sins in Believers are gross enormous ones; touching these our famous Divines at the Synod of Dort say, that these are not pardoned to the Believer, till he per excitatam fidem & poenitentiam veniam impenetraverit: obtain remission by a renewed act of faith and repentance. His universal justification is not frustrated, and yet, till he renew his faith and repentance, his particular sin is not pardoned; his right to the Kingdom of heaven is not taken away, but only his aptitude. Just as the Leper, who whilst his leprosy was on him had a right to his house, but not a fitness till his purgation. The seeds of faith and repentance are in him, but they must be stirred up into fresh acts. 
Wells of Salvation, pag. 184.  Dr. Spurstowe saith, that a Believer under such sin may not immediately lay hold on the promise of Forgiveness, until he first renew his repentance; till then to lay hold on the Promises, is not faith but presumption. Faith always proceeds according to God's method, and that is, to give out pardon upon repentance. God first hears Ephraim bemoaning himself, and then remembers him with mercy, Jer. 31.18. 
Treatise of Justification.  Mr. Burgess conceives, That a Believer under such a sin, without renewed repentance, is under an actual guilt obliging him to eternal wrath: neither can he say, My God, and My Christ. For mine own part, I conceive that such gross sins, being the plain merits of eternal wrath, do stab the Believer at the very heart, and leave an hellish sting upon the Conscience. They lie as a dog at the door, ready to tear out his throat, and do, as it were, thrust off his Soul from Christ and Grace. They very much weaken the habits of faith, and other graces, so that these languish and are ready to die. Such dismal effects as these made David roar all the day, and cry out of broken bones; and Peter go out and weep bitterly, judging and condemning himself for his soul denial of Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mark 14.72. which we translate, he thought thereon and wept; but others render it, obvelavit se, he covered his head and wept: As a condemned Malefactor he vailed his face in the sense of that sin which deserved no less than eternal death. Such sins make Believers in their return to their Father, acknowledge, as the Prodigal did, that they are unworthy to be called the Sons of God. Nevertheless such gross sins of Believers are, as I take it, pardoned as soon as committed, even before actual faith and repentance renewed; I say before actual faith, for the habit of fall is still in the believer; I say, before repentance renewed afterwards, for the believer in the very commission of a known sin hath a kind of repentance; there is some renisus voluntatis; the regenerate part opposes it, the spirit lusteth against the flesh. Cum peccant, eâ tantùm parte quâ non sunt regeniti peccant, secundum verò interiorem partem nolunt, detestantur peccatum, ergò non plenâ voluntatate peccant: 
Epist. pag. 114.  thus Learned Zanchy. My grounds, why such gross sins of believers are pardoned before the subsequent acts of Faith and Repentance, are these:  
First, The concessions of the  worthy Divines induce me to it. They say, the Believer, notwithstanding such sins, is still in a state of justification; and I see not, how the guilt of one sin unpardoned, which obliges him to eternal wrath, can possibly consist with a justified state. Justificatio nullum locum relinquit condemnationi: They say, he hath a right to the kingdom of heaven, and I cannot imagine how an obnoxiousness to wrath resulting from one unpardoned sin can simul & semel, stand with a right to heaven: They say, the holy seed of regeneration abides in him still, and I believe regeneration and condemnation cannot be together.  
Secondly, The Scripture-expressions are very pregnant: The Believer, notwithstanding such sins, is a believer still; and whilst such shall not come into condemnation, Joh. 5.24. He is a man in Christ, and to such there is no condemnation, Rom. 8.1. Neither do the subsequent words hinder, who walk not after the flesh; for those, as I conceive, intent not a step or a partionlar act of sin, but a walk and general trade of it, such as never is found in a believer; there is no condemnation to such. The Apostle saith not, 
Disp. Theol. de perseverantiâ.  that there is nihil condemnabile; but there is, nulla condemnatio, saith Spanhemius. He saith not, there is nothing damnable in the believer, for sin in itself is always such; but there is no condemnation, for the pardon keeps the guilt from redounding upon the person; because he is a member of Christ, the believer notwithstanding such sins, is a Son still; and if a son, than an heir, Rom. 8.17. and if a son, then abiding in the house for ever, Joh. 8.35. He hath still a Well of water in him springing up to life everlasting, Joh. 4.14. And where the spirit of Christ is such a Well, there the Blood of Christ is a laver cleansing away all sin.  
Thirdly, It is considerable what the Scripture means, when it saith, that we are justified by faith; doth it mean the act of faith, or the habit? if the act, there seem to be as many intercisions in justification, as there are cessations in the act of faith; upon which account I suppose that the vinculum unionis, the bond of Union whereby the Believer is knit unto Christ, is not a transient thing, such as the act of faith is, but a permanent one, such as the habit; if then the habit be the thing, that abides in the believer, notwithstanding his sin.  
Fourthly, It is to me very momentous, that though sins of infirmity and enormity differ in proportion as much as Gnats and Camels, yet the least of them deserves condemnation as well as the greatest, and the greatest of them may have pardon in the very same way as the least. There are not in the Gospel two distinct ways appointed for pardon; one way for the pardon of infirmities, and another way for the pardon of gross sins: but there is one undivided way of faith and repentance appointed for both. Which being so, it follows, that if the believers gross sins be not forgiven till after actual faith and repentance, than neither are his infirmities forgiven till then; and by consequence the believer cannot continue justified no not for a minute; the multitudes of infirmities, which are ever swarming in him, would put him into a state of death every moment. Nay, as worthy Mr. Wall hath well observed, in ictu mortis, 
None but Christ, pag. 322.  in the very last stroke of death he may perish, unless the last operation of his spirit be actual faith and repentance. These things persuade me, that the gross sins of believers are at least in some sense pardoned before their fresh acts of faith, and repentance; touching which Divines speak variously. Mr. Baxter saith, That Believers as soon as they sin have an imperfect pardon, though not plenary. 
Lect. 113. on the 51. Psalm.  Mr. Hildersham saith, They have a pardon upon record in heaven; but not the comfort of it, till by faith and repentance they sue it out, and be able to show and plead it in the Court of their own Conscience. Mr. Burroughs saith, When any Soul is taken into Christ, 
Expos en Hos. p. 611.  it hath not only all the sins it hath committed pardoned, but there is a pardon laid in for all sins to come: there is no instant of time wherein it can be said, that the Believer is under condemnation. What is the aptest expression, I shall not contend, but I conceive such sins in believers are in some sort pardoned before their fresh acts of faith and repentance. Neither doth this open a gap to licentiousness, for it concerns only Believers, whom the stings of Conscience, celipses of God's face, languors of inward graces, and foul blots upon their Evidences to heaven, will under the influences of the Spirit press to fresh acts of saith and repentance, as to duties very necessary and incumbent upon them.  
Thus much of the continuance of this holy fruit.  
Fourthly, The fourth thing considerable is the perfection of it: This holy fruit is never fully ripe till the day of Judgement. Repent that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, saith St. Peter, Acts 3.19. The day of Judgement is to a believer a time of refreshing: then there will be no more scorches from the fiery Law, no more stings from the old Serpent, no more guilt inflaming the Conscience, no more frowns from the holy God; but a pure, sweet refrigeration breathed out from his gracious presence. Caspar Olevian, in his last sickness, 
M●●ch. A●um in vita ejus.  was in ineffable joys, so that he seemed to be in prato elegantissimo rore perfusus coelesti: in a most sweet meadow, with an heavenly dew distilling down upon him. Such reviving refrigerations believers have sometimes here; much more transcendent will their divine refreshments be at the last day. The top-stone of Justification shall be then laid on to make it complete, as may appear by the ensuing Considerations.  
First, Here the Believer is justified privately by the Gospel, but then he shall be justified openly by the solemn sentence of God before all the World; here he hath the white-stone of Absolution given in secret, but than it shall be brought forth to view, glittering in all the orient colours of Freegrace. It was a great honour done to Mordecai, to be arrayed in Royal apparel, and to have it proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour. But oh! what glory will be upon the Believer at that day; when he shall stand in the glorious rightcousness of Christ, and hear it proclaimed before Men and Angels, This is a righteous man, when Christ shall confess him before his Father and the holy Angels, to be a piece of himself, of his flesh and of his bones? As it was with the Sons of Jesse passing before Samuel; Eliab came and was refused, Abinadab came and was resused; and so others; at last David came, and the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he, 1 Sam. 16th. Chapter: So it will be with the Sons of men, at the great day of Judgement. The great Potentate may come and be rejected as a vile person; the rich Dives may come and be put away as dross; the Learned Rabbi may come, and be turned off as a fool, only when the Believer comes, God will say, This is he; this must reign in glory for ever. This is a Justification before God after a most signal manner.  
Secondly, Here the Believer stands justified, but in the midst of briers and thorns; remaining Corruptions vex and tear his righteous soul from day to day. He is in the Land of Promise, but the Canaanite is not quite driven out; the relics of Sin inmates in the same heart with grace, like the Liars in wait for Samson, are ready to make an assault upon him. Hence the Jewish Doctors say, That God calls no man Saint, or Holy, till he be dead and in the grave; because, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the concupiscential frame is not quite out of him before death, but at that day there shall be nihil damnabile remaining in him. Sin shall be no more: no more tumours of Pride; no more boilings up of Concupiscence; no more spots or wrinkles, or dark shades of Infirmity; nothing but pure, spotless Holiness. Insomuch that Divines say, that from henceforth our Justification shall be in another way than by imputed Righteousness; because having perfect inherent Righteousness in ourselves we shall need no covering. If the Apostle say of a Believer, that, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he is justified from his sins, in respect of Sanctification begun, Rom. 6.7. how much more will it be true when Sin shall be no more.  
Thirdly, Here the Believer is Justified, but the dust of mortality hangs about him. It may be there is a Stone ready to drop into the Bladder, or an Imposthume ready to break in the Head; Mors latet in mediis abdita viseeribus, in one part of the body or other Death is preparing his arrow upon the string, to shoot man down from the perch of this life into the grave. But at that day there shall be nihil corruptibile; Death shall be no more; Diseases, which use to sound an alarm to it, shall be utterly removed; Tears, which are Natures pay to Sorrows, shall be all wiped off; the corruptible shall put on incorruption; Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life. This is a day of redemption indeed.  
Fourthly, Here the Believer is Justified, but his comfort is not always the same. Now the light of God's Countenance breaks out like a clear Sun upon him, and anon there is a sad eclipse leaving him in darkness; one day a banquet of heavenly Comforts is let down into his heart, and another all is drawn up into heaven again. His Evidences may be blurred; Satan may hold up his pardoned Sins, as it were, in their old guilt; the Arrows of God may stick fast in him, and bring qualms and sick-fits upon his Conscience: But at that day his Comforts shall be unvariable; a nightless Day, and a cloudless Horizon; an eternal feast upon God and all things in him; his Evidences all clear; and, after but this once showing forth, an everlasting possession of the expected Happiness. The Accuser, Satan, shall be struck dumb at the blessed sentence of pardon and acceptance pronounced by God before Men and Angels. God shall never frown or wound him any more, but wrap him up in the arms of endless love and joy. This will be a day of refreshing indeed.  
Thus much of the perfection of this holy fruit.  
Fifthly, The last thing is the excellency of it. God himself writes upon the Justified, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Blessed one: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, Pal. 32.1. or, as the original, Blessednesses is he: there is not one single Happiness, but a cluster of Beatitudes in this estate. Some of these I shall gather off from this Vine.  
First, The Justified person hath God for his God: these two, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and, I will be their God; stand in conjunction in the Covenant of Grace, Hebr. 8.10, and 12 verses. God (say the Jewish Rabbins) hath the key of the Womb, the key of the Grave, the key of the Rain, and the key of the Heart; all that is in the Creation is at his dispose. The Justified man hath, as I may say, a key into God himself. He may unlock infinite Treasures, and say, These everlasting Arms, which bear up the World, are mine for protection: These Allseeing Eyes, which guide every wheel in Nature, are mine for direction: Those immense Bowels, which cover all the Creation, embrace and sold me up in special Love: Those two all-comprizing words, My God, are in truth utterable by none but such as he is. God is called, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Cujus omnes gentes sunt, quasi trium hominum Deus esset, saith St. Austin: as if the Great Lord of all things were appropriated to those three Men. Such honour have all Justified one's: God is their own, and to make this sure, they have bonds and bills under Gods own hand; they can in one Promise show a title to his Power, and in another to his Mercy, and in a third to his Wisdom; and in that, I will be their God. They can lay a just claim to all that is in him, which, what it amounts unto, is more than the tongue of Men and Angels can express.  
Secondly, The Justified person hath Christ for his own. When the covetous King of Egypt built an house for his great Treasures, the cunning Architect left a lose Stone in the building, that so he might have free access thereinto. What entrance he had by craft into the Egyptian Treasures, that Justified persons have by a fair grant into all the unsearchable riches of Christ, Merit, Spirit, Life, Death, Righteousness, Redemption, Fullness, Glory, all that is in Christ is their own. If his Righteousness can stand before God, so will they. If his Blood can wash away sin, they shall be without spot or wrinkle at the Great day: If his glorious over-measure of the Spirit cannot fail, no more will their supplies of Grace: If he ascended up into Heaven, it was to prepare a place for them: If he make Intercession above, they must have access to the Throne of Grace: If he sit at the Right-hand of Power and Majesty, all their enemies must be made their footstool. Oh! infinite enjoyment; Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, neither can it enter into man's heart, what the total sum of this is.  
Thirdly, The Justified man hath a rare privilege in his Holy duties. He hath assistance from, access unto, and acceptance with the great God in these. He hath assistance from him. Whilst he stands offering up holy Services, fire comes down from heaven upon the Sacrifice. The Holy Spirit inflames his heart towards God; opening it in Hearing, melting it in Alms, and pouring it out in Prayer: So that in some sense he offers up his Duties, as Christ did himself, through the eternal Spirit, enlivening and impowering him thereunto. His voyage to Heaven lies through a tract of various Duties; but it never fares with him in these, as it did with Sir Hugh Willoughby, in his Voyage to Moscovy, in which he was by extreme Frosts frozen to death. The warm influences of Grace keep him from freezing in this divine enterprise. His heart, which seeks the Lord in his ways, shall live; and to make it sure, our Saviour says expressly, because I live, ye shall live also, Joh. 14.19. His life is hid with Christ. As long as Christ the Head is alive above, the Members below shall never fail of quickening grace in their addresses to God. Again, he hath access unto God in them: A man under guilt cannot approach unto God, no more than fallen Origen, casting his eye upon that of the Psalmist, What but thou to do to declare my Word? could tell how to Preach; but the Justified man may draw near unto him, because his heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience. The guilt, which would have made him  of God, is done away in Christ's blood. Whilst others are but in the outward Court, in the opus operatum, the work done, he may enter into the Holy of Holies, into communion with God; the Holy Spirit conducts him thither through the vail of Christ's flesh. Moreover, which is the crown of all, he hath acceptance with God. God had respect to Abel, and to his offering, Gen. 4.4. such a respect as to bear witness to his righteousness by some visible sign, as fire from heaven consuming the Sacrifice. The justified man is in his measure as Daniel, a man of Desires, and as the Blessed Virgin, graced or highly favoured. His Prayers make melody in heaven; his Alms are the savour of a sweet-smell; he doth not lose so much as a cup of cold water, nor shut a door of sense against an approaching Temptation in vain. There is a well-pleasingness in all his Services, as being ushered forth from the heart into the hand of the Mediator, and there richly perfuned for the Father; though, as they lie in our hearts, there be much smoke and mixture of weakness in them, yet as they are in the hand of Christ, they are glorified duties, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  
Fourthly, The Justified man hath more of the sweetness of life, and its outward Comforts, than others. He hath more of the sweetness of life than others. The Jewish Doctors treating about the estimation of Persons, mentioned Levit. 27. say, That if a man be adjudged to death for his transgression, he is not to be valued, because he is but a dead man, and there is no valuation of the dead. An unpardoned man is dead while he liveth, and as our Saviour saith, condemned already, Joh. 3.18. His life, save only as it is a space for repentance, and so for pardon, must be rated at little or nothing. Bajazet, the Great Emperor, valued not his life at all, when he was carried up and down in an Iron-cage: and what is a man's life, when he walks up and down in chains of sin and wrath? but as soon as the pardon comes, he lives indeed. His life, as little a vapour as it is in itself, glitters as a Jewel in the Sun, being irradiated with that precious favour of God, which is better than itself: Moreover, he hath more of the sweetness of outward Comforts than others. The unpardoned man may have Corn, and Wine, and all other Blessings flowing round about him; but if his eyes be open, he can take no more pleasure in them than Damocles did at the Tyrant's table, spread with all Royal dainties, whilst the Sword with the point downward, hung over his head by an hair only: If he tastes sweetness in them, it is an act of mere blindness and irrationality; because he seethe not the arrow of God's wrath, which is upon the string, and ready in a moment to shoot him down to the lowest hell. Do but open his eyes upon the hand-writing of Gild, which is on the wall of Conscience, and all his crackling Joys are in a moment turned into fits of trembling and astonishment; but as soon as the Pardon comes every thing relishes with him. Moses, pronouncing a blessing on Joseph thus, Blessed of the Lord be his Land; for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that cometh beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun, and for the precious things put forth by the Moon, and for the chief things of the ancient Mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting Hills, and for the precious things of the Earth, and the fullness thereof, adds this as the crown of all, and for the goodwill of him that dwelled in the Bush, Deut. 33.13, 14, 15, and 16 verses. The favour of God pours a sweetness into all outward things: Then may he eat, and drink, and enjoy all his labours; for the light of God's Providence, and the light of his Countenance are met in conjunction.  
Fifthly, The Justified man hath less evil in Asslictions than others. The unjustified man carries a double load; one of assliction, and another of unpardoned guilt, which lies as a talon of lead on the Conscience, and makes the Cross lie heavy as a burden on a sore-back: But the Justified man hath only the single Cross, which the spirit of a man may bear. The Stoics could shoulder-up their reason against it; Nos dicimus omnia ista, quae gemitus mugitusque exprimunt, levia esse: We say, 
Epist. 13.  all these things, which extort cries and groans, are but light, said Seneca. And what then may the Believer say, who hath a serene Conscience, made so by the pure beams of Divine favour? Feri, Domine, feri clementer; ego paratus sum, quia à peecatis absolutus: Strike, Lord, strike; I am ready, because I am absolved from my sins, said Luther; when he was in fear of an Apoplexy. The pardon of sin wonderfully alleviated the Cross. Again, the unjustified man is a poor helpless Creature: Trouble comes, and there is no deliverer; he falls alone, and there is not a reconciled God to help him up; God walks contrary to him: or, as the original may be read, He walks at all adventures with him, Levit. 26.24. Peradventure he will deliver him, peradventure not: But the Justified man, being in Christ the true Immanuel, is sure to have God with him; God with him in the fire, and God with him in the water; whatever the Cross be, the Almighty Father puts under the everlasting arms; the Eternal Son walks with him in the midst of the Furnace; the Holy Spirit drops in heavenly cordials upon his heart; as it was with Christ, when he hung upon the Cross, and drunk up the bitterest cup of wrath. The Divinity never left the Humanity, no not when he cried out of forsaking: So is it with the Believer, the man in Christ; when Troubles come like Jobs Messengers, one upon the neck of another, God never leaves nor forsakes him, which is a cordial high enough to make any adversity more eligible than all prosperity. Hence some good men have been loath to leave their Prisons, for fear of parting with those inward joys, which had turned them into a paradise.  
Sixthly, The Justified man knows how to die, and go to judgement. He knows how to die, which is a lesson too hard for any other but such as himself. The Stoic may seem to vapour over death, as a thing of nothing; but whilst he doth so, it is but a piece of blind rashness, never considering the vast gulf of Eternity which is then to be shot, in the Christian World, where that Gulf is better known. Many great Rabbis and Sophies are nonplussed at the approach of death. The great Cardinal Richelieu, a little before his end would have a play, called Europe triumphante to be acted, though he was not able to be a spectator; it seems his Soul, hanging about the mud walls, as loath to go off that stage where he had acted so many wise parts, knew not how to apply itself to that grand affair of death approaching. Only the justified man knows how to resign, and bespeak his parting Soul as Monica did, Volemus in coelum: Let us fly to heaven; or with Hilarion, Egredere anima mea, egredere, quid times? quid dubitas? Go out my Soul, go out; what dost thou sear or doubt? And all this upon sure grounds. His sin is pardoned; his death unstung; heaven-gates stand open for him; a convoy of Angels are ready to conduct his Soul into Abraham's bosom. So little tremendous is death to such an one, that Zuinglius being mortally wounded cried out, Ecquid hoc infortunii? Is this any misfortune? the Body only was slain, the Soul was untouched, and but a little the sooner let out into glory. Again, The justified man knows how to go to Judgement. When the Earl Montgomery was brought before the great Court at Paris, he ingeniously confessed, That, as many great Armies as he had seen without fear, yet he could not but tremble at the presence of those grave Judges. At the Great day, when the last Trump shall sound, and the dead rise out of the dust, and Jesus Christ shall come with all his glorious Angels to judge the World, there will be generally nothing but pale faces, and trembling hearts, and lamentable out-cries to the Rocks and Mountains, to fall upon them, and cover them from the presence of the Judge: Only the Justified man may lift up his head with joy, because his redemption draws nigh. Jesus Christ the Judge is his Head and Advocate, and will not, cannot condemn the Believer, being a piece of himself, standing in his image and righteousness. Sin and Satan have nothing at all to say against him. The Law cannot object the breach of the least jot or tittle; he comes to the Judgement, only to be absolved before Men and Angels, and after an Enge of praise, to enter into the joy of his Lord; which is an happiness beyond all expression.   

CHAP. VIII.  
Of Adoption the third fruit of Faith; the peculiar Privilege of sound Believers. The Excellency thereof demonstrated under several Considerations.  
THus far of the second fruit of Faith being Justification.  
The next fruit thereof is Adoption: Justification and Adoption are twin-Graces, brought forth by Faith at once; only in order of nature,  
Justification goes first, and then follows Adoption, as presupposing the other; hence the new name is said to be written in the white stone, Rev. 2.17. Alexander the Great Conqueror of the World, was by the flattering Oracle saluted as a Son of Jupiter; but the Believer, who overcomes the World in a more noble Spiritual way, is by the true Oracle styled a Son of God; As many as received him, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God, Joh. 1.12. The Believer in the instant of believing is no longer a mere Son of Adam, but a Son of God; he is in unity with the natural Son of God, and so becomes an Adopted one. The Human nature is in the natural Son by Hypostatical union, and so is taken into the natural Sonship; and the Believer is in him by a Mystical union, and so becomes a Son by Adoption: Neither is this a mere empty title, He is born not of blood, in a way of carnal Generation, not of the will of the flesh, in a way of Concupiscence; not of the will of man, in the way of Moral Virtues and Excellencies; but he is born of God, he is one of the seed-Royal of Heaven, the blood of God runs in his Conscience, a Divine Spirit breathes in him; Christ is form in his heart, and that in the very same manner as he was in the Womb; that is, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost. Nay further, as Aquinas observes, 
Tertia pars Quest. 23. Art. 2.  Filiatio Adoptiva est quaedam similitudo filiationis aeternae; Adoptive Sonship is a shadow of the eternal one. The natural Son is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or brightness of his Father; and in the Adopted there is a splendour of Grace resembling God in a measure: The natural Son was begotten from Eternity, and is still a begetting; and in the Adopted the holy thing is begotten: And yet in respect of the successive supplies of Grace afforded for its preservation, it is as it were still a begetting; hence the Adopted Son, as well as the Natural, abides for ever, Joh. 8.35. The Natural Son is the image of God's Nature, and the Adopted the image of his Will; Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, Jam. 1.18.  
The Excellencies of this Privilege are unutterable: I shall express them only in some Considerations.  
First, Adoption is a very glorious thing; it redounds to the glory of Freegrace, and puts a lustre upon the Believer; it redounds to the glory of Freegrace: Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the Sons of God, 1 Joh. 3.1. That the indefectible God, who hath a Son of his own lying in his bosom as an eternal joy, should Adopt; that the great Creator, who as such hath all possible right to his Creature, should Adopt; that the Immortal One, to whom by reason of his Immortality there can be no succession, should yet Adopt; that such a Majesty as he is should Adopt such as we are, worms and sinful dust, and Adopt us to such an Inheritance as Heaven is; and by putting a new nature into us, make us meet for the same, is stupendious and wonderful beyond expression. Such Considerations as these made the great School-man Durandus (as Medina relates) affirm, That God did not Adopt properly, but Secundum Translationem, in a Metaphorical way. But to pass that, these things signally demonstrate, that Divine Adoption is full of rich Grace, and in a transcendent manner above Humane. Moreover, Adoption puts a lustre upon the Believer, such as is not to be found upon the Princes and Potentates of the Earth. 
Par. Medulla hist.  The proud Sultan Achmet used in his Letters to arrogate these high Titles to himself; I Achmet head of Prophets, Emperor of Emperors, Lord of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Lord of the White, Black, and Red Seas, subjoining a long Enumeration of all the Provinces under him: But to be a Son of God is incomparably more than all these. All that train of Titles whereby Potentates spread out their Glory, is fumus seculi, the smoke of this lower World, and glitters only in the eyes of flesh and blood; but Adoption is radius Caeli, a ray of Heavenly Glory, and makes the Believer shine to the eyes of Angels; who, as they rejoice over a repenting Sinner, cannot but wonder to see such an one transfigured into a Son of God: Nay, Adoption puts such a glory upon the Believer as was not upon Adam in Paradise. Adam was a Son of God only by Creation, but the Believer is one by Mystical Union and Communion with Christ the Natural Son; hence Christ calls him Brother, Heb. 2.11. a Compellation not used to Angels; and he is one of the firstborn, Heb. 12.23. a title in an eminent way given to Christ.  
Secondly, Adoption carries with it an excellent spirit of Prayer; Because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba father, Gal. 4.6. This praying Spirit is the breath of the New-creature, and as much excels all mere modes and gifts of Prayer, as a pair of natural Lungs doth artificial ones; others may pray artificially, and as it were mechanically, but the Adopted man prays naturally; without this Spirit all words and expressions in Prayer are but poor low things; like the Vrim and Thummim made under the second Temple, by which the Jews could not tell how to ask counsel of God, because the holy Spirit was not present with it: In the Adopted that Spirit makes the Prayer issue forth with life and power; when the Blood and Merits of Christ plead above, and the holy Spirit makes intercession in the heart for the same blessings, there is such a Harmony, that the Almighty sloops and bows down his car to it. Thus the sweet Singer, In waiting I waited for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and beard my cry, Psal. 40.1. God himself inclines and stoops down at the Prayer of Faith. Vacula Pater, that little word, Father, spoken in the heart is more than all the Eloquence of Cicero and Demosthenes, 
Com. in Gal. cap. 4.  saith Luther: No sooner doth the Child of Grace cry, but God says, Here am I, Isa. 58.9. as if he were always at hand to answer the request.  
Thirdly, Adoption ushers in an Heavenly freedom; whilst the Law is only without in the letter, and the terrors of Sinai flash in the Conscience, the man with his old heart of enmity, drudges in the ways of God, and brings forth all his Duties as the Bondwoman did her Son, in the power of nature, in a dead, carnal servile manner: Moses with the cords of Hell and Death drags the outward man to this and that Duty; but old Adam with his lusts, reigning within, holds back the love and the joy, and the delight from the work: all renders to bondage, till Adoption come, and spirit him for holy things: Because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, Gal. 4.6. The same Spirit which led the Humane Nature of Christ into all Sinless Obedience, leads the Adopted into a true willingness to all the Ways of God, that Spirit engraves a Law within answering the outward one, and inspires such a Divine Love, as casts out the Bond woman and her Son, I mean the servile fears, and services; the Will is set upon the wheels of Faith and Love, and the Duties are brought forth in the power of Grace, and of the Promise; that Promise, I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, Ezek. 36.27. is sweetly experimented in every act of Obedience; this glorious and almost Angelical freedom grows upon Adoption, and no where else; no will of man ever seemed out such a thing; should any man go about to strike it out of his own power, it would far with him as it did with the person reported of by one of the Jewish Rabbis, who in the night lighted his Candle, and it went out, lighted it again and again, and still it went out; at last weary of such vain labours, he resolved with himself to wait for the Sun. Such an one may strike and strike again to fetch such a liberty out of his own will; but at last the Conclusion must be, If the Son make us free, we shall be free indeed, Joh. 8.36. and, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, 2 Cor. 3.17.  
Fourthly, Adoption brings us into sweet Communion with God; thus the Apostle. I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, 2 Cor. 6.16. I will dwell in them, and walk in them, who can express it? In the Sons of God there is an Ark with the Tables of the Law in it, and a Sanctuary with the Shechinah, or Divine Majestly in it; Gods gracious presence is Spiritual shewbread, and his Love burns upon the heart, as the fire that came down from Heaven upon the Altar; when they are sacrificing in holy Duties, God doth wonderfully by his quickening, and elevating influences; and when they are suffering in the briers and flames of affliction, God is in the Bush supporting and preserving them; if Conscience breathes sweetness and peace, God is in the still voice; if their Graces be set forth, God is a supping with them; nay, if there be but a poor spirit and weak desires, God will sup with these; the holy light and integrity in their heart is a kind of Vrim and Thummim to direct them, and the Heavenly motions and inspirations are as it were a Bath Kol, a voice from Heaven for their instruction; in a word, all the appearances of God in the worldly Sanctuary, and outward Symbols of Glory under the Old Testament, are spiritually accomplished under the New in the Adopted, who are an habitation of God through the Spirit.  
Fifthly, Adoption assures protection and provision; Israel, God's own People, had a Pillar of Cloud, and a Pillar of Fire to defend them, and these Pillars are still in the Church, though not always visible: God hath said it, That he will create upon her a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, upon all the glory shall be a defence, Isa. 4.5. Rather than his Adopted ones, who carry his Glory about them, shall want a defence he will put forth an act of Creation: Israel when in the Wilderness, had Bread from Heaven, and Water out of the Rock; and to the upright, God saith, Their Bread shall be given them, and their Waters shall be sure, Isa. 33.16. Rather than fail, He will make rivers in the desert, to give drink to his People, Isa. 43.20. When there's a pinch in the Kingdom of Nature, his own Family and Household shall be provided for; The young Linons may lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing, Psal. 34.10. That Distich, 
Est Deus in coelo, qui providus omnia curate,  
Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest;   
Was a Cordial to Musculus in his straits. Faith fears no Famine, neither shall the Adopted feel any.  
Sixthly, Adoption carries with it Perseverance; Once a Son of God by Adoption and ever so. One of the Jewish Doctors Commenting on that excellent passage, With thee is the fountain of life, in thy light shall we see light, Psal. 36. saith, That the Israelites were made free by Moses, and then brought into bondage again, and made free by Barak and divers others, and yet brought into bondage again; at last they shall be saved by the Lord their God with an eternal Salvation; that is, by the Messiah. If mere notions make us free, we shall be in bondage again; if Church-priviledges make us free, we shall be in bondage again; but if Adopting Grace make us free, we shall ever be so: God hath said, nay, sworn to Jesus Christ, His seed (and such are all the Adopted) shall endure for ever, and his throne (part whereof is in their hearts) as the Sun before me, Psal. 89.36. and to make them endure, the holy Spirit is in them a well of water springing up to everlasting life, Joh. 4.14. and to secure the abode of the Spirit with them, Christ is a Priest after the power of an endless life, Heb. 7.16. Nay, though they break his statutes, and thereby bring the rod upon their backs, yet God hath promised, Not to take away his loving kindness, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail, Psal. 89.33. Upon such unshaken foundations do the Sons of God stand.  
Seventhly, Adoption makes them heirs of Heaven; Though they may lie among the pots, and in the eyes of the World be the refuse and offscouring of all things, yet are they heirs of Glory; thus the Apostle, If children, than heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Rom. 8.17. That Glory which Christ hath purchased, shall they be brought into; that Heavenly Inheritance, which is sealed without in the Promise, is inwardly assured to them by the Seal of the Spirit; which by holy impresses marks them out for Heaven, and is a sure earnest in their hearts, that the whole sum of glory shall be paid to them above: each of them may say as Quirinus Reuterus did on his Deathbed, Ego sum vitae filius, I am a child of life.  
Thus much for the third fruit of Faith being Adoption.   

CHAP. IX.  
Of Sanctification the fourth fruit of Faith, and here of Mortification the first part thereof; the influence of Precious Faith therein.  
THe next fruit of Faith is Sanctification, which makes the Soul meet for Heaven; Justification and Adoption give a title to that blessed Inheritance, but Sanctification makes ready for it. No sooner doth a man believe, but the rivers of living water, the sanctifying Spirit with its Grace's slow in the heart; and the reason is evident, Faith is the Souls Union with Christ, who hath the Spirit above measure in trust, to pour it out upon every part of his Mystical Body; in this day of Espousals the water is turned into wine, Nature elevated into Grace. There are, as I have before noted, two parts of Sanctification, Mortification and Vivification. I shall speak to both as fruits of Faith.  
First, Mortification is a fruit of Faith, indeed none but a Believer is in a posture to reach it. Can a man which yet never falls out, improve his Reason and Will to the utmost, he could not truly mortify Sin: Reason and Will improved might in some measure triumph over the gross inordinations in the lower faculties, but they would ever spare the corruptions in themselves as their own flesh; like politic Princes, who keep down mutinies among the common People, but lay the reins down to their own personal vices: It would far with such an one, as it doth with frozen waters, which though broken in one place, will freeze in another; should he break and dissolve his sensual Sins, he would freeze in spiritual; and if his eyes were open, he would see that it is desperate pride and presumption to attempt Mortification in any other way than that of Faith, which brings a general thaw upon the heart, melting it into a compliance with the Divine Pleasure, and tracing the method of the Gospel, derives a power and spirit from Christ for the work. Mortification must be done through the Spirit, Rom. 8.13. and none hath that but the Believer; it slows from an implantation into the death of Christ, and none is so but he; Faith purifies the heart, and without it there can be no such thing as Mortification. God doth not command Mortification immediately, but in its own place, first Faith, and then Mortification; Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, saith the Apostle, Col. 3.5. Therefore, wherefore? Because you are risen with Christ; because your life is hid with Christ; therefore mortify; None but Believers, who are in Union with Christ, are capable to do it. When in Popery all sorts are driven to this work, as the poor Indians are to Baptism; they do but set up a Faithless, Christless Image of Mortification in Penances and Satisfactions, void of the true spirit and principle requisite thereunto.  
In the pursuit of this Point I shall first speak to the Mortification of Original Sin; this is to lay the axe to the root, and cast salt into the fountain; without which to go about to mortify this or that particular lust, is as great a vanity, as for a man by outward applications to heal up a fore or ulcer in the body, without correcting the inward sums of peccant and corrupt humours, which bore those holes in the flesh and fill them with putrefaction. This is one choice work of Faith. Others may spend all upon Physicians and Humane remedies; but the Believer gives such a touch upon a Crucified Christ, as in a good measure to staunch the bloody issue running down his nature. In this excellent work Faith proceeds on this wise;  
First, Faith gives a man a just sense of Original Sin; Which, if the World be searched with Candles, can be found nowhere but among the Believers: To search for it in the Pagan World, is to no purpose; indeed Plato saith, That the Soul hath broken her wings, and creeps basely upon these lower things. The Pythagoreans taught, That Souls having offended God, were turned into Bodies as into so many Prisons, there to look out of the grates of Sense. Trismegistus asserts, That man fell from Heavenly Contemplations into the sphere of Elements, and so became a bondslave to his Body. Hierocles confesses, That man is carried downward, and fallen from the happy Region, of his own motion inclined to evil, and averse from good. In such passages as these there seem to be some glimmerings and dark resemblances of Original Sin: But alas, poor Souls, they were sar from a just sense thereof; they did not understand the depth and venom of this wound, but thought there was Medicamentum in latere, enough in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the self-power of the Soul, which Justin Martyr at his Conversion brought out of Plato's School into Christianity, to heal itself. Aristotle makes Man's Happiness to be the Operation of the Rational Soul according to Virtue; and that Virtue he ranks among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the things in our own power. Seneca tells us, 'Tis a foolish thing to wish for a good Soul, which without lifting thy hands to Heaven, thou mayst have of thyself; whatsoever may make thee good, tecum est, intus est, it is with thee, and in thee. Hierocles saith, The Will is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, mistress of itself, and can make itself better or worse: Or, as he speaks in another place, it can make the man a beast or a God. In a word, all the remedy they prescribe is but that which Epictetus saith, made Socrates to be so virtuous as he was, Obedience to Reason. They never so much as dreamt of any such thing as Regeneration, but thought they could do their own work themselves; neither did they understand the breadth and length of this natural wound, they thought it was only in the lower saculties of the Soul, Reason and Will being free and pure; hence they generally cry out against the Body as a Prison, and the Senses as fetters and manacles to the Immortal Spirit. theophra was wont to say, That the Soul paid a dear rent for her dwelling in the Body, considering how much it suffered at the Body's hand. The Stoics declaim against the Passions, as the sicknesses and languors of the Soul; all the load is laid upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the common people of the Soul, (as some call the Passions), as if the Princes, Reason and Will, were free, never considering the Spiritual wickednesses which are among them. Neither could it be expected, that they should know the latitude of Sin, seeing they had not the pure Law, but only some fragments of it in their hearts, by which they could no more discern the proportions of Sin, than a man can understand features by the broken pieces of a Picture.  
Leaving the Pagans, let us search among the Jews, a People to whom the Divine Oracles were committed, there the Believers had a true sense of Original Sin; David senses it, in primo ardore, in the first warmth of Natural Conception, Psal. 51.5. But such among them as wanted Faith, wanted a sense thereof. Indeed they had the Law, but the veil being on their hearts, they understood it only as prohibiting manum, non animum, the outward act, not the Will; and, Non concupisces, Thou shalt not covet; was rather taken tor a Moral sentence, than a Divine precept among them. This was the opinion of the Jewish Masters about our Saviour's time, when Rabbinical Learning was at the height in the Schools of Hillel and Shammai; St. Paul a man brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, whom the Jews accounted the honour of the Law, while he was in his Pharifaism knew not concupiscence to be Sin, Rom. 7.7. And they that understood the Law no better, could understand but little of Original Sin. Their Circumcision was a memento of it, and so they understood it, casting the Praeputium thereby cut off into the dust, as a morsel to feed the old Serpent withal. But alas, they were uncircumcised in heart, and upon that account reckoned up among Egyptians. Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, uncircumcised in flesh, Jer. 9.29. The Jewish Rabbins speak of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evil figment in man's heart, as an implacable enemy. One man (say they) walks with another but one hour, and they become friends, but this evil figment is born with man, and grows up with him all his days, and yet if it find an opportunity, will after 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years, precipitate and cast him down headlong. But they make it a very small matter at first. At first (say they) it is weak as a woman, afterwards strong as a man; at first it is as a small ahread, afterwards as the cable of a Ship; at first it is as a Viator, at last as a Lord. And withal they made it subject to the power of man's free will. Concupiscence (say they) would fain ruin thee, but thou mayst, if thou wilt, rule over it, Gen. 4. And whosoever obeys the good figment, that is, his own reason, shall be delivered from the evil one. They cried up Reason and Will, and understood little of Original Sin; Hence Regeneration, the necessity whereof may be naturally deduced from a right knowledge of that Sin, was so unintelligible to them. Nicodemus, a Master in Israel, and one of the Judges in the great Sanhedrin, was startled at our Saviour's. Doctrine, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, Joh. 3.5. That of being born of water, possibly he might understand, because the Jews did imitate their Proselytes, by washing or Baptism, and then counted them as newborn and regenerate, as Learned men have observed. But that of being born of the Spirit, he was totally ignorant of, which he could not have been had he had a true sense of Original Sin; which, where it is, makes the Doctrine of Regeneration obvious, but looking on that Sin as no great matter, and corrigible by man's own Reason and Will, he stood as it were at a maze at our Saviour's words, as if there had been no promise at all of a new heart, and a new spirit made in the Old Testament.  
Leaving the Jews, let us inquire among Christians for a true sense of Original Sin; here we must not expect it among Pelagians or Socinians, who deny the thing, as if the figment of the heart were but the figment of the brain: peccatum originis nullum prorsus est, saith the Racovian Catechism: Sine vitio nascimur, saith Pelagius, placing Infants in the same state as Adam was before his Fall; neither must we look for it among those Popish Doctors, who mince and extenuate this Sin, Intensiuè majus est peccatum actuale quam originale, saith Aquinas: It is, Omnium peccatorum minimum, saith another. Hence many of them assert, That it is not properly Sin; neither may I find it among those Protestant Doctors, who though they use the word Grace, yet attribute much to the Reason and Will of man. That famous place, Joh. 3, of being born of the Spirit, is taken by a learned man for an undertaking the Law of Christ, an entering on a new pure Spiritual life; as if Regeneration were Man's act. The fallen man (saith another) is not wholly destitute of power, but as the man in the Parable half-dead. Sin is not so unruly, but that Cain, if he will do well, may master it; the desire of Sin shall be subject to him, saith God. When a Man came to Delphos with a live-Bird under his Cloak, and asked the Oracle, Whether he should bring forth a dead thing or living? intending to put a trick upon it: Answer was made to him, In te est stulte: Fool, 'tis in thy power to do which thou wilt. So say such Doctors. The Gospel is proposed to Men, and to embrace it is in their own power; 'tis God's part to call, but Man's to be elect or not; that is, to be sincere Believers or not. These Men to me understand little of Original Sin. Pretermitting them, I come to those who have a right notion of Sin and Grace, but are void of true Faith: These with all the Balms and sweet Odours of Truth which lie about their Heads, are yet Spiritually dead at Heart, and feel not their Wounds; they are as yet contented with their old Heart, and with case carry a sink of Sin in their bosom: Oh how much unfelt, unbewailed blindness, hardness, enmity, unbelief, earthiness is there in them! All which fetch never a groan from them. It is somewhat strange that believing Abraham, when God made him so fair a promise of an Isaac, should yet let out his thoughts so much upon Ishmael, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee! But it is very natural for unregenerate men, even when the Promise of a new heart lies fair before them in the Scripture, to acquiesce in the old frame, as much of Hell and Death as they carry about with them. All's well and in peace; but when Faith comes, Original Sin is felt to the quick; God shines from Sinai, the Law is up in the heart in its pure Spirituality, and all the foul corners there, which before lay in the dark, discover themselves in their ugly hue; the Spirit of Life enters into the Man, and the Wounds and Ulcers, which, whilst he was Spiritually dead, broke not his rest, breath out anguish in every part, and make him cry out, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Oh wretched man that I am! Rom. 7.24. Oh, this blind, rebellious, unbelieving, earthly Heart of mine! who shall deliver me from it! That corruption should be universal all over the Soul, like the Plagues of Egypt, all over the Land, That the dead should be in every faculty, the lusts  croaking, even in the King's Chamber, in the noble faculties of Reason and Will, and all the streams of the Heart, the Thoughts, Wishes, Resolves, Choices, Desires, and Delights there, should be smitten and turned into bloody Iniquity, is an amazing consideration; That a Rational Creature, with an Immortal spark in his bosom, whose natural instinct is after Happiness, should yet without a new Creation, not be able so much as by a holy thought to aspire after the great unspeakable blessedness in the Gospel, or to give a serious look towards the pure undefiled Religion leading thither; and after he is new made by Grace, that yet there should be a black sountain within ready to flow out at every sense, taint every work, and derive a damp, a deadness, a wretched indisposedness upon all his holy things, is an astonishing thought; That the holiest Man on Earth, who mourns and sighs over the horrible Wickednesses abroad, should be forced to lament at home; and say, there is aliquid intus, somewhat in my own heart answering to all these, were I but dimissus libero arbitrio, left to my own self, I might fall into Jonabs' pet against the Great God; or roll in David's Adultery and Blood; or, Peter-like, deny my Lord, and do it cursing and damning of myself, as the Original imports; or turn a Julian, a total final Apostate, and art up my bloody blasphemies against Hea●en at my dying hour; is wonderfully prodigious. ous. Such Sentiments as these hath the Believer of Original Sin, which make him go groaning under the gravedo thereof, as an intolerable burden; this Gemitus sanctorum, as St. Austin calls it, is the first step of this fundamental Mortification.  
Secondly, Faith ushers into the Soul a stock of gracious Principles, which conflict against the innate corruption, and labour to drive it out, as the Israelites did the Canaanites, by little and little; there is even in unregenerate Men, a conflict between Reason and the Sensitive Affections. 
Arist. Eth, lib. 1. c. 13.  Reason (saith the Philosopher) calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the best things; but the Affections repugn and refist; the Soul is, as it were Paralytic, whilst Reason would move one way to the right hand, Affection moves contrary to the left: Aliudque cupido, mens aliud suadet. Hence the Syllogism of an incontinent man hath (as the Schoolmen observe out of Aristotle) four Propositions, 
Aquin. pr. secund. Medina.  viz. two universal ones; one whereof is from Reason, That Fornication is not to be committed; another from Passion, that Pleasure is to be pursued; and Passion binds Reason, That it do not subsume and conclude under the first: And whilst it remains so, the Man subsumes and concludes under the second. 
Epist. 56.  Seneca tells us Silentium regionis, is nothing, Si affectus fremunt; Reason must compose things, or else a●● will be in tumult in the Soul. In this natura conflict, Reason, if improved, to maintain it own grandeur and royalty, may by its Edict hush the tumults and mutinies in the Affections, and prevent many shames and turpitudes of Sensuality; but alas, there is nothing of true Mortification in all this, no, not in the Affections themselves, which are not inwardly changed, but only, as the Horse and Mule, held in with the rational bit or bridle; much less in the Reason, in which there is a great deal of vanity, dark ignorance, proud curiosity, fleshly wisdom, vain philosophy, humane folly, and perverse contradiction; in all which, Reason will rather indulge than crucify itself; but Faith ushers in another manner of Conflict. In the Natural Conflict Reason is General, and manages the War; and as the Reason is, so is the strength in Battle, but Humane only: In the Spiritual Conflict, there is a greater than Reason, even Supernatural Grace; which being of Divine extraction, hath in itself a power more than Humane to oppose corruption; and which yet makes it stronger, it hath continual Auxiliaries from the Holy Spirit, which is always standing at the right hand of Grace, as Satan is of Corruption, to back and strengthen it. In the Natural Conflict the fight is in a Logical and Argumentative way only; and Reason being corrupt, like a cunning Sophister, turns about and stands ever and anon on the same side with Sin; but in the Spiritual Conflict, there can be no such compliances, the War is laid in nature, Grace in its very nature carries an enmity against corruption, and irreconcilably, interminably opposes it, as long as Grace is Grace, and Sin Sin. In the Natural Conflict Reason fights but ex parte, only against the gross, carnal, sensual lusts, which stain Humanity; in the mean time the pride, perverseness, and desperate contradiction, which dwell in the upper faculties, are altogether untouched. The Moralist stands upon bis own bottom, full of self-power and self-righteousness; and because he hath by his Reason conceived and brought forth some Moral Virtues, Freegrace and its progeny, born after the Spirit, are despised in his eyes; than which temper, there is nothing more diametrically opposite to the Gospel, which would have Men come in to Jesus Christ weary, heavy laden, hungry, thirsty, poor in spirit; lost in themselves, and sensibly wanting all things: But in the Spiritual Conflict, the War is universal, Grace sights against all Sin, not only against the gross carnal lusts which have more of the beast in them, but against the fine Spiritual ones, which have more of the Devil; nor only against those open Sins which face the World, but against those secret ones which lie hid in the Heart. So opposite it is, that as in the War against the Canaanites, it would destroy every thing that breathes. Sin in the first motions and titillations thereof, in the Natural Conflict, the fight is between distinct faculties, Reason and Passion, and so is at a distance, and as it were by missile arms; but in the Spiritual Conflict, the fight is close and immediate, there is something of Grace in every faculty to encounter the corruption there. In the Understanding there is an Heavenly Wisdom which counterplots the Earthly, as Hushai did. Ahithophel, whilst the one designs for Absalon, the rebellious lust in the Heart, the other stands up for the Kingdom of Christ, the true David. In the Will there is an holy Principle which ballinces the corrupt, and is as a counter-byass to the Heart, drawing it off from the false beatitudes to the true. In the Affections there is a Divine spark, which makes them aspire and elevate towards Heavenly things, whilst the earthly part clogs and presses them downwards. In a word, Grace is spread all over the Soul, as the Israelites were over Canaan, to drive out the old inhabitant, the corruption in every faculty. In the Natural Conflict, Man walks in his own Circle, the only desigu is for the, Kingdom of Reason; and which is the common blast upon Morality, nothing is done in ordine ad Deum. In the Spiritual Conflict, the aim is all for God and Christ, that their Throne may be in the Heart, and all their enemies there, may be made their footstool. Thus Grace, ushered into the Soul by Faith, doth by little and little work out and extirpate Sin; as the day breaks upon the Heart, darkness goes off; as Holiness flows in, Corruption departs; the more of Heaven is there, the less of Earth.  
Thirdly, Faith discovers the great evil of Original Sin, and so raises up an hatred against it, and hatred is a murderer, and would, if it could, annihilate its opposite; Faith shows it to be an All-evil, a Mother of abominations. Some particular Sins are such monsters in Morality, that when viewed only in the light of Nature, they appear very odious; such was the cruelty of Nero, Effeminacy of Sardanapalus, and the like; much more odious, when inspected by the light of Faith, must that appear which is All-sin in one, a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or universal Seminary of iniquity. Anthony holding Caesar's bloody Coat up to the People, moved them against the Conspirators; Faith holding up the Murders, Adulteries, Blasphemies, Villainies in the World, unto the Believers eyes, stirs his Heart against the venomous root of all these. Faith shows it to be an universal evil, all over the Soul, breaking forth like the boils of Egypt, upon man and upon beast, upon the intellective and sensitive faculties, and all over the Believers duties; lying as the locusts there upon every herb and green thing, upon the verdure and glory of every good work; it is a blemish in the Believers eye, a plague in his Heart, an ataxy in his Affections, a damp on his Prayers, a cooler to his Charity and Zeal, and a dead fly in all the precious Ointment of his duties and good works. Faith shows it to be an utter enemy to God, Antichrist-like, opposing every appearance of him in the Heart, quenching every good motion, trampling on every holy beam, slighting at the two great periods of Mankind, Heaven and Hell; and jeering at that holiness and iniquity which lead thither: Faith shows it to be an evil always present; the Believer shakes himself, and it adhers; flies, and it encompasses; mortifies, and it lives; prays, weeps, sweats, and fights, and yet the Canaanite is in the land; like a living man chained to a dead, he carries about his own loathsomeness, a body of death all his days; this cleaves to him as the blackness to the Ethiopian, and as the fretting spreading leprosy to the house; after all his washing and scraping of himself, it will yet be in him, till death dissolve him into dust: Such representations as these made by Faith, fill the Believer with shame and self-abhorrency, and raise up in him an irreconcilable hatred against it.  
Fourthly, Faith, so far as it is acted, though it make not a total riddance of it, doth yet imprison it, that it cannot go at large and riot in scandalous Sins. No, nor steal out in an evil thought, but it will be arrested in its passage to the Will for a consent; as it was God's caution, beware that there be not a thought in thy Belial-heart against Charity, Deut. 15.9. So it is Faith's endeavour to stop corruption even in a thought; the flesh is still a lusting, and would have one piece of forbidden fruit or other in its mouth; but Faith opposes, and would, if it could, leave nothing of it to breath in the Believer: This is that the Scripture calls, The crucifying of the old man; Faith arraigns the old man as the Arch-malefactor in the World, condemns him as worthy to die; strips him of his veils and false cover, and by holy restraints nails him to the Cross, that unless in a slumber of Faith, he cannot move or stir himself, but dies away by little and little. As the light of Nature, being imprisoned in unrighteousness, as the Apostle speaks, Rom. 1.18, is every day exhausted and weakened; so the corruption of Nature being thus restrained by Faith, gradually loses its life and vigour. Martinus Polonus tells of a terrible Dragon at Rome, who killed many daily with his poisonous breath, but was at last shut up with Brazen gates through the Prayers of Sylvester Bishop there. Were this Fable true, Faith doth a nobler work in restraining the inward Serpent of corruption, whose deadly poison hath spread itself over all Men, and is eternally fatal to all but Believers.  
To conclude; In all this, Faith applies itself to a Crucified Christ, from thence it fetches its pattern: As the pure flesh of Christ, upon which, as an expiatory Sacrifice, the Sin of the World was laid, suffered on the Cross; so the corrupt flesh of Man, unto which, as the universal Seminary, the Sin of the World may be justly imputed, must suffer also: Hence Saint Peter, 1 Pet. 4.1. From the suffering of Christ in the flesh, exhorts Believers to suffer in their corrupt flesh, ceasing from Sin, and from thence it derives a spirit for the work. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit on the Cross; and the Believer through the Spirit of Christ, offers up his corrupt self to be crucified. Hence St. Paul, Rom. 6.6. saith, Our old man is crucified with him; that is, by a secret virtue drawn from his Cross.  
Thus far of this Fundamental Mortification; I now come to particular Sins, which are but the foul issues of Original, breaking forth in this or that, as temper, education, place, custom, or other accidents give vent thereunto; these also doth Faith mortify, and that in some such way as this.  
First, Faith doth restrain the outward acts of Sin; there may be many restraints in which yet there is nothing of Mortification; one Sin may restrain another, Vitia inter se contraria pugnant; in which case Satan casts out Satan, a predominant lust its opposite. The fiery Law with its threats may meet a man in his perverse way, as the Angel with his drawn Sword did Balaam, and turn him back from committing the act; nevertheless the unchanged Heart hankers and inwardly mourns after it, as Phaltiel did after Michal, when she was forced away from him; and which is a better restraint, because merely from an in ward principle, Moral Virtue may hold him back from it, as it did Abimelech from Sarah; yet this restraint is but partial, only from outward Sins of shame, and withal selfish, aiming at no higher thing than repute and self-excellency: But Faith restrains upon higher and nobler Motives, speaking to the temptation as Joseph to his Mistress, How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? May I break his Law, which is more than the Interdicts of all the Princes and Potentates of the World? or slain his glory, which is more precious than the light of the Sun, Moon and Stars? or trample on that precious Blood, which paid my ransom from Hell and Death? or grieve away that Spirit which is the life of all my Graces and Comforts? or pollute this Heart, which may be a Temple or Tabernacle for the Holy One to dwell in? or run myself again into the pangs of the New Birth, and forget the wormwood and gall of my old Sins, and eclipse the light of God's Countenance towards me, and lie down in the dismal borders of Hell and Death? How can I do it? Such a restraint as this, is a degree of Mortification; Sin gins to die, when such chains and manacles as these are cast upon it.  
Secondly, Faith doth not only restrain the outward acts of Sin, but strikes at the life of it; that is, the love thereof; and to this end Faith clearly demonstrates, that Sin is not eligible, or an object fit for an Humane Will; Sin shows itself as eligible many ways, but Faith destroys all those eligibilities. Take Sin as mere Sin in the abstract, and so it is evil and only evil; and as the Schools generally determine, Sub ratione mali, it is not, it cannot be eligible at all; and yet even in the notion of mere Sin, it becomes eligible, Sub ratione convenientiae, as it is congruous to the corrupt Heart of Man. The Socinian and Pelagian Errors are welcome merely as Parasites to the pride of Reason and Will. In Sins of Omission, the very neglect gratifies Man's averseness from good; in Sins of Commission, the very violation of the Law complies with his enmity thereunto. Saint Austin in his Confessions, 
Lib. 2: cap. 4.  says, That he stole Apples, that he might, Frui non re ipsa, sed furto; that he was, Gratis malus, & amavit defectum suum; casting away the Apples, he feasted on the iniquity; or if he took any of them into his mouth, Condimentum facinus erat, Sin was the only fawce thereof. Man drinketh in iniquity like water; the very sinfulness is connatural. This eligibility before Faith must needs be very strong: for to Man in the pride and self-flattery of Nature, nothing is sweeter or dearer, than to walk in the way of his Heart, as absolute unaccountable Lord of all his Actions; but when Faith comes, than it clearly appears, that the corrupt Heart, into which Sin insinuates by congruity, is too vile a thing to be gratified; it steals away from holy Duties, plays false after fair promises, hatches treason and rebellion against God, and like a common Strumpet prostitutes itself to every temptation that passes by; to gratify it, is to feed a disease, or vicious humour, satisfy a grave or gulf of inordinate desires; put the darling Soul into the mouth of Satan, and desperately leap into the bottomless pit: that corruption to which Sin is so grateful, is an accursed thing, destinated by the Gospel to be crucified and slain without mercy; and those relics of it, which after the greatest mortifications remain, are to be mourned and groaned under as the heaviest burden in the world. What the Jewish fringes did typify, that the Christians Faith operates, in keeping men from seeking after their own heart; but to go on, take sin not as mere sin, but in the dress of some apparent good; let it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a well-circumstanced Sin, as a learned man takes that place, Heb. 12.1, flowing in riches, or rolling in sensual pleasures, or holding forth Crowns and Sceptres, and all Mundane glory; nay, if it were possible, let it invest itself with a Creation, all the lower World cannot make it eligible to Faith. Set down a World, if Faith subtract but a God or a Soul, what will remain but infinite damage? those treasures, which glitter so much to dark sense, are to Faith but poor rusty motheaten things; that which is substance to the World, is to Faith but a shadow, an apparition, a thing that is not, a mark too low for an Immortal Soul to fly at: These things at present and in the Now-World seem something; but if Faith look through the World unto the universal conflagration, and beyond it to the World to come, what will they signify? Are they able to survive those last flames, or purchase any thing in the World to come? Surely just nothing; except only so much thereof as is exchanged thither in Charity and good Works: to Faith the whole inventory of them is but a great cheat; the Riches are not the true ones; the Gold is not that tried in the fire; the Land doth not lie in the Country which Faith seeks after; there is nothing in them to feed or cloth, or enrich the inward man; and to hazard a God or a Soul for them, must needs be an infinite loss. And what are the pleasures of this World to Faith? In carnal Sins, they are but the titillations of sense, in which the Rational faculties, were they not Spiritually incarnate and become flesh, would have no touch of delight: In Spiritual Sins, they are but the false gusts of a vitiated Reason and Will, which if made right by Faith, find no congruity but in what is true and good, neither of which can be in a Sin: In both, momentany as they are, they perish in the using, and die in the embraces; like the dead Son of the Emperor Basilius Macedo, who being Magically presented to his Father as alive, after a few touches and doting glances, disappeared; so they go off, only they leave a sting and a worm behind them in Conscience; and the poor Voluptary, without repentance, must lie down in eternal sorrow, a thought whereof is enough to embitter all their sweetness: And are Mundane glories any better in Faith's account? Honour is but a blast, a little popular air; Monarchies have their periods; History gives us a prospect of their vanity; and much more Faith, which translates the Soul into the everlasting Kingdom, and from thence looks on the Empires of the World as the chaff of the Summer-floor, rolling away with the wind of time. To a man up among the Stars, the whole Earth would be but as a small thing, and such are Crowns and Sceptres to one conversing in Heaven; in the midst of them a man may want true greatness; the Worlds Epiphanes may be but a vile person, a slave to his lusts, which is the greatest servitude; at death he may, like Adrian, moan over his little Soul, and at Judgement cry out to the rocks and mountains to fall upon him, and cover him from the presence of the Lord. But to proceed, and take Sin in another dress; let it come as a worldly Saviour, entertain it, and you shall be delivered from losses, reproaches, racks, persecuting flames, and cruel deaths; it will not yet be eligible. Faith in the love of its espousals, and upon the first contract received a whole Christ, Cross and all, and so virtually and in purpose hath already swallowed down all persecutions which go along with the Gospel; and when the actual trial comes, Faith will not escape by iniquity, which is an evil transcendently greater than all the rest, and whilst it outwardly, temporally saves, inwardly, eternally destroys: To Faith there is no loss like that of a Soul, no reproach like Sins turpitude; no racks like those in Conscience; no flames or deaths like those in Hell: Which made those tormented Worthies not accept deliverance, Heb. 11.35. Sin is mere Sin, totally, perfectly evil; but suffering for the Gospel is not mere suffering: In temporal losses, there may be eternal gain; in reproaches, a spirit of glory; in outward racks, inward joys. In the Burning-bush God may dwell; and death may open a door to life everlasting. Hence come the famous Triumphs of Martyrs; the Apostle rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ, Act. 5.41: In the Original it is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That they were honoured to be dishonoured for Christ. Others have styled their Prisons a Paradise; and their Ironchains a goodly Neck-kercher; and at last have kissed the Stake, and thanked the Executioner, accounting Suffering the only eligible thing in the World. Thus Faith destroys all Sins eligibilities; and in so doing, as the Apostle speaks, overcomes the World, which is the purest of Victories. The great ones, who captivated the World outwardly and martially, were themselves captivated by it, in one lust or other, Not unlike Amaziah, who subdued the Edomites, and was himself taken with their gods: But Faith, which overcomes inwardly and Spiritually, subdues the lusts themselves.  
Further, yet Faith doth not only strike at the love of Sin, by destroying its eligibilities, but by surrendering the Heart to a better Object; whilst the love and joy, and delight is in Sin, it lives as a body with a spirit in it; but when these are surrendered up to God and Christ, and Heavenly things, it becomes inanimate as a dead Carcase. This was notably deciphered in Christ crucified, the grand pattern of our Mortification; he was not only stripped and nailed, but commending his Spirit to God be gave up the Ghost. Answerably in Mortification Sin is not only stripped of its eligibilities, and nailed by restraints, but it dies away in the surrenders of Faith; by which the Soul Enoch-like is translated into Heaven, and its affections are not here below to animate Sin. Were this surrender in perfection, Sin could not so much as be, as is evident in Christ's Humane Nature, upon which no spot could fall, because it ever was in perfect surrender to his Father. And proportionably, where it is but in truth only Sin is dying; because the love and joy, whilst in the raptures and triumphs of Faith, afford no quickening thereunto: hence the Apostle exhorts, Walk in the spirit, in the elevations of Faith and other Graces, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh, Gal. 5.16. Sin shall grow heartless, and be able to do little or nothing. Here we see how the dear intimate lusts come to die; they cease to be dear as Faith turns the stream of the Heart; and give up the Ghost, as the love and the joy go out to God. It was Luther's method in Reformation, that first the Images were to be removed out of the minds of Men, and then all would succeed; and it is Faith's method in Mortification, by holy surrenders to sever the Heart from its lusts, and so do the work. Moreover Faith casts out the love of Sin by conversing in the holy Word; after which the Soul becomes pure and shining like Moses face after he had been with God; conversing with the Law, it sees a rectitude and pure splendour; and then to love Sin is to embrace crookedness and hellish darkness; and withal it sees wrath and vengeance threatened against transgressors: and then to love Sin is to take death and hell into our bosom. Conversing with the Gospel, it hath such a fair prospect of Grace and Christ, as renders Sin the most ungrateful and unnatural thing in the World: Shall God give up his Son, his eternal joy to die upon a cross; and a man, a worm, spare a lust, a brat of his corrupt Heart? Shall Christ pour out his Blood and very Soul to expiate Sin, and a Believer, a redeemed one, fall in love with the Crucifier? Shall the holy Spirit come down and dwell in Man as his Temple; and he, who is so honoured, embrace that which is the only offence and grievance to such a guest? Or shall the Kingdom of Heaven come down and offer itself; and that, which is the only bar and obstacle, be received? Surely a Believer with his eyes open will not do so; the more of converse he hath with the Word, the less of the love of Sin. As Sense, when it lies brooding on the Creature, inflames the love of Sin: So Faith, when it dwells on the Word, abates it; that Concupiscence which at first crept in upon Eve in a slumber of Faith, while Sense was doting on the fruit, must be driven out again by Faith, fixing on the Word, and soating above sensible things.  
Thus far how Faith strikes at the love of Sin.  
Thirdly, Faith mortifies Sin by watching against all the occasions and inducements thereof. The Jews were not to name the Idol-gods; the Nazarite was to abstain from the very husk of the grape. Valentinian could not bear a little drop of julian's holy-water, accidentally sprinkled on his garment without detestation. The Children of Samosatane would not play with their Ball after the Ass of the Heretical Bishop Lucius had trod on it, but burned it in the Marketplace as unclean. Faith is nice and curious, it will not go in with such a dissembler, nor come nigh the door of such an Harlot as Sin is; knowing that the Soul may soon be cheated and adulterated thereby. Apprehensions of danger make men watch; and to Faith there is no danger like that of Sin: If the good man of the house had known when the thief would come, he would have watched, saith our Saviour, Mat. 24.43. Faith knows Sin to be a thief, and a murderer to the Soul; and therefore sets guards within and without, that it may not creep in by the ports of Sense, nor rise up out of the deep of the Heart. Within there is a watch over the Thoughts, and without over the sensible Objects. And if a snare appear, Faith cries out, as the suffering Martyr did, when a Box with a Pardon in it was set before him, Away with it, as you love my Soul. During this watch Sin pines and famishes away as in a Spiritual siege; the common commerce between the Thoughts and the Objects fails, and with it those provisions which use to be made for the flesh. Hence our Saviour would have his Disciples, To watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation: Temptations will offer themselves, but the watching Believer will not enter into them by a consent.  
Fourthly, Faith mortifies Sin by those actings of Grace which it puts forth in the Believer. As Sin the more it is acted makes the fuller blot on the Soul; so Grace, the more it is acted leaves the purer tincture there: You have purified your Souls in obeying the truth, saith St. Peter, 1 Epist. 1.22. Every act of Grace or Obedience doth in its measure purify from Sin. The righteous holds on his way, and so grows stronger and stronger, Job 17.9. The exercise of Grace renders the inner man more strong and able to drive out Corruption; especially when that Grace is acted, which besides its purifying, strengthening nature in common with other Graces, is contrary to the Sin which is to be mortified; and so proper and apt to expel it, as one contrary doth another. Hence Daniel counsels Nabuchadnezzar to break off his sins by righteousness and mercy, Dan. 4.27: his Sins being Oppression and Cruelty, nothing was apt than Righteousness & Mercy to break them off. And our Saviour when his Disciples were fainting in the storm, calls for their Faith: And when aspiring after the Primacy, sets a little child before them, as an emblem of Humility. Dying- Sardis he puts upon strengthening the things which remain; and Nentral Laodicea upon Zeal, to give her a fresh warmth in Religion. Still the advice runs upon the contrary Grace; the more that is actuated, the more it roots and spreads in the Soul, and the less room and place is left there for the contrary Sin: Which I suppose was the reason why the Presbyter Sulpitius Severus, being guilty of too much Loquacity, ever after kept silence; 
Spondan. Annal.   peccatum, quod loquendo contraxerat, tacendo emendaret, as the Historian expresses it. 'Tis a Precept of the Philosophers, 
Arist. Eth. lib. 2. c. 9  To observe what Vice we are most propense to, and then to bend ourselves to the contrary extreme, that we might come to the Virtue in the middle. Faith, though it dares not touch upon one contrary Sin to cure another, would cast them both out by acting the contrary Grace.  
Lastly, Faith mortifies Sin in a way of dependence upon the Power and Spirit of God in and through Jesus Christ. In the Covenant of Works, in which there was no Mediator, Man stood on his own bottom, and had all his stock in his own hands: But in the Covenant of Grace the Believer stands in the Power of God; and though he have a little Grace in himself, the main stock is above in a surer hand; his life is hid with Christ in God; there's the great treasure out of which Faith fetches supplies of the Spirit for every good work; hence in Scripture he is said, To love, live, pray, walk, mortify in the spirit: If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live, Rom. 8.13. He saith, through the Spirit, because there is no other way of mortifying Sin; he that goes about this work in his own Power is but in a dream, he knows nothing of the life of Faith; as appears by that Antithesis which the Prophet makes between the Soul lifted up, and the life of Faith, Hab. 2.4. Such an one holds not the head Jesus Christ, no more than the worshippers of Angels spoken of, Col. 2.18, 19 Whatever he may do theoretically, he doth it not practically; whilst his fleshly mind presumes, that he can move about such a work, though the Head in Heaven stir not, his Mortification must needs be weak and powerless; because without Christ the wisdom and power of God, he goes out against his lusts, as Samson did against the Philistines, with his hair off; or, as the Israelites did against the Canaanites when the Lord was not among them, Numb. 14.32, instead of success he meets with that curse and blast, which lights upon all Christlless persons and actions: The most charitable Prayer that can be made for him is that of the Psalmist, Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord, Psal. 83.16. St. Austin long struggled in his own strength against his Corruptions, and all in vain; at last a voice told him, In te stas & non stas: Thou fallest, O Austin, by standing in thyself. True Faith goes about this work in the Power and Spirit of Christ; as under the Old Testament, when Faith subdued outward Kingdoms, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 11.33, it was by the Spirit; the Spirit clothed upon Gideon, and he smote a mighty Host of Midianites. The Spirit came upon Samson, and he slew heaps upon heaps of the Philistines. So under the New, when Faith subdues the inward Kingdom of Sin, it is by the Spirit strengthening the Believer to overcome it; the reign of Sin is broken, because he is under Grace. Here we see how old strong customary Sins, such as are a second nature in Men, come to be subdued; it would be an hard, nay almost impossible thing for a Moralist to unravel such a Sin, merely by contrary acts, and those acts done by his own power, and that power emasculated by a long tract of Sin: But Faith draws down an Almighty Power and Spirit to the work; that hyperbole of Power which raised up Christ from the dead, is towards the Believer, Ephes. 1.19. That Spirit of life which is in Christ, makes him free from the law of sin and death, Rom. 8.2, The bands of Sin can no more hold him than those of Death could Christ, when the glory of the Father came to raise him up. In doing this great work Faith goes by these steps; first, Faith lays down this as a foundation, That there is Power enough in God to subdue Sin, or else he should not be an Infinite God; and that Sin is capable of being subdued, or else it would be an Infinite Monster. That Power which can dry up the Sea, or shake the Earth out of her place, or raise up the Dead out of the dust, or annihilate the World in a moment, must be able to subdue Sin. In the Prophet it is but the turn of his hand, I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away they dross, saith God, Isa. 1.25. And which comes nearer to us, Faith is sure, that this Power doth not stand off at a distance in the unapproachable Deity; but is made over to Christ, coming in the flesh, He was anointed with the Holy Ghost and Power. The fullness of the Godhead dwelled in him bodily. And going up to Heaven, he sat down at the right hand of Power, all things being put under his feet. And which yet is nearer, this Power is made over to Christ as trustee and treaurer for his Church; his Unction is to run down upon all Believers: The fullness of the Godhead dwelled in him, that they might be filled with it. He sits at the right hand of Power, that his enemies, among which Sin is a chief one, may be made his footstool: All things are put under him, that he might be Head over all to the Church, letting down his vital influences and motions to it; his great design is, to make an end of Sin, and to dissolve the works of the Devil. And now nothing remains to draw down this Power to the Believer, but the acting of Faith; as Faith goes up, Power comes down; all things are possible to the Believer, he can do all through Christ strengthening him: It is but to look and be saved, believe and be established, wait and renew strength; hand upon Jesus Christ, and he who was Immanuel, God with us in his Incarnation, will be Immanuel, God with us in such sufficient Grace as shall give us the victory over Sin; the success is as sure as the Spirit and Power of God can make it. When Christ was on Earth never any one came to him for bodily Cure, with a Faith that he was able to do it, but it was done for him. Now that he is in Heaven at the right hand of Power, such as go in Faith for Spiritual Cures cannot miscarry. What though the bloody issue of Sin have been long a-running? a touch upon Christ will heal. What if thou hast lain rotting in thy Corruptions many years? believe and thou shalt see the glory of God raising thee up; a dependence on the Power and Spirit of Christ cannot fail of a victory over Sin. So vast is the difference between the state of Adam in Innocency, and the state of Believers in Christ; in him one Sin drove out a great stock of pure immaculate Grace in a moment, in them a little spark of Grace drives out a world of Sin; because their Grace, which adam's did not, depends on the Power and Spirit of Christ for the victory. This is a most noble and purely Evangelical act of Faith, in which Man is abased in a continual dependence, and God exalted in a continual supply of Grace. However, some Divines, falsely so called, have laughed at the dependence of Faith as an idle lolling upon Christ; it is yet the only way in which the Spirit and Power of God communicates to our necessities, and does far more in the Christians life than any thing else: Only we must remember, that this dependence is in the use of means; the Believer hears, reads, meditates, prays, works, and in all depends upon the Spirit to render them effectual.   

CHAP. X.  
Of Spiritual Vivification, the second Part. Of Sanctification, the influence of Faith therein.  
THus far of Mortification as a fruit of Faith. I now proceed to Vivification, being the other part of Sanctification. In which the holy Spirit comes down with its Divine Graces into the Soul, and quickens it to a Spiritual Life. These Graces may be considered either in their production into being, or in their actual exercise; and both ways they are fruits of Faith. As to their production into being, Divines differ about the order; some Divines, as Mr. Pemble, conceive, That all Graces are infused at once, coming into us as light doth into the air, or as the Soul did into the body of Lazarus, not piece-meal or by degrees, but all at once and together. Other set down this order, Vocation which worketh Faith and Repentance, is in order of nature before Justification, and Justification before Sanctification. Bishop Downham distinguishes between our Spiritual conception of the incorruptible seed, and our new-birth in which Christ is form in us in all his Graces; the former is done in our Vocation, and the latter in our Sanctification. I conceive that Faith, at least in order of Nature, is first, and then all other Graces follow upon it. The Ancient Fathers, as Bishop Downham hath observed, speak to the same purpose: In Clemens Alexandrinus, Faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the first inclination to Salvation: In the socalled Ignatius Epistles, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the beginning of life; as it were the Punctum Saliens in the New Creature, in which the first motion and course of Spiritual life gins. Vita sancta à fide sumit initium, saith Fulgentius. And Fides prima datur, ex quá extera impotrantur, saith St. Augustine: All other Graces are the fruits of Faith, not as if Faith did produce them radically or fontally out of itself, or its own virtue; but that it unites to Christ, and so derives the Spirit with its Graces unto the Believer. That Faith is, at least in nature, before other Graces, will appear very probable upon divers Congruities:  
First, It is congruous to the Majesty of God: He acts like himself, dispenses Grace to the Creature in its lowest posture of resignation: Heaven is my throne, Earth my footstool, saith he; but as overlooking all this World, To this man will I look that is poor and of a contrite spirit, Isa. 66.1, 2; To this man, there he sets a nobler creation than this outward one. When Faith makes a man poor and contrite, sensibly lying in his own Nothingness and Unworthiness, then creating Grace comes upon him. We may see this as in a glass in the Human Nature of Christ: That which had no natural Subsistence of its own but subsisted in the Eternal Word; that had the Spirit poured out upon it above measure. When a man hath no Moral subsistence of his own; his very Hypostasis being a resignation; when his subsistence is in the Word of God according to that of the Apostle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Have thy being in these things, 1 Tim. 4.15. Then the holy Spirit comes down and dwells in him.  
Secondly, It is congruous to Christ the Head: Union goes before Communion; first, Faith unites us to Christ, and then all Graces flow from him: hence Faith is called the Church's neck, Cant. 4.4. knitting to Christ the Head, and from thence deriving all Spiritual life into the body of Believers. This also is set before us in Christ's Humane Nature, which had first, at least in nature, the Grace of Union, and then that of Unction; He that is in Christ is a new Creature, 2 Cor. 5.17. made so by his being in Christ; He that hath the Son, hath life, 1 Joh. 5.12. Hath it by having the Son. Indeed Faith and Repentance go before our Union with Christ, as being of necessity thereunto; but all other Graces follow after it, as most naturally flowing from Christ the Head, of whose fullness all Believers receive Grace for Grace.  
Thirdly, It is congruous to the way of the Spirit set forth in the Gospel: The Spirit moves on the Soul to bring forth Faith and Repentance, but it dwells nowhere but in the Believer; Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith, Ephes. 3.17. There he hath perpetuum domicilium, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Vide Bez. & Zanch.  as the Greek word imports; He that believeth on me, saith our Saviour, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, Joh. 7.38. And what these rivers are, the next verse tells us, This he spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. Faith brings in the very fountain of Grace with all its streams into the Heart; The Holy Ghost is given to them that obey him, Act. 5.32; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to them that hear him, in the Gospel-command; that is, to them that believe; so Beza and Calvin expound it, and so the Syriack hath it. The Holy Ghost works before to produce Faith and Repentance; but it is not given to dwell in men until they believe.  
Fourthly, It is congruous to the order which is between Faith, Justification and Sanctification. Faith is in order before Justification, the Scripture is express in it; The righteousness of God is upon them that believe, Rom. 3.22. All that believe are justified, Act. 13.39. And we have believed that we might be justified, Gal. 2.16. And Justification is in order before Sanctification: I suppose the Holy Spirit with its Graces will not dwell in an unreconciled Soul. Under the Law in cleansing the Leper, first the Priest put the blood on him, and then the holy oil upon the place, where the blood was, Levit. 14.14, & 17. The Believer first in order hath the atoning Blood put on him, and then the holy Unction of the Spirit. According to this order Faith is first of all; But if Faith and all other Graces are infused at once and together, then either they are infused before Justification, and so Sanctification is before Justification; or else after it, and so Justification is before Faith.  
Fifthly, This way there will be a congruity between the old Creatiowand the new. In the old, Light was the firstborn of the Creation, and then the other parts of the World were made; in the new, the first thing is the light of Faith, and then follow those Graces which make up the New Creature; Beholding as in a glass the glory of God, we are changed into his image, 2 Cor. 3.16. First the eye of Faith is opened, and then the Image of God drawn on the Soul; this congruity is the rather to be minded, because the Apostle, speaking of the Creation of Faith, doth it with an allusion to the Creation of Light. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 4.6. As if he had said; Light in the old Creation, and Faith in the new answer one to another.  
Sixthly, This way there will be a congruity between Christ form in the womb, and Christ form in the bear't. The blessed Virgin first believed, and then Christ was form in her Womb: Concetio Christi facta fuit, simul ac Maria in verba Angeli consentiens dixit; Ecce ancilla Domini, 
De Incarnate. lib. 2. Quest. 7.  fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum, Luk. 1.38. saith Zanchy. No sooner did she say an Amen of Faith to the Promise, but Christ was conceived in her; therefore after her Faith, the Angel immediately departed from her, as having his errand already dispatched: answerably the Christian first believes, and then Christ is form in him in all those sanctifying Graces which make up the holy Image of Christ. The Apostles expressing those Graces under the notion of forming Christ in us, Gal. 4.19. seems to hint out this Congruity.  
Seventhly, This way there will be a Congruity between the being of these Graces, and the acting of them; whilst both proceed from Faith depending upon Christ the head of Grace. The Believers life is in Scripture called a life of Faith; not as if there were not Love, Meekness, Obedience, Patience, with all the other Graces in him, but because Faith is the grand principle which moves every one of them. Faith worketh by love, saith the Apostle, Gal. 5.6. and so it worketh by Meekness, Obedience, Patience, and all other Graces, being as it were blood and spirits running in every part of the New Creature. All Graces are set a working by Faith, and if they also receive their being through it, there is a Congruity between their being and working.  
Upon these Congruities I take it, that Faith is first in order, and then other Graces.  
As to the actual exercise of Graces, It is Faith which sets them all a working. To this purpose it is observable, That all the worthy acts of Grace mentioned in the 11th. Chapter to the Hebrews, are there ascribed to Faith: so is Abel's excellent Sacrifice. enoch's walking with God, Noah's holy fear of the deluge, Abraham's obedience in leaving his Country, Moses 's self-denial as to the Egyptian Court, The valour of some Worthies in subduing Kingdoms; and the patience of others in suffering torments for the truth. The reason of which is, because Faith is the first mover, which sets all other Grace's a-moving, the General under whose conduct all Graces come forth in their courses, therefore the honour of all is devolved upon it. Now, how Faith sets other Grace's a-working, I shall first show in a general way common to all of them, and then more particularly with respect to some special Graces. In general Faith sets other Graces in motion by such ways as these.  
First, It looks on the Command which in Scripture calls for these Graces, as the very Will of God: And so presses for Obedience many ways; as first from the Divine Authority of it, In the word of a King there is power, much more in the word of a God, when known to be such. In the Council of Triburia a fancy touching an Episile come from Heaven made impression in some of them. Had it been really known to be so indeed, the impression would have been deeper. At the sound of the Command Faith knows, that it is the Lord, that the voice is from the excellent glory; and in that Authority presses to Obedience. But this is not all, besides God's Authority, it urges from his Love. It is (saith Faith) the voice of thy beloved, thy dear Father in Heaven, who hath cast his cords and bands of Love round about thee to draw thee to himself; and then the Heart must needs feel constraints and holy inflammations to Obedience, and be like St. Peter, who, when he knew it was the Lord, gird himself, and made towards him. God's Love hath dropped sweetness into the Command, and made all easy. Moreover, to make the stronger impulse on the Believer, Faith demonstrates, That the Command is just, and right, and good; that holy Love and Patience, and other Graces of the first Table are pure rectitudes wherein Man stands in his true posture towards God, his Goodness or Providence, or some other thing in him: And also that Justice and Temperance, and Charity are rectitudes wherein he stands in a true posture towards others, or himself for God's sake. And a Command so known moves so strongly towards Obedience, that a man, who would pay his debts to God, or his Neighbour, or himself, cannot, must not repugn.  
Secondly, Faith looks not only upon the letter of the Command, but upon the life of Christ. Where all Graces are set forth in lively and orient colours, really and practically exemplified to our view. Precepts possibly may have more of notion in them, but Examples have more of vivacity to attract the heart to imitation: above all the Example of Christ must be cogent to Believers, he went up and down doing of good; every step one odour of Grace or other brake from him; Subjection to Parents or Magistrates, or Zeal towards God in purging the Temple, or Humility in washing his Disciples feet, or Meekness under malicious accusations and blasphemies; or melting bowels, upon all occasions dropping Cures on the bodies, and Heavenly Truths on the Souls of Men; or admirable patience under great sorrows; and at last upon a tormenting Cross, where he drunk the bitter cup of wrath up to the bottom; and over and above all the rest, sweet Love and Obedience run through them all, with a pure intention to his Father's Will and Glory: And Oh! what a Sampler of Grace is here? and how strongly can Faith press for an imitation! what? shall I not tread in such pure steps, my Saviour being before? Of whom shall I learn if not of my Redeemer? Did he sweat and bleed, and die on a Cross for me, and shall I not follow him? Can I rest on his Merits and precious Obedience, and wave his holy Pattern? Was he to fulfil all Righteousness, and I none at all? If I abide in him, must I not walk as he walked? If I know the truth as it is in Jesus, must not those very Graces, which were true in him, be true in me also? Why doth the Spirit come and work those Graces in my Heart, but that they should be actuated? Unto what was I created in Christ, if not to good works? I find nothing but vanity in myself and my own ways, and shall I not walk in Christ and his holy Graces? If I follow him fully, shall I not see the Heavenly Canaan at last, and there receive a Crown of Life? Such a Pattern so pressed on a Believer must needs be a strong motive to the exercise of Grace. The Apostle would have us run our race, looking unto Jesus, Heb. 12.1, & 2. Fancy, as Naturalists tell us, hath done strange things; a Woman much looking on a beautiful Picture brought forth her Child very like it, as Galen relates, to be sure: Faith looking unto Jesus brings forth his Image in the Heart and Life.  
Thirdly, Faith holds out the Promises as incentives to the work: The Believer is an Isaac, a Child of Promise; the new Creature with its Graces is born of the Covenant, and ever after lives upon it. Every Grace hath some Promise or other to feed on. Love hath God dwelling with it; Fear hath his secret; Meekness his Salvation; Patience a crop of Comforts; and all of them have an entail of Eternal Life. And when Graces are acted there is a Promise of increase, To him that hath, that is, useth Grace, more shall be given, more of the same Grace; his Talon shall be doubled, his Path shineth more and more to the perfect day in Heaven; and withal more of the Divine Indwelling, Secret, Salvation, and Comfort promised; and at last more of Glory. Thus St. Peter speaking of divers Graces, saith, That if they be and abound in us, we shall have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Christ, 2 Pet. 1.8, & 11. Every Grace hath an entrance into it, and abounding Grace an abundant entrance; and all these Promises are sure in themselves, sealed by God's Veracity, and Christ's Blood, and sure to the Believer, being realized by Faith; and therefore must needs be very attractive to Obedience. Faith in a mere Command will make a Man follow God, though like Abraham he know not whither he go. Much more impulsive is Faith in a Promise, when he knows in so following he is going into an abundance of Grace and Glory. The lying Promises of Sin received into a carnal fancy will draw out Corruption into act, as we see in Men, who are drawn into Sins carnal and spiritual, much as their Father Adam was, by some Apple of Sensual happiness, or appearance of Self-excellency; how much more attractive must the precious true Promises of God be, when entertained by Faith? at the sight of these the Believer, as old Jacob, at the sight of the Chariots, revives and puts himself forth in the exercise of Grace, that he may inherit the Promises, and the vast treasures of good in them.  
Fourthly, Faith observes Seasons and Providences, and stirs up Grace's suitable thereunto. Insidels smother the greatest Works of God; some have said, That Sodom happened to sire as standing on a Sulphureous soil. Others, that Moses did but take the advantage of a low-tide to carry the Israelites over the Washeses. Nay, in the Jewish Church, the Pharisees and Sadducees, though great Rabbis, could not, because without Faith, discern the Signs of that glorious time, wherein the Messiah shown himself on Earth in such excellent Doctrines and Miracles. But Faith where it is, understands the language of Providence, and calls for suitable Graces: under a storm of Judgements it calls for the mourning Graces of Repentance and Humiliation, lamenting after the Lord; under a Sun of Prosperity it awakens the Psaltery and Harp, Praise and holy joy in God the Fountain of all. When Iniquity abounds, it is for David's rivers of tears to weep over it. When Gods Name or Worship, or Truth are at the Stake, it blows up the fire of Zeal; as we see in Paul's Paroxysm at Athens, Epiphanius his renting the Veil, and Athanasius' ardent adherence to the Truth against an Arrian World. As the Poor appear, Charity must come forth and scatter Alms. As Injuries and Reproaches fly abroad, Meekness must show itself, and rather than revenge, turn the other cheek. In Asslictions Patience must have her perfect work. And in Desertions there must be an humble waiting on him that hides his face. As God comes forth in this or that Providence, so Faith meets him in this or that Grace. Every Grace is one time or other called out by a Providence; and every Providence hath some Grace to answer it.  
Fifthly, Faith actuates Graces in a way of dependence on the Spirit of Christ: This is instar omnium; Commands, Patterns, Promises, Providences, are ineffectual without it. The New Creature moves not but by influence from the Head; the holy Spirit must first stir up the nest of gracious Principles, and then Love and Joy, and all other Graces show forth themselves. As the Humane Nature of Christ never acted in a separate way, but did all in Union with the Divine: So the Believers Graces do nothing apart, but all in Union with Christ. Those who think that gracious Powers or Principles may go alone and act themselves, know not the life of Faith; in which all Graces hang upon Christ as beams upon the Sun. The Milevitan Council pronounces an Auathema on those that deny the Adjutorium gratiae, which worketh to will and to do. And the Arausican speaking of that Adjutorium. saith, Quoties bona agimus, Deus in nobis atque nobiscum, ut operemur, operatur. When we do good, God works our works in us and with us. What the life of Faith is, St. Paul excellently describes, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, saith he, Gal. 2.20. And again, I labour, yet not I, but the grace of God with me, 1 Cor. 15.10. Faith is ever in dependence, leaning on its Beloved, and breathing after the holy Spirit, that the gales thereof may make the spicy Graces flow out; and upon this dependence the Spirit comes down in auxiliary Grace, and there is an effectual working in every part of the New Creature; Love in the Spirit, as it is called, Col. 1.8, and Joy in Spirit, and every other Grace in the Spirit, badding and blossoming, and filling the face of the life with holy fruits. Only it must be remembered, that this Dependence is in God's way, where Christ is experimentally Immanuel, God with us; to stir up all holy Graces into act.  
Thus Faith actuates Graces in a general way common to them all. I now proceed to show how Faith actuates this or that Grace in particular. And that I may not be too prolix in running over all Graces, I shall single some choice ones out instead of all.  
First, I shall begin with the Grace of Love. This is the great Command, the sum of the Law, a Divine Union with God, a bond of perfection among Men, a holy fire kindled by the Holy Ghost in the Heart, and the sweetness and easiness of every good Duty. This Grace whether it respect God or Christ, or our Neighbour, is actuated by Faith.  
As touching our Love to God, it is so actuated. The very light of Nature reveals a God, an excellent perfect Being, or the Being of Being's; whose Love, as the Philosopher said, is the principle and knot of the World, and so cannot but raise up a kind of Love toward him; the Will being necessarily in some sort affected with such an Excellency, though seen but by a glimmering light. Not that this Love is a Grace, or a Love in sincerity, or a Love sicut oportet, as an ancient Council speaks, or indeed in Scripture sense any love at all; because it loves not God above all, it must needs be inordinate, there being the same ataxy in loving God below the Creature, as in loving the Creature above God; But that there is a kind of Love, such as that dark light can raise up in fallen man. But when the light of Faith comes, it raises up the Grace of Love towards God, and ever after moves it into act by the pure discoveries of him, which it lets into the Heart from Scripture. He is (saith Faith) an immense infinite Goodness; Creatures are but drops of Being lying in the shell of Time, but he is the Ocean of all Perfections. They may be good for this or that in particular according to their finite kinds and spheres, but he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the All-things, as the Apostle calls him, 1 Cor. 15.28. And withal he is Love itself, as another Apostle hath it, 1 Joh. 4.16. Not shutting up his Allness in unapproachable Glory, but letting it out to Believers. His Love, though he ever had perfect Blessedness in himself, would yet pour out itself in making a world of good Creatures; and after Man's fall in giving his only Son to take hold of our nature, and in it to bring us back again to himself, that he might be our God, and make over his Allness to us; and all this in pure Grace, without any Money or Merit on our part, and in rich Mercy towards worms and forlorn Sinners; and to assure it to us, a Gospel is let down from Heaven full of great and precious Promises; such as are the very counterpanes of that Grace and Mercy which flow in his Heart towards Sinners. Under such muse of Faith, Oh how the holy fire of Love kindles? What high rates and estimates are set upon him? How is the Heart inflamed towards Union, to be one spirit with him? What Complacencies and Sabbaths of rest doth it find in him? What little things are Worlds and Creatures? What an All is He, and an Heaven his Love? What tastes are there of his Goodness and surrenders to his Will and Glory? Our Love goes after him, as his is by Faith let in upon the Heart.  
Moreover, Faith excites the Love of him by every act which it sets about; in its recumbencies it enamours the Heart, that he should give us leave to lean on his Grace, and in so doing bear up our weakness with Promises, and sweetly answer us in Pardons and suitable Graces; in its Obedience it is very ravishing, that he should chalk out such pure ways for us, and take us by the hand and teach us to go, and at last crown our faltering Obedience with Eternal Life. Ordinances, which to Unbelief are but dry things, are to Faith the lovely Chariots of the Spirit; Creatures, which are Idols to carnal sense, are to Faith fair mirrors of the infinite Goodness and Beauty in the Creator. Which way soever Faith turns itself, it meets with something or other inflammative of our Love towards him, who is , and all in all.  
As touching our Love to Christ, it is actuated in the same manner. A mere notion of Christ raises up some Love towards him; as we see in those Temporaries, who receive the word with joy, Mat. 13.20, which though it be but fructus horarius, hints out a kind of Love. Such a story as that of Codrus the Athenian King's dying for his Country could not but affect his Subjects; much more must the History of Christ dying for a World do so. Only this Love to Christ raised up by mere Evangelical notion, as the Love to God raised up by natural, is not right, nor elevated to a Divine pitch, till Faith come and show him forth by a light more congruous than all literal knowledge; and then there is, as the Church after an elegant description concludes, Totus desideria, all loves or desires, Cant. 5.16. Every thing in him is attractive; What a person is the Eternal Word, the brightness of the Father's glory? What an Union, Immanuel, God and Man in one? Heaven and Earth admirably blended together, as a pledge that God would be at one with us? What a robe is his Righteousness made as broad as the Law, and woven all of Love from the top to the bottom? What a Laver his Blood able to expiate a world of Sins, and save a world of Sinners? What a treasure is his Fullness, where the Spirit is in over-measure, and all its Graces in redundance running over into the vessels of Faith, and filling all its capacities? Who, that hath eyes of Faith, would not love him? To ask why we should love him, is as the Philosopher told him who demanded, Why Beauty was so taking? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a blind man's question; nothing but blind unbelief can hold us from his Embraces. Whatever posture Faith be in, whether contemplating him in the Mount, or leaning on the bosom of his Grace, or hiding in his Wounds, or sitting at his feet for Wisdom, or lying under his Sceptre for power against Sin; still it stirs up an holy Love to him. It finds his Blood in every Pardon; his Spirit in every Grace; his Wine-cellar in every Ordinance; his Seal in every Promise; and his Purchase in every Creature. No wonder if St. Paul count all things dung and dross for him. And St. Austin cry out, Sero te amavi Domine, Lord, 'twas late  I loved thee. True Faith would have none but Christ loving him, as St. Bernard used to say, Plus quam mea, meos, me; More than all my goods, my friends, myself: And as another holy Man did, weeping that it can love Christ no more.  
As touching our Love to our Neighbour, it is also actuated by Faith. Reason and Humanity raise up a Love towards Man; the Barbarians kindly received St. Paul and his Shipwracked Company, Act. 28.2. Titus Vespasian was called Amor & deliciae humani generis; the Love and delight of Mankind: Suffering none to go away sad from his Presence. Nay Herod himself in a Famine turned all his Plate and rich Householdstuff into Money, therewith to fetch Corn out of Egypt for the necessities of the People. Only this Love for want of Supernatural rectitude squints at Vainglory, or moves upon some other selfish Principles; or at best rises up out of a sympathy of the common nature. True Love towards our Neighbour, such as issues out of Faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. 1.5, is propter Deum, for God's sake: And as the Schoolmen say, There is but one root or habit of Love, whereby we love God and our Neighbour, because God as he is supreme Goodness is the formal reason of Love to our Neighbour; He only being to be loved for himself, and others but the material Objects of Love to be loved for him; hence also damned or irrational Creatures are not properly the Objects of Love, because not capable of Union with God in bliss. Unto this true Love Faith presses by some such Divine motives as these; is not Love a Command? nay, the sum of the second Table and must it not be obeyed? Can we wait for Promises, and not observe Commands? Or may we have the Love of the first Table without that of the second? Hath not God loved us in an incomparable unparallelled way, and shall we not love our Brother? Shall infinite bowels open, and finite ones be shut? If any shut them, how dwelleth the love of God in him? saith the Apostle, 1 Joh. 3.17. A touch, a sense of his Love let in by Faith will make ours flow out towards our Neighbour. Such a sweet pressure of it was on Mr. Fox, That he never denied any that asked for Jesus sake. A Believer acting as a Believer cannot be hard to his Neighbour, or say, Go and come again, as long as the Mercy-seat is open: And what is thy Neighbour? is he not thine own flesh? Nay, doth he not in a sense bear God's Image; and is he not capable of eternal Blessedness? And who that hath a hope of singing Hosannas in Heaven would not love such an one? And will not God be glorified thereby? Grace's show forth more of God than Creatures, and Love more than all the rest, because he is Love itself. The Primitive Christians told the World whose they were, by their one heart and one soul, 
Terrull. Apol.  Act. 4.32. And afterward their Love was pointed at by the very Pagans, saying, Vide ut invicem se diligant, See how they love one another. And do we know what and how great a thing may be in acts of Love? Some entertaining strangers have entertained Angels, Heb. 13.2. But possibly we may do more, we may feed or cloth or visit Christ in his poor members, and in the other World be repaid all again with usury. From such Divine Motives as these Faith actuates Love to our Neighbour; but this is not all, Faith actuates it in a regular and congruous way according to relations and propinquities; giving out a Love of delight to the Saints, as having most of God in them; a Love of mercy to the poor, as being Christ's Treasurers; a love of reverence to Parents, by whom we received our being; a Love of provision to Children, who are ourselves multiplied; and a Love of benevolence to all; not excluding enemies; to love enemies, is, (as one saith) inter mirabilia legis, one of the wonders of the Law; and yet Faith in the Gospel-grace will reach it. Hence it is observable, that when our Saviour bids his Disciples to forgive even such as trespass against them seven times in a day; They reply in a Prayer, Lord, increase our faith, Luk. 17.5. because Faith will move Love into act even in the difficult duty of forgiving others.  
Another Grace actuated by Faith is holy Fear of God; the very light of Nature revealing some glimmerings of his Greatness and Justice raises up a Fear of him: The Barbarians seeing the Viper on St. Paul's hand cried out of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a revenging justice; as if he had been a murderer, Act. 28.4. Pythagoras gins his Golden Verses with Veneration of the Gods. Among all Nations there hath been a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a fearing of God. The ancient Gauls out of reverence to their gods would not touch the consecrated Gold lying in their Temples. Upon the same account there were among many Ethnics, Nudipedalia sacra, barefooted devotions. Only this Fear was in itself but servile, and further corrupted by false opinions of the Deity, and hence sprung all that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, worship or superstition which was among the Heathens: The progeny of their ancient Daemons, their Charms and Exorcisms, their Festivals and Purifications, their Lustrations and human inhuman Sacrifices, and all their strange Rites and Ceremonies of Adoration, whereby they endeavoured to flatter and compound with their gods, and guilty Consciences. This servile Fear is further advanced when to the light of Nature is superadded that of the pure Law, which flashes in upon the Conscience and sets it on sire with reslections upon guilt, and expectations of wrath thereupon; but it is servile still, and chief looks at punishment. A man in such a state may forbear an act of Sin, but he is corrupt within, adbue vivit in eo peecandi voluntas, the love of Sin is in him still, as an Ancient hath it; His heart saith to his Sin as the Emperor Bassimus did to his beautiful Mother in Law, Quàm vellem, si liceret; Oh that there were no Law against it, or punishment to follow after it: He may do good, but not well; Intus reus est, & in animo non facit; he is guilty within, and in mind doth it not, as St. Austin saith; there wants that love of righteousness, out of which true Obedience issues; but where Faith is, there is castus timor, a pure filial fear of God, such as reuerences his Majesty as supreme, and sears Sin as the greatest evil; and withal punishment in its due place, though not principally or in a servile way; and among punishments, chief that of loss and separation from God as a greater evil than the rest. And as Faith sees the invisible one more or less, so this holy Fear is more or less moved into act. Of old the appearances of God in outward Symbols of glory struck an a we upon men; the high Thrones with its train made Isaiah cry out as an undone man, Isa. 6. the voice out of the whirlwind caused Job to abhor himself in dust and ashes, Job 42.6. The bright thining man turned Daniel's comeliness into corruption, Dan. 10.8. And what those outward appearances did in a sensible way, that Faith which is an inward Vision of God, doth in a Spiritual; looking on him by Faith, a dread falls on us from every Attribute or Work of his. His glorious Majesty makes us go and hid ourselves in the dust of our own vileness and nothingness. His pure Holiness comparatively turns us and all our comely Graces into rottenness. His dreadful Justice sounds so loud in the threatening, that we cannot but tremble at every word of it. Nay his very goodness and tender bowels lying all about us make us afraid to trample thereon by finning; even those in Nature do so, much more those richer one's in Grace. His very rain calls for out fear, Jer. 5.24. And what do those dews of the Spirit which are not common as the other? His bounding the Sea doth so, Jer. 5.22. and what doth his bounding corruption, which else would drown Soul and all in perdition? Oh how tremendous is our life! our Bodies living on the Blood of Creatures, and our Souls on the Blood of God; our natural being lying in the arms of that Power which bears up the World, and our Spiritual in the arms of that Grace which saves it; Earth flowing round about us with Blessings, and Heaven itself coming down in Promises, and carrying back our Hopes thither. Who in such Visions of Faith would not fear the Lord and his goodness? Who would not tremble at Sins indignity and ingratitude? After such mercies as these should we again transgress against him? If we wax wanton under Goodness, how soon may Sovereignty come down and recover all from us as forfeited! Heaven may shut up itself, and the dews of the Spirit cease, our Graces may all droop and whither, and our Hearts grow hard and stony; one lust or other may carry us into captivity, and our little remnant of Grace and Life may cry out as the Church doth, O Lord why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? and hardened our hearts from thy fear? return for thy servants sake, Isa. 63.17. After all our wantonness we shall be glad to come to holy Fear again; Sovereignty will make us fear him in every thing: such a fight of him by Faith as this makes him practically to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fear, as he is called, Psal. 76.11. Moreover Faith moves this Fear into act by showing the great evil of Sin: Sense looks on penal evils which press on the outward man, but Faith on Sin as the greatest of evils, it being an opposite to God, a blot to the Soul, a blast to the World, a forfeiture of Heaven, and fuel for the flames of Hell; a thing not to be done, Pro quantiscunque bonis lucrandis, aut pro quantiscunque malis pracavendis; for the gaining never so great a good, or for the avoiding never so great an evil, as Bradwardine speaks. Hence St. Austin said, That a man must not tell a lie to save a world. And Henry Flander being a Prisoner for the Protestant Religion, would not say, That his Wife was his Whore, no, not to save his life offered to him on those terms. Now Fear being a kind of flight from evil, the greater the evil is, the greater is the flight; and when an evil is the greatest of evils, such as Sin appears to Faith, the flight from it is as from Hell itself; and more if possible, according to the saying of Anselm, That if Sin were set before him on the one band, and Hell on the other, he would rather leap into Hell than fall into Sin.  
Another Grace actuated by Faith, is Zeal, which is an intense Love, or a mixture of Love and Anger, or rather the heat and boiling up of all the affections in the concerns of God and his Glory: This is a coal from the Altar, which warms Hearts and Lives, and sparkles out in every Grace and Duty; without it all is in spirituali gelicidio, cold and frozen, as in a Sunless World. Indeed without Faith Zeal is blind, as in the Jew, who in his heat for the Law opposes the Gospel and true Righteousness; Or it runs out upon Humane things as in the Papist, who cries up Traditions as a second Oracle; or it moves upon selfish Principles, as in the Pharisees, who did all theatrically to be seen of men. But when Faith comes, Zeal is according to the Word as its Rule, and for Divine things as the worthiest Object; and out of a pure intention to God's Glory as the supreme end. Faith brings us into Communion with God, and makes us one spirit with him; and hence it comes to pass, that those things which are dear to him are so to us; and those injuries which move his jealousy above, stir up our Zeal here below. To Faith God's name is nomen Majestativum, holy, reverend, fearful, glorious, precious, a name above every name, and therefore cannot be profaned; but Zeal will break forth, the reproaches cast on it fall more heavily on the Believer than those on himself or his near relations; Nay they press harder on him, than if he should hear one railing at Princes or Angels. Maris the blind Bishop of Chalcedon, being brought into the presence of the blasphemous Emperor Julian, fell severely on him as upon an enemy of God; and when Julian told him, That he was blind, and his Galilean God would not cure him: Maris gave thanks to God, who had taken away his eyes, that he might not look on so wicked a wretch as Julian. Such a Zeal doth Faith put forth for God's name. In like manner the Worship of God is to Faith, his Homage, honour on Earth, Crown of glory, Sanctuary of Presence, a thing too precious and pure to be allayed with Humane mixtures; if this be corrupted, our Zeal must needs kindle at it, and so much the more, because his facred jealousy hangs more over his Worship than over any thing else in all the World. To the other Commandments we find this annexed, I am the Lord, Leu. 19; but to the second, I am a jealeus God, Exod. 20.5. Hence Moses at the light of the Calf forgets his Meekness, and in a holy Passion broke the holy Tables. In the Constantinopolitan Council held about the year of our Lord 754, how hot were the Bishops against Images as a mere Pagan custom! and when they were cast down, how triumphant was the People's Zeal crying out, Hodiè salus mundo, now is salvation come to the world! In the fifth Council of Carthage they would have the very relics of Idolatry totally blotted out. Nay, Leo Bishop of Rome, when the Manichees Worshipped the Sun, forbade the Christians to worship towards the East, that they might have nothing common with them. Such a Zeal doth Faith stir up for the Worship of God, and no less for the Truth of God: this is a precious jewel, a secret out of the Father's bosom, a beam come down from Heaven to light us thither; if this be subverted, Zeal will stand up and vindicate it. Secundus when he was commanded to deliver up his Bibles to be burnt, answered, Christianus sum & non traditor. In the first General Councils how earnest were the Fathers for the Faith? they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it: The Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, will not pass instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; nor the Nestorian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, applied to Christ as man, instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, applied to the blessed Virgin. With what an heroical and gallant spirit did Luther cleave to the Evangelical Truth? Pia est & sancta hac in re nostra pertinacia; in this ours is a pious and holy obstinacy, saith he. Such a Zeal for truth doth Faith ralse up. In sum Faith hath a single eye at God's Glory; and so endears all things tending thereunto, that upon the least violation thereof Zeal will be ready to break forth in that behalf. Moreover, Faith gives a further advance thereunto by looking on the unparallelled Love of God. O what a Zeal hath he for our Salvation! Hath he not writ our poor names in the book of Life, and shall we neglect his glorious one? Hath not he sent his own Son in the flesh to be the great Ordinance of our Salvation, and to fill all the under-Ordinances with his Spirit and Grace, and shall we not be zealous in and for his Worship? Are not his holy Truths the daystar in our bearts, seeds of the New Creature, and Cordials of rich Comfort, and shall we not earnestly contend for them? Will he not glorify us to all eternity above, and shall we not glorify him in our little span of time here below? Whilst Faith is thus musing, the fire of Zeal must needs kindle in our Hearts.  
Another Grace actuated by Faith is Meekness; which is as cool in our own cause as Zeal is hot in Gods. This is the great Moderatrix of Anger, that it breaks not out Preter squum & bonum, not unjustly for a light occasion; as that Pope's did, who raged upon the missing a cold Peacock; and blasphemously added If God was so angry for an Apple, he might justly be so for a Peacock: Nor upon a just cause excessively; as it did in that great Conqueror Stephen King of Poland, who was so angry with the Rigenses about the Gregorian Calendar. that he sell into Epileptical sus and died. Natural Meekness is a beautiful thing, and so is Moral, but neither is a Grace: Natural being but the result of a sweet temper of Body, and Moral but the improvement of Reason; neither levels so high as God's Glory. In Natural we do but comply with our Temperament, and in Moral but sacrifice to our Reason: But the Grace of Meekness is a portion of that Dovelike Spirit which rested upon Christ, and aims at his Glory whose Goodness is resembled thereby. Hence it is observable, that where the Meekness is only Natural or Moral, Men will be angerless and sintully meek even when God's Glory lies at the Stake, their Meekness being as opposite to holy Zeal, as to rash Anger; but where the Grace of Meekness is, Men in their own concerns glorify God by a cool converse, and in Gods call for Zeal to vindicate his Glory. To promote this Grace Faith doth many things; as first, it looks at the infinite Longsufferance of God; O what doth he bear from Men! His Laws are violated, Blessings abused, Name blasphemed, Glory stained, and all by his own Creatures, and in his own World, and day after day, year after year, nay, one age after another, and yet the axletree of his Patience breaks not under it; 
〈…〉  a look at this will much meeken us. Excellent Melincton under great Calumnies was still of a cool spirit and when his Enemies said, That they would not leave him a footstep in Germany; all hi● reply was, That he should have one in Heaven And what made him so meek we may gather from his own words, Nullum hominem tantum sustinere malorum, quantum contumeliarum Deus; No man bears so many evils as God doth contumelies. And if we will be followers of God we must be meek; and as a further motive hereunto, Faith looks unto Christ, in whom Meekness is exemplified in our own Nature, that we may not say, flesh and blood cannot be so, under reproaches, injuries contradictions, bloody sufferings. He was as a lamb, not opening his mouth, when he was reviled be reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, 1 Pet. 2.23. And the Believer must follow him, and the rather because he hath a spirit of Meekness from him to do so. Such a spirit shown itself in Beza who, when in a Dispute about the Eucharist, the Jesuits called him and his Colleagues Foxes and Serpents, only replied, Nos non magis credimns quàm Transubstantiationem; We believe it as much as we do Transubstantiation. Again, this Grace is much advanced by Reslections: without Faith a man is a stranger at home, and knows every thing better than his own Heart, as St. Bernard faith of Petrus Abailardus, He knew every thing better than himself; but where Faith is, there is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, than a Man looks inwardly into his own Heart, and there finds such a black nest of Corruptions, that upon reproaches and injuries ostered he is ready to commune with himself and say, Are not such Sins with me, even with me, at least seminally, if not actually? Have not I done worse to God, and may I not do so to Men? Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est; such Reflections wonderfully meeken us. Hence St. Bernard saith, That he never saw another man sin, but he was jealous of his own Heart: Ille heri, & tu hodie, & ego cras, he did it yesterday, and thou to day, and I to morrow. St. Paul exhorts the Gàlatians in the Plural number to restore the lapsed in the spirit of Meekness, and adds the reason in the singular, considering thyself, Gal. 6.1. He changes the number, as the Judicious Interpreter observes, That every one in particular may deseend into himself, and there find an Argument for Meekness towards others. Moreover Faith promotes this Grace by viewing the Promises made thereunto, which are as large as heart can wish: Would we have the things of the World? The meek shall inherit the earth; and to sweeten it, They shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace, Psal. 37.11. Would we have the things of God? The meek shall be beautified with salvation, Psal. 149.4. And all the good tidings in the Gospel are to be preached to them, Isa. 61.1. For the true Way, They have God to teach them, and guide them in judgement. Psal. 25.9. And for a pure Comfort, They shall have joy in the Lord, and be every day increasing it, Isa. 29.19. Their meek and quiet spirit makes them beautiful in the eyes of God and Man; so rich a jewel proves them to be the elect of God, Col. 3.12. Such Promises as these are able to meeken us under any Injuries. Cicero saying, Justitiae primum munus est, ut ne cui noceat; and adding as a salvo, nisi lacessitus, Lactantius cried out, O quam simplicem sententiam duorum verborum adjectione corrupit! What a dainty sentence did he spoil with those two words! A Believer fixing his eyes on the Promises will not let go his Meekness; no, not for all the provocations in the World; the loss of such a Jewel would be more to him than all other sufferings.  
Another Grace actuated by Faith is Obedience: Two things in the Spouse did ravish the heart of Christ, her single eye of Faith, and the neck-chain of Obedience, Cant. 4.9. Obedience, as Samuel said, is better than Sacrisice: And as Luther, More eligible than doing Miracles. Faith, receiving Christ the Lord, is in itself Virtual Obedience to the Commands of God, and as an effect it produces actual. To this end it believes the Commands to be as they are; looking on the stamps of Majesty, Purity; Equity, Righteousness therein, it falls down and confesses, that God is there of a truth; this and that is the very Will of God, and must be done, primo intuitu, without dispute, and by all persons even the greatest on Earth. Prince's here are Subjects: Constantine and Theodosius, though Emperors, styled themselves Vassals of Christ. Zedekiab the King should have humbled himself before Jeremy the Prophet, 2 Chron. 36.12. Nay, the Kingdom of God, which is in every Command must be humbly received, though coming in the hand of a child or a servant, as a good Divine noteth. Here all men, and all in men, even the Princely powers of Reason and Will, with all the progeny of Thoughts and Affections must bow down before God: A famous instance of which we have in the Noble Andelot in France, who being questioned for a Protestant by his Sovereign Henry the second, bravely professed, That his Body, Estate, and Dignity was in his Majesty's power, but his Soul was only subject to God. From such a Supreme Authority in the Command Faith presses strongly to Obedience; and for a sweet Principle thereunto, it draws a free Spirit from Christ. Faith translates us into the Kingdom of Christ, and there by a singular Privilege above other Kingdom, all the Subjects are ready to do the Commands of their Lord. Faith converses much about the Wounds and precious Sacrifice of Christ, and there the free Spirit dwells, as the free bird in the Altar, Ps. 84.3. And being received by Faith, brings forth a numerous offspring in acts of Obedience. Faith makes us parts and pieces of Christ, and so we are anointed with the Holy Ghost in some measure; as his Humane Nature was in a transcendent way. Faith dwells in the holy Truth, and that makes us free indeed. Whilst Precepts give the Rule, Promises afford the Power; such a Promise as that, I will cause you to walk in my statutes, Ezek. 36.27. being mixed with Faith will empower us to all Obedience. Hence the Service of God becomes a freedom, and Obedience easy and natural moving upon the wheels of Love, and wings of the Spirit, which must needs be a very strong incentive to Obedience; and the rather because Faith ensures the acceptance thereof. Were we to obey under the Covenant of Works, which will bate nothing of pure sinless Perfection, our Obedience might be bootless and heartless; because every act of it would vanish and come to nothing by the adherent Corruption; which made Calvin say, That if a man did cull out the most excellent work of all his life, he would find some corrupt flesh or other in it. And St. Austin, Vae vite landabili, Woe to a laudable life without mercy: But we are to obey under the Covenant of Grace, whence Sincerity is accepted, and frailty covered. God gives a Tostimonial of Righteousness to Noah, not withstanding his Infirmities; and of Perfectness to Asa, notwithstanding the high Places. Uprightness passes for absolute Perfection, and the main of the Heart for all of it; insomuch that it is said of Josiah, That he turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, 2 King. 23.25. his Sincerity was taken as if all had been fulfilled; 
Retract. lib. 1. c. 19  according to that of St. Austin, Omnia mandata facta deputantur, quando quicquid non sit ignoscitur. There are Pardons ready sealed in Heaven for Believers Infirmities; God forgives what is ours in a duty, and accepts what is his own. Our Duties are taken into the hand of Christ the Mediator, and there perfumed with his sweet Merits; and though as they are in our hands they have dross and soil in them, yet as they are in his they are glorified Duties, and as sweet Odours to God. And upon such terms as these who would not obey? Every act of Obedience shall be accepted; and the light of God's Countenance will irradiate our Duties. And to give a further advance to this Grace, Faith looks within the Veil to the great recompense in Heaven; there are Crowns of Life, rivers of Pleasures, and plenitudes of Joy for ever; there holy Souls see all Truths in their Original, drink all Good out of the Fountain, and have God for their All in All; and all this is the reward of our poor imperfect Obedience. And as such is outwardly secured in the Promises, and inwardly realized by Faith, and therefore must needs move the Believer strongly to Obedience; no wonder if he burn in Devotions, or melt in Charity, or labour in other acts of Obedience, all these being but a sowing to the Spirit, will come up in a crop of Eternal Life; his Prayers will be turned into Hallelujahs, his Alms repaid in Everlasting Love, and all his good Works, which follow him into another World, shall be woven into a Crown of Immortality. And upon such an account who would not obey and live in perpetual resignation; as he did, who (as the story goes) always concluded his Prayers thus, Domine, quid me vis facere; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And lived in such holy joys, as if he had been in Heaven already?  
Another Grace actuated by Faith, is Patience. This is Meekness towards God, as Meekness is Patience towards Man, and respecteth God's Disposing Will as Obedience doth his Commanding: This is a Subjection to God, a Possession of ourselves, and an Admiration to Others. Hence the Constancy of Annas Burgus a Senator of Paris, suffering for the Protestant Cause, made many curious to know what Religion that was for which he so patiently endured death. To promote this Grace, Faith in the first place looks up to God as sitting at the stern and ruling all; every Affliction is a piece of his Government; to murmur against it is rebellion: in such a case nothing becomes us so much as with Aaron to hold our peace; or if we open our lips to do it with Job, Blessing the name of the great Giver and Taker. Is he not the Lord, and may he not do as he will in his own World, and among his own Creatures? Should not all flesh be silent before him? None but himself may or can be Rector of the World, and yet in every act of Impatience we aspire and virtutually would be such ourselves: and is he not infinitely wise and just in all that he doth? Every Wheel hath an eye in it, and every Cross its just proportion, and to think that it might have been better is to blaspheme Providence. This made that holy Man Mr. Dod in his Sickness after extreme sits of pain say to his Servant, O think well of God for it, for it is most justly and wisely done whatsoever he doth. And is he not gracious and mercisul, and doth not Mercy rejoice against Judgement? The measire of Grace (as the Jewish Rabbins say) is ever larger than the measure of Judgement, for one Cross we have many Blessings. And shall we receive good, much good at his hand, and not a little evil? If we have his Heavenly Graces, how much may we bate of Earth and its Comforts? If Sin, the greatest burden of all be taken off in a Pardon, may we not easily bear the lesser ones? Thus Mr. Greenham told his Son in Law, complaining of his Crosses, When Affliction lieth heavy, Sin lieth light: If guilt press not, any thing may be born, nay, is not he gracious and merciful in the very Affliction? Doth he not support with one hand, whilst he smites with another? St. Paul glories in his Infirmites', That the power of Christ may rest upon him, 2 Cor. 12.9. And the Noble Potamenia being threatened to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch, begged, 
Spond. Annal. Ann. 310.  That she might not be cast in all at once, but piece-meal, that they might see how much Patience the unknown Christ had given unto her; and doth he not make all work together for good? What are the issues of Affliction to Believers, but the purgation of Sins, trials of Grace, peaceable fruits of Righteousness, and inward joys and experiences of God's Goodness? Let Faith but cast up the reckoning, and it will appear, That he afflict us in Love and Faithfulness, and therefore it must needs be well taken; the wounds of such a Friend being better than the kisses of the enemy-World. Again, to advance this Grace, Faith makes a right judgement of Afflictions; to Sense these are grievous, but to Faith fit and congruous. The World in which the Believer lives, is a stage of Sin, and therefore fit to be a place of sorrow; how calm soever it was before Sin entered, it is now a troubled Sea, an Ocean of Evils, as Antoninus calls an Empire: Storms and tossing waves are proper in it, and to be expected by every Passenger; as much a Paradise as it was before, it is now a Wilderness, thorns and thistles of trouble grow naturally in it, and give many a scratch and sting to the poor Pilgrim in his way to Heaven. The Believer himself as a Man is born to trouble, and altogether vanity, all-Adam is all-Abel, or vanity, as it is Psal. 39.5. He comes into the World weeping, and very fitly, because by his Sin he hath set the whole Creation a groaning until now: and as a Believer he lives as a lily among thorns, so is his person in the World among wicked ones, which are as pricking briers on every side, and so is the Grace in his heart among the relics of Corruption, which are as thorns in the flesh: And whilst Sin is within, it is congrnous that trouble should be without; nay, more than congrnous, it is necessary upon many accounts. Affliction is purgative of Sin; it may be the Believers Heart may wax proud, and the tumour must be lanced, or light, and the vanity must be fanned away; it may be hard, and the furnace must melt it; or drowsy, and the rod must awaken it. One ill humour or other is ready to grow upon us; and O felices tribulos tribulationum! Oh happy thorns of Affliction, which let them out! It Medicine be necessary, so is Affliction, which is Spiritual Physic for our peceant Humours. Affliction is the way which Christ hath sanctified by going in it himself to the Throne of Glory; and Believers must follow him whithersoever he goes. Innocency itself suffering, lumps of dust and sin cannot but do so. He drinking up the full cup of Wrath, well may we take a few drops of it; especially seeing our sufferings are sweetened by his; and his Heaven will be ours at last, where the light momentany sufferings shall be remunerated with an eternal weight of hyperbolical Glory. Luther saith of himself, That looking on the Susserings of Christ, he counted his own as nothing. And St. Bernard makes Christ, Et speculum Patiendi & pretium Patientis, both a glass of Patience, and a reward of the Patient. Now we are tossing and toiling at Sea, but the port of Bliss is within ken, and anon we shall be there: In the interim we may tasie Heaven in the Joys of the holy Spirit, which sheds abroad the Love of God in our Hearts, and so gives us Praemium ante praemium, a lesser Heaven before a greater. Saint Paul saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I superabound or overflow in joy in all our tribulations, 2 Cor. 7.4. Philip Landgrave of Hesse being asked, How he could endure his long tedious Imprisonment under the Emperor Charles the fifth? professed, Se Divinas Martyrum Consolationes sensisse; That be felt the Divine Consolations of Martyrs. The gracious Presence of God is able to sweeten Prisons, Eghten Chains, and make fire and water paffable to Believers. Such things as these well digelled by Faith will make us keep a holy silence under all the Will of God.  
Not to name any more Particulars, I shall conclude this Point touching the actuating of Graces with one Observation more.  
Faith connects all Graces together as links in a Chain, and so by actuating one advances all in some measure. The Schoolmen do many of them allow a Connexion of all Moral Virtues in Prudence, and yet commonly affirm, That Faith may be without Charity: As if Spiritual Graces were not so well united as Moral Virtues. But the truth is, true Faith is never without Charity; true Faith makes us sons of God, Joh. 1.12. but without Charity we are spurious and Children of the Devil. By true Faith Christ dwells in the heart, Ephes. 3.17. and where he dwells, Charity cannot be absent; true Faith purisies the heart, Act. 15.9. and without Charity there can be no Purity. True Faith rests on the mere Grace of God in Christ, and that must needs in flame the Heart towards him, Tamum amamus quantum credimus. Hence Aquinas himself confesses, That though Faith and Hope may be without Charity, yet without Charity they are not properly Virtues. And Durandus saith, Credere in Deum non est praecise actus fidei, sid actus fidei & charitatis simul; To believe in God is not precisely an act of Faith, but of Faith and Charity together. So Inseparable are these two Graces. But leaving the Schoolmen, I shall proceed. Faith connects all Graces together in a triple way; it connects them in the fontal cause, the boly Spirit, which it receives; all Graces are from the Spirit, and the Spirit is received by Faith; hence rivers of living water flow in the Believers heart, Joh. 7.38. that is, All Graces flow there as waters from a fountain; it connects them in the Rule, the Command of God, which it universally respects. It is observed by Divines, That the five last Commands in Deut. 5. run thus, Thou shalt not kill, and thou shalt not commit Adultery, and thou shalt not Steal, and thou shalt not bear false Witness, and thou shalt not Govet. The word, And, points out to us, that all the Commands are coupled together by God, like the Curtains of the Tabernacle; all are as it were one body, and Faith hath a respect to every one of them, and in every one owns the same stamp of Divine Authority. He that said, Love thy God, said also, Love thy Neighbour: He that said, Be Zealous, said also, Be Meek, and Patient, and Obedient, and abundant in all Grace. It connects them also in the end, the Glory of God, which it looks at in all things; all Graces tend to that Glory, and Faith is the single eye which guides them all thither. Bonum opus intentio facit, 
Enarr. in Psal. 31. in Pras.  intentionem sides dirigis, saith St. Austin: Faith knows what that is wherein God would be glorified. All Graces being thus connected in Faith, which is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or firmament, (as the word is Col. 2.5.) to them all; it comes to pass, that Faith in actuating any one Grace, gives a strength and further growth to every other Grace. Thus it is in Graces respecting distinct Tables, the more we act our Love to God, the more will be our Love to our Neighbour: this, though belonging to the second Table, flows ex fonte pietatis, out of that fountain of Piety, which respects the first. Thus it is in those Graces which are seemingly contrary, as in Zeal and Meekness; the more we act our Zeal for God, the more will be our Meekness towards Men. Hence in the Primitive Christians, who were so hot for Christianity, was found a very meek Spirit; and the reason is, because a Man cannot truly actuate one Grace, but he will have more of that Spirit, which is fontally all Grace; and graciously multiplies Talents in the use of them: Neither can he truly obey one Command, but it will render his Heart more Obediential and ready to obey others also, as being enjoined by the same Authority: nor can he in one thing look at God's Glory, but it will in some measure incline him to seek it in other things also; and so the New Creature grows in every part, and his Path shines more and more to the perfect day in Heaven.   

CHAP. XI.  
Precious Faith considered in the Crowns and Statures thereof. The Divine Experiences of Faith, as it Experiments the Divinity of Scripture in the Precepts, Promises, Threaten and Supernatural Truths thereof: Concerning the Blessed Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence, Jesus Christ the Mcdiator, and the Efficacy of Grace.  
HAVing treated of Justification, Adoption and Sanctification, which are Fruits of Faith, and are more or less in all Believers; I now proceed to some other, which are The Crowns and Statures of Faith, and to be found not in all Believers, at least not at first; but in such as have made a good progress in Grace. Faith, have made a good progress in Grace. Faith, having obtained the Holy Spirit with all its Graces, doth now go on like The Baptised Eunuch, rejoicing in the ways of God, glorying in Free Grace, triumphing in Jesus Christ, warring against Corruptions, actuating Holy Graces, bowing down under the Commands of Heaven, sucking the Sweet-Breasts of the Promises, and waiting for the Heavenly Dews and Distillations of the Spirit; and in this holy Progress gathers up many choice Experiments more worth than a World. All learned Men are for Experiments, and every one would cry, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I have found it: the Sages of the Law are for tried Cases, which have been sub judice; the Physician sets a probatum est on approved Medicines; the Anatomists hunts after the arcana of Nature by Dissection of Bodies, and the Chemist by Dissolution thereof. Experience is procreatrix Artium, the very Parent of Arts, whose universal Precepts are collected by an induction of particulars; but there are no Experiments like those of Faith. Dr. Dees Spirits made as if they would reveal great Mysteries to him, such as they called the Cabbala of Nature, the Numbers of the World, the linea Spiritus Sancti, the Mirabilia Dei, and the Nova terra bringing forth without Tillage, but all these were but Dreams and Impostures; and so I suppose are many things in Chemistry, like helmont's Alkahest, wonderful, if true: But the Experiments of Faith are great Realities, and withal Divine, as much above those in the Sphere of Nature as Souls are above Bodies, and Heaven is above Earth. God in the Prophet calls on his People to baing in the Tithes for his House, and so by their Obedience to prove him, If he would not open the windows of Heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there should not be room enough to receive it, Mal. 3.10. When Faith goes on in a Tract of Obedience proving of God, Heaven opens in wonderful Experiences of him, the Manna of holy Truth is then tasted, the Hony-combs of Freegrace drop upon the Heart, Promises are realized & exemplified in Providences; Divine Helps and Salvations come down and call for Eben-Ezers to be set up for them; and Discoveries of heavenly things in their certainty and excellency are in a manner made, as if a Man could look into the Holy of Holies, and see God Face to Face. Some such Experiences I suppose the learned Rivet had in his last Sickness, in which he said of himself, In these ten days I have made a greater progress in Divinity, than in all my Life; but leaving Generals I shall come to Particulars.  
One great Experiment of Faith is touching the Truths of God, a Believer in his holy Progress comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, as the Apostle speaks, Cal. 2.2. At the first he hath a Stock of Divine Knowledge, but after Experience Riches, and all Riches of it; at the first he hath a true persuasion of the things of God, but after Experience a Plerophory or full persuasion thereof. Here I shall Instance in that one Fundamental Comprehensive Truth, which is pregnant with all other, viz. that the holy Scriptures are the very Word of God, and so to be embraced by all Christians: The Papists say, That the Authority of the Scriptures depends, at lest quoad nos, on the Definition of the Church, and that upon that account chief it is to be beloved by us. By the Church they mean the Church of Pastors, and those gathered in a Council to desine the Canon of Scripture. Saint Paul speaks of a Church which is The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, 1 Tim. 3.15. But, as our learned Whitaker hath observed, That is not the Church of Pastors but of Believers; and in truth the Word of Life is more purely held forth in the Lives and Experiences of Believers, than in the Gifts of Pastors. This Thesis some of their Grandees have prosecuted even to Blasphemy, saying, That without the Judgement of the Church they would give no more credit to Matthew than to Livy, and value the Scriptures much as they do Esop's Fables. That this Opinion is false is as clear as the Light: true Faith is a pure infusion, which hangs on the irradiating Spirit as a Beam on the Sun, and in Scripture sees, with the credenda, the reason of believing in the Divine Authority stamped thercon. The Ministry used about it may be Man's, but the Authority on which it leans must be Gods, 
Theol. Nat. Tit. 209.  Tota causa, tota radix, totum fundamentum credendi verbis Dei debet esse, quia ipse dicit, saith Raimundus De Sabunde. Unless we believe God for himself our Faith is not Divine; if the Fulciment of it be humane, it is such itself. Saint Paul would not have Our Faith stand in the wisdom of men, 
Comment. in Mich. 7.  1 Cor. 2.5. Saint Jerom saith, In homine spes vana, vera in Deo est; and a little after, Nolite credere in ducibus, non in Episcopo, non in Presbytero, non in Diacono, non in quâlibet hominum dignitate. If Believers believe the Scriptures upon the Authority of Pastors, Pastors believe them upon their own; Or if they say, that they have the Testimony of the Spirit, all Believers may say the same, and thereby believe as well as themselves, and without their Authority. The Thessalonians Received the Word as the Word of God without ask the Judgement of the Church, 1 Thess. 2.13. The Bercans Received it with all readiness, and instead of consulting the Church, Searched the Scriptures, Acts 17.11. The true Church cannot be known but by the Scriptures. 
De Uni●●● Feel ca●● 3. & ●●.  Thus Saint Austin writing against the Donatists saith, Sunt certe libri Dominici, quorum Autoritati utrique consentimus, utrique credimus, ibi queramus Eccl siam, ibi discutiamus cansam: And again, Ecclesiam suam demonstrent si possunt non in sermonibus & rumoribus Afrorum, non in Conciliis Episcoporum, non in literis disputatorum, non in signis & prodigiis fallacibus, sed in preseript● legis, in Prophetarum praedactis, in Psalmorum cantibus, in ipsius Pastoris vocibus, in Evangelistarum praedicationibus & laboribus, hoc est, in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorum Librorum Autoritatibus. And if I must know the Church by the Scripture, I must in all reason own the Scripture before I own the Church or its Decisions. The Church may bear witness to the Scripture, but in a subordinate Ministerial way: The supreme adequate witness thereof is only that Spirit, which outwardly indicted it in the letter, and inwardly imprints it on the Heart. The Church may bear witness to the Scripture, but it can add no Authority to it. If the Church hath Authority to define the Canon, it must have it from Scripture, and then the Scripture must have Authority even quoad nos before that Definition; unless they will absurdly distinguish and say, That the Scripture-Authority before the Definition, is only as to Pastors, and not as to Believers till after it. All the Church's Authority is from Scripture, and How can the derivative Authority add to the Primitive? The Scripture is Principium scientificum, and therefore to be received by its light without a quare, or reason why it is so; the Scripture is a Foundation to the Church, Eph. 2.20. and such a one that the Church is no further a Church than as it is built thereon; and How can the Church be a Foundation to the Scripture? The Scripture is a Law to the Church, every Soul must be under it; and How can the Subject-Church give Authority to the Law which itself is under? The Judgement of the Church hath been variable: in the Council of Carthage under Cyprian, it was Decreed that those, which were baptised by Heretics returning to the Church, should be rebaptised, the one Baptisin being only in the Church, and none without it, Vbi Ecclesia non est, Baptisma non est. Afterwards, the first Council of Carthage (called the First, not as if it had been first in time, but as omitting the first Cyprianical Council as antiquated) enacted that Baptism made in the name of the Sacred Trinity should not be reiterated, all crying out, Absit, against reiteration. In the seventh General Council of Constantinople the 338 Bishops cried down Images might and main, Quomodo Dei matrem, quam obumbravit plenitudo Deitatis, vulgaris Gentilium ars pingere audet? non fas est Christianis, qui spem Resurrectionis babent, demonum culturae consuetudinibus uti; flagitium est, as Gregorius Theologus said, Fidem habere in coloribus non in cord. Quis gloriam & splendorem Christi effigiare posset mortuis coloriius? said Eusebius Pamphili, in his Letter to the Empress Constantia. One would have thought that the broken Images would never have been set together again; but within less than half a Century comes the second Council of Nice, and there the 350 Bishops bring in Images again under the wings of the old Cherubims, and set them up upon jacob's Pillar, and back them with Fathers and Miracles. They throw out anathemas against the Iconoclasts, and reject with a Curse the Books of Eusebius as a Man delivered over in reprobum sensum. And are well persuaded that Angels are Corporeal, and may be pictured. A little after, and within the same half-Century comes the Council of Francford halting between both the former, speaking half in the Language of Ashdod, and half in the pure Language, allowing Images, but denying any Worship to them. And as touching the Canon, it will afterwards appear, how the Council of Laodicea differs about that from the third Council of Carthage; and how the fixth Council of Constantinople in confirming them both varies from itself. The Judgement of the Church hath been subject to Error; the famous Council of Nice had two lapses in it: in the twelfth Canon it forbids Christians, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to return to their Military Employment; and in the Ninteenth, it commands Rebaptisation of such as were Baptised by Heretics. The Emperor Zeno being expulsed, the Tyrant Basiliscus by the persuasion of Timotheus Aelurus wrote Letter in condemnation of the General Council of Chalcedon; unto which as impious as they were, no less than five hundred Bishops subscribed at the Tyrant's Command. And touching the Canon, if the Council of Laodicea be right in it, that of Carthage is not so; and consequently that of Constantinople, which takes in both, must needs be in an Error. These things premised; Can the unvariable and infallible Scripture hang upon a variable and errable Authority such as Man's ? May all the precious Promises of Life and Salvation be precarious and pendent on an Humane Arbitrium? Tertullian in his Apology speaking of that old Decree among the Romans, that no God should be consecrated without the approbation of the Senate, saith, Apud nos de humano arbitratu divinitas pensitatur, nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit. If the Authority of Scripture depend on the Church, than we may say, Nisi homini Scriptura placuerit, Scriptura non erit; and by consequence all the Faith of the Saints must be pendulous and hanging on uncertainties. If the Church's desinition be so momentous to Scripture, let us see what the Church hath done in it; Hath it collected the Canonical Books into a body? 'Tis probable Ezra collected the Books of the Old Testament into a body, and so think many of the ancient Fathers. And I suppose St. John collected the Books of the New Testament together; for he lived after all the other Apostles, even unto the time of Trajan; that by his vigilancy the Canon of the New Testament might be kept pure and unadulterate. When after St. Paul's death there was a Book called, Periodus Paul's & Teclae, spread abroad under the Name and Title of Paul; St. John discovered it to be spurious, insomuch that the Author of it confessed that he did it amore Pauli. And I believe what was done in this collection of the Canon was not done by an ordinary Spirit, but by a Prophetical Spirit in Ezra, and an Apostolical one in St. John. In the mean time it appears not to have been done by an act of the Church: but leaving this particular, When and how did the Church define the Canon? Such a momentous thing should have been done by the Primo-primitive Church, in the first Century, whilst the Church of Christ was a pure Virgin, as Egesippus said. 
Lib. 3. Dist. 21. Quest. 1.  Thus the School-man Durandus lays it down, Hoc quod dictum est de approbatione Scripturae per Ecclesiam, intelligitur solum de Ecclesiâ, que fuit tempore Apostolorum, qui suerunt repleti Spiritu sancto: No Church so fit to do it as that which had so much of the holy Spirit; but nothing was done in it in that Age. The so called Canons of the Apostles (which in the 85th. Canon take in three Books of Macchabees into the old Canon, and the Constitutions and Epistles of Clement into the new,) are clearly adulterate; these condemn second Marriages, deprive not a Clergyman of communion for Fornication or Perjury, or Thest, and speak of Altars, Oblations, Vessels, of Gold and Silver sanctified, Cantors and Lectors, and many other suchlike altogether unknown in those Apostolical times. About these Canons Mirè inter se digladiantur Pontisicii, saith one. Gelasius in a Roman Synod of seventy Bishops, declares them Apocryphal, in toto; Bellarmine rejects all but the first fifty, and I think all the Romanists cast away the 85th. Canon touching the Scripture as Supposititious. The first Virgin-Century doing nothing in this grand matter; one might have looked for it in the second or third; but there is no foot-step of it. In the fourth Century about the year 320 came the famous Council of Nice, and then it might have been expected, as the aptest foundation for their Orthodox Conclusions against Arrius, and withal for a stated Rule against all future Heresies; but there is a failure also, nothing was done in it. And into what Heart can it enter, that in all those 320 years there was no Canon, no Authority of Scripture, no foundation for the Primitive Christians to fix their Faith upon? In those days Paganism was strong, and Persecutions hot, and Divine Cordials necessary; and yet the Scripture for want of the Church's Definition, was not of Authority as to the Christians then living; I say, according to the Popish Thesis it was not. But to go on: Afterwards about the year of our Lord 368 came the Council of Laodicea, which in the 59th. Canon orders, That no Books should be read in the Church but the Canonical ones of the Old and New Testament; and enumerates as Canonical such as are received in the Reformed Church, only omitting the Apocalypse: And now had not that Omission been, and had this Council been a General one, the work had been done. But afterwards in this very Century about the year 398, the third Council of Carthage in its 47th. Canon reckons up as Canonical, Tobit, Judith, two Books of Macchabees, and five Books of Solomon, accounting Wisdom and Ecclesiastious to be two of them. In this Council St. Austin was present, who yet in his Book de Civitate Dei, Lib. 17. cap. 20, saith, That Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus in the judgement of the more learned were not Solomens, and were chief received in the Western Church; it seems the Eastern received them not. In the end of the next Century about the year 494. Gelasius Bishop of Rome with seventy Bishops enumerates the same Books as Canonical which are reckoned so in the Council of Carthage, save only that he omits the Book of Nehemiah, and names but one of the Macchabees. These particular Provincial Councils being of incompetent Authority to desine the Canon for the Universal Church, and withal variant, nay repugnant among themselves. Whither must we go but to a General Council? but Oh how late very late doth that come? How long will the Authority of Scripture and Faith of Christians be suspended? and to how little satisfaction will this desinition be? About the year 682 was the sixth General Council of Constantinople in Trullo, and as to this Point, what did it? It confirmed the Canons of the Apostles, the Council of Laodicea, and the Council of Carthage; which three in this Point being totally inconsistent each with other, every one by the leave of these Fathers who confirmed them all, may choose what Canonical Books he will have, whether those in the Canons of the Apostles, or those in the Council of Laodicea, or those in that of Carthage; and what pitiful incertainties are here? And now it is to little purpose to fly over many Centuries more till we come to the Councils of Florence and Trent, these are late ones; and as our Learned Whitaker saith, Non legitima Christianorum Concilia, sed Tyrannica Antichristi Conventicula, ad oppugnandam Evangehi veritatem instituta; and thus it appears even Historically that the Authority of Scripture depends not on the Church. But waving this Popish Thesis, in which I have by the way made this long, Digression: I proceed to the matter in hand.  
True Faith being a beam or irradiation from the holy Spirit, discovers, That the Scriptures in general are the Word of God; and which is to the Point in hand, in its holy progress it arrives at an experimental knowledge thereof; Peter Martyr wishes men to read the Bible seriously; and adds, Male sit mihi (ita enim in tantâ causâ jurare ausim) nisi tandem capiantur, sentient denique quantum divina haec ab humanis distent. Erasmus saith, Expertus sum in meipso; That there is little good in cursory reading it; do it duly and you shall find the Divine efficacy. That a Progressive Faith may attain an Experimental knowledge, that the Scriptures are of God, will appear by the ensuing Considerations.  
One noble piece of Scripture is the Moral Law; upon every apex of it hangs a mountain of Sense, say the Rabbins; every jot or tittle of it stands faster than Heaven and Earth, saith our Saviour, Mat. 5.18. This is the Summary of all Duties; all the Moral Precepts in Scripture are but as so many Commentaries on it. That this is of God, Faith experiments several ways:  
First, Faith experiments it by the impresses and holy inclinations in the Believers heart, answering, truly though not perfectly, to the Law. A Progressive Believer finds by reflection, That the Law is written in his heart; That his Heart is the very Epistle of Christ written by the holy Spirit: And withal he knows, that it was not always so; Time was, when there were no such characters or holy inclinations there, his Heart was worse than a mere empty Table: And hence he surely gathers, that those characters or imprinted propensities are the writing of God himself; and so comes experimentally to know the Epistle of God in Scripture by that in his Heart, and the outward literal Edition of the Law by the inward Spiritual one, which is a counterpane thereof, and answers thereunto as the stamp to the Seal, or one Tally to another. The mutual agreement between them once discerned is a practical proof, that both are of God, and written by one and the same holy hand. But you will say, there needs no Faith to make this experiment; the very Gentiles have the Law written in their Heart, their natural implanted Principles comprise both Tables; the first in that they tell us, that there is a God to be worshipped and reverenced; The second in that they tell us, That we must do as we would be done to; which Alexander Severus much delighted in. Unto which I answer, That there is a vast disserence between the natural Writing the Law in the Heart, and the gracious; The first is a relic or broken fragment of the Divine Image; its only or at least chief seat is in the Understanding, and there it stands in the dark in an abyss of black Ignorance; and in the mean while there is an hellish enmity in the carnal will against the Law of God. But the other is a pure perfect thing which stands in both faculties, being as an holy lamp in the Understanding, and as a Divine inclination in the will to do the Commends of God. Hence it appears, That there is not that soundation for this experiment in the Natural Inscription of the Law, as in the Gracious; the Natural being to the Gracious but as a little glimmering is to splendour; or as the broken pieces of a Picture are to the entire Image. It is with a Believer in this case as it was with Bezalceel; the Word of God came forth for making the Tabernacle, but Bezaleel had a fractical proof of it in the spirit of Wisdom given him for the work: Or as it was with Saul, the Word came forth touching the Kingdom, but Saul had a Practical proof of it in the spirit of Government vouchsafed unto him. And so it is with the Believer; The Divine Law is experimented in the spirit of obedience, and each particular Command is proved by some inward aptness answering thereunto. A notable instance of this Inscription we have in Maius the Germane Divine, who in his extreme sickness, having Consolatory Scriptures recited to him, bravely answered, Tace, tace, omnia cordi meo insixa tenco; hold your peace, I have all in my heart: Promises I suppose he meant; and without dispute the Precepts were there also.  
Secondly, Faith experiments it by the Divine Presence helping and comforting the Believer in acts of Obedience. The Rabbins say, That if two sit together conferring of the Law, the Shechimah is among them. And without doubt if but one single Believer be not a talking merely of the Law, but a doing of it, the Divine Presence is with him. Thus the Prophet to Asa, The Lord is with you, whilst you be with him, 2 Chron. 15.2. Thus our Saviour, If a man love him and keep his words, the Father and the Son will come and make their abode with such a one, Joh. 14.23. Such an one hath a Temple and Shechinah in his Heart; God will be there helping and comforting of him in his well-doing. The Church prays for help from the Sanctuary, Psal. 20.2. because that was a Symbol of God's Presence: And the obeying Believer cannot want help, because he hath a Sanctuary within him. The way of the Lord is strength to him, and waiting in it he renews strength, and mounts up by Auxiliary Grace as upon Eagles-wings. Whilst he is a doing the will of God strength comes in, as it did to the Levites that bore the Ark, 1 Chron. 15.26. and with strength holy comfort also; in keeping the Commands he hath great reward, inward peace, and joy unspeakable; some of the oil of Joy which is upon Christ the great Doer of God's Will, drops down on the Believer in his sincere Obedience. As all upright ones do, he dwells in God's Presence, as if he were in the borders of Heaven already; the light of God's Countenance irradiates his Duties. When therefore the Believer reflects on himself, and considers, what a dry Land rebellion dwells in, and what rivers of Peace and Joy water Obedience; how weak and foolish his heart was in doing his own will, and how help and strength came upon him in doing Gods; he comes experimentally to know the Command to be of God, whose Presence gave him such comforts and assistances therein: The good hand of God upon him is a proof that the way is right; the Peace growing on his work shows the righteousness of it. When in Elijahs time the question was, whether God or Baal should be God, the fire coming down from Heaven on the Sacrifice made the People fall down and confess, The Lord he is the God, the Lord he is the God, 1 King. 18.39. answerably when the Believer in the doing of God's Commands, feels the illapses of the holy Spirit inflaming and comforting his Heart, he sweetly experiences that God is in the Command of a truth.  
Thirdly, Faith experiments it in that the hope of Heaven is enlarged and heightened in the doing of Gods will. The more a Believer doth it, the livelier is his Faith; the warmer his love, the stronger his other Graces; the meeter his Soul for Heaven, and the richer his entrance thereunto, 2 Pet. 1.11. He shall not go to Heaven poorly or with a seant wind, but with full gales and rich Plerophories; by successive acts of Obedience his Hope rises higher and higher, and so gives an experimental proof, That the Command is the very will of God, and way to Glory; otherwise Hope would not grow and flourish in it, but flag and whither; as it uses to do in us, when we pursue our own ways. The Apostle would have men diligent in good works, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the full assurance of hope, Heb. 6.11.  plenissimè in animis vestris spes confirmetur, faith Beza. Immediately after the giving the Law God adds these words, Where ever I record my name, there will I come and bless you, Exod. 20.24. a blessing attends his Service. If God bless Obedience with an assurance of Hope, which is a fore-taste of Heaven, and presage of Glory; it is a full proof that his name is recorded in the Command. When a Believer walking therein comes to assurance, and so to be within ken of Heaven, he is sure that the way is right.  
Another excellent part of Scripture stands in the Promises: These are the Pearls of the Gospel, breasts of Consolation, and wells of Salvation, flowing out to Believers in temporal, spiritual, and eternal good things; each of these Faith more or less experiments to be Divine.  
As touching Temporal Promises Faith experiments them in every blessing which the Believer hath. Indeed outward things are but the nether-springs, and blessings of the left hand, dispensed promiscuously as if they were ludibria fortunae, the sports of chance. Providence is still ringing the changes; here an Ishmael may have his portion and full cup; even Crowns and Kingdoms, which lie at the upper end of the World, may come to the basest of men, Dan. 4.17. All things come alike to all; the Sun of Prosperity shines on the Bramble as well as on the Flower; the tempest of Adversity falls on the Garden as well as on the Wilderness. Love or Hatred cannot be known by these things, not by them as they are in themselves, or merely issuing out of Providence: But the Believer hath them by a singular Privilege, and in a way of Promise, and by reflection may know that he hath them so: When he doth not arrogate aught to himself, or like churlish Nabal, all in his Possessives say, My bread, my water, and my flesh; but really confess God to be supreme Lord of all, and himself but an accountable Steward of them; When he can cast his goods on the waters, and as it were send them to Sea in a voyage of Charity, expecting no return but in the other World, where these Corruptibles so used will rise in the incorruption of eternal glory; When he can charge all outward things to stand without in their own station, and not approach that heart which is a facred Temple or holy place for God to dwell in; When he looks on all the World as forfeited by Sin, and new founded by Christ the Mediator, and so tastes his precious blood in every good thing, and gathers all his comforts from his reconciling Cross; When upon a just call to Suffering he is willing to venture all his part in this life upon the mere Promise of a better, and had rather cast all his Mundane pearls over board than hazard a wrack of Faith or Conscience; When the purest sweetest Comforts here below do not satisfic his Soul, as smelling of the cask and channel of Creature-vanity, but in the fullest affluence of them he cries out, Dul●ius ex ipso fonte; a single God is infinitely sweeter than all; and none but he can fill up the gaping chinks and chasmes of my Hear; Deus meus & omnia, My God, and my all: Then undoubtedly he hath outward blessings not upon the common title of Providence only, but in a way of Promise; and by reflection on such things as these he may know that he hath them so, and arrive at a sweet experience of Temporal Promises. Such an experience multiplies the Loaves and wonderfully doubles and trebles the sweetness and comfort of every Blessing. Some learned Men have observed a difference between jacob's Blessing and Esau's; jacob's runs thus, God give thee of the dew of Heaven, and the fatness of the Earth, Gen. 27.28. Esau's thus, Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the Earth, and of the dew of Heaven from above, ver. 39 In jacob's the name of God is mentioned not in Esau's: it's true all Blessings are from God, but his name is mentioned in the one not in the other. The experienced Believer hath more of God and his federal Love in every Blessing than other Men. The Jews by a pious custom used to say over their Bread, Blessed be God who brought Bread out of the Earth; over their Wine, Blessed be God who created the fruit of the Wine; over their Fruits, Blessed be God who created the Fruit of the Tree; nay, and over their Flowers, Blessed be God who made the sweet smelling Herbs: and in general they added this, Whosoever takes aught out of this World without a benediction is as it were a robber of God. But the experienced Believer, as he hath a sweeter title to these things; so he may raise up his Praises for them to an higher strain than other Men; not only saying, Blessed be God and his Providence for such and such things, but blessed be God and his Promise also: All good things as well those of this life, as those of the other issue out of the Covenant of Grace. You will say, the Believer cannot yet make this experiment; for though he have some of the Temporal Blessings mentioned in the Promises, yet often and ordinarily he wants other of them. To which I answer, The Promises of Temporal Blessings are not absolute, but carry a tacit limitation of expediency. The main design of the Promises is Man's Salvation, and to this Temporals are not, as Spirituals are, simply necessary; but only have a remote tendency thereunto, and that not of themselves, but as they are overruled by God, who makes omnia cooperari in bonum, all things work together for good to them that love him. And hence the Believer expects from the Promises no other measure or proportion of outward things than what may conduce to his Salvation; and because he knows not what that measure or proportion is, he refers himself to the Wisdom and Faithfulness of God to order all for his good: and hence God doth not fulfil Promises of Temporals as he doth those of Spirituals: Promises of Spirituals he fulfils in specie, because they cannot otherwise be made good, a drop of Grace being more worth than a World; but those of Temporals he fulfils disjunctively, either in the Blessing itself, or in that which is equivalent by inward contentation and supportation, compensating the absence of the thing itself. These things being so, the Believer in what he hath may experience the Promise in the true proportion and meaning of it; and not withstanding his wants, may know, That in Christ he is so far heir of all things, that if he could want a world he should have it.  
As touching Spiritual Promises, these are either Promises of Grace, or Promises to Grace. As touching Promises of Grace, Faith may know these experimentally. The Believer reads in his Bible, That God hath promised to give an heart of flesh, to make a new heart, and a new spirit, to write his Law in the heart, to give an heart to know him, to circumcise the heart that it may love him; and many more suchlike: and afterwards reading over his own Heart, he may find these precious Graces all there, and be able experimentally to say of these Promises, as Joshua did of those made to Israel, Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord hath spoken, all are come to pass, Josh. 23.14. In every holy melting he finds the heart of flesh; in every holy frame the new heart and spirit; in every holy inclination the inward engraven Law; in every holy beam the Divine Teaching; in every holy affection the Spiritual Circumcision; all the Promises are scaled and really exemplified in his Heart; and what an admirable experiment is this? To see a Work within answering to the Promise in the Word, is a greater sight than if a Man could have stood by and seen the light start forth into Being upon the Almighty fiat spoken by God in the Creation; unto which the Apostle alludeth in setting forth the Divine light shining into the Heart in the face of Christ, 2 Cor. 4.6. The Magnalia of Grace are more wonderful than those of nature. Hence St. Chrysostom upon those words of the Apostle, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, Ephes. 2.10. saith of Regeneration, That it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, really a Creation, and more noble than the old one; as adding a benè vivere to that life which came from the old one. The experienced Believer hath cause to say, what hath God wrought? how fearfully is the New Creature made? all its Graces were written in the Promise, and now are fashioned in the Heart, where before there were none of them; How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God? how great is the sum of them? This Experiment was notably typed out in Isaac; he was by Promise; and as soon as he was born, the Promise was experimented notwithstanding the dead body and dead womb. The Believer the child of Promise is as Isaac was, saith the Apostle, Gal. 4.28. All the regenerating Graces are by Promise; and when these are brought forth, the Promise is made good maugre all the deadness of nature. By the Promises we are made partakers of the Divine Nature, saith St. Peter, 2 Pet. 1.4. that is, we have those Divine Graces which as the Creature-module will admit, resemble the Holy One, and so we have the Promises sealed up to us in Graces.  
As touching Promises made to Grace, such as are fulfilled in this life, Faith also experiments them to be Divine. In the Scripture the Believer meets with Promises of Pardon to such as repent and believe; of comfort to the mourner, of filling to the hungry and thirsty, of the Divine secret to them that fear God, of increase of Grace to the improver; and many more of the same nature. To experiment these the Believer by perusing the Scripture, and his own Heart, doth two things; first, He clears it up to himself, that the Graces in his Heart, to which such Promises are made, are true, through the irradiating Spirit vouchsafed to him. He may discover them to be such by Scriptural Marks, he may find that his Faith purifies and works by Love; That his Repentance and Mourning are chiefly for Sin; That his Hunger and Thirst are humble and industrious in the use of means, That his Fear is of God and his Goodness in a filial way; That his improving of Talents is in a way of dependence and holy diligence; and so certainly knows that these Graces in his Heart are real things. This foundation being first laid, than he proceeds to a second review of his Heart, and there he may find how Pardons have sensibly broke in upon him in a way of Repenting and Believing, or how the Sheaves of Joy and Comfort have followed his Tears, or how Satisfactions Manna-like have dropped down on his hungry Soul, or how Divine illuminations have come in and Crowned his Holy Fear, or how Talents have multiplied in the faithful using and actuating of them: And the Experiment thereupon will be complete, every Grace sooner or later being in some good measure answered by the Promises, which let out their sweetness to it as God hath ordained them to do. Thus the Believer sensibly enters the Land of Promise, and eats of the Fruit thereof, lifting up his Soul in The high Praises of him, who gave the Promises in the Scripture and fulfils them in the Heart.  
As touching Promises of eternal good things in Heaven, where there are Plenitudes of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure in the Presence of Him who is All in All, the completion of these is in another World; nevertheless the Believer hath an experimental taste thereof here. Whilst his Hope hangs upon them, he finds strength and comfort come into his Heart; whilst the weary World is tossing with troubles, O what a refreshing is it to look into Eternity! Hope, Eatring within the vail, is an Anchor to the Soul; and so stablishes it, that it doth not roll about with the wheelings of this changeable World, nor centre its happiness in any or all the Creatures. Let the World come in all its Fancies and glittering appearances of Good, it cannot call off the Believers Heart from Heaven, but it will be ready to point that way; or let it come with storms of terror and troubles, it cannot loosen the Anchorhold: the Believer will rather part with all the World, and his Life too, then let go his hold of Heaven: Ye took with joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves, that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance, saith the Apostle, Hebr. 10.34. Or, as the Words are in the Original; Knowing that ye have in yourselves a better and abiding substance in Heaven. He speaks as if they had carried Heaven in and about them, and in part they did so; for as Beza hath it on this place, Fide possidemus quod est in Coelis, By Faith we possess that which is in Heaven. All our Graces are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Heb. 6.9. Things having or containing Salvation; No parts or pieces of this World, but such as Heaven dawns and gins here below. The holy Spirit is as the First Fruits to assure us of the whole Crop in Heaven, and as the earnest of the total Sum of Glory which shall be paid above. The Believer here hath so much of Heaven as to make him strive, wrestle, run, work, watch and wait with his Loins girt and Lamps burning; and as the twelve Tribes to serve God instantly, Acts 26.7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; running with full speed, and stretching out himself in the Race, that he may come to the Crown of Life; and surely, his Hope, if fastened about a nullity, would not put forth such strong and vigorous operations. Heaven must be a real thing indeed, which so carries away the Heart from all the World and engages it unto itself.  
Another considerable part of Scripture stands in threaten against Sinners. Touching experimenting these, I need say very little: our Good God doth not give out Threaten in the same manner as he doth give out Promises; he gives out Promises that they may be fulfilled and experimented; but he gives out Threaten that they may not be fulfilled and experimented, but rather that by them Men may be warned in a way of Faith and Repentance To fly from the wrath to come. The applying of a Promise in a right manner makes it to belong to us, but the applying of a Threatening makes it not to belong to us: judging ourselves we prevent the Judgement of God. The Believer even before Conversion more or less felt the Threaten taking hold of him, and shutting of him up under Wrath, till Jesus Christ opened the Prison-dores and made him Free indeed: And if after Conversion he forget the old Chains, and run into wilful Rebellion again, he will feel them a second time; The bones will be broken and Comforts lost, the Conscience will be wounded, and the Wounds will Stink and be corrupt because of his foolishness. God may departed away, and leave the Graces withering, and the poor Soul all in the dark with Terrors round about it: This is a very sad Experiment; and yet undeniably proves that the Threaten are from God, his Justice appearing on the top of them like devouring Fire.  
Passing over those three great Pillars of Scripture Precepts, Promises and Threaten; I now proceed to the Sacred Truths, which lie therein, as Rich Veins of Gold and Silver do in a Mine: And to avoid Prolixity, I shall pick out of them some supernatural Ones, such as cannot be known by the mere Light of Nature, but drop down from Heaven in a way of pure Revelation; concluding with myself, That if Faith can make an Experiment in these, it may much more do so in others. I shall first instance in that Sacred Truth of The blessed Trinity of Persons in Unity of the Godhead: This is, as one hath it, Fundamentum Fundamentorum, The Foundation of Foundations; unless this stand fast all Evangelical Truths fall to the Ground; we are no longer Christians than we acknowledge it. So sublime is this Mystery, that as Saint Bernard saith, Scrutari haec temeritas est, credere pietas est, nosse vero vita aeterna est. And when Gregory Nazianzen was pressed to assign a disserence between those words, Begotten and Proceeding, he made this answer, Dic mihi, quid sit generatio, & ego dicam, quid sit processio, ut ambo insaniamus; distinguere inter processionem & generationem nescio, non valeo, non sufficio. This Truth is totally supernatural; it could never without a Revelation enter into our Heart; humane reason; no, not that of Adam could not reach it. Indeed there are strange passages touching it in Trismegistus and Plato: Trismegistus saith, God who is Mind begat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Speech or Word which is another Mind, and with that Speech another which is the Fiery God and Spirit of the Godhead. Plato speaks of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A most Divine Word, and of the begotten Son of the Good; and the learned Grotius saith. Apud Platonicos reperias, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, three Persons in one. But sure these men knew nothing of this Mystery; if they spoke somewhat like, they spoke not the same; or if the same, they borrowed it from Moses. Plato is called the Atticizing Moses; and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one and many, is an old Tradition derived from the Jews; and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is taken from Jehovah, or I am. Or, which is most probable, the notions of the Trinity in Plato and Trismegistus were foisted into their Works. How many Books have been put out under the names of the Apostles and ancient Fathers, which have not been truly such? Such imposture in the Primitive times was very ordinary: And if Men would be thus bold with Apostles and Fathers, what might they not do in Heathens? Besides, some think there are clearer notions of a Trinity in some of the Heathens, than in Moses' Books, and so by consequence the Heathens should know more of it than Israel; which is contrary to the Scriptures, which tell us, In Judah is God known, Ps. 76.1. and He hath not dealt so with any Nation, Ps. 147.20. It is therefore likely that such passages in Heathens were inserted into their Books, by Christians, in a way of Pious Fraud, such as was anciently used. This Sacred Mystery was intimated in the Old-Testament; Elohim in the plural, Created, Gen. 1.1. Let us make Man, saith God, Gen. 1.26. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth, Ps. 33.6. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, I say 6.3. The ancient Jewish Rabbins (as Petrus Galatinus hath showed) embraced this Doctrine. Rabbi Simeon on that in the Prophet, saith, Sanctus, hic est Pater, Sanctus, hic est Filius, Sanctus, hic est Spiritus Sanctus: the three Middoth, or Properties in Rabbinical Writers, are the three Persons in the Godhead. And the Cabalists have these words, Pater Deus, Filius Deus, Spiritus Sanctus Deus, Tres in Vno, Vnus in Tribus. In the New-Testament we have this Truth clearly laid down; in the Baptisin of Christ we have all the three Persons appearing, The Father in a Voice, the Son in the Flesh, the Holy Ghost in the Dove, Mat. 3.16, 17. The Primitive Christians used to say to any that doubted of the Trinity, Abi ad Jordanem & videbis, Go to Jordan and you will see it. Christ Commands. That Baptism should be In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Math. 28.19. Or, as the Greek Article imports, In the Name of that Father, that Son, and that Holy Ghost, which discovered themselves at Christ's Baptism. There are three that bear Record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are One, 1 Joh. 5.7. This Truth hath had many Opposites, as the Arrians, Samosatenians, Sabellians, Photinians, and of late the Socinians, who have strained their subtle Wits to undermine it if possible: tell them, That Baptism is in the Name of the Trinity; They will reply, That The Israelites were Baptised into Moses, 1 Cor. 10.2. Tell them, That There are Three that bear Record in Heaven, 1 Joh. 5.7. They will say, These Words are not to be found in the Ancient Greek Copies; nor in the Syriac; nor in the Ancient Latin Version,; but these are but Evasions. As for the first, They were Baptised, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unto Moses, there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; as Acts 7.53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as appears by comparing that place with Gal. 3.19. where Saint Paul of the same thing, saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and so To be Baptised unto Moses, is only to be Baptised by the Ministry of Moses, who led them through the Red Sea: Hence in the Syriack it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the hand of Moses. Again, it is one thing to be Baptised unto Moses, another to be Baptised in the name of Moses: Paul Baptised, but none in his own name, 1 Cor. 1.13. And again, the Israelites were improperly Baptised into Moses; they were not aspersed or immerged in water, neither was Baptism then an Ordinance of God as now it is. As for the second in St. John, that place undeniably proves the Trinity. The learned Stephens saith, That place is wanting in seven Greek Copies, but it is found in nine more ancient. St. Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesie, alleges this place for the Trinity. Athanasius urged this place against Arrius in the Council of Nice, and then no exception was made against it. Had it not then been in St. John, Arrius would have easily rejected it. I believe in the times of Constantius and Valens the Arrians blotted out these words as most pregnant against them, out of divers Copies. St. Jerom asserted the truth of our reading from the Greek Copies which he had; publicly contesting, That in those Copies where it was wanting, it was razed out by the fraud of Heretics. And St. Ambrose saith, That the Heretics did erade that place. This Truth stands fast in Scripture for ever and ever; and Faith embraces it. And which is more and to the Point in hand, Faith in its holy progress may, as I conceive, experience it. My reason is, the Church in all Ages down from the Apostles have worshipped the Sacred Trinity; Their Baptism hath been in its Name; their Doxology and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proclaim it; their Creeds all publish it; their Catechumeni were trained up in the knowledge of it; they ever worshipped, as Athanasius hath it in his Creed, one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; and that uno indiviso cultu, as Divines speak. This in all Ages hath been the Christian Worship; and upon this Worship answers and returns have come down from Heaven in abundance of Glorious Spiritual Blessings, such as are comprised in that Apostolical Prayer, The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen, 2 Cor. 13.14. The whole Trinity is adored, and the whole Trinity vouchsafes Gracious returns; Gratia quae datur, in Trinitate datur, saith Athanasius. Every Believer so worshipping hath returns from Heaven; and the Progressive Believer may know that he hath them; and in the experience thereof may experience That there is a Sacred Trinity of a truth. If the Trinity be a nullity, or as Servetus blasphemously said, An Idol, or three-headed Cerberus; Or, as Socinus belched out his impiety, A ridiculous invention of humane curiosity: Then the Christian Worship is no other than strange fire, vain ' Will-worship, and Idol-worship; nay, it is no Worship at all; none, because the Trinity its supposed Object is a nullity; none, because God looks on it as none. As when the Samaritans feared the Lord and served their Idols, 2 King. 17.33. The Text saith in the very next ver. That they feared not the Lord; their fear was as none, because of the mixture of Idol-worship: So when Christians worship one God, and a Trinity which is not, their Worship is as none at all. Upon such a Worship God will not open his eyes unless to punish it, nor make any returns but those of Wrath. When the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf, God's Wrath waxed hot, and was ready to consume them; much more may it do so, if Christians worship a Trinity which is not. In that of the Calf, as they meant it, there was only error in modo, for they intended not to terminate their Worship in the Calf but in God, as appears by their own words, To marrow is a feast to Jehovah, Exod. 32.5. But in this of a Supposititious Trinity, there is error in objectio ultimo, which is more provoking to God. If the Trinity be but the Idol of the brain, God will no more be enquired of by its Worshippers than he would by those who set up their Idols in their heart. Ezek. 14.3. no gracious returns are found in such a self way. A Believer therefore, who in Worshipping one God in Trinity, finds returns frequently and successively after Duties from the Mercy-scat, carries an inward seal and proof in his bosom, that there is a Trinity. This experimental proof of a Trinity seems to me evident in many places of Scripture. St. John saith, Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 Joh. 1.3. He saith not barely, Our fellowship is with God, but with the Father and the Son; neither doth he say it at peradventures, but as a sure known thing, such as hath the joy of the holy Spirit with it. St. Paul would have the Colossians to be knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the Mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ, Col. 2.2. Here is a Plerophory of understanding, nay, riches, and all riches of it: Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which is, as one saith, Illustrior notitia rei prius cognitae; A further knowledge orpractical acknowledgement of a thing before known; and these must needs import somewhat of experience. Our Saviour saith, If a man love me and keep my words, my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him, Joh. 14.23. In the 21. ver. he told them, That he would manifest himself to the obedient; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith he, conspicuum meipsum exhibebo, I will exhibit myself though Spiritually, yet clearly as it were to eye, palam & in media luce, as Beza hath it. Hereupon Judas asks him, Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us? unto which our Saviour answers, That the Father and himself would come and make their abode in such an one, ver. 23. The Abode of the Father and the Son in such an one is in a glorious manifestative way, such as gives an experience of their being there; and where the Father and the Son are, there also is the holy Spirit. Thus our Saviour in the 16. and 17. verses of that Chapter saith, That the Spirit should abide in them; and abide in them in a manifestative way: Ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, saith he. And in the 20th. verse he saith, At that day, that is, the day of the Spirits indwelling, Ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. Oh what rich glorious Experiences of the Sacred Trinity are here! and how happy the Faith and Obedience which arrives at them! Godly Men should labour to perfect Holiness, to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to get to the top of Godliness, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Apostle speaks, Tit. 3.14. to be Masters and eminent Precedents in good Works, that they may arrive at this great Experiment.  
Thus far touching that centre of Divinity, the Sacred Trinity.  
In the next place I proceed to the rare Supernatural Truths touching Jesus Christ; all which Faith may experiment. And here I shall begin with his Incarnation. Venit universitatis Creator, venit ad homines, venit propter homines, venit homo, saith St. Bernard. He was Immanuel, God with us; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God and Man in one Person; The Eternal Word was made flesh, 1 Joh. 1.14. God was manifest in the Flesh, 1 Tim. 3.16. And what say the Socinian Rebels to this Truth? Rationi sanae repugnat; duae substantiae proprietatibus adversae coire in unam personam nequeunt, ut sunt mortalem & immortalem esse, principium habere & principie career, mutabilem & immutabilem existere, saith the Racovian Catechism: One and the same Person cannot be Mortal and Immortal, have a Beginning and no Beginning, or be Mutable & Immutable. But reason itself, though too low a bar for this Truth to appear at, will absolve this truth from repugnancy: Body and Soul meet in one Person, adverse in Properties; the one being Corporal, the other Spiritual; the one Visible, the other Invisible; the one Rational, the other Irrational; the one Mortal, the other Immortal. This is done naturally, how much more may it be done Supernaturally? It would be against reason to say, That Christ were Secundum idem, Mortal and Immortal, having a Beginning and none; Mutable and Immutable; But it is not repugnant to say, That he is so in respect of the two Nature's Humane and Divine. Had not Christ been Man, he could not have suffered; had he not been God, he could not have satisfied: The Blood was from the Humane Nature, and the excellent Merit from the Divine. He that disbelieves either, must cast away Scripture which asserts both. This Truth stands firm in Scripture, as might be showed at large; but for the Point in hand, Faith may experiment it. The Believer may find in himself such fruits of Christ's Incarnation, as carry a resemblance thereunto, and are a kind of inward Seal thereof. The humane Nature of Christ was not brought forth of the blessed Virgin generatione sed jussione, not in an ordinary way by knowing a man, but in an extraordinary, by the power of the highest and overshadowing of the Holy Ghost: Answerably in the Believer, the new Creature is not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John 1.13. He that is such hath not known man nor his power in this great Work, but hath had the holy Spirit and its gracious overshadowings on the heart. They that dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his shadow shall return, saith the Prophet, Hos. 14.7. Unless the mighty Power of God come upon us we shall have no hearts to return to him. This resemblance is excellently set forth by Fulgentius; Forma praecessit in carne Christi, quam in nostrá side spiritualiter agnoseamus; 
De Incarnate. Christi cap. 20.  ex eodem spiritu renati sumus, ex quo natus est Christas; eodem Spiritu Christus formatur secundum fidem in cord uniuscujusque credentis, quo Spiritu secundum carnem formatus est in utero Virgins; The very same Spirit which form Christ in the womb, forms him in the heart. The Humane nature in Christ was united to the Divine in an Hypostatical Union; God and Man met in one Person, that they might meet in the Covenant of Grace: Answerably the Believer is united unto God in a spiritual Mystical Union, He is made one Spirit with the Lord, 1 Cor. 6.17. Christ was one flesh with us, and we are one Spirit with him; God is at one with us in Christ, and we may approach to God with holy boldness. The Humane Nature of Christ had no natural Subsistence, but subsisted in the eternal Word; suitably the new Creature hath no spiritual Subsistence in itself, but subsists in God and his Grace; By the grace of God I am what I am, 1 Cor. 15.10. St. Paul looked on his spiritual Being to be only by Grace. In Christ God was manifested in the flesh, and tabernacled in it; nay, the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in it, Col. 2.10. As low abject a thing as Humane nature is, the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in it, and will dwell in it for ever; suitably in Believers the Tabernacle of God is with men, he dwells and walks in them, and they may be filled with all the fullness of God, Ephes. 3.19. that is, have abundance of his gracious Presence with them. A Believer may find that he hath these resembling fruits in himself, and withal that, unless the Son of God had been incarnate, none of them would have been; no new Creature, but all men lying in the old rubbish of the Fall; no Union, but an unpassable gulf such as is between Heaven and Hell; no spiritual Subsistence, but a corrupt one upon the dregs of ; no heavenly Fullness, but a vacuity of all Grace: And from hence he may have an experimental proof of Christ's Incarnation, the Mystical Union being a proof of the Hypostatical, and God manifest in the Spirit of God manifest in the Flesh. St. John lays down this as a glorious Truth, That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, 1 John 5.5. and for proof of it he produces six Witnesses; Three in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, ver. 7. and Three on earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, ver. 8. By the Spirit we may understand the holy Spirit breathing in the Scripture, and witnessing in the heart; by the Water the sanctifying Graces and those sealed in Baptism; and by the Blood the precious Sufferings of Christ which pacify the Conscience: A Believer may experience all these three Witnesses on Earth, and so may experience the Incarnation of Christ. But to go on unto this of the Incarnation, I shall add two instances more touching Christ; the one is his Death, and the other is his Resurrection: The experiment of both is emphatically set forth by St. Paul, That I may know him, and the power of his Resurrection, and the fellowship of his Sufferings, being made conformable to his Death, Phil. 3.10. Tune recte cognoscitur Christus, saith Calvin, dum sentimus quid valeat Mors ejus & Resurrectio; Then we truly know Christ, when we feel the power of his Death and Resurrection in our own hearts. Jesus Christ died for us, His Soul was an offering for Sin, his Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Ransom for many; He satisfied God's Justice, opened a door of Mercy, and procured the effusion of the holy Spirit; and all this Faith may experiment. In the calms of Conscience the Believer may feel the atoning Blood of Christ, purging his heart from dead works to serve the living God; In the mortifying of Lusts he may find a secret virtue from Christ crucified, enabling him for the work; In all the sweet gales and operations of the holy Spirit he hath a proof of that meritorious Passion which procured them; and when he stumbles and falls into sin and drives away that Spirit for a time, in its return he hath a proof, that Christ is a Priest after the Power of an endless life. The vexed grieved Spirit might utterly forsake such faltering backsliding Creatures as we are, and leave us desolate for an habitation of Devils and unclean spirits for ever; but the endless life of Merit in Christ causes it to return to us again, and thereby gives us a most precious experiment thereof. At Swerin in Germany, there was a little drop of Blood included in a Jasper-stone, given out to be the very Blood of Christ: This every Friday at a certain hour was shown, and upon view seemed to open and draw out itself, as it were in three parts, and then to go together again: It was followed by great concourses of people, and esteemed very Sacred for 300 years. Had this Toy been true and genuine, I might yet say as Maius the Germane Divine did to one, who asked him, If it would not be a great Consolation to a poor Thief ready to die, to be told, That Christ according to the Flesh is so near him, that even in fune he may have him? At melius in cord, 'tis better having the Blood of Christ in the heart than any other way; such an having produces the glorious Experiments before spoken of. And as the Death of Christ is experimented, so is his Resurrection. In the Peace of God the Believer may read that the Debt is fully paid, and the Surety out of the prison of the Grave; In the inward spiritual Resurrecton he may find that Almighty power which raised up Jesus from the dead; In heavenly elevations and affections he may feel holy touches from Christ sitting at God's right hand, and attracting his Heart into the upper world: In the excellent ministerial Gifts in the Church he may know that Christ is above, and let's drop these for the perfecting of the Saints; and in his lively hope of the incorruptible Inheritance, he may prove the Resurrection of Christ by which he is begotten again unto it. Such Experiments as these wonderfully ratify the Faith of Believers, oil their Obedience, and multiply their Joy and Peace in Believing; and make each of them able to say in particular, Christ died for me, and Christ risen again for me; and lo here are the Witnesses of it in my heart.  
Unto these faced Truths of the Trinity and Christ, I shall only add one Instance more touching the efficacy of Grace in the hearts of men. The Pelagians, those Inimici gratiae, ascribe almost all to Free will, and little or nothing to Freegrace; making Grace rather to consist in the external Doctrine than in internal Operations: or if they admit any thing internal, it is rather in the illumination of the Understanding than in the change of the Will. But the Scriptures tells us clean contrary, of opening the heart and new-making it; of working the Will, and a day of power causing it; of raising the spiritually dead and creating us again in Christ; of putting his Spirit into us, and causing us to walk in his Statutes: These and many more Scriptures loudly proclaim the power of Grace, and the Believer may experience it. This is the clearer, because the sensus communis of Christians hath in all Ages run this way. David upon the willing Offering utters his experience of Grace in a way of admiration; Who am I and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort! For all things come of thee, 1 Chron. 29.14. All things come of thee, even willingness and All: In so Offering we do but give of thine own, as the Greek Christians use to say in their Oblations, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, thine from thine. St. Paul upon his experience ascribes all to Grace; I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: And I labour, yet not I, but the Grace of God which was with me. He acknowledges no Iness, but ascribes all his Spiritual Being to Grace; By the Grace of God I am what I am, saith he. St. Cyprian might find in himself what he so excellently said, In nullo nobis gloriandum, quando nostrum nihil est. St. Ambrose speaking of Cain and Abel, saith; Cain, as his name is Possession, acquires and arrogates all to himself; but Abel who knew his own Vanity, and that he had nothing the suo nisi mendacium & peccatuni, referred all to God. The former he calls improbum dogma, the latter bonum dogma; the good opinion which the just Abel's are of and experience in themselves. And in the last Chapter of that Book he saith, Quicquid sancium cogitaveris, hoc Dei munus est, Dei inspiratio, Dei gratia; which I suppose was his own experience. Blessed St. Austin that noble assertor of Freegrace (of whom Prosper said, Dum nulla sibi tribuit bona, sit Deus illi omnia; Whilst he attributed no good to himself, God became all things to him,) could never have wrote so magniticently of Grace, had he not had great experience of it. In his Book De Peccatorum Meritis, he gives a caution, Ne putemus nastrum esse quod Dei; and adds, Qui error multum est Religioni pietatique contrarius; To attribute that to ourselves which is Gods is an error much contrary to Religion and Piety: Christian sense is against it. Prosper who came after St. Austin hath this passage, Non est devotionis dedisse prope totum Deo, sed fraudis retinuisse vel minimum; gratia Dei repellitur tota, nisi tota recipiatur; To give 999 parts to Grace, and reserve one only to Man's Will is too much; true Devotion will not bear it. Tutius vivimus si totum Deo damus. Gotteschalcus' preaching up the Doctrine of Grace according to St. Austin and Prosper, suffered a close Imprisonment for above twenty years together for that Truth; and no question he experimented the power of Grace whilst he suffered for it. Bonaventura hath a notable passage, Hoc piarum mentium est, ut nihil sibi tribuant, sed totum Dei gratiae; It is the true genius of Believers to attribute nothing to themselves but all to Grace. And in the same place he saith, That holy Men know the influences of Grace; Potius experiendo quam ratiocinando; rather by experience than argument. The profound Bradwardine confesses, That at first Pelagius seemed to be in the right; it was more grateful to him to hear of Man's power in the Schools of Philosophers than of God's Grace in the Church; But afterwards Gratiae radio visitatus, being visited by a beam of Grace from Heaven, What a second Austin and Champion for Grace did he prove? His Book de Causâ Dei, against Pelagius is a sufficient witness thereof. After all, the great Luther saith in plain terms, That Liberum arbitrium est merum mendacium; Man's  is but a lie. And if any of the Fathers have predicated it, certè ex carne ut fuerunt homines, non ex Spiritu Dei sunt locuti; they spoke according to the flesh as Men, not from the Spirit of God; and saith of himself, That he would not have any thing of Salvation left in his own hand; and glories in this, Deus salutem meam, extra meum arbitrium tollens, in suum receperit; All is in the hand of Freegrace: And a little after concludes, Hec est gloriatio omnium Sanctorum in Deo suo. After this manner do all the Saints glory in their God, crying out over every. good thing in themselves, Grace, Grace. Many Books have been wrote touching Will and Grace: But were the experiences of Saints written and visible, there would appear such Magnalia or wonderful works of Grace, that every  person would say, Conclusum est contra Pelagianos; There is no doubt but the efficacy of Grace is very great and glorious in the Hearts of men.  
Thus much for a taste may suffice touching the experience of Scriptural Truths; Supernatural Truths may be experimented; much more such as fall in with the Light of Nature.   

CHAP. XII.  
The Divine Experiments of Faith in Scripture-Ordinances, Baptism, Preaching of the Word, Prayer, and the Lords Supper; and lastly in the great Works of Power recorded in Scripture.  
IN the next place I proceed to the Divine Ordinances in Scripture: These the Believer may experience to be Divine. God bore such a Testimony to the Typical Ordinances under the Law, that his People experimentally knew that they were from him. In Circumcision God set his Seal and Love-mark on his ancient People, and at the doing of it they blessed him, that a Child was brought into Covenant. In their Burnt-offerings fire from Heaven consumed them as a witness of their acceptation. Hence the Psalmist prays, The Lord accept thy Burnt-sacrisice, Psal. 20.3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in cinerem vertat; let him turn it to ashes, thereby testifying his acceptance thereof. In their first Temple they had many Symbols of God's Presence, as the Ark with the Tables in it, and Propitiatory or Mercy-seat; by the Vrim and Thummin they could ask Counsel of God; the Shechinab, the Glory or Majesty of God dwelled between the Cherubims; and acceptance in their Services and Sacrifices offered unto God. But pretermitting these as being but Shadows, and by Christians experimented in Jesus Christ the substance of them; I shall instance in the four great standing Ordinances in the Christian Church; and show how the Believer may experience them to be from God, and in that experience prove the Scripture, which appoints them, to be from him also.  
The first Ordinance I shall instance in is that of Baptism: This by the Ancients was styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Illumination, as ushering in the Evangelical light. St. Basil calls it Vestimentum candidum & signaculum sancium, the white garment and holy sign. It is by St. Austin named Porta Gratiae, the door of Grace, and first entrance into the Church. And by St. Bernard, Christianismi investitura, the first putting on Christianity. In Luther it is, Aqua non Creatoris sed Dei salvatoris, the water not of the Creator but of God the Saviour. Among the Jews the Proselyte of the Gates was only tied to the seven Precepts of Noah, but the Proselyte of Righteousness was bound to all the Mosaical Ordinances, and was initiated into Judaisin by Circumcision and Baptism, and the blood of Oblation. The Jewish Rabbins built this Baptism of Proselytes on that Command of God, Exod. 19.10. That the people should sanctify themselves, and wash their clothes, in order to the reception of the Law. Such as were Baptised they called, Renati, newborn, or regenerate; and reputed them to be Subalis Divinae Majestatis, under the wings of the Divine Majesty. But as yet Baptism was no Divine Ordinance but only a Jewish custom. Afterwards this custom was turned into a sacred Ordinance in John's Baptism, which was not of Men but from Heaven: He saith of himself, That he was sent to Baptise, Joh. 1.33. And by whom St. Luke tells us, The word of the Lord came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, upon John, Luk. 3.2. as a Divine Warrant for the Work. His Baptism is called, The Counsel of God, Luk. 7.30. And was sealed from Heaven by a wonderful Theophany, the whole Sacred Trinity manifesting themselves at Christ's Baptism by him. Afterwards Christ gave a solemn charge about it, Go teach all Nations, Baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Mat. 28.19. and adds a sweet Promise thereunto, Lo I am with you always even to the end of the world, ver. 20. Thus Baptism is firmly established in Scripture, and the Believer may experience it to be of God: He, though Baptised an Infant, wanting the use of Reason, and uncapable in himself to make any formal Vow or Covenant; yet finds a secret bond or obligation lying upon his Conscience, which remembers him of his Baptism in some such words as those of an Ancient; Abrenunciasti Diabolo & operibus suis, abrenunciasti seculo & voluptatibus ejus; Thou hast renounced the Devil and his works, the World and its pleasures, forget not thy Baptism. And the reason of this bond is, because Baptism is an Ordinance of Stipulation, called by St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the stipulation or interrogation of a good Conscience towards God, 1 Pet. 3.21. It is an entry into Covenant with God, and binds the Conscience. Were it no Ordinance of God, there would be no Stipulation, and so no Obligation upon Conscience. But when the Believer finds his Baptismal Vow pressing there, he knows that Baptism is of God. Again, he knows it by the inward strength and power which he receives from thence. The virtue of Baptism follows the Believer, as the water of the Rock did the Israelites, in all the travels of this World even to his dying hour; at which the oldest highest Saint may refresh himself by running back to his Baptism. When temptations come and assault the Believer, when Satan casts in his fiery darts to inflame the Corruption of the Heart, the Believer is the stronger to repulse them, because of Baptism. A pious Virgin, as Luther relates, used to oppose this to every Temptation, Baptizata sum, mhil facis Satan; I am Baptised, O Satan, thou canst do nothing. In the African Persecution under Hunericus, one Majoricus a fine young Man, being brought forth to suffer for the Truth, was thus confirmed therein by his Mother Dionysia; Memento, mi sili, nos in nomine Sacro-sanciae Triadis in Ecclesia esse Baptizatos; ah! ne perdamus illud preciosissimum indumentum, ne veniens, qui ad nuptias nos vocavit, non reperiat vestem nuptialem, & in tenebras exteriores ejiciamur; Remember, O my Son, that we were Baptised in the Name of the Sacred Trinity; let us not lose this precious Garment, lest when he comes who called us to the Wedding, he find no Wedding garment, and we be cast into utter darkness. This so strengthened the Young Man, that he suffered as a glorious Martyr for the Truth.  
In Baptism we are listed land enroled into Christ's Militia, and so go not to war at our own charge; but the great Captain of Salvation is with us, and strengthens us against Temptation. About the year of our Lord 433, the Burgundiuns were grievously afflicted by the Huns and finding no relief among Mortals, they applied themselves to the gods; and there being a great crond of Numen, at last they pitched on the God of the Christians, as most potent and present in Perils, and were Baptised, giving up themselves to Christ; after their Baptism they went to fight with the Huns, and with a few overcome many thousands of them: And I suppose they fought as well and were as good Soldiers against inward Temptations as against outward Enemies; for the Story saith, Ab eo tempore ardenti amore flagrabant in conservando Christianismo; From that time they burned with ardent love to Christianity. Thus they had a double signal proof of their Baptism, in the strength and Divine assistance afforded them against outward and in ward Enemies. Moreover the Believer may find in himself those Divine Blessings which are sealed up in Baptism, and so prove it to be of God. Baptism seals up Regeneration, and is therefore called by the Apostle the Laver of Regeneration, Tit. 3.5. And the Believer may find the New-birth in himself, We know that we are of God, saith St. John, 1 Joh. 5.19. Baptism seals our Union with Christ; and hence we are said therein To put on Christ, Gal. 3 27. and To be buried with Christ, and risen with Christ, Col. 2.12. Which two are notably adumbrated in the Baptismal Immersion into the water, and Eduction out of it. And the Believer may know his Union with Christ; he may not only believe, That Christ is come in carne Mariae, but show that he is come in carne sua, as Origen speaks; he may not only believe, That Christ died and risen again in the flesh which he took of Mary, but show that he is dead and risen in the Believer; that is, Christ's Death and Resurrection are felt in his Mortification and Vivification. Baptism seals Remission and divine Favour; hence we read of Baptising for the remission of sins, Act. 2.38. and the Believer may be able to read his Pardon, and see Heaven as it were open to him in the gracious favour of God. Thus by experiencing the Divine Blessings sealed in Baptism, he may satisfactorily prove to himself, That Baptism is an Ordinance of God.  
In the next place I shall instance in the Preaching of the Word. This (however slighted of late, some Papists calling the Protestant Ministers in a scoff, Praedicantici; and some Protestants, such as they are, calling Preaching Prating,) is yet a great Ordinance of God such as hath had a standing in the Church in all Ages. God himself was the first Preacher, first promulgating to Man his solemn Command touching the forbidden fruit; and after the Fall, that Protevangelium in the Promise of the seed of the woman, that is, the Messiah. Adam (as Franzius probably conjectures) was wont at his Sacrifices for nine hundred years to preach of the Messiah promised. Enoch as early as he was in the World preached of the last day, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints, Judas v. 14. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, 2 Pet. 2.5. and without doubt told them of the approaching Deluge. Abraham had his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Incipients or initiated Ones, whom he taught in the Divine Law as well as in arms. Afterwards in Moses' time there were Priests and Levites to expound the Law to the people. In Samuel's time there were Colleges of Prophets, and there the Word was preached to the people: In these Colleges was the first rise of Synagogues, and that of Naioth in Ramah, 1 Sam. 19.18, 20. is translated by the Chaldee Paraphrast, Domus Doctrinae, the House of Learning, because there the Word of God was taught. The Great Solomon was a Coheleth or Preacher; his Ecclesiastes is a Penitential Sermon of the Vanity of all things. The Prophets were Preachers of the Word, and so were the Scribes, who were therefore called Text-Men or Masters of the Text; and said to sit in Moses' Chair, because they expounded the Law. Also in the Jewish Church they did by the Imposition of hands called Semiea, ordain Presbyters; some of whom were for Judicature, and others for Teaching the Law: Thus Preaching came down successively to the Times of the Gospel, in which we have a solemn Command To Preach to every Creature; To be instant in season out of season, To labour in the Word and Doctrine; nay, To travail in birth till Christ be form in men. The Apostles, after their Master Jesus Christ who was the greatest of all Preachers, dispersed themselves up and down the world to propagate the Gospel. Paul went Preaching from Jerusalem to Illyricum, Mark was in Egypt, Matthew in Ethiopia, Thomas in India, Simon Zelotes in Britam, and others in other places, all labouring in the same Work. After the Death of the Apostles, this Ordinance was much esteemed in succeeding ages. Anciently the very Bishops of Rome were wont to Preach; and in the supposed Epistle of Clement to James the Brother of the Lord, mention is made of quotidiana Praedicatio. Tertullian speaks of feeding the people's Faith Sanctis Vocibus, with holy Words; And Origen saith, Omnes Episcapi erudiunt, all the Bishops Preach. In the Old, though not, as they are called, Apostolical Canons, we have this; Episcopus non docens deponatur, Let the not-preaching Bishop be deposed: and in the Old, though not, as named, Apostolical Constitutions; the manner was, first one Presbyter preached, than another, and last of all the Bishop. At this time there was good store of Preaching. Damasus the First, Bishop of Rome, in his Epistle de Chorepiscopis, shows how unlike Christ they are who preach not; Ipse enim docuit, ipse ovem perditam quaesivit, ipse propriis humeris reportavit; Christ did all himself. St. Austin and St. Chrysostom preached every day; ye heard yesterday, ye shall hear to morrow, is common in their Homilies. Many of the Writings of Ambrose, Nazianzen, Basil and Cyril, were only their Sermons to the People; and therefore in Concilio Vasensi held about the Year of our Lord 440, it was ordered, That if the Presbyter were sick and unable to Preach, Sanctorum Patrum Homiliae à Diaconis recitentur; The Deacons should read the Homilies of the holy Fathers. Gregory the Great in his Pastoral, saith, Qui verbum praedicationis subtrabunt, animabus morientibus vitae remedia abscondunt; The unpreaching Minister hides the Bread of Life from dying souls. The fourth Toledan Council, which was a little after Gregory, saith, Omne opus Sacerdotum in praedicatione consistit, Preaching is a Ministers All. In the Council of Mentz under Charles the Great, It was Ordered, Can. 25. Nunquam desit diebus Dominicis qui Verbum Dei Praedicet; On Sabbath days a Preacher must not be wanting; No, though the Bisliop be sick it must not, as that Can. saith. In the Oxford Constitutions made by Archbishop Stephen, Preaching is enjoined, ne canes muti merito judicentur. Nay, the very Council of Trent, saith, that Preaching is praecipuum munus Episcopi, the chief work of a Bishop. Such an Ordinance is this, and so highly esteemed in all Ages, no wonder if Bishop Morton said, The custom of not-Preaching is but a Babe in Christianity, and the defence thereof a new point of Learning in Christ's School. But to return to the Point in hand after this long digression; the Believer may experience this Ordinance to be of God. That it is so, is in part expermented before Conversion. Whilst St. Paul but a Prisoner preached of Righteousness, Temperance and Judgement to come, Felix though a Judge trembled, feeling moral bonds cast on his Conscience by the Power of that Word which is never bound. It is yet more fully experimented in Conversion, in which there is a wonderful change wrought; the dead being raised, new Creatures form, Lions turned into Lambs, and hearts of Stone into Flesh; all proclaiming that the Finger of God is in it of a Truth. Johannes Speicerus, as Scultetus relates, Preached so powerfully, That the very Strumpets, leaving their lewdness, returned home unto God. After Conversion the Experiment is yet more complete; the Word works effectually in them that believe, 1 Thess. 2.13. The glory of the Divine Attributes break forth in this Ordinance; out of the seeming weakness a Majesty appears in some sort, much as Christ's Deity sparkled out of his Humane Flesh. It is not the mere Voice of Man but of God, coming with an Authority more than Humane, and setting the heart, made like Josiah's tender by Faith, into an holy trembling at it, as a signal proof, that the Lord is the Speaker; One who hath the Keys of Heaven and Hell in his own hand, and upon Obedience or Rebellion is able to save or destroy. The Believer by the command and reverential awe put upon his Conscience, finds That there is a Divine Presence and Grandeur in it, which to oppose, is to strive and make War with God himself.  
Again, out of the seeming foolishness wisdom discovers itself. Whilst but a man is teaching outwardly to the ear, there is an inward Teacher in the heart: The Spirit of Revelation uncovers the holy things, and brings forth this or that sacred Mystery to the View, Intus datur, intus coruscat, intus revelatur, as St. Austin expresses it. The Father of Lights shows himself there in sacred Revelations; Christ seals up the Ordinance by the dropping of the holy Unction. A Believer meets with such illuminations as are far more precious than all the Lights in Nature. Hence St. Chrysostom's Auditors, when he was like to be silenced, cried out, Satius est ut Sol non luceat, quam ut Chrysostomus non doceat; It were better to lose the Sun, than such a burning shining light as he was. The entrance or opening of thy words giveth Light, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 119.130. When the Word preached is admitted into the heart by Faith, and there opened by the Holy Spirit, a celestial Light rises up, and bears Witness to the Ordinance. Again, in the midst of plainness Divine Omniscience shows forth itself; the Minister stands without, but the Word enters in and anatomizes the heart. Elisha proved himself a Prophet, in telling what the King of Syria spoke in his Bedchamber. Our Saviour manifested his Deity in answering to the thoughts of Men. When the Word preached penetrates into the retiring-rooms and inmost chambers of the heart, and there rifles the very thoughts and unriddles the purposes and inclinations; It is an infallible Sign that the Great Searcher of hearts hath sent a Beam of Omniscience along with it. The Believer, who above all other men studies himself most, desires much to know two things, viz. What of secret sin there is in him, and what of truth of Grace. And under this searching Ordinance he comes to see many a mote or black spot in his heart, such as he never dreamt of; and withal some marks and characters which to his comfort show him his uprightness: and in such Discoveries he sees the Great Revealer of Secrets co-operating with the Word. Moreover, whilst the Minister is unfolding the Gospel, such are the ravishing savours of Christ and Grace, as if a box of Heavenly Spikenard were broken in the Believers Heart: Pardon and Peace smell out of the odours of Christ's Merits, and Heaven itself out of his pure Righteousness: Through this lattice (how contemptible soever it be to carnal Men) Christ shows his all-desirable self and full treasures; Freegrace communicates pardons and love-tokens; the Divine Spirit breathes life and power into Believers, quickening and awakening to answer the pure Commands with Obedience; and this and that Promise let's out its sweetness, and flows as a Conduit of Celestial Wine, with admirable Suavities and Consolations. In such things as these Faith hath sweet Communion with God, and a sure seal set to this Ordinance. In the Preaching of the Gospel the Kingdom of Heaven comes nigh, even to rejecters, Luk. 10.11. Much more doth it do so unto Believers, who take the holy Mysteries and Promises into the bosom and complex of Faith, and thereby inflame their Hearts with the Love of Christ and Grace, as a sure witness that this Ordinance which carries so much of Heaven in it, is from thence.  
Next to the Preaching of the Word I shall set the Ordinance of Prayer: This is the ascent of the Soul unto God as the fountain of all Good. As in every lust there is a depression of the Heart to one Creature or other; so in every right Prayer there is an holy elevation of it to God. This gives great Glory to God; as it is humble, it reveres his Majesty; as upright, it owns his Omniscience; as believing, it glorifies his condescending Grace; and as importunate, it overcomes the Almighty, and takes the Kingdom of Heaven by violence; opening a door to that infinite mass or treasure of Grace which is laid up for those that strive and wrestle with him for supplies out of it. This is a Catholic Duty, good in all places. The Jews prayed in or towards the Temple, but now the whole World is consecrated for it; every where holy hands are to be lifted up; fit for all times, praying always, saith the Apostle, Ephes. 6.18. Not that we are to do nothing else, as the Euchitae or Messaliani of old dreamt; but that there is no time wherein the Mercy-seat is shut, or Christ not interceding above, or the holy Spirit not ready in some measure to assist Believers: Neither is there any time in which we should not carry about with us a virtual confession in our sense of Sin, or a virtual Prayer in our sense of Wants, or a virtual Praise in our sense of Mercies. Continuum desiderium est continua oratio, as St. Austin hath it. Vita hominis, saith Luther, nibil aliud est, nisi oratio, gemitus, desiderium, suspirium ad misericordiam Dei; Man's life should be a perpetual breathing after God. And withal it is incumbent on all Men; the first Adam in Innocency probably addressed himself to God in Prayer; and Jesus Christ the second Adam was much in it; the Ethnics by the light of Nature used it. It was an old Gentile-Law, Ad divos adeunto, go to the gods. Socrates prayed that he might be Intus pulcher, inwardly fair with virtue. Plato saith, Every one who is compos mentis, will in the beginning of any work invoke the gods. How much more must Christians pray, who have before their eyes a Gospel, a Mercy-Seat, and an open way into the Holy of Holies through the Veil of Christ's flesh! Unregencrate persons are bound to this Duty, as we see in the Command to Simon Magus, being in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, Act. 8.22; Much more Believers. Prayer is the breath of the new-creature, and badge of Christians; who are thus deciphered by the Apostle, All that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 1.2. Such and so great is this Ordinance, that the Jews (who prayed standing, and therefore called Prayer Gnammuda, or Standing) used to say, Sine stationibus non staret mundus, The world would not stand without Standing or Prayer. That this is an Ordinance of God, the Believer experiments many ways:  
First, He experiments it in the Assistances of the Holy Spirit; which is as Gales to the Sails of Prayer in its Voyage to Heaven; and as holy Fire to the Incense of it, causing it to ascend to the Throne of Grace. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, Rom. 8.26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, It lifts over against us, or helps us to lift up a Prayer, which else would be too heavy for us. Whilst the Believer is a-praying, O what heavenly melt are there! The Believer is like Ephraim, bemoaning himself; or as the Children of Israel at Mizpeh, lamenting after the Lord, and pouring out water, as if their eyes were turned into Fountains of penitential tears; or as the man in the Gospel, crying out with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief; Catching at Mercy with an hand trembling at his own Infirmity. Such melt and spiritual mournings over Sin, plainly show, That the Spirit of Grace and Supplication is poured out upon the Prayer; making it, like the bruised Incense, full of fragrancy, breathing out from a broken heart, dissolved into tears by the beams of Gods Love. And in this Evangelical thaw, What Divine enlargements are there! The heart is no longer in the Straits of Sin and Earth, but opened and expanded towards Heaven.  the praying Believer is a ware, his Soul sets him on the wheels, and his lips drop as the honeycomb; if not in the very entrance of the Duty, yet in the progress of it. The Psalmist in the beginning of the 38th Psalm, seems cold and frozen in Unbelief; God's arrows stick fast in him, his hand presseth him sore, the iniquities are too heavy, the wounds stink and are corrupt; There are nothing but bowings, breaches, and miserable roar: But before he hath done praying, his heart recovers again, In thee, O Lord, do I hope; thou wilt hear, O Lord my God, ver. 15. Sometimes at first there is a Cloud and dark Eclipse upon the Prayer; and yet a little after, Grace breaks forth with its Sunny beams, and draws out the heart towards God, They looked unto him and were lightened, as David speaks, Psal. 34.5; or as the words may be read, they looked unto him and flowed; their hearts were as a River running out with spiritual fluency and enlargments; such as are a real proof that the free Spirit is in the Prayer; and withal, What an heavenly ardour is there? While I was musing the fire burned, saith David, Psal. 39.3. While the Believer is a-praying, the Holy Spirit is as fire upon the heart, inflaming it into religious ascents towards God. The Believer stirs up himself, and takes hold on God by some Promise or other; and Jacob-like wrestles with him for Mercy, and will not let him go till there be a dawn or daybreak of Grace. He prays in his Prayer, and urges the Attributes of God upon him, and presses hard upon him with an holy immodesty or impudence, as the expression is, Luk. 11.8; and will not be said Nay. Much like Gorgonia, the pious Sister of Nazianzen, who lay at the Altar with Tears and Prayers, and said, That she would not departed, till she had her request; and accordingly obtained it of God. This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jam. 5.16, the inwrought Prayer, or Prayer wrought by God's Spirit in ours, and from thence poured out in an agony, or vehemence of holy Assections, panting and breaking with long after God and his Grace. Luther having prayed with great fervency, said, utinam eodem ardore orare possem, Would to God I could always pray with the like ardour; then should I always have this answer, Fiat quod velis, Be it unto thee as thou wilt. After this manuer doth the Holy Spirit come down on the Believers Prayer, and bear witness to this Ordinance.  
Secondly, He experiments it in his Access to God. The Devils, who are in Chains of Darkness, can make no approaches to God; there is an unpassable gulf between them and him. It is storied of a Germane Nobleman, that there was acted before him a Play of the five Wise and five Foolish Virgins; the Wise were St. Mary, St. Catbarine, St. Barbara, St. Dorothy, St. Margaret, to these came the Foolish for Oil; that is, as the Actor interpreted it, That they would intercede with God for their admission into Heaven; They knocked, and wept, and instantly prayed, but the Wise denied, and bid them be gone: At this sight the Nobleman was astonished, crying out, What is the Christian Religion, if none of the Saints will hear and intercede for us? And soon after he died of an Apoplexy. 'Tis sad being shut out from the presence of God. The Believer is, as they say of the Rhodians, in sole positus. He is nigh unto God, and hath his Religion proved to him, in that he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, access or manuduction unto God. The way into the Holy of Holies is open through the veil of Christ's flesh; and the Holy Spirit doth conduct him in thither. He may come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with boldness unto the throne of Grace; and there utter all his mind, as a Child doth to his Father. David, in the 13th Psalm, gins as if God were totally absent, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever? How long wilt thou hid thy face from me? But a little after we have him in the joy and triumph of Faith; I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation, saith he, ver. 5. The door of Mercy, which for a little time was shut up, soon opened again, and gave him a free access unto God.  
Thirdly, He experiments it in the returns of Prayer; the Promises, by which God binds his own bowels above, are let down here below in the Gospel. And as the Believer takes hold of them by Prayer, so God is touched with a compassionate feeling thereof. Whilst Ephraim was bemoaning himself in his Supplication, God's bowels are troubled and fall a-sounding at it, Jer. 31.18, 20. Coelum tundimus & misericordiam extorquemus, saith Tertullian; We knock at Heaven, and fetch down mercy from God. Prayer hath done Wonders in the world. At Abraham's Prayer. God stoops to such low terms, that he would have saved Sodom for ten righteous persons: Jacob by Prayer wrestles, and becomes a Prince with God; which is more than to have all the Monarchies of the World. Moses by it binds as it were the Almighty, and will not let him alone to consume Israel: Joshua stopped the Chariot of the Sun, and so made a long day for the improvement of his Victory: Elias locked up Heaven, and till he turned the Key of Prayer the contrary way there was no rain upon the Earth. In the time of Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher, the Christian Legion by their Prayers, procured Water for the Roman Army, and a scattering Tempest against their Enemies; and were therefore called Legio fulminatrix, The thundering Legion. Prayer hath a kind of Omnipotence in it, and can do every thing. Sometimes the Prayer is returned in Specie, in the very thing desired, as Hannah's was in a Son; whom therefore she called Samuel; that is, Asked of God. In this case the Believer hath a double Blessing in one; over and above the common Providence he hath a pregnant proof of his Prayer in it. A Blessing, which is a mere Providence, comes up, as the Corn doth, with the husk or chaff of one vanity or other, as a Memento of that blast which Sin brought upon the World: But that, which is a Fruit of Prayer, is as Manna from Heaven, pure and unmixed; a Blessing and no sorrow added to it; as being the Birth of the Promise and Covenant. The Blessings of the former sort are gathered up by Men as Acorns are by Swine without looking up to that Grace, which as a Tree of Life bears all the good Fruit: But the latter raises up the Heart in the admirations and high-praises of the great Donor, as we see in Hannah, who returned back her Son, assoon as received, unto God in Praise and Dedicacation. Critics have observed an elegant Paranomasia in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; therefore I have lent him to the Lord, 1 Sam. 1.28. Samuel was first Shaiil meel, Asked of God; and then Shaiil leel, lent or returned to God. Those Blessings, which are drawn down by Prayer, lie not dead here below, but are sent back again in Praise. Sometimes the Prayer returns another way, though it be not heard ad voluntatem, it is ad utilitatem: The answer is in some thing that profits us, though not to the express desire of our Hearts; it may be it is in the sweet composure of the Heart. Upon Prayer God comes in, and rebukes the Winds and Seas of Passion, and there is a calm and Divine serenity in the Soul. Hannab before Prayer was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit; but her Soul being poured out unto God, returned with a Divine sweetness; Her countenance was no more sad, 1 Sam. 1.18. It may be there is an inward support which is tantamount to the Blessing desired. Our Saviour's Prayer against the Cup of Wrath was heard, in that he was enabled to drink and overcome it. And St. Paul's against the Thorn in the Flesh, in that he had sufficient Grace to withstand it. Preclarè nobiscum agitur, dum adest Dei Gratia quae nobis subveniat, saith Reverend Calvin. In the Supports of Grace there is a signal answer of Prayer; it may be, over and above the Support, the Beams of God's Love break in upon the heart: This is a little Heaven here below, and richly transcends all this world. Bellarmin tells us a Story of an old Man, who used to rise from Duty with these words; Claudimini, Oculi mei, claudimini; nihil enim pulchrius jam videbitis: Be shut, O my Eyes, be shut; for I shall never behold a fairer Object than God's Face, which I have now beheld. The Love of God irradiating a Prayer is a ravishing sight, far better than life and all its comforts. It may be there is a transmutation of the Blessing into another; such as God, who improves the stock of Prayer to the best advantage, knows to be better for us. David prayed earnestly for his sick Child, and the return of it was in a Solomon, a Jedidiah beloved of God. One way or other the Believers Prayer returns into his bosom, being answered at lest secundum cardinem, according to the main hinge and scope of it, which is God's glory and Man's comfort or happiness. Thus Moses' Prayer to go into Canaan was answered according to the ground of it. Instead of the type God takes him up to Heaven the true Canaan, which was most for Mases' comfort; And instead of Moses a type of the Law, Joshua a type of Christ leads the people into Canaan, which was most for God's Glory. Which way soever the Prayer returns to the Believer, it seals up the Ordinance for Divine.  
In the last Place I come to the Ordinance of the Lord Supper: The outward Elements of this Sacrament our Lord Christ took (as Learned Men conceive) from a custom observed among the Jews at the Passeover, at the end of the Celebration whereof, the Father of the Family was wont to take a Cake of Bread, and after the blessing thereof to break and distribute it to the Communicants; and also after that a Cup of Wine in like sort, unto which some refer that Cup of Salvation, Psal. 116.13. The Bread and Wine among the Jews were but a Customary Rite, but Christ consecrated them into a Sacrament; saying of the Bread, This is my Body; and of the Wine, This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood, which could not before be said of them. In the Paschal Rite, it was only said of the Bread, This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the bread of affliction; and of the Cup, This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cup of the Hymn: But now, This is my Body, and this is my Blood. In this great Ordinance the Body and Blood of Christ are evidently figured out, and set forth before our eyes, as if he were Crucified among us. The seventh General Council at Constantinople, who knocked down all other Images, saith of this Sacrament, That it is Vera Christi Imago, the only true Crucifix or Image of Christ. And which is much more than an Image, the very Body and Blood of Christ are here truly and really, though Spiritually present to our Faith, being exhibited ut epulum faederale, as a Covenant-feast, or Love-banquet, cheering the heart of God and Man. The same Body and Blood, which in the Sacrifice on the Cross were a sweet savour unto God, and satisfied his Justice, are set forth in the Sacrament as meat and drink for our Faith, feeding us to Life Eternal. Here is Epitome Evangelti, a compend of the Gospel, the whole Covenant and Contrivance of Salvation is sealed in a bit of Bread and drop of Wine: Here the Believer meets with many rich Experiments, he feeds and lives upon a Crucified Christ, eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood; and what a Feast is this! 'tis much that our Bodies may live upon the Body and Blood of Creatures; but Oh incomparable Grace! Our Souls may live on the Body and Blood of God. One drop whereof, saith Luther, is more worth than Heaven and Earth. Cruci haeremus, sanguinem sugimus, & intra ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam, saith St. Cyprian. Haustu interiori in a Spiritual Mystical way, we do in this Ordinance cleave to Christ's. Cross, suck his precious Blood, and as it were fasten our Tongues within his healing Wounds. Whilst the Bread and Wine are Physically and Carnally united to us, we are Mystically and Hyperphysically united to Christ, becoming Members of his Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones; Spiritually dwelling in him and he in us, The same holy Spirit, which is upon him in Heaven, falling down upon us on Earth; and the Faith which is in us here below, ascending up to clasp and embrace him. In sinu Christi recumbimus, in cor Christi introspicimus, saith Luther; We lie in his bosom, and look into his heart. In our Pardon sealed we taste the sweetness of his atoning Blood, and in the effusion of the holy Spirit we drink at the sountainhead of Grace sprung up in his Humane Nature. We have here the whole Covenant or Charter of Grace sealed to us, and may believe not only ex promisso but ex pignore: Over and above the Promise we have a pawn or pledge of the Truth thereof. We saw not the inspired Prophets and Apostles penning down the Promises, but Ecce Signum, lo here is a visible sign and seal set thereunto; and sense leads in Faith to claim and possess them for its own: Hence our Saviour calls the Cup, the New Testament in his Blood, Luk. 22.20. The Cup (saith Luther) contains the Wine, the Wine exhibits the Blood of Christ, the Blood of Christ natifies the New Covenant, and the New Covenant promises remission of Sins, and with it a vast treasure of Blessings. Again, we have here the rich anointings of the holy Spirit. Among the Oriental Nations, and in particular among the Jews, there was Vnctio convivalis, a Feastival Unction, which they used as a token of welcome to pour on the head of their Guests: Thus there came unto Christ a Woman having an Atabaster box of very precious Ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat, Mat. 26.7. Whilst we are at the Lords-Table, we are anointed with fresh Oil; the holy Spirit is poured out in richer measures of Grace and Comfort, than it was at first. As a Spirit of Grace and Supplication it melts the Heart into godly sorrows at the sight of a Crucisied Christ: Sin being indeed the Jew and Judas, the betrayer and murderer of the Son of God; the Nails in his Cross, and Spear in his Side; the Gall and Wormwood in the Cup of Wrath which made him sweat drops of Blood, and under an horrid Eclipse of God's favour to cry out of forsaking. To look upon a groaning World travelling under an universal vanity, would stir up sorrow in any that had a sense of it; much more to look upon a Christ, a Creator bleeding and dying upon a Cross; to the least drop of whose Passion the dashing down of a World is a poor inconsiderable nothing. To look upon the broken Tables of a Law dearer to God than Heaven and Earth is very grievous; but to stand and see God for our Sin bruising and breaking his own Son and Effential Image in our assumed Nature, is matter of amazing sorrow. Never was Sin set forth. in such bloody Colours as in his Passion; never do repentant tears flow more purely than at such a spectacle. Here the Heart breaks in its closing with a broken Christ, and bleeds afresh over his Wounds, and turns the Sacrament of the Supper into a Baptism of Tears; and out of an holy hatred and revenge would have the violence done to Christ be put upon Sin the great Crucifier of him in the true Mortification thereof. As a Spirit of Faith it causes us to live upon Christ: Having no Righteousness of our own to answer the Law with, we feast and satisfy ourselves in the Righteousness of Christ; as in that which satisfied the heart of God, and is here made over to satisfy ours. We may surely say, The Righteousness of God is upon us; and as it hath no spot or wrinkle in itself, so it leaves no ground of scruple or jealousy in our Hearts in the midst of our Sins, which have Death and Hell virtually in them. We yet live upon the atoning Sacrifice of Christ. His Blood which was offered up to God through the Eternal Spirit, and by him accepted as a plenary Satisfaction for Sin, is now put into Promises and Sacraments, as into so many Basins, and from thence sprinkled on our Conscience to purge away all our guilt; our Sins are pardoned, and our Pardon passed under the Seal of Heaven. In the midst of our Wants, Faith can triumph in the immense Treasures of Grace in Christ set open in this Ordinance to all comers. Here's Eyesalve for our Blindness; Strength for our Weakness; Melting for the hard Heart; Cordials for Fainting-fits; quenching Grace against the fiery darts of Satan; and Healing for the bloody issues of Sin. From this Table we go, saith chrysostom, as Lions breathing fire terrible to the Devils themselves. Ante faciem Vnctionis Christi nullus omnino stare potest morbus animae, quamvis inveteratus, saith Bernard; Before the Unction of Christ the most inveterate disease of the Soul will vanish away. When once the Venetians were boasting of their great Treasures, a Spanish Ambassador told them, That his Master's Treasure had a root in the Mines of America. However worldly Men may boast of outward things, the Believers joy is, That his Graces have a sure root in the Mines and rich Treasures of Christ; in whom dwells all fullness of abundance and redundance running over in shares and measures upon all that are in him. As a spirit of Love it inflames the Heart towards Christ; Oh! what manner of Love is here set before us! the Fathers own Son and Image, passing by Angels, assumed our frail Flesh, and in it stood in our room: Having, though the Holy One, the Sin of the World cast on him by a wonderful Imputation; and though the beloved Son, the Wrath of God bruising and pressing him into a bloody Agony and Passion on our behalf. The Father's Eternal Joy and Splendour lay for a time in a dark Eclipse of Sorrow and Desertion, as one forsaken of God, that we might not be cast out into utter darkness; and bled and died on a Cross as one accursed of God, to keep us from bleeding in eternal flames, and to purchase a place in Glory for us. And all this in outward Elements is not only limmed out and figured to our senses, but sealed to our hearts, as that which we have a real share and interest in. And what attractives and inflammatives are here? Now, if ever, our Heart will breathe out itself in holy Raptures after Christ, and faint and swoon away in Lovesick desires, till it can catch hold and embrace him, and so taste the rare Delights and Complacencies of an Union with Him: And the greater those Complacencies are, the higher are the Desires, and reciprocally the higher the Desires, the greater the Complacencies; till at last the Believing Soul in rapes of Love breaks forth into Hosannas and Hallelujahs, touching its great Redeemer. Such Experiments as these prove this Ordinance to be Divine.  
Thus much touching the Ordinances in Scripture, and the Experimenting their Divinity.  
In the last Place I shall mention The great Works of Power Recorded in Scripture: many of these are Types of the Magnalia or Spiritual Wonders wrought in or for the Souls of Men. Thus the Ark which saved from the Deluge was a Type of Salvation from Wrath in and through Christ; Isaac, born of a dead Body and Womb, a Type of the New-creature brought forth by supernatural Grace; and The bringing Israel out of Egypt, a Type of the great Redemption wrought by Christ. These a Believer may Experiment in their Spiritual Imports and Mysteries, which are more great and glorious than the Things themselves. Not to be prolix in this; I shall only instance in two Things, viz. The Creation of the World, Historically set forth, Gen. 1. and The Miracles wrought by Christ, related in the Gospel. As touching Creation, as clear a Glass as it is of the Eternal Power and Godhead, the Philosophers were much mistaken about it: Aristotle asserting, That the World was Eternal; as if it were possible, That there should be an infinite orderly Succession of Things, or a third, fourth, fifth, etc. without a first; or as if a World, a Creature, could be made as the Son of God was Begotten, or join Eternity's with its Creator. The Stoics dreaming at least of an Eternal Matter or Chaos; as if that Axiom, ex nihilo nihil fit, which runs true in Nature, did reach God himself; or as if He, like our Mechanics on Earth, could not work without Tools or Materials: Or, as if the Gulf between Nothing and Being were so great, that Infinite Power could not fill it up, and fetch over a Creature from Nullity into Being. The Epicureans fancying the World to be made by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms luckily meeting together in the framing of it; as if the blind Particles of Matter could range themselves into a World full of delicate Order and Harmony; or as if the various parts, regular motions, and orderly dispositions in the great Universe could be but a chance; or as if the admirable consent and confederation of all the parts therein, in which contraries conspire and agree together for the good of the whole, were but a fortunate casualty. Such were the dreams of the Sophi; but the Believer by Faith understands, That the Worlds were framed by the Word of God, Hebr. 11.3. And over and above may experience a Creation, a precious New-creation in his own Heart; We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, saith the Apostle, Eph. 2.10. In this Creation Almighty Power is as much laid out as in the Old; and the Products of it are much more excellent than the other. Spiritual Light excels Natural; and the Firmament of Faith the outward One. The Living Water within exceeds the great Ocean; and Christ in the Heart, the Sun in the Heavens. Grace's are transcendent Creatures, and surpass even the Immortal Soul, which yet outweighs a World. The Believer may look upon his Holy Faith, Fear, Love, Joy, Hope and Patience, which make up the New-Creature; and say, All these were created out of Nothing, and called into Being, when they were not: Here is dextra excelsi, The right hand of the most High, the very same which made the World, and Vestigia Spiritûs Sancti, The footsteps of that Holy Spirit which of old moved on the Face of the Waters: Now I know, That God is a Creator indeed, and have a practical proof of it in my own Heart; every part of the New-creature bearing witness thereunto. As to the Miracles of Christ related in the Gospel, these were so famous, That Josephus mentions them; Celsus and Julian in their Writings against Christians durst not deny them; 
Grot. de Ver. Relig. 44. Camero de Verbo 441. Petr. Gal. de Arranis 447.  The Jews in their Talmudical Books, nay, and the Mahometans in their Koran confess them: And the Heathens moved with envy at them, caused the life of Apollonius Thyanaeus and his lying Miracles, to be described in mere opposition to Christ and his true ones. When John sent his Disciples on that errand, Art thou he that should come? that is, the Messiah: Christ returns this answer, Go and tell John, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up: As much as to say, In such Wonders as these is my Glory manifested. For the right understanding of these we must note; Christ did not come only or chief to cure the Bodies of Men, no, those Miracles, which in transitu cured their Bodies, 
Miracula christi, corporaliter facta, Spiritaliter intelligenda snut.  were ultimately leveled at their Souls, that by Outward Cures they might be led to seek Inward ones from Christ. Neither did he do all his Miracles on Earth; no, being Ascended and Sitting at the Right Hand of Majesty in Heaven he works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, those Spiritual Miracles on the Souls of Men, which are incomparably greater than those on their Bodies. How many blind Hearts (and those worse than blind Eyes) hath he cured by a Touch, as he passed by them in the Ordinances, causing them to see himself, the True light and Sun of Righteousness, together with all the Heavenly Mysteries which stream as so many Beams or Rays from him? How many deaf Souls have upon his Divine Ephatha been obedientially opened to the Commands of God; and though lame before, have Rose up, walked holily, and praised God? what Spiritual Lepers hath he by a Touch of his Spirit and Word cleansed? Quae enim immunditia, quae incredulitas, quae duritia, quod peccatum ad hunc contactum Christi consistere poterit? saith Ferus; No uncleanness, unbelief, hardness, sinfulness can stand against the Touch of Christ. What Sinners of all forts dead in Sins and Trespasses hath he raised up to a Divine Life? Saint Austin reciting that Christ had raised up three Persons, viz. The Maid in her Father's House; the Youngman carried out upon the Bier, and Lazarus four days dead and stinking in the Grave; adds, Ista tria genera mortuorum sunt tria genera peccatorum quos suscitat Christus; these three dead ones are three sorts of Sinners raised up by Christ. As the Maid in the house, so is the secret Sinner raised up intra latebras conscientiae, within the doors of his own Heart. As the young Man carried out upon the Bier, so is the open Sinner raised up out of known Sins: And as Lazarus dead and stinking in the grave, so is the customary Sinner raised up out of his old putrified Sins. At the voice of Christ the strongest bonds of custom are broken, and the poor Sinner comes forth into an holy life. These things being so, it appears, That the Believer may experiment the Spiritual Miracles of Christ; and from thence gather a proof in his own Heart, That the very same hand wrought the Corporal ones; especially seeing these latter are but types and shadows of the other, which he finds verified in himself.  
Thus much touching this Fundamental Experiment of the Scriptures: A Believer may experiment the Laws, Promises, Threaten, Supernatural Truths, Sacred Ordinances, and Great Works in Scripture to be Divine, and so have a Practical proof that the Scripture is of God.   

CHAP. XIII.  
Of the top and highest stature of Faith, the Believers Assurance of his good estate of Pardon and Salvation. That this Assurance is attainable, many ways demonstrated.  
HAving passed over the Believers Experiment touching the Scripture; I shall now proceed to another touching his own Estate. He may certainly know, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Dionysius speaks, That it is well with him, That he is in a good state of Pardon and Salvation. This is apex fidei, the top and highest stature of Faith; a Privilege which transcends Earth, and antedates Heaven to us. Here are those three things, Lumen, Laetitia, & Pax, Light, Joy, and Peace, which (as the Schoolman Halensis saith) render the experiment of Grace in the Soul truly certain. Here are Celestial Beams, unspeakable Joys, admirable Serenities, Sabbaths of Rest, Seas of Sweetness, and Beatitudes too great for the tongue of Men and Angels to express. Before the Believer walked only with the single staff of Recumbency and Resignation; but now he hath bands and troops of Comfort following after him from the Promises: His darling Soul is now richly provided for to all Eternity; Eternal Beanty is in his Eye, Infinite Goodness at hand for his Embraces; the lines are fallen in a kind of Paradise; his Portion is no less than God himself; all his Blessings are dipped in Love: The World may brand him, but the Spirit seals; In the midst of sweeping Judgements he is still one of God's Jewels; and as soon as Death dissolves him, Heaven receives him.  
Touching this great Experiment, I shall first prove, That it is attainable by a Believer; and then show in what ways it is to be attained. The Romanists hold, That no Man without special Revelation can be certain of his Pardon and Salvation; not with a certainty of Faith, 
Bellar. de Juslif. lib. 3.  which is infallible, but only with a certainty of Hope which is conjectural. The Promises indeed are sure, say they, but our Dispositions are uncertain: The Promises run Conditionally, If they return to thee with all their heart, 2 Chron. 6.38. and who can be sure that he doth so? Who can say, I have made my heart clean? saith the Wiseman, Prov. 20.9. Who can understand his errors? saith David, Psal. 19.12. Some Scriptures put a peradventure upon Remission, Who can tell if God will turn and repent? Jon. 3.9. Repent, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee, Act. 8.22. And the reason is, because of the uncertainty of our Dispositions: Faith is not Faith unless it lean on the Divine Word; and no Word saith, Such or such an one hath true Faith and Repentance, or is truly pardoned; Happy is the man that feareth always, Prov. 28.14. The heart of man is deceitful above all things, who can know it? Jer. 17.9. Assurance if vouchsafed, would but puss up Pride, and open a door to Licentiousness. Thus the Pontisicians. Their Divinity in this great Point is much like the Philosophy of the old Sceptics, those Patrons of all Uncertainty; who used to say, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Reason against Reason puts all Propositions in aequilibrio; the Balance hangs even without Declension, this or that way, after all debates imaginable; still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, perhaps it is so, perhaps not: It may be they do see and hear, it may be not; at least they doubt, whether they do it distinctly or no. After the same sort the Romanists do what they can to persuade Believers out of their Spiritual sense, out of which Assurance ariseth. It may be (will they say) thou repentest and believest, it may be not; or if thou dost them, it may be not sicut oportet, in such a manner as they ought to be done. Hence the Council of Trent Can. 9TH calls the certainty of Remission, vain and remote from all Piety. This is that Doctrine of theirs which Luther calls, Monstrum dubitationis, the monster of doubting; and withal asserts, That if they erred only in this, it were a just eause for us to separate from such an Infidel-Church. Learned Pareus styles it, Desperationis ossicina, the shop of desperation. Adding moreover, That it is Antichrists proper work to weaken the Faith and Hope of Christians. Indeed this Doctrine doth dispirit and emasculate Religion, turn Faith and Hope into mere Meteors, and set the Consciences of Men a-fluctuating in perpetual doubts and labyrinths. But let us see what they say for it, first distinguishing between the certainty of Faith, and the certainty of Hope; they allow the latter to Believers: And what manner of Hope is this? Is it a fallible conjectural Hope only? such a Spider's web may be found in an Hypocrite, who hath no lot or part in this matter: Or is it a true Divine Hope suitable to a real Believer? This even the School-man Durandus will confess to be such, That non potest non evenire, it cannot but come to pass, this will not make ashamed, Rom. 5.5. by disappointing the Soul where it lodgeth. It is the Believers anchor, pure and steadfast, Heb. 6.19. Such as will never leave him to the courtesy of a wave or rock, for it enters in within the Veil, and is fastened in Heaven. Faith and Hope, which they here vainly distinguish, are coupled so together in a Believer, that Hope cannot fluctuate unless Faith do so; neither is Faith certain without an Hope congruous thereunto. Faith is the Hypostasis or Subsistence of things hoped for, saith the Apostle, Heb 11.1. And Hope (as an Ancient hath it) is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The very Blood of Faith. They say indeed, That the Promises are sure and infallible; but withal, they put such an uncertainty upon our Dispositions, as to evacuate the very drift and scope of the Promises; which is, That Believers might have strong consolation, Heb. 6.18. Streaming out from those two immutable Things, The Word and Oath of God who cannot lie. But if the Believer must still be in doubt whether he have true Faith and Repentance; O how weak must his Comforts be, and how cold the Promises! He doth as it were but Tantalise at the pure fountain of Joy and Consolation. It's true, the Promises are Conditional; But are not those Conditions found in true Believers? May they not know that they turn unto God with all their heart, that is, seriously and sincerely? Remission and Salvation hang not on the degree of Faith and Repentance; but on the truth thereof: They cannot say, their Heart is clean with a sinless Sanctity; but they may, that it is so with a true Integrity, such as hath all the Promises entailed on it. A true Believer (saith St. Austin) may say, Sanctus sum, I am holy; and to say so, is not Pride but Gratitude: They cannot understand all the errors lying in the deep of the Heart; but they may the Graces brought in there by a new Creation. That J●m. 3. Who can tell if God will turn? Non tam dubitantis quam bene sperantis est; It speaks not so much doubting as hoping, that God would avert the imminent Judgement. That Acts 8. Perhaps thy thoughts may be forgiven, puts not a scruple on God's Mercy towards Penitents; but upon Simons Repentance, whether he would truly repent or not. Happy is the man that feareth always, saith the Wiseman; Not he that feareth with a servile Fear, for the Spirit of Bondage makes not happy; but with a filial: And that well consists with Assurance; for we may rejoice with trembling, as the Psalmist hath it, Psal. 2.11. Nay, it is advanced thereby; For it fears the Lord and his Goodness. The heart of man is deceitful, even the Believer's, so far as it is leavened with the relics of Sin; but as it is renewed with Principles of Grace, it is a true heart, as the Apostle calls it, Heb. 10.22. and so may pass a true judgement on its own estate: Though it cannot know all that is in its own abyss, yet it may know the general frame and bias of itself; and thereby discover its Sincerity. Hence the Apostle saith, If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, 1 John 3.21. If natural Conscience be a thousand witnesses, enlightened is ten thousand. Faith (say the Romanists) leans on the Word; and there is no Word That such or such an one hath true Faith and Repentance, or that his sins are pardoned and remitted: Unto which I answer, As to that, That no Word saith, that such an one hath true Faith and Repentance; it is to be considered, That when one Proposition stands upon the Word, and another upon natural light or experience; The Conclusion is de Fide. When in the 6. General Council the Fathers proceeded against the Monothelites by this Argument:  
Whosoever is true God and true Man bathe two Wills: But Christ is true God and true Man; Ergo he hath two Wills. The Major stood on the Light of Nature, and the Minor only on the Word; yet the Conclusion was the Fide. And when the Believer thus communes with his own heart in a practical Syllogism:  
Whosoever belieus and reputes bathe his Sins pardoned: But I believe and repent; Ergo I have my Sins pardoned. The Major stands on the Word, and the Minor on Experience; but the Conclusion is de Fide. If a Conclusion drawn from two Propositions, one standing on the Word, and another on other Evidence, be not de Fide, What will the Romanists do for their darling the Pope's Supremacy? To prove that such or such a Pope, suppose Gregory or Innocent were Supreme in the Church, They must argue thus:  
Whoever is Peter's Successor is Supreme in the Church; But Gregory or Innocent were Peter's Successors: Ergo, They were Supreme in the Church.  
In which Argument, though they would fain set up the Major upon Scripture, yet the Minor stands only on Election. No Scripture saith, That Peter's Successor must be a Gregory or an Innocent; nevertheless they would have the Conclusion de fide. But if a Conclusion drawn from such Propositions be de fide, then may the Believer, according to the practical Syllogism abovementioned, conclude in Faith, That his sins are pardoned, though no Word tell him, That he hath true Faith and Repentance. It suffices, that Experience tells him so. But as a further answer: Neither is the Word altogether wanting herein; for it sets out Faith and Repentance by infallible marks and characters, as common touchstones to try them by to the end of the World: And where those marks and characters are, it pronounces those Graces to be of the right stamp, and virtually tells Believers as much; and they being irradiated with the Holy Spirit, which shines upon both Scriptures and Evidences, may receive the saying, and confidently say, as St. John doth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, We know that we know him. This is the Faith, and this the Repentance marked out in Scripture.  
Again, as to that, That no Word saith, That such or such an one in particular hath his sins pardoned. The answer is easy, Universals include Particulars: That 1 Joh. 4.3. Every spirit that confesseth not that Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God, condemns the Mar●ionites as much as if they had been named. That 1 Tim. 4.3, forbidding to marry, condemns the Eustathians as much as if they had been named. That Threatening, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, being general, speaks Wrath to every Transgressor as soon as he is such. And so that Promise, Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have eternal life, being general, speaks Pardon and Salvation to every Believer as soon as he is such; All that believe are justified, Act. 13.39. No sooner doth this or that man believe, but the Promise speaks to him, Thy sins are forgiven thee; God saith to him, I am thy salvation. It may be he doth not understand it at first: However here is a sure groundwork for him to believe that it is so; and so accordingly he doth, as soon as Assurance comes in to him.  
Moreover the Romanists urge, That the Doctrine of Assurance puffs up Pride, and opens a gap to Licentiousness. Unto which my answer is a flat Denial: If our Saviour had thought, that Assurance would make men like Devils in Pride, or Beasts in Licentiousness, he would never have said, as he did to the Paralytic, Thy sins be forgiven thee, Mat. 9.2. Had they told us, That such a Worm as Pride would breed out of the Doctrines of Merit and Supererogatory Works, it might easily have been believed; but that it should drop from such an Honeycomb of Freegrace, as the Doctrine of Assurance is, is not reasonably to be imagined. Here's nothing of Merit, nothing of our own, all is pure mere Grace; the Believers Faith and Repentance is of Grace, and the Assurance of Pardon and Salvation is Grace upon Grace, Sealing-Grace upon Sanctifying: And whatever perverse abuse may be made of these, the natural tendency thereof is not to Pride; for a man after such Graces to forget the great Fountain, and set up an Idol of Self-excellency, is extremely unreasonable. Just as if he should say, Now I am in the bosom of Grace, but I would be cast out, and be held afar off; Now I have the warm Beams of God's Favour, but I would fain be in the Dark again; Who would argue thus? Will it not be much more proper, in an humble admiration to say as David did, Who am I? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 2 Sam. 7.18. Thy Love, O God, first made me a Vessel of Faith, and then filled me with the Oil of Holy Joy; What am I to be such a Receiver? All that I am is too small a return; nothing of self may remain for an Idol. Had they said, That Licentiousness might have been fathered on the Sale of Pardons and Indulgences, it had been veryright; These made Germany and other parts groan with all manner of wickedness: But to lay it at the door of Assurance, is abominable. Machiavelli was out in his Politics, when he would have Princes Rule by Fear; but he advised so, because he knew well enough, That following his Rules they could not be Loved, and therefore he would persuade them, that it was better to be feared. The true Obedience (for I look not on that which a man is haled unto as such) springs out of Love, for that fulfils the Law; and our Love springs out of Gods, for We love him, because he first loved us, 1 Job. 4.19. And the more his Love is revealed, the more ours is inflamed towards Obedience. In Heaven the blessed Angels, who see God's Face in Glory, are most intent upon the doing of his Will; on Earth holy men, who taste of his favour, walk the more accurately for it. The joyful sound of Pardon being in the Conscience makes the holy Walk easy, and a fair prospect of Heaven, sweetens every step. Obedience stands nowhere so sure as in the Circle of Love, which from God's Love, as the first Point, is drawn through ours round about into itself. God's Love coming down in Assurance, and ours returning in Obedience; his being inflammative to ours, and ours resignative to him: in such circulations of Love their is no room for Licentiousness. It's true Saints after such Pleonasmes of Love may fall foully; but do they fall because assured? Do they turn Enemies to God, because they know themselves Friends? Can the Light of God's Countenance dispose them to Works of Darkness? May the choice Influences of Heaven make them earthly and sensual? Will the Prodigal once returned, run away the sooner from his Father's House, because of the Kiss, and Robe, and Ring, and Fatted Calf freely bestowed upon him? Such things as these do involve many Paradoxes and Repugnancies in them; and withal cast dirt upon Heaven, and blaspheme the Witnessing Spirit: and therefore are justly abominable to the Saints, who experience the contrary in their own Hearts.  
Having thus far gone through the Enemy's Camp, I come now to lay down my Thesis to be proved, viz. That a Believer may be certainly and infallibly assured of his Pardon and Salvation; I say a Believer may be assured: an Unbeliever while such is not a subject capable of Assurance; he hath Plague-Sores and Tokens of Wrath upon him, but as yet never a Beam of Grace or Love: the Justice and Holiness of God cannot suffer him to be shined on; none of the Promises can speak kindly or comfortably to him; his stony Heart cannot receive the Seal and Impress of the Holy Spirit. Hence the Apostle saith, After ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, Ephes. 1.13. after, and not before. First, there must be a new Creature, and then a new Name. First, God's Image is printed on the Heart, and then his Love. I say, a Believer may be assured, but not that all Believers are so. A man may be a Babe in Christ and not know it: a Child of Light, and yet walking in darkness. A Believer may live in crepusculo, in the twilight or mixed condition of Hope and Fear; and so, though sure of Heaven, not in his own sense assured of it: I mean not that he may be assured by an Angel or Voice from Heaven or extraordinary Revelation: This the Adversaries will admit, but in an ordinary way, in the diligent use of such Helps and Means as are common to all Believers. Thus the Apostle speaks in common to them all, These things have I written to you that believe; that ye may know that ye have eternal Life, 1 John 5.13. He doth not say, some may know it in an extraordinary way, but speaks of it as knowable by Believers in common: I mean not that he hath this Assurance always or in every point of time; perpetual Serenity is not here below: Earth is not as Heaven; the Sun may be eclipsed, the Seal of the Spirit may be clouded, Evidences may be blurred and hardly legible: It may be God in Sovereignty withdraws, or Satan in envy buffets, or the Believer lets down his Spiritual Watch, or a due estimate is not set on Heavenly Comforts, or there is some great Trausgression, which as an accursed thing, causes the Lord to departed. In such cases, though there be no intercision of Justification, yet there is an interruption of Consolation. These Things premised, I proceed to prove the Point, viz. That a Believer may attain Assurance of Pardon and Salvation.  
In the first Place the Names and Titles given unto Faith in Scripture are remarkable. 'Tis called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The subsistence of things hoped for; Glory and Salvation are hoped for by us; but Faith makes them as certain, as if they were present to us. The Hebrews have a Van conversivum, which turns the Future into the Preter-tense; such a thing is Faith which presentiates future Things to the Believer, That ye may know that ye have eternal life, saith John: It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ye shall have it, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ye have it in praesenti, it already subsists in your Faith. 'Tis called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the evidence of things not seen: Eternal Life cannot be seen by corruptible Eyes, but Faith doth so point out and demonstrate it, as if it were visible or sensible; We know that we have passed from Death to Life, 1 John 3.14. As if the Apostle had said, We are indeed in the very Borders of Heaven, and we know it as it were sensibly, as we do our passage from one Place to another. 'Tis set out by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a strong persuasion or confidence; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a liberty or holy boldness with God. The Apostle mentions both, In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him, Ephes. 3.12. Access to God imports that we are reconciled to him; but access with boldness and confidence imports that we know it also: Otherwise it would not be Faith, as the Apostle styles it, but mere rashness and presumption; if we should do so upon Peradventures, Esther-like, not knowing, whether the golden Sceptre would be held out to us or not. Nay, 'tis styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a full Assurance, carrying out the Soul with full Sails to the good things in the Promise. It is well observed by the acute Dr. Arrowsmith, That in Scripture mention is made of a triple Plerophory, a Plerophory of Knowledge, Col. 2.2. a Plerophory of Faith, Heb. 10.22. and a Plerophory of Hope, Heb. 6.11. The Genius of each shows forth itself in the Believers Practical Syllogism:  
Whosoever believeth shall be saved;  
But I believe:  
Ergo, I shall be saved.  
In the Major we have a Plerophory of Knowledge: In the Minor a Plerophory of Faith; And in the Conclusion flowing from the Premises, a Plerophory of Hope.  
In the next place some Commands in the Gospel clearly import that Assurance is attainable; there God would have us To work out our Salvation, Phil. 2.12. To make our calling and election sure, 2 Pet. 1.10. To add to our Faith virtue, one Grace upon another, and one degree of Grace upon another, That we may have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 1.5, & 11. To walk by the Rule of the New Creature, that peace may be upon us, Galat. 6.16. To prove our own state, whether we be in the Faith, whether Christ be in us or not, 2 Corinth. 13.5. To prove our own work, that we may have rejoicing in ourselves, and not in another, Gal. 6.4. If these things may be done Assurance is attainable; if they cannot, to what purpose are these Precepts? how vain and impossible are they? In that question, Whether we may perfectly fulfil the Moral Law; the Pontificians urge thus for the Affirmative; If we cannot fulfil it, the Law is impossible and void, 
De Justif. lib. 4. cap. 13.  Si praecepta essent impossibilia, neminem obligarent, ac per hoc praecepta non essent praecepta, saith Bellarmine, If the Commands were impossible, they would oblige none, and so would become no Commands. But in the Point of Assurance we may with much better reason say, if we cannot fulfil the Commands concerning it, they are then impossible and vain; the Law is an exact Rule of Righteousness, a Copy of the pure Law engraven on Man's Heart at first, in the state of Innecency, unto which it was attemperated. It was not at all impossible, and that it is so now is only from Man's Apostasy: And withal, the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the impossibility of the Law is admirably useful to drive us in a deep sense of our Impotence, to Christ the Compliment of it, that through his holy Spirit we may in a way of sincere though imperfect Obedience at last arrive at perfect Sanctity in Heaven. But if such Commands as are purely Evangelical be impossible, what can be said to it? what tolerable answer made? Were these at all accommodated to a state of Innocency? Was not their Original scope to raise up fallen Man to Salvation? If the Commands of believing and repenting were impossible, what room would there be for Salvation? And if the Commands of proving and ensuring our state of Grace be impossible, what room is left for the Joys of Faith, or the Sealing of the holy Spirit, or the Suavities of a good Conscience? And there being no second Christ or Gospel to fly to, whither doth this Impossibility drive but into the black gulf of Despair? Wherefore, as we would avoid such doleful consequences, we must conclude those Precepts practicable, and so Assurance possible: And as a sure seal thereof we have the sweet experience of Saints in all Ages. Holy Job, though God multiplied his Wounds, and his Friends raked in them by a very sharp charge of Hypocrisy, knew his own Integrity, and would not let it go, Job 27.5. And which reacheth beyond his present state of Grace, as sure of future Glory, he breaks out, I know that my Redeemer liveth; and maugre all the destructive worms, In my flesh and with these very eyes I shall see God, Job 19.25, 26. O how certain was his Faith! I know; How appropriative? My Redeemer liveth; and how sharp-sighted? he could look through the dust to Immortality. David knew the truth of his Grace, and proved it to himself by infallible Marks; I have kept the ways of the Lord, I have not wickedly departed from my God; I did not put away his statutes from me, I kept myself from mine iniquity, Psal. 18.21, 22, & 23. ver. And for future Happiness, he saith without scruple, That at his waking in the Resurrection he should be satisfied with God's likeness, Psal. 17.15. St. Paul speaks as one full sure of his present state and future hope, I have fought a good sight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. 4.7, 8. The Martyr Agatha, having her Breasts cruelly cut off for Religion, told the Persecutor, That yet she had two Breasts remaining, such as he could not touch, the one of Faith, and the other of Hope; which afforded her great Comfort in her Torments. Caspar Olevian a Germane Divine, being asked by one, Whether he were certain of his Salvation? answered just at the brink of death, Certissimus, I am most sure of it. Mr. Bolton being near death expressed himself thus, My whole heart is filled with joy, I feel nothing within but Christ. Mr. Hieron said, His Soul was full of joy, as if be had seen Heaven open to receive him. Such Paradises of Joy, Sabbatisines of Spirit, and Prepossessions of Glory have the Saints found in their way to Heaven.  
Again, there being an infallible Connexion between truth of Grace and Pardon, and also between Perseverance in Grace and Salvation, a Believer may be assured of the truth of his Graces, and so of his Pardon; and again he may be assured of his Perseverance in Grace, and so of his Salvation: These two demonstrated will make good the Point. First I say, A Believer may be assured of the truth of his Graces, and so of his Pardon, which cannot but be where those are. And for the truth of Grace a double Testimony may be vouched, one from Conscience, the other from the holy Spirit; the Apostle mentions both; The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, Rom. 8.16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it co-witnesseth with ours, and in the mouth of two such Witnesses there must needs be establishment: Hence St. chrysostom on these words breaks out, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? What scruple can remain after such a Testimony? I shall begin with the testimony of Conscience. Conscience is a spy in our bosom, which marks every thing; a spiritual Echo, which returns our actions, and makes them sound again after they are past and gone from us: By it the Soul turns its eyes in ward, and becomes a Speculum or Looking-glass to itself, representing to itself its own acts: By it it bends back the beams of general Truths, and applies them to Particulars. That Righteousness and Virtue should be followed is an universal Truth, but Conscience can reflect it back upon us and bids us do so in particular; and if we indeed do it, Conscience will say Euge, this or that is well done by us. The Testimony of Conscience was of great repute among Pagans; Plato calls it his Daemon, and Menander a God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith he, Conscience is a God to Mortals. And Seneca, Deus in humano corpore hospitans, God dwelling in an humane body. Hence came Pythagoras' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or self-reverence. And Sextius his parley with himself every night, what Vice he had in the day resisted, and Virtue promoted. And the Satirists complaint touching the neglect of the reflexive faculty,  nemo in sese tentat descendere, nemo, few or none would descend into themselves. Among Christians the Testimony of Conscience must needs be sacred; their Consciences not lying, as the Pagans, in their blood or natural pollution, but being purified by the precious Blood and Spirit of Christ; their lamps of Reason not lying as the others in the damp and darkness of the fall, but brought forth and new-lighted at the Scripture, and Sun of Righteousness shining therein as in its orb. Conscience in a Believer is, as St. Bernard hath it, Purum Religionis speculum, a pure glass of Religion: And as another, Major pars clavium, the greatest key in the Church; such an excellent Witness may well speak in this Point. In David it speaks thus, O Lord, I have walked in my integrity, Psal. 26.1. that is, in the exercise of Faith, Love, Obedience, and other Graces, which as so many Pearls make up Sincerity. In Hezekiah it speaks much after the same manner, Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, Isa. 38.3. And it is the more to be noted, because Conscience saith so in a way of appeal even to God himself; and by a right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, holds up the truth of its Graces to so pure a Sun. This is such a Testimony as St. Paul joys and glories in, 2 Cor. 1.12. Est quidam modus in Conscientia gloriandi, ut noveris fidem tuam esse sinceram, spem tuam certam, caritatem tuam sine simulatione, saith St: Austin; There is a kind of glorying in conscience, when thou knowest thy Faith sound, Hope certain, and Love undissembled. A Man that reputes, believes and loves, may by the pulse of Conscience, know that he doth so. True, saith Bellarmine, he may know that he doth them, but not that he doth them sicut oportet, as he ought to do them. Unto which I answer; Conscience according to its Light and Line of Principles can bear Witness to Integrity; natural Conscience to natural Integrity, and renewed Conscience to gracious Integrity. An instance of the former we have in Abimelech, whose Conscience told him, That he meant not to take away another man's Wise, Gen. 20.5. and of the latter in St. Paul, whose Conscience told him, That his Conversation was in simplicity and godly sincerity, 2 Cor. 1.12. Conscience, which Witnesses Integrity, must look beyond the mere matter of Acts into the modus; for therein, Integrity, especially such as is gracious, consists more than in the Acts themselves. Unless a man know that he reputes, believes, and loves sicut oportet, he cannot know his own Sincerity; and if he know his Sincerity, he knows that he reputes, believes, and loves aright, A Believer converses much between Scripture and Conscience, fetching his Notions from the one, and his Evidences from the other. In the Word he sees the Characters of Grace, and in the Conscience the state of his Soul. True Repentance mourns over sin as sin, hates it as the greatest evil, and casts it away as an accursed thing, saith the Word; and such is thy Repentance, saith Conscience. True Faith prizes Christ, overcomes the World and works by Love, saith the Word; and such a Faith is thine, saith Conscience. True Love is inflamed from Gods, sweetly acquiesces in him, and obedientially resigns to him, saith the Word; and such a Love is thine, saith Conscience. Interroga cortuum, Ask thy heart, If Love be there, saith St. Austin: Ask again, If Faith and Repentance be there, thou hast an Oracle within, that can tell thee, what thou lovest most, trustest in most, and grievest for most; that can show thee thy Uprightness, witness the Truth of thy Graces, and feast thee with Divine Comforts, such as pass understanding. It was a great Comfort to the Nobleman, when his Servants met him, and told him, Thy Son liveth, John 4.51. But oh! What is it to the Believer when such an one as Conscience comes and saith, Thy Faith liveth, or thy Love burneth towards God, or thy Repentance is pure godly sorrow? Then the Oil of Joy is upon every Grace, and the Cup of Consolations runneth over: Conscience becomes a banqueting-house, and Assurance, as Latimer calls it, is the Sweetmeats. We have heard one Witness, but the Supreme, who drops all the Suavities, and dictates all the comfortable words in conscience is the Holy Spirit: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, saith the Apostle, Rom. 8.16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not the Gifts or Graces, but the very Spirit itself beareth witness; & that not only out wardly in the Word, but inwardly in and with our spirit; and its Testimony is That we are the children of God: And the import of that Testimony, over and above the title of Sonship, is, That our Faith, which makes us his children, Gal. 3.26, is true; and our Love and other Graces, which manifest us such, are so also. And what a Testimony is this? To call it dubious, or opinionative, or conjectural is blasphemy. Cornelius a Lapide, as one under a necessity, confesses this Testimony certain in itself; but as a Salvo to the Doctrine of doubting, adds, That it is not certain to us. But this is to forget the Apostles words, That the Spirit witnesseth it in and with our spirit; and withal absurdly to say, That the Spirit indeed witnesseth, but would not be believed; or rather, That it witnesseth, and witnesseth not, because an unheard Testimony is as none. Bellarmine saith, The Spirit witnesseth not by an express word, but by an Experiment of internal peace and suavity, which begets but a conjectural certainty. I answer, It's true, that it is not by an express word; but, as Learned Dr. Ward well observes, The Question is not the modo Testandi, but the Re. It is certain, there is such a Testimony, and that proceeding from the Spirit of Truth must be infallible; and being made to our spirit must be known to us, and so beget a true certainty in our hearts. Nevertheless, to illustrate this Point, I shall a little consider the Modus of it: The Spirit bears witness to ours, partly by an application of the Promises to the heart, partly by an irradiation of the Graces there: These two make up the sealing of the Spirit of Promise given after believing, Ephes. 1.13.  
The Spirit applies the Promises to the Heart, that is, one part of the Seal. As the spirit of bondage applieth threaten, and thereby makes a kind of Hell in Conscience, so the Spirit of Adoption applies Promises, and by it makes a kind of Heaven there. The same Spirit, which indicted the Promises of Pardon, and put them into Scripture; Seals and in a way of appropropriation puts them upon the Heart; as if it should say; This and that Promise is thine; like that in the Prophet, Speak to her heart, that her iniquity is pardoned, Isa. 40.2. Now, when the Promises come so close and pour out their sweetness into the heart, the Believer may not guests only, but know, that true Faith and Repentance are there. God and his Promise speak peace only to Saints, and not a comfortable Word to impenitent sinners. I have read of one, who apostatised from his profession, and on his sickbed began to apply the Promises to himself; but alas! after a little seeming ease, he cried out in despair, That the Plaster would not stick. God only can make it do so; and he makes it do so only to penitent Believers; and they may conclude the Truth of their Graces, when the Gospel and its Promises come to them in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance, as the Expression is, 1 Thessal. 1.5.  
Again, as another part of he Seal, The Holy Spirit irradiates the Graces in the Heart: The same Spirit which form them there at first, cometh and owns them as its own offspring, bringing in such a Divine light, and making such an efficacious representation thereof, that the Believers Conscience may, as the Apostle speaketh in another case, Rom. 9.1, Bear witness in the Holy Ghost, and say, This is sound Repentance indeed, and that is Love undissembled, and the other is Faith unfeigned; and so of other Graces in the new Creature. These Graces carry in themselves a kind of heavenly light rendering them visible: But when the Spirit comes, it puts such a gloss and oriency on them, that the Believer may know them to be freely given to him of God, that this and that Grace are so given, and such and such are the sure marks of the truth thereof. Such a Testimony as this, made learned Rivet at his dying hour break forth into these words, Expecto, credo, persevero, dimoveri nequeo, Dei Spiritus meo spiritui testatur me esse ex filiis suis; O amorem ineffabilem! I expect, believe, persevere, and cannot be moved, God's Spirit witnesseth to mine, That I am one of his Children; Oh ineffable Love! This anointing is truth and no lie, as St. John tells us, 1 Joh. 2.27. It manifests its testimony and itself together. The Believer cannot doubt who the Witness is, or what he speaketh; both are plain and satisfactory. Our Saviour Christ, speaking of the Spirit of Truth, tells his Disciples, Ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, Joh. 14.17. If the Spirit do but pass by and drop in an holy motion into the heart, he may be known in it; much more when he dwells and witnesses there. 
Cul. White-stone.  The eloquent Culverwell compares him to the Sun; The Sun (saith he) by its glorious Beams does Paraphrase and Comment upon its own glittering Essence; and the Spirit Displays himself to the Soul, and gives a full Manifestation of his Presence: And a man may sooner take a Glow-worm for the Sun, than an experienced Christian can take a false Delusion for the Light of the Spirit.  
We have heard the two Witnesses, the Holy Spirit by an application of Promises and irradiation of Graces witnessing to the Conscience, and the Conscience echoing and resounding that Testimony to the Believer. And hence it appears, That he may be assured of the truth of his Graces, and so of his Pardon.  
It remains to treat of the second thing, that is, That he may be assured of his perseverance in Grace, and so of his Salvation. He knows, That his Graces are true, and withal, That they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, things having or containing Salvation. Heaven buds, and Eternal Life gins in them, He that believeth hath everlasting life, Joh. 5.24. He hath it in the first-fruits and irrevocable earnest of it. The Seed of God in him, will grow up into Immortality; the Well of living Water will spring up into everlasting Life. Only it may be alleged, That these Graces may be lost: Unto which I answer, Abstractively & in their mere creature-essence they may; but in their dependence they cannot. Their Standing, if on man's Will only, might fail; but their Foundation on the Covenant of Grace cannot. The Believer may not only see his own Graces, but beyond them, that Eternal Election which is the great Fountain thereof. Reflecting on the true Graces in his heart, he may say, Here is the Faith of God's Elect, and, Here is the Love and Patience of Gods Elect. Spiritual Blessings are given according to Election, Eph. 1.3.4; and I have those Blessings in me. Effectual Vocation hangs on Predestination, as the highest Link in the Chain of Grace, Rom. 8.30; and I am so called. This made St. Bernard, 
Epst. 10.7.  speaking of effectual Vocation, say, Ad ortum solis justitiae Sacramentum absconditum à seculis de praedestinatis beatificandis emergere quodammodo incipit ex abysso aeternitatis; When the Sun of Righteousness rises upon the Heart in an effectual Call, the secret mystery of Praedestination hid from Ages, breaks forth out of the abyss of Eternity. Here the Great Counsel of Eternal Love, which lay in God's Bosom, shows forth itself to the Believer through the Lattice of his Graces. Hence he may conclude on good grounds, That his Graces shall never fail, so long as the Foundation of God standeth sure in Election. Continual supplies of Grace from the Fountain will keep his Lamp from going out. It's observable, that when God expresses his fresh Mercies to his People, he doth it thus; I will yet choose Israel, Isa. 14.1. Election is from all Eternity, but it buds and blossoms in time in fresh supplies of Grace; as if he chose them again: When the Saints are droo●●●, and as it were dying away; Election will give another visit, and make them live a second time. So unspeakable are the comforts of this Point, that, as I have read, one under the sweet sense of Electing Love, was for some days taken off from all the joys of Nature; and in an holy ecstasy cried out, Laudetur Dominus, Laudetur Dominus, as if he had been in Heaven already, bearing a part in the Church Triumphant.  
Again, The Believer looks not to his Graces only, but to the indwelling Spirit. Faith, and Love, and Obedience cannot fail in his Heart, whilst the Spirit of Grace is there; and there it will always be, because it is an abiding Unction, perpetually cheering every grace, and a well of water springing up into everlasting life, Continua irrigatio coelestem in illis aeternitatem fovet, saith a judicious Divine on the place, a continual irrigation cherishes an heavenly eternity in them. Upon this account the Spirit is called the earnest of our Inheritance, not for a time, but until the redemption of the Church be completed, Eph. 1.14; that is, till the whole Sum be paid in Glory. The Earnest going along with the Believer to Heaven, his Graces cannot possibly fail by the way. Our Saviour told his Disciples, and in them all Believers, That the Spirit should abide with them for ever, Joh. 14.16. And two things will make it good to them, I mean, their Union with him, and his Intercession for them. Their Union with him will do it, they being mystical parts and pieces of him; the Holy fourth will enliven them and their Graces; Because I live, ye shall live also, saith our Saviour, Joh. 14.19. The Members cannot die, as long as there is life in the Head. But may not the Union cease? No, by no means; God himself hath established it; thus the Apostle, Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, 2 Cor. 1.21, 22. Believers are established in Christ, and to assure them of it the holy Spirit is an Unction, a Seal and an Earnest in their Hearts. This establishment of Believers seems to me exemplified in Christ's Humane Nature, that once assumed into the Word by an Hypostatical Union was never separated from it, & those once taken into Christ by a Mystical Union are never parted from him; the Apostle hints both to us, The God of Peace who brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, make you perfect, Heb. 13.20, 21. That God who would lose nothing of Christ's Humane Nature; no, not in the grave, will perfect Believers as Mystical parts of him, never suffering their Graces to see corruption in an utter decay, nor leaving their Souls in the hell of final Apostasy. Besides, Christ's Intercession ratifies it; he in his solemn Prayer. on Earth, which as Arminius himself grants was the Canon and Pattern of his Intercession in Heaven, prays to his Father for all Believers, That they may be kept from evil, Joh. 17.15. If they are not kept, Christ's Intercession ceases or becomes powerless: Neither of which can be; Cease it cannot, because be ever lives to make Intercession; Become powerless it cannot, because he is a Priest after the power of an endless life; what he intercedes for shall be done. I will pray the Father, saith our Saviour, and what follows? The Comforter shall come and abide with you for ever, Joh. 14.16. As long as Christ pleads at the right hand of Power it must be so. This made St. Paul break out into that gallant Triumph, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature; No, not our own Wills unless more than Creatures. shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ, Rom. 8.38, 39 from God's Love to us, or ours to him. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we over-overcome all things in our way to Heaven; our Graces cannot fail below, as long as Christ is pleading above on our behalf. Moreover, the Believer looks not only to his Graces, but to the Promises, in which God is pleased to bind himself, that they shall be kept alive to the end. St. Paul praying for the Thessalonians, That their whole spirit and soul and body might be perserved blameless unto the coming of Christ; immediately adds a sweet Promise, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it, 1 Thes. 5.23, 24. Believers and their Graces are taken into Gods own hand; And where can they be safer? But may they not be plucked from thence? No, None shall pluck them out of mine or my Father's hand, saith our Saviour, Joh. 10.28, 29. But may they not of themselves fall out of it? No, though they fall out, yet they shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth them with his hand, Psal. 37.24. But will he always do so? Yes, He will confirm them unto the end, 1 Cor. 1.8. And how will he do it? He will put his fear in their hearts, that they shall not departed from him, Jer. 32.40. He will put his Spirit into them, and cause them to walk in his statutes, Ezek. 36.27. And what though their Fear and other Graces be defective, and want filling up; yet He which did begin the good work in them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, will perform it until the day of Christ, Phil. 1.6. And what if temptations and fiery darts fly about on all sides, they are in garrison in the power of God, 1 Pet. 1.5. and there shall be a way to escape, 1 Cor. 10.13. In such Promises as these every way securing the Believers state of Grace, the Covenant of Grace lifts up itself in a transcendent excellency above that of Works, which had no Promise of Perseverance annexed to it. Shall we now say, That all these Promises are Conditional, if we will persevere, and not otherwise? Is not this to turn the Covenant of Grace into that of Works, and a sure state in Christ into a lubricous Adamical one? Is it not to evacuate all those glorious and magnificent Promises touching Perseverance, as if God in them spoke only in such cold Language as this, I will preserve you from all evils and dangers, only for that greatest of all, which is in your own hearts and wills. I will not undertake: or in such contradictory terms as these; if you persevere, I will make you persevere; as if Perseverance could be the condition of itself? After these Promises so interpreted Believers are but where they were before; before these Promises it would have been true, that if Believers persevere and continue in Grace, they do so; and after them so interpreted, What have they more? What do they contribute to Believers, when the main stress of Perseverance is laid on Man's Will, and not on God's Grace? But this obiter. The experienced Believer knows better how to use Promises, and from them communes with his own Heart; Hath God promised Perseverance, and will he not do it? is not his Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Everlasting Covenant, and are not his Mercies sure Mercies? Can his Faithfulness fail, or his words of Grace fall to the ground? Shall I trust him for Pardon and Salvation, and not for Perseverance? Will he give me Heaven, and shall I faint by the way? It cannot be; He will guide me with his counsel, and then receive me to glory. Till I come there I shall be supported by his hand, and supplied with his Spirit; Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. In such sort may the Believer be assured of his Perseverance in Grace, and so of his Salvation.  
Again, the Believer may gather his Pardon and Salvation from that peace and joy which he finds in his own heart. There is a kind of Peace and Joy springing out of Moral Virtues, which because of their Congruity to Reason leave a serenity on the Soul where they are lodged: Mens sibi conscia recti is a great matter; a good Conscience is murus aheneus, a wall of brass to the owner. Seneca saith, Res severa est verum gaudium, True joy is in the severe prosecution of Virtue. Hierocles tells us, That the pleasure of the Virtuous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, imitates the joy of the gods. And it was a Point of ancient Philosophy, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Virtue is sufficient to Happiness. But the Peace and Joy in believing is of an higher nature: Those in the Moralist come but from the face of Reason smiling on the Congruity which is in Moral Virtues to itself; there is nothing of Grace or Christ in them: But these in the Believer come from the reconciled face of God shining upon the Heart in a Mediator. Those in the Moralist exceed not their own sphere of Reason; but these in the Believer pass all understanding, Phil. 4.7. and are full of glory, 1 Pet. 1.8. Heaven comes down in them, and puts a pure serenity on the Heart: The Believer now dwells in Paradise; the light of God's Countenance shining as a clear Sun; Christ as a Tree of Life dropping down Pardons and Graces; the holy Spirit being as a perpetual spring of Virtues and Comforts; the fragrant Promises breathing out the odours of Love and Mercy; the sweet voice of Peace and Joy uttered from Heaven, echoing and making melody in Conscience: Nothing here but green pastures and still waters, and placid Heavens; not a cloud from the Law to darken the light, not an ache in Conscience to break the rest, not a spot of unremitted sin to slain the serenity. Oh what manner of Peace and Joy is here! A Stranger, a Pagan Philosopher intermeddles not with them. These are to be found in the Raptures of a Cyprian, or in the Consolations of an Austin or Bernard. In such a state as this, what should the Believer do? May he not break out in the proper Idiom of Faith, My Lord and my God? May he not sinely conclude, My sins are forgiven me? Nay, Ought he not to do so, and with David, call upon all that is within him, to bless the Lord for it? After such hansels of Heaven and Glory, should he yet doubt and say, I cannot enter, when he is there already in the beginnings and first-fruits thereof? Nothing is more unreasonable. He knows in himself, by the Graces and Comforts in his own heart, That he hath a part in Heaven and Salvation.  
In the last place, The Nature of the Sacraments, which are Seals of the Covenant, evinces this Truth. In the Gospel we have God's Hand, but in the Sacraments his Seal also. In the Gospel, Pardon and Salvation are set forth in general Promises; but in the Sacraments, they are Sealed up to this and that man in particular. Circumcision is called, The Seal of Righteousness, Rom. 4.11; and by the Hebrew Doctors, The Seal of the holy God: And Baptism, which succeeds, and as Evangelical transcends it, must be as much and more. So Sealing Pardon and Salvation to Believers, that there follows the answer of a good Conscience towards God, 1 Pet. 3.21; or such a Conscience, as can with an holy confidence interrogate God himself in some such terms as these; Did not Christ purchase Pardon and Salvation for me? Have I not a share and interest in them? Yes assuredly, there is no doubt of it. The Passover figured out Christ the true Lamb, who was reasted in the Fire of his Father's Wrath to take away Sin; and the sprinkling of the Blood on the Door-posts, pointed out the Application of Christ's Blood to the Consciences of Believers in particular. The Lord's Supper, which risen out of the Ashes of the Paschal Supper, and took its very Materials from thence, doth eminently Seal Christ with all his Benefits unto the Believer. Our Saviour delivering it to his Disciples, said, This is my body which is given for you; this is my blood which is shed for you, Luk. 22.19, 20. Why for you, but to signify the particular Application of his Passion to them? By the Elements of Bread and Wine, as by turf and twig, God gives the Believer livery and seisin of Christ; as if he said to him expressly, Christ is thing, Pardon and Salvation are thine, thou hast my Seal for it, and mayst be as sure of it, as of the Bread and Wine in thine Hand and Mouth. Bellarmine himself confesses, 
De effect. Sacram. l. 1. c. 8.  That Sacraments were instituted,  nos certos reddant remissionis & gratie, To make us certain of Pardon and Grace. Only he adds, 'Tis only a moral certainty, not an infallible one. But how frivolous is this? What can make an Infallible certainty, if God's Seal cannot do it? Among all Nations Seals are great Confirmatives. When Darius, but a man, Signed the Decree, though of Iniquity, it was unalterable by the Law of the Medes and Persians, Dan. 6.12. And what the Great God Seals in the Sacrament, in a way of Grace and Mercy, must much more be so, by the Law of his own Truth and Faithfulness. The Jews looking on the Rainbow, bless God who remembers his Covenant, and is faithful in his Promises, as being sure that the World shall not be drowned again: Much more may the Believer, looking on the Bread and Wine, do so, as sure of Pardon and Salvation in and through Christ. But you will say, Gods Seal indeed is sure, but our Disposition is uncertain; and how can we know that we are worthy Receivers? I answer, Very well; The worthiness required, is not that of condignity, but that of congruity. The least Grace, if true, though but a bruised reed and smoking flax, amounts to a capacity. May we not know, That we truly hunger and thirst after Christ, when we inwardly feel a pinching and pressing necessity of him, equal to, or rather more than any want in Nature? May we not find, That our Faith in God is right, when it assimilates us to his Holiness, as well as rests in his Grace, and puts forth Obedience to his Commands, as well as Affiance towards his Promises? May we not say, That we love him indeed, when the main stream of our hearts runs towards him, when at least in endeavour we obey him in every Command, seek him in every Ordinance, glorify him in every Condition, and prise him in every Saint? Hath he not bid us welcome to the Sacrament? Hath he not anointed us with fresh Oil of Grace and Joy whilst we have sat at his Table? Have we not been clothed with Power against our Corruptions? Have not our Hearts been enlarged and refreshed from the Presence of God there? How many melting and ravishing Prospects of a Crucified Christ have we there enjoyed? And what beams of Heaven and Eternity have broke in upon us in the very Duty? These things to Believers, who have the exercise of their spiritual Senses, are so obvious, that they may easily and surely conclude, That God hath indeed welcomed them to his Table, and there Sealed Pardon and Salvation to them. In this rich estate a Believer may bid all Scruples be gone, and in an holy manner say to his Soul, Soul, take thy ease, thou hast much goods laid up for eternity. Thou art now secure of Pardon and Salvation. The Holy Spirit hath Sealed them to thy Heart, and the Sacraments to thy very Sense, and Conscience witnesses to both as True and Infallible, and what can be more? Nothing remains, but to keep thyself in the Love of God, till he take thee up to the pure bliss above.   

CHAP. XIV.  
Of the Ways in which the Assurance of Faith is attained. With the Conclusion of the whole.  
THus much touching the first thing, That Assurance is attainable: I now proceed to the other, viz. The ways in which it is attained. All which are as so many further Arguments to prove it attainable. Were it not so, the Alwise God would not set down ways for the attaining thereof. Impossibles are not to be sought after. Assurance, however difficult, is not impossible: The Scripture hath chalked out a Method how to arrive at it; which I shall endeavour to open in the ensuing Discourse.  
In the first place: He who would attain Assurance, must give Grace and Christ their due. All spiritual Blessings grow upon Grace as an eternal Root, and hang upon Christ as the Tree of Life. In particular, Assurance is a Blessing proper to the Covenant of Grace. In the Covenant of Works there was no Assurance or Perseverance, because the whole managery was left to Man's Will: But in the Covenant of Grace these are to be found in Believers, because God undertakes the work. This is the rather to be marked, because man under the Covenant of Works was in a state of Innocency and perfect Holiness, and under the Covenant of Grace is in a state of Weakness and Imperfection; and yet there through Faith he arrives at Assurance and Perseverance, which were never reached under the First Covenant. Saint Paul, in the 10th Chapter to the Romans, notably distinguishes between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith: The Righteousness of the Law, is, That the man which doth those things shall live in them; No Life or Peace, but upon perfect Obedience, which is impossible, and beyond the line of man lapsed, nay, of man regenerate in this life. Hence the Conscience of those, who would enter into Peace at this Door, must needs be dubious, and full of trembling anxieties. But the Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? Doubt not, whether thou shalt have a part there; this is to bring Christ down from above: He is gone to Heaven, and hath carried his Merits thither to prepare a place for thee there. Such a doubt denies his Ascension, and so, as it were, brings him down again: Neither say in thine heart, Who shall descend into the deep? Doubt not, as if thou shouldst be turned into Hell; this is to bring up Christ again from the dead: He is already risen, and hath triumphed over Death and Hell. Such a doubt denies his Death and Resurrection; and doth as it were bring him again from the dead. But what saith the Righteousness of Faith? The Word, the Promise of Pardon and Salvation is nigh thee, O Believer, in thy mouth and in thy heart, confessing and believing on the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved: Thou in particular, thy Soul shall dwell at ease, thy Conscience shall enter into rest in the Covenant of Grace; To doubt of it, is to deny the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ: He therefore, who would have Assurance, must give Grace and Christ their due. One would think that the Papists, who hold, That they may by perfect Obedience reach the apex of the Law, and go beyond it in works of Supererogaton, and climb Heaven itself by their own Merits, might arrive at Assurance much rather than Protestants, who instead of exceeding the Law confess themselves much short of it; and instead of meriting Heaven acknowledge all their Righteousnesses to be but a filthy rag: But it is far otherwise, the Papists generally do not so much as doctrinally hold it, save here and there a man among them; such as Antonius Marinarius, who in the Council of Trent asserted it; concluding his Speech thus; Si Coelum ruat, si Terra evanescat, si orbis illabatur praeceps, ego in Deum erectus ero; Much-like the Prophet Habakkuk, who in an universal languishment of nature would yet rejoice in the Lord the God of his Salvation: much less do they practically arrive at it. Bellarmine himself after his fair life, died not like a Bolton or a Rivet, not knowing whether he had a true Virtue in him or no, but seeming afraid of the Judgment-Seat; unto some who begged his Prayers when in Heaven he made this Answer, The way thither is not so easy, I should esteem it a great Blessing from God, if I might obtain Purgatory for many years. Into such labyrinths do their Principles lead them: The Reason whereof is; They espouse Hagar the Covenant of Works, and that gendereth to bondage and servile fear: They corrupt the great Fountain of Peace and Joy; I mean free Justification by Christ and Grace; and their Comforts cannot run pure. They would compound those two incompatibles of Grace and Merit, and patch together Christ's Righteousness and their own; which in the Apostle is to fall from Grace and make Christ of none effect, Gal. 5.4. And what Peace can follow? Whilst they look at the Law, Conscience will be still murmuring, Non recte sacrificasti, non recte orasti, as Luther hath it; This and that was omitted or not well done; The Levite and the Priest pass by their Wounds, the good Samaritan will not come, but alone, and without a copartner, to make a Cure. If therefore thou wouldst have Assurance, thou must build on the right Foundation, and lie at the true Fountain of Comfort: Thy Love and thy Obedience are but Evidences, Christ and Grace are the only Foundation: Thy Faith is but a receiver, an empty vessel; Christ and Grace are the Fountain of Comfort: Expect no rest but in his bleeding Wounds; look for no comfortable words but from the Mercy-Seat: Think not that thy Conscience shall be appeased, unless by that Blood of Atonement which appeased God himself; or that thy heart may be satisfied in a Righteousness less than that perfect one which satisfied Gods: Conscience is his Deputy, and cannot go off at lower terms than he himself doth: Fix thy heart on Christ and Grace, lay the whole stress of thy Soul and Salvation there; Lean on thy Beloved, appropriate his Merits and Righteousness to thyself. Thus Luther tells the menacing Law, O Lex! Immergo Conscientiam meam in Vulnera, Sanguinem, Mortem, Resurrectionem & Victoriam Christi, praeter hunc nibil plane videre & audire volo; O Law! I drown my Conscience in the Wounds, Blood, Death, Resurrection and Victory of Christ; besides him will I see and hear nothing; This is the true way of Peace. Jahannes a Berg a zealous Papist in his life, found it so at last by his own experience. When a Protestant-Friend admonished him then lying on his sickbed, That now he would by Faith apprehend the Merit of his Saviour, and acquiesce in the full Expiation by him made for sin, he immediately swallowed it as the richest Comfort in the World, looking on those in Popery but as so many vain Fig-leaves. When Assurance, which is the top-stone of Faith is laid in our hearts, we have reason to cry out, Grace, Grace, Christ, Christ; These, whatever our Duties and Works have been, are the Fundamental Reason of all Peace and Comfort.  
Again, He who would have Assurance, must not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit, but cherish and follow it. It cannot but be a great and marvellous thing in his eyes, that the holy Spirit should make his heart a Temple or Sanctuary for himself. To grieve it is unnatural, and to grieve it expecting comfort a contradiction. If thou wouldst be assured, grieve it in nothing, indulg not any lust: This is filthiness and to be carried out of the Sanctuary; this is an Idol and must not stand in the Temple: Bury thy excrements, thy superfluity of naughtiness, that the holy one may walk in the midst of thee; Take away the accursed thing, lest his Presence departed: Away with thy vomits, thy sensual sins, lest he complain that there is no place for him left in thy heart. Pride not thyself in gifts or graces, this is as a smoke in his nose to force him away from thee; grieve not him, whereby thou mayst be sealed to the day of Redemption; He comes to seal Pardon, and Peace, and Heaven itself to thy Soul, why shouldst thou grieve him? If thou dost so, How canst thou expect to be sealed by him? Instead of Sealing, he will turn to be thine Enemy, as he did to those Rebels, Isa. 63.10. He will meet thee in some straits of Providence, and by one threatening or other, as by a drawn Sword, stop thee in thy perverse way. Oh! do not grieve him, gather out of thy heart and life every thing that offends, and his Kingdom of Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy shall be in thee. When an holy Truth appears to thee, smother it not for a World; it comes from the pure Spirit to light thee to Heaven: Walk in the Light of it; Who knows but that, whilst thou art in the way, the Spirit may drop some heavenly Cordials upon thy Heart? Obedience is the true Road to Comfort. Excellent is that in the Prophet, Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, his going is prepared as the morning, and he shall come to us as the rain, Hos. 6.3. Fellow him in his Truths and thou shalt know him in his Comforts. God's Face shall be as an aurora or morning lighter and lighter on thy Soul; and his Spirit as the dew or rain distilling Divine Consolations on it. Believe it, every ray of Truth, if followed, leads to the Joy unspeakable. When an holy Motion comes, remember who is the Speaker: That Spirit, who can seal the Promises and print God's Love on the Heart, now calls thee to one Duty or other; Hear and thy Soul shall live; open thy Sails, and the Gales will blow thee to the fair Haven of rest. I may say of the Spirits Motion, as he in the Prophet doth of the Wine in the Cluster; Destroy it not, for a Blessing; nay, the greatest of Blessings; a Paraclete, a Divine Comforter is in it; Fellow on, and thou shalt come to the Vintage and Wine-cellar of pure Consolations, such as Earth assords not. The Holy Spirit can witness to thy Graces, and seal up God's favour to thee, and be to thee an earnest of Heaven and eternal Life. As thou wouldst be assured, welcome every motion, close with every dictate, cherish every illapse of this blessed Monitor; let every inspiration find thee as the Seal doth the Wax, and the spark the Tinder; let thy Soul follow hard after him, pursuing him E vestigio, step by step, as near and close as thou canst possibly. This is the true way to rest.  
Again, if thou wouldst have Assurance, first make Conscience pure, and then walk after it: That Pardon and Salvation, which is founded in Christ's Blood, and sealed by his Spirit, must be recorded and reported in Conscience, or else there can be no Assurance; If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God, saith the Apostle, 1 Joh. 3.21. He allows what his Deputy doth in us; I say, make thy Conscience pure. Two things chiefly impure it; Ignorance is as a cloud upon it, and Gild as a wound in it. Make it as lightsome as thou canst from Scripture, that as a pure glass it may be fit to reflect the Gospel-Comforts on thy Soul. Get a through cure of thy old Wounds, or else sooner or later it will cry out against thee: Joseph started up in his brethren's mind a good while after their unnatural sale of him. John the Baptist risen again in Herod's Conscience upon the fame of Christ's Miracles. Theodorick having cruelly murdered Boethius and Symmachus, was affrighted at the great head of a Fish at his own Table, as if it had been one of theirs whom he unjustly put to death. Apply therefore Christ's Blood by Faith, that thy Wounds may be healed. David after his great fall, prays first to be purged with hyssop, and then for the joy of God's salvation, Psal. 51. The Hyssop which was used to sprinkle the Blood under the Law, figured out the office of Faith in sprinkling Christ's Blood on the Conscience; that's a sovereign Balm to heal thy Wounds, and able to make Conscience give thee an answer of Peace.  
I have read a notable story of a sick Man, who when Satan appeared and shown him a long scroll of his Sins in writing, saying, Behold thy Virtues; replied, True, Satan, but thou hast not set down all, set down also, The Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin. Such a purifier is this, that a Man may be able, as is said of St. Austin, to think of his former Evils without fear, as having no spot of unpardoned Sin in him; Thy Conscience being made pure, walk after it. A reciá Conscientia ne latum quidem unguem discedendum, said the Orator. Leave it not, lest thou fall and wound thyself afresh. When Conscience summons thee to this or that Duty, up, be doing, God calls thee to it by thine own Heart: when it tells thee of such a snare in thy way, avoid it, pass by it as thou wouldst by Hell. God warns thee against it by thyself; Conscience will measure out Comforts or Terrors to thee, according as thou behavest thyself well or ill towards it. If like Saul thou force thyself, and rebel against light, and give stabs to Conscience, what hast thou to do with Peace? Thy Heart will reproach thee, Conscience will strike again and give thee wound for wound, thou shalt doom thyself, and like the Devils carry thy Chains, and Hell about with thee. Tiberius' professed to the Senate, That he suffered death daily: he meant in the torments of his accusing Conscience. On the other hand, if thou turn thine eyes inward, and observe Conscience, and walk by the line and level of it, thy Heart shall be at rest, Conscience shall be a thousand witnesses for thee, thou shalt be thine own Comforter, and like the Angels carry an Heaven and Paradise aboat with thee; Paul's joy shall be thine, the testimony of Conscience, that thy conversation hath been in godly sincerity; and what is this but Assurance? That Conscience which faith, That thou art sincere; tells thee also, That thy Sins are pardoned: These two are inseparable companions, and never part the one from the other.  
Again, If thou wouldst have Assurance, thou must be much in self-examination. Commune with thy own Heart, dive into the abyss of it, reckon with thyself, summon thyself to the Tribunal in thy own bosom. The Philosophers espied out this Rule. Pythagoras would not have us sleep till we had reviewed the day, ask ourselves, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, What have I transgressed, what done, and what omitted? This, though done by the candlelight of Nature, much promoted Virtue, and the comfort of it. Qual●s ille somnus post recognitionem sui sequitur, quam tranquillus, altus, & liber? saith Sencea. After a review of ones self, Oh what manner of sleep is there, how still, deep, and free is it? Much more must such a search into ones own Heart conduce to the Christians Graces and Comforts, if done by the pure Sun-light of Scripture. Self-examination is a root which bears Self-knowledg, and at the top of it grows Assurance, which is the knowledge of gracious self. Awake therefore, O Believer, down into thy own Heart, rifle the labyrinths, and break open the false bottoms there; see what of Sin is in thee: Is there any darling Sin, such as cogs with thy complexion, or falls in with thy calling, or any way steals away thy Heart and Affections from God? Be sure that this is an accursed thing, a Deliah; as the word imports, an exhauster of thy peace and joy. However fair it may look to sense, it is virtually sorrow and wrath. See again, what of Grace is there in thee, do thou repent of Sin, and believe on the Lord Jesus, and love God and his holy Ways? Are thy Grace's genuine, such as act thee in the power of the Spirit, and square thee to the holy Canon of the Word, and levelly thy Thoughts and Intentions at the Glory of God? If thou thus search into thy Heart. and do it in truth and faithfulness to the holy Light; I dare say, thou art ready for the sealing of the Spirit, and the very frame of thy Heart is a real prayer for it. O how soon may the Spirit come, and by a Divine irradiation on thy Soul tell thee, That thy Repentance is a Repentance unto Life, and thy Faith precious Faith, and thy Love Love in Sincerity? How soon may it apply and seal the Promises to thy Heart, as if it should say to thee, Thou repentest indeed, and the Mercy in the Promise is thine; Thou believest indeed, and the Salvation in the Promise is thine; Thou lovest indeed, and thine are the supersensual superintellectual good things prepared for the lovers of God. And now thou mayst say much better than Seneca, Qualis somnus? O how sweet is the rest and repose which the self-searching Soul finds in the bosom of Christ and Grace? He that comes to that sealing Ordinance of the Lords Supper must prepare himself for the S●ul by Self-examination, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Let a man examine himself, faith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 11.28. Examine as a man would do Gold or Silver by the fire, or by the Touchstone; in like manner must he do so, that he may fit himself for the Seal of Assurance, of which the Sacramental Elements are Symbols.  
Again, If thou wouldst be assured, exercise thy Graces and grow therein. It much conduces to Assurance to render thy Graces as visible as thou canst. Grace, however it always carry a Divine lustre in it, is not so visible when dormant in an habit or principle, as when it is put forth into act and exercise; neither is it so visible in its Initials in the smoking flax or bruised reed, as in its Progresses and statures in Christ. In point of Comfort talents not used are as none, Comforts lie dead in Believers as their Graces do; the holy sire raked up affords no light to them: Awake therefore, O Believer, to the use of thy Talents; exercise thyself unto Godliness, that the Divine Life now latent in Principles may show itself in acts; blow up the holy fire in thy bosom, that what was buried under ashes may revive into a flame; Be still a putting forth one Grace or other, melting in repenting tears, or clasping thy Faith about Promises, or kneeling down in obedience to Commands; or inflaming thy Love at Gods, or perfecting Patience under his hand, or drawing out thy Soul in Charity: As the season is, let one Grace or other be still a-budding and bearing holy fruit. Thy Graces thus exercised will become radiant and visible; those which before lay hid like Saul among the stuff, as if they had been upon the common level of nature, will now come forth in their Supernatural statures, and appear as the virtues of God: Thou mayst now dsscern in thyself that which is more than Humane, a Divine Nature, which sparkles out of thy flesh in holy Operarations; Another, an higher Spirit than thy own which follows God fully in holy walking: Thou mayst now sit down under Christ's shadow, and reckon thyself in the very borders of Assurance, waiting the good hour, when the irradiating Spirit shall take thee by the hand, and lead thee into the full possession thereof. Moreover, unto the exercise of Grace add growth as a fruit thereof; Grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, 2 Pet. 3.18. Abound more and more, 1 Thes. 4.1. Let thy Motto be Plus ultra, and thy Christian Arms like joseph's, a fruitful bough by a well. Thou hast Faith, but be strong in it, that thou mayst wrestle with God, and not let him go till he bless thee with Assurance; be great in it, that he may condescend to thee, and say, Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Thou hast a being in Christ, but be rooted in him by a more close adherence, and intimate Union within him, grow up into him in statures of Grace till thou come to the oylof gladness upon his head. There is some holy Love in thee, but be rooted and grounded in it, that thou mayst comprehend the breadth and length, and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God, Ephes. 3.17, 18, 19 Through radicated and well-grown Graces, (as the Apostles assures us in that place,) admirable and wonderful things may be attained: In a sober sense we may take Infinity, know Transcendencies, and be filled with a Deity. Labour to grow every way downward in Húmility and self-denial, upward in holy desires and raptures, inward in the vitals of Faith and Love, and outward in all holy fruits and good works: fill up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that which is lacking in Faith and other Graces; let Patience and all other Graces have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their perfect work, that thy path may be as the shining light, shining more and more to the perfect day: As an Heavenly Pilgrim go from faith to faith, and from strength to strength, travelling to meet the day coming towards thee in the light of God's Countenance. In such a growth as this as in a clear glass thou mayst discover that thy Graces are vital and true feeds of Immortality: Statues and Pictures, such as Hypocrites are, grow not, Essentials and Vitals are Vltra penicillum: Sincerity and Divine Vitality cannot be painted. Consider therefore with thyself how it hath been with thee, there was but a little dawn in thy Heart and now a pure morning. Thy Grace was but a little grain of Mustardseed, and now it is become a Tree. Thou wast but a little Embryo, a babe in Christ, and now a man of strength and spiritual stature; And what doth this argue but Life in thee? Consider again, thou hast an ocean of Corruption in thy Heart, and yet thy little spark of Grace hath grown; thou hast stood in the midst of Satan's winds and withering blasts, and yet thou growest; thou hast had many a sharp frost from the World to nip thy fruit in the bud, and yet thou growest: And what doth this speak but a seed and life of God in thee, such as will spring up into Life Eternal? Take this as an Earnest from God. that maugre Satan and all the power of Darkness, thou shalt grow and grow on, till thou art transplanted into the Heavenly Paradise.  
Again, If thou wouldst have Assurance, be much in mortifying of Sin. This is the great troubler. If thou indulg it, a cloud will come over thy Conscience & darken thy Evidences; thy Graces will all droop, and like a Candle in the socket, be ready to die, the Law will arm itself against thee, and from one threatening or other will flash Hell in thy face: Satan will rake in thy old wounds of Gild, and put thee into fresh torments; the holy Spirit will be gone, and carry away all his Cordials with him; the Promises will be as dry Breasts, and let out never a drop of sweetness to thee; thy Duties will hang the wing, and become dead and spiritless, and without comfort. In the end thou wilt experimentally find, That in crooked Paths Peace cannot be found. Awake therefore, O Believer, to the work of Mortification. Look upon sin, as it is an evil, an only evil, an hellish abomination, infinitely more loathsome than the Dog's Vomit, or the Sow's Mire, or the menstruous Cloth, by which it is shadowed out in Scripture. Arraign it as the greatest Malefactor that ever was. Call in Death, and Hell, and a blasted World, and groaning Creatures, and the Ruins of Angels, and Souls of Men, and the bloody Passion of Christ, and the horrible Injuries done to God himself, To bear witness against it: Each of these can tell sad stories about it; and all of them cry out, Crucify it, Crucify it, It is worthy to die. Pass therefore thy doom upon it, that it may do to. Strip it of all its veils, and false covers, and bewitching appearances; pluck off its Golden Profit, and Silken Pleasures, and Purple of false Honour, that it may look as it is in its own ugly nakedness, sinful, out of measure sinful. Nail it to the Cross by holy Restraints. if it start in a Thought, or creep in at a Sense, or hid itself under thy Lawful things, have one holy Truth or other as a Nail ready to fasten it, that it move no further in thee. Pierce it, let out its vital blood, I mean the love and joy and delight of it. Surrender up thy Affections to God and Christ, and heavenly things, that it may give up the ghost; bury it out of thy sight; never give it a look or glance more; converse no more with it, than thou wouldst do with the dead; raise it not up again into any fresh embraces; no, not so much as the picture of it in a sinful thought or fancy. After this manner mortify sin, and above all thy darling only one, which thy Heart hath been tender of, and could wish that it were no sin; spare it not, but cause it to die, as a sure Pledge that all other sins shall do so. Believe it, This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the path of life, or of those two lines of Holiness and Comfort. If ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live, saith the Apostle, Rom. 8.13; an eternal life in Heaven, and a comfortable one in the way thither. Who knows, but that whilst thou art mortifying thy sin, God may come and speak to thee, much as he did to Abraham when he was offering up his Isaac; Now I know that thou repentest indeed, and believest indeed, seeing thou hast not withheld thy Sin, thy Darling Sin from the work of Mortification: Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee; Thy Comforts shall be as the Stars, and as the Sand. When thou hast been aslaying thy Lusts, Jesus Christ will meet thee (as Melchizedek did Abraham, when he came from the slaughter of the Kings), Bringing forth Bread and Wine, Supportations and Divine Consolations to thy Soul. Melchizedek's Bread and Wine were to Abraham Pawns of Canaan, the Land of Promise; and Christ's Supports and Comforts shall be to thee Earnests of Heaven. See what pure strains of Grace flow in the precious Promises made to the Overcomer; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna; and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he which receiveth it, Rev. 2.17. O what things are here! Comforts fall about the Overcomer, and are preserved in his heart; as the Manna fell about the Camp, and was preserved in the Golden Pot. Pardon is the white stone, and Adoption the new name; and all these, though secret to others, are well known to himself. But you'll say, These are promised to the Overcomer; and who can say, that he is such? Is not the Canaanite still in the land? Are there not relics of Corruption in the best? Doth not the flesh still lust against the spirit, and the body of Death send out its stench and rottenness? And who may call himself an Overcomer? I answer, The Canaanite is in the land; but subdued: Relics of Sin are in thee; but they do gravitare, press and lie heavy, as a thing out of its proper place, and force thee to groan and cry out, O wretched man! The flesh lusts against the spirit, but thou opposest might and main; and if it be ready to prevail, thou criest out, as the forced Damosel under the Law, for help against it, as being too strong for thee. If there be in thee a nolle peccatum, a bent of heart against Sin, and thou dost in purpose and endeavour fight against it, and thou wouldst pursue it to death, and, if possible here, to utter extirpation; then assure thyself, (not withstanding the indwelling sin), That thou art an Overcomer in God's account, who accepts the Will for the Deed; and in the Gospels, all whose Promises are made not to sinless perfection, but sincerity. To this purpose the Original in that famous place is remarkable, It is not to him that overcometh, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to him that is overcoming, to him that is praying, striving, wrestling, fight against Sin; to him that is in an overcoming posture, though the enemy be not quite out of the field, to him shall those great Comforts in the Promise be given. This made St. Paul (maugre all the relics of Corruption) sound a Triumph to Freegrace, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. 7.25; as being sure of complete Victory at last.  
Again, If thou wouldst have Assurance, Be much in the holy use of Ordinances. These are vehicula Spiritus, the Chariots in which the Holy Spirit rides Circuit to do good to Souls. These are canales Gratie, the Conduit-pipes whereby Graces and Comforts are derived to us. There God records his Name, and commands the Blessing, even Life for evermore. There he meets those that work righteousness, and remember him in his ways. David was so sensible of this, that it was his one only desire to dwell in God's house, and behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beauties, or sweet Amenities, of the Lord, Psal. 27.4. If ever thou meetest with the Suavities and ravishing Beauties of Freegrace, it must be in the Sanctuary of Ordinances. Christ, when here on Earth, was very ready to give a comfortable Testimony to those that came to him and brought their Graces with them; Seeing upright Nathanael, he said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, Joh. 1.47. Seeing their Faith, he said to the poor Paralytic, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee, Mat. 9.2. Neither now, though in Heaven, is he wanting therein; he hath a secret way of testifying by his Spirit unto those who in an holy manner approach to him in Ordinances; Seeing thy holy fear at an Ordinance, he can tell thee, That thy Soul thall dwell at ease in the bosom of Mercy; Seeing thy Faith there, he can tell thee, That as a true Believer thou hast everlasting life. Whatever Grace thou bringest into his presence, he can make one Promise or other drop sweetness upon it. Wait on him in his own ways, that he may speak Peace to thee; more particularly, Converse much with the sacred Word. In the Gospel great things are set before us; there's a Glass of God's Glory, The more thou lookest into it, the more thou wilt be transformed into the Divine Likeness; there's a Mass, a Treasury of rich Grace; the more thou searchest into it, the more thou wilt taste how gracious the Lord is, till thou come to the highest gust of it in Assurance; there are the Breasts of Consolation, suck on, and thou shalt be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; there thou hast the demonstration and ministration of the Spirit; get as much as thou canst of it that thou mayst be sealed by it: There the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith, from a Faith of Adherence to a Faith of Assurance: There is the savour of Life unto Life, of a gracious Life unto a comfortable and glorious One. Be much in reading and hearing the Word, but do it in an holy manner, do it attentively; take heed to it, till the day dawn, and the daystar arise in thy heart; do it desiring the Word as the Babe doth the Breast, that thou mayst grow into all the measures and statures of Christ; do it in faith, that the Word may profit and effectually work unto all Graces and Comforts; do it in love to Truth and Righteousness, that the oil of gladness, which is upon Christ thy Head, may run down upon thee; do it obedientially, harken to the Commands, that thy Peace may be as a River flowing in the joys of Faith: If thus thou wilt hear and open to Christ, who stands and knocks at the door of thy heart, He will come in to thee, and sup with thee, and thou with him, Revel. 3.20. He will come in to thee in intimate Communion, and sup with thee in the acceptance of thy Graces, and thou shalt sup with him at a Banquet of Love: Thou mayst experimentally say, That the Gospel is come to thee in power, and in the holy Ghost, and in much Assurance, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Thess. 1.5. In Power in, the first work of Conversion; in the holy Ghost, in the gracious indwelling of it after Faith; and in much Assurance, in the Sealins of Truth and Love upon the heart. Next to that of the Word, I recommend Prayer to thee; This is an excellent Ordinance, it wrestles with God, and like a Prince prevails with him; It unlocks the Treasury of Grace, and fetches down all Blessings; it hath a king of Omnipotency in it; and, if with reverence I may so allude, As God brought forth all things by the breath of his mouth, so the Believer produces all Blessings by the breath of Prayer. Apollonius (as Sozomen relates) never asked any thing of God but he obtained it. And of Luther it was said, Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit; This man could do what he would with God. Ask, and thou shalt have: Ask the sealing Spirit, and thou shalt have it; ask in the Name of Jesus Christ; His Merits are as pure Incense able to perfume thy Prayers; and as a powerful Orator to persuade the Comforter to come down to thee: Ask in the holy Spirit, in the Grace and sweet Gales of it, That the Spirit may be an answer to itself; the Spirit as sealing Gods Love an answer to itself as inspiring thy Prayers: Ask in Faith; Hath not God told thee of a witnessing Spirit? Hath he not said, That he will speak peace to his Saints? Are not his Promises as so many Bonds upon his Truth to make the things promised good? Prove him by Prayer, if he will be as good as his Word; see, if he will not own his own hand in the Promise; wrestle with him till the day break in the light of his Countenance lifted up upon thy heart; Ask in fervency, that whilst thy heart is burning with Love towards God, his Love which is the Fountain of thine, may reveal itself to thee. The old Token of acceptance was firing the Sacrifice, and it is still a pledge of success, when there is warmth in Prayer. Ask in sincerity, in a pure intention, not for self-ease, not that thou mayst far deliciously upon the Love of God; but that thy Spirit may be the freer to his service, that thy Zeal may be more inflamed towards his Glory; The prayer of the upright is his delight; in so praying. thou shalt meet the favour of God. It is very remarkable what posture Paul was in, when Ananias was sent to comfort him, Behold, he prayeth, saith God; go, let him be filled with the Holy Ghost. In the beginning of Psal. 13. David's Faith run very low, How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever? how long wilt thou hid thy face from me? ver. 1. A while after it lifts up itself a little, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God, lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, ver. 3. but praying on, it is in the altitudes; I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy Salvation, ver. 5. Prayer is one of Gods sealing times; in it thou approachest and drawest nigh to him who is the fountain of Life and Joy. Whilst thou art opening and pouring out thy Heart to him, Who knows but he may open his Heart and incomparable Love to thee? the holy Spirit may come and tell thee, as the Angel Gabriel did Daniel in the same posture, That thou art greatly beloved, a man of desires with God.  
In the last place make use of the Lords Supper. There God makes a Royal feast, a feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well resined; he sets forth Christ crucified, whose flesh is meat indeed, whose blood is drink indeed. Come, eat his flesh and drink his blood, that you may live for ever; Eat and let thy Soul delight itself in fatness; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved Soul, or as the Original Text may be read, Be drunk or happily inebriated with the sweet Love of Christ; the same crucified Christ, which in the Sacrifice on the Cross satisfied God's heart, at this Sacrament can satisfy thine. Never any Feast like this, which cheers the Heart of God and Man; How will God manifest his Love here in Salutations, Kisses, and Unctions The Jews at their Feasts used many demonstrations of Love; such as Salutations, saying to their Guests, Peace be unto thee; Kisses; from whence afterwards Christians derived their Kiss of Charity; or as Tertullian calls it, Oscuculum Pacis, A Kifs of Peace; and Oil poured out upon the Head, called therefore Oleum laetitiae, The Oil of gladness: And cannot God do much more at his Table? Cannot he salute thee, and say, Peace, Peace, to thee, because thou trustest in him? Cannot he kiss thee with the kisses of his mouth, and cause one Promise or other to drop sweetness into thy heart? Cannot he give thee the rich anointings of the holy Spirit, and fill thee with all joy and peace in believing? Let thy Spikenard, thy Faith, and Love, and other Graces send forth their smell, that he may break a Box of Spikenard in thy heart, and fill, and perfume it with the sweet odours of his Love: Wait upon him in this Ordinance, there he doth by outward and visible Elements, seal Pardon and Salvation to thee; and believe it, he that puts one Seal to thy Sense, can put another to thy Heart; unto the Seal of Elements, he can add the Seal of the Holy Spirit; with the outward Bread and Wine, thou mayst have the hidden Manna, and heavenly refreshments from Christ. Whilst thou art renewing thy Covenant, and avouching the Lord to be thy God, he can own thee, and avouch thee to be one of his Children, and this will be more to thee than a World.  
Again, If thou wouldst be assured, walk in Uprightness, this is Gospel-perfection; the Believers Beauty, the soundness of all his Graces, the desire and delight of God himself, as being a Beam from his own Truth and Simplicity. In Scripture he seldom mentions an upright man without setting some mark of Honour upon him. Enoch walked with God, as one familiar with him, Gen. 5.22; and as the Septuagint, and after them the Apostle, Heb. 11, hath it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he pleased God; and how great a Character is this? Caleb followed God fully, and he is styled a man of another Spirit, such as is above the rate of common Souls. Job was a perfect and upright man, and God calls him a none such in the Earth. The Jews say, That the Seventy Souls that went with Jacob into Egypt were worth as much as all the Seventy Nations in the World: I am sure, the upright, the Israelites indeed, are the Pearls and Excellent ones in the Earth. Now here I recommend three things to thee, To walk as in God's presence, To have an universal respect to his Commands, and To carry a pure intention towards his Glory. All these have a great tendency to Assurance. Walk as in God's Presence. Remember, that he is . Thou needest not a Vision, or jacob's Ladder; wherever thou art, thy Faith can tell thee, that God is in the place, and it is too dreadful to sin in. His Presence besets thee behind and before, and thou canst not break away from it; thy ways are all before him, nay thy very heart; He knows the make of it, and stands by the inward Frame and secret Springs thereof, seeing what is a forming there upon the Wheel, and what thoughts are taking their flight from thence. All is naked and open as in an Anatomy before his Face. He is intimior intimo tuo, nearer to thee than thou art to thyself. Walk as in his Presence. Live as under his allseeing Eye. Seneca would have us set a Cato or a Laelius before our eyes, and to compose our Lives as in their Presence; Magna pars peccatorum tollitur, si peccaturis testis assistat, saith he; A present witness would prevent a great deal of sin. Think thus with thyself, Cave, Spectat Deus; Take heed, God seethe. Keep fresh apprehensions of him in thy thoughts. Think, purpose, speak, act, do every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, worthy of, and in an holy congruity to his Presence. Walk with him, that thou mayst be translated, though not as Enoch, corporally into Heaven, yet as a sincere Believer, mentally into the Suburbs of it, in the Manifestations of God's Favour. Look steadfastly, constantly unto him, that thou mayst have sweet Aspects and Love-glances from him. Thou mayst have his Favourable Presence, whilst thou livest under his Awful one. The upright shall dwell in thy presence, Psal. 140; that is, in thy gracious Presence. They set him before them, and he causes his Grace and Love to pass before them.  
In the next place, Have an universal respect to his Commands. It is a vulgar Rule among the Jewish Doctors, That men should single out some one Command out of the Law, and exercise themselves therein, that God may be their Frsend, and bear with them other things. But this is to Indent and Article with God upon our own Terms. The Hypocrite, (as one elegantly expresses it), like a globous body, touches the Law in some one point, in some particular Command; but the Upright, at least in desire and endeavour, lies close and level to all the Will of God. The Pharisees seemed to be very much for the First Table; but after all their Fasting and Prayer they could swallow down Widows Houses, and so give the lie to all their Devotions. The Moralist seems to be as much for the Second Table; but, as fair as his Life is towards Man, he is very unjust to God, stealing away that heart which is infinitely more due to him, than the justest of Debts can be to our Neighbour. If thou wouldst be assured, thou must have an universal respect to his Command; do not pick and choose among them, but as David, be for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all the Wills of God; as Zachary and Elizabeth, walk in all his Commandments. Wherever the Divine stamp is, there let thy Obedience be, that thou mayst have a great Reward: Light is sown for the Righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart, Psal. 97.11. Upon sincere Obedience a crop of Comfort comes up; and, because by Promise, much surer than that of the Husbandman which is under Providence only: The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright, Psal. 11.7. In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Their faces behold the upright; the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Three Persons in the Sacred Trinity do all look with a loving Aspect upon such an one. Our Saviour hath told us as much, If a man sincerely keep the holy Words, The Father and the Son will come to him, and make their abode with him, John 14.23. And a little after follows a Promise of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter, verse 26. Walk uprightly, and thou art in a posture to receive sweet manifestations of Love from the whole Sacred Trinity.  
In the last place carry a pure Intention towards God's Glory. This is the single eye in the Body of Duties, all our good Works lie in the dark without it: the want of this was as a black line drawn over Amaziah's virtue; He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart, 2 Chron. 25.2. Jehu was anointed and appointed by God to destroy Ahabs' House; and yet for want of a pure Intention, was reckoned as a Murderer for doing so, Hos. 1.4. That which is true Prayer when it comes from Zeal, may be but howling when it comes from Lust, Hos. 7.14. Those Moral Virtues, which are very glossie in the Matter, may in the End be no better than splendid sins. The End is the purest offspring of a rational Spirit, and a cardinal circumstance in every Action. The Soul conceives all its Thoughts before the End, as Laban's Ewes did their young before the Rods. As the End is earthly or heavenly, so is the Man and his Acting. Remember, O Believer, that thou wast not made a Man or a Saint; Thy Lamp of Reason was not set up at first or new-lighted afterwards by Grace that thou shouldst centre on any thing less than God himself, or take thy aim lower than his Glory. Set thy heart on that great End; look right on it with a single eye; whether thou eatest or drinkest, or prayest, or hearest, or whatever good work thou art about, carry on the great Design, That God in all may be glorified. How taking this is with Christ, He himself hath told us; Thou hast ravished my heart, my Sister, my Spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck, faith he to his Church, Cant. 4.9. A pure Intention is that single eye, and Obedience that chain of the neck; which in Believers doth excordiate and ravish the heart of Christ himself; And what sweet returns will he make upon such taking Graces? Their Graces ravish his Heart, and his Comforts will ravish theirs: Their thoughts are upon God's Glory, and Gods are upon their Peace. With the upright he will show himself upright; with the pure he will show himself pure. They are upright in Duties, and he will be upright in Promises; They give him pure Intention, and he will give them pure Mercy; such as is the sealing of his Love upon their Hearts. The pure in heart shall see him, not in the bliss-making Vision only, but before in those Love-glances, which are the First-fruits of Heaven here below.  
Again, If thou wouldst be assured, be much in charity and doing good; As the Elect of God put on bowels of Mercy. Open thy heart to the poor in Pity, and thy hand in Charity; draw out thy Alms, and with them thy Soul; give outward Things, and which is more, thyself in real compassion; Cast thy Bread upon the Waters, upon the Tears of the Poor, that it may be carried into the Ocean of Eternity, and there found again in a glorious Reward. When an Object of Charity meets thee, Say not, Go and come again; pass not by as the Priest and Levite did, but, as the good Samaritan, immediately pour in thy Wine and Oil into the Wounds of thy Brother; omit no Season of Charity: Now is thy Seedtime, scatter thy good Works, Sow upon Blessings, as the Phrase is, 2 Cor. 9.6. Now Christ's Bank is open, put in thy Money upon holy Usury, and God himself will be thy Paymaster; Be still adoing of good, that in thy little sphere thou mayst resemble him who doth good in the great sphere of Nature: His Sun shines and Rain falls ; Be as like him as thou canst, shining in good Works, and dropping in Charities upon all occasions. Give a Portion to seven and also to eight, saith the Preacher, Eccles. 11.2. From this Text the Jews ground a Custom to give an Alms to seven or eight poor people every day. However that be, we should be much in Charity: Look on the Poor as God's Altars erected on purpose, That upon their Backs and Bellies thou mayst offer up thy Charity as an Odour of a sweet smell, a Sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. Be rich in good Works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up a good Foundation against the time to come. This is the way to Assurance: Works of Mercy and Charity make Faith visible, and withal put the Believer into a nearer capacity to have the Love of God manifested to him. They make Faith visible; no Assurance can be had, unless that Query, Whether we be in the Faith? be resolved in the Affirmative: That cannot be done, unless Faith become visible; and more visible it cannot be than in such good Works; which as the holy Blossoms of it prove that there is Life at the root. The Mercy and Charity, which hang upon it, may tell thee, That thou hast indeed closed by Faith with the infinite Love and Grace above, and from thence brought down all those drops and models of Goodness which thou shedst forth in thy Conversation: The Fruit may prove thy standing in Christ the true Root of fatness and sweetness. The Image of Goodness limmed and drawn out upon thy Life, shows itself to be from the pure Spirit. St. John exhorting the little children to a real practical Love, adds this as a singular Comfort, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In this Love we know that we are of the Truth, and shall assure our hearts before him, 1 John 3.18, 19 It thou love thy Brother in Deed and in Truth, assure thyself, that thou art of the Truth; That the holy truth of the Gospel is mixed with faith in thy Heart, and there grows up into the Divine life and likeness: Say not, That thy Faith is dead or idle, as long as it can show forth the Coats and Garments, the Alms and good Works which it hath done; these show the life and labour of it: Nay further, these put thee into a nearer capacity to have the Love of God manifested to thee. God in the Prophet commands them to deal their bread to the hungry, to cover the naked not to hid themselves from their own flesh; and immediately after lets out himself in sweet Promises to them, Thy righteousness shall then go before thee, Isa. 58.8. that is, thy Graces shall visibly appear to thee. And again, Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry, and he shall say, here am I, ver. 9 that is, He will be very near and ready at hand to reveal himself to thee. And which is more, as St. John tells us, he will dwell in thee, He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him, 1 Joh. 4.16. He dwells in the Divine Life, and the Divine Presence dwells in him: He hath a Shechinah, nay, and an Oracle in his own bosom. God will speak peace to his Saints, Psal. 85.8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his merciful ones, with them he will show himself merciful; to them he will speak from the Mercy-seat; they give but ordinary Bread, but receive from him hidden Manna; they draw out their Souls to their Brethren, and he draws out his Soul to them.  
In the last place, if thou wouldst be assured, set thy heart on God, and Christ, and Heaven; stay no longer in the straits of this lower World, take thy flight by Faith and Love into the sphere of Infinity, where thy Soul may open and dilate itself for ever. Hang no longer about the drops and little particles of Being, put forth thy Soul might and main into the great ocean of Sweetness and Perfection, which is able to fill up thy two vast Capacities of Mind and Will with its unmeasurable Truth and Goodness. Warm thy Heart no more among the little sparks of Good here below; soar up upon the wings of Desire and ardent Affection to that pure immutable Sun of Love and Goodness; one of whose golden rays of favour will be more to thee than a World. Thou hast, O Believer, a Soul twice Heavenborn; once as it is in its own nature an immortal spark from above, and again as it bears the impress of Heaven in its Graces. And answerably thou hast a double impetus after Happiness; one in the instinct of nature thirsting after it, and another in the more Divine impulses of Grace pressing towards it as its Centre. Think not that such a Soul shall ever find rest, till it come back to the first point from whence it issued, and resign up itself to its Original in the bosom of God. Inflame thy Heart with Love to Jesus Christ who is altogether lovely, and wholly desirable. In his Righteousness thou mayst stand and look up to the sweet reconciled face of God; In his bleeding wounds thou hast a passage into the infinite bowels of Mercy; through the veil of his flesh the way is open to the Holy of Holies; The oil upon his head can fill thee with joy unspeakable and glorious. Lift up thine eyes, O Believer, to that wonder of wonders, God manifested in the flesh; from whence come all the admirable indwellings of God in the spirits of Men. Set thy Heart upon that Infinite Mass and Treasure of Merit, which paid off all the scores to Divine Justice, and over and above bought all the Glory of Heaven for poor worms. Ravish thy Soul in the rich redundancies and over-measures of the Spirit upon him, which overflow and fill so many thousand precious Souls with Grace. Look steadfastly upon that pure mirror of Love, Holiness, Meekness, Goodness, Obedience, Patience, which is in his flesh; look till thou shine with the same image or spiritual Idea of Grace; look till thou art captivated in raptures and flames of Love towards him; count the whole World dross and dung for him; espouse him in the dearest and sweetest affections.  
Again, set thy heart upon Heaven; call back thy Affections from this vain World, where they have been scattered a-gathering up stubble, unto Heaven thy native Country, that thou mayst have a pregnant proof in thyself, that thou art born from thence, and going thither. Fellow those attractions, which Heaven the great Centre of Grace and Holiness put upon thy Faith and Love to draw thee up to itself. Long to be up in that pure region of Bliss where God is All in All: There are sinless Perfections, and tearless Comforts, rivers of Pleasures, and plenitudes of Joy for ever. Thou mayst there read all Truths in the Original, and satiate thyself at the fountain of Goodness. Have thy Conversation above, drive on a constant trade there by Prayers and good Works, that thou mayst have rich returns of Grace and Love from thence. This is the true way to Assurance. A notable instance we have in the Psalmist, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, Psal. 63.1. and what is the issue of it? his Soul which had so emptied out itself in holy Pant and Anhelations after God, was soon satisfied with the marrow and fatness of his love, ver. 5. No sooner was the Spouse sick of love to Christ, Cant. 2.5. but his left hand is under her head in Supports, and his right hand embraces her, in the sweet manifestations of his Love to her, ver. 6. The more Heavenly the Believer is, the sitter he is for Assurance; which serves as a lesser Heaven for him till he come to the great one which is above.  
Thus much touching the second thing, the ways in which Assurance is attained.  
To conclude all, the Believer having arrived at Assurance, which is the highest step on this side Heaven, may sit down with joy upon his head, and begin that Song of Freegrace and the Lamb; which is sung above, though in an higher tune, in the Heavenly choir of Angels and glorified Saints for ever and ever. Well may he say, Oh! what hath God wrought? what was he, a lump of dust and sin, to be brought hither? How did he lie in blood and death, till Grace came by and put in the breath of Spiritual life into him? Was not his Reason the lightest part in him, veiled and covered over with gross darkness, when the rosy morn and dayspring of Grace first broke out upon him in Spiritual illuminations? Was not his Will, though a free Principle, fast shut up in Hardness and Unbelief, when Grace opened the Iron-gate, and made him free to his own Happiness? What a poor broken Man, and under what innumerable debts was he, when Grace came and paid off all by the Blood of the Covenant? How much of Earth and Hell was upon him before Grace made him a Son, and limmed out the Divine Image upon his Heart? What swarms and legions of Lusts kept possession in his Heart, when Grace set up its standard and drove them out to make room for the holy seed there? And after he became a Saint, what an hand had Grace with him to cure his many weaknesses, and nurse up his infant-Graces? What a vast charge was it at in fresh anointings and supplies of the Spirit, to keep the holy lamp and fire from going out? And at last, how rich and glorious is Grace towards him, when it carries him up into the mount of Assurance, and there shows him the great things which it hath done, and will do for him; the true Graces and blossoms of Glory in his Heart, and a fair Heaven that lies beyond them, where Crowns and Robes of Happiness wait for his coming? Oh! Grace! infinite Grace! thou art the Origine of all Graces, and Centre of all Praises. All the Saints own their birth and safe conduct to Heaven to thee; and to every step of thine, from the first beams and drops of Mercy to the Bliss-making Vision and rivers of Pleasures above, Hosannabs' and Halielujahs must be sung for ever and ever.   
FINIS.   

The TABLE.  

A  
ADam Preached of Christ. Pag. 376  
Adoption a fruit of Faith, 241. It's Privilege, 242, to 249, hereby a greater Glory than in Adam. Pag. 244  
Adriatic Sea, a Popish Fable about the calming of it. Pag. 104, 105.  
Albertus Magnus his Statue speaking articulately. Pag. 164  
Ambrose's saying of Cain and Abel. Pag. 367  
Armas Burgus his Prayer at his Martyrdom. 176 His Patience. Pag. 318  
Andelots' brave answer when questioned, to Henry 2d. of France. Pag. 315  
Anselm's Interrogatory and Counsel to a Man at the point of death. Pag. 80  
Antinomians Error about Sin & the Law. Pag. 121  
Assurance and Faith how differ. 137, to 149 That it is attainable 397. Of our good estate is attainable, 387. Names given to Faith show it, 399, 410. Another ground, 404. Examples of it, 403: Popish error about it, 388. Like the Sceptic Philosophers herein, 389. It puffs not up, 395, 396, Assurance of Pardon, 397. Of Perseverance, 412. Ways by which it is attained, 424. It gins the Song of Freegrace here. Pag. 460  
Athanasius his saying when Banished by the Emperor. Pag. 198  
Augustin's mistake about Faith retracted. 6 Struggling against Sin in his own strength, he heard a voice, 279. His Spiritual application of Christ's raising up three from the dead. Pag. 385, 386   

B  
Baptism, several Names given it by the Ancients, 371. How a Jewish Custom then a Divine Ordinance, 372. Though received in Infancy, yet hath a bond on Conscience, ibid. & 373. One confirmed in Martyrdom by it by his Mother, ibid. Burgundians Baptism, Pag. 374  
Bellarmine died in doubt. Pag. 426, 427  
Belief of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures, of what kind, 37 to 41. What the consequences of it in order to Resignation, 69, to 75. A Believer keeps to the Written Word in all things, 122, to 126. The only wise man, 170. His knowledge of the Invisible God, 171, 172. The Presentiality of Things future, 186. Understands seeming Contradictions, 187. It's spiritual extraction the best Chemist, 192, to 201. What he desires to know of himself. Pag. 381  
Belial a son of Belial, what it imports. Pag. 160  
Bernard's reflection on himself when he saw another Sin. Pag. 313  
Bishop, no non-preaching Bishops of old. Pag. 377, 378  
Blessing of Jacob and Esan differ, 344. Promise of Temporal Blessings not absolute. Pag. 345  
Blood, a little drop given out to be the Blood of Jesus Christ. Pag. 364, 365   

C  
Cardinal Cajetan's Commentaries on the Master of the Sentences extolled by Papists above Luther, yet 200 Errors in it. Pag. 156  
Christ & earthly things often in competition. 159 His Conception in the Womb and the Heart, compared, 288, 361, 362. He is the Sampler of our Graces, 291. How he died in his person, and in the Believer. Pag. 373  
Conditions of the Promises really in Believers. Pag. 391  
Conflict, the Natural & Spiritual differenced. Pag. 261, 262, 263.  
Conscience its testimony of great repute among Pagans, 405. Witnesseth integrity, 406. Believers converse with Scripture & Conscience. Pag. 407  
Conviction of Sin manifold, 70, 71, 72. Several things ensue thereupon, to Pag. 75  
Creation, the Philosophers misguess about it, 17, 18. New Creation in the Heart. Pag. 383, 384.  
Credere Deo, & in Deum. Pag. 131, 132  
Cruciger, his Deathbed Prayer, and Faith. Pag. 138  
Covenant of Grace and Works, difference of Men under them. Pag. 278   

D  
Dr. Dees impostures by Spirits. Pag. 326  
Delilah, the import of the word in Hebr. Pag. 150  
Dragon poisonous shut up by Sylvester the Bishop's Prayers. Pag. 266   

E  
Election though from eternity, yet buds in time. Pag. 413  
Evagrius his gift to the poor to be paid in another world. Pag. 113  
Evidences confirm Assurance. Pag. 394  
Experiments all learned men are for them. 326 Experiments of Faith, of Scripture-truth. 325, to 370. Where of Scripture Ordinances and great Works, to Pag. 386  
Examination of ourselves espied by the Philosophers. Pag. 433, 434  
Faith, the several acceptions of the word in Scripture, 1, 2. Considered in its measures, and in its lowest measure described, ibid. Wherein it exceeds Moral Virtues, 8, 9 The difference between that and Reason alone, 12, 19 And Reason with Scripture, 19, 30. Faith explicit required in Fundamentals, 41, 46. It disciples the Soul to Christ, 86, 87. Yields to be ruled by Christ in all actings, 109. Aspires after Heaven, and looks for pay there, 113. Where the seat of Faith is disputed between Protestants and Papists, 126. Though seems dead, yet may be alive, 129, 130. More than a waked assent, 131, to 136. Less than Assurance, to 149. Why former Divines desine it by a full persuasion, 136. Difference between Assurance and Faith justifying us, 140. Hangs on God in all its actings, 191. Fruits of Faith and several Conceptions of these, 270, 271. It is before all other Graces, 283 to 288. Sets them all on work, 289. It's foundation and infusion, 328. It wars against all enticement to Sin, 276. Steps by which Faith goes in mortifying it. Pag. 280  
Fall of man total. Pag. 7  
Father, its efficacy in Prayer. Pag. 245  
Fear of God to be in all actions, 303. Servile and Filial showed. Pag. 304  
Mr. Fox never denied any that asked for Jesus sake. Pag. 301  
Freegrace, its presumption in unholy persons to expect it, 119, 120.  hath no Harmony with it, 190. Abused by Pelagians. Pag. 366   

G  
God most glorious in his Word, 12. Confessed by all Nations, 13. Cardinal Perron one day proved a God, the next would have proved the contrary, 171. Discovery of God in Grace, and in the Creatures how differs. Pag. 175  
Good, 288. Sets about the chief good. Pag. 4  
Graces spiritual are Creations, 8. All act in union with Christ, 295. All rooted in Christ's Mines. Pag. 380   

H  
Happiness all desire it, few hit it, 3, 4. What Aristotle makes it to be. Pag. 253  
Heart, it includes Understanding and Will. Pag. 126, 127  
Hungarians Tradition. Pag. 92   

I  
Jews, though they reject the Sacrifice of the Messiah, yet offer a real one, and why, 97. Their answer to the Question, where believe to be saved by Christ's Righteousness, with their pious saying over Bread, Wine, Herbs, 344. Their saying of the seventy Souls that went down into Egypt, 449. A vulgar rule among them, 450. A custom of others about Alms. Pag. 454, 455  
Illumination Supernatural described, 11. Wherein it excels Natural Reason, 12, 19 It's requisite to Faith. Pag. 30 31, 32.  
Images how at first crept in, 16. When cast out the people triumphed, 309. Their return again. Pag. 331, 332  
Engrossers of Corn, sore Judgements on them. Pag. 184  
Instruction the true & false way of finding it. Pag. 118  
Intercession of Christ powerful. Pag. 415  
Johannes Seneca his Deathbed moan. Pag. 210  
Israelites, the Men go not into Canaan but the little ones, its misery. Pag. 128, 129  
Justification three acts required to it, 94, 98. Bellarmine's. Conclusion about it, 102. How the ungodly may and may not be justified, 165. It's great importance. 201. It's not from eternity 202, 206. It is double, 207. How by Faith, 213, to 219. Not complete till the day of Judgement, Pag. 227, to 231   

K  
Kingdom, the Primitive Christians talk so much of it that the Pagan Emperors were jealous of them, though without cause. Pag. 176  
Kohathites, the derivation of the word. Pag. 5   

L  
Law of God demands of us two things, 209. Enough in Christ to answer both, 210. It's writing in the heart by Nature and Grace differ, 338. Impossible to be fulfilled; but by the fiued of man. Pag. 401  
Legio fulminatrix. Pag. 373  
Our life how tremendous every way. Pag. 305  
Light natural improved to the utmost engaged not God to give Grace. Pag. 14  
Love to God and our Neighbour hath but one root. Pag. 301  
Luther's Method in Reformation, 274. An example of Faith in Mortification, his saying of , 368, 369. His answer to the menacing Law. Pag. 428   

M  
Mahalath, a title of some Psalms interpreted. Pag. 194  
Mahomet's Heart una child cut open. Pag. 193  
Meris Bishop of Chalcedons Discourse with Julian. Pag. 308  
Martyrs refusing Pardon. Pag. 276  
Meekness Natural, Moral, Spiritual, 311. Examples. ib. & Pag. 312  
Mortification, a Believer yields to Christ for it in a threefold respect, 103. Resemblance between it and Christ's death, 104. False ways of seeking it, and the true pointed at, 117, 118. The fruit of Faith, 250. Degrees of Mortification, of Original Sin, 260, 267. And of actual. ibid.  
Motions holy precious to a Believer. Pag. 88  
Musculus' Distich in straits. Pag. 248   

N  
Nazianzens saying about the difference between begotten and proceeding. Pag. 352   

O  
Obedience actuated by Faith, 314, 315, 316. Obedience of the Law fulfilled in Christ, and of the Gospel by the Spirit in a Believer. Pag. 212  
Ordination used by the Jews. Pag. 377  
origen's saying of some Scriptures that did affect him. Pag. 144   

P  
Papists and Hypocrites how they agree, 122. All points in Popery additions to the Word, 123. It's sandy foundation drawn from Bellarmine himself, 147. Natural Popery in every man's heart. Pag. 158  
Paracelsus his proud boast of himself. Pag. 192  
Patience its excellency, acted by Faith. Pag. 318  
Pelagians put  for Grace, 6. Place Infants in the same state as Adam. Pag. 257  
Perfection sinless not attainable in this life. Pag. 125, 126  
Perseverance no condition of itself. Pag. 417  
Philip Lantgrave's comfort in Imprisonment. Pag. 321, 322  
Plague-sores looked upon by Munster as Love-tokens. Pag. 193  
Plerophory of three things in Scripture. Pag. 400  
Pollio's dying-saying. Pag. 115  
Polemenia her wish to be cast into a Vessel of burning-Pitch. Pag. 319  
Providence, Reasons mistake about it. Pag. 18, 19  
Popes blasphemous speech about the loss of a Peacock. Pag. 310  
Promises of Grace, and to Grace. Pag. 346  
Prayer, its continuance, 383. Its returns, 372. How heard and not heard. Pag. 374  
Predicantici a nickname for Preachers by Papists and some Protestants. Pag. 376  
Preaching its efficacy. Pag. 379, 380, 381  
Proving our estate not impossible, therefore Assurance not impossible. Pag. 402   

Q  
Quakers Light within confuted. Pag. 67, 68, 69  
Quirinus Reuteras his saying on his Deathbed. Pag. 249   

R  
Rabbins saying of Grace and Judgement. Pag. 319  
Reason and Divine Mysteries compared together, and how far these exceed that, 50. It's fallibility compared with infallibility of the Scriptures. Pag. 52  
Remit, whether God may remit Sin without a Satisfaction? the Question may be spared, 116. It is granted before assurance of it is manifested. Pag. 139  
Revelation to Apostles and Prophets, and to ordinary Believers how differ. Pag. 58  
Resignation to Jesus Christ the third thing in Faith, and what it is, 79. Three things opened about it, 81. Made to Christ as Mediator, 82, 83. To the whole Trinity, 84. To the Word, 85. What the purposes of it, to 115. Adjuncis and properties of it to 131. In it is the Essential nature of Faith, to 16. It is a middle thing between Faith and Assurance, 149, to 155. How called in Old and New Testament, 154. Acts of Resignation made by Faith. Pag. 161, 162  
Righteousness imputative justified and vindicated. Pag. 99, 100  
Dr. Rivets Deathbed Experiences. Pag. 327   

S  
Sacrament of the Supper set out livelily. Pag. 375, 376  
Sacrifices by God's appointment ever since the Fall, 42. And foreshowed the Messiah. Pag. 43  
Samuel asked of and lent to God. Pag. 373  
School-Divinity censured, 29. Schoolmens saying about Worship. Pag. 124  
Scripture, inward marks whereby known to be the Word of God, 32, to 36. Several Sectaries that reject it mentioned, 55. Argued with, to 64. Their Allegations refuted, to 69. That it is a dead letter refuted, 65. Discerned by Faith without the Church, 328, 329. It is Principium scientificum. Pag. 330  
Seculum spiritus sancti, refuted. Pag. 66  
Self-denial as it precedes a Believers Resignation consists in divers things, 75, to 79. The Moralists and the Believers differ. Pag. 161, 162.  
Sick godly Woman would have God choose health or sickness for her, 183. Story of a sick-man to whom Satan appeared. Pag. 432  
Sin, distinctions about it, 154. Divers senses of Original Sin with the true, 252, to 256. It hinders Faith, 157. How far they do not hinder Resignation, 155, to 161. Not Justification. Pag. 221  
Socinus and Servetus their blasphemy about the Trinity, 357. Socinians mistake about Original Sin, 6. The irrationality of their Faith, 47. And nullity, 53. Grace they speak of is a fancy. Pag. 117  
Sokneus his dying-saying. Pag. 114  
Son Natural and Adopted, their resemblance. Pag. 241, 242  
Spirit & Word go together, 52. To say the Spirits Testimony is dubious is blasphemy, 408. It applies Promises, 409. Abides for ever with a Believer, two grounds of it. Pag. 414  
Sulpitius Severus his Loquacity. Pag. 278  
Sultan Achmet his proud arrogance. Pag. 243  
Synagogue their first use. Pag. 376   

T  
Talmud of the Jews magnified by them. Pag. 93  
Taught of God, all ambitious of so great a privilege. Pag. 91, 93  
Trinity of persons and unity of essence, the mystery of it not known by Human Reason, 352, 353. Acknowledged by Jewish Rabbins and Cabalists with the Primitive Christians saying to them that doubt of it, 354. Enemies of it, 355. Worshipped by the Church in all Ages. Pag. 356  
Fruebern's Deathbed saying. Pag. 126   

V  
Vanity how described. Pag. 183  
Virgins a Play acted about the five wise & five foolish. Pag. 371  
Vivification, Faith yields up the Soul to Christ for it, and how. Pag. 105, 106, 107  
Unction Festival. Pag. 378  
Union Hypostatical and Mystical. Pag. 241  
Universal Promises and Threats include Particulars, Pag. 394.  
Uprightness is Gospel-perfection, 448. Upright persons mentioned always with some mark of honour, 419. How God is upright with the upright. Pag. 453   

W  
Walking in all Places as in God's Presence. Pag. 449, 450  
Will, Christ as God and Man hath two Wills. Pag. 392  
Wisdom, why Christ called the Wisdom of God, 89. A great stir in the World about Wisdom. Pag. 170  
World, Epicureans fancy of the making of it, 383. The Believer understands better, ibid.   

Z  
Zeal what, 307. Examples of it for the truth. Pag. 308, 309  
Zeno's Wife Ariadne would not suffer him to be taken up when buried in a sit of the Falling-sickness. Pag. 167  
Zuinglius his answer suggested in a Dream. Pag. 94   

Scriptures explained in this Treatise.  
1 Sam. 15.25. 160  
2 King. 17.33. 357  
Job 19.25, 26. 402  
Psal. 11.7. 421  
Psal. 34.5. 369  
Psal. 39.5. 320  
Psal. 55.22. 107, 108  
Psal. 62.1. 152  
Psal. 63.1, 5. 459  
Psal. 119, 160. 112  
Prov. 3.21. 24, 25  
& 9.1, 2, 3. 197  
Cant. 4.9. 453  
Isa. 57.17, 18. 195  
Ezek. 43.2. 116  
Dan. 4.27. 277  
Hos. 2.13, 14. 195  
Mat. 15.26, 27. 196  
Mark 14.72. 223  
Luk. 9.55. 61  
Job. 3.12. 22, 23.  
& 14.23. 359  
& 16.14. 120  
Acts 5.41. 273  
& 26.7. 350  
1 Cor. 2.14. 20, 21  
2 Cor. 9.6. 454  
Gal. 6.1. 313  
Ephes. 1.13. 144  
& 5.10. 107  
Col. 2.5. 28, 324  
1 Thess. 1.5. 445  
Heb. 12.1. 270  
1 Job. 2.4. 25  
1 Job. 3.6. 160  
1 Job. 5.5, 7, 8. 363    

Books Sold by Tho. Cockerill at the Atlas in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange.  
THe Morning-Exercise at Cripplegate, or several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers, in 4 to.  
The Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate, or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers, in 4 to.  
Precious Faith, considered in its Nature, Working and Growth. By Edward Polhill of Barwash in Sussex, Esq in 8 o.  
The Faithfulness of God considered and cleared in the great Events of his Word, 8 o.  
The Nature, Power, Deceit and Prevalency of the remainder of In-dwelling-Sin in Believers, together with the ways of its working and means of Prevention. By John Owen D. D. in 8 o.  
An Antidote against Distraction, or an endeavour to serve the Church in the daily Case of Wand'ring in the Worship of God. By Richard Steel, M. A. in 8 o.  
The Reuniting of Christianity, or the Manner how to Rejoin all Christians under one Confession of Faith, in 8 o.  
God a Christians Choice, completed by particular Covenanting with God, etc. in pursuit of a Design proposed by Mr. R. A. in his Book Entitled, The Vindication of Godliness. And by Mr. Tho. Vincent in his Book called, Words whereby we may be saved. By Samuel Winney.  
FINIS.