Three Practical Essays, Essay 2 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Of the Certainty of God's Grace, and the Assistance of his Holy Spirit.
1. SEcondly, Consider that you come now to have Sealed and Confirmed to you all the Privileges, which the Condition of your Baptismal Covenant intitles you to receive. At Baptism we are admitted into the Church of God, and have a Title to the Graces and Assistance of the Holy Spirit; and at Confirmation this Grace is Sealed and Assured to us, by the external Sign of Imposition of Hands. When therefore you come in this solemn manner to make Profession of your Religion, and to dedicate your self to the Service of God, be sure to come with earnest desires, and a longing Soul, with firm Faith, and a well-assured Hope, with a pure Heart, and a Mind prepared for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and God will not fail, to pour down upon you the abundance of his Grace; to give you strength from thenceforward to overcome both the inward corruption of your Nature, and the outward temptations of the World and the Devil; to inable you to continue firm in the Faith of Christ, and in the Obedience of his Commands; to preserve you always from the Dominion of Sin, and to bring you safe unto his Kingdom of Glory.
2. There is nothing more pernitious to the Souls of Men, than an Opinion of the Uncertainty of the Grace of God, and its not being annexed constantly to the use of means. If we imagine that our Nature is so utterly corrupted, that we can no more do or will any thing that is good than a dead Body can move, or bring it self to Life, till we be acted by such a mighty and extraordinary Grace of God, as nothing that we can do can in the least prepare us to receive; If we imagine that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are so strong, that we cannot possibly overcome them without such a powerful Assistance of the Holy Spirit, as God has not annexed to the use of any Ordinances or Means of Religion; If we imagine that the Commandments of God are so impossible to be kept, that after all we can do, we must sit still in expectation of being converted suddenly by an irresistible Grace; this must needs make all our Indeavours weak and faint, dead and without heart, and we shall certainly never be able to overcome our Temptations and to Persevere in Well-doing:
3. It must indeed be confessed, that the2 Cor. 9. …. Corruption of our Nature is really so great, that we cannot do any thing as of our selves: It must be confessed, that the Temptations of the World and the Devil are really so strong, that we can never, meerly by our own strength, be able to stand and Persevere unto the end: It must be confessed, that the Commandment of God is so exceeding broad, that by all that we can do by our own power, we can never be justified in the sight of God. But then if our Saviour has deliver'd us from this Corruption of our Nature, and has broken all the Powers of Sin and Satan: If Christ by his Death has purchased this Grace for us, that upon our attending the Ordinances and Means of Religion which he hath appointed, God will as certainly bestow upon us the sufficient Assistance of his Holy Spirit, as a tender Father cannot deny his Child any reasonable Request: If God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but will with the Temptation 1 Cor. 10. 13also make a way to escape, and whenever he requires more of us than we are naturally able to perform, will certainly afford us an extraordinary Assistance proportionable to the difficulty we are obliged to encounter; (as he constantly did to the Primitive Christians, who through the mighty Power of the Spirit were enabled to bear all the most exquisite Torments, that either the wit of Man, or the Malice of the Devil could invent, with less concern than we can even indure to hear or read of them:) If all this, I say, be true, 'tis evident that if notwithstanding this we still continue in Wickedness, all these specious Pretences will by no means excuse us, but we shall be found to have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace, and to have neglected our great Salvation.
4. Think not therefore that the Corruption of your Nature is greater, than that Grace and Assistance which God now affords you; For so you may sit still under the Dominion of sin, in a vain expectation of being converted by some sudden and All-powerful Grace of God, till you be surprized by the Revelation of his righteous Judgment: But know, that to all those who are Baptized in his Name, and who Profess and Endeavour to obey his Commandments, God doth give both to will and to do of his good Pleasure; and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably bound, to work out your own Salvation with Phil. 2. 12▪fear and trembling. Think not that the Temptations of the World and the Devil, are more powerful than that strength wherewith God now indues you; For so you will be sure to be overcome by them: But know, that our Saviour has Overcome the World and the Devil, so that they have *Diabolum autem ne timeas: Timens enim Dominum dominaberis illius; quia virtus in illo nulla est. Hermae Past. 2. 7. Minas autem Diaboli in totum timere …olite; sine virtute enim sunt, sicuti mortui hominis nervi. Idem 2. 12.no more power over the Servants of God; and therefore we are bound to overcome them also, and to be more than Conquerours through him that loved us, Rom. 8. 37. Think not that the Commandments of God are hard and impossible to be kept; For *Haec mandata facilè custodies, & non erunt dura; sed si tamen in cor tuum posueris non posse haec ab homine custodiri, non custodies ea. Idem Ibid.so you will certainly not be able to keep them: But know, that thro' Christ who now strengthens you, you may make them †Ponite ergo vobis qui vacui & leves estis in fide, Dominum Deum vestrum & in corde habete; & intelligetis quia nihil facilius est his mandatis, neque dulcius, neque mansuetius neque Sanctius. Idem Ibid.easie, and light, and pleasant; and therefore you are from henceforward indispensably obliged to keep them.
5. These are the Qualifications, with which a Person ought to come to Confirmation, that he may receive it with Advantage and Profit. I shall now give some brief Directions, how one that has thus solemnly entred into the Profession of Religion, may continue to live worthy of that Holy Profession.