The Believers Duty Towards the Spirit, Title page – Errata
THE BELIEVERS DUTY Towards the SPIRIT, And the SPIRITS OFFICE Towards BELIEVERS.
OR, A Diſcourſe concerning Believers not Grieving the Spirit, AND The Spirits ſealing up Believers to the day of Redemption.
Grounded on Epheſ. 4.30.
Hope maketh not aſhamed, becauſe the love of God is ſhed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghoſt which is in us,
Rom. 5.5.
The Spirit it ſelf beareth witneſs with our Spirit that we are the Children of God,
Rom. 8.16.
LONDON, Printed for SA. GELLIBRAND at the Ball in S. Pauls Church-yard, 1665.
A PREFACE TO THE READER.
Chriſtian Reader,
HOw needfull it is to have a right belief of the Holy Ghoſt, appears not only from the Ancient Creeds, which in how few words ſoever comprehended did alway make mention of Him; but alſo from the wretched Socinians, who blaſphemouſly denying his not onelyonly Deity, but alſo Perſonality, and in their Catechiſm roundly aſſerting the no-neceſsity of any operation of his in order to our aſſenting to the Goſpel, have been ſo filled with a Spirit of Deluſion, that they retain not truth enough to denominate them either Chriſtians, or Hereticks. The text upon which the enſuing diſcourſe is founded, afforded very fair opportunity of proving the Perſonality and Deity of this bleſſed Spirit, and of ſhewing that our natural corruption cannot be cured but by his inhabitation. But contenting my ſelf to wave, or ſlightly to touch theſe matters, I mainly inſiſt on our being by this Spirit ſealed to the day of redemption; a phraſe which (as moſt others that are metaphorical) hath had the hap to be many ways interpreted. Bellarmine, who ſeems to have read holy writ onelyonly to ſerve a deſign, applies it to that indeleble character ſuppoſed by the Romaniſts to be imprinted on all that are baptized; but how vainly, appeareth
1. By his own Cajetan, who ſaith, Sacramenta imprimere characterem ex ſcriptura non habetur, ſed ex Eccleſiae authoritate, & non multum antiquâ.
2. By the miſerable ſhift he is put to, before he can find any imaginable foundation for this Chymaera in the words; He is fain to read with the vulgar Latine in the day, though againſt the Greek and Syriack; yea, and againſt ſundry latine Manuſcript copies, as Eſtius tells us: yet this very writer, Epheſ. 1.13. when he thought it would be more for his turn, forſaking the vulgar Latine which readeth in whom believing, flyeth to the Greek, after ye believed.
3. Beſides, how abſurd is it, that any indeleble character or cognizance of Chriſtianity ſhould be imprinted on all in Baptiſme, when as we ſee that many after Baptiſme do utterly and maliciouſly renounce Baptiſme, and all the Principles of Chriſtianity.
Other Pontifician writers, do refer the phraſe not to the Sacrament of Baptiſme, but Confirmation. So Eſtius; ſo our Country-men the Rhemiſts, who have this note on Epheſ. 1.13. Some refer this to the grace of Baptiſme; but to many learned it ſeemeth, that the Apoſtle alludeth to the giving of the Holy Ghoſt in the Sacrament of Confirmation, by ſigning the Baptized with the ſign of the Croſs and holy Chriſme. But they are well told by the judicious Dr. Fulk, That rhe learned men they ſpeak of muſt needs be Maſters of the new learning, for the ancient learning had no ſuch interpretation, inſtancing in Chryſoſtome, Ambroſe, Theodoret, Auguſtine, Primaſius, Hierome, Oecumenius, Theophylact, who carry the text quite another way. All Proteſtant Writers are not agreed what may be intended by this Sealing of the Spirit: (ſure it is for our credit that we can allow our ſelves to differ one from another in expounding a place of Scripture.) I refer it not to the Holy Ghoſts regenerating or renewing us, but to his aſſuring us of the adoption of ſons, his creating in us a ſenſe of Gods Paternal love towards us, and of our filial love towards him: in ſo doing, I follow not onelyonly ſundry learned ſons of our own Church, but alſo Cornelius a Lapide, whoſe comment on Epheſ. 1.13. being tranſlated is this, As by the impreſsion of a Seal, the Letters of Kings and publick tables are ſealed, that thoſe which are authentick may be diſtinguiſhed from doubtful; thoſe that are genuine from falſe, and it may be certainly manifeſt, that theſe are the Letters and Tables of the King. So ye Chriſtian Epheſians, as it were The Epiſtle of Chriſt, written not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of ſtone, but in the fleſhly tables of your heart, are ſigned with the Holy Ghoſt as it were with a Seal, that it may be manifeſted that ye are the not feigned, but authentick Epiſtle of Chriſt, that ye are truly the people and Church of the true and high God. Having thus deſcanted on the text he frames againſt himſelf this objection, If this be ſo, then may Believers be certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God; and for anſwer, denieth, the conſequence, becauſe this Seal is not altogether and phyſically certain and evident to them, (for who certainly knows, who dares ſwear that he is ſealed with the Holy Ghoſt as with a ſeal) but onelyonly probable, and morally, as it were, certain from ſigns and conjectures; ſo in like manner it is not to them clear and certain that they are in the true faith and grace of God. For the further clearing of this doubt, He refers us to what he had ſaid on Rom. 8.16. Conſulting him on that place, I find him to give this note: That the teſtimony of the Spirit by which he witneſſeth that we are the ſons of God, is not certain with certainty of Faith, nor certain with infallible certainty, as Catharinus and Cajetan would have it, but onelyonly with a conjectural certainty, which certainty yet increaſeth with Holineſs: ſo that Vega, and Ruard, and Pererius, following them, think, that ſome men very holy, without the ſpecial revelation of God, from the ſigns and effects of the Holy Ghoſt, which they find in themſelves very frequent, clear and efficacious, have a certainty, not indeed infallible ſo as they dare ſwear that they are in the grace of God, but yet ſuch and ſo great as excludes all fear of the contrary, not onelyonly from the affection and confidence, but alſo from the underſtanding and perſwaſion, ſo as ſuch do as certainly know and believe that they are in the grace of God, as we certainly know and believe that there is ſuch a place as Conſtantinople or Alexandria.
Let the Papiſts read this, and, if they have not loſt all ingenuity, acknowledge that ſome eminent Writers of their own go as high or higher then we do: For we do not ſay, that we are certain with a certainty of faith, that we are ſanctified or pardoned; or if any do ſo ſay, it is onelyonly a Philoſophical miſtake; for they do not intend, that it is to any one revealed by any vocal or written teſtimony that he is ſanctified or pardoned, but onelyonly that ſeeing theſe Concluſions do ariſe from Premiſes, the one whereof is Scripture, though the other be known onelyonly by inward ſenſe, therefore the Concluſion may be of Faith; ſo that they make ſuch Concluſions to be of faith, not immediately, but onelyonly by conſequence, and that on ſuppoſition, That a Propoſition certain from inward ſenſe, is ſtronger then a Propoſition certain from Divine revelation, which is not univerſally true: Nor yet do we ſay; that this teſtimony of the Spirit doth make us infallibly certain; onelyonly we ſay; that it makes thoſe who keep Conſciences void of offence, and are zealous of good works, have ſuch a certainty as is not mixed with any actual tormenting doubt or fear, ſo as they can, their hearts not accuſing them, nor having any ground to accuſe them of preſumption, call God Father, and Chriſt their elder Brother, and the Spirit their Advocate: Yet after all this they will not ſwear that they are the children of God; or if they ſhould, they would thereby do an act ſufficient to darken all the evidence they before had of their Adoption; for no one hath power to require ſuch an Oath, nor can any controverſie be ended by ſuch an Oath, which could not be ended without it; otherwiſe we do ſwear in ſundry matters in the which we have not a greater or ſo great an evidence as it is poſsible for a man to have of his Adoption. And in all Churches there is either from the Parents or other Sureties required, as oft as Children are baptized, an abrenunciation of the World, Fleſh, and Devil; and when the baptized children come to be adult, and receive Confirmation, 'tis required of them, that they profeſs before the Biſhops and all the Congregation preſent, That they do renew the ſolemn Promiſe and Vow that was made in their name at Baptiſme, ratifying and confirming the ſame in their own perſons, and acknowledging themſelves bound to believe and to do all thoſe things which their Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for them. Vid. Engl. Liturgy of the laſt Edition.
Now if ſo be perſons could not be ſatisfied that they are ſincere in their reſolutions, we ſhould by calling them to make ſuch Vows, but teach them to diſſemble and play the hypocrites.
Object. But do not ſome of our Divines ſpeak of an immediate teſtimony of the Spirit?
Anſw. They do: But it is to be hoped that they mean no more then that the ſoul is ſometimes more then uſually meet to receive the Seal of the Spirit, more then ordinarily diſpoſed to give in its witneſs with the witneſs of the Spirit of God, i. e, ſometimes it hath ſo abaſed it ſelf before God, or done acts ſo apparently tending to Gods glory, ſo manifeſtly contrary to fleſh and blood, that it cannot upon the leaſt reflection but diſcern the well-pleaſingneſs of ſuch actions unto God, and conſequently take comfort in them. If they intend more then this by their immediate teſtimony, they muſt not blame others, if they ſay they underſtand them not, or that they fear they underſtand not themſelves. Should any one hear a voice ſaying to him, Thy ſins are forgiven; yea, ſhould he not onelyonly hear ſuch a voice, but alſo ſee ſome glorious creature uttering that ſound, this would be an extraordinary teſtimony; but before a man either could or ought to receive it, and take comfort from it, he muſt firſt have ſome rational evidence that the apparition or voice is from God and not from Satan, who both can and frequently hath appeared and ſpoken not as from himſelf, but from God. We have in Scripture an example of Zachary puniſhed becauſe he did not believe the words of Gods Angel, Luk. 1.20. there being ſufficient evidence that he was an Angel of God, and nothing in the Meſſage that ſhould render it incredible. But we have alſo an Example of a Prophet more ſeverely puniſhed for believing one that pretended a Meſſage from God, whoſe Meſſage had every thing in it that might make it unlike to be from God. 1 Kin. 13.18, 22, 23. Wherefore to every young Convert, who not patient to wait for his Aſſurance in a way of ſelf-reflection and communing with his own heart, looks for any thing like a vocal teſtimony, I may ſay as did Gregory to Gregoria, Videat cui ad manus non ſunt Gregorii Epiſtolae A Lapide in 8…. ad Rom. v. 16.who had written to him, that ſhe would not let him alone till he had obtained a revelation that her ſins were pardoned, Rem & difficilem, poſtulas & inutilem. A difficult thing, becauſe it is not like that God in theſe dayes ſhould ſo manifest his love; and unprofitable, becauſe I ſhould have as much ado perhaps to diſtinguiſh that voice, as to diſcern the ſincerity of my own actions. Conſult Hiſtory, and it will be found, that where one hath been miſtaken that did ſearch and try his heart and ways, hundreds have been deluded by voices, apparitions, impreſsions. Theſe deluſions have been moſt frequent among the Romaniſts, the ſenſe whereof made Luther, not many years before crept out from among them, to ſay, Pactum feci cum Deo meo ne vel viſiones, vel ſomnia, vel etiam angelos mihi mittat, Com. on Gen. cap. 38. I have agreed with God that he ſend neither viſions, nor dreams, nor Angels.
Object. Do not very eminent Divines ſay, that Faith is general or ſpecial, and that general Faith is little worth without ſpecial Faith.
Anſw. They do ſo, and a good and convenient interpretation may be given of that diſtinction, yea, is given by the learned Dr. Hammond as to all the objects of Faith. But it may not be diſſembled, that ſome of great note have made the eſſence of Faith to lie in a particular perſwaſion that a mans ſins are pardoned; an errour purpoſely refuted in the enſuing Treatiſe, and (which I am glad to obſerve) rejected now almoſt by all Divines. Indeed it makes us juſtified before Faith, and therefore tends manifeſtly to harden unconverted ſinners in their unbelief, and puts the maintainers of it upon moſt horrible ſhifts in expounding ſundry places of Scripture. I inſtance in one, which I do in the following ſheets make much uſe of; Epheſ. 1.13. In whom after ye believed ye were ſealed. Who would hence conclude, that Faith does, at leaſt in order of nature, if not of time, go before Sealing or Aſſurance? How can any who placeth Faith in fiducial Aſſurance bring himſelf off? But poorly: For Piſcator, who is even by Arminius, a Profeſſor of different perſwaſion from him, much commended for ſolidity and clearneſs, Vid. Epiſt. Eccleſiaſticas, will not yield that foreign ſhould be rendred having believed, but in the Preſent, believing: So the Vulgar Latines, credentes, which Eſtius is fain to excuſe by Ampliation, a kind of Licentia Logica, muſt be the beſt tranſlation. Beſides, we know that God maketh uſe of the Miniſtry of men to work faith; but if faith were an aſſent to this, that John or Thomas is pardoned, it will be hard to explain how any man, who hath not the gift of diſcerning Spirits, can give any ground of Faith. Would the Papiſts but as freely cenſure the errors of their former Writers as we do the errors of ours, ſoon would all the controverſies about Aſſurance come to an end; but that being an happineſs rather to be wiſhed then hoped for, let all leſs judicious Chriſtians ſatisfie themſelves to know,
1. It is the receiving of Chriſt that gives us a right to be the ſons of God.
2. That he who receives Chriſt ſhall be by God owned as a ſon, whether he know himſelf to have received Chriſt or no. The promiſes run clear, Whoſoever believeth in Chriſt, ſhall not periſh, but have eternal life, Joh. 3. Bleſſed are they that mourn, for they ſhall be comforted. Bleſſed are thoſe thoſe that hunger and thirſt after righteouſneſs, for they ſhall be ſatisfied, Matth. 5. The condition of theſe promiſes being fulfilled, the promiſes themſelves muſt be fulfilled, elſe God ſhould be unfaithful and deny himſelf: For ſhall the too hard thoughts, the too humble conceit of a man concerning himſelf wake void the faith of God? God forbid: ſcarcely among ingenuous men doth any one fare the worſe for an exceſs of modeſty; and can the Father of Mercies ſhut a good man out of Heaven, becauſe that conſcious to himſelf of daily weakneſſes and manifold paſsions warting within him, and frequently prevailing, he cannot be firmly perſwaded of his own goodneſs?
3. That it is the office of the Spirit to make us to know the things that are freely given us of God.
4. That as he is ready to witneſs to carnal perſons that their ways are ways of ſin and wrath, and that they are the men who (except they become new creatures) are marked out for damnation; ſo he is ready to witneſs to thoſe who are ſpiritually minded the truth of their graces, and by that their intereſt in the promiſes of Juſtification, Adoption, Glorification.
5. That our work lieth in making our ſelves (which yet we cannot do but by the almighty power of the ſame Spirit) fit and meet to receive this teſtimony of the Spirit, which meetneſs we ſhall then come to, if 1. We well inform our ſelves about the terms of the Covenant of grace: 2. Have frequent, ſerious, abiding thoughts about the fulneſs and freeneſs of its promiſes. 3. Giving all diligence, add to faith, vertue; and to vertue, knowledg; and to knowledg, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godlineſs; and to godlineſs, brotherly kindneſs; and to brotherly kindneſs, charity. 4. By reflex acts often compare the frame of our heart and courſe of our lives with the rule. 5. Watch and pray, that we may be free from that foreign, pride and prejudice, which make us though ſo ſharpſighted as to ſee a mote in our brothers eyes, yet ſo blind as not to ſee a beam in our own eyes.
That thou mayeſt (Chriſtian Reader) have ſome ſmall help in all theſe matters, was the end aimed at in making the following Treatiſe thus publick. The Authors name could not make it more acceptable, and is therefore concealed; but his prayers are, that it may be effectual to beget in all thoſe into whoſe hands it ſhall fall, 1. A tender care not to grieve the Spirit of promiſe, by which they who believe are ſealed up to the day of Redemption. 2. A cordial reſpect to all thoſe upon whom the Spirit of the Lord is, and who are by the Lord anointed to Preach good tidings to the meek, and ſent to bind up the broken hearted: to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for aſhes, the oyl of joy for mourning, the garment of praiſe for the ſpirit of heavineſs.
Jan. 25. 1664. Farewell.
The Printer to the Reader.
THough great care hath been uſed in publiſhing theſe Papers, yet by reaſon of an ill-written Copy, and the Authors abſence, ſome faults have eſcaped. There is in ſome Pages a change of Perſons; which though it might be defended, yet was not by the Author intended. Thoſe few Errata's that can be thought to diſturb the ſenſe, thus amend.
PAg. 26. lin. 15. r. Praepoſition. p. 28. l. 26. r. alſo that He. p. 30. l. 23. r. looſe. p. 32. l. 17. r. foreign. p. 35. l. 21. r. are the enticing. p. 36. l. 7. r. more glorious. p. 44. l. 28. r. yet is He. p. 86. l. 13. r. ſpeaks but to. p. 88. l. 10. r. did not they ſometimes. p. 152. l. 25. r. till he feel. p. 157. l. 9. r. and not heard of.