Of Quenching the Spirit, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV.
The eleventh Effect of Quenching the Spirit, It hinders the efficacious working of the Ordinances. Ordinances are mighty through the spirit. They are weak through the flesh. They have no efficacy at all to do good, when the spirit is quenched, but are effectual only to do hurt in that case. They are dead without the spirit, and leave men dead. A twofold death, in opposition to life, and to liveliness. Some dead, some dying under Ordinances: Some twice dead. How quenching of the spirit hinders the efficacy of Ordinances. It hinders what is necessary to be done on mans part, and what is necessary to be done on Gods part, to make them effectual. The evil of this. The miserable condition of such as quench the spirit, in this respect. If Ordinances do no good, nothing will. If O…dinances bee not effectual to save, they will be effectual to damn. For Ordinances not to work effectually, a most dreadful judgement. The more excellent the means, the more fearful and dangerous their estate is, that do not profit by them.
SECT. 1.
11. IT hinders the efficacious working of the Ordinances. Ordinances are mightily efficacious, great things may bee had, and done by them, but 'tis only through the spirit. The weapons of our warfare, saith the Apostle, i. e. the Word and other Ordinances, they are mighty through God, i. e. through the mighty workings of the spirit of God, 2 Cor. 10.4. When the spirit works so prevailingly, that men follow the motions, and are overcome by the strivings of the spirit, then it is that Ordinances prevail, then the weapons of our warfare are mighty to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ: but when men out-strive the spirit, neglecting and disobeying the good motions thereof, and stifling their convictions, so that the spirit is quenched; then Ordinances lose their efficacy. That which is said of the Law, Rom. 8.3. that it was we…k through the flesh; the same may bee said of the Gospel, and the Ordinances of the Gospel. They can do nothing without the spirit, and therefore if the spirit be quenched, they have no efficacy at all, I mean no efficacy at all to do good, they are effectual only to do hurt in that case.
SECT. 2.
The Word is but a dead Letter, a dead word without the spirit (It is the spirit that quickeneth, Joh 6.63.) Sacraments but dead Sacraments without the spirit, and men are dead notwithstanding. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead; saith Christ, Joh. 6.49. So it may be said of those that have quenched the spirit, they heard Sermons and are dead: received Sacraments, and are dead, dead in trespasses and sins, Ephes. 2.1. The Apostle saith of the Widdow, that lives in pleasure (having quenched the spirit) that shee is dead while she liveth. So may it bee said perhaps of thee, thou art dead while thou livest, thou art naturally alive, but spiritually dead. Christ said to the Angel of the Church of Sardis, Thou hast a name to live, but art dead; the same may be said of thee, thou hast a name to live, art reputed to bee one that is spiritually alive, but it may bee thou art dead. There is a twofold death, one opposed to life, another to liveliness. If thou art not dead, so as to have no spiritual life, yet thou art so dead, as that there is not that livelinesse there should bee. Ordinances either work no life at all in thee, but thou remainest dead still; or can keep no life in thee, but thou art still dying, still pining away in thy iniquites: So that thou art either dead, or thou art dying, nay, it may be dead, I mean dead again; twice dead, and ready to bee pluckt up by the roots. Thou wert once dead before, b…fore thou camest under Ordinances, now (perhaps) dead again, since thy coming under Ordinances. For they are not only dead, but deadly too, when men quench the spirit; do not only not quicken, but sometimes kill; the word is Death, 2 Cor. 2.16. The Sacrament Damnation, 1 Cor. 11.29.
SECT. 3.
See then the fearful estate, and the lamentable condition thou art in, while thou quenchest the spirit. Thou hast no revivings, no quicknings; thy heart doth not burn within thee: thou hast enlightnings, no enlargements, no sealings, no assurances. Thou art under the power and prevailings of thy lusts still; as unable to deny thy self as ever, notwithstanding all the Sermons thou hast heard, all the Sabbaths thou hast kept, all the Sacraments thou hast had, all the Prayers thou makest, &c. Thy Hearing is in vain, thy Praying in vain, Sacraments are in vain; Counsels, Admonitions, Exhortations are all in vain. Thou Hearest, but dost not understand; seekest, but dost not finde; knockest, but none opens unto thee. So the Spouse found after that shee had quenched the spirit. God answers thee not, takes no notice of thee; though thou makest many prayers, cryest never so long, never so loud, God doth not regard it. This quenching of the spirit is the bane of all. Hence it is that nothing doth thee good; hence it is that thy Minister laboureth but in vain. The Founder melteth but in vain, reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Jer. 6.29, 30. The Jews, because they still resisted the holy Ghost, therefore were still uncircumcised in hearts and ears, Acts 7.51. the Word did not, could not work upon them. Noah was a Preacher of righteousness to the old World, but the Word did them no good, because they strove against the spirit. Gen. 6.3. Israel had good statutes, but they did them no good, because they rebelled against the spirit, Neh. 9.13, 20, 26. Hence Ordinances are not effectual to the converting, hence not effectual to the perfecting of many that live under them. Though they bee given purposely for this end, Ephe. 4.12. Yet quenching of the spirit hinders. Wouldest thou know how it doth it? Why it hinders what is necessary to be done on thy part, and that which is necessary to be done on Gods part, to make them effectual. It hinders thy prizing of Ordinances, thy minding of Ordinances, thy suitableness to Ordinances; it hinders thy beleiving, thy purging out of lusts, thy keeping out of Satan, and thus it hinders what is necessary on thy part. It hinders also what is necessary on Gods part, it hinders him from working with Ordinances, it hinders him from vouchsafing a blessing to them, nay, it provokes him to curse them to thee.
SECT. 4.
That thou mayest see then, how this quenching of the spirit makes the Ordinances ineffectual; consider,
1. If there be no prizing of Ordinances, they cannot profit; but when the spirit is quenched, Ordinances are not prized. As may be seen in the Gallatians, who, when they had quenched the spirit, lost their former apprehensions of the blessedness of the truths they had professed, and of the ordinances they had enjoyed; and having begun in the spirit, they would needs bee made perfect by the flesh
2. If Ordinances be not minded, they cannot profit. Ordinances do not work as the meat we take, which works whether wee think of it or no; No, there must be a minding of them, or else they work not at all. But when the spirit is quenched, there's no minding of the word, or any thing that is good, but the things of the flesh only. They that are after the spirit do minde the things of the spirit, but they that are after the flesh (having quenched the spirit) minde the things of the flesh, Rom. 8.5. their mindes and thoughts and affections are so taken up with the things of the flesh, that they cannot minde the things of the spirit. This choaks the word, Luk. 8.19. There's a twofold being after the flesh.
1. In respect of natural constitution.
2. In respect of actual disposition.
And then, as for Ordinances, men do not minde them,
1. Before they come, to prepare for them.
2. When they come, to attend unto them.
3. After they be gone, to improve them.
3. If there be no suitableness to Ordinances, they do no good; because then there is no closing with them, no delight in them, for all delight ariseth from suitableness. But when the spirit is quenched, there is no suitableness, but much contrariety. Ye uncircumcised in hearts and ears, ye do alwaies resist the holy Ghost, Acts 7.51. and therefore they resisted the word.
4. If there bee no mixture of faith, they do not profit. The word did not profit them, beacause it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it. Heb. 4.7. But when the spirit is quenched, there is no faith.
5. If the heart be not purged from lusts, they do not profit, 2 Tim. 3.6, 7. therefore 1 Pet. 2.1. & Jam. 1.21. But when the spirit is quenched, there's no purging out of lust.
6. If Satan bee not kept out, they do not profit. But when the spirit is quenched, Satan cannot bee kept out, but hath free entrance. Therefore the Ordinance did not profit Judas, because Satan entred, John 13.27. Then the Devil steals away the Word, Mat. 13.19.
7. If God will not work with Ordinances, they can do no good. But when the spirit is quenched, God will not work. My spirit (saith hee) shall not alwaies strive, for that, &c. Gen. 6.3.
8. If God give men up to a reprobate sense, Ordinances will not work. But when the spirit is quenched, God often gives them up to a reprobate sense for their quenching of the spirit. Isa. 6.9, 10. Then Ordinances do not work, John 12.39, 40. Thus you see how quenching of the spirit hinders. Hence it is
1. That men get no good at all by Ordinances, but are still the same that they were at first.
2. That others get but very little.
3. That others loose what they have gotten.
4. That others get a great deal of hurt, so that they are far worse than they were at first.
SECT. 5.
Now reflect upon your selves, here you come and live under Ordinances, but what is there done? Art thou not still the same that thou wert? It may be there is some change, but art thou not for substance the same still? There may be a form of godliness, but dost thou not still deny the power thereof? Thou beleivest, and art baptised, as Simon Magus was, but art thou not still in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity? Hast thou any more power against thy pride, and passion than thou hadst? Dost not still live in the neglect of known duty? Though thy Husband take time, yet thou dost not, in thy closet: Carest not for the godly, mindest not the things of Christ and the Church, but thy own things; art froward and perverse still; makest no conscience of thy promises; art idle, and not fervent in spirit serving the Lord, makest no conscience of holy conference in the Family; art a Tatler, and a Busie-body; dost not deal effectually with children, servants, friends, or any that relate unto thee. Now whence is all this? doth it not shew that ordinances are not effectual? Oh if ordinances prevailed, they would make thee leave thy filthiness, thy chambering and wantonness, they would make thee leave thy lying, and dissembling, &c. How is it then that these continue still? Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no healing medicine? why then is not the hurt of thy Soul, the wounds of thy Conscience healed? Oh hence it is, that thou quenchest the spirit.
SECT. 6.
Oh the miserable condition that thou art in! For
1. If the ordinances do thee no good, nothing will, no judgements, no afflictions, no mercies, &c. 'Tis the word that is the power of God to salvation, Rom. 1.16. See Luk. 16.31.
2. If Ordinances bee not effectual to save thee, they will be effectual to damn thee. And oh! that the word should bee a killing letter, and that which is ordained unto life, should be a means of death unto thee!
SECT. 7.
Oh what wonders might bee done by a Sermon, but that thou quenchest the spirit! The word would enlighten and enliven thee, quicken, comfort thee; kill lust, quicken grace, but that thou quenchest the spirit. Oh the good that others get! others are enlightned, but thou left still in the dark; others enlivened, but thou still left among the dead; nay, it may bee after an enlivening, struck dead again; dead thou wert before, and now dead again the second time under Ordinances. It came to pass, saith Ezekiel, that when I prophesied, Pelatiah died, Ezek. 11.13. So it may be, when the Minister preached thou diedst, when hee preached such a Sermon to the enlivening of others, thou wert struck dead by it.
SECT. 8.
Oh what an evil is this! that that which is a savour of life unto life in others, should bee a savour of death unto death in thee! that that which is a mercy to some, should be a judgment unto thee! The word softens others, but hardens thee; softens thy husband, but hardens thee. Thy meeting is not for the better, but for the worse. He that was filthy, is filthy still, and not only so, but more filthy. Canst thou not remember the time when thou could'st not be at a Sermon, but thou wert marvellously affected, could'st scarce sit with dry eyes, &c. but now it is otherwise. Is it because the preaching is not so good, so plain, so powerful? Oh what a judgement is upon thee! Make the eyes of this people dim, saith God, that they may not see, &c. This makes all the means ineffectual. Would it not vex a Physician to give Physick, and his Patient do that that hinders? Oh God would heal thee, but thy iniquity breaks forth; when I would have healed Ephraim (saith he) then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, Hos. 7.1. Oh the danger thou art in! when the physick will not work, the sick Patient is in a dangerous case: when thy meat will do thee no good, every one saith thou art undone, thou art but a dead man; so it is here. Thy present state is most dangerous and fearful. Yea, the more excellent the means, the more fearful and dangerous thy estate is. See Heb. 2.1, 2. How shall we escape, &c. Consider how fearful a sentence Christ hath given against those that do not profit by Ordinances, Mat. 10.14, 15. and Cap. 11.20, 24. Oh how nigh unto cursing art thou! and thy end may (perhaps) bee to bee burned; Heb. 6.8.