The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption, Treatise 2 · Chapter 26
CHAP. XXVI How this may be done. And firſt concerning keeping Records of them.
Queſt. BUt how ſhall I keep the Teſtimony of the Spirit when I have it?
Anſ. 1. Record it carefully. That is the way for a man to ſecure an Evidence of his Lands or eſtate to ſerve him at all turns, to record the Deeds of bargain and ſale, or Donation, or whatever other way the Title is ſecured, with all the formalities of Law, &c. that may illuſtrate or confirme them.
There be two Courts in which theſe evidences are to be pleaded or impleaded. And therefore it will concern you to have a Duplicate of this Evidence, that there may be a copy in each Court.
1 The Court of Heaven. Now it is true, that God enrols all ſuch Acts of his Spirit there; but this is but a private record (as I may ſay, with reverence) for Gods own uſe, The Lord knowes who are his, 2 Tim. 2. 19. This private record I cannot produce at any time, becauſe Secret things belong to God, Deut. 29. 29. But there is another way of laying up a more ſerviceable Record in Heaven; which a man may have forth coming, (as we uſe to ſay) upon all occaſions; that is, by commending our Evidences to God in Prayer, deſiring his own Spirit that gives them to be our Remembrancer of them in times of need. This is one of the Offices of the Holy Ghoſt, not only to be the Comforter of the Saints, but their Remembrancer and Recorder too. John 14. 26. Chriſt had told his Diſciples many comfortable things in the whole preceding part of the Chapter, and now towards the upſhot and period of all, the great comfort with which he interlines all the reſt both in this and the following Chapters, is, I will ſend you another Comforter: And the Comforter ſhall come, whom the Father ſhall ſend in my name. But what ſhall he do when he comes? Why, he ſhall firſt be their Inſtructer, and the Promoter of their farther progreſſe in ſaving knowledg, wherein they were but Novices till Chriſts Aſcenſion; He ſhall teach you all things; and he ſhal be their Recorder or Remembrancer, he ſhall ſuggeſt, (ſo Beza renders the word, foreign, ſuggeret) or prompt your forgetful memories in all things which I have told you. True, there 'tis not ſpoken barely of the things immediately preceding, but of all the Doctrines of Faith, &c. which he had acquainted them withal from their firſt vocation; but it includes even thoſe Doctrines of comfort which precede, in the number of thoſe Truthes, they being part of what Chriſt had told them.
2 The Court of Conſcience. It will be needful (having once verified the evidence by the teſt of the Word) to lay it up againſt a day of tryal. Divine Truths muſt be laid up in the heart for Direction, and divine Experiences for Conſolation in an evil day. This Courts Recorder is Memory, and its Records in ſuch a day are of eſpecial uſe and importance. Records of Gods dealing with others formerly, ſee Pſalm 119. 52. I remembred thy judgments of old, and have comforted my ſelf; i. e. Thoſe judgements by which thou haſt cauſed thy people to triumph over their enemies in former times. So alſo of our own experiences; ſee both together, Pſal. 77. 5, 6 The holy man had been utterly at a loſſe, had it not been for this Recorder; and yet it ſeemes he had been too to blame in the laying up his evidence, ſo that it coſt much ſearch before he could find it. I communed with my heart, and my ſpirit made diligent ſearch; the Septuagint reads, [foreign,] my ſpirit digged, as we do for hidden treaſure, that muſt have much rubbiſh removed ere we can come at it. But their ſenſe is grounded upon a different reading of the word in the Hebrew.
Others read Scopabam, I ſwept; it ſeems by his careleſſe keeping, he had ſuffered his evidences to be thrown in… duſty corner among waſte papers, and he was fain to ſweep for them ere he could find them; but however, when he found them, he made excellent uſe of them, for by them he recovers ſtrength to check his preſent unbelief, I have conſidered the dayes of old, ver. 5. and I call to remembrance my ſong, ver. 6. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Moſt High, ver. 10. and I will remember the works of the Lord, &c. v. 11. And theſe remembrances prove a great ſtrengthning to his Faith in that hour of temptation. David hath ſome Pſalms to bring to remembrance, Pſalm 38, and 70. And Chriſt hath left Ordinances for this end: The Word, 2 Pet. 1. 12, 13. and Sacraments: Do this, foreign, Luke 22. 19. in remembrance of me. And there is the ſame uſe of the communion of Saints, which is the ſpecial means of keeping freſh one anothers experiences by conference and communication. Therefore it will be a very good courſe to charge memory to record carefully all the viſits, and ſmiles, and embraces of Gods Spirit, together with all the paſſages which may confirm the truth of them afterwards. As we do in Evidences concerning a temporal eſtate, we record the Sealing dayes, and the Witneſſes, and the conſiderations of the conveyance. So in this caſe, bid memory put down, At ſuch a time, in ſuch a place, upon ſuch a Prayer, Sermon, when I was in ſuch an exigency, and there was but an haires breadth between me and deſpair, ſuch a ſad cloud was ſcattered, the Spirit of God by ſuch a Promiſe gave me as much comfort and joy as my heart could hold, and I then ſet to my ſeal, that God is true by believing. Joh 2. 33 And I was confirmed in the reality of theſe experiences, by a following aſſiſtance againſt ſuch corruptions, or ſtrength againſt ſuch temptations, or power more then ordinary to walk in wayes of ſpiritual communion with God, &c. This courſe being carefully taken, it cannot be imagined how great an awe it will caſt upon a mans jealous and ſuſpicious heart, that it will ſcarce dare to entertain a doubt againſt an Evidence ſo clear, and ſo carefully recorded. Except Satan can imbezel the Records, or corrupt them by the concurrence of our treacherous memories) in ſome conſiderable paſſages, 'tis in vain (he knows) to commence a freſh ſute againſt the ſoul. The ſoul in ſuch caſes will (as the Pſalmiſt) have recourſe to thoſe Records, and clear his Title againſt ſuch diſturbances. Pſal. 77. ſuprà.