Paul Hobson {? – 1666}
Authority of God
The measuring or judging of
man's ability by the extent of God's authority, which is manifest in his
Word, for in all the Scripture God manifests his authority over us, and
your mistakes are from his authority to conclude the creatures ability, as
in such Scriptures where God saith, “do this and you shall live,” and
“turn yourselves,” or be this or be that, which Scriptures are principally
to discover God's authority, but not the creatures ability. When man fell
he lost his ability, but this change wrought no alternation in God, if no
change in God, then why should any change be in his language? If God had
changed that way of his language, the creature would have been apt to
conceive, that in man's fall there had been a change of God's power or
authority as well as of the creatures ability, which is not so. Paul
Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Believers in Christ
If you ask me, what I mean by a believer, or by that
believing; which is to be in all those that are members of the church of
Christ? I answer, I will tell you first, what I do not mean; and then what
I do mean. I do not mean a bare professor of truth and faith; for all that
profess truth, and are not possessed with truth. Secondly, I do not mean
such a believer who is drawn up by the power of reason, from the external
declarations of truth, to believe a Christ without; when he doth not enjoy
a Christ within; which men may do, and so believe, that they may be
brought to submit to an external ordinance. {Though external ordinances
are good in reference to the will of God; yet it is not an outward
Ordinance, but God in the Ordinance, that is the life of the saint.} But
by a believer I mean, a soul who from the enjoyment of Christ within, is
made able to believe a Christ without. For believing according to Truth is
for a soul from the power of Truth, being overcome by it, and swallowed up
into it, and from thence enabled to assent and give credit to it; so to
assent and submit to all things presented in it, and required by it; as
that they are made able to live to the glory of Truth in every particular
act. Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Biblical Hermeneutics
Not distinguishing the extent of words and not
interpreting one Scripture with another is very dangerous, and a special
cause of stumbling; as in the misapplying of things to the subject, that
is expressed in a particular Scripture, without understanding that
Scripture by another, as in Ezek.33:11, where the Lord saith, “as I live,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;” from which particular you
conclude all sinners. Now if you look in the Scriptures you will see
yourselves mistaken, for there are three sorts of sinners. One sort that
sins out of confidence of God's mercy, and upon that account resolves to
sin, Deut.29:19, “and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this
curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace,
though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to
thirst.” Note: We will add drunkenness to thirst for God will be merciful;
but see what the Lord saith in verse 20; “the LORD will not spare him, but
then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man,
and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and
the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.” If so, then this
cannot be the sinner that God intends in Ezekiel 33:11. A second sort of
sinners are those that sin and are not sensible of their sinning, but
rather think it goes well with them when they sin, as the generality of
the world doth; and this sort of sinner God speaks of in Jer.44:16-29 &
Isaiah chapter 11. Now if you look in Jeremiah 44:26, God there swears
that He will show them no mercy. And in Is.27:11, there God doth affirm,
he will show no mercy to them. “For it is a people of no understanding;
therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that
formed them will shew them no favour.” {Note also that; “the LORD hath
made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”
PV.16:4.} Now both these sorts of sinners cannot be those God intends,
when he saith, “as I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”
A third sort of sinners are those that are so in a Gospel sense, and they
are those to whom Christ saith, “I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance;” as in these Scriptures, Mt.9:13, Mark 2:17, Luke
5:32, I Tim.1:15; and those sinners appear to be such, and are declared to
be such, when they have through the gracious appearance of God a discovery
of themselves unto themselves, that in the sense of their sins do groan
and long after Jesus Christ. These are those that Christ invites; saying,
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.” Mt.11:28. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Biblical Hermeneutics
And that so much of that Scripture, and so in some
other Scriptures, you take one person for another, mis-understanding the
drift or scope of what is there intended, as in Hebrews 10:29, “Of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Now your mistake is, in the taking one
person for another, for the Apostle doth not intend in the word ‘he’ by
which he was sanctified, the party that treads the blood of Christ
underfoot, but it is Christ Himself that is sanctified. Now sanctification
is to be set apart, and it is Christ alone that was set apart through the
blood of the covenant, through that God sanctified him, through that he
sanctified himself according to John chapter 17. For Christ was capable of
no other sanctification, and if any man with an ingenuous heart will but
read that verse as it is in the translation, though there is much more to
be considered, otherwise they cannot conclude, but the party there
sanctified is properly intended Christ, and not he that treads, unless
they will overthrow the intent of this Scripture, and makes Scripture to
be of private interpretation, which is not to be done. II Pet.1:20. I
might mention many other places of Scripture, as to the mistakes of
persons, taking all for some, and one for another, I only mentioned these
for the rest. Truly, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power
of God,” {Mt.22:29;} that is to say, the power and authority of Scripture,
which all are ignorant of until the Truth of God in Scripture is made good
in them. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Biblical Hermeneutics
Another mistake is your not distinguishing of
causes, putting no difference between the essential, meritorious,
instrumental and final causes; and so it occasions you to conclude that
God or some of his eminent acts done in Himself to be subject to something
that are but instrumental causes, and so you do bring the efficient cause
into subjection unto the instrumental cause, and sometimes the effects of
the efficient cause is declared in Scripture as a declarative cause; as,
“he that believes not is damned,” or as an instrumental cause, “he that
believes shall be saved.” Now this not understanding causes is an occasion
of your stumbling. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities,
1655}
Christ – the Truth of God
Thy wisdom {oh saint} is one with Christ; it
rises and raises thee in its rising, to be employed in the glorious
beholding of Christ. What can thy soul desire more? The mystery of the
Father and the Son is the object of thy eye. {John 14:7} This is that
which out-glorieth all glory below itself. This supplies thee with all
good, when all things depart from thee but itself. Those streams can never
run dry, whose fountain always flows forth to fill them. That heart can
never be at a loss, who is always employed amongst, and in the enjoyment
of eternal gains. This should therefore in an eminent sense comfort all
Saints. It should also comfort you against all the oppositions you meet
with in the world. Do men labor to interrupt the conveyance of light? Who
can do it, if Christ causes as the beginnings, so the increase of light in
them? What if men darken expressions, and do what they can to cloud the
Truth? {Ez.34:15,16} If Christ be the conveyor of truth, who can hinder?
Therein rejoice! Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Christ - the Wisdom of God
He is wisdom, not only as the fountain
retaining, and the way causing, and the object in which wisdom is
employed; but He is wisdom essentially, for he is not only the cause of
the light in us, but he is the cause of life in that light; therefore the
Apostle says, “Not I, but Christ lives in me,” Gal.2:20; for when once
Christ hath enlightened a soul, he is then the life of that light,
employing that soul in the understanding of Divine Truth. {Eph.1:17-19} –
Is Christ the fountain retaining wisdom for you? Is Christ the way of
communicating wisdom to you? Is Christ the object of wisdom? Is Christ the
life of that light which is thus called wisdom? Then note first, that
Christ is all in all {Col.3:11} to a saints spirit. What hast thou which
thou hast not received? {I Cor.4:7;} and what way receivest thou but by
Christ? And if so, then give the sole and whole glory of that thy wisdom
to Christ. There is no such ingratitude as this, for men not to return an
acknowledgment to Him from whence all flows, to glory in ourselves, is a
great sin against Christ; and to make that to be ours which is proper to
Christ, so as to give the glory of that good to ourselves, or to anything
else besides Christ, is and will be taken unkindly by Him. “But thou didst
trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown,
and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with
divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon; the like things shall
not come, neither shall it be so. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of
my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself
images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them.” Ez.16:15-17} Paul
Hobson {A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Church of Christ
By a Church, I mean a company of souls, who through the
comings in of Christ {John 14:17,} are made able so to believe in Christ,
that they are through that believing, made able freely and voluntarily to
give themselves up to Christ, to walk in the acknowledgment of Christ, in,
or according to his Word. Rom.6:17, Acts 24:14. Paul Hobson {A Garden
Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Contemplation of Christ
A saints refreshment flows from the Excellency
and glory of what he apprehendeth; and that is the cause why a saint never
grows weary of viewing, and never lags in his delight and joy in his
beholding, but runs more sure at last, then at first. - Apprehension of
the newness in a sense doth cease; but the excellency of the nature of the
thing apprehended and enjoyed doth not cease. Paul Hobson {A Garden
Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Contentment with God in Christ
What is a Saints contentment but to be
content with God {“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to
be content.” Phil.4:11,} and in God in all conditions. Herein is only a
true rest; if it be in anything else but God, it is no true rest. If
honor, or pleasure, or profit, or credit, or applause, or riches, or
anything besides God doth give thee rest, thy rest and contentment is in
the creature and not in God. On the contrary; if ye have poverty,
disgrace, banishment, or imprisonment and enjoy God, he hath his rest
still; because his contentment is not in and with the creature, but it is
in and with God. God's will is his rest! He that lives in the will of God,
he sees God's will is best for him; and his own will is so swallowed up in
the will of God, and made one with it, that he hath no peace but in this.
And this life he hath and enjoys not by reasoning himself into this
condition; as, for a man to say thus; ‘this is God's will, and therefore I
must be content; it is but a folly to resist his will; it must be so, and
I cannot help it; therefore I had better be content than to fight and
strive against it; for I cannot remove it until it please the Lord. Now
this is not the contentment of Saints, but that which reason dictates to a
man, which a man without grace may reach; and in this state of contentment
most are satisfied, and take it to be a Saints submission, and contentment
when it is not. But a Saints rest, contentment, and satisfaction is not
from reason, but from a sweet enjoyment of God in every condition. His
rest is not in this and that, but God in this and that! Paul Hobson
{Practical Divinity, 1646}
Conversion & Regeneration
This work of conversion and new birth I shall
present it to you thus. It is by the glorious and powerful appearance or
discovery of the glory of God in Christ, which doth so seize upon the
soul, and convincingly conquers the soul, that the soul in the discoveries
of that light is so killed and made silent, and confounded in the sense of
his own unsuitableness to God, and undoneness without Christ, that the
heart is presently made to loath and abominate itself, and whatsoever was
wrought or done before Christ came, and is so restlessly carried out for
Christ, that the soul cannot rest till it doth enjoy Him, or enjoy him as
his own, which is alone done through believing. Now faith is a
supernatural light and life setup in the soul by God's causing the
creature to assent to and close with the Authority of God's Truth in
Christ, upon which direct application followeth, which is the applying of
Christ as his own from the truth of God's word, which is from his peculiar
love, which love the heart is made sensible of in that appearance. This
appearance of God doth and will kill, make silent, and confound or conquer
whatsoever is in the soul before Christ comes. Jer.31:18,19, Rom.7:9,
Zech.2:13, Acts 2:37. The believer is so overcome with the sight of this
light that he can no longer love, but only loath himself. Job 40:26, Job
9:31, Phil.3:8. It is made able to go out of itself, and give away for,
and assent to the Authority and Truth of God's Word. John 3:33,
Rom.4:18-20, II Thes.1:10. It can find no rest in itself, nor whatsoever
self did before or can do, but solely waits upon and attends the authority
of this discovery. Acts 2:37, 16:30, Song 5:6-8, Ps.63:1, Mt.11:12. It's
made able to apply; that is to say, to own a propriety, and to bring home
that to itself, as its own, which is as high as heaven, and far above what
nature can either reach or attain unto, according to the Scriptures.
Heb.11:7-13, John 8:56, I Cor.2:9,10. Now I beseech you to consider what
hath been said, and you will see, that the nature of this truth, as we
said before, is too high for any improvement of nature to attain unto,
before the new birth. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities,
1655}
Covenant of Grace – State of Grace
Peace is not a bare grace of peace,
but it is a state of peace. It is a state of favor and grace purchased by
Christ according to an agreement and covenant made between God and him,
into which Christ doth instate all his, in which state they have a perfect
acceptance, and are complete in the sight of God. - It must of necessity
be a state, because it must be something that is the contrary of what sin
by Adam brought souls into. Now that was not a bare curse, but a cursed
state of darkness and death; and that sin did bring souls into such a
state, you can clearly see in Eph.2:1-3 - applied with the 5th & 6th
verses, and verses 11-14,19. The case is clear, for the Scripture is clear
in the proof of this. If so, then God's grace by Christ must of necessity
bring souls through believing into a state that is contrary to that state;
then this peace must needs be a state. Were saints truly informed of this
truth, and did really believe it, their comforts would be more sure and
firm than now they are. Now poor souls to look upon it, that what peace is
today is many times gone tomorrow, and looks upon it sometimes lost by
sins and miscarriages, and gained again by repentance and exact
performance; and never looks upon this to be a state, a standing state;
the sense of which is to recover souls that are fallen, and to spirit
souls that grow cold and dead, even the sense and consideration thereof,
that though they fall, this state stands - being a rich unalterable state
purchased by Christ, and stands upon the unchangeable foundation of God's
free grace, and the full and perfect purchase of Christ our Lord and
Prince of Peace. O, that my soul, and the souls of all them that fear God,
could always believe this Truth; this soul satisfying Truth; this sin
recovering Truth; this fallen souls recovering Truth; this grace raising
Truth; this God in Christ exalting Truth. Let us study to walk worthy of
this unchangeable state, and there is nothing will so much enable us to
walk like it as the true knowledge and belief thereof. “And the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.” Phil.4:7. And when thou fallest, look on this
standing state believingly, thou wilt find it like the Brazen Serpent to
heal and restore thy soul. Paul Hobson {Innocency though under a Cloud
Cleared, 1664}
Election in Christ
Consider what we mind by election. It consisteth in
God's foreknowledge, wherein He was pleased from all eternity in the
riches of his grace and love to pitch upon and make choice of some in a
peculiar sense to be vessels of glory, whom he elected in the election of
his Son, who was the public Person comprehending the whole, and this
prerogative of God and privilege to us, is not to be deciphered or
discovered, like as other privileges are; for the death of Christ, and our
faith in Christ, these have the time of their rise, reign and perfection;
but for the other privilege it is done in God and with God, without
relation to anything outside Himself. It only depends upon the prerogative
of his will, and his good pleasure, according to the Scriptures:
Rom.9:16-22, Eph.1:1-8. Therefore when we speak of causes we must make a
distinction between what is done by God out of God, and what is done by
God in God; and whatsoever is done in the last sense hath no rise but
Himself and his own pleasure, and if you give not God this, you must deny
His prerogative and prove that he may not do with His own what seems good
unto him, which is contrary to the Scriptures: Mt.20:15, Ex.33:19,
Rom.9:15,16. Now besides what hath been already said to prove that faith
is but an effect and not the cause of election, mind these two reasons.
First, if election be before men have faith, then faith cannot be a cause,
but it must be an effect; but election is before we have faith. Acts
13:48, II Tim.1:9-10, Eph.1:4-5. Reason 2. God is the first cause of
causes, and whatsoever doth take its rise or is immediate from Him hath no
other cause, the truth of that you will see from the Scriptures before
mentioned, therefore faith must needs be an effect. But besides all the
Scriptures and reasons I have brought; do but consider, that election is
not capable of being caused by any causes out of God, for we are elected
in the election of Christ, and Christ did not merit his own election, for
his death is not the cause of election, though it be the meritorious
cause, and God's great way to accomplish life and salvation. If so be that
faith is the cause of our election, then election is subject to a cause,
and if in the lesser than in the greater; but we know that in the greater
which is the election of Christ, in which general all particulars are
comprehended; it is not caused, nor depends upon any condition or causes
out of God, but immediately flows from Him, and all other works and acts
of grace and mercy done by God in Christ for us, or by God in us towards
Christ, are the fruits of this eternal fountain. I mean God's love, in
which God's owning or choosing is so involved in it, as it is one with it,
and both arise from one and the same fountain, which is his own will and
pleasure. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Election in Christ
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the beloved.” Eph.1:4-6. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” I Pet.1:2. “But we are bound to
give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” II Thes.2:13. The life of the act
is that which produceth the form, the fruit of the act lives in the life,
and is spoke out, or brought forth by the form. Had not this been so the
sin of Adam could never have brought a curse upon his posterity, for the
life of his act was in unity, in all that were comprehended in his person,
and the evil fruit of his act took place upon all, in that sense, when it
took place upon him, but the manifestation or execution of this took place
successively as mankind was brought forth, and so it appears the form of
the act, was to be made manifest according unto the succession or
appearance of forms in mankind, but the life of the act from whence the
denomination of the act comes was really acted and executed in Adam; so in
the promise of God to Abraham, you are to look upon the life or virtue of
the promise, the fruit of the promise, and the form of the performance,
which is but the mouth and language to speak out the life by; which was
made good when Isaac and his seed successively took place. So in Christ;
he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, the life or virtue of
the act, which was the efficacy of Christ's death, which did arise from
the Author and life of the act, that took place so soon as ever God did
promise Christ, the form of the act, which is the language, as I told you
before, to speak out the life, that takes place in time, and is not
formally presented till actually performed; but the life or virtue of the
form, that takes place for us when first promised, and so the death of
Christ was effectual so soon as ever the promise was propounded, or else
Adam must have died, and none could have been saved till Christ had come
and suffered in the flesh. The very same we are to mind in election. The
life of the act, which is the essence, took place from the beginning; as
to the form we shall mind it in the second particular. Now as to the
discovery and the fruits of the act, that takes place in forms, as forms
are presented, but the act is as truly alive before the form appears, as
it is afterwards, and the truth is, every act takes its denomination from
the life, and the antiquity is derived from thence; and so Abraham was a
Father of nations, when the promise was first propounded, and so Christ
was really slain, as to the life and of virtue, when he was first
promised, and election was then done when it took place in its rise, which
was God's singular love and good will to choose some to be vessels of
glory. Now when the apostle saith, that God “calls things that are not as
if they were,” he doth not intend the life or virtue of the act, but the
form of the act, and he that denies it, endeavors to overthrow the whole
tenure of Scripture. For in this sense we are to understand our fall in
Adam and our rise in Christ, according to the tenure of the Gospel, and so
also the promise to Abraham, and so we are to understand the intent of a
Law, as in Matthew 5:28, which declares lusting after a woman to be
adultery, I John 3:15; that hatred is murder, which declares the act to
live in the life and the virtue though it lacks its outward form, and if
so really before the form is brought forth, and in this sense we are to
understand Christ’s love and rejoicing in the sons of men before the world
was. Prov.8:31. Secondly; consider, as the life and virtue of some acts
take place before the form, and is really in being before the form appear
either of our acts or Gods; so further mind, that whatsoever is done, not
only of God, but also in God for us, the life and form of that act, as to
God takes place together, and both is in being before it doth appear,
though the discovery of that is not, till the object to which the action
relates be brought forth, and this is true election, for that is an act
done as well in God as by God, and so life and form take place together as
to God, though as to the form of the discovery to us, it is not till
formable we are brought forth. So this act is not to be parallel with such
acts that God doth for us, though by himself yet out of himself, as
redemption, or the promise to Abraham is; and therefore what is said from
the words of the apostle, Rom.4:17, is not sufficient to overthrow this
truth; namely, that election is before the beginning of the world,
according to these Scriptures. Eph.1:4, I Pet.1:2, II Thes.2:13. Paul
Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Election in Christ
Men are said to be truly and really in Christ two
ways. First; by election, and so believers are all in Christ, he being the
public person in whom all election was comprehended, and all the elect are
really in Him, before they are brought forth, as every man is in Adam
before they are born. - Before ever the elect are brought home to Christ
in their calling & conversion, they were in Christ in election, or else
Christ would not have said “other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,” John 10:16;
so that they did belong to Christ, as his particular sheep before he
brought them in, and that there is such a property and unity before
conversion, you will see, if you seriously mind the Scriptures. Paul
Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Election in Christ
All that are brought over to believe in Him are called
sons and daughters, and so they are sons and daughters adopted, and that
which gives them the denomination of Christians or sons is because they
are elected in the election of God's electing Christ, or Christianized by
Christ. - Christ is the public person elected by God, and all that are
elected are elected in His election; so Christ is the public person
anointed by God; and all that are anointed are anointed by Christ, and
from the anointing of Christ. Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom
Justified, 1647}
Exaltation of Christ
Christ receives no additional glory by saints
acknowledgments, {“Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise
may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that
thou art righteous; or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways
perfect?” – “If thou be righteous, what givest thou him; or what receiveth
he of thine hand? Job.22:2,3, 35:7,} though Christ calls it a glory to
him, when the glory in Himself by saints is acknowledged, yet it adds
nothing to him, but only doth acknowledge what before was in Him. If so,
let this teach us, that the highest of our exaltings of Christ, is no
ground for us to exalt ourselves, either in the room of, or with the Lord
Jesus Christ; though it's true that Christ cannot be exalted, but a saint
is exalted too, but it is the very exaltation of Christ, that is a saints
exaltation, and nothing else. {Col.3:4, I John 3:2} Therefore let this
teach us, while we exalt him, to lie low before him, knowing that we give
nothing to him, but what is his due; and do nothing before him, but what
is our duty, which becomes a saint. Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed &
Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Faith
Faith that is produced in obedience to Truth, by the discoveries of
the Gospel of Christ is that which nature in the highest improvements
before conversion is not capable of performing. Paul Hobson {Fourteen
Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Faith, Godliness & Growth in Christ
Faith which is produced in obedience
to truth, by the discoveries of the Gospel of Christ, is not the bringing
up of something that is in men before conversion, but it is a peculiar
work of God, which nature in its highest improvement is not capable of,
till conversion or the new work of grace be wrought, which is God's, not
upon common, but a special Gospel account wrought by Him. – All power we
have to act or do things, in a Gospel sense is produced alone by the power
and Spirit of God, not upon a common but a special account. Abuse of this
truth: The best of Saints while they live here have sin; therefore to
exhort those that profess the Lord to exactness in duty, or reprove them
for any neglect in duty, presently this is replied, ‘we can do no more
than we have power,’ which is a truth in its sense, but it is sadly
applied, for when God hath begun to work grace in us, the way to increase
in strength is by careful watching and waiting hourly and daily before the
Lord, and they that do so wait and walk, have experience that God will not
be wanting to increase strength according to these Scriptures: Is.40:31,
John 7:17, Is.64:5, Ps.9:10, Mt.13:12, Luke 8:18. And the truth says, were
this practiced, there would not be such sad un-saintlike walkings as now
appear to be among them that profess the Lord, both in their pride,
fashioning themselves after the world, covetousness, frothy language,
wanton carriages, and other un-saintlike practices, inasmuch that it is a
hard thing to know a saint from a sinner, in his daily practice and
conversation, unless you find them in particular acts of worship, which is
that which doth sadly wound the Name of God, and the glory of Christ
amongst men. I do not speak this for to accuse others only, but also to
bear witness against myself for my former unsuitable walkings, wherein my
daily watchings and waitings, and exact conforming and cultivating faith,
was not kept alive, and therefore I died, {“for if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of
the body, ye shall live.” Rom.8:13, “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap; for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap
corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting.” Gal.6:7,8;} but blessed be the Lord who hath discovered the
truth of this to my soul. Come to some professors and tell them of their
pride, fashions of the world, covetousness, passion, courtly complements,
frothy language, manifesting that these things are unbecoming saints, and
inconsistent with a growing heart; this presently is replied, ‘everyone
hath sin, Paul and the rest of the Apostles, the very best of saints had
sin, and so I confess that I have.’ This they answer, and peradventure
they will say that they do grown under it, which is a perfect deceit; for
though there is sin in the people of God, yet there is a daily growth and
overcoming in Christ by faith in the blood of Christ, and by a diligence
in waiting and watching, by which the sin of the heart, or corruption of
the will and the mind is kept under, and there is not an allowance of any
one sin where Christ is in truth. And therefore those that do shelter
themselves under truth, in this sense, and do not daily grow and get power
against sin, let them know this from a heart that knows it from woeful
experience, that they only live in notions and not in the power and spirit
of truth, to be a witness of the truth of the new birth or work of grace
which God hath wrought in them that are his. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries
and Ten Absurdities, 1655}
Fruitfulness in Christ
Every effect is produced by a cause suitable to
itself. All our loves, longings, desirings and gaspings after Jesus Christ
is not a cause, but a fruit of Christ as the only cause. - This should
teach us to give Christ the glory, as our privileges in Him, so also of
all the duty we perform to Him, being but fruits from Him. {John 15:4,
Gal.5:22} – All may see how sweetly, how evangelically, how heavenly those
souls act, that act from an enjoyment of Christ. {Eph.1:19, 3:20} They do
not only act to, but in the power of Christ; they do not only act to
heaven, but from the power of heaven. {Luke 17:21} Paul Hobson {A Garden
Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Godliness
As our heart does represent Christ spiritually in the spirit,
so may our actions present Christ's glorious and lovely outwardly amongst
men. “Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.”
Phil.1:27. It is the duty of saints not to cover but uncover Christ in all
their performances; and had I time, I might tell you what the Apostle
meaneth, when he saith, “a man should not pray with his head covered” {I
Cor.11:4;} but I shall say no more, but {as he saith} the Head of every
man is Jesus Christ {vs.3;} and therefore not only in your praying, but in
your practicing cover not, but uncover the glory of Christ, by a
saint-like walking amongst men. Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom
Justified, 1647}
Gospel Ordinances
Is the presence of Christ in Himself; then ‘tis not to
be enjoyed elsewhere; ‘tis not in fellowships; ‘tis not in ordinances, yet
simply considered; though these ye are to use to hold forth the discipline
of Christ to the world, yet not to rest therein. These distinguish you
externally from the men of the world, but you will be as of the world
still for all of them, if you enjoy no more than bare ordinances. This I
speak, because many satisfy themselves in this, in receiving outwardly the
ordinances, and that they are accounted professors, and separated from the
men of the world, and because they are found in such and such fellowships,
being well thought on by others; but alas, these will do you no good, for
all these you may have, yet have no more life than the men of the world.
You see no man can live in the bosom of Christ, and in the glory of
Christ, but he that is made one with Christ. Saints are not only made
perfect hereafter; as most professors run away with; but they are admitted
and have some entrance into heaven here; for they live as Saints, they
walk as Saints, they trade as Saints and they live with Christ. Ordinances
are but shells, but Saints while they are cracking the shell to others,
they are eating the kernel themselves, and living thereby. You may be
partakers of all external ordinances, you may submit to baptism, you may
come into a right order of a Church way, you may frequently break bread
together, but what's all this; for it is but the shell of the business,
the husk, the bone - but is Christ truly glorified? Paul Hobson {Practical
Divinity, 1646}
Gospel Truth
He, and he only is fit to declare Truth, {Gal.2:20, I
Cor.2:1-6,} whose spirit is so crucified by the power of Truth, that in
his acknowledgment of Truth, he does it singly for Truth, and not for
self. “I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of
thy righteousness, even of thine only.” Ps.71:16. But self in no soul is
so laid down by the power of Truth, till that soul is actually possessed
with Truth; for till then it is not Christ, but self that reigneth. He,
and he only is fit to declare Truth, whose reason doth not master notions
of Truth, but his reason is a servant to the power of Truth, being
overcome and made silent by the authority of Truth. But no soul is so
overcome and made silent by the authority of Truth, but he that enjoyeth
Truth. Therefore he, and he only is fit to declare Truth. Paul Hobson {A
Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Glory of Christ
The glories of Christ are too high for spirits that live
at a distance from Christ to acknowledge! Paul Hobson {A Garden Enclosed &
Wisdom Justified, 1647}
God’s Promises in Christ
Many times the people of God are hindered in
Christ and those promises that are found in Him, because they look upon
them through a wrong glass; namely, through their own righteousness and
goodness, and when that seems dead, their eyes grow dim, for there is so
much penurious proceedings in the best of saints, that they will not, nor
dare not touch a promise without holy hands and holy hearts. - So they
also do when they endeavor to go to Christ through a promise, and not to a
promise through Christ, wherein they move by their own strength, and not
by the power of Christ, which is properly the hand to lead them to the
heart of all promises. He is the sum of every promise, and all promises
are summed up in Him. In him we enjoy every promise, and without him we
enjoy never a one; for a promise is the declaration of God's good will;
and Christ is the principal declarer, and he is also the thing declared;
and so he is the sum of promises, and in that sense promises are summed up
in Him. Paul Hobson {Treatise Containing Three Things, 1653}
Gospel Truth
We do not intend a Gospel knowledge in a notionary way; by
that I mean, men's running out to fetch in notions of the truth, and are
not fetched in by the power of the truth; and so they rather carry notions
of truth than the power of truth carrying them. And that is the cause why
some walk loosely in the profession of the Gospel, which is a matter of
great grief. But men do exceeding ill in laying these scandals upon the
truth, and not distinguishing professors from possessors of truth. Paul
Hobson {A Discovery of Truth, 1645}
Gospel Truth
Truth doth and must take hold of us before it can be truly
believed by us. That soul that truly by faith sees Christ, sees such
transcendent and matchless excellency in Christ, that he is so overcome by
it, that he is by the virtue of it voluntarily carried out, to consent and
submit to it; and this is the cause, why souls when once they come to see
Christ, they see nothing lovely like Christ. Paul Hobson {A Discovery of
Truth, 1645}
Irresistible Grace
So the Prophet, where he saith to some that had not
the Lord, “seek the Lord and ye shall find him.” We are not now to
understand it, nor observe it as though our being found of God, was the
fruits of our seeking; but we are to understand it thus; that our seeking
God is a fruit of being found by God, for none evangelically seeks God
until he is found of God; for no soul can act a living act without a
living power, but no soul enjoys a living power, till he hath received
mercy from God. Paul Hobson {A Discovery of Truth, 1645}
Knowledge of Christ
They only are fit to declare Christ who understand
Christ from enjoyment. Others that do not enjoy him, and go about to
declare him, only speak of him as one that speaketh of a thing at a
distance, and so speak of him at random; and may as soon speak out
themselves; for that is the only reason and cause that men's judgments of
Christ do so often alter. It is just in this case, as it is with some men
that understand the nature of foreign countries by a globe or secondary
declarations; and that is the cause men give such sundry descriptions of
one and the same place. But he that hath been at those places, and
understandeth them not at the second, but firsthand; he only is able to
give a right description of places and things. So it is with those men
that have no understanding of Christ, but what they fetch in by the
strength of natural parts, from external declarations, and not from
internal enjoyment. They are not in anyways able to give a right
description, or hold forth a true discovery of Jesus Christ so, but that
they may, and do discover more of self, than Christ. But those that so
understand Christ from an enjoyment of Christ, that they actually and
really live in what they know of Christ, they are only able to discover
that love, and loveliness that is in Christ. But I may say of the other
sort of men, as the Apostle saith, in I Tim.1:7, some preach the Law, “but
they understand not what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” But {saith
the Apostle} “we know” {vs.8}. From thence you may observe thus much, that
they, and they only can preach the Law, that understand the Law in Christ,
or by Christ; and if the Law, then unquestionably the Gospel. Paul Hobson
{A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Law & Gospel Distinctions
Now for the Law; and to those that see it only
by a light that flows from it, and not according to the rules of the
Gospel, it will not only seem to be contrary to the Gospel, but will cause
the beholder to convert the Gospel into a Law, and preach the Gospel as
Law, and this be one element wherein Antichrist lives. And that is the
reason why we have so many men in these days that preach and press man to
make bricks without straw. But passing over that, the Law I must confess,
is not looked upon directly from the Gospel, by rules of the Gospel, which
darkens to us both the Law and Gospel. But we are to consider the Law
thus; that the Law is that wherein God discovers his authority as a God
over us, requiring duties of us; and although we have lost that ability to
answer Law, yet the Law continues to declare God's authority, but not our
ability. And for such expressions in the word, ‘you must work, you must do
this and that,’ it is not to declare our ability, but to declare God's
authority, and this is the first rule to judge of the expression of a Law,
so as they may not contradict the Gospel. Objection: This seems not to be
a truth, because that such expressions in Scripture are not few but many,
it is not only at one time but often, to which I answer: Had God withdrawn
and made out these discoveries, which manifest his authority, it would
have been conceived that when there was an alteration in the creature,
that this alteration wrought an alteration in God; and so it might be
apprehended that something below God had the power to cause an alteration
or change in God; which the Holy Ghost will by no expression admit of such
a construction. Paul Hobson {A Discovery of Truth, 1645}
Law & Gospel Distinctions
People legalized by the Law, do not delight to
look upon the glorious discoveries of the Gospel, and those that are
Gospelized love to see nothing else but the glory of the Gospel. Paul
Hobson {A Discovery of Truth, 1645}
Letter - Spirit Distinctions
That Religion which is in reference to a Law
without, and not answering to a Law and a power of love within, is as when
men have not only the light of reason, but convictions from the light of a
Law, which sets men at work, not rightly understanding this Law without,
from the power and spirit of a Law within; they in conforming to it, to
seek good by it, only working in a low legal way, seeking life by working,
and not to acknowledge life in their working. This is such a religion that
men who live in it, may fall from it. But those saints who act in
religious acts suitable to Christ, the Law being written in them, which is
a rule for them; and the Law that regulates them is an act, is the Spirit,
and Life and Power of the act; and so Christ is all in all. That religion
which is in reference to a letter, is only when men by the strength of
reason, trade with the letter, to find out the spirit; and the Spirit doth
not trade with their spirits. And the truth is, this sort of way of eyeing
Truth, admits of strange constructions that vary from Truth; and that is
the only cause why one man is legal, and another man seems to be
evangelical, but it is only in the notion, and not in the power. Wherein
is the difference between a saint and them? My answer is, that saints
understand the letter from the spirit; but the other go about to apprehend
the spirit, only from the letter; and in so acting they act in a religion
below that divine glory that lives in the mind of the Spirit. And herein
doth the privilege of the saints transcend the apprehension of all men
that do not enjoy it; the saints are comprehended in the spirituality of
the letter, while they understand the letter. The Spirit preacheth
Divinity within, and that makes them understand Divinity without. But no
man knows this, but he that doth enjoy it. What shall we think of those
men that say, no man can declare the mind of God, but he that knows the
Original? If by the Original they mean the Original in the letter; then
wade as far as you can in that fountain, you are but still in the letter.
But if you speak truly of the Original, I say, no man can preach or
declare God until he knows the Original; but then we must know what the
Original of the Letter is, for it is the Spirit. - Own Truth in the
Spirit, and thou shalt understand truth in the letter; but we can never
own truth in the Spirit until the truth in the Spirit owns us. Paul Hobson
{A Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Love of God in Christ
We should live more upon Christ's delighting and
loving us, than upon our delighting and loving Christ. One is the stream,
and the other the fountain. One is but the fruit, the other the Cause. It
is that unchangeable Foundation that standeth firm, as well to raise us
when we fall, as to comfort us when we stand. Paul Hobson {A Garden
Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Prayer
Prayer is a duty God calls for, and it is a way to acknowledge
God; but prayer was never intended to change or alter God, but to change
us, and not force God, but fit us for what's promised and purposed of God
for us. Prayer is the exercise of God's Spirit within us, pouring out the
soul to God, in the Name; that is to say, in the Nature of Christ, and in
his interest, pleading with God for supply of wants in answer to his will.
So prayer is the language of God in us, not to alter God, but us; not to
beget new grace in God, but from his old grace to bring down renewed
supplies to us. Paul Hobson {Innocency though under a Cloud Cleared, 1664}
Prayer
Men have an art in these times, to turn the very effects produced
by God to make them causes to cause an alteration in God. My meaning is
this, that even prayer, which in God's way I much prize; which if it be
true prayer, is alone produced by a power from God; the end being, to fit
and alter us and not God. Men nowadays make these means, as a way to tie
and constrain God, to alter and to change God. Oh how monstrous! Paul
Hobson {A Discovery of Truth, 1645}
Prayer
The Scripture clearly discovers that all praying in an outward
form is but prating unless it flow from the Spirit of God {Rom.8:26, I
Cor.14:15, John 6:44,45,} and that is a truth worth our owning, for if
there be 1000 words in our form of prayer, and if there be but 10 words in
that prayer which flow from the Spirit, that's prayer, and all the rest is
nothing. - Nothing is prayer, but what the Spirit performs; for prayer
truly and properly considered is nothing else but the exchanges of God's
own language, and it flows from God as well as it goes to God. It is not
to alter God, but to change us. - Take notice that I so own this truth of
God; namely, that there is no prayer without the Spirit, that I cannot but
acknowledge all other sayings or speakings to be but empty and vain; and
yet in the second place consider. Though God doth own no prayer but what
flows from his own Spirit, and we do well to own it so, yet it is better
for us to wait for the power in the form, than to wait for the power
without the form; and as it is our duty to conclude the form when we lack
the power, to be but a dead carcass; so it is something dangerous to
neglect waiting upon God for the power in the form; and truly if we well
considered it, there is reason for it. We know we oftener find God, or
rather God finds us in the form, than out of it. {Song.1:8, 3:1-4, 7:12} -
It is a very bad sign when the apprehension of this truth is accompanied
with so long neglect of the form and power; for though the truth teaches
that the form without the power is nothing, yet that same truth doth not
leave the soul without power long; for though it seems to hide itself
sometimes for a season, yet it always comes with a double enlargement; and
therefore deceive not yourselves; but the Lord give you power, as to
apprehend Truth, so to apprehend Truth truly; and if so, the application
will never admit of liberty to looseness, but strong engagements to walk
close with God. Paul Hobson {Treatise Containing Three Things, 1653}
Repentance & God
Another mistake is your confining your judgment of the
essentiality of God the unchangeableness of his essential will to the
visibility of God in his outward word and actions, as they are in our
view; and though those things do declare the outward actions of God, as
they relate to our actings towards him, yet they are not given to us to
judge of and measure the unchangeable love of God in Himself to us by. I
mean that goodwill and love that is in himself and hath no dependence upon
anything outside of himself; for God is said to repent,{Jonah 3:10;} he is
said to forsake, {Jer.23:33,39;} he is said to be grieved, {Gen.6:6;} he
is said to go down and see if things were so, according to the cry of the
sins of Sodom, {Gen.18:20,21,} as if he had not known before. Now these
expressions doth declare the outward acts of God, as they relate to our
acting towards Him, or the manifesting the visibility of God, as it is in
our view, and not to measure the essentiality of God and the
unchangeableness of his love and good will; for if you do you will both
wrong God and deceive your own soul. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten
Absurdities, 1655}
Secured in Christ
Christ's Church is not a scattered and confused
company, but is enclosed. It is the property of idle shepherds to let
their sheep go scattered up and down, not knowing them, nor them knowing
him; but the Lord Christ taketh care to enclose his garden within the
limits of that Light, Life and Glory that maketh known Himself to them,
and them to Himself {John 10:14;} that wheresoever a saint is he is
enclosed by Christ; he is not without the pale, but he is still within the
borders of the limits of that strong wall. And therefore we may say as
Christ saith, “a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse.” Paul Hobson {A
Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Sin
Sin is injurious to God; but in that consider this caution; God as
God can neither be injured by us, nor receive any addition of good from us
{Job 22:2,3;} but when we speak of injuries, we are to look upon God in
his administrations or appearances towards us, and so God may be said to
be injured, and to be honored or dishonored. - Sin brings blackness upon
that beauty which God delights to view, for God loves a soul so as to
beautify him with the beauties of Himself, and then he delights to view
that beauty {Ezek.16:14, Song.2:14;} but so far as any of the people of
God do trade in, or meddle with sin or darkness, so far they draw a dark
cloud over and throw dirt in the face of this beauty. Paul Hobson
{Treatise Containing Three Things, 1653}
Sin and the Sovereignty of God
God is pleased sometimes not to throw
down, but to suffer saints to fall, that they may stand more firmly in
God's power and live less upon themselves. God in this deals like a wise
Father, who is pleased sometimes not to hold the child, but to let it
slip, that it may see itself to be weak, and to know that his power or
standing is from the Father alone. I fear many people look upon this truth
with a wrong eye, forming their reason thus: All power is of God, for in
Him we act, move, and have our being {Acts 17:28;} and if so then the very
acting of sin must be of God. But as to these people I shall only say
this; that they err not knowing the truth, for the action is one thing,
and the pollution of the act is another thing. Sin is the variation from a
rule in an act; and though actions be caused by God, yet the pollution of
the act flows from the condition which is in the creature. But I shall say
no more of that, but beg of you to be tender and careful to avoid the
embracing of any such thing, as to lay sin upon God; for He is light, in
whom there is no darkness; and purity, in whom is no pollution; and you
may as well say, that the odious stinks of a dunghill do flow from the sun
because it smells when the sun shines upon it, as to say that the
sinfulness of an act flows from God, because the act flows from the power
of God; but I am confident, those hearts who are saint-like sensible of
sin will not lay sin upon the Father, though he doth sometimes suffer them
to fall that they may stand the faster when he is pleased to raise them.
Paul Hobson {Treatise Containing Three Things, 1653}
Spirit of Christ and Antichrist
I cannot love such a man or woman because
they are Presbyterians; others cry out that they cannot endear such and
such, because they are Independents. This bitterness the devil hath cast
in amongst men, and men would seem to cover it, by laying the difference
on the external form, rather than in that spiritual difference that is
between them and Christ; but the truth is, were all outward occasions in
external forms removed, yet the world cannot love, but must condemn Truth.
{Mt.10:22, Mk.13:13} The first reason is, because there is an antipathy
between the spirit of the world, and the spirit of saints. {Rom.8:5} The
one is the Spirit of Christ, the other is the spirit of the devil; and
this antipathy is expressed by God Himself, where he saith, “I have put
enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent”
{Gen.3:15} The seed of the serpent is the spirit of the world; and the
seed of the woman is Jesus Christ. The spirit of the world as it is the
world's spirit, and the Spirit of Christ cannot close; therefore we may
take up those expressions “whom God hath joined together none can
separate;” and those spirits that God hath separated, none can join
together. Secondly, the spirit of the world and the spirit of Christ are
not like each other; therefore the spirit of the world cannot love Christ;
for everything loves its like, therefore by the rule of contraries, they
will hate that which is unlike themselves. {John 3:20, 8:23} - “All that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” {II Tim.3:12} -
I am sure the ground why the world hates saints is because saints in their
words and actions speak forth the goodness and wisdom of God amongst men.
God is pleased to work great things in them, and great things by them; and
we may say, when the world scorns and imprisons saints, as Christ said in
another case, “for which of the good works” that God hath done in them do
they imprison them? But they are apt to exclude themselves, as the Jews
did to Christ, saying, “for a good work we stone thee not; but for
blasphemy” {John 10:33;} so they are apt to say, we do not oppose or
imprison you for any good wrought in you or done by you, but because you
take upon you to declare the mind of God, and walk in this or that kind of
form in your professing God, as a Presbyterian, or an Independent form.
The truth is, the world cannot bear the weight and worth of a saints
spirit, though {poor souls} they think to cover themselves and their
practices, with the aforementioned things, yet God will one day uncover
them. But let this comfort saints in the consideration, that though the
world condemns, yet “wisdom is justified of her children.” Paul Hobson {A
Garden Enclosed & Wisdom Justified, 1647}
Unity in Christ
Some men say this is the Christian, whilst others say
that is the Christian, and both may be mistaken, for they make Christians
according to their own fancy; if he do but jump with them in opinion, this
is enough to hold him up a Christian. - But Christ's undefiled dove is but
one; though they be scattered and divided here to men, yet to Christ they
are but one. What folly of many in these days, that they tie their loves
only to that congregated body of which they are in fellowship with; and if
one differ in judgment from them, they have no love to them; neither do
they account them of the number of Christ’s one - undefiled dove. This is
gross ignorance and proceeds from weakness, pride and folly; and is indeed
mere Antichrist! Paul Hobson {Practical Divinity, 1646}
Unbelief & Rejection of Christ
God condemns no man, if you look upon the meritorious cause, not for the creatures inability of exercising a power of believing in Christ, but for that exercise of power in rejecting Christ. Should God condemn creatures for their not exercising a power in receiving Christ, then he did condemn them for what they have not, but he condemns them for their rejecting Christ, which power they have. It is true the Scripture saith, “he that believes not is damned,” for not believing is a declaration of an abiding state without Christ, which is a state of condemnation. It is also said that they are condemned “because they believed not the Son of God,” but that cause is the declarative cause; but the meritorious cause, which is, that God doth and will go upon to clear up his justice by, is not the creatures refusing to exercise a power in receiving Christ, for that they have not, but it is the exercising of a power of darkness in rejecting Christ, and that men have, and God is just in doing it; and that, that is the ground God will go upon is clear from these Scriptures: John 3:19,20, Acts 7:51, Heb.12:25, Ps.118:22. Paul Hobson {Fourteen Queries and Ten Absurdities, 1655}