Magazine of Grace to heal and purge that corruption John 1.16 Of his fulness we receive grace for grace In sum Man had lost his Creator with an infinite distance and so lost his Happiness Christ as the Fulness of God dwelt in him bodily so together with him restores Man to his Lord and so to his Blessedness Ephes 3.19 And to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge that ye may he filled with all the fulness of God. The Means then of this Fruition is Vnion The reason by which every thing enjoys what it hath is Union and the more strict the Union is between the thing that enjoys and the thing enjoyed The strictest Union is between any thing and its Essence therefore when Goodness is part of the Essence the Enjoyment is the most perfect And it is by vertue of this Union with Christ that all this Fulness of Christ is conveyed to the Believer Now as the Fulness of Christ ariseth from his Union with God the Fountain of Goodness so our Fruition of that Fulness ariseth from our Union with Christ John 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one And this was the great Purpose of God in sending Christ Ephes 1.10 That he might gather together in one all things in Christ And this Union with Christ is frequently expressed in the Scripture in the strictest terms of Union conversation of Friendship John 14.23 We will come unto him and make our abode with him Christ formed in them Galat. 4.19 Incorporation with him eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood John 6.53 Inhabiting in them Ephes 3.17 Christ living in them Galat. 2.20 Part of his very substance Ephes 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Partakers of the very Fulness of God that is in him Ephes 3.19 That ye may be filled with the fulness of God. Changed into the very Image of Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Now we are to consider How this Vnion is wrought viz. By a double act 1. Of God's part 2. Of our part God in the Creation united Man unto himself and Man by his sin broke that Union and departed from him and is he could not so he would never have returned to God again unless God had brought him to himself John 6.65 No man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father Now the degrees of those acts whereby God unites us to him are 1. His Eternal Love Man by his sin got away from God as far as he could and as he lost his Ability so he lost his Mind to return Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice and I was afraid and I hid my self Love is the first motion to Union and this Love of God is the first foundation of our Union to him John 3.16 For God so loved the world c. 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved him but that he loved us first and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself before the World either wisht or thought of that Reconciliation so that it was a free Love and not drawn out upon any desert in his Creature 2. The second step of the motion towards Union was the sending his Son to assume our Nature and come unto us The distance between God and his best Creature is essentially infinite because finite with infinite bears no proportion but the distance between God and his sinful Creature must needs be greater because the Creature by his sin is gone away from God farther than he was in his pure Being To fill up this infinite distance God and Man is united into one Christ by the assumption of our Nature and by this means God is come nearer unto us as we may say and we in a condition to draw nearer unto him even in his Son. And thus God hath gathered together all things in one in Christ Ephes 1.10 3. The third step is by the course of his Providence conveying the knowledge and use of this Mediator unto us This is a farther degree of Union the former was specifical in our Natures but this objective and intellectual viz. by means proportionable to our Natures and Conditions providentially disposed he sends unto us the relation of our own Condition by Nature our Duty our Saviour his Will and all those Truths contained in the Book of God and this Truth he sets on with Rational Convictions Prophecies Miracles Perswasions Intreaties all which nave a rational operation upon our Understanding and Wills. This is that which is the Outward Calling And among those many Effectual Truths that are conveyed unto us by this Calling which were either lost or defaced in Man these are principally discovered and of principal use 1. That God is the chiefest Good and therefore the chiefest Object of our Love and Desire and therefore doth justly require the extremity of our pursuit The enjoyment of this Object is that wherein Mans Felicity consisted in his State of Innocence and must in his State of Restitution and this truth once entertained doth render all things else insipid in Comparison of it Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord therefore thou shalt love c. 2. That he is a Communicative Good for without this the Labour of the Soul would be fruitless For it were impossible for a finite Power to reach or overtake an infinite Object unless the Object did exhibit himself unto that Power And herein is the excellence of this call of God it discovers the Free Love of God unto the Soul So as the Absolute Goodness of God engageth us even in Judgment to seek to be united unto him so this Free Love of God engageth us even in good Nature as I may say to seek him And the very Entertainment of this truth soundly in the heart is the Foundation of our Faith and Obedience Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us As if he should have said There could not be imagined a more Conquering love than this that he whom we had injured by our Sins should yet seek the Good of his Creature 1 John 4.9 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us first This was Love with a Witness That when the Creature that owed to his Lord the strength of his Love had broken his Duty and become a hater of his Lord yet that that God should love such a Creature And as this Love was thus Free so it condescended to all the means of Communicating himself that are imaginable contriving means to reconcile us God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 God was reconciling when Man thought of nothing but offending Importunities of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.20 We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. It
therefore must needs take up the highest and choicest Desires to attain and keep him God is pleased to communicate himself to these Desires his acceptation of them and intimate Expressions of Love to his Creature This as it is the highest Happiness and the Rest of the Creature so it cannot chuse but ingage the Soul to return Love and Obedience to the Will of his God especially when all those Engagements to Obedience are likewise presented to the Soul that it owes its Being to him that his will is most righteous and fit to be obeyed And this Obedience arising from these Principles of Love to God as it was without all Hypocrisie so it was without all pain and tediousness for it did arise from an inward and active Principle and was acted by most obedient and active Faculties Man took no less delight in his Obedience which was the fruit of his Love and Duty to his Maker than he did in the knowledge of the Beauty and Goodness of his Maker which was the cause of that Love and Duty And as the actings of the natural Appetite upon a proper and seasonable Object when they exceed not their proportion are delightful so the actings of the rational Appetite consisting in Love and Obedience to God wherein they could not exceed their just proportion were the delight of the Soul his Holiness consisting in the returns to his Maker of Love and Obedience and the Goodness of his God in communicating himself and his favour exciting and accepting those returns did both conduce to the fulfilling of his Blessedness All this as it was derived from the Blessing of God 1 Gen. 28. so it ended in the Perfection of the Creature And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very Good. Ib. Ver. 31. 2. The Means whereby he attained or rather preserved this state of Happiness which was in effect congenite with though not essential to his Being This was only Obedience to the Will of his Maker In all inferiour Creatures we see a kind of inclination or instinct to follow the Rule of their Nature This conducts them to that degree of Felicity and Beauty which is commensurate to their Nature herein though they follow the Will of their Creator in the Law of their Creation it is not properly Obedience nor that instinct properly a Law the latter is only given and the former only performed by such a Creature as hath Liberty and Choice and consequently Knowledge and Understanding without which it is impossible to have the other Man alone of all visible Creatures is endued with both and so fitted to receive a Law and to obey it Being thus fitted he hath a double ingagement of Obedience viz. of Duty and of Profit 1. Of Duty he received his Being from his Maker and that Being furnished with Happiness This is an infinite and boundless engagement of Duty even to the utmost of his Being 2. Of Profit or Advantage this stock of Happiness that was but now freely conferred upon him is put into his hands under this Condition if he break his Condition he forfeits and that most justly his Happiness But yet if this Law were beyond the capacity of his Nature then there might be some excuse of his Disobedience But as this Happiness was fully commensurate to his Nature so was this Law which was the subject of his Obedience We shall therefore consider these three things 1. What was the Law of Man's Creation 2. Whence the Obligation of it 3. What the Sanction or Penalty 1. What the Law was Obedience was the Duty of Man to the Will of his Creator the Law was the Specification of that Will in this or that particular Command or Prohibition The Laws that God gave to Man therefore were of two kinds 1. Such as did bear a kind of proportion or convenience to the Nature of Man such are all those moral Dictates which we call Laws of Nature as keeping of Faith worshipping God and most if not all those Precepts in the Decalogue are but Expressions of these Laws These though they have no Obligation but by the Command of God yet they have a kind of Congruity with the very Nature of Man. 2. Such as though they have their original Justice of Obligation upon the same ground as the former hath viz. The subordination of the rational Creature to the Will of God yet in hoc individuo there doth not appear that Congruity of Nature of Man with this Command such was the Command of forbearing the forbidden Fruit and answerable to this in all times God hath been pleased to give Commands of these two several kinds Gen. 9.14 At the same time God forbids Murder which holds Congruity with Humane Nature and eating of Blood which doth not appear to hold such Congruity Gen. 17.2 to Abraham Walk before me and be perfect which is a Rule of natural Justice and a Command of Circumcision the reason whereof doth not so naturally appear so to the Jews not only the Moral Law but divers Ceremonial Rites which have no such necessary conformity to Reason The reason of this and why the first Man's Obedience was tried upon this Precept was because that in the Obedience to such a Command is given the clearest and most free Obedience to God for we hereby acknowledge his Freedom to command what he pleaseth and our just Obligation to obey what he commands meerly because he commands Now because it is impossible that any Law can bind unless it hath some Promulgation or discovery from him that gives it or somewhat equivolent unto it we are to consider How these Laws came to be published As for the latter it is most certain and clear that it was by express injunction from God. And the Lord God commanded Man saying c. Whether this was by an audible Voice or by an immediate infusion of the knowledge of it into the Mind it will not be material to enquire But certain it is that in as much as the Obligation of this Precept doth not arise from any intrinsecal conformity of the thing to Humane Nature there was an express injunction and command of God in it But as touching the former though they were discovered to Man to be the Will of God yet they did hold a kind of intrinsecal proportion and conformity to the very Nature of Men. And hence it is that though by the Fall a general deficiency was in Man yet the tracks and foot-steps of those Laws remain in his very constitution Though this cannot be the cause of their Obligation yet questionless this was part of the means of their Publication to Man Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles not having the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law. And although much were due to Education and Tradition and the course of God's Providence in propagating the Knowledge of the Moral Law yet such a convenience it hath with the nature and use of Men that when they once come to
of the Law and Gospel Gal. 3.24 Circumcision typical of that of the Heart Rom. 2.29 Their state in Egypt Typical The Passover a most effectual Type of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ the true Passover and therefore the Sacrifice of Christ and of the Passover went together Matth. 26. Eaten whole Exod. 12. Not a bone of him to be broken eaten with bitter Herbs typifying Repentance the Blood sprinkled secures from the wrath of God with Hyssop a cleansing Herb Psal 51. Purge me with hyssop a Feast as well as a Sacrifice John 6.55 The Manna a Type of Christ who was that Bread of God that came down from Heaven John 6.33 The hidden Manna Revel 2.17 The Cloud and Red Sea a Type of Baptism into Christ 1 Cor. 10.1 The Jews in Egypt like the state of the unconverted World hence the World called Spiritual Egypt In their Passage out they are entertained with a Sacramental Initiation they are militant in the Wilderness of the World triumphant in Canaan the rest the water out of the Rock a Type of Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ But principally the Levitical Law was a shadow of the good things to come in Christ Heb. 8.5 Who was the End of the Law. And as the Judicial Law among the Jews did not only contain Precepts in themselves naturally good but also Typical and Sacramental Observations of that inward Sanctification and frame of Mind that God required so the Levitical Law did not only contain Precepts of that internal habitude of Love Fear and Obedience unto God admirably delivered through the whole Book of Deuteronomy but also divers Types and Figures which had a double use 1. Of evidencing the full Obedience to those Positive Commands of God because commanded by him 2. Figures of Christ to come and of that frame and constitution of Men and things in relation to him as we may observe in divers Particulars 1. The Covenant between God and Israel the Stipulation on God's part Exod. 19.5 If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people and ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests and an Holy Nation Exod. 34.10 Behold I make a Covenant Before all thy people I will do marvels c. The Stipulation on the Peoples part Exod. 19.8.24.7 All that the Lord hath spoken we will do This is that Covenant which the Lord made with the People in Horeb Deut. 5.2 And the tenor of this Covenant renewed and explained viz. Blessing to Obedience and Curses to Disobedience Deut. 29.10 c. Ye stand this day before the Lord your God that thou shouldest enter into Covenant with â—he Lord thy God and into his oath c. Accordingly in Christ a new Covenant made Jer. 31.33 Heb. 8.10 A New Covenant I will put my Laws into their hearts I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People 2. As that Covenant was mutual consisted in somewhat promised by God somewhat undertaken by the People Obedience to the Law that God gave them so the Covenant here is reciprocal In the Gospel of God there is a double Covenant 1. A Covenant between God the Father and God the Son that the Son should take upon him Flesh and satisfie for the sins of the Elect Psal 40.6 Heb. 10.9 A body hast thou prepared me lo I come to do thy will O God on God's part a Covenant that those which should be so redeemed should be given over to Christ and united unto him in the nearest relation that is possible John 17. They whom thou hast given me Verse 21. That they may be one in us But of this more infra 2. A Covenant between God the Father in Christ with Man and this is likewise reciprocal On God's part to give Remission of Sins and Eternal Life in Christ to as many as lay hold of this Covenant John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that believeth on me should have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Ibid. 47. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life John 7.37 John 12.44 John 3.36 Rom. 3.28 Heb. 8.10 And because he must make him a People that may entertain the Covenant before he can have a reciprocal from them God gives a heart to believe to those that are his that so they may enter into Covenant with God John 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Verse 65. No man can come unto me except it be given of my Father Ephes 2.8 This is the putting of the Law in their Hearts Heb. 8.10 And this part of God's Covenant is made rather for us than with us even with and in Christ in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 For these Promises are Eternal Promises an Eternal Covenant given to Christ for the Elect even before they had a Being or could possibly receive them On the part of the People of Christ there is likewise a Covenant too he hath given us Commandments of Obedience John 13 1â— Love one to another Ibid. Verse 34. If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15.21.23 Love to Christ Perseverance John 15.9 10. Bringing forth Fruit Ibid. 16. Doing Righteousness 1 John 2.29 Purifying our selves 1 John 3.3 7.9.10 Crucifying Affections and Lusts Galat. 5.24 Zealous of Good Works Tit. 2.14.3.18 Thus God out of his free Love appoints us to Eternal Life in Christ freely gives Christ to be the purchace of it freely promiseth Life for us in him through Faith freely gives us Faith to come to him which when it is wrought our Covenant again with God is but to return a fruit of his own Grace True Faith in Christ cannot be without a sense of this Love of God nor that without a return of Love to him again nor that without a Care to walk according to his Will for if ye love me ye will keep my Commandments And yet he is pleased to accept and reward the work of his own free Grace as the return of us poor and weak Men. 3. This Covenant was ordained in the hands of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 Moses alone came near the Lord and told the People all the words of the Lord and the People answered with one Voice All the words which the Lord hath said will we do Exod. 24.3 The Second Covenant ordained likewise in the hands of a Mediator even Christ Heb. 12.24 Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant 4. The first Covenant Sealed with Blood Exod. 24.8 Moses took the blood and sprinkled on the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant thus likewise Christ sealed the second Covenant with his Blood Heb. 9.14 And therefore called the Blood of the Covenant Heb. 10.29 The Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 And the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet.
And the suffering of Christ without the Gate was not without some Allusion to the placing of this Altar without the Tabernacle Vide Heb. 13.12 And as the situation of the Altar so the Sacrifice upon this Altar not without a Mystery for besides those many Sacrifices which were diversified according to the several natures of the Occasion here was one Sacrifice appropriate to this Altar the continual Burnt-Offering a Lamb of the first year in the Morning a Lamb of the first year at Even Exod. 29.38 Numb 28.3 And the Spirit of Truth takes up this description of Christ more frequently than any John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 1 Pet. 1.19 Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish or spot Revel 5.6 The Lamb that was slain c. Revel 13.8 The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world And between this Altar and the Sanctuary stood the Laver of Brass not only typifying the Sacramental Initiation by Baptism but that Purity and Cleansing that is required of all those that partake of this Altar before they enter into the Sanctuary John 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God As the Blood of Christ cleanseth from the Guilt of our Sin so it cleanseth us from the Power of our Sin before we are to expect an admission into the Sanctuary It was as well Water to cleanse as Bloud to expiate 6. The typifying of Christ in the Priesthood of Aaron and his Successors High Priests Divers of the Ceremonies especially in the Consecration of them were meerly relative to their natural pollutions and the cleansing of them Heb. 7 27. Offering Sacrifices first for their own Sins such was the Sin-offering Levit. 9.7 Levit. 8. â—4 Others in reference to their service and designation thereunto and exercise thereof as their washing with Water Levit. 8.6 Their anointing with the holy Oyl Ibid. Verse 12. The Ram of Consecration Ibid. Verse 22. Their residence at the door of the Tabernacle seven days Ibid. Verse 33. And some parts of his Garments But there were some things that in a special manner were typical of Christ 1. The Breast-plate of Aaron bearing the Names of the Children of Israel called the Breast-plate of Judgement Exod. 28.29 And Aaron shall bear the Names of the Children of Israel in the Breast-plate of Judgment when he goeth into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually importing not only the nearness of the Church and redeemed of Christ unto him but also his continual presenting of their Names their Persons in his Righteousness before his Father 2. The Plate of Gold upon the Mitre engraven with Holiness to the Lord Exod. 28.38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of their holy things that they may be accepted before the Lord. As our Persons are accepted by God in the Righteousness of Christ presented for them to his Father so our Services are accepted in the strength of the same Mediation Christ presenting our Prayers and Services to his Father discharged of those Sins and Defects with which they are mingled as they come from us 3. His Solemn Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies Levit. 16. Wherein we shall observe 1. A most special Reconsecration almost of all the things incident to that Service before it was performed the Priest was to make an Atonement for himself by the Blood of the Bullock Verse 11. and for the Altar Verse 18. which signifie that Purification of the Humane Nature of Christ from all Sin Original and Actual from all Sin even in his Conception that so he might be a fit High Priest Heb. 7.26 For such a high priest became us who is Holy Harmless Vndefiled Separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens The difference was this Aaron notwithstanding his first Consecration to his Office needed a new Atonement when he entred into the Holy of Holies and exercised that high Type of Christ's Ascension and Intercession But Christ being once Consecrate needed no new Consecration Heb. 7.28 For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmities but the Word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is Consecrated for evermore 2. This was to be done but once in the year Some services had frequent iterations but those special Services that were but once in the Year were Types of those things that were to be done but once though remembred yearly such was the killing of the Passover Christ by one Offering hath perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 3. This great Atonement not made but by Blood Heb. 9.7 The high Priest entred not without Blood Livit. 26. And this Atonement was to be made upon the Horns of the Altar Levit. 16.18 viz. The Golden Altar of Incense Exod. 30.10 Hence Christ called the Blood of sprinkling Hebr. 12.24 The Offering that was to be used in this solemn Atonement for so much as concerned the Sins of the People were two Goats which were to be presented before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle Levit. 16.7 And Lots to be cast one for the Lord the other for the Scape-Goat the former was to be the Sin-offering for the People and his Blood to be brought within the Veil Verse 23. And the other was to bear the Iniquity of the Children of Israel but to be sent into the Wilderness Ibid. Vers 21. Although in the Sacrifice of Christ his Body only died and his Soul escaped yet both were but one Sacrifice he did bear our sins in both his Soul was heavy unto death as well as his Body crucified and as God had prepared him a Body in order to this Sacrifice Heb. 10.5 So he made his Soul an Offering for Sin Isa 53.10 4. As after all this the Priest entred into the most Holy and presented this Blood of Reconciliation before the Mercy Seat and no Man was to be in the Tabernacle when he goeth in Levit. 16.17 So Christ having trodden alone the Wine press of his Father's Wrath Isaiah 63.3 Is entred into the Holy Place not made with Hands now to appear in the presence of God for us Hebr. 9.24 And as the People did representatively by their Mediatour Aaron pass into the Holiest so our High Priest hath consecrated for us Access into the Holiest by a new and living way through the Veil of his Flesh Hebr. 10.20 Who as he is our Advocate with the Father John 2.1 To bear our Names before him as the High Priest did the Names of Israel to present his own Blood before the Father of Mercy as the High Priest did the Blood of the Sin-Offering before the Mercy Seat to bear the Iniquity of our holy things as the High Priest did upon his Forehead so likewise to present our Prayers to the Father Ephes 2.18 Through him we have access
and Heirship Galat. 4.7 Heirs of God through Christ Now all these three Graces of God wrought in our 〈◊〉 by the Spirit of God are motions unto Union 〈…〉 is the first act of the Soul and there◠〈…〉 this Union is formally maâ—e 〈…〉 to be justified by Faith Rom. 3.28 To partake of of the Righteousness of God by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 viz. That by the Eternal Counsel and Goodness of God Christ is put in the place of him that believes in respect of his sins and he that believes is in the sight of God put in place or stead of Christ and by that means is judged righteous in the sight of God even by that very Righteousness which was the Righteousness of Christ the Mediator And when we speak of Faith we must not intend that work of the Spirit of God in our Souls whereby we believe for by the very same work is wrought belief love of God and hope in him But it is that act of that Life so wrought which doth believe Now we shall consider Why or by what reason the act of Faith worketh our Vnion with Christ and so our Justification in the sight of God 1. Because it is the Will of God John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life He that is the great dispenser of his own Goodness is pleased that this shall be the means of that Dispensation In ancient times before the coming of Christ he was pleased to use other immediate Instruments such were Circumcision Obedience to those Laws which he gave these had not their Efficacy of themselves for they were indifferent things but they had their Efficacy upon these grounds 1. The Divine Institution to that End 2. The mingling of the Efficacy of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ with 3. A performance of them with an Obediential and believing Heart which though it was not always accompanied with an explicite and actual belief of Christ yet it was not without thus much Faith viz. That it was a thing injoined by God for some special Purpose for the good of his Creature And thus likewise in Infants who are not capable of an actual exercise of Faith God hath questionless some secret efficacious means of the application of Christ's Sacrifice unto them Thus proportionable to the Condition of his Elect in all times and Conditions God is pleased to proportion a means to make this Sacrifice effectual To the ancient Fathers that had not the same opportunity of believing in respect Christ was not revealed to them so clearly as to us it was his Will to appoint at least a more implicite and obscure act of Faith They were shut up unto the Faith that should afterwards be revealed Galat. 3.23 2. Because Faith is the first act of the New Life wrought in the Heart by the Spirit of God tending to Union It is true that Knowledge is that which precedes all the works of Grace in the Soul but in this the Soul is not so much active as passive and Knowledge doth not of it self unite the Soul to the Object viz. Christ as it doth unite the Object to the Soul But the first motion of the Soul to Union is not that Faith of Assent which differs not from Knowledge but the Faith of Recumbency or Adherence And this priority of the act of Faith is not in time for Life is wrought all at once in the Soul but in Nature and actual operation And this priority of Faith in this sense is upon three grounds 1. In respect of the nature of the Act. 2. In respect of the nature of that Truth upon which it fixeth 3. In respect of the Condition of the Creature 1. In respect of the nature of the Act The Creature is created essentially depending upon God and Dependance is the first relative act of the Creature unto the Creator as it is the first relation so the first motion of a rational Creature unto God is by an act of Dependance and Recumbence upon his Truth and Goodness And herein consisted as the first act of Union in our uncorrupted Nature unto God so herein was the first breach that was made upon Man Gen. 3.1 Yea hath God said c. Man's Duty was Recumbency and Trust and Reliance upon the Goodness of his Creator and the Devil weakens his Faith or Dependance upon his God and deceives him His first Fall was Distrust in the Word and Goodness of God and his first Recovery must be by Recumbency upon him his Truth and Goodness 2. In respect of the nature of the Message It is a Message that as it requires so it concerns our Faith and Recumbency It is a Promise of Mercy and Peace unto as many as believe the Message According to the nature of the thing known is the motion of the Heart towards it This is a Message of Deliverance and Peace with a Command to rest upon it therefore of necessity the first act must be Recumbence John 11.40 Said I not if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the Glory of God Exod. 14.13 Fear not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The first act that a Message of Deliverance from God worketh upon the Heart that entertains it is Recumbency and Resting upon the Truth and Power of God. 3. In respect of the Condition that this Message of Deliverance finds us in We are incompassed every where with Guilt and the avenger of blood pursues that guilt and we cannot by any means find any Power in our selves or in any other Creature to escape it The Soul being seriously convinced of this God presents unto it the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ his Promise of Acceptation of it and our deliverance from his wrath by it And now the Soul like a Man ready to be drowned first lays hold of the Cable that is thrown out to him even before it hath leisure to contemplate the Goodness of him that did it So the condition of our Misery teacheth us first to clasp the Promise of Mercy and Salvation in Christ and then to consider and contemplate the great Mercy and Goodness of God and to entertain it with Love and Thankfulness An extream Exigence will give a Man some confidence to adventure upon a difficult and unlikely occasion of deliverance because it is possible his Condition may be bettered it cannot be made worse 2 Kings 8.4 Why sit we here until we die if we enter into the City the Famine is in the City and we shall die there if we sit still here we die also Now therefore let us fâ—ll into the Host of the Assyrians if they save us alive 〈…〉 live and if they kill us we shall but die Even so even in a way of Reason may the Soul debate with it seâ—f I find my Condition miserable and I know not how to avoid it when I look into my self I find
Terrors by the least word of his Power 2. But if their Commission extend to thy very Life yet the Son of God hath taken away that sting that terror that is in Death hath by his own Death sanctified Death unto thee and made it a door unto a better Life so that Death though in it self terrible and bitter yet this Tree being himself cast into this bitter Water Exod. 15.25 hath sweetned them and as he hath taken away the Venome of it by destroying that Serpent that had the power of it Heb. 2.14 so he hath made it though not for it self yet in respect of him that stands on the other side of this Gulf with Immortality and Glory in his hand desirable Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better It is true thou art pursued with an Army of Egyptians of Sins and of Miseries and when thou comest to the Shore thou seest a raging and a bloody Sea But remember thou hast an Angel even the Angel of the Covenant that hath gone before and yet goes with thee and turns this Sea into a Passage of Ease and Safety and though of either side the Waves may affright thy Sense they shall not hurt thee and remember that though thy Passage may be difficult and troublesome yet thou hast not as once the Israelites a Wilderness behind it but a Canaan Therefore in all Objects or Occurrences of Terror first look inward and see how the case stands between thy God and thy Conscience indeed if there remain a Guilt unwashed by the Blood of Christ a secret sin entertained and not repented of thou hast cause to fear because thy Lord is angry But if thou keep thy daily Watch upon thy Soul and thy Life if thou find the presence of thy Saviour in thy Soul and thy Heart though of it self a sinful Heart yet cleansed and delivered from the power of any evil way an honest Heart acted by the love of God in Christ thou mayest then look above them and having thine Eye fixed upon the Lord of Events walk quietly and untroubled through the midst of those dangers that do incompass thee It is true that in the great Concussions of the World God expects a suitable affection even from the most innocent Heart an affection of Reverence and awe of his Presence and working Jeremiah 10.7 Who would not fear thee O king of nations But the fear of an honest Heart is the fear of Reverence not of Consternation a Fear mingled with Love a Fear mingled with Faith and confidence a Fear mingled with Praise and Glorifying God a Fear terminated in the great Lord that works not in the Instrument not in the immediate Object of Terror a Fear mingled with Comfort not over-run with distraction When therefore thou meetest with Objects of Fear first learn to distinguish their kinds some there are that come as it were from the immediate hand of God such are Famine Pestilence Wars Fires Inundations Earthquakes and the like entertain them with Reverence to the great and Just and Powerful hand of God not slightly or saucily or presumptuously yet without consternation or distraction of Mind carry up thy Soul above the Objects to the Hand that guides them make him thy Dependance and his Will the measure of thine own under them use all warrantable means with Dependance upon his Power and Submission to his Will to avoid them The wise Man seeth the Plague and hideth himself Prov. 22.3 Prov. 27.12 If thou escape the danger bless the God that hath preserved thee if thou fall in them yet still bless the God that hath not left thee and value ten thousand Deaths with his Presence and Light upon thy Soul above the most sublimated Life without it Again there are some Objects of Fear which though they are guided and mastered by the hand of God yet they are immediately the works of Men and so less terrible such are wrought by the power oppression cruelty and malice of Men these may and ought to be entertained with more resolution and confidence That one Example may serve for all when the power and injustice of Man shall meet with an unarmed and weak innocence Dan. 3.16 O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand O king But if not be it known unto thee O king we will not serve thy Gods As if they should have said It is true thou art a King and where the word of a King is there is Power and to magnifie thy self and thy Glory in the face of thy Kingdom thou hast taken up this publick Resolution of the Dedication of thine Idol and this thy Purpose is stablished by a Decree a Mischief framed by a Law and this Decree armed with Death and a cruel and terrible Death we know we cross thy proud and impious Will impatient of the seeming neglect of thy Power by three poor despised Hebrews in the midst of thy Glory and People we see fury and rage enough in thy countenance to devour us before the Furnace be hot we see thy Courtiers adding fewel to thy rage and thy Instruments greedily catching after the least Warrant from thee for our Execution and we are compassed with Flesh and Blood which cannot but shrink at the preapprehension of this inevitable and terrible dissolution yet for all this know that we have learned to tutor our Fear not to fear a Man that shall die and the Son of Man that shall be made as Grass Isa 51.11 we have learned that the fear of Man bringeth a snare but he that trusteth in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29.25 And therefore we are not much perplexed what Answer to return to these thy Commands and Threats we serve that God in whose hand thou art as the Ax or the Saw in his hand that shaketh it in whose hand thy Breath is and he can command away thy Breath and then what becomes of thy Word that Lord in whose hand thy Heart is and he can turn it as the River of Water and can set thy Command against thy Decree that God in whose hands are the issues of death and who can arm an inconsiderable Occurrence to divert and frustrate thy Purpose in whose hands are all the Powers of Heaven and Earth and can correct and controll that Fire which thou intendest for the execution of thy Fury And this is the God whom we serve and hath made a Covenant with us to preserve us in the Fire and we are no less confident of his Love and of his Truth than of his Wisdom and Power to deliver us he hath taught us that he is a present help in trouble Psal 46.1 that if we call upon him in the day of trouble he will deliver us Psal 50.15 Psalm 91.15 that in the Fire he will be with us and
4.19 We love him because he first loved us this even natural ingenuity would challenge of us 2. A Love of Prudence as I may call it which is the only tolerable Self-Love in the World to love God because the fruition of his Favour and his Presence is our best Advantage as a most suitable Good. By this thou mayest easily find what should be the Object of thy intensest Grief Sin in others Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law But especially Sin in our selves that and only that can deserve our intensest Sorrow as the only thing that is contrary 1. To the Purity the Glory the Will of him that is the chiefest Good. Is he the chiefest Good then certainly whatsoever is contrary to his Purity Glory or Will cannot chuse but be the chiefest Evil and consequently the object of thy Hatred and of thy Grief Is thy Conformity to his Nature and Will the necessary consequence of thy Love unto him that then that spoils that Conformity to him cannot chuse but be thy Sorrow thou lovest him because he is Good and that Goodness in him which is the cause of thy Love must of necessity imprint upon thee a desire to have the like ground of Loveliness in thy self and this thy sin disappoints thee of 2. Contrary to that Gratitude that even natural ingenuity teacheth thee to return to an ordinary Benefactor Consider that great God whom thou hast offended hath freely given thee thy Being the greatest Gift that is possibly conceiveable and with thy Being hath given thee the Copy of his Mind and Will a most Reasonable and Just Command in the Obedience whereof consists thy Perfection and Happiness If he had given thee a rigorous and severe Law taking in the whole compass of thy Being or such a Law wherein thou couldst bave seen nothing but the Absolute Will of thy Creator yet the Debt thou owest thy Creator could not be satisfied with such a performance And now for thee to offend such a Law of such a God that hath given thee thy Being Again consider that when thy Maker could not by any imaginable Rule of Justice owe any thing to the exactest Obedience of his Creature yet such was his Goodness that he made himself a Debtor even to his own Creature entring into a Covenant of Life with him thereby to encourage his Obedience and this for no other cause but because his Mercy endureth for ever For can a man be profitable to God Job 22.2 And for a Man to sin against so much Condescension of an Infinite God to his own Creature Again consider when against so much Mercy and Love thou hast offended thy Maker and even by thy own Contract as well as by the Just and Universal Right that God had over his Creature hast forfeited thy Being to thy Creator yet he took not the advantage of it remitted thy Forfeiture and sent a Sacrifice in thy stead of his own providing with a message of a fulness of Love with a new Covenant of more easiness to perform and of more comfort in the performance with a Pardon for thy Sin and with a Reward for anothers Righteousness and when thou wert an enemy and dead in sins and trespasses sent his Son to his Creature to beseech Reconciliation and his Spirit to give thee Life to accept it and to seal thy acceptation of it with an earnest and an assurance of Life and Glory that by that Spirit and through that Son of his hath given thee Access unto his own Majesty a discovery of that Glory to the which thou art called Certainly these are the highest ingagements of Gratitude that are possible to be put upon a Creature and do therefore challenge even from natural ingenuity the highest Return thou canst make though it be infinitely short of what thou doest owe And yet after all this cross the Will of thy Creator that hath done so much for thee to forget the Love of thy Saviour and to crucifie him again to grieve that Spirit of Love and Purity that comes to cleanse thee and fit thee for thy Masters use and to seal thee to Life and Immortality to dishonour that Name by which thou art called to pollute that Conscience which thy Saviour hath washed with his Bloud to deface that Image and Superscription of thy Creator which he was imprinting upon thy Soul to prefer a base unworthy perishing unprofitable Lust or Vanity before the Honour of such a God the Love of such a Saviour the perswasion and importunities of such a Spirit before thy own Peace Perfection and Happiness to vex and oppress and despise the Patience and Bounty of him that hath done all this for thee and gives thee yet an hour of Life to consider of it and a Promise of Grace and Pardon after all this if thou canst but mourn over thy Sins thy unthankfulness thy unworthy and disingenuous dealing with thy God. Lay the weight of these and the like aggravations upon thy hard and stony Heart and bruise it into Tears of Blood for thy unkindness to so merciful a God. Thou canst not exceed in this Sorrow it is a Sorrow that springs from the Love of God in the Soul a Sorrow that will cleanse thy Soul a Sorrow that will bring thee to thy Maker a Sorrow that hath a Promise of Acceptation goes along with it a Sorrow that is mingled with Comfort even the presence of a Saviour and a Sorrow that shall end in a fulness of Joy. Sorrow for sin as for a necessary cause of misery may end in desperation because it ariseth from love of our selves but sorrow for sin as for an ununthankful return of so much Love from God cannot because the Love of God is under that Sorrow and the spring of those Tears is a spring of Life and Comfort 3. Contrary to that Good which we lose by it 1. Our Conformity to the Mind and Will of God is our Perfection and the nearer our Conformity comes to his Will the more perfect is our Being Sin which is a violation of that Will of his spoils and disorders this Conformity and so it interrupts that inherent Good which otherwise would be in us 2. As it destroys our Conformity to the Will of God and so spoils us of our inherent Good so it interrupts that â—ommunicative Good that Influence of Life and Comfort which we have from God It removes us to a greater distance from him it displaceth us from that Position in which and by which the Goodness of God should be derived and conveyed to us we are by it out of that Covenant that Promise which God hath made with his Creature we are by it without the comfortable Presence of God without that Confidence that we might otherwise have in him out of the Assurance of his Providence and Protection It makes our Souls in the midst of all Fruition of outward Blessings full of doubtful Anxieties Fears and
Uncertainties in the midst of any external Trouble without a Refuge and so full of Despair As we cannot have Confidence to go to our offended God by our Prayers so it makes him withdraw and hide himself from them a continual disquietness and heaviness of Spirit mingles and winds it self into all our thoughts even in our pursuits of diversions from it the same aspect that is between God and us is between our own Conscience and us The Light of his Countenance is able to give Life and Comfort and Serenity to the Soul in the midst of all the Losses and Pains and Deaths in the World and the want of that Light makes the most happy external Condition to be dark and disconsolate And all this Good I lose by a transient unprofitable Sin a Sin that I might have avoided and therefore a Loss that I might have avoided a Loss that comes not to me by my necessity but by my foolish choice I will therefore sit down and mourn in secret for that Comfort and Light that I have thus foolishly sinned away and measure out my sorrows and tears proportionable in some degree to that Loss I have sustained The time was when it pleased the great God to let his Presence and the Light of his Countenance to shine into my Soul and when I could with Comfort and Confidence upon any occasion go to him and present my wants my desires my acknowledgements unto him and he that sits in Heaven was pleased to accept and entertain them at the hands of his Creature But now that Influence of his hath met with a filthy and backsliding Heart and is weary of it and hath withdrawn it self as justly it may and my Prayers are laden with my Guilt and cannot get up to him and he hides himself I have regarded Iniquity in my Heart and as he hath said so I find he will not hear my Prayers But though he will not hear my Prayers yet he will not neglect my Tears A broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise O Lord though I have thus trifled away my Peace and my Comfort and have destroyed my self yet in thee is my help As I will not rest in my Sin so neither will I rest in my Grief but will never give my self nor thee rest till thou hast been pleased in the Blood of thy Son to wash away my Guilt and restore unto me thy Presence and Peace again And when I have recovered this Loss I will by the assistance of that good Spirit of thine learn by this my sin to revenge my self upon my sin to value the Mercy and Goodness of my Creator that hath yet once more intrusted into my hands the Life and Comfort which I had so lately lost to value the necessity as well as the Love of my Saviour that hath been pleased by a reapplication of his own Blood to wash me again after my late Relapse to value the kindness of the Pure and Blessed Spirit that though by my sin I made him weary and forsake that polluted chamber of my Heart yet is pleased to return and cleanse and take up again that Room from which I had so unworthily excluded him I will learn to prise that Peace and Comfort which once I had and valued not but lost it for an unprofitable perishing Sin I will strive to sence my Heart with renewed Covenants and Resolutions of more watchfulness over my self that I return not again to Folly I will sit down and bless the Mercy Goodness Patience Bounty of God that hath not left me in that Condition which I could neither endure nor remove and study to return a Heart and Life in some measure answerable to so great Love and Goodness And when I have done all O Lord Jesus let that Eternal Covenant between thee and the Father that thou shouldest give Eternal Life to as many as he hath given thee John 17.2 that Power and Promise of thine that none shall pluck me out of thy hands John 10.28 that Union with thee that thou art pleased to give to as many as believe on thee John 15.4 5. that Spirit of thine which by that Union with thee conveys Life and Influence to the smallest branch in thee preserve and support me in all my Purposes and Resolutions in all my Frailties and Temptations For without thee I can do nothing 2. In reference to outward Objects and occasions of Sorrow as loss of Friends Wealth Reputation Health Life it self have a guard upon this Passion 1. Look upon them as the Fruits and Effects of thy Sin and so let them carry thy Grief beyond the immediate object to the meritorious cause of them This is the sting of all Affliction the Plague in thy Heart is the Core and Fountain of the Plague of thy Externals And when thou hast humbled thy Soul before thy Creator and gotten the Blood of thy Saviour to wash thy Conscience thy Affliction shall be removed or thy Soul enabled with chearfulness and comfort to bear it 2. Labour to find out the Voice of the Rod the Mind of thy Creator for if thou diligently observe it there is not a dispensation of Divine Providence but it brings a message with it to thy Soul. Look into thy Heart it may be there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee Joshua 7.13 and this Affliction bids thee be up and removing it It may be thy Heart was leaning too much upon that very Blessing wherein thou findest thy Cross or Affliction which robbed thy Maker of some of the Love and Duty thou owest to him It may be thy Heart was grown dead and careless in thy applications to thy Creator secure and resting in thy temporal Enjoyment and he hath sent his Messenger to awake thee It may be thou hast had a dull and heavy Ear that would not listen or could not perceive God speaking once yea twice unto thee in a still voice Job 33.14 and now he hath sent an instruction with a louder voice It may be thou begannest too much to set up thy rest here to place thy Confidence in the things of this World to be overtaken with the delight in them to overâ—expect them and he hath sent a disappointment into thy Counsels a Worm into thy Gourd a Moth into thy Store a Canker into thy Bag a Distemper into thy Body to shew thee the vanity of thy Dependances to make thee let go thy hold of that which may fall upon and hurt thee but cannot secure thee to make the look upward to quicken thy Life of Faith by shaking thy Life of Sense It may be thou wert growing presumptuous in the Goodness of God Saucy in thy Carriage towards him insolent towards him opinionative of thy self And he hath sent this searching Medicine to fallow and purge these disorderly and dangerous Humours But gâ—ant that upon all thy search thou findest that for a long time thou hast kept a Watch over thy Heart that thou
is bitterness in the end fit to implore a Pardon and fit to receive it because it now knows how truly to value it And though thy greater sin deserve thy greater Sorrow yet thy very failings sins of daily incursion Erroâ— in Circumstances of Actions defects and wants of intention in Duties do all deserve as true Sorrow though not so great and therefore cherish and encourage thy Conscience to be vigilant in this by observing her rebukes even concerning these and let not the reflection of these pass without as particular an Humiliation of thy Soul before God for them for they are sins against the Duty and Gratitude thou owest to thy Creator and it will make thy future Conversation more exact and more comfortable sorrow of Heart for those smaller offences as it will make presumptuous sins the more hideous and the more abhorred so it will waste the number and measure of those smaller offences which like swarms of flyes cover our daily Actions of all kinds 3. To seek out for that which can only pacifie thy Conscience and remove thy Sorrow which cannot be but by removing the Guilt And now let thy Soul search the whole Compass of Heaven and Earth and where canst thou find any thing that can remove thy Guilt of the smallest sin imaginable but him alone against whom thou hast committed it and where canst thou find any means for obtaining remission from sins but by that means which he himself hath prescribed and where hath he prescribed any such means but in his Word and where in his Word but in his Son Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest If then I stay at home I find nothing within me but a troubled and chiding Conscience and it will be impossible for me to remove this Guilt I will therefore venture my Soul upon the free Promise of God in Christ and with the Lepers in the Famine conclude If he save me I shall live and if he kill me I can but die 4. To fall upon thy knees before the great God and to beg for thy Life and for thy Peace O Lord my sin hath brought a Guilt upon my Soul and that Guilt hath raised a Storm in my Conscience but if thou who art only offended and therefore canst only forgive speak the Word to thy Servant Be thou clean and to my Conscience Peace be still my Guilt and with it that Tempest that is within me will be removed Do it I beseech thee for thy Truth and Promise sake thou canst not owe Remission to thy Creature but thou hast been pleased to ingage thy self to thy Creature upon Repentance to have mercy and forgive and upon that Promise of thine will I hang though thou seem to reject me Do it for thy Mercy sake thou that hast commanded me to forgive my Brother till seventy times seven times if as often he turn and repent hast infinitely more Mercy towards thy Creature than thou requirest from it Do it for thy Glories sake thou hast said it is the Glory of a Man to pass by a Transgression and what can be glorious in thy Creature that hath not a resemblance of thy own mind and Image nay do it for thy Justice sake thou hast been pleased to give a publick Sacrifice for all our sins against thee even thy Son by an eternal Covenant with a Proclamation That whosoever will may come and take of the water of Life freely and thou hast been pleased as it were to deposite a Pardon in thy Sons hand for as many as come unto thee by him and to lay upon him that Chastisement of our Peace and though I like a Man have gone aside yet thy Gifts are without Repentance That satisfaction therefore which thou out of thy abundant Love wert pleased to give unto thy self I beseech thee accept and as it will be the Glory of thy Mercy so it will be the Honour of thine own Justice for if we confess our sins thou art Just as well as Faithful to forgive us our sins in him that was the price of our Peace Set a Watch upon thy Spirit As the Soul is the Life of the Body so the Spirit is the Life of the Soul that active Principle which works by the Will the Affections and Conscience This appears by the frequent Denomination of the Spirit and by its contradistinction to the very Soul Ephes 4.23 Spirit of the mind Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a Man will sustain his infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 20.27 The Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord. Prov. 16.2 The Lord weigheth the Spirits Eccl. 7.8 The patient in Spirit is better than the proud in Spirit Isaiah 57.15 to revive the Spirit of the humble 16. The Spirit should fall before me and the Souls which I have made James 4.5 The Spirit that is in us luâ—â—eth to liuâ—â—y Heb. 12 23. The Spirits of Just men made perfect 1 Thes â— 23 I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body c. Heb. 4.12 dividing between the Soul and the Spirit Rom. 8.16 The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit And here we take not Spirit physically for those Instruments whereby the Soul works but for that Principle of activity which works in the Soul these Disorders that sit upon the Spirit principally are two 1. In the Defect Deadness and Depression in the Spirit The Spirit is that which only can hold Communion with God he that will worship him as he must worship him in Spirit and Truth so with his Spirit and without that mingled with thy Prayers they are dead and cannot come at him and without thy Spirit brought to his Word and to his Ordinances they cannot come at thy Soul. As the Spirits of thy Blood are those that unite sensible Objects to thy Soul so the Spirit of thy Soul is that which can only bring home Divine impressions from God to thy Soul or expressions from thy Soul acceptably to God. Upon such occasions awake thy Spirit and mingle it with thy Services and shake off that Dulness and Heaviness of Spirit it will make thy Prayers uneffectual and thy Services unprofitable 2. In the Excess Elation and Pride of Spirit And from this Capital disease in the Spirit proceed those others of Envy the Spirit that is in us lusteth after eâ—y The Spirit of Revenge Luke 9.55 Ye 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 what Spirit you are The Spirit of Murmuring and Discontent These are but the productions of the Spirit of Pride when it meets with any thing that crosseth it If it meet with any Person that sensibly exceedeth the Person in whom it is in worth esteem or other Accessions then it is turned into Envy and that Envy into Revenge And this was the very Original of the Devils immediate action upon our first Parents his Pride though it made him lower by his fall it made him not more humble And from hence
ariseth Murmuring and Discontent because that which befalls him crosseth him in his self opinion of his own Merit or Desert And from hence proceeds the rejection of God and of his directions from an opinion of a self-sufficiency and fulness To cure this Distemper and the products of it labour for Poverty and Humility of Spirit upon these Considerations 1. That whatsoever thou hast of worth or good in thee it is not thy own it is a derived good the good that is most thy own even thy essential good is not thy own thou owest thy Being to somewhat without thee But grant it were thine own yet the Comfort and Life and Beauty of thy Being were nothing without a farther good that is not thy own thy Power thy Wealth thy Strength thy Knowledge these are not in thy Essence they are derived Goods and such as are not from thy self the most exact faculty of thy Soul is but empty till it be filled by an Object without thee In thy highest Fruition thou hast a just occasion to magnifie God from whom thou hast it not to magnifie thy self that dost only receive it Learn therefore the Original of that good whatever it be that thou enjoyest it will make thee thankful and keep thee humble 2. That in thy self thou hast nothing but emptiness and vanity Thou hadst a good it is true which was sent thee by the Lord of thy Being and that we have shewn was no occasion to exalt thy self because it was not thine own but even that thou hast lost now and thy Nature hath nothing left thee whereof to be Proud. 3. That it is impossible for thee to come to enjoy that which must make thee happy till thou art deeply sensible of thy own emptiness and nothingness and thy Spirit thereby brought down and laid in the dust As long as thy Soul is full of thy Honour or of thy Wealth or of the World or of thy own Righteousness or Worth there is no room for thy Saviour or his fulness thou wilt not receive him because thou findest not any want and thou canst not receive him because thou hast no room And as it indisposeth thee to receive good from God so it indisposeth as I may say God to give it for thy Pride assumeth that both from God which is his and applies it to thy self even that acknowledgment and Honour which is a Tribute wholly and only due to God and hence it is that he resists the Proud because they rob him of the Duty that by all the Laws and Reasons immaginable thou owest to him 4. That the Grace of God the Knowledge and Sense of his Love the Spirit of Christ is an humbling Spirit the more thou hast of it the more it will humble thee and it is a sign that either thou hast it not or that it is yet over-mastered by thy corruption if thy Heart be still haughty it shews thee thy self in thy true Dress and makes thee abhor thy self it shews thee the Purity and Majesty of the great God with whom thou hast to deal and teacheth thee Fear and Honour towards him it teacheth thee to live by thy Saviour's Life to be righteous by his Purity to be saved by his Sufferings to walk by his Rule and to aim at his Glory it shews thee that thou hast all from him and frames thy Heart to return all to him It restores thee to that Position and Constitution in which thou wast made and takes off that distemper of Spirit which at once hath put thee below what thou wast and yet exalteth thy foolish Spirit above it There was a third Object of our Watch proposed viz. Temptations which are either 1. For Tryal 2. To Sin of which see the Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer Afflictions c. CHAP. XXIV Of the new Life or Sanctification and the necessity of it HITHERTO we have considered the Duty and Means of Mortification the putting off of the Old Man those Distempers and Disorders of our Souls by which they become unconformable to the Image and Mind of God the Principle whereof is the Spirit and Grace of God given us in Christ and the Means of this work those which we have before mentioned Now we come to consider of that New Life which follows hereupon most necessarily 1. Because it proceeds most necessarily from the same Principle As in a natural Man fallen into some Distemper it is the same strength of Nature that conquers the Disease and it being conquered maintains the Body in its natural Operations which is Health so the same vital power of the Spirit of God is that which overmatched those Distempers in our Soul which are contrary to our spiritual Life and Motion and conserves that Constitution of Health in the Soul by which it moves regularly and according to the Will of God which is our New Life 2. Because the Motion of those Distempers which fit in our Soul doth necessarily conform our Souls to that condition in which we were created God at first created us in a Conformity unto himself our sin brought an impotency upon our Nature by which we contracted all those Corruptions and Distempers that have disordered our Souls and diverted us from God when God is pleased by the power of his own Spirit purchased for us by the Blood of Christ to put into us a Principle of life and strength to work out those Corruptions and Disorders of our Souls there must necessarily follow a life conformable to the Will of God and as there is no Medium between Life and Death so when this Death of our Souls is removed by that Principle of Life there necessarily follows a New Life and new Operations answerable to it 3. The End of the Motion of those disorders of the Soul is in order to our New Life 1 Pet. 2.24 That we being dead to sin should live to Righteousness Ephes 2.10 Created in Christ Jesus unto good works It was the end of the Death of Christ Tit. 2.14 the Tree that bore wild Figs and that which bore none were equally cursed John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away So then the work of Mortification and Sanctification differ only in their Relations not in themselves they are both effects of that same Life which by the Spirit of Christ and our Union to him is wrought in us they both drive to the same End even to our Conformity to our Head Christ Jesus which is our Conformity to the Will of God wherein consists the Perfection of every Creature For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 The Honour and Glory of God is and ought to be the supream End of all actions and things in the World. And this is that which every Creature in his right station and condition doth drive at according to the measure and degree of its natural perfection for as the great End of God in all his actions is his own
Wisdom is within my call and within my vieâ— and I can beg his counsel and I am sure to have it and his is the best counsel Are my losses great and of those things wherein I took most delight yet they cannot countervail the enjoyment of the Presence of the All-sufficient God. Is my body full of tortures or diseases and death looks in upon me between the Curtains and my Soul sitting upon my lips and like the light of a dying Candle taking her flight from my body yet the Presence of the All-sufficient God is able to make this valley of the shadow of death lightsom and those pains easie and bear up my Soul against the horrour and amazement of death for he stands by me with strength to support me with Victory and Immortality to receive that Soul the only seat where my fear can dwell into a more near and immediate sense of his Presence than in my body it could feel Only remember that though the Presence of his Essence cannot be excluded from any place or person Jer. 23.34 yet there are occasions that may separate from the sense of his presence or make his presence terrible unto thee Isa 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear And if such an unhappy time befal thee that he hide from thy Soul his comfortable presence let it be thy care to return unto him by humbling of thy heart sincerely before him for thy relapse He never departs from any till man first depart from him and he never hides himself long from any that in sincerity return unto him The very moving of thy heart to seek him is the work of his Power and Mercy upon thee and is an undeniable evidence that he hath not utterly forsaken thee unless he first did seek and find thee and touch that heart of thine with his own finger thy heart would rather die in her sin than return unto God and therefore be sure thy returning to him shall not be without a finding of him Only make this use of thy Experience of such a case bless the Mercy of God that hath not rejected thee though thou hast forsaken him bless the Mediation of thy Redeemer that when thou little thinkest of it intercedes for thy pardon and sends out his Spirit to reduce his wayward sinful wandring Creature bless the Bounty and Patience of God that is so ready to accept again into favour his relapsed but humbled Creature and remember that it is an evil thing and a bitter to depart from him fall upon thy knees with tears of sorrow for thy ingratitude and tears of joy for thy re entertainment into the presence of him that yet is pleased to own thee as a Father take up indignation against thy sin that hath deprived thee of so great a Good as the comfortable Presence of God and take up jealous thoughts over thy self and all thy ways and consider well of all thy enterprises before thou undertake them whether there be any thing in them that may offend thy reconciled Father and because thy Judgment is weak and cannot so clearly discern thy way and thy strength is weak in opposing of temptation suspect thy own judgment and strength and beg his Wisdom to teach thee and his Strength to assist thee and lean not to thy own Understanding Again The consideration of the Presence of God is of singular use in all thy Duties of Piety and Charity In the doing of them it will cleanse thy heart from Hypocrisie because thou art before the God that searcheth the heart and accordingly accepteth of the action It will keep thee from unseemliness and want of Reverence because the Lord of Heaven and Earth is present and an Eye-witness to all the deportment of thy Body and Soul. It will keep thee from sluggishness formality and deadness of heart because he stands by thee that sees not as man sees It will keep thee from Pride and vain Glory it will make thy heart sincere reverent watchful earnest and humble in all thou dost because as he that stands by thee requires all this in all thy Duties so these affections or habits of the Soul become the Creature that knows he is in the Presence of the Glorious and Infinite God that searcheth the hearts and sees the actions And as in thy Duties it will fit thee for them so after thy Duties it will comfort thee in them Hath thy heart been truly humbled in his presence for any sin for which thou hast begged pardon and mingled the Blood and Intercession of thy Saviour with thy Prayers Hast thou been upon thy knees before him for any thing necessary for thy Soul Body or Relations Hast thou endeavoured by a serious Meditation to consider of Divine Truths Hast thou examined the state of thy Soul and of thy Life and upon the view thereof taken up resolutions of amendment of what is amiss and persevering and increasing in what is agreeable to his Will Hast thou sought out to relieve those that are in want to recompense those that thou hast injured to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ Hast thou been doing any thing that is the duty of thy general Calling as thou art a Christian or that particular Calling or Employment into which God's Providence hath cast thee And can thy heart bear thee witness that in all this thou hast endeavoured with all sincerity as in the Presence of God to walk and act in obedience to him and with a clear and upright heart and conscience Be sure thy heart cannot more clearly evidence it self to thy self than it doth to God and God was all this while present with thee beholding of thee there is not one grain of the sincerity and integrity of any of these thy actions not one tear not one thought of thy heart lost but most exactly observed and weighed by him that weigheth the Spirits and they shall not return unto thee empty Acts 10.4 Thy Prayers and thy Alms are come up for a memorial before God. 3. The Truth and Vnchangeableness of God he is unchangeable in his Nature Psal 102.27 They shall be changed but thou art the same Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed James 1.17 The Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning And from this Immutability of his Essence flows the Truth of his Word in his Covenant in his Promises in his Threatnings in his Works Psal 111 7. The works of his hands are Verity and Judgment and all his Commandments are sure And the very variety of his Dispensations of Mercy and Justice to the Children of men ariseth from the very unchangeable Nature of God even from the very first Creation until now Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalâ— thou not be accepted and if thou dost not well sin lyes at the door which is the very same